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Sri Lanka: Forgotten Victims Of The Tsunami · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dushi at Groundviews  posts a photo story highlighting some forgotten victims of the tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004 who are still living in temporary shelters. A commenter in that post wondered what happened to the 2.2 Billion dollars of aid Sri Lanka received.


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St. Lucia: A Year for the Books · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

St. Lucia's Caribbean Book Blog reflects on 2009 as “a year that surely has to go down as one of the most disruptive and transformational periods in the world publishing industry.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Uruguay: The Best Blogs from School-Aged Children · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The blog from Plan Ceibal in Uruguay shares links to the best blogs from school-aged children [es] across the country as part of the campaign, “Your Ideas are Valued.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Azerbaijan: Standing in line · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Newly returned to Baku, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines posts its observations on queuing in Azerbaijan. The blogger is not impressed and in a previous post also laments the state of the medical system in the country.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahamas, Jamaica: Jonkonnu & Christmas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“We tend to forget — or, more probably, we don’t know — that Junkanoo in the Bahamas is not unique”: Nicolette Bethel provides “a taste of what happens in Jamaica at Christmas…”


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Barbados: Drunk Driving · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“To Owen Arthur, Mia Mottley, David Thompson and a series of Attorneys General: the victims and the families of the dead and injured say ‘Thanks for nothing.'”: Barbados Free Press wants breathalyzer laws instituted on the island.


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Brazil: 100-year-old grandma realises parachute dream · Global Voices
Paula Góes

It is never too late to make a dream come true, even if it means that you have to make your his first parachute jump at the age of one hundred. On December 19th, Aida Gemaque Mendes, better known as Vó Iaiá (Granny Iaiá), successfully jumped 8,000 feet through the skies of the city where she has lived since 1959, Macapá, capital of the Brazilian state of Amapá.
“I want to stroll in the sky, to feel a little closer to God”. Photo by Alcinéa Cavalcante, published with permission
During the four hour wait to jump, Vó Iaiá told jokes, remembered stories of her life and comforted her many relatives and friends who were there to support her, guaranteeing them that she was very happy and not afraid at all. Among the onlookers was the blogger Alcinéa Cavalcante [pt], who documented the preparation and the after jump in photos, and later interviewed the hero granny:
Aos 100 anos, completados em novembro passado, ela dança, caminha, joga vôlei, basquete e futebol. “O que eu gosto mais é de dançar. Ihhhhh adoooro dançar”, diz com os olhos brilhando e dando uns requebros.
Falta alguma coisa? Faltava. Faltava saltar de paraquedas. Peraltice que ela realizou ontem em Macapá. “Quero passear no céu, me sentir mais pertinho de Deus”, disse.
[…]
Quando desceu, Vó Iaiá era o retrato da maior felicidade do mundo. Ergueu os braços para o céu e agradeceu a Deus. Deu entrevista coletiva contando que “foi bom demais”, que “é muito legal”, que não sentiu nenhum tantinho de medo, só uma “coisa estranha no ouvido por causa do vento forte” e que quer saltar de novo.
[…]
On landing, Grandma Iaiá was the image of the greatest happiness of the world. She raised her arms to the sky and thanked God. She gave a press conference to say that “it was jolly good,” that “it is really cool”, that she did not feel not even a bit of fear, only a “strange thing in the ear because of the strong wind” and that she wants to jump again.
Getting ready to take off. Photo by Alcinéa Cavalcante, published with permission
Emanuel Costa [pt] provides a snapshot of her centenary life and how this dream came true, a Christmas gift from her grandson Josivaldo dos Santos:
O sonho de Aida Mendes, também conhecida como “vovó Iaiá”, que nasceu em 20 de novembro de 1909 em uma fazenda no interior do município de Chaves (PA), sempre foi salta de paraquedas, mas tudo começou quando Josivaldo dos Santos, o Vavá, neto de “vovó Iaiá”, que também é paraquedista, perguntou se ela teria coragem de saltar de paraquedas.
Depois de aceitar o desafio “vovó Iaiá” passou por uma série de exames médicos antes de realizar o salto. E na presença de vários amigos e familiares, além de vários jornalistas a dona Aida Gemaque Mendes realizou a proeza. A queda livre durou 13 segundos e a navegação foi de 15 minutos.
Agora “vovó Iaiá” pode entrar para o Guinness Book (o livro dos recordes) como a mulher mais velha do mundo a saltar de paraquedas. O feito vai se avaliado para entrar nos registros do Guinness Book. Título de mulher mais velha do mundo a salta de paraquedas pertence à dona Encarnação Olivas, quando aos 82 anos fez um salto histórico no aeroporto de Marília (SP), em 1992.
After accepting the challenge, “Grandma Iaiá” went through a series of medical tests before jumping. And in front of many friends and relatives, and several journalists, Ms Aida Gemaque Mendes performed the feat. The free fall lasted 13 seconds and navigation was 15 minutes.
Now “Grandma Iaiá” may make it into the Guinness Book (of records) as the oldest woman in the world to go parachute jumping. Her achievement will be considered for entrance into the Guinness Book of Records. The holder of the title of oldest woman in the world to go parachute jumping is Encarnação Olivas, aged 82 when she made a historical jump at the airport of Marília (São Paulo) in 1992.
That record was, however, broken two years later. Gavin [pt], a reader at the Notícias Daqui blog, laments in the blog's comment box the fact that Vó Iaiá did not make it into the Guinness World Records as the oldest tandem parachute jump (female) after all. Not yet:
Por muito pouco, a Dona Iaiá não entrou no Guiness Book. O record para salto de paraquedas feminino “tandem” (junto com instrutor) é de Estrid Geertsen da Dinamarca com 100 anos e 60 dias, no dia 30 de setembro de 2004. Sendo que Dona Iaiá fez 100 anos no dia 20 de outubro, ela deixou de quebrar o recorde por poucos dias. Mas ainda assim, um feito impressionante e inspirador. Parabéns para ela!
Iaiá hugs Vavá, the grandson who organised the feat, after the jump. Photo by Alcinéa Cavalcante, published with permission.
Vó Iaiá's jump has given ideas to many bloggers who were not sure what to give their grandmothers for Christmas, such as Emerson Batista [pt], who blogged half-jokingly:
Estava pensando que presente deveria comprar para minha avó neste natal. Agora estou na dúvida entre os saltos de paraquedas ou de bang-jump. Vou pensar um pouco mais… Após o salto a vovó Iaiá agradeceu: “Obrigada meu Deus. É bom demais.” Imagino que o agradecimento não seja apenas pelo salto realizado. Vovó Iaiá tem muito a agradecer…
Iaiá now plans to fulfill other dreams, such as learning how to ride a bicycle and maybe even riding a motorbike. Not only is she, incredibly for her age, strong and healthy enough for this – she does not even need to wear glasses – she is full of life and energy. Asked, during a phone interview before the jump, what she attributes her longevity and courage to, she told Altino Machado [pt]:
Trabalho. Trabalhei muito na minha mocidade. Agora, na velhice, estou jovem para tudo.
Still young at 100. Photo by Alcinéa Cavalcante, published with permission

author: Paula Góes


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Brazil: Interpreting songs into Brazilian Sign Language · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Pedro Witchs shares in YouTube his interpretation of the song “Todos os Verbos” [All the verbs], originally by singer Zélia Duncan, into LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language). Vocal and guitar by Rodrigo Romão.

author: Diego Casaes


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Brazil: New Year’s Eve fashion in São Paulo · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Polyana De Oliveira blogs about the many Brazilian traditions for New Year's Eve, from outfits to food.


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Cambodia: Police begins to fine motorists in the evening · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vutha observes that traffic cops in Cambodia have started to apprehend and fine motorists who violate traffic laws in the evening.

