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Voices from Central Asia and the Caucasus · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Alpine Pastures – Jailoo (c) Christopher Herwig, www.herwigphotos.com
It's time to strike our tents (or Kyrgyz yurts in the Jailoo in this case), the summer is over (although in Kazakhstan's capital Astana there's snow even in August…). Which also means more time for Central Asia buffs to spend in front of their computers. Let's see what they had to say over the last two weeks.
The EU and Uzbekistan
Over at The Registan, Nathan reported two weeks ago that the EU considered rolling back Uzbekistan sanctions that were imposed shortly after the incidents in Andjan in May 2005. Now, Uzbek state officials and the EU's special representative have met behind closed doors. Over at neweurasia, Kamron says that the visit was preceded by obvious signs from the Uzbek side that they're ready to talk business (RUS). Meanwhile, on the English version of the same blog, Shohruh gives an interesting insight into the psyche of President Islam Karimov. Is much of what he does attributable to his fear?
Health Issues
Besides Turkmen President Niyazov's heart problems, discussed by Peter at neweurasia, the medical system in Armenia is making a buzz over at Life in Armenia and Onnik's Oneworld blog. Arsineh flew back to the United States to have her illness treated by competent doctors, because as Onnik notes,
Without a doubt, seeking medical attention here is pretty much akin to playing Russian Roulette and might even be more dangerous. Inefficiency, incompetence and downright corruption define almost the entire system, and it’s no wonder that only 1 in 3 Armenians seek medical treatment when they need it.
All eyes on Kyrgyzstan
Sean Roberts, Central Asia analyst-turned-blogger wonders where Kyrgyzstan will stand in one week's time. The opposition to President Bakiyev has announced protests for 2 November 2006, and should their demands not be met, they want to see the him quit office. A lot depends on Prime Minister Kulov now, Roberts notes:
Kulov has retained significant popularity while Bakiyev continues to lose public confidence, and Kulov’s support of the opposition could tip the balance.
Yulia at neweurasia provides some detail of the Civil Society's petition. She thinks that many of the points brought forward make a lot of sense and this is some kind of novelty vis-à-vis the notoriously chaotic opposition meetings before. Reader Matt comments on the demands:
The simple fact is, that if Bakiyev had actually done some bl**dy work since he came to office, these demands wouldnt have to be made. I don’t know what he does all day, but the Kyrgyz President is making Yushchenko look like a capable and decisive leader. Nothing to be proud of.
The Borat Hype takes off
On the eve of his film release, the blogosphere is awash with news about Borat. There is some understanding for the outrage caused in Kazakhstan on Living with Style, movie trailers in Spanish, German and French (which sounds ridiculous) and Leila's post on neweurasia saying that Borat is helping the Kazakh government (RUS). Nathan over a The Registan wonders if all publicity is good publicity in this case, and Sean Roberts offers one of the best reasons so far for the hostile attitude towards the comedian by the Kazakh authorities:
Borat’s unsophisticated character, however, still shares something with the segment of Kazakhstan’s elite that emerged from the Soviet Union. This “old guard” in Kazakhstan’s elite still does not really understand or believe in the principles of a “rule of law,” “human rights,” and “representative government.” While Borat’s follies are more about “political incorrectness” with regards to women and ethnic minorities, his sometimes violent and always uncouth behavior as well as his blatant dismissal of a “rule of law” are also a satire of the character of Soviet (and post-Soviet) authoritarian rule.
Be sure to read the entire discussion on Roberts’ blog. Finally, KZBlog, a great blog written by an American expat in Astana, has some tidbits on Borat as well. The same blog also features an interesting article about Kazakhstan's capital Astana and its newest landmark sight, the Palace of World Peace and Unity, which in the shape of a pyramid designed by Sir Norman Foster hosts the triannual World Congress for Religious Tolerance.
Blogosphere roundups:
Read on and get yourselves up-to-date with several of the region's blogospheres, courtesy of Onnik for Armenia, Vadim for Tajikistan and Yulia for Kyrgyzstan. On Global Voices, Leila of neweurasia writes a biweekly roundup of the Kazakh blogosphere, whose next edition will be available here next Thursday.

author: Ben Paarmann


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Voices from South Asia · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh:
- What does Bangladesh need now for a better future? Angelmorn has a ten point prescription.
- Rifat of Close your eyes and try to see is critic about the noise pollution in Bangladesh, especially using the loudspeakers.
- Shafiur of imperfect world | 2006 informs that many of the prominent branded products (Textile, Camera Lens Parts, Golf Shafts, Mobile Parts and Automobile Parts) are currently being manufactured in Bangladesh.
- For those who want to learn more about the 2006 Nobel peace price winner Grameen Bank and its founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Drishtipat has a photo essay ‘One day at Grameen Bank’.
Bhutan
- Kuensel online reports that Bhutan is going to hold its first ever general election in 2008. The Election Commission of Bhutan has proposed that the minimum qualification for Member of Parliament (MPs) as a Bachelors Degree.
- Norbu of Kuzu-Bhutan weblog shares his apprehension about the upcoming democracy.
India:
- Rimi shares her experience with the Calcutta Public transport.
- Dilip D'Souza of Death Ends Fun slates the politics about distributing IFA (iron and folic acid) tablets to anaemic women in India.
Maldives:
- Razib Ahmed of South Asia Biz reports that the Maldives will soon have its own private TV and radio station.
Nepal:
- Blogger Nepal criticizes municipality staffs  in the mid-western Nepal who poisoned stray dogs to death.
Pakistan:
- Onlooker of The Glasshouse describes the latest situation of Balochistan, the troubled state in Pakistan.
- Adil Najam of All things Pakistan reports how cricket and Islam are brewing a controversy in Pakistan
Sri Lanka:
- Dhammikad of Moju Blog informs that one can hire a hit squad in Sri Lanka for less than Sri Lankan Rs. 100,000.
- Muffee of Voices in my head posts pictures of Henna art in her hand applied traditionally during the Eid celebrations.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Africa: PayPal expansion into Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Oluniyi David Ajao writes about PayPal expansion into Africa, “Hitherto, South Africa had been the only African country supported by Paypal. The popular online financial institution has now extended its services to Botswana, Cape Verde, Namibia, Togo and Tunisia, on the African continent. In all the six countries however, users can only send, and not receive funds via paypal.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Argentina: Gender Equality Survey · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The official Buenos Aires city government blog summarizes the results of a recent survey on inequality between men and women in Argentina's capital city [ES]: “8 out of 10 Buenos Aires residents call their society very or somewhat ‘machista.’ Furthermore, 70% think that women must do more to compete with men in the workplace … 59.5% of respondents did not put down the name of a single woman that they admire. Among those who did declare admiring a woman, only 73% could remember the name. The first on the list was Chilean President Michelle Bachelet followed by Madonna, Cristina Kirchner, and Elisa Carrió.” As always, more survey and poll numbers from around Latin America at Bloggings by Boz.

author: David Sasaki


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Argentina: NGO Photo Blog · Global Voices
David Sasaki

El Agora, an NGO based in Córdoba, Argentina has organized a friendly photo competition that hopes to highlight the best practices of fellow NGO's, Social Movements, and the private and public sector throughout Argentina. The winning group will be awarded a video production demonstrating the organization's good work.


