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Chilean Love Poetry Online · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Love is one of the universal languages. One of the Chilean poets who wrote poems about love was Pablo Neruda. Not only do Chilean bloggers have Neruda's romantic prose in their digital DNA, but so do bloggers around the world. Here is a selection of Pablo Neruda’s poetry that has spread throughout the net.
Dantecalva (ES) explains in her post “Poetry with Conscience” what the poems can produce:
Ni en mis peores momentos de apatía mis fieles libros me abandonaron. La poesía siempre ha sido una compañía de todas las etapas en el transcurso de mi vida. La he sabido poner en el lugar pretendido, es decir, mi palabra o cualquier texto.
¿A cuántas personas en este mundo nos ha movido un sentimiento una frase bien hilada? ¿Cuándo se escuece el alma con solo leer algo conmovedor? ¿O cuándo dejamos nuestras emociones en la pluma de otros?
How many people in this world have been moved to emotion by a perfectly threaded phrase? When our soul is touched by just what we read? Or when we leave our emotions in the pens of others?
She continues with a selection of Neruda's poems that she likes the most. Damian (ES) posts the poem “I love you” along with more poems in Spanish from other authors. He declares in his blog “I don’t mind if you loved me…. In my dreams I have you.”
Sabrás que no te amo,
y que te amo,
puesto que de dos modos es la vida,
la palabra es un ala del silencio,
el fuego tiene una mitad de frío.
Yo te amo para comenzar a amarte,
para recomenzar el infinito
y para no dejar de amarte nunca:
por eso no te amo todavía.
I love you to begin loving you,
To restart infinity,
And not to never stop loving you:
That why I don’t love you yet
Te amo y no te amo,
como si tuviera,
en mis manos las llaves de la dicha,
y un incierto destino desdichado.
Mi amor tiene dos vidas para amarte.
Por eso te amo,
cuando no te amo
y por eso te amo,
cuando te amo.
My love has two life’s to love you
That why I love you,
When I don’t love you,
And that’s why I love you
When I love you.
The spanish blog, elperiodistadigital (ES) post the poem ”Poema 20” from Nerudas book “Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada” (“Twenty poems of love and one desperate song”). Here is a fragment:
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Escribir, por ejemplo: “La noche está estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos”.
El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.
Write, for example: “The night is starry,
and shivering, blue, and the astros, far away”.
The wind of the night spins in the sky and sing.
I can write the saddest verses this night.
I loved her and sometimes she loved me two.
En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.
She love me, and sometimes I loved her too.
How could I not have loved her big frozen eyes.
On this site (ES), there is a complete list of the most famous poems of Pablo Neruda, as well as MP3 files of the poet reading his own poems.

author: Rosario Lizana


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China: MeMedia Issue 4: Copyright Kills Creation, Life’s Precious, Ching Ming Festival · Global Voices
Nan Yang

This week comes the fourth issue from the newly-formed MeMedia roundup of all that's hot around the Chinese blogsphere including the upcoming Taiwan Bloggers BoF, copyright discussion in Hong Kong, kickback cost of medicine in China, in memory of the deads in Ching Ming Festival and much more.
[技术和互联网
2007 台湾网志青年运动会
中国首次允许播出同性恋的节目 ，其实他们不知道，同性恋Blog 已经公开流行。要知道，就是连黑猩猩也有猴权。Blogger的身份越来越从虚拟走向现实，如果你的志向是做一个公民记者或者社会批判者的话，也许将直面许多人身危险，请参考这份博客如何自保及安全指南 （GFWed ）。或者干脆学他们明目张胆的不说 。台湾的网志大会（雅名 “台湾网志青年运动会 ”）将在本月开幕，不知道今年大陆的“中文网志年会 ”是否能够在皇城根正常召开呢。
草根媒体需要什么样的原则呢？这些都在考验我们的智慧（可以参考weblogs,inc，香港独立媒体，独立中文笔会的编辑原则）。如果新闻主管机构一直是这么干的，一直在用互联网伪造盛世形象，掩盖真实的社会现象和历史，用 媒体欺骗我们的思想，那么保持“思想的独立性”而不是按照前列腺发炎规范思考和发炎则是Blogger最重要的原则。
[Free Mickey] EMI宣布取消数字音乐中的DRM ，这也许是一个开端，当然也可能只是版权警察有了更好的办法 。确实到了整个音乐产业都要重新思考的时候了。保护版权等于保护创意？Inmedia选择的这个主题，用来垂问香港立法机构在修改版权法律的时候是否考虑到了在数字时代公众参与知识建构的价值和利益。香港的Blogger 能否在这场立法过程中发挥作用，真正维护版权法的价值观，阻止过度保护那些大财团的利益呢？在香港「知识共享行动」（Open Knowledge）会议上，台湾维基媒体协会的理事长邓杰先生（虎儿）打了个比方：如果你要开一家餐厅卖牛排，吃牛排是用刀子，但刀子是危险的，可以用来杀人，于是，为了防止有人用刀子杀人，所以，要我们在牢房吃牛排。
Google的一举一动永远是公众注目的焦点。在愚人节的疯狂恶搞过后，谷歌拼音输入法正式推出，随即陷入一片争议声中。是不是拿技术忽悠人或是用U盘堵住了Blogger的嘴巴，只有参加公关会议的人知道。谷歌输入法，不能算是很大的创意，加之还有抄袭的嫌疑。谷歌中国出品欲望过急地呈现出来，可惜也许会让粉丝们再一次不是滋味。谷歌拜倒在“防火长城”下姑且不论，还学会了自毁长城。而谷歌在中国的劲敌百度，日前进军日本市场后一直持续着来自中国访问量远大于日本本地的奇特风景。
wiki的小圈圈主义 或许也是web2.0的一个特质，那么让我们仰望一下浩瀚的星空，思考如何突破这个围城。网上更大的一个圈子恐怕就是GFW，不知道这个号称“无法破译”的量子密码通信网络 会对它产生什么影响？
IPv6迟迟不能广泛应用，2010年后用完了IP地址 ，我们该怎么办？
原来科学研究就是在讨好上帝，看来上帝的马屁不好拍，否则为何不增加一下人类性器官的数量，让我们更加high？都说人类起源自非洲，那么上帝也极可能是一位非洲人。可是田园洞人的发现 看来中国人并不受上帝的管辖。唉，科学上的争吵更是让人眼迷耳乱，谁叫学术永远是少数人的事情 呢？
[社会]
清明时节雨纷纷，多少人 需要祭奠啊！不过中国人越来越发现“死不起 (GFWed )“了，活着累，死也难。北京地铁塌方事故 更引发了人们对奥运安全的担忧 ，因为类似事故是否也有隐瞒呢 ？越来越多的事件 正在考问草根是否能够影响立法 。浙江台州的两院报告差点不能过关，难道有了电子表决器就有民主了吗？这个比较令人疑惑，就像有人说互联网因为匿名才敢说话一样。
歌曲都曾经要少一截的当下，Zola同重庆的“维权户”必然是要最终一起被和谐掉的，在这个时刻被GFW，也算是帮GFW作了一下推广，让更多人正视GFW的存在才算是支持英明的党。Zola 也可以回家继续卖菜了。虽然无法得知和解的真正的交易内幕，但Zola这么闹一把，展现出的个人媒体的能量已经足够让传统媒体重视起来了。重庆最牛维权户和开发商最终和解的结局不是某些国外媒体希望看到的，但是看大片的心态也未必不在国人心中存在…
科级干部能够有600平米的住房 ，看来我们都得向政府官员们学习。不过中华全国总工会还是挺关心工人阶级利益的，要不然怎么会给“麦当劳 ”和沃尔玛那么多压力呢？
药价虚高几十倍仅仅是药品企业的问题吗？国家药监局前局长郑筱萸因贪污受贿被捕后，药监局下属机关单位未被立案调查的腐败官员在我党的正确领导和强大威力的震慑下，共登记上交了价值260多万元的贿赂，清退了医药企业350万股票股份，上梁不正下梁歪！纳税人的钱养了一群蛀虫和败类！白衣天使在药品回扣面前都变成了魔鬼，老百姓看不起病，贫困夫妻付不起医药费投江自杀 。
当99%的医生都在拿药品回扣，100%的医院药剂科主任都在吃卡拿卡要公关费，当100%的医院院长都拿了巨额的医疗器械回扣，当国家卫生主管部门100%的保护下属医疗机构“违反医德国法”行径的时候，当国家药品监督管理局的被发现的官员100%的贪污受贿的时候，当医药公司药厂必须按照“潜规则”才能把放在台面上的“工作”完成时，当不行贿，合法的商业行为就无法进行的时候，这“钱规则” 巨大的行贿成本只有加到药品价格中去，而老百姓看不起病自杀 也是可以理解的“正常现象”了。当你看病所配的药物金额50-70%是花在厂家行贿成本中的时候，不要惊讶，大国崛起，百姓当然要付出大价钱，您去医院看病付钱时，就在为构建“盛世”买单。
当那么多外国人到中国来做器官移植 ，当然确实算是造福了中国的医院和病人 。但是，不知道公布《人体器官移植条例》后还会不会有新的形式出现。
方舟子说要灭了中医中药，政府要“大力”扶持中医药行业，而下属的“部分地方卫生部门”却以各种名义阻碍“中医”开私人诊所，而那些原来贴性病小广告，经历了原始资本积累的“福建莆田游医 ”，现在却可以光明正大的以“来自上海专家的医院 ”的广告持证营业，继续靠治疗性病，前列腺疾病，妇科疾病和不孕不育，坑蒙拐骗，上海长江医院只是其中的冰山一角。< /blockquote>
[中国环境的恶化] 中国的妇女儿童拐卖现象严重 ，六合彩更加流行(GFWed ) ，成为了经济邪教。甚至有人认为，连于丹都是一种邪教 ，是愚弄大众的麻醉药而已。
对中国环保的批评我们终于有了挡箭牌，联想可是最环保 的公司呢。但是沙尘暴偏要来做对 ，那是谁也拦不住的。
黑瞎子岛 （GFWed , 地图 ）即将回归中国（至少主流媒体的标题是这样讲的 ），当然实际的情况是回归一半 ，我们得学会要尊重历史 (GFWed )和事实。
[商业]
走光 在这个天气都可以买卖 的互联网上，通过blog赚钱也是理所当然的事情。那么草根博客应该如何确定自己网站的价值呢？估价三万就真得能够拉到三万元广告赞助吗？如果用搜索引擎能够帮助自己赚到钱 ，又如何计算它的真实成本呢？还是让我们感叹商业的魔力吧，走光的小屁屁那也是广告 。
在娃哈哈遭遇达能低价强行并购的时刻，我们在想：中国的超市里，如果少了娃哈哈，只剩下百事可口可乐三得利，康师傅统一，是何等的郁闷和悲哀！看来和鬼子合作，都得多个心眼，小心行事，他们来是赚钱的，而不是做慈善事业。不过中国公司玩小九九的招数并不少，所以中海油的洗钱计划被独立小股东们否决了 ，让人们见识了小股东的力量(GFWed )。中国海外上市公司将面临全球规则的监管，从官办商业上来体会草根力量也未必不是一个思想鸡汤，不知道是否会触动多少“官商”的奶酪。也正是这样，美国政府又挥舞贸易大棒，宣布对中国铜版纸征收高额关税，这当然是美国内部各种保护势力的作用。但是中国，只有一个政府声音的粗简模式下，缺少了民间真正的应对能力，面对这种事情就会麻爪。而类似的谜局也处处可见，政府在哪里，问题就在哪里。 常州纳科 的教训深重，不知道中国的政府官员们是否从中学习到了什么。不过显然陈进的故事还在各地不断地重演。
惠普公司中国总裁孙振耀正式加入“提前退休计划” (Enhanced Early Retirement Program)，将于今年5月31日离开惠普公司。不管是否是自愿 ，能够在一家大公司的中国首席位置上停留如此长的时间，也是一种难得的智慧，所以难怪惠普的员工也有戚戚焉 。
千橡的迷局更有趣  ，他们甚至玩起了媒体游戏 （E文），看来中国媒体中仍然有正义。不良企业大都出现在伪2.0企业身上，而真正的2.0创业者们正在努力把社会责任和企业精神结合起来 。
[生活]
追星追到家破人亡 ，折射出家庭教育的畸形和信仰迷失一代的思想真空，有人说有什么样的社会就有什么样的粉丝 ，而且在不同领域有不同的表现方式。父母如何避免伤害孩子的自尊心 ，需要众多家长很好的学上一课，或许这是我们的教育与众不同？一家人应当相互关爱，能够一起欣赏生活，才真是乐滋美事 。
mubei 上海独立影评人卡夫卡·陆遭遇车祸去世 ，但是他的BLOG 却依旧存在，这让人感到一种莫名的恐惧 。天堂里没有车来车往 ，但是希望天堂里还有电影院，让我们送他最后一程吧。面对已经不在的blogger,确实应当有他们的墓地 。
应当祝福的还有Microsoft Word的元老功臣Charles Simony ，他已经支付2000-2500万美元准备好搭乘俄罗斯联盟号飞船升空 。坚持锻炼好身体，也许你也会成为未来的太空旅客。

