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China: New political campaign shows sarcasm is alive and well · Global Voices
Frank Dai

A strange custom of every Communist Party of China leader is for them to come up with their own theory or “ism”. Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping had their own respective variations of Socialist theory. Jiang Zemin has his Three Represents. And what about the current Chinese president Hu Jintao? His, just released earlier this year, is often translated as the Eight Dos and Don'ts, or ‘Eight Honors and Eight Shames,’ and emphasizes the moral education of citizens—particularly the young generation—with the basis of conventional moral values like diligence and patriotism. The weirdest part of this theory is that all the Dos and Don'ts are nothing more than common sense and seem unworthy of the overwhelming propaganda in recent days:
以热爱祖国为荣、以危害祖国为耻，
以服务人民为荣、以背离人民为耻，
以崇尚科学为荣、以愚昧无知为耻，
以辛勤劳动为荣、以好逸恶劳为耻，
以团结互助为荣、以损人利己为耻，
以诚实守信为荣、以见利忘义为耻，
以遵纪守法为荣、以违法乱纪为耻，
以艰苦奋斗为荣、以骄奢淫逸为耻。
Even an illiterate child, merely by his living experiences, can recognize them as great virtues. So why does the government need to promote them with their utmost exertion? Nowadays you can see almost every government newspaper attaching this slogan at the end of their propaganda articles. Not to mention online news. A search on Google News shows how many news items are using this slogan to ‘elevate’ their news report. With such a broad definition of moral value, which is somehow universally acknowledged, it can be applied to the acts of all citizens, with all their behaviors judged by the Eight Dos and Don'ts standard.
It seems all students, police and workers have begun guiding their life and work by these principles overnight. Indeed, as these values shift onto the internet, the patriotic nature of the campaign has become increasingly clear with a growing number of websites being closed, BBS posts being deleted and bloggers self-censoring, all in the name of ‘honor’ and from fear of being seen as disobedient of the government.
And are the citizens really listen to such empty talks? Probably not. Mostly they choose to praise it superficially but ignore it practically. A common joke on schoolyards across the nation now is the phrase ‘Hu says eight rules’ (胡说八道), a euphemism for saying something silly or not making sense.
Even the government itself can't obey it. An evidence can be illustrated with photos like these taken from the official press and showing a sharp comparison with the original principle ‘know plain living and hard struggle, do not wallow in luxuries.': the most luxurious district government in the world, in Henan province—one of China's poorest—with a magnificent garden of beautiful scenery and an artificial lake.
Supergirl (超级女声), the Chinese version of American Idol, was recently struck out against quite vocally by Liu Zhongde (刘忠德), former head of the central government's Department of Culture. In an interview translated by Joel Martinsen from Chinese media research blog Danwei, Liu refers to the program—which in using viewers’ votes to choose a winner led many to see it as a case study for direct elections—as poison and calls for its termination. Although the Superboy version has since been cancelled, auditions for a second round of Supergirl began earlier this month, perhaps an indication that public demand and not political ideology call the shots in Chinese society today.
The Wu Zuolai blogger shares some thoughts:
文化部这么多年来,没干过一样招老百姓喜欢待见的事情，20年来,先有清除精神污染，把邓丽君的歌说成是大毒草，全国禁播，后有反对资产阶级自由化，把穿牛仔裤，留长发也说成是向往资产阶级的生活方式，事实证明，这些做法和最广大的人民群众的想法背道而驰，和世界潮流背道而驰。事实证明：我听过邓丽君，穿过牛仔裤,留过长发，tmd到现在我也没变成资产阶级，连tmd中产阶级也没变成，却先变成了下岗工人。谁也不能否认，我们这一代听过邓丽君，穿过牛仔裤，留过长发的人还没来得及变成资产阶级，就已经成了社会主义建设的中坚力量和下岗对象，事实和历史证明了，文化部某些人的傻逼想法和傻逼做法只是杞人忧天，遗臭万年。
For the internet community, teasing the powerful seem to be a common source of joy and fun regardless of nationalities and cultures. For Americans it's to make fun of Bush and for Chinese it's to adapt the latest solemn slogan. Many adapted versions of the Eight Dos and Don'ts have popped up recently (zh), some funny, some ironic, some quite mean. There's even a version for bloggers now, from the research team at Bokee, one of the leading BSPs in China:
以传播网络先进文化为荣，以传播网络不良信息为耻，
以维护互联网的秩序为荣，以破坏互联网的秩序为耻，
以网络自由与分享为荣，  以抄袭与霸权为耻。
以致力于网络创新为荣，  以沉溺于网络为耻。
以文明语言上网交流为荣，以污言秽语网上谩骂为耻，
以诚实守信为荣，        以见利忘义为耻，
以遵纪守法文明上网为荣， 以违法乱纪网络欺骗为耻，
以做好网民，文明博客为荣，以网络流氓，不良博客为耻。
However, to be a member in the communist party or a government official one can not avoid such thing. The internet not only gives birth to satirical pieces but also serves as a guide for everyone to use ‘The Eight’ in their news reports, essays, public speeches and even offers a method to memorize these lengthy slogans in under three minutes (zh). Hence everyone can see how the serious moral education has been playfully turned into a superficial ceremony by the creative netizens.
Shortly after this campaign was announced, Wang Xiaofeng, blogger of the hugely popular entertainment blog Massage Milk without explanation or the least bit of irony stopped writing posts of his own altogether and began pasting articles on raising farm animals and the various properties of natural gasses in Chinese, Russian and German until this short notice towards the end of April:
鉴于本人的博客浏览量很高，
所以本人尝试在这个博客上普及一些农业、科技知识。
尝试了几天，效果不错，
浏览量一点没有减少。
所以打算继续坚持下去。
感兴趣的人可以天天来看看。
没兴趣的人就别来这里耽误时间了。
感谢一直以来关注这个博客的人，
不管我们是不是认识，
不管你看我的博客是舒服还是不舒服，
在这里一并感谢。
Then nothing but more borrowed socialist content straight until earlier this week when Wang wrote a short request asking for all bloggers planning to link to his site to both note clearly sources and authors, and to delete all links to any previous posts, as Wang himself had already taken them down. The facade, although both impressive and hilarious in and of itself, seems to be losing ground to his even funnier natural state as the past few days have seen a series of well-chosen news releases illustrating various governmental hypocrisies and not-so-subtly mocking the new campaign.

author: Frank Dai


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China: Rock star imprisoned · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Uleewang at Non-violent Resistance blogs on the hottest story in mainstream Chinese media this past week “involving a popular tabloid, a burned-out rock star, his ex-wife the most famous Chinese singer ever, their daughter and her puppy, his second ex-wife, his erstwhile fellow rock star, some broken computers and TV sets, and last but not least, a burned car.”
Further translations from Roland Soong at EastSouthWestNorth.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: John Kennedy


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China: Wu Hao’s whereabouts · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Nina Wu, sister of illegally-imprisoned Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao writes of her ongoing push to find out where her brother is:
“I still remember the first time I came to Beijing for little brother's affair, freezing to the point of shivering despite wearing an overcoat. Now, it's already the sizzling summer season, and the police still haven't found evidence of little brother committing a crime, but I have yet to see the light of little brother's freedom. When will this long, long march finally reach its end?”


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China: Yuan gets stronger · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Dawanr at TalkTalkChina posts on the news yesterday of a strengthening Chinese yuan as the rate on the US dollar dipped below 8.0.


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East Timor: Underwater Paradise · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Timor-Leste's Underwater Wonderland goes snorkelling in East Timor and posts pictures of the sea life.

author: Preetam Rai


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Estonia, Finland: Trade Unions Sign a Deal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes that Estonian and Finnish trade unions have signed a deal to ensure that workers’ rights in both countries are not violated.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ethiopia: Bombs in Addis · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Meskel Square comments on the 9 bombs that exploded in Addis Ababa on Friday.  “Again, easy “civilian” targets were chosen…… the timing seemed designed to get commuters on their way to work. If you put bombs on line-cab buses on busy traffic routes it means you are out to maim and kill “ordinary” people.”

author: Sokari Ekine


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Ethiopia: Interview with Obang Metho · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ethiopian Politics publishes an audio interview he had with Mr. Obang Metho Director of International Advocacy, for Anuak Justice Council (AJC) in which he discusses various human rights and political issues.


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Ethiopia: Troops deployed to Ogaden region · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

EthioBlog reports that the Ethiopian government has deployed troops in the south east region of Ogaden. The move appears to be to protect the upcoming seismic survey by Chinese and Malaysian oil firms next month.  Rebels are operating in the region which may provoke outbreaks of violence


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Guyana: Open letter to politicians · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Guyana Resource Centre posts “An Open Letter To All Guyanese Politicians” which has been circulating online among “diaspora” Guyanese: “It remains obvious to the Diaspora that we have not received the proper leadership from our elected representatives who frequently appear more interested in attributing blame for past injustices and acts of indiscretion than they are in solving the rampant crime and abject poverty within our country”.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Haiti: Preval Signs PetroCaribe Agreement with Venezuela · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Right after his inauguration yesterday, President Preval signed the PetroCaribe Agreement with Jose Vincente Rangel, Venezuela's Vice-President, reports (Fr) AlterPresse. According to the agreement, Venezuela will deliver 500 barrils of oil per day to the Haitian government who will resell to the private sector at market prices. PetroCaribe is a credit rather than a gift, explained Preval. “Miranda (Latin-American hero) created the Venezuelan flag in Jacmel [Haitian city] and he received Haiti's help via [then Haitian President and independence hero] Petion,”said Preval in his speech.  Vice-President Rangel said: “By this agreement, Venezuela repays a historic debt to Haiti, an eternal debt which constitutes the root of freedom and of the Venezuelan nation.”

author: Alice Backer


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Haiti: Prison Mutiny on the Day of Preval’s Inauguration · Global Voices
Alice Backer

President Preval officially took office yesterday amidst much fanfare but a prisoner's mutiny that was eventually quelled left at least one person dead, reports AlterPresse. The Haitian newsfeed described (Fr) the scene as follows: “Mutiny participants on the roof of the prison screaming ‘Long Live Preval’ and ‘Freedom’, noisy demands and tears of certain relatives of prisoners and partisans of Jean-Bertrand Aristide  camped outside, sporadic shots attributed to MINUSTAH [UN Mission] agents and the National Jail Administration, constant negotations between journalists wanting to get as close to the scene as possible and Jordanian blue helmets wanting them to stay away.” An official casualty count has yet to be issued.