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Armenia: Yerevan Traffic Jam · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Armenian Odar shows how bad an Armenian traffic jam is.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Belarus: A Wedding Dancer · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A rather amusing video from a Belarusian wedding party causes a rather serious discussion about the country's present and future, reports TOL's Belarus Blog.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Brazil: E-Democracy of E-Fraud? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Could this weekend's runoff election in Brazil be marred by corruption and e-fraud? Colin Brayton digs deep and offers his analysis.


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Cambodia: New Lecturer  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

samphors sambo in Cambodia just landed a job as a lecturer. She posts a self-portrait and asks “My sis said: You look cool.My teacher said: You look like gangster lecturer.My Friend asked : Is that how you dress to teach?Another say: Doesn't look like a teacher.And what do you say?”

author: Preetam Rai


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Cambodia: Review of a Cambodian Online Job Site · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha in Cambodia reviews BestCareerFinder.com, a recruitment site created by Cambodian students.


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Central Asia: Music & Film in Prague · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila Tanayeva reports on the screening of three documentaries on Central Asian music that recently took place in Prague.


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China: How blogging has changed my life · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Chinese Blogger Conference will take place in Hanzhou this weekend. To prepare for the conference, the organizers announced a submission of posts on “How blogging has changed my life?”
Keso has reviewed the posts and yesterday announced the best two. The two bloggers, Zola and Xiao Mei, were awarded with two free tickets to the conference.
So how blogging has changed their lives?
Zola: Transformed by Blog: A story of blogger nicknamed Zola
没写Blog之前，认识我的人不会超过1000人。写了几年BLOG后，我估计知道我的名字的人超过了1000人，我也因BLOG认识了许多同龄人和前辈，阅读量大了许多，社交范围也大了许多，Gtalk上的联系人名单都有927人，这927人里有些是向我要过GMAIL邀请的，有些是我在BLOG上公布GTALK联系方式后加上我的，虽然没有多少人找我说话，但我相信，他们中间至少有一半是知道我的名字的人。
Xiao Mei: A fake blogger's blogging life:
04年7月底的时候，有了自己第一个blog，依稀记得那是在榕树下的子网站上，在此之前我更热衷于在一些bbs上灌水，我并不太喜欢猫扑和天涯，这上面的人太多，像我那么平凡的注定会被淹没，所以我喜欢一些小但温情的地方。而对blog的第一定义是：自己的一个个人网页。陆续的更新一些内容，自己的情绪，组织的聚会以及自己看到并喜欢的一些文字。那时候的blog对于我来说更像一个杂烩大拼盘，每天的点击量还不错，能够满足我的虚荣心，只是大多是过客，时间久了有点腻…
…05年7月，值得永远记得的日子。我的blog上的朋友，上海的、广州的、南京的、新西兰的…..朋友通过网络、通过blog“勾结”在一起，默默地为我准备了一份特殊的生日礼物。
… July 2005, a date I will remember in my whole life. Friends from my blog: from Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanking, New Zealand, etc… they secretly work through the internet and prepare a very special birthday present for me together.
There is a special piece written by Xin yuan-kang, a blind blogger.
Xin yuan-kang: Blog-spiritual window for black eyes
今年初，听朋友们说，时下网络上流行写博客。人人都可以通过博客记录下自己的所思所想，曾经或是此时此刻的心情和情感。与他人共同分享你的喜怒哀乐。这道是个让人眼前一亮的好消息。这种形式对我来说，应该是再适合不过了。我甚至想好了自己要在博客上发表的第一篇文章的题目。就叫“给心灵开一扇小窗”。…
…在我坚持写博客的这半年中，虽然觉得它对我的小店的宣传并没起到多大的作用，应该说，这也是在我预料之中的事情。因为看我的博客，并且喜欢做推拿的朋友，并不一定都和我生活在同一所城市。但是，我们的客户，看过我的博客之后，都对我们的按摩医生说：“看了你们的博克，感觉到你们是那样的热爱生活，对生活充满信心。这一点，让我们感到十分敬佩。”。
… I have been writing for half year by now, although it does not really help my small business, actually, I have anticipated that. Because for those who are reading my blog or friends who enjoy massage, they are not neccessarily staying in my city. However, some of our customers, after reading my blog, they told our massage therapists that: “After reading your blog, I have a feeling that you are so keen about life, so confident about living. I really feel respectful…”
All other submissions can be found at the comment section of the annoucement (zh).

author: Oiwan Lam


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Dispatch from Uganda · Global Voices
Joshua Goldstein

The tenuous peace talks in Juba, Sudan, between the Government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continue for a third month, with each side accusing the other of non-compliance with the cessation of hostilities agreement. However, complete breakdown of the talks was averted when the Government of Southern Sudan said it was not the LRA, but rather Arabic speaking northern Sudanese militants, who killed 38 civilians in a village near Juba.
Also, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni briefly traveled to Juba to take part in the peace talks. Ugandan blogger Ngorom remains skeptical of the President's involvement:
Considering the international interest in Sudan as a whole, Museveni is on a mission that has nothing to do with peace talks going on in Juba. The fact that he has been reported to have met the LRA delegation and berated and merely abused them is indicative that his main aim is not peace negotiations. Museveni is searching for some “buttons” to push in order to torpedo the talks and achieve his aims in southern Sudan.
Meanwhile, In An African Minute reports on discussions in Kampala on long term peace and reconciliation. He notes that the Government and civil society have left these crucial questions unanswered:
(i) Is there political will to make national truth and reconciliation a reality?  The answer lies only with Museveni. There is reason to be hopeful. He is increasingly interested in his legacy, especially relating to East African unity. He must know that this cannot happen unless his own house is in order. There are also economic reasons. Stability of Southern Sudan, with Juba as its capital, makes for enormous economic opportunity. Anything material going to Juba will surely come from the Mombasa Port via Kampala and Gulu. Uganda loses much needed income if the north is unstable. Even political adversaries like Gulu LC V Chairman Norbert Mao have acknowledged that Museveni has become significantly more open-minded about resolving the northern question. However, it will take a heroic effort for him to transcend the political culture of neo-patrimonialism that has pervaded Uganda.
(ii) What would a national truth and reconciliation process look like?  The details of this plan are beyond the scope of this post, but the process should be served by the careful balancing of two disparate principles. First, all parties should recognize that the process of ‘acknowledgement’ is central to the Ugandan sense of justice. While punitive justice would be a Sisyphisean task considered the twenty-two armed conflicts in the last twenty years, public acknowledgement of wrongs would go a long way towards reconciliation. Second is Rosiland Shaw's concept of ‘social forgetting.’ Shaw is a Tufts University anthropologist whose work in Sierra Leone showed that truth commissions, which are the international norm in transitional justice, are not always therapeutic. Shaw showed that religious or traditional based approaches to dealing with the past can often be more appropriate and effective.
In Kampala, the First Lady Janet Museveni, backed by USAID, launched a birth control system called Moon Beads, designed to help women track their menstrual cycle, and thus avoid sex when fertile. Several bloggers, including Jackfruity, criticized this controversial program:
Though Mrs. Museveni’s plan recognizes the need for better family planning in Uganda, it is sorely misguided. The natural family planning method is intended for monogamous couples and requires the women to carefully observe her periods for three to six months before implementing the system (the Moon Beads are intended to be used immediately and do not account for varying menstrual cycles). Even then, the method is only 75-90% effective, as compared to 95-99% for oral contraceptives and 86-98% for condoms.
In another post, Jackfruity provides insight into Aga Khan, the man whose portrait is displayed around Kampala as prominently as President Museveni's:
As for Uganda and why Aggie's countenance smiles down upon me wherever I go, that question is still unanswered. I choose to view him as a benevolent Big Brother figure, trusting that whatever happens — whether I come up against a massive natural disaster or find myself in need of a $2500/night suite in Mombasa — the Aga Khan will be there for me, cheerfully helping me make the world a better place.

