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Afghanistan: Blogging Workshop · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nasim Fekrat posts pictures of the first blogging seminar in Kabul, organized by the Afghan Association of Blog Writers and hel by the author.


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Africa: Idols Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Siasa Duni reviews Idols Africa: “If Idols Africa won’t bring us the “next big thing” it promises, then it has succeeded beyond doubt in riskily exposing us to Africa’s deadly talent, in addition to the biggest bunch of weirdos in African television history since Ofunneka drunkenly shagged Richard’s leg on that Saturday afternoon in BBA2.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Americas: Conference at MIT · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Luciano Tourn from Un Argentino en MIT [es] provides his thoughts on the Latin American Conference held at his school, and he was also the president of the organizing committee.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Angola: News from Angola in a discover and share website · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Francis Pac [pt] announces a web 2.0 website similar to Digg to make possible for poeple to discover and share news from Angola. “The option to use this tool only for Angola is the fact that there is little information about Angola and we rarely have the access to them. Therefore, with this tool, we can have constant access to the latest and most interesting news on Angola”. The website can be found here.

author: Paula Góes


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Bangladesh: Hidden Hunger · Global Voices
Rezwan

Unheard Voices Blog quotes UNDP which hit the panic button for Bangladesh last month:
Skyrocketing oil prices have driven up the cost of food worldwide, but their impact has been particularly dire in Bangladesh, where almost half of the 145 million people live on less than one dollar a day.
For those who do not know, the staple food of Bangladesh is rice and the price of this commodity has almost doubled than what it was about a year and a half ago. And the poor in this populous country have been hardest hit.
WFP has warned:
The rising prices of food items, especially rice, may cause political instability in the country since poorer households spend up to 80 percent of their income on food.
Himu quotes a newspaper article which shows how many poor Bangladeshis even the middle class are barely making ends meet. The people are not well and you can hear their plights and anger echoing in blogs, media everywhere.
Rumi Ahmed of In the Middle of Nowhere questions about famine in his post “is it here”. Posting photo of a skinny man who is presumably a drug addict he writes:
“The vulnerable groups are usually the homeless, the poorest of the poor of the society. And among them the first to fall through the safety net are the mentally-physically disabled persons, drug addicts, the elderly and the children.  It has been many years I last saw a skeleton image of a Bangladeshi citizen.
News reports of hunger death started appearing scattered in our print media. This report [bn] confirms several hunger deaths. ”
Even the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management confirmed that no famine but a hidden hunger persists in the country.
Meanwhile Bangladesh's military chief’s remark encouraging eating potato instead of rice got bloggers reacting strongly. Shafiur has even posted recipes of mashed potatoes in response to his remark.
The reasons for this impending disaster are manifold. Bangladesh had a bad year in natural disaster in 2007. With a prolonged flood and the devastation of cyclone Sidr left its own rice production much lower than usual. There is a new government which did not have the experience in predicting the shortage and piling up sufficient stock although they were warned. Now the shortage in supply is effecting more on price. The government controlled food distribution centers were abolished some years ago with the pressure of World Bank and IMF. Now with no such wide scale distribution arm the government is not being able to keep the prices down with a small number of rationing booths.
Subinoy Mustofi, an blogger and an economist by profession describes [bn] why the price of rice has raised so much in his post in Bangla Blog Na Bola Kotha.
* Recent natural disasters in major rice producing countries hampered production
* The rice growing fields have decreased
* More demands from developing nations like India and China
So more demand and short supply has raised the price in the world market to a twenty years high.
Because of the rising price major rice producing countries like Vietnam, Egypt and India has decreased export and concentrated on keeping price in grip in domestic market. Neighboring India which is the largest suppliers of rice to Bangladesh set an import price of 1200USD per ton, a price almost three times high than 6 months ago. Moreover the food reserves all over the world is all time low.
Jyoti claims in Unheard Voices:
The chart below shows that taka depreciated by around 20 paisa against the rupee since the beginning of 2007.
In addition to the global factors (see here) and the natural disasters, this depreciation alone could have sent our food market into a frenzy.
Subinoy Mustofi also shows [bn] that because of inflation the purchasing power (real income) of the poor in Bangladesh has gone down 5% although there is an overall GDP growth of 5%.
The situation is likely to persist in the near future. A Financial Times article on the March 28, 2008 reveals:
Rice prices jumped 30 per cent to an all-time high on Thursday, raising fears of fresh outbreaks of social unrest across Asia where the grain is a staple food for more than 2.5bn people.
Now the question is how to tackle the situation. Famous writer Anisul Haque quotes Indian noble laureate Amarta Sen in Bangla Blog Na Bola Kotha:
Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort.
In a recent BBC debate (in Bangla) among politicians and general people the participants have echoed this and commented that Bangladesh needs to be back in the road of democracy really quickly.
An ordinary citizen reports that the government is introducing widespread employment opportunity for the poor people – a 10 million Taka project till April to enable the poor to have the purchasing power matching the price hike.
The Government hopes that a bumper Boro crop awaits and will be in market by end of this month to ease rice prices down. This news and the recent imports of rice from India at government level has apparently caused the price rises to cease but people fear will that be enough to minimize the hidden hunger?

author: Rezwan


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Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda: Crime Control  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It is hard to believe that this is a country which spent US54 million dollars to prepare for Cricket World Cup 2007.  It just makes us shake our heads and ask, where are our priorities”: Barbados Underground blogs about the crime situation in Antigua and Barbuda.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bermuda: It’s Not Easy Being Green  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The Bermuda Government has gone green…producing Bermuda Government materials (as opposed to PLP party materials) in the PLP's party colour of green”: Politics.bm maintains that “this is an important separation that must be respected. The line where politics and policy crosses is a bit of a grey area, but there's been some serious creep.”


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Brazil: WordPress might be blocked · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Leonardo Fontes [pt] on the piece of news that WordPress may be blocked in Brazil after a court decision ruled that one specific blog was to be closed down. “Brazil is the country of the “undiscussed”, in every single day it becomes clear that the thing to do is to put tails between legs, lower our heads and let any authoritarian measures go as though it were something in life, an inevitable “it is God who wants this.”


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Bulgaria: Dinner Parties · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Inside Story writes about dinner parties in Bulgaria: “The only downside is that if you do not drink alcohol or you are vegetarian or vegan, you will find yourselves in a tough situation.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Bulgaria, Macedonia: Blog Wars Over History · Global Voices
Yavor Mihaylov

The relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia are no less complex and incomprehensible than those between Greece and Macedonia, although lately the former get less media exposure than the latter. The main problem between Sofia and Skopje is, once again, history.
To Bulgarians, the Macedonians were part of the Bulgarian nation until the beginning of the 20th century, when a large part of Macedonia fell under Serbian domination after the Balkan wars. Then, due to Serbia’s policy in the region and the doctrine of Macedonism, changes in the mindset of the local population occurred, leading to the forming of the Macedonian nation. The Comintern and Stalin’s stance on the issue also contributed to this result.
Macedonians, on the other hand, consider themselves an entirely separate nation, heir to an ancient people. They accuse their Bulgarian neighbours of having been an occupation power in their land and claim that Sofia is trying to appropriate parts of the history of Macedonia, like, for instance, King Samuil, St. Kliment Okhridski, the revolutionary Gotze Delchev, etc.
Bulgarians address similar accusations to Macedonia.
Contention is even further exacerbated by fears on the part of Macedonia that Sofia seeks to “assimilate” the Macedonians, while Bulgarians suspect their neighbours in seeking to annex Pirin region, which is part of the so-called Greater Macedonia.
All these contradictions have spilled over into the virtual space and sparked a permanent “war” over history between Bulgarian and Macedonian bloggers – a war that often exceeds the rules of “bon ton.” And the Bulgarian blogosphere, too, is debating the question of what should be Bulgaria's attitude towards Macedonia.
Blogger Peter Stoykov writes (BUL):
Some arguments about whether Macedonia is or has been part of Bulgaria, whether there exist a Macedonian language, nationality, the Macedonian question, and Bulgarian national interest in Macedonia… Historians, politicians and, most of all, internet morons are competing in speaking nonsense on the issue, as though their lives depend on that.
[…]
Is Macedonia Bulgarian?
No, it is not Bulgarian, it’s Macedonian. And I will tell you why, but I will first look back in time. In 2001, a regular census took place in Australia. Precisely then a Star Wars episode was released and as you know, there are many people crazy about this film. So, in the “Ethnicity” box in the census questionnaire some wisecracks wrote “Jedi”… […] What does this have to do with Macedonia? If Macedonians want to call themselves Macedonians, they have an indisputable right to do so.
[…]
So, what shall we do with the Macedonian question?
As a matter of fact, I am even glad that Macedonia is not part of Bulgaria and that a number of years ago it was torn away from Bulgaria and given over to Yugoslavia. Bulgaria, as our politicians have always been happy to say, “is a focus of stability on the Balkans” – unrest is boiling around us, there were fights and fission in Yugoslavia, Kosovo has been on the table, the Greeks fought with the Turks over Cyprus, Turks are fighting the Kurds, they have even crossed over the border into Iraq, five years ago Albanians made something which was very close to a revolution in Macedonia, fire was exchanged there.
If Macedonia were part of Bulgaria, we would be part of this madness.
Another renowned blogger, Peter Dobrev, responds (BUL):
“Macedonia is the cradle of the Bulgarian national spirit. And even if it is to become its grave, we will never give up the fight for its liberation.” This was the title with which the then large-circulation Outro newspaper appeared on the eve of the Balkan war. This used to be the dominant opinion until 1944 (when the communists took the power in Bulgaria). Today, however, regardless of the fact that Bulgaria in theory should have left the ideological constructs of totalitarianism, the memory of Macedonia has faded so much that it turns into polar extremes.
[…]
No wonder then that blogger Peter Stoykov thinks that there is no Macedonian question, that Macedonia is Macedonian, and whoever says the opposite is “an internet moron.”
[…]
Everybody has a God-given right of self-determination – as a Jedi, Eskimo or Macedonian. When, however, it’s a matter of general national significance, of causes that have cost the lives of thousands and matters that have changed the fate of a half of a people, it’s good to speak with a little understanding and knowledge. It’s necessary to separate personal opinion from the objective historical fact…
[…]
Just as everybody knows today that Alexander the Great was a Greek, so it is indisputable that all leaders of the Macedonian organisations after 1878 (the year of the Berlin congress and the subsequent liberation/emancipation of Bulgaria) were Bulgarians. These leaders, as well as the people as a whole, have always spoken of themselves as Bulgarians, and they have been seen as such by the foreign observers. All foreign observers, even the Serbian ones.
These two opinions sum up the main social attitudes in relation to Macedonia. The majority of Bulgarians have no claims to its neighbour, nor do they want to interfere in its domestic affairs, but many are irritated by the Macedonian blackmail to give up a part of their history and want the historic truth established. Similar voices are heard in Macedonia.
In the thick of one of the battles between Bulgarian and Macedonian bloggers, Macedonian blogger Ivica Anteski wrote in his ANTIblog (MKD):
If the Bulgarian and the Macedonian “truths” do not coincide, this means that they are not true (or at least one of them). Simple logic. And in court, when two eyewitnesses make contradicting testimonies, the case is solved by means of a confrontation. But historians don’t want to confront each other. It’s more likely that we, bloggers, slaughter ourselves first on the internet, than see the experts surpass the contentions through the power of arguments.
[…]
Scholars, historians, philologists, academics, Slavic studies experts (Macedonian and Bulgarian)!!! Sit down together and tell us where the problem is. Reach an understanding! Forget that you are Macedonian or Bulgarian – scholars have no nationality. The truth and the facts are their nationality. Clear out the problems.
In such an atmosphere, on March 31, several days before the NATO summit in Bucharest, Sofia-based Manfred Woerner Foundation and the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria introduced a brochure titled “Bulgarian Policies on the Republic of Macedonia,” which was written by a group of Bulgarian history, Balkan studies and diplomacy scholars.
Image: komitata.blogspot.com (CC 3.0)
The purpose of the publication is to be used in the process of defining Bulgaria's Macedonia-related policies. Blogger Konstantin Pavlov, who attended the presentation, published the following report (BUL):
The Republic of Macedonia is about to join the EU and NATO. When exactly this will happen is not clear yet. The problem lies in the fact that, on the basis of the argument between Greece and Macedonia, the majority of independent politicians and observers take the side of Macedonia, without giving it much thought. (David against Goliath). And although the argument over the name elicits sympathy for Macedonia, the arguments that are being used – ancient Macedonia, that has survived down to the present day, the “autochtonal”  Macedonian population, having been “enslaved” and “assimilated” by its bad neighbours, including the “bad Bulgarians,” gains ground with the people who sympathize with Macedonia. Those sympathies might lead to extremely negative consequences for Bulgaria, like, for example, “giving up” [May 24 as a national holiday] […]. It seems the book on the subject is not bad (I had no nerve to read it) and, unfortunately, is written in a complex, pseudo-scientific language with the purposes not all too clear. The result is nearly contrary to the objective sought – to write a clear, concise and unequivocally logical (right, winning) policy of the Bulgarian state towards the challenges coming from Macedonia. Well, it has not been achieved very well.
Having read the book and Pavlov’s report, Macedonian blogger Volan wrote (MKD):
The desire of Bulgarian politics – one people – two nations – is clearly discernible…
It is clear that the problems between Skopje and Sofia cannot be solved until the Balkan approach to history as property is not given up, and as long as it is being divided to “mine” and “yours” – in this case, into “Macedonian” and “Bulgarian.”