author: Mong Palatino


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China: Cui Weiping tweets elite views on Liu Xiaobo · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Charter 08 has been around for just over a year and has reportedly gathered more than 10,000 signatures. Liu Xiaobo, one of its founders, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Christmas Day last week.
While most of the original 303 signatories to Charter 08 were prominent liberal mainland Chinese public intellectuals, the larger group of people who tend to fall in that category have for several years often been criticized for a tendency to remain silent on China's numerous social issues.
More recently, well-known Beijing Film Academy professor Cui Weiping has been getting some of that on Twitter, which she took up in late 2009. Following several tweets from her followers, though not her stated motivation, she decided this week to phone up friends and colleagues and tweet their responses to the news of Liu's heavy sentence.
Many have been translated by C.A. Yeung at Under the Jacaranda Tree, but below is the GVO version along with several newer tweets. As Yeung writes, while not all those interviewed share the vision put forth by Charter 08 or even with Liu himself:
“this time there seems to be a consensus among them that (1) Liu Xiaobo’s conviction constitutes some kind of Wenzi Yu (文字狱 means jail sentences for publishing articles on topics deem to be politically incorrect); and (2) it is both legally and morally unacceptable to punish a person for exercising his freedom of speech.“
Cui's tweets:
徐友渔
徐友渔的看法：宣判刘晓波，罪名中有零八宪章。宪章重申联合国人权宣言，因此宣判是对人类大家庭公认的文明准则的挑战，也是对中国现存宪法的挑战，因为该宪法载明了中国公民的言论自由。说到底，是对中国人民和人类良知的挑战。
秦晖
秦晖的看法：现在还搞因言治罪那一套，真是太可悲了。我不是宪章的签名者，但我懂得“不赞成你的观点，但坚决捍卫你发表观点的权利”的道理，我坚决反对对刘晓波搞文字狱。
徐贲
徐贲的看法：一个中国公民以宪法给他的权利，善意地对国家政治表达自己的看法，却受到如此严厉的惩罚，感到难以置信。中国是一个签署了国际人权公约的国家，中国要在国际上崛起，必须建立良好的言行一致的信誉。从许多国家对此事的报道来看，这是一件使中国信誉受到损害的事情。（关于刘晓波）
袁伟时
袁伟时的看法：二十一世纪了，还以言获罪，侵犯公民权利，亵渎文明，又一次往中国脸上擦黑！当局认定的罪犯刘晓波成了众人心目中的英雄，鸿沟如此巨大，执政者如何面对？
章诒和
章诒和的看法：1968年，我以现行反革命罪，判处有期徒刑20年；2009年，刘晓波以煽动颠覆国家政权罪，判处有期徒刑11年。我们都是因言获罪，前后相距四十一载。这种状况不得不使人怀疑：我们的制度，到底改善了多少？我们的社会，究竟进步了没有？
乐黛云
乐黛云的看法：一，看过零八宪章，觉得其中没有颠覆国家的想法，是希望改善；二、零八宪章是一个讨论，如果一个讨论也要定罪，是违背宪法的，不能让人心服口服；三、如果（弄得）大家都不敢说话，国家还怎么改善？
钱理群
钱理群的看法：不一定同意刘晓波的所有观点和做法，这是另一回事；但刘晓波属于平和、理性的批评者，对他都要判刑，是一种虚弱的表现，觉得很难接受，
丁东
丁东的看法：文章自古多奇狱，又添十一载；思想从来要自由，何止零八年。——圣诞中国
莫言
作家莫言同意将他的这句话放在这里：不太了解情况，不想谈。家里有客人，正在和他们说话。
汪晖
汪晖先生来信：谢谢来信和电话。我不赞成刘晓波的许多观点，但反对任何以言治罪的方式。我会关注此事的发展，在了解更多的情况之后，表达我的看法。
胡杰
胡杰的看法：社会已经如此开放，言论自由已经成为全社会的共识，从（对待）谭作人到刘晓波，怎么还会出现如此荒唐、倒退的现象？
余英
余英时的看法：刘晓波先后入狱三次,一次比一次光荣，这次最光荣。中国史上有一个光辉先例——范仲淹，他“宁鸣而死，不默而生”,一生被贬放三次。一次送行，朋友们说：“此行极光。”第二次大家说：“此行亦光。”最后一次说：“此行尤光。”他笑答：“仲淹前后三光矣。”这便是今天的刘晓波。
贺卫方的看法：不久前，某海外传媒来电采访，问我对于Mr. Hsiao-po Liu的十一年之罚。我没有好气地说：“我欲无言。”对方问：“难道说你不觉得十一年太重？”我反问：“难道说判三年就适当么？对于根本无罪者，一天都太重，一天之罚都是冤狱。再说，你真以为他会在牢里服满十一年？”
梁文道：說劉曉波是「異見份子」，但什麼叫做「異見份子」呢？一個正常的社會本該有许多不同意見。我在香港、台灣和美國等地方見到知識份子勇於自命「異見份子」，以誌其異；但在緬甸、伊朗和中國卻見到無奈被封的「異見份子」，幾成罪名。可見只准一種意見是正見的國家才會有劉曉波這種「異見份子」。
郭于华的看法：08宪章表达的是公民最基本和正当的权利要求，而且提倡以温和改良的方式推进社会进步，道出常识何罪之有？即使说的全然不对，也不可以因言获罪。判刘晓波有罪才是真正的颠覆国家政权（合法性）之罪，而且是对社会良知和人类文明的挑战。
王晓渔的看法：我不会翻墙，没有在大陆媒体上看到报道。我坚信一个手无寸铁的书生因为几篇文章将在铁窗之内度过11年，是少数敌对势力制造的谣言。一个伟大、光荣、正确的国家，怎么可能允许这种违反法治的事情发生呢？希望广大善良的不明真相的群众，睁开眼睛，明辨是非，不要被谣言迷惑。
杜小真的看法：因为思想和提出问题而获罪，在今天只能解释为对思想言论自由这现代政治生活中最重要也是最基本的公民权利的亵渎和挑战。况且零八宪章，在没有签署的我看来完全是善意和建议性的，如果连这都不能容忍，真是太可悲。我并不完全同意刘晓波的一些观点，但他发表观点的自由绝对应该受到保护。
李银河的看法：在2010年即将来临之际，得到刘晓波被判的消息，感觉回到了1910年。
黄纪苏的看法：坦率地说，我对刘晓波有过很多批评，但是现在不应该以言治罪。这个例子不应该开，开了不是一件什么好事。
朱学勤的看法：“我不同意你的观点，坚决捍卫你发表观点的权利”，这是文明共识，法治底线。以言治罪，置文明于何地？置宪法于何地？吁请最高法院介入，驳回此案，维护文明，维护宪法尊严。
贾樟柯的看法：（关于刘晓波被判）这件事，很难理解，很受伤。是不是以后我们就不能为这个国家设想了？
黄纪苏来信进一步完善了他的看法：刘晓波的政见我多不同意，以往彼此均无好话。但因言治罪不是好事，既不当也不智，不应再搞了。
雷颐的看法：反对以言治罪。这是国家文明程度高底的重要标准之一。
与刘小枫先生通了电话，他此前不知道刘晓波被判的事情，他要在网上“看看再说”。
吴思的看法：我赞成关于言论自由的各种观点，但我想做利害计算。老子说：“物或损之而益，或益之而损。”什么事做过分了，谁受损谁受益，就要反着算了。
与张颐武先生通了电话，他表示此前不知道刘晓波被判的事情，他的注意力主要在别的地方，比如小沈阳。我解释只是想听听周围人们的反应，他说“一点反应也没有”。
刘军宁的看法：不期望，不绝望！（关于刘晓波）

author: John Kennedy


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Cuba: Show of Support · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense reports on “the arrests over the past several days of numerous activists attempting…to show their support for political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who has been on a hunger strike…to demand that his human rights be respected.”


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Curacao: Kayaking through Caribbean · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands blogs about an activist from Curaçao, who “has paddled more than 1600 kilometres in a kayak to raise awareness for the environment.”


