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China: Let your photos do the talking · Global Voices
John Kennedy

While dealing with blocked pages and filter-trigger keywords can get pretty annoying on the wrong side of the internet, for bloggers in China who want some discussion on, say, the highest-level corruption crackdown in ten years, there are always ways to beat the system. This time it just happens that the name—now on the banned list—of one of the key suspects involved is exactly the same as the Chinese word for the yellow chrysanthemum. And who doesn't like the occasional picture of a flower on their blog?
Here's Bullog blogger mic's recent post, textless save the botanically-named title, and the comments that followed:
kk:
沙发,好黄
OUYE:
那你坐上屎了
老虎屁股 [Tiger Butt]:
也能摸
shenmojibadongxi:
shenmojibadongxi
超薄白 [Ultrathin White]:
秋天就快过去了．．
huh?:
mmd, 看标题就能猜出是什么东西
GUAIGUAI:
有智慧。
Q:
标题党
不好
如果能抓拍到菊花凋零的镜头就有意味啦
训练晕了
以为是领导特写呢……
后天眼
入秋了．
牛头梗
秋天里的一把火.
The day after tomorrow my eyes
Will enter Autumn.
Bull Terrier
A fire in Autumn.
Also from Bullog, a photo from Li Honglian (李宏剑) posted by 50mm with the title ‘Demolition: Land‘ and no other accompanying text, of a van someone in Fenyan village, Jianli county of Hubei province has turned into a mobile protest sign. The text in the van windows reads: “Give Back [My] Land”.
。。。。。:
Brent:
农民没土地了，以前只能扯条竹竿挂条尿布造反。
现在好多了，还可以去城里当农民工嘛。
OK:
BRENT,你真是个租B的.
落后青年 [Backwards Youth]:
现在的农民工明显是北方不如南方挣的多,南方的不如出国挣的多.上次在火车上就见一批打算去新加坡给人盖房的,可见国内市场已经满足不了农民工的生存需求了.
frank:
是国内的工资率无法满足民工的需求了
Brent:
我好怕怕..
这么多人反对我呀。
那我再加一条吧：
农民工不好当还可以去其它国家当苦力嘛..
ouye
土地还给谁？
谁又占了地？
有点不明白，
也不想明白，
因为，
有什么用。
In blogger/web editor Wen Yunchao‘s webnews weekly roundup, aside from stories of Wikipedia's unblocking in China, one blogger's run from his alleged killers and news of Google's purchase of Youtube is a mention of a hot topic on Bullog these days, those arguing for an end to the practice of Chinese Traditional Medicine:
取消中医之辩
近来，在网上有人正在征集取消中医的签名，有网友认为：”中医是一个包含了哲学、玄学、迷信、民间医术和巫术的大杂烩。”签名得到不少人响应，而且很多人是医卫工作者。签名者要求有关部门采取措施，让中医在5年内退出国家医疗体制，回归民间，使西医成为国家惟一的医疗技术。 10月10日卫生部新闻发言人特别对此表示，这样的签名行为，是对历史的无知，也是对现实中中医药所发挥的重要作用的无知，卫生部坚决反对这样的言论和做法。我国不可能取消中医，也不会让其退出国家医疗体制。

author: John Kennedy


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Ecuador: Campaign Blog for Movimiento Pachakutik · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Christian Espinosa discovers the new blog [ES] of Movimiento Pachakutik candidate Luis Macas [ES].  Espinosa writes that the candidates in the upcoming Presidential elections in Ecuador are using blogs as a new way of campaining, even though the blogs’ full potential is yet to be tapped.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Eduardo Avila


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Venezuela: What Might a Rosales Government Look Like? · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Francisco Toro imagines what a Manuel Rosales administration might look like, should he beat Hugo Chavez in the upcoming elections.  Likely scenarios in “an institutional environment dominated entirely by chavista appointees” all look pretty grim, especially if the leader of the opposition is none other than Chavez himself.


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Argentina: Indie Rocker in Commerical Music Festival · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Avistando Quimeras [ES], a blog from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is excited about the appearance of indie lo-fi singer-songwriter, Devendra Banhart at the launching of the Personal Fest, a music festival sponsored by Motorola.  Juan Martín, the blog's author wrote, “Go with the idea that you'll be bombarded with subliminal advertising and an avalanche of savage capitalist messages.”  But in spite of all of that, he tells his readers that he'll see them there.


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Bolivia: Visas in Hindsight · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

El Alto blogger Mario Ronald Duran Chuquimia laments the need of Bolivians to migrate to Spain [ES]. Even though internet technologies bring families closer together across the distance, it is not quite the same.  He writes, tongue-in-cheek, that it was Bolivia's mistake not to require visas from the Spanish during the time of the conquest.  Now, Bolivians, who out of necessity, are not allowed into Spain even though the workers are considered to be hard-working and efficient.


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Bangladesh: Dr Yunus wins the Nobel · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Dr Yunus winning the Nobel prize has Bangladeshi blogs celebrating and reflecting. Salam Dhaka reports on rumours that Dr Yunus might enter politics, and Rifat on what it means to the Bangladeshi identity.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bangladesh: Grameen Bank · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Or how I learned to stop worrying on Dr Yunus and the power of an idea. “Dr. Yunus discovered that microcredit can be both commercially viable and an engine for socio-economic change. Grameen Bank has helped millions of Bangladeshis rise above poverty, not through charity, but through hard work and a little faith in their abilities.”


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India: Dalits and Rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shivam Vij points to a Youtube video on the issues and troubles of the Dalit community in India.


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India: Microfinance and the Nobel prize · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Dina on Dr Yunus winning the Nobel prize, why it fell in the Peace category and what it means for women in India. “His model is being followed in India as well … and the proliferation of Self-Help-Groups (SHG's), typically groups of women who are given access to microcredit to start a small business, has the potential to empower women by enabling them to make economic decisions  and help increase family income. “


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India: Right to Kill · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indian Muslims reflects on the death penalty and its wider perception in India. “Coming to one person at a time, The fact is that most Indians are confused on whether the death sentence should be given in any case or not. I am talking here of the masses, they are not so opinionated and so get swayed away by the rhetoric spread by vested interests.”


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Mauritius: Local Filmmakers · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Christina announces (Fr) La Seance des Jeunes Realisateurs,  a show on Mauritian television channel MBC3 that showcases local filmmakers. She writes: “Shorts by Mauritian filmmakers are finally being broadcast nationally. An occasion to see what local films are made of, to consume purely Mauritian fiction and documentary. Of course all pioneering films have weaknesses … But this is mostly about seeing what themes preoccupy our creatives and what our imaginary is made of.”

author: Alice Backer


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Pakistan: Blog-o-leader · Global Voices
Omer Alvie

With the advent of citizen journalism and the unrelenting popularity of blogs as the main source of honest opinion and news, it won't be long before the world leaders jump on the bandwagon, as President Ahmadinejad has already done, and launch their own blogs to further ensure their own popularity and provide us with an opportunity to laugh out loud uncontrollably as an alternative to the comedy of Fox News.
Let me now, return back to reality for a few moments, and present to you a small collection of very interesting links to some remarkable posts from the Pakistani blogosphere.Fountainhead posts an impeccable piece which also made it to the pages of Baltimore Chronicle. Suspect Paki writes an angered post on the recent report on the new estimate of the Iraqi death toll.
And people around the world, especially the western world, will happily eat their dinners tonight, oblivious, silent, compliant, not even fully aware that they’re alive, but satisfied that Muslims are dead. Yes. White people happy at the death of brown people. Don’t act surprised. Don’t look shocked. It’s been the way for centuries.
PakCast interviews Ambreen Ali on the one year anniversary of the devastating Pakistan Earthquake.
One year later and with a harsh winter beginning, she says, too little has been done and too many are still living in makeshift housing.
In my reciprocal response to this coming trend of Head Of State becoming a blogger, I as blogger have decided to become a Head Of State. For this reason, I would like to announce my candidacy as the next President of Pakistan. I think I already possess the necessary credentials, as I just recently bought myself an ex-army general's uniform with all the necessary accessories, including the requisite medals, bells, and whistles. For those who still question my rationale for my qualification for this position, all I can say is that if a military dictator can stake claim to being a Head of a ‘democratic’ country, why can't I, (a blogger), claim myself as the Chief of Army Staff and the President of the country?
Meanwhile, Windmills points to a site for sore muslims. Tears also makes an impassioned post on the anniversary of the Pakistan Earthquake.
And then came the horrible sound of rolling, rumbling rock as the bricks in the half constructed house behind ours fell and living as we did on the 2nd floor, felt the entire house sway on its foundations and heard my mother (who is seriously phobic about earthquakes) scream for my brother and myself. I leaped out of bed and ran out of my room to grab hold of my mother who was in a complete panic and nearly in tears, calling out my brother’s name and then mine although my brother had already reached her. And we stood there, the three of us holding on to each other in a doorway, reciting what we could, feeling the ground shake beneath our feet and hear the china clatter in the cabinets along with the shouts and commotion of people in our usually quiet street.
and finally I debate myself on the issue of a blog post. Well that's it for this week, I'm off to get my new general's uniform altered. The sleeves are too long and the pants are too short, figure that one out?

author: Omer Alvie


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Pakistan: Friday the 13th · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Friday the 13th might be lucky for Muslims, Sajjad Zaidi explains. “Today was Friday the 13th, a day considered extremely unlucky by some in the West. Whatever the origins of this superstition, some Muslims have the opposite view (most are indifferent I guess).”


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Rwanda: How To (Not) Get a Driver’s License · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Guillaume, an ex-pat in Rwanda, describes how he failed a very public driver's license exam (Fr): “It's a 3 hour drive to Nyatare … We had to wait until 3 pm … I pass the reverse driving test without looking in the side mirrors, without stopping. The crowd cheers hysterically.” But since he failed the very closely monitored and meticulously measured 5pm parking test, Guillaume concludes: “Maybe I'll get my driver's license one day… in another country.”


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Sri Lanka: A new truce agreement · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Moju on whether Sri Lanka needs a new truce agreement. “Sri Lanka needs a new ceasefire agreement to replace the lifeless 2002 Norwegian-sponsored pact and at least 15,000 foreign soldiers in the island’s northeast to ensure its implementation, says a former Finnish monitor of the truce.”


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The Week That Was in Bahrain  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

It's showtime in Bahrain where bloggers are preoccupied with a new craze – a campaign to wipe out sectarianism started by no other than the kingdom's most illustrious blogger Mahmood Al Yousif.
In response to a scandal which shook the country, Mahmood decided to fight fire with fire and launch a movement to fight sectarianism in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, with an estimated 60 per cent Shia population.
A decision by court to ban newspapers from publishing anything about the scandal, better known as Bandargate, did not go well with the outspoken blogger.
“and he shall be henceforth called: He Who Must Not Be Named [HWMNBN or BOO! for short], as dictated by our completely partial judicial system, further entrenching the age-old custom and tradition of sweeping problems under a carpet and deem them summarily resolved!” writes a very angry Mahmood.
“OOOOOkay then Mr. Senior Criminal Court and illustrious BNA, let me tell you – and I’m a mere mortal mind you and have no degree in lawyering, that the document signed by the Kingdom of Bahrain and submitted to the United Nations dealing with that thing called Human Rights unequivocally states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article XIX
So you can kiss my whatsit. I’ve got PROOF that the country is heading very quickly to be the Darfour of the Gulf in a few years time, and hear me say this as loud as I can:
NO SHI’I AND NO SUNNI…
JUST BAHRAINI
So bugger off and let us solve the problem while you continue to just want to hide (and create) problems rather than face and diligently work toward solving them,” he continues.
The following day Mahmood called upon bloggers to fix a button on their websites, bearing a simple message: “No Shi'i, No Sunni, Just Bahraini.”
Responses to his campaign snowballed, with bloggers carrying the torch and spreading the word. From virtual buttons, the blogger started distributing actual buttons, thanks to the generousity of a Bahrain company and then launched a Just Bahraini Flickr Group.
Mahmood's message is loud and clear:
“There has been a lot of sectarian foolishness in Bahrain recently, spotlighted in a dramatic fashion by the Dr. Al-Bandar (Bandargate) report.
This is an attempt to cauterize the wound of sectarianism by amplifying the “One Bahrain” message,” he writes.
As if fueling segretation isn't enough, Bahrain once again shows its sensitivity to the Internet and freedom of expression by blocking a few websites.
From the other side of the pond, Chanad Bahraini emerges with two posts linking news articles written about Bandargate in the International Press! It really would be nice to see whether the Bahrain high court can try and muzzle the New York Times, The Guardian and Qahwa Sada from writing about Bandargate!
In other matters, Tooners wants to know which is the greatest gift: wisdom of laughter; MSB got a nasty email about him not intended for his eyes; and MoClipper not only bought a guitar but also wrote a song!

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Turkey is Typing… · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Two things have been the subject of debate this week in the Turkish blogosphere…Orhan Pamuk being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the passing of a Armenian genocide law in France.
The issue of the Armenian Genocide has always been a hot-topic discussion, with the claims of whether what historically could be considered as genocide or not, and ultimately who is to blame for historical events.  For an Armenian point of view on the Genocide and the French Law Banning anyone from saying that it did not happen, visit Thursday's Central Asia Article on Global Voices.
The general Turkish impression of the Armenian Genocide Bill passed by the French government is outrage.
Ignore Me if You Can Says:
And the law went through. I wonder if France knows what it is getting itself into?  Protest are being held all over Turkey and citizens want all relationships between
Turkey and France to cease. They’ve stepped right into it.
The Infidel called the bill “disgusting”.
Erkan's Field Diary notes the implications that this has on Turkey's bid for EU membership:
Today has been a sad day. Not always I get sad with broader political happenings around me as I am quite used to politics by now, but I can't help being upset this time. And many people around me seem to be upset. Anger turned into a kind of despair. A national parliament of a very significant country explicitly takes aim at Turkey. Despite all threats of sanctions, most of the Turks know that they are helpless. This French arrogance at such an highest level will go unpunished. In our bohemian circle in a super smoky cafÃ©, our chitchat agenda during card playing was that the West has no standards any more. Whatever the Socialists of French parliaments babble, it is just too apparent that they serve for a very strong lobbying effort. If only I could believe in that they really aim to do something good in this life, I would be thinking more positively….This situtation leads to well supported conspiracy theories in the mean time. Even in some intellectual circles some connect the Nobel prize and the parliament vote. Be like Mr. Pamuk and get rewarded otherwise you are condemned… Who can stop the anti-western, anti-EU feelings now?
Me and Others sums up the situation in pointing out French hypocrisy:
the french parliement had already declared that they recognize the armeian genocide as if it is upto them to decide what has ever happened in history, which also makes me wonder why the french parliement doesnt recognize any of the genocides they have commited in africa, if they have an miracle ability of creating facts.
and today the french people accepted the bill which suggests that anyone who says there is not an armenian genocide will be punished severely.
well for a starter, i am saying that there is not a thing such as the armenian genocide. it is a good thing that i am not in france or i would get into really deep trouble. the freedom of speech champions, the human right advocates who love to blame Turkey for anything they grasp into their hands is now blatantly violating the freedom of expression.
And ultimately, the discussion of freedom of expression is what is at the heart of this Turkish discussion.  In fact most discussion of the Armenian Genocide bill has been in conjunction with the news of Turkish author Orhan Pamuk winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the reason for that was that not too long ago Orhan Pamuk was going to be put on trial for “Insulting Turkishness” for speaking out publically about the Armenian Genocide.  Hakan Aydin from Aydin.net  explains the political link between the Nobel Prize:
Many people around the world claim that such is the case for Pamuk’s Nobel Prize, first Nobel Prize awarded to a Turk. Pamuk has been a candidate for Nobel prize since 2002 for his novels, but unfortunately, he is best known for being charged in Turkey for his aggressive stance on issues such as the Armenian claims of genocide: “30000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in this country and no one dares to talk about it except me”.
The law that triggers these charges is not effectively enforced in Turkey for a long time. (This is similar to the law on death penalty in Turkey; even though there was a law that allowed it, there was a de facto moratorium on death penalty as the last execution took place in 1984. The death penalty was completely removed from law in May 2004 Turkey). The charges against Pamuk were dropped eventually without any punishment.
It would be naive to think that Pamuk’s Nobel Prize isn’t politically motivated, as Pamuk is now the third consecutive literature laureate with heavy political baggage. Last year’s winner, British playwright Harold Pinter, is equally well known for his strident leftist politics. The 2004 honoree, Elfriede Jelinek, is a fierce critic of Austria’s conservative establishment.
Athanasia's Daily notes the pleasure at the Nobel Prize award but with some doubt:
Pamuk is the first Turkish writer who won Nobel Literature Prize. I am quite happy about it. I like him even though I havent been reading him for maybe 3 or 4 years but the prize made me remember him again. So it seems like the next book I read will be one of his.
However dont you think that there is a paradox between the French bill and this prize if the Nobel jury was influenced of Pamuk's trouble here in Turkey because of the article 301 and his words about the “so-called” Armenian genocide?
Amerikan Turk talks about the duality that Pamuk is seen as within Turkey:
Orhan Pamuk wins the Nobel Prize for Literature, and France passes their coveted armenian genocide bill…
For Armenians, both events are victories. It is Pamuk who spoke openly about genocide, resulting in a court battle for his freedom. For Armenians, he is considered to be one of the “good Turks”, I'm sure. For many Turks, Pamuk is loathed as a treasonous sell-out.
Talk Turkey considers the impact of these recent events on the ability for discussion on the Armenian Genocide to even continue within Turkey:
He [Orhan Pamuk]already noted that what he intended to mean is the need for more open dialogue about this subject.
Besides, his comment did not specifically indicate that Turkey was the responsible party, and even if it had, did he mean for Turkey to be accused of ‘systematic’ killings indicating genocide.
If the legislation passed by France becomes the law, he would be charged according to the above denial of genocide position, and controversy would erupt, more so than it did when involving Turkey, a relatively restrictive country compared with France, as far as Westerners’ perception -real or not.
There has also been speculation on discussion forums that the passing of the French law and the political awarding of the Nobel Prize to Orhan Pamuk might lead to a complete halt of all discussion on the Armenian Genocide.
Despite the controversy, Orhan Pamuk has the honor and distinction of being the first Turk to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and it does say alot for the level of modern Turkish literature.  Mavi Boncuk reminds us of that and gives an excellent biography of Orhan Pamuk.
Now the above isn't the only happenings in Turkey this week, so I made sure to add some interesting links this week to make up for what wasn't covered.
Interesting Links-
1. New yahoo group called Turk Amerikan Ticaret Merkesi (Turkish American Trade Center)(TR) to discuss various aspects of Turkish business in America.
2. Learn more about Sufi dances from Tarkan Deluxe.
3. A bit of a funny…Turkish Star Trek.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Colombia: New Bird Species Found · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Proyecto Colombia celebrates the discovery of a new bird species in the cloud forest of the Santander province.  The bird proudly flashes its colors, which match those of the Colombian flag.


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Ecuador: Ecuador Elige Follows the Elections · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Ecuador Elige [ES], a group blog with 13 contributors followed the Presidential elections in Ecuador throughout the day.  The site posts partial results and early reactions. Early results show Alvaro Noboa and Rafael Correa as moving onto the 2nd run-off round.


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France, Togo: No Smoking · Global Voices
Alice Backer

France-based Togolese blogger Kangni Alem writes (Fr): “France is going to progressively completely forbid tobacco smoking in public places. Thank God. To say I had no problem with public smoking would be a lie.” Tony, a commentator to the blog responds (Fr): ” In Africa smokers will continue to have a field day for at least another century.”


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Martinique: Remembering a Special Moment · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog de [Moi]  thinks back nostalgically (Fr) on a dance with a special woman  she met for a couple of minutes in her twenties at a gay dance before the woman returned to her male companion.


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Mooziko, the African YouTube · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog de PKJ Agency, a blog that “casts a global look at the African Internet,” weighed the pros and cons of Mooziko, the African YouTube,  this week and stirred up some debate in the process. Says the blog:
Alors que Youtube vient de se faire racheter pour la modique somme de 1,65 milliard de dollars. Je viens de découvrir son petit frère africain Mooziko via le site Africa2point0.com. Le site a intégré de nombreuses fonctionnalités 2.0 et je suis assez impressionné par le service proposé. … Néanmoins j’ai quelques critiques à ce sujet:
* Trop de publicité
… Lorsque l’on consulte une vidéo on voit presque plus de pubs que de contenu réel à l’écran.
* Nouvelle fenêtre pour la vidéo
Pourquoi ne pas afficher la vidéo dans la même fenêtre de navigation ? …
* Lien direct vers la vidéo
Je pense que le site gagnerait à avoir des liens directs vers les vidéos pour accélerer le buzz marketing. Les gens sont plus enclins à fournir un lien direct qu’à envoyer un lien vers une page contenant la présentation de la vidéo et à ajouter dans leur message “Clique sur le bouton play, tu vas voir c’est formidable !!”.
* Too much publicity
…When you watch a video, you almost see more commercials than actual content on the screen.
* New window for each video
Why not show videos in the main navigation window? …
* Direct link to video
I think the site would benefit from having direct links to videos to accelerate the marketing buzz. People are more inclined to send a direct link than to send a link to a page containing the video and adding in their message “click on the play button, you'll see it's great!!”.
Malgré tout, c’est un projet vraiment intéressant. Il montre que le retard imputé à l’Afrique en terme de technologie web peut être rattrapé rapidement. Mooziko pourrait alors se présenter comme un des pionners d’une nouvelle génération de sites panafricains.
Les services collaboratifs vont sans doute se développer de plus en plus sur le continent et il serait intéressant de voir se développer des outils transcommunautaires permettant aux différents sites de faire bénéficier aux uns et aux autres de leur trafic respectif. Pour que tout le monde soit gagnant il faut d’abord former une communauté importante et cela ne pourra pas se faire sans une forme d’échange entre ces nouveaux sites africains.
Commentators to the post weighed in mainly on the publicity issue.
For Etum,
Vu que l’acces au site est gratuit je pense que l’on ne doit pas se plaindre de la publicité. Pour l’instant c’est le modele économique qu’ils ont choisi mais je pense qu’il va évoluer. Wait and see.
Other commentators discussed problems downloading video to which another countered that the site was only in its beta phase.


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Reunion: Diagonale des Fous · Global Voices
Alice Backer

LSZ Blog describes (Fr) La Diagonale des Fous, [Diagonal of the Crazies] an annual hike across the local volcano. He explains that every year “they assemble in a small town in the southeast of the island, with the obsessive idea of reaching the other side of the island as fast as they can and by foot. A mysterious fascination pushes them to … be hot by day, cold by night, … be sleepy, have hurting feet … to finally reach the Indian Ocean after a diagonal of 140km. They have prepared for months.”  This year is the 14th Diagonale.


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Reunion: Still Smoking · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Pierrot Dupuy laments (Fr) that despite a tactical 30 cent increase in cigarette prices, cigarette consumption in Reunion has not decreased. He concludes: “Since the stated goal of the hike was to lower consumption, we have to admit that the powers that be have failed.”


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Africa: a guide to opportunities in African stock markets · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenyan Pundit posts a link to a guide to profitable opportunities in African stock markets.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Africa: Jay-Z social activism in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethnicloft writes about Jay-Z's musical tour in Africa, “Shawn Carter (aka Jay-Z, on horse back in photo) is making waves in Africa. He has been using his musical tour of the continent to drive a social cause – by drawing attention to the world’s growing water crisis. I like that!”


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Arabisc: Unemployment, personal attacks and the birth of a new author · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Like many parts of the modern world, unemployment is a plague attacking Arab countries.
Anonymous blogger Alloush writes about a discovery he made while surfing the world wide web.
The Arab blogger found an online forum bringing together unemployed people from across Saudi Arabia  – which he is quick to distance himself from!
He announces his precious find to the world as follows:
Away from Saudi Arabia, Mayada Medhat from Egypt has her own axe to grind after getting a barrage of personal insults on her blog. Although she deleted the offensive entry, she writes:
In Iraq, Tara  is angry that UAE singer Hussain Al Jasmi failed to confirm that a song in his recent album was an Iraqi song.
Speaking of culture and music, another Iraqi blogger living in Canada – Ihath – is busy marketing her new book – Don't Shoot – I Have Another Story to Tell You.
Despite being a firm supporter, Daryl didn't necessarily agree with all of Ihath's ideas.
Not a bad push from someone who opposes all your opinions I suppose!


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Argentina: Unsafe Highways · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Good Airs is shocked at the number of highway fatalities in Argentina.  A recent accident claimed the lives of 12, including 10 school children.  The driver and his passenger were both appparently drunk.  At 7,000 deaths per year, it is obvious that the highways are out of control.


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Armenia: Genocide Roundup · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian rounds up posts on the Armenian genocide from across the blogosphere.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: No Visa · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Notes From Hareinik reports on what it calls “corruption…in play” possibly leading to the denial of visas to those behind Yerevan's popular New Delhi restaraunt.


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Bangladesh: Children in the country · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Black and Gray has a grim post on the sad reality of children in Bangladesh. “This is a story of sheer exploitation and utter indifference; a story where mothers are forced to sell their newborns for the price of a two-litre mineral water bottle; a story where children start working as young as five to grow up stunted and malnourished.”


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Barbados: Environment Minister to address conference · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press is optimistic about the Barbados Environment Minister's attendance at a UN conference in China.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Barbados: Party Monarch photos · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Pictureinfocus has a Flickr photoset devoted to the Barbados Party Monarch concert, held at a breathtaking location on Barbados’ east coast.


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Belarus: News Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The latest TOL's Belarus Blog posts cover these topics: population divided over mere symbols; the release of a young political activist; a hunger strike by members of a Minsk protestant church “New Life.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Bermuda: Racism against white people? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Eva Hodgson, an executive of an organisation called Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB), announced recently that “White people are not targeted by racism”. Sean of IMHO.bm responds: “Racism is not a white owned product”. The Limey agrees: “Statements like that are going to make it difficult for some white people to fully support what CURB is trying to do”.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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China and Japan: Netizen · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jacky peng in Little bridge blogs about the difference between Chinese and Japanese net users on BBS.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: blogging for justice · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

7 years ago, the girl friend of ken's friend died in the hospital probably because of the misjudgement of the doctor. All these years, he had been contacting lawyers, mainstream media and pursuing in court in order to expose the case to the public. Ken then suggested to him, why not go blogging? (zh)


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China: incestuous ad?  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen in DANWEI puts together some discussions about a recent skin-care adverstisment with the actress’ son saying that he wants to marry his mother when he gets old.  It results in a debate whether the ad has crossed the line of social standard. Joel also translated a post from Southern Metropolis Weekly.


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China: labour law · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Chinese government has passed a new set of labour law, Alan Baumler at The China history group blog gives more background information about the role of official union and points out that  these laws will not represent a change in the nature of Chinese unions and that these will continue to be “enterprise” unions.


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China: nokia ivory cell-phone · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Insertia from Taiwan calls for a boycott on Nokia's cell-phone: I Can't believe it. When most countries in the world forbid ivory trade, Nokia sell ivroy mobil phone in China, Guangdong. Please let your frind know it: Boycutt Nokia Ivory Phone.


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China: piracy as microsoft marketing  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Diligence China points out that when local software China Star sells at 10RMB while Microsoft Window sells at 500RMB, without piracy, Microsoft won't have a market share like today: Imagine what China’s software industry might look like if piracy hadn’t killed off a viable, home-grown alternative to Microsoft?


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China: shooting in Tibet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The opposite end of China puts together some Youtube videos on the recent shooting of Tibetian refugees at the Nepal border by the China PLA.


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China: tourism · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief blogs some of his observation on tourism in China: “the Chinese like their tourism like their restaurants: well serviced, loud, sociable and smoky. “


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China: translation for Olympic · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In order to prepare for the Olympic, the Beijing city has to double check its English signposts and other instructions. Sohoxiaobao has posted some translation jokes(zh): “folk culture village” is translated into “racist park”; a fired chicken dish is translated into “government abuse chicken”; and the word “dry” in Chinese is often translated into “fxxk”!


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China: wikipedia access chart · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Andrew Lih shows the distribution of wikipedia's access in China in a chart form.


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Colombia: Drinking Coca Sek · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Adam Isaacson of the Center for International Policy recently sampled the coca-based energy drink called Coca Sek, which is produced by an indigenous community in Colombia.  Even though the legal drink provided a bit of a kick needed for late night dinners, Isaacson said, “If given a drug test, however, right now I would produce a big, huge “positive.”


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Cuba, USA: 44th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Luis M. Garcia notes that today (October 16) is the 44th anniversary of the Cuban Missile crisis, and explains how the event which affected even his little hometown of Banes, Cuba.


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Czech Republic: Dalai Lama in Prague · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

My Czech Republic Blog writes about the Dalai Lama's sixth visit to Prague.


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East Africa: is the East African Union a joke? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rants, Raves, and Reviews asks whether the East Africa Federation is an April 1st joke, “Why bother with a political union between countries when Kenya & Uganda have massive internal political problems….”


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Ecuador: Post-Election Analysis · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Boz lays out five points regarding yesterday's Presidential elections in Ecuador.  Among other things, he predicts a Rafael Correa second-round victory.  In addition, Jaime Izurieta of Cambiemos Ecuador [ES] admits his political analysis may be a bit amateur, but it's very similar to the political behavior of Correa, who suffered a rude awakening on election day.


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Guadeloupe: Celebrating the Nation · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Flying in the face of Guadeloupe's status as a French Overseas Department, Convention pour une Guadeloupe Nouvelle writes (Fr): “A nation must live its past in order to be inspired by it. … We will [therefore] celebrate the birth of the Guadeloupean nation in October. It is indeed during the months of October and November 1801 that for the first time, after the long night of slavery, Guadeloupeans discovered that they are a people and rejected the colonial slave system. The Guadeloupean army seized power on October 21, 1801 and designated … an interim government. We demand that all the heros of the time be treated with pomp and that a national mausoleum be erected.”


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Guadeloupe, Trinidad: Young Rotarian Conference · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Guadeloupe Attitude  writes (Fr): “Patrick Verdol, Livio Lison and Bella Mado are the 3 Guadeloupeans chosen by the seven Guadeloupean Rotary Clubs to participate in the 2006 RYLA of District 7030 … Chosen by the clubs and districts for their potential leadership, youth aged 14 to 30, attend all expenses paid seminars, camps or workshops about developing leadership and knowledge.”


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Guyana: Walk along the sea · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Guyana-Gyal walks down to the sea — “just to see what I could see” — and has an encounter with Guyanese music star Eddie Grant that makes her ponder the true meaning of “development”.


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Hong Kong: campaign for citizen radio bandwith · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An underground citizen radio was raided last weekend, Hong Kong In-Media launched a signature campaign to urge the government to release citizen radio bandwith. The english version of the campaign statement is at interlocals while chinese version is at inmediahk.


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Hungary: “Holidays in Hell” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Inspired by P.J. O’Rourke’s “Holidays in Hell,” Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes that the Hungarian tourism authorities should “hit the reality button and go for the masochist market.”


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India: DesiPundit no more · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

DesiPundit, a popular editor-run filter blog linking to blogs run by Indians or on India decides to shut down. Two of the contributors, Patrix and Ash explain why.


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India: Gandhigiri · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Amardeep Singh comments on Gandhigiri – or the Gandhian way of getting things as inspired by a recent Bollywood flick and the way it has entered the public dialogue in India.”Instead of Bandhs and riots, over the past couple of months protesters have been sending flowers and doing Pujas, hoping that people whose work shows signs of negligence and incompetence will “get better soon.” “


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Kazakhstan: Adoption Blogs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZBlog takes a look at Kazakhstan adoption blogs, a significant sub-section of the English language Kazakh blogosphere.


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Kenya: spotlight on Kenyan music · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kikuyumoja's Realm attends a special musical event, the Spotlight on Kenyan Music Vol.2: “Spotlight on Kenyan Music Vol. 1 has already been a success – my friend Mbuzimoja had sent me a compilation last year, so this time I didn’t want to miss it and catch the spirit for myself. The spirit of “new” music that is being performed by local artists, something that makes you feel proud of the country and lets you forget about imported styles. No HipHop (pole Msanii_XL), but instead a focus on local tunes being reinterpreted by local artists. Something that wasn’t possible 10 years ago….”


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Kyrgyzstan: Monuments for Mobsters · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia discusses the criteria for having a monument built of someone in Kyrgyzstan in light of the news that authorities in Balykchy plan to build a monument to a slain criminal.


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Mongolia: Dragon Walk · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Dean details effective strategies for crossing Ulaanbaatar's busy streets while avoiding strategy.


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Nepal: The pace of talks · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! comments on the pace of the talks in Nepal. “Another one came and said that journalists should understand that the milieu is crowded and should not venture past. We nevertheless moved ahead.”


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Nepal: What depends on the talks · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bloggers Nepal has more information on the ongoing talks in the country and what issues rest on the same. “The fourth session of the second round of high-level peace talks that began a week ago and scheduled to resume Sunday is likely to sort out several contentious political issues that include, among others, an interim government, modalities of constituent assembly elections, position of the monarch, arms management and an interim legislature.


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Nigeria: Tribute Fela Kuti · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Felabration, similar to Felaversation, is a series of posts about Nigeria's Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti: Felabration, Fela's pictures that speak thousands words, Afrobeat Academy, Spirits of Fire Dance, Gen X Afrobeaters, and Felabration is About Aids Awareness.


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Pakistan: Cricket and the Dope Test · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Teeth Maestro on some players of Pakistan's Cricket team failing the dope test. “n an embarrassing development of events in the ICC Champions Trophy in India, it has just been revealed that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif both have failed an internal Pakistan Cricket Board performance enhancing drug test just prior to their match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.”


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Peru: An Ex-President Dies · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Libardo Buitrago [ES] writes about the news of the death of ex-President Valentín Paniagua, who died earlier today.  The Peruvian president took the helms of the government after the sudden resignation of Alberto Fujimori and his death was “a sad loss for Peru”.


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Poland: A Visit to Ukraine · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

p3 writes about a recent visit to the ancestors’ home in the neighboring Ukraine.


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Poland’s Pulse in the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Jordan & Maria Seidel

Local Dancers in Poland's Lake District (Mazury) prepare for Sieja (kind of fish) Fish Festival – by Embe, WarsawDaily
Perhaps a Christmas footballing miracle has come early, as Kinuk reports on Poland's victory over the 4th-ranked Portugal last week:
Their victory surprised myself, N and my brother, P, who was texting us furiously throughout the game. If Poland had played like this during the World Cup and for the last few games, supporting them would be a whole different ball game, if you pardon the pun…Portugal had a bad night, but Poland had an exceptional one and they can walk away proud from their achievements.
Not to be outdone by athletes, the Polish judiciary offered up its own legal miracle by beefing up the critical punch of journalists when it comes to overly sensitive, and litigious politicos. Writes Traveling Life:
Poland's top court has taken a step towards defending the freedom of speech, saying that one can only be punished for defaming a state official under a current law if the statements are made while he is performing his function.
And not to violate the “law of threes,” another miracle is noted by Poland – IP law news and Resources – no, it's not that Poles have stopped their incessant complaining, rather:
…[the] IP [intellectual property] awareness and creativity of Andrzej Lepper is stunning. As I check trademarks in the on-line database of the Polish Patent Office it is clear that actually none of the sings [signs] including word “samoobrona” was registered for TU Agricultures Samoobrona.
Apparently, the much maligned A. Lepper has miraculously demonstrated (given the media contruct of him as an inept, oafish MP) an advanced understanding of trademark law.
Not to be confused with either an oaf or ape, both the beatroot and Our Man in Gdansk blog about the League of Polish Family Party's (LPR) incredulity towards the metanarrative of evolution. In an ironic postmodern, or Lyotardian turn, Poland's vice prime-minister of education is qouted as saying “The theory of evolution is a lie.” The beatroot reports further:
Members of the League of Polish Families (LPR) have started a campaign against the theory of evolution. Miroslaw Orzechowski (deputy education minsiter) said:
“The theory of evolution is a lie, an error that we have legalised as a common truth….We should not teach lies, just as we should not teach bad instead of good, or ugliness instead of beauty….We are not going to withdraw Darwin's theory from the school books, but we should start to discuss it.”
And if that doesn't send a chill down your homo-sapien spine, P3 wrestles the Polish preoccupation with catching cold:
The Poles I’ve come across all seem to be obsessed with two things: The temperature and health matters, or, to be more precise, with the link between the two…I’m not a biologist or a doctor, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the real link between sickness and temperature was that if you’re sick, then you should keep warm…
Temperatures were on the rise in the English-language Polish blogopshere over the murder (or assassination?) of Russian journalists Anna Politkovskaya. A personal friend to some, the recent incident highlighted to blogger Boo that:
…a political murder touched something in me… Maybe it's because the thought that a prominent journalist, whose articles uncovered crimes, corruption and violence, could be silenced forever so simply, so coldly, so finally.
The proverb (even in Klingon) that “Revenge is a dish best served cold” is well-known, but As the Warsaw Crow Flies invites us to ponder whether or not absurdity is an art form best photographed in the cold (with plush Disney figures). “Piglet in Poland at Auschwitz: Tasteless Tourism or Art with a Message?” Is this in fact a juxtaposition that merits attention (albeit created accidentally)?
The Warsaw Crow waxes:
All three Piglet pictures look almost superimposed but they're not. I'm quietly sure the young woman who took them isn't aware of the many layers of truth and emotion to be found in them. Doesn’ t that make them all the more richer?
Rich indeed we deem the beatroot's post criticizing the Nobel Prize for Literature …It's the most commented upon blog post of our latest blogosphere update and merits your attention, we invite you (and all literati) to join the debate!
And speaking of debate…In the Polish-language blogosphere emotions run high as the bloggers analyze the political scene. Within last two weeks the leaders of (now defunct) coalition keep astounding the onlookers.
The govermnent is in the process of closing down the WSI – a military branch of the Polish secret services. This institution, whose employees have never been through a proper verification process after the 1989 transformation, used to be often accused of influencing politics and being linked to many affairs. For a long time there was no political will to do something about this. The current leaders finally decided to take action – unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons, it seems.
In the wake of the recent accusations against them, they accused the media of “being inspired, and/or manipulated by the WSI.” Soon the government-friendly newspaper published an article accusing a high-ranking TVN employee (the station that highlighted the government wrongdoings) of being a registered informer. All that based on the supposedly confidential report. As Radetzky commented, after PiS reforms:
we’ll have MacService, that also serves everything up on a tray…
Kaczynski brothers and their close associates have a particular grudge against secret services ever since the early 1990s, and the fall of the last “truly” right-wing government in Poland. They have long since claimed that these events were a result of their political opponents’ using secret services to invigilate and destabilize their party. Now they managed to find evidence. Opening an archive dubbed for the media “colonel Lesiak cabinet,” they’ve proven that indeed, circa 1993, when they were in the opposition, a government official used the secret services in an illegal manner, to gather all possible compromising evidence (i.e. corruption) against them. Franciszekszwajcarski notes that these latest revelations might not, however, benefit PiS as much as they tought:
I don’t understand how – being in a state of war with most of the media in Poland – can you try to improve your political standings by publishing documents that clearly state that PC [previous Kaczynski brothers’ party] accepted bribes…
In the face of inability to form a majority coalition, PiS will be finally forced to quit stalling and agree to an earlier elections, despite a risk of loosing. However, some moves on the political stage may indicate that – for the sake of keeping power – the prime minister contemplates taking Andrzej Lepper and his party back in, despite all the reasons he had for kicking them out before.
What will Kaczyński do? Will he attempt a Heraclitean walk twice into the same river? Or will he take a gamble in an early elections? Maybe he should look on the net for supporters? Jah observes the phenomenon of politicians utilizing such resources as MySpace and wonders:
The seed has been planted and now we can just wait until various presidential or parlamentary candidates set up their profiles on Grono or other (Polish) service, to tempt potential sympathizers, volunteers, voters with their virtual virtues. Unless you should outlaw such forms of campaigning beforehand. Stop political propaganda on the net? Is it even conceivable, and acceptable?
That’s the Poland blogopshere update! Until next time – Do widzenia i powodzenia!

author: Jordan & Maria Seidel


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Romania: Romtelecom · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Romerican writes about Romtelecom and other players on Romanian telecoms market.


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Russia: Bits of Moscow · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare mentions Moscow's security cameras and a ballet-shoe store.


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Russia: Empress Dagmar Reburied · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander writes about the re-burial of the Russian empress Dagmar (aka Maria Fyodorovna), mother of the last Russian emperor.


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Russia: Farewell Letter to Politkovskaya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Anna, I see things differently with you on one score. I don’t think Putin is the problem. He symbolizes the illness afflicting this beautiful land. As one human rights activist and friend of mine said back in 2000, ‘Putin is inside all of us. He is our mirror image’,” writes Raffi Aftandelian of maaskva: nashimi glazami in a farewell letter to Anna Politkovskaya, the slain Russian journalist who didn't seem to have a bit of Putin inside.


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Russia: Novgorod Living Experience · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude writes hilariously and posts pictures of his experience of “the raw horror of provincial Russian living” in Novgorod: “Buses here travel in eccentric circles, so you can’t get the same number bus back to where you came from. Maybe no-one can imagine you wanting to go back to where you came from. It’s understandable.”


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Russia: Politkovskaya Podcast · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander reports on his participation in the Open Source Radio's Politkovskaya Podcast.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS


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Russia: Yelena Bonner on Politkovskaya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Step At A Time re-posts a note by the widow of Andrei Sakharov on Anna Politkovskaya's death.


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Senegal: Head of Senelec Resigned · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog Politique du Senegal believes (Fr) that the head of national electricity company Senelec was asked to resign because President Wade needs a scapegoat for failing to fulfill his impossible promises. The blog is otherwise skeptical that private capital might do a better job than government spreading electricity in the country.


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Serbia, Croatia: Belgrade License Plates Animosity · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Desperate Serbwife writes about what to expect if you're driving through Croatia in a car with Belgrade license plates.


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Sewell, Chile: World Heritage Town · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Sewell is located at an altitude of over 2,000 metres in the Andes mountains. A copper mining town, this year UNESCO declared it a World Heritage site. La Libélula (ES) explains a little of history, as well as the social scene:
Sewell was established at the beggining of this century in Chile by the Braden Copper Company, and was the home of thousands of miners, workers and functionaries who carried out activities related to commerce, health, education and entertainment. Its unique location in the middle of the mountains gave rise to a city full of staircases and twists which adapted themselves to the unusual topography of the area. The buildings also reflected the social stratifications that existed inside the camp, with houses for the miner families and houses for the office workers and “the American population” where the American and Chilean hierarchy lived.
Mali (ES) has a post about a conversation she has about the Sewell lifestyle with some elderly relatives who used to live there:
“My uncle got a job for my dad in the hospital and we all moved over there. I loved Sewell so much that I couldn’t be happier. We almost never went down to the city, because Sewell had everything. It had a cinema, a pool, bowling and also a lot of kids!! As time passed, the sons started getting married. In the beginning, there were miners, the professionals and the gringos. Then, they all started mixing. Because they started establishing private schools and high schools, the sons of the gringos got married to the daughters of the professionals or miners, and a lot of gringo last names appeared and the place started filling up with children.”
Mali also posts some beautiful pictures of the town, as does Beatriz Valenzuela (ES), who writes about an experience she had in the Sewell Hospital:
I asked the nurse if I could keep the metal cup. In it I used to clean my paintbrushes. My stay in the hospital was long, probably because of my age and the time of year: I was 6 years and it was Christmas. They decide to put me in quarantine because the diagnosis was serious: typhoid. I still remember the bath they gave me to take the fever down and how my head almost exploded. . . . noises in the distance. . . fever.
In its heyday, Sewell had a population of around 15,000. The town will remain in the hearts of Chileans for a long time.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Singapore: Hazy Sky · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Alvin Lim in Cambodia posts a picture of hazy skies over Singapore and remarks “I find it quite astounding that the air quality is actually better in Phnom Penh than “advanced” Singapore. Then again I probably shouldn't be surprised, since Phnom Penh doesn't have as many heavy industries, much less neighbors setting off forest fires!”. The haze in Singapore is due to the forest fires in Indonesia.

author: Preetam Rai


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Slovenia: Bloggers’ 4th Annual Meeting · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola, Bayaland and L Files write about the fourth annual meeting of Slovenian bloggers.


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South Africa: blogging and citizen journalism recognized · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Vincent Maher reports that blog entries have been accepted in South Africa's top ICT journalism award, “A few months ago I sat down with the other judges of the competition and campaigned for the acceptance of blog entries into the Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year awards and, to my surprise, there was no resistance. In fact the idea was encouraged.”


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South Korea: independent journalists intimidated · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Days in Daechuri has the latest update on the anti US military base in Pyongtaek, independent journalists were intimidated by local thugs.


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South Korea: migrant film festivial · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jamie from Two Koreas blogs about the migrant film festivial in Seoul: There is an interesting range of films here about migrant workers, and not solely in Korea but in other countries around the pacific, from Taiwan, to Canada and Malaysia.


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South Korea: nuclear cartoons · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kotaji blogs about nuclear cartoons from local newspapers in South Korea.


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South Korea: sex trafficking · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Micheal Hurt continues to blog about the sex trafficking issue in South Korea: Prostitution is on of South Korea's biggest service industries and its most embarrassing export, in terms of prostitution in its most pernicious and vile form – forced sex trafficking.


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Sudan: Do muslim clericks care about Darfur? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Responding to reports about the letter Muslim clerics sent to the Pope, Sudan Watch wonders, “Strange how Muslims can find it within themselves to get up in the air about old writings but say very little about their brothers’ perishing in Darfur.”


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Trinidad and Tobago: Burning Rawan · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Ramleela, a folk theatre version of the Ramayan performed by Trinidadian Hindus each year in the weeks before Divali, traditionally ends with the burning of the effigy of the villainous Rawan. Mani of The Manicou Report visits the final night of Ramleela in a nearby village, and is worried by the liberal use of gasoline to set the effigy alight.


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Voices from Zimbabwe · Global Voices
Zimpundit

Global Voices has posted a harrowing video documenting the brutal beatings suffered by worker's union demonstrators recently. Read the post and watch the video here.
Debate surrounding a new law, the Domestic Violence Bill, became the context for a much criticized misogynistic outburst in Zimbabwe's parliament last week. Timothy Mubhawu, a controversial Zimbabwe's Member of Parliament, attracted the ire of women worldwide when he, purpoting “to represent God”, expressed his views on the proposed bill,
“I stand here representing God Almighty. Women are not equal to men. It is a dangerous Bill and let it be known in Zimbabwe that the right, privilege and status of men is gone. I stand here alone and say this bill should not be passed in this House. It is a diabolic Bill. Our powers are being usurped in daylight in this House.”
This outburst, wouldn't nearly be as appalling had it been uttered by any other legislator save for Mubhawo.  Zimbabwean women were on the streets the day after Mubhawo's infamous statement.  Mubhawo is the chief suspect in the brutal assault of Trudy Stevenson, a white female parliamentarian.
Refuting Mubhawo's outdated mindset, Zimpundit highlights the respect given to women in traditional Zimbabwean culture.
Zimbabwean culture places a premium on the role women play. According to Shona oral tradition, the most heinious offense a child can commit is assaulting their mother. The whole concept in the Shona language of “kutanda botso” or high filial treason, is built around protecting the mother figure. There is no such measure advocating for the protection of paternal figures yet this idea is reinforced among children over and over again as they grow up. The sense of unquestioning respect that our cultures heaps upon a mother is so high, I can clearly remember feeling guilty of this filial high treason for mere anger at my own mother. What's worse is the consequences of “kutanda botso” are assured psychiatric rages as payment from the ancestors, it can be very scary growing up a Zimbabwean child.
The Zimbabwean civic group, Kubatana, has comprehensive coverage of developments surrounding the bill here.
In other news, the Reserve Bank Govenor, Gideon Gono, issued another monetary policy statement.  The Bearded Man comments on the terms of the new statement,
With my limited understanding of the fiscal sector, I still think that this is rather like cutting off their nose to spite their face. Slowly we see Zimbabwe putting up the shutters and closing out the world at large. Just how do people outside the country get money to their families inside the country? So now Gono is dictating to people outside the country! And he's only the Reserve Bank Governor! This tells us something about the power the powers that be believe they hold. Dillusions of grandeur I fear…
You can read the statement in its entirety here.
Finally, with all this going on in the country, it is hardly surprising that Zimbabwe cricket is in tatters.

author: Zimpundit


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Africa: China in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Some interesting “China in Africa” links from Africabeat.


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Africa: movie about blood diamond causes controversy · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The director of the movie, Blood Diamond, Ed Zwick, has refused to call his work, which reflects the human cost of diamond trade in Africa, fictional as requested by the world's leading company in the diamond industry, De Beers, via Africa Media.


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Albania: Poetry · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Tirana posts a poem by a contemporary Albanian poet.


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Armenia: Anti-Corruption · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At Oneworld Multimedia, Nessuna reports on a presentation of a report on Armenian anti-corruption policy and anti-corruption public service announcements in Yerevan.


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Bangladesh: Dr Yunus as caretaker PM · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Should Dr Yunus take over political leadership in the country. Drishtipat opens the question and there is an interesting discussion in the comments space. “If we agree that it should be fixed, what better way to fix it then getting the most non-controversial and efficient man in the country now to do the job? Fortunately the timing of it works such a way that he can try it out for three months and know whether he can do it or not.”


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Bangladesh: Homophobic persecution · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

imperfect world 2006 on homophobic persecution in Bangladesh. “Hussein explains that he first encountered anti-gay attitudes in university. He claims that fundamentalist outfits like Jamaat, Chatra Shibir and the Freedom Party made it difficult for him to stay in Bangladesh.”


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Barbados, Canada: Life’s not fair · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

“Dog luck aint cat luck”, says Jdid at Doan Mind Me, quoting an old West Indian saying. In other words, different strokes for different folks. An encounter with a man “just smokin off some weed out in the open” in Toronto, ignored by the police, makes him wonder how some people can get away with anything.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Mostar · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dictionary of the Serbian Mess writes about Mostar.


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Cambodia: Casino Closed · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Details are Sketchy blog reports that a casino operated by a foreign company has closed. The casino attracted mostly Thai clients as such activities are banned in Thailand. Entrepreneurs had built casinos on Thai-Cambodia and Thai-Myanmar border to take advantage of lax border crossings.


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Central Asia: IMT Phony? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

A Tajik official has claimed that the Islamic Movement of Turkestan is merely a fabrication of the Uzbekistani government. Sean Roberts analyzes the news and whether or not the IMT likely exists.


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China: labour and organization · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zheng Jinyan blogs about her workshop, “understanding China”, in Thailand. One of the session is on labour conditions and organizations in China (zh), it touches upon the relation between Africa and China social movement. Zheng stressed that boycotting China product won't help the situation, NGOs should work on the protection of labour rights and environmental conditions as the value exploitation lies there.


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D.R of Congo: challenges of building a hospital   · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Congolese-born basketball star, Dikembe Mutombo, talking about his experience building a hospital in his home country: “The big question was: Why do you want to be the first one to do it? What motivate you to build this hospital and what  is behind this hospital?,” via Dizolele.


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Egypt: Nuclear Cartoons! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

T. Shahin is one smart cartoonist with views about current political issue around the world. See what he has to say about latest news regarding nuclear weapons!

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Guyane: School Hitting Controversy · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Blada.com is unhappy (Fr) with the Mayor of Cayenne's response to the recent hitting of a child by  a school aide. (The mayor issued a decree asking school aides –called ATSEM– not to stay alone with children.) The site believes that that response is against the law and  a copout to the many teachers and school personnel unions who have jumped to the defense of the school aide before seeing the results of an ongoing investigation.


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Haiti: Commemorating Dessalines · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says AlterPresse, (Fr) “A plethora of activities [conferences, exhibits, ceremonies] … started last weekend to commemorate the bicentennial (October 17, 2006) of the assassination of the founder of the Haitian nation, Jean-Jacques Dessalines. … Members of the Presidential Commission for the Bicentennial invite all to meditate on the work of Dessalines and to use this reflection towards the reconstruction and advancement of the country. Following the proclamation of the country's independence in 1804, Dessalines was the first Haitian head of state … He was assassinated in a ambush in 1806.”


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Israel: A Jewish Voice For Palestine · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

In his post number 500, DesertPeace (a.k.a. Steve) reveilles a brief history of his background, believes and activism objectives.


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Israel: Barbie Goes to Synagogue · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Even Barbie seemed to enjoy the Simchat Torah holiday this year. Have a look!


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Israel: For a New, Better Reality · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

While the government sinks deeper and deeper in the quagmire that is the aftermath of the second Lebanon war, something is surprisingly and notably missing. Why do we hardly hear anything from Binyamin Nethanyahu, why doesn't his complacent face appear daily on our television screens and on the frontpages of the nation's newspapers, and why did he not appoint himself as the people's spokesman, using our anger and frustration for his own advancement? I can only think of one answer: he knows that his path towards the Prime Minister's office is being cleared by others, and that his personal involvement would only interfere with their work, Bert said.


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Kenya: MP responds to a question online · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A small step in the journey of Mzalendo, “It seems that our faith and non-cynicism has been rewarded. Over the weekend, MP Ukur Yatani (North Horr) became the first MP to respond to a constituent’s question via the comment page on Mzalendo. He also updated his profile.”


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Kenya: Oil as a gift? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Afromusing comments on the news that Kenya gave China six oil blocks as a gift: “What. The. Fuzz. Since when did start ‘gifting’ natural resources to other countries, something’s off, either the article misrepresents the agreement and creates the impression that Kenya is just giving stuff away…what is in it for Kenya, is the National oil corporation of Kenya part of the deal or is this actually what happened?”


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Korea: Ban Ki-Moon and North Korea · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Citizen reporter Hyejin Kim from Ohmynews puts together analysis related to North Korea's response to the appointment of Ban Ki-Moon as United Nation secretary general.


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Lebanon: Should Egyptians Monitor Syria Borders? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Rami believes that to monitored the Syrian borders, Egyptians wouldn't be in Lebanon as Sunnis. They'd be there as proud Arabs guaranteeing peace and love between two Arab countries. But before this proposal could go anywhere, Hezbollah would try to stop it.


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Malaysia: Audio of Speech at Young Malaysians Forum · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Nik Nazmi links to the audio of a speech he gave at the Young Malaysians Forum. In an earlier post the blogger talks about the speech.  “Insya Allah, I will be speaking at a young Malaysians forum ‘How to Set Pak Lah Free?’. The panellists of politicians and young bloggers will discuss on how to get Pak Lah to implement his reform agenda, after a lot of talk but little action.”  Pak Lah is the informal name of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi.


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Malaysia: Falling FDI · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at rocky's bru is concerned about Malaysia's falling attractiveness for foreign direct investors.


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Nepal: Monarchy and the Republic · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy For Nepal on being a republic and Monarchy. “Retaining the monarchy any longer gives the monarch and the monarchists room to play. If the monarch could invest a few crores to ensure a continued salary of tens of crores, do you think he will be tempted to do it?”


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Nigeria: bloodshed in Niger Delta · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Looks has an article about bloodshed and the politics of Niger Delta, Nigeria, “Barely six weeks after President Obasanjo ordered his military commanders in the Niger Delta to return to the warpath and ‘meet force with force,’ the region has re-erupted in anarchy and bloodshed.”


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Pakistan: Hands without Henna and Bangles · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With Eid around the corner, shopkeepers in Pakistan stock up on items that are traditional gifts on the festival. Metroblogging Islamabad says “Against the expectations, this time the costumer response is slow towards these traditional gifts and stallholders and costumers blame different reasons for this decay. A survey revealed that price-hike is the main reason forcing the costumers to become overly choosy in Eid shopping, avoiding luxuries such as bangles and henna.”


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Palestine: 007 Middle East Missions · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

As if colonization, dispossession, military occupation, ethnic discrimination, and social disenfranchisement weren't enough – the Israel Law Center is now marketing its government's tactics to Rambo-esque westerners by offering them the unique opportunity to take part in 007 Middle East “Ultimate Mission” vacations behind enemy lines, Nadeem said.


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Romania: Flood Seasons · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csikszereda Musings explains the difference between “macro-flood” and “micro-flood” seasons in Romania.


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Rumblings at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

There is a huge argument going on between Iraqi bloggers this week. Much of it in private emails but some spilling out in public blogs. It started with a number. But more on that in a moment.
Condolences
First, my heartfelt condolences goes out to Zeyad who lost a close friend to the violence in Iraq. He writes:
I can't concentrate on anything any more. I should not be here in New York running around a stupid neighbourhood, asking people about their ‘issues’.
I now officially regret supporting this war back in 2003. The guilt is too much for me to handle.
And further condolences to Maas who tell us of the unspeakable grief following the unspeakable loss of her Uncle K to a bomb while praying at his mosque. She writes: “It was avery hard news to my father  … when my mam told us I didn't believe and start to cry and I was going to a lecture of English but I can't go and my tears full of tears I would not understand anything because my mind think of what heppened.”
If you read no other blog post this week read this
Nabil returns to Iraq through the Amman-Baghdad highway – “one of the most dangerous roads in the world”. Apart from a description of the route through Iraq that makes essential reading, he describes the process of bribery to get through Iraqi passport control:
At the Iraqi gate.. my driver gave the gaurd who checks our passports about 2000 ID just to let us pass without checking … then we enterd Iraq… The driver told me to prepare 7000 ID for him to be given to the guard that checks our luggage.. so that he won't check it.. at the Coming passerngers building.. I gave my passport and my family passports to the officer… he told me to give him 5000 ID (ID = Iraqi Dinar), I gave him the money and then he gave me the passports all done..
then I just looked up the window of the officer.. and I saw an announcement.. it said that the passports should be done freely.. and if the officer asks for money call on this number to give complaints.. I wonder what kind of people is that officer from.. I mean the order is written just two or three feets above his head and he dose not carry it out.. anyway.. I reached the final gate so that I would enter Iraq.. there were some soldiers at the gates who were supposed to check the passports.. the driver gave them about 3000 ID and they didn't check it … I wonder about our governments when they pretend that they don't know how the terrorists enter Iraq… well, the Answer is simply check out your gaurds… they're all bribees.
665,000
The stories out of Iraq make for depressing reading at the best of times these days. But the report by the Lancet calculating 665,000 dead since the start of the war has raised emotions in the blogging community. It started with Omar of Iraq the Model issuing an angry critique of the report.
Among the things I cannot accept is exploiting the suffering of people to make gains that are not the least related to easing the suffering of those people… They shamelessly made an auction of our blood, and it didn’t make a difference if the blood was shed by a bomb or a bullet or a heart attack because the bigger the count the more useful it becomes to attack this or that policy in a political race and the more useful it becomes in cheerleading for murderous tyrannical regimes.
When the statistics announced by hospitals and military here, or even by the UN, did not satisfy their lust for more deaths, they resorted to mathematics to get a fake number that satisfies their sadistic urges…
To me their motives are clear, all they want is to prove that our struggle for freedom was the wrong thing to do. And they shamelessly use lies to do this.
And Omar concludes:
Let those fools know that nothing will stop us from walking this road and nothing will stop our friends and allies from helping us reach safe shores. There’s simply no going back even if it cost us more and their fake statistics will not frighten us… Our sacrifices are paving the way for future generations to live the better life we couldn’t live.
Omar's tirade against the report rubbed a number of bloggers the wrong way. Konfused Kid responded in kind:
if I didn't know better I would say that this guy [Omar] … is just as naive as the clueless Iraqis who chanted to Saddam and believed their own made-up lies back in the days….  there is such a thing as an identity with your nation, and these guys make me sick with their obvious sucking-up they are doing to be sold out to Americans.
But to get to the point of his anger at Iraq the Model:
Could you tell me, my dear friends Omar and Mohammed, WHY is this list [the Lancet report] fake? do you have a single shred of proof as to why these Lancet documents and statistics are such a ‘disgrace to all the women, children and men who died'? merely calling it fake and disgusting just don't cut it, please stop living the lie, and take a look outside your window. You call them careless for the victims of this country! I cannot believe this! “Using data for own gains.” You have just proved your own point. .. I don't want you to renounce America, we need them as much as you are afraid that they will leave, but I just want you to say the truth, for God's sake
El Delilah is equally damning:
Freedom of speech is nice, but freedom of lie isn't. Since the invasion people have been dying by gigantic figures, and if ITM doesn't see that in the hundreds of thousands of casualties, IRAQI casualties, then he is in need for an urget reality check. …
When an Iraqi blogger, whose blog is dedicated to naive americans, calls coalition forces “Our Allies” and “Our Friends” and starts talking about “Our accomplishments” and so on , it just wrong. … Why does it bother me? Because it's a lie ..  Because if I show it to any friend, they would believe it based on the fact that he's an Iraqi who lives in Iraq now. Because I, as well as many others, realize that it's no more than some serious American-Ass Kissing post. Because I'm wide aware that ITM himself doesn't believe in all of that anymore than he believes that Saddam Hussein was a hero. No, not an idiot and not a naive man. He's just a liar there.
And Neurotic Wife is indignant. in a post that was directly prompted by Iraq The Model she tackles the attitude and the numbers:
I am absolutely outraged at the outpour of people disputing these numbers!!! I mean extremely disgusted. I dont care who committed these crimes, but the numbers are correct. … To belittle the Iraqi blood is just beyond me. To shrug your shoulders and say that these are lies is beyond me. For anyone who disagrees or laughs these numbers off, then I will tell you this, COME HERE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF WHATS REALLY HAPPENING!!! …
At least a hundred bodies are found decapitated thrown in trashbins daily in Baghdad only. And I say atleast 100. Take into consideration the West, East, South and North of the Country. Add another 100. Oh and by the way these are the ones we hear off. So 100 plus 100 we get 200 daily. ATLEAST. multiply that by 365, then by 3 since thats three years from March and add 200 * 217 (number of days from March to October). You still with me???Ok then add all those that died from the bombings of the war, the suicide bombings that take place daily, the so called “friendly fire” oh and the collateral damage. Ofcourse you have to take into consideration the deaths that occured on the markets that killed hundreds, the deaths that took place on the bridge last year, the anonymous deaths that take place. Hmm, where does that put the number at??? …
you want to read other blogs who tell you that the Lancet report is a lie then again thats upto you. But look deep down inside yourself, and ask yourself this, Is it ok, for someone to knock on your door out of no where because of your faith or belief and grab your child, mother, father, sister, brother, husband and shoot them all in the head, right infront of your eyes….Shoot them then cut them to pieces for the dogs to sniff in the Bins??? Do you think thats ok???
I will tell you this though. The Iraqi people are resilient. They are survivors. They will rise up and beat this terror. If not today then tomorrow. AND THER IS A TOMORROW. I see it in their eyes, I see it in their smiles. Their sad sad smiles. But its there. The Smile…The Smile of Victory…
Little Penguin is also moved to add his voice to this debate: “What surprises me as an Iraqi is the fact that some Iraqis have also doubted the authenticity and the scientific validity of the report;… many will have seen recent blogs denouncing the report and claiming that the calculations used by its authors were manipulative and sadistic. On our television screens, the Iraqi government's spokesman, Ali Al Dabbagh, has also rejected the report arguing that the government is ‘doing it's best to protect the Iraqi people.’  … To suggest that the statistics published in the report are exaggerated is an incredibly insulting statement. Not only does it undermine the horrific atrocities that Iraqis have endured over the past three years, but it also has an underlying, if not blunt, message of cynicism and distrust of Iraqi potential. Despite some occasions where they refer to Iraqis as “heroes” who deserve to be saluted, it's quite clear that this is only said to shut us up; in reality, and in accordance to their ceaseless propagating of the deteriorating American policies in Iraq – they have done but one thing.. distorted reality.”
Iraq The Model's response? Well, so far they removed Konfused Kid from their blog roll.
The Week in Politics
As a testament of the power of blogging, Alive In Baghdad‘s correspondent Qassem, was arrested by US Marines as a direct consequence of his Alive In Baghdad blog. He writes:
In jail I found that Military intelligence of US army printed out my blogs from my computer and they read it all and wrote their notes about it, and I received many questions concerning my blogs…
The main purpose for arresting me was to make sure that I am not writing my blogs to support insurgency …..and marines made sure that I have no relation with any Iraqi carry weapon against US troops.
I was released at 7 Oct 2006 at 7 am ( morning ).
Now I am have to say, not only peaceful Americans reading my blogs but ….US marines reading it more than anybody else …..and the Military intelligence of US army think that it is important for them to see the daily life of HELL ( hell = Ramadi ) as one of them told me .
Thanks peace friends….now your comments will be read by US marines too …my blog is not for only peaceful people any more…..there marines whom join us to exchange ideas ….and I thing that could give good support for peace when some of people whom carry weapons exchange ideas with peaceful people ..
Read the full story here.
I will not dwell on all the horror stories in the blogs this week but pick one which is typical. Marshmallow26 starts with the happy memories and pictures of her trip to Erbil. But her mood turns as she tells us of the feelings after hearing of a huge bomb attack in that city:
I was so excited to write such a good post backed up with some funny things, man I was so excited…But after what happened yesterday, and I am sure that the majority of readers heard about the bloody day in Kirkuk city. that makes me sick and guilty when ever I think about it…it makes me sad and torn…How could I write such a funny post when there are many Iraqis got killed and burnt yesterday in Kirkuk? How could I express my self as a funny and happy citizen when there are about 30 families mourning there sons, daughters and lovers … All that happened after 1 week when the US Army and the police began the crackdown in the city?? That illustrates how bad the curfew is! The smell of dead is increasing, the corpses are everywhere, you know what? Iraqi became the cheapest freight, cheapest goods on earth…Killing Iraqis became easier than drinking water, and easier than throwing darts …From now own my life is not mine, I don't know whether I will live after this post or not! Later…Oops Later God willing!!
One knows things are bad when Iraq The Model writes the obituary for the Iraq's whole post-war experience. Mohammed writes: “Optimism about the future of Iraq has obviously decreased whether among Iraqis or their allies and conditions are seemingly taking a steep slope down to the worse. … Moreover, chances for major reconstruction and economic development look poor amidst all the corruption and violence..” and he goes on the list his impression of the big mistakes made by Iraqis and the Americans.
Baghdad Connect reviews the rather large salaries and cash advances that Iraqi MP's are awarding themselves: “Just last week our finance minister approved a release of cash advance worth of USD 14,000 for every MP” and: “those who served a few months on the Governing Counsel have been granted a life-time generous retirement.” He wonders if this is what is behind all the smiles you see during their televised meetings and contrasts this with the salaries and conditions for the lowly ministry employees.
Iraq Sweet Iraq talks of rumors and reality:
Rumours have always been part of our lives some of them are to instil fear, some of them are mere wishful thinking on the part of the people themselves . For instance, the rumour that the Americans are sick to death of Iraq and they are just going to pack their rucksacks and leave the place is one version. The other version is that the Americans are also sick to death from Iraq, therefore they are going to take full control of everything , everything !. And the funniest thing is that when Iraqis tell you a rumour it is always a fact beyond dispute …
Yet, reality unfortunately is stronger than any rumour, the situation is as bad as bad can get . Politicians are frolicking and doing business, while the average Iraqi is like that fiddler on the roof trying too keep a tune, while balancing himself so as not to fall. I don't know whether we will live to tell the story .
And, Eye Raki wonders how a government can operate when it officials need to seek solutions from Grand Ayatollahs:
I know that, as a Grand Ayatullah he is like a father figure for many Shia Muslims … Like the 3 other ‘Grand Ayatullahs’, he hardly ever leaves his house. He wouldn't know what is happening just a few blocks down his own street, yet alone how to solve the security or economic problems of an entire country.
Having said that, he did give them a great piece of advice. At the end of the meeting he said “the state should be dearer to you, than your own child.”…I couldn't agree more.
And Finally
Baghdad Connect has a novel idea to end the American presence in Iraq. He noted how a US company dropped Venezuelan Oil Industries after some insulting comments made by their president against George Bush. So he writes:
Dear Halliburton,
Mr. Bush is a devil, liar and alcoholic. Kindly drop our Oil and go home!

author: Salam Adil


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Russia: Treatment of Georgians · Global Voices
Dan O'Huiginn

Blogger Sukhumi has been following the coverage of the persecution of Georgians in Russia (previous Global Voices posts are here and here). He writes (RUS):
On the TV channel “Imedi” I saw a demonstration in St. Petersburg against the persecution of Georgians. To my delight, I caught sight of my friend Valiko. I am very grateful that, unafraid of the consequences, she took to the streets and made her stand as a citizen. It's in times like this that you learn who is a real person, and who is just an empty shell.
But most of the news is bad. It seems even sport is becoming politicised. The ‘Kremlin Cup’ tennis tournament, Sukhumi writes, has just been won by ethnic Georgian Anna Chakvetadze – in the face of a crowd shouting taunts like “Georgians go to Georgia!” (: Irina, in the comments below, says this wasn't the case). And another Georgian sports star has fled Russia:
Yesterday Elena Gedevanishvili returned to Tbilisi. She is a Georgian figure-skater, trained in Moscow, who has won sixth place at the Winter Olympics. Her parents were deported from Russia on the first plane; Elena herself went [first] to Vienna, where she won some big competition…
Sukhumi also recounts an interview on Russian television with Dmitry Rogozin, leader of the right-wing Rodina party and one of the many politicians who link the current Russian-Georgian dispute to an ongoing conflict over the Georgian region of Abkhazia; many residents of Abkhazia are ethnic Russians, and a majority of Russians would like to see Abkhazia either become an independent state, or become incorporated within Russia:
[Rogozin was] asked whether he was “prepared to send Russian soldiers to their deaths, since Georgia will never acquiesce to the loss of Abkhazia, and so war will certainly begin”. To this Rogozin replied that he was prepared not only to send Russian soldiers to their deaths, but to take up a gun and go to seize Abkhazia himself.
Sukhumi also recounts the story of a 13-year-old boy separated from his parents, who were on the first planeload of deported Georgian citizens:
I thought it was only the fascists of the German SS who separated parents and children, shoved them into different railway carriages…
In the comments, Sukhumi is taken to task for being too one-sided. He replies:
Things aren't perfect in Georgia. There is authoritarianism here, but not fascism like in Russia. They aren't evicting Russians from here, you don't hear slogans like “Georgia for the Georgians.”
One reader disputes the level of racism in Russia:
I have lived in St. Petersburg for 14 years now, with a Georgian surname,
and I have never encountered hostility because of my race.
Another reader responds:
I have lived in St. Petersburg for 16 years now, I have a Georgian surname, and I constantly encounter hostility on the grounds of race. You've obviously been lucky.
Yet another suggests:
It all depends on appearance. If you are not obviously from the Caucasus, you're OK.

author: Dan O'Huiginn


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Russia: Wi-Fi in Novgorod · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude walks around Novgorod, looking for Wi-Fi internet connection.


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Singapore: Inspired by the Nobel Prize Winner · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Huang Shoou Chyuan in Singapore is inspired by the Nobel Peace Winner for 2006 -
Muhammad Yunus. “Yunus and the Grameen Bank is an inspiration to me. I hope that when my life is finally through, I can achieve even a fraction of what they have done for their common folk.”


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Slovenia: Yugonostalgia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola writes about Yugonostalgia.


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Somalia: potential conflict between Islamic Courts Union and Kenya? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

What does the advance of the Islamic Courts Union of Somalia mean to the region? Read the Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa.


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South Africa: blacklisting of TV commentators and analysts · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Star Journal writes about the blacklisting of analysts and commentators by the South African  Broadcasting Corporation, “The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) recently conducted an internal inquiry on allegations that the state broadcaster was blacklisting commentators and analysts who said unfavorable things about the government.”


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South Korea: diaspora · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jodi introduces two documentaries in Pusan festival about Korea diaspora in Russia, Cuba and the U.S.


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Syria: Surreal Heresies! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Ammar was often accused of advocating war against the Syrian regime and his take on Syrian politics have often been compared to neocon stands. This is his recent response to these criticisms.


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Tajikistan: Corruption Permeates · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alexander Sadikov reports that Tajikistan's Prosecutor General announced that corruption afflicts all levels of the Tajik government and he discusses corruption in the country.


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Travelling with “Tro-Tro” in Ghana · Global Voices
Emmanuel.K. Bensah

Ghana voices this week are from entries written about Ghana by non-Ghanaians. The first, by Leanne, writing in her blog An American in Africa, marvels at the “ever-evolving, always under repair, rarely striped or shouldered” roads that dot the country and the capital. She posts a few pictures of the roads in Accra, including some that are near her house, which was miraculously paved one day. She attributes this miracle to “road crews”:
Hundreds of them. As the rain eases, hordes of cheap Ghanaian road crews spread out all over town and start filling potholes. Sometimes with the asphalt-like stuff, sometimes with cement(!), sometimes with just more dirt, hard packed. Labor is cheap here and it's astonishing how much they can get done in a day
I'm Ghana go to Accra writes a thoughtful, descriptive, and realistic account of his experience with the tro-tro, which he describes as:
The generic name for anything larger than a taxi that carries passenger along a strictly adhered to route. I ride in a tro-tro about three times a day and have been in everything from small mini-vans to old school busses (no description could envelop the lot.
He claims he is beginning to enjoy the tro-tro, especially as “you could conceivably get anything you needed without ever leaving the tro-tro,” and he enumerates items that can be purchased whilst in a tro-tro in traffic. These include toilet rolls, hard-boiled eggs, fried fish, sandwiches, various cuts of meat, chilled cocoa, fresh fruits, meat pies, and plenty of other indiscernible items.
Apart from a few superficial generalities (there are no sidewalks anywhere in Ghana); and a belief that tro-tros “are the only affordable way to move about the city…”, Brian’s account is amusing enough to grab your attention on all the colourful details he provides of life in Ghana.
Finally, in the light of Jay-Z's visit to Ghana in early October, Emily, writing in her blog the (wish I was in) Ghana journal, expresses her disappointment at the announced ticket prices for the show at the Accra International Conference Centre, that were going for a prohibitive 600,000 Ghanaian cedis ($US65) for normal rate, and 1,000,000 cedis for VIP:
In Yankee bucks, that's $65 and $110. Jay-Z will reportedly be spending time promoting his UN work, too. Doesn't this seem a bit, well, I dunno, wildly inappropriate? I mean, you can be skeptical about those “people in Ghana live on less than $2 a day” statistics, but there is undeniable poverty. Sure, there are people who can afford this price in Ghana. There is a middle class there. But there's also impressions. The impressions about what it would say to your friends if you got a ticket to the Jay-Z concert. American rappers are big stars in Africa. Going to this concert will mean something to people. It'll be a status thing.

author: Emmanuel.K. Bensah


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Trinidad and Tobago: Mobilised or immobilised? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Elspeth at Now Is Wow reflects: “Funny how a statement like ‘I'm mobilised’ (which sounds so positive, proactive and ready-to-go) when condensed into one word, becomes the exact opposite: Immobilised”. She writes about her frustration and anger at the news that an acquaintance has been murdered.


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Uganda: birth control with plastic beads · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Jackfruity writes about the use of beads for birth control in Uganda, “Last week Ugandan First Lady Janet Museveni introduced a system of birth control called Moon Beads. Designed to help women track their menstrual cycles and, by doing so, avoid sex when fertile, the beads are part of a five-year family planning program sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.”


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Ukraine: Anniversary of Ukrainian Insurgent Army · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user voevoda (Anton Petrov) posts a photo report (RUS) from the two rallies that took place in Kyiv Sunday, honoring and protesting the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.


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Afghanistan: Getting There · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The latest edition of “Ask Carpetbogger” informs readers on how one gets to Afghanistan. As an added bonus, there's a post on buying carpets in Kabul that also discusses the deteriorating situation in the country.