author: Yavor Mihaylov


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Bulgaria: Public Transport in Sofia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Inside Story writes about public transportation in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia.


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Cameroon: Draft Bill to amend the constitution · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dibussi Tande posts the text of the draft bill to amend the constitution of Cameroon: “Bill No. 819/PJL/AN To Amend and supplement some provisions of Law No. 96/6 of 18 January 1996 to amend the Constitution of 2 June 1972″


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Central Asia: ADB Report and Economic Trends · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Patrick Frost reviews the Asian Development Bank's 2008 report, which poits at a downward macroeconomic trend, skyrocketing food and energy costs and foresees double-digit rates of inflation.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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China: A True Nightmare on April Fool’s Day · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

In spite of the occupants’ outcry, about 1000 security guards and 20 policemen escorting two diggers intruded into a commodity housing district named Li Shui Jing Yuan in Chongqing, the largest of China's four provincial-level municipalities, to forcibly carried out the developer's reconstruction plan which was officially supported by the local government, causing a serious bloodshed conflict. Some residents recorded the whole event and exposed it on some popular Chinese BBSs, trying to call the attention of the public to the vicious incident which just occurred on April Fool's Day.
The copy of the occupant's report on ifeng.com:
作者:浪子－－   发表于 2008-4-2 11:19
2008年4月1日上午9：00左右，共有约1000余名身穿保安制服和20余名未佩戴警号但身着警服的一干人员，大摇大摆强行进入小区，在小区篮球场周围搭起简易围墙，并站成一排，挡住了小区各个出口，阻止业主通过。紧接着两辆大型黄色挖掘机迅速撞破了小区围墙，开进了小区篮球场开始疯狂挖掘，不到1小时，篮球场周边的树木遭连根拔起，篮球场设施和周遭围墙完全毁损，小区的美丽的一角瞬间沦为一片废墟。
由于是工作日，小区只有少数老人在家，目睹这前所未见的惊人一幕，惊骇之余只有暗自垂泪。有年轻女业主一名上午10：00左右开车回到小区，路过野蛮施工场地，刚想询问，便被上述人员强行拖出车外、抓住头发、劈头盖脸一顿毒打，随即便被拖上了一辆警车带离了现场。
当晚20：00左右，又有约40名身着警服的人员闯入小区，见人就打，扬言要给小区业主一些教训，接连打伤了5人，并抓走了3人。5位受伤的业主头面部和身体均有不同程度的挫伤，特别头面部伤口流血不止，被紧急送往医院救治.小区有位女性业主刚才在维权时被车撞伤，躺在地上，车主对伤者不闻不问，却蛮横地想打我们的其他业主，站在一旁的警察们却无动于衷，打110现在已没有任何作用，根本不出警，我们的业主一个接一个地受伤，被抓的业主也音信全无，丽水人现在只有靠自己，靠大家精诚团结才能保护自己的家园，保护自己的合法权益！才能不会让丽水人再受伤！
从事情发生至今，我们一直想取得媒体的支持，把整个事情摊在阳光底下。然而，在联系了重庆日报、重庆时报、重庆地产杂志、重庆市电视台等多家媒体后，要么得到的回音是：上面有规定，这事不能报，要么根本就杳无音讯。只有一家门户网站记者前来采访，并把采访的事实制作成了一部约7分钟的短片发布在互联网上。
小区的业主通过市长公开电话和市长空开信箱发送信息，想把事实向政府部门陈述，然而，有如石沉大海，根本就没有回音。
今天由于事出紧急，小区业主急拨110求救，110答复：开发商是在执行政府的命令。
我们不相信，我们已经安居了4年的家，会在一个上午就被人用推土机肆无忌惮地挖得满目疮痍、围墙尽毁；我们不相信，警察也会同开发商的打手站在一起，毒打手无寸铁而且完全无辜的百姓；我们不相信，身在一个民主法制的国家，守法公民居然连自身的合法财产都无法守护，仅凭政府官员的一纸批文、一笔签字就可以毫不费力的拿走！我们不相信，今天的我们还能相信谁……？
Author:Idler－－   Posted on 2008-4-2 11:19
About 9:00a.m. on April 1st, 2008, there were approximately 1000 men dressed in the security guard uniforms and 20 policemen without wearing the number badges that made a forcible entry into the residential quarter, setting up temporary fences, lining up and blocking exits to prevented the residents passing through. Close behind were two large yellow diggers which immediately crushed the enclosing walls of the residential quarter and broke into the basketball court to start crazy digging. Less than 1 hour, the trees around the court were uprooted while all the basketball facilities and the walls around were totally destroyed. Part of the beautiful residential quarter was instantly falling into ruin.
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Since it was the workday, only a few old residents staying at home witnessed the awfully startling scenes; besides astonishment, they could only suffer quietly. A young lady living in the residential quarter passed the barbarous construction site as she drove home at 10:00 a.m.. She was forcibly pulled out of the car,  grabbed by the hair and received savage beating from those security guards when she just wanted to ask for some information. Then the lady was taken away by a police car.
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In addition, 40 staff dressed in police uniforms broke into the quarter at about 20:00p.m. and beat anyone they met, threatening to give the occupants of the quarter a lesson. As a result, 5 people got wounded and another 3 were arrested. With different bruises on the body, especially the injuries to the face and head, which were bleeding badly, the 5 injured people were rushed to the hospital. Another female occupant was run down by a car just now when she protested to safeguard the rights. The driver not only left the injured lady on the road, but also intended to hurt other residents while the policemen was just standing nearby, showing no emotion. We called 110(the emergency telephone number), but they would not step in to stop the violence. We are being hurt one by one and still haven't received any news from the arrested neighbors. Now Li Shui People can only depend on ourselves; only unity in good faith can protect our home and legitimate rights and interests, and prevent us from harming again！
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We have been trying to get the media's support since the incident happened, hoping that the whole thing can be widely exposed to the public. However, after contacting with Chongqing Daily, Chongqing Times, Chongqing Real Estate and Chongqing TV station, the answers were either “the authorities have ordered no one can report this” or simply no reply at all. Only one reporter from a portal website came to cover the events and make the gathering material a 7-minute short video and publish it on the Internet.
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The occupants of the quarter tried to report the truth to the government through the mayor's public telephone and mail box, but it's just like a stone dropped into the sea, no response at all.
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Because it's an emergency, the occupants immediately dial 110 to ask for help, but the 110 replied: the developer is executing the government's order.
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We can't believe, our cozy home where we have been living for 4 years can be brazenly spoiled by the diggers over one morning, leaving a trail of destruction and completely destroyed walls; we can't believe, the policemen could stand with the developer's goons, cruelly beating the unarmed and totally innocent residents; we can't believe, in a democratic country under the rule of law, the law-abiding citizens even can't protect their own legitimate property, which can be handily snatched away by an official document! We can't believe, whom we can still believe in…?
The intentional violence reported by the occupants living in Li Shui Residential quarter was promptly spread among the netizens and almost all the people were greatly shocked by the bloody scenes. Nevertheless, such negative influence which were obviously derogate from the harmonious principles, were subsequently restricted by the Internet regulators. Many BBSs canceled all the posts related to the reports about Li Shui Residential quarter or turned down new comments on the events so that the relevant posts could be rapidly out of the first page, and the only video report made by the mentioned professional journalist was removed, either. (In fact, the journalist only published the video in a personal blog) Even so, the people living in or near Li Shui residential quarter still persisted in publishing information on the situation through some relatively freer sites like ifeng, mop and daqi.com.
Part of the continuous coverage on ifeng.com:
作者:qq822   发表于 2008-4-2 23:59
今天（４月２日）白天又有几个业主被抓，而且是刑警，想给业主安上袭警的罪名．昨晚的冲突就是这伙强盗设置的圈套，他们是想把业主与开发商之间冲突转变成业主与警察之间的，从而找借口抓人镇压，以掩盖官商勾结的内幕．当时发生冲突的时候明明只有业主与开发商的保安（其实就是打手），何来的公务人员？而且就算马上给这些打手换上警服（他们上次就干过），可怎么业主受伤的照片有，而现场那些狂照相的公务人员（只准他们照相，业主照相一律要收缴，不从就要被打被抓，这些照片就可看出拍摄的艰难）却没有拍到一张所谓＂公务人员＂受伤的照片，连医院的照片都没有？连证据都没有就来抓人，在直辖市竟会发生这等无法无天之事，真是黑暗。
Author:qq822   Posted on 2008-4-2 23:59
