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Virus scare hits Southeast Asia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Rising cases of dengue fever, chikungunya, bird flu and ebola viruses were reported in several Southeast Asian countries in the past two months. Relax, there are no pandemic threats. Not yet, anyway.
Last month, 4,521 dengue cases and 13 dengue-related deaths were reported in Malaysia. These are alarming numbers. Last year Malaysia recorded 49,335 dengue cases and 112 dengue deaths – the worst in the nation’s history.
Aside from dengue fever, there is another virus that is spreading in several Malaysian states: chikungunya. According to a medical specialist, chikungunya is the latest in a long line of diseases carried by mosquitoes, which include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile encephalitis. These diseases are causing 1 million deaths worldwide every year.
In Singapore, dengue cases were down last year but chikungunya infections were up. Last month, 160 chikungunya cases were reported. This figure is high since only 11 chikungunya cases were registered in 2008. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Health, which already included chikungunya fever in its weekly infectious disease bulletin.
Vietnam confirmed that there are thirteen bird flu-hit provinces in the country. The virus was discovered in more than 4 communes in 23 districts of 13 provinces of Bac Lieu, Bac Ninh, Ca Mau, Dien Bien, Hau Giang, Khanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Soc Trang, Thai Nguyen and Thanh Hoa.
To contain the bird flu, Vietnam slaughtered over 52,000 poultry had been killed including 11,500 chickens and 21,000 ducks which had contracted the disease. It has also banned the transportation of poultry on motorbikes in its capital city to try stopping the spread of disease.
Five persons tested positive for the Ebola-Reston virus last month in the northern Philippines. The five individuals were from pig farms in Bulacan, Pangasinan and Valenzuela City, and a slaughterhouse in Pangasinan.
According to health experts, this is the first time the virus has been found outside monkeys. There are five Ebola virus subtypes: Zaire, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston. The Ebola-Reston virus was first found in the Philippines in the late 1980s.
Filipino health officials claim there has been no evidence that Reston can cause significant illness in humans. But the transmission of the virus from pigs to humans has worried many experts. People are more exposed to pigs than monkeys. If the virus is not contained, more humans might be infected with the disease.
Journalist Dana Batnag quotes from a statement published by health authorities about the transmission of Ebola from pigs to humans:
Right now authorities do not know how the virus is transmitted from one pig to another, or from pigs to humans. This is the first time that the virus has been found in pigs. The concern stems from the fact that while the Reston strain here in the Philippines do not appear to be that harmful to humans, they still belong to that Ebola family of viruses “known to be highly pathogenic to humans.”
BUT: the humans who have been infected so far are all well, and have not reported any signs of illness, except one. It is not sure if the flu-like illness reported by one man in the past 12 months was caused by the Ebola Reston Virus. That man, also, does not remember having handled pigs that appeared to be sick (dovetails with the observation that pigs with Ebola may appear to be healthy)
The Philippines’ Department of Health has added an information page on its website about the dreaded Ebola-Reston virus. It has instructed the public on proper meat handling and preparation to avoid infections from pigs. The government will also slaughter 6,000 pigs to contain the spread of the virus.
Edwin Casimero is not convinced about the Ebola. Instead, he blames genetically modified corn for the poor health of pigs:
The bad news is an international body seems to be pressuring Filipino hog raisers and the government that the poor health of pigs have this mysterious Ebola Virus to blame.  This is just another western medical crap meant to cover-up their greedy imperialist moves.
I’ve talked with a hog raiser, I’ve talked with a corn farmer.  The corn farmer raises corn that is the primary component of hog feed.  The corn being for hog feed raised in the past few years by many Filipino farmers is GENETICALLY MODIFIED corn, GM corn.
Your hogs are what they eat.  Lately, what has changed is the content of their feed.  Lately, in the past few years, more and more GMO corn has been getting into the pig feeds.  And this pig feeds you depend on to raise healthy pigs.  You know the GM corn is deadly to pests.  Do you honestly think GM corn is healthy for your pigs?
Are you still going to believe in that fairy tale called this Ebola Virus?
So come on smart cookie hog raiser business men.  Wake up and save your hogs from destruction.  This witch hunt by the international agencies will bury your business.  Save yourself.  Change your hog feeds.  Switch to the good old traditional feeds of 20 years ago or even older.  The back yard organic pigs are not in any fear or danger of getting sick, the households know better and feed them good food, they can forage out in the yards.
It’s only the second month of the year but several alarming outbreaks have been reported already across Asia. This looks like a very interesting but scary year.

author: Mong Palatino


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Africa: Winners of the First African Blog Award for Journalists Are… · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The winners of Waxal – Blogging Africa Awards (BAA) have been announced. Waxal is an initiative of Panos Institute of West Africa (PIWA) with the partnership of Highway Africa and Global Voices Online (Sub-Saharan Africa).
Waxal (pronounced WA-HAL), which means “speak” in Wolof, captures the essence of the evolution of the worlwide web as a platform for conversation and for raising marginalized voices. The first edition of the award recognizes the use of new media by professional journalists in Africa and by African media organizations working to promote the production of alternative information and citizen expression.
After reviewing the submitted blogs, members of the jury awarded four prizes corresponding to the three categories announced at the beginning of the contest and an additional special award of encouragement. The jury looked at blogs that illustrate good editorial line, quality of expression, interaction with users, originality, regular posts and a variety of format for content. 10 blogs have also attracted the attention of jury members.
The jury was made up of  Dr. Lilian Ndangam, Cameroonian Media Professor based in Canada, Joel Phiri, Filmmaker and Multi-media expert from Zimbabwe and  Fatou Jagne, Freedom of Expression and media expert. She is the Coordinator of Article 19 Africa. All jury members are bilingual.
And the winners are…
1. Best Journalist Blog (Francophone):
Cedric Kalonji from the Democratic Republic of Congo (he used to blog at www.congoblog.net blog). Cedric has been working for five years as a journalist for Radio Okapi:
I have been working for five years as a journalist for Radio Okapi (http://www.radiookapi.net) in Kinshasa. In 2005, I created a Blog on which I posted pictures and personal thoughts on ordinary daily life in Congo. More precisely, it all started in September 2005. At the time I was using a small digital camera that my mother had given me as a present. I posted my pictures and wrote captions to explain the content of the photos in more detail. (…) Very quickly I received comments and points of views from visitors, mainly from Congolese living abroad. At that time, there were very few pictures of Kinshasa on the Internet; this was a result of the 32 year-long dictatorship under Mobutu (…)I come from a country where most of the journalists are praising those in power, in order to receive protection and rewards. It is difficult, in that context, to be an independent journalist. You have to withstand strong criticisms and sometimes even threats. Thanks to the Internet, I can publish my articles without fearing the censorship that the ordinary newspapers are subject to. (…) My desire to share experiences of my daily life was driven by a deep need to express myself freely. Thanks to my Blog, I had the opportunity to develop a media of my own, and to talk freely on subjects that matter to me, without being censored. Nevertheless, I was and am very careful with my editorial line, and always take into account my own security.
He receives I million CFA Francs (about US$2,000).
2 – Best Journalist Blog (Anglophone):
Rosebell Kagumire, a journalist from Uganda. Rosebell works for the Independent newspaper. She blogs mostly about her job as a journalist:
I write mainly about my job as a journalist and also I comment on socio-political issues in Uganda and Africa mostly. I also write about opportunities that my colleagues can benefit from especially media related training. I write about conflict and the work I write in other media is always brought to feature on my blog. (…)Though very new my blog gives people my views about my life, my country and life generally (…)My interest in blogging is to express myself in sometimes ways that cannot be accepted in the media. I believe also it’s important for people and friend s to know my thought, principle and values which are all reflected in the different posts on my blog. I also think I can trigger discussion about many issues some of which I write about and others that are featured in the media for positive change. I get discussions going especially by posting my blog posts on facebook to share them with my colleagues. Through such discussion i get to know how the society views certain issues.
Rosebell receives 1 million CFA Francs (about US$ 2, 000).
3 – Best African Civil Society Organization’s Blog:
Lusaka Times, a news and discussion blog run by Zambians from around the world.
LT is an electronic news platform that allows all types of users to have an open discussion on the day to day current issues in Zambia. The idea that is powering Lusakatimes today was birthed in 1998 as a casual conversation between friends. In 1999, the idea was made manifest with the launch of Lusaka Information Dispatch. The project was funded by the Dutch IICD who provided seed capital for the equipment and operational costs for a limited duration. However, the operational model for Information Dispatch proved too difficult to sustain at the time. In 2002 Information Dispatch suspended its operation after key members quit the group. In January 2007, the site was re-launched under the new URL address called lusakatimes.com and a new operational model. Today Lusakatimes is run by a number of people distributed around the world, working in an open source type of structure, purely driven by hobby and ambition to provide Zambians around the world with current news content based on facts and not speculation. Our day to day news content comes from known Zambian sources like Zambia Daily-Mail, Times of Zambia, ZNBC and ZANIS. These are the giants whose shoulders we stand on. Our added value to the commodity called news is the speed with which we deliver it to our readers and the community, feeling and experience we have created around the news content on our website. Additionally, Lusakatimes also provides a platform for any Zambian who wants their article published, provided they take full ownership and responsibility of the content. The ability of our users to be able to read news and anonymously provide immediate feedback is something we have always highly valued from the Information Dispatch days.  Lusakatimes.com was ranked as the most visited website in Zambia under traffic listing on Alex.
Lusaka Times receives 2 millions CFA Francs (about US$ 4, 000).
4. Special Panos Institute West Africa Prize for West Africa:
Israel Yoroba Guebo from Côte d’Ivoire. Israel receives 500 000 CFA Francs (about US$ 1, 000).
Below are blogs that received congratulations from the jury:
Category 1: Best French-speaking journalist’s blog (Non-hierarchical classification):
Edouard Tamba from Cameroun
Ramata Sore from Burkina Faso
Basile Niane from Senegal
Category 2 – Best English-speaking journalist’s blog (Non-hierarchical classification):
Emmanuel Onyango from Tanzania
Conrad Dube from Zimbabwe
Khaya Dlanga from South Africa.
Category 3 – Best African Civil Society Organization’s Blog (Non-hierarchical classification):
Penplusbytes’ blog that covered 2008 elections in Ghana
REgul-Telco-Afrik from Senegal
20mai.net from Cameroon
Remastp News
Other blogs captured the attention of jury members individually, but were not unanimously selected for different reasons:
Remmy Nweke from Nigeria,
Martin Aihonnou from Benin
Nadine Kouamouo-Tchaptchet from Côte d’Ivoire
Vusi Gumede from South Africa
Khaya Dlanga from South Africa
Shashank Bengali from Kenya
The winners will receive their prizes at a special event in Dakar, Senegal on March 9th 2009.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Bahamas: The State of the Economy  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The Bahamian economy is very likely to crash, and hard. And soon”: Nicolette Bethel makes a prediction.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bangladesh: A Time Line of BDR Massacre · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shada Kalo compiles a Timeline of brutal killings of army officers and civilians (74 found dead 71 still missing) during the BDR Mutiny on 25th of February, 2009.