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nan Yang


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China: Chinese Blog Companies are not Web 2.0 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The whole concept of Web 2.0 is to facilitate information flow, dialogue and conversation across the Internet. However, Sina.com, in Mainland China, is not only notorious in their editorial policy which violates the freedom of speech (see open letter to sina.com); yesterday Fang Jung in Mindmeter found out that Sina.com has blocked all pictures from RSS readers. Actually not only sina.com, baidu and 163 also have the same policy.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Chinese Blog Hostings are not Web 2.0 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The whole concept of Web 2.0 is to facilitate information flow, dialogue and conversation across the Internet. However, Sina.com, in Mainland China, is not only notorious in their editorial policy which violates the freedom of speech (see open letter to sina.com); yesterday Fang Jung in Mindmeter found out that Sina.com has blocked all pictures from RSS readers. Actually not only sina.com, baidu and 163 also have the same policy.


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Colombia: Five questions on the ELN deal · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boz puts out five questions on the ongoing peace negotiations between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Colombian government. Adam Isacson has more.

author: David Sasaki


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Cuba: Cousins Make Dozens  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I think it’s a given that if you’re Cuban, you’ve got a cousin (or twelve) somewhere,” writes Babalu Blog. “Along those same lines, there is no way you can mention ‘Ropa Vieja’ without someone inevitably bringing up its first cousin, ‘Vaca Frita’.  See? We even do it with food!”  Posted with a recipe for the delicious Cuban dish.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Egypt: From Kareem to Mahmood  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Another Egyptian is behind bars for saying the wrong things online, according to blogger Tom Gara .
But while the first  – Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman – got all the attention a four-year-sentence could muster for insulting Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, the second, - Abdul Monem Mahmood – who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, is not as lucky.
“It isn't surprising to see this happen – but it is surprising to see the lack of concern among the same people who were pretty loudly expressing their dismay at the arrest and imprisonment of Abdelkareem Soliman.
“The big difference between the two? Abdelkareem was heavily anti-Islamic in his writings and Mahmoud blogs for the Muslim Brotherhood. That's all I can really see,” explains Gara.
Ironically, Mahmoud actually got some attention for writing in support of Abdelkareem. Just for some context here, lets remember Abdelkareem is the guy who wrote that
“For as long as Islam exists on this planet all your efforts to end wars and disputes and upheavals will fail because Islam’s dirty finger will be found behind every catastrophic event to humanity.”
Despite saying about the nastiest thing you can possibly say about his religion, Abdelkareem was defended by Mahmoud (who is, remember, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood). Mahmoud said:
“I disagree with Abdul Kareem Amer’s views. However, I do not disagree, at all, that this security practice is unjust towards a youth in the prime of his life. Punishing him, or punishing others having their opinions, will not succeed in changing their ideas.”
A site - Free Kareem – put up by supporters to rally support for Suliaman, writes the following in defence of Mahmood:
Just recently, Ana Ikhwan blogger Abdul Mon’em Mahmoud, who has previously expressed solidarity for Kareem, was arrested and is being held for at least two weeks pending an investigation. The Egyptian government is not taking lightly his blogging on security officials’ acts of torture, as well as random detentions suffered by Egyptians.
The Free Kareem Coalition expresses its deep concern for the detention of Abdul Mon’em and hopes for his release.
The post also has links to and quotes from Reporters Without Borders  and The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.
“Voicing concern about increasingly repressive policies towards online dissent, Reporters Without Borders called today for the releaser of blogger Abdul-Moneim Mahmud, who was arrested on 14 April at Cairo airport. He has been charged with membership of an “illegal organisation” (the Muslim Brotherhood), but his arrests seems to be linked to the photos and reports about the torture of detainees that he has posted on line,” said Reporters Withour Borders.
The state prosecutor’s office in Shoubra Al-Khaima ordered that Mahmud should be held for at least two weeks while he is investigated for alleged membership and financing of an illegal movement. Many local sources say he has in fact been targeted for reporting arbitrary arrests and acts of torture by the security services on his blog, Ana Ikhwan, and on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website.
Mahmud covered demonstrations organised by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and circulated photos of police brutality on the Internet. Aged 27 and a journalism graduate of Cairo university, he is also a correspondent for the satellite TV station Al-Hiwar (The dialogue).
The Arabic Network states:
Security forces on Friday Dawn, broke into the residence of Abdel Men'em Mahmoud reporter of Al-Hiwar TV and administrator of the celebrate blog “Ana Ikhwan”
(http://ana-ikhwan.blogspot.com) to arrest him. However, Mahmoud was not home at this hour, and because he was tortured in a previous episode for 13 days before, he disappeared to make sure of the reasons for this campaign, which probably could be his activities in media coverage to police quelling practices against Muslim Brothers’ activists.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: Islamofascism Awareness Day · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Issander El Amrani, who is based in Egypt, tells us that yesterday was the Islamofascism Awareness Day!


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Egypt: Trick Question · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Freesoul poses a tricky situation here. See if you can rescue the damsel in distress.


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Egypt: Youtube Special for Al Jazeera  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egypt-based Issander El Amrani informs us that Youtube now has a dedicated channel for Qatar's Al-Jazeera English main shows.


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From Uruguay: Thunderstorms in Uruguay · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Gabo of From Uruguay posts an incredible photograph of Tuesday's thunderstorms taken by his friend, Tali.


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Global Voices is seeking a co-Managing Editor · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices is seeking to hire a half-time co-Managing Editor.
: The co-Managing Editor will be responsible for working with Global Voices’ other co-Managing editor on:
- coordinating content flow on the Global Voices web site
– running regular online editorial meetings
– managing the work of our rapidly expanding international team of Regional Editors and volunteer contributors
– liaising with our news media collaborators and partners.
He or she will be an active part of the Global Voices senior management team, helping steer the project further into non-text media, other languages and implementing new technologies and tools.
As Global Voices is a virtual organization, the co-Managing Editor will not be expected to relocate. However, he or she must have regular access to high-speed internet connectivity and will be expected to be on spot to provide timely responses to matters arising during the work day. The job may involve some travel. Salary and other compensation will depend on the candidate’s experience.
: Our ideal candidate has solid experience in blogging and online citizens’ media and at least some experience with professional news media. He or she has the ability to work independently and responsibly with only remote supervision and enjoys pioneering uncharted territory. Solid English-language writing and editing skills are a must. Programming/HTML knowledge are not required, but strong familiarity with the use of online social media tools (blogging platforms, aggregators, use of RSS feeds, and tagging) is important.
He or she must be a diplomatic team player capable of communicating effectively with bloggers as well as with media personnel, making quick but effective decisions and coming up with solutions for managing and motivating an online community of volunteers. Ideally, he/she will have the ability to read and write well in at least one language other than English and have a working knowledge of other languages. Preference will be given to candidates from outside the United States and Western Europe.
To apply, please send your CV and a letter of interest to editor@globalvoicesonline.org. The application deadline is Friday May 4, 2007.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Greece: The Roma · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Romania International Media Watch links to a blog on discrimination of the Roma population of Greece – The Roma Series, by Devious Diva: “Unfortunately, there is seems to be very little tolerance in the Greek society for Roma people or/and especially for people like DD who have been writing about them and advocating on their behalf. In the last few days she's been overwhelmed with hate mail and her real identity revealed on a few websites.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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How [NOT] To: Armenian Genocide Protest · Global Voices
Artur Papyan

Points about what is appropriate for an Armenian to do on the Armenian genocide remembrance day –  April 24th, started earlier this week by the Armenia blog were picked up by the Ahousekeeper in his post: “Dress code? Yes, dress code!”, followed by a lively discussion:
One day out of the entire year motivates Armenians to get off their butts and do something for their people: April 24th. On the 24th of every April, Armenians the world over – but especially in the Los Angeles area – take to the streets to protest the Turkish embassy for recognition of the Genocide. The younger generation especially goes out to protest.
If you’re planning on doing  the same, I have some tips for you:
1. April 24th is not a happy day. In fact, it marks the tortures and deaths of over 1,500,000 of our ancestors. Understand this thoroughly.
2. Don’t wear your latest hot pink top or fluffy mini skirt to the protest. This isn’t your bachelorette party, it’s a solemn occasion. Ask yourself, “Can I wear this to a funeral?” If the answer is no, then pick something else. You will have 364 other days in that year to wear what you want.
[…] visit the original post for more […]
If I sound a little bitter, it’s because I am. Every year I see this and every year it seems to get worse. I understand: you’re too young and not very bright. Kudos to you for deciding to dedicate one day out of your life to a cause greater than your own, but don’t use it as an excuse to make a mockery out of everything we’re fighting for. (Armenia blog)
Teaktak has an interesting observation at Ahousekeeper’s journal:
the saddest part is… … that the beamer driving music blasting punks don’t usually log into the net to read blogs, How to’s or informational sources for that matter. Besides, people have different understandings of the word “scream”, which is becoming mainstream for the cause.
Bekaisa(ru) brings in a whole new dimension to the Genocide discussion with her post, which has sparked a wave of comments too:
At yesterday’s meeting with the director of the film Screamers, I said, that if I were to go for a march on 24 April with some sort of symbolics, I would have gone with a banner saying “I forgive”.
The point is “not to forget, but to forgive”, Bekaisa(ru) speculates further, although she will most likely refrain from attending the traditional march to Tsitsernakaberd [the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan], but that’s a whole different issue, the blogger says.
The replies to the post are mostly highly critical (Orientalian(ru), Dmboshka(ru)), calling the post “cynical” and contesting various other points of view – all in the same spirit.
Narjan(ru) has taken the discussion over to his blog with the question:
Dear people, why don’t you tell me something, hah? What does it mean to forgive turks in general? Who alone, or which group of people can claim that they represent one and a half millions of genocide victims, to have the authority of forgiving or not forgiving?
However all the mentioned posts and comments to them prove an important point – we need a lot more discussion here in Armenia about the Armenian genocide, the quest for its recognition and our attitudes towards Genocides in general.