Today(April 2) several other people are arrested by the criminal policemen who apparently planed to pin the crime of assaulting police officer on our occupants. The conflict last night is just a put-up job made by those muggers; they want to provoke the conflict between the occupants and police, so that they can find excuse to crackdown the protest to cover the inside stories that the officials are conspiring with the developer.  Clearly, the occupants only had a clash with developer's security guards(thugs in fact); when did the officials engage? Even if they let those thugs put on the police uniforms (they had done it last time), why are there only pictures of the injured occupants? Why don't those officials present at that time take any pictures of the so called wounded “public servants”, even not in the hospital?(only the government officials are allowed to take pictures. Any photos taken by the residents are forced to be confiscated and anyone refuse to do so will be beaten or arrested. You may directly see how hard to take pictures through those photos above) The authorities can arrest people without any evidence; how did such lawless thing happen in a municipality? How dark it is!
作者:qq822   发表于 2008-4-3 11:30
现在连在受伤业主就医的医院（重庆医科大学附属医院）都有便衣和开发商的打手监视，去看望受伤都要冒被打被抓的危险，连送医疗费去都很困难．
Author:qq822   Posted on 2008-4-3 11:30
Now even the hospital（the Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University)where the injured occupants receive treatment is under surveillance of the plainclothes police and developer's thugs. People who go to visit the injured neighbors may also be arrested or beaten. It's even hard to send money for the injuries’ medical fees.
作者:走走看看1   发表于 2008-4-3 17:20
重庆丽水菁苑事件最新进展20080403
1.关于伤者：从事件发生以来，小区被打伤的业主很多，包括很多年轻女性。有少数业主伤情较重，已经送往了重庆医科大学第一附属医院急诊科。据悉目前还有5人在院，他们当中2名头部外伤（皮肤撕裂及脑震荡），1名颅脑硬膜外血肿，2名胸壁外伤。据称上面打了招呼，只要不出现病情加重危及生命的，决不允许办理住院手续，只能放在急诊科留观。另有当晚自发集合来看望伤者的小区业主也遭到监控在急诊科的警察的毒打，并被强行带走了数人。由于无法探视，目前伤者情况未知。
2.关于警察和保安：自4月1日以来，每天从上午8：30到晚上22：00左右，都会有超过200人、身着警服的警员和约300人、身着保安制服的保安人员，以及数十辆警车黑压压集结在丽水菁苑小区后门施工工地一带，手拿防暴盾、皮鞭和警棍，场面颇为壮观！而且每晚都有一辆警车和少量警员通宵值班。据参与警员讲，他们并非谢家湾街道警察，而是从九龙坡各个片区召集而来的，保安是从保安公司请的，值班采取轮班制。至于来此的目的“自己也不清楚，好像主要是震慑业主以免妨碍开发商施工”。当问及他们对此事件有何看法时，回答“只知道是开发商要占用别人的绿地用来盖房子，绿地哪里有商品房赚钱？我们只是按照上面命令做事”。路人都可以看到，因为小区已经没有敢于主动站出来的业主，绝大部分警员表情都非常漠然，甚至有些无聊，坐着或是站着闲聊，部分警员正在警车内打扑克牌娱乐。
3.关于抓走的业主代表：从4月1日发生冲突至今，已有近20多名业主被刑警带走传唤。已知的有杨姓老先生、冉姓男青年、刘姓男青年、王姓女士等等。据某位业主透露，家人在被带走时自己只在电话里听到“家里有人闯进来了……”就再也没有说话，只得赶紧赶回小区调出监控录像，方知家人已经被一群人秘密抓走，手机再也无法打通，通宵都没有任何消息。直至今日上午，一户业主通过多方关系才从九龙坡区看守所得到消息：家人因为妨碍执行公务而被刑事拘留，让家人带生活用品过去但不让见面，不让打电话，还要拘留多久不清楚。更多的业主还在等待失踪者的消息。
4.关于丽水菁苑小区：自4月1日后，业主不能去关心探望受伤的邻居，一个又一个的业主被抓……据悉一些前期参与维权的业主们都害怕开发商报复，不敢回家过夜了……晚上有三组安置在高处的高亮度探照灯，明晃晃直射小区内部，有如纳粹的集中营。
Author:Walk and see1   Posted on 2008-4-3 17:20
The latest information of the Chongqing Li Shui Jing Yuan event 20080403
1. About the injuries: Since the event happened, many occupants have been beaten, including a number of young ladies. Some people who are seriously hurt have been sent to the emergency room of Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University. It's learned that there are still 5 people receiving treatment there; 2 of them is with head injuries(skin avulsion and cerebral concussion), 1 with hematoma outside the dura mater and the other 2 with trauma of chest wall. Allegedly the authorities have issued orders on the sly that the hospital can only leave the injured occupants in the emergency room and no one should hospitalize them unless they are in danger of losing their life. Besides, the occupants who spontaneously went to visit the injuries on that night were also clobbered by the monitoring policemen and some of them were forcibly taken away. Because it's not allowed to visit the injured occupants, their conditions are still unclear.
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2. About the police and security guards: Since April 1, everyday from 8:30a.m. to 22:00 p.m., there will be about 300 security guards and more than 200 policemen with riot shields, whips, batons and a dozen of police cars concentrating at the back gate of Li Shui Jing Yuan residential quarter where the construction site is located and every night there is a police car and some policemen patrolling around the quarter. According to the police officers involved, they are actually not working this area(Xiejiawan Avenue), but brought up from different parts of Jiulongpo District; and the security guards working by shifts are employed from the security company. As to why they are summoned here, the police themselves “are also not very clear. the task seems to be facing the occupants down so that the developer can build construction without any hindrance.” When we asked their thoughts on the matter, the police said, “just know the developer is going to occupy others’ green area to build houses. The commodity house is much more lucrative than the green area, isn't it? We are just at the beck and call of the authorities.” Obviously, because no occupant dare step forward to protest again, most of the policemen look very indifferent, even a little bored, chatting with each other or playing cards in the cars.
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3. About the arrested occupants: Since the conflict in April 1, more than 20 occupants have been arrested or cited by the police. They are old Mr. Yang, Mr. Ran, Mr. Liu, Ms. Wang and so on. One of the occupants revealed, while his family was being seized he only heard “Someone's breaking in…” on the phone and then not a word was spoken, so he hastened back to the residential quarter to check the Monitoring videos, finding his family had been secretly taken away by a group of people; and over the whole night, he couldn't get through to any of his family's cellphone. Until this morning, one of the occupants through many connections finally learned something from the detention house of Jiulongpo District: His family were arrested for obstructing the officials in the course of their duty. The occupant was allowed to bring some daily necessities to his family without meeting and calling them. No one knows how long the  custody will last. Many more occupants are still waiting for the news from the missing persons.
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4. About Li Shui Jing Yuan Residential Quarter: Since April 1, occupants are not allowed to visit the injured neighbors while more and more people are arrested…it's said afraid of the developer's retaliation, some occupants who stood forward to protect the rights during the early period dare not stay over at home… at night three searchlights set on the heights throw out powerful beams over the residential quarter, which makes the district like a Nazi concentration camp.
作者:qq822   发表于 2008-4-3 20:01
现场场面
Author:qq822   Posted on 2008-4-3 20:01
on the scene
作者:qq822   发表于 2008-4-3 20:03
现场场面2
Author:qq822   Posted on 2008-4-3 20:01
on the scene 2
作者:qq822   发表于 2008-4-3 20:06
现场场面3
Author:qq822   Posted on 2008-4-3 20:06
on the scene 3
作者:qq822   发表于 2008-4-3 20:06
现场场面4
Author:qq822   Posted on 2008-4-3 20:06
on the scene 4
作者:致命一招   发表于 2008-4-4 12:00
4.1回放:小区内拉起警戒线,业主不能进入
Author:A stroke that causes death   Posted on 2008-4-4 12:00
Review of 4.1:the security cordon is put in the residential quarter, preventing any occupants from entering.
作者:致命一招   发表于 2008-4-4 12:59
4.1回放:庞大的保安队伍要吃饭了
Author:A stroke that causes death   Posted on 2008-4-4 12:59
Review of 4.1: The large hoards of security guards are going to have lunch.
作者:致命一招   发表于 2008-4-4 13:14
4.1回放:撤出的保安来到小区外的大街上,部分已领到饭(白饭盒)
Author:A stroke that causes death   Posted on 2008-4-4 13:14
Review of 4.1: The security guards pull out to the road outside the residential quarter while part of them have gotten the meals(white lunch box).
作者:致命一招   发表于 2008-4-4 13:22
4.1回放:撤出的保安穿过大街向小区后门方向聚集
Author:A stroke that causes death   Posted on 2008-4-4 13:22
Review of 4.1: The security guards pulled out cross the road, marching toward the back gate of the residential quarter.
作者:陈冠希和女伴   发表于 2008-4-7 15:31
看看探照灯！
Author:Edison Chen and his female companion   Posted on 2008-4-7 15:31
Look at the searchlight!

author: Meng Zhang


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China: CCTV PK CNN · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lyceum writes down the track record of CCTV and CNN and asks which one is more independent? [zh]

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Comment on Tibet Issue · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sunbin comments on Tibet issue and urges politicians not to sacrifice the lives of the people you claim to love and save.


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China: Defending National Pride · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN argues that the Olympic torch protest is a public relation disaster as it gives the opportunity for the China mainstream to defend national pride. He translated two Chinese reports on the torch protest.


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China: Demonizing? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ran Yun-fei from my1510.com argued that nationalistic sentiment would lead to the imagination of  China being demonized [zh].


