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Laos: Gran Torino and Hmong culture · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Padek of Lao Voices notes that the latest Clint Eastwood film, “Gran Torino”, has many “intricate links” to Laos. Apocalypse Lao writes that the film is noteworthy because “It’s the most prominent example of Hmong culture in the history of Hollywood.”


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Lebanon: “Being Black in Lebanon means…” · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“Being black in Lebanon means you’re a servant. It means that if you’re sitting on the bus, people will solicit you to come to their house and clean for the going rate of 7,000 L.L./hour,” writes Jane Rubio on what a black person may experience when in Lebanon.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lebanon: Extra Virgin Olive Oil · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“…it still can't be considered ‘extra virgin’ until a professional taster deems it as such,” writes Jane Rubio about the steps it takes to produce ‘extra virgin olive oil,’  – a lesson she learned at one restaurant/bar in Gemayze – Beirut.


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Libya: Lessons of a Dying Cat  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Libya, From the Rock mourns the death of her cat in this post.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Nicaragua: The Perfect Opportunity for Open-Source Software · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Due to the economic crisis in the country, Juan Ortega states that this is the “perfect opportunity for open-source software in Nicaragua [es].”  Saving the budget funds from the payment of licenses can be used on other technological needs.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Timor: 9 years of Internet, still one ISP and a huge digital gap · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Nine years after the arrival of the Internet in East Timor, the big difficulties faced by the country are not only related to physical access to technology, but also concern the necessary capability and access to resources that improve “digital citizen” participation. The country is limited in access to information and communication technologies (ICT) and also lacks the acquisition of competencies related to that field.
East Timor has lived through long periods of occupation and has  had to fight tragically for independence. The post referendum violence devastated social and communication infrastructures. When the country became the first new nation of the 21st century, it had almost no technological environment.
In summary,
the first computer only arrived in the early 1990s.
In 1997, before Timor's independence, .tp was registered as a top level domain  by Connect-Ireland, in a gesture of support for exiled East Timorese leaders, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, who had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996. Martin Maguire, project director at Connect, made the following statement in 1999 after the company suffered an attack, presumably by Indonesian hackers:
We noticed that the East Timor domain was available and assumed that the Indonesians would not wish to register it for political reasons. We made a suggestion to the East Timor Campaign and they were interested, so we set up the first virtual country on the Web as a platform for the East Timorese.
In a venture with Australian’s Telstra, reportedly
the first Internet connection was established on the 2nd February 2000 by UNDP.
This was nine years ago today. As the poorest country in Asia, with over 40% of its population illiterate and unemployed, and facing frequent political instability, the telecommunications’ sector still appears, however, to be a vital factor for rebuilding East Timor.
In 2003, East Timor’s Government established Timor Telecom (TT) as the provider for all communications services, in a venture with Portugal Telecom (which owns 50.1% of TT). Besides serving the whole population, through a monopoly that will last until 2017 at least, TT is also responsible for rebuilding data and voice infrastructures, as well as providing Internet connections.
Until 2004, the number of governmental computers was estimated at 1,000, though only 70 of them were connected to the Internet.
Internet usage is rare, slow and expensive, which means services such as e-commerce, and even blogs, simply do not to exist. In a country where people live on less than $2(US) a day, prices charged for 15 minutes of Internet surfing are as high as $0.50 (US). Even the National University of East Timor itself faces serious restrictions, as its 256 Kbps connection costs $3,000 (US) a month to serve around 40 computers. According to a user:
A ligação é muito lenta pelo que fica muito caro qualquer consulta na internet. [pt]
Luis Ramos, a former Portuguese IT teacher at the National University, stated back in 2007 [pt]:
Alguém me disse que o governo de Timor Leste tem no total 13Mbps de largura de banda para acesso ao backbone internacional, isto é, a ligação de todo o país à internet é de 13Mbps. Ora, destes 13Mbps: 6Mbps são reservados ao governo e os outros 7 para uso geral, isto é: toda a gente em Timor. Quanto é que se consegue ter numa casa Portuguesa? 4Mbps? Como tenho andado a ensinar aos meus alunos de redes, 13Mbps são pouco mais que 13300 kbps. Na universidade temos uma rede local com cerca de 40 computadores que partilham uma ligação de internet de 256kbps.
No bairro temos uma ligação à internet de 64kbps que é partilhada por todos os professores.
Ora vamos lá falar de Quality of Service (QoS). O QoS é um serviço que ajuda a garantir que todos os utilizadores tenham a largura de banda que subscreveram. Em Timor não deve haver isso. Lembram-se dos modems que se usavam em Portugal há uns anos? Esses modems tinham velocidades de 33kbps e depois de 56kbps, aqui temos um de 64kbps. Como não há QoS (suponho), esta ligação aqui em Timor é mais lenta que esses modems em Portugal. 13Mbps dá para 200 ligações de 64, e 5 eu já as conheço.
On the one hand a big effort is necessary in order to rebuild the communications infrastructure, on the other hand, the income of Timor Telecom is known to be high, as Hilario Nolasco [tet], a Timorese Timor Telecom worker complains:
Hau mak kiik liu compara ho trabalhador tomak TT nian iha tinan 2007 no 2008, colega balun bolu hau putu, balun dehan hau labarik maibe ida nee la iha diferencia iha servicu laran, hau gosta servico iha TT tamba iha ambiente nebe diak excepto valorizacao ba hau nia servico quando compara ho rendimento empresa nian ………..iha exploracao nebe bot la halimar!.
The same blogger, on a Facebook comment on Tempo Semanal Vox Pop Videos [tet] where a woman answers the question “Timor Telecom, Good or Bad?”, stresses the need to balance points of view on Telecommunication's infrastructures when talking about rebuilding the country:
Ne'e Maluk Timor oan sira temke akompanha mos prosesu dezemvolvimento iha mos rai seluk para ita Timor Ne'e Lebele Ketingalan Imformasi…Labele Hare deit Parte ida maibe temke hare mos parte seluk….Obrigado…
Nevertheless, some mocking propaganda against TT's monopoly is on the way, such as the “Timor Telecom you're a joke” video posted on YouTube by user kmfw72, whose screen shots illustrate this piece.
Jeremy Wagstaff expresses his regret at the digital divide that developed in East Timor during the 2006's crisis. At that time, only one Timorese website had information about the uprising, the Suara Timor Lorosae (website that has been inactive until recently), formerly the prime news source in the country. There were also significant Timorese points of view stated during a special UN inquiry on the crisis.  This report has been posted on a Yahoo group on East Timor studies.
I can find no East Timor site working out of East Timor that has any information about this uprising, the most important development in the country’s recent history. OK, so not many Timorese have access to the Internet but this is a vital link with the outside world, a chance for Timorese to convey what is going on to governments, exiled Timorese, interested readers and others. Now, in the midst of terrible violence and the humiliation of seeking outside military intervention, there is again no domestic media getting the story to the world’s most important medium.
Even though the number of Internet users in 2006 was estimated at just 1,200, the number of websites supported by Timorese citizens, in the Tetum language, has increased. Some examples to be highlighted are the Tetum version of Wikipedia, and some news websites such as Tempo Semanal and Kla'ak Semanal. After nine years since the first connection, as of the 2nd February 2009, there is only dial up analogue internet connection available and 285 Internet hosts.
In the next article of this series, you will meet Jen Hughes, founder of Suai Media Space – a social media project connecting the people of Suai with the world community, whose dream is: “For the voices of the youth of Suai to be heard all over the world”. The Australian documentary-maker will describe her experience in trying to bring technology to Suai, in the south of East Timor.

author: Sara Moreira


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Pakistan: Insurgency In Swat · Global Voices
Rezwan

Abdullah Saad provides an insight into the insurgency in Swat, an administrative district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan.

author: Rezwan


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Palestine: BBC Rally in Gaza  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Moments in Gaza reports about a rally in Gaza against the BBC. “So … people are homeless, hungry and in hospitals all around Gaza. Asking for humanitarian help for them is…”biased” ? So much for bloody objectivity! What shame,” notes Gaza Moments.


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Paraguay: Jasy Jatere in Guaraní Mythology · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In Paraguay, Jasy Jatere is an important figure in Guaraní mythology.  Muna Annahas explains how adults would “scare us about the Jasy Jatere to make sure that we will stay home and not go out by ourselves while adults took their nap.”


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Russia, Georgia: Chreba and Akua · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

IZO sums up a post by LJ user rigello (RUS): “One of the upshots of the South Ossetian war has been the degeorgianification, in the Russian media, of the place-names Tskhinvali and Sukhumi. These have been russified to Tskhinval and Sukhum. But this seems a little ridiculous when you know that the native (Ossetian) name of Tskhinval is Chreba and the native (Abkhazian) name of Sukhum is Akua.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Serbia: Pescanik’s Web Site Down, Radio Broadcast Disrupted, Editor’s Car Destroyed · Global Voices
Sinisa Boljanovic