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Hong Kong: Making fun of news · Global Voices
John Kennedy

EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong translates a blog post which takes a humorous look at the ten hottest news stories on the internet this past week.


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India: Plagiarism yet again · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Saakshi is extremely angry. Her work from her blog appears to have been flicked and plagiarised by a US based magazine website.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Reservations Issue, Students take to streets · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The quota and reservation issue heats up on the streets of India. Dateline Bombay on why it is that students of medicine who appear to be protesting far more than students studying other subjects.


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Indonesia: Remembering May 98 · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indocoup remembers the May 1998 riots in Jakarta. “But it doesn’t come as a surprise. It was inevitable really. The economy’s going the drain; the rupiah’s crumbling; inflation’s soaring. And a dictator at the helm for Christ knows how many years. This is it.”


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Interview with  Afghan Warrior · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Global Voices has started a series of interviews with Afghan bloggers. Our first guest is Waheed from Afghan Warrior.
1 Q:  How long have you started to blogging and why an English one?
1 A .I have been blogging since  March 8, 2005. I wanted to raise my voice, and my people's voice, to the world. Since the English language is an international language I decided to write my blog in English so people from different countries should be able to read it.
2Q: Are there any statistics to provide any estimation about the number of afghan bloggers and the language that they use?
2 A : I do not have any statistics estimation to provide about the number of Afghan bloggers and the language they use, but I think there are more than 10 Afghan bloggers that are blogging in 3 languages – English, Dari and Pashtu.
3Q:I noticed (may be I am wrong) that a couple of years ago there were more active Afghan blogs than today.Why?
3 A: I don't think there were more active Afghan blogs a couple of years ago than now. Freedom of speech is improving day by day in Afghanistan and the number of the Afghan writers and bloggers is increasing and we will see more active Afghan blogs in the future.
4Q:In Afghanistan, there are many journals and private radio or TV program which express themselves with freedom. What can blogs provide more in your opinion?
4 A: In my opinion blogs can provide information with more freedom than the private radio or TV programs.  Sometimes the private TVs and radios are not expressing some realities because there are still some former warlords in power that were involved in the 1992 civil war that killed thousands of people and destroyed the capital Kabul.
5 Q: How you see evolution of blogging in Afghanistan in recent years?
A 5: I see the evolution of  blogging as very positive. In the recent year it is a great source of sharing and expressing the reality about what is going on in Afghanistan.  I have seen some new bloggers that have started their blogs late last year. I have linked 2 Afghan bloggers to my blog site so they are making some progress.
6Q:Are many afghan bloggers living abroad rather in country?
A 6: I think there are more Afghan bloggers living abroad than in-country. There are some Afghan bloggers blogging from USA, England and some other countries.
7Q: Afghanistan is a country with important ethnic divisons. Do you feel same thing in blogs? In other words, are there ethnic divisionss in the blogging world?
A 7: My blog is representing the whole people of Afghanistan. Even though Afghanistan is a country with important ethnic divisions, they are one united nation and my blog is not representing any ethnic division.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Terrorist Attack! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sibestan writes about gunmen who have shot dead 12 people on a road in a remote part of south-eastern Iran.
Blogger says these groups started to use same methods in Iraq and its effects will be visible even in Tehran soon (Persian). He adds terror is sign of cancer!


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Iraq: News From Ramadi · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Brian posts first hand accounts of the ongoing war in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

author: Salam Adil


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Jamaica: Homophobia or not? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Francis Wade argues that Jamaicans aren't homophobic, but “homo-name-a-phobic”: “the particular kind of homo-related phobia that we have in Jamaica is not of gays themselves, but is instead of ‘being called gay’ … it is a fear that is shared by every single Jamaican, whether they are gay or not”.


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Malaysia: Media Criticises Another Filmmaker · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Filmmaker Yasmin is not happy with a Malaysian television channel. The channel televised a discussion on the filmmakers latest movie and the forum participants came out criticising the film maker for her plot that features love between a Muslim girl and a Chinese boy.


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Mongolia: Protesters Return · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports that, a week after being forced out, protesters are returning to Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Mongolia: Racist Violence · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst says that racist violence–mostly between Mongols and Chinese–is on the rise in Mongolia.


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Oil Pipeline Blast in Nigeria as Nigerian bloggers see it · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

A devastating oil pipeline blast hit Nigeria yet again, last week resulting in the death of over 200 people. I have compiled the perspective of some Nigerian bloggers about the sad event.
Ore's Notes reports that Over 200 Die in Pipeline Fire
“Over 200 people died in an explosion this morning in Ilado, an island about 30 miles east of Lagos. It was believed that the victims were siphoning fuel from a petrol pipeline when it exploded killing all the people within 20 metres.”
John's Crazy World paints a gloomy picture: 200 people killed in an oil pipeline blast and it's just another day in Nigeria?
200 people killed in an oil pipeline blast and it's just another day in Nigeria?
Imagine sitting on a beach and enjoying a day in the African sun or driving along the water and then you are incinerated to death instantly because some vandal decided to puncture an oil pipeline running along the shore…
While Nigeria Offshore Safety & Security Update‘s details is even more graphic: Pipeline Explosion Kills 200
The Red Cross said the pipeline blew up in the early hours of the morning while thieves were siphoning fuel into jerry cans for sale on the black market. The massive explosion cooked everything within a 20 meter radius.
Only gray calcinated skulls and bones were left of five people who were closest to the pipeline, which had been dug out of the sand and bore marks of drilling in several places.
About 100 blackened, unrecognizable corpses were strewn on the water's edge a few meters away, where the golden sand was still steaming hot on Friday afternoon.
CyBlug (GidiBlog)‘s beef is more with the way the news was reported by the international news media: The Language of International Media.
I just   read 2 reports about the recent explosions in Lagos on the Internet.
The language some of these reporters use  completely pissed me off, again….
First and foremost my heart goes out to the unfortunate souls who have lost their lives .
I would have thought by now some of these Global media  houses would be a little  responsible in their reporting or is there just a completely different agenda when it comes to reporting about countries like Nigeria.

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Pakistan: Driving In Lahore · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Driving in Lahore seems to be suspended between a nightmare and delight. Metroblogging Lahore takes a closer look at the driving culture in the city.


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Philippines: Not Backpacker Friendly · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blogger, backpacker and heritage activist Ivan is frustrated by the fact that Philippines is not able to attract as many tourists as other South East Asian countries.  He offers some reasons on his blog. “Since we target mainstream tourism too much, we fail to realize that the bigger market is the budget traveler, the backpacker. You would be surprised with the ratio of foreigners to locals in major tourist cities in our Southeast Asian neighbors such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The reason they are attracting millions of tourists is because they are backpacker friendly.”


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Poland: Controversial New Minister of Education · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Students and teachers protested this week in Poland against the appointment of Roman Giertych – “catholic-nationalist, arch-conservative” – as Minister for Education, the beatroot reports – and then muses on what “Polish education curriculum [would] look like if [Giertych] had a free rein to do what he liked.”


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Russia: Eggs Ads · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian Marketing Blog and Snowsquare.com both write about eggs: the former posts a picture of a box of quail eggs, a “masterpiece of DIY advertising and design;” the latter writes about the secret of “mysterious” ads featuring eggs recently revealed.


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Russia: (Fighting) Fascism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Daut at Ufa Blog posts two banners of the Russian Movement Against Illegal Immigration and writes: “Fascists claiming the legacy of the defenders of Leningrad. Child killers declaring themselves protectors of children. These people live in opposite land.” Megan Case writes about swastika graffiti in St. Petersburg and her own and other people's multiple attempts to get rid of them.


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Russia: Public Transportation and the Roma · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Brigid of Laughter in the Dark describes a ride in a Krasnodar tram – “a fast-moving game of Twister inside a sardine can”- and an encounter with two Roma women and their children: “Half-way home, I suddenly hear a young woman whispering in my ear, ‘Young lady, be careful! You can’t see them, but a pack of Gypsies have just entered the tram. Hold onto your purse tight!'”


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Russia: Relations With Europe · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Tobias Ljungvall writes about Europe's relations with Russia: “At a time when Russia is reviving the Cold War the EU pretends to be seeing positive signs, as if there is no conflict neither in interests nor in values.”


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Russia: Siberian Adventure, Part 3 & 4 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jane Keeler of From Russia With Blog posts the third and fourth installments of her Siberian travelogue: “Adventures on Olkhon Island” and “Olkhon to Irkutsk to Moscow.”


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Russia: Tamara Ivanovna From Apt. 14 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Brigid of Laughter in the Dark posts a wonderful vignette about Tamara Ivanovna, an elderly Russian woman she met at a cafe in Krasnodar: “‘Tell me,’ she inquired, ‘how much did you just pay for that teensy little salad?’ ‘100 rubles.’ ‘And your coffee?’ ‘Eighty.’ ‘My, my, my! I can go home right now and make that same measly salad for 15 rubles!’ ‘A lot has changed here, hasn’t it?’ ‘I couldn’t begin to tell you how much!’ she said without any trace of bitterness.”


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South Africa: Interview with Khwezi · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan Pundit points to an interview with Khwezi by the One in Nine campaign.


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Sri Lanka: Women and the LTTE · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Days Go By… wonders where the women's activists are when it come to the issue of the LTTE using female suicide bombers.


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Sudan: rebels hold out on peace deal · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Some of the smaller rebel groups in Darfur region are still refusing to sign the peace deal. Sudan Watch reports that the situation is complicated by the presence of so many different groups.


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Suriname: Update on flood relief efforts · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

At World Wide Help, Angelo Embuldeniya posts a two-part update on the ongoing flood disaster in Suriname from Sharda Ganga, head of Stichting Projekta, an NGO helping to coordinate volunteer relief efforts. “The latest news from Upper Suriname … was that it started raining again. If the rainfall continues, the water is going to rise again,” Ganga reports. The good news: “Nobody can ever say that Surinamese people don't have solidarity. After one radio appeal the phone calls were pouring in.”


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Thailand: Political Situation Update · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Adam's Gecko summarises the political situation in Thailand with news on the last round of elections (that was declared invalid) and all the parties involved – the Thai king, former prime minister Taksin and the Thai Election Commission.