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Palestine: Deir Yassin, Commemorated 60 Times Over · Global Voices
Razan Ghazzawi

April 9 marked the massacre of Deir Yassin, where an estimated 100 Palestinians were killed in the early morning hours, by commandos of the Irgun (headed by Menachem Begin) and the Stern Gang. Bloggers commemorate the tragedy 60 years later.
Palestinian Haitham Sabbah links to DeirYassin site and writes:
Early in the morning of April 9, 1948, commandos of the Irgun (headed by Menachem Begin) and the Stern Gang attacked Deir Yassin, a village with about 750 Palestinian residents. The village lay outside of the area to be assigned by the United Nations to the Jewish State; it had a peaceful reputation. But it was located on high ground in the corridor between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Deir Yassin was slated for occupation under Plan Dalet and the mainstream Jewish defense force, the Haganah, authorized the irregular terrorist forces of the Irgun and the Stern Gang to perform the takeover.
In all over 100 men, women, and children were systematically murdered. Fifty-three orphaned children were literally dumped along the wall of the Old City, where they were found by Miss Hind Husseini and brought behind the American Colony Hotel to her home, which was to become the Dar El-Tifl El-Arabi orphanage.
Sabbah also links to for the Institute for Middle East Understanding website, which has more information about the massacre.
Attending The World sheds light on the political reasons behind the massacre, quoting Menachem Begin, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the first Likud Prime Minister of Israel:
“Deir Yassin massacre was not only necessary, but without it the state of Israel could not have emerged” said Menachem Begin.
The blogger also publishes a testimony by former Haganah officer, Col. Meir Pa’el, upon his retirement from the Israeli army in 1972:
“In the exchange that followed four [Irgun] men were killed and a dozen were wounded … by noon time the battle was over and the shooting had ceased. Although there was calm, the village had not yet surrendered. The Irgun and LEHI men came out of hiding and began to `clean’ the houses. They shot whoever they saw, women and children included, the commanders did not try to stop the massacre …. I pleaded with the commander to order his men to cease fire, but to no avail. In the meantime, 25 Arabs had been loaded on a truck and driven through Mahne Yehuda and Zichron Yousef (like prisoners in a Roman `March of Triumph’). At the end of the drive, they were taken to the quarry between Deir Yasin and Giv’at Shaul, and murdered in cold blood … The commanders also declined when asked to take their men and bury the 254 Arab bodies. This unpleasant task was performed by two Gadna units brought to the village from Jerusalem.”
In Al- Falastiniya's post, I am Dier Yassin, she asserts that Deir Yassin is more than a “death toll”:
we are so much more than a death toll or a simple story to be told in order to conjure up pity.
i walked home tonight and realized that the streets were not full of blood. i claimed the sidewalk as my own; no one stopped to question me. i walked, and i realized i was perhaps too lucky. “deir yassin, deir yassin, have you heard of what happened at deir yassin? do you want to end up like those of deir yassin?” i have never had to answer this question. i have never had to flee for my life. i have never heard the sound of a gunshot… the sadness is not mine alone- it was not mine originally, i simply inherited it.
Otto's Random Thoughts, Carousel and MyDD link to South African Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils’ article on the Electronic Intifada site.
We also have a post from John Hilley, who argues how Deir Yassin massacre has been omitted in the western media:
9 April 2008 marked the terrible events of Deir Yassin, sixty years after 254 of the village's Palestinian men, women and children were massacred by Zionist forces.
You didn't hear anything about it on the BBC. You didn't see any recognition of it by the US, EU and other ‘civilized’ Western governments. And you certainly won't find any message of regret over it from a state which has sought to bury the truth of this and multiple other atrocities with all those murdered Palestinians.
For Israel, its allies and their media stenographers, Deir Yassin doesn't merit special commemoration. It's just a name, a village, a place, a painful memory still firmly fixed in Palestinian consciousness.
Finally, Free the Detainees shares with us scenes from New York commemorating the Deir Yassin massacre here.
All photos are courtesy of Deir Yassine site.

author: Razan Ghazzawi


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Dubai: The other side of the coin · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Behind the glamour and glitz of Dubai lays a sad reality. Seabee shows us the other side of the coin in pictures.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: The Story of Sounilla · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Little did American student Sounilla know what he was walking into when he saw two students from his university standing in the middle of a Cairo Square and decided to walk towards them, pointing his camera in their direction. Out of nowhere, the security forces pounces on them, snatching them from the square, into a car and the threat of possible jail.
Egyptian blogger Ahmed (Ar) tells us the story of Sounilla, a 23-year-old student from New York, in Egypt to study Arabic poetry at the American University in Cairo.
Ahmed writes:
سونيلا شاب أمريكي من أصل هندي،يحمل ذراعه وشما واضحا يحمل كلمتي “لتعيش الانتفاضة”.. ذهب صبيحة يوم الاضراب للجامعة الامريكية لمتابعة محاضراته ،وبينما هو في طريقه للجامعة عبر ميدان التحرير وجد زميلتيه سارة عبد الرازق وسارة اسماعيل تقفان وسط الميدان وتزدردان خبزا رديئا من الذي تنتجه مخابز الحكومة المصرية،ثم تلقيانه علي الارض كنوع من الاحتجاج،توجه سونيلا بكاميرته الديجيتال نحو زميلتيه ليتقط صورة فوتوغرافية،فانقضت عليه قوات الأمن واقتادته نحو ميكروباص علي ناصية شارع طلعت حرب.
في الثانية عشر والنصف ظهرا تحركت السيارة الميكروباص وتجولت بهم حواليَ القاهرة مارا بشارع صلاح سالم والدراسة،وحين احتج سونيلا موضحا :”أنا أمريكي”..رد عليه الضابط “اخرس”!
حاول سونيلا الاتصال بالسفارة الامريكية ومديرة برنامج المنحة التي يدرس بموجبها في مركز دراسات اللغة العربية في الجامعة الامريكية،توالت الاتصالات وأبلغه موظف بالسفارة :”أرجوك ابتعد عن التحرير الاوضاع غير مستقرة بالمرة”.
يقول سونيلا:”جن جنون الضابط حين علم برغبتي في الاتصال بسفارة بلادي وقال لي سألقيك من علي الكوبري إذا فعلت هذا”.
Sounilla, an American citizen of Indian origin, has a obvious tattoo on his arm which reads ‘Love Live the Intifada.’ On the morning of the April 6 strike, he was on his way to the American University in Cairo to attend his classes. While crossing the Tahrir Square, he saw his colleagues Sara Abd El Razak, and Sara Ismail, standing in the middle of the square throwing bad bread, baked in the National Egyptian Bakeries. So Sounilla walked towards his colleagues with a digital camera to take a photograph. Suddenly, the Security forces came and arrested him, dragging him into a small microbus at the corner of the near by Square of Tala’at Harb.
At midday, the microbus started moving down different streets. Sounilla told the officer on the bus: “I am American,” to which the officer replied: “Shut up!” Sounilla then tried calling the American Embassy, and the fellowships officer of his Arabic language studies scholarship, but an employee at the Embassy said: “Please get away from Tahrir Square, the situation is very volatile there.”
The police officer was enraged when he knew and warned Sounilla saying: “I will throw you off the bridge if you called the Embassy.”
يضيف سونيلا : اشتبك معي أحد الضباط بينما يستجوبني ويطالبني بذكر بياناتي،وعمد الي استفزازي أكثر من مرة،قال الضابط :لم تشارك في مثل هذه الأعمال..إنت مالك؟ فقلت له :حكومتكم سيئة وتظلم الناس..فرد الضابط حانقا :لا تقل هذا الكلام..الحكومة جيدة..فنظر له سونيلا وقال :لا تنتسي أنك من الشعب ولست من الحكومة!
فصمت الضابط،يقول سونيلا:”سكت الضابط العنيف ولم يرد علي بينما لمحت علي الشرطي الذي أخذ بياناتي أمارات التعاطف..لكن علي أية حال تم حرماني من كاميرتي الديجيتال التي التقطت بها الصور”.
هدد أحد الضباط المشرفين علي عملية الاختطاف سونيلا بالقاءه في الصحراء،بينما وعد إحدي النساء بتوصيلها الي منزلها،يقول سونيلا :”ما يحد ث يشي أن الحكومة مضطربة ومرتبكة جدا وتحاول عبر هوس أمني بغيض السيطرة علي مقاليد الامور بأي ثمن”.
Sounilla adds than one officer assaulted during the investigations, and continued to intimidate him more than once. The officer asked him: “Why do you take part in such events.. what is your business?” I replied: “Your government is bad and is unjust towards people.” The officer replied angrily: “Don’t say such words, the government is not bad..” So Sounilla told him: “You are from the people, not the government!”
The harsh officer was silent, while the other kinder officer showed some sympathy. Then then confiscated Sounilla's camera, the one he took pictures with. One officer threatened him to throw him to the desert, while he promised a woman there to drive her home. Sounilla added: “What happened shows a disturbed government, very disturbed that it tried through its security mania to control everything at any cost.”
Ahmed continues:
كان سونيلا مرهقا وجائعا للغاية حين التقيناه لكنه كان مقتنعا بما يفعل بصورة تثير الدهشة،علق سونيلا :”لقد شاركت في تظاهرات في الولايات المتحدة،لكن الذي حدث هنا في القاهرة هو اختطاف رخيص علي طريقة العصابات ولايمت بصلة لجهاز شرطة يفترض أنه يحمي الناس”.
تركوا سونيلا في حوالي الثانية ظهرا وحين حاول أخذ أرقام السيارة الميكروباص التي اختطفته،لكن الضباط نزلوا وهددوه وتوعدوه،قال لهم سونيلا :”إذا أردتم القاء القبض علينا فاقبضوا..لكن لا تخطفونا علي طريقة العصابات”
Sounilla was exhausted and hungry when we met him, but he commented: “I took part in many demonstrations back in the United States, but what happened in Cairo is cheap kidnapping the gangsters’ way and has nothing to do with a Police system that is supposed to keep people safe.”
They released Sounilla at around 2 o’clock, and when he tried to take the number of the car, the officers threatened him again, so he finally told them: “If you want to arrest us, then do that. Just don't kidnap us like gangsters.”
Photo credit: Mohamed Ali El Dien

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Europe: NATO · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Greater Surbiton writes about NATO's relations with Russia: “If the NATO powers lack the will to stand up to Russia, it raises the question of what precise purpose NATO serves.” And about NATO and the Greek-Macedonian relations: “Greece has been a very poor member of NATO; it has only about 130 troops in Afghanistan – the same number as Macedonia, a non-member with one-fifth its population.”