author: Artur Papyan


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India and Bollywood Buzz · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

This week Bollywood was the dominant topic of conversation among bloggers. Bollywood dominated for a couple of reasons.  The first one is the wedding of the year or the decade or the century however you want to dub it. If you missed the news then here it is: Bollywood's hottest pair and the current power couple: Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, dubbed as “Abhiash” tied the knot today.
The second reason is the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty kiss. Here is what happened Hollywood actor Richard Gere was in India to help with an AIDS awareness campaign. During a public AIDS campaign event, Gere grabbed Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and kisser her on the cheek and the rest is history, and apparently there are a couple of legal cases filed against Gere.
In the following couple of paragraphs I have tried to capture a wide range of reaction from Indian bloggers about the Gere-Shetty kissing episode.
Jay Tipnis perhaps captures the feelings of many bloggers and tries to make sense of the kissing episode. Yes, India is a conservative country, but look what they are showing on TV ma, what do I make of it seems to be Jay's strand of thinking. He writes;
“We can say that India is a very conservative country and that this was an unnecessary display by Gere and Shetty but I stand confused because I watch Hindi movies and there are more displays of suggestive dancing by scantily clad women all over the screen than this side of an MTV Spring Break special. On television, Indian serials are full of women carrying on affairs, murdering family members, and plotting world domination yet a kiss between two friends on stage at a rally meant to raise awareness apparently is now a slight against the conservative morals of the country. If that is not the most hypocritical thing I have ever seen then I don't know what is.”
GV Krishnan a retired journalist turned blogger shares his opinion about the Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere kissing episode and why the media may perceived the episode differently from Shilpa. Shilpa. He writes:
“Shilpa's outburst at the media is understandable. What she perhaps doesn't understand is that media, much of it anyway, isn't there to put things in a positive light, but to report them as they perceive it. Media has celebrity bias. Had Richard Gere done it with a plain Jane, HIV positive, picked out from a AIDS awareness campaign meeting, the photo would still have made the papers, but on an inside page. Media knows how not to over-react, Shilpa.”
Amrit of Writing Cave is critical of some political parties and organizations and their reaction to the Gere-Shetty episode He writes:
“The Shiv Sainiks and other Hindu organizations are always a nuisance. These losers have nothing better to do in their lives, and like Islam, for them the Hindu sanskriti (culture, way of life) too is always under attack and needs to be protected sedulously. They have been burning the effigies of Shilpa Shetty. Although the secularists will jump at the opportunity and call it as “Hindu fundamentalism”, I simply term it as an annoyance and a law-and-order problem. These Shiv Sainiks should be arrested and put behind bars for a few years because otherwise they will keep finding one danger to their sanskriti or another.
In another such incident, an obscure Hindu organization called The Hindu Rashtriya Sena ransacked the Star News office in Mumbai for covering an incident the Sena found objectionable. The main problem here is the languor our police force shows. Arresting these hooligans after they have done the damage only furthers their cause and they become heroes amidst their communities. They should be tackled with before they can do any harm to the society.
Talking of society, unless such activists are treated like the outcasts instead of the culture-protectors, nothing much can be expected to happen.”
And as if mainstream media in India and abroad did not have a field day covering the Gere-Shetty episode, here in America Jon Stewart took a humorous swipe at the entire Shetty-Gere episode as I wrote in one of my post.
The second and dominant Bollywood news is the wedding of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.   An American In Athens has a pretty comprehensive post on the marriage of these two actors and writes:
“You may be asking yourselves, “who are these people and why do I care?” Fair enough, they’re not Greek and have nothing to do with Greece, but Ab and Ash are the Indian equivalent of Pitt and Jolie, thus representing the union of two of the richest, most recognizable families in India…What makes this interesting is she is 33, two years his senior and marrying for the first time in a country where most women marry before they’re 20 or 25. Rai is also much more established and successful than her soon-to-be husband, who only rose to prominence in 2004.”
This wedding has been the talk of mainstream media, who appear to have ignored other big news stories in Bangalore writes The World As We Know It. Apparently there is a public transport strike in Mumbai that has largely gone unnoticed by mainstream media and they write:
“Why can't they focus on the bigger picture? I mean where does the problem actually lie? Why do these strikes happen often? Isn't that what journalism is suppose to be?
We are really disappointed with the deteriorating standards of journalism.
The only news or rather ‘irrelevant stories’ they write about is the wedding of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The news about their pre-wedding ceremonies, list of invitees etc is spread across several pages in a newspaper. What difference does it make to any of our lives? Have they done anything significant to deserve this kind of publicity?”
Farazan Versey of Cross Connections also wonders about the mainstream media's obsession with the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai wedding. She writes about a TV reporter's attempt to gatecrash the wedding, and how other events in the city are slipping by unnoticed by mainstream media. Farazan writes:
“Where were these enthusiastic reporters when 700 hutments were demolished two days ago? I could not even find a report to post here. The only evidence I saw was a picture of the devastated site with a child carrying a fan from the debris.”

author: Kamla Bhatt


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India: They way we write about India · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Indian Economy Blog points to lopsided opinions in a newspaper. “The tale of India’s billionaires, Sahota writes in conclusion, is also the story of her suicides, as if one were responsible for the other. To mix the two is to commit a double offence: first, it demeans the achievements of those who have risen to the top of the economic heap in the face of global competition and often in spite of the government. Second, it distracts attention from the real reasons why the suicides still happen: criticism of theoretical constructs that ignores the actual policies and their implementation, usually by those whose only contribution to the battle against poverty is their propensity to indulge in—and send the government on—wild-goose chases.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Iran:Most arrested students are released · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Eteraz [Fa]most arrested students in Babol University in the northern part of country are out of jail.Sabagh,a student activist who had been kidnapped a few days ago, is out of jail too.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: Meeting Resistance  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Imad Khadduri  provides a link to Meeting Resistance, a documentary on Iraq.


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Iraq: Saudi Cyber Activist Jailed · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“A week ago the Saudi Arabia government closed Islammemo website ..its moderator Soyan Alhajeri in jail, the reason behind this action is still unknown but the only available information is the closure of website and jailing Alhajiri was a request from the Iraqi “Green Zone” government,” writes Iraqi blogger Lady Bird.


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Iraq: US Intentions in Sudan  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Is the US hostile policy against Sudan to legitimize building military bases in east Africa??” asks Iraqi blogger Lady Bird.


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Israel: Anti-Semitism on the Rise  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide, but France has seen a particularly significant jump in the number of violent attacks on Jews, writes Israeli blogger Smooth Stone.


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Israel: On Death and Nostalgia  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Tel Aviv-based blogger Yael  writes about death, resurrection, nostalgia and the future in the first of a series of posts.


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Israel: Virginia Tech Shooting Cartoon  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israeli blogger Stephanie links to a cartoon on the Virginia Tech shooting here. “Poignancy once again at the talented pencil tip of Dry Bones’ Yaakov Kirschen. This time Kirschen takes to task this week’s killings at Virginia Tech versus Mid-East suicide bombers,” she writes.


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Japan and South Korea: Debate about Two Shootings · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James from Japan Probe blogs about the Japan and Korean netizen debates (including hate speeches) over the Virginia Tech / Nagasaki shootings.


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Japan: Foreign population in Tokyo · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Adamu blogs about the details and implications of “population movement survey” conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.


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Japan: Fun With Japanese Characters · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Pingmag has a feature story about the Dainippon Type Organization, an experimental typography unit founded by the two artists Tetsuya Tsukada and Hidechika in 1993. The group finds fun in breaking Japanese Katakana, Hiragana, and the alphabet into pieces to recompose the parts and produce new characters.


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Japan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Debito picks up the story from Gyaku  concerning the future of electronic surveillance of foreigners entering Japan: This means that Japan becomes the second country to institute one of these systems in the world, in a bid to get a toehold in Asia and profit from the fear of terrorism.


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Kazakhstan: Interview with Mizinov · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila Tanayeva interviews Yuri Mizinov of Zonakz.net, an online newspaper planning to launch blogs soon.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Kyrgyzstan: The Crackdown · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Teo Kaye reports that protests against Kyrgyzstan's president in Bishkek have been broken up for now.


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Lebanon: On Hizbulla, Iran and Syria  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanon-based blogger Nicholas  links to an article which sheds light on the relationship between Hizbulla, Syria and Iran.


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Lebanon: Thesis Ready! · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese blogger Leila Abu-Saba celebrates  the completion of her master's thesis in Creative Writing.


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Lebanon: Too Much Media Attention for Virginia Tech Shooting · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese blogger _z. is in two minds about writing about the Virginia Tech massacre because “I still think that too much media and commotion around this subject, will surely make it happen again, as these stupid gunners are usually in need of attention…”


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Maldives police accused of torture and killing a young man · Global Voices
Nihan Zafar

Torture by Maldivian police on detainees has come under spotlight once again with the discovery of a badly beaten body from water in the morning of April 15 in the capital Male’. The young man Hussain Solah was under police custody a few days before his death. Even though the police claim that he was released on April 13, there are no reliable witnesses who had seen him after that. He made no contact with family and friends after his supposed release from police custody.
Thousands of people gathered to protest against what they believed was another murder by police but the protestors themselves became the target of police brutality as they were beaten by an elite police squad, which has been criticized recently by a former British police superintendent.
Mohamed Nasheed, the Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party, was also severely beaten by the police and arrested. He was later released and is seeking medical treatment abroad.
The family of the deceased wanted to carry out an autopsy to determine the reasons for the death but the police tried to bury the body. The police then offered to do an autopsy in Maldives by a Sri Lankan pathologist. There are no facilities in the Maldives for making an autopsy. The family refused to have the autopsy done in the Maldives under arrangements made by police. In the end the government has agreed to the family’s request to take the body abroad to make the autopsy.
The police initially said there were no visible injuries on the body, which hundreds of people who saw the body would deny. A concerned doctor posts in MaldivesHealth blog that the doctor who examined the body first refused to sign the papers to bury the body and insisted that the body be taken to hospital for further studies.
The fact of the matter is, the doctor who 1st examined the body, refused to sign the papers insisting that the body would need to be taken to IGMH for further studies as to understand the full extent of the injuries sustained. This was indeed , a highly praise worthy decision in such a pressure situation; none-the-less the right one too.
Our doctors didn’t do a postmortem because it is not permitted for one thing. The other more valid point is that we do not have a person with enough credentials for that procedure. (You wouldn’t have your appendix removed by a dentist, would you?)
Maldives Today laments about the mild reaction from the public to the murder of Solah compared to the wild riots that took place in September 2003 when an inmate was killed in jail by the security forces.

author: Nihan Zafar


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Moldova, Russia: A Settlement for Transdniestria? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Economist's Edward Lucas posts his article on peace in Transdniestria; Public Policy Watch and Kosmopolit comment on the situation: “All in all, a very ‘Russian’ settlement plan…”


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Moldova: Village of Tarnova · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scraps of Moscow links to the “outstanding” website of the Moldovan village of Tarnova.