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This Week In Palestinian Blogs: Al-Nakba Continues  · Global Voices
Naseem Tarawnah

Al-Nakba (or ‘the catastrophe’), the day Israel declared its independence on May 14th 1948, has been the main topic of this past week. For many Palestinian bloggers Al-Nakba means remembering this important moment in history, which set the stage for an ongoing struggle and tragedy; where both past and present are commemorated side by side. Laila El-Haddad from Raising Yusuf illustrates this in a post suitably entitled Days of Catastrophe.
“…as Israelis celebrate their “independence” this month, Palestinians commemorate their “days of catastrophe”. Usually this is May 14, but “filisteenyit il-dakhil”..1948 Palestinians, mark it to parallel Israeli Independence Day, when they march to a different ethnically cleansed Palestinian village each year.”
Umkhalil also writes:
“There is a land. Golda was right about that. There is a people who belong to the land. The old will die. David Ben Gurion was right about that. The old have passed on the torch to the young, who remember.”
The passing of the torch is indeed a fitting metaphor, especially for Al-Falasteenyia, a Palestinian-American college student who manages to relate to her people's history while packing.
“I hate packing. but this time around, I realize it really is a privilege to pack. I don’t have to drop everything and run for my life.” she says.
Haitham Sabbah poses a bold question with regards to a recent poll which states that the majority of Israelis want their government to help Palestinians emigrate out of Israel.
“So the question now is not if the Palestinians Refugees will ever return, but if the existing Palestinians will stay? The answer is, yes, they will stay. No matter what the majority of Israelis want, the 1948 Nakba will never happen again. They will only vanish if you manage to kill them all, but even then, Palestinians will return.”
While Al-Nakba is commemorated on one day, it comes historically during a turbulent time where refugees were created, homes were lost and villages eradicated. One such village was the recent scene of a symbolic “marathon” which Will from Kabobfest refers to as ‘More Palestinian Non-Violent Resistance for the Media to Ignore’.
“Such non-violent activities, sadly, will not get headlines in the western press. However, they are important testaments to the fact that Israel is a contested state, not quite settled in itself, given the unresolved injustices it must account for (there will be no peace until there is an accounting for Israel's foundational crimes).”
Elsewhere, Laila El-Hadad had a short lived identity crisis last month upon attempting to book a British Airways flight to the US. Apparently the airline did not recognize “Palestine” as a country. Still recovering from jetlag, Laila recently blogs about her airport perils during her trip to the US where she again is has her identity thrown into question.
“Of course, it took us a while to get through immigration in London where we were put up for the night-and given our strange combination of passports, misspelled names, and travel history, I wasn't the least bit surprised…”Palestinian what?” asked the bare-headed man at behind the counter. After lengthy consultation and questions about why we were carrying two passports.”
Meanwhile, Naseem Tarawnah at the Black Iris of Jordan points to the territory grabs Israel is making in setting its own borders while neglecting negotiations with the Palestinians.
“Israel continues to build the wall, setting its own borders, taking whatever territory it wants while Palestinians are still struggling with leadership. The fact that major political and economic players of the world have shut them out hasn’t helped either.”
On the same topic Haitham Sabbah puts things into perspective with a series of interesting maps illustrating the detailed loss of land since 1917.
Katie Miranda of Postcards from Palestine has a photo story that has her being bombarded with rocks by Israeli settler children as she attempted to protect a Palestinian child on his way home past the Tel Rumeida settlement. Israeli soldiers did nothing to stop the children but attempted to stop Katie from filming.
“They told me they couldn’t control the children. I told them, “All it would take to control these kids is some tear gas or a sound bomb, or, you know, how about some rubber bullets or live ammunition like you shoot at Palestinian kids who throw rocks?”
Katie also has a website now featuring a collection of her artwork from Palestine in the form of postcards to ‘The American People’.
Sonia Nettnin from Ramallah Online, reviews the documentary ‘Improvisations'; describing it as “a musical journey into the Joubran family of Nazareth and Ramallah. Three, Palestinian brothers are oud musicians who find innovative ways to work together and deal with Israeli military occupation”. The film was screened recently at the 5th Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival.
Speaking of movies, Jim Carrey is just one in a series of celebrities who have recently made public visits to Israel. UmKhalil goes through a list of things these Hollywood celebrities probably don't know but probably should. Concluding with:
“Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Sharon Stone, and Ewan McGregor probably don't know any of this, but it is high time they found out rather than allow themselves to be used to enhance Israel's image.”
On a sad note, Mohammad from Rafah Today is saddened by the recent passing of Judith, known as Erika on her blog Rafah Notes.
“I was thinking this is impossible. She is alive; her voice is still in my mind when she is telling me: “It will improve Mohammed, this injustice will end one day” and even her simple Arabic words are still coming to my mind.”
She will be deeply missed on the Palestinian Blogosphere.

author: Naseem Tarawnah


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Trinidad and Tobago: Restorative justice · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Kahaya at The Initiative Against Crime asks, “What are we doing to prevent Trinidad and Tobago from becoming a lawless nation?”, and proposes a solution: restorative justice, “a form of criminal justice that involves reparation to the victim, or affected members of the community by the offender”.


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Uganda: LRA rebels killed · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Uganda-Can reports that 5 LRA rebels including one commander were killed last week.


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Uzbekistan: One Family – One Cow · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net discusses Uzbekistan's “one family – one cow” program under which entrepreneurs are coerced into donating livestock or cows to the poor, or as is more often the case, money to bank accounts of local officials.


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Voices From Zimbabwe and the Great Lakes · Global Voices
Zimpundit

A whirlwind tour of Europe by Arthur Mutambara the leader of the “pro-senate” faction of Zimbabwe's oppposition the MDC was the center of the nation's largest “cyber controversies” over the last two weeks.  In an attempt to reach out to Zimbabweans in the diaspora, Mutambara, the robotics scholar-cum-politician stumbled into the center of diasporans’ sharply divided opinions of him.
It all started after Mutambara addressed what turned out to be a poorly attended rally on his first leg through the UK in Manchester and online newspaper Zimdaily posted a citizen authored report from a Zimbabwean who had attended the rally claiming,
I have always read contrasting news in many publications on, Mutambara, Mugabe and Tsvangirai and didn’t know what to believe. As to whether Arthur is popular or not I don’t know but, certainly he didn’t draw any crowd in Manchester and i bet our boozers team (Zimbabwe Saints) of Moston Cemetery Park draws huge crowds than Mutambara and guess what, this was right on a bank holiday weekend only 35 Zimbabweans turn up when thousands live in the same area.
This in response to reports by NewZimbabwe and Zimbabwe Journalists claiming the rally had drawn an attendence of over 300 people.
What followed in the comments of the Zimdaily post was an impressive barrage of opinions from Zimbabweans on either side of the Mutambara divide which impressed Enough is Enough
This is a milestone in Zimbawe’s journey towards democracy. Zimbabweans care about the politics of their country. They have opinions, and want to have a say about what’s going on. Most importantly, Zimbabweans in the diaspora are showing that they care deeply despite their physical absence from home.The internet is the next frontier were the Zimbabwean battle will play out and there ordinary Zimbos will have their say.
When Mutambara returned to the UK for a second rally, the rally was under close scrutiny.  Zimdaily liveblogged the event complete with video clips here.
Meanwhile back in Zimbabwe the controversial interception of communications bill faced increasing opposition as Reporters Without Borders released a statement condemning the proposed.  The bill also came under fire at the 39th session of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Sokwanele announced the “Dignity. Period!” campaign.
On the ninth annivesary of the Buta massacre, RW calls for “Justice for the Victims of Buta.”
more
Agathon Rwasa also has a report on a minister announcing bonuses for policemen who brutalize journalists.  Using memos from the State Department's archives RW offers a historical chronology of the US’ stance on Burundi.
In a sombering post, Ingrid reports that 1,200 people in the DRC are dying everyday as a result of conflict related reasons.
Congogirl announces that elections in the DRC will be held on June 30th.  Coincidentally, Ingrid of Congowatch announces a senate ammendment by Senators Leahy and Obama for US funding of military reform and election preparations in the DRC.
Mangaliso of Mangaliso's World opines on the naming of a Malawian road in honor of Zimbabwe's controversial president Robert Mugabe,
My reflection is that as much as we are African's our country has to refrain from joining the Zim-Brit issue in its conduct with the Comrade we might get really screwed dont forget we measure our performance according to how much the Minister of Finance begs or receives in aid.
An ecstatic George Conard at On Safari with El Jorgito announces the debut of the locally owned Village Phone company which he helped set up.
I spent most of last year in Rwanda managing the pilot phase of a project called Village Phone. Our ultimate goal was to form a new Rwandan company to carry the project forward, and last month we finally saw the realization of that goal. The short version of the story is that on Wednesday, April 12 – exactly one year and two days after the deployment of the first Village Phone in Rwanda – I signed the paperwork registering Village Phone Rwanda SARL.
Undo visits a dealer friend in the slums of Kisenyi where he is horrified to find that ,
“The toilets are bad, it seems all the people that stay in these congested quarters don’t go to the latrine during the day. For to go to the latrine, you could need stilts, if in the dark you wouldn’t see what you are stepping, with daylight you don’t even want to imagine your shoes near any ground.
But his friend loves it there.  Read more here.
After the Ugandan police's Inspector General complained of too many guns in private hands, Lovely Amphibian contemplates the reality of gun ownership in Uganda concluding,
We have desperate people ready to do anything. And when the security firms put out ads for vacancies, there are thousands who want in. We end up with dangerous recruits who sleep on the muzzles of their guns at midday and cry like little girls when creative robbers hit the place.
Are Ugandans dying at the hands of senseless gunslingers? Is it the Wild West all over again? No. We have very bright security chiefs (Noble, Kale and Tinyefunza). But the fact that the guns are put in the hands of the wrong personell is our own undoing.
Lovely amphibian has a wonderful Mother's day tribute here.
Jay at Jay's Idle Thoughts who is unimpressed by the recent increase in energy tariffs complains, “We are going to pay more for a commodity that we are getting less and less of.”
Enock of Openminded complains, “Donors have a hand in Uganda's problems.”

author: Zimpundit


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Africa: Google trends · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

White African uses Google Trends to map some facts on search and news trends in AFrica and arrives at some interesting results.


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Africa: List of French Institutions Specialized in the Continent · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Generation Consciente, Une Autre Afrique posts (Fr) a list of French universities, centers, laboratories and other French institutions that specialize in the study of Africa.