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Global Voices in Spanish and Canal Solidario · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Readers of Global Voices in Spanish and Canal Solidario will have recently noticed a small widget showing on both webpages. The one on Global Voices in Spanish displays the latest articles from Canal Solidario. The gadget that appears in Canal Solidario feeds readers all new posts on Global Voices in Spanish.
This partnership allows more people to have access to both websites and the chance to be informed about subjects related to activism and the international blogosphere.
So, what is Canal Solidario? Let's hear it in their own words:
Canal Solidario-One World is a media project that has offered access to news and resources about solidarity, cooperation, peace, human rights and social dialogue through the internet since 1999. It is promoted by the Fundación Chandra, with the support of Fundación Un Sol Món de Catalunya.
The Canal Solidario-One World project is developed by a team of journalists committed to the idea of media as the engine of change towards a more inclusive and free society. Canal Solidario-One World belongs to the OneWorld international network, with 11 local branches all over the world and more than 1,700 subsidiary organizations.
It is worth mentioning that Canal Solidario has very interesting sections such as the Entrevistas (Interviews) with people who play an active part in social movements and other areas of similar interest, La Lupa de los Conflictos (The magnifying glass of conflicts) that analyses controversial subjects, and the Blogosfera (Blogosphere), where posts from the international blogosphere are outlined on a weekly basis.
We are certain this partnership between websites will benefit readers who will see their information and reading options increased in this way.

author: Juan Arellano


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Guyana: Cheap Cheats · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Labour is cheap, don’t pay one cent more, cheap pockets, cheap hearts, cheap consciences”: Guyana-Gyal is not fond of the cheating kind.


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Haiti: Thoughts from Port au Prince · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Looters and destroyers do not represent this country any more than serial killers represent the United States”:  The Livesay Haiti Weblog posts some thoughts by Ruth, a resident of Port au Prince.


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Hungary: “Political Limbo” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about “political limbo” in Hungarian government.


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Hungary: Separation of Church and State · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about separation of church and state in Hungary: “[…] Most people are uncomfortable with the theocratic states of the Muslim world. Why should we try to imitate them in a very secular Europe?”


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Hungary: The State of Economy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the state of Hungarian economy.


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India: Ties with Africa · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on the growing ties between India and Africa, and the first-ever India-Africa summit in New Delhi.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Jamaica, China: The Politics of Sport  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“What does it say about us that we are willing to put human rights on hold just so we can have something to watch on TV for two weeks?  If you ignore what China is doing in Tibet aren’t you in some way responsible?”: Jamaican Marlon James focuses the spotlight on the politics of the upcoming Olympic games.


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Jamaica, Montserrat, Trinidad & Tobago: Markham Passes On · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp acknowledges the passing of E.A. (Archie) Markham, “a Caribbean literary giant”, while Nicholas Laughlin at Antilles says: “I deeply regret never having the chance to meet him, to match the wry, generous voice of his poems, fiction, and correspondence to the wryly generous man.”


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Jamaica: Rising Prices  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Stunner's Afflictions blogs about the rising price of flour in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands.


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Jordan: Home for the CIA Detainees  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Naseem Tarawnah, from Jordan, uncovers the story behind those detained by the Jordanian Intelligence, on behalf of the CIA, after the September 11 attacks.


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Kenya/Tanzania: Tanzanians prevented from buying Safaricom shares · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bankelele writes about “regional IPO tales”: “…while Uganda and Rwanda have joined thousands of Kenyans embracing the investment vehicle that is the Safaricom IPO, it appears the Bank of Tanzania is preventing Tanzanians from buying shares in Safaricom through the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.”


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Kosovo: U.S. Embassy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

One Missionary in Kosovo writes about the opening of the U.S. embassy in Kosovo.


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Kuwait and April Fool’s Day · Global Voices
Abdullatif AlOmar

April 1 ushers in a flurry of posts, which leave readers and bloggers alike thinking whether what they are reading is right or wrong.
Here are a few posts from Kuwait about the day:
Ma6aba:
How i hate that day! its nerve wrecking if u ask me. And i always end up being the fool somehow (Which worsens the day if that’s possible).
Area 77:
I’m not getting pranked or anything but the internet just sucks for a whole week afterward. You don’t know what the hell is real or not!
Big Pearls:
I can't believe it's “April Fool's Day” already. I remember the dinner I had at new year's eve, it feels like yesterday. Days pass so fast, it's scary!
Blog all along:
This is the day of the year I really hate. The day where you go to read the news, and go elsewhere to read if what you read was true
Picture Credit : Intlxpatr

author: Abdullatif AlOmar


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Kuwait: Not in the name of art  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Rampurple, who lives in Kuwait, is disgusted by what some people may refer to as art.


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Kyrgyzstan: Women’s Club Lobbies for Legalization of Prostitution · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena reports about the decision by the women’s political club of Kyrgyzstan to submit for consideration in parliament the question of legalising commercial sex.


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Latvia: Southern Bridge in Riga · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Baltic writes about Riga's Southern Bridge, which could “bring Latvia into the Guinness book of records for the greatest amount of misspent public funds.”


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Lithuania: Vilnius Architecture · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Babel in Vilnius writes about Soviet architecture in the Lithuanian capital.


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Malawi: Upcoming Telecentres · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Students need to be involved in telecentre development and management in Malawi: “This issue of telecentres in Malawi is very much on my heart. As a tech enthusiast, I would like to witness the ubiquitous establishment of telecentres across the country. People must have access to information. I have realized that my life these days has become so Internet centered. A great degree of change has taken place in my life since the day I got introduced to the Internet.”


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Montenegro: Presidential Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul Currion of The Unforgiving Minute analyzes the results of the presidential election in Montenegro.


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Morocco: Prison Break · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

On Monday, April 7, nine men convicted of involvement in the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca went missing from a Kenitra prison.  Prisoner rights advocacy group Ennassir said that the escape coincided with the beginning of a hunger strike by about 1,000 prisoners across Morocco.  A search is underway, but the prisoners have yet to be found.
A Moro in America shared an analysis of prison breaks as related to terror convicts and said:
– Kenitra's prison is notorious for being the scene of previous prison breaks. Nino, a Ceuta-based drug lord, managed last year to buy his way out of the infamous prison. None of the prison guards was suspended or punished after the Spaniard's evaded.
– Back to this weekend's evasion,Coincidently, the dog of the prison's director , along with its cage, were removed few days ago from the prison. According to Almassae daily , the tunnel's end was right where the dog's cage used to be.
– So far in the history of Moroccan jails , two types of prisoners have managed to evade — the Al-Qadea members and the drug dealers. The common denominators amongst the two is that they both belong to cash-rich powerful rings. The prison guards can be easily coerced because not only they are underpaid, but they also work in a very corrupt environment where only money and bribes rule. It's the culture of prisons in Morocco, just like it is the case with prisons in developing nations.
Madame Monet is amused by the similarities between this incident and the popular television program of the same name:
In a real-life prison break, nine convicted terrorists who escaped yesterday from a prison in Kenitra. Apparently, just as in the real-life WWII movie, they tunneled out using a teaspoon! They were convicted of involvement in the wave of 2003 Casablanca bombings. Police seem to be manning the checkpoints all over Morocco. I think the prisoners must have been watching Prison Break, one of the most popular shows in Morocco. Too bad the guards must not have been watching it!

author: Jillian C. York


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Myanmar: Twitter Suu project · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Twitter Suu participatory media project aims to send millions of messages to Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi “to let her know she has worldwide support.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Nepal: Election violence · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the election violence in Nepal as voting was postponed in seven polling centres.


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Nigeria: Leila Fowler: a fashion destination · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bella Naija writes about Funke Fowler project, Leila Fowler: “I get questions all the time about why I started this blog and what I tell people is that I wanted to highlight and celebrate young Nigerian women who are doing fabulous things and in turn encourage others to pursue their ambitions.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Pakistan: Double standards · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Pakistani Spectator on the double standards of political parties after the elections.


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Pakistan: Violence in Karachi · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Five Rupees on the reports of violence in Karachi in Pakistan.


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Philippines: Coping with night shift work · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Filipino blogger MMMiii! shares tips on coping and staying healthy during night shift work.


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Poland: Relations With Israel · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about the Polish-Israeli relations.


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Russia: A Book on the Stalin Era · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At Russian Reading Challenge 2008, Myrthe reviews Orlando Figes’ book about the Stalin era, based on the Memorial's interviews with those who lived through the time.


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Russia: Bluffing? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot is wondering whether some of Russia's foreign policy statements are bluff.


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Russia, Israel: Emigrants and Returnees · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about former Soviet citizens living in Israel.


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Russia: Maria Bochkareva and Other Women Soldiers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Soviet Russia writes about Maria Bochkareva and other Russian women soldiers of the WWI.


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Russia: Mistreatment of Roma · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about mistreatment of Roma in Russia.


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Russia: Nashi’s Fashion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about Antonina Shapovalova's “patriotic panties for Putin.”


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Russia: Politics Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog posts an update on the recent political developments in Russia.


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Armenia: President Inaugurated, Deaths Observed… and a Balloon Festival · Global Voices
Artur Papyan