A few days ago, Serbian web site www.pescanik.net was taken down and the weekly radio broadcast of the same name was disrupted. Also, the car of Svetlana Lukic, one of two Pescanik‘s editors, was destroyed.
Jovana Gec, an Associated Press writer, published this article – “Attackers disrupt liberal radio show in Serbia” – on Jan. 28, in which she wrote about the incidents and explained that the weekly show was “very popular with pro-Western Serbs” and ran “interviews with liberal intellectuals as well as critics of Serbia's conservative elite and the hardline Serbian Orthodox Church.”
Srdja Popovic, a famous Belgrade lawyer, wrote on web site Radna soba:
Firstly, what is Pescanik?
Pescanik is an NGO which has two members, two journalists: Svetlana Lukic and Svetlana Vukovic. They've been producing for 9 years 90-minute-long broadcasts. They are making this broadcast absolutely free and give it to radio B92 to broadcast it weekly, on Friday, and repeat it on Saturday. The broadcast is heard by 350,000-400,000 people every week.
Afterwards, they transcribe the broadcast and they publish a book every three months. The books have been printed in 26,000 copies so far. The books were sold by the price of the production or were given free on promotions. The promotions are organized on the tribunes in 30 cities a year all over Serbia. As of now, 354 broadcasts have been aired and 300 of them were copied on DVD. They are distributed all over Serbia in the same way.
Since last year, Pescanik has its own web site www.pescanik.net. On the site, Pescanik's contributors   publish their articles about politics, above all European integration and attitudes toward war crimes, about society and culture. […]
The Pescanik broadcast always starts with an editorial by Svetlana Lukic.
In the last, 354th broadcast, she talked about the events from last week. In the focus of those events was, it seems, untouchable president of the republic. Editorial writer found fault with the following:
that he was the only one in the world who didn't congratulate president Barack Obama;
that he isolated Serbia and raised a new iron curtain;
that support of European integration has decreased by 6% in the last 7 months, the time that this pro-European government exists;
that he, thanks to his student, the foreign minister, accuses the EU that it puts special cases to Serbia for admission (we want in the European Union but they don't want us);
that he usurps competences which don't belong to him according to the Constitution;
that he doesn't make anything in order that Serbia supports the European Parliament's resolution according to which July 11 would be proclaimed as the Day of Victims of Genocide in Srebrenica;
that he, thanks to eminent members of his party (Dragoljub Micunovic), deceives the Serbian public that the International Court of Justice has acquitted Serbia from responsibility for genocide.
And look, a miracle!
Because of some inexplicable disruptions on multiple transmitters during the Pescanik broadcast on Friday, January 23, and during the repetition on Saturday, January 24, many people from Vojvodina, central and south Serbia and Belgrade couldn't hear this editorial as well as most of the broadcast.
Biljana Srbljanovic, a famous Serbian  playwright, reactivated her B92 blog and, among other things, published on it a letter by Petar Lukovic, editor of e-novine web site. The letter was sent to president Boris Tadic. In it, Lukovic wrote:
[…] However, dear President Tadic, the problem which relates to Pescanik exceeded only internal media borders; disruption of this broadcast irresistibly reminds us of the time of “famous” Slobodan Milosevic, when numerous secret services had the task to control, stop, or disrupt broadcasts; today, when the slogan “Tadic is Serbia” has turned into a national doctrine, there is no reason that I turn to you from this virtual space – through e-novine – (which, by the way, you don't read) and remind you of a just few facts.
In the disrupted broadcast, an editorial by Svetlana Lukic was dedicated to you; the fact that only you, as well as Putin and Hamas, didn't congratulate Barack Obama on his election as U.S. President, had to be commented upon, as well as the fact that support for European integration in Serbia has significantly decreased at the time of your “pro-European government”, as you like to say. […]
[…] What happened, exceptional President, is what happened: no one could hear the repetition of Pescanik because the disruption worked perfectly. The site still doesn't work – thousands of hackers are working to keep the site from becoming available anymore. It's the most interesting that we can read, not just in e-novine, but in many different forums, that Boris Tadic is behind this action. […]
Condor commented on B92 forum:
[…] I don't believe that Tadic has ordered attacks on the site, disruption of Pescanik broadcast and destroying of Svetlana's car – but he made it possible and believable. […]

author: Sinisa Boljanovic


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South Korea: Protest Against Police Violence at Yongsan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

CINA posts photos of a protest against police violence at Yongsan. The police action in the redevelopment zone on 20 of January had resulted in the death of 5 residents who were protesting against a forced eviction.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Sri Lanka: An Open Letter To Hillary Clinton · Global Voices
Rezwan

Vinod Joseph at Desicritics writes an open letter to the US  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Sri Lankan issue.


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Tajikistan: New Year, New Energy Crisis · Global Voices
Vadim Sadonshoev

Until recently, most parts of Tajiksitan have had almost no electricity: only six hours a day. But at least what came during those six hours was steady.  Now, the situation becomes worse.
Turkmenistan cut off electricity for Tajiksitan in the beginning of the year due to an ongoing disagreement between the latter and Uzbekistan on transit electricity prices. neweurasia reports on the conflict between the two countries:
Uzbekistan is demanding 10 percent of the $0.03 per kilowatt paid by Tajikistan to Turkmenistan. The Caspian Sea state was contracted to deliver 1.3 billion kilowatts of electricity to Tajikistan for December 2008-January 2009. Turkmenistan suspended electricity exports during transit negotiations between the Tajiks and Uzbeks. In the absence of an agreement, the exports have not been resumed.
Meanwhile, the electricity monopolist Barqi Tojik reported that beginning from January 27th all major cities, including Dushanbe, will undergo electricity rationing. This comes as quite a shock since this past Fall President Rahmon promised the population of the capital and other major cities that electricity rationing would not happen.
neweurasia has published the general details of the rationing program for Dushanbe:
From now on Dushanbe will receive electricity only 15 hours a day. The schedule is not prepared yet but most probably the city won’t be provided with electricity 6 hours during the nights (from 11 pm to 5 am) and 3 hours during the days.
This was reported by most of the media agencies.  However, for the time being Dushanbe still has electricity; Barki Tojik probably decided to use the remaining water in Nurek reservoir for generating of electricity.
Rahmon's original decision was made in favor of urban populations: there are more apartment-buildings in the cities which are difficult to heat during the winter.  In comparison, houses in the countryside have alternative heating in the form of wood, coal etc. He was confident that the electricity from Turkmenistan would be enough to live out this winter. However, things change quickly in the Central Asian energy market.
Michael Hancock from Registan observed the latest development; confused, he is wondering precisely what is going on:
Uzbekistan has shut off the gas to Tajikistan, and now Turkmenistan isn’t sending electricity. Personally, I find the infrastructure systems of Central Asia very confusing.  Thanks to the Soviet Union, the republics originally were intertwined.  Perhaps this was to further the Soviet goal of unity and solidarity, but now it just makes it that much more difficult when countries decide to cut each other out.
Matt Stone from The Global Buzz thinks that the recent developments in Central Asia are part of a bigger conflict between Russia and the West. According to his logic, in order to prevent the Central Asia energy exporting countries from involvement in the construction of the Nabucco pipeline, Russia has made agreements with these countries to buy gas for higher prices – “European prices”.
Regardless of whether Stone is correct, what's clear is that Russia's decision has had a cascading effect: Uzbekistan decided to raise prices of gas for Tajiksitan and Kyrgyzstan from $145 to $240 this year.  Stone interprets the decision of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to cut off gas and electricity simultaneously as a signal to Tajiksitan:
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are the source of most of Central Asia's drinking and irrigation water.  Both Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan rely heavily on water from the high mountains of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to irrigate their vast cotton fields, an important export for both countries.  Jointly tightening the screws on Tajikistan could send the message that they have leverage over Dushanbe in the event that it restricts the flow of water downstream.
Tajikistan now finds itself with little electricity and gas. This endangers the social, political and economic stability of the entire country. If the import of Turkmen electricity is not restored shortly, Tajikistan will be flung into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Also posted on neweurasia.

author: Vadim Sadonshoev


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Thailand: Obama lookalike · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Andrew Biggs was delighted to meet a student in Thailand who looks like U.S. president Barack Obama.

author: Mong Palatino


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Thailand: Top photos of 2008 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Richard Barrow of Thai-blogs identifies the top ten Thai news photos of the year 2008.


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Bailouts Begin  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The global financial crisis hit home in the Caribbean last Friday when it was announced that regional giant CL Financial, a conglomerate that was reputedly responsible for generating as much as 25% of Trinidad and Tobago‘s annual GDP with interests ranging from life insurance to methanol production, was in crisis.  As the government scrambled to save the day with a bailout, bloggers were already commenting on the potential impact of the massive financial faux pas…
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog republished the statement made by the Governor of the Central Bank and provided a number of mainstream media links to the story.  Meanwhile, The Liming House was all over the story as it broke, as was Keith in Trinidad, who attended the official press conference and posted the latest on Twitter.  The Liming House also made sure to republish the official CMMB press release, which attempted to assure clients that their investments were safe.
Triniadian diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch thought the bailout made sense, but still had a concern – one that was apparently shared by former Governor of the Central Bank, Winston Dookeran, now head of the political party Congress of the People:
Clico has so many assets, so many fingers extending to so many pies that the effect of its collapse will be felt throughout the economy. It makes a certain sense to support Clico and try to hold on to assets, jobs etc.
However, I can’t help feel that there [are] certain things going on behind the scene[s] that we will never know about. Especially considering the relationship [that] PNM treasurer Andre Monteil has with Clico.
Barbadian bloggers were also quite interested in the story.  Trinidadian journalist-turned-blogger B.C. Pires, who now resides in Barbados, was among the first to comment:
THE INTERNET is turning out this morning to be the equivalent of the telephone during the 1990 coup attempt.
But the rumours about Clico Investment Bank – some of them circulating for a decade now – this morning turned out to be true. The government and/or Central Bank have moved swiftly to guarantee depositors’ funds – but I want to believe that someone is going to move just as quickly to demand ‘equal treatment’ for the Hindu Credit Union, don’t mind it is in receivership.
Barbados Free Press also weighed in:
The government of Trinidad & Tobago is refusing to say how much money it is giving to bail out the CL Financial Group and CLICO, but the estimated liabilities amount to US$16 Billion dollars.
Yes, BILLION with a ‘B’.
The blog stated its suspicions that very soon, “CLICO and associated companies will be asking the [Barbadian] Prime Minister to give your tax money to a company that has an estimated 100 billion dollars in assets, but has run out of cash.”
BFP also questioned the timing of a public “gift” from the company:
“A few days before the CLICO crisis was announced, newspaper accounts say that CLICO ‘gave’ land for a daycare centre and a school to Barbados. Pardon us for being a bit cynical if we point out that this ‘gift to the people’ came only two days before Parrish and company announced that they were the recipients of taxpayer bailouts and guarantees that probably total hundreds of millions if not more.
Barbados Underground was of the opinion that the CL Financial bailout could have implications for Barbados:
Back in July 2007 we hinted our concerns that Trinidad and Tobago had become the hegemonist of the Caribbean. At the time former Prime Minister Owen Arthur with lead for CSME matters seemed prepared to expose Barbadian companies to the highest bidder. The Arthur approach fitted well with the Port of Spain expansionist strategy given their cash rich position derived from a petro-based economy operating in a bullish global petro-market. The end result is that our largest conglomerate BS&T, our Barbados National Bank and other home-spun entities were gobbled-up by Trinidad investors. While the advantages of the Arthur strategy made a good economic argument BU has always been concerned about our ability to cope with the downside of such a strategy i.e. the mitigation of risk associated with the heavy concentration of Trinidadian ownership in a small Barbados market.
Despite the concern of the rest of the region, however, the drama is primarily being played out against Trinidad and Tobago's economic backdrop, a fact that has not eluded This Beach Called Life:
Could the failure of the Trinidad and Tobago conglomerate  CL Financial, the largest financial group in the Caribbean, be the tip of the financial crisis in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean?  Is the financial Titanic about to hit? If citizens are asking what they are going to get for the multibillion dollar Government bailout of CL the answer would be a financial system which has not collapsed. If people are asking why no beefed-up laws were passed to regulate CL Financial when the Central Bank became concerned about their high risk ventures since 2004, the answer would be who knows.
Despite the economic uncertainty, the blogger seemed to have his head on his shoulders:
As ludicrous as it seems right now, the best thing the public could do is be concerned but party. People should leave the financial institutions alone and let the regulators do what has to be done. This is one time where don’t worry be happy might work. The other banks in Trinidad and Tobago are stable and we were told the others never went into those high-risk ventures that CL Financial was prone to undertake. The problem with high-risk financial institutions is that most of the people who invested in them were ignorant to how high risk the ventures were and made the decision to invest based on a glossy brochure an/or an insurance agent – the two least credible sources of the truth.
As the truth continues to unfold, one thing is certain: bloggers across the region will be talking about it.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Turkey: Prime Minister Storms out of Davos Hearing · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