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Africa: Looking to Latin America? · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

AfroBlog responds to the question put by the BBC “Should Africa look to Latin America”.…For Africa it would be ideal to learn from the experiences of Latin America but realistically newly independent nations in Africa have scarcely learned from the experiences of some of the first independent states in Africa”


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Africa Open for Business · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Jewels in the Jungle points to a BBC documentary “Africa Open for Business” which will be aired on the 20th May on BBC World


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Ahmadinejad’s Letter & Tehran Book Fair  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to his US counterpart, George Bush, has attracted a lot of attention in international media. Several leading journals such as Washington Post or Le Monde, in France, published letter and tried to analyze that. This 18 pages letter has been a hot topic among Iranian bloggers who discussed it during last week and shared their opinions about it. As usual, ideas are very different, one from another. We look at some key topics concerning this letter, in Iranian blogosphere.
Breaking Taboo
Koroush Alyani, an Iran based blogger, talks about how taboo words have been used in this letter. He says, Mr.Bush was called by Iranian President, Excellency and Israel was called state. Blogger adds several times his own articles were sent back from his journal’s editor (Persian), because he has written Israel instead of regime which is occupying Quds. According to blogger, Ahmadinejad has started to use these words which he avoided until now.
Abtahi, reformist politician & blogger, wrote about taboos too. He says:
“The President as the highest executive power of Iran has written a letter to US directly and has removed the taboo of direct relationship between Iranian and American authorities. Mostly about the sagacity mission and moral regeneration of the world that Mr. Ahmadinejad holds himself responsible for; Invitation to Godly, spiritual and Islamic values. This kind of correspondence probably inspired by   the Prophet's letters to the heads of the old world, today in a period obviously different from what the Prophet was standing in and in a completely different world, neither results in the salvation and deliverance of Mr. Bush nor helps the country out of the global dangerous problems it is facing currently especially now that the Islamic Republic of Iran has lost the last resisting card for any direct negotiations with the US.”
Khanoum Hana, based in Japan, says that  she does not understand why everybody makes fun of Ahmadinajad’s letter  (Persian).  Blogger asks do you really think, he wrote this letter without informing high ranked people in government. Blogger adds that Ahmadinjead has removed the taboo of direct contact with USA after 27 years. Finally she says think twice when you say that this government does not understand politics!
Reformist Khatami, USA & letter
Fardaye Roshan, Iran based blogger, criticized Iranian President and conservatives. Blogger says we can imagine what could be happened if the letter was written by Khatami, former reformist President. Blogger says many would say Islam is in danger because of Khatami’s letter and thousands were able to march against reformist President. Blogger adds we had eight years to negotiate with United States and we did not do anything. Blogger considers, Ahmadinjead’s letter in this context is useless and will not solve anything. According to blogger one thing he (President) mentioned in letter is any government must try to establish peace…we see how much his government tries to be tolerate with the world! He & his advisers can not manage country (Persian)!
Haj Reza has completely opposite idea about Iranian President, reformists & letter. This blogger admires Ahmadinejad and considers letter a masterpiece of wisdom and diplomacy (Persian). He says:
“Thank you Mr.President. By writing this letter you showed whole world what our revolution is about. People who talked about dialogue between civilisations (it was Khatami's slogan) did not dare to do one thousandth of what you have done with this letter.”
Letter, Gunatanamo & Bloggers
Blue Future in his/her blog, refers to Ahmadnejad's questions, in the letter to George Bush, concerning Guatanamo and other human rights issues. Blogger says why Ahmadinejad does not ask same questions for himself. For example why he does not ask what is happening to political prisoners in Iran (Persian)?
Mr. Behi shares Blue Future’s opinion on this letter. He says:
“If you transform the words “United States government” and “world” in his letter to “Iranian government” and “Iran”, then the letter is a better match to our situation here and somebody should read that to Ahmadinejad himself. All his arguments about “captivity of people in Guantanamo without trial”, “spending a lot of money for useless stuff”, “Putting people in situation of instability and fear” are also our own problems with Iranian government! Look inside Mr.President!”
Jomhour says this letter wants to accomplish two objectives (Persian): First objective is giving hope to Iranian public that by improving Iran-US relation, economic situation will be improved. In reality, letter’s content does not follow this objective. Second in international scene letter tries to represent many different anti war groups, when it talks about Gunatanamo.
Master Piece or Useless letter? That is the Question!
Telephonchi says Condoleezza Rice called Ahmadinejad’s letter, a philosophical & religious essay or writing. Blogger adds whatever Rice said, is not far from reality. Blogger adds Iranian President has not realised that he writes the letter as President of country (Persian)!
Nagofteha, a pro government blogger, says this letter was sent to people and  not to governments. He says Ahmadinejad’s audiences are not governments and political parties. In this letter he (Iranian President) shows again that he talks with people. Blogger writes that some people's idea that, China & Russia have encouraged Iran to write this letter is baseless. If this letter can bring out Iran from crisis, then Iran can become a regional power and challenge Chinese & Russian ideology. Blogger adds  as foreign journals mentioned, this letter is a diplomatic master piece of his and his advisors (Persian).
In Yavaran, a blog which covers news about Iranian President, we read that Ahmadinejad in an interview in Indonesia has said “We mentioned important issues in letter and we are waiting for reactions from them (Americans) (Persian).
Another top issue, in Iranian blogosphere, has been Tehran International Book Fair. We see not only reports about Book fair but how bloggers have actively been present in fair. One of  bloggers has published on his/her blog first hand unexpected photos.
Bloggers, Photos & Book Fair
In Café Naseri we can see unexpected photos from outside of Book Fair where boys & girls think about something else than books and some are kissing each other ( you can be punished for that in Iran).
On the other hand, Arash has published a few photos concerning Supreme Leader's (Khamenei) visit from book fair. Blogger says:
“Ayatollah (Khamenei) has to see men in short sleeves, something assumed to be not very decent in the Islamic Republic eyes. He also meets a sense of the other side of the Iranian society.”
Bloggers Talk about Fair
Aknoun talks about war against words or censorship (Persian). He says  several books written by famous Iranian poets and writers have been collected by Ministry of  Culture & Islamic Guidance agents. Blogger considers it as a war against words. He adds we can not find a poet or writer who has not faced censorship in Iran.
Hazaro ye rozaneh says this year there are a lot of religious books in fair (Persian). Blogger also informs us that several bloggers, from different provinces, fixed an appointment with him/her, in book fair to meet each other.
Pasdar, a member of Moslem Bloggers Committee, talks about his surprise meeting with Ali Mazroi, a reformist politician & blogger, in Book Fair. Pasdar says he asked reformist blogger why he does not answer his questions on his blog (Persian). According to Pasdar, Mazroi answers that blog is a place to talk about what he has in heart and not to  answer questions or to be involved with discussions.


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Argentina: More Borges in Buenos Aires · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Brandán adds a few more literary landmarks to Larry Rohter’s travel piece on “Borges’s Buenos Aires” that appeared in this weekend's New York Times.

author: David Sasaki


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Argentina: Protesting in a Bikini · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Costa Rican blogger Julia Ardón applauds the risque protests [ES] of an Argentinean model who gained access to an international summit of politicians, then stripped down to a bikini and strutted across stage while holding a sign that read “Enough of the Contaminating Paper Factories. Greenpeace.” According to Ardón, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez blew her a kiss “for having done one of the best things of this summit.”


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Argentina, Uruguay: More on the Paper Mill Conflict · Global Voices
David Sasaki

From Bmore to BA has an informed, albeit not necessarily work-safe post on the paper mill conflict between Argentina and Uruguay and the publicity stunt it inspired. Blogsfera has a video [ES] of the stunt which seems to reveal Tony Blair's appreciation of either the bikini-clad model or what she was protesting.


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Armenia: Women & Peace · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

ArmYouth Blog reports on two forum discussions on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and women's role in conflict resolution.


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Australia: Migration policy · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Migrants on Australia's immigration policy …Migration Act to allow the offshore processing of all asylum seekers who arrive by boat


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Bangladesh Blog Buzz · Global Voices
Rezwan

The latest happenings in Bangladeshi blogs around the world:
* Politics:  Addabaz criticizes the stand-off between the government and the opposition regarding electoral reform. He notes that people of Bangladesh are suffering and getting tired of this unfortunate political crisis.
Salam Dhaka lists top ten things usually done by an MP in Bangladesh.
Dr. Rumi of Dristipat is critic about dynasty leadership in Bangladesh. His article has generated an interesting discussion on the subject in the comments sections. Change Bangladesh Project has started a blog to create awareness among voters to choose the appropriate leader in the coming election.
* Living: Tasneem Khalil links to the Daily Star's feature ‘The Roots of the Fairness Fetish’, which goes deep into the complex of fairness among the South Asians.
* Creativity: Kazi Rubaiat Imam links to the news that Leepu, a Bangladeshi can builds cars replicating any top notch brand car design. Recently Discovery channel has made a documentary on Leepu's work.
* Religion: While trying to answer of what religion he is, Sadiq exerts that all the religion speak the same. We only need to open our heart to receive the Divine Wisdom that is inside all the message of all time.
* Podcast: Joe at Bongo Vongo posts reading of English translation of another short story of Rabindranath Tagore as podcast: – ‘Once there was a king’
* Culture: Asid Saleh of Dristipat informs about a Baishakhi Mela (Bangla New Years Fair) in London with useful links. Pictures and report (in Bangla) are posted by Sohail Motahar Chowdhury in his Bangla blog.
* Reading: Siddhartha of ‘Serious Golmal’ discusses the book ‘Art of the Skyscraper: The Genius of Fazlur Rahman Khan’ by Mir Ali. Fazlur Rahman Khan, the famous Bangladeshi is the architect of the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.
* Tribute: The Bengali Fob posts a wonderful tribute to all the mothers on the occasion of the mothers day.
* Travel: Electricblues has taken a personal initiative to visit the countryside, see the green fields and breathe the clean air and document it all in his cell phone. The result is looking good:- some nice pictures of Bangladesh.
Shafiur provides a link to the Guardian Travel Site featuring Dhaka city and urges all to contribute there.
* Human rights: Safia is vocal for fair trade in the fashion industries in Bangladesh.
* Communication: Razib Rashedin of the South Asia Biz discusses the cellular growth in South Asia and thinks except for calling mobile phone industries here have yet to use its full potential.
* Bangla blogging: The Bangla blogging platform “Bandh Bhanger Awaz” is growing rapidly and getting more user friendly. Each day many new bloggers are registering and hundreds of posts are being put up. Some bloggers are posting so frequently that others are accusing them with flooding. But the good thing is that the blog has achieved increased interactivity with participation of many readers resulting almost a hundred comments in some posts.
The first million hits took 3 months and looks like the 2nd million will be reached much sooner than that.

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: Jesus and Buddha · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sadiq Alam after buying a book that talks of the parallels between Jesus and Buddha. “As if i could see them standing on top of the hill, and i could feel the deep warmth of their heart with which they were having their arms around each others’ shoulders, smiling.”


