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Angola: Videos from Repressed Youth Protest in Luanda · Global Voices
Janet Gunter

On Saturday, September 3, 2011 a group of around 200 young people assembled in Luanda, Angola to protest lack of freedom and the 32-year reign of President José Eduardo dos Santos. According to witnesses, the protest ended with police beating a number of protesters.
A video call to protest, uploaded on September 1, featured bold, personalized calls to protest by a number of the protest's organizers, many of whom are hiphop artists. The tagline of the video “32 anos é muito” means simply “32 years is a lot.”
Early Saturday morning, word spread on Facebook that one of the men in the video, Pandita Nerú, had been “disappeared” by police prior to the protest. He later spoke to the press saying he had been dropped in an abandoned field and told he had “72 hours to live”.
Protesters are attempting to organize in spite of these effective forms of intimidation. This video of yesterday's gathering in Independence Square, taken from a car shows how scared even citizen journalists are to document events as they occur.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKUfnLAOK1o
Another video surfaced of a young man apparently injured and on the ground, with anxious onlookers shouting criticism to police in the distance. It is entitled “Police Brutality, Sagrada Família, Luanda”.
Previous protests
This protest follows one convened in March 2011 via the internet but undone by maneuvers by the ruling party, and another in May.
The May protest in Independence Square was well captured on video, with speakers criticizing the President for corruption and for his control over oil resources.
The May protest brought together an animated crowd, filmed here doing a “Down with the MPLA” dance.
This protest was later broken up by aggressive police measures, as this video shows police corralling protesters, arresting some and shoving people off of Independence Square, as well as threatening the cameraman.


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Barbados: Cable Leaked; Journalist Fired  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press breaks the news that a WikiLeak US Embassy cable has allegedly resulted in the firing of a journalist who “secretly briefed US diplomats on political corruption…payoffs, ‘sweetheart deals'…drug money funding political campaigns [and the] flying in of voters from USA.”

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bhutan: Begging Vs. Pride · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Beggars are never bankrupt”, and “begging profession is one of the oldest professions like prostitution,” opines   Sogyel Tobgyel. The blogger suggests that the Bhutanese people should hold their pride high and address poverty rather than indulging begging profession.

author: Rezwan


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India: The Varieties Of Ganesha Statues · Global Voices
Rezwan

On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, A Wandering Mind posts pictures of different kinds of Ganesha statues as seen in Mumbai, India.


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Macedonia: Euphoria After Basketball Victory Over Greece · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Celebrations erupted among Macedonians worldwide after the national team beat Greece at the European Basketball Championship of 2011 – EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania – the first such victory ever in the history of international sport.
The victory for the Macedonian national team with 72:58 at EuroBasket 2011 was a big surprise, since the Greek national team “is considered among the world's top basketball powers; they were runners-up in the 2006 FIBA World Championship and they have won the European Championship twice, in 1987 and 2005,” according to Wikipedia.
Soon after the game ended early Satuday evening, the jubilant flag-waving fans filled the public spaces of Macedonian cities and towns. Sport!Denes (Sport!Today) published a photo gallery [mk] from the main square in Skopje.
A Croatian media outlet 24 sata (24 hours) reported [hr] immediately after the match:
The story of the day is the Macedonian win over their southern neighbors, whose [political pressure] forces them to use the designation “Former Yugoslav Republic of” in front of their name. Even though the players do not want to talk politics, they claim this is the dearest victory of their careers.
- “It's crazy now in Skopje and the whole Macedonia, everybody goes to the main square to celebrate this” – Todor Gečevski said, while Pero Antić added:
- “We shall celebrate Independence Day on September 8, and they might build another monument for us on account of this.”
The best player of the game for Macedonia was African-American Bo McCalleb. Specialized basketball blog NBA Macedonia declared [mk] that he's “The Greatest Macedonian.” *
A screenshot from MakNBA blog featuring Bo McCalleb.
Twitter (the main hashtag: #makbasket) and Facebook buzzed with comments. Many Macedonian social media users expressed joy with dignity, while others used triumphant nationalist “in your face, Greece” rhetoric.
Right after the game, Azder wrote [mk]:
#makbasket should be celebrated with going to a town square. Please suggest a square with space for people, instead of statues.
Davorvori9, who changed his profile photo to one with Bo McCalleb, wrote [mk] a few hours later:
I can't remember when I was so euphoric and happy, possibly never. Thank you for this, guys! #makbasket
Roberto Belicanec wrote on Facebook (reprinted with permission):
YEAAH ! We won! Hm – let me explain something to you. Five athletes won over five other athletes while you where turning beer into the piss. – Bill Maher!
But still, this is quite nice :)
And Ivica Anteski retorted (also reprinted with permission):
Our diplomacy will be as strong when we take a Black person for Minister of Foreign Affairs :)
Cchevymk proposed [mk] a new basketball-inspired country car sticker, using [mk] clipart by Rosie Piter, and DzikiKikiriki refered [mk] to the first Greek reactions, linking to an article in E Kathimerini:
Well now it is not our fault that the Greek Government did not have money to send Greek fans to Lithuania…
Border blockade
The next morning, a group of several dozens angry Greek citizens, who allegedly came on several buses, blocked the main border pass towards Macedonia. Reports [mk] by PlusInfo.mk portal claimed the mob consisted of nationalists (according to the signs they displayed), including neo-Nazis or skinheads.
The Greek police redirected Macedonian travelers to other border crossings for a few hours to prevent confrontations, and the crossing was unblocked [mk] without additional incidents.
Victory over Finland, too
During the afternoon, Macedonia also won the game with Finland, and darko_avr refered to an old internet joke based on famous advertisement (“Nokia – Connecting People”) and a favorite Balkan spirit when he tweeted:
Rakia 72 – Nokia 70
Karakash_MakNBA commented [mk] on this much harder won game:
Either due to fatigue, or due to physical or emotional effect of yesterday's victory, or maybe due to getting wasted last night (who knows), the Macedonian team had a hard time with Finland. Even though they are not as weak and naive a team, as everybody thought so before the match. Especially if they start a good shooting series, they are no joke.
Teams that are hard to define and and play fast basketball, without much boloney, are the hardest opponents.
As both Greece and Finland are EU members, Parmakovski joked [mk]:
After today's blockade of [Evzoni], I'm afraid if we win the championship, EU could forever block us from the [Schengen Area]…
This victory, alongside the previous unexpected win over Croatia and continued good showings could result in participation at least in the quarter-finals, according to the analysеs (1, 2) [mk] by angelov480048.
Kuzevski also provided [mk] some applied analysis:
Let's all jointly support Greece and Croatia, since if they win their next games Macedonia would get 4 points in the next group…
Sead93 concured [mk]:
We survived the Hangover Game well enough, we should all most patriotically root for Greece (because it suits our score in the tournament)…
In conclusion MarjanIvanovski informed [mk] about a unquestionably positive consequence, regardless of nationality:
The neighborhood kids immediately gathered to play some basketball :)). There's no better advertisement and greater motivation than an achieved result…
* Note:
Success of multi-ethnic Macedonian national team runs contrary to the ideology of ethnic nationalism, and the irony seems lost on the Macedonian nationalists, who wholeheartedly partake in the celebrations. Like their other Balkans brothers-in-hate, they often use slogans such as “clean Macedonia,” and value “purity” of assumed genetic lineages. Even though the mainstream Macedonian nationalism is not explicitly racist in the color-of-skin sort of way, some of its propagators lean toward white supremacy, like in the film about God's message to Macedonians [mk] by Niche Dimovski, repeatedly aired on the state TV after the current regime took power. It includes claims that prehistoric Macedonians are progenitors of the “White Race”:
[Voice of God:] “I inhabited your Mother Earth with three races: the White – Makedonoids, the Yellow – Mongoloids, and the Black – Negrids. The rest are all mulattoes. I started the White race from you, the Macedonians, descendants of Macedon, and from you all began, till the Japanese Sea.”
Other nationalist products often refer to a genetics study about “Sub-Saharan” (i.e. recent African) origins of modern Greeks to “prove” that Macedonians are older and more indigenous people.
Still, examples of racial violence have been rare in the recent Macedonian history, possibly because not too many dark-skinned people immigrate to Macedonia on account of its depressed economy. There have been football incidents of racial abuse, though, and a chant mentions “Goce‘s race.” Most regular citizens would say [mk] that “there's no racism in Macedonia.”

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Nepal: A Faction Of Maoist Party Against Surrender Of Arms · Global Voices
Rezwan

United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal reports that the intra-party rift in the Maoist party has widened further as some are opposing the party decision to surrender the keys of the arms containers.


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Pakistan: Ahmadi Man Murdered In Faisalabad · Global Voices
Rezwan

Guppu.com reports that a man belonging to the Ahmadiyya community has been shot dead. He became yet another victim of the religious hatred being propagated against the minority community in Faisalabad.