A funny thing happened at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed off the stage after a verbal scuffle with Israeli President Shimon Peres. The initial incident stemmed from Prime Minister Erdogan not being allowed enough time to respond to Peres’ comments on the current war in Gaza.  Reactions from the Turkish blogosphere have been varied: some gave the Prime Minister a “hero's welcome” when he returned to the  country, some wonder how this will effect Turkey's foreign and domestic policies, and some just think that it was bad behavior.
A Hero's Welcome
Many Turkish bloggers posted photos of Turkish citizens celebrating the reaction of Prime Minister Erdogan at the Davos Forum, and crowds of people went to the airport to herald the his return. Erkan's Field Diary notes the euphoria best:
As of tonight, Erdoğan becomes a political legend….
Whatever the diplomatic consequences of Erdoğan's reaction (or whether it is right or wrong) in the Davos panel, he becomes a legend for masses.
Thousands are driving to Atatürk Airport to welcome PM Erdoğan's arrival at the moment…. Now I hear that subway services are extended to 3 am so that people can go to airport…
Apart from hard core anti-AKP citizens, and retired diplomats whose minds belong to Cold War era, who immediately reacted negatively, we try to understand the situation.
* at one level, it is a matter of pride. Turkey's PM stood against disrespect.
Foreign/Domestic Policy Implications
The Republic of Turkey has always had good relations with Israel, and still does even after the diplomatic outburst, but the situation has lead many to wonder whether this means a major divergence from former foreign policy positions, and what this means for domestic policy. The White Path weighs in:
The last time I saw such a tense public sentiment was the early 1990s, when Bosnians were subjected to “ethnic cleansing” by Serbian nationalists. The situation in Gaza was more complex, to be sure, but it was perceived in Turkey as something similar to the slaughter of Muslims in the Balkans.
Therefore, it wasn't a surprise to see the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan say harsh words against Israel. He was just mirroring the public sentiment. And this was more than populism, as some could ascribe to a politician who is on the eve of local elections. Mr. Erdoğan was sincere in his feelings. When he visited a group of wounded Palestinians that were brought to an Ankara hospital, people noticed tears in his eyes.
….
But while strong emotions are worthy of respect, diplomacy more so needs nuance and deliberation. And those are not the highest qualities of Mr. Erdoğan. He is rather known to be a man who minces no words and, as he put himself, who thinks “anger is a rhetorical art.” So, as he has done many times before on many other issues, including domestic ones, he sounded unbalanced — and even pro-Hamas. As Sedat Ergin, the editor-in-chief of daily Milliyet, put it in these pages yesterday, his whole Gaza rhetoric was “problematic.”
Talk Turkey, while encouraging others to watch the proceedings to see the whole context of the argument leading to the walkout, did point out how comments made by the Prime Minister of Turkey in response to the current war in Gaza show some hypocrisy in Turkey's current policies:
But the real issue was the criticism of Israel's killing of children recently. Israel, on the other hand, claims that if terrorists are targeting you on a daily basis, it leaves you with no choice but to hit back.
Isn't Turkey being hypocritical as it fights its own war on terror with the PKK, the militant faction of the Kurdish independence movement?
Then again, there's a big difference when it comes to indifference of killing innocent civilians versus killing innocent civilians who happen to be children.
Narrator discusses the silver lining for Turkey in this diplomatic situation:
The only silver lining regarding what happened in Davos last week is that President Obama may now start seriously considering Turkey as the country that he will pick to make a major speech addressing the Islamic world. The reason is simple. After the drama in Davos, Turkey has won the hearts and minds of 1.3 billion Muslims. Erdoğan's behavior made him an instant global hero in the eyes of all Muslims, who were bitterly frustrated with the Israeli onslaught against Gaza that ended up killing 1,300 people, half of them innocent civilians. As of last week, the Palestinian cause and Turkey became one — and all of this is thanks to the larger than life personality of Prime Minister Erdoğan. Whether the pro-Israel lobby likes it or not, President Obama is sophisticated enough to recognize these dynamics in selecting the country where he will make his speech to the Islamic world.
Bad Behavior
While many Turks celebrated the Prime Minister's actions, others condemned him for what they saw as bad behavior. From Internations Musings:
Turkish PM Erdogan doesn’t like critical journalists. People know that in Turkey and some European countries – especially after Erdogan’s bargaining and blackmailing last week in Brussels regarding the EU accession talks. But yesterday, while talking at a forum in Davos, people around the world could observe a statesman who lost his temper again when he left the stage, full of anger, after he was denied more time to speak about the crisis in Gaza. The moderator was David Ignatius of the Washington Post. Witty, smart and provocative. And he, Erdogan, has to deal with that. Nit-picking journalists are everywhere. How does he think to survive when Turkey joins the EU? There is nothing wrong with showing your emotions but there is definitely something wrong with insulting countries and presidents of countries that are supporting you. And of course he showed the same old rhetoric all over again: ‘they didn’t show respect for me’ and ‘I defend Turkish honour’…in my opinion you don't defend your honour by putting someone else down.
Carpetblogger comments on how the Prime Minister's behavior was a disservice to Turkey and the role that it could have had in negotiating peace in the Middle East:
A Turk gesturing on behalf of oppressed Palestinians is about as politically courageous as an American advocating for a “democratic transition” in Belarus: There's absolutely  nothing at stake and everyone gets to feel good about themselves. Turkey has no aggrieved Palestinians occupying valuable political real estate. There's no chance of instability on its borders. And, it has a population (definitely not a tribe) that needs no excuse to wave flags and express outrage at perceived slights. We don't see any downsides to Erdoğan's outburst except, oh, perhaps a missed opportunity for Turkey to serve as a levelheaded mediator in the conflict, something that could actually help the Palestinians! Maalasef.
Did Prime Minister Erdogan react in a way that will benefit Turkey and its role in the Middle East?  It is a good question, and one that might be answered in the next few months, or it just might be a situation that becomes an interesting anecdote in the annals of diplomatic disagreements.
More on Global Voices Online:
Egypt: Erdoğan, Leader of the World