Depending on the political orientation of bloggers, the most important event to take place in Yerevan yesterday was debatable. Certainly, as Anush at The Armenian Patchwork explains, there was plenty to see and do, although like others, another event was foremost in her mind.
Many things happened yesterday. Among those probably the most important was Serzh Sargsyan’s inauguration. For a lot of people though the important was that 40 days have passed since the deaths of 1 March riots.
While people lay flowers at the Myasnikyan monument, close to which the riots began, one could hear Jazz music coming from the Republic Square, where a balloon festival was going to happen later on.
Regardless, with the area around the Yerevan Opera in almost total lock down, prime minister Serge Sargsyan was inaugurated as president in a ceremony and military parade that few citizens could get close to. Instead, most were only only able to cover protests by the opposition rather then the grand inauguration ceremony itself.
Raffi N at Life in Armenia noticed the extra security on the streets.
Today was the official swearing in of Mr. Serge Sarksian as the new President of the Republic of Armenia. It really felt like an important event because ALL the streets were blocked… lots of police escorts…
Photos: © Artur Papyan / The Armenian Observer blog 2008
Global Voices Online Caucasus Editor and photojournalist Onnik Krikorian reports how he was prevented from photographing the inauguration ceremony, despite showing a press pass and the fact that the event was held in a public area. Even so, if there was no opportunity to cover the day's events there, he says that other possibilities existed.
Prevented from covering that event, as was the case for almost every other photographer in Yerevan, there was always the opposition memorial to the eight killed during post-election clashes on 1 March occurring adjacent to the French Embassy. Somewhat unfortunately for Sargsyan, not only did 9 April mark the day of the start of his presidency, but it was also the traditionally observed 40th day after the deaths.
Photo © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Ogostos (RU) looked at the moral aspect of holding a lavish inauguration ceremony while so many people were mourning the death of their relatives 40 days after the 1 March riots while Ahousekeeper (AM) was amazed at just how shortsighted the Armenian authorities were.
Although the two events were tragically coincidental and the inauguration date dictated by the constitution, the blog says that it was inappropriate to a) hold it on the 40th day after the deaths (the traditional day of mourning in Armenia), b) to block the Republic Square, the Opera and several other streets making many citizens, regardless of their political orientation, curse the authorities, and c) stage “stupid” events in Republic Square, which “Levon supporters will try to interfere with.” Veteran journalist and analyst Mark Grigorian (RU), however, says that the protests are not likely to affect the situation because the fact is that Serge Sargsyan is now the President of Armenia.
It is natural, that celebrations are held on the day of president's inauguration.
It is also quite frequent, that the opposition uses that day to stage protest actions and bring to the attention of the international community the problems of the country.
All of this happened today in Armenia. News agencies are reporting, that protest actions took place also outside of Armenia.
Nevertheless, Ter-Petrossian activist Bekaisa (RU) reports that there were eight small simultaneous protest actions staged in Yerevan in front of the Constitutional Court, Central Electoral Commission, OSCE office in Yerevan, European Union, General Prosecutor's Office, and the Embassies of the U.S., Russia, and France. There were also other protests in the regions of Armenia as well as outside the Embassies of the Republic of Armenia in Russia and Ukraine.
Ahousekeeper also reports that supporters of opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian attempted to disrupt the balloon festival staged in Republic square later the same evening, but were prevented from doing so by police forces who quickly rounded them up. The Blue Sky Festival did take place, and The Armenian Patchwork has photos to prove it.
Photo © Anush Babajanyan, Armenian Patchwork 2008
And while Akunamatata_ser (RU) rejoices and greets the first day of a new president coming to power as well as the start of the regime with an uncertain present and future built on fear and blood, Nazarian (AM) pays tribute to the seven civilians and one policeman who died 40 days earlier. Notes From Hairenik contemplates the new president's chances of bringing change to Armenia:
President Sargsyan has a lot to do in a short amount of time. He has to win over the confidence of the vast number of citizens who have no faith in him whatsoever and who regard him as being a petty oligarchic-tyrant.
[…]
[…] he has to prove that he can surpass in leaps and bounds everyone’s expectations and, most noteworthy, ensure that the downtrodden — namely those living in far-off rural parts of Armenia—start living better, fruitful lives. […] Cracking down on corruption is something that is high on most everyone’s list of things for him to do. […]
However, the F5 blog (AM) is more skeptical. The new president won't be able to change anything, it speculates, while Unzipped considers it hard to believe that Serge Sargsyan will be able to stay in power for long:
You just can’t stick to the power relying on a physical force. Well, you may for a while, but only for a while. No lasting solution could be based on force and violence. There is no alternative to democracy in Armenia.
Some bloggers are more pragmatic though. Martuni or Bust!!!, for example, is sure of the opposite:
Though there are still many unanswered questions regarding the legitimacy of the election which landed him the post of President and the events that followed that he was directly behind, I really believe that as usual and in a very short period of time, most will forget what happened and it will be business as usual.

author: Artur Papyan


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Singapore: Electronic road pricing · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Singapore blogger Simply Jeans wonders why the Singapore government embraces the Electronic Road Pricing scheme while New York City decides to trash it.


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Slovenia, Croatia: Joško Joras and the Border Dispute · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about Joško Joras, a Slovenian man who lives on an “unwelcome piece of land, which just happens to be in a disputed border area between Slovenia and Croatia.”


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South Korea: AIDS Discrimination · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Solis from Ohmynews! writes about the lack of confidentiality for the treatment of AIDS, in particular for foreigners, in South Korea.


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Syria: Egypt Strike Update · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Syria, Razan Al Ghazzawi  links to popular Egyptian blogs and other online tools, discussing the current worker's riots, strike and unrest in the country.


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Syria: The Colored Tile Complex · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

“So I used to step on the colored tiles… and count. Yes! I would count how many of each colored tile did I step on using each leg. The main issue here is that I have to, eventually, step on an equal amount of the colored tiles using both my legs,” Kinan from Jar of Juice, on his Colored Tile Complex.

author: Yazan Badran


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The Baltics: “The State of the Nation” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marginalia muses about “the state of the nation.”


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Colombia: 60th Anniversary of the Murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán · Global Voices
Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez

Cross-posted at equinoXio english edition
Colombian legendary actor Edgardo Román, impersonating Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, as he did in the 1980’s TV miniseries Gaitán, during the commemorative acts in Bogotá. Mr Román’s resemblance with Mr Gaitán is striking. Photo by Victor Solano and used with permission.
Many Colombians believe that if charismatic Colombian Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán had not been shot and killed on April 9, 1948, at 13:05, in front of the Agustín Nieto building, where his lawyer’s office was located (today the Bank of the Republic building), he would have become President of Colombia in 1950, and maybe the fate of this troubled South American country would have been quite different.
The local blogosphere also remembered this important day. The political blog Colombia Hoy [es] says:
Lo realmente importante del 9 de abril de 1948 son los eventos que se desencadenan a partir de ese momento. Y, más aún, las implicaciones que ese hecho tiene sobre nuestra vida presente.  Para decirlo de una manera breve: Gaitán fue la oportunidad más próxima que han tenido los sectores marginados de llevar a la presidencia a una persona que representara genuinamente sus intereses. (…) Era, en cualquier caso, una figura incómoda para las élites políticas tradicionales y, sin duda, un obstáculo para los planes de ordenamiento político continental. (…) El mensaje político de reivindicación de los intereses de los marginados sigue vigente en un país donde cerca de la mitad de su población se encuentra bajo la línea de pobreza y donde se encuentra uno de los peores indicadores de distribución de la riqueza del mundo. Desde 1948 no hemos tenido un solo presidente por fuera del modelo liberal-conservador, que represente intereses diferentes a los de las élites tradicionales asociadas al capital transnacional o, más recientemente, a la mafia.
The truly important thing that took place on April 9, 1948 is the events which were unleashed since that moment. And, furthermore, the implications that the event has had over our current life. To say it briefly: Gaitán was the closest chance the marginalized society had to take to the Presidency, a person who genuinely represented their interests. (…) He was, in any case, a figure uncomfortable for the traditional political elites and, undoubtedly, for the plans of continental political order. (…) The political message vindicating the interests of the marginalized people is still valid in a country where around half of its population lives below the poverty line and where one of the worst indicators of wealth distribution in the world is found. Since 1948 we have not had a president outside the Liberal-Conservative (parties) model, who represents interest outside the ones of the traditional elites associated to the transnational capital or, more recently, the mafia.
As most Colombians know, Gaitán’s murder unleashed several riots that day and during the weekend, known as the Bogotazo. Miguel Carrillo, from Populachero [es] questions the way some people mark this "revolution":
¿Cuál es el mito del bogotazo? ¿estamos realmente “celebrando” la destrucción de una ciudad? Desde siempre nos dicen que en el 9 de Abril empezó la violencia que nos agobia en este momento. Que cómodo. Me niego a pensar que exista un solo colombiano que se coma todavía ese cuento. (…) Muchos dirán que recordar el bogotazo y vanagloriarlo es una forma de recordar que los profundos problemas sociales que existían en ese tiempo todavía no se han resuelto. Yo digo que es lo contrario. Porque decir “eso fue desde el bogotazo” es una forma de cortar la dolorosa y necesaria discusión de que carajos fue lo que salió mal en este país.
What is the myth of El Bogotazo? Are we really "celebrating" the destruction of a entire city? Since the year, we are told that on April 9, the violence which wears us down started. It’s so comfortable. I refuse to believe there is still a single Colombian who buys that story (…) A lot of people will say that remembering El Bogotazo and boasting about it is a way to remember that our deep social issues that existed at the time haven’t been solved yet. I say it’s exactly the opposite, because saying "that was since the Bogotazo" is a way to cut the painful, necessary discussion about what the hell went wrong in this country.
Lines before Populachero wonders why there are not T-shirts carrying Gaitán’s image as there are all kinds of memorabilia with Ernesto Che Guevara’s face.
American Blaine Sheldon at Ojo gringo remarks about the Semana magazine website’s multimedia special on El Bogotazo, and leaves his two cents:
This anniversary comes as a timely reminder that these tensions still carry overtones that echo deeply in contemporary Colombian society. The dichotomies of class and political orientation remain today just as real sixty years in passing. Even so, the history plays out as much in its epic nature as its conspiracy. To this day it is not known whether the would-be assassin, Juan Roa Sierra, actually perpetrated the incident, or whether he was merely a scapegoat beaten to his death by those thirsty for vengeance. Every crisis charges a pariah, but perhaps as evidence enough today in Colombia, this zeal often perpetuates tomorrow’s conflict.
Personally, I recommend the weekly newspaper El Espectador’s website multimedia special, featuring articles, audios, pictures, context information, and video excerpts from a Caracol TV / The History Channel co-production which premiered Wednesday night.
One of the pages of 1949 graphical novel La gran mancha roja, which provides the Conservative Party’s view on El Bogotazo. Mr Gaitán is shown at the first and the third frames. Photo provided by Juglar del Zipa.
At Juglar del Zipa [es], Miguel Olaya shares with us La gran mancha roja ("The big red stain"), a 1949 graphical novel, presumably written by “a militant of the Conservative Party who mantains that Gaitán’s murder was the result of a communist conspiracy against the Pan-American Conference”  [which was being held at Bogotá at the time of the crime and ended with the creation of the Organization of American States] “and, of course, the institutions of the Republic and the party"”, which was ruling the country at the time, with art by R. Scandoglio.
A small crowd gathers around a flower arrangement with the image of political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, murdered on 9 April 1948, during the commemorative acts in the 60th anniversary of the crime. Photo by Victor Solano and used with permission.
Finally, journalist and blogger Víctor Solano [es] attended the commemorative acts held downtown Bogotá on Wednesday, taking pictures, videos, and sharing with out his impressions of what happened:
Hoy, varios de los seguidores del caudillo levantaron sus puños para lanzar vivas y emular el tono grandilocuente y por supuesto demagógico del máximo líder natural del ‘trapo rojo’ en los años cincuenta […] Seguí en el sitio otros 20 minutos más y así tuve la oportunidad de ver a algunos estudiantes realizaron un performance en el que representaron a Gaitán y su Marcha del Silencio, ante la mirada desconcertada de los transeúntes. […] Ya saliendo del lugar, luego de haber completado cerca de 40 minutos allí […] veo a Edgardo Román, uno de esos actores de teatro que parecería que no fueron formados sino forjados en el más rudo de los fuegos.
Today, several of the supporters of the Colombian caudillo raised their fists to cheer and emulate the grandiloquent and, of course, demagogic tone of the chief leader of the ‘red cloth’ in the 1950s  […] I remained there another for 20 minutes, so I had a chance to see a  performance by some college students, where they represented Gaitán and his Silent March, before the disconcerted look of the peasants. […] When I was leaving the place, after having completed 40 minutes there […] I could see Edgardo Román, one of those theatre actors who seems to have not been "raised" but  "forged" on the toughest of fires.

author: Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez


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Tunisia: Dust is in the Air · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“After a week of cold weather that brought us wind and occasional rain showers, a couple of really hot sunny days followed, and today, we woke up to watch the streets, cars, and buildings covered with one fat layer of sand,” writes Eman, from Tunisia.


