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Kazakhstan: Who Lives Well in Kazakhstan · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

As long as Kazakhstan still aspires to enter the top 50 most competitive states of the world (although these efforts have so far resulted in decline of its competitiveness, as the World Economic Forum’s annual reports show), the republic has managed to enter another list of countries, unfortunately, a shameful one. Ehot reports that Kazakhstan has been included in the blacklist of Ebay web-shop as a country, to which they don’t ship any products due to the theft of packages in these countries [ru].
However, Kazakhstan – being rich in mineral resources and, at the same time, lacking proper law enforcement – still attracts a lot of foreigners. Nemtschin often communicated with such expats and finds that those of them who live in Kazakhstan for 10 years (or so) become mentally very similar to the native Kazakhstanis; however, with a “larger share of pragmatism” [ru]:
There is just one distinguishing feature. We, the natives, always hope that something can be done by the rules, according to the law. The foreigners always know from the very beginning the schemes that are functioning – and they do not expect fair play. I know a couple of such expats – they love Kazakhstan. One German told me that in his homeland he would have never got rich so quickly – and here he is overhappy.
Meanwhile, azoo recollects the government’s decision that had been taken last year – then all Western experts and markets were critical about the Kazakhstan’s intention to buy out shares of the Kazakh companies abroad. “Now [G.W.] Bush announced state support for quotations of the system-forming companies, leave alone the earlier similar decision of Russia”.
Meanwhile, some of the governmental expenditures in the time of lingering economic difficulties raise eyebrows of the bloggers. Dojdlivoe-leto wonders why it is so necessary to change the standards of state symbols and oblige all state bodies to change the national flags and emblems until December 1 this year.
“Only in Ekibastuz [a mid-size industrial town in northern Kazakhstan] more than 6 million tenge [50.000 US dollars] is allocated for these ourposes from the city budget”, she writes [ru].
Meanwhile, dass is skeptical and ironic about the novelty that has been introduced on the newly opened parliamentary session in Kazakhstan – each deputy’s seat is now equipped with laptops having broadband Internet access with the purpose to raise effectiveness of the MPs’ work. “Well, I think, there is no need to explain how free Internet affects the job to the modern people”, he notes [ru].
Mumo-cult reports that president Nazarbayev will present his book “The Kazakhstan Way” in Washington on October 1 and marks out that usually such events last around 1 hour, but the Kazakh leader’s appearance is scheduled to last 3 hours [ru].
also posted on neweurasia.net


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Kuwait: YouTube Ban Lifted  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

News about YouTube being blocked in Kuwait hit the headlines yesterday, with bloggers frustrated over what they described as yet another intrusion on freedom of speech in their country.
The Kuwait Ministry of Communications first issued an order to local ISPs denying access to Youtube due to video content considered offensive to Muslims and Islam. Blogger later reported that the ban was lifted after YouTube removed the ‘offensive’ video.
About the original ban, Ansam writes:
I think this is the dumbest decision ever made when it comes to blocking offensive sites… whats next? Blogs!!! Limewire!!!
Man this is ridiculous… no, no, no… its is ridiculously sad! Who comes up with such decisions! Isnt youtube also full of videos supporting Islam, Muslims, and Arabs! Why take the negative part?!?! Was it because of the Quranic verses read in melodic background? The video was removed for God's sake? You only need to report offensive videos and your voice will sure be heard!
I am hating this SO MUCH! Ughhhhhhhhh!
And when the ban was not implemented, Ansam exclaimed:
They canceled! Its not blocked… YAY
Another Kuwaiti blogger, Loft965, notes:
It’s the end of the world as we know it: Kuwait might block YouTube.
Bashar  too is livid at the decision, suggesting that the government bans other sites while it is at it. His suggestions include:
If they still wanna move forward, despite that YouTube did really act upon the video, listned to people complains, and there isn’t really any such videos right now, then I have a list of suggestions to push our country furter forward, carefully selected from Alexa top 100 sites in Kuwait:
Falantan brings news of the order to ban YouTube being reconsidered at higher levels. He writes:
Thanks to you all and the amazing response, it seems the Ministry people are realizing their blunder […]And now I got confirmation that the Minister himself has convened with his department heads and rescinded the order.
Thank you al-Jarida and thank you bloggers of Kuwait :)
Writing in Arabic, Jandeef argues:
Jordanian Moey, who visits Kuwait regularly, urges the authorities:
Why block the website? I’m not sure if any of you remember, they blocked anything +18 in Yahoo groups 2 years back, and YouTube has an option that allows users to report offensive content.
Please don’t go nuts like Syria and block YouTube and Facebook?
And Frankom rants:
الخبر نازل بالجرايد اليوم
مبروك علينا دولة الديموقراطية والحرية
مبروك علينا ناس مثل الكندري مدير الرقابة
مبروك علينا وزير مايعرف وين الله قاطه
مبروك علينا شركات ماتدافع عن العملاء
مبروك علينا كلنا هذا النعيم
الى الخلف يا كويت

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Nepal: Testing time for the new government · Global Voices
Rezwan

ABC blog reports that the new Maoist government had to take back their decision of reducing the budget on traditional Hindu and Mahayana Buddhist rituals of sacrificing animals because of protests. “Unless they abstain from coercing people to behave according to the party guidelines, even such positive and pious intentions of refraining from animal-killings would invite confrontations“, the blog adds.

author: Rezwan


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Pakistan: Facing war · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pak Tea House comments on Saturday's Hotel Marriott bombing in Islamabad: “It is an open political war on Pakistan, a lethal tool to destabilize Pakistan.“


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Pakistan: Marriott Hotel blasts by Fidaeen-e-Islam  · Global Voices
Rezwan

CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan reports that “an unknown militant group, Fidaeen-e-Islam, (‘Partisans of Islam’), claimed responsibility for Saturday’s Marriott Hotel attack.”


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Poland, Russia, U.S.: A “New Cold War” or Not? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot hosts a discussion of the Polish-Russian-American relationship in the aftermath of the Russian-Georgian conflict.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Poland, U.S.: Ancient Kings and Presidential Candidates · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot muses on what's considered “politics” in the United States and Poland.


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Qatar: Introducing Browser Shots · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Dr Net, from Qatar, introduces his readers to Browser Shots, a open source which enables users to make screenshots of their web design in different browsers.


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Qatar: Ramadhan Post Sparks Debate  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A Global Voices Online post on Ramadhan in the Arab world sparked a debate at Qatar Living.


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Romania, Hungary: Hockey and Football Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csíkszereda Musings posts “a short Transylvanian sporting update.”


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Russia: “Stirka” Bar in St. Pete · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eagle and the Bear writes about a St. Petersburg bar named “Stirka” (Laundry).


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Russia: Svetlana Bakhmina · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam writes about the case of Svetlana Bakhmina, a jailed former lawyer for Yukos and a pregnant mother of two children.


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Russia, U.S.: Kremlin for McCain? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam explains why the Kremlin may prefer John McCain as the next U.S. president and notes that “Mr. Putin and others should be careful what they wish for.”


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Saudi Arabia: Happy National Day  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The country is changing, but at a glacial pace that is leaving me and many others dejected and frustrated. It is just disheartening to move in slow baby steps when we can — and should — take leaps ahead to the future,” writes Saudi Jeans on his country's national day.


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The Balkans: Driving Through Bosnia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csíkszereda Musings recounts a summer drive through the Balkans and, among other things, compares Bosnian motorways to those in Romania.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Budget Summary  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad & Tobago News Blog provides a summary of the fiscal measures announced in the country's latest budget.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Reaching for the Sky?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In Trinidad and Tobago, we have a sadly comical way of only seeing the outer trappings of first world grandeur and not the basic infrastructure and social foundation behind it”: Alien in the Caribbean maintains that skyscrapers alone are not a mark of true development.


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Ukraine, Russia: Kvas · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Darkness at Noon posts an ode to kvas: “To be sure, kvas is the national drink of the East Slavic peoples. Vodka doesn't count because it is consumed largely for its well-documented medicinal benefits. Or at least this is what a local guide in Odessa recently told me. And while beer is certainly witnessing an impressive surge, nothing quenches that deep down latent-peasant thirst like a big mug of kvas. I'm sure Tolstoy would agree with me.”


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Venezuela: The Expulsion of Human Rights Watch · Global Voices
Luis Carlos Diaz

Armed military soldiers searched for José Miguel Vivancos, spokesperson for the international NGO Human Rights Watch, and expelled him from Venezuela hours after releasing the report at a press conference, “A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela,” which included critical commentary about the administration of Hugo Chávez.
The Venezuelan government's response to what it called, “another foreign aggression by U.S. Imperialism” was quick, convincing, and maybe even provided evidence of the political intolerance cited in the report, which is one of the fundamental features of contemporary Venezuela.
The report does not say anything that the Venezuela opposition has not already said, and in reality, Vivancos’ statements were nothing new.
However, for being an foreigner and the international legitimacy of the NGO caused for his immediate exit. In addition, recently the Venezuelan government expelled the U.S. ambassador in solidarity with the expulsion of the U.S. ambassador in Bolivia.
Iria Puyosa in her blog Resteados [es], she publishes some portions of the HRW report in a post called “Please, Don't Watch or Fuck You,“
Venezuela no logrará obtener un progreso real y sostenido hacia el fortalecimiento de su democracia; ni tampoco ser un modelo útil para otros países de la región; mientras su gobierno continúe despreciando los principios de derechos humanos establecidos en su propia Constitución.
[…]
El capítulo 2 documenta de qué forma el gobierno ha:
– Despedido a opositores políticos de algunas instituciones estatales y de la compañía petrolera estatal y puesto sus nombres en listas negras;
– Ha negado a algunos ciudadanos el acceso a programas sociales como consecuencia de sus opiniones políticas; y
– Discriminado contra los medios de comunicación, los sindicatos y las organizaciones de la sociedad civil en respuesta a sus críticas o a su actividad política.
Venezuela will not achieve real and sustainable progress towards the strengthening of its democracy; it will also not be a useful models for other countries of the region; while its government continues to look down upon the principals of human rights established by its own Constitution.
[…]
Chapter 2 documents the way that the government has:
– Fired political opponents in some of the state institutions and of the state petroleum company and blacklisted them;
– Denied some citizens access to social programs due to their political opinions; and
-Discriminated against the media, unions, and civil society organizations in response to their criticism o their political activity.
Even though the blogs that support the government have decreased in activity over the past months, there are other spaces that these opinions are expressed.  On the site Aporrea [es] there have been articles directly attacking Vivancos and the role of HRW (calling them employees of the CIA and destablizers), responding to the report as if it was a document from the United States, and even some authors such as Francisco Sierra Corrales proposes the need to redefine “Human Rights”
Podemos decir que no sólo los estados o gobiernos son los únicos sujetos activos o los únicos susceptibles de violar los derechos humanos o garantías sociales sino que lo puede hacer el Imperialismo Yanqui, como primer factor de poder mundial. Por ejemplo, el terrorismo mediático y las desestabilizaciones políticas son impulsadas y monitoreadas por Washington, en contra de nuestros pueblos, en especial en contra de los gobiernos de centro-izquierda y centro-derecha que han empezado a surgir en nuestro continente en lo que va de siglo.
We can say that the state or governments are not the only active subjects or the only suspects in violating human rights or social guarantees, but something that the Yankee Imperialism can do, as well. For example, media terrorism and the political destabilization is impulsed and monitored from Washington, against our people and especially against center-left and center-right governments, which have been taking power on our continent since the beginning of the century.
In other political forums, a revolutionary forumist called Achue2 comments:
Con una diplomacia subliminal nos quieren convencer que se cometió un abuso contra este “martir” de los Derechos Humanos. Acá se le dio cuerda [oportunidad] suficiente a este señor. Tiene 10 años viniendo en tiempos electorales a subvertir el orden interno con calumnias y falacias apoyando a una tolda politica… perdió el equilibrio y la veracidad.
With a subliminal diplomacy, they want to convince us that an abuse was committed against this Human Rights “martyr.”  Here they gave this man enough of an opportunitiy.  He has been coming here for the past 10 years during election season trying to subvert the internal order with slander and fallacies supporting a political structure …he lost balance and truthfulness.
For those blogs, historically identified as opposition to Chávez, this impasse is only one more step towards intolerance by the military government in Venezuela.  In other opinions, not so black and white, Rómulo Rodríguez comments on his blog Romrod [es] that he does not agreement with the way that someone making criticism was taken out of the country:
No me importa realmente quien es este señor Vivancos, no lo conozco ni me interesa. Pero lo que si me importa es que el gobierno venga y nos diga como y por que lo que se dice en el reporte es falso. Punto por punto si es posible. Responder con la expulsión de estos señores lo que me hace pensar es que como que tienen la razón y por esto es que los botan. Una torpe bravuconada. […]
¿No hay discriminación política? ¿No hay intolerancia? ¿Hay un completo respeto a las minorías?”
I don't care who this Mr. Vivancos is, I don't know him and I don't care. What is important to me is that the government comes and says what in the report is false.  Point by point if possible. Responding with the expulsion of these men makes mr wonder whether they were right and that is why they are thrown out.  A clumsy and brazen move. […]
Isn't there political discrimination?  Isn't there intolerance? Is there a complete respect for minorities?
Petrusco participates in the comments section and enters into the discussion at the blog Periodismo de Paz [es] regarding the legitimacy of HRW and its political interests by coming to the country and to present its findings:
El día que la HRW demuestre su imparcialidad y eficiencia lanzando informes duros y contundentes en contra de gobiernos como el de Estados Unidos o Israel y realizando acciones serias y eficientes en función de esos informes entonces si valdrá la pena creerles lo que se vengan a leer aquí o en donde sea.
The day that HRW demonstrates its impartiality and efficiency by releasing tough and thorough reports against government like the United States or Israel and takes serious and efficient actions in regards to those reports, then will it be worth it to believe what they came to report here or anywhere else.
Are they attacking the message or the messenger?  Read the report here and make your own conclusions.