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Environment a Mutual Concern for Young Bloggers · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
With most of the blogs created as part of an online project to “create socially conscious media that will impact communities across the U.S. and the Caucasus” now up and running, many of the participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and the U.S. have already completed their first module. DOTCOM, funded by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is implemented by Project Harmony.
Now ready to introduce themselves on their new blogs, the teenagers aged between 14-16 were asked to highlight an issue of concern in their own communities. Interestingly, while other problems were mentioned, the environment topped the list. Writing from Azerbaijan, for example, 14-year-old Shafaq is worried by the level of pollution in the waters off her native Baku.
As we know Azerbaijan is known for it's oil in all over the world. But we damage our enviroment when we drag out it. Caspian sea becomes dirty and it destroy the life in this sea. They all can die out and I want to stop it.
14-year-old Ergun is also concerned.
Pollution is the main problem. People throw litter and pollute the environment. People cut trees and build high buildings.There was a park in front of our building. Some people came and destroyed everything and built a building there.
In Armenia, 15-year-old Arpen agrees.
For me, today the most important issue is the question of improving the environment. There are more machines on the streets and that's why the air is more polluted and it's very noisy. There are few [green] bits, trees and benches.
Posting some photographs of her own school work on environmental protection, 15-year-old Lusine provides an example of how the problem is affecting her.
An issue I'm concered about my home community is the shortage of water.The population often suffers from it. As a result of that, green areas are not many. I would like to solve this problem by changing the irrigation technology because trees, flowers and grass need watering and they are not only nice but also give us oxygen and clear the polluted air. At the same time it's difficult not to have water in the houses the whole day.
Problems with the water supply also appear to be an issue in Azerbaijan, as 14-year-old Novruz explains.
[…] the main problem in my community is water problem. The drinkable water is not very clean. […]
14-year-old Yegane says factories are polluting the rivers, and Rahima, the same age, agrees.
[…] we have to solve these problems in order to live a better life. The main problem […] is […] drinkable water. Unfortunately the water we drink is not pure. We need high quality technology to clean the water. Most of the people in city use the water from the river “Kur” and the water in this river is not clean […].
But while the young citizen-journalists of Armenia and Azerbaijan are concerned about the situation, others are not. 15-year-old Togrul says people in Baku throw rubbish onto the streets, a view shared by Huseyn. Moreover, Dilare believes that environmental concerns also extend to traffic.
I'm concerned about cleaning of my city and traffic jams on the roads. I believe that we need to educate citizens of my community that they keep our city clean, protect nature and be careful on the roads when they drive and follow traffic rules. They should beleive that it is important for their health and welfare. […]
Transport in Armenia is also a concern for 14-year-old Armen.
One of the greatest problems of my home community is the problem of Transportation. Most of the transports including the buses, mini-buses and metros are not working with a timetable and there are not enough places for all of the people to sit.
But while the teenagers in both countries share the same concerns and interests, politics and war still divides them. With the conflict between the two countries over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh now older than she is, 14-year-old Lilit thinks about peace.
Armenia is a country which nowadays has many problems which are unsolved. There are minor problems as dirty streets, unpleasant underground shops and so on. But there are also some problems which I am really concerned about in my country such as unsolved relations with neighbor countries. Since my childhood I have been wondering why isn’t it possible to go to Azerbaijan, to make friends there and invite them to our country. That is really a huge problem right now and I truly hope that all these minor and huge issues which my country is facing now will be solved in nearest future.
On the other side of the closed border, Nara, a 15-year-old resident of Baku, also considers the war.
Nowadays the main problem for Azerbaijan is Karabakh’s war problem. We have a lot of refugees from there. I do like them to be able to return home in the nearest future.
Back in Yerevan, 14-year-old Nikolay expresses his hope for the future as well as the project.
I think that very important part of DOTCOM program will be collective work. Today the biggest attainment for world is peace. We must do everything for peace between two countries, two nations.
DOTCOM's main website is at http://dotcom.ph-int.org and there is a Facebook Group here. A blog set up to present different modules to participants can also be found here while many of their blogs are listed on the profile pages of the Armenian and Azerbaijani program managers.
This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Antarctica: Latin Americans Blog from the Coldest Place on Earth · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Editor's Note: This is part 1 in a 2-part series looking at blogs written from or about Antarctica by Latin Americans
The frigid surroundings of Antarctica may be the last place one would think to find bloggers. However, a handful of Latin Americans have become interested in sharing their experiences traveling or working on this desolate continent. Some write directly from Antarctica posting photos and videos helping readers feel what it is like to be so far away from home, while others wait once they return to the South American continent to post to personal and group blogs.
Several countries are well represented in the Antarctic blogosphere.  Chile, in addition to the website of the Chilean Antarctic Institute [es], publishes information via the blog Antarctic Air Base President E. Frei M [es]. The blog unfortunately only has one post published and is devoted mainly to radio communications.  Roberto Bravo Vidal of Terra Australis Incognita [es] devotes his blog to news and reports about Antarctica.
For more than 20 years, Peru has been working and conducting research from the Machu Picchu Scientific Base administered by the Peruvian Antarctic Institute [es], and which was profiled at the blog Vida y Futuro [es] from the newspaper El Comercio.  Finally on his own personal blog, Peruvian filmmaker Humberto Saco publishes his documentary about Peru's presence on the continent [es].
Uruguay has many more blogs devoted to Antarctica, including one called Antarctic Feelings [es] that publishes poems about the continent and another called The Blog of the Antarctic Association [es].  Both are not written from the ice, but of the expeditions taken: Antarkos 23 [es] and Antarkos 25 [es]  During the former, an interesting phenomenon [es] called an Ice Prism is described:
En la noche del 5 de setiembre de 2007, tuvimos el privilegio de observar un Hidrometeoro poco común, llamado “Prisma de hielo”. Este fenómeno consiste en la precipitación de cristales de hielo que tienen forma de agujas, placas o columnas, normalmente muy tenues y que dan la sensación de estar en suspensión en la atmósfera los cuales al observarlos sobre un foco de luz, producen reflejos como el que se aprecia en la foto. Estos cristales de hielo pueden caer de una nube o con una situación de cielo despejado y se producen a temperaturas inferiores a -10ºC.
On the night of September 5, 2007, we had the privilege of observing an uncommon Hydrometeor called the “Ice Prism.” This phenomenon consists of the precipitation of ice crystals which takes the form of needles, blocks or columns, normally very light and gives the sensation of being suspended in the atmosphere.  When observing it over a light bulb, it produces a reflection that one can see in the photograph.  These ice crystals can fall from a cloud  or in some cases from a clear sky when the temperature is below -10 C.
From the second blog, Uruguayan Waldemar Fontes, describes how the team celebrated Christmas [es]  on the Artigas Scientific Base:
El 24 de diciembre de 2008, la dotación Antarkos 25, más un grupo de científicos alemanes y uruguayos, celebramos la Navidad en familia. Compartimos una cena con turrones, pan dulce y tortas alemanas y degustamos un delicioso lechón al horno. A las doce la noche, sin distinción de origen o nacionalidades, levantamos las copas y brindamos. Lo mejor de la velada, fue la llegada de Papá Noel, que viajando en la pala del tractor de la Base, llegó hasta nuestro comedor y uno a uno, fue entregando regalitos a quienes se habían portado bien.
On December 24, 2008 the team Antarkos 25, which is more than a group of German and Uruguayan scientists, celebrated Christmas as a family. We shared a dinner with traditional candy, sweet bread, German cakes, and enjoyed delicious oven-baked pork. At twelve midnight, with no distinction of origin or nationality, we lifted our cups and toasted.  The best part of the evening, was the arrival of Santa Claus, traveling on the shovel of the base's tractor, arrived to our dining room and one by one, started to distribute gifts to those who had been good.
Part II featuring Argentinean bloggers in Antarctica will be published later this week.

author: Juan Arellano


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Azerbaijan: Constitutional Obfuscation  · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

As Azerbaijan's March referendum to amend the Constitution approaches, Thoughts on the Road says that many of the changes are being made so unclear as to create confusion in the minds of the electorate. However, the blog notes, amendments which would allow the president to stay in power indefinitely as well as place further restrictions on the media are very clear and likely to be overwhelmingly campaigned for by the government to the detriment of all other voices.


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Bangkok’s sky trains · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Fable posts a picture of Bangkok's sky train. The blogger writes: “I love the sky trains in Bangkok.  Where the underground trains are boring, the sky trains are always covered in bright advertisements.”


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Bangladesh: Migratory Birds · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pallab writes about the seasonal migratory birds in Bangladesh.


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Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: The Million Dollar Question · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

From Barbados, BC Pires asks the question that may be on many people's minds following the failure of two large Trinidad-based companies: “How much of his own money did the respective jefes of the HCU and CL Financial put in to save their companies?”


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Bulgaria: Education and Interethnic Relations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Maya's Corner writes about Sofia's schools and the relations between local Gypsies and ethnic Bulgarians.


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Bulgaria: Gas Dispute, Russophobes and Russophiles · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blogging Balkanistan points out a TOL piece by Boyko Vassilev on the reactions of Bulgarian “Russophobes” and “Russophiles” to the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute.


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Colombia: Small Price Difference Between Regular and Premium Gasoline · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Carlos of Liberal Colombiano [es] does not understand why there is not much price difference between the regular and premium gasoline in the country.


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Costa Rica: Layoffs at La Nación Newspaper · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Costa Rica's most important newspaper La Nación is facing economic problems and recently announced that 25 employees would be laid off writes Fusil de Chispas [es]


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Czech Republic: Olomouc Astronomical Clock · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks writes about the Olomouc astronomical clock.


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Czech Republic: Trains · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CzechFolks.com writes about the Bohemian Train and efforts to improve the image of the Czech Railways.


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East Asia: Various readings on “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Japanese anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, has become a widely discussed movie in the 2009 new year. Here is the movie trailer:
In Hong Kong, the movie was on show since mid Jan and because of the debate over protection of Children and censorship issue, many bloggers, including myself, have interpreted the story along the line of parent and children relation, which are probably over-reading of the movie, but great text generates its own life.
In our globalvoices cross-border discussion group among writer, Tomomi Sasaki and Scilla Alecci both pointed out that in Japan, the main focus of the discussion is on Ponyo and Sosuke, the two main characters in the film, as well as the technique used for the animation, such as the fact that Miyazaki himself drew by hand the scenes of Ponyo running on the waves etc.
In Taiwan, from the blog links provided by Portnoy and I-fan, the main concern is also about technique and Miyazaki's consistence themes in his story, like environment, love, chaos, symbolized in sea life, food, waves and tsunami: Ponyo-The Magic of bucket (zh), Ponyo-Tales from Tsunami (zh), Ponyo-Taste of Noodles (zh).
However, I was struck by the father and daughter relation between Ponyo and Fujimoto, that the father has to repress Ponyo's desire by detaining her and Ponyo's rebellious action that causes all the chaos, as well as the mother and son relation between Sosuke and Lisa, that both trust each others in their choices and works and help each other's out in equal ground.
Luke, a blogger from Taiwan, also shares my observation and points out that the relation between Ponyo and Fujimoto, an idealistic environmentalist, reflects the relation between Hayao Miyazaki and his son. The conflicts between the father and daughter in the film is resolved by the embracing love of Ponyo's mother, Granmammare and Sosuke's mother, Lisa, who accept their children's choices.
However, reviews in the mainstream media in Hong Kong, look at Lisa's choice in taking care of the elderly and leaving her son behind as highly irresponsible behavior, while some consider it  educational, as Sosuke becomes independent and learns how to take care of Ponyo in his journey to find his mother. The commentary indeed reflects the value conflict between tradition parent and liberal parent. My interpretation is that by giving freedom to Sosuke to grow, Lisa can also free herself from her domestic role and make choice based on her value.
You maybe surprised to see that in Hong Kong, there is actually a spoofing facebook group inviting people to complain against the movie, the group states that the story “advocate bestiality” as the center of love is a human kid and a magic fish. The campaign reminded us of the complain Bible campaign happened two years ago. This time is a parody of the recent discussion about censorship mechanism in Hong Kong, in which, Christian and parental groups urge the government to censor materials that “promote or incite un-natural behaviour and abortion”.
Martinoei also points out that the facebook group is interpreting the film according to Hong Kong's Christian right's logic.
There are a number of interpretation that relates the movie to censorship debate in Hong Kong. Kursk says the film is about love relation between two pre-mature juniors. Lam Kay also grasps the opportunity to spoof Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and government's attempt in tightening up free speech environment.
Apart from the more politically charged spoofing, there is a very popular commercial spoof in youtube, in which someone sings out a shampoo advertisement talk of Jacky Chen with the movie's theme music.