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Belarus: Fake Dissident · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about Mikhail Vashkevitch, an impostor in the Belarusian opposition's ranks, about to lose his asylum in Bulgaria: “I wish we were back to the times when dissidents wrote books without asking for a $10,000 advance…”


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Belarus: Interpol Chief Disagrees With EU Members · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog reports that certain EU representatives of Interpol plan to boycott the upcoming meeting in Belarus; Interpol's head rightly disagrees with their position: “‘Why use an apolitical organisation, a meeting of police professionals, to send a political message, when the vehicles they usually have for sending a political message — calling your ambassadors back, closing your embassies, sanctions — are not being sent?’ he said.”


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Belarus: Political Refugees; Disinformation on Asylum Seekers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Leo Finkel of Maidan International writes about a press conference given by Belarusian political refugees in Kyiv; according to him, the number of Belarusian political asylum seekers will grow in the coming months. TOL's Belarus Blog reports on the false information spread by certain Russian news agencies: according to them, a hundred or so Belarusian opposition members requested political asylum in Kiev a few days ago.


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Bermuda: Signs of an election · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Christian S. Dunleavy looks at the recent activities of Bermuda's ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) and suggests that “the planets are clearly lining up (or being lined up) for an election sooner rather than later.”


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Bloggers Opinions About a Proposed Euthanasia Law · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

A new law proposed to legislate euthanasia in Chile has been very controversial. Two main reasons: 1.) it was proposed by two deputes from the government coalition (left wing) without overall support of it, and 2.) the debate concerning “the right to live.”
About the political scenario Victor Hugo (ES) posts that even in developed countries this is controversial, and “maybe there are no agreements, no solutions, but what we are seeing in Chile, is that they are eliminating a debate because this could produce political or governance problems.”
The left wing doesn’t want to accept proposals that aren’t include in the government programme. A lot of controversy have been stirred before the project got into congress.
Esteban Valenzuela (ES), writes in his blog many of the reasons why this issue is controversial as “it doesn’t correspond submitted censure to the Leal Table (Leal is a parliament in charge of the discussion table) because he made her duty on a project that is constitutional” referring to some politician asking to censure the legal state to process the project.
Three social perspectives of why this is controversial in Chile can be found in  C.A.V.G (ES)
He posts that doctors have to support life, the catholic church believes that god is the owner of the human life, and we only administrate it, and social issues just don’t have laws in this issues. He also writes that this was a family dinner conversation on Sunday.
We only have to wait to see if the politician will use the legal process to discuss this law, or if he will first be censured.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Bolivia, Brazil: Evo and Lula in Vienna · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boli-Nica says not everything was friendly between Evo Morales and Lula da Silva as Latin American leaders met with their UN counterparts in Vienna. Briegel Busch says that Lula's dialogue with Evo Morales was much more firm than was reported by the press (ES). Meanwhile, Jim Shultz compares AP and Reuters coverage of the Vienna meeting and concludes that coverage of Morales’ meeting with da Silva is “in the eye of the beholder.” In a comment, however, Eduardo Ávila remarks that “it makes sense that headlines are different because the Saturday morning breakfast meeting added new developments from what was written during the week.”


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Cameroon: Government Doing Outreach on New Criminal Procedure Code · Global Voices
Alice Backer

“Cameroonian authorities have recently launched a national outreach campaign on the new criminal procedural code,” says (Fr)  Fojrega.  The code is a hybrid between the procedures of the francophone  half  of the country and those of the anglophone half, explains the blog.


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Central Asia: Press Freedom · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia rounds up the state of freedom of the press in Central Asia.


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Chad: Idriss Deby wins elections · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sudan Watch reports that Idriss Deby has won the Chadian elections by a large majority however opposition leaders  have denounced the elections as a sham.


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China: Corporate commitment questioned · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Cut the commitment doublespeak and call your operations in China for what they really are, says Will at Imagethief, or else live up to the claim:
“Indeed, it seems clear that many companies see the constant, reassuring drone of “commitment to China” messages as something of an insurance policy against China's wide nationalist streak and history of alarming political whimsy. With regard to the government, the feeling may that, if you can't actively seek patronage these days (things have cleaned up), you can at least encourage benevolent non-intervention.”


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China: Cultural Revolution turns forty · Global Voices
John Kennedy

One interesting aspect of blogging in China is that the strict controls on newspapers, magazines, television and news websites from time-to-time leaves many bloggers with the responsibility and freedom to determine and define coverage of major issues and stories while mainstream media, despite all their resources, have no choice but to remain silent.
May 16 this year is one of those such times. Forty years ago today, Mao Zedong issued the infamous ‘notice’, a manifesto of sorts, which sparked the power and class struggles that kept the Cultural Revolution going and saw millions of lives wasted until his death in 1976.
The competition one would normally see between rival media outlets seems to have been left behind by Chinese bloggers for a more results-based sharing model in which content is seldom repeated and individuals pursue their own interests which leads to a greater whole.
Starting off strongly but informatively is the Big Shapeless Bull (大牛无形) blogger who posts and translates two American magazine covers from the mid-1960s and suggests better ways to search for Cultural Revolution-related information online:
今天是个纪念日…知道这个日子而故意不说或者回避,甚至要打击知道这个日子并且说出来的人,比希特勒更法西斯.
顺便说一下,在今天的百度,你不可能用文化大革 命直接搜索出你要的东西,百度会告诉你:您输入的关键词可能涉及不符合相关法律法规的内容。
The Democratic China Blog II blogger seems to have received this advice as a post today contains a documentary on the Cultural Revolution from Hong Kong public television station RTHK, as well as some astute blogmentary:
文革是中共的官场现形记,2000万无辜中国人在文革非正常死亡.邓小平说过:”文革这样的事在英国、法国、美国这些西方国家是不可能发生的.”我们需要弄清的是WHY?!
On journalist-blogger Priest Liu's MSN Spaces blog we see a full copy of the forementioned notice [zh], matched by veteran blogger Nick Wong but also including the numerous additions to the document as the goal of the Cultural Revolution took its many twists and turns. Other posts from earlier in the week leading up to today include mention of China's first ever Cultural Revolution museum which opened late last year in Shantou, just northeast of Hong Kong and a look at Guo Yushan's Sohu blog dedicated to martyrs of the revolution. A short historical timeline of the ten years (1966-1976) the Cultural Revolution spanned can also be found on Lian Yue's Eighth Continent blog.
Jxhill's MSN Spaces blog gives a impressive description of the impact the Cultural Revolution had on the national psyche, and how the spiritual fallout still affects Chinese today:
十年文革，不仅造成中国社会大混乱，导致中国经济濒临崩溃边缘，这场打着「文化」旗号的运动对中国传统文化的破坏之深、对人性的戕害之烈、对人的精神的扭曲之重，亦是亘古以来所仅见。在文革结束30年后的今天，其遗风与遗害仍随时随处或隐或显地出现。
文革后，许多国人缺乏信仰，精神萎靡。当局为重塑人们的精神，发起「精神文明建设」，从「五讲四美三热爱」到最近胡锦涛倡导的「八荣八耻」，**对精神文明的塑造，不可谓不重视，然而收效甚微。人们之间关系冷漠，拜金主义盛行，法制观念淡薄，为牟一己之利而不择手段等等，这与文革的破坏与遗害均难脱干系。
At the River of China blog we see a post written for Mother's Day but focusing on the blogger's family life against the backdrop of growing up in the midst of those turbulent times:
幼时的那些日子，家里总是入不敷出，母亲很精确地计算花出去的每分钱，但到了月末，必然还是要厚起脸皮去向邻居借个五毛一块的度过最后那两天。而再大些的我已经不再满足于单调简陋的饮食，在吃过第一口肉之后，我开始对肉产生了浓厚兴趣，每次经过肉铺，脚便象钉住一样死死立在那里，然后乞求地望着母亲，每当这个时候，母亲总是会眼中噙满泪。很多年以后我才明白自己的无知为母亲带来的是怎样的心灵上的折磨与摧残。
And the discussion is put on a more personal level in a post from the Migratory Fool with a recount of a well-known story of one young man who was executed for refusing to renounce an essay he had written.
“血统论” 的出现, 使许多“出身不好”的青年所受到无端的打击和迫害。许多敢怒不敢言。 有一位年轻人, 挺身而出, 公开化发表了公开发表了批判血统论的论文《出身论》。遇罗克一针见血的指出：“一个新的特权阶层形成了，一个新的受歧视的阶层也随之形成了。而这又是先天的，是无法更改的。”在文章最后他号召：“一切受压抑的革命青年，起来勇敢战斗吧！”文章一问世，就就在社会上引起了巨大反响, 引起千百万人的共鸣。但也冒犯了文革当局。遇罗克一九六八年初被捕入狱，七零年三月五日惨遭处决，年仅27岁。
遇罗克之弟遇罗文撰写的长篇纪实文学《我家》中记述了一次姐弟间的谈话：“有一天弟弟对姐姐诉说了心中的烦闷，姐姐说：‘妈妈、爸爸反右时只顾自己痛快，说了几句真话，害得我们跟着受 罪。’一旁看书的罗克插话道：‘不要责怪父母。他们说真话有什么错？我看他们说得太少了。整个社会上说真话的人也太少了。如果大家都说真话，不说假话，就不会有这种不平。何况即使真是父母错了，也不能由子女承担责任。’”
“Reading a book beside her, Luoke jumped in to say: ‘don't blame mom and dad. They told the truth—what's wrong with that? The way I see it, they said too little. All of society tells too little of the truth. If everyone just spoke the truth, stopped telling lies, there just wouldn't be this kind of injustice. In any event, even if our parents really are mistaken, us children can't be held responsible.'”


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China: Cultural Revolution turns forty · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Asiapundit‘s myrick blogs on the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, photos included.


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China: Cultural Revolution turns forty · Global Voices
John Kennedy

“There is no official commemoration or acknowledgment in the PRC today,” says The Useless Tree blogger of the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of China's Cultural Revolution. “The Party has ordered the media not to discuss it. Just another one of those major chunks of modern history, like the Great Leap Forward, that the Party tries to forget.”


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China: Direct elections promised · Global Voices
John Kennedy

“Just a day ahead of the 40th anniversary of the start of Mao's mass murdering Cultural Revolution, which plunged China into years of chaos and pitted faction against faction within the ruling Communist Party (and children against their parents), the heirs to that organization announced a plan that is designed to encourage and expose differences among presumed party factions,” writes China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter of her previous day's post in which she writes that “the ruling Communist Party announced Monday that it would hold local elections for the first time. An offical described the move as ‘an enormous step.’
“Leading up to the 2007 National People's Congress (NPC) meeting, elections of leaders at provincial, county, city and township levels will be held.”