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Did China wreck the Copenhagen deal? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Uln tried to sort out what had happened in Copenhagen and questioned why the developed countries did not sign among themselves a deal for reducing emission. Inside-Out China translated a local report telling an insider story on Wen Jiabao's schedule in Copenhagen.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Five Years of Global Voices: Where they are now · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The following was originally published at http://www.el-oso.net and is part of a series of posts commemorating Global Voices’ fifth anniversary and supporting of Global Voices’ 2009-10 online fundraising campaign. If you would like to support our work, please visit our Donate page. Thank you!
—–
Five years ago I boarded a flight from San Diego to Boston to attend the 2004 Internet & Society conference at the Berkman Center. This was just a month after George Bush won the 2004 election and so there was an element of group therapy to many of the panel discussions. 2004 was the year when, according to Wired Magazine, the Internet invented Howard Dean. Dean's campaign was supposed to be the harbinger of a new era of net politics where the progressive grassroots took advantage of online tools like blogs and Meetup.com (this was before YouTube even existed) to bring about more enlightened, representative governance. Instead, according to the ever-snarky Register, “organized religion, not net religion, won it for Bush.”
While the majority of the 2004 Internet & Society conference was focused on deconstructing the US election, two of the fellows at the Berkman Center, Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman, wanted to widen the scope of the discussions to look at how the internet was affecting society and politics worldwide. Disillusioned by the arrogance and frequent incompetence of big media, Rebecca had just left CNN where she was working as the Beijing Bureau Chief. She came to the Shorenstein Center to study the relationship between blogs and international news coverage, with a specific focus on the coverage of North Korea.
Ethan meanwhile had recently published Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower, which served as a foundation for much of his later thinking and research about 1) the role that bloggers play in filling voids of information from “under-covered parts of the world” and 2) the role that “bridge-builders” play in amplifying their voices across cultural, national, and linguistic divides.
Even when we do have some information about under-covered parts of the world, we have another problem, what Ito terms “the caring problem”. People pay attention to subjects they care about. They tend to ignore subjects they know little about. Media, trying to serve its customers in a free market, responds by giving them more information on subjects they've demonstrated an interest in and ignoring other subjects. As a result, consumers don't get interested in new topics, as they're not exposed to them. So even if people blog or report about situations in the Congo, readers don't pay attention to these reports and the noosphere, the realm of thought and culture, remains weak in those areas.
To solve the caring problem, Ethan continues, “will require a focus on bridge builders,” people who are able to contextualize conversations, issues, and debates from one community and introduce them to another. Some of the greatest examples of online bridge-builders at the time were Hossein Derakhshan from Iran, Joi Ito from Japan, Xiao Qiang from China, Ory Okolloh from Kenya, Salam Pax from Iraq, and Jeff Ooi from Malaysia.
Rebecca and Ethan wanted to bring some of these bridge-builders (later dubbed “bridge bloggers“) together to discuss, debate, and shape a shared vision for an inclusive, unmediated, global, grassroots conversation. About forty of us gathered in a medium-sized classroom at Harvard's law school to discuss how “the use of weblogs and other new technologies enhance online global dialogue and political advocacy.” At the end of the day Joi Ito and Jim Moore led a session with the objective of drafting a manifesto, which is just as applicable today as it was then.
Two of the most outspoken participants throughout the day's discussions were Hossein Derakhshan and Jeff Ooi, who are now in prison and parliament respectively. Reflecting on just how much can change in five short years, I decided to make a list of some of the international participants from that first Global Voices meeting and look at where they are now.
Ory Okolloh (Kenyan Pundit): At the time of the first Global Voices meeting Ory Okolloh was a student at Harvard Law School and an enthusiastic blogger known as “Kenyan Pundit.” Like other bridge bloggers, she frequently wrote about Kenya for a mostly Western audience and wrote about the West for Kenyans. Throughout 2005 she wrote seven posts on Global Voices introducing some of the pioneers from the African blogosphere. Today Ory continues to blog at Kenyan Pundit. She has spoken at both TED and Pop!Tech. And she has left the legal world to focus on the use of technology in activism with Ushahidi and Mzalendo.
Omar and Mohammed Fadhil (Iraq the Model): A mild controversy surrounded the participation of Iraqi brothers Omar and Mohammed Fadhil in the first Global Voices meeting. First of all, their trip was financed by Spirit of America, a patriotic US non-profit which supports the work of the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan. (At the meeting Jim Hake announced that Spirit of America had developed the first blogging platform to support Arabic text.  Jim says the platform was used for three and a half years by “Friends of Democracy“.) Second, when Omar and Mohammed arrived to the US to attend the conference they received an unexpected invitation to visit President George Bush in the White House. A couple years later Bush even cited an Iraq the Model blog post in his address to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (seriously):
The Iraqi people are beginning to say — see positive changes. I want to share with you how two Iraqi bloggers — they have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here — (laughter) — “Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed. We hope the governments in Baghdad and America do not lose their resolve.”
There were even rumors that Omar and Mohammed were receiving funding from the CIA, an allegation that New York Times reporter Sarah Boxer found no evidence for. Today both Omar and Mohammed are based in the US where they are the Middle East Editors for the conservative online media network Pajamas Media. Mohammed is now studying programming at Open Source University while Omar is a graduate student in International Affairs at Columbia University. Omar still writes at Iraq the Model and published an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal in September.
Isaac Mao: Isaac is the co-founder of the first Chinese blogging platform CNBlog.org. As he wrote last year in The Guardian, his first post was published on August 5, 2002, and his infectious enthusiasm for blogging and sharing information quickly spread across China. If anything, Isaac's enthusiasm about the positive social impact of blogging has only grown. He was a fellow earlier this year at the Berkman Center where he continued his research on “Sharism.” In June Isaac and I co-curated the Cloud Intelligence Symposium at the Ars Electronica festival. He remains active in organizing barcamps and conferences in China, and is an advocate of online free speech.
Joi Ito: At the time of the first Global Voices meeting Joi introduced himself as the Vice President of International and Mobility for Technorati and his blog was called “Joi Ito's conversation with the living web.” He was at the time the ultimate internet geek, a clear writer with an international outlook and strong technical fluency. His personal IRC channel was a meeting place in 2004 and 2005 for everyone interested in blogs, wikis, and the social web. Even today you'll regularly find 50 – 100 people connected and just hanging out. Back in 2004 Joi focused much of his writing on “the caring problem” (and, to a lesser degree, getting Angelina Jolie to blog). He was also active with Isaac Mao back in 2005 trying to promote dialogue between Japanese and Chinese bloggers during a period of escalated antagonism between the two countries. Today Joi is the CEO of Creative Commons and a legal resident of Dubai. Earlier this year he led a workshop on Creative Commons and digital media with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan.
Jeff Ooi: Back in 2004 Jeff was blogging at Screenshots, which was hosted at Blogger. He also had launched USJ-Subyang Jaya, an English-language online news portal, ran a podcast called SuiteTalker, and managed a community of Malaysian photographers. Later he blogged for CNET Asia, and in 2007 he and Ahiruddin Attan were sued by the New Straits Times Press for 10 blog posts which they alleged were libelous. Last year he ran for office as a DAP candidate in the 2008 general election and won a seat in Malaysian parliament. He continues to blog regularly for Asian Correspondent.
Rashmi Sinha: We all went out to dinner at some Cambridge restaurant after that first GV meeting and I remember how everyone was circling around Jay Rosen, Hoder, and Joi Ito like they were celebrities. Such fawning always – especially among bloggers – drives me crazy. So I took a seat in the corner of the restaurant with a soft-spoken woman who said she was from India and that she recently finished her Ph.D. in neuroscience. (I had recently been in India and studied neuroscience for a couple years in college.) In January 2002 Rashmi founded Dialog Now, a blog which encouraged dialog between Indians and Pakistanis during the 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff. You can read her post from December 2004 about Global Voices here. Five years after the Global Voices meeting and she was voted by Playboy magazine as one of the ten sexiest CEO's in the world. Rashmi founded SlideShare in 2007 with her husband Jonathan Boutelle.
Hoder: At the first Global Voices meeting Hoder led a session titled “How to build a blogosphere.” The title is a somewhat pompous allusion to his claim that he is personally responsible for the tremendous growth of Persian-language blogs in Iran. In November, 2001 he created a step-by-step guide on how to set up a blog in Persian and in the next couple years the Iranian blogosphere grew to become one of the most vibrant and politically active around the world. At the second Global Voices summit in London Hoder met our then-contributor from Israel, Lisa Goldman, and decided to visit her a month later. It is so interesting to look back at the New York Times op-ed he published during his visit, and also at Lisa Goldman's account of their time together. Hoder was arrested in Tehran on November 1, 2008. He is allegedly being held in Evin Prison and there has lately been a lot of talk about his role in the Iranian show trials following the Green Revolution. Hoder is an extremely complicated guy. I'm pretty sure he's managed to piss off every single person who has ever considered him a friend. Of course, we all want him out of prison. But it is difficult to know the best way to advocate for that to happen; especially when we don't even really know why he's in prison in the first place. Cyrus has been following the story closely and I assume that he will continue to do so until Hoder is released. You can get more context about Hoder and all the controversies surrounding him on his Wikipedia page.
Yvonne T. Chua: Yvonne is an investigative journalist and journalism trainer for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. In 1999 she wrote “Robbed: An Investigation of Corruption in Philippine Education” and at the time of the Global Voices meeting she was interested (way ahead of her time) in how new media would change journalism training. Today PCIJ is one of the leading centers in teaching digital media for investigative reporting in South East Asia. Their 20th anniversary conference in September was focused on new media and democratization.
Akwe Amosu: She joined allAfrica.com as its founding executive editor in 2000 and at the time of the first GV meeting she was working on Peace Africa, an aggregator of news and information related to peacekeeping missions in Sub-Saharan Africa. At our third Global Voices Summit in Delhi, India she organized a small meeting of African and Chinese bloggers to encourage more open discussion about the impact of Chinese presence in Africa and African presence in China. She is now the Africa Advocacy Director for Open Society Institute and the Senior Policy Analyst for Africa at the OSI Policy Center. She is also a member of Global Voices’ board of directors.
Other participants of that first Global Voices meeting include Krista Baumane, Alex Steffen, Dan Gilmor, Darius Cuplinskas, David Weinberger, Debra Bowen, Ejovi Nuwere, Janet Haven, Jeff Jarvis, Jeremy Drucker, Jerzy Celichowski, Jim Moore, Jonathan Peizer, Kwindla Kramer, Marc Danziger, Matt Burden, Michelle Levesque, Oh Yeonho, Philip Carter, Ramu Dhara, Rodger Desai, and Terry Fisher.
It was, looking back on it, a mix of elite bloggers, affiliates of the Berkman Center, and affiliates of Open Society Institute's Information Program.
The most important outcome of the meeting, however, was an agreement to develop an index of bridge blogs from around the world. Hoder began the process by listing the blogs of all the participants at the meeting on his own personal wiki. That list was later transferred to the Global Voices wiki. (Here is what the wiki looked like back in 2005.) We soon realized that a static wiki-based list of blogs wasn't interactive enough. Rebecca proposed using Bloglines as an aggregator of “bridge blogs” from around the world. (Very interesting to look back and see which bloggers from early 2005 are still blogging today and which countries – like Madagascar – aren't even listed.) Ethan suggested that we use the tag “globalvoices” on Delicious to track bridge blog posts. But it wasn't until Paul Frankenstein – then a summer intern at the Berkman Center – began posting daily roundups of the global blogosphere that Global Voices began to take its present form.
My first post on Global Voices was exactly five years ago to the day. I suggested that BloggerCon IV be held outside of North America and Western Europe. (It seems that the 2010 Global Voices Summit will be our first south of the equator.) In June 2005 I was hired as the first Global Voices regional editor and began posting daily roundups of what bloggers throughout Latin America were writing about. My first roundup post summarized reactions by Mexican bloggers to a 2005 communique posted by the Zapatistas (shortly after I had traveled to Chiapas). Throughout 2005 I recruited as many authors to write about Latin America on Global Voices as possible. Iria Puyosa, Eduardo Ávila, Georgia Popplewell, Roy Rojas, and Alán Flores were among the first contributing authors.
I could spend hours reminiscing about those first months of Global Voices. It was such an exciting time. We really believed that we were on the cutting edge of a sea change in how citizens around the world would communicate and find out about one another. And we were. That's not to say that our mission was complete. Even now, we're still only about 10% there. But what an amazing 10% it has been. Over the next few years following that first meeting we would discover three major obstacles to our mission and we would develop new projects to meet those challenges.
Today I am sitting at De Prague Cafe in Beirut, a meeting place of poets, intellectuals, and bloggers. I hear Arabic, English, French, and Italian. Sami just stopped by. Then Noha, Donatella, and Ayesha. We hadn't planned on meeting up here, but bloggers find fast wi-fi like camels find water.
I am reading a post that Rebecca published on December 3, 2004. It is about what an ideal world news service would look like. And I am realizing that we did it. We built that. We worked our asses off to do something that we should all really be proud of.
Yes, we still have a long, long way to go. I am more cognizant of that than ever after attending last week's Arab Bloggers Meeting. Evgeny's latest article in the Prospect does a pretty good job listing just a few of the challenges.
But the point is, we're not just making lists of what is wrong. We are making lists of what needs to be done to make it right. And, month by month, year by year, we're slowly checking those items off.

author: David Sasaki


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Global Voices partners with Google on freedom of expression award · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Nominations open today (December 29, 2009) for the Breaking Borders Award, a new prize created by Google and Global Voices to honor outstanding web projects initiated by individuals or groups that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression. The award is also supported by Thomson Reuters.
The Breaking Borders Award builds upon the values expressed in the Global Voices Manifesto, the document co-written on a wiki in 2004 to articulate the guiding principles of the organization and community that would come to be known as Global Voices. The Manifesto opens with the words:
“We believe in free speech: in protecting the right to speak — and the right to listen. We believe in universal access to the tools of speech.
To that end, we seek to enable everyone who wants to speak to have the means to speak — and everyone who wants to hear that speech, the means to listen to it.”
The Breaking Borders Award also complements the work of  Global Voices Advocacy, which was formed in February 2007 to bring focus to the organization's freedom of expression-related activities.
The Breaking Borders Award is open to people of all nationalities. Winners will be selected by a panel of experts in the field of freedom of expression. A cash prize of $10,000 will be awarded in each of three areas:
1.	Advocacy, given to an activist or group that has used online tools to promote free expression or encourage political change
2.	Technology, given to an individual or group that has created an important tool that enables free expression and expands access to information
3.	Policy, given to a policy maker, government official or NGO leader who has made a notable contribution in the field
Nominations for the Breaking Borders Award can be submitted at http://www.breakingborders.net and close on February 15, 2010.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Guatemala: Ongoing Search for Remains of the Disappeared · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

James Rodríguez of Mi Mundo documents one of the ongoing searches in the community of Villalobos for the remains of some of the disappeared victims during the armed conflict in Guatemala.


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Impressions of Southeast Asian Games in Laos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodia-based blogger Andy Brouwer shares his impressions on the recently concluded Southeast Asian Games held in Laos.