author: Luis Carlos Diaz


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Albania: EU’s Visa Regime Liberalisation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Albanian Blogger posts a note on the much-awaited liberalisation of the EU’s visa regime for Albanian citizens.


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Bangladesh: Images of nature · Global Voices
Rezwan

Desher Chobi  posts some beautiful pictures shot in the Botanical Garden of Dhaka, Bangladesh as a part of the photowalk organized by Flickr group “Shudhui Bangla”.


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Barbados: Food Security  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Government needs to put together a strategic plan to respond to short, medium and long-term demands of the agricultural industry”: Barbados Underground is concerned about food security.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Setback in the Srebrenica Survivors’ Search for Justice” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Samaha posts a detailed update on the outcome of the case brought by Srebrenica survivors against the Dutch state.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Speak Out Against Dutch Court’s Decision · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kirk Johnson of Americans For Bosnia notes that “a Dutch civil court sided with the Dutch state and dismissed the case against the Netherlands for their failure to prevent Srebrenica genocide in 1995″ and is urging readers “to contact the Dutch embassy in your country to express your dismay at this terrible, cowardly decision.”


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Bulgaria: A New Blog · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Petya of Bighead announces a new blog project: How to Marry a Bulgarian.


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Central Europe: Cheap Travel · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word writes about the wonderful travel opportunities that Central European citizens enjoy, now that the borders are open and cheap plane tickets are available.


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China: Chinese Websites Trapped In Milk Powder Gate · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a local report from Southern Metropolis Daily on how Chinese search engines and websites are involved in the poisonous milk powder scandal.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Illegitimate Girl Deprived of the Right to Education · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

An illegitimate girl of primary-school age in Zhuhai , South China, was turned away by the local schools, because her mother is not able to afford the hefty fine for illegitimacy, according to sohu blogger Han Tao’s report .
"I am a local child. I want to receive compulsory education, too! "
小青举着这个牌子站在拱北下湾小学门口，她非常渴望能够在这所学校里和其他小朋友一起读书。7年前她的父母在没有正式登记结婚的情况生育了她，随后她的父亲 又将她们母女抛弃。因为小青是非婚生育，她的妈妈必须向计生部门缴纳9000余元罚款后才能为小青落珠海户口。眼看着小青到了上学年龄，妈妈却一直没有能力缴纳这笔罚款，情急之下母亲只好带着小青到相关部门奔走求情。两个月时间，她们走遍了计生、教育、街道及政府，可是小青上学的问题还是无望。眼看着开学了，周围同龄的小朋友们都背着崭新的书包走进了学校，妈妈和小青的内心却是万分失落。奔走求情无效，妈妈又想出一个万不得已的办法，她在一张纸上写下“我也是本地儿童，我也要接受义务教育”，让小青举着这张纸站在了学校门口。妈妈想通过这样极端的方式引起媒体和相关部门的重视。小青的妈妈对我说了这样一段话：“错是我的错，可跟孩子无关。她是活生生的一个人，为什么不能有户口，为什么不能接受教育”。
希望看到这篇文章的网友能把图片和文字转载到更多的网站
非常感谢大家对小青的关注，我们的文字记者正在尽力协调此事，有新的消息我会立即发布。如有朋友需要联系小青，可以给我电话，我的电话15819497255。
Several comments quoted from Han Tao’s blog :
发布者 搜狐网友2008-09-23 08:26
计划生育是基本国策，非婚生育违反政策，如果因为一个特例就改变的话，那国策就根本坚持不下来，国策得不到贯彻，人口会加剧膨胀，生存的压力就更大。大家考虑事情得从全局考虑，而不是一个个案！
发布者 搜狐网友2008-09-23 08:53
私生子也是人，也有人的基本权利，特别是受教育的权利，如果没有人的基本权利，可不可以这样说，从她一出生，就注定她对社会是多余的，可以随意剥夺她的基本权利，包括生死。显然这是不可能的，可是为什么就可以剥夺她受教育的权利呢？什么社会制度？什么以人为本？什么法制国家？愤慨！！
发布者 搜狐网友 2008-09-23 09:24
你现在保证了她的权利，那将来谁保证其他人包括你孩子的权利，当中国人越来越多，那就会有更多无辜的人失去他的社会权力！！
孩子是没有错，那母亲的错就可以掩盖过去么？她母亲为什么不筹钱交罚款？为什么让无辜的孩子承担这一切？她这么做只是为了利用社会舆论来解决她目前遇到的问题，那么这样做对孩子的心里影响考虑过没有？9000块不是9万，应该不是那么难筹吧，自己拼命赚也不是赚不来吧，打孩子这张牌，她配做母亲么？
发布者 搜狐网友 2008-09-23 10:19
非婚生子,是谁也不愿意做的.尤其是妈妈,这样做,一定有外人无法想象的苦衷,单亲妈妈带孩子该是多么的无奈和辛苦啊,要承受多少的磨难啊.她们是需要帮助.非婚生也不是超生.再给她们雪上加霜,社会太冷了.
发布者 恋茶人 2008-09-24 01:35
作为一个身心健全的人,女人生育子女是权利,现在在这种体制下被压制,本身就是不对,但小孩已经来到这个世间上,并且在中国这种社会体制下,在法律上他是错了.但我想问一句,人的感情有错吗?我想请问那些说话不负责人的人,在这个金钱至上的社会里,富人及达官显贵一族就可以想生多少就多少,就因为他有钱, 难道法律就是帮穷人设限制,帮富人开路的吗?悲哀!如果说法律是因人而异的,那就等于说没有法律可言!小孩是无辜的,民众是天,国之根本,民心所向就是对的.任何体制都应以尊重人权为先!
发布者 搜狐网友 2008-09-24 09:49
户籍制度从来就是不合理的，孩子只要生下来，就应该有他生存的权利，这是人的基本权力。难道不给他上户口这个人就不存在了吗？只能让受到不公平的人仇视这个社会，这个社会将付出更大的代价，这个社会还能和谐吗？
我们的政府为啥不对自己的同胞好些，包容些呢？

author: Meng Zhang


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China: Infant Formula Scandal Highlights Decline in Breastfeeding · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

Health authorities in China reported this week that nearly 53,000 children have become sick after consuming tainted infant formula. As the effects of these contaminated dairy products become more widespread, many are discussing the alternative to formula — breastfeeding.
The scandal erupted earlier this month when Sanlu, China's top-selling infant formula manufacturer, publicly recalled its products. The baby formula was deliberately contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical that can cause kidney problems. Since then, thousands of children have become sick and the milk powder has been blamed for the deaths of four infants. The crisis has not only raised questions about food safety, but also about why so many children are being fed formula in the first place, instead of being breastfed.
Thanks to its numerous health benefits, the World Health Organization recommends that children be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life. However, despite a long tradition of breastfeeding in China, rates have declined as more mothers turn to milk formula. The rates of exclusive breastfeeding during an infant's first four months decreased from around 76 percent in 1998 to 64 percent in 2004. At six months, the percentage of babies being exclusively breastfed is only 51 percent.
Many blame China's shift away from breastfeeding on formula companies who aggressively target the 17 million babies born each year in China. Mr Dennis says:
“With the recent tainted formula scare in China I immediately became suspicious – why are so many Chinese using formula anyway? It is a poor country, surely they would be breastfeeding? Sure enough, just like in the West in the 40s and 50s, formula is being promoted in China as better than breast milk.”
He goes on to cite a report that blames the marketing of formula:
“Under Chinese consumer protection regulations, ads can’t claim or hint that a product is a replacement for breast milk. Nor are ads permitted to use images of breastfeeding women and babies. Nonetheless, infant formula companies often flout these regulations.”
Mike Brady, blogging for Baby Milk Action, also blames formula companies and their unethical advertising tactics.
“Consider a little further why there is a growth in formula use in China. It is undergoing rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, but that does not have to mean the fall in breastfeeding rates that is being experienced. Part of the cultural change is prompted by western companies. For example, Nutricia, now owned by Danone, promoted its ‘Kissing my Baby’ formula in China in 2004 with this gift CD with children's music.”
Some say that this push to use formula comes from doctors themselves. This despite the fact that China has banned the promotion of breast milk substitutes in hospitals since it launched the Regulation of Human Milk Substitutes Distribution in 1995. One article claims that almost 63 percent of babies receive formula in Chinese hospitals anyway. The same regulation also says that doctors must promote the advantages of breastfeeding.
Covenofovens, commenting on this article, shares his story of pushy doctors:
“We breastfed our baby exclusively for a year (breast milk and water only for the first 4 months, then breast milk, water and food after that)…This is not to say that we had formula pushed on us by doctors – especially the doctor that came to check on my wife a week after the birth. She brought a sample pack of formula produced close to Shenzhen (where our son was born), which sat on the shelf until we eventually threw it away.”
Nase, blogging from Malaysia on My Solitude of Space, says that the moms in his local Chinese community are less likely to breastfeed. He asked his mother as to the reasons why.
“Apparently (according to my mom and many Chinese moms), the main concern is about sagging breasts (quote from momma Rose: If I'd breastfed all five of you rascals, I'll be walking on four legs now!)…Other less convincing reasons given by my momma Rose was that due to inconvenience, as moms also need to work and care to other whims of their older children and husbands too!”
minipumpkin agrees that body image is an issue, but also blames a lack of time and the misconception that formula is healthier:
现在很多年轻的母亲怕身材变形、担心没有足够的个人时间，明明奶水很足，却生生地没有喂自己的孩子一口奶。面对市场上琳琅满目的奶粉以及大肆宣传的广告，妈妈们可能觉得没有了母乳照样有营养丰富的配方奶粉，冲调方便，孩子吃了还那么白胖，何乐而不为呢？我不想去批评不哺喂母乳的妈妈，她们当中确有因先天因素奶水不足而不得以人工喂养的，我只是为自己的决定而庆幸，而且通过这次三鹿问题奶粉事件，我本来打算周岁断奶的决定也延后了，再喂一段时间吧。
kakb2006, quoted from Hong Kong's newspapers, points out that working can be an especially large obstacle to breastfeeding for migrant workers.
目前，由於大量的農村人口出外打工，其中，許多婦女生了小孩後不久，就要離家繼續到城市打工，嬰兒在無母乳餵餔下，主要營養品就只能來自奶粉，也因為經濟條件相對較差，不少人買不起貴價奶粉，因此，便宜的奶粉近年一直在農村大有市場。
Some Chinese researchers have said that the shift back to breastfeeding will require greater promotion of its benefits. Hoyden About Town adds that this change will only happen if breastfeeding is supported financially, socially and practically. Perhaps the infant formula scandal will start pushing this change to happen in China. A post from the South China Morning Post reports:
“A lack of nursing skills, breastfeeding rooms, and public awareness are among the scores of reasons mainland mothers have abandoned breastfeeding over the years, but the melamine milk scandal is one factor forcing many to reconsider. Hospitals have been packed this week with scared mothers asking about breastfeeding, while the topic has become the most popular source of discussion on maternity and childcare websites.”
Image of Breastfeeding Allowed posted by Topinambour on Flickr.
Oiwan Lam contributed translations of quotes from Chinese to English for this post.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Cuba: Access Denied · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Won’t the Daddy-State learn how irritating children become when they rarely leave the house?” Havana-based blogger Yoani Sanchez says that she has once again been denied travel privileges.