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Russia: Beslan Watershed for Democracy · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

I am Donna Welles writes about Beslan on the 7th anniversary of the hostage crisis claiming hundreds of lives, becoming a watershed for the downslide of Russian democracy.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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West Papua Media Alerts Website · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

West Papua Media Alerts reports the latest independently verifiable news from West Papua in Indonesia. Its work has sometimes “assisted directly in the prevention of mass acts of violence by the Indonesian security forces.” Its latest posting is about the arrest and torture of 13 civilians by the police and army.

author: Mong Palatino


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Zambia: Netizens Worried About Poll Violence Rhetoric · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Zambia goes to the polls on September 20, 2011, to elect a new president, members of parliament and local government representatives. The opportunity to discuss this important national event is not lost on netizens as they use the Internet to talk about the threat of violence, bribery and even just plain support of their political parties and candidates.
On fears of potential pre- and post-election violence, one Zambian tweep, @bukavu, wrote:
@MOSS_from_MARS @livilodge @shacut lets make the election period peaceful in #Zambia, tell ppl it doesnt help the country 2hav bloody fights
Michael Sata, the main challenger to Zambia's incumbant president files his nomination. Image by Owen Miyanza, copyright Demotix (09/08/2011).
Another tweep, @chiwama, quoting the EU observer mission on a Zambian radio station, wrote:
EU observer mission says it's also psble 2 have free fair elections & not need to resort to violence- Hot FM #Bantuwatch #zambiaelections
On beheading a live chicken at a public rally by Father Frank Bwalya, one tweep wrote:
Someone beheading a live chicken at a political rally in #Zambia speaks volumes of the quality and maturity of the political debate
Father Frank Bwalya has for the last three years led a red card campaign against the ruling MMD. The campaign involves honking car horns and flashing red cards on Fridays to show dissatisfaction with the ruling MMD.
Another tweep expressed concern about what Zambian election campaigns have been reduced to:
To some people #ZambiaElections simply means free food,clothes , beers its coz of the high #poverty levels
During past elections, and the forthcoming ones are no exception, some Zambians are known to sell and others to buy voters’ cards as a way to make money the sellers and to disenfranchise those likely to vote for the opposition by the buyers. One tweep bemoans the fact:
Overhead a conversation where some pipo actually don't mind selling their voters cards at K50 000 (10US D) #BantuWatch #ZambiaElections
The poll debates are even hotter on the Facebook group Zambian Peoples Pact with members pitching for their leaders. One MMD supporter posted reasons why he thinks his party will win elections in the Northern Province, a region which in the past has supported opposition Patriotic Front president Michael Sata, one of the leading contenders:
Gunston Chola explained why the electorate of the Northern province will vote for Rupiah Banda and the MMD candidates:
1. A new high school is under construction in Muyombe.
2. The Isoka-Muyombe Road will be upgraded from grave to bituminous standard. This project will be implemented over 2 years at a cost of K213bn.
3. An agreement has been signed between the government of Zambia and Kaidi Biomass Zambia Limited (KBZ) to initiate biomass project which will cost US$ 450 million in its first phase Phase one of the project will involve the construction of local infrastructure such as houses, roads, electricity and schools. The investment is expected to create about 10,000 jobs in both Nakonde and Isoka districts.
Chitulika Zitu  laughed at the comparison between Zambia and China made by the ruling party economic adviser:
ZAMBIA IS A FTASTEST GROWING ECONOMY ALONG SIDE THE LIKES OF BRAZIL AND CHINA”, MMD ECONOMIC ADVISOR WAS BRAGGING ON USELESS ZNBC.STOP SMEARING FEACES ON THE FACES OF POOR ZAMBIAN.
BRAZIL AND CHINA HAVE EMMERGED AS FASTEST GROWING ECONOMIES BECAUSE THEY HAVE HIGHLY INDUSTRIALISED THEIR ECONOMIES.THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IS BOOMING AND ITS SUPPORTING AND DRIVING THEIR ECONOMY FORWARD.NO WONDER EVEN THEIR CURRENCIES COMPETE FAVOURABLY WITH THE US DOLLAR.UNLIKE ZAMBIA WHICH HAS THE WEAKEST CURRENCY IN THE REQION IF NOT ENTIRE AFRICA.HOW CAN A COUNTRY THAT CLAIMS TO HAVE A FASTEST GROWING ECONMY HAVE A WEAK CURRENCY,POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT HAVE EQUALLY SKYROCKETED.HOPSITALS HAVE NO PROPER LINEN,EQUIPMENT, DRUGS AND FOOD THE PATIENTS.THE ROADS WHICH WERE TARRED AT A TIME THE ECONOMY WAS STILL VERY SMALL ARE NOW TURNED INTO DUST ROADS.
ZAMBIA THAT IMPORTS EVEN RAZOR BLADES INCLUDING MINERAL WATER CANNOT BE MOVING AT THE SAME LEVEL WITH CHINA AND BRAZIL.
Gongs Jhala  revealed his loyalty:
For those who are speculating where my loyalties lie, here is my position. I am not aligned with the “corrupt” MMD, I sympathise with the “tribal” UPND and I fear the “dictatorial” PF. Saying this, I am a realist, the battle for the presidency is between RB and Sata. HH will come third, but if like me you, you think a PF government will be the worst thing that never will happened to Zambia, then please vote for HH.
Global Voices wishes Zambia a peaceful election period.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Zimbabwe: Preventive Circumcision for Ministers and MPs · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

A post published [fr] by senegal.senego.com states that: “The Zimbabwean ministers will be circumcised as part of a campaign to curb the spread of HIV, to set an example, said Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe, stating that the idea has met some disapproval. Members of Parliament should follow suit”.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Azerbaijan: Eurovision and visas · Global Voices
Pervin Muradli

Aaron in Azerbaijan comments on a request from the management of the Eurovision Song Contest to the Azerbaijani authorities to simplify visa procedures ahead of next year's competition to be held in the capital, Baku. While such a move would be a boost for the country's tourism industry as well, the blog wonders whether the Azerbaijani government will respond to the request at all.

author: Pervin Muradli


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Bangladesh: A Real Reckoning On 1971 · Global Voices
Rezwan

Naeem Mohaiemen at Unheard Voice comments on the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971: “what we are left waiting for is a deep investigation into 1971– about the nature of violence, crisis bargaining, unintended consequences, and history’s orphans.”


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Bangladesh, India: Dispute Over Land And Maritime Boundaries · Global Voices
Rezwan

As the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due for a state visit to Bangladesh tomorrow, Syeed hopes that some long-standing multi-faceted disputes over land and maritime boundaries between Bangladesh and India will be resolved.


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Barbados: Leaked Cable & CL Financial  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press continues to monitor Wikileaks cables, this time revealing alleged links between the DLP government and the CL Financial Group.  The blog also publishes a statement by journalist Peter Wickham, who the leaked cables identified “as the source of information which formed the basis of several improper allegations that were made regarding two current and one former Caribbean Prime Minister.”


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Blog Carnival: Nicaragua – Migration  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Global Voices in Spanish is interested in encouraging blogging and  promoting blogger networks, and is currently doing so through its ‘Festivales de Blogs‘ (Blog  Carnivals) [es]. The Carnival helps generate original content with a  certain level of reflection and analysis, and participating bloggers can  at the same time benefit greatly from the visibility their work gains  by being referenced on Global Voices (GV). Let's look at the details of this new Carnival:
Scope: Nicaragua
As the geographic base and center of our second 2011 Blog Carnival, GV has chosen Nicaragua, a Central American country that frequently does not receive adequate media coverage. In Nicaragua we have a number of collaborators and blogger friends who this time were the ones who took full responsibility for this virtual event.
Although most bloggers, and the best known, are located in Managua, we also expect participation from bloggers from other cities. Furthermore, due to the Carnival's topic (migration) we expect Nicaraguan bloggers living abroad to also participate.
We would like to clarify that participation is not restricted to  Nicaraguan bloggers or blogs that are dedicated exclusively to the topic indicated  in the following paragraph – any blog and blogger living in Nicaragua can participate.
Topic: Migration
As in many Latin American countries, migration is present from the beginning of Nicaragua's history; from the first indigenous groups who reached the territory, the African slaves who arrived to the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast and the Spanish who founded cities, to the Chinese, the Dutch, and the English pirates who occupied the territory to hide.
Migration is an important phenomenon in the country due to war and military conflicts that led to emigration for survival and political reasons: frequent earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions have also led to internal migration. Even economic reasons have influenced personal decisions to migrate.
What are the stories behind the people who migrate? The drama families experience is incremented by the migration of mothers and parents. Children and adolescents grow up without adult care, and some children also migrate to work and help their families.
What impact is the constant migration of Nicaraguans having on the country's social fabric? 7 in 10 young Nicaraguans say they want to leave the country; 26.9% of Nicaraguan professionals live abroad and will continue to leave the country because there are no signs of economic improvement through work. What is being discussed about this issue on the Nicaraguan blogosphere?
Participation:
This time the weight of the Carnival has been assumed by a group [es] of enthusiastic Nicaraguan bloggers, who invited their peers to blog about the proposed topic from September 1-10, 2011. However, as in previous versions of the carnival, any Nicaraguan blogger can participate by posting a post on migration in Nicaragua on his or her own blog. The post has to be original; in other words, written by the blogger, not copied from another source. The structure, style and extent of the post fall under the blogger's discretion.
This group of volunteers has created a blog [es] for the festival, and they are actively using social networks like Facebook and Twitter, where you can follow the Carnival with the hashtags #BlogsNi and #Migración.
At the end of the period of participation we will proceed to arrange    and summarize the participating posts in order to publish a summary post    for Global Voices. Depending on the amount of participation we will be    able to quote posts or not, this is mainly due to reasons of space.  Any   questions may be directed here. You can see results  from our previous Blog Carnivals in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, and Mexico.
Note: This is not a competition, therefore there will be no winners   or losers. It is about looking for contributions, collaborations and   testimonies on the proposed topic, in order to develop a broad, varied   and updated picture on the topic.
We look forward to your support, collaboration and participation!

author: Juan Arellano


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Brazil: Launch of a Committee for the Palestinian State · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Blogger and activist Emir Mourad posts a series of links [pt] about the launching event of the Palestinian State Committee in São Paulo, Brazil. The committee supports the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state and the request to the international community that will be presented on the opening day of the UN General Assembly, September 20.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


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Chile: ‘Influential’ Twitter Users Have Lunch With the President  · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