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India: Perils Of Making Democracy Accessible · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor was caught up in another controversy as he tweeted to his approx. 542,000 Twitter followers a personal opinion on the recent change in Indian visa rules. Smoke Signals has the details.

author: Rezwan


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Iraq: Arabs, Coffee, and Resistance · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Iraqi Mojo, connects the dots between calls to boycott Starbucks, calls to resist the Iraqi government, and the size of foreign troops in countries that send the largest number of suicide bombers to kill innocent Iraqis in poor cafes in Iraq.

author: Tarek Amr


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Japan: And the kanji of 2009 is … · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Blogger fenetre39 comments [ja] on the kanji, or chinese character, chosen by the Kanji Kentei Foundation as representative of 2009.
The kanji is 新　(ara or shin), meaning “new”.
In the blogger`s opinion, the reason of the choice [ja] is mainly due to the “new” government that took power in August.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: Spread the message, translate it · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

A video interview [en] of Kyo Kageura, head of the project Minna no Honyaku (みんなの翻訳, Translation for all) [ja], a new translation platform that helps NGOs and NPOs to spread their messages thanks to volunteer translators.
Global Voices Japan asked him about the challenge of Minna no Honyaku [en], the difficulties and the new frontiers of volunteer translation.
The project Minna no Honyaku or Translation for all is the brainchild of Language Translation Group of the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology and Library and Information Science Laboratory of the University of Tokyo, in cooperation with publishing company Sanseido.
Thought as a part of the Shiitake Project, the realization of a platform to stimulate the growth of online translation has a precise purpose:
This system will ultimately enable individual translators to form a network, without any additional or conscious effort, in which translators working on similar or related domains can collectively accumulate translation data and share information relevant to their translations. This, we believe, will enhance the activity of translators and encourage potential translators to join in. As such, the Shiitake project is ultimately a social project.
Lastly, with the aim to make translation an easy process also to inexperienced translators, Professor Kageura's team created Minna no Honyaku, convinced that:
The translation of news and reports by volunteers plays a vital role in this alternative information flow.


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Kazakhstan: Journalist murdered, professional motives excluded · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sayat Shulembayev, 28, journalist of the news video-portal “Stan” was brutally murdered in Almaty. As “Stan” producer Michael Pak says, Sayat rented a room in the house near bus station. The murderers killed the landlord and the journalist, apparently, to eliminate the possible witness [ru]. The news portal does not link the murder with journalistic activity of the victim.
The bus station neighborhood is considered as one of the most criminal in the former capital of Kazakhstan. It is believed that the landlord had some crime affiliations. Several days before the murder he had received threats and he warned Sayat, but the journalist did not take it seriously. The young man received multiple stabs while he was sleeping.
Adam Kesher writes [ru]:
I knew him and saw recently at the theater. Gosh, you never know when you see a man for the last time in life. I'm speechless. As his colleague says, “this is not for his reporting. He just lived in a bad neighborhood. And this fact makes the tragedy even scarier.
Mursya writes in Facebook [ru]:
We knew each other from the school. He was so happy to move to Almaty [from Semipalatinsk, a province in the north-east Kazakhstan], proudly told me about his work in advertising and later in journalism… Rest in peace
Luginka, a colleague of Sayat Shulembayev, writes in her blog [ru]:
He could be intolerably snobbish and sarcastic. He wanted to be a man of fashion and loved parties. He had caustic jokes, but he could get hurt by a joke easily. He read smart books and acted defiantly.
Today his desk was shot by all TV stations. People write their last farewells in “Vkontakte” [social network]. News agencies in Kazakhstan and Russia report on the murder and hint at political motives. But this was just a regular crime, and it is even worse in its absurdity.
He was in the wrong place and time. He rented a room in the bad neighborhood, probably, because he was sending most part of his income to his relatives. The landlord got deadly problems, and Sayat was sleeping in his room. He wanted to move to another apartment December 30. The last sentence that he says in his last reportage was: “The whole life is ahead”.
Also posted on neweurasia

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Lebanon: Beirut Drive-by Shooting · Global Voices
Layal Al Khatib

With a  camera in hand, Lebanese blogger “Beirut Drive-By Shooting” brings you outdoor advertisements from Beirut – to enjoy or suffer along with them.

author: Layal Al Khatib


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Malawi: Bloggers discuss 30 earthquakes in 3 weeks · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

In what some geologists have described as rare occurrences, Malawi's northern district of Karonga has in the past three weeks experienced a total of 30 earthquakes resulting in at least 5 deaths, over 200 people injured and over 3,000 made homeless. Fresh reports say another earthquake hit Karonga Sunday 27th December and more are expected.
Since Malawi's president Bingu wa Mutharika declared Karonga as a national disaster area, appeals for help to the victims have been pouring to help the people in the uranium mining district.
Bloggers have also been quick to share their reactions. A question that lingers on the minds of many Malawians is the cause of the earthquakes. In a well-detailed post titled The missing Pieces of the Karonga Earthquake Puzzle, Muza Gondwe attempts to raise and answer the question:
The first quake struck on the evening of Sunday 6thgovernment and Red Cross are providing assistance to the victims of the earthquake but equally the government should also provide answers as to what happened? Do people understand what causes earthquakes:  do they deem it an act of God, punishment from angry ancestors, or a sign of the end of days?
December, then a larger quake the next morning, followed by a series of aftershocks in the Karonga District of Northern Malawi. The ground was shaking as far as Mzuzu 150km away with the biggest quake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale. My parents who live in Rumphi between Mzuzu and Karonga, ran out of the house during each tremor wondering whether this was final days. Twelve  tremors were felt across three days. Homes and buildings have been damaged, one fatality when a child died after a wall fell on him.
While Muza tries to provide the geological perspective, Ndagha shares his frustrations with the non-response of Malawi's political parties which he claims could have poured into Karonga if it were campaign time.
Is it that the parties do not have the money to give out to the victims or the area is not campaign friendly? I remember that earlier in the campaign period for 2009 elections, politicians competed against each other by out-giving money  to Ndirande market fire “victims” in Blantyre.
You may wish to note that no one was reported dead or even injured yet the victims got over 5 million Kwacha in total. Compare that with Karonga when only 2.5 million Kwacha was given by Dr Bingu wa Mutharika!
Come on parties, be responsible and demonstrate that you are who you claim. This is when your electorate reallyneeds you.
Meanwhile the Ministry of  Natural Resources, Energy and Environment has dispelled rumors that the Karonga earthquakes have been caused by the mining works at Kayerekera which is 35 km away from the district heaquarters. The ministry says that the uranium mine is an open pit and has no underground activities hence has no connection to the earthquakes.
Just before the earthquakes in northern Malawi, Malawi was experiencing four major economic challenges surrounding fuel, forex, power and water. These left blogger Austin Madinga wonder if Malawi leadership was learning anything from the happenings:
We have water shortages in Blantyre, power and fuel shortages country wide and a general lack of foreign exchange. Left unchecked these can have debilitating effects on our economic growth. Various players have promised to resolve or ease the current pressures but when? The question I keep asking myself is will Malawians will come out of all these events any smarter?
On fuel crisis, journalist Richard Chirombo tried to put the situation into historical perspective by pointing out that Malawi cargo was stuck in Mozambique due to a decline in the use of the Beira port.
MALAWI has for the past ten years registered a sharp decline in the use of Beira Port in Mozambique, according to traffic statistics sourced from the port’s authority.
A report from Cornelder de Mozambique, the company that won a 25 year-long concession from the Government of Mozambique in 1998 to run the port, points to a sharp decline in the use of the port by Malawian exporters and importers.
It says, for instance, that, while the country’s imports and exports traffic amounted to 570 million metric tonnes in 1998- and went on to reach a 1, 3 million metric tonnes peak in traffic in 2002- Malawi has failed to beat its own record peak of 2006.
The fuel importers and governments of Malawi and Mozambique blamed each other for the fuel crisis that hit Malawi for a consecutive four weeks plus in November and December.

author: Victor Kaonga


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Mexico: Increase in Price of a Ride on Metro · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The cost of a ride on the Mexico City metro will rise from 2 pesos to 3 pesos starting on January 2, 2010 writes Jess from Vivir México [es].


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Myanmar bans western instruments in local orchestras · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

According to The Irrawaddy, Myanmar's Ministry of Culture has ordered the country's traditional orchestras not to use western musical instruments.


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Nicaragua: The Aftermath of the 1972 Earthquake · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

On December 23, 1972, a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck Managua, Nicaragua killing 5,000, injuring 20,000, and leaving 250,000 homeless. Nicaraguan blogger Homero was a young child at the time, but he holds memories of the aftermath, which he describes in a recent post [es] in his blog Ventana de Homero [es] (Homero's Window).
Cuando logramos salir a descampado a un patio detrás de mi casa, pudimos observar que el cielo estaba rojo y la atmósfera cargada; los vecinos comenzaron a juntarse; la mayoría estaban con ropas de dormir y algunos niños lloraban asustados. Mi padre me dijo en tono serio: “Es un terremoto hijo, Managua debe estar destruida” y era cierto.
When we were able to emerge to a patio behind my house, we could see that the sky was red and that the atmosphere was charged; the neighbors started to gather, the majority were wearing their sleeping clothes, and some children were crying because they were scared. My father said to me in a serious tone: “It is an earthquake, son, Managua has surely been destroyed” and it was true.
The family left in their car to check on the safety of the grandparents, who lived across the city. Embarking on that trek, they saw much pain in the darkened streets.
Por primera vez miraba como en una película lenta y en blanco y negro; como la gente deambulaba sin rumbo por las calles; otras desesperadas rascaban con su manos los escombros buscando a sus familiares enterrados bajo las lozas y bloques de cemento. Pude ver como en unos carretones de madera trasladaban muertos y heridos y todo el mundo imploraba; “llevenos al hospital” y nosotros no podíamos hacer nada.
For the first time, I saw things in slow-motion and like a black and white movie; how the people aimlessly wandered through the streets; others were desperately digging the rubble with their hands, looking for buried family members under the cement blocks. I could see how some wooden carts moved the dead and wounded and everyone pleaded, “take us to the hospital” and yet, we could not do anything.
Neighbors organized themselves to provide water and blankets to those who needed it, as well as organized search teams to look for the dead and injured. Homero also noted that there was not a single member of the national guard on the streets, which only added to the chaos:
Los ladrones aprovecharon la madrugada para asaltar las tiendas y robar lo que encontraban; al principio no sabía, miré un hombre sucio y sin camisa cargando un televisor por las calles y mi padre me dijo: Ahí va un ladrón. ¿Y como lo sabes? le pregunté, por que nadie en estas situaciones se preocupa salvar un televisor. Eso solo era el comienzo de la ratería que se desató en los días posteriores; mientras los ladronzuelos de los barrrios hacían su “diciembre” Somoza y sus secuaces se robaban la ayuda humanitaria de los danmificados del terremoto de Managua.
The thieves took advantage of the daybreak to rob stores and steal what they found; at the beginning I didn't know what was going on, I saw a dirty and shirtless man carrying a television through the streets and my father said to me: There goes a thief. How do you know? I asked him, and he said because no one in this situation is worrying about saving a television. It was only the start of the pilfering that was unleashed in the following days; while the neighborhood thieves did their “December” (Christmas), [former president Anastasio] Somoza and his henchmen stole the humanitarian aid for those affected by the Managua earthquake.
He ends his post with a reflection on the legacy left by the earthquake 37 years ago:
Nicaragua no solo había perdido miles de sus hijos; también perdió su capital, la novia del Xolotlán y ningún gobierno le ha podido devolver su centro ni su belleza.