author: Joshua Goldstein


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Dominica, UK: Jean Rhys · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor's dislike of the new BBC dramatisation of Dominican novelist Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea leads him to consider, among other things, Rhys's struggle to reconcile “her creole and European selves” and the British reception of her work.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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East Timor: Updates On The Latest Round Of Violence · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Dili-gence has the latest from East Timorese capital city of Dili where the latest round of violent incidents have left the airport closed. “News reports suggest that at least 2 people were killed in fighting near the airport. The airport is closed. Blackhawk choppers working all night Tuesday night and a lot of Wednesday – always a key indicator of trouble.”


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Ethiopian blogger scoops mainstream media · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

The story broke at 12.42 pm. An Ethiopian human rights activist, another unnamed Ethiopian and two senior officials from the European Commission had been arrested that morning close to Ethiopia's border with Kenya.
The report from Ethiopian blogger Ethio-Zagol named the activist as Yalemzewd Bekele and the two European officials as:
Bjorn Jonsson, Head of Finance and Contract department of the delegation in Ethiopia, and Enrico Sborgi, who works at the good governance department.
The post, A prominent human rights campaigner arrested, on Ethio-Zagol's blog Seminawork said that police had been trying to arrest Yalemzewd Bekele for a week, in connection with anti-government activities. The two EC officials, it added, were arrested: “for trying to help Yalemzewd escape”.
It was a whole day before the mainstream media woke up to the story at the end of last week. (Here's the BBC version from Friday October 20.) It was another six hours after that journalists managed to confirm the names of the people involved. When the names and other details of the case finally did come out through official channels over the next couple of days, it emerged that almost everything in the original blog post had been accurate.
Ethio-Zagol, one of the most mysterious and well-connected writers in the Ethiopian blogosphere, had scored an old-fashioned scoop over the rest of the mainstream press.
Over the past few days, Seminawork has kept up a steady stream of updates on the story, with the regularity of a well-oiled news wire. There was Alert and Breaking News: Ethiopian Government's biggest conspiracy and espionage exposed with more alleged details on the locations of the arrests and how the police tracked every one down.
After that there was More on EC espionage, Latest on Yalemzewd Bekele and, most recently, Family denied access to jailed Ethiopian human rights lawyer.
Ethiopia's other bloggers were quick to recognize the achievement. You've got to hand it to him,” wrote Meskel Square in Blog name scoop. “Ethio-Zagol has very good contacts. He had the names hours before anyone else.”
Weichegud! ET politics traced the story back to Seminawork before commenting on the case in When the fleas start biting:
The Ethiopian government is claiming the two Ethiopians had warrants for their arrest for… well, “serious crimes.” If you are new to the Ethiopian government’s sense of judiciary, “serious crimes” could mean anything from “you breathed with the wrong nostril” to “you exercised your constitutionally guaranteed right to speak freely.” Pick anything in between.
The mysterious European arrests were only one of a string of sensational political stories in Ethiopia over the past fortnight.
The country's bloggers also chewed over the leak and then the official release of a report that confirmed that 199 people were killed in post-election clashes last year (four times the size of the official death estimates released immediately after the violence).
On top of that came the statement from Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that Ethiopia was now “technically at war” with Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia. And then there were the thousands of Eritrean troops massing on the country's northern border.
The turbulent times prompted a number of long and reflective posts from some of the country's stalwart bloggers.
Enset came up with a thesis on the country's current political situation, focused on the health of its once-burgeoning opposition parties in Skepticism and delusion, shunning from reality:
The pre-election political process, the post-election political turbulence, and in general, the May 2005 election has radically revolutionized the concept of democracy in Ethiopia. For many generations, Ethiopians thought that political power is a gift from above; today, most Ethiopians believe that this gift [political power] is intended for them.
Today, the opposition camp is plagued by self made problems, lacks visionary leaders, and moves haphazardly with no clear line of attack. Every party, or political organization is entangled with contradictory personal agendas.
Weichegud! ET Politics poured out her anger in How ugly is politics? and How do you ask another generation to heal?
But her post of the fortnight was a warmer reflection on politics told through the tale of how her grandmother-in-law first discovered the concept of democracy. She wrote in AmlakE… feTariyE:
The grandmother-in-law just became a registered voter, goaded, by the way, by one of the great-grand children who came home from first grade after participating in mock mid-term elections.
Grandmother-in-law asked the grown-ups why they never told her about this thing– this voting thing. Grown-ups slinked away murmuring something about cleaning the gutters. Grandmother-in-law now thinks the fruits of her loins are rotten.
Grandmother-in-law now adds this line to her morning prayers: “AmlakE, feTariyE… dehnawun sew asmeriTeN…” Her nimble fingers speed through her rosary beads with assembly line efficiency. Rat-tat-ta-ta-ta…. “AmlakE feTariyE, ke erkuss sew sewireN. Antew ijEn yizeh asmeriTeN… Mela’ktoch, Emiye Mariyam.. ke innE gar teselefu.” (“My Lord, my Creator… save me from electing a heretic. Angels, Our Mother, line up with me as I vote.”)

author: Andrew Heavens


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Fiji: Pacifika RSS Feed · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ms. Vakaivosavosa has created a combines RSS feed of several noteworthy Pacific Island blogs. The blogger is inviting the readers to subscribe to the feed.


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Ghana: using robotics to teach creativity · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Timbuktu Chronicles writes about the use of robotics to teach creativity at Ashesi University in  Ghana.


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Greece: Blog censorship in Greece ahead of the IGF forum in Athens · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Currybetdotnet reports about the administrator of a Greek RSS aggregating service (blogme.gr) who was sued, arrested and jailed for hosting a link to a blog with allegedly offending content. This censorship case occurs days ahead of UN's IGF forum in Athens, which among other issues will be focusing on ‘Freedom of expression, free flow of information, ideas and knowledge‘.

author: Jose Murilo


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Guadeloupe/Martinique, France: Zouk Nostalgia · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reminiscing Martiniquan/Guadeloupean group Kassav's song “Zouk la se sel medikaman nou ni” [” Zouk is our only medicine”], France-based Oliviermr2 posts a graphic depicting a couple dancing zouk and writes (Fr): “With how cold it is right now, that would be very welcome.”

author: Alice Backer


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Guatemala: Marimba · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Chapinadas gives a Guatemalan-centric history of the marimba.


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Guyana: A tale of Eid and ice · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyana-Gyal tells a story involving and Eid-Ul-Fitr dinner, a lost cell phone and a bag of party ice.


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Jamaica: Butterflies · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Flickr user Honey Monster has a lovely photoset featuring Jamaica butterflies.


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Jamaica: Five Questions with Marlon James · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The latest installment in Geoffrey Philp's “Five Questions” series is an interview with Jamaican novelist Marlon James.