On August 24, the same day that CUT workers (Worker’s United Central of Chile) were calling for the first day of a national strike, the president of Chile, Sebastian Piñera (@sebastianpinera), invited 15 influential Twitter users to have lunch in La Moneda -the presidential place- to hear their opinion and to discuss current national issues. According to the people who attended the meeting, the lunch lasted nearly 2 hours. This is the host list published by Cooperativa.cl:
The guests and the President. Photograph shared via Twitpic by @ortizmiguel
One of the guests, lawyer Marcelo Brunet, commented on online paper El Dínamo [es]:
…más allá de los contenidos de lo conversado en el almuerzo, me parece interesante analizar el fenómeno de lo que pasó después de éste. El almuerzo provocó polémica, mucha más de la que, admito, imaginé cuando me invitaron a ella
As a matter of fact, this meeting caused controversy over the real popularity of those Twitter users, the chosen date and the loss of reputation experienced by those that accepted the invitation.
Philosopher Mirko Zarate (@MirkoChristianZ) asserts:
No entiendo porque los llaman “Influyentes” sin ninguno de los supuestos influye mas o menos que otros twitteros …
Twitter user @LaOvejaNegra_ affirmed:
Porque recurre a monitoreos y twitteros influyentes para “entender”, en vez de abrir la ventana y escuchar al pueblo #PiñeraNoMeRepresenta
Teacher and blogger @sita_mini ironically suggested:
Buena jugada d #Piñera d hacer almuerzo-twittero el día del #paronacional, así nos dedicamos a pelar el evento y no el paro. TOUCHÈ!
Sergio Sepúlveda, the head of the El Fracaso magazine (@MrSergo) pointed out:
Aún me da risa que Pilera [sic] se haya juntado con twitteros… algunos se venden incluso por un almuerzo picante con el presidente
Juan Carlos Alvear (@pornoenbraile) summarizes this controversy with this tweet:
Estoy cachando que todos los “twitteros influyentes” terminan siendo odiados
Sentidos Comunes gathered more reactions through Storify [es].
Many people wonder whether this meeting had concrete solutions besides exchanging opinions. One of the guests, Javier Senfeliú, comments on this fact in a post at El Dinamo: “El día que me invitaron a conversar en La Moneda” [es] (The day I was invited to discuss some issues in La Moneda)
(…) Hoy la ecuación es conversación + colaboración + participación. Si Usted no cree en ninguna de ellas, sujétese. Será un fósil.
Eso es todo. Un almuerzo que no va a cambiar el estado de las cosas, ni va a dar educación de calidad para todos, ni va a acabar con el abuso de las empresas sobre los consumidores, ni con la política chanta que promete y no cumple. Un almuerzo entre gente de las redes sociales y El Gobierno.
Today, the equation is discussion+collaboration+participation. If you don’t believe in any of these, prepare yourself. You will be a fossil.
That is it. A lunch is not going to change things, nor will it provide good education for everyone, nor is it going to avoid consumers  being abused by companies, nothing is going to change the fake politicians that do not keep their promises. A lunch between the people of a social network and the government.
As expected, bloggers talked about the demonstrations. Regarding this aspect, in his blog [es] Eduardo Arriagada commented on his conversation with the President the meeting day.
(…) Piñera me aseguró que “lejos de reflejar un agotamiento del modelo, lo que reflejan las protestas es todo lo contrario: que dados los buenos resultados de la economía chilena, la gente está pidiendo cosas que son propias de países desarrollados”.
(…) Piñera dijo que hay una nueva ciudadanía que es “mucho más severa en la forma en que juzga a las autoridades (…)
(…) Piñera asserted that “Those demonstrations, far from depicting a weakened model, depict the opposite: since Chilean economy is giving good results, people are asking for common things that people in developed countries have”.
(…) Piñera said there is a new citizenry that is more severe when judging authorities.
In spite of the criticism about this event, it is important to stand out how important civilian opinion –without the interventions of some representatives- and citizen journalism have become. Will this lunch be the beginning of a dialogue with government? Regarding this aspect, Javier Sanfeliú pointed out:
(…) las dirigencias políticas entendieron tarde que el mundo cambió. Se lo tratan de explicar y entender pero no llegan tan allá. Están formateados por el siglo XX. Y en el siglo XXI la cosa cambió radicalmente. Desde Gutemberg que no hay un cambio tan radical en la información, desde la revolución industrial que el mundo no se transformaba como con la digital. El mundo giró con el impacto del cometa de los bites.

author: Elizabeth Rivera


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China: “Free Lunch” for Rural Students via Micro-Donations · Global Voices
Andy Yee

Students at Hongban Primary School enjoy lunch. Photo from fundraising page, shared by @anna313 on Weibo
The wealth gap between China’s urban and rural regions has badly skewed China’s education. Due to lack of funding, rural students in China are disadvantaged by systemic problems in areas like teaching, management, infrastructure and educational resources. In the poorest regions, even feeding school children so they have enough energy for learning can be a real challenge.
According to research released in March 2011 by the China Development Research Foundation of the Chinese State Council, poverty in the western provinces of China has led to malnutrition and developmental delays among primary school students. In a sample of 1,458 students aged 10-13 from rural boarding schools in Ningxia, Guangxi and Yunnan, 12% have growth retardation and 9% are underweight.
Liang Shuxin
To tackle this problem, Guangzhou-based charity activist Liang Shuxin started the project “Free Lunch” on 1 April 2011, in collaboration with the semi-official Guizhou Youth Development Foundation. This is a project of the Micro Foundation, an NGO founded by Liang in 2010 with the aim of harnessing the power of the Internet to improve rural education in China.
The explosive growth in the number of Internet users in China allows unlimited possibilities. The popularity of Internet tools like Weibo (China’s Twitter-like service) and web portals facilitate the involvement of a large number of people. At the heart of the project is the concept of “micro donations”. For example, the project has set up a virtual shop on the platform Taobao, where netizens can buy two lunch meals for school kids for just RMB 5.00 (around $0.80 USD). To ensure transparency and accountability, the project has also created a blog with stories, photos and feedback about how the donations are used.
The project has achieved some real successes. Since April this year, it has supplied lunch meals for the 205 students at Hongban Primary School in Guizhou province. Over two thirds of students at the school cannot enjoy a proper lunch due to financial difficulties and long distances from home. In collaboration with local authorities, a “love snack shop” will be built next to the school to supply free lunch for needy students over the next few years. Similar projects will be gradually implemented across the impoverished regions of Guizhou.
The civil-official collaboration is planned to continue for three years, and aims to raise RMB 10 million (more than $1.5 million USD) this year. In an interview with China's Southern Daily newspaper, Liang admitted that there are a number of challenges, such as the sustainability of donations and the building up of a proper lunch supply system. He thinks that the problem of malnutrition among rural students ultimately needs to be solved with governmental initiatives. It is for this reason he has picked the semi-official Guizhou Youth Development Foundation as a partner, which has extensive professional educational networks. Nevertheless, he does believe that a civil organization like Micro Foundation could add vitality to the collaboration by way of its creative, communicative and integrative abilities over the Internet.

author: Andy Yee


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China: Apple Pollution · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Dialogue has a series of post about the severe environmental pollution problem caused by Apple’s Chinese supply chain. A joint report by a number of environmental groups disclosed that as many as 27 Apple suppliers are dumping dangerous chemical waste. The director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), Ma Jun, criticized Apple for not making progress to improve the situation.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Dominica: On a Single Regional Economy  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Man says of the Caribbean Single Market & Economy, which is meant to encourage free movement within the region: “Like every other Caribbean institution, when the ethos has to turn into action it can easily get distorted.”


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Ecuador: ‘Campus Party Quito’ from October 19-23 · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

María Cristina Martínez announces [es] this year's ‘Campust Party Quito‘ [es], which will be held October 19-23.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Greece: Students Blocking Universities in Protest · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Teacher Dude informs that “over 300 department in institutions of higher education nationwide are now being occupied by students unhappy with changes designed to overhaul Greece's ailing universities and technical schools.”


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Guyana: Literary Award Winners · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Book Blog and Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp have details on the winners of the recently held Guyana Literary Awards.


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Honduras: The Road to Becoming a Top Coffee Producer · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Honduras Culture and Politics blogs about coffee production in Honduras, reporting that “The Honduran government has just announced projections of production for the current season that would make the country the second largest producer of washed arabica beans (the variety that is desirable for fine coffee drinking), remaining only behind Colombia.”


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Lebanon: What Will be the Fate of Lebanese Prisoners in Syria? · Global Voices
Thalia Rahme