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El Salvador: Presidential Race May Be Tightening · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Tim Muth writes that the presidential race in El Salvador may be tightening with recent polls showing the ARENA candidate gaining ground on the FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes.


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EU: Russia To Join Nabucco? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Nosemonkey's Eutopia writes about the EU-Russian relationship and Russia's prospects of joining in the Nabucco gas pipeline project.


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India: Saying No To Chawla · Global Voices
Rezwan

Seriously Sandeep has voiced disapproval of Navin Chawla, a Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. Read here for details.


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Iraq: Elections Have Come and Gone  · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Elections have come and gone in Iraq. With reports that the day passed peacefully, the whole process could have been seen as the most boring national event after the war. Najma highlights this in a rambling post which ends with:
The day before yesterday a car bomb exploded close to our house, but we were warned and expected it so there were little damages (a single window). No human losses in the neighborhood, thank God.
Oh, I almost forgot what this post was supposed to be about :)
Yesterday I finally got to vote on something without having a fight (that something being Ninevah's Provincial Council's Elections). I was feeling dizzy, and it pretty much felt like going to an exam without studying, and I proved quite dumb at the voting room: I was about to put my ID in the voting box instead of the voting card, I didn't know which finger to put in the ink pot, and finally, I almost took the voting pen home! but I FINALLY DID IT and voted! Now I have a violet finger and it shocks me every time I see it, until I remember.
But what of impressions of the bloggers themselves?
Politics of Democracy
I am no Communist,
nor a Marxist-Leninist,
I am no Socialist
nor a Baathist,
hardly a Nationalist
not even a Pan-Arabist
most likely than not,
a Trotskyist
I trot, alone
and I love the loneliness
the aloofness
the wilderness…
In the jungle of paper tigers
am no Maoist, either.
Labels, I study them
then rip them off
one by one…
And what a pleasure to rip them off…
Am no poet either,
the ink is dry
and the pages are crackling…
like the crackling wood
in a blazing fire…
You sit and you know
you are there,
here,
everywhere…
This where you belong
somewhere,
hanging in between,
in between the flames,
You have no race
no religion
no nationality,
You are beyond
papers,
paper tigers…
I love the humility
of being a no one,
just a lonely voice
in the cold,
Just You and I
treading along the path
a path,
with no name…
Salam Pax, the original Iraqi blogger is back to blogging and back in Iraq. He sat with his family and tried to work out who to vote for:
There are 18 provinces in Iraq and each will have it’s own council. The biggest is in Baghdad with 57 council members. The number of candidates campaigning for these seats is astounding … there are 2371 candidates just for Baghdad. The total number of candidates all over Iraq is an astonishing 14,400.
And the noise these thousands of candidates are creating is enough to make you withhold your vote just as a protest…
but all I can think is ‘who are these people?’ and I can assure you the majority of the fifteen million Iraqis who from the electorate are thinking the same.
The last two times we had legislative elections it was easier the same parties and individuals were up for election in the whole country. This time it’s different in each province. And trying to find what each of the 14 thousand candidates stands for isn’t just difficult but impossible.
If Salam found elections confusing, Last of Iraqis found them shady:
Yesterday an independent candidate called a debate program on a local Iraqi channel and discussed one of the laws which was really strange; if a list failed to achieve the required number of points then all its points will be given to the big list!!! Well, who decides which list is big and which one is small? This is absurd let's say I chose a list for secular candidates and they didn't make it, in what reason should my voice be directed to a fanatic Islamic party? What logic is this?…
Few days ago I was talking with a relative who got to read the detailed list for PM Almaliki and we really laughed a lot… In the list there is the name of the candidate, his number in the list and his higher educational level….in the field of the educational level you can see miracles one of the candidates is “doctor to-be”!!! Another is “His father is a doctor”!!! And another candidate is a real doctor (physician) but what kind of physicians he is? … Have mercy on us god
But Hammorabi was more optimistic:
This is important election which will shape the political demographic map in such different way than the previous one as the democratic process in Iraq moved towards better maturation. The Iraq citizens are now looking to give their voices to those who got better vision about services and building of a better life. This is more matured way compared to the previous election when more was given towards ethnic and sectarian issues. Every one is now looking for a change which is a good way and indicating some maturity. More or less the process went smooth with better freedom than the previous election which makes it more responsible way respecting the individual choices without pressure.
Intimidation
Two bloggers pointed to threats and intimidation by rival parties. Leila Fadel talks about three candidates that were killed before the election. She writes:
Provincial elections are on Saturday and candidates are dropping. Today three were killed. One in Mosul, another in Baghdad and one in Diyala province. It's almost expected here. Two others were killed recently as well.
In the United States this would be big news. Here it's a line in the violence report of the day. Better then other days, a huge improvement over the frightening times of more than a year ago but yet still more bloodshed.
And Fatima has a friend who is running for the Baghdad council. The day before voting a car drove by the friend's house and shot and killed her sister-in-law. Fatima writes:
These crazies need to wake up and stop their foolish game of scare tactics, death and fear mongering. They need to realize that God is not on their side, He is not on the side of violence, of death, of killing, of orphaning, of widowing, of foolishness.
Word from the street on the day of the vote
Shaggy went out to vote on the day but was sent all around his neighbourhood to find a polling station that would accept him:
Eventually we found it and were left very ticked off that they had sent us to a polling station on the opposite edge of the neighbourhood from our home whilst there were at least two that were within a moderate range.
Choosing to vote was kind of a last minute decision for me … But I don't think anyone on that list is going to get a seat anyway. What's bothering me more than that is that whilst walking from one polling station to another I noticed a sign suggesting that a bank is going to be built over a public park that's in the middle of a residential area. The park is a mess right now, but it has so much potential… It's also the place where I got high the very first time.
Saminkie enjoyed the day:
I woke up at 11:00 am. Woooow. It feels so good. I will be as lazy as I want today… I finished my coffee and took my clothes and went to vote. My name was not in the first school, nor in the second. They told me to check a third school which was little far. I went sadly and frightened that I won't find it but I found it and said with a loud voice: “Here it is!”
In the voting room I saw very beautiful women. They were all smiling. They were very very kind as if from heaven. I voted. They said: “Thank you”. I said: “thank you” with a smile and went walking. I saw many families walking happy. The father's and mother's index fingers are colored by that ink. I saw him coming. We greeted each other with kisses like Iraqis usually do. I went back with him waiting while he voted. He didn't ask me for whom I voted. Nor I did ask him. We are Iraqis with different views and this is our way to show respect to each other. We went back walking slowly and talking about memories of how our quarter was so beautiful before hoping that it will regain its charm while we were proud of our violet fingers.
And on the day of the election Caesar of Pentra was in two minds about what to do:
To be quite honest, I wasn't sure that I should vote this year for many reasons;
a. No specific candidate in mind to vote for. I'm not convinced with the majority of the parties and candidates listed in the election card.
b. Being skeptical about the integrity and impartiality of the elections. Rumors say that the last elections in 2005 there were several incidents of forgery reached a percentage of 30% of the whole voting process.
c. The curfew of the motor-vehicles, and the nearest voting center is about 2 km far.
d. I don't want that stupid ink stain to stick on my index…
Honestly, I felt that it would be a waste not to participate in such “democratic” processes. If I wanna criticize the performance of the government, the parliament, or the local councils, I should have at least participated in making the decision by voting for the side or the candidate I like. And to be more honest, I felt so f***in’ bored and it would be a great idea to walk out to get some refreshing air in such a beautiful winter sunny day.
I went to an election site and marked the same old bloc I voted for 4 years ago. They are secular but they didn't win many seats at that time. Hopefully this year they win. In fact, I hope everyone who wants to serve Iraq in real wins.

author: Salam Adil


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Jamaica: Hunger Strike  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I've come to believe more and more strongly that all or each of us has to take more and more radical steps to contribute to changing what we all agree is a completely untenable situation in almost all our countries”: Jamaica-based Annie Paul joined in yesterday's worldwide fast to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.


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Jamaica: Learning from Black History  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Jamaican blogger Stunner recognizes Black History Month, he says that “not just people of the black ethnic group, but everyone…can learn from these pages of history.”