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Mexico: Teachers Return to Classrooms, APPO Wants Proof · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mark in Mexico says that all hell broke loose once the striking Oaxacan teachers voted to return to their classrooms: : APPO has begun to lock down the city. There were the usual charges of vote manipulation to which a union spokesman replied, ‘If someone's going to level such charges, he'd better bring some proof.’ My wife and children left by highway for safe haven in Puebla at 5:30 and as of 8:10 they were still stuck in traffic on the far northwest side of the city, in front of the Tec University. That's still about 5 miles short of Etla and the toll road to Puebla, usually a 20 minute trip, at most. I don't know yet if they're going to get out of the city or not.” Ana Maria Salazar discusse the Oaxaca conflict from the perspective of the federal government.


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Mexico: The Streets of Tijuana · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Following the murder of five businessmen within two days, Ana Maria Salazar asks why the world has seem to have forgotten about Tijuana. Meanwhile, on YouTube, a disturbing video of young prostitutes in Tijuana's Coahuila district has already attracted over 32,000 views. The comments following the video, predictably, are even more disturbing.


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Nicaragua: Total Abortion Ban · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jennifer Woodard Maderazo covers the controversial (and unanimous) decision by Nicaragua's parliament to implement a total ban on abortion. Costa Rican blogger Julia Ardón has reprinted a public letter signed by the Nicaraguan Association of Writers (ANIDE) [ES] demanding that exceptions be reinstated for women whose lives are threatened by pregnancy. The Nicaraguan weblog Abortar es Matar! (“To Abort is to Kill”) is clearly pleased by with the measure.


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Philippines: Reflections on blogging · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Solar power teaches journalism in the premier state university of the country. While he appreciates the potential of blogging in the democratization process, he underscores the need to filter information from the internet:
“These developments can be seen as empowering for people who want to use the Internet to get their message across to global online users. On the other hand, this situation implies that just about anybody can upload Internet content…The deluge of information on the Internet is not necessarily welcome news, as online users are exposed not only to false and misleading data, hoaxes and even fluff.”
His views on the relationship between blogger and journalist:
“It must be stressed that not all blogs can be considered journalistic outputs, in the same way that not all bloggers are journalists….It is imperative therefore for a blogger to know the principles and standards of journalism before calling himself or herself a journalist.”
Torn and Frayed in Manila on why blogging has little impact on Philippine politics:
“I think it will be a long time before blogs manage to muscle their way into the trapo (traditional politics)-dominated world of Philippine politics (or British politics for that matter). The leading Philippine political blogs reach a tiny part of an English-speaking elite (itself a minute fraction of the electorate) and I doubt whether they can even claim to have much of an impact on the political agenda. The many excellent Philippine blogs have made a huge and ever increasing contribution to Philippine intellectual life, but I can’t see blogging winning a Philippine election any time soon.”
This post generated an interesting comment which clarifies that universal internet connection will not necessarily mean increased political participation:
“Assuming all Filipinos had an Internet connection tomorrow, will that solve issues of political participation by the poor majority? No, because other social and political cleavages exist that act as barriers to collective political action. Things like the use of English as the main language of the medium–this is not an issue for countries like the US or Malaysia, for that matter, where the Internet acts to mitigate class, gender and ethnic differences, allowing people to use it to cooperate and mobilize for political purposes.”
My Liberal Times identifies the reasons why Filipino politicians don’t blog:
1. Cyberpolitics remains underdeveloped;
2. Political culture doesn’t favor blogging;
3. Politics is highly personalized, not issue-based;
4. Blogging doesn’t make strategic sense for politicians.
Peter Lavina has an additional reason:
“Maybe another important reason is the fact that many politicians simply cannot write. They talk in kilometric English but have difficulty in putting them down on paper in a simple way.”
A Nagueño in the Blogosphere believes “most politicians don’t even know what blogging is, and the huge potential it represents.”
Far from Neutral disagrees with some of the arguments raised by My Liberal Times:
“But the real reason politicians won’t blog boils down to one word: trust. Nobody trusts politicians. How can they? We’ve had centuries to learn not to trust those in power. You’re a politician? I automatically don’t trust you. Career politicians aren’t about public service, but self service.”
Out of my mind is one of the few bloggers who became a columnist for a mainstream national newspaper. Adarna’s Attic explains she has to write in English so that it can be understood by her ‘international blogger comrades’. Newsstand on someone he met at a book fair: “We had recognized each other in the real world because we blog.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Poland: Yet Another Party · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about yet another political party about to appear on Poland's political scene.


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Russia: TsUM, Golden Telecom, VTB · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare writes about shopping at Moscow's TsUM and the rebranding of Golden Telecom and VneshTorgBank.


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Senegal Elections: Everything but Wade · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reflecting on the upcoming presidential election, Blog Politique du Senegal writes (Fr): “In 2000 it was everything but Diouf, in 2007 it's everything except Wade.”


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Sudan: skin-color not the root cause of conflict in Sudan · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sudanese Thinker discusses the root causes of the conflict in Sudan, “The CBS documentary is cool but it fails like many other articles to describe the root causes of the conflict correctly. They’ve oversimplified it as a racist genocidal war by Arabs against Africans. While racism is definitely an element and the war has taken a genocidal nature, other important points are ignored and some are just plain wrong.”


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Tajikistan: Eyes on the Election · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Members of the United States Congress held a hearing yesterday on Tajikistan's upcoming presidential election. James of neweurasia was on hand and reports on the proceedings.


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Uganda: Anti-Corruption Week  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

I Have Left Copenhagen for Uganda writes about the Anti-Corruption Week in Uganda, “The theme for this year’s Anti-Corruption Week (ACW) is “Tackling Corruption in Universal Primary Education (UPE)”. The Anti-Corruption Week 2006 will take place between the 30th October and 5th November.”


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Ukraine: Another Wedding Video · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dykun posts a 2005 video from a wedding in the town of Pidhajtsi, Ternopil region of Ukraine.


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Uzbekistan: Thaw With Europe · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net notes an apparent coming thaw in relations between the EU and Uzbekistan.


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Bangladesh: A change in Government · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan on Bangladesh caught in the routine of changing governments. “The Bangladesh government led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the four party alliance ends their five year tenure today. Tomorrow the power would be handed over to the Caretaker Government. Controversial Chief Justice KM Hasan is scheduled to take oath tomorrow as the Chief adviser.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bangladesh: In the elections · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat takes a look at the forthcoming elections and makes some predictions. One of the more grimp scenarios – “There will be no check and balance. And in government there will be same atrocity, corruption and nepotism. Because there will be nothing but the same old wine in a new bottle.”


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Barbados: Sensationalism · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Eemanee criticises Barbados Free Press for demonstrating a “knack for sensationalism” in calling the Chairman of the Barbados Family Planning Association an “abortions provider”: “Let's not forget that the BFPA provides a range of needed services, such as pap smears, men's health services as well as Room 246, a drop-in room for young people.” (Abortions are also legal in Barbados).