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
Far from the daily protests in Syria calling for an end to the 40-year regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, a group of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters in downtown Beirut, Lebanon have held a permanent sit-in in a small tent since April 2005, calling for the return of their loved ones from Syria. In all weather, they have asserted their right to know the fate of husbands, brothers, sons, and fathers who disappeared during the Lebanese Civil War, which was followed by a post-war occupation by Syria. Some have been missing for more than 30 years.
The tent of the Families of Missing and Detained in Syria
President Assad issued a general amnesty for political prisoners in Syria in May 2011, but it begs the question whether it extends to Lebanese political prisoners and the disappeared in Syrian jails. What will happen to them amidst the current political turmoil in Syria? Are there reasons to be optimistic should a wind of change hit Damascus?
This issue has had shy representation in the blogosphere and citizen media scene. It consists mainly of Facebook Groups or pages updated regularly with news and developments such as Assad Free the Lebanese detainees in Syria and Save the Lebanese Detainees in Syria and Families of Lebanese Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Syria, or the Cause.com page Lebanese Political Detainees in Syrian Prisons.
There are also a few blog posts like this one written by Elie Fares from Lebanon, who writes on his blog A Separate State of Mind on March 16:
Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons are treated like less than human beings. One of the few who got out alive is a school teacher from Tripoli who told about her torture through a process called the “tire” (Douleib). They basically put her inside a tire and hit her with electric cords, not caring where the cords slammed her. Her eye was hit and it erupted like an egg in a frying pan. They did not care. They kept on hitting her.
He adds:
So today, I plead to the humanitarian side of those who still have  it. It looks like the political party who has the means to help doesn’t  care at all. Therefore, I hope with all my heart that something comes  out of the Syrian protests that would lead to some closure for the  families of the Lebanese detainees and hopefully a new page in the story of the Lebanon-Syria relationship where we are seen as equals and not a province that wasn’t.
My Right to Know Campaign. From the Families of Lebanese Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Syria Facebook Page (used with permission)
Another post from Egyptian Ahmed Hegab on June 2 entitled “Why doesn't anyone speak of Lebanese Detainees in Syria?” says:
عندما  قرأت خبر العفو عن المعتقلين تخيلت و لو للحظه ان كلمة المعتقلين تضم  المعتقليين اللبنانيين فى السجون السوريه !!!! الجيش السورى قبض على المئات  فى سوريا قدر عددهم الرسمى 650 أسير لبنانى , أكاد أشك فى الرقم ! ولا  أحسب هنا عدد المفقودين اثناء الإحتلال السورى للبنان , أكاد افهم صبر  الناشطين و الحقوقيين فى لبنان حيث الدعم الأعلامى من حزب الله للنظام  السورى و الإرهاب الفكرى للبنانيين فى أن يتكلم أحدهم عن النظام السورى و  التضييق على اي فعاليات تدعم الثورة السوريه , لكن عن تجربتنا فى مصر اقول  لكم ان النظام السوري سينهار ان عاجلا او أجلا , أبحثوا عن أسراكم و أضغطوا  على الجامعة العربية , أضغطوا على المجتمع الدولى فالنظام السورى الأن على  إستعداد ان يقدم اي تنازلات حتى لا يسقط
Interview
Wadih al Asmar (photo used with permission)
In light of these recent events and to avoid this issue sinking into oblivion, I interviewed Wadih Al Asmar, Secretary General of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights – CLDH (also available on Facebook and on Twitter ).
Thalia Rahme: What are the latest developments concerning the situation of Lebanese detainees and victims of enforced disappearance in Syria, especially amidst the unrest that is raging in the country?
Wadih al Asmar: The situation in Syria is quite critical, uncertain and confusing, and this naturally reflects upon the situation of the Lebanese who are missing there. Actually all hinges on the fate of the Bashar el Assad regime and Syria in general. Will Bashar, stay or leave? In case there is a change in the regime, will there be a general amnesty or will there be a vindictive act? Should Bashar remain in power will he proceed to reforms? So our feelings are kind of mixed between doubt, fear and hope. What gives hope, and I am being cynical here, is unfortunately the fact, that we are witnessing in Syria itself forced disappearances, people who are arrested then released… So maybe once everything is clearer, this case will be addressed from a broader angle. Dialogue with Syrian authorities should be resumed. The problem is which Syrian authorities?
TR: What are the organizations concerned with this issue doing in this regard?
W A-A: Actually there are three other bodies active for this cause: Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE), The Committee of the Families of Kidnapped and Missing People in Lebanon, The Committee of Families of Lebanese Detained in Syria, and CLDH. We have been working closely for dozens of years, with the same objective and under one strategy. We have files proving the existence of Lebanese in Syrian jails (aside from those tried following a felony or a crime) and we have a strategy and mechanisms to act… What we lack is an official cover, since Syria is refusing to collaborate with us.
There is a joint Lebanese-Syrian committee, tasked with handling this case since May 2005. Unfortunately, it is very inefficient, mainly from the Lebanese side who keeps reiterating the Syrian position, which is to deny any detentions, despite all evidence.
So what we demand is an official status to be able to initiate a dialogue with the Syrians who would have no choice but to recognize us. In this case, regardless of the regime in Syria and the forces in power, we will be able to take some action. It should take the form of an official Lebanese commission that can follow the cases of all reportedly missing Lebanese, wherever they are: Syria, Israel, Libya, Lebanon …. anywhere in the world
TR: How is the current Lebanese-Syrian commission ineffective?
W A-A: I will give you an example. Whenever we have sufficient proof about a detainee, we report to the Lebanese side, which turns to the Syrian one. Syria denies the existence of that person on their territory and the story stops here. No more action is done.
Once we highlighted the case of a woman, who it was said, had been executed. As usual Syria refused to admit that. Upon our persistence, the Lebanese contacted their Syrian counterparts again, who changed their story and stated that indeed the women is in Syria and that she was about to be hanged, but at the last moment, the verdict was canceled. Now the question is: Where is the woman ? No answer, of course.
TR: Recently President Assad issued an act of grace granting all political prisoners an amnesty. Are Lebanese included in this pardon?
Odette Salem passed away on May 16,2009. She had been waiting for her daughter Christine and her son Richard both kidnapped in 1985
W A-A: We have several categories of people held in Syria. 1) Those who committed crimes in Syrian territories and have been tried accordingly. We are not concerned with them in terms of disappearances, but of course still in terms of human rights. 2) Those who didn’t commit crimes but were arrested in Syria for political reasons and sentenced there. What we can do in this case is assign them a lawyer and do our best to ensure a fair trial. 3) Those who were kidnapped by Syrian or Lebanese militia or state bodies in Lebanon and brought to Syria for political or whatever reasons, those are a major part of our lists. Unfortunately, the amnesty only included the second category and only 2 persons were released from a list of 120.
TR: How or did you as human rights organizations resort to social media to track prisoners and collect data?
W A-A: We have used the internet for more than 10 years in order to raise awareness about human rights issues and especially about the enforced disappearance issue. The social media is definitely helping us to be more frequently in contact with some families, mainly those who are abroad.
TR: How do you think organizations advocating for victims of enforced disappearance can benefit from social media to highlight and raise awareness of their cause?
W A-A: Mainly by increasing the audience of people who are aware and motivated to support them within the complicated and so humanitarian issue.
TR:  What are your future action in this regard?:
W A-A: We have been working with previous governments and we are still working with this one to reach a solution. We hope to attain a concrete result very soon.
The most recent event co-organized by the CLDH was on September 3. It was an art exhibition and a Rally Paper entitled “The Tent Unites Us” near the families’ sit-in to encourage youth and mobilize them.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

author: Thalia Rahme


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North Korea, Country in a Long Coma · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Alex Tabarrok on Marginal Revolution blog wrote about how the dictatorship in North Korea has survived decades despite mass  starvation and economic failure. The author, quoting parts from the book Nothing to Envy, commented that the North Korean iron curtain which has been much more impenetrable than that of Eastern Europe was the major contributing factor.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Pakistan: Empowering Youth for a Better Tomorrow · Global Voices
Salman Latif

Institute of Peace and Secular Studies (IPSS) is a humble, community youth organization in Lahore, Pakistan which aims to empower Pakistani youth and groom them to face up to today’s challenges. Whereas most of the youth in Pakistan is unable to get a decent education, IPSS intends to reach out to as many youngsters as possible and ready them to shape their own future.
Pakistan boasts one of the largest youth population percentages around the globe, standing currently at an estimated 63%. According to British Council’s ‘The Next Generation’ report, this percentage will continue to rise until 2045, after which the percentage of adults will overtake that of youth. Through its youth, then, Pakistan has an immense opportunity to avail. The question is whether the youth population will translate to a demographic dividend or disaster. It is a window of opportunity for Pakistan to reap social and economic benefits that depends on it’s young generation.
Discussion during workshop 'Alternatives to Violence'
IPSS was founded some 15 years ago by Diep Saeeda, a lawyer and an ardent social activist, who intends to provide a platform for the youth to indulge in liberal discourse. Speaking about why their activities are mostly youth-centric, she says:
The youth in our country needs to be empowered, to be heard. It needs to come forth and speak and view both sides of the reality. This platform is meant to provide them with the alternate discourse towards different political, economic and social issues. It also lets them share their opinions with others and gain a valuable feedback.
Open Mic Night. Photo by IPSS
Overshadowed by an economic, social and humanitarian crisis in the wake of a bloody war against terrorism, Pakistan’s sole hope lies with the youth. Education and social awareness, Diep says, are key to ensuring that Pakistan’s future is not as nightmarish as the present.
IPSS regularly organizes different events specifically for youth. These include Open Mic nights every week, film screenings and lectures, and workshops for intellectual discussions.
Open Mic events enable its young participants to share their thoughts in the form of different, interactive snippets. These include essays, papers, articles, poetry, songs, music compositions and more or less anything that helps one express thoughts and creativity.
Film screenings are also held on a regular basis. The films are carefully chosen, to engage youth in a thoughtful 2-hour visual journey of culture, history and philosophy.
IPSS also engages youth in peaceful demonstrations and vigils over different socio-political issues. This encourages youth to exercise their right to have a say in these issues.
The aim of the IPSS is to empower youth, giving them a platform to raise their voice and share their thoughts with peers, in a society that would often rather see them silenced.

author: Salman Latif


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Russia: Digital Graveyard Launched · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Pomnipro.ru, the website advertised as the ‘social network for the deceased,’ had been launched in Perm, lenta.ru reported [ru]. Despite the groups dedicated to the dead have existed before in Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte, it is the first specialised online memorial in RuNet.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Teenager-oriented Cigarette Branding Abandoned · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Donskoy Tabak, Russian tobacco company, criticised by the bloggers for its controversial ad campaign and branding oriented at teenagers and young women, had abandoned the idea of the new line of cigarettes “Sweet Dreams,” Alexey Navalny reported [ru].


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Sri Lanka: The Hunt For Women Bloggers · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca reports that The Women and Media Collective is holding a meeting of Sinhala and Tamil language women bloggers in Colombo on the 9th of September, 2011. The meeting will also be the foundation for a women bloggers’ workshop to be held in near future.

author: Rezwan


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Swaziland: King Mswati Must Go · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Richard Rooney posts a press release from the Botswana National Front in support of progressive forces in Swaziland: “The Botswana National Front (BNF) joins the rest of the progressive forces who are currently in solidarity with the people of Swaziland during the Global Week of Action against Swaziland (5th-11th September) led by the Swaziland Democracy Campaign.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Thailand: Yingluck and Feminism · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Kaewmala analyzes if the election of Yingluck Shinawatra as Thailand's first female Prime Minister is a victory for feminism as well.