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Pakistan: Pictures Of Bomb Blast in Karachi · Global Voices
Rezwan

Karachi Metblogs posts some pictures of yesterday's bomb blast at MA Jinnah road in Karachi.


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Palestine: Twitter accused of silencing Gaza tribute · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

Twitter has been accused of attempting to silence tributes to Gaza one-year after an Israeli onslaught devastated the Palestinian enclave.
Pro-Palestinian and human rights activists used the influential Twitter portal to mark the one-year anniversary of the Gaza War, and express support for the besieged territory.
Tweets using the hashtag #Gaza flooded in on December 27th, peaking at number 3 on Twitter's top ten Trending Topics list.
However, complaints emerged of users being briefly blocked from tweeting #Gaza, with the trend being forced downwards and off the Trending Topics.
In an extensive analysis, Lebanese blogger, Nadine Moawad, accused Twitter of preventing #Gaza from trending:
People were logging in and feeling so energized to see Gaza trending already, so they boosted with great tweets. I was so sure we were going to hit number one any second. And then came Hayley.
Who Hayley is I don’t know and I don’t care to google. It was her birthday today, so suddenly (and very illogically), HappyBdayHayley shot to number 1. It didn’t make any sense!
What made it even weirder is that @zalface discovered many spam bots like this one:@carolmeatsix that were spamming twitter with #HappyBdayHayley for hours at very high rates. How come they didn’t get blocked? This adds to our suspicion that we were being reported by people.
The only sense we could make was that twitter didn’t want #Gaza to trend. And after HappyBdayHayley came HappyBdayHayleyBR – the Brazilian version – also trending! Ridiculous! But still, the tweeters kept signing on, news, links, videos, feelings, thoughts, cartoons, blog posts, stories, all sorts of expressions kept flowing onto twitter, all for Gaza, the Gaza Freedom March, and Viva Palestina. Eventually, we made it to #3.
We tried really hard after that, but couldn’t get it past #3. I believe we were stopped there on purpose.
Did Twitter really hinder tributes to Gaza?
Comments on Nadine Moawad’s post offered varied explanations.
One comment  by Jillian C. York argued that it was not necessarily Twitter that obstructed #Gaza tweets, but pro-Zionist online activists competing with pro-Palestinian Twitterers by reporting #Gaza tweets as spam:
As for those who got blocked for short periods: It seems that it was not Twitter automatically doing it, rather, if a certain number of people reports someone as spam (which could be done nefariously – as in prodded by the @JIDF or someone else, or because they actually see it as spam (e.g. lots of @s in a tweet), Twitter will auto-block then review the account. It happened to people who were “tweeting for Shalit” too, so I don’t think we can say it was biased, necessarily.
Another comment by Toufoul gave a more technical explanation of the bizarre events that unfolded on Twitter:
One thing that might explain the discrepancy between Trendistic and Trending Topics in Twitter is the different algorithms they use. Twitter’s Trending Topics is not only based on the number of tweets, but also the number of tweepers. It is also more difficult for topics that are trendy all the time to climb up the list (Twitter is, after all, about what is hot RIGHT NOW!). If you look at the longer term graph, you will see that Gaza has been consistently trendier than Bailey, Hayley or whatever her name is. It is self-defeating in a way.
Discussion of the unusual demotion of the #Gaza trend also ensued on Twitter itself:
srichani @nmoawad @Beirutspring @antissa blocking commercial messages from TT is 1thing,political intervention etc is another.#twitter ought 2clarify
Beirutspring @srichani @antissa I was just saying that the trending topics have always been tempered with by a twitter editor. I'm not surprised at #gaza
srichani @Beirutspring @antissa that doesnt adress NM's observation.#Gaza tweets reminding of vicious war claiming 1300 civilians is not commercial
Beirutspring @srichani @antissa , Twitter is known for moderating trending topics, to avoid featuring commercial messages they say..
srichani ur right, they ought to clarify this, concerned @Twitter‘s attempts 2 obstruct free speech&silence#Gaza tweets http://bit.ly/4YKNBt
Whether Twitter was deliberately behind the manipulation of the tributes to Gaza is unclear, but the bizarre trending of #Gaza has left many confused and pondering.

author: Antoun Issa


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Philippines: Blogs of Overseas Filipinos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Kablogs is an online portal that aggregates more than 300 blog links of Filipino expats and overseas Filipino workers.


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Reasons To Go To Bhutan · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Why should you go to Bhutan?” Polat at Kuzu Bhutan Weblog answers the question.


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Russia: “Criminalisation of Tourists” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

St Petersblurb describes a recent misadventure at the Russian-Polish border and explains that “the criminalisation of tourists is just another huge nail in the coffin of Russia’s tourist industry.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Thailand’s English as Second Language industry · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A Filipino teacher-blogger in Thailand shares a brief background on the English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) industry in the country.


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The Top 10 Media Incidents In China During 2009 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a Southern Weekend article about the top 10 media events in China during the year 2009.


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The Year that Was in Madagascar: Part I · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

2009 is coming to an end. It was, and still is, a tumultuous year for Madagascar.  The following article, which covers January to April, is the first of a three-part summary of the events that marked 2009, from the perspective of citizens who lived through the turmoil.
January:
As people started to protest in the streets of Antananarivo, many citizens quickly became aware that the looming political crisis was taking an unusual turn, as prison breaks were occurring all around the country:
Jentilisa wondered about the cause of such unusual events (mg):
Heverina ho misy ny atidoha nikotrika ny raharaha ary olona ivelan'ny voafonja ny atidoha, satria tsy tokony hanana finday na fitaovan-tserasera hafa ireo voafonja ireo handosirana tao
anatin'ny indray alina. Tarataratra ho fitadiavana hanakorontanana ny firenena amin'ny alalan'ny tsy filaminana no tanjona na fanindriana ankolaka ny olona tsy hihetsika satria hanampy isa ireo olona natao hanakorontana fotsiny (A qui profite le crime?). Hisy raharaha ity volana Janoary sy ny tohiny ity izany koa!
January turned out to be a deadly month. Twitterers in Madagascar spread news of Black Monday, the day security forces vanished and various incidents of arson and looting took place in the capital city, resulting in dozens of casualties. Jean, a member of a Yahoo! forum, asked:
“Ny fanontaniana mipetraka sy tonga ho azy dia ny hoe inona moa no mahasamihafa ny zavatra potika amin'izao taona 2008 izao amin'izay zavatra potika tamin'ny taona 2002? … Ka inona ary no vaha-olana tsy hiverenan'ny fanapotehana intsony?”
A mercenary loads a rifle in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital
February:
February 7th, remembered as “Red Saturday”, claimed the lives of at least  80 protesters, among them Ando Ratovonirina, a 26 year old cameraman for the television station RTA.
Barijoana, one of the very first Malagasy bloggers, was a witness to the scene and wrote (fr):
“J'étais persuadé que tout avait été négocié à l'avance, que la foule resterait gentiment à distance,
que seule une petite délégation entrerait à l'intérieur des grilles du palais et que c'est cette
délégation qui demanderait ensuite à la foule de se disperser.
J'étais trop loin pour savoir ce qui s'est passé dans la foule peu avant que le cordon de sécurité ne lâche. Si un responsable du mouvement a laissé entendre qu'on pouvait “y aller”, sa responsabilité est énorme.
Je ne peux parler que de ce que j'ai vu et entendu de mes propres yeux, mais ai trouvé étonnant que Andry Rajoelina et Monja Roindefo soient restés à l'écart des délégations négociant l'entrée dans les grilles du palais.”
It should be noted that the HAT (transitional government) promised a thorough investigation of the events that resulted in several deaths on January 26th and February 7th. To date, however, no official reports or conclusions have been made public, adding confusion to the contradicting testimonies from different sides.
March:
The crisis deepened as public protests dwindled, replaced by a rift in the armed forces. Ariniana posted on her twitter feed:
“I feel like in a war movie. I can't believe it's real. I am damn terrified.”
Tahina illustrated vividly the climate of fear and mistrust that overcame everyone:
It’s no longer safe to talk politics in public areas (buses included) because you don’t know who’s listening to you and on which side they are. A simple rumour about you can harm you or your relatives.
On March 17th, Andry Rajoelina, former mayor of Antananarivo and current president of the transition, seized power after a handover from the army.  Understandably, opinions were divided on the coup d’etat and its future outcome. Madagate was satisfied that Ravaloamana was removed from power (fr):
Marc Ravalomanana, le petit laitier d’Imerikasinina, a été renié par ceux à qui il venait de remettre les pleins pouvoirs. Ils n’ont pas voulu vendre leur âme au diable. Les carottes sont cuites pour ce président qui a montré son véritable visage. A force de jouer avec le feu et les idoles, on se brûle. Ce fut vraiment le combat de la lumière et des ténèbres.
Hery believed–rather accurately–that peace would not soon come to Madagascar, despite the change of regime:
Tsy resy lahatra aho amin'ny hilaminan'ny politika ao Madagasikara ao anatin'ny 2 taona farafahakeliny raha mandray fitondrana ny TGV [..] Hafa ny mitolona, ary hafa ny mitondra firenena.
April:
A video of a lone protester named Razily marching towards armed forces hurling tear gas became an internet sensation in Madagascar and was seen by many as the symbol of the fight against military repression:
The second part of this review will highlight bloggers’ posts from May to December 2009.  In the meantime, please read Tahina's compelling testimony of the toll the crisis took on the life of one of his relatives. Here is an excerpt:
For two or three months, I had  to find money to make ends meet. It was hard as hell. The saying “You look for today what you’ll eat today” started to had a full sense to me. I was living it. I went to a uncle of mine to borrow some money and promised him I’d give it back as soon as possible. And I really wanted to keep my words but two months later, my wife was robbed in a bus with a-month-worth salary in her bag. I was hopeless, the little that I thought would help us was taken away from us.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Trinidad & Tobago: 500 · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian bloggers comment on the country's record murder rate – Jumbie's Watch: “The message is clear. We’re screwed.” B.C. Pires: “Not even when Mr Manning and Mr Panday achieve Trinidad's most vulgar historic event – the creation of an executive presidency by back-room trickery – will Trinidadians put their feet down and just say, ‘No!’ 500 murdered but not to worry; Destra coming with a sweet tune this Canny-val.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Facebook Assault · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

KnowTnT.com reports on “the first documented Facebook related assault” in Trinidad and Tobago.