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Deaf Awareness Week: Striving for Quality Education · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

On this second part of the Deaf Awareness Week posts (part one), we bring you a perspective on education for the deaf, and the different challenges it implies. First, from the Central African Republic, a school that after funds stopped, has continued fueled only by love. Second, from the Philippines, deaf students created and produced a video showcasing the struggles many of them face after they graduate. In Venezuela, teachers for the deaf explain the importance of a bilingual and bi-cultural education. And finally, a visual example of how different sign languages from two countries can be.
This first video from the Central African Republic, documents the plight their only deaf school is facing: they are down to two teachers working out of love, since they haven't been paid their salary for 4 years, and they are in dire need of supplies and books. This video is in African Sign Language with English subtitles.
The Humanitarian and Development Partnership team of the Central African Republic is the non-profit organization which produced and posted this video. On their blog, they point out what the needs of this school are, according to its principal: salaries, materials, teacher training, busing, more schools for the deaf and vocational training for older students. Information about how to contact this organization to help this school can be found here.
From the Philippines, the Manila Christian Computer Institute for the Deaf provides training in computer skills for their students, preparing them for the job market as well as they can, however, as can be seen in this video which they produced and directed themselves, they face frustration and lack of job opportunities once they get out of school. The video is in Filipino Sign Language with English subtitles:
Venezuela also provides specialized education for the deaf population, and in this video, school staff explain how they go around teaching deaf children who may also suffer from cognitive deficiencies in what they call a bilingual environment. There, students are taught in Sign Language as their first language and in Spanish as their second language, which will hopefully enable them to integrate themselves better to the rest of the hearing community. One of the teachers explains how she doesn't consider incorrect verb usage in homework as a mistake, but as an opportunity to explain to the students that people who hear, use verbs in different manners and they should also learn how to express themselves appropriately when communicating with them. The video is in Venezuelan Sign Language and Spanish.
Finally, a short video of the gruposenaslibres in Mexico: In tandem, a Mexican girl and an Austrian guy sign their respective manual alphabets, the numbers and the months of the year.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Hungary: Another Study On the “Extreme Right” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum reviews a study of history and “prejudices” of the Hungarian “extreme right.”


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India: Saying goodbye to TATA · Global Voices
Rezwan

DCBA comments on the issue of TATA being forced out of West Bengal in India: “This critical issue can only be solved by politicians with a commitment to India’s development and not by opportunist politicians who are just raising slogans to score quick cheap points.“


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India: Shocking apologist · Global Voices
Rezwan

I love life… so I explore is shocked to hear that the CEO of an Italy-based company in India was beaten to death by a group of dismissed employees. And more shocking to the blogger was the Union Labour Minister's statement “This should serve as a warning for the managements”.


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Iran: Google Earth and former jailed blogger · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mojtaba Saminejad, an Iranian blogger, who had been in jail for more than 20 months for his writings, uses Google Earth to show us his prison in Iran.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica, Guyana: New Book  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp focuses on a new book by Guyanese author Sasenarine Persaud.


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Jamaica: More Corrupt?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the 2008 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) rankings are released, My View of JamDown from Up So asks, “Which party deserves the bulk of blame for the increased perception of Jamaican corruption?”


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Japan: Maga on War and Japan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Japan Focus just published a translation of one of Mizuki Shigeru’s short manga pieces, entitled “War and Japan“, with a brief introduction to the man and his work written by Matthew Penney. via Mutant Travelogue.


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Japan: Manga teaches children danger of fast food · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japanese blogger and author Chiki Ogiue [荻上チキ] scans an educational manga book he stumbled on at an eco cafe [ja] that teaches children good dietary habits with incredibly frank visual messages and storylines, emphasizing the danger of fast food and the value of eating rice, among other things. Webpage of the company that produces the books (with more info) is here [ja].

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: The true revolution of Google Street View · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger id:bohemian_style reflects on the launch of Google Street View in Japan [ja], noting that the way the service is viewed differs depending on where people are living: in modern urban areas, people's sense of privacy tends to be limited their immediate living space, which ends at the entrance to their apartment, whereas people living in older areas of cities and in detached homes in rural areas view their front yard as semi-private. These differences are connected to demographics, young people in urban areas having invested less into their living spaces than older people in rural areas.


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Japan: Wordcamp Tokyo 2008 · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Akky Akimoto writes about the first Wordcamp (conference of WordPress users) in Japan [ja], Wordcamp Tokyo 2008 held on September 23rd, and also rounds up other Japanese blog posts on the event.


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Jordan: When do you say Enough?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The more you have, the more you want. When do you say you have had enough and become content with the blessings bestowed upon you, asks Ola Eliwat from Jordan.