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Thailand’s Government Public Relations Department · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thailand's Government Public Relations Department which is under the Office of the Prime Minister has created a twitter account and enhanced its website to provide official news and information about Thailand.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Road Block Survival Tips · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Outlish shares a few tips on “surviving roadblocks and police encounters”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Government & Social Media  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

After a site was shut down because of concerns that its content may be in violation of the terms of the country's state of emergency, KnowTnT.com says: “It seems an opportune moment to explain to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago that on the Internet people have their own identities and express their own opinions – and that the closure of any site, any email list, any Facebook group…is folly because those willing to express their opinions will do so elsewhere.”


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Ukraine: PM Meets With Bloggers – Or Not? · Global Voices
Tetyana Bohdanova

Serhiy Pishkovtsiy at Watcher.com.ua questions [uk] whether Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has actually met with bloggers on September 2, as stated [ru] on Azarov's Facebook page [ru]. So far, neither the Prime Minister’s press service, nor any prominent Ukrainian netizens have shared any photos, videos or details of the meeting.

author: Tetyana Bohdanova


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Uruguay: UN Peacekeeping Troops Allegedly Raped Haitian Man · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

“A video claims to show UN peacekeeping troops from Uruguay raping a Haitian man (Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera)”: Bloggings by boz describes the case as “another scandal for the UN, which has faced a number of exploitation scandals by peacekeepers over the years”. Latin American News Dispatch reports that Uruguay will “recall its commander and at least five officers from Haiti”.


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Bahamas: Identification System to deal with Immigration?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On the introduction of a national identification system, Weblog Bahamas’ Rick Lowe asks: “Can't you see the territory being staked out in a new fiefdom that would remove even more of our freedoms already?”


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Brazil: Amazon Defender Under Threats Requests Protection · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

The Brazilian rainforest defender Raimundo Belmiro urges the authorities for protection after death threats “for his activism against the destruction of the Amazon jungle”. The message is spreading in both Brazilian and international blogosphere.

author: Sara Moreira


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Brazil: Road to World Cup and Olympics Paved with Forced Evictions · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

In the run up to Brazil's World Cup 2014 and Olympics 2016, thousands of people are being forcefully evicted from their homes to make room for office buildings, stadiums and roads. Video activists are making a stand, producing documentaries to raise awareness, inform and empower communities at risk of eviction.
WITNESS has partnered with Habitat International Coalition and several local organizations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to train local activists in video advocacy to fight forced evictions caused by development projects in preparation for the events. The videos are all captioned in English.
Jorge stands in front of his flooded house where his neighborhood used to stand. Documentary still.
Although development projects can mean improved conditions for the general population, for those who get evicted, it can means human rights abuses, as WITNESS describes on their campaign site:
A project being developed on their land, on their homes, is often about  the destruction of communities, the disruption of lives, and the  impoverishment of people. These development projects result in the  forced eviction of an estimated 15 million people each year.  Forced  evictions are involuntary, and regularly do not uphold obligations to  fairly compensate, resettle and rehabilitate people and the physical and  social infrastructures that once made them a community. Human rights  abuses such as a lack of adequate housing, no access to water, schools  or hospitals, can be the results of a forced eviction.
In the following video, Program Manager Priscila Néri shows us the day when the training comes together. After receiving instruction on the theory on how to produce a documentary film and plan their shoot, the activists head out to record the images and make the interviews that will bring to life the stories of the people in Canal do Anil, in Rio’s West Zone where community leaders tell how they were able to make a stand and resist forced evictions from the 2007 Pan-American  Games. A Portuguese version available through UniversalSubtitles.
The people of Restinga, through the Brazilian human rights network ‘Plataforma Dhesca Brasil’  are able to tell their story. They were forcefully evicted before any sort of compensation was worked out, and their homes and businesses were demolished to build a highway as they stood outside in the street, as they say, thrown out like garbage.
In Morro da Providencia, the city is building a cable car: however, the community was never asked for their opinion on the project, and it was not planned with their approval, which goes against Brazilian law. Now their homes have been tagged for demolition but no-one has discussed with them what will happen once their homes go. The people of Morro da Providencia, many of whom were born there insist that they are not against development, but against how this development is taking place through the violation of their rights.
Favela do Metro has been slowly demolished as families leave. Facing the option of receiving some compensation if they leave, or being homeless if they don't, many have started to trickle out of the favela. However, those who are left have to deal with rubble filled lots in their neighborhood, as the government insists that they will not remove it until all have left, as yet another way to pressure inhabitants to leave. And sadly, it is those in poverty, those who depend on their housing who are more at risk when the government decides they need a new project development.
Jorge, who lives in Vila Recreiro 2 speaks of how only 12 families out of 235 are still resisting the forced evictions. He tells of the lives of those who have left already, whose children can't go to school because they've been relocated in places where the local schools don't have room for them, and they are too far from their previous school. Some are commuting long hours and others have lost their jobs. Currently, his house is constantly flooded and the construction crews have blocked his water and sewage systems. All he asks for are his rights as a citizen according to Brazilian law, and he repeats a situation already heard in other areas: the government never discussed their plans with the communities they were going to remove.
Beyond the videos are the strategies generated from the video workshop in how to get their message out and reach their intended audiences. As narrated in the blog post “Forced Evictions Training in Rio: Social Activism as Samba” by Mary Allison Joseph:
Over the course of the training, participants collectively identified Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, as the main target of the advocacy campaign as he is the actor with the most direct power to halt forced evictions. Participants then strategically determined to target three groups through video campaigns:  Rio’s Judiciary, affected communities, and international stakeholders, all of who hold significant sway over Paes. These target audiences formed the basis of three Video Action Plan groups, each leaving the training with detailed video campaigns.   Together these video campaigns represent concrete, strategic steps across Rio’s social movements to change local policy during the City’s preparation for the mega-events.
Videos are available on Priscila's WITNESS YouTube channel.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Burkina Faso and Niger: Haven for Gaddafi ?  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

René Dassié reports that Gaddafi and a heavily armed convoy might be headed to Burkina Faso via Niger [fr]. Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaoré has yet to confirm that he offered refuge to the deposed Libyan leader.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Chile: Netizens Pay Tribute to Plane Crash Victims · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

On the afternoon of Friday September 2, 2011, Chileans received bad news: the disappearance [es] of the CASA 212 airplane from FACH, the Chilean Airforce [es], headed for the Juan Fernandez archipelago.
Among the 21 passengers [es] was a team from the NGO Desafío Levantemos Chile (Mission Lift Chile) [es] which aims to continue efforts to reconstruct the archipelago, one of the places most affected by the tsunami caused by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on February 27, 2010. Five employees of TVN (Chile National Television) [es] were travelling to support this initiative, including the well-known television presenter Felipe Camiroaga.
Felipe Camiroaga, presenter for Buenos Días a Todos. Photo by Felipe Araos on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Felipe Cubillos (@felipenavegante), leader of Levantemos Chile and a passenger on the plane, tweeted enthusiastically before disappearing:
Viajando ahora a la isla de Juan Fernandez con el apoyo de nuestra   Fuerza Aerea. Seguimos trabajando en ayudar a gente de la Isla
Newspaper La Tercera uploaded a video of TVN's report [es] of the accident –the video was immediately shared by netizens on Twitter.
Publicist and blogger Roberto Arancibia (@RobertoA) informed:
Avioneta caída en Juan Fernández, personal de TVN: Camiroaga, Bruce y más, dice @ADNRAdioChile [es]. Informará Allamand, atentos!
Sigrid (@sigridps) confirmed:
es verdad lo del avión de juan fernández y lo del equipo de buenos días a todos, no han confirmado muertes, sólo desaparecidos.
Soon, netizens started reporting on the story and hoping for good news. The hashtag #Camiroaga and Juan Ferández became worldwide trending topics on Twitter.
Twitter user José Duarte (@_josesita_) expressed hope:
Los 33 también se dieron por muertos…  Los milagros existen, no perder la FE #juanfernandez#camiroaga#TVN
Poet and student Gisella Uribe R. (@Tengo_Frio) pointed out:
Espero que los encuentren con vida, que dejen de hacer chistes, que los   hipócritas dejen de rezar, y que ni un político se aproveche de esto
Sigrid (@sigridps) commented:
lancha de armada de chile se encuentra en operativo de búsqueda, condiciones climáticas adversas, alcalde está pesimista.
Twitter user Macuer (@franciscomacuer) said:
Felipe Paredes, Jefe Torre, de Juan Fernandez, señala que el viento impidio aterrizar avion y luego los dejo de ver #camiroaga
Immediately search parties spread out, led by the armed forces and the inhabitants of the island themselves, as graphic design student Miguel Rosas pointed out (@Matehuas):
EN JUAN FERNANDEZ LOS PESCADORES SE UNEN PARA SALIR A LAS 5 AM EN AYUDA
Exposition of Felipe Cubillos, founder of the  project "Desafío Levantemos Chile". Photo on Flickr by JóvenesxChile  (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Many people turned up at TVN's facilities with candles and prayers, hoping for a miracle.
However, bad news arrived on the night of September 3, when Andrés Allamand, Minister of Defence and brother in law to Felipe Cubillos, confirmed [es] that there were no survivors.
Condolences flooded cyberspace.
Paths Chile wrote on Facebook:
Con un inmenso dolor anhelamos que descansen en eterna paz los 21  integrantes que viajaban a Juan Fernández… entre ellos Felipe  Camiroaga… tremendo hombre, inmensamente humano y noble
Ketty C (@ketty_dic31) lamented:
Mis condolencias sinceras y de todo corazón a las familia de #los21 [es]Q.E.P.D. … esto es demasiado doloroso :(
Mexican singer Lucero also mentioned her grief about the news from her Twitter account (@LuceroMexico) with reference to her friend Felipe Camiroaga:
Amigo mío.Que tu vuelo cruce los cielos y nos derrame el amor, la pasión   con la que viviste siempre.Vivirás en mi recuerdo PERMANENTEMENTE.
Besides the fame of the victims, the humanitarian effort and their strong community ties made the tragedy even more significant for the entire country. As journalist Miguel Ortiz (@ortizmiguel) wrote:
Mi papá me solía decir: “¿Cómo ganarse el Cielo? Que la muerte nos pille haciendo el bien”. ¿En qué estaban #Los21?[es] Levantando CHILE!