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Kazakhstan: End of private banks · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Recently, odd things have happened to a number of Kazakh banks and the Kazakh stock market. The spread of ungrounded controversial information sent stocks of three banks plummeting, leading to nationalization of two major private banks. Today, there is little doubt that the action was intentional. There are various hypothetical explanations to it. One of them holds that it is raiding,
reports Arman on Russian neweurasia page [ru].
The hypothesis assumes that the whole fuss was orchestrated by the dominant ruling elite faction, which decided to expand its control over the banking sector. Recently, an affiliated company Alnair purchased the controlling shareholding of Kazkom, a major private bank in Kazakhstan. Among the four other leading banks – BCC, ATF, Alliance Bank and BTA Bank – the first two had gone under foreign ownership. The latter duo represented a potential threat, as rich independent groupings, these banks could have acted unpredictably in a politically crucial situation. Moreover, both banks had linkw with the opposition (Alliance Bank funded opposition parties during the electios, as did Kazkom as well; BTA is generally associated with a number of opposition media and the “Alga” movement). Other banks lack any ambitions due to their subjugation to financial-industrial conglomerates that are close to the elite.
The chaos started with an allegation of possible nationalization of Temir Bank (subsidiary of BTA). The leak of unnamed source in the government was published in a business magazine. As Arman further suspects [ru]
this was done in order crash the banks’ stocks and declare them bankrupt – in this case, according to the recently adopted legislation, the government has the right to dismiss the management and forcibly buy out banks into state property. Interestingly, both the government and the National Bank have been confidently assuring the society that the banking sector is stable. A similar story happened to Alliance Bank. Panic erupted shortly after the alleged Bloomberg report about its nationalization, but the news agency's website does not contain such information.
In this view, the recent replacement of the head of National Bank in Kazakhstan makes more sense. The new chairman is widely believed to belong to the dominant clan. He vindicated the bank’s takeover, “otherwise, BTA Bank would have defaulted the previous week”. Yesterday, the government dismissed the chairman of BTA board of directors Mukhtar Ablyazov because his “actions were found to be inconsistent with the interests of depositors and creditors and with current law,” explained Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov. Evidently, it serves as a warning to Mukhtar Ablyazov who is a former political prisoner. Most likely, he would opt for emigration. The government has got 78% in BTA.
Meanwhile, a letter by Ablyazov condemning these events is circulating the Web. In the letter, Ablyazov brands his bank’s takeover as an act of  “arbitrariness and state raiding”. He also says that, “The governmental actions display its economic incompetence and political nearsightedness.” It is unclear whether Ablyazov will go to the international arbitration, but in case he does, he would have probably won the case. Kazakhstan’s fourth largest bank Alliance is getting arranged for sale too. The Prime Minister said that “its largest shareholder, financial corporation “Seymar Alliance”, offered Samruk Kazyna 76% of its shares for a symbolic cost of 100 tenge (less than $1)”.
At the same time, Kazakh banks were repeatedly blamed for non-transparent reporting – perhaps, their situation was indeed far from being perfect. However, their management says that they were able to manage their external debt payments in 2009 without any external assistance. In addition, most of the Kazakh banks, including BTA and Alliance are traded on international stock exchanges, which have strict disclosure rules. All in all, it is really hard to be sure that the nationalization was only a political game and clannish redistribution of property. However, BTA chairman says it is like this in his letter, and his pet movement “Alga” has also disseminated the appeal to the citizens, urging them to
remain tranquil in the conditions, when economically ignorant, managerially irresponsible and politically short-sighted actions of the government and National Bank are made in the interests of Timur Kulibayev.
dass quotes their statement in his blog [ru].
Comment of megakhuimyak, the pominent local blogger, posted in his blog [ru]:
The state has adopted the law on financial sustainability, which reads that if a bank is in bad conditions, the authorities have the right to change management there and forcibly buy out the controlling stake. This mechanism was employed in the case of BTA. The authorities dismissed Ablyazov from the position of Chairman of the Board and forcibly take over 78,14%.
Taking into account that earlier there was a decision made by the state to buy 25% of Kazkom bank, BTA, Halyk and Alliance, it can be said that the government now fully nationalized the banking sector of Kazakhstan – it will control 55-65%, which – together with the administrative resource – means total power.
Adam-kesher is upset with the decision of the government to sell BTA Bank – the largest private bank on the post-Soviet space – to Russian state-owned Sberbank [ru]. This decision, if made, would possible add a geopolitical component to the whole controversy.
Also posted on neweurasia.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Latvia: Farmers’ Protests · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

BBC's Mark Mardell, Baltic, and All About Latvia write about farmers’ protests and other political matters in Latvia; All About Latvia posts pictures from the protests.


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Latvia: Radio Silence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Baltic writes about an hour-long silence on Latvia's radio stations.


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Lithuania: Prices and Salaries · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

With a Grain of Druska writes about prices and salaries in Lithuania and compares them to those in Western Europe.


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Macedonia: Upcoming Presidential Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blogging Balkanistan writes about the upcoming presidential election in Macedonia.


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Myanmar: Local beer products · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Today in Myanmar writes that “Before 1988, beer is a rare commodity in Myanmar.” With the opening of the economy, locally-produced beer brands are now sold in hundreds of beer stations.


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Myanmar thrones · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Today in Myanmar provides an historical account of various thrones used by Myanmar kings in the past


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Pakistan: Queer Culture · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Internet, lies, hiding and partying will not give anything to gays of Pakistan. They have to enter a political struggle. Sooner or later,” writes Shaheryar Ali at Pak Tea House while discussing the LGBT movement in Pakistan.


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Russia: Glukhov and the Army’s Other Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A story on Aleksandr Glukhov and other problems that the Russian army is facing – at OpenDemocracy.net.


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Russia: “More Journalists Than Participants” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes: “More than 100,000 Russians took part in demonstrations over the weekend for and against Moscow’s economic policies, but in the case of most of these actions – except those organized by the pro-government party ‘United Russia,’ there were, in the words of one observer, ‘more journalists than participants’.”


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Russia: More on Putin-Dell Exchange · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anna's Out of Town News writes about Vladimir Putin's exchange with Michael Dell at Davos: “Russia needs her respect. And better translators, apparently.”


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Russia: The New Patriarch · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anna Ershova writes about Russia's new Patriarch: “In a little under two decades, Russia went from officially avoiding religion to having a religious leader who has his own TV show.”


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Russia: Video of Jan. 31 Protesters · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Oleg Kozlovsky posts a video report from victims and witnesses of the violence that took place during the opposition rally on Jan. 31 (in Russian, with English subtitles).


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Serbia: Gays in Belgrade · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blogging Balkanistan links to a post on Belgrade's gay and lesbian community at The Belgrade Dispatch.


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Sri Lanka: Shelling at A Sri Lanka Hospital  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Three separate artillery attacks struck a hospital in Northern Sri Lanka killing nine people and injuring many more. Ramblings of A Mind condemns the attacks on the hospital. Chitrangi discusses who could be behind this.


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Taiwan: Hiking in the mountains · Global Voices
David Reid

Taiwan is little known internationally as a hiking destination but there is no lack of mountain trails. Shan Ding Lu hikes to the 3,000 metre plus peak of North Dawu Mountain. Taiwan Teacher goes rockclimbing near Taichung. Chris hikes some different trails over the holidays.

author: David Reid


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Trinidad & Tobago: Dear Mr. Hart  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

This Beach Called Life writes an open letter to Calder Hart, the man at the center of the Commission of Enquiry into the Trinidad and Tobago construction sector.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Singing the Blues  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Even as Attillah Springer suffers from the pedestrian blues on a rainy Monday in Port of Spain, she still manages to notice when “the clouds part to reveal a weak, bleak patch of blue.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Traditional ‘Mas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad-based Caribbean Free Radio‘s most recent podcast “takes us to Belmont, a community rich in carnival history…for a chat about the ups and downs of making traditional, hand-crafted mas’ in an age of mass production.”


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Trishaws: Myanmar’s sidecars · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Today in Myanmar writes about Trishaws, the “easiest and most convenient mode of transportation in Myanmar.”


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Turkey: The Online Conversion of David Ignatius · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following the recent spat between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Istanbul Calling comments on the furore surrounding the ethnic origins of the panel's moderator, David Ignatius. In particular, the blog notes how a battle unfolded on Wikipedia to change his ethnicity from Armenian to Jewish or an Armenian/Jewish hybrid in order to fan the flames of a rapidly escalating online battle of words.


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Ukraine: Notes on the Economic Crisis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anna Ershova writes about Ukraine's economic situation.


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Ukraine, U.S.: Pinchuk and the Clintons · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about the alleged connection between ex-president Kuchma's son-in-law and the Clintons.


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Understanding the “Thai Time” · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Richard Barrow notes that it is sometimes confusing to understand the time in Thailand. And so he explains the unique “Thai Time” system. For example, “If a Thai person tells you that the bus will leave at two o'clock, then don't presume that he means 2 o'clock in the afternoon. He could mean 8 o'clock in the morning.”


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Uruguay: Development for the Year 2030 · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Gabriel Budiño of D Todo 1 Poco [es] takes a look at the Uruguayan government's development plan towards the year 2030, and which includes strategies for agro-industries and tourism.


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Video: Vlogging for the Blind · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Icelandic sign warning of the presence of deaf and blind people on the road by sillygwailo
Nicomedes Flores from Voces Bolivianas blogging movement in Bolivia explains how Open Source Software designed for the visually impaired helps him communicate online with chatting, emailing and blogging. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, an UNESCO and the International Telecommunication Union sponsored organization trains the blind and those with visual disabilities on how to use computers and communication technologies, and an employee and advocate of the ENOVIB network for the blind speaks to youth about how blindness can be an opportunity instead of a disability.  Up to the North, in Spain, a designer comes up with videogames that visually impaired people can play, and posts demonstrations online, and in Nigeria and Canada, a woman blogs and vlogs about life as a deaf person who is rapidly losing her sight.
Nicomedes Flores is a Bolivian blogger who leads the Manuela Garandillas center for the blind in Cochabamba. Through his blog he makes the work the institution does known to the general population and on the following video, he tells us how Open Source Software makes it possible for him to surf the web, read and write emails and chat with others. The video has both English and Spanish subtitles thanks to DotSub.
This video by Itutelecommunication shows the beneficiaries of the computers, braille printers and voice synthesizers of the Adapted Technology Center for the Blind in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia:
Also in Ethiopia, Yetnebersh Nigussie arrives at the School for the Blind in Gondar and speaks to the students about how blindness has been an opportunity for her, and instead of holding her back, it has propelled her towards education and work, instead of an early marriage with back to back pregnancies. The video was produced by DarkandLight.org:
In Spain, Javier Mairena has designed a flash game that can be played by those with visual impairments. This “pong” style game uses sound cues to let the player know where the ball is headed. It can be downloaded here [es]. Following, a video demonstration of the game:
And last but not least, Coco, from Tactile the World tells the world what it is like to be deaf, and live with Usher's syndrome, which means that she will eventually lose her sight completely as well. Not only does she write a blog where she documents the ups and downs of her work in Nigeria helping with the curriculum of a Deaf-Blind School, but she also Vlogs, mixing advocacy, her adventures around the world trying to see as many things as she can before she completely loses her sight and a bit into the personal side of how she deals with her condition. She has transcribed some videos (which are in Sign Language), so that hearing people can read her transcripts, and so that blind people can have text the computer can read out loud to them, like this one, about her pet peeves (transcript available by following the previous link):
In her blog she also writes about Vlogging and the Deaf-Blind community, the need (or not) to caption or transcribe sign language videos, the importance of having a community, communicating between the deaf community and the deaf-blind community and some of the challenges being Deaf-blind presents:
More instances: Walmart just introduced speakers on debit-card machines by the cashier so that the hearing blind could listen and do their own checkouts. The same goes for millions of ATMs – there is Braille but no popup braille displays to replace the voice so that the Deaf Blind could read. To cross the street is a challenge for the Deaf Blind as there’s no vibrator visibly everywhere where it should be, but there’s of course the voiced warnings when the hand flashes or the white man’s flashing. Walk! Walk! Stop! Stop!
Food for thought.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Italy Seethes over Brazil’s Extradition Refusal · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