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Turkey: Court for Singing Kurds · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Three Kurdish teenagers are facing trial in Turkey, for singing patriotic Kurdish songs, while on tour in the US, reports Kurdish blogger Goran.


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Turkmenistan: Delhi increasingly active towards Ashgabat · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula reports on India’s Vice President’s visit to the Turkemenistan's capital city Ashgabat and the signing of the Indian-Turkmen memorandum on co-operation in the energy sector.


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Ukraine: “Agflation” and Other Economic Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about the country's economic problems.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: Kyiv Mayor Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about the upcoming Kyiv mayor election.


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Ukraine: Orthodox “Crusaders” vs Bush · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana posts and explains a video of Ukraine's “anti-Bush Orthodox crusaders.”


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Ukraine: Political Humor · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An online exhibition of Ukrainian political humor – at Ukrainiana.


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US Virgin Islands: Landfill Flames  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The ever-smoldering Bovoni landfill burst into flames again”: News of St. John links to video of the incident.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Zimbabwe: Election officials arrested · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Arrests of election officials in Zimbabwe: “Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights confirm the details of the arrests of three more ZEC officials.”


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Zimbabwe: Post-election violence · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Post-election violent attacks in Zimbabwe: “The two men in these images are both MDC office bearers in the Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. They were beaten on Tuesday night by Zanu PF militia based in the area. Last night, three houses were burned down in the same area.”


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Afghanistan: Insurgent Attacks up in 2008 · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Barnett R. Rubin posts charts comparing the total number of “security incidents” originated by Taliban/anti-government elements (TB/AGE) in Afghanistan for the first 13 weeks of 2008 compared to the first 13 weeks of 2007.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: Kochi Nomads Are Headache for Locals · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Hadi1121 tells about Kochi — millions of nomads spread across South Western Pakistan, Eastern Iran, and Afghanistan — who come to Central Afghanistan every spring and arbitrarily make their homes on backyards used and owned by other people.


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Albania: Sali Berisha · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Living in Shkoder writes about Albanian PM and ex-president Sali Berisha.


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Angola: No to Guillermo Habacuc and the starving dog. · Global Voices
Daniel Duende

Admario Lindo, who writes Angola Haria (and many other blogs in Portuguese), shares his shock[pt] about a Guillermo Habacuc Vargas‘[en] art instalation staged last year, in which a dog was bound to a wall and starved to death in front of the Costa Rica Visual Arts Biennial attendants. Admario links to an online petition[es] to keep Habacuc from repeating the feat on Honduras Central-American Biennial this year.

author: Daniel Duende


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Armenia: Post-Election Death Toll Rises · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped reports that the death toll from the 1 March clashes between opposition supporters and security services has risen to nine. The latest casualty is a nineteen year old serviceman who sustained gunshot wounds during the post-election unrest. The same blog also reports that a case investigating the hit and run incident involving an opposition protester and a police vehicle has now been opened after video evidence was disseminated via YouTube.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Presidential Photo Opportunity · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Patchwork reports that it is now possible for residents of Yerevan to have their photographs taken alongside life size images of various presidents such as George W. Bush and the newly inaugurated president, Serge Sargsyan.


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Bahrain: Alcohol and Islam · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif writes about a controversial new fatwa (religious edict), by a leading Islamic scholar, which decrees that Islam allows alcohol consumption in small quantities!


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Bermuda: What is Racism?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermudan blogger Politics.bm examines the concept of racism.


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Cape Verde: Ave Mayra · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Virgílio Brandão [pt] is one of the many bloggers celebrating today: Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade, at just 23, won the best newcomer in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. “Mayra Andrade, besides excellent artist, has showed some unusual wit and clarification for someone of her age – she acknowledges that the road is not paved on its own and says, fairly, that she is “part of a range of artists who have given Cape Verdean music the opportunity to renew itself and conquer new horizons.”

author: Paula Góes


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Czech Republic: Drunk Driving and Expensive Cars · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

According to the Czech Daily Word, Czech police are not allowed to seize “expensive” cars belonging to DUI drivers.


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Dubai: Stunning Algeria  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Dubai, Moryarti visits Algeria, and promises to provide his readers with images of the beautiful country and its ‘stunning’ capital.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: April 6th Updates, Kefaya Leader Arrested · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

George Ishaq, Kefaya leader, was arrested after police raided and searched his home. Read about it and other coverage, photos, videos, and updates of Mahalla news at Egypt the Reality by Isis [En/Ar].

author: Tarek Amr


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Egypt: Boycotting the Official Newspapers · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Egyptian Blogger Zeinobia writes about a new campaign adopted by a new Facebook group, calling for Boycotting the Official Newspapers for a week, starting from the 11th of April 2008, as a protest against their lies over the current situation in Mahalla.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Egypt: Journalists Arrested for Doing their Job  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Sunbula from Kabobfest writes about the arrest of journalists in Egypt for interviewing people at Al Mahalla Al Kobra, the scene of a workers’ revolt.


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Environment: Nobel Laureate Boycotts Olympic Torch Relay · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

From the blog Kenya Imagine, a statement by Prof. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel laureate gives the reasons for her boycott of the Olympic torch relay in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.

author: Juliana Rotich


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Guyana: Ruel Johnson’s Relevance  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana says that Ruel Johnson's work, which won the Guyana Prize for best first book of fiction in 2002, is “even more buzz-worthy” now than it was then: “He dares to write.  And shows us clearly that literary characters can transcend landscapes and share their pain and triumphs with new audiences…every time they are read.”


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Hungary: Neo-Nazi · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about Budapest's neo-Nazis and those who oppose them – here and here.


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India: Infrastructure and Time · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Infrastructure work in India seems to take a slow pace, as seen in the photographs at Mumbai Matters.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Tibet, the Olympic Torch and the Dalai Lama · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

In this week's roundup of virtual India we look at Tibet in India. Next week the Olympic torch arrives in India. First, Indian footballer Bhaichung Bhutia pulled out, and now Supercop Kiran Bedi has pulled out. However, well-known Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will be carrying the Olympic torch writes enga. area and adds:
“Sachin actually volunteered himself to carry the torch.Sachin called Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi and expressed his wish to join the other sportsmen who are selected to participate in the Olympic torch relay.”
Tendulkar's decision to carry the Olympic torch was greeted with mixed reactions. Kartikeya of Desicritics writes:
“A great sportsman like Tendulkar should know better than to carry the Olympic torch when others like Kiran Bedi have refused to do so. We can blame the politics of it all, but the simple point is, that it is our Government, and it is our character which is revealed. We ought not to sacrifice it at the altar of “interest”.
While quite a few well-known Indian celebrities have pulled away from participating in the Olympic torch rally it looks like the Left Parties in India have remained consistent in their stand in supporting China or the People's Republic of China (PRC). Jokes From Indian Left writes in his post titled Hypocrisy of the Indian Left Parties:
“Concerned that Tibetan protesters may succeed, CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury called upon the government on Wednesday to see that there were no disruptions. Mr Yethury, It so sounds like you are more worried that Fire may get Hurt when a person attempts self-immolation bids.”
Prem Panickar underscores the dichotomy in Comrade Prakash Karat's stand vis-a-vis China and the USA. Karat is a well-known communist leader  and is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Panickar writes:
“The Prakash Karats of this world, who spout reams about “national sovereignty’ when it comes to discussing the India-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, seem to be totally a-okay with this—a Chinese team on India soil to take over security responsibilities of a public event that should be the internal concern of India’s police and security apparatus alone…”
Well-known travel writer Pico Iyer's new book about the Dalai Lama is a timely one and has once again drawn the world's attention to Tibet. Iyer's new book:  has received some wonderful reviews and Abhi of Sepia Mutiny writes:
“Instead of treating him merely as a figure to be awed, Iyer describes him as “Forrest Gumpish,” simple yet revolutionary. He is a religious leader who is actively attempting to weaken the dogma of his own religion.”
Read the rest of the post and also discover what novelist Pankaj Mishra has to say about Iyer's book.
I wrote a post summing up the various interviews and review of Pico Iyer, Dalai Lama and Tibet:
“What runs as a red skein in the various reviews and interviews with Iyer about Dalai Lama is the non-violent way in which the Tibetan leader seeks to resolve a long-standing issue over the autonomy of Tibet with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  It is close to 50 years since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and settled in India.”
What about the Tibetans, who live in India? What do they think of their homeland and going back there? Outside of Tibet, the most number of Tibetans live in India. They live in different parts of India in states like Himachal Pradesh (where Dharamsala is located) to Uttaranchal, Karnataka and New Delhi. What goes through the minds of the young Tibetans, who live in India? Mayank Sufi Austen talks to a young Tibetan who went back to Lhasa and says;
“I was a foreigner in my homeland. I didn't know Chinese and it was everywhere. In restaurants, menus would be written in Chinese and I would ask stewards what was what. I would pass by the city's only theater that screened Hollywood films, dubbed only in Chinese. It was difficult to make out things. I was lost.”

author: Kamla Bhatt


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Indonesia: Blocked sites · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Journal by The Lightbeamers, MD. enumerates the blocked sites in Indonesia, as of April 2008.

author: Mong Palatino


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Indonesia: Sleeping while the president is speaking · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Indonesia blogger Exegesis admits he fell asleep twice while listening to the speech of the Indonesian president


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Iran: Online journalist and blogger was arrested · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to RSF,Esmail Jafari,Iranian journalist from southern city Bushehr, was arrested on 8th of April. Jafari was editor of Rahe Mardom[Fa] blog. He has been accused of “spying” and “divulging information abroad.”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iranian bloggers write letters to Christ · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

It may seem surreal, but several Muslim bloggers have written letters to Jesus Christ in their blogs complaining about Western insults against Muslims, and particularly Dutch MP Geert Wilders‘ anti-Islamic film, Fitna. Meanwhile, young Islamist  Basij paramilitaries demonstrated in front of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran condemning Wilders’ film.
Kosoof, a leading Iranian photoblogger, has published several photos from this demonstration. One of the slogans in the photo above means “If carrying no veil means civilization, then animals are the most civilized.”
Goldokhtar, a female religious student, starts her letter to Jesus by writing “Hello Mr. Jesus Christ”. She continues [Fa]:
“Do you know what I am thinking? When and where did all these these Fitnas start? A few years ago these anti-Islamic films began to be produced. Before the Islamic Revolution, nobody paid attention to Islam and its saints… After the Islamic Revolution other revolutions took off… Then they did not know what to do, and they started doing childish things to hurt Islam's image in the world.”
The blogger adds that several films such as Not without My Daughter and 300 should be countered with films by Muslims.
Mehdi writes [Fa]:
“Christ, I am a Muslim who likes you. Don't be sad about insults to your brother Muhammad, the Prophet. We all know these people are not your followers. They are not the ones who carry the cross, but launch crusades and kill people.”
The blogger questions whether the growing number of cinematic attacks on Muslims are coordinated.
Pangare writes to Jesus [Fa]: “Help us to resist these insults… I know you support us and you can read my heart.”
In addition to these Islamists, several other bloggers have shared their feelings and ideas on the film.
Arsham Parsi, a leading activist for homosexual rights in Iran, says [Fa]: “There are rational ways to express an opinion on something or challenge ideas. I watched this film, and I protest against it too.”
Paroo Zadan writes :
“I watched it and I found it ridiculous. How many Muslims are extremists? I think Muslims should first produce films to counter Fitna's impact, and then try to think what makes people see us like this. Filtering and threatening just strengthens the film. Instead of jihads to kill people, our religious leaders should make jihads to make known to others the good side of Islam.”