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China: Nazi Chic Cosplay · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ChinaSMACK has a post about about the Nazi Chic cosplay culture in China and translated Chinese netizens’ reactions to a set of Nazi Chic photos.


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Costa Rica: Bloggers Discuss Present and Future of Blogs in ‘BloggeandoCR’ · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Alonso Castro [es] and Laura Muñoz [es] write about ‘BloggeandoCR‘, an event held on September 3 where Costa Rican bloggers discussed the present and future of blogs.


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Cuba: Two Views of the Church  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Babalu maintains that “the shepherd appointed by the Vatican to care for and protect the flock in Cuba has instead chosen to care for and protect the wolves that slaughter the sheep”; in contrast, Havana Times says: “The Catholic Church seems to be expecting a rise in religious sentiment among the Cuban population as a result of the climate of dialogue and more relaxed relations with the government…”


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Egypt: Scuffles Break Out Inside and Outside Mubarak Trial  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.
Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stood trial yesterday for the killing of protesters in the Egyptian revolution. This is the third hearing of the trial and lasted for 10 hours, with scuffles reported both inside the court (which was off limits to cameras) and outside, where Mubarak's supporters clashed with the families of martyrs. The trial was adjourned until tomorrow. Several tweeps were outside the Cairo courthouse tweeting what was happening.
Mubarak, 83, is being tried along with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, as well as former Interior Minister Habib Al Adly, who is accused of ordering the killing of the 850 protesters killed in the 18 days of the Egyptian uprising which started on January 25.
Tweeps standing outside the court were particularly disturbed with the brutal manner in which the families of martyrs were treated by the police.
Ali Hisham shares with us this photograph of a martyr's father being dragged out of court by security officers:
Police dragging the father of a martyr from Mubarak's trial. Photo from Twitpic by Ali Hisham
والد الشهيد محمد سليمان يتم سحله على الأرض من قبل قوات ” الأمن ” خارج قاعة محاكمة المخلوع
Video journalist Farah Saafan witnessed the incident and tweeted:
@FarahSaafan: While reporting from #MubarakTrial I tweeted abt an old man dragged on the ground & beaten w/sticks http://bit.ly/oBPjtd its him! Not my pic
After witnessing more such scuffles, Farah asks:
@FarahSaafan: Does anyone know where I can buy a safety helmet? Not the motorbikes helmet, the safety helmet for work sites or that Journalists wear!
And Ahmed Al Ish advises:
Lawyer Gamal Eid, who attended the trial and runs the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), notes (Ar):
Editor and presenter Yosri Fouda sarcastically adds [ar]:
Heba Farooq reacts:
@HebaFarooq: key witnesses in Mubarak murder trial change testimony | Al-Masry Al-Youm And that's the only #change we have so far! #mubarakTrial #egypt
And Shams Karim adds:
@Shams209: Just read that lots of shoes found in the court room, I guess that's why #Mubarak is in the cage.:) ♫ #MubarakTrial
Reporters at the hearing say that lawyers threw shoes at each other during the trial.
Mubarak's trial will resume tomorrow, Wednesday (September 7). Follow reactions on Twitter on the hashtag #MubarakTrial
This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Guinea-Bissau: Unique Footage from 1969-74 · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Pierre Fargeas, a former aircraft technician from France, shared a unique film footage of daily life in Guinea Bissau from 1969-74 on Youtube.


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Haiti: How News of Alleged Assault Spread  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

mediahacker explains how he obtained the video of “the apparent assault by Uruguayan UN troops on Johnny Jean. The answer is simple: The video is circulating on cell phones in Port Salut.”


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Latin America: Tragic Times for Journalists · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The Latin Americanist lists recent incidents that validate the claim made by Robert Rivard -head of an Inter American Press Association (IAPA) commission- that “2011 is the ‘most tragic year in the last two decades’ for Latin American journalists.”


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Mexico: Hero Reports, Mapping Acts of Kindness · Global Voices
Ernesto Priego

Screen grab from the Juarez Heroreports map
Heroreports is a non-profit project dedicated to crowdsourcing and mapping reports of citizen courage and positive social behavior. It started in Ciudad Juárez, México as an initiative of the MIT Center for Civic Media called “Crónicas de Héroes“, under the direction of Yesica Guerra, a researcher in urban design with a master's degree in Architecture and Urbanism from MIT.  Ciudad Juarez is known for being one of the most violent cities in the world, due to drug cartel violence and female homicides.
Yesica Guerra describes the project in this video interview with the Knight Foundation blog [en]:
The following video is a trailer in Spanish for the Juárez Heroreports [es]:
According to Maite Fernandez from the International Journalists’ Network, the idea for the project came about in 2009 when Christopher Csikszentmihályi, director of the Center for Future Civic Media visited Ciudad Juarez as part of a delegation that would suggest ideas for improving life in the city.
The initial success of the Juárez Heroreports, which has documented and geo-located some 1045 accounts of positive civic actions, has been followed by other sites in Monterrey, México, the border between Tijuana, México, and San Diego, California, USA, and even Kazakhstan. While they are all part of the same networks, each site has its own individual design and personality. Nevertheless, the focus and goal remain the same.
Heroreports is described as a campaign of positive thinking. Here is an example of one short witness report submitted on April 9, 2011, in Ciudad Juárez:
Un día que regresaba del Paso Tx. Iba una señora caminado mayor de edad que regresaba de trabajar y traía muchas bolsas pesadas vi como un joven le ofreció ayuda hasta que la subió al camión.
Projects like Heroreports show an innovative way of employing digital media in local communities. The benefits are manifold, bridging the realms of online activity and “the street”. The potential uses and results cannot be fully predicted. Already, some submissions read more like literary short stories than mere reports.
The Heroreports websites are empowering individuals to speak up and focus on positive citizen behavior in densely-populated areas that suffer from conflict, and are becoming useful sources of comparative socio-geopolitical documentation.

author: Ernesto Priego


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Trinidad & Tobago: Ramifications of “Granny Quila”  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Of the controversial “Granny Quila” video, Mark Lyndersay says: “It’s clear that for many locals, Facebook and to a lesser extent other Internet based media such as blogs and Twitter have become a kind of virtual Woodford Square for airing opinions…Unfortunately, unlike a hotheaded argument in the square, posts and videos can be screen captured and downloaded for reference and in this case, can become subject to legal review.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Suspension of Human Rights? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Tattoo takes a look at the issue of human rights in the context of Trinidad and Tobago's extended State of Emergency.


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Trinidad & Tobago: True Freedom  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Attillah Springer blogs about this year's (post-riot) Notting Hill Carnival and compares the experience with Trinidad and Tobago's current State of Emergency: “The State, whether British or ‘Trinbagonian,’ cannot control the desire for freedom. With fear or guns or cameras. The desire for freedom will win out ultimately.”


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Uruguay Looks at Monitoring Social Networks After Teen’s Death · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Sixteen year old Álvaro Froste died after he was shot in the chest during a gang fight which was allegedly incited through Facebook. Pablo Gutiérrez at FayerWayer reports [es] that as a result of Álvaro's death the Uruguayan government is looking into monitoring social networks.


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Video: Nyan Cat Costa Rican style · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

A Costa Rican version of the Nyan cat has hit the social networks.  In this new incarnation, a cat with a tamale body  wearing a folkloric hat leaves behind a Costa Rican flag trail while jumping over an overcast city inhabited by miniskirt wearing overweight women. The description on the video makes reference to the lack of security felt by citizens and residents:  “Run rat before they stab you”.


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Africa, Latin America: A Portfolio on Black Minorities in South America · Global Voices
Claire Ulrich

Afrique In Visu interviews French photographer Philippe Guionie about his latest photo essay “Les Afros oubliés de la Cordillière” [fr] (The forgotten Africans of the Andes). Guionie traveled to Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,  Bolivia and Chile to portray black minorities in South America.

author: Claire Ulrich


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Chile: Mining Deaths Below Trend Through July 2011 · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Setty asks: “Did Chile learn anything from the trapped miners?”, and argues that Chile apparently did learn something: “This year, only 14 died through July, well below trend. In fact, even if the same number again die by the end of the year, that would still make 2011 the least deadly year since 2002. Here’s hoping.”


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China: Scenes from the tobacco harvest · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mike Frick from DANWEI visited the tobacco field in Yunnan and presented a very detailed picture of the tobacco industries in China.