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Nigeria: where are the ballot papers? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Akin on the Nigerian presidential election: “However, what leaves me breathless like I have just been punched violently in the belly is the response of the Chairman of INEC to the rumour that a truckload of ballot papers marked in favour of the ruling party had been seized.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Oman: Gay Marriages a Rumour · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Omani blogger Nabhan Abdullatif gets the shock of his life when he hears a fellow student announce in class at his Jordan university that gay marriages are allowed in his country. “He basically went on and on about how gay couples from Kuwait or Saudi Arabia come to Oman to get married and that it's allowed over there and of course being the blunt person that I am I immediately raised my hand to correct this weird and rather disturbing rumor and I told the professor out loud that I am Omani and lived in Oman most of my life and that I have never heard of such a thing, Yes there are fags in our society and then again which society doesn't have them? but we absolutely do not allow gay marriage,” he rants.


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Oman: Overworked Doctors  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Doctors in Oman are over worked, with some putting in 50 hours of continuous work with no breaks, reports Sleepless in Muscat. “These shifts not only endanger the lives of the patients and the doctors themselves, but also result in the doctors losing out on much needed rest with many of them having accumalated leave days over the years that are still to be spent away but can't get a moment's rest even when they are on holiday because they would be called in for emergencies,” explains the blogger.


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Pakistan: ISPs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Tee Emm on Pakistan has a post on the ISPs doing business. “The News is saying that at least two groups, one of which is from UAE, wants to take up the smaller ISPs in the country in an effort to capture the left-over Internet part of the telecommunication sector in Pakistan which so far has been overshadowed by the bigger numbers and higher attention bandwidth casted on the voice business by the international investors.”


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Panama: Rob Rivera and Facebook · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Panamanian blogger Rob Rivera on his love affair with Facebook.


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Russia: “Extremists” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about the people viewed as “extremists” by the current regime.


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Russia: Gorbachev on Dissenters’ Marches · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Near|Abroad comments on Mikhail Gorbachev's negative reaction to the recent Dissenters’ Marches: “The grandfather of Glasnost should probably stick to what he does best at this age, photo-ops.”


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Russia: “Protesting the Protesters” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scraps of Moscow links to a few anti-opposition pieces and observes: “Of course this is not a real, capable, popular opposition. Of course Putin is supported by the majority of Russians, with some justification given Russia's recent economic good fortune. But none of this means that people engaged in a protest action should be beaten and detained by the authorities […].”


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Russia: Unreadable News · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude discovers a site featuring “unreadable” Russia news: “Make no mistake, this is break-the-mould journalism. All Russia News is so unreadable it is not only machine translated, it is written by a machine.”


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Serbia: Independent Media Under Threat · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Balkanizer writes about “a scary day to be a journalist in Serbia.”


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Serbia: Kosovo Missing and Dead · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Roses suspended from the ceiling of the Kosovo Art Gallery in Pristina commemorate the missing and the dead of the war in Kosovo, South East Europe Online reports.


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Slovenia: Politics and the EU Presidency · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“… Slovenia takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in January 2008. Besides the panic that this generates in the large part of the governing structures and public administration, this also has a strange effect on the overall political climate in the country,” writes Marko Bucik.


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Sri Lanka: Travel and Economics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Truth Around Us on the politics and economics of travel and vehicles. “So why doesn’t the government at least reduce the tax on vans to benefit the common person. Well the answer is a Win-Lose, Lose-Win situation. If the government reduces the tax on vans, no one would buy cars and the government would lose money.”


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Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago: More Thoughts on VT  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Posting from Trinidad, Thebookmann is concerned that the media has played into the VT gunman's “sick little cold, dead hands” by broadcasting footage of the killer “unleashing his hateful rage to a camera.  The airing of such imagery is a grave mistake…something that I have seen for too long in my own little island as regards to presenting news on crime.”  And Bahamian Nicolette Bethel posts video of the university's Professor of English delivering the closing speech at the convocation of Virginia Tech in the wake of this week’s tragedy: “At these times, it’s art — poetry, music, dance, theatre, painting — that do the job we really need.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Lara is Out!  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Following his team's victory over Bangladesh yesterday, beleaguered West Indies Cricket Captain Brian Lara has announced his retirement from the sport.  Caribbean Beat Blog was shocked at the news, but West Indies Cricket Blog “felt a pang of sadness when the inevitable happened. We all knew this day was coming soon but there’s this uncomfortable feeling that this is a forced retirement, driven by the ugly things that continue to drive West Indies cricket deeper into the ground.”


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Ukraine: Abandoned Village Near Chernobyl · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael Forster Rothbart posts photos from an abandoned Ukrainian village near Chernobyl.


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Ukraine: More on Suzanna Stanik · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes has more on the corruption scandal involving Judge Suzanna Stanik.


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Uzbekistan: Cotton Cultivation · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Bonnie Boyd compares cotton cultivation practices in Uzbekistan with those in other parts of the world and sees much room for improvement.


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Venezuela, Zimbabwe: Stock Markets · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Miguel Octavio takes a  look at what the Venezuelan and Zimbabwean stock markets and inflation rates have in common. Oil Wars, however, writes: “Now, we needn’t focus on the exact number and percentages, they may well overstate poverty somewhat. Yet the dramatic trend can’t be missed. Venezuela went from a country with a large middle class to a country that was mainly impoverished. The downward trend in the standard of living over those 24 years simply can’t be missed nor downplayed – a very large portion of Venezuelan society was brought to ruin.”


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Africa: Afrigator or regrigerator? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Thought-provoking humor from Afromusing: Are you searching for Afrigator or refrigerator?


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Africa: AfroSpear – a Think Tank for People of African Descent · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A new blog on the block: Afrospear – A Think Tank for People of African Descent, “Welcome to AfroSpear! We are one galaxy in an interplanetary solar system of BLACKNESS…Blackness that is inclusive as well as incisive. We are united by our African-ness and our love for our people and the planet. Conversations here may become heated, but though this “Black Fire” may singe, it will never burn.
Let the Conversation Begin!!!”


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Africa: Fascination with movies about Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kizzie writes about Hoolywood's new fascination with movies about Africa: “I'm not going to be surprised if I go to the movies in a few weeks to watch a movie about Sudan! wait a minute, they are filming emma's war right now! I'm sure the world will be thrilled by this movie. I mean a sudanese warlord marries a british aid worker and she lives with him in Southern sudan during Africa's longest-running war! How originial! ( drum rolls, drum rolls pleaseeeee…..and the golden globe for best actress goes to …Nicole Kidman for playing Emma's part in an exquisite way and for turning the horrors of the Sudanese civil war into an eye-opening film ( not that we were aware of the civil war but hey thanks for telling us about it!).”


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Africa: Where is Rwanda in Global ICT rankings? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Soyapi Mumba reports and comments on the World Economic Forum Network Readiness Index: “It's unfortunate that Rwanda was not included on the list. Rwanda has been getting a lot praise in Africa for investing a lot in ICT. It is aiming to be the technology hub in Africa and is one of the first countries to sign deals with leading Internet companies while other African countries are still looking up to tech companies that no longer matter.”


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Arabisto: Egyptian Virginia Tech Victim Ignored by Media  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Friends of Virginia Tech shooting victim Waleed Shaalan, from Egypt, are calling him a hero. Friends have told this news station in Virginia that Waleed distracted shooter Seung Hui-Cho, so that three of his friends could to escape the shooting. Why the mainstream media hasn’t caught wind of this, I don’t know,” writes blogger Nadia Gergis. Her post also includes profiles of the three Arab victims – two from Lebanon, in addition to Shaalan.


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Brazil: Federal Police Go On Strike · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Sao Paulo-based Ricardo Carreón on Brazil's federal police strike.


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Cambodia: Bloggers Mekong Cruise · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Kalyan Keo has pictures from a bloggers cruise on Mekong river. The numbers of young bloggers in Cambodia who blog in English is increasing and you can meet some of them (including Global Voices Cambodia contributor Tharum Bun) in this post.

author: Preetam Rai


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Cambodia: New Year Without Girls · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The iCambo blog describes what happens when overseas Cambodian students don't have any girls among them to help celebrate the Khmer new year.


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D.R. of Congo: the crime of being born a woman · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Trailblazer on the plight of women in D.R of Congo: “They may feel that the only crime they have committed was being born into this world as a woman. What’s even a worse, a Congolese woman.
Instead of being able to proudly walk this earth, provide for themselves and their families and reach for goals that many are free to reach for, they live through unimaginable horrors while their government and the rest of the world turn their head.”


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East Timor: Xanana’s Past and Future · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Timor Leste Perspectives looks at the role Xanana Gusmao, the outgoing president of East Timor and former resistance leader in the independence movement and subsequently as a president of free East Timor as a president.


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Fiji: First Ever Blog Meet Report · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Digital Fiji writes about the blog meet they had in Suva. The low attendance did not keep them from having “a great talk about everything from politics to family history to taxi drivers to Hi5 – oh, and blogging, too”


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Fiji: Lunch blog Launched · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Mayvelous and friends launch a lunch blog in Fiji.


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French Election, Two Views on Segolene Royal · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

As France votes today in the first round of their presidential election, at Racontars, Akynou explains reasons for choosing for Segolene Royal.  Meanwhile, Troup nul Guadeloupe says Royal is “dangerous for France”, arguing  she has frequently altered her position in attempt to garner support (Fr).

author: Jennifer Brea


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General Strike in French Guiana · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

A general strike in French Guiana caused interruptions in power and transportation services, but no disruption of the French presidential campaigns since all campaigning must stop several days before the ballot (Fr).


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Iran:War for oil · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

ZaneIrani talks about Collin Kelley‘s poem,”war for oil” where we read No liberation force is coming,
no toppling of statues or searches,for weapons of mass destruction.Here is famine, genocide,dark skin pouring black oil that holds no currency.