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: BDR killings as a part of evil design · Global Voices
Rezwan

Maskwaith Ahsan at E-Bangladesh calls the recent rebellion of Bangladesh paramilitary force BDR and the brutal massacre of more than 100 army officers as part of “sinister designs to portray Bangladesh as a ‘Failed State’“


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Barbados: Meet the Press  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the Prime Minister continues to make himself accessible to the media, Barbados Underground hopes to see “an improved performance” from the mainstream media, while pull! push! thinks that “the remarkable thing…is that he is also taking calls from the public, live/on-air. It sends a message. One that says that the PM is willing to hear what the people have to say.”


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Cambodian Public Opinion Survey  · Global Voices
Chhunny Chhean

A survey of Cambodian public opinion was conducted by the International Republican Institute from October-November 2008.  The survey involved face-to-face interviews carried out by the Center for Advanced Studies in Phnom Penh with a sample size of 2,000 Cambodians.  Respondents affiliated with certain institutions, such as media outlets or government agencies, were disqualified from the survey.
Socheata Vong posted key data from the survey:
Is the Country Moving in the Right/Wrong Direction?
* 82% of Cambodians see their country as moving in the right direction, mainly because of the infrastructure they see being built, including roads, schools, health clinics, pagodas etc.
* 17% see the country as moving in the wrong direction, citing the corruption, price of goods, and poverty as the greatest hindrance to their country’s future.
What three issues or concerns do you feel most impact Cambodia as a country?
* 59% of Cambodians said border issues and demarcation as the most concern followed by the prices of goods. (Compared to August 2007 poll, only 5% concerned about border issue – mainly Vietnamese border).
Which one of these has the stronger influence in your daily life?
* Village chief (41%), Prime Minister (28%), Commune Council (14%), National Assembly (5%)
CAAI News Media featured the Phnom Penh Post‘s coverage of the survey, which highlights the role of village chiefs.
[The survey] found that 85 percent of respondents wanted to elect their own village chief rather than having one imposed by the government.  And the survey showed why that was an important consideration: Two-fifths of respondents said the village chief was the most influential person in their lives.
From the same Phnom Penh Post article, Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said
many village chiefs across the country exerted a strong influence at the local level. [Virak's concern] was that this influence could endanger freedom of expression.  “I think that even though Cambodia is seen to be moving in the right direction, that doesn't mean that the government is doing well in all areas,” he said. “The influence of village chiefs means they can play a role as either a protector of human rights or an abuser of them.”

author: Chhunny Chhean


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China: More on Grass Mud Horse · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Digital Times has translated the Song of Grass Mud Horse, a big hit in the Internet, in early February. In brief, Grass Mud Horse （草泥馬） is said to be a legendary creature in China, but it is phonetically equivalent to “Fxxk Your Mother!” in Chinese. There are other similar vulgar terms circulating in the Internet (via DANWEI).
Grass Mud Horse crossing the red light
The song continues to raise more and more attention in the past two months and public intellectuals joined in the discussion. Beifeng summarized the Grass Mud Horse issue in his weekly online digest:
近来，有一个叫“草泥马”的网络新词，在没有任何迹象的状态下，横空出世，走红网络，甚至崔卫平等专家学者也在著文谈论“草泥马”，网上还出现了“ 草泥马”的玩具。“草泥马”的起源已不可考，被广为关注是因09年1月初一篇题为“百度10大神兽”的帖子及两则恶搞视频《马勒戈壁上的草泥马》、《草泥马之歌》的广泛流传，该词的出笼疑与网络“反低俗”运动有关。在网友的文本中，“草泥马”是生活在“马勒戈壁”上的一种动物，为了争夺食物“卧草”而与“ 河蟹”展开战争，最后打败了“河蟹”。网友“一点五”认为：“‘草泥马’作为中国网络史上第一个‘无厘头’网络新词，其实是网民心中情结的一次集体下意识沸腾，它发出的应该是这样一个明晰信号：今天的执政者在网民心中正在渐渐掉进‘塔西佗陷阱’。作为执政者，有权视而不见，有权视而无物，但作为网民，则会愈加相信‘河蟹从此消失草泥马戈壁’。”
Anti-smut and anti spiritual contamination
Cui's article, titled as “I am a Grass Mud Horse”, is very influential in the Internet and among the intellectual circle as he related the anti-Smut campaign with the “eradicating spiritual contamination campaign” in 1983, which also reminded intellectuals of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s:
这个“专项行动”对于知识分子有点隔膜，他们或许会想，至少这件事情与自己没有关系，怎么着也不会栽到这种事情上面。需要提醒的是，在许多方面，这件事情与1983年的“清除精神污染”有着非常相似之处。官方称，“截至2月10日，专项整治行动中已关闭严重违法违规网站1911家，关闭淫秽色情博客 269个。”官方并先后公布了四批涉及低俗网站名单，其中有新浪、搜狐、百度、腾讯、令人讶异的是“豆瓣”这样长期被认为是高品位的“小资网站”，也在被点名、需要严厉整治之列。
…有一位网友写道：“何曾几时，我希望豆瓣变成我们80后的思想阵地，表达出我们真正的思想主张，成为我们生活的一部分。”
However, many groups have been deleted in the anti-Smut campaign and it is obvious that they are neither “indecent” nor “vulgar” (via my global advocacy post).
Weapons of the weak
Anthropologist, Guo Yuhua, also joined in the discussion and used James Scott's “weapons of the weak” and “hidden transcript” to elaborate the meaning of “Grass Mud Horse” phenomena:
“恶搞”当然是无奈之举，是情绪的发泄，但它也是“弱者的武器”，是草根的表达方式。因为他们不是强势者，也不掌握“公开的文本”，对他们而言，公开的、正当的、自由的表达渠道是封闭的。他们只能使用“弱者的武器”，创造“隐藏的文本”。但不要小看了这类“草泥马”方式，这需要做出自主的选择：要么做沉默懦弱的羔羊，要么做“顽强勇敢”的“草泥马”。
至于这种表达的功效我们也不应过于悲观。斯科特的研究告诉我们：公开文本与隐藏文本的交界处是一个支配者与从属者持续争夺的地带——但并不是一堵结实的墙。通过“隐藏的文本”，从属阶级有可能创造并维持一个社会空间，而这一社会空间本身也是反抗所要达到的成就。缺少表达空间的“草泥马”，不能指望这一空间能自然而然地获得，也不能寄希望于被赐予。抗争的空间是在抗争过程中撑开的，表达的空间是在努力表达中获得的，过程本身至关重要。
最后我想说的是，关于“草泥马”，不要说它过于恶搞、低俗甚至下流，也不必觉得如崔卫平之一贯平和、克制、文雅之人也说这类谐音。这当中的逻辑其实很明白，正可谓：官不恶搞，民不恶搞；上不折腾，下不折腾；“河蟹”不低俗，“草泥马”不低俗是也。
Song of Grass Mud Horse
Below is one of the most popular version of the “Grass Mud Horse”, lyrics translated by China Digital Times:
There is a herd of Grass Mud Horses*
In the wild and beautiful Ma Le Desert**
They are lively and intelligent
they are fun-loving and nimble
They live freely in the Ma Le Desert
They are courageous, tenacious, and overcome the difficult environment
Oh lying down Grass Mud Horse
Oh running wild Grass Mud Horse
They defeated river crabs*** in order to protect their grass land
River crabs forever disappeared from Ma Le Desert

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a cadre · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief discusses the “eluding the cat” investigation arrangement in Yunnan from a P.R perspective. The blogger feels that it is a creative method by propaganda department: “On the Internet, nobody knows you're a cadre”.


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Costa Rica: R&B Singer Sasha Campbell to Open for U2 · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Costa Rican R&B singer Sasha Campbell is slated to open for the international rock band U2 on their latest world tour writes Roy Rojas of News Star [es],

author: Eduardo Avila


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Cuba: Changes in the Cabinet · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Cuban president Raúl Castro replaced many ministers in his cabinet and Bloggers Cuba [es] has a complete roundup of these changes.


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Cuba: Machisimo  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Havana-based Generation Y is “tired of macho wrapped in its olive green uniform” and longs “to switch to words like: prosperity, reconciliation, harmony, coexistence.”


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Descendants of Fiji’s first indentured servants · Global Voices
John Liebhardt

Fiji: The Way It Was, Is and Can Be chronicles the plight of the Kai Solomoni people, the descendants of Fiji’s first indentured servants who were kidnapped in the mid-1860s to work on European cotton and copra plantations.

author: John Liebhardt


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Ecuador: Interactive Tourism Map for Loja · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Sur Ecuador [es] writes about Loja Tour, an interactive tourism map created by a student at the International University of Ecuador at Loja.


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Grenada: Getting Involved  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I knew where this was going, you could see the extreme anger about to surface, like milk when it is about to boil over. I felt like I had to catch it before it was too late”: In Grenada, Free Spirit witnesses an episode of domestic violence and wonders if her actions did anything to change the outcome.