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Bermuda: Cold front · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

As a cold front passes Bermuda, Shawn and Sue comment on Bermudians’ and their own attitudes towards cold weather: “Every year you are here I think you get “wussier” with respect to the cold.“


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Bermuda: PLP Election · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

GS at Pondblog offers an assessment of the results of last night's Progressive Labour Party election in Bermuda, in which Premier Alex Scott was beaten by Ewart Brown: “It wasn't a surprising outcome – Scott is an odd, dithering sort of man who ruled the roost, according to party insiders, by raising his voice. . . . Dr Brown has a reputation for getting things done, but also a reputation for sailing closer to the wind than some think healthy. He is said to have been a member, back in the day, of Bermuda's Black Beret Cadre, which modelled itself on the Black Panthers in the US, and he has a habit of declining to answer what he calls “plantation questions“.


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DRC Elections: Candidate Billboards · Global Voices
Alice Backer

After carefully breaking down the billboards of presidential runoff candidates, Sanaga Peregrinations concludes that Joseph Kabila stands for  peace and reconstruction and sends a message that he ‘belongs’ (he has long been accused of being a foreigner).  By contrast,  Jean-Pierre Bemba stands for security, justice and development while trying very hard to portray himself as presidential.


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India: Godesses drink wine · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mumbai Girl on Goddesses drinking wine, and custodians of religion. “Or is too much for their prudish, forever “insulted” minds to understand that their professed religion is actually far more liberated and unorthodox than they are? Not only does Durga drink wine, she drinks blood. As does Kaali. As does Lalita.”


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India: Post-Colonial Historians · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shashwati on Post Colonial Historians, crossing boundaries and “going native”. “Apparently crossing boundaries, including political ones is a different story for different people.”


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India: Right to Information · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Balancing Life on the right to information and meeting a campaigner for the same. “I was surprised to learn that the Right to Information was declared a fundamental right in 1976 by the Supreme Court, as embedded within the right to freedom of speech. That was 30 years ago. But till now, there hasn’t been any mechanism or machinery by which that right could be exerted.”


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Jamaica, UK: Bob lived here · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

JT at the Caribbean Beat weblog notes the addition of a plaque honouring reggae superstar Bob Marley to London's list of blue plaques designating landmarks associated with well-known figures: “It's been an interesting week for reggae in London, as officialdom takes a sudden new interest in the music. On Wednesday, the city mayor Ken Livingstone sponsored a “reggae summit” to start a discussion on how the early Jamaican reggae stars and sound system operators influenced the music and lifestyle of London and other British cities.“


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Kenya: blogger’s work used by Kenyan paper without his knowledge · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

This is what Kikuyumoja's Realm had to say to the Kenyan newspaper, Kenya Times, for using his work without notifying him, “Next time you are re-publishing my words, pls let me know. I know I can’t be mad with you kwani no one I know actually reads the Kenya Times….ama?” Last year, Kenyan blogger's work was plagiarized by one of East Africa's respected newspapers.


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Madagascar: Local Lit Classics Available Online · Global Voices
Alice Backer

New blog Actualite Culturelle Malgache  [Malagasy Cultural News] plans (Fr) to make malagasy historical texts available online and will email the first such offering — Charles Renel's  La Race Inconnue [The Unknown Race] — to anyone who asks. La Race Inconnue is a collection of short stories written during colonial times.


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Pakistan: Beards, Islam and Cricket · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A very interesting post and discussion at Pakistaniat discussing facial hair and cricket. “Given all the discussion about cricket and Islam (here), sooner or later we will come to beards and cricket and whether beards of a certain length or style are ‘religiously intimidating’ for some (related story here).”


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Russia: LJ and Politics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On October 25, International Herald Tribune published Evgeny Morozov's opinion piece on the recent developments in the Russian blogosphere. On his blog – Sharp & Sound: Perspectives On Modern Politics – Morozov wrote:
[…] I’ve been surprised how little coverage the story has received in the Western media…Hm, virtually none…
Russian bloggers, unlike the world media, have been all over the controversial Six Apart-Sup deal in the past few weeks – and some, including Maxim Kononenko (LJ user mrparker, creator of Vladimir Vladimirovich™ spoofs on Vladimir Putin), have also been monitoring what little is being written outside Russia. Never too congenial, Kononenko passed an extremely harsh judgment (RUS) on Morozov's piece – and Morozov provided a translation:
I’m honoured: Mr Parker, one of the most odious figures on the Russian blogosphere, has just awarded with “prize of the month” for “the most clinical idiotism, which can only be reached in analytic journalism”.
Coming from him, it’s equivalent to Nobel Prize in literature… ;-)
I’m anxious to see other prizes from the Russian bloggers.
[…]
What unnerved Kononenko was Morozov's assertion that Anton Nossik – LJ user dolboeb, “a former associate of Gleb Pavlovsky, the Kremlin's spindoctor” and the “chief blogging officer” of the company taking over LJ's Cyrillic sector – may be aiding the Kremlin “in destroying a viable and vibrant public forum.”
But Nossik is not alone in the Russian blogosphere when it comes to having ties to one of Putin's chief image-shapers: Kononenko co-hosts a political TV show with him, and there are also Marina Litvinovich (LJ user abstract2001) and Marat Guelman (LJ user galerist), who were both closely linked to the Kremlin and Pavlovsky in the past – and are in opposition now, to various degrees.
Guelman – a gallery owner, among other things – founded the Foundation for Effective Politics think tank together with Pavlovsky in 1995 (and Pavlovsky is still its president). Litvinovich – founder of PravdaBeslana.ru, among other things – served as the head of the Foundation's Internet department (Pavlovsky doesn't seem to have a blog).
Guelman has been having an eventful time lately. First, on Oct. 20, Russian customs officials at Sheremetyevo-2 airport seized 11 photo collages by Blue Noses that were being transported from the Guelman Gallery in Moscow to Matthew Bown's gallery in London. On his blog, Guelman posted reproductions of two collages created five years ago and depicting Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden lounging together in underwear (here and here). He also wrote (RUS) that the authorities were threatening to persecute him for offending the Russian president, and noted that some media, both local and international, were using his blog to gather information:
[…] Others called me and Matthew, but one way or another, 13 publications[,] two radio stations and [R]euters – [their] source was LJ. Who needs press conferences ;))
The following day, on Oct. 21, a group of men described as skinheads burst into Guelman's gallery, destroying paintings by an ethnic Georgian artist Aleksandr Dzhikia and beating Guelman up. In his journal, he later posted a brief note (RUS), which received 287 comments, most of them “get well” wishes:
;alive and in one piece)
LJ user mnog posted photos of the gallery after the pogrom (150 comments, RUS).
Litvinovich, like Guelman, had been attacked and badly beaten earlier this year; like Guelman, she posted a brief update on her blog shortly after the incident took place in March and received some 500 “get well” comments from her readers.
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow was following the story at the time and, among other things, he provided some background information on Litvinovich and her involvement with Gleb Pavlovsky:
Perhaps the powers-that-be are even more angry at Litvinovich because, years before her recent attempt to get possible Putin successor Sergei Ivanov booted from his job as Defense Minister, she seemed to be on their side. Without wanting to call her opposition cred into question, it seems relevant to mention that she got her start working for Kremlin spin-doctor Gleb Pavlovsky's Fond Effektivnoi Politiki, though, to be fair, I think back in '99 Pavlovsky wasn't considered to have gone over to the dark side – actually, back in '99, concern about the Putin administration becoming a “dark side” was rather muted overall.
Recently, Litvinovich has posted photos from her visit to Chechnya soon after the beating – here, here and here: ruins again and again, ads calling people to “come out of the shade” and pay taxes, Ahmad Kadyrov‘s monument in Grozny – “The only monument I know of a man with prayer beads.” On several photos, one can still see scars on Litvinovich's face.
Also recently, Litvinovich posted photos from her visit to the Korallovo children’s home and lyceum, founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. She wrote (RUS):
Have been to the birthday party of the Podmoskovny Lyceum in Korallovo. As you know, orphans live and study there. Including many children from [Beslan], orphans of [Nord-Ost], the fallen planes, children of the border guards, etc.
The lyceum is still under arrest. Nevertheless, they exist and continue to develop. Few people know, but the lyceum's motto is “Duty. Honor. Fatherland.” They say it as part of the lyceum student's oath, too.
Last I was there was three years ago, with Mikhail Borisovich [Khodorkovsky], a week before his arrest. Today, only [Khodorkovsky's mother] Marina Filippovna was there. [Khodorkovsky's fahter] Boris Moiseyevich was in the hospital.
The children performed a wonderful concert. If you are interested, you can see the photos I took (part 1 and part 2).
God willing, all should be good for them and the lyceum.