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Kenya: parliamentary election campaign blog launched · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

We learn from Mzalendo that a Kenyan blogger has launched a parliamentary election campaign blog: “26 year old Daystar graduate student Jesse Masai (also a blogger on KBW) has recently launched his campaign blog. Please pay him a visit and let him know what you think, especially if you are a Cherangany constituent.”


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Laos: Lao Student Become a Pop Star in Vietnam · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Samakomlao blog has pictures of LaoKeota Xayyasing who has become a popular pop star in neighboring Vietnam where he is currently studying.


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Laos: Laotian New Year Party · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Teresa at On our Own blog describes her Laotian new year celebrations with her students from Lao.


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Madonna in Malawi, Malawi in global ICT rankings, and Media under attack  · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

News that Madonna was visiting Malawi again sparked rumors that she was going to adopt another child, this time a girl by the name of Grace. While most of the blogs carrying Madonna story are foreign to Malawi, it has been a week swarmed by postings on her benevolence, keeping away Malawian journalists and the meetings she is having in Malawi.
One Malawian blog Ndagha wished Malawian journalists were given a chance to interview Madonna and ask her some tough questions including:
Malawi has about 85 percent of its active reproductive age group HIV negative. What word if any about HIV testing. As a role model, could she have an HIV test?
Could she consider moving to Malawi?
What she thinks Kaballah will mean to Malawians?
Madonna is a Kaballah convert.
Elsewhere on the Malawi blogosphere, Ndagha writes about a three-month long Global ICT online course that 53 participants are enjoying. The course run by penplusbytes has participants from various countries. The blogger hopes that the course will equip him with skills to communicate better with new ICT tools:
This is one of the rare training opportunities students spend at least an hour each day online and learn. I hope that the 53 of us will interact and learn more. My particular objectives are:
1. I want to better understand the ICT theories and concepts
2. I want to learn how to do podcasting and apply it to blogs
3. I desire to learn how to relate ICT to practical radio programming
4. I want to grow in my online skills and do better journalism.
5. I want to be challenged and pass on the knowledge to my immediate colleagues and others
Malawi going back to “Egypt”
Since 2007 began, politics continues to take centre stage in the discussions by many Malawians prompted by the announcement of former president Bakili Muluzi that he will contest the 2009 presidential elections. A number of bloggers have made thier contributions on this before. A Blantyre-based journalist Joe Mlenga likens the possible comeback of Muluzi as president to Malawians (Israelites) going back to Egypt. On his blog God is Good, Joe strongly argues that there shouldn't really be a debate over whether former Malawi president should contest in the 2009 polls because:
It is like asking the children of Israel to go back to Pharaoh's atrocities in Egypt as recounted in the Bible. I feel Muluzi failed to leave any impressive legacy and he should have been wise enough to retire. As I see it and as many have pointed out, he cannot compare with the present government in terms of administration. Even during his rallies, one can see that Muluzi really has nothing new to offer apart from trying to put down the achievements of the current government. But if he is stubborn, let Muluzi come to the polls where I foresee disaster and embarrassment for him.
The comeback of Muluzi is interpretted by some Malawians as the absence of capable people who could take over. Historically, the power base for the rulling parties since 1964 has been Southern and Central Malawi, which makes some people fear that there will never be a president from the north since voting has so far reflected regional biases.
Isaac Ziba argues on his blog that though parties are regionalistic, Malawians should be more concerned with who can do a quality job to develop the people and the country. In his post titled “Most Malawian political parties are regionalistic“, Ziba writes:
Malawians, in my view, would care very little about where their leader comes from provided that leader facilitates the arrival of food on their plates on a daily, constant basis, Malawians, in my view, would care very little of where their leader comes from if that leader facilitated improvement in the quality of Malawians’ lives; in my view Malawians will care very little where their leader comes from if that leader facilitated good infrastructural development, Malawians, in my view, will care very little where their leader comes from if that leader made Malawian matter in his leadership dispensation, Malawians, yes, in my view, will care very little where their leader comes from if that leader made them live on more than a dollar a day, in real terms.
Malawi in the The Global Information Technology Report
For the first time Malawi has appeared in The Global Information Technology Report which has become a valuable and unique benchmarking tool to determine national ICT strengths and weaknesses, and to evaluate progress. It also highlights the continuing importance of ICT application and development for economic growth. The Report which uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) measures the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT development. For the first time, Denmark tops the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report's Networked Readiness Index, as a culmination of an upward trend since 2003.
Soyapi Mumba praises Malawi which, despite its poor state of network readiness, has beaten countries like Zambia, Cameroon, Chad and Ethiopia. In a post titled “African Countries slipping down in tech rankings” he writes:
My country, Malawi, is a new entrant in this year's ranking at position 111 out of 122 countries ranked, beating neighbouring Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe among others. In Africa, we are at position 17 out the 26 African countries ranked with Tunisia, South Africa and Botswana taking the first 3 positions respectively (1,2,3) in Africa and globally 35, 47, 67 respectively.
It's unfortunate that Rwanda was not included on the list. Rwanda has been getting a lot praise in Africa for investing a lot in ICT. It is aiming to be the technology hub in Africa and is one of the first countries to sign deals with leading Internet companies while other African countries are still looking up to .
Journalism Under attack
The media in Malawi in the last few weeks has been under attack due to various political developments in the country. The Malawi Communications Authority (MACRA) ordered that private radio stations should ask for permission to cover any outside broadcast functions. Media owners, practitioners and civil society said this is a violation of freedom of expression. Later on media reports claimed that Minister of Information had suggested that government should start censoring the input and output on the Internet. Big Mouth Austin Madingais worried with the development and offers an advice to the government:
There is an article in the Nation newspaper today suggesting that government wants to censor the internet in Malawi although Govt has denied it. The article goes on further to say forums like Nyasanet, Malawi Talk and Nyasa Times are the main target of this censorship and that government wants to send specialists for training to implement the censorship. Information minister has denied all this but went on the caution web developers and internet service providers to watch what they publish. Could someone kindly inform the honourable information minister that web developers and ISP's are not responsible for a web sites content.

author: Victor Kaonga


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Malawi: Malawian bloggers has four questions for Madonna · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Recently, music pop star, Madonna, visited Malawi. If Victor Kaonga, who lives in Sweden, were in Malawi, he would have asked her four questions:
If I were around, I would ask her four questions:
1. Why she is interested in Malawi?
2. What she thinks Kaballah will mean to Malawians?
3. Malawi has about 85 percent of its active reproductive age group age group HIV negative. What word if any about HIV testing. As a role model, could she have an HIV test?
4. Could she consider moving to Malawi?


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Malaysia: Astronaut Hype · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Malaysian is not impressed with the hype that the government is trying to generate about the first Malaysian astronaut. “We are merely using a Russian space vehicle to piggyback our ‘astronaut’ in exchange for buying Russian aircraft at a ridiculously inflated price. That is the painful truth. There have been much older men who have paid their way to outer space and back without this much hoo-haa, basically because the trip is nothing much to shout about in this age and time.”


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Martinique: Stories of Slavery · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Karucrea points to Paroles d'Esclavage (Fr), an online collection of the stories of Martiniquean slaves, as told by their grandchildren.


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Mexico: PEMEX Missing Oil and Money · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mark in Mexico takes a look at how state-owned PEMEX's latest audit reveals billions of missing pesos along with 1.5 million barrels of missing oil.


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Mexico: The MEX Files · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Blog presenter extraordinaire, Ellen Fields, introduces The MEX Files [ES]: “Sometimes there are great articles from Spanish-language newspapers translated into English for your reading pleasure (Richard is a translator for a living). Sometimes, a history lesson. Sometimes, a rant. You just never know what you are going to get with the Mex Files!”


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Nigeria: blogger’s voting experience  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nigerian blogger, Tayo Odukoya, blogs about his experience in the Nigerian presidential election: “The first observation was that the voting spot was quite devoid of people. If you read the registration process on my previous post “INEC Registration Exercise. Have you registered?”, you'll remember that due to the crowd of aspiring registrants, I had to wait for some time before I could get registered. There was no voter in sight, contrary to the gubernatorial elections when the queues were very long (check it out on Tolted's Blog) and some people did not get to vote. This lent credibility to a rumor that many Nigerians had decided to boycott the election due to a speculation that their votes would not count (or be counted for that matter!).”


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Nigeria: smelling gunpowder · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

While Nigerians vote in the presidential elections, Nkem writes, “We need to wake up and smell the gunpowder…”


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Nigeria: texting election observations · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

If you are in Nigeria, you can text your observations of the presidential elections: “The number to text to is 0808-4032739. Note that number and tell everyone you know!”


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Online Freedom for All: Some cases worth supporting · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