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China: Street savvy · Global Voices
John Kennedy

BJ Gemer at China Rant gives some tips on how to tell if your Chinese money is fake or not.


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China: Writers of Vernacular · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Friend Gram at Holidarity blogs on the increase of media time given to “Chinese authors that don't much tie in to the images of Chinese out there in the global vernacular” in ‘No Joy Luck Club Crap Here.’


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Costa Rica: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Case · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Andrés Duque says that both sides claimed victory in a constitutional court case that challenges Costa Rica's ban on same-sex marriages.


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Czech Republic: Communists’ Election Campaign · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jesse of Bored in Brno writes about the election campaign of the Czech communists.


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Dominica: Turtle-watching · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

It's sea-turtle nesting season in the Caribbean; on Dominica's east coast, The Hand I Fan With's ThandieLand describes the hundreds of people who visit the beach near her village each night, hoping to glimpse the turtles as they emerge from the waves.


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DRC: Demonstration for Congolese in Belgium · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Renouveau Congolais announces (Fr) that Debout Pour Le Congo [Stand Up for Congo] is organizing a demonstration today in Liege, Belgium against the “regular explusion [of Congolese] in collaboration with the Congolese government, author of many crimes and ongoing violations of human rights.” The demonstration will also demand that Belgium take a “different look at the Congolese's situation in Belgium in light of the history linking the two peoples.” DPLC also asks that Betu Bernard's asylum petition be granted. Betu Bernard is a UDPS member who was arrested and beaten by Congolese authorities during a demonstration against the prolonging of the transition period last June.


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East Timor: Local Liquor · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Tumbleweed in timor lorosae reviews local liquors in East Timor. The same post also has an update of the situation in East Timor.


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Estonia: ‘War in the Woods’ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa reviews a book on Estonian resistance to Soviet rule in the war years (War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, by Mart Laar).


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Ethiopia: Tell your stories · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Weichegud!ET Politics  calls on her fellow Ethiopians to “tell the story” of the Ethiopian elections and provides a list of sites supporting Ethiopia Day – 15th May


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Ethiopia: Zenawi on Blair · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigeria Whats New comments on Ethiopia's President, Zenawi who has “has accused Mr Blair of behaving like an old colonial master in cutting off aid in response to the killing by government troops of scores of opposition protesters last year.“


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Georgia: Waging Peace · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sue writes about Georgia's martial history, its penetration into culture, and what it means for the country's future.


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Haiti: Photo Essay of Preval’s Inauguration · Global Voices
Alice Backer

AlterPresse posts a photo essay of President Preval's inauguration including shots of pro-Lavalas demonstrators and Preval's signing of the PetroCaribe Agreement right after the ceremony.


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Haiti: Towards an Anti-Feminist Backlash? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

At AlterPresse, Myriam Merlet predicts (Fr) an upcoming backlash to the thriving Haitian feminist movement.  Certain anti-feminists, she says, “know how to take advantage of media (…) to spread arguments about ‘women who beat women’ and/or men.”


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Hong Kong: China-sent spies? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

EastSouthWestNorth‘s Roland Soong translates news stories on “what must be the first big internet-fueled political storm in Hong Kong” which comes down to whether or not the Hong Kong Democratic Party has been infiltrated by “spies” and whether or not they come from the Chinese mainland.


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Hungary, Estonia: Eurovision Song Contest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu writes that Hungary isn't taking part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Athens and highlights a few performers from other countries (one is Sandra – who, though Swedish, represents Estonia).


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India: All That Family Trouble · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sibyl narrows down on issues in the Indian Family. “At the root of all family trouble are two things: dependence and expectations.”


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India: (Don’t) Stay At Home Mom  · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Wicked Angel on one article discussing the difference between stay-at-home and work-outside moms.


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Indian Bloggers are talking education, politics and marriage · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

Indian bloggers are consumed with a couple of social and political issues this week. These topics include reservation in education, state elections, and that age old institution called marriage.
Reservations or the quota system in the Indian education system has fired up the creative juices of many Indian bloggers across the world. Reservations also known as affirmative, action has been a hot topic in India for the past few weeks. The government announced a new quota policy, which was met with a lot of resistance by students, especially from medical colleges. The  medical students from New Delhi were the first to protest, and now the protests have spread to other parts of the country including Bombay and Bangalore. Some students have gone on a hunger strike to create an awareness about this issue.
Beau Peep takes a look at how this whole reservation issue unraveled, and says that the India of yesteryears and the India of 2006 is as different as chalk and cheese.
K2 of ThisandThat's line of thinking on reservation is that it is not a feasible option at the college and graduate school levels. K2 says that it makes more sense to have some kind of reservation system at the primary and secondary level of education.
Amit says give reservations a chance. Reading his posting it sounds like he is proposing some kind of a common cause approach that will work for everybody. "We fight over who would get bigger share of 100 seats when we combined should be   fighting to get our deserved 1000 seats. Politicians are screwing us, not by   allotting us smaller share, but by making us think counting shares is what the   real issue is about."
Brijesh introduces an interesting variable into this reservation debate: capitation fees in the Indian education system. He wonders if reservation and capitation fees are on the same side of the reservation coin. "A girl in a family I knew in Trivandrum got over 5000 rank in Kerala Medical   Entrance exam. Her parents are working in Malaysia and now she is studying in   one of the medical colleges in Central Kerala. Her parents gave 25 lakhs as   capitation fees. People who get even 800th rank can’t get admission and this   girl just because her parents are NRI’s got a medical seat. Isn’t it ridiculous?   Won’t this divide the society?"
Atanu Dey has a slightly Utopian take with an economic theoretical underpinning to his argument. Read about it in his post  titled, Imagine No Reservations. Here is what he says: "Imagine there is no reservation; no one cares what caste you are; no one   denied a chance to study and learn because of lack of money. (Sung to the tune   of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”)"
Moving away from reservations, we listen to what Indian bloggers take was on the recently concluded state elections.
It was election week last week in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and West Bengal. In Kerala and West Bengal the left party (communists) were voted into power. In the case of West Bengal the incumbent was voted back into power.
Here is Sriram Iyer's take on the return of Karunanidhi as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Chennai Today had a special blog up and running to cover the elections in Tamil Nadu and here is their analysis of why Karunanidhi and his party won the elections this time around.
Finally, we move from the education and politics to that another age-old institution: marriage. Marriages are made in heaven used to be the old adage. But, reading Deepak's post it sounds like marriages are negotiated in a market-like environment. Deepak Shenoy of TheUnknownIndian blog  has an interesting post on arranged marriages. He calls this trend as marriagonomics and has a humorous take on this subject. Here is what Deepak has to say: "The arranged marriage market in India, and there's a reason it's a "market", is   not the groom's domain anymore. Women, and more specifically women's families,   routinely demand more of the "boy"; demands that are not only based on   stability, but also on a deep understanding of economics and politics."

author: Kamla Bhatt


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Indonesia: Economics Blogger  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesian blogger A. Fatih Syuhud profiles another Indonesian blogger Martin Manurung. “We need many more bloggers like him who has concern on Indonesia's development in socio-cultural as well as in political-economy to blog in English and blog actively”


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Iran: Dogs & Men · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sharh, a photoblog, has published a photo of two dogs and their owners. Blogger says  having a dog can create opportunities to get new girl or boy friends in Iran.


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Iraq: Raed, Richard Perle, Iraq and Iran · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Raed corners Richard Perle over Iraq and his support for “Iranian Chalabis” while out shopping. Perle gave Read his personal contact details and asked for information on any non-violent Iranian groups. If you know anybody, please tell Raed.


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Japan: Nationalist politicians clarified · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Tokyoid at Japundit challenges the perception that Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara is a major source of Japan's nationalist problem with the claim that the blame lies with Foreign Minister Taro Aso:
“There are those who view Tokyo Governor Ishihara as the embodiment of resurgent Japanese nationalism. They are wrong. Ishihara, for all his buffoon-like outbursts, is the political equivalent of the bitter man sat at the bar, best years behind him, putting the world to rights to anyone unfortunate to be within hearing distance with tirades against whatever group happens to cross his mind at that particular moment…There are those who have sought to downplay the significance of Aso's recent pronouncements on supposed Japanese racial purity, but this story puts those into a completely different shade when you consider his own corporate connections to actual complicity in slavery during war time.”

author: John Kennedy


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Kenya: Ex President Moi · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

You've Missed This writes on ex Kenyan President Daniel Moi who he believes is still a major influence in Kenyan politics....”And this time he has the advantage of being able to concentrate on only one agenda, unlike the time when he was president when he had to juggle things “to keep several balls in the air at the same time.” That makes Moi the most dangerous man in Kenyan politics today. Ignore him at your own peril”.


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Kenya: Radion station destroyed · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Steve Ntwiga Mugiri reports on the torching of Kenyan radio station “Hope FM” last Friday


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Kyrgyzstan: Biking Issyk Kul · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

JJ's travelogue on biking around Kyrgyzstan's Issyk Kul (“Hot Lake”) continues with a post about an evening in Tamchy and the Tamchy to Balykchi stretch.


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Mauritius/New Caledonia: Bloggers Send Card to Newlyweds  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Many GV readers were touched by this picture of New Caledonia-based blogger Sebastien's wedding to Annoella in Mauritius.  This week the couple post additional pictures of their big day as well as a best wishes card signed by bloggers from around the world.


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Mexico: Free Album from Album · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fernando Casale says that each and every song from the new album, Microbricolages, of the Mexican band “Album” is available for free download on their website.


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Mexico: New Library · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Vivir México is a new “metroblog” about Mexico City. Edmundo Hidalgo writes today about the about the opening of the new Vasconcelos library [ES], which will open its doors to the public for the first time tomorrow morning.


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Mexico: US National Guard to the Border · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jefferson Morley has inspired a slew of varied comments with his summary of the Mexican media's reaction to US President Bush's announcement that he will deploy National Guard troops to fortify the border. Boz argues that “there is a role for the military in our border defense, keeping the bad guys out, and it takes that task seriously. It is not the military's job to prevent illegal immigration. Tonight's speech will be sold as national security, but make no mistake, it's all about politics.” So far there has been little reaction in the Mexican blogosphere.


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Nigeria: Airport failures · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

UnilagFaces comments on Nigeria's premier airport in Lagos and the lack of sanitary facilities.