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Guinea-Bissau: President’s assassination sparks alarm at instability · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira was assassinated in the first hours of this morning, allegedly in an attack by renegade soldiers as he fled his home. The crime happened a few hours after his long term rival, the country's army chief General Batista Tagme, was killed by a bomb blast, late on Sunday. Although the reasons are still unknnon, the crimes have sparked alarm at instability in the young West African republic.
António Aly Silva [pt] has been following the news as it unfolds. In his latest post [pt], he brings the news that there will be 7 days of national mourning for the assassination of the president and two State funerals. He promises to publish exclusive pictures of the funerals tomorrow:
This piece of news has prompted Jorge Rosmaninho [pt], who had put a final stop on the Africanidades blog last year, to blog again. He publishes the picture below and wonders:
Quem mataria quem, primeiro? Afinal morreram os dois.
Who would have kilked who first? After all, both have died.
Reporter Luis Castro [pt] provides some background info on the relationship between both men:
Conheço muito bem a realidade da Guiné-Bissau e os seus jogos de poder. Acompanhei a guerra civil de 1998/1999, eleições, golpes de Estado, estive preso, fui interrogado de arma apontada à cabeça, fui sentenciado de morte e tive de fugir resgatado pelos fuzileiros portugueses. O que aconteceu ontem e hoje não foi novidade para mim. De resto, há muito que o esperava. O confronto entre o Presidente Nino Vieira e o chefe de Estado maior, não é de agora. Recordo que Tagma Na Waie era infértil devido aos choques eléctricos a que foi sujeito nos testículos (disse-me em entrevista ) pelos homens de Nino e combateu-o ferozmente durante a guerra. Mais tarde, apesar de o ter ajudado a regressar à Guiné e ao poder, Tagma voltou a afastar-se de Nino. Tudo se agravou ainda mais quando o Presidente tentou que o programa do governo de Carlos Gomes Júnior fosse chumbado. O chefe de Estado maior pôs-se ao lado do PM, dizendo que o governo fora eleito e, como tal, deveria governar. Era previsível que um deles iria morrer. Era Nino ou Tgama. Morerarm os dois.
Solidarity
Lusophone bloggers, also from former Portuguese colonies, have lamented the incident and sent messages of solidarity to the people of Guinea-Bissau:  From Cape Verde, João Dono [pt] says:
Espero que, a semelhança do que aconteceu em Angola, a paz passa a reinar em na Guiné-Bissau.  O homem com história de Nino Vieira só poderia ter este fim. Ele escolheu este caminho, um caminho que muito fez sofrer os nossos irmãos. Vamos acompanhar as horas e os minutos de angústia na Guiné-Bissau.
I hope that, like in Angola, peace will reign in Guinea-Bissau. A man with a history like Nino Vieira could only end like this. He has chosen this path, a path that has brought much suffering to our brothers. We will monitor the hours and minutes of trouble in Guinea Bissau.
Also from Cape Verde, Cesar Schofield Cardoso [pt] says:
Passando à revista às minhas tropas dei por falta de…tolerância na Guiné-Bissau. Os demónios voltam a ensombrar este país, irmão de armas, que ainda não aprendeu a largar as armas. Terão matado Nino Vieira, em retalhação ao assassinato do Chefe do Estado Maior. Tempo de ódio na Guiné.
Inspecting my troops I noticed that… tolerance in Guinea Bissau is missing. The demons have again overshadowed this country, our brother in arms, which has not yet learned to drop the weapons. They have killed Vieira in retaliation for the assassination of the army chief. Time of hate in Guinea.
From Mozambique, Manuel de Araújo [pt] says:
Muitas razoes para ajudarmos Guine-Bissau a encontrar o caminho da paz e da reconciliacao nacional. Onde andam os nossos pacificadores mor? Onde anda a CPLP? Onde anda a Uniao Africana?  (…) Nao podem ajudar os nossos irmaos a respirar o ar puro da reconciliacao nacional?
There are many reasons for us to help Guinea-Bissau find its  path to peace and national reconciliation. Where are our leading peacemakers? Where is the [Community of Portuguese Language Countries] CPLP? Where is the African Union? (…) Can they not help our brothers to breathe the pure air of national reconciliation?
From Angola, Eugénio Costa Almeida [pt] says:
Que a morte dos supostos arqui-inimigos sirva para a Sociedade Bissau-guineense criar uma Comissão de Verdade e Reconciliação e afastem dos espíritos as vinganças e façam da Guiné-Bissau um País enorme e próspero.
Hopefuly the death of the supposed arch-enemies will help the people of Guinea-Bissau to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that will put an end to the spirit of revenge and make Guinea-Bissau a huge and prosperous country.
Guinea-Bissau has a population of 1.6 million people and since independence in 1974 the country has endured years of instability, and more recently the country has emerged as a route for smuggling cocaine from Latin American to Europe.

author: Paula Góes


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Haiti: Carnival or Nothing! · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

The succession of disasters in Haiti in 2008 like the hurricanes Ike, Hannah and Gustav and the tragic collapse of a primary school in November, in Pétionville, has probably made the celebration of Carnival even more relevant and necessary in Haiti this year.
From as early as January 4th, blogger Darlie started her countdown to the official launch of Carnival – a date confirmed by Haitian blogger Elsie,  who posts a message received from Espace Loas Centre d'Art Haitien explaining the religious origins of Carnival [Fr]:
[…] La saison dite de carnaval se déroule suivant le calendrier catholique du jour des rois et a donc commencé le Dimanche après l'Epiphanie (4 Janvier) pour atteindre sa culmination le 24 février, dernier jour des “ trois jours gras ”.
What truly explains the importance of Carnival in Haiti is the fact that this tradition is very deeply anchored in the Haitian popular culture. Here are opinions about this analysis shared both in Elsie's [Fr]:
Le Carnaval ou « mardi-gras » demeure l'une des grandes manifestations socioculturelles du peuple haïtien.
and Darlie's posts [Fr] :
C'est devenu au fil du temps, la plus grande manifestation culturelle haïtienne où l'on voit des millions de gens de tout âge, de toute culture, de tout horizon…
According to Elsie's post, Carnival has another function – it would be scheduled despite social, economic or political difficulties [Fr]:
[…] Comme a dit un ancien maire de Port-au-Prince, dans la société haïtienne, cette festivité n'est pas négociable.
[…] Tacitement, il y a une trêve politique; les problèmes sociaux passent au second plan pour laisser place au défoulement indispensable.
However, Darlie tackles another aspect of Carnival which makes it a huge marketing and advertising support for companies [Fr]:
C'est un atout majeur pour les commerçants et fabricants de faire connaître leurs produits en investissant fort dans la publicité.
Julie blogs about her experience of Carnival in Haiti and shows this picture with her comment [Fr]:
J'aurais pû faire un zoom sur les magnifiques costumes mais il aurait été dommage de vous priver de la grosse campagne de promo des compagnies américaines qui importent le riz en Haiti, anéantissant la production rizicole nationale.
On her blog, she posts pictures of Carnival – not only from Port-au-Prince, but also the wonderful Carnival of Jacmel, with its masks, its monsters or animals.
Though Darlie condemns some violence in the parades and deplores casualties, she regrets that Haitian Carnival is not be more popular abroad and repeats how much she enjoys it [Fr].

author: Fabienne Flessel


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Haiti: Remembering the Coup · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In the early morning hours of Feb. 29, 2004, U.S. Special Forces took Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife Mildred from their home…the U.S. troops then flew Aristide into exile in Africa, where he remains to this day, five years later”: Blogger Wadner Pierre draws attention to worldwide events that took place to mark the fifth anniversary of the Haitian coup.


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Kazakhstan: Lomography in Almaty · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Ehot posts a collection of photography, taken by legendary Lomo camera, which gave name to the whole trend in photo art called lomography.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: Banking news update · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Adam posts some news from the banking sector of Kazakhstan, reviewing development among the international banks’ subsidiaries in the country.


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Kenya: Evidence of Police Death Squads · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Bernard Kiirinya was a former driver with the Special Crimes Unit of the Kenya Police. He came forward with evidence of extra-judicial killings to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission,” writes Kenyan Pundit.


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Korea: First dating, how to read your partner within 10 minutes. · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

How can you find a perfect man for yourself as soon as possible? I discovered that a blogger shares some interesting psychological analyses of how you can read personalities and characteristics of a man you’re dating, and find a man who is suitable for your personality.
남자를 꼭 몇개월씩 사귀어야 그 사람의 됨됨이를 알 수 있는 건 아니다. 단 10분 만으로도그 사람의 인성을 어느 정도 파악할 수 있다.
좋아하는 운동은 뭔가?
– 달리기나 수영 같은 혼자 하는 운동을 좋아하는 남자들은 독립적이고 혼자 있는 시간을 즐기는 타입.
– 축구, 농구, 야구 같은 팀 스포트를 즐기는 남자들은 경쟁적이면서도 사람들과 어울리길 좋아하는 타입
– 운동을 거의 하지 않는 남자들은 독립적이고 감성적인, 생각이 깊은 타입일 가능성이 높다.
What is your favorite sport?
-A man who likes running and swimming, which can be done alone, is independent and enjoys his time alone.
-A man who likes team-sports, such as soccer, basketball, and baseball, is competitive and likes to get along with people.
-A man who barely plays sports is possibly independent, sensitive, and a deep-thinker.
얼마나 오래 친구를 사귀는가?
– 10년 이상된 친구들과 친하다: 유대 관계가 깊고 진득한 타입. 그러나 변화를 싫어하는 성격일수도 있으니 주의가 필요. 게다가 신뢰를 얻고 마음을 열게 하기까지 오랜 시간이 걸릴 수도 있음.
– 아무하고나 잘 친해진다: 새로운 환경에 쉽게 적응하는 타입
나쁜 버릇엔 뭐가 있는가?
– 도박을 좋아한다: 위험을 쉽게 감수하는 타입. 주변을 즐겁게 해주는 경우가 많으나 지나치게 낙관적이고 현실을 직시하지 못하는 경우가 많다.
– 흡연량이 많다: 초조해하고 걱정이 많을 수 있다.
– 술을 많이 마신다: 자주 불안해하는 성격일 가능성이 많다.
의사소통 스타일은?
– 전화보다는 메일을 많이 쓴다: 쉽게 마음을 열지 않는 성격이 가능성 높음. 이메일은 자신의 생각을 여러번 고쳐 보낼 수 있기 때문에 자신의 솔직한 감정을 감추기 쉽다.
– 메신저를 많이 쓴다: 지속적인 관심을 바라는 편, 관심이 없으면 초조해 하는 편.
-전화를 많이 한다: 여자와의 친밀함을 두려워 하지 않는 전형적인 적극적 남성상.
여자가 무슨 옷을 입는 것을 좋아하는가?
– 아무렇게나 입는 걸 좋아함: 현실적이고 편안한 타입의 남자
– 비싼 브랜드 옷 입는 걸 좋아함: 특권 의식이 있는, 돈(부)에 관심이 많은 남자. 현재 돈이 많은 사람일지 몰라도 나중에 돈에 너무 많은 가치를 두는 남자일수도 있음
– 야한 옷 입는 걸 좋아함: 자존감이 강한 남자. 남들로부터 부러움을 사는 것을 즐기는 편이다.
운전하는 버릇은?
– 차선을 자주 옮기고 앞 차에 바짝 따라붙으며 다른 운전자를 노려봄: 감정을 통제하는데 문제가 있는 남자일 수 있음.
– 막힐 때도 편안하고 느긋하게 운전함: 원래 느긋한 성격이거나 감정 통제가 잘 되는 남자
좋아하는 TV 프로그램은?
– 시트콤, 연예 프로그램을 잘 봄: 스트레스나 화를 잘 푸는 편일 가능성이 높음. 그러나 진지한 대화가 어려운 상대일 수 있음. 중요한 이야기를 할때 남자가 요점에서 잘 벗어날 수 있으며 이 때문에 여자가 좌절감을 겪을 수 있다.
– CSI 같은 지적인 프로그램을 좋아함: 분석적이고 생각이 깊은 편. 문제가 생겼을 때 해결하려는 능력이 강할 수 있다.
형제 관계는?
– 첫째: 책임감이 강하고 뭔가 맡아서 해보려는 성향이 강하다.
– 막내: 창의적이고 모험심이 강한 편.
– 중간: 많은 관심이 필요한 예민 성격일 가능성 높음.
외모에 얼마나 신경을 쓰는가?
– 거울을 자주 보고 헤어 스타일에 신경을 많이 씀: 성공에 대한 잠재적 욕구가 강한 편.
– 외모에 거의 신경 안 씀: 피상적이지 않은 편. 외면보다 내면을 더 중시하는 편.
같이 있을 때 시선은?
– 대화할 때 시선을 잘 마주치지 않음: 매우 수줍은 성격이거나 믿음직하지 못한 성격.
– 똑바로 마주 봄: 친하려고 애쓰는 편이라 볼 수 있다.
– 눈에 감정이 담김: 여자를 굉장히 좋아하는 상태
말하는 스타일
– 말이 무척 많다: 에너지가 넘치는 열정적인 사람. 하지만 매우 자기중심적인 사람일 수도 있음.
– 말수가 적고 천천히 말함: 신중하거나 차분한 성격.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kyrgyzstan: Photo-roundup with not a word about politics · Global Voices
Elena Skochilo