In my last article, “Lessons from the Free Kareem campaign”, I talked about campaigning and why some jailed and persecuted bloggers and online writers are winning sympathy, while others have difficulty attracting the attention of the public. I also discussed the logic behind the success or the failure of campaigning, and made a comparison with the Tunisian cyber-activism case.
In this post I would like to draw attention to a list — which makes no pretensions to completeness — of under-covered advocacy campaigns and point to specific cases of bloggers, online writers and activists whose causes are worth supporting. A few of them have been in prison for years, and a few others are being sued or harassed because of what they are writing online. Not all of them are bloggers, and I personally do not believe that blogging communities should reserve their support and activism for persecuted bloggers and abandon other online writers who suffer harassment and torture. They all deserve our support to protect their basic human rights. One hopes that we can learn from other people's experiences in order to spread the word and raise awareness among blogspheres whose support is crucial in putting an end to a silence that ought not to be allowed to continue.
Blogging about the need for a “better solidarity-based blogosphere”, and commenting on the video made by Mistral, the Tunisian blogger and activist Astrubal said that:
Many things still can be done to help for the release of those who still jailed and certainly much more steps to take to prevent such harms. And whatever it can be done, Mistral is so right when he thinks that it can not be as efficient as actions done by a much solidarity-based blogosphere.
In order to have a clear picture about the disparity in the level of coverage of the following cases, in comparison with the Kareem case, I've posted a few Technorati graphs showing the number of blog posts, containing the studied cases, per day for the last year (please click on the images to see the results). The graphs illustrate the hard work that needs to be done in order to unveil certain injustices and ensure equal support for all persecuted online writers, be they bloggers or not.
Abd al-Monem Mahmoud, a 27 year-old Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood blogger, Ikhwanweb reporter and correspondent for the Cairo-based British Alhiwar channel, was arrested on Sunday April 15, 2007, at Cairo International Airport. It is believed that Abd al-Monem was arrested after reporting on torture. Abd al-Monem, who was detained several times because of his activities as a student at Alexandria University, spoke last week on a video broadcasted on Youtube, (transcript in Arabic here) about the mistreatment he experienced four years ago while in detention at the State security offices.
The last time I saw Abd al-Monem was at the 3rd annual Al Jazeera Forum at Doha, Qatar at the end of March 2007. In an exclusive interview with Global Voices that I'll be publishing here as soon as we have an English translation, Abd al-Monem Mahmoud talked about his experiences as a blogger and the history of the use of Internet by the Muslim Brotherhood. He also expressed support for his fellow jailed blogger Kareem Amer and explained why the younger generation of the Muslim Brotherhood has chosen blogs as one of the tools in their arsenal.
A Technorati search for “Roukana Hamour” (in Latin characters) won't yield many results. The only result that shows up on Google points to one entry published on Global Voices by Amira Al Hussaini, translated from a post in Arabic I wrote after meeting Ms. Hamour in Dubai last month.
Roukana Hamour  is a Syrian blogger. She was taken from her home last year and dragged into the street in her nightgown, after being threatened at gunpoint in front of her young children by members of the country's Criminal Security forces, who had no warrant for her arrest. This incident, which took place on October 15, 2006, was a direct result of Roukana's blogging.
Due to a feud between her and her brothers, Roukana, daughter of a leading Syrian businessman, was denied the right to inherit $20 million of her father’s fortune. She was denied justice because of the involvement in the case of top judicial figures such as the Syrian Justice Minister. After failing to secure of her rights by legal means, she started blogging about her experiences with the Syrian legal system and exposing the corruption on the part of individuals in the country's administrative, banking and judicial sectors, who stood in the way of her claim on her father’s estate. As a result of her writings, Roukana was subjected to a great deal of harassment.
Despite the fact that Roukana received no attention from either the media or any NGO, she is preparing her self for another battle. In a e-mail exchange, she told me that:
On March 20,2007, the Chinese cyber-dissident Zhang Jianhong,(aka Li Hong) member of the Independent Chinese PEN center (ICPC) was sentenced to six years in prison. Zhang, who was arrested last year, was charged with “incitement to subvert the state's authority”. Zhang had posted articles online calling for political reform.
Abdulsalam Baroudi is one of the first Algerian bloggers to be sued by Tlemcen’s Director of Religious Affairs, who has accused the blogger of posting defamatory material on his personal blog on February 20, under the title “Al Sistani Appears in Tlemcen“. In a post translated earlier by GV's Arabic Language Editor, Amira Al Hussaini, Abdulsalam wrote:
I received summons from the Tlemcen Province’s Security to make myself present in front of the Judiciary on Saturday after Tlemcen Religious Affairs Director filed a libel case against me for the article I posted on my blog The Province of Tlemcen on February 20 under the title Al Sistani Appears in Tlemcen.
The official had earlier requested the ministry to allow him to sue me and (by giving him the go ahead) this ministry has now opened the door for the initiation of legal proceedings against bloggers.
This is happening at a time when organisations monitoring freedom of expression have classified Algeria among the countries in which Internet users enjoy a wide freedom in blogging in their 2006 reports which listed four Arab countries – Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria – as being restrictive of freedom of expression on the Internet,”
Jeff Ooi, the outspoken Malaysian blogger — along with the blogger and veteran journalist Ahirudin Attan (aka Rocky's bru) — was sued by the pro-government local English daily New Straits Times Press (NSTP).
On 11 January 2007 the Malaysian courts ordered Jeff to remove all allegedly defamatory posts from his blog, Screenshots, by Jan 17th. This was the first time in the country that a blogger was being sued by a newspaper for what is being published on his blog.
The Malaysian blogsphere responded by launching the “Walk With Us” and Bloggers United campaigns in support of freedom of speech in a country where the media is controlled by the government.
On March 9, 2007, the Tunisian regime condemned, in absentia, the journalist and blogger Mohamed Fourati to a 14-month prison term on account of two articles he wrote in 2002 in the Tunisian dissident webzine Aqlma online. “The Tunisian government does not permit any opposition, whether in the traditional press or on the Internet,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.
Now, the Tunisian regime is refusing to allow Fourati’s wife to leave Tunisia and join her husband in Qatar, where he works for the daily Al-Sharq.
March 1, 2007 marks the second anniversary of the imprisonment of Mohammed Abbou, lawyer, internet writer and human rights defender,  who was sentenced to prison for writing online articles criticizing the Tunisian penitentiary system and comparing his country's political prisoners with those held in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Abbou's article was published in August 2004 on the Tunisnews website. During his time in prison he has gone on hunger strikes several times in order to, as he himself puts it, “draw attention to what is happening in my country as regards the repression against all those who voice dissent.”
On another occasion, he sewed his lips together  with staples for four days. The blogger behind …Or Does It Explode? has this to say about the case of Abbou:
Readers may recall that as an act of protest, Abbou last year sewed his own mouth shut – in a gut-wrenchingly symbolic attempt to highlight the suppression of free speech in Tunisia. But our mouths aren't sewed shut, so why is the world so quiet about his case?
In an interview attributed to Tunisian activists, Abbou's wife, Samia, talked about the brutality of the Tunisian regime towards her family.
The following is an extract from the rough translation that was published previously on Global Voices:
I am asking myself if they treated me like that, how about my husband? One told me: you are the wife of Mohamed? He threw me on the floor with rage, and was sweeping the floor with my body, my shoes were off, my bag dropped down, I was screaming until voiceless. He did not consider that I was a woman, that I did nothing to him, that I came for my husband. He had no respect neither for the court, nor the judge, nor the lawyers. These people know no limits, they are like beasts that were put on starvation for 3 days and then released after their victim.
March 15, 2007 also marks the anniversary of the arrest of Ramzi Bettibi at the internet café where he worked. Ramzi was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for copying, onto a forum board he moderated, an online statement from a group threatening terror attacks if former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon attended the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia. According to the second report of The Initiative For an Open Arab Internet, “Bettibi was treated violently and his books and CDs were confiscated from his home even though there was no court order to do take these items.”
According to the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners (AISPP), Ramzi Bettibi has been on open hunger strike since January 18, 2007 in protest against maltreatment and abuse in prison. In a statement published online on March 12th, 2007, the National Council for Freedoms in Tunisia (CNLT) described the way he was tortured:
Le 23 février 2007, Ramzi Bettibi, le prisonnier du net, a été soumis à la violence extrême de 3 officiers en civil dans la prison de Bizerte, et qui se sont présentés comme la brigade de la Sûreté de l'Etat. Ils lui ont attaché les bras et les jambes à une chaise et ont voulu lui faire ingurgiter du lait de force pour qu'il cesse sa grève de la faim commencée en protestation contre des violences perpétrées à son encontre antérieurement. Une des ses dents a été cassée.
C'est la cinquième fois en l'espace de quelques mois que Ramzi Bettibi subit des séances de torture en prison visant à le faire collaborer avec les services de la Sûreté de l'Etat.
Tunisian blogger and activist Neila Charchour Hachicha was forced to stop blogging since the Tunisian regime threatened her family after she spoke out publicly against Ben Ali's regime on Al Jazeera and at the conference “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World” organized by the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. This is what she wrote in her last article “From Tunisia, a Tale of Cruelty and Silence“, published by the Lebanese Daily Star:
Within a month, the government had made bogus charges against my husband for a real estate transaction, which led to a 10-month prison sentence. Eyewitnesses watched the police confiscate my car, although they continue to deny involvement. Plainclothes police surrounded my house and registered the license plate numbers of all visitors. Some friends told me they received instructions not to visit or contact me. Others alerted me that they were receiving by mail an indecently doctored photo taken of my daughter during her engagement party. The government blocked my Internet connection. Finally the police summoned me for hours of questioning. They asked me to sign a statement never to blame the police again for its abuses.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Thailand: Call to Free Thai Cinema · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand is urging the National Legislative Assembly and The Thai Government to free Thai cinema from the whims of censorship authorities.  “We demand the National Legislative Assembly decree the movies a form of mass media, and that it be liberated from the shackles of state intervention and restriction, the same as other mass media such as radio, television and newspapers have long been set free”.


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Thailand: Infocomm Minister and the World Wide Web · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bookish has a probable explanation on why Thai authorities seem to have lot of trouble with the online world these days.


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Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ho Chi Minh City resident and blogger at Antidote to Burnout introduces us to the urban planning of the most populous city in Vietnam.


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Vietnam: Online Entertainment Company Hiring · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Azngamerboi in Vietnam is inviting candidates to become part of the booming online scene in Vietnam. “Do you have what it takes to be part of a pioneer group of marketing savvy professionals that will form the culture, history, and what-not of Vietnam’s biggest online entertainment company? If so, check out our latest openings and act fast as interview slots are just a few and only qualified candidates will be invited.”


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France: New Law for Monitoring the Internet · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

How do you say Big Brother in French?  Guadeloupe Attitude writes about a new law (Fr) requiring French telephone, mobile and internet service providers to save all usage records so that they can be turned over to the police “at will.”


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Haiti: Delegation presents Haiti as a place to do business · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Collectif-haiti-de-provence writes about a Haitian delegation's March visit to France and Belgium (Fr), which hoped to present Haiti as a place to do business and counteract negative images of the country.  The delegation, which included the heads of various government ministries and members of the private sector, presented plans to establish three new industrial parks in Haiti–equipped, of course, with high security.


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Interview with the Blogger, adam_kesher · Global Voices
Leila Tanayeva