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Korea: The End of OhmyNews Japan (following Hanako’s) · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Following the post, “The End of OhmyNews Japan” by the Japanese editor, Hanako, I was curious how Korean bloggers talk about the failure of OhmyNews Japan. Many bloggers have analyzed the success of OhmyNews Korea and have been keen on changes in ONK, which is regarded as the godfather of citizen journalism. OhmyNews Korea is still a powerful citizen media organization. Since the failure of OhmyNews Japan was announced and the new plan came out, I found several Korean bloggers who have responded.
Luuu studies the failure of OhmyNews Japan.
한국 오마이 뉴스를 모델로 일본에서 2년전(2006년 8월 30일)시작된 오마이뉴스가 사실상 기존 모델을 변경해서 오마이 라이프라는 새로운 이름으로 바뀝니다(2008년 9월 1일). 오마이뉴스가 인터넷 미디어사에서 끼친 영향은 지대해서 세계 각국의 관심이 지속되고 있으며 올해 북해도에서 열린 G8서미트에서도 시민뉴스사이트가 선주민등 소수자의 인권을 개선시키는데 많은 공헌을 했다는 발표가 있었습니다. 하지만 일본 요미우리 신문에 따르면 2006년 시작하면서 1년내에 시민기자를 5,000명까지 확보하겠다고 발표했습니다만 2008년 8월 현재도 4650명 정도인 상태이며 이마저 기자의 질이 안정적이지 않을 상태라고 합니다. 그리고 기사 열람 횟수도 목표인 연간 2억건에 크게 못 미치는 1,000만건에 그치고 있습니다.
더 큰 실패의 길로 가는 일본 오마이뉴스
일본 오마이의 히라노 편집장은 그 원인으로서 ‘블로그’가 대세가 되면서 자신의 의견을 쓰고 싶은 사람들이 대거 블로그로 몰려간 것이 큰 원인인 것 같다고 말합니다. 그리고 새로운 “오마이 라이프”는 기업과의 타이업도 적극적으로 하고 신상품 소개등 일본인의 생활과 밀접한 사이트가 되도록 하겠다는 이야기를 했습니다. 물론 수익이라는 측면에서 본다면 히라노 편집장의말과 같이 블로그를 하면서 구글의 애드 센스를 달아 놓는 것이 더 매력적일 수도 있습니다. 하지만 블로그 대세라 시민뉴스사이트가 어렵다는 것은 완전히 수긍하기 어려운 면이 있습니다. 또 하나 일본인의생활과 밀접한 그런 사이트를 지향한다면 아마도 일본에서 넘쳐나는 그냥 그런 사이트 중의 하나가 되고 말지 않을가 우려됩니다.
한국과 다른 일본, 타겟과 의제를 다르게 설정했어야
일본분들중 일본은 한국과 같이 정치에 높은 관심을 가진 사람이 없어서 오마이가 고전을 한 것이라고 말하는 분들도 계시는 것 같습니다. 이건 그렇지 않다고 할 수는 없을 것 같습니다. 노무현 전 대통령을 만든 공이 오마이뉴스에 있다고 이야기할 정도이니까요. 하지만 저는 오마이 뉴스는 한국의 진보적이며 사회주의적(우리나라에서는 이상하게 해석되지만 결국 가능한한 더 많은 사람이, 동물이, 자연이 같이 행복하게 살자고 생각하는)인 성향의 사람들이 열광하며 지지하며 자신의 목소리를 더했기에 성공이 가능했다고 생각합니다. 이들의 관심은 비단 정치 뿐만이 아니라 불합리한 사회관행, 소외된 사람들, 새로운 지구적 키워드인 환경문제에도 높은 관심을 보였습니다. 그리고 “사람 사는 이야기”에 많은 응원을 아끼지 않았죠. 지금은 오마이가 “사람사는 이야기”를 너무 등한시 하는 것이 아닌가 하는 불만이 있습니다.이런 오마이 뉴스가 가능했던 것은 한국적 상황에서 그런 미디어에 대한 니즈를 같이 느끼며 살아온 오연호 대표가 있었기에 가능했었습니다.
반면 일본 오마이 뉴스는 한국에서 성공에 고무된 일본측 사람들과 한국오마이의 “이렇게 하니 성공하더라”라는 케이스스터디에서 출발했기 때문에 진정 지금의 일본인들이 절실히 바라는 미디어의 성격을 찾지 못한 것으로 보입니다.일본 오마이뉴스의 타겟은 누구로 할 것이며,그 타겟의 시장은 어느 정도 일지에 대한 구체적이고 인사이트 있는 분석이 이루어지지 않은 상태에서 한국의 모델을 일본화 시키는 것에 주력했던 것이 아닌가 싶습니다. 새롭게 변신하는 오마이라이프는 또 다시 이런 실패를 해서는 안될 것입니다. 하지만 이번에는 광고유치가 쉬운, 기업과 타이업하기 쉬운 그런 형태의 사이트를 벤치마케팅해서 그리 달려가는 것은 아닌지 심히 우려됩니다.
OhmyNews Japan , going down the road of bigger failure.
Hirano, Chief-Editor of Ohmynews Japan, says the reason why it failed is because of the general trend of “blogs” –  people who would like to write about their own opinions choose blogs. He adds that the new “Oh!myLife” will actively work with enterprises and will become a site that is close to Japanese lives, such as introducing new products. Of course if you look at profits, using Google AdSense would be more attractive while combining blogs as Hirano mentioned. However, it is hard to completely understand that because of the popularity of blog a citizen news site is hard operated. In addition, if they will incline to a site that is close to Japanese lives, I am afraid that it will not be so much different from many other sites in Japan.
Japan is different from Korea. It should have had different targets and topics.
Some Japanese analyze the reason why OhmyNews Japan has hard time is because Japanese are not interested in politics as much as Koreans are. Maybe it could be possible. Some say that OhmyNews contributed to making Roh Moo Hyun become the President. Ohmynews Korea was possible to succeed because people who have the strong progressive and socialist (socialism is distortedly interpreted in Korean society, but it is possibly many more people, animals, and nature can live happily) tendencies supported and gathered their voices in the site. Interests that those people have are about illogical social practice, isolated people, and environment. And they supported “stories about peoples’ lives.” There is dissatisfaction that now OhmyNews is getting to disregard “stories about peoples’ lives.” The reason why OhmyNews was successful was because of the CEO, Oh Yeon Ho, who recognized such a media is needed in Korea.
On the other hand, OhmyNews Japan started with Japanese who were encouraged by the success of OhmyNews Korea and Koreans with a case study of OhmyNews Korea. Therefore, they couldn’t find what kind of media will be needed in Japan. Who will be the targets for OhmyNews Japan and how big the market will be… these detailed and inside analyses were not conducted enough and it seems that it applied the Korean model to Japanese. I hope that the new Oh!myLife doesn’t repeat this failure. However, I am also worried that it will turn to be a common site that is easy to work with enterprises and to have advertisements.
Nihon thinks that stepping in the Japanese Internet market is not easy.
일본에 오마이 뉴스가 2006년 8월 28일에 진출 했을 때는 굉장한 관심을 받았는데 오마이 뉴스가 9월 1일자로 오 마이 라이프로 이름을 변경하였다. 기사를 찾아보니 일본에서 정착하는데 있어서 실패했나보다. 일본의 오마니 뉴스에 대해서 위키백과를 찾아보니까. 작년 7월말에 경영 악화로 전사원을 해고했다고 나온다. 역시 나라마다 특성이 있어서 그런 것인지는 모르겠지만 우리나라의 서비스가 일본에서 실패한 것이 조금은 서운하다. 네이버도 일본에 들어왔다가 실패하 것을 보면 우리나라 웹 문화와 일본 웹 문화가 틀리기는 틀린가 보다. 하기야 민족이 틀리고 문화가 틀리니까 웹 문화가 틀린 것도 당연하겠지만… 네이버는 철회했어도 한게임은 일본에서도 꽤 인기를 끌고 있다. 그런 것을 보면 노는 것에는 어느 정도 공통점이 있는 것일까? ^^
Linegang shows a detailed analysis of changes of OhmyNews since the establishment and talks about the new power, blogs.
[…]- 블로그의 힘, 오마이뉴스 블로그 인수하다
블로그가 기존 홈페이지와 달리 1인매체로 강력한 힘을 가진 이유는 크게 두가지로 모아집니다.첫째 쉬운 글쓰기로 블로그를 기록매체로 활용가능, 둘째 수평적 네트워크 기능 활용 입니다. 블로그의 개방성이 이룩한 성과중의 하나인 수평적 네트워크의 의미는 ‘① 개인대 개인으로 이뤄지는 자료수집 배표형태의 출현 ② 포털이나 검색사이트가 없어도 개인자료의 홍보 배포가 가능 ③ 뉴스공급원과 배포처로 1인 매체의 역할 가능’ 등입니다. 2005년에 타임지가 선정한 세계 50대 사이트에는 블로그가 뉴스와 정보 쇼핑 엔테테인먼트 생활분야와 함께 다섯분야의 하나를 차지하고 있습니다. 시민참여 저널리즘'의 선두주자로 인터넷미디어 시장에 안착한 오마이뉴스도 심각한 위기의식(?)하에 인터넷KTX시장에 참여합니다. 일간지나 포털에 비해 상대적으로 늦었지만, 블로그가 지닌 전략적 가치를 인정, 메타블로그 서비스 ‘블로그코리아'를 인수한 것입니다.[…]블로그 서비스 참여가 늦었어도 당시로서는 3만명이 넘는 시민기자를 확보하고 있어 경쟁사에 비해 상대적인 위협적인 잠재력을 갖출 것으로 예상되었습니다.
- 블로그의 시대가 도래하다
기자들의 수난시대가 되었습니다. 블로그 열풍이 불기 시작하면서 기존 일간지들은 회사 차원에서 취재기자들에게 블로그를 운영할 것을 지시합니다. 모 일간지는 블로그의 운영실적은 포상금은 물론 인사평가의 자료로 삼겠다면서 압박할 정도였으니까요. 중앙일간지 기자로 일하고 있는 한 친구는 술자리에서 하소연합니다. “전문성? 인터넷 찾아보면 웬만한 내용은 다 나온다. 속보성? 인터넷매체등을 다 올린다. 시민기자는 옛날 얘기다. 블로거들 때문에 못살겠다. 특종은 못하더라도 오보만 내지않아도 다행이다. 기사마감하고나면 취재원과 술잔을 기울였지만 블로그에 업데이트해야하는 부담이 심각하다.” 미디어순위 사이트가 그러하듯이 지속적인 콘텐츠업데이트와 관리가 줄기차게 수반되지 않는 이상 여간해선 블로그 순위 진입이 어렵다는 것이 블로그생태계의 정평입니다. 국내 대표적인 메타블로그 사이트 ‘올블로그’(http://www.allblog.net/)가 지난해 상반기에 양질의 콘텐츠를 생산한 100명의 블로거를 발표했었습니다. 기존 언론매체의 기자가 5명, 미디어다음의 블로거 기자단 소속 블로가가 7명이나 포함되었지만, 오마이뉴스 블로거(이른바 오블)는 눈에 띄지 않습니다.[…]
- 시민기자와 블로그의 관계
이런 와중에 오마이뉴스 블로그에서는 어떤 변화가 있었을까요? ‘오블'에 대한 네티즌의 평판은 사실 그리 나쁘지 않았습니다. 인터넷이라는 매체 자체가 지닌 진보성에 ‘열린 진보언론'을 표방한 오마이뉴스 브랜드에 대한 네티즌의 호감이 더해지니 오블 참여가 활성화되지 않는 것이 도리어 이상할 지경입니다. 이른바 ‘땅짚고 헤엄치기'니까요.
[…]아직까지 블로그를 바라보는 오연호 대표의 시각은 ‘오마이뉴스의 성공신화'에 사로잡혀있습니다. 성공한 창업자들이 그러하듯이 ‘하면 된다'는 신념이 모든 의사결정에 내재된 것처럼. 그간 오마이뉴스가 거둔 빛나는 성취는 오대표의 신념을 굳건하게 해줄 법도 하지만 온갖 변수가 상존하는 한국의 인터넷미디어 시장은 그렇게 만만하지 않은 상황입니다. 수많은 인터넷 기업의 성장과 몰락이 그것을 잘 설명하고 있습니다. […] 오블을 인수하긴 했는데, 제대로 운용을 하지 못했다, 이것이 짧은 정답이겠지요. 왜 그랬을까요? 가장 큰 원인은 ‘선택과 집중의 부재'였습니다. 선택을 하긴 했는데 집중할 수 없는 지지부진한 의사결정구조와 오대표 개인에게로 몰려있는 과도한 업무부담, 회사의 비전에 대한 상근기자 시민기자의 공유의 실패, 무엇보다 가슴 아픈 것은 달라진 미디어환경에 대한 철저한 준비와 실천이 부족한 탓이겠지요.[…]
- 오마이뉴스의 플랫폼은 더이상 진보적이지 않다
한국 인터넷의 최강자 네이버조차 파워블로거를 잡기위해 블로그 광고를, 야후는 파워블로거들에게 활동비 지원을, 다음은 블로거의 명예인 미디어적 영향력을 제안하고 있습니다. 독립형 블로그 사이트들은 물론이거니와 인터넷 서점조차 수익의 일정부분을 블로그와 나누고 있습니다.
블로거를 당당한 1인미디어의 발행인으로 인식하고 있는 것입니다.
오마이뉴스의 일개 시민기자가 아니라, 1인미디어의 주체로. 모든 시민들이 기사 한 줄로 사회와 기업•사람을 바꾸거나 혹은 살리고 죽이는 ‘말과 글의 힘'을 서서히 알아가고 있는 중입니다. […]
- The New Period, Blogs
It is a hard time for reporters. Since the hot wave of blogs started, the existing daily newspapers ordered reporters to operate their own blogs. Some daily newspaper even gives pressure to reporters that achievements of their own blog operations will be considered for promotion as well as premium. A friend who is working as a reporter in Joongang Daily complained, “Professional? If you check the Internet, you can find those kinds of contents without problems. Speed? You can’t beat the Internet. Citizen journalism is an old story. I can’t live comfortably because of bloggers. It’s fine not to find scoops now unless you don’t make false reports. Before, after finishing your reports, you could go out and drink with other reporters. But now we’re busy updating our blogs.” Like other media sites, unless consistent updating of contents and continual management are not followed, it is hard to survive in blog ranking world. Last year, the most representative meta blog site, ‘www.allblog.net’ selected 100 bloggers who produce good quality and quantity. Of them, five are from media and seven are from a portal site, Mediadaum Blogger Journalists. There was no one from OhmyNews Blogger. […]
-Relations between citizen journalists and bloggers
During these changes, what has happened to OhmyNews Blog (OB)? Netizens’ critics about OB were not that bad. OhmyNews Brand, ‘opened and progressive media’ could help to buy netizens’ favors. That is like ‘swimming on the ground.’ […] CEO of OhmyNews Oh Yeon Ho has perspectives about blogs based on ‘Successful story of OhmyNews.’ As successful business founders have, he has a strong belief, ‘It will come true if you do it.’ However, he looked down on internet media markets in Korea that contain every kind of fluctuation. We can see through continual growths and collapses of internet enterprises.[…] Even though they took over OB, they didn’t manage it well. It is a simple answer. Why? The biggest reason is ‘because of the absence of choices and concentration.’ The company structure that drags decision making and causes distraction, excessive burden to a person, CEO, failure to share the vision of OB between citizen journalists and full-time journalists, and so on. But the most important thing is that they were lack of preparing new media environments and practice. […]
- Platform of OhmyNews is not progressive anymore.
The biggest power of the Internet in Korea, Naver has blog advertisements in order to attract power bloggers, Yahoo supports financial activities for power bloggers, and Daum suggests media influence that is the honor to bloggers. Internet book stores as well as independent blog sites also even share parts of the profit with bloggers. That is, they recognize bloggers as publishers of one man media—not just as a citizen journalist of OhmyNews, but as a one man media. ‘The power of speech and writing’ gives the lesson that a line of an article can change society, enterprises, and humans, or can save or kill them.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Liberia: Update from Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