A winter time is ending, and Kyrgyzstan is waiting for the hot spring: the rallies, protest actions and so on. But let's talk about beauty, not about the endless politic. What was the photowinter in Kyrgyzstan?
Livejournal user doctormoro posted the unique photos of the famous Kyrgyz actor Suymenkul Chokmorov. The story of these images is unique also. There is a fan of the old film cameras at Diesel Internet forum. Once some woman gave him a bunch of the old films. He scanned them and found out the unique shots from the screen test of the movie “The Scarlett Poppies of the Issyk-Kul” and shots from the filming of that movie. That man kindly provided the shots to doctormoro and he published them in his blog.
See more unique shots in his blog [ru]. Livejournal user Azamat Imanaliev aka azzzik wrote another part of very interesting notes about his trip to the USA in 2007 year with a lot of nice photos. Read the travel notes of azzzik and realize how the usual Kyrygzstany interpret the USA!
Read and see photos in Azzzik's blog [ru]. Do you know that a lot of Kyrgyzstanis like playing hockey? Do you know that recently there has been the hockey championship in Kyrgyzstan? No? So look, receive evidence and delight! Thanks to azzzik who has visited that championship and made a lot of photos.
See more action hockey images here  [ru].Livejournal user _jpeg visited the snowboard competition in Kazakhstan. She was disappointed with the results of the Kyrgyz snowboarders, but she also brought nice shots in spite of a heavy fog.
Enjoy the last snow shots at Flickr!As livejournal user nuraika said [ru]:
February gave us a cheery wave and sent the last snow kiss. A bit sad that we won't see the snow soon…
Goodbye, blogowinter! The colored and action blogospring is coming to the restless Kyrgyzstan!

author: Elena Skochilo


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Nigeria: There are no homosexuals in Nigeria · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Madueke, there are no homosexuals in Nigeria.


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Russia: Kadyrov approves honour killings in Chechnya · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

A Step At A Time reports on a Moscow Times story that Kadyrov has approved of a number of honour killings in Chechnya.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Russia on the move against Ukraine? · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Windows to Russia believes that Moscow might again be moving in on an increasingly financially default Ukraine for the country not paying its gas bills to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom.


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Russia-Sweden: Wallenberg case as family tragedy · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

LaurenceJarvikOnline comments on a Wall Street Journal story on how the family of Swedish World War II diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, suffered from the uncertainty of his destiny in soviet captivity.


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Russia, Ukraine: History and Denial · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul Goble of Window on Eurasia reported on Feb. 24 that Russia’s emergency situations minister Sergei Shoigu said the Russian parliament should “make the denial of the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II a crime in order to ensure that ‘the presidents of certain countries who deny this won’t be able to visit our country without punishment’.”
Goble wrote:
[…] Shoigu’s idea appears to be modeled on laws in more than a dozen countries which make the denial of the Holocaust a crime and reflects at least in part a Russian response to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s proposal to make the public denial of the terror famine in Ukraine a crime there. […]
A day later, according to James of Robert Amsterdam's Blog, it was Russia's prosecutor general Yuri Chaika who was talking of declaring “denial of the Soviet people's ‘achievements’ in the victory in the Great Patriotic War a criminal offense”:
[…] Russia wants a Holocaust denial law, “just like the other kids”. But it doesn't really want that, so it's had to come up with a surrogate. Let's see… The Holocaust is treated with great solemnity as a horrible human tragedy that happened, as the Russians say, “during the time of the Second world war”. What have the Russians got that's similar? Yes! The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Most of our readers are probably aware that while the rest of Europe was busy fighting World War II “during the time of the Second world war”, the Soviet Union was engaged in a separate war of its own against Germano-fascist invaders. And the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) is absolutely sacred in all of the former Soviet Union. So, it fits the bill perfectly: solemn, horrible human tragedy, right time in history – but uniquely Russian, unlike the Holocaust. […]
Also on Feb. 25, there appeared a news item about a statement made by the head of Russia’s Federal Archives Agency on “the famine in the USSR.” Window on Eurasia wrote:
[…] Yesterday, Vladimir Kozlov, the head of Russia’s Federal Archives Agency, told a Moscow press conference that the famine in Ukraine and elsewhere in the USSR was “the result of [Stalin’s] criminal policy” but that “of course, no one planned any famine” or singled out any ethnic group as its victim (rian.ru/society/20090225/163170651.html).
Instead, he said, “the famine was the result of the errors and miscalculations of the political course of the leadership of the country in the course of the realization of collectivization.” And he insisted that he and his researchers had not found “a single document” showing that Stalin planned “a terror famine” in Ukraine.
Instead, Kozlov said, “absolutely all documents testify that the chief enemy of Soviet power at that time was an enemy defined not on the basis of ethnicity but on the basis of class,” in this case the peasantry which Stalin wanted to force to join collective farms throughout whatever means he could.
Kozlov’s comments came as he presented a new collective of documents, entitled “The Famine in the USSR,” and a DVD which contained a selection of those documents and others, which he said will total some 6,000 items, to be published in three volumes that are to be published this year.
The Russian archivist and others in Moscow said they were convinced of two things, first, that these documents undercut all Ukrainian claims to the contrary and, second, that the evidence these documents provide about the much broader but class rather than ethnic based crimes of the Soviet regime are not a problem for the contemporary regime. […]
Streetwise Professor posted this comment on his blog:
[…] I’m sure all of the millions who starved, or were shot, or were brutalized, would feel so much better to know that they were not singled out for their ethnicity, but instead for their class.  Or to learn that they died because of “errors and miscalculations.”  Whoops!  Uncle Joe’s bad!  No hard feelings!  I guess it could have been worse: head archivist Kozlov could have said that the leadership just became “dizzy with success,” thereby committing mistakes that led to the deaths of millions.  Or he could have said “well, to make an omelette you need to break some eggs.”
Several comments.
First, why is it so hard for modern Russians, who bear no personal responsibility for the deaths of millions in the early-1930s, to pay some deference to Ukrainian (and, Cossack and Kazakh) pain and sensitivities?  The steadfast rationalization, minimization, and deprecation of the calamity is widespread among Russians, suggesting that they feel they would incur a substantial psychological cost to acknowledge the exceptional suffering inflicted on Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Cossack/Tatar regions.  Why?  What does this say?  I don’t know exactly, but it can’t be good.
[…]
The obvious official desire of the modern Russian government to absolve the Soviet Union, and Stalin, of any culpability for genocide speaks volumes about that government, and about the popular attitudes which give that government broad support in these efforts.  The lengths to which the Russian government, and too many individual Russians go to defend the indefensible suggests that proprietary, possessive, and imperial attitudes towards Ukraine run strong and deep in Russia today.  That does not bode well for a peaceful reconciliation in the years to come.
Finally, on Feb. 28, according to Window on Eurasia, Russia's Yabloko Party called “for making the denial of Soviet crimes against the people a criminal offense as part of a broader effort to help Russians overcome the communist past and build a political and economic system capable of sustaining itself in the 21st century”:
[…] Beyond any question, yesterday’s YABLOKO statement represents a liberal response to the proposal by Sergey Shoigu on February 24th to make those who deny the Soviet victory over Hitler in World War II, something he would extend to those, especially in Eastern Europe, who say that Stalin simply imposed one form of totalitarianism in place of another.
But it would be a mistake to treat this statement as only that. In fact, it represents a broader effort, albeit one with few immediate chances for success, to escape the Soviet past by denouncing its crimes rather than opening the way to its restoration — as some like Vladimir Putin have done — by celebrating its achievements regardless of how they were obtained.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Save the Children  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As two children perish in a fire in St. Vincent – allegedly due to a negligent mother – Abeni says: “They say it takes a village to raise a child but obviously the village and state failed as well.”


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Ukraine on the verge of state bankruptcy · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

GUS-News claims [GER] that Ukraine is on the verge of state bankruptcy and has the statistics to show why.


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14 People who shaped Taiwan’s Internet · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Mr. Friday picked up 14 names who he think are among the most influencial in Taiwan's Internet history.(zh)

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Armenia: First Anniversary of Bloody Post-Election Clash  · Global Voices
Simon Maghakyan

Thousands took to the streets of Yerevan on Sunday to remember last year’s post-election unrest in Armenia which left eight civilians and two policemen dead. With some opposition activists still behind bars, Armenia’s government is widely accused of doing little to investigate the clashes properly.
An A1Plus video of the start of the March 1, 2009 commemoration-protest
Unzipped, a moderate pro-opposition blogger, remembers the events of last year.
1 year on… We have yet to hear from the Armenian authorities a simple “Sorry” and “My condolences” for all 10 people who died on 1 March 2008…
[…]
Ditord was concerned a few weeks ago that the commemoration might not be so peaceful.
[…] [L]ooks like we’re in for an unsanctioned rally on March 1.  Let’s hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst…
Fortunately, as Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor wrote on the Frontline Club blog, the day ended peacefully.
[…] security was high with reports of some roads into the capital being blocked by police and busloads of riot police parked close to the presidential palace. Water cannon trucks were also to be seen close to the Yerevan opera although police were not decked out in riot gear at the Matenadaran itself.
[…]
With the exception of one brief moment of tension when a crack squad of special police forces intervened in some incident during the march, the day passed without incident. […]
The blog of A1Plus [AM], a banned pro-opposition TV station, agrees and offers its own observation.
[…] ըստ ընդհանուր պատկերի, առանձնահատուկ զսպվածությամբ էին գործում ինչպես հանրահավաքի մասնակիցները, այնպես էլ ոստիկանության աշխատակիցները:
But Mark Grigorian [Ru], an Armenian journalist in exile, reminds his readers that many questions remain unanswered.
– Насколько конституционным было объявление чрезвычайного положения?
– Использовалась ли армия против демонстрантов (использование армии внутри страны противоречит Конституции)?
– Кто приказал стрелять?
– Кто стрелял?
– Кто убил?
– Какова степень личной ответственности разных людей из обоих лагерей в случившемся и, в первую очередь, в гибели людей.
– Какова степень институтциональной ответственности властей и оппозиции в случившемся?
- Were army forces [in addition to riot police] used against demonstrators (is it constitutional for army to go against its citizens)?
- Who ordered to shoot?
- Who shot?
- Who killed?
- What [was the] degree of a private responsibility of different people from both camps in what happened and, especially, in the destruction of people?
- What degree of institutional responsibility did the authorities and the opposition have in what happened?
Later in the day, Unzipped made a second post on the 1 March 2008 violence:
Despite unprecedented tragic consequences, restrictions of civil liberties, political prisoners, the movement had resulted in some important positive developments. It was an awakening for the society in hibernation for more than a decade. Number of genuine, albeit small, civil groups and initiatives were developed, particularly among youth, aimed at democratisation of our society.
For me, one of the main positive outcomes of the movement was the fact that Armenian government, authorities, started paying more attention to public opinion. […]

author: Simon Maghakyan


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Australian film on Lebanese gangs talk of the town · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