Italians are still debating a controversial decision of the Brazilian government [en] to guarantee political asylum to convicted felon Cesare Battisti, [en] in spite of an extradition request by the Italian foreign ministry.
The decision to grant asylum is currently being considered by Brazil's Supremo Tribunal Federal. In Italy, Battisti was tried and sentenced in absentia to life in prison for a series of crimes, including murder, committed in Italy in the late 1970's as a member of the far-left armed group Armed Proletarians for Communism [it].
Battisti escaped from prison in Italy in 1981. He then fled to France, where he started a family and became a novelist. In 2002, he reached Brazil, allegedly with the help of the French secret service [it]. Five years later, in 2007, he was arrested in Rio de Janeiro for entering the country with a fake passport, and is now imprisoned in Brasilia.
A fugitive of justice?
In Italy, the case has been a top story in most news media the past two weeks, and the local cybersphere is engulfed in heated discussions. Most Italian netizens seem to favor an extradition of Battisti [it] and strongly criticize Brazil's decision.
On a group blog, Atomo del Male, “il gorgonauta” writes [it]:
Un rifugiato politico secondo wikipedia [it] è chi è fuggito o è stato espulso a causa di discriminazioni politiche, religiose o razziali dal proprio Paese e trova ospitalità in un Paese straniero. Peccato che questa definizione non calzi molto alla situazione attuale: uccidere un macellaio o un poliziotto è un delitto politico? Una rapina è politica? Battisti è stato condannato per degli omicidi o delle opinioni? E l’Italia lo vuole per discriminarlo politicamente o per eseguire un condanna? Ma forse in Brasile hanno una giustizia tutta loro e l’imbelle ministro vive in mondo tutto suo.
In his blog, Gery Palazzotto argues [it] that any intellectuals defending Battisti as someone of their own league are misguided:
Il terrorismo ha fatto in Italia [it] quasi 350 morti e circa 750 feriti (cifre dell’Associazione vittime del terrorismo). Le pallottole sono di piombo e, anche se accompagnate da una citazione filosofica, da una frase di Bernard-Henri Lévy o da una semplice preghiera, generalmente uccidono. Gli ideali non sono né giubbotto antiproiettile né lasciapassare.
Kicking blame to France too
Several people also express criticism of France's past behaviour. After learning that Battisti in a recent letter wrote [it], “French intelligence helped me flee to South America,” Il Jester points a finger at both French and Brazilian governments [it], because they both:
…permettono e hanno permesso che un assassino resti libero e si goda la vita come premio per quel che ha fatto e causato: morte e dolore. Vorrei proprio che Mr. Lula e Sarkozy spiegassero (…) a chi ha sofferto la scomparsa insensata dei loro cari: “I vostri compianti sono morti per causa di un ideale politico di un uomo. Lui non ne ha colpa. (…)”
Una vergogna! E l’Italia non solo non dovrebbe giocare la partita con un Brasile che ha davvero poco di amichevole, ma dovrebbe persino protestare sonoramente contro una Francia che si è sempre rivelata poco amica del nostro Paese (…).
The blogger refers here to a friendly soccer match between Italy and Brazil, scheduled for February 10 in London. Some major newspapers have held instant polls on this topic: “Should we play against Brazil?”, with a majority (59-62%) still answering “yes”, while the Italian defense minister Ignazio La Russa [en] proposed a public boycott of the game – thus stirring more harsh debate.
Few defend Battisti online
There are around 40 groups supporting an extradition of Battisti on Facebook and the most popular – “Cesare Battisti must come back to Italy to serve his life sentence” [it] (Cesare Battisti deve tornare in Italia per scontare l’ergastolo) has more than 20,000 members.
Of the only two groups advocating for his freedom, “Freedom for Cesare Battisti” [it] (Libertà per Cesare Battisti) blames the media for exploiting his case:
Crediamo si tratti dell'ennesimo capro espiatorio, del mostro (creato da pennivendoli e strumenti di disinformazione) da dare in pasto per placare la sete di giustizia. A qualcuno ovviamente fa comodo che gli italiani, invece di indignarsi per le ingiustizie sofferte quotidianamente, ingiustizie di natura economica e sociale, si indignino per fatti di 30 anni fa, che non hanno nessun impatto sulla loro esistenza.
Similarly, Titus, from the Selvas blog [it], believes this episode is being used by the (center-right) Italian government as “an amazing mass distraction weapon” from the economic crisis, while another blog devoted to literature and counter-information, Carmilla On Line  [it], posted a very detailed FAQ on Battisti's case [it]. One of these answers states reasons that his trial was not fair, including the alleged use of torture tactics to extract confessions.
In his blog Panni di piombo [it], another former member of an armed group, Mario Ferrandi, highlights a similar case but with Italy in the opposite role:
Il “nostro Cesare Battisti” è uruguayano, anche se da qualche anno ha la nazionalità italiana. Si chiama Jorge Troccoli. (…) È stato capitano dei Fucilieri Navali dell’Uruguay, ed è accusato di aver fatto sparire un numero imprecisato di persone nel suo Paese tra il 1975 e il 1983. Tra questi sei cittadini italiani. Il governo Berlusconi, nel settembre scorso, ha respinto la sua richiesta di estradizione.
Global Voices also has Brazilian blogger responses to Italy's extradition request.
: Yesterday Brazil's Supremo Tribunal Federal ruled [it] that Battisti's current status as ‘political refugee’ does not stop nor prevent the extradition procedure request. Essentially, nothing has changed: judges and politicians have opposing opinions, but ultimately the decision is in the hands of the Brazilian government.
This post was co-authored by Stefano Ignone.

author: Bernardo Parrella


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Azerbaijan: Breaking Taboos · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Nigar [RU] announces the publication of a controversial new book in Azerbaijan. Artush and Zaur: A Legend of Love tells the story of an Armenian and Azerbaijani against the backdrop of the emerging conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Ромовый дневник [RU] links to a comment made on an Azerbaijani forum, now deleted. Breaking many taboos regarding the war and both sides of the conflict, perhaps the most controversial aspect of the novel is that the two central characters are male.


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Bangladesh: Heritage Month · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh, Canada and Beyond proposes that the people of Bangladesh should officially observe February as the Bangladesh Heritage Month.


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Barbados, U.S.A.: Holder Sworn In  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cheese-on-bread! and Living in Barbados blog about the swearing in of Eric Holder – the first African-American to hold the post of Attorney General – who happens to have Barbadian roots.


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Bermuda: Economic Answers  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermudian Vexed Bermoothes asks: “Do we really have to wait another month for the budget before we get concrete information about  Government’s plans to weather this economic storm?”


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Brazil: A post crisis wave of unemployment · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“I have just been sacked. It is the crisis” says @eduardoburger on Twitter. The designer and illustrator was the latest Brazilian to be dismissed because of the global crises. The latest data shows that December saw a reduction of 654,946 job vacancies in the country, the biggest fall since 1999.

author: Paula Góes


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Brazil: The Cybercrimes Bill meets the “Cybercriminal” Camp · Global Voices
Daniel Duende