Adil Nurmakov is a 28-year old political scientist and a journalist from Almaty, who started as a blogger in 2004. He writes his own Livejournal adam_kesher (ru) and is a regular author on neweurasia. Recently, Adil wrote an open letter to the mayor of Almaty about the situation with the increasing amount of cars in Almaty and appealing to open the car parks. Adil collected 40 signatures from bloggers, sent the letter signed “the blogosphere” to the mayor’s office with the link to the survey in his blog. He is still waiting for the reaction.
Q: What is a blog and citizens’ journalism for you?
Blog is a hobby that became a functional tool; a simple personal page, now it’s the means to express my opinion and find the like-minded people. I personally think that the citizens’ journalism is one of the ways to start the discussion on certain things, to express your opinion, to make the blogosphere interested and provoke it to discuss the issues of social importance.
Q: What topics are you interested it, how do you choose what to write about?
I am interested in topics, which, as I think, can make a precedent and show a tendency for overall development of the society. It includes politics, democracy, society, business. At the same time I like organizing “flash-mobs” sometimes and post fun surveys, humor and the news of show-business. I have one simple principle – I write about things that I am interested in today.
Q: What does the audience mean for you, do you have any goals when you write about politics and social issues, are you trying to attract people’s attention, appeal to them, propagate something or create a feeling of a community?
To be honest with you, I don’t see blog as a propaganda tool – not because it cannot be one at all, but because it cannot be one in Kazakhstan. There are other channels for that, the more effective ones, and blog is just one pleasant but not irreplaceable addition to them. So far.
Q: I remember that Irina Yasina (Open Russia) said at the blogging conference in Moscow that the protest in Russia goes online, in the digital space, because people are afraid to go protest on the streets. You did not agree with her, why?
Transferring the protest online is a big achievement of the current Kremlin regime. Russia has developed accessible internet, and flourishing of the “virtual opposition” coincided with the legislative restrictions on peaceful assembly, worsening of the situation with the freedom of speech on TV, suppressing of the activities of youth radical and democratic organizations. As a result, the regime got a “protest” and “freedom of speech” in blogs, i.e. the situation, when everyone feels busy – the activists feel they are useful for a society, when they update their blogs; their readers feel they are informed citizens; and the government is calm because they know that not many people will come out to protest. Those who do come, will be brutally suppressed by the police, this will be reported in great details and with photos by the bloggers-activists and the next time there will be even less people. Besides, the “protest” in blogosphere is quite easy to manage – some people think that memes widely discussed in Russian blogosphere, were created by the special services to distract people’s attention from other, more important issues (for instance, “preved”, Putin kissing a boy’s belly, “pervonah”, etc).
Q: Who is your audience?
The readers of my blog are the office youth, artists, journalists, students and Kazakhstanis who live abroad.
Q: Do you think the law enforcement agencies take interest in you? Do you risk when you publish articles about corruption in Kazakhstan, or authoritarianism?
I don’t think there is a serious risk, but I am sure the special services take interest in me and they know my identity. Several times I received provocative messages – not threats, but quite unpleasant messages, which pushed me into publishing a disclaimer on my blog and revealing my identity. Publicity is one of the means of protection.
Q: Do you think it is ok to earn by blogging?
I think that any legal means of earning money is normal, and if this money is earned by being creative, I especially do not see any problem.
Q: What is the state of the citizens’ journalism in Kazakhstan now?
Citizens’ journalism, in my opinion, is something that does not yet exist in my country. People do not yet feel a creative part of the Net. In general, the state of the citizens’ journalism in Kazakhstan reflects the level of people’s civic consciousness, and the quality of the traditional journalism.
The future of the Internet, blogs and citizens’ journalism in Kazakhstan will depend – in addition to technical things like the access to high-speed Internet – on the development of society, on the relations between the government and the people. It is still difficult to access the prospects of these relations, therefore, it is difficult to answer whether the trials of journalists will continue or whether the atmosphere will be freer.
Q: How can international organizations help improve the situation with the freedom of speech in Kazakhstan?
The international organizations do a lot to promote freedom of speech in my country – the international NGOs speak against the negative tendencies in legal reforms, and the OSCE regularly consults on current problems. However, all measures have either the function of the “good wishes” or recommendations, which are not even necessary to observe. The West cannot influence anything in Kazakhstan being afraid to lose any alternative to Russian energy resources.

author: Leila Tanayeva


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Kenya: financial resources of president Kibaki · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

siRKen discusses financial resources of the president of Kenya:
In sharp contrast, everything is very low key with Kibaki. The only fairly known Kibaki family company is perhaps Lucia & Company Ltd which used to operate from Finance House where Kibaki had a private office before he became president.


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Miss Tahiti 2007 · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Tahiti Polynesie en Live presents the 14 candidates for the May 11th Miss Tahiti contest (Fr).


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Sierra Leone: dancing and singing in Sierra Leone · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Live From Freetown posts two videos from East vs. West, a music competition in Sierra Leone between artists from the east side against those from the west side of Freetown: “Here are two more videos from East vs. West, direct from Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is difficult if not impossible to go one weekend without hearing Shady Baby in a club or on the beach. The crowd at the National Stadium went nuts when he came on.”


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Singapore: Intimacy and Sex · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at The Miracle Season writes about people frowning on teenagers displaying intimacy in public places, peer pressure and teenage sexuality issues. (via tomorrow.sg)


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Somalia: Somalis in the US pledge funds to oppose occupation · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Banaadir blogs about Somalis in Minnesota pledging support and funds to liberate Somalia from foreign occupation: “Somali Minnesotans raised funds, signed petitions, sang patriotic songs, cried and felt for the rape victims, wounded, massacred, displaced, refugees, and the suffering masses in Mogadishu. They listened lectures from prominent speakers such Ex-Prime Minister, Honorable Abdirizak Haji Hussein, Profesor Abdi Ismail Samatar and Imam Sheikh Abdirahman Sharif.”


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Tanzania: dual citizenship debate · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Metty weighs in on dual citizenship debate in Tanzania: “Just a little further, globalization means mobility of labor and resources. Isn’t that’s why Tanzania is trying to lure foreign investors? If that is the case then, fear of foreign “invasion”, which has been cited as reason against dual citizenship, is more than a narrow view.”


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Vietnam: Vietnam Readings · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Chris Harvey compiles a list of his favorite books about Vietnam.


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Afghanistan: Media Under Pressure · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Afghan Lord discusses the live broadcast beating and arrest of three reporters at a television station  by police under orders from Afghanistan's Attorney General, saying that such abuses of power by officials is a threat to media freedom in Afghanistan.


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Algeria: America at Crossroads · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Algerian blogger Nouri watched  documentary series America At Crossroads and shares his thoughts on the production here.


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Algeria: To Exist or Not to Exist  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A query on LINGUIST List the other day asked for examples of other languages which, like English, have a verb “exist” distinct from the general-purpose existential “there is”. In Algerian Arabic, such a verb has emerged in recent years through borrowing from French, explains Algerian linguist and blogger Lameen Souag.


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Armenia: Prosperous Armenia Rally · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports on a Prosperous Armenia political rally in Yerevan's Arabkir district that featured the talents of pop stars.


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Aruba, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago: Happy Earth Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Arubagirl,  Trinidadian blogger Elspeth at Now is Wow and Lynn Sweeting from the Bahamas all recognize Earth Day.


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Bahamas: Mapping Perspectives  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bahamian Nicolette Bethel, linking to a blog called Strange Maps, muses on the fact that “mapping is an exercise not only in making sense out of the world, but in dominating the world. A map, like a book, is not a fact; it is an interpretation of a fact, a representation of what the mind understands to be reality.”


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Bahrain: Bandargate Revisited  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif  breaks a total ban on media outlets to discuss a political scandal better known as Bandargate in Bahrain by publishing a post with a link which sheds new light on Salah Al Bander from a different perspective.


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Bahrain: On the Great Wall of Adhamiya  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger emoodz wonders  whether the US got the inspiration for erecting the Great Wall of Adhamiya in Iraq from the movie 300. “So much for the democracy practiced in Iraq, a wall that is being built along sectarian lines against the will of the Iraqi people in hope of deterring violence. Where are things heading really, its one ridiculous one blunder after another by the White House and who pays the price?” he asks.


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Bangladesh: Political Crisis · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers on the political games in the country. “The election reform could bring the political reform, rather the military backed government chose to plunge itself in political in fight. The question remains unanswered when we ask who will benefit from this political crisis. Obviously, it does not favor the current caretaker government for the long run.”


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Bolivia: Interview With El Alto Blogger Mario Duran · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Airline travel within Bolivia requires one to have a lot of patience.  Between flight delays and cancellations, I spent a lot of time on layovers in the El Alto International airport.  Fortunately, one of the local bloggers, Mario Duran on two occasions graciously agreed to meet with me over a cup of mate de coca tea at the airport.  During those chats, we talked about his interest in blogging, how to increase blogging in under-represented areas, and how he sees the political outlook in Bolivia.
Currently he blogs at Palabras Libres [ES], but also is active in a community site called La Constituyente [ES], which allows Bolivians to participate in the debate regarding the ongoing Constituent Assembly. Duran also contributes to Jacha Marka [ES], which provides news from the city of El Alto and Diarix [ES], which is a literary fiction site.
GV: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
MD: I was born in Corocoro in the province of Pacajas, which is a mining center that is close to being reactivated by Evo Morales.  I came to El Alto during the relocation process during the end of the 1980s.   I graduated from the Industrial School of Pedro Domingo Murillo with a degree in Chemical Industrial Engineering.  I’ve also been a student university leader, and became Executive Secretary of the Bolivian University Confederation. In 2004, I was invited to participate as a candidate for city council of the Municipality of La Paz, but I was disqualified because I did not have my military service booklet.  Presently, I am part of one of the 560 neighborhood unions in El Alto and I am a fanatic of web 2.0.
GV: Tell us how you started to use blogs and other internet communication tools.
MD: In Bolivia there are controlling groups for everything and one of them is the media.  It was no use in sending stories to the newspapers, so I started to send them to web pages abroad.  The newspapers here started to copy my articles that appeared on the website www.rebelion.org.  What was interesting is that they thought I was this “grand analyst” and they copied the articles, but I simply am a citizen. With that, I thought about creating my own page, and looking through the web I found the blog phenomenon and the rest is history.
GV: Since you first started publishing your articles online and in the newspapers, how has your life changed or how has your view towards Bolivia changed?
MD: When one first publishes, one assumes a great responsibility with this global conversation.  One must measure what one says or gives an opinion.  I see my country with its never-ending problems and its politicians worried about becoming rich.
GV: How do you think blogs or citizen participation through the internet can change all of that?
MD: For the fact that it allows any individual citizen, without regard to social class, race, etc. give their opinions freely.  For that reason, it is important that the government assumes responsibility to increase the access of ICTs.
GV: Have you talked about the use of Internet technology with your neigborhood group?
MD: Yes, but the problem is with the connection.  Where I live, we are lucky to receive cellular phone signal.  Connection is very expensive via the phone line, they should reduce the costs.
GV:  You have spoken to me in the past about your plans to teach others to use this technology and increase the number of Bolivians that know about blogs.  What are your current plans?
MD: I have presented proposals to some rural municipalities to teach young people to use the internet and create blogs, but sometimes to them it sounds like something from another planet, so with my own funds I want to start to give these classes.
GV: Do the municipalities see this as something useful or something as a waste of time?  Has there been a municipality that has received you with open arms?
MD: For them, the first order of business to is to learn how to use PCs.  The government installs computer centers, sits the farmers down for the photograph and they don’t worry about training.
GV: How do you see the future of blogs in Bolivia in the next five years?
MD: I read many Bolivian blogs and I have noted a growth in the number of people that use it as a form of expression, even though they don’t “maintain” the site on a regular basis, they publish something once a month and then, who knows?  But all the youth in Bolivia use MSN and IRC, but they have not discovered blogs as a social tool, but it may be different in the future.
GV: You have also used podcast technology.  How did you learn and what do you make of it?
MD: Traditional media doesn’t give space, so one must become creative.  If one does not have access to radio, make your own station.  If one does not have access to TV, then make your own TV program and that’s what I did.  Looking online, I found the program Audacity and learned to use FTP. I now host my podcasts at archive.org.  In Bolivia, there are limits on bandwidth and that limits creativity.
GV: What do you think are some of the misconceptions of El Alto
MD: Well you must be referring to the fact that they call El Alto a “combative city”, revolutionary, blockading, etc.  Those are prejudices, but El Alto is the 2nd most industrial city in Bolivia.
GV: There does not seem to be too many bloggers in El Alto.  Do you feel like an ambassador for your city for others in the country and the rest of the world?
MD: I wouldn’t consider myself a blog ambassador, but through Google many people think that I am one of the few Alteños that has an opinión.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bolivia: Restrictions on the Import of Used Clothing · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Beginning on April 21, the Bolivian government placed restrictions on the import of used clothing.  After an agreement was reached with this sector, the deadline soon passed much to the pleasure of national companies that produce new clothing. Mario Duran of Palabras Libres [ES] speculates that the deadline will not end the debate, because many in this used clothing sector will be asking for a two-year extension of the deadline citing that the government did not hold its end of the bargain.