An Australian film depicting Lebanese gang life in Sydney's western suburbs has sparked more than a series of reviews.
The film, “The Combination“, was pulled from several cinemas in Sydney after brawls broke out, following the screenings.
“The Combination” was eventually re-scheduled, however extra security was added to keep the troublemakers at bay.
Written by and starring Lebanese-Australian actor George Basha, the gangster flick is set in the 2005 Cronulla race riots which saw white supremacist gangs pitted against Australians of Lebanese/Middle Eastern appearance.
The aim of the movie is to portray the real life and pressures facing the Lebanese in Sydney's west. Australians of Lebanese descent number roughly 400,000, a large proportion of whom reside in Sydney's western suburbs.
The controversial film has been the talk of the town, receiving wide media attention.
Australian film critic/blogger, Marc Fennell, gave his thoughts on the film:
Australian Lebanese gangster flick The Combination is special – it’s hooked into the zeitgeist and hit upon something very current and now. Above all things however, it’s marketed itself freakishly well. So far The Combination has been raking in the news coverage left, right and centre. It’s been generating heated comment, um, also from the left, right and centre and it’s even been accused of starting riots.
And all this for a movie that is actually not very good.
Okay, that’s not entirely fair. Lemme explain. The Combination takes place against the backdrop of the Cronulla Riots. It’s the tale of a Lebanese man (George Basha, also the writer) in Western Sydney who gets back from jail only to discover that his younger brother is shooting down the path that lead him to the big house. (Australian History X??). Meanwhile Basha falls in love with a white girl with racist parents and – judging by her acting ability – a penchant for horse tranquilizers.
I give this movie a serious A+ for ambition. And I mean that quite genuinely. I also LOVE the fact that we finally have a film about Western Sydney that focuses on the non-anglo character.
There are also some elements within this movie that just pop. The way it captures of Lebanese culture – the dancing, the food, the family – is brilliant. The movie just springs to life when these moments come along. And there are a couple of standout performances.
At the end of the day, I think it’s important that The Combination was attempted. It deals with issues that are relevant and important to our time and country – and over time, I suspect that it’ll become an important social document of Australia. I also think that the positive elements in this film are a pretty strong indication that George Basha and Director David Field have got some serious talent. I’d love to see what they come back with next, but for now The Combination only gets 2/5 from me.
Scott Henderson, on his blog Dark Habits, offers a similar review, with a focus on the issues “The Combination” seeks to explore:
It is through Sydney that audience experiences much of the cultural beauty within the Lebanese community, the food, the generosity, dancing in restaurants. Of course it is also through Sydney, and more specifically Sydney’s parents, that we experience some of the social observations about prejudice and xenophobia The Combination contends with. The long and short of the film's non-too subtle remarks being white people assume dark people are Muslims (which is like double points prejudice), Lebanese-Australians are Australians too, older generations don’t help matter by thinking the two should mix in affairs of the heart (“It’s not racist, that’s just the way it is”) and racism is, you know, bad.
Violence proliferates The Combination and the film makes explicit mention of the 2005 Cronulla Riots here in Sydney, during which the action takes place as a background to reference rather than a driving force in the narrative. Fights in school, street stabbings over video games and the tentacles of gang violence in general reach deep into the live's of the main protagonists. These actions (and involvement with drug dealers) are not without their repercussions as some boys go to jail and some to the morgue – violence is not the answer is the resolute message from screenwriter George Basha and director David Field. That is until it is necessary for a narrative exclamation mark of course.
In respect of this central meme of The Combination the film sacrifices much of effort to show the consequences of violence in favour of an act of vigilante justice which says it's okay when someone who deserves much worse instead just gets beaten senseless and humiliated in front of more upstanding members of the community. It is a moment that muddies the message and one showed a lack of courage or thought to go the whole way and complete the circle of violence leaving an ambiguity to the film's ending. Instead The Combination settles for the easy way out, a macho one audiences can really cheer for.
An Australian Muslim blogger, Nurisha Ali at Brisbane Qalam, is impressed by the film's risk-taking:
It’s encouraging to see that individuals are ready to go all out just to make themselves noticed and willing to take the risks. I hope to this movie is available overseas so that everyone else will appreciate the unseen and unheard talents from Australia.
And from a Lebanese in the Middle East, Jad Aoun is not surprised to hear of the brawls at the film's screening:
I guess when you don’t get your way, you resort to violence to protect your dignity and rights. There’s no place like home!

author: Antoun Issa


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Azerbaijan: Od Çərşənbəsi · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Sheki, Azerbaijan informs its readers of Od Çərşənbəsi, a traditional observance that will eventually usher in the fire holiday of Newroz.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahrain: Traditional Children’s Games · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Shirley Dockerill, who is married to a Bahraini and blogs at White Girl, Arab World, writes about some of the games her husband remembers playing as a child.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Bahrain: Unimpressed by Speedy the Desert Racer · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bahraini blogger The Dude complains that the mascot chosen for the Bahrain International Circuit, host of Formula One races, is an embarrassment: “If this is the height of creativity in our Kingdom then Bahrain is in serious trouble.”


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Barbados: Proper Systems  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the Barbados Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition admit “not knowing that the CLICO statutory fund was in deficit”, Barbados Underground says: “It is incomprehensible that a more efficient framework does not exist that would facilitate the timely flow of urgent information between the cabinet and the office of Supervisor of Insurance.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Belarus: ARCHE · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Andrei Khrapavitski writes about the Belarusian KGB's treatment of ARCHE, “a Belarusian intellectual journal,” whose latest issue was ruled to contain “extremist materials” by a court: “The Belarusian government fears the rise of the new elites. ARCHE authors are mostly educated abroad, sophisticated experts in different fields ready to challenge the dogmas of the Belarusian ideology. ARCHE has become an unparalleled intellectual playground for the Belarusian independent thought, a safe haven for controversy, discussion of topics ranging from public policy to religion, from Belarusian history to geopolitics. ARCHE also remains the only regular intellectual periodical in the Belarusian language.”


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Belarus: Essay on Nepotism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Adam Goodman posts essays on nepotism and “reliable partners” in Belarus, written by one of his Belarusian students.


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Bird Flu in Laos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Lao veterinary authorities have sent a report to the World Organisation for Animal Health about a bird flu outbreak in the northern part of the country. The virus has affected more than 3,000 village poultry.

author: Mong Palatino


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Bulgaria: Fountain Death Case Sentence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Veni Markovski writes about the sentencing of a man in the dysfunctional Sofia fountain death case: “On May 3, 2005, 34-year old Vesselin Petrov died, when he touched the water in the fountain on Slaveikov square in Sofia. The investigation proved that when the fountain was designed, there were serious glitches, resulting in leaking electricity (220 Volts) in the water. The sentences? Vassil Kamenov, CEO of the company managing the fountain, was found guilty, and… fined (sic!) Leva 1000 (Euro 500 – that is, five hundred). The other two accused – municipality company “Markets” and CEO of the company that build the fountain, were acquitted.”


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Chile: New Chess National Champion Hails from Maule · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Maulee.cl [es] writes that Hugo López Silva is the new Chilean national champion in chess and hails from Osorno in the Maule region.


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China: RMB for Children · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chris from ChinaSMACK translated a news story and netizens comments on toy bank and pirated RMB for children in Shanxi, China.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Societal Breakdown · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xujun Eberlein translated a well-known sociologist, Sun Liping's article on crisis in China. Sun argued that the greatest crisis is not social unrest but societal breakdown. Translation part I and part II.


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Colombia: Medellin tastes fear again · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

gun by http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattborowick/
A few days ago we wrote about the return of curfews and restrictions  on male passengers on motorcycles, both created by the government to ensure security in the city, but now, the ones spreading fear are unknown authors of leaflets and fliers sent under doors and passed hand to hand which state that no one is allowed after 9 or 10 pm at night in the streets of certain areas of the city, in an effort to cleanse it of unwanted denizens.
All this has surfaced through Twitter,  on different blogs and in the comment thread of Juan David Escobar's blog post Welcome, Once Again, to the City of Fear, which we mentioned last week.  On the comments, Programator writes:
por la casa de una amiga pusieron lo siguiente: “Acueste a sus hijos o nosotros los acostamos”, toque de queda, 10.00pm, Robledo Kennedy. Es absurdo cómo el tiempo no parece pasar, y volvemos a lo mismo, lo mismo de siempre, inseguridad y peligro en las calles. Por mi casa pasan policias cada rato persiguiendo traquetos en motos, una vez tuve que esconderme en casa de unos vecinos cuando venia del trabajo, porque “Por ahí están, venga, venga mientras pasa todo y se queda aquí”. Y esas palabras asustan, bastante. Y más si las cosas pasan cerca a tu casa.
Solo para mujeres writes in her blog a conversation that is probably taking place throughout the city:
*Mira pues, a mi casa llego una hoja que dice, que dizque no se puede estar en la calle después de las nueve de la noche porque no responden por su vida.
-¡¡¡Hay que susto!!!… pero yo había escuchado que era que no se podía andar en  moto.
*No, no mija es que esa la puso Salazar y la que yo digo no se sabe quien, como aquí hay tanto quien prohíba.
-My! That is scary!!! but I had heard that the restriction was that no motorcycles were allowed.
*No, no dear, that one Salazar established and the one I'm saying no one knows, since there are so many people here prohibiting things.
The authorities have played down the importance of these threats, according to newspaper El Mundo [es], stating that these groups aim to scare and that what is going on is a turf war. They hope that the extra police forces that are coming to Medellín for the Assembly of the Inter- American Development Bank at the end of the current month will help to defuse the situation.
Regarding the IDB's meeting, El Inspector writes about how there is an urge to present an advanced, organized and peaceful city to the members of the Development Bank:
Tenemos la responsabilidad de presentarles una excelente imagen a los ilustres visitantes, para el bien de Colombia. Pero es más grande la obligación con los medellinenses y paisas en general, de asumir con pantalones que hay una creciente sensación de inseguridad y derramamiento de sangre.
No hay que maquillar cifras de criminalidad y eludir el debate sobre la seguridad. Bienvenidos los del BID, pero también bienvenida la sinceridad.
There is no need to disguise the criminality rates and avoid the debate on security. Welcome, IDB guests, but also welcome honesty.
On LaFm radio, fliers sent in the downtown area of the city were mentioned, with the same result, authorities keep insisting that people shouldn't worry. Out on the streets, the story is quite different.
Angelfire posts on twitter:
Tengo muchisimas ganas de una cerveza hoy, pero pongo un pie en la calle y me dejan como un colador a punta de bala <_> :(
Other tweets state that flyers have been delivered, and that there are 20 dead in 15 days, and that he even witnessed a shooting this morning, with bullets ricocheting off a balcony.
So why is this taking place? The Popular Training Institute has a hypothesis after many years working with marginal communities:
“Mientras existió un “patrón” en la ciudad, alguien con quien negociar, la criminalidad disminuyó, pero ahora que no lo hay, sube. El dilema está en si se negocia con un nuevo actor hegemónico o se fortalece la justicia para combatir la delincuencia”, afirmó Balbín.
On twitter, Medellinites have different perspectives: some believe that paying attention to these threats is to empower the criminals and fall prey to terror, others believe that this is just a small hurdle and the government will deal with it and it won't be able to undo 10 years of peace-building, and others, with a much darker streak, believe that this is part of the cleansing process to beautify the city for the IDB visitors, mentioning rumors on the mayors’ connections with paramilitary groups.
So what can the population do? There is already talk of getting together information and reports, and geo-locating them on a map, so people can see which areas are under threat, how many different types of letters are going around, and where violent incidents have taken place.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Colombia: More on the Illegal Wire Tappings · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