The Brazilian Cybercrimes Bill proposed by Senator Eduardo Azeredo [Pt] is always a source of big controversy (read more here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). It's no surprise then that the controversy should grow further when this bill is brought into debate at a huge cyberculture meeting. This is exactly what happened at Campus Party Brasil 2009, when Azeredo's aide José Henrique Portugal, and High Court Judge Fernando Botelho, were invited to defend the Bill in a debate [Pt] with the raging crowds of bit-torrent-using p2p-addicted geek Campus Party goers.
Summarizing, Alberto Marques, at gJOL blog [Pt] said:
“Portugal e Botelho tiveram muita dificuldade para apresentar seu ponto de vista sobre o projeto, sofrendo intensos protestos.”
José Henrique Portugal facing the audience that protested against the privacy violations and authoritarianism presented by the Cybercrimes Bill
Meme de Carbono blog features a long post discussing the Cybercrimes Bill in the face of the new age of communication and democracy brought by the Internet, listing many reasons to agree and even more to disagree with Azeredo's Bill. He explains in a few words [Pt] why the Cybercrimes Bill has faced such strong opposition from Brazilian digital citizens:
“Caso o projeto de lei de cibercrimes seja aprovado você terá medo de se expressar.
A liberdade de expressão apoiada pela Internet é uma grande ameaça a uma estrutura de poder estabelecida entre mídia, governos e corporações.
O poder estabelecido está acostumado a comunicar e não a interagir com seu ouvinte, mas nós queremos ser interlocutores do nosso tempo.
A pressa em aprovar a criminalização dos cibercrimes não vem de um apelo popular, mas dos interesses do poder estabelecido que defende uma forma de democracia que não é mais suficiente.”
From left to right: Ronaldo Lemos, Sérgio Amadeu, the chair of the debate (in the middle), Fernando Botelho and José Portugal.
The public applauding Sergio Amadeu's speech defending web anonymity and attacking the ‘Azeredo Bill’.
Left banner: “We defend Internet Anonymity”. Right banner: “Defend the future of the Internet in Brazil and around the World”.
“Internet Freedom = Democracy”
But a few minutes before the last speaker finished his speech, event organizers informed the public that they would not be allowed to ask questions to the panelists, because the “debate” had taken too long and would have to finish due to other events scheduled in the room. Daniel Padua complains [Pt] about the lack of a real public debate on the “debate”:
“Debate sobre lei de cibercrimes poderia ter entrado para a história com a participação direta da sociedade (o que faltou à audiência pública): o evento foi interrompido pela presença do governador em exercício próximo ao debate.”
Tux, the Linux penguin, holds a banner that reads “Say no to Online Surveillance”.
Jorge Araújo, a Brazilian judge behind the Direito e Trabalho blog, criticizes [Pt] the intention to create new crimes for the already bulging Brazilian Penal Code:
“Os defensores da lei estão errados ao buscar que se emplaque mais uma norma ao nosso combalido sistema jurídico, prevendo penas de prisão, quando sabemos que ladrões e assassinos são soltos diariamente justamente em virtude da falência de nosso sistema prisional […] Por outro lado para que se criminalize um delito é necessário que ele traga à sociedade um verdadeiro clamor, do tipo que antes de ser considerado crime ele já receba a censura da sociedade. […] Não é o que ocorre com os delitos que se pretendem penalizar. Pelo contrário muitas práticas que se pretendem penalizas são adotadas pela grande maioria dos presentes na Campus Party e desconhecidas pelo restante da população para o qual o computador é, quando muito, uma máquina de escrever sem papel.”
Many people wore red clown noses and protested against being turned into criminals by the Cybercrimes Bill.
Later on in the same post, Araújo criticizes the arguments used by Sergio Amadeu in his defense of online anonymity:
“o anonimato que se permite, e até exige, em regimes de exceção, como os regimes autoritários da China, Cuba, mas também de subjugação como dos próprios países árabes, como o Iraque em face dos Estados Unidos, não se pode confundir com um anonimato interno, que se pode voltar contra os demais cidadãos. Até porque não se cogita que atue anonimamente em um regime democrático sem um propósito escuso.”
In a comment on Araújo's post, Raquel Recuero [Pt] discusses the issue of anonymity and the possible uses of all information that will be made available to the government, and to whoever else takes hold of it, if the Cybercrimes Bill is approved, forcing Internet Service Providers and LAN-houses to keep a log of user activities:
“A lei prevê a obrigação dos provedores de registrar dados de navegação de todos os usuários. TODOS. Isso é, para mim, uma invasão de privacidade por presunção de que, ao navegar, estarei cometendo um crime. Dados esses que poderiam ser usados para outras coisas – penso, por exemplo, no valor publicitário de conhecer os hábitos de navegação das pessoas (eu detesto spam); nas investigações privadas de adultério (detetives); etc. etc.”
Araújo finishes his post criticizing Eduardo Azeredo for not showing up for the debate, sending his right arm man José Portugal instead:
“achei desrespeitosa a ausência do Senador Azeredo. Não há justificativa para que um representante do povo deixe de comparecer para prestar a este os esclarecimentos sobre a sua atividade. Dificilmente o senador encontrará uma reunião com tantos interessados na sua atividade parlamentar quanto no CParty, e encará-los e ouvi-los, mais do que um ato de cortesia, seria a sua obrigação.”
A participant holds his notebook with the slogan “Did you chicken out, Azeredo?”, after the confirmation that Eduardo Azeredo wouldn't attend the debate.
At the end of the debate, on being informed that there would be no questions to José Portugal and Fernando Botelho, the audience turned their backs on the speakers and left in protest  while Portugal was still delivering his final speech.
All pictures in this post, except for the first, were taken by Daniel Duende, published by Daniel Padua and are available here under a Creative Commons licence.

author: Daniel Duende


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Brazil: “The police only advance when Globo [TV] is live” · Global Voices
Paula Góes

A confrontation between police and inhabitants of Paraisópolis, the second biggest slum in São Paulo, left four policemen and at least two people injured on the night of February 2nd, and has led to over 300 riot police occupying the slum. It is reported that residents blocked the streets and burnt cars and houses, in a riot to protest against the death of a local resident, shot by the police the day before. Many dwellers did not sleep during a night of shootouts, and at the time of finalizing this article, the slum remains occupied but calm.
Most of the Brazilian population watched  the images of the confrontation on television astounded, and the way the issue was dealt with by the media has brought the debate to the blogosphere. The first thing noted was the fact that the conflict appeared to be developing in different ways according to the TV channel watched. Former TV presenter and now independent journalist blogger, Paulo Henrique Amorim publishes a comment on his blog [pt] from a reader who witnessed the conflict developing through various TV channels and concluded that São Paulo police “only advance when Globo [TV] is live”:
Um fato curioso: antes do choque chegar, um grupo de uns 10 policiais com alguns escudos se posicionaram em linha para avançar numa rua com os vândalos a uma boa distância bem a frente, e ali ficaram parados, e até o comentarista Percival estranhou aquela atitude da polícia, e como era horário do SPTV da Globo, coloquei a imagem da Globo ao lado da Record que transmitia o chamado “conflito” em tempo integral. Quando o SPTV entrou ao vivo, os policiais avançaram, e quando a imagem do SPTV foi cortada, os policiais recuaram correndo.
Rogério Pixote [pt] was disgusted with the headline of the above mentioned news program:
Manchete do cretino jornal SPTV da Rede Globo em sua versão noturna do dia 02/02/2009:
Vandalismo em Paraisópolis, moradores queimaram carros…
Por quê? Essa pergunta eles não responderam.
Why? They have not answered this question.
On the other hand, some bloggers believe that the media has been lenient in such coverage of crime and need “urgently” to take sides. Ricardo Wagner [pt] explains:
Ficar em cima do muro não resolve situação nenhuma e não ajuda sociedade alguma.
Bandido tem que ser tratado como bandido e a vítima como vítima.
O que aconteceu em São Paulo foi vandalismo, foram saques e foi uma vergonha (aos moldes de Boris Casoy). Uma situação previsível e que pode se repetir. Roma caiu porque ignorou os povos bárbaros, estamos cometendo o mesmo erro.
Favelas são o câncer de uma cidade. E antes de se tornar maligno deve ser removido.
Bandits have to be treated like bandits and victims like victims.
What happened in São Paulo was vandalism, looting and a disgrace (as [TV presenter] Boris Casoy would say). A predictable situation that can happen again. Rome fell through ignoring the barbarians, we are making the same mistake.
Slums are the cancer of a city. And before they become an malignant one, they must be removed.
Writer Ferréz [pt] strongly disagrees with that point of view and publishes a letter by the Paraisópolis Dwellers Association. Angry with the way that the media labelled the residents of the slum, vandals among others, he calls for people to make use of their own citizen media  to show the other side of the events:
O Jornalismo canalha não para.
Expõe protesto como arruaça, como bagunça, e em nenhum canal, em nenhum jornal explicaram que tudo começou por um atropelamento.
Paraisópolis não pode se manifestar, manifesto é ter trailer lotado de gente fantasiada na Paulista.
Paraisópolis não pode achar ruim de ter mais um menino morto por causa de uma simples lombada ou um sinal, tá faltando farol em São Paulo? acho que não, vai pro Jardins, vai pro alto de Pinheiros e você vai ver onde eles se concentram, para evitar que o boy com a cara cheia de álcool, coca, maconha volte da balada e corra algum risco.
aqui! pancada, rojão, pneu queimado, tudo isso pra mostrar pro estado porco que agente dá valor pra uma vida.
Joildo Santos [pt] is not surprised that the Brazilian media would prefer “to hide the reality from the population”, leaving the public with the view that incidents like these are isolated issues that can be solved only with police occupation:
A tese de muitos é exemplificada da seguinte maneira: “Ao encontrar sua filha transando no sofá, o sujeito joga fora o sofá”, resolvendo assim um problema eminentemente de educação sexual.
Não adianta virar a cara para o outro lado e achar que bloqueando a comunidade esses problemas vão ser resolvidos, fingir que se preocupa também não adianta, o problema continua lá. O que falta é comprometimento e descer do pedestal de senhores iluminados e buscar arregaçar as mangas em prol da população.
A ameaça do Morumbi é aumentar a pressão sobre Paraisópolis. Costumamos dizer que “Não existe Morumbi bom com Paraisópolis Ruim.”
Expensive Morumbi and the Paraisópolis slum are next door neighborhoods. The social contrast can be clearly seen in this picture, where luxurious apartment flats and the shanty town – side by side – make this a surreal image of São Paulo's inequalities. It is also ironic that Paraisópolis means Paradise city. Milton Jung [pt] reminds us that there is a bright side to life in the slums, unfortunately very easily forgotten:
A Escola do Povo, o Barracões do Sonho, a Crescer Sempre, o projeto de capacitação de jovens na prevenção às violências e ao uso abusivo de álcool, os R$ 117 milhões para urbanizar a favela e mais um mundo de ações desenvolvidas neste complexo com mais de 80 mil pessoas serão esquecidos. E todos transformados “nestes bandidos” – expressão tão comum quanto injusta por igualar os diferentes.


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China: A fair for Muslim in Guangzhou · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jacky Peng blogs a set of photos on a fair for Muslim in Gangzhou.


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China: More reactions to shoeing incident · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translates a post from a nationalistic BBS reacting to the shoeing against Wen Jiabo in Cambridge University. Fauna from ChinaSMACK also picks up and translates a number of local reactions.


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China: Wen’s Talk at Davos · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Matters has a post analyzing the implications Premier Wen Jiabo's talk at the World economic forum in Davos.