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Uruguay: Too Many Governmental Employees · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

There are too many governmental employees in Uruguay, which only adds to the overall budget writes the blogger at Qué Pasa Uruguay? [es], adding, “Who will pay for all this? We will as usual.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Winners of the 2009 Philippines Expats Blog Awards · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Meet the winners of the 2009 Philippines Expats Blog Awards


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Bahamas: Inefficient Judiciary · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As a suspected murderer out on bail allegedly kills again, Weblog Bahamas‘ Sidney Sweeting asks: “How long should the Bahamian people have to put up with this nonsense and get the Judiciary to give some consideration to the law abiding, God-fearing citizens of the country?”


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Belarus: New Internet Censorship Regulations Planned · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belarus Digest writes about the alleged plans of the government to introduce “additional measures to regulate Internet in Belarus.”


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China: Akmal’s death sentence, a resolute No to memory of humiliation? · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen convicted of smuggling heroine into China, was executed on Tuesday although his families along with the British government had pleaded for reprieve, claiming that he is mentally ill.
The supreme court of China however dismissed the request of a mental assessment because the documents provided by the British embassy cannot prove that Akmal is mentally disordered.
After the inject of Akmal by lethal injection, the British government and some right organizations reacted fiercely. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution and said he was “”particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken.”
Facing the critique, China expressed strong discontent. The spokesman of foreign ministry said the accusation is groundless and warned that the intervention might damage the bilateral relations between the two countries.
In China, drug trafficking is considered as a felony. Carrying or selling heroine of more than 50 grams will get death penalty according to the Chinese law, and over 4000 grams were found on Akmal.
To many Chinese netizens, the incident reminded them of the 2 Opium Wars fought in 19 century that British troop invaded China because Chinese officials burned up the opium
sold by British. China lost the war and suffered from the “100 years of humiliation” since then.
On 163.com, a major portal website in China, over 3000 people supported a comment left after the news piece, which writes:
老外就了不起了…..贩毒就该杀
Acekingfang, moreover, thought the execution shows China is rising.
同样是没收“鸦片”、惩办英国毒贩，170年的1839年林则徐的“禁烟”引发清王朝的世纪第一战，英国人靠鸦片和大炮打开了中国的大门…. 1856年清政府在“亚罗号”上逮捕了几名海盗，这一本属于中国内政的事件被英军当做发兵的借口而发动了第二次鸦片战争，150年前的1859年第二次鸦片战争中英法联军在天津大沽口战胜清军，进而向北京城发兵，此年火烧圆明园，烧杀抢掠，虏走中国无数的文物、财宝，使得中华民族遭受历史上最沉重的灾难和损失之一。
而今当英国贩毒分子在我们的国土上做出法律所不容的事情，我们可以正大光明的用我们自己法律的手段惩治毒贩，绝不留情，不用看别人的脸色，这也从侧面显示：中国可以不高兴，后果很严重！
zha811's comment demonstrated a similar mentality
比如把大英博物馆的一些中国收藏拿来我们也许会认真考虑的！！
zhun2875 said,
这是我们的内政，关英国人什么事？
In China, it is long complained that foreigners, in particular westerners, are treated as if they are privileged with a higher status. In 2008, a train made an unscheduled stop in order to send several Japanese passengers to the airport and even police cars were used to escort them. However, in another case a mentally ill Chinese citizen was fastened by the train attendants to the seat and left to death with no one tending him. This time, the court's ruling that treats people equally seems to win applause.
Wang Wen, a editor of Global Times, believes:
归根结底，外国人在华犯罪，由谁来判，怎么判，必须严格按中国的法律程序来办。洋人犯法，能否与国人同罪，是一个司法公正的问题。
Some opinions hold that it is in fact a diplomatic failure of the British government because it doesn't really get to know how Chinese people think. It is echoed by the commentary:
我很同情阿克毛和他的亲人们，死刑是一个残酷的刑罚，我个人一直觉得，这是一个非常不人道的做法。但，就司法本身的刚性原则显示，只要中国还没有废除死刑，只要别的死刑犯还在遭受这样的待遇，阿克毛就没有任何可以例外的理由。否则，人为制造的区别，将带来更多的悲剧。
在以往中国因种种罪犯的引渡问题与别国的交涉时，中国总是无一例外的被拒绝。哪怕需要引渡的是恐怖分子，西方也都会用本国法律中的相应条款直接拒绝。最直接的借口是，欧美国家的三权分立和绝对的司法独立，是一道谁也越不过去的门槛。但这次英国举国上下几乎都忘记了司法独立的最高原则，而是寄希望于中国高层对司法的直接干预，试图让阿克毛逃脱一死。
当西方试图群起将一个罪犯的生命与更多的东西挂钩，逼中国高层就范时，阿克毛，其实就已经不得的不死了。原因太简单，13亿中国人都在用天枰称着自己和那个叫阿克毛的鬼佬在国家里的重量。鬼佬的生命是命，我们自己就天生是草？

author: Bob Chen


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China: Three prominent bloggers GFWed in the same week · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Following the blocking of veteran Internet essayist He Caitou's (@hecaitou) two longstanding blogs hecaitou.net and caobian.info on December 25, renowned columnist Lian Yue (@lianyue) had yet another one of his blogs, lianyue.net, blocked on the 29th; late on the evening of December 30, Peking University new media associate professor Hu Yong (@huyong) discovered his independent blog, yong.hu, has also become inaccessible from mainland China.


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Global Voices needs your support · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Dear Global Voices Reader,
We'd like to ask you to support our work for 2010 with a financial contribution.
If you've been following the activity on the Global Voices, Global Voices Advocacy and Rising Voices sites, or on any of our 17 active translation sites, you'll have experienced the incredible energy and array of viewpoints that citizen media can bring to the coverage of global stories. Our diverse and growing community of 350 writers and translators come from all over the world, and provide trusted perspectives on local stories for global audiences. They offer a window into other worlds, helping readers gain a deeper understanding of unfamiliar communities and stories.
2009 has been a great year for us. We've launched innovative new projects that explore the boundaries of citizen media, such as our Translation Exchange research initiative; our online freedom of expression advocacy platform, Threatened Voices; and RuNet Echo, our Russian blogosphere project. We've just embarked on a new collaborative research project, the Transparency and Technology Network, and a new online freedom of expression award called Breaking Borders, in collaboration with Google. This year we've also worked on developing alternative sources of revenue, leveraging the collective expertise of our community to help organizations like UNFPA and IDRC to bring a citizen perspective to their offerings.
Global Voices community members at the 2008 Summit in Budapest. Image by mentalacrobatics.
At the end of five years of existence, it's also been exhilarating to read posts from our founders and contributors expressing what being part of our community means to them. “Global Voices is. . . my go-to place when I want to find the light at the end of the tunnel, the reason to not despair when mankind sputters as it moves along its tumultuous journey,” writes our Madagascar contributor Lova Rakotomala, who spent much of this year writing about the turmoil in his home country. “Because, amidst all the gravity of the situation described there, you see people living. You see people trying to share the stories of their lives. They tell you not to feel bad for them but to support them, as friends, not as moral obligation. They don't ask for help or aid, they are looking for a solution that you may help provide because you too have lived through your share of struggles.”
Lova Rakotomala presenting at Barcamp Madagascar in July 2009. Image by rl_lita.
We've been lucky to have the help of several generous donors, some of whom will continue to assist us into 2010. But we still need the support of our readers to make Global Voices a success. We run our projects with a great deal of volunteer effort, but need help to support our editorial structure, our development and freedom of speech advocacy work, and our technical infrastructure—and also future development and  innovation.
Your donation to Global Voices will make possible broader coverage of local perspectives and voices, and help diversify the information all of us receive. In a time of shrinking newsrooms and the closing of foreign news desks, citizen media is proving to be vital for quality global news coverage.
Please contribute if you can. $25, $50, $100—any amount you can give helps us become a more sustainable organization.
Donations can be made through PayPal via the button below:
or through the Media Development Loan Fund‘s digital kiosk. If you have any questions, please visit our Donate page or e-mail us at georgiap at globalvoicesonline.org.
We thank you for a splendid 2009, and wish you a 2010 filled with joy and peace.
- Georgia Popplewell and Ivan Sigal


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Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago: Fave Islands · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Lifespan of a Chennette gives a comprehensive virtual tour of the Spice Isle, Grenada.


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India: Andaman Islands · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mumbai based blogger Ugich Konitari  visits the Andaman islands and writes a two part series (1, 2) noting her experiences.


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India: Ten Lessons From Three Idiots · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amreekan Desi was not only impressed with Aaamir Khan's latest Bollywood blockbuster ‘3 idiots’ but also learnt a lot from the movie. The blogger takes a satirical look at ten lessons from the movie.