Last week, the illegal wire tapping scandal uncovered by Semana news magazine was the main headline in most news outlets and the talk of the day on some blogs in Colombia. On Thursday, February 26, President Álvaro Uribe announced that the Administrative Security Department (DAS, for its initials in Spanish) was no longer allowed to wire tap any suspect, and that “in addition to a court order, it must be done with the National Police and, exceptionally, with another institution of our Security Forces.”
At Censura 2.0 [es], Jkrincon tells President Uribe he is “afraid” and raises some questions on the issue:
With sarcasm, @juglardelzipa comments [es] Uribe's decision on Twitter:
«intercepciones legales serán hechas por la policía» http://rurl.org/1dzn las ilegales las seguirá haciendo el das.
Sentido Común [es] claims to have some answers [es], after updating his post on the issue on Sunday:
Con este enroque corto, Uribe pretende tres objetivos:
In a comment on this post, Lanark pokes fun [es] at the “conspirators”:
No sé si alegrarme de que “la mafia al interior del gobierno” se parezca más a los villanos de las aventuras tercermundistas de los magníficos, que a los de misión imposible. Igual que con tantas otras cosas, creo que Uribe está extrapolando al país la administración de su “finquita”, y maneja el DAS más o menos como se manejan las viejas chismosas de un pueblo.
Si realmente hubiera una conspiración de best-seller basura, de esas en las que los supervillanos tienen absoluto control, ya hubieran sido capaces de desaparecer a media oposición y exiliar al resto frente a la sonrisa bobalicona de la opinión. Colombia sería un gran campo de palma, coca y amapola, y llas ciudades serían enormes maquilas llenas de muertos de hambre trabajando 12 horas diarias por nada.
Yo creo que la ineptitud de nuestros tiranillos de república bananera igual que ha provocado problemas, también nos ha salvado de situaciones peores.
If there was really a trashy best-seller type conspiracy, of the kind where the super villains have absolute control, they'd been able to make “disappear” half of the opposition and the rest to exile in front of the silly smile of the [public] opinion. Colombia would be a huge ground for palm, coca, and poppy, and the cities would be big assembly plants filled with starving people working 12 hours a day in exchange of nothing.
I think the incompetence of our banana republic small tyrants, just as it has caused trouble, has saved us from worse situations.
On February 27, controversial presidential adviser José Obdulio Gaviria —who happens to be deceased drug lord Pablo Escobar Gaviria's cousin and who denied [es] being the one behind the phone buggings— told a radio network that Colombia's Attorney General (AG) Mario Iguarán, Semana magazine publisher Alejandro Santos Rubino, two people from the AG office, a delegate attorney in charge of the wire tapping probe, and other journalists met at a restaurant in uptown Bogotá on Tuesday. Gaviria suggested [es] that the AG office was apparently “selling information” to the media.
El Brujo expresses his outrage after Gaviria's claims on his blog Tienen Huevo [es]:
¿QUÍEN SERA ENTONCES EL QUE MANDA A PEDIR QUE CHUZEN A TODO EL MUNDO PARA DESPUES SALIR A ARMAR ESCANDALOS?
And Ricardo Buitrago asks for some prudence [es] as the investigations go on:
Si bien la información, por provenir de una entidad periodística respetable tiene visos de credibilidad y certeza, también es cierto, que pruebas del ilícito, por contenido de la misma indagación, se sabe han sido destruidas. Se crean así vacios que dificultan o imposibilitan la investigación. Vistas así las cosas, parecería prudente, dejar a un lado los juicios de responsabilidades, expresados sin plena comprobación de causa, mientras se adelantan las pesquisas y se determinan culpables.
But Jaime Restrepo finds Gaviria's claims quite useful to criticize [es] the Attorney General's Office and the opposition, and to question, again, Semana‘s journalism:
La actitud de Semana y de la fuente de altísima fidelidad de echarle toda el agua sucia al DAS podría tener una explicación: que dicha fuente no trabaja en el DAS sino en la Fiscalía General de la Nación. Esa fuente, para ser tan creíble, debe ostentar un cargo importante y tener acceso a los pormenores de los sistemas de interceptación. Otra forma de ganar credibilidad es filtrar información, como se ha denunciado que ocurre con frecuencia en la Fiscalía.
¿Quién podría ser esa fuente de altísima fidelidad que trabaja en la Fiscalía? ¿Acaso esa fuente se va de parranda con el director de Semana y con algunos periodistas de ese medio? ¿Será que Iguarán les estaba pidiendo colaboración para esclarecer el asunto o se estaba asegurando de que Alejandro Santos y su combo ratificaran el secreto profesional y sobre todo la reserva de la fuente?
Es que en general, el aparato judicial colombiano genera serias dudas, pero es evidente que la Fiscalía General de la Nación es un bastión clientelista para la izquierda “democrática”, que además se ha valido de esas “corbatas” para adelantar investigaciones y acceder a archivos e información que muchas veces está bajo reserva del sumario.
Semana and its high fidelity source's attitude of putting all the blame on DAS could have an explanation: this source doesn't work for DAS but for the Attorney General's Office. That source, in order to be so reliable, must be in an important position and have access to the details on the phonebugging systems. Another way to gain credibility is by leaking information, as it has been often denounced as being happening in the AG Office.
Who could be that high fidelity source working for the AG? Does this source go out partying with Semana‘s publisher and some of its journalists? It might be that [Mario] Iguarán was asking their co-operation in order to clarify the issue, or maybe making sure that Alejandro Santos and his pals ratify the professional secrecy and, above all, the confidentiality of the source?
In general, the Colombian legal system creates serious doubts, but it is evident that the Office of the Attorney General is a political patronage bastion for the “democratic” left-wing which has made use of those “neckties” to conduct investigations and access files and informations often restricted.
As Restrepo wishes the Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez to “detect” those “obscure interests” inside the AG apparently leaking information to the media, as of Monday, March 2, no physical evidence of the illegal wire tappings has been found by the AG agents. Meanwhile, the current Deputy Attorney General revealed [es] that he is aware his home phone line had been bugged since 2005 [es], when he was a delegate attorney before the Supreme Court. The issue will remain in the news for a while, as some still try to find similarities [es] between this scandal and Fujimori's Peru one decade ago.

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


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Czech Republic: Coverage of the Economy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame writes about the coverage of the Czech economy in the FT and the Economist and the Czech National Bank's clarifications.


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Czech Republic: Mělník · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks writes about Mělník, a town 30km north of Prague.


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Czech Republic, Slovakia: Masopust/Fasinek · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belatedly, links to posts on Masopust, a Czech carnival, and Fasinek, a Slovak carnival, at CzechFolks.com and Czechmatediary.


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Estonia: From Business To Politics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about new approaches in Estonian politics: “And so in a few years time, the Estonian state may come to be run in a way that is not significantly different from how Swedbank or MTV Eesti has been run. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing.”


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Estonia: Independence Day Parade in Narva · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about the location of this year's Independence Day parade.


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Guadeloupe: Songs to support the strike · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

Kam who blogs at Fwiyapin shows [Fr] how instrumental music and chants have played a part in the recent social movement in Guadeloupe, by quoting the latest songs of Guadeloupean artists, in a post entitled “Lyriks kont Pwofitasyon” [Creole] (lyrics against all sorts of abuse).


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Guyana, Bahamas: CLICO Questions  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

More comments on the CLICO situation, this time from Signifyin’ Guyana.


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Hungary: Police Force; Crimes Against Gypsies · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the Hungarian police – “for every 100,000 citizens there are 420 policemen” – and about crimes against gypsies (here and here).


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Israel: Changing Check Points · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Those who frequently pass between check points have been offered special stickers for their vehicles, intended to smooth their passage. The consequences of the stickers may not be so clear, however. Treppenwitz's David Bogner observes: “On the one hand, this little sticker could simplify my life and speed my passage through any and all roadblocks I might encounter.  But on the other hand, the possibilities for abuse are almost limitless.”

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: Is Lindsay Lohan Converting to Judaism? · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Word in the Israeli blogosphere is that Lindsay Lohan is converting to Judaism. On her personal Facebook page, Lohan last week said she hoped that the conversion will bring her closer to her Jewish girlfriend, Samantha Ronson. Lohan and Ronson are currently in London attending a family bar mitzvah.
Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons
The announcement has been met with mixed reviews.
Dion Nissenbaum of Checkpoint Jerusalem ponders:
Is tempestuous actress Lindsay Lohan preparing to covert to Judaism in the name of love?
Simply Jews asks:
“The big question is: will our Chief Rabbi be happy?”
Elder of Ziyon pleads:
“It is time to act… I am kicking off a fundraiser to pay any cleric from any other religion a significant amount of money if you can convince Lohan to join your religion instead of Judaism. That's right – you make her a Confucian or a Rastafarian, and you can get big bucks.”
Meanwhile, Michael Lohan, Lindsay's estranged father and a former minister, opines:
“She's exploring Judaism right now. She's explored the Church of Scientology, she tried Kabbalah, and now this. I think it's just another phase. But either way, she's involving God in her life, and I'm happy about that.”
London's Daily Mail, who broke the story, reports:
Entering the synagogue, a photographer asked Lindsay if she was switching religions, to which she replied: ‘I'm trying.’
The Daily Mail also writes that Lohan and Ronson made additional visits to the synagogue while in London in order for Lohan to learn more about the conversion process. Formal conversion to Judaism typically takes up to a year and is undertaken with the help of a rabbi who teaches beliefs and traditional practices.
Other famous celebrities who are reportedly contemplating conversion include Leonardo DiCaprio, whose girlfriend is Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli. Rafaeli's family will not entertain a marriage proposal unless DiCaprio converts.
This writer says if Britney Spears can convert to Islam, anything is possible.