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China: Sex, Censorship and the Rise of ‘People’s Porn’ · Global Voices
Ronald Yick

Much of the discussion surrounding Chinese Internet culture has centered on the rise of online human rights activism, but the emergence of an online erotic culture that openly describes individuals’ personal sexual activities has also been evident in recent years.
Associate Professor Katrien Jacobs‘ research at The Chinese University of Hong Kong on “People's Pornography” has investigated the culture of ‘Do It Yourself’ amateur porn on the Chinese Internet, as well as the interplay between pornography producers and consumers within the state's censorship mechanism.
Below is a transcript of an interview conducted by Ronald Yick and Oiwan Lam about the upcoming publication of Professor Jacobs’ new book, People's Pornography: Sex and Surveillance on the Chinese Internet.
Professor Jacobs' new book, 'People's Pornography: Sex and Surveillance on the Chinese Internet'
Global Voices (GV): Can you explain what you mean by “People's Pornography” in your book?
Katrien Jacobs (KJ): First of all, the term “People's Pornography” covers the meaning of DIY pornography, which reclaims pornography by amateurs. But it also refers to pornography made in China. It sounds satirical because officially there is no Chinese pornography, it is officially banned, even though everybody knows that there are many porn sites, including amateur porn, in China.
GV: Since you are an expert in the research of DIY pornography in western societies, can you compare the culture in China and in the West?
KJ: In the developed western society, alternative culture is strong and you can see artists or members of underground communities making websites to promote their own kinds of pornography in different ways. Sites like Beautiful agony, which only depicts orgasm as seen from people’s faces, is a kind of critique of commercial pornography, which is too much focused on genitals. That’s the background I came out of. I’ve met people who are interested in or actually making those sites. Of course this culture has very soon been commercialized. So you also have a DIY porn movement that is not really for people, by people, it’s just promoting girl next-door look, a kind of amateur look. So in the West, there are two competing movements, i.e. the real amateurs and the commercial forces.
In China and in Hong Kong, you do have people who upload their own videos and photographs. Sometimes on designated sites like the Pornotube, which is the Youtube for pornography. These sites are open to all people in the world. Of course, people from mainland China cannot get access to these sites and it is still much more uncommon for people to participate in DIY porn movement. But we've noticed that younger people have started makig their sex videos in secret places or hidden places, like empty classrooms, medical rooms, elevators, or just corridors. This kind of porn is definitely being made in China right now and being uploaded, because I found lots of videos compiled or archived on various websites. For sure the movement is very scattered and people say it’s quite juvenile. But I think it is a sign of change.
GV: You've used the term “erotic liberation” in your book – what do you mean by that?
KJ: First of all, I see liberation in the fact that people can have access to pornography and the second point is that, people can express their cultural and sexual identities through pornography. So in these young people’s videos, it’s powerful for them to have sex somewhere and film it and upload it and share it, despite the fact that this is totally forbidden and officially banned in China. But nevertheless it’s happening. We shouldn’t think it so seriously, in terms of political liberation because after all these people are just having fun. But they are breaking law by being naughty in two different ways, by doing sexually what they want, and by uploading it. Their excitement comes from that double kind of breaking the rule.
GV: Are they aware of being subversive in spreading their pornography?
KJ: The interviews I did in mainland were netizens, but not necessarily those netizens that are uploading. I did also interview netizens in universities. It’s really interesting, they are completely aware of the Chinese war of pornography, that the Chinese government bans pornography, controls pornography, or uses pornography towards controlling the Internet. However they can find what they’re looking for by jumping over the Great Firewall and share their secret websites with each other.
But sexual minorities are more vulnerable as they are still having a hard time being recognized in China. And for them to launch a porn movement would be probably out of the question.
GV: In recent years, more and more amateur porn has been uploaded online. Chinese netizens like to uncover the identity of those performing in sex videos, in particular when they involve corrupt government officials. What's your view on that? Do you think it is related to gender and power relations in China?
KJ: Yes, of course. If they can catch the corrupt government official, they may have indeed challenged the power relations and exhibited their own power. But it is problematic, because in terms of sexuality, so often they will also try to just go for people’s hidden sex lives. I really don’t think that we can do that because even if this person is a party official, with too much power, I still think we cannot judge his or her sex life. I would prefer people complain more about the lack of sexuality.
I think Han Han's comment about propaganda of impotence is very interesting. What has been promoted in the mainstream society it that we should not have pornography, maybe we can have sex, but we cannot have pornography. We should not document our joy, our orgasm. His idea challenges China’s history of asexuality. To attack the officials for having illicit sex affairs can hardly change the corrupted system.
GV: What is the relationship between the anti-censorship battle and sex activism in China?
KJ: In China, netizens seem to be aware of the pornography war, the fights of pornography, the fights of filtering software. In fact, the Grass Mud Horse, a symbol for fighting against the filtering software in 2009, is a sex related expression. The rapid spread of Grass Mud Horse was a powerful moment in the netizens’ fight for civil liberty, or freedom of expression. In China, more than in other countries, the fight of sexually explicit media is at the heart of netizens’ struggle.
Of course, for people who are very into political dialogue, they do not want to deal with pornography questions, or even with sexuality questions. So to some extent, I think the discourses are marginalized, but if you look at it closely, you can find it’s actually in the middle of whole debate and the female bloggers are at the heart of it. For example, bloggers like Muzi Mei and Liumangyan (sex workers activist) are two very good examples of what females and feminist bloggers who are doing around sexuality and they wouldn’t try to separate political activism from sex activism.
I think there is male tradition of political activism that separates the sexual questions from the political questions and there is the tradition of female bloggers, more exhibitionistic and more down-to-earth, and so I think they are from different angles. When I was writing my chapter on bloggers, I just noticed this kind of gap between the male tradition and female tradition, and I couldn’t really deny that it was there.
GV: In your other interviews you mentioned that you were surprised by the Chinese male fantasy of having sex with underage females. Where does such a fantasy stem from?
KJ: I think it comes from Japan, because Japanese pornography is so dominant here and they really promote the image of young innocent submissive female, and they appear to be underage. I interviewed a lot of guys who say that, yes, this is my primary fantasy. I want to see this submissive girl. What does it mean? I think it means that it gives the guy the sense of empowerment. They can handle the submissive girl. So in this fantasy world, they can deal with this kind of girl, but it doesn’t mean that they have this girl in real life but the fact that they have to probably deal with the quite powerful women around them. In Japan there are studies explaining that this fantasy is a reversal, a sense of weakness and incompetence that Japanese male was like spoiled by mothers also. In China it’s a little bit similar.
GV: Does your book touch upon race and sexual relations in the Chinese Internet?
KJ: Actually I have a chapter that I interviewed people in Internet sex sites about their sexual fantasies in terms of who they want to date. There is common coupling zeal between a Caucasian male and Chinese female. Even though there is also more and more Chinese males interested in foreign women. I interviewed Chinese guys who were interested in dating me and they did pour out a lot of frustration onto me, about their inability to date or just seduce local Chinese women. From that research into dating mechanisms in Hong Kong, I realize that in the heterosexual world, there is a real disconnect between men and women. I found a lot of Chinese men and Chinese women have different aspirations…so does it have anything to do with the fact that they create the fantasy of easy submissive girl. Maybe it’s related. It’s a kind of reversal, that they can dream about submissive girl, but in reality, those Chinese men are rejected so badly by Chinese women, for instance on dating sites. The Chinese women are very demanding, and they publicize their requirements. And the Chinese men feel quite bad in a way. So I can see that Hong Kong and China is patriarchic. And I know that in reality, in the workplace, and at home, men have a lot of power. But that’s also just one way of investigating the reality. There’s also other realities where women have a lot of power as well.
Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei
GV: A final question, when the Chinese authorities detained prominent artist activist Ai Weiwei, one of the excuses was his nude pictures. Why do you think Ai's naked pictures have become a threat to the Chinese government?
KJ: I know when he was detained, one of the many accusations against him was that he was spreading pornography. I think he is powerful and threatening to the authorities because he has a very good sense of humor and he made these witty photographs of himself jumping around with naked grass mud horses. He’s such a big emblem of in the fight of freedom of speech and sexuality is part of it. If you’re free person, you’re artistic and free person, you have an eccentric personality, then you can do these things, you can jump around naked sometimes. He represents this kind of sense of humor and freedom that is totally dangerous in China.

author: Ronald Yick


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China: Who Are the Real “Orientalists”? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

High Peaks Pure Earth translates Tibetan writer Woser's debate with other Chinese scholars about the West’s “Shangri-La complex”. The writer points out that the very representation of Tibet by the Chinese scholars and the “Tibet liberation story” told by the Chinese Communist Party are the “real orientalists”.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Cuba: Preparing for Elections  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In 2012 the electoral process must be executed”: Laritza Diversent explains how The Communist Party of Cuba, “the only political organization that is recognized as legal within the Cuban system”, is preparing for upcoming elections.


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Egypt: Mubarak Trial Updates · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia, who blogs at Egyptian Chronicles, is liveblogging the trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak here. Today's hearing is the fourth and Mubarak is accused of ordering the killing of more than 850 protesters during the Egyptian revolution which started on January 25.