An update from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Liberia: “A witness told commissioners of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) grisly accounts of how fighters of the defunct ULIMO-K faction slaughtered and ate eight civilians in 1993 in Lofa County.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Lusosphere: Saramago, 85 years, Nobel Laureate, Blogger · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Mexendo nuns quantos papéis que já perderam a frescura da novidade, encontrei um artigo sobre Lisboa escrito há uns quantos anos, e, não me envergonho de confessá-lo, emocionei-me. Talvez porque não se trate realmente de um artigo, mas de uma carta de amor, de amor a Lisboa. Decidi então partilhá-la com os meus leitores e amigos tornando-a outra vez pública, agora na página infinita de internet e com ela inaugurar o meu espaço pessoal neste blog.
These are the first lines of Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize laureate José Saramago‘s blog “O Caderno de Saramago” [Saramago's Notebook, available in Portuguese and in Spanish], launched on September 15 initially on the Saramago Foundation's website and now on the WordPress platform. Since them, Saramago has blogged on his “infinite page on the Internet” about the Catholic Church's appology to Darwin, George Bush and the credit crunch, Berlusconi's fortune, Pulianas (a cemitery in Granada province), and global warming. On his last post, yesterday, Saramago wrote about the future of family libraries when couples get divorced.
They are all great articles for the joy of the Lusosphera: bloggers from virtually every Portuguese speaking country welcomed him to the world of blogs (and have linked to, or copied and pasted his posts freely). Aline [pt], from Mozambique, was a little skeptical to start with. Would it really be  the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature behind those online words?
Fiquei confusa… será que é mesmo o JOSÉ SARAMAGO??? Isso não é dele… muito estranho! Fui conferir: era ele mesmo! Imaginem o autor de A Caverna e todos aqueles outros livros maravilhosos virando um blogueiro, como um simples mortal, como nós! Como não tive tempo de ler tudo ontem, hoje acordei e, sem tirar o pijama, liguei o computador. Tomei café lendo o Caderno de Saramago. Fantástico! Ele promete escrever diariamente. E está cumprindo a promessa, desde segunda-feira já são três posts.
As of now, there are 8 posts. From Portugal, Vasco Corisco [pt] believes he too can recognize the writer behind the blogger:
Na secção O Caderno de Saramago temos acesso à escrita de opinião do autor na primeira pessoa, no tom marcadamente político ao qual estão acostumados aqueles que conhecem os seus escritos.
Also from Portugal, João [pt] was very pleased to welcome Saramago to the blogosphere:
Embora desconfie que é um blogue completamente diferente deste, porque será certamente um lido por muita gente, fica a sensação de que Saramago se juntou cá ao grupo dos que têm um cantinho algures na Internet para escrever desabafos. Não deixa de ser estranho ter ouvido contar, há bem pouco tempo, que Saramago terá dito que jamais escreveria sem ser à mão. Depois passou a só escrever numa máquina e, agora, desconfio que utilize um computador para o fazer.
From Cabo Verde, Neu Lopes [pt], himself a new blogger, takes the opportunity to spread the word about Saramago's new book, The Elephant’s Journey, which is expected to reach bookshops by end of the year. Apparently not a big fan of Saramago, another Cape Verdean blogger Miguel Barbosa [pt] leaves his two cents:
Vamos torcer para os posts não serem tão chatos quanto os livros, hehehe…
Moving to Brazil's blogosphere, Hemetério was a little disappointed that Saramago had joined the online tribe, but was happy to find such sharp texts, which he printed out and left on the bus for other people to read and leave on the bus in turn:
Achava que o venerável escritor português era avesso à tecnologia, que defendia o arcaísmo de sua labuta em máquinas de escrever como o japonês perdido numa ilha distante, que devotara sua vida a proteger o forte, anos depois da guerra ter acabado.
“Casting pearls before swine?”. Brazilian blogger Hemetério [pt] printed out the post about President Bush, who “expurgated truth from the world to, in its place, bring the era of lies to fruition”, to leave on the bus
On the other hand, Lara [pt] thought it was interesting to see a renowned writer as such beginning to use this type of tool. She chips in:
É um bom sinal de que a comunicação pela internet não está apenas ganhando espaço por sua agilidade, mas também pela facilidade e amplitude com que atinge o público. Comentaram comigo, inclusive, que fazer um blog pode ser só uma tentativa de Saramago de ser cool. Mas, minha gente, Saramago tem 85 anos. Uma pessoa de 85 anos não liga para ser cool.
Perhaps Saramago doesn't need to be cool, but this itch to join cyberspace might be called marketing. Apart from his forthcoming book, his well-known novel Blindness is about to be released in the cinemas as a movie by Fernando Meirelles (also a blogger [pt]) starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore. On these lines, Portuguese blogger Miguel Drummond de Castro [pt] reminds his public that not even a Nobel Prize winner can be turned into a blogger overnight:
Há aqui uma confusão antropo-cibernética de primeiro grau. A de crer que a utlização de uma maquineta – no caso o computador ligado à rede – transforma imediatamente a pessoa num “verdadeiro” blogger. A maquineta, qual deus, confere de imediato a graça divina. A pessoa que no dia anterior não sabia nada de blogs, que não fazia a menor ideia dia sobre o que é um template ou um Html, de repente, por infusão divina da santíssima técnica, já se comporta como um “verdadeiro blogger”. De um momento para outro adquiriu todas as competências.
Does it matter? Deborah Icamiaba [pt] likes it for being quality online reading:
Que frescor tem sido a leitura do recém-criado blog do Saramago!
Eu já gostava de seus livros e ele virou ídolo quando tornou-se o único escritor de porte a exigir das editoras que seus livros fossem publicados em papel reciclado.
Quando a gente está na net e quer ler algo legal, fica procurando e não acha, vale a pena passar por lá: http://caderno.josesaramago.org/ – tem sempre algo interessante sendo dito de maneira singela e poderosa.
Photo by Periodista digital.com licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

author: Paula Góes


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Madagascar: All along the street · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dago Tiako describes street activities in Madagascar: “Suddenly, you notice lots of people making a circle. You think there must be an accident. You come nearer to se what’s going on. In the middle of the circle, there is a man almost nude (he is wearing only a little pair of shorts). He marks out lots of lines or drawings on the ground. He tells something about life, the future or the meaning of dreams.”


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Madagascar: My blog and I · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Andry is a new blogger from Madagascar. He describes himself as “the cyber observer”: “My name is Andry Rakotoniaina Andriatahiana and I am Malagasy. I am a lawyer, more specifically I work as a legal counsel for an International business and taxation law firm located in Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar.”


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Maldives: Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s candidacy challenged · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mohamed Rasheed discusses the issue of eligibility of Maldive's longest serving president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.


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Myanmar: Veteran activist now out of jail · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Veteran democracy activist Win Tin who was detained by Myanmar's junta since 1989 is now out of jail. Was he freed or evicted? Other prisoners were released as well.

author: Mong Palatino


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Pakistan: More perspectives of the Mariott Hotel blast · Global Voices
Rezwan

CHUP! (Changing Up Pakistan) posts more perspectives and eyewitness accounts of the Hotel Marriott bombing incident in Islamabad. It also informs of an initiative to help the victims.


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Palestine: Ramallah bling · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

In the West Bank, Alajnabiya describes shopping for her daughter's wedding: “The problem is that I like looking at this stuff, but I really want to buy it and hang it on the wall to look at, not wear!”

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Poland: Krakow, Now and Then · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Photos of ten Krakow buildings, now and then (100 years ago) – at Polandian.


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Poland, U.S.: Sikorski in Chicago · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Impressions of a recent Chicago speech by Poland's foreign minister Radosław Sikorski – at The 8th Circle.


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Russia: Sakhalin Salmon · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes about “the Sakhalin salmon run” season: “This is a time when huge nets are slung across river-mouths to be lifted by crane and emptied by the ton into lorries, the operators of such activities having either paid huge sums of money for licenses to do so, or paid huge sums of money in bribes to do so.”


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Russia: Trezvost’/Sobriety · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian Blog explains the usage of the Russian word trezvost’ (“sobriety”).


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Saudi Arabia: Compound life · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Stranger in this Dunya explains what life on a compound in Saudi Arabia is like.


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Saudi Arabia: Part of the tribe  · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Saudiwoman explains the significance of belonging to a tribe in Saudi Arabia: “To urban families, being called Bedouin has connotations of being unrefined and unruly. And in Bedouin families, being called an urban essentially means sissy.”


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Saudi Arabia: Supercomputer to be developed · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Crossroads Arabia reports that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology plans to build an IBM supercomputer.


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Senegal: Would you mind fasting with us? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

George writes about Ramadan in Senegal: “This Ramadan in Dakar, I had a most interesting invitation from a couple of friends. “…Would you mind fasting with us?”, they asked. What was the significance of this invitation?”


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Singapore: Editor found guilty of defamation · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A Singapore court has ruled that the editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review defamed Singapore officials in a July 2006 article in the magazine. A blogger comments: “Singapore's government is at it again- using their pet judges in a legal system wholly geared to punish anyone who dares to express opposition to the government's policies.”


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South Korea: U.S. Military in Korea · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ask a Korea  has some discussion on why do Koreans Complain about U.S. Military in Korea?


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Tanzania: Pedestrians’ tales · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mara writes about pedestrians’ experiences in Tanzania: “Pedestrians have nothing close to the right of way around here. The bigger you are, the more authority you have. The faster you go, the more people are expected to dive out of the way when you approach. Motorcycles swerve to avoid 4×4s and trucks; bicycles swerve to avoid the motorcycles.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Film Festival  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“We need a film festival like America needs to not vote for McCain,” says Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer, but warns: “It shouldn’t just be about film as business. What about art for art’s sake?  Money can’t be the only thing that motivates our capacity to create.”


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Uganda: One Happy Lady · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Glenna posts photos of “one happy lady” in Gulu, Uganda.


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Ukraine: A Letter to Russia by Milli Firqa Party Member · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about media coverage and politicians’ reactions to a letter sent by one of the members of a small Crimean Tatar party to presidents of Russia and Tatarstan.


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U.S.: Russian Woman’s View of a U.S. Church · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian History Blog translates a U.S.-based Russian woman's tirade about a local church she has to attend because she “[wants] to please [her] husband.”


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Vietnam: Typhoon Hagupit · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Ned in Hanoi bought emergency supplies to prepare for Typhoon Hagupit which already made some deadly impact on neighboring Asian countries


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Armenia: Cultural Control · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped says that there is a link between the decision to remove the screening of a film by well known director Tigran Khzmalyan from the programme at Yerevan's main cinema and his political activities. The blog also says that Khzmalyan and other academics have also been dismissed from their positions teaching at Yerevan State University.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahrain: Mystery of the bowls · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Maldita, a Filipina married to a Bahraini, has discovered why the plates and bowls at family gatherings never match.


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Bangladesh: Eid & Puja shopping · Global Voices
Rezwan

With the Eid & Puja festivities nearing the people of Dhaka are busy with shopping. Dhaka blog  posts some photos of Eid shopping in the city.


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Bangladesh: Meeting Queen Rania · Global Voices
Rezwan

BRAC Blog reports that Dr. Fazle Abed, founder of BRAC, the largest NGO in Bangladesh and the world met with Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and she writes about him in a blog post: “People like him fill me with hope.“


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Barbados, Jamaica, U.S.A.: Political Issues  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living in Barbados says that the recent battle for leadership in Jamaica's opposition party proves “that the overlapping values of candidates’ religion, race, gender, class, colour, speech, perceived intelligence and such personal characteristics–may play out in our little garden of politics at least as much as we think they do in the US.”


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Bermuda, U.S.A.: Political Dilemma  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermuda has got some unwanted attention with the Obama camp's latest campaign ad, which accuses McCain of being on the side of tax-dodging Bermuda-based US companies – Breezeblog says the whole thing “underlines the dilemma many Bermudians feel: as much as they wish to finally see a black US president, what price might that cost for the Island’s economy?”


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Bolivia: One Year Anniversary of Voces Bolivianas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Cristina Quisbert of Bolivia Indigena [es] celebrates one year since the start of the Voces Bolivianas project and writes that it “planted an important seed so that young peopple and adult can begin to use blogs as an instrument to communicate realities, knowledge and feelings.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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China: Best for enterprises lacking conscience just to die · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Bandurski from China Media Project translated a column article by Liu Yibin at China Youth Daily which suggested that “it would be best for enterprises lacking conscience just to die.” Many netizens echoed with the suggestion.


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China: Morality Crisis · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xujun Eberlein from Inside-Out China have some discussions about the morality crisis happening in China. And whether a new ideology can solve the problem.


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China: Oil Pipeline · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Micheal from the Opposite End of China blogs about the potential implications of oil pipeline construction plan on China security.


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India: Gandhi’s spinning wheel or a power plant · Global Voices
Rezwan

Applied Gandhi blog reports that e-charkhas (spinning wheels), with their electricity-generating attachments would provide a means of economic independence to spinners in remote places of India.

author: Rezwan


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Jamaica, Senegal: Wife Beater · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The worse it gets for Bara, the worse it gets for his wife”: Jamaican diaspora blogger Stet tells the story of a wife beater in Senegal.


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Japan: Google or Galapagos? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger and economist Nobuo Ikeda [池田信夫] remarks in an article [ja] that whereas U.S. papers are making their sites more Google-friendly, articles on Japanese news sites do not even have permalinks. His comparison of the isolation of the Japanese web to Galapagos sparks a response from Fukuyuki Murakami [村上福之] at Venture View with the title: “When Japan goes its own way, it is called Galapagos, but when the U.S. goes its own way, it's called ‘global'?” Blogger KoshianX responds: American standards are the world's standards, and there's nothing you can do about that [ja].


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Japan: Name of new PM poses challenge for Canadians · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

At Canada de Nihongo (カナダde日本語), a Japanese blogger living in Canada describes how she can't stop laughing [ja] when people mention the name of Japan's new Prime Minister: although they try to say “Taro Aso”, what comes out inevitably sounds like “Taro Asshole”.


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Japan: Prosecutors want 1.5 years for bulletin board comment · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

2channel threads are commenting on news [ja] that prosecutors in Japan are asking for 1.5 years in the case of 23-year-old Atsushi Sugita's (杉田敦史) declaration on a bulletin board that he would “kill young girls”. Sugita said he did not intend to commit any crime and that in using the word “小女子”, he actually meant the reading “kōnago” (a type of fish).