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Israel: Novelist Writes From Palestinian Perspective · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Matt Beynon Rees is a Jerusalem-based crime novelist whose third book, The Samaritan's Secret, has just been published to positive reviews. His protagonist is the Palestinian school teacher and amateur sleuth, Omar Yussef. Rees explains: “I think of my novels as humanist, filtering out the politics that makes people see the Palestinians as stereotypes (either of terrorists or victims).”


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Israel: What is the Language of Peace?  · Global Voices
Maya Norton

MePeace participants discuss whether “language is a barrier to peacemaking on the web.” MePeace is an online community dedicated to promoting conversation among Israelis, Palestinians, and others interested in peace in the Middle East.


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Japan and Taiwan: Gay politics · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Roy Berman from Mutantfrog Travelogue notices the different between gay politics in Japan and Taiwan.


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Japan: To you who will graduate this year · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Spring is fast approaching, and in Japan that means two things: the fall of cherry blossoms and the start of the new school year, which coincides with last year's graduates joining the workforce. With economies both global and local slumping to new lows, and no end in sight to the practice of un-hiring fresh graduates, the outlook for young people leaving Japanese universities this year is far from bright.
Japanese graduation (photo by Flickr user gnurou)
With these circumstances as backdrop, a blog post by Japanese blogger and university professor id:next49, addressed (anonymously) to a student, struck a chord with many readers and drew a huge reaction in the local blogosphere last month. Posted on February 22nd, the post begins:
卒業していく君へ。
卒業おめでとう。本当は面と向かって言ったほうが良いのだけど先生という立場だと私の発言が思った以上に重くなってしまうので直接君にはいえない。でも、君への言葉を一度形にしておかないと私の頭に一生こびりつきそうなのでここに書かせてもらうよ。
今年、君は卒論に苦しんだね。君が卒論に苦しんだ理由は自分でも分かっていると思うけど、常に外部に正解を求めたことにあるんだ。私が「どうして、それが正しいと思うの？その理由を教えて。」と聞くと、いつも君は表情を凍らせて黙ってしまったね。何度も何度も「研究には正解とか不正解とかない。誰も答えを知らないから研究になっているんだ。だから、自分の主張をとりあえず述べて、相手の反論が正しいと思えてから自分は間違っていたと考えれば良いんだよ。」と伝えたのだけど、最期最後まで君は自分の主張の正しさを自分の言葉で言えず、常に私の保証を求めたね。はっきり言ってそれが私にとっては本当につらかった。
君が雑談ならば私とも明るくおしゃべりできるのに、研究の話となった瞬間に凍り付いてしまうのは、雑談は自分の感情をベースに話せるので自信を持てる（自分の感情だもの、正しいも正しくないもない）のに対して、研究の話は自信がないからだよ。
どうして、自信がなかったのかといえば、たぶん、間違うことに対して恐怖をいだいているからだと思うよ。何で間違うことに対して恐怖を抱いているのかというと、まだ君には精神的な背骨が育っていないからだと思う。君は、自分の価値判断の基準を外部に委ねており、自分の内部にそれがない。君が自分の価値判断の基準だと思っているのは、外部に依存した「優等生な自分」「良くできる自分」という役に立たない基準なんだ。
もちろん、「良く出来る自分」というものをきっちりと咀嚼し、自分の精神的な背骨にしている人は大勢いる。でも、君のは、「他人が君をどう思うか」という基準なんだ。精神的な背骨として使えるのは「自分が自分をどう思うか」というものなんだ。ざっくり言えば、他人が君のことをかっこ悪いと思っていても自分が自分のことをかっこよいと思っていれば動じないというもの。何をもってかっこよいとするかは、親の見方、彼女の見方、友達の見方、小説内の見方、アニメの中での見方など何に由来していてもかまわないのだけど、自分が咀嚼しているのが重要。自分が咀嚼しているならば、周りの環境が急に変わっても、自分の背骨は急には不安定にならない。
私の判断基準の基礎は両親が作った。その基準をベースに、読んだ本、小学校・中学校・高校の素敵なあるいは面白い、個性的な先生達、見たテレビ番組、体験したいろいろなことをミックスして私の背骨はできている。大学での私の指導教員の発言や考え、教えも今や立派なに私の背骨の一部だ。いまでは、自分が研究を進めるとき指導教員の声が聞こえてくるくらいだ。「それは何の意味があるの？」「それの定義は何？」とか。私の美醜の基準は、明らかにいままで読んだ小説や漫画に由来しているよ。
精神的な背骨がある人は、自分が間違えることをだいたい許容できる。自分の判断基準からしてどうでも良いことならば、間違えたって直してより良いものにしていけば良いだけだから。自分の判断基準からして重要な間違いならば凹むかもしれないけどね。でも、一度背骨を作り上げている人ならば、背骨自体を強化したり、変更したりできるので案外タフだ。
一方、精神的な背骨が無い人は、いかなる間違いも許容できない。なぜならば、判断基準は外にあるためどの間違いが自分に致命的でどの間違いが自分に致命的でないかが判断できないから。だって、判断するのは他人。完璧に振舞いたいのだけど、どう振舞えば完璧かわからなくなり、自信が無くなり、自分が嫌いになる。まるで、プライドを殻にした甲殻類みたいになるんだ。判断基準は外にあるので、自分が取れる選択肢は「他人に嫌われないようにする」「他人にかっこ悪いと思われないようにする」「他人にできない奴とみられないようにする」というものしかない。強化も変更もできないんだ。
価値の判断基準が自分の外にある人間は表現者になれない。その表現の仕方が研究だろうと、スピーチだろうと、絵画だろうと、価値の判断基準は常に自分の内部にあり、その基準に基づいて自分の考えや思いを外に問うのが表現だ。価値の判断基準が外にある人間は、自分の内部にあるものが外に問うだけのクオリティに達しているかを常に悩んでしまい表現を外に出せない。外に出せない限り、いかなる人間も表現者とはなりえないんだ。
表現者は、外の世界に自分の考えや思いを問うのがその存在意義だ。外に問うということは反論を食らうということなので、皮膚は破れ、肉は断たれる。でも、骨は守る。傷を癒し、身のこなしを鍛え、骨を強化し、場合によっては骨を入れ替え、再び世の中に自分の考えや思いを問う。考えや思いを外に問わなければ何も始まらないから、ただ、そうする。
だから、君がもし表現者になりたいのだとしたら、精神的な背骨を手に入れる必要がある。それはどんなものでも良い。私が君をどう思うかではなく、君が君をどう思うかそれが重要だ。君は私じゃないし、私は君じゃない。究極的には、私が君をどう思おうが君はそれに左右される筋合いはない。
君が背骨を手に入れる手助けをしきれなかったことに悔いが残るが、この研究室で卒論をやった経験が数年後に役にたつことを祈っている。君が新たな場所で新たな師匠に立派に鍛えてもらえますように。さようなら、お元気で。
There are a huge number of reactions to this post, most prominently a highly-bookmarked response [ja] posted at Hatena's AnonymousDiary. For more reactions, see id:next49's follow-up post [ja], in which the blogger summarizes some of the main discussion points related to the original blog entry.
This blog entry was translated in its entirety with permission of the blogger.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Virtual Marathon · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Masaru IKEDA from Asiajin blogs about a newly launched virtual marathon game.


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Journal of Lao Studies · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bryan writes that the Fall 2009 issue of the Journal of Lao Studies has chosen four articles which will cover the fields of Anthropology, Economics, Literature, and Diaspora Studies.


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Kenya: Two Governments in One · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to Kenyan blogger Rachel Wambui, there are two governments in the “coalition” government in Kenya.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Lao folktales · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Nye Noona recommends a website and a book which both offer a good collection of Lao folktales.


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Laos: Elephant ride · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Shannon posts pictures of an elephant ride in Laos and trekking through rural villages.