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Nigeria: Constitutional Amendment · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Chippla proivdes some essential background and explanations on the Nigerian proposed constitutional amendment to enable Obasanjo to run for a third term.


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Nigeria: Literature · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Molara Wood publishes an interview with Nigerian author, Sefi  Atta who wrote “Everything Good Will Come”.


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Pakistan: Blog aggregator and fighting censorship · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

More ways to fight cyber censorship in Pakistan.  A new blog aggregator is started in Pakistan.


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Panama: New Blog – Diablo Rojo · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Diablo Rojo [ES} is the new weblog of Panamanian chef Melissa De Leòn who won this year's Bloggie for best Latin American Weblog with Cooking Diva. She is also a contributor to Global Voices and has even started a podcast [ES] in which she explains the significance of the “Diablo Rojo” in Panama. Jorge Yau [ES] recently interviewed [ES] Melissa on Blogs Panama.


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Peru, Chile: Chileans’ Pick for Peru’s President · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jorge Bazo Escudero writes that, according to a new poll by a Chilean university, 57% of Chileans would rather see Alan García win Peru's presidential election [ES}. In a related item, Hugo Passarello Luna says that García's opponent, Ollanta Humala is hoping to find an agreement with Chile about their maritime border [ES].


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Peru: End of 2,000 Years of Tradition · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Don Ball Carbaja is back blogging, this time with a photo of Peruvian fishermen from the coastal town of Huanchaco where an anthropology student from Utah spent time writing an ethnography, which describes the fishing villages dying culture.


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Poland: Footbal ‘Pseudo-Fans’ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kinuk writes about football and the trouble that Polish football hooligans are causing.


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Poland: Politics and Freedom of Speech · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Gdansk writes about how freedom of speech in Poland is sometimes affected by politics: “In the puling adolescent west the new boss of a TV station or newspaper might be expected to trot out some feelgood cliches about how he does not intend to interfere in anyway with editorial decisions made by the journalists under him. One would expect him to pay some lip service to the idea of independent reporting. Poland is an altogether more robust place.”


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Serbia & Montenegro: Upcoming Referendum · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As Montenegro prepares for a referendum that will decide whether the tiny republic withdraws from federal union with Serbia, a heated discussion is taking place in the comments section at Kosovareport on whether the possible changes are worth it or not.


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Slovenia: Staying Single Pays · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael of The Glory of Carniola explains why it pays to stay single in Slovenia.


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Somali/Holland: Ayaan Hirsi Ali · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Controversial Somali/Dutch MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is to leave Dutch politics and move to the US to work for a US conservative think tank


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South Africa: Presidential candidates · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Politcs ZA comments on Jacob Zuma's reinstatement as Deputy President of the ANC…..That being said why is Zuma the only current person who has “possible presidential contender” tacked on after his name? Zuma obviously hopes to take his populist surge  and use it to put pressure on the ANC NEC


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Sri Lanka: Sex, Women, Gaming and Peacebuilding · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

ICT for Peacebuilding has a post on women, peacebuilding and the image of women in gaming; pointing to some studies – “Ultimately, I think a lot of studies done on the effects of computer game violence simplify the complex matrix of factors and actors that shape our approach to conflict in real life. That women like less violent games don’t necessarily make them inherently better peacebuilders, a proposition as ridiculous as stating that men, given their propensity for violence, are less capable as peacebuilders than women.”


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Sudan: Time for peace extended · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sudan Watch reports that the Darfur rebels have been given to the end of May to sign the peace deal


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Thailand: Bangkok Malls · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vietnam resident and  blogger at Antidote to Burnout goes shopping in Bangkok and wonders if  Bangkok could serve as a shopping development model for fast growing Vietnam.

author: Preetam Rai


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This week in the African women’s blogsphere · Global Voices
Nish Matenjwa

As diverse as ever, African women have been writing about a range of issues.
14 May was Mother’s Day in some parts of the world and African women honoured the important women in their lives.
Adaure congratulates all  mothers and grandmothers and says her mother is the best anyone can ask for. Meanwhile, Prousette has written an excellent post honouring her mother-in-law who she says has been an inspiration. Of this special woman Prousette writes, “She has been a blessing and gone out of her way to make my journey with her beloved son easier. She is not perfect and neither am I but our imperfections have been a source of laughter and not conflict”.
Black Looks has written a post on cancer and racism where she says that it is difficult to tell the number of women dying of cancer in Africa, Asia and South America as there is little statistical information while black women in America and South Africa are more likely to die of breast cancer. Black Looks emphasises the importance of regular breast examination but notes that this would be difficult for “the majority of women do not have access to basic medical care let alone blood tests, mammograms and scans”.
Like many of us, Ore is suffering from  information overload and wonders how “people can manage to keep on top of all the things happening in the world”. She also writes, “having more sources of information (and channels where news can be disseminated rapidly and continuously) means more news. More news to keep track of and it all moves so fast. Argh!”
Kenyan Pundit has provided a link to an interview with the survivor of the Zuma case.
“I have had long internal battles with bumper stickers that read “Real Men Don't Beat Women” writes Sichoki, a recent entrant to the Kenyan Blogs Webring. She asks: if real men  do not rape, or beat women, “who is doing the raping and beating. Martians?”
Adefunke writes about the recent pipeline fire in Nigeria where over 200 people tragically lost their lives. ”…people are dead, again!”, she says while questioning whether the fire was a result of people siphoning oil from the pipeline.
Uaridi provides an interesting slice on life in London and has written a post on  London cabbies who she says “can talk the proverbial hind leg off a donkey if you give them a chance, discussing any topic under the sun…and know everything from the Stock Exchange and can forecast the weather”.
Regarding polygamy, Mama Mia is perplexed and wonders what ”really goes on behind the scenes” in a polygamous marriage. She also asks whether if the case is that a person has only one heart to give, can “a polygamist state that he loves all his wives equally and mean it sincerely?”

author: Nish Matenjwa


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Trinidad and Tobago: Blue devils in Dortmund · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Stacy-Marie Ishmael of the Trinidad and Tobago World Cup Team Blog posts two photos of the winged rhino sculpture, decorated by Trinidadian artist Che Lovelace, that represents T&T in Dortmund, Germany, one of the host cities for the FIFA World Cup next month. The StudioFilmClub blog points out that the “blue devils” painted on the rhino resemble those in Lovelace's recent work.


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Trinidad and Tobago: Criminals’ rights? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

The members of The Initiative Against Crime continue to explore the connections between Trinidad and Tobago's crime problem and mistreatment of prisoners. Kahaya is not surprised there was a prisoners’ riot at the San Fernando Magistrates Court yesterday, and Jahari Gamba asks,  “Does the prison system change criminals or boost their courage to continue these acts?“


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Ukraine: Kyiv’s New Mayor · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scott W. Clark of Foreign Notes writes about Kyiv's new mayor: “Sometimes the mayor makes a lot of sense and sometimes he sounds crack-brained.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Venezuela, Cuba: Chavez Vs. Castro on Google · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Francisco of Caracas Chronicles has used Google's new trend graphs to compare search trends between Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro.


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Venezuela, UK: Chavez’s Visit to London Causes Stir · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Hugo Chávez's meeting with London's mayor, Ken Livingstone is commanding a lot of attention. It's even turned one blogger into a temporary celebrity.


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Venezuela: US Bans Arms Sales · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alfredo Octavio argues that the U.S. government is only adding to Hugo Chávez's political clout by banning arms sales to Venezuela. Oil Wars has a laugh at the hypocrisy of Washington's claims: “Let's see, Venezuela itself is not involved with terrorism. But it befriends country's that supposedly are – Cuba and Iran. So now its not what you do but what your friends do that matters. If that's the case how does the U.S. avoid decertifying itself?” Daniel Duquenal, meanwhile, says that Chávez is clearly off his rocker when he calls U.S. President Bush “genocidal.”


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Zimbabwe: View from the Diaspora · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Cry Beloved Zimbabwe  discusses reactions to the political situation in Zimbabwe by those living in the Diaspora particuarly in the UK.Exile to many Zimbabweans became an opportunity to enrich ourselves we became more concerned about the exchange rate rather than the socio-political situation in Zimbabwe. Instead of embracing the democratic freedom of our host countries we solerly lacked at home and become more vocal to highlight the plight that Zimbabwe is facing we became more myopic….”

author: Sokari Ekine


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Afghanistan: Reconstructing · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

In the wake of an international business conference in Kabul to explore ways to invest in Afghanistan, Afghan Warrior goes through many things that need attention


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Africa: Clandestine Emigration · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Seckasysteme  would like to see (Fr) “a  summit of West African heads of state so that clandestine emigration can be uprooted and so as to find a durable solution to the problem.” “Hundreds have died since the beginning of the year for having simply tried to escape misery,” continues the blogger. “Images are shocking of these corpses that even sharks don't want, floating on the ocean, that end up on Spanish shores.” He posts photos.

author: Alice Backer


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Argentina: Galbraith and Weinberg · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Roberto Bobrow, accompanied by one of his ever-talented caricatures, describes the relationship between American economist John K. Galbraith and Argentine historian Gregorio Weinberg, both of whom passed away around the same time.


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Armenia: Bikers · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian posts on Armenia's small biker scene.


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Armenia: Clean Green Center · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Nessuna wonders whether or not the designer of signs promoting a clean central Yerevan has a sense of humor.