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Mexico: Age of Terrorism · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mexico is entering the age of terrorism, write Daniel Hernandez of Intersections, especially after the recent grenade attack in Morelia during Independence Day celebrations.


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Mexico: Memories of Tijuana · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

JC Cortes of Cargamento [es] writes about his best memories of the Mexican border town of Tijuana.  These memories especially include trips to his favorite taqueria to feast on shrimp tacos.


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Pakistan: “Hey! Why is Google ignoring us?” · Global Voices
Muhammad Farhan

Pakistanis are using blogs as a medium to raise their voices about an important issue regarding the  biases of technology giant Google. The issue we are talking about is Google Doodles for Pakistan. Google Doodles refers to the Google's logo designs project that Google displays occasionally. Google celebrates and pays tribute to certain world festivals, events and personalities using these doodles. But never have we seen doodles for famous Pakistani or Muslim festivals. Some major festivals like Eid and Ramadan are celebrated across the entire Muslim world.
Image of a Google Doodle from Flickr , by egg™: Used under a creative commons license
Bloggers are having different views and opinions regarding reasons and suggestions. The voice was first raised by Bites85 at ProPakistani, later supported by many bloggers. Let's see what Pakistani bloggers are saying:
Sohaib Athar at ReallyVirtual writes:
I personally think that Google not showing any Doodles for Islamic events has something to do with their “Do No Evil” policy   Seriously though, while Google can not be forced to cater to each segment of their customer base, especially since doodling is the secondary responsibility of the guy who creates them, but given that
… by not having a doodle for a single Islamic event/holiday so far, the message they are sending out, to many Muslims, says something like ‘We are the biggest website around and are a global company, but we don’t really care about the Muslim culture and won’t even consider it to be worth a doodle’ – really bad marketing.
On the other hand, some bloggers are bit polite and expressing their views that it might be the reason that Google doesn't want to get into any cartoon controversy.
Here is what Teeth Maestro has to say:
What has been seriously missing in its endless inventory of hundreds of Google Doodles is any logo commemorating a Muslim celebration, be it Eid or any other Islamic celebration, that said I am sure there maybe a little hesitancy on making a graphic image of an Islamic event and not fall into a potential cartoon controversy, but I assure you there are way to ensure that these innocent efforts dont back fire.
[..]
Pakistan has been on the Google map for sometime but we have yet to be honored with an Independence day Google graphic on Google.com.pk, our neighbor India has instead been on the receiving end of quite a few celebratory doodles gifts from Diwali to an 15th August doodle on Google.co.in website. But we here in Pakistan sit doodling our fingers in jittery anticipation.
I urge Google to seriously consider our humble request it wont hurt if they surprised Muslims or Pakistani with a customized doodle.
Google services have won the hearts of many Pakistani and Muslim internet users. Many prefer Google's services over its competitors. Therefore, it doesn't go with the Google's image to be biased to any community. So I hope Google will listen to us and will place an Eid Doodle this time :)

author: Muhammad Farhan


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Pakistan: President meets Sarah Palin · Global Voices
Rezwan

Deadpan Thoughts on Pakistan president Asif A. Zardari's ‘un-presidential’ meet with US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin: “I am not surprised neither shocked as I am sure Mr. Zardari will have many more gems for us in store as he leads this country to god knows where in the near future.“


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Sri Lanka: Anti-Tamil riot videos  · Global Voices
Rezwan

ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) blog informs of a new site titled “Never Again in Sri Lanka” which hosts videos of the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Amerindian Heritage Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Voice of the Taino People Online reports that “Amerindian Heritage Day will be commemorated this year in Trinidad and Tobago.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Morning Glory · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Spend the morning in Trinidadian blogger Sharon Millar‘s garden…


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Africa: How to invest in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dani writes about an investment initiative for Africa, MyC4.com: “This is a web-based platform that allows you to look up a list of African entrepreneurs who need funding for their projects (described briefly on the site) and to offer them loans.  You bid a certain interest rate, which is accepted as long as it is below the maximum the entrepreneur is willing to accept and as long as others have not bid below you.”


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Azerbaijan: Urban Development Blog · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Social Science in the Caucasus comments on a new blog established to monitor urban development in Baku by two German researchers. The blog includes commentary and photography and is at http://urbanchange.wenedeux.com.


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Bangladesh: Remnants of terror · Global Voices
Rezwan

Black and Gray discusses the threats of remnant terrorists in Bangladesh and opines: “the imams of different mosques and other Islamic scholars can play a pivotal role in making people aware about the evil of terror.”


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China: Life of Ordinary Chinese People · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

kdnet has a set of photos depicting the everyday life of ordinary Chinese people.


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Egypt: Jihad Hackers · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Is Jihad spilling from the ground on to the virtual world? Egyptian blogger Marwa Rakha writes here (and here) about how the internet has affected the ongoing debate between the secular and Islamic camps in Egypt.
She writes:
It is no big secret that the number of Egyptians who believe that Egypt should become a secular nation are increasing. Mainly, intellectual bilingual well-educated people have realized that inter-faith strives are holding the country back.
And for sure both Secular and Religious Egyptians along with their debates and struggles have made their presence felt in the blogosphere and on Facebook groups. Rakha explains:
On the other hand, the number of Islamic fundamentalists and Muslim Brothers is increasing. Their jihad methods have evolved from swords, bombs, banners, stickers, and tapes to invade the world wide web.
And for sure there are more weapons both camps can use besides arguments and discussions on the internet battlefield. Rakha explains:
Facebook's liberal activists were the main target of hackers who took over accounts, changed the name of the owner, sent out messages to his or her friends, deleted the account altogether, sabotaged his or her groups, and used obscene pictures and words to totally defame that person.
Groups that were hacked began posting offensive messages about the admins who lost control over the group and the hackers had more access to more people who do not think that Egypt is an Islamic country. Other than hacking, they created fake accounts that mimicked those of known liberal writers and activists.
One of the activists said “my account was hacked which is painful, especially that I had previously lost all my content while joining a network and I had to start all over”
Another activist said “I personally suggest for group owners to have always a backup account as well and both of them admins; I learnt this tip from other group owners. As for not using my own self I don't like the idea. I prefer being me, if there are sick people out there its their problem. Facebook was meant for us to get together decently and to get to know each other normally; if I need to go through all this hassle I'd rather then not use it at all.”

author: Tarek Amr


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Ethiopia: Let’s talk about theatre · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethiopian blogger, Arefe, writes “An Ethiopian actor who paid for Iago’s sin”: “The late Laureate Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin was the leading Amharic Shakespeare translator and his translation of Othello has been a popular item in the Addis Ababa theatrical repertoire.In the article, “Shakespeare in Ethiopia”, Prof.Richard Pankhurst relates the public’s reaction to the theatre, particularly to that of the deceitful Iago, played by Surafel Gashaw.”


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Ghana: Using party colors in social functions · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Is it appropriate to use colors of Ghana's political parties in social functions?: “The Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Seth Charles Oteng, on Thursday expressed concern about the organisation of social functions under politically coloured atmosphere.”


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India: Kashmir problem · Global Voices
Rezwan

ABC blog discusses India's options in Kashmir.


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India: Ramadan in Kolkata · Global Voices
Rezwan

Cuckoo's Call posts some photos of Ramadan in Calcutta (Kolkata).


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Iran: Iranian American Writers · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Parsarts says that the  Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) has just launched their website, iranianamericanwriters.org, which features member profiles, excerpts of member work, and a blog.


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Japan: 2channel on Aso UN speech · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

New Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro‘s speech at the UN yesterday is all the talk on 2channel [ja], Japan's largest bulletin board. According to news reports [ja], 5 minutes into his speech Aso was told that there was a technical problem and that the English simultaneous interpreting had not kicked in. When told this, Aso apparently quipped: “That's what happens with things that are not made in Japan.”  A couple 2ch comments: “やべ。かっこいい。” [Wow, that's so cool.] “さすが麻生、ユーモアのセンスはあるなｗ” [That's Aso, he's got a sense of humor.]


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Japan: Hikikomori – Invisible Population · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Coriolinus from Japundit blogs about the social phenomena of Hikikomori - People who isolate themselves and refuse all human contact for long periods of time, often years.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Kiki’s Atashi Kanojo · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger Akihito Kobayashi at the Shirokuma Blog reports on his experience [ja] reading the winning work in this year's keitai shosetsu awards: “Atashi Kanojo” (あたし彼女) by 23-year-old writer Kiki. Although the short story has all the elements of the genre — sex, pregnancy, abortion, and many one-word sentences — Akihito still ended up liking it. He recommends that to get the most out of the book, you should read it in keitai form,  which you can do online here [ja]. Update: check out this post at What's happening in Japan right now for more on cell phone novels.


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Japan: Mapping the News with Newsgraphy · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Hatena user id:kaiseh introduces a news mapping mashup service they created [ja] called “Newsgraphy“, based on an earlier mapping service for Hatena blogs released in June (with much fanfare [ja]) called HatenarMaps (also by id:kaiseh). The new service creates a 2-dimensional visualization of news stories from Yahoo News using Voronoi Treemaps, allowing the user to highlight news regions on the map by subject, by date, as well as by person/place/organization.


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Japan: Nakayama comment on expansion of Narita Airport · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

id:takerunba comments on a statement [ja] by Japanese Minister of Construction and Transport Nariaki Nakayama in an interview with Sankei Shimbun, in which Nakayama criticized local residents obstructing the expansion of Narita airport for not having the spirit to sacrifice themselves for the public good. id:takerunba agrees with Nakayama, pointing out how behind Narita is compared with other international airports, and argues that it would actually be better to use Haneda airport instead since Haneda is much closer to downtown Tokyo.


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Japan: Views on Wall Street Crisis · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