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Maneno: A Multilingual Blogging Platform Built For African Bloggers · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Maneno is a new blogging platform that promises to offer blogging and communication solutions for bloggers with limited or narrow-bandwith in Sub-Saharan Africa. Maneno is a Swahili word, which means “words.”
Considering the multilingual nature of the region, Maneno was built to allow for multiple language versions of articles to “sit atop one another for immediate access.” The interface of the platform is also translated into different languages to remove linguistic barriers. At the moment, Maneno is readable in English, Spanish, French, Swahili and Portuguese. Maneno developers are also planning on enabling African bloggers to use mobile phones to blog.
Maneno is a non-profit registered in the United States. Its Directors, three of whom are regular Global Voices contributors are Rebecca Wanjiku, a journalist and blogger from Kenya,  Elia Varela Serra, journalist and photographer with a background in humanitarian development, Saul Wainwright, a South African finance manager, researcher and strategist and Miquel Hudin Balsa, a web developer.
Translation of the site is open to people in the community:
Maneno relies on people in the community helping us to translate the site. We encourage anyone out there with knowledge of a Sub-Saharan language to contact us to offer their linguistic help. Please don't be discouraged if your langauge isn't widely spoken; we'd still love to have it as an option!
To create a translation is quite simple. Once we hear from you, we'll send you a basic text file. You substitute in the words for your language and send it back. If desired, we will happily thank you on this page and in our blog for your work.
White Africa tested the site and found it a lot faster than most blogging platforms. Do we need another blogging platform?, he asks:
When I first heard about Maneno, the first question that came to my mind was… “what about WordPress.com and Blogger.com?” Don’t those serve the same purpose? Realizing that my knowledge in this might be lacking, I contacted Miquel to answer a few answers. Here is his response:
“We travel quite a bit and I found that anything hosted in the US gets slower and slower the further you get from the US, so I worked to create a CMS/blog platform that was very stripped down, yet fully functional. Don’t get me wrong, WordPress is a beautiful, fantastic system that I admire and also use, but when you’re on a satellite connection in Bukavu or very slow DSL in Sarajevo, it’s mighty slow to use, which is the same problem with GMail and other web based applications that were developed in North America and Europe. So, I realized that what I was doing for our personal blogs would translate very well in to a system that would meet a great many of the needs for a new blogging system for Sub-Saharan Africa.”
That makes sense. Any hosted web platform based in the US and Europe is going to have lag issues Africa. Every byte counts, so a system that has been custom built to work in this scenario can be useful.
Final thoughts
The site absolutely flies. It’s a lot faster than most other blogging platforms. I’m interested in hearing from others around the African continent on how fast the site loads for them.
Besides the standard text and images, Maneno allows you to add up to 10Mb audio files as a post. This is a great idea, and shows just how much they’re thinking about things differently, as many normal users of blogging platforms can’t figure out how to host podcasts or audio files to get them out in the public.
Aid Worker Daily considers Maneno a lightweight blogging platform for “folks heading to the field,” and wonders if its code or template will be released to the public as open source:
A few days ago I posted on Loband and how it’s the perfect tool for browsing the web in low bandwidth environments.  Miquel dropped by to read the post but also to let us know about Maneno which is a lightweight blogging platform that he and his team have created.  His comment sparked a discussion with Alan Jackson over at Aptivate, the creators of Loband, and while most of the back and forth is fairly technical Alan took the time to lay out some observations he has made of the Maneno platform.  It looks like a great product and it seems like a perfect tool for that mass of aid workers that start blogs primarily to keep their friends back home updated and to let their families know that they are still alive.  It has very low bandwidth demands and offers a clean and simple interface.  Please check it out and let us know what you think but first head over and check out the rest of the comments.  Here’s a taste:
Miguel it’s great to hear about your lightweight blogging system. We’ve been thinking there was a need for something like that for a while. Are you going to release the code / templates open source? You might be interested in our web design guidelines where we go through various techniques for optimising the size of web pages. We came up with a target page size of 25KB using estimates of the bandwidth you get on the desktop in African universities.
The 50KB typical page size of Maneno is fantastic, especially when you consider the average web page size is now over 300KB (which would have a 2 minute download time on a 20Kb/s connection). If you’re interested in shaving off even more, you might want to have a look at converting RGB images to images with indexed palettes or reducing the number of indexed colours down to something like 32.
What is the point of a new site or platform when other good ones are available?, asks Mike Blyth:
There are several advantages:
•	The site is designed from scratch with the goal of making pages load fast over the slow connections that most of us have in Africa. There really is a noticeable difference.
•	The site is easy to use. (Actually, I'm not sure it's any easier than Blogspot, but the authors are working to keep it simple.)
•	Maneno is multilingual. Other sites do allow you to type your blog entries in your own language, but Maneno has the added feature of an easy interface that lets any member translate any blog post into another language, sort of a communal approach to making the entries themselves available in other languages. Of course, it's the African languages that are the focus.
•	Maneno recognizes that many users in Africa do not have access a computer, so the site is exploring ways to allow people to access it through mobile phones and other relevant technology. (Blogspot also allows posting by mobile phone & email … will Maneno be better in some way? Probably it at least will be slimmer.)
•	Maneno is focused on Africa. Unlike Blogspot, which is a place for any and every type of blog, Maneno is more topical, describing itself as striving “to provide a communication and development platform for Sub-Saharan Africa.”
TinderBlog hopes Maneno becomes the future of Content Management Systems:
So imagine my joy when I came across Maneno last week. A CMS blogging platform designed specifically with low bandwidth in mind and provided from servers in Africa, cutting down on slow internal connections. As the blurb says “Maneno strives to provide a communication and development platform for Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Good looking and providing all the functionality you need in a decent website, the online feedback I’ve seen so far has been universally positive, particularly around download times, which can massively increase the expense of browsing the net in the very places where this service needs to be as cheap as possible. That is really important. In the words of blogger White African “The site absolutely flies.”
Although Maneno is still in a beta version it works like a dream and looks very impressive. It seems just the ticket if you are setting up a new site with little knowledge of design and want to ensure potential readers in Africa actually get the opportunity to read what you have to say.


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Martinique, Guadeloupe: “Threat” of Independence · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

Martinican blogger Imaniyé expresses [Fr] her surprise at the fact that whenever French West Indians speak out to claim their rights, the French Government replies with a “threat” of independence.

author: Fabienne Flessel


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Myanmar: Firefighters lack equipment · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Irrawaddy reports that the job of Myanmar's firefighters is hampered by lack of proper equipment to handle fire disasters.


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Nepal: Identity politics · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dr. Divas at ABC discusses the identity politics in Nepal and the debate between the ethnic communities Madhesis and the Tharus on the Madhesi demand of ‘Whole Madhes, One Single State’.

author: Rezwan


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Nicaragua: Electronic Version of Magazine Idea · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Sergio Simpson provides the electronic version of the Nicaraguan social sciences magazine Idea [es], which includes articles on the communities of San Rafael del Norte – Jinotega, Matagalpa, Siuna, Puerto Cabezas and Bluefields.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Nicaragua: Twitter Community Road Trip to Granada · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Nicaraguan Twitter community Twittnic [es] is organizing its 4th meet-up, which will be a road trip to the city of Granada.


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Pakistan: Attack Against Sri Lankan Cricket Team In Lahore · Global Voices
Rezwan

Yasser Latif Hamdani at Pak Tea House breaks the news that a dozen men attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers today morning ahead of a cricket match in Lahore. A few Sri Lankan cricketers were injured and several policemen guarding the cricket team have been killed. The blogger comments: “Whoever it is is killing off Pakistan slowly but surely.”


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Pakistan: Inching Towards A Failed State · Global Voices
Rezwan

Muneeb Ali comments on the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore: “I must admit. I am scared. For the first time, the glaring reality that Pakistan is a failed state is sinking in. We are all waiting for a train-wreck, with everyone on board. And I believe that very recently we passed a tipping point. The stage is all set. All that is missing now is a religious revolution.”


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Pakistan: Terror Hits Cricket!  · Global Voices
Muhammad Farhan

Today morning a dozen of gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team ahead of a cricket match with Pakistan team in Lahore. This bloody onslaught has left seven people including five Policemen dead and six Sri Lankan players were amongst the number of injured. The terrorists were armed with latest weapons including hand grenades, rockets, rifles etc. Luckily, there were no casualties among the Sri Lankan players and they are on the way back to their country.
I was in classroom when we heard the loud bangs of those firings. We got curious and started making speculations about what really was happening and one of my friends even passed on a joke as we carried on. But I was sensing that something is really wrong and something terrible has happened. After just five minutes I received an SMS from a friend and learned about the attack.
Everyone including our instructor got scared and he was kind enough to let us go. My University is just near  the place of attack, Liberty Chowk. We could already see the traffic jam and a panic situation on the road outside my university. Rumors kept on coming from allover that there was a huge casualty in this attack, few said that Sri Lankans were also amongst them.
I immediately ran to the Internet lab hoping to watch the live TV streams about what had really happened. I was shocked to see the bloody fight between terrorists and the Police as SAMAA TV were airing the footage of the attack. I got relieved to know that Sri Lankans are safe, but at the same time, I was sad to hear about the casualties of the local Policemen.
For more details about my personal accounts, please go to my blog.
AlJazeeraEnglish uploaded the following video at YouTube including footage of the attack:
Naeem Sidhu breaks the news with the following words:
On Tuesday morning, our revered Cricketing friends from Sri Lanka were attacked in Lahore, leaving the whole nation embarrassed, shocked and with our heads shaken in disbelief. With the approval of the Colombo Government, SL team decided to tour Pakistan despite security fears and they courageously defied the advice by other Cricketing nations. India was more vocal against the tour by SL team. Due to our security lapse, Tuesday shooting has helped in vindication of their stance and has resulted in  closing doors of International Cricket in Pakistan for many years to come – the worst set back to game in its history.
Yasir Imran tries to wake up the current government with these words:
Pakistani Housewife blog expresses frustration:
What has happened to the world we live in? Is there an end to this madness? The situation in the world in general and in Pakistan in particular is getting worse everyday. These are the streets we walk in, the roads we drive on with our kids but nothing seems to be the same. I think these terror attacks kill a few people but terrorize the minds of hundreds and thousands of us. They make us numb, takes away the desire to live and the hope for a happy future is missing from our lives, in these terrible times.
Teeth Maestro says:
It is now certain that this tragic event marks the end of Cricket in Pakistan for sometime, the blame game with India is already nearing a frenzy, analysts like Kamran Khan on Geo and Hamid Gul have pointed fingers towards India already. One must note that the attack looks erringly too similar to the Mumbai attack but logically one must understand that this could very well be a cover up to instigate a war of words between India and Pakistan. Our politicians, intelligence agencies and media were blood thirsty looking for an excuse to kick back at India for the Mumbai assault and todays events in Lahore might serve them with an opportunity.
Kamran Abbasi at cricinfo summarizes:
The least of the consequences of this disaster is that those who have advocated the continuation of international cricket in Pakistan – including me – have been proved wrong. No international team will now visit Pakistan, and the Pakistan Cricket Board should voluntarily arrange all future tours at neutral venues for the next year, may be longer. This the darkest day in the history of Pakistan cricket and it occurred in a pleasant suburb of Lahore, a once great city of gardens and tranquility,

author: Muhammad Farhan


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Palestine: Carrying Rocks to Syria · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Samuel Nichols, who works with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank, tells us about a request he received from a Palestinian refugee in Damascus: “Please go to my village just outside of Haifa. Bring me back something. A rock, a handful of dirt, anything.”


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Palestine: Need for Change in the Journalists’ Union · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Fadi Abu Sada argues that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate should not wait for political permission before holding its elections: “Palestinian journalists as a community need to pressure the Syndicate and take clear steps to not only set the soonest date possible for elections but also to hold them outside of the internal Palestinian strife.”


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Palestine: New Theatre Organisation · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Abdelfattah Abusrour, director of Al-Rowwad Culture and Theatre Center in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem introduces the newly-established Palestine Theatre League [Ar].


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Paraguay: The Widening of Choferes del Chaco Avenue · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Construction and the widening of the Choferes del Chaco Avenue in Asunción Paraguay has meant the removal of many of the trees, as well as the installation of stop lights that have attracted vendors and beggars writes Pepa Kostianovsky of De Pe a Pa [es].


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Russia: The Russian Cyberspace Journal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Krusenstern writes (GER) about The Russian Cyberspace Journal, a new online venue published in English, German and Russian.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Zenit’s Female Fans · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At GlobalComment, Natalia Antonova reports that “the council of fans of FC Zenit St. Petersburg – the richest club in the Russian Federation and the original stomping ground of star footballer Andrei Arshavin – has decided that season tickets for the coveted fan sector in their home stadium of Petrovsky will not be sold to women (or, as one choice news source put it, “broads”).”


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Sri Lanka: LTTE was not behind · Global Voices
Rezwan

London, Lanka and drums reminds those who speculate that the LTTE is behind the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore: “The Sri Lankan cricket team is a phenomenon, possibly the only one, that has united Sri Lanka through the last twenty or thirty years. We all know that. When it comes to cricket, to supporting it, the people of Lanka are Lankans first. Whether Tamil, Sinhalese or drummers who have London accents and don't know a googly from google, everyone gets behind the team.”


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Sri Lanka: Who Shoots Cricketers? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca from Sri Lanka exclaims: “It’s absolutely shameful to shoot cricketers, I mean, who shoots cricketers? It’s the one glimmer that unites everyone across this godforsaken subcontinent. Sri Lanka is one of the few teams which has agreed to play in Pakistan recently, and now they’ve been shot.”