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Bahamas: “Generation property” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Nicolette Bethel argues that the Bahamian institution of “generation property” — communally owned land — which many have come to see as a burden, is actually an important source of power and independence, and “lies at the core of the independent spirit of the Bahamian”.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Bangladesh: Guantanamo Bay and lack of information · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Or how I leart to stop worrying comments on the information released on the two Bangladeshi detainees at Guantanamo Bay. “The information released by the Pentagon, on close examination, suggests that after 4 years of detention the United States Government does not have complete or accurate information on, at the very least, the Bangladeshi detainees.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Banned White-Red-White Flag of Belarus Travels Abroad · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

This flag used to be the official state flag of Belarus from 1991 to 1995. Following the controversial referendum of May 14, 1995, president Aleksandr Lukashenko banned it and reintroduced a variation of the Soviet-time Belarusian flag.
During their visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, in early May, Belarusian LJ users lysaye-dzyaucho and ml_forever took turns wearing the white-red-white flag on their shoulders. They were amazed by the friendly reaction of ordinary Ukrainian citizens to this symbol of Belarusian resistance and realized that while they could not carry the flag around openly in their homeland, they were free to do so abroad.
Here're some of lysaye-dzyaucho‘s thoughts (RUS):
[…]
As usual, we had a Belarusian flag with us. Not a very big one, but not a small one, either, with a large symbol of Minsk in the middle… It was easy to wrap yourself into it, or put it on your shoulders and tie it, using it as a raincoat of sorts. And this is what we did, [LJ user] ml_forever and I: we […] carried it around on us everywhere we went, taking turns. I've never seen such a reaction to our flag before!!!! It was quite a celebration.
Ukrainians were coming over to us, to introduce themselves, and they were asking how we were doing and where we were staying and whether they could help us in some way (and they kept insisting on buying us […] drinks ;)), and they wanted to know about the situation in our country, and they wanted to know about the fate of political prisoners, whether there were young people among them, and they were telling us about [other Ukrainians] who served time in our [Belarusian] prisons, etc.
Belarusians who saw their flag, their real flag, yelled Zhyve Belarus [Long live Belarus] from across Khreshchatyk [Kyiv's main street] and came over to greet us ([LJ user] ml_forever shook hands with, perhaps, a few dozen of his compatriots, while I was exchanging hugs), and proudly showed us their “For Freedom!” badges. They were telling us how cool it was to see our flag here in Kyiv and how cool it was that you didn't have to look around in fear.
Apolitical Belarusians […] were also happy to see us. They saw our white-red-white flag and said to one another: “Those are Belarusians? It can't be! No, I'm telling you, this is the Minsk coat of arms!!” When we heard such words, we always turned and smiled and waved to them – and they were so happy to meet compatriots!
And there were several people who asked what flag this was and when they heard it was Belarusian, they looked surprised because they recalled that it looked different, and we responded that this one was the right flag, the real one. So we also involved ourselves into some educational activity.
P.S. Among those we met in Kyiv last weekend we recognized several LJ users. Respect to you! %)
[…]
It's absolutely obvious that the Internet is, so far, the only place where it's in general safe to express your thoughts freely. Virtual Belarus has been created, […] people online are For Freedom. Beyond the borders of Belarus, it is also possible to express your thoughts and declare your position.
But this opportunity isn't really being used. I think it necessary to start doing something abroad. This is especially important as the vacation season is approaching.
What can we do? I suggest… no, I'm calling! %) to all who are going abroad […] to take Belarusian symbols with them. Better to take something conspicuous, because “For Freedom!” badges aren't enough – they are practically invisible. Take flags, t-shirts, etc. Anything you can think of, the main thing is to be conspicuous! […]
What's the use of doing it? First, it's always nice to run into compatriots. If you stand out, you'll definitely be recognized as Belarusians and greeted as such, at least. Second, to have Belarusian symbols with you means being proud of your country, of your people. It means you're a real patriot, not a patriot [who receives money from the regime]. Third, it convinces those who have doubts. Many of them will, possibly, get out of [Belarus] for the first time and will see Freedom, will see our flags! It'll make them think why here, abroad, Our Flag is flying instead of the red-green rag!
[…]
P.S. [LJ user] ml_forever will set up a white-red-white flag with the Minsk coat of arms at Cape Meganom in Crimea in July-August. And I'll take my flag to Hungary in June.
Here are just two comments to lysaye-dzyaucho‘s Kyiv trip report:
2triniti: We were in Kyiv a few weeks ago. Bought OUR flag at Maidan! It is incredibly nice to be walking around the city without the fear of being stopped… being detained. And people are smiling to you )))
***
kalilaska: We sat in a Warsaw cafe with the Flag, and the Poles were coming up to us, saying “Zhyve Belarus” [Long live Belarus].


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Barbados: Common entrance examination · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

“Monday was Common Entrance Exam day in Barbados,” writes Titilayo at The Pan Collective. She explains why this exam (sometimes called 11-plus), which determines which secondary schools children will attend, is such a big deal. “To a child that age, it can probably feel like your entire future is hanging in the balance.”


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Bermuda, Cayman Islands: Freedom of Information legislation · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

“In the time it’s taken Bermuda to produce a discussion paper on freedom of information, the Cayman Islands has already started debating some actual draft legislation,” says the Limey, who points out that it's nearly two years since Bermuda's premier promised to table the appropriate legislation.


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Brazil: “City of Rhyme” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ethan Zuckerman tells the story of his college roommate, Kurt Shaw, who has been working with the group Pé no Chão (“Feet in the Dirt”) to help street kids express themselves through breakdancing, capoiera, grafitti, beats and MC’ing. The group has just released “City of Rhyme,” a compilation of “a dozen street rappers, boys and girls who work, live, and play on the street and who use rhyme as a way to understand and change their world.” The tracks are freely available for download and licensed with a CC attribution 2.5 license, which means in the words of Zuckerman, “pass them around, remix them, play them – these are kids who deserve to be heard.”


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Burundi: memos from Kissenger and Nixon · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Agathon Rwasa publishes archived material dating back to 1972 on US policy towards Burundi – various memos from Henry Kissenger and Richard Nixon.


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Cambodia: Is the world getting Flat? · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Kalyan in Cambodia is reading Thomas Freidman's “The World is Flat“. Kalyan is asking the visitors to her blog “Do you believe that the world is or is going to be flat?”


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Caribbean: The meaning of “excellent service” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Jamaican Francis Wade at Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle thinks about customer service in the Caribbean. “There is not a single island I have visited in which there is a local company giving excellent service to local people.” He tries to understand why, and congratulates the Sandals resort chain for being an exception.


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Chad: What is France doing there? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Generation Consciente, Une Autre Afrique asks  (Fr) “What is France doing in Chad? In Africa?” and answers: “The day before yesterday, they waved the communist threat to explain France's presence in Africa. Yesterday Anglo-American jolts justified the need to stay. Today Islamist regimes peak their heads in and explain our presence. Tomorrow Chinese imperialism will be evoked.”


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China: Canadian faces execution · Global Voices
John Kennedy

“A program called Ultrareach is helping thousands of Chinese defy internet censorship every day,” writes Celia at China Activist Weekly, along with posts on disturbances in Tibet and the response to a letter written to the Canadian government regarding Canadian citizen Husein Celil currently in Uzbekistan “where he is being held and likely to be extradited to China for execution.“


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China: No lawyer for Hao Wu · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Access to a lawyer shall not be granted to illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Hao Wu, as seen in a post dated May 17 on his sister Nina's blog, in which she documents her increasingly desperate drive to see some justice handed down to her little brother Haozi, ongoing translations of which can be found here.
得到答复
今日下午，突然收到上次见面张警官的电话，要我到市局信访办公室见面，将给于我们聘请律师的答复。仍然在上次的小屋，仍然是上次的两位警官，张警官递给我 “北京市公安局渉密案件聘请律师决定书京公预审字（2006）1号”，上面写着“…….根据《中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法》第九十六条第一款之规定，经审查，决定不准予聘请律师。” 尽管这一答复，不出我们意料，但我还是茫然一片，忙乎一阵，看来任何想寻求法律帮助的努力都堵死了。
皓子现在已经从拘留变为监视居住，由于法律上规定监视居住的时间期限为6个月，在8月份之前警方答应会给家属一个说法。会是什么样一个说法？最后找到一个罪名进入司法程序？家属只能被动等待，法律能帮帮在“人民机构”前显得如此弱小的群体吗？
把人关押那么久，没有任何解释，不容许律师介入，我对目前如此无力境地感到气愤。最近，也有很多朋友表示他们的关注。的确，大家都在为皓子的事忙碌，但散在各处，连我都没有一个“大图”，大家何以相互了解、组织一起了？我们一定能找到一个方法。


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China: Textbook reform urged · Global Voices
John Kennedy

As a pan-Asian consensus seems to have been reached on changes to a revisionist Japanese history textbook, a translation from Joel Martinsen at Danwei of historian Ye Yonglie's essay Textbook Problem suggests Chinese textbooks should be next.


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Cote D’Ivoire: Prime Minister Delivers Speech · Global Voices
Alice Backer

News Ivoirien posts  (Fr) a speech by Ivoirian Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny delineating his crisis exit plan for the country. “The plan to end the crisis contains three or four important aspects: disarmament, identification, relaunching of the administration and the organization of elections,” said Mr. Banny.


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DRC Diaspora: DPLC Demonstration in Liege Yesterday · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege posts pictures and an account (Fr) of yesterday's Debout Pour Le Congo demonstration in Liege, Belgium. The demonstration was sparked by a journalist's decision to film undocumented Congolese for remuneration.  The people filmed fear consequences on behalf of Belgian authorities but also retribution by the Congolese government if they are sent back to the Congo. The demonstration's main theme was that all Belgians are first, second or third generation immigrants, the King included.


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Egypt: How the Egyptian police treats women? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Sandmonkey shares a video taken by a camera phone that shows how the Egyptian police interrogates females at a police station.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Ethiopia: Bombings · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

CoffeeChillunSun comments on the recent bombings in Ethiopia.…”It leaves a strange sense of unease that doesn't dissipate anymore- we now listen out for any loud-ish bang, look out for strange behaviour (difficult in Addis) and stick to the most familiar areas and routes when out and about.”


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Ethiopia: Jailing of journalists · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Black Star Journal comments on the Ethiopian journalists who were charged with genocide by the government of Meles Zenawi.  Needless to say the arrest of the so called treasoness and genocidal journalists has not stopped the bombing in Addis.


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Georgia: Sheep on the Road · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Hans has videos of sheep on the Georgian Military Road, showing it continues to be an important route through the Caucasus.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Ghana: Chocolate memories · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ramblings of an African Geek is presently visiting his home in Ghana.  Here he remembers fondly the chocolate of his childhood.  Ghanaian chocolate  Ghana is one of the largest producers of cocoa in the world.  He posts some photos of Tree Chocolate – a Ghanaian speciality.


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Guyana: Music piracy · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

“On the streets young men push cart loads of stolen booty. In stores around town sales girls hand you the very latest stolen booty with a dazzling smile.” Guyana 360 reports on rampant music and movie piracy in the capital, Georgetown, and visits a series of shops where bootleg CDs and DVDs are openly available.


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India: Chennai and Right to Information · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An online initiative takes off in Chennai to move volunteers to work towards being able to use the Right to Information Act.


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India: SMS Culture  · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Text messaging in India has found use across sectors. From finding cricket scores, to booking rituals in a temple. Kamla on the SMS culture in India.


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India: The Da Whatever Code · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Indian Government decides to delay the release of the movie – The Da Vinci Code, and the blogosphere has had quite a reaction to the issue. Falstaff on having to defend a piece of work that may not be worth it.