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Sri Lanka: Pay less if you’re a local · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

London, Lanka and Drums reflects on the practice in Sri Lanka of charging higher fees from tourists. “The Sri Lankan economy gains more revenue, many of the poorer local people are able to see sights and do things that they would never be able to if they had to pay higher prices and all are happy.”


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The Week That Was in Bahrain  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain's bloggers celebrated Eid this week, with many posting greetings on their sites or simply musing about the tradition.
While Mahmood Al Yousif thinks that “Eid this time seems to be spread through the whole week, rather than a single day where the whole nation celebrates!”, Silly Bahraini Girl took the opportunity to express her sense of loss and total lack of achievement as she continues to sulk.
“I still wake up early everyday and I seem to be busy the whole day and night but don't ask me what I do during all this time since I really don't have anything tangible to show for it.
I suppose I have mastered the act almost all civil servants are experts at .. seeming busy without having to show anything for their wages.
I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it.. but it doesn't matter. This wasn't the reason I logged on today. I just wanted to wish you a Happy Eid,” she rants.
With people busy celebrating and ranting, Bahrain continues to stifle freedom of expression by shutting yet another website, bringing the number of blocked sites in the tiny kingdom to 10.
“It appears that someone who is really shaking in his boots and deems it very necessary to protect us from ourselves and protect the country from those nefarious people hell bent on toppling the government has done the right thing™ and blocked…
1. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights website…
Well done! I am sure the blocking of these sites will contribute greatly to the country's standing in the Freedom of the Press index, the Human Rights index (which Bahrain actually is on that council in the UN!!) and will also assist Shaikha Haya bint Rashed Al-Khalifa in her role as the PRESIDENT of the United Nations and gain her and Bahrain even more respect and credibility to continue to be in that role,” writes an angry Mahmood.
Back in Bahrain, Bint Battuta is waking up to the reality of being a woman in a men's world! It isn't an easy feat, especially when you have gossiping neighbors and relatives, who interfere in every small step you take and obsessed men, who cannot control themselves in front of women.
Since coming back I have been staying at a Bahraini friend’s house; she’s out of the country, and she kindly offered to let me stay there while I look for a flat. In those few days one of my friends visited me twice. He’s also a friend of her family, we were never alone in the house, and I never imagined – stupidly, I realise now – that it would be a problem (how many years have I lived in the Middle East?!). But whether thanks to nosy neighbours or gossiping servants or relatives with nothing better to do, news was delivered to my friend abroad that I was being a loose woman and bringing shame to the neighbourhood (I assume). She, in great embarrassment (because personally she doesn’t care what does or doesn’t happen under her roof), called our friend and asked that he didn’t visit anymore, because of the problems that might be caused by neighbours and relatives.
With too much time on his hand, Haitham Sabbah puts one and one together and announces that his blog attracts Desperate Housewives.
He has stumbled across a new ratings service, which has told him that his site was mostly attracting married women with children.
One of the interesting results I found about my blog (sabbah.biz) is that 80 percent of the visitors are females.
Sounds I'm sexy :)
Not really.
Looking closer, I found that 85 percent of them have children ages 6-17, which means that US housewives like my blog
Meanwhile, MSB is suffering from insomnia and can't seem to ‘fix’ her sleeping habit.
I sit there chatting to family and friends in the US & UK until THEY tell me that they're going to bed. Do I take that as a sign and get myself to bed?? Nope. I just look for something else to do to kill time.
It is now 9 am. I am still awake. I will go pass out for a few hours. Hope to resolve this matter tonight when I will ATTEMPT to go to bed early!
She isn't the only Bahraini blogger with this problem for SuperNitfah, who writes from the UK, raises the same concern.
I just got out of the shower, blow-dried my hair, and I still can't sleep.
I'm worrying too much over little stuff. This is bad.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Venezuelan Bloggers: A Lot More Than Politics · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Regular readers of the Global Voices “daily links” coming out of Venezuela are probably left with the impression that – just a month from presidential elections – the entire country, or at least its bloggers, are single-mindedly focused on politics. And while that may be understandably true of Venezuela's anglophone blogger contingent, it couldn't be further from characterizing the national blogosphere as a whole.
First piece of evidence:
That photo – and more than a thousand others like it – is from BlogStock 2006, hosted by Los Guaros on October 7 and 8 in Barquisimeto. But this was no local bloggers reunion. A caravan was organized that picked up blogger-partier passengers in Caracas, Maracay, and Valencia. And for two intense, intoxicated days the Venezuelan blogosphere went from this to this.
Topocho has a photo essay of the fiesta. Inti includes some photos of his own, but adds:
Aunque las imágenes dicen más que mil palabras. Hay momentos que se pueden agregar a esas imágenes unas cuantas cosas escritas. Sin duda, reunir personas en un lugar para festejar algo (lo que sea) siempre termina siendo divertido (o casi siempre). Pero si reúnes a una cantidad enorme de buenas personas, cámaras digitales, mucha creatividad, vas a vivir momentos realmente impresionantes, desde los chistes bastante “tecnológicos”, pasando por los mejores bailes y terminando con un concierto de rock, increíblemente único, especial, delirante y lleno de humor. Ojala pasáramos más tiempo así, dejando en casa la computadora y olvidándonos de la conexión a Internet, mirando a los buenos amigos a los ojos.
“EGG” admits he had too much fun at BlogStock 2006 and lends his support to a proposal by Crónicas de Zeitan [ES] to organize a similar event on the eastern side of the country. The jealously of those who were unable to attend was not just domestic. Writing from Mexico City, Eduardo Arcos chimed in:
Hoy mi amigo Inti Acevedo me dice: “así hacemos reuniones bloggers en Venezuela” y yo me sentí un nerd de mierda … y es que lo soy. Todavía me pregunto por qué no estuve en el BlogStock 2006 que hicieron en Barquisimeto, pero me queda claro dos cosas: los venezolanos son la bomba (las venezolanas mucho más) y el próximo año no me pierdo del BlogStock 2007.
If you too would like to take part in BlogStock 2007, keep your eyes on Eventos Blogueros [ES], a new blog dedicated to blogger meetups and parties throughout Venezuela.
Second Piece of Evidence:
While clerics in Zanzibar cancelled a beach party that was to celebrate Freddy Mercury's 60th birthday and while most Venezuelan bloggers were tipping their cups at BlogStock, still others braved a cold night in Caracas to pay tribute to the Queen frontman and help raise money for several causes.
Luis Carlos sums up the night [ES]:
La reunión en honor a Mercury contó con la presencia de Demoda en la logística, EE en el transporte y otros blogueros como Sikanda, Blogo, Superdharma, Awacate y su nena, Multivak, DovMd, Dra.Nanda, Currusa, Yadi y Diego…
Quede para el recuerdo la estrella que dejamos en el firmamento del cielo Mercury tras la donación a su fundación. Pero además la colecta subastada para la fundación de Itriago y para la madre de awacate, que ha sentado un precedente en la comunidad bloguera venezolana. Paralelo al Blogstock en Barquisimeto, se proyectaba una tributo a Freddie en la gran pared de la casa cercana al cielo para escuchar luego al grupo Madame.
- Sobre la identidad de una nueva raza: la madre de Salvador recibiéndonos con un cálido y sonreído (voz de madre): “¡Blogueros!”… para estrecharnos con cariño automático.
- “Es que si no tienes blog no eres nadie”, frase de Salva a las amigas de Demoda que no sabían de dónde habíamos salido.
At the same time as Blogstock in Barquisimeto, a tribute to Freddie was projected onto the large wall of a house close to the sky. Later we heard [Queen covers] by the group Madame.
– About the identity of a new species: Salvador's mother receiving us with a warm hug and smiling (in a mother's voice): “Blogueros!” … embracing us with tenderness automatically.
- “Because if you don't have a blog, you're a nobody,” a phrase of Salvador's to the friends of “Demoda” who had no idea where we came from.
Final Piece of Evidence:
Just one week before both BlogStock and the Freddy Mercury tribute party, Iria Puyosa organized a friendly blogger meetup in the Chacao neighborhood of Caracas. If you go to the Flickr page of the above photograph, you can visit the weblog of each person in attendance by mousing over their face.
Puyosa, in her inimitable style, rounded up the evening's conversation [ES]:
Zinnia Martínez nos contó que su trabajo con las bitácoras le trajo una llamadita de la Policía de Miranda. Tranquilos. No es necesario que se ponga a hacer un botón que diga: ¡Liberen a Zinnia, ya! La llamada del comandante de la Policía de Miranda fue para ofrecerle a Zinnia la responsabilidad de un proyecto de desarrollo bitácoras vecinales que puedan ser utilizadas por las comunidades para denunciar los problemas de seguridad y proponer soluciones. Ojalá se concrete el proyecto. Un paso hacia una acción policial coordinada por los ciudadanos.
En lluvia de ideas, surgió la propuesta de hacer una historia de la blogosfera venezolana, tarea que decidimos democráticamente encomendar a Luis Carlos Díaz. Tendrá que hacerlo en cuanto termine su tesis y aprenda a usar WordPress.
También hablamos de proyectos fuera de la red. Carlanga nos dio un teaser del largometraje que piensa rodar el próximo año.
During the shower of ideas, someone proposed a history of the Venezuelan blogosphere. We decided democratically that the task should be entrusted to Luis Carlos Díaz. He'll have to do it as soon as he finishes his thesis and learns how to use WordPress.
We also spoke of projects away from the net. Carlanga gave us a teaser of the feature length film that he's thinking about shooting next year.
It was clearly an evening of fruitful conversation mixed with jovial laughter. I asked several of the bloggers in attendance if they thought that weblogs encouraged or discouraged political partisanship. “They definitely help you understand the perspectives of those who have other political viewpoints,” everyone agreed. It was the only time politics was brought up all evening. When I mentioned the website We Feel Fine, which aggregates the feelings of bloggers around the world, I wondered aloud which country has the happiest blogosphere. “We do, definitely,” everyone yelled in chorus. I'm not one to disagree.