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Guinea: Nadine Bari’s Fight to Reduce Poverty in Guinea · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Nadine Bari in the documentary
Nadine Bari is a French citizen who resides half the time in Guinea in West Africa and the other half on the French island Réunion, in the Indian ocean.
Mrs. Bari lost her husband Abdoulaye “Djibril” Barry during one of the violent repressions in Guinea that were customary under the dictatorship of Sékou Touré. Twenty-five years ago, she created a non-governmental organization that supports women, the disabled, and the rural population of Guinea.
Global Voices (GV): How did you end up in Guinea?
Nadine Bari (NB): I first arrived in Guinea in January of 1964 to follow my Guinean husband. We were both quite thrilled to have the opportunity to put our diplomas and youthful energy to use for the development of the newly independent nation (not for the regime at the time though). My husband disappeared in 1971. The first book I wrote,  “Grain de sable” was about my quest to find out the truth about his death (the documentary “I was still waiting for you yesterday” directed by Catherine Veaux-Logeat also retraced this quest).
GV: Tell us about your organization?
NB: It is called Guinée-Solidarité (GS). It was established in Strasbourg, France in 1987. During two trips to Guinea in 1985 and 1986, I could not help but take notice of the economic and social downfall of the country. For instance, in Koundara-Youkounkoun, I was stupefied to see that the school of Ouros did not have benches for the students. They had to bring their own seat otherwise they were not allowed in class. In one classroom, the teacher used an electricity mast that had fallen down as a desk for the kids. The health center had very little medication in stock, some were even expired. With the photos that my daughter took, we raised awareness in our church in Strasbourg. One of the choir singers worked for a transportation company and offered to fill a few containers with materials that we collected from hospitals, schools and companies in Alsace and send them to Guinea. That's how everything started.
GV: How did Guinée-Solidarité help reduce the impact of poverty in Guinea?
NB: We targeted the villages that were kind of forgotten by international aid. The ones that were difficult to reach and especially downtrodden, in the Guinean forest and in Northern Guinea. In 1986-87, we were shocked to see that the patients in the hospital in the village of Mali (in the Fouta-Djallon region) were sleeping on the floor. We raised awareness again in Alsace and the surrounding regions to collect medical materials. In total, 7 state hospitals, 12 health centers and 18 health units benefited from the initiative. One of our priorities was to help the disabled (either the crippled, blind or socially outcast groups). We trained some of them in the use of bicycles or tricycles.
A clothing workshop established by Guinée-Solidarité (photo used with permission)
GV: What is Guinée-Solidarité doing specifically for women?
NB: We have helped create a clothing workshop where women imprint an indigo dye on fabrics. We also support widows who are gardening in Fello Wendou in the Fouta-Djalon region. We were able to get funds from Switzerland to plant indigo trees. The project began in 2007 and it builds on the skills of Fulani women and how they weave traditional fabrics. Unfortunately, the chinese textile industry has now injected the local market with cheaper fabrics at a cost with which we cannot compete if we wish to sustain our workers.
A reading class for Guinean women lead by Guinée Solidarité (photo used with permission)
GV: Educating poor and disabled children is one of your major success stories. How did you go about the project?
NB:  In la Cité de Solidarité, a neighborhood of Conakry [the capital] known to be the homeless and beggars quarter, we knew of at least 450 disabled people. None knew how to read. We found 80 of them, mostly girls and children, sponsors in France, Spain and Belgium. The criteria to benefit from a sponsor was that the child had to be an orphan or disabled. Many begging children – even the blind ones – were able to attend college, at Gamal Abdel Nasser or Sonfonia University in Conakry. A library was opened for the children of la Cité and the neighborhood Jean-Paul II. It is very well-attended. We even installed solar panels to provide electricity on a regular basis.
Guinée-Solidarité has 4 main branches: Strasbourg, Marseille (that has been financing a major rehabilitation center for the disabled in Mamou), Paris and Conakry.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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India: Bomb Blast Outside Delhi High Court Kills Nine · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

At least nine people have been reported killed and over forty five injured  in a blast outside the Delhi High Court earlier this morning. Apparently the high-intensity bomb was kept in a suitcase, though investigations are on to determine the exact source. Netizens reacted with shock and anger on Twitter.
@adityapatawari – Blast at Delhi High Court! Consistent failure of security agencies! #delhi #blast #india http://goo.gl/fb/Qu4Kt
@adityapatawari: Why there are alerts _after_ the blasts? Can't security agencies be on alert before the blasts and save the day? #delhi #blast #india
@shekharkapur: Reports coming in on a number of dead at high court blast in Delhi, terrible tragedy, once again terror hits India.
@ays7: Bomb blast outside Delhi High Court…..terror strikes again!!
The High Court of Delhi. Image from Flickr by Ramesh Lalwani (CC BY-NC 2.0).
On Twitter, netizens have been posing a lot of questions:
@irfhabib: Govt say no prior input on today's blast.Wasn't May 2011 minor blast enough to wake up the Delhi police?
@falguni: Hearing reports of blasts in Delhi. Why is it becoming a habit to hear this news and the reaction is less intense every time?
@ghazalawahab: Govt condemns the bomb blast at Delhi high court. That's the least it can do, or is it d best tht it can do?
@karthy: If our internal security couldn't protect Delhi from #blast how can they safegaurd other places.
@satyamnish: Delhi Blast again…..horrible when our Gov will learn.
Prayers and opinions have been pouring in:
@jiteshpillaai: A silent prayer for those  who lost their lives in the delhi high court bomb blast. Prayers for  the bereaved and injured. I'm so sorry.
@ashajkk: Yet another blast in Delhi! Sad and Disgusting!
@testertested: India celebrates its 10th bomb blast of 2011. This time in High court itself. Congrats! Way to go. #Delhi HC #delhiblast #congress
@jnemana: Bomb Blast in Delhi! HM's (Home Minister)  address coming up. Hope he announces his Resignation accepting the  Govt's incompetence in collecting intelligence.
Bloggers have also swung into action, tweeting, blogging helpline numbers. Still others are requesting people to do their bit by using alternative means of communication for non-emergency purposes today, thereby keeping the phone lines free.
@MihirBijur: If ur in Delhi, the 1st thing u hv 2do is NOT jam phone networks. Use SMS/E-MAIL/FACEBOOK/TWITTER 2communicate. #DelhiBlast PL RT

author: Aparna Ray


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Jamaica: Love & Language  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Does it seem impossible for there to be a connection between “a group of rather ‘unchristian’ Christian pastors [coming] out against an advertisement that was promoting love” in Jamaica, racism and riots in the UK and a baby learning to use language in the US?  Under the Saltire Flag finds the link.


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Libya: Blogger Jad is Missing · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

Libyan blogger and programmer Abderrazak al Dokaly Assary (better known as Jad) has been missing since mid-August. According to the blog Made in Libya [Ar], Jad may have been executed or kidnapped by forces loyal to Gaddafi in the city of Zlitan before the fall of the city in the hands of the rebels whom the blogger joined earlier this year.

author: Hisham Almiraat


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Macedonia: No Jail Time for Participants in Inter-Ethnic Violence · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Participants in the violent inter-ethnic incident in February 2011, on Skopje Fortress (Kale), who were identified and subject to an investigation, have received a suspended sentence in a secret trial.
Hundreds of young and not-so-young men took part in the massive brawl, preceded by a night demolition raid led by ethnic Albanian government officials against a church-shaped construction built by the government body under the management of their ethnic Macedonian coalition partners.
Skopje Fortress Kale, photo by Yemc, via Wikipedia (Public Domain)
On August 22, the authorities announced that a trial would start soon, as the Public Prosecutor's Office submitted to the Court the accusations against 51 persons for participation in rioting and obstruction of the work of the police, after a four-month investigation. This was done through a statement relayed by a number of media outlets, including PlusInfo [mk]. According to Utrinski Vesnik [mk], this information was confirmed the day after by the Basic Court Skopje 1 Spokesman, Judge Vladimir Tufegdzic.
Even though a number of high-ranking government officials of the ruling DUI and VMRO-DPMNE directly and indirectly took part in the incident and the related events, including ministers, deputy ministers, mayors and other executives, the only political figure among the suspects noted by the media was Artan Grubi (more info at the end of this Global Voices post), who in the meantime participated in the June parliamentary elections as a candidate on the ticket of DUI.
On August 24, the court used the media [mk] to announce that it had already passed a sentence on August 17, the day the Prosecutor submitted the evidence and announced that the trial would start soon. The court decided not to hold a public trial and passed a suspended sentence of three months in jail for all adult suspects. A separate trial will be held for the six suspected minors. The practical meaning of the sentence is that no one will have to go to jail, unless they are convicted of another felony in the next two years.
The law allows the possibility of appealing the decision not to hold a public hearing through a complaint filed within a deadline of six days by some of the involved parties. The decision was made public after seven days, alsongside the information that no complaint had been filled by that time.
Even though this kind of a solution is allegedly allowed by the law, the fact is that the lack of a public hearing has robbed the Macedonian public of a proper closure and the official assessment did not cause an outcry. The ‘perfect timing’ during the holiday season and the complacency of most commercial media ensured that critiques of this obvious example of consensual political party influence on the judiciary, such as the one [mk] by Utrinski Vesnik journalist Gordana Duvnjak, remained lonely and obscure. She noted that the incident also resulted in bodily harm to four innocent passersby and two policemen, who did not have opportunity to partake in the decision-making process.
Blogger Neutralec (The Neutral Guy) was a rare voice who addressed [mk] this development, reminding of the aspect of hate speech spreading via social networks, which was a big deal in the media spin at the time, instigated by actors who had to prove their ‘patriotism’ to their prospective voters in the upcoming elections:
I personally find this decision scandalous, because there was no attempt to find the organizer [of the Facebook event] signed as Goce Solunski or the chief propagandist for the march on Kale, Sasha Petkovski – Karlos. (He was the organizer of the protests against the Greek army nationalist slogans [against Macedonians and Albanians], which took place in Skopje 15 days after that incident, after he “waited” to receive all necessary permits by the police. Citizens of Albania who protested the day after that news became public did not wait for permits of their police or a grand leader like that to organize them. Maybe that's why Albania is ahead of us.)
I still think that the Kale incident was perpetrated by the two ruling parties in order “to measure who has a bigger” rating, since their love at that time was “on glass feet”…
The fortress remains closed [mk] to the public. A recent announcement by the authorities, coinciding with outing of the news about the non-trial, speaks of re-building more new buildings [mk] within its premises alongside the controversial church-like museum [mk]: an Ottoman-style tower and a prehistoric house, which will reflect the multicultural heritage.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Mexico: Twitter Hashtags as Source of Citizen-Driven News due to ‘Narco Censorship’ · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Andrés Monroy-Hernandez at ReadWriteWeb explains that in Mexico “some newspapers have officially announced a policy of self-censorship when it comes to reporting drug war-related news”, and that, “Twitter in particular, with its unidirectional follower model and its hashtags, has become one of the main sources of citizen-driven news in Mexico.”

author: Silvia Viñas