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Indonesia: Email mom ‘not guilty’ says the High Court · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Prita Mulyasari, a housewife who wrote an e-mail complaint against an international franchised hospital, was found not guilty of defamation by the Tangerang High Court Tuesday afternoon.
The court found Prita's e-mail a mere complaint, therefore can't be considered as an act of defamation.
Microbloggers were sending updates from the session in real time and pooling comments on Twitter through the hashtags #sidangprita (Prita's trial) and #freeprita:
Enda: http://twitpic.com/vomos – Sudah di Sidang Prita PN Tangerang. Ramai oleh media dan relawan koin #sidangprita #freeprita
Ade_Novita:  Kita relawan koin yg hadir aja deg2an, ga kebayang perasaan prita.
ndorokakung: Vonis: prita tidak terbukti melanggar hukum. Membebaskan prita dari segala dakwaan
tikabanget: TEPUK TANGAN..!!! “HIDUP..!! HIDUP..!!” teriak orang-orang di #sidangprita
arijuliano: Jaksa masih mau pikir2 utk mengajukan banding putusan bebas Prita #sidangprita
ndorokakung: Kalau jaksa banding atas putusan bebas murni itu namanya kelewatan #sidangprita
Photo from Flickr page of enda 001
A few weeks ago Banten District Court found her guilty for defaming the hospital and ordered her to pay 204 million Rupiah, around US$ 21,680 (more stories can be read here and here).
The District Court's fine triggered a mass protest through an online and offline campaign for the collection of coins by netizens and the public in general. What started as an online movement attracted many people from various walks of life and ended up to be one of the biggest mass protests this year.
According to local journal Kompas, until December 20th, donations for Prita reached 825 million Rupiah (around US$ 87,812). The donations came from all corners of the archipelago, online transfers from Indonesian overseas, even a star-studded concert.
Prita's freedom is seen by many as a victorious people power.
Marihot Purnomo wrote on Kompasiana blog:
Putusan bebas Pengadilan Negeri Tangerang terhadap Prita adalah kado hukum akhir tahun 2009. Kegembiraan dan kebahagian tidak hanya dirasakan oleh Prita saja, namun juga ikut dirasakan oleh segenap rakyat Indonesia. Kepedulian dan perhatian masyarakat sungguh luar biasa terhadap kasus ini , dan barangkali ini sejarah bagi proses hukum di negara kita.
[…]
rakyat akan tahu dan merasakan walaupun tidak langsung terlibat dalam proses-proses hukum tersebut, apabila proses hukum tersebut penuh permainan dan atau direkayasa atas permintaaan pihak2 tertentu sekedar memenuhi “seleranya” atau keinginannya,dan apalagi persoalan hukum tersebut menyentuh rasa keadilan masyarakat.
The Tangerang  High Court's verdict is like a wonderful year end present for Prita. But the joy and merriment are not only felt by Prita alone, but by Indonesian people. The care and the attention of the public are astonishing, perhaps this is a milestone of the legal process of our country.
[…]
people will know and sense (things), even though they're not directly involved in the legal process, if the legal process is full of intrigue and/or being modified to fulfill the “taste” or want of certain parties, and (people will react) especially their sensitivity towards injustice is  provoked.
A hope for a cleaner judicial system
Prita's acquital is also seen as a ray of hope for a better judicial system in the country which is currently struggling to eradicate the Judicial Mafia, a group of corrupt police officers, judges and prosecutors.
Blogger Petrus Rampisela wrote a heartfelt post to the Tangerang High Court judge:
Bukan saja palu BAPAK telah menghancurkan tembok-ketidak-adilan, tapi PALU itu telah menghancurkan perasaan frustrasi dari 250 juta rakyat indonesia.
Alangkah hebatnya Pak putusan itu, bukan saja putusan ini telah membebaskan PRITA, tapi putusan ini telah membebaskan seluruh rakyat kita dari PUTUS ASA.
[..]
Untuk MAJELIS HAKIM YANG MULIA, saya menundukkan kepala.
How great your decision is, which not only freed Prita, but liberate all your people from desperation.
[…]
To the honored panel of judges, I bow to you.
Revising the cyberlaw
Prita's struggle will remain in the mind of every Indonesian bloggers. Many said that Prita's case won't be the last one to make the news. Therefore, Indonesian netizens are in the move to revise the electronic transaction and information law (UU ITE).
Article 27 subsection 3 of the Indonesian cyberlaw is infamously deemed by the public as a draconian law destined to oppress the freedom of speech.
On the same day Prita's trial took place, the Ministry of Communication and Information  Tifatul Sembiring told the press that the government has agreed to revise the cyberlaw [id] and that that the government is ready to discuss and receive inputs from the people. However, Tifatul couldn't say when exactly the law revision will begin.

author: Juke Carolina


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Jamaica: Over Hills and Valleys · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian diaspora blogger Afrobella blogs about reggae superstar Buju Banton at his best and worst, prompting Jamaican Annie Paul to respond: “Just as you…have pointed out the good and bad sides of Buju…it's necessary also to nuance what homosexuality represents in cultures such as Jamaica, that homosexuality too has its good and bad sides, to differentiate between predatory homosexuality and just being a homosexual…because its the latter that we want to defend not the former.”


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Overcoming negative stereotypes in the South Caucasus · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
Ethnic Armenian, Tsopi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian
Following a recent collaboration between Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines blogger Arzu Geybullayeva and Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor, an online project using new and social media to overcome negative stereotypes in the South Caucasus entered a second stage last week when two blogging journalism students, Vusala Alibayli and Khanim Javadova, joined a Georgian blogger and Global Voices Online author Dodi Kharkheli aka Dodka in the initiative.
The project aims to promote positive examples of ethnic groups coexisting peacefully in a volatile region riven with frozen conflicts in an attempt to provide an alternative to what is usually a partisan local media that not only self-censors, but also spreads misinformation and negative propaganda. As with the first stage of the project, the focus was on ethnic Armenians and Azeris living in Georgia.
Unlike Armenia and Azerbaijan proper, still effectively at war over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the two groups live side by side. Conducted in cooperation with Transitions Online, Steady State sets the background [AZ/EN/RU/SP].
Situated within neighboring Azerbaijan, but inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians, Karabakh was one of the first of many simmering conflicts which accompanied and perhaps even ushered in the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Over 25,000 were killed, a million people on both sides were forced to flee their homes, and Azerbaijan lost 16 percent of it territory by the time a 1994 ceasefire agreement was signed. Regional analysts and the international community, however, fear that the war might one day resume.
Various attempts to broker a final peace agreement have since faltered with nationalists and political forces on both sides of the ceasefire line maintaining that the two ethnic groups can never live side by side together again. Subjective perceptions and interpretations of history have only added to the stalemate leading to the sad reality that neither side is willing to compromise. Ironically, however, such entrenched positions often appear absurd given the peaceful coexistence of Armenians and Azeris in Georgia.
[…]
Indeed, as others point out, Armenians and Azeris are quite able to coexist together outside of the conflict zone and actually have more in common with each other in terms of culture, tradition and language than many other nations living in the same region. […]
In fact, as a second post detailing visiting a teahouse [EN/RU] where all the ethnic groups of the South Caucasus gather notes, the cultural links between Armenians and Azeris in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, have long been there, albeit often overlooked by the media or nationalists opposed to any talk of compromise or peace.
It was perhaps only appropriate that the route for a return visit to an Azeri tea house run by ethnic Armenians in the old part of Tbilisi took us past a statue of the renowned ethnic Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov. Like other Armenian cultural icons such as Sayat Nova, an 18th century troubadour who wrote songs in Armenian, Georgian, Persian and especially Azerbaijani, Parajanov belonged more to the Caucasus than any one nation and it was perhaps for this reason that he remained in his native Tbilisi for most of his life. He moved to Yerevan just two years before his death in 1990.
Dodka also tweeted her observations.
After visiting Marneuli and Tsopi, two locations where ethnic Armenians and Azeris also coexist together, Dodka again tweeted the same observations [AZ/EN/RU/SP].
School, Tsopi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian
In the village of Tsopi itself, Khanim Javadova provided more details about the problems facing the local school where both ethnic Armenians and Azeris study together.
There is no running water and the doors of all the classrooms have many holes, but few are used because of their condition. The school’s director, Latifa Ibadova, says the Georgian Ministry of Education promise to repair whole school in 2011. There is electricity in the village, but no gas and wood is used for hearing. This winter the school received money from the government to buy two lorries of wood and gasoline.
Another problem of pupils is that of textbooks. From this year pupils must buy books in the Georgian language. Previously, textbooks had been provided free of charge, but now cost 6-15 Lari even though many residents of Tsopi cannot speak Georgian. This prevents them from later finding work. Yet, despite these difficulties, the pupils of school are on good terms with each other. Armenians know the Azerbaijani language and Azeris know Armenian.
Meanwhile, Vusala Alibayli once again touches upon the issue of the two groups living in the same location despite hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the negative perceptions of the other side in both countries.
Mustafa says that  60-70 percent of the village is ethnic Azeri and then comes the ethnic Armenians. There are places where both live together side by side.
“Until now we didnt have any problems among Azeris, Armenians and Georgians. We are going to each other’s weddings and holidays. Even when I was talking with an Armenian in his own language, he replied in Azerbaijani. There are no problems, we are united and will remain like this. Other issues are political and not related to ordinary people. I am very pleasant with Armenians in Tsopi and other villages.”
Ethnic Azeri, Mosque, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik Krikorian
All of which was food for thought for many, and not least Dodka  who also lives in the same country.
I am a citizen of Georgia.
I was born and brought up here, never leaving its borders until two years ago. I have heard about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but I have never felt it.
Why?
Well, everyday I see kids playing in the yard. Some of them are ethnic Georgians, some Azeri, and some of them are Armenians.
[…]
I hope to see peace in South Caucasus.
If people from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia can coexist here, then surely they can coexist anywhere.
Over the coming days and weeks there will be more such examples using new media and social networking tools and stories, photos, and video as a continuation of the brief cross-border exercise undertaken in September. Follow it on Twitter @caucasusproject.
This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Pakistan: Arson Attack After Bombing · Global Voices
Rezwan

Faisal Kapadia at Deadpan Thoughts comments on the widespread rioting and arson attack immediately after the suicide bombing on Shiite procession in Karachi last Monday.


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Peru: Damage to Inca Walls Due to Construction of Hotel · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Concerned about the damage being caused to ancient Inca walls by the construction of a new hotel in Cusco, Peru, Carlos Quiroz of Peruanista writes a detailed post with steps to take action.


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Poland, China: Lack of Response to Akmal Shaikh’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian writes about Poland's lack of response to the execution of Akmal Shaikh in China: “[…] Akmal spent quite some time in Poland, was married to a Pole and is survived by two Polish children. The question was therefore raised as to why Poland did not join in the call for clemency? […] Poland remained silent throughout, presumably on the basis that he wasn’t Polish, he annoyed the police in Lublin and didn’t pay his taxes.”


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Puerto Rico: On the Trail · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

When it comes to corruption, Puerto Rico's Gil the Jenius follows the “more subtle ‘influence trail'” rather than the money trail.