The ongoing collapse, bail-out and buy-out of Wall Street investment banks, threatening a U.S. and possibly worldwide recession, has triggered no lack of debates in Japanese blogs on the country's strong financial connection with its overseas ally.
Michi Kaifu [海部美知] (known in Japan for her blog Tech Mom from Silicon Valley) writes at newsvine.com about the Japanese precedent to the current Wall Street crisis:
The demise of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch reminded me of my home country Japan 10 years ago. Amid the post-real-estate-bubble mess, in 1997, Yamaichi Secirities, then one of the “Big Four” brokers in Japan, closed its doors. Long Term Credit Bank and Nippon Credit Bank wend under as well.
She refers to a Wall Street Journal article which discusses this precedent, noting that “career flexibility was not woven into [Japan's] social system yet” when the economic bubble burst 10 years ago in Japan:
In the end, many employees from those failed brokers and banks found jobs in other financial institutions. Some still had to go out and seek the opportunity in the new world. It is not an official story, but I have my own theory that this “spill over” employment issue caused a chain reaction in the form of “mobile phone boom” and pushed Japan up to one of the most sophisticated mobile countries in the world.
Economist and blogger Nobuo Ikeda [池田信夫] at Truth about Japan makes a similar observation in a post titled “Lessons of Yamaichi“:
The tragedy of Lehman Brothers and the following jump of interbank rates remind me of a similar event in Japan eleven years ago. Yamaichi Shoken, one of the Big Four security brokers, filed to close business in November, 1997.
Ikeda explains that the close of Yamaichi Shoken [ja] [山一證券] resulted from the bankruptcy of another broker, Sanyo Shoken, which then triggered default on an interbank loan, resulting in panic and the failure of Hokkaido Takushoku Bank and Yamaichi:
The Ministry of Finance let Yamaichi fail because it was only a broker. However, Fuji Bank, the “main bank” of Yamaichi became the target of short selling, because Yamaichi's bankruptcy signaled the liquidity crisis of Fuji. Then overall credit crunch emerged, which forced the MoF to bailout 21 major banks in 1998. It was similar to that of AIG.
In a post entitled “This thing called confidence” (信用というもの), blogger kitanotakeshi55 responds to a comment [ja] by Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano that influence from the financial crisis would be on the order of a bee sting (ハチが刺した程度):
結局、元大蔵省のエリート官僚達は予算を決めるのが自分たちの仕事だと信じているのです。予算を決めて、国債の発行額を決める。キャリアの官僚の仕事はそこまでだ、というのです。流通がどうなろうと、実際の取引で何がどこでフェールしようと、それはキャリアの官僚の管轄外、という認識です。こういう人（々）が今や国会議員で首相を目指している訳です。
(kitanotakeshi55 makes a note here that Yosano was in fact not born a career bureaucrat, and that while the way Yosano was described in this blog entry would seem to make him out to be that type, this was not the blogger's intent.)
kitanotakeshi55 continues with a parallel to the ongoing tainted rice scandal:
国民の皆さん、特に港区のみなさん、よく覚えておきましょうね。考えてみると検査さえすれば実際の流通の現場がどうなってるかなんて関知しないよ、と言っている事故米と全く同じ構図ですね。こういうものなのですよ、実態は。
Blogger nutrocker writes about how complicated the system of global financial transactions has become:
汚染米ではないが、信用度の低い住宅ローン債権を、見てくれの良い金融商品に変え、金融取引を可能にさせたのが、いわゆる金融工学なる学問が生みだした錬金術である。伝統的な金融取引の場合、お金（資金）の借り手と貸し手との関係は明確で、個別にリスク管理ができる。金融工学はこのような単純な仕組みを見えなくしてしまった。数学的、統計的な手法を用いて、新たな金融マーケットを生みだした。実体経済を伴わない金融商品が多数作り出されることになった。そこに金の亡者どもが群がり、これぞ新しい金融経済だとばかりに、国の財務担当者までが一斉になびいてしまった。
Blogger Jei at The Diary After Retirement is worried about the phenomenon of “borderless investment”:
あえて信用度の低いところを狙った金融というのは，理解しがたい。しかし，それを証券化することによって（お金でもないのに紙に書いた数字の羅列で）商売をすることができるというのが，アメリカ市場主義の恐ろしいところだと思う。結局リーマンブラザーズは「サブプライムローンが焦げ付き」→「他の証券会社より多くの投資をしていたため巨額の損失」を被ったということだろう。それがリーマンブラザーズ一社の破綻で終わらないところが恐ろしい。いまや世界の経済は，こうした投資がボーダレスにつながっていて，それこそ全世界の株価にはねあがってくるのだから恐ろしい。
At gatto libero, another blogger writes about how dark and gloomy the world has become recently:
ただでさえ温暖化、ゲリラ豪雨、食安全問題とかいろいろふあんなところにもってきて
サブプライム問題以降いつ大恐慌が起きてもおかしくない状態、
おまけに福岡や千葉で子供が殺される事件が起きて、
不安だらけで希望があまりもてない世界になってきたなあと思います。
あんまり暗いことばかり考えたくないけどね…
Blogger kawaii123, finally, suggests that maybe it is capitalism itself that is coming apart:
今の資本主義自体が行き詰っているというこのなのでしょうか？
日本のマスコミは、都合のいいニュースしか放送しませんが、本当に役に立つ情報は
やはり、自分で見つけるしかないのかもしれなせんね。
中南米諸国では、ますます反米、嫌米主義が激しくなってきています。
それは、アメリカという国の力が衰えてきている証拠でしょう。今回のサブプライムで
完全にアメリカのドルの価値は下がり、どの貨幣が力をつけてくるのか注目されます。
ヨーロッパが、ユーロを共通の通貨にしたのは、やはり、先を読んでいた結果です。
日本もアジア圏で、円の力をつけようとしましたが、アメリカの横槍で潰された経緯が
あります。
For another interesting perspective, check out this post [ja] at  My Image Ltd. by blogger Waki, who finds a connection between the ease-of-use of the iPhone and the collapse of Wall Street investment banks.


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Jordan: An Illustrated Accident  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Jad had a car accident and illustrates how it happened here.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Jordan: Nothing Wrong in Not Knowing  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Qwaider remarks that there is nothing wrong in admitting that you don't know something.


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Jordan: Queen Rania the Blogger · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Queen Rania of Jordan is blogging her visit to New York here.


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Jordan: Think before you Fire  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Jazarah  links to a story from India where a mob of dismissed workers beat the CEO of their company to death with a hammer. His advice: “Think twice before such decisions, or take the decision on your way to the plane and take a long vacation.”


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Kenya: A recycling center needs help · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A recycling center in Kenya is looking for help: “The Karen Langata District Association (KLDA) runs a bottle bank at the Langata Link complex where residents of Karen and Langata can drop off empty glass bottles for recycling. Lately they have been receiving huge amounts of bottles and the glass company responsible for collecting these is not able to cope.”


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Kuwait: Is Kuwait Being Finlandized?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwaiti blogger Don Veto introduces his readers to the word Finlandization and asks: “Is history repeating itself? Is Kuwait being gradually Finlandized because of its powerful neighbors?”


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Kuwait: Rabbit Outside the Mosque  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwaiti Frankom [Ar] found a rabbit outside the mosque … and shot it – with his mobile phone's camera, of course.


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Nepal: The money question · Global Voices
Rezwan

Blogger Dai comments on the news that 8 Nepali ministers including the Prime Minister are on foreign tour: “It would be great, if they could donate their allowances to the flood victims of Eastern Nepal.”


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Pakistan: Fire exchange with US troops · Global Voices
Rezwan

Desicritics.org wonders whether the escalated tension and recent exchange of fire between US and Pakistani forces are “an engineered distraction”.


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Ripples of the China Milk Scandal in Africa · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

In China, an estimated 13,000 children have fallen ill since the tainted milk scandal broke.
Chinese influence has grown in Africa, as have imports of all kinds products, from running shoes to instant noodles.  Bloggers as far afield as Congo and Senegal, concerned about the safety of Chinese products in their countries, are closely following the story.
Blogging from Dakar, Naomed of Le Blog Politique du Senegal penned this short satire, a play on “melamine,” the name of the chemical which was added to the fake milk.  (“Melamine” sounds very close to “mélanine,” the French word for melanin):
A ma gauche votre petit(e) dernier(e) charmant bambin normalement constitué, héritier de la jolie couleur chocolat de son papa et de sa maman.
A ma droite, un verre de lait, un honnète verre de lait semble-t-il. Que nenni ! Un verre de lait chinois, autrement dit contaminé jusqu'à la dernière molécule de caséine. Soyons honnète, tous les laits chinois ne sont pas contaminés, mais c'est un peu comme les jeux de hasard, ceux qui gagnent le plus sont ceux qui ne jouent pas.
To my left, your charming little child, the youngest, completely normal and of the chocolate color he inherited from his father and mother.
To my right, a glass of milk, seemingly honest.  Nay!  A glass of Chinese milk, in other words, contaminated to the last molecule of casein.  Let's be honest, not all Chinese milks are contaminated, but it's a bit of a gamble; those who win the most are those who don't play at all.
La scène est plantée, le gamin qui bave en attendant son verre de lait et le verre de lait.
Imaginez ce qui arriverait si malencontreusement vous achetiez un lait chinois pour vos enfants. Si si, cela peut vous arrivez malgré votre vigilance, tricheurs comme ils sont, les chinois sont bien capables de marquer sur le paquet “Made in Bretagne. France”. Donc, imaginez, vous servez le verre de lait au gamin et vous quittez la pièce pour continuer à vous préparer, comme d'hab vous êtes en retard pour aller bosser.
The scene is set, the child salivates, waiting for his glass of milk, the glass of milk.
Imagine then what happens if you are unlucky enough to have bought Chinese milk for your children.  Yes yes, that can happen in spite of your vigilance; the Chinese are perfectly capable of marking the package with “Made in Brittany.  France,” such con artists are they.  So imagine that you serve the glass of milk to your child and you leave the room to continue getting ready.  As usual, you're late for work as usual.
Soudain, un hurlement venant de la bonne et du salon. Quoi-t-esse-ky-n'ya ?
A la place de votre gamin, un autre gamin qui termine son verre de lait tout en pleurant, pas vilain vilain le môme, mais enfin pas aussi joli que le vôtre.
Ca va être dur de vous habituer à sa nouvelle couleur, d'expliquer aux voisins et aux parents le pourquoi du comment. On va vous soupçonner des pires péchés pour avoir été punis comme ça. Votre vie va devenir un calvaire. Je vous plaint, sincèrement.
All of the sudden, a shriek comes from the housekeeper, from the living room.  What's going on?
In place of your child, another child is finishing his glass, crying.  Not exactly ugly, this kid, but not as handsome as the one you had.
It will be difficult to get used to his new color, to explain to your neighbors and parents why and how [this happened].  They will suspect you guilty of the worst of sins to have been punished like that.  Your life will become a living hell.  I sympathize with you, sincerely.
Y'a même des gens qui disent que, quelques fois, les gamins deviennent rouges, rouges communistes. Mais ça, je crois pas, c'est juste des menteries d'anticommunistes primaires et malveillants.
Equally tongue-in-cheek, a reader, Thomas, responds:
y'a aucun risque avec le lait au sénégal, puisqu'ici c'est pas du lait qu'on boit, c'est une poudre blanche sur laquelle on ajoute de l'eau… on m'a souvent dit que c'était du lait en poudre, mais franchement, vu le goût, j'en doute ;)
Le Blog Politique du Senegal strikes a more serious note in another post on the scandal, “Some Chinese milk for the little Blacks.”  Naomed writes that certain African countries import Chinese milk, but that “We are so used to Western products which are regulated and inspected that we forget that the rest of the world, for those who have the minimal respect for norms of security and for the consumer, looks a bit like Africa” [Fr].
Naomed continues:
Je ne veux pas dire que l'occident n'est pas avide, que le capitalisme n'y redeviendrait pas sauvage forcené si on le laissait faire. Non, mais justement, on ne le laisse pas faire. Les états ont posé des règles minimales, qu'ils font appliquer sous la pression des consommateurs/citoyens.
Nous allons chercher nos modèles chez les chinois et les indiens sans vouloir regarder leurs conditions et modes de fonctionnement. Aveuglés par un prétendu miracle économique que pour rien au monde nous ne voudrions subir, nous en occultons les pratiques.
Naomed doesn't think Africa should follow this model:
Ce miracle économique, c'est le miracle de l'esclavage, de l'exploitation forcenée, de l'irresponsabilité. C'est le miracle capitaliste.
In Congo, Forum Realisance also blogged the milk scandal story.  Munsengeshi Katata writes that the tainted milk was exported not only in Asia to places like Bangladesh, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, but reportedly also to countries in Africa, like Burundi and Gabon.
Et curieusement, de la part des africains, pas un mot, pas des demandes rapides d´éclaircissement afin d´établir la responsabilité commerciale, d´aider les enfants touchés à se faire soigner rapidement, et endiguer les dégâts en retirant rapidement les restes de ces postes du marché. Rien. Et je dois avouer que ce silence met en colère et prouve, encore une fois, combien l´Afrique est fragile dans la défense de ses enfants et se ses intérêts ouvertement lésés…

author: Jennifer Brea


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South Africa: I quit smoking pot when I was 10 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Khaya, the South African videoblogger, posts a video titled, “I quit smoking pot when I was 10.”


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South Korea: Essay Contest on “Why is Dokdo Korean Territory?” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan brings the readers’ attention to a writing competition (for foreigners) sponsored by Korea Time on “Why is Dokdo Korean Territory?” And the prize is round trip to Dokdo!