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Cambodia: Fish Sauce Used to Punish Reporter · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha writes about a Cambodian official who splashed fish sauce on a reporter. The official was unhappy with the reporter for publishing a humiliating story about him.


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Cambodia: Surviving Street Food · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Phnomenon has a “rough guide to surviving (Cambodian) street food“


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China: Blame Canada? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Google seizes up before any results appear in a search for ‘Celil,’ ‘Canada’ (in Chinese) and ‘2007,’ fitting given that a proxified search turns up no Chinese language media reports from websites that can be readily viewed within China. It's a different story, as usual, for a Google search which includes the word blog. The controversy surrounding the identity and fate of Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil, originally from China's largely muslim northwest, was revived this past week when he was sentenced to life in Chinese prison.
Celil's previous stint in Chinese prison ended in 2000 when he broke out and fled West, soon landing in Canada where he went on to gain citizenship. Two questions around which the controversy revolves: does the Canadian government not worry about granting citizenship to Chinese criminals, or is the Chinese government making these charges up?
Huseyin Celil
Speaking strictly by percentage, rabid nationalistic discourse tends to dominate online discussion in China, but the reason so little of this is reflected here at Global Voices Online is that one hopes to engage in balanced conversation, but in the Celil incident, this week at least, all the bloggage this blogger was able to find leans heavily in the Chinese government's favor. For example, random comments on blogs found in the first two pages of results in the search described above:
From the military bbs at China.com, netizen Son of the South on April 20:
加拿大政府给一个犯罪分子入籍，本身就是一种犯罪行为，中国政府没有审判加拿大政府已经是很宽大的了。
From the Dragon's Dream Sina blog whose readership jumped to over 1,700 with his post on the affair, netizen East China Sea Scholar on April 21:
汉奸,坚决清除.
不枪毙 感觉国家对他太仁慈了…这样的还留着干吗?!
加拿大 混蛋国家 赖昌星为什么不引渡 .实际还不是为了带去的 600多亿 不给中国 还有脸来说话 …加拿大 应该被中国人鄙视的国家.最好让他闭嘴.
From the military affairs blog at China.com, which had sixteen pages of comments, netizen Bright Point of the Sun on April 22:
加拿大去死吧!你没什么资格说中国的事,你们的总理就是个垃圾
MSN Spaces blogger and Chinese law student WY Aaron, currently studying in the United States, took the time to put more substance behind a somewhat similar argument in his post ‘Utterly Shameless‘:
人可以无耻，但是不可以无耻到这种地步。
夜半惊醒，想起最近在中国和加拿大之间闹得沸沸扬扬的玉山江案（西方称其为Celil，即塞利尔），辗转难眠。凌晨五点（北京时间下午六点）起来，吃了个苹果，上网来查资料。
作为执业律师，我习惯了听有关各方完全不同的说法，不会轻易相信任何一方的陈述。所以，我今天上来，先是温习了一下最初的资料来源，然后全面、认真地了解了中国、加拿大两国政府，特别是被告家人为其设立的网站上（以下简称”塞利尔网站”）的观点资料。看完以后，我可以说是强忍着愤怒，来写这篇日志。
综合各方面的消息，尤其是”塞利尔网站”上主动承认的事实，勾勒出本案的梗概：
被告玉山江，英文名Huseyin Celil, 英文名中译侯赛因塞利尔，生于中国新疆，维吾尔族人。自称生于东突厥斯坦，系突厥族人，为东突厥斯坦伊斯兰运动成员。东突厥斯坦伊斯兰运动，即”东突”，为联合国正式认定的恐怖主义组织。”东突”谋求分离新疆，在”塞利尔网站”上毫不掩饰。中国政府称”东突”与”基地”组织有千丝万缕的联系，在新疆和内地制造了众多爆炸事件和流血冲突，故依照中国国内法，对其打击不遗余力。
被告曾被中国政府逮捕，2000年越狱。中国政府迅速通过国际刑警组织，发布红色通辑令，全球辑拿。被告在通辑期间，辗转逃至加拿大。加拿大政府于2001年接收其为”难民”，并于2005年接收其入籍。被告入籍加拿大以后，有恃无恐，于2006年3月持加拿大护照赴乌兹别克时，被当地警方以涉嫌恐怖活动为由逮捕，引渡回中国。现本案正在（中国新疆）法院审理中。
加拿大政府以被告为加拿大公民为由，要求为其提供领事保护。中国不承认被告的加拿大国籍，严词拒绝。加拿大政府总理说，他的政府相信，没有明确的证据证明，作为少数民族权利的主张者，被告犯有或参与任何被指控的罪行。（Harper said his government believes there's no clear evidence that Celil, a minority rights activist, has committed any crimes or participated in alleged terrorism.）加拿大政府以中国政府侵害人权等理由，把”人权”、”自由”的口号喊得整天响，在外交层面对中国政府施加种种压力。
现在，加拿大方面最强的理由，就是中国国籍法不承认双重国籍。被告加入加拿大国籍以后，自动放弃中国国籍。因此中国方面，对本案无权管辖。
…
依照中国法律。。对在中国境内犯罪的外国人和无国籍人，可以适用属地管辖。对在中国境外对中国国家和中国公民犯罪的，可以适用保护管辖。对国际公约、条约规定的犯罪，可以适用普遍管辖，即任何国家均可管辖。
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法律层面的争论，可能太过技术化，暂时放一放。我们换位思考：如果本拉登逃到了中东某个国家，比如伊朗。现在伊朗政府接收其为难民，为其提供政治庇护，并且容许其入籍。然后说，拉登先生现在是我堂堂伊朗国公民了，我们的政府相信没有证据证明他参与了恐怖活动，世界上任何国家不要再妄想碰他！包括加拿大在内的西方世界会如何反应？我看美国拼死也要出兵中东，怕是把伊朗灭掉十次也有余了！加拿大呢，难道会放半个响屁？
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加拿大总理说，他的政府”相信”没有证据证明被告犯罪，似乎于是就可以怎样怎样，说什么、做什么都情有可原了。笑话！你既然没有看到证据，凭什么”相信”？话说回来，世贸大厦是本拉登炸的，可有证据？伊拉克有大规模杀伤性武器，可有证据？我敢说，本案被告在中国境内制造恐怖袭击的证据，比指向本拉登和萨达姆的证据加起来还要多！现在全世界都知道纽约世贸大厦是本拉登基地组织干的了，萨达姆也被美国端掉了，加拿大为什么不反对？加拿大为什么不接受他们两个为难民、为公民，然后提供政治庇护，再给他们两个发护照，让他们继续逍遥？
人可以无耻，但是不可以无耻到这种地步！
For a balanced overview of the development of the dispute between the Chinese and Canadian governments, journalist-blogger Susanna Ng in Vancouver, Canada has been tracking the story on her Chinese in Vancouver blog, and her most recent post on the subject, dated April 21, ‘Embarrassing Canadian foreign policy,’ looks at the Canadian government and particularly its current leader's response to the Celil incident in comparison with that of another Canadian citizen also recently in diplomatic hot water, which reads:
This Egyptian case has so much in common with Celil:
* both are alleged of harming their home countries’ security and integrity
* Israel is the Harperites’ good friend whom should be supported “unconditionally”; and Harper's China policy might have been dictated by people who lobby for an independent Tibet (ironically, the Dalai Lama has announced that he's not interested in an independent Tibet any more)
* both men say they're innocent and are tortured into confessions; Canada has no way to prove it but jump to hoist the human rights flag
* Arab countries do not like to be criticized in public
* China is more ready to cooperate if talks are behind the scene

author: John Kennedy


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China: Protest against Bill Gates · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A rare protest at Peking University for free software when Bill Gates was handing out certificates to a line of students – from People's Republic of…

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Wall to Beautify or Cover up? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhao Shilong commented on the touristic Walls being built in Gan-su (zh). Local official claimed that the walls were to beautify the villages, however, local villagers said the wall was to cover up poverty and shame.


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Colombia: Al Gore’s Snub · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia has been attracting a lot of criticism for his alleged ties with paramilitary forces in his country.  Because of these unclear links, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore officially dropped out of an environmental conference where Uribe would be in attendance.  The Colombia Herald writes about these accusations that have been issues in televised debates.  Adam Isaacson of the Plan Colombia and Beyond blog analyzes this snubbing and suggests that, “Gore should accept President Uribe's invitation to visit Colombia. Another snub will only give Uribe more ammunition for his domestic political battles. When appearing publicly with Uribe in Bogotá, though, Gore should make a clear and explicit show of support for the many brave Colombians who are investigating and prosecuting paramilitary power, and defending the rights of its victims.”


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Colombia: Putumayo YouTube Videos · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“In early 2004, colleagues at the Colombian human-rights group MINGA gave us a very interesting, and potentially useful, CD. It contained several videos of interviews with peoplein the southern Colombian department of Putumayo – farmers, indigenous leaders, teachers, health workers, alternative-development workers, a mayor. MINGA gave us the CD three years ago with the intent that we distribute it far and wide, adding English subtitles to the footage. We made a few dozen copies and sent them to congressional staff, journalists and colleagues. It's not clear how many of these very busy people – if any – took the trouble of inserting that CD into their computers, installing the special software needed to read the video's unusual file format, and viewing their content. Judging from the lack of feedback, the number was small. But that was in 2004, a long-ago, pre-YouTube era. A couple of weeks ago, we unearthed the CD of MINGA's Putumayo testimonies, and found that they are still very much worth sharing and viewing. They are now available right here,” writes Adam Isacson of Plan Colombia and Beyond.

author: David Sasaki


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D.R. of Congo: post by park ranger blogger picked up by Voice of America · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A blog post by a Congolese ranger about a fellow park ranger who escaped from a rebel group is picked up by Voice of America: “From the post on Tuesday about Jean Marie’s escape from the rebel leader 106, Samantha Newport from the WildlifeDirect team saw the story and wrote a press release. The story was then this weekend picked up by Voice of America and so on Saturday I did an interview over the phone with one of their reporters Kari in Kenya.”


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Egypt: El Attar Guilty  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia closes the last chapter on discussions about an Egyptian-Canadian accused of spying for Israel by declaring that El Attar is guilty. “The 15 years in jail is the maximum punishment for espionage in time of Peace , where as in time of war it can reach to execution according to the Egyptian law. Now I expect some will suspect the verdict but let me one thing it is not good to criticize the Egyptian judicial system when you don't like the verdict and praise it when you like the verdict,” she notes.

author: Amira Al Hussaini