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Russia: Kaliningrad’s “Contraband Industry” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

St Petersblurb writes about Kaliningrad authorities’ failure to deal with the region's flourishing “contraband industry.”


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Russia: Livejournal Shuts Down Putin’s Critic · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Russian popular blogging platform Livejournal has suspended an account of a historian Yuri Felshtinsky [ENG] after he had published a link to a Russian translation of his book “The Age of Assassins: The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin” [ENG].

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Yeltsin’s Daughter Blogs About Oligarch · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Tatyana Yumasheva (LJ user t_yumasheva), daughter of the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin , recollects [Google Translation in EN] on her blog the  early years of  Roman Abramovich, Russian oligarch and the 51st richest person in the world.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Partly Solved? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jumbie's Watch is not impressed with the solve rate for murders in Trinidad and Tobago.


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Tunisia: The White Note Campaign Against Cyber Censorship · Global Voices
Lina Ben Mhenni

The White Note campaign logo
On Friday, December the 25, Tunisian bloggers waged the White Note Campaign to protest against censorship, which is growing to a tremendous extent in Tunisia.
The Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) is not sparing any kind of websites from censorship.
The majority of bloggers took part in the White note campaign like Ounormal [ar], Metallistication [ar] who just posted the White Note Action logo with the caption For freedom of expression and blogging, as Chiheb did.
But blogger Patriote Tunisien [ar]  chose to give Tunisian blogs a Black  Note .

author: Lina Ben Mhenni


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Ukraine: Election and Freedom of Speech · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine and the impact that its outcome may have on the freedom of speech: “It must be dispiriting for journalists to know how little impact is made by their revelations of Ukraine's leaders’ systematic abuse of power, and a worry to think of any possible ‘pay-back’ in the weeks after next month's presidential election ends.”


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Armenia: Culture vulture · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ianyan interviews Anush Babajanyan, an Armenian photographer who particularly focuses on issues such as gender in Armenia and the homeless in the country's second largest city, Gyumri.


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Azerbaijan: Business as usual · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on new charges made against imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, 2009 recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom award. The blog says that some things don't change, but nonetheless encourages its readers to speak out in 2010.


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Bangladesh: Celebrating New Year Twice · Global Voices
Rezwan

Saad Hammadi at Of Diaries And Experiences reminds that Bangladesh is reversing the clock by an hour to go back to Bangladesh’s geographic timing: “Thus, the 31st will last for 25 hours. For the party goers, how better could it be than celebrating the new year twice!”


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Bangladesh: Knighthood For Fazle Hasan Abed · Global Voices
Rezwan

Unheard Voice informs that Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder and chairperson of the largest NGO of the world, BRAC, has been awarded with knighthood for his endeavors towards eradicating poverty and empowering the poor in Bangladesh and many countries of the world.


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Best South Asia Books of the 2000s · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amardeep at Sepia Mutiny lists the best of the South Asia related books published in the 2000s.


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Bhutan: Snowfall And Holiday · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Nobody seems to know when it started or how it started, but tradition dictates that Thimphu residents – especially public servants – avoid going to office on the day the city receives its first snowfall of the season,” informs  Tshering Tobgay from Bhutan.


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Caribbean: 2009 Regional Roundup · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Global Voices celebrates its fifth anniversary, the occasion has given us all an opportunity to reflect on why we do what we do and how our work makes a difference.  As my colleague Jillian York so succinctly put it, “We spread stories.  We spread words.”  We manage to do that effectively because of the many people who are so committed to making this project everything it is and more.  Some of those wonderful people are on the Caribbean team, and in the spirit of reflection, we're taking a look back at some of the most interesting/important/eye-opening regional posts of 2009…
This was a year for social movements, it seemed.  From expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza who suffered through the bombings to speaking up for themselves “against all sorts of abuses”, Guadeloupe and the French Overseas Territories put their stamp on the regional blogosphere.  Haitian bloggers were also very outspoken on the political front, while Puerto Rico and Bermuda had protests of their own.
The global financial crisis certainly had an impact on the Caribbean.  Bloggers from Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and the rest of the region were abuzz with tales of financial governance gone awry.  Bloggers also had a lot to say about the economic ramifications of the 5th Summit of the Americas, held earlier this year in Trinidad and Tobago.
The biggest health story of the year was, without a doubt, the H1N1 outbreak.
Several Caribbean territories had their bone to pick with the law this year: Guadeloupe, Barbados, and in a particularly heart-wrenching story, Guyana.  Violent crime rates also seemed to be on the rise in several islands – including domestic abuse and gender violence – and many West Indian bloggers used Barbadian pop star Rihanna's unfortunate incident with then-boyfriend Chris Brown to send a message about the issue.
Press freedom (or lack thereof) was a popular topic for regional discussion once again this year, as was censorship and freedom of expression. The story that perhaps best demonstrated the dangers of self expression in some parts of the region was the seizure of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez (along with two colleagues) as they made their way to an anti-violence march in Havana.
In honour of Blog Action Day 2009, Cariabbean bloggers added their voices to the global discussion on climate change, while over in Guadeloupe, water availability was on everyone's mind.
The IAAF World Championships brought joy and celebration to regional sports fans, thanks to the outstanding performances of Jamaica's Usain Bolt and other Caribbean athletes.
There were, of course, other fascinating stories that we covered: the ban on explicit music in Jamaica, Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott's withdrawal from the race for the coveted position of Oxford Professor of Poetry, Haiti's touching farewell to the late Fr. Jean-Juste.  We tracked the path of the Caribs, built online art networks,  and attended Cuba's Concert for Peace. And we can't wait to see what 2010 will have in store.  Happy New Year!


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Caucasus: 2009 Blog Review · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

If the Armenian and Georgian blogospheres attracted most interest during 2008 after one bitterly disputed presidential election in the former and an albeit short war with Russia in the latter, Azerbaijan was the undoubted focus in 2009. In particular, youth activists quickly embraced both new and social media to spread their message online, especially following a ban on foreign radio stations using local frequencies ahead of a controversial referendum to remove restrictions on presidential term limits.
However, the local blogosphere was to particularly make an impression in the days following the 30 April massacre of students at a Baku university. A week and a half later, many young Azerbaijanis protested inaction on behalf of the government in light of the tragedy and took to the streets. Some were detained and Twitter became an invaluable tool for updating friends and supporters on their situation. Blogs also provided first hand accounts of the heavy handed police action.
So effective was the use of new and social media in Azerbaijan, however, that the main event of 2009 was also the most concerning and unfortunate. Following reports that the Azerbaijani government had purchased donkeys for tens of thousands of dollars, youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli uploaded a satirical video on YouTube which also criticized government plans to change the law on local NGOs.
Soon after, Hajizade and Milli were assaulted in a downtown Baku restaurant and detained instead of their assailants when they reported the incident to police. Citizen media leapt to their defense with other activists as well as friends and supporters skillfully using new and social media such as blogs, social networks and micro-blogging tools to campaign for their release.
It wasn't long before the international media caught up and also highlighted their predicament while Global Voices Online continued to extensively cover the trial thanks to blog posts and tweets from both inside and outside Azerbaijan.
Unfortunately, however, Hajizade and Milli were sentenced on 11 November to 2 and 2.5 years respectively. Global Voices Online interviewed Parvana Persiani, a leading Azerbaijani youth activist and Hajizade's girlfriend, on the case as well as the use of new media to promote change a day earlier.
The Presidency of the European Union, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have condemned the verdict. Amnesty International has declared both men to be prisoners of conscience.
Meanwhile, despite the action against the activists, many observers expect the role of blogs to increase in the region during 2010, and especially in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Unfortunately, the cost of Internet connection in Armenia remains the highest while its speed is by far the slowest.
As an example, a 256k connection costs $30 a month in Armenia, while a 4mb connection in neighboring Georgia costs just $19.


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Caucasus: The color of pomegranates · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ianyan waxes lyrically about its love of pomegranates, a fruit synonymous with many countries in and around the South Caucasus such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey.


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Cuba: History & Hope · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Hopefully, 2010 will bring, finally, an end to this sad, torturous chapter of Cuban history”: Uncommon Sense remembers Cuba's past and expresses his hopes for its future.


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Dominica: OECS · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Chris at Dominica Weekly shares his thoughts on the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States’ Economic Union.


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Ethiopia: Death penalty is meant to terrorise Ethiopians · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Berhanu Nega, one of the men sentenced to death by an Ethiopian court says he is not suprised by death penalty.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Ethiopia: Mother of political activist appeals to Prime Minister · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Arefe reports that the mother of the leader of the leader of Ethiopia’s biggest opposition party and political activist, Birtukan Mideksa has sent a letter sent to Prime Minster Meles Zenawi asking for her daughter’s release.


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Ghana:Visiting Cape Coast Castle · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Beautiful photos and a post about a tour to the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana: “We followed a guided tour into the slave dungeons. There were several African-Americans in the group. We were all quiet, reduced to silence by the ghosts and the sadness thick in the musty air.”


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Guyana: Of Prosperity & Rice · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Diaspora blogger Signifyin’ Guyana is bringing back traditional “cook up rice” for the New Year.


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Hungary: Faluház/”Village House” in Budapest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

BudapestZin writes about the renovation of Faluház/”Village House,” Budapest's largest apartment building: “In 844 apartments, more than 3000 people live in this building. That is approximately the population of an average Hungarian village.”


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Japan: 2009 Tokyo Art Scene · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

William Andrews at the Tokyo Art Beat blog reviews the Tokyo art scene for the past year: “It was a nervous year, with the world-wide economic crisis always lurking.”

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Japan: Things just got worse  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

“Japanese OO got worse in 2009″. Umeten gives a list [ja] of all the things that got worse in Japan this year, from economy to music magazines to baseball …
A link to other blogs or websites for each item.


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Lithuania: Buying Lithuanian (in Poland) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

With a Grain of Druska reports on the Delphi portal users’ “quotation of the year” choice: “I follow the slogan ‘buy Lithuanian products’, but I buy them in Poland. There Lithuanian products are about half the price.”


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Russia: Stroganina in Yakutia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

AskYakutia.com writes about stroganina, “the first traditional dish that will be offered you to try in Yakutia in winter.”


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Russia, U.S.: Billy Joel in 1987 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light writes about Billy Joel, “who stumped up $2.5 million of his own cash, and became the first American rock star to tour the Soviet Union with a fully staged show” in 1987.