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Taiwan: The Return of Local Cinema · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

This summer, Taiwanese cinema is not only celebrating a comeback, but is also shining like the sun. No matter how strongly the typhoon hits Taiwan, movie theaters are witnessing hundreds, if not thousands, of people waiting in line just for the new film, “Cape No.7“.
The movie became a blockbuster after 2 months, and went from poor reviews to over NT$ 100 million (aprox. US$ 3.1 million) in box-office sales (estimated). This original Taiwanese movie has suddenly become a national phenomenon, revitalizing Taiwanese citizens who until recently were feeling trapped by their poor Olympics performance, and ever-lasting political dust.
An avid movie reviewer, Ryan (zh) uses this movie to comment on the matter of a much-discussed ex-President's overseas bank account. He cannot help but wonder how great it would be if he didn't donate any money to our ex-President but to the director of Cape No.7. He also remarks that this movie does not only stand firm on the expression of local culture, but also has a truly honest and non-exploitative attitude in its portrayal of local figures. He also points out a reference to the early work of the internationally renown Taiwanese director, Hou Hsiao-Hsien.
關於侯孝賢公開美言《海角七號》，表示「太好看了，我等台灣出現這樣的電影，已經等很久了！」我想這絕非僅只 是單純禮貌性的場面話。正如他當年走出三廳電影的刻板公式，以超越類型片的細微敏感，活潑地捕捉當代台灣城鄉生活，為「全球情感，在地特色」的商業電影做 了最精彩的示範，如今相隔四分之一個世紀，小魏導演再度踏上這條軌道，以台幣五千萬打造既新穎又懷舊的《海角七號》，怎能不叫人興奮？
Ryan further says:
在這痛徹心肺的日子裡，《海角七號》讓我明白，「愛台灣」三個字其實可以實踐得如此真實。
Taiwanese original cinema has long been under a great depression, therefore, ‘supporting Taiwanese original cinema’ also has been sloganized as a patriotic activity. Although Taiwanese original films have won awards and have significant reputation at notable film festivals, they are still considered caviar by the general public and end up as box-office poison in local cinema markets. In the long run, film companies, distributors and cinemas lose their interest in investing and showing Taiwan original films.
Another film, The Wall（牆之魘）, was out earlier this year, but faced an embarrassing difficulty: no cinema wanted to show it, as annpo puts it (zh):
因為這個「二二八的背景」讓許多電影院不願意上映這部電影（但我想國片本來就很毒藥XD）
Cape No.7 has something different than what audiences generally expect from Taiwanese cinema. Taiwanese lost their confidence in Taiwanese cinema for a long time. They regarded seeing Taiwanese films as charity. Cape No.7 is a good story teller, telling stories with local consciousness currently cultivating in Taiwan. Further, its reputation is built by word of mouth and on the Internet. Audiences go to see the film not only for doing something which means “I love Taiwan” but for experiencing their love for Taiwan.
Cape No.7's success in box-office makes many audiences feel excited. Yang Xiao Guai says:
終於，等到國片迷到眾生的這一刻。這種心情，還真像《海角》裡那個「要放火把恆春燒了、召回所有年輕人回鄉，重新打造一個自己的 恆春」的鎮代；我想這是候孝賢說的：「等這部片子等了十年」的意思，在極端高傲(如蔡明亮)和極端白爛(如吳宗憲)的電影，畫分出小眾和微眾的國片巿場之 後，終於出現了黃金交叉點，達到絕大多數台灣人的情感和價值觀的邊際曲線，喚回了這十年來被排除及出走的國片觀眾。
Because Cape No.7 has been so successful at the box-office, many people started to discuss marketing for Taiwanese cinema and analyze the success of this film. As Tzara mentions:
如果說《海角七號》的狂賣也來自於「普羅大眾的口碑」，那《海角七號》另一個重大的影響力就是成功拉抬普羅 觀眾對於國片觀感。而這裡只得「普羅觀眾」，正是那些願意「不作任何功課」，光看到片名、廣告、電影海報、電影預告就願意進去看的「大眾」；是那些過往認 為「看國片浪費錢」、「看國片一點都不能拿出來說嘴，不能獲得同儕認同」的大眾。而《海角七號》得以成功攻進這塊過往難以攻佔的票房人口，才是真正賣座的 關鍵。
國片觀眾＋第一波普羅大眾在網路討論的熱度(尤其是PTT)，MSN暱稱的串聯，成功吸引第二波普羅大眾的興趣，甚至形成「非看不可」，「大家都在看」的一窩瘋現象（很正面的）。
The first film that successfully attracted audiences by word of mouth marketing this year is  Winds of September （九降風). It earned NT$ 3 million at the box-office. (In response to the current Taiwanese cinema trend, “Winds of September” will be shown in theatres again soon.) Last year, Island Etude （練習曲）was a suceess at the box-office thanks to internet and word of month marketing, earning NT$ 9 million. To build the reputations of the film, Chen Huai-en, the director, disregarded costs and publicly showed the film for free around Taiwan. He said he wanted cinema to be not just for the young, but for families also.
As annpo writes in her article:
陳懷恩苦笑地說，以台灣現在的國片環境，這些心血自然無法以獲利的方式回收，但他拍這樣的電影，原本就不奢 望能夠賺錢，而是希望能讓很多人都有機會來看這部電影，台灣各地的人都看得到，全家人一起看…，讓大家感受一下台灣的美好，學習從不同的方位視角來看台 灣，這塊我們的土地。
Cape No.7 achieves the goal Island Etude expected to achieve last year. Its audiences cover wider age-levels. The film intends to describe local flavors, features different ethnic groups, lovely common people through touching elements of dreams and love.
Woosean, who is good at writing film reviews, says:
我對魏德聖這個人的佩服，以及本片散發出的、屬於台灣電影的潛力。雖然我相信追求夢想不是賭博，但我欣賞魏 德聖這種義無反顧的氣魄，而本片雖然離完美很遠，但本片確實展現了近期台灣電影少有的潛力，這潛力橫跨商業性與在地元素的利用，以致於直指人心的單純感 動，再再說明了，有好的故事、好的團隊與好的管理技巧，台灣電影也能揚眉吐氣。
誰說我們沒有故事？只要願意想、願意說，故事真的隨處都是。
Many audiences are touched by the love story (zh) in the film. However, more audiences are moved by the rationales delivered by the film. These rationales include Taiwan identity issues (zh), local changes and stories behind these changes (zh), and folk cultures (zh).  BOT issues of Taiwan's natural scenes and mountain forests draw attention to audiences. As poiesis says (zh):
山上也要BOT，海邊也要BOT，什麼都被BOT。
為什麼這麼一片美麗的海，被飯店圍起來，我們民眾都沒辦法看到？
只能讓住在這飯店的外地人看？     ──電影《海角七號》
正當《海角七號》的那段台詞大概已是流傳街頭巷尾的耳熟能詳，搶救蕃仔澳及杉原海岸的雙灣行動，也同時開始了。沒人可以說得清楚，是公民社會團體挪借了《海角七號》的大眾支持？抑或，這只是因為《海角七號》表達出了「非台北觀點」共同感受的集體憤怒？
Munch directly points out that the goal of the film is to implicitly criticize local reality. He pays tribute to the director's ambition to do so in the film:
在電影裡，不會只是消費鄉土風味，現實的鄉土反思都在，懶惰的郵差，衝動的警察，甚至談及地方發展的困境， 讓人看明星，也能看見土地，特別是借了夏都旅館的場地，讓鎮代痛罵外來者佔據沙灘，恆春人不能享受，罵的正是佔據大灣沙灘的夏都，這種反省與膽識，看了讓 人過癮，借你地還罵你，夠棒的魏德聖導演。
“Cape No.7″‘s success at the box-office means a lot to Taiwanese original cinema. Audiences are getting to know a great diversity of Taiwanese local stories and spectacular Taiwanese original cinema through popular film language. The director's messages are delivered and being understood while audiences laugh and are moved by the film.
Following the current trend of Taiwanese cinema, the new film “Orz Boys” （囧男孩）talks of single-parent boys’ dreams and imagination of life. Achieving box-office success in a similar way to “Cape No.7″, Orz Boys touches audiences’ hearts by the language of the film which makes people laugh and cry.
For Taiwanese cinema, this is considered a year of renaissance, reviving box-offices and a variety of film genres. These films represent  the creativity and diversity of Taiwanese cinema, including “God Man Dog“（流浪神狗人）, Butterfly （蝴蝶）and The Wall（牆之魘） based on historical and cultural issues, Gay and Lesbian films Candy Rain (花吃了那女孩）and Drifting Flowers（漂浪青春）, YA films Winds of September （九降風）and Orz Boys, and even a semi-documentary What on earth have i done wrong?!（情 非得已之生存之道）. Moreover, most directors and actors of above-mentioned films are rookies, who bring in a fresh look to Taiwanese cinema.
This post is originally written in Chinese by Annpo, translated into English by Chia-Chun and me.

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Africa: Surprising Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethan's impressions of the daylong Surprising Africa event at PICNIC08 in the Netherlands.


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Angola: Photo of an accident in the Cabinda airpot · Global Voices
Paula Góes

SDBlog [pt] publishes a picture he took of an accident in the Cabinda airpot, in Angola, yesterday. “I later heard on the radio that there were no people injured and the material damage was not huge. I imagine the fright of the workers from the construction work in front of it”


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Bahrain: The same racism everywhere? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Ali Abdulemam has just watched the film Freedom Writers – and thinks it describes Bahrain perfectly.


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Bangladesh: Bangla blogs are keeping Rahela alive · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

On 19th August 2004, a nineteen year old garment factory worker in Savar, Dhaka Bangladesh was mugged, gang raped, viciously slashed and then left to die in the thickety Jahangir Nagar University campus. She was Rahela Lima Akhtar. There she lay amidst the thick foliage, undetected for  three days. Her perpetrators returned, and finding her alive, splashed acid over her face and set her hair on fire, so that when her body was found, she would be unrecognizable. However, the same day, on August 22nd of 2004, a gardener heard her faint cry,”I am not dead, please save me”. Thus, Rahela, the woman who refused to die, was found and shifted to the Dhaka Medical College and hospital, where she battled for her life. She lost the battle on September 24th, 2004, but before she died, she named the main culprits.
Dead body of Rahela: Image credit Faysal Noi
One would have thought, in such a case, justice would be swift but that was not to be. While there was an initial outcry in the mainstream media it was followed by deafening silence. The case came up for hearing in 2006 only to reveal that important documents pertaining to the case had gone missing. In the meantime, the main accused had fled and others roamed free. Rahela's husband had remarried. Almost two more years went by. The case would perhaps have vanished from public memory but for some women's rights activists and Bangla bloggers. Rahela's case was first highlighted in leading Bangla blog platform Somewherein, by Manobi. Very soon, like-minded bloggers such as Faisal Noi, Shubho, Pothik, Jiner Badshah (from Sachalayatan, another Bangla blogging platform) and many others joined in, and the cry – Justice for Rahela grew louder. An online campaign was launched, which included blog , Facebook group, an i-petition etc. Offline, there were protests and human chains organised to raise the public's awareness of the case.
We, at Global Voices too have tried to amplify Rahela's case. Rezwan, in this post had mentioned Rahela's case while writing about violence against women in Bangladesh.  Narijibon, the fantastic Bangladesh team who are part of the Rising Voices project, have also been writing on the issue.
The ongoing effort by the Bangla bloggers to put pressure on the courts to move the case forward was noticed by the media and gradually articles and TV reports began to reappear. The case was finally re-started in January 2008, and by April 2008 the ‘missing’ documents miraculously re-surfaced, thanks to the growing pressure from bloggers, MSM, activists and leading intelligentsia. The investigating officers, however, claimed that the documents ‘were always there’. Nevertheless, even now the battle for justice seems a long drawn struggle as there are rumors of non-cooperation from officials and key witnesses to the case. Watch the media report [bn] querying the resurfacing of the evidences.
And the bloggers are not giving up.The efforts are on to keep Rahela alive in public memory so that the guilty are brought to book and justice, though delayed, is not denied to Rahela Lima Akhtar. In a recent TV interview, Somewherein's Arild Klokkerhaug and Prof. Muhammed Zafar Iqbal , a respected Bangladeshi academician and writer, have reiterated the very point [bn]:

author: Aparna Ray


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Brazil: Free download of books under CC license · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The book Além das Redes de Colaboração (Beyond the Collaboration Networks, pt), a compilation of texts organized by professors Nelson Pretto and Sergio Amadeu, has been published by EDUFBA (Federal University of Bahia publisher) under a Creative Commons license and is now available for free download. “The book, which tackles various aspects of networks of cooperation, cultural diversity and technology of power, anticipates the policy of free access that will be implemented at EDUFBA”, Marcos Palacious [pt] breaks the news.


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Cameroon: The president’s time · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Time flies and things stay the same in Cameroon, writes Cameroonian blogger, George.