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Bangladesh in Turmoil · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh is going through turbulent times as the row over an interim caretaker government chief persists who will lead the country towards the upcoming parliament election in January 2007.
This unique caretaker government (CTG) system adopted in Bangladesh constitution worked in past three elections. However this time the opposition parties led by Awami League (AL) and its fourteen party alliances were protesting that the designate Chief Justice KM Hasan not to be allowed as Chief of CTG because his past involvement with the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and because of the government's deliberate attempts to keep him in this position by
extending the retirement age of the judges. They claimed that Hasan was too close the government and have accused the outgoing administration of trying to rig elections. Drishtipat group blog has details on the crisis.
On October 27, the Bangladesh government comprising of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the four party alliance ended their five year tenure. In recent times the ruling coaltion was battered by constant opposition protests crippling the country, failure to curb price hike and inflation and mishandling the power and energy sector as demand increased supply, and some dissidents within the party.  Former president Badruddoza Chowdhury and a former dissident of BNP and 24 dissident active BNP members led by Oli Ahmed MP formed a new political party called Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) couple of days ago. They have accused the government of carrying out widespread corruption, alleged absence of democracy in the party and supporting the Islamic fundamentalists.
Bangladesh is passing through anxious moments as the events develop. On Saturday 28th Thousands of protesters blocked roads into the capital of Dhaka Sunday as they awaited the word on who would take his place.
Violence erupted in many places across the country as the oppositions protest continued. The protesters had stabs and oars in their hand as prescribed by their party leaders and were put in use as their rage went on when they were attacked by police or the ruling coalition supporters. Bangladesh was in turmoil as 18 persons reported killed and more than 2,000 injured in total. Shahidul News has some first hand pictures of the clashes.
Drishtipat Group blog and The Third World View have updates of the crisis and are providing backgrounds and discussions of ordinary Bangladeshis. Drishtipat urges every Bangladeshi not to be emotional with the current proceedings and try to be sane in tackling the issues.
The events took a dramatic turn on 28th of December as Justice KM Hasan refused to take oath “for greater interest of the country”. This has prompted President Iajuddin to call BNP and AL to talks. Then in a surprised move the Presdent Iajudding Ahmed offered himself to be the chief adviser after AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil and his BNP counterpart Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan could not agree on any former judges to head the caretaker government.
Sheikh Hasina, chief of Awami League rejected the offer outright and urged the president to follow the constitution.
Dhaka anxiously waited today to know what decision the President takes. Nazim Farhan Chowdhury of conversation with the optimist analyzes who may be next.
The general Bangladeshis are disgusted with the political acrimony of the two major players who have divided the country rather going forward in unison.
Blog-A-Rythm proposes that BNP and AL leaders should be awarded Nobel acrimony award for turning the peaceful country into chaos in just 14 hours.
In a latest development President Iajuddin Ahmed took oath as the Caretaker government chief at 20:00 hours Bangladesh time despite strong objections by the Awami League and allies.
Rumi of Drishtipat comments:
“Here is how democracy dies. Here is how BNP turns into an autocratic party. Good Bye democracy (whatever we had).”
People are contemplating that Army may soon take control to calm the situation. It need not be a coup but the president may declare state of emergency. Earlier it was predicted that Army is reluctant to get into the mess.
In the event of an emergency or martial law, the first casualty is information. The media will be shut down and internet blocked. Somewhere in, a software company and owner of the wap-internet based site Awaaj has taken a revolutionary step. Now people of Bangladesh can send news to the world via sms using their mobile phone. Drishtipat Blog has details to send information to the world if the internet is down.


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China: cross cultural communication · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen in DANWEI translated an article by Yu Qui-yu, a famous contemporary writer and critics, about the challenges on cross cultural communication for Chinese.


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China: first gay and lesbian association in China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Li yin-he reports that the first gay and lesbian association has been successfully registered as a legal organization under Zhongshan university in Guangdong (zh).


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China: free hugs · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shang pei-jin in Shanghaiist reports that in Beijing, Changsha, and Xi'an, a certain group of people has decided to take on what they see as the coldness and apathy of human relations in the big city — by giving out free hugs.


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IGF in Athens: searching globally for the Internet’s common ground · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

The first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum – IGF, which aims to be a a place for a “multi-stakeholder policy dialogue”, starts tomorrow, going from 30 October to 2 November in Athens, Greece. The idea of the forum emerged during last year's meetings of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis which sought to be an alternative to the stalemated  debate about the future constituency and role of the all powerful ICANN, or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
Approximately 1300 participants are estimated to attend the workings of the meeting, one third of which are state representatives (84 different delegations of countries), while the other two thirds consist of representatives from the civil society and the private (business) sector.
What Will Be the Outcome of the Internet Governance Forum Meeting in Athens? – CircleID
‘The Internet has become a global commons, providing a uniform platform for commerce, communications, debate and research for all nations. But, with the rapid rise in Asian Internet users, the Internet runs the risk of becoming balkanized’, Nitin Desai, chair of the U.N.’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF), warns. Speaking at a conference hosted by Nominet, the UK body in charge of domain names ending .uk, Desai pointed in particular to a problem that could lead Asian nations to break away from the current Internet structure and create their own, separate Internet: most Asians don’t know the Latin alphabet, the basis of all domain names. [mp3 files]
U.N. Official Warns of Internet Balkanization – IP & Democracy
In order to delve deeper into the meaning of this “multi-stakeholder policy dialogue”, the Australian Jeremy Malcolm is developing a thesis where he suggests that the IGF model is a completely new approach. He is promoting his vision in a wiki and in a blog, trying to broaden the reach of the debate. In fact, choosing Athens –“the cradle of western democracy”– as the IGF's host city may suggest that a new model of democratically networked policy making is being born, or at least longed for. This could be a political system that promotes the perception of the network as a world of ends with a center empty of content and agendas but, nevertheless, a center which could perform the role of guardian of the free flow of conversations. In spite of such promise, mainstream commentators still see the IGF as a naive, though well intentioned, venue where “everyone talks, but no one listens.”
This paper describes how the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), recently established under the auspices of the United Nations, might participate in the development of public policy on Internet-related legal issues, using a governance model … geared towards the achievement of consensus on legal norms for the Internet by an open and informal deliberative process in which the role of civil society is not subordinated to that of governments. It is theorised that such a model is better suited to the distinctive cultural and architectural features of cyberspace than a hierarchical model that would provide governments or intergovernmental authorities with a pre-eminent role.
Civil Society's Role in the Collaborative Development of Transnational Law within the Internet Governance Forum – Jeremy Malcolm
Sadly, this seems unlikely to be achieved, largely because the IGF is only a talking shop and has no power of its own. It was the sop thrown to the online community by national governments who were unwilling to give up any real power over the network during the debate in Tunisia, and no-one with any real authority is obliged to listen to what it says. There will be fine words spoken and important commitments are bound to be entered into, but behind the self-congratulation and sense of achievement the impact is likely to be minimal
Everyone talks, but no-one listens – Bill Thompson in BBC Techonology
In the begining of October an article on The New York Sun set a tone and, as many bloggers assented, it transmitted a general skepticism of American cyber-activists in regard to the IGF. Indeed, there is often negative feedback from US bloggers when some new international effort is made to put Internet governance into debate. It seems like even a vague suggestion of governments’ interference frightens the geeks who actually made the Internet and keep it running. Sometimes they appear to be more scared of governments than they are about multinational corporations.
The UN taking over the internet. That should really, really, really worry anyone with half a brain. Currently, the internet is governed by ICANN, a private organization which has virtually no real oversight, but pays lip service to the US in tht area. Kofi Annan has pushed initiatives to give governance of the internet to the UN. Imagine that political mess governing speech on the internet.
This Should Scare You – Blue Crab Boulevard
The IGF, being a spin-out from the UN is a government-o-crat playground. And from what I've seen it seems that one characteristic that cuts across all government-o-crats, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, is that they hardly deign to consider mere humans as much more than ants at a picnic. They do, however, seem to have rather more esteem for industrial interests. Indeed, for some governmental delegations, particularly that of the US, the question of whether industry is government's marionette or vice versa is very much open to question, with the smart money being on industry as the master of puppetry.
On the Eve of the IGF/Athens – CaveBear Blog
Finding common ground over such a loaded word as ‘governance’ and its natural corollary ‘government’ among each and every country in the world seems quite impossible to achieve, especially because you have as many kinds of governments as you have kinds of people. But isn't the gathering of so many different tribes already a happening capable of advancing social movements? For example, to Amnesty International activists the IGF seems like a perfect occasion to promote the freedom of expression agenda, and the Greek government has unintentionally helped to create the perfect stage for this to manifest.
Bloggers are being asked to show their support for freedom of expression by Amnesty International. The human rights group also wants web log writers to highlight the plight of fellow bloggers jailed for what they wrote in their online journals. The organisation said fundamental rights such as free speech faced graver threats than ever before. The campaign coincides with the start of a week-long UN-organised conference that will debate the future of the net.
Blog Free Speech under threat? –  Trepidation
It wants to make the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) lobby the UN to “act as a debating body for national net policies”, helping bloggers and anyone expressing their “freedom of speech” rights do so without persecution.
Blog Challenge: Blog About Those Who Dare to Speak Out – Lorelle on WordPress
There are several reports that the Greek authorities arrested a man for linking – not writing, but linking – to blog posts that had satirised a businessman (possibly a TV evangelist). The businessman complained to the police and the police picked up the adminstrator of blog aggregation site blogme.gr – and charged him.
Update: The man arrested was Antonis Tsipropoulos and the target of the satire was Dimosthenis Liakopoulos – a controversial Greek tele-evangelist. The satire site that mocks Mr Liakopoulos can be found at funel.blogspot.com, but since it is hosted in the US, neither the Greek authorities nor even Mr Liakopoulos can get at it. What Mr Tsipropoulos has been charged with, god only knows. But this is a spectactular own goal by the Greek authorites on the eve of the IGF. Particularly since making a crime of linking to someone else’s content is pure, and legally foolhardy, censorship.
Greek blog aggregator arrested – kierenmccarthy.co.uk
It seems that the Greek state has joined that illustrious list of enlightened regimes that feels that it can use the full force of the law to gag bloggers who have unpopular opinions. The owner of a Greek blog aggregating service www.blogme.com is being sued for hosting a blog with some satirical material about a famous person. Antonis Tsiropoulos, Blogme's administrator was arrested and hauled off to the spend the night in jail and later to taken in handcuffs to the District Attorney. This is akin to arresting the owners of Technorati or Google as they hosted something you disagree with.
Protest email – Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ
The IGF is starting tomorrow, and we hope it fulfills it's role of inaugurating an inclusive and innovative dialogue. From my perspective, as a Brazilian and as a blogger and as one who knows the importance of cordiality and relationship, the great opportunity