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Jamaica: Red Stripe Pulls Support  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican beer Red Stripe has ceased sponsorship of one of island's biggest musical events, Reggae Sumfest, “which it describes as facilitators of ‘violent and anti-social’ lyrics”.  Stunner's Afflictions says: “I applaud Red Stripe for this bold move in an attempt to stem the…violent behavior being projected by some of these Dancehall entertainers”, while ComPromise thinks “the news is unsettling…what is amiss is perhaps the motivations and the cultural implications of the move.”


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Jamaica: Teenaged Sex · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging at Yardflex.com, Rootzgirl says: “Teenage sex is rampant, as is the increasing number of teenaged pregnancies…something needs to be done…before there is no hope for this generation.”


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Jordan: Coming out of the closet · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian 7aki Fadi discusses what coming out of the closet means to gays and lesbians in the Middle East.


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Jordan: Parliament and Corruption · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Batir Wardam (Ar) asks whether the Jordanian parliament has become the biggest institution of corruption in his country.


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Laos: Wattay Temple · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Lao Voices uploads several pictures of Wattay, located in Vientiane, Laos. The temple underwent a renovation last year.


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Latvia: Referendum · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Peteris Cedrins of Marginalia is one of the 213,000 people who “signed in favor of amendments to […] Latvia's Constitution, that would make it possible for the people to initiate the dissolution of Parliament”: “Still, I signed… because I trust our people — our nation — a lot more than I trust our so-called elite.”


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Malaysia: Airport shoot-out · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A Malaysian blogger wonders why the closed-circuit television cameras outside the Kuala Lumpur International Airport departure hall were not switched on during the shoot-out in the area.


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Maldives: Street violence · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Power to the People on the escalating violence on the streets in Maldives.


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Morocco: Shopping Addict  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Moroccan Maryam talks about her addiction to shopping and shares with us her latest haul in lovely pictures.


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Mozambique: Cell phone and society · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Sociologist Elísio Macamo [pt] is working on an interesting series of posts about cell phone use in Mozambique. There have been five articles so far, starting with this introduction to the series last Monday: “The mobile phone, I suggest, has become the way of negotiating individuality and sense of community in today's Mozambique. Understanding the cell phone's ethnography, I think, is to understand Mozambique.”


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Myanmar: 54 dead after suffocating in a lorry · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Watch a You Tube video which reports the death of 54 Myanmar migrants who suffocated in a lorry while being smuggled in southern Thailand.


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Nepal: Elections! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Radiant Star on the relatively peaceful polling on election day in Nepal.


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Pakistan: Lawyers and Demonstrations · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lahore Metblogs on lawyers holding demonstrations and holding the President Musharraf and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) responsible for the ‘anarchy’ in the country.


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Palestine: Where are the Refugee Camps? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian Haitham Sabbah‘s happiness was short-lived when he discovered that the UNHCR's new Google Map which draws attention to refugee camps around the world has omitted 27 Palestinian camps, housing around 1 million refugees.


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Peru: Understanding the Emo Youth in Lima · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Similar to the recent post about the incidents of attacks on emo youth in Mexico, there has also been much written about these youth in Peru. There was a recent controversy in Lima and some Peruvian bloggers provide their thoughts on these often misunderstood youth, as defined by Wikipedia. The local media has played a part in devoting more airtime at trying to understand, but more often, and to make fun of these youth.
Photo by Amy Wong and used under a Creative Commons license.
About a month ago, on the local television program Close Enemies, there was a program dedicated to emos, which ridiculed and treated them poorly. The blog Descarga Directa [es] published a video, which showed part of the program, on his post “Emos on the television: Noooo!! [es]” However, what had added to the controversy was the discovery that part of the program was made with emos especially created for the occasion. This is what El Blog de Cayo [es] said on his post “False Panelists… False Emos [es]“:
Hace unos días, Beto Ortiz y Aldo Miyashiro presentaron un panel de emos en su programa nocturno … Pese a que este es un blog abiertamente anti-emo, nos parece que Beto Ortiz y sus compinches son definitivamente más asquerosos e impresentables. En su programa, presentaron algunos emos reales, asiduos de las galerías Brasil, vendedores de ropa y pines para pastrulitas de la PUCP que se sienten abiertamente diferentes. Sin embargo, también presentaron pastrulitas de la PUCP que no eran EMO, pero que se vestían y supuestamente “actuaban” como tales. Estos falsos emo no solo no eran emo, sino que también eran miembros del taller de teatro de Aldo Miyashiro.
A few days ago, Beto Ortiz and Aldo Miyashiro presented a panel of emos on their nightly program…Even though this blog is openly anti-emo, we believe that Beto Ortiz and his pals are definitely more disgusting and unpresentable. In his program, they presented some real emos, regular visitors to the Brasil galleries, clothes vendors and hipster girls from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) that openly feel different. However, they also presented some hipster girls from the PUCP that were not EMO, but they dressed and supposedly “acted” like ones. These false emos not only were not emos, but they were members of Aldo Miyashiro's theater troupe.
Mouse of Pueblo Vruto [es] on his post “Emo Enemies [es]” provides basically the same opinion, but reflects on what this means for local television:
Tal como muchos lo notaron oportunamente, los “Enemigos Íntimos” dedicaron un programa no para conocer a los Emo (que personalmente no me caen bien) sino para burlarse de ellos. Pero, al estilo de la señora Bozzo, resultó que recurrieron al montaje y al engaño. ¿Tan desesperado estaba Aldo Miyashiro por que encajen sus chistes? El montaje de falsos casos es una práctica muy arraigada en la producción televisiva, como que la mímesis y sus tensiones con la realidad son su razón de ser. El asunto es que Ortiz y Miyashiro no necesitaban de falsos panelistas para hacer lo suyo. De nuevo tenemos que preguntarnos cual es el verdadero problema de nuestra producción nacional: ¿economía o falta de creatividad?
Just as many have noted, the people from “Close Enemies” dedicated a program, not to get to know the emos (who personally I am not fond of), but to make fun of them. In the style of Mrs. Bozzo, it turned out that they resorted to a sketch and to foolery. Is Aldo Miyashiro so desperate to insert his jokes? The sketch of false cases is a practice very deep-rooted in the television production, just as the MIMESIS and her tensions with the reality for her reason of being. The issue is that Ortiz and Miyashiro did not need false panelists to do what they wanted. Now we have to ask ourselves what is our real problem on national production, economic or the lack of creativity?
In spite of everything, emos are not very common in Lima, and it may be more of a question of fashion than of actually being emo. Marco of Andando Sin Caminos [es] wonders whether these youth are just “poseurs”, and writes about them and references some explanative videos:
Lo cierto, es que yo no conocía de esta extraña especie viviente, sino hasta que fui un día al Centro Cultural España, que se encuentra ubicado en Lima, y me detuve a observar el parque de enfrente. Me llamó la atención, en primer lugar ver a tanto “chibolo” vestido de forma extraña, entre una mezcla de ropa negra punk, mezclados con un rosado chillón, y con peinado de personaje de anime japonés. A simple vista, se les nota indefensos, por lo delgados que son, y por lo niños en su aspecto. Y al parecer si son indefensos, porque un amigo me cuenta, que ha visto a muchos de ellos ser golpeados por su apariencia, por pandilleros y por punks que circulan cerca del Centro Cultural España.
It is true that I was not familiar with such a strange living species until I went to the Spanish Cultural Center, which is located in Lima and I stopped to observe a park located in front of the center. It attracted my attention, in the first place, to see so many youth dressed in a strange manner, somewhere between black punk clothing, mixed with a bright pink, and with a haircut of a character of Japanese anime. Upon first glance, they appeared to be defenseless for how skinny they are and for looking childlike. And they are defenseless because a friend told me that he had seen many of them beaten by gangs and by punks that hang out around the Spanish Cultural Center for their appearance.
Julio César of Explorando en Mi [es] writes about his experiences with the emo youth:
En todas las calles de lima podemos ver a jóvenes que pintan sus ojos de negro (en algunos casos rozados y se ponen gotas de agua para parecer estar llorando) usan zapatitos de cuadros, pantalones y polos pegados. Pero 5 de cada 10 no saben por que se visten así y asta saben que se visten como emos pero no saben que es emo y eso yo lo eh verificado personalmente en varios lugares. … Se que hay muchos punk que desearían golpear a cualquier emo que este caminando por la calle, si quieres hazlo, pero recuerda que tu también tienes problemas y que también eres hijo del rock al igual que ellos y que también te desfogas al escuchar tus canciones, entendamos y respetemos su forma de pensar. Y esto es todo lo que tengo que decir de los emos.
In all of the streets of Lima, we can see teenagers who paint their put on black eyeliner (in some cases pink and they put water drops in their eyes to look like they have been crying), use square shoes, pants and tight polo shirts. But 5 out of every 10 do not know why they dress that way, and they know they dress like emos, but they don't know what emo is and that is something I have personally verified in several places… I know that there are many punks, who would like to hit any emo that they see walking down the street, you can if you want, but remember that you also have probems and that like them, you are also the son of rock, who vent when you listen to your songs, we understand and respect your way of thinking. This is everything that I have to say about the emos.
Other posts related to this topic include the post New Waves and Youth in Conflict [es] written by Dego in his blog Nadie Lee Lo Que Escribo [es], which is not specifically about emos, but places the rest of the groups (punks, metalheads, etc.) in context and attempts to explain about some of the conflict among them.
Translated by Eduardo Ávila

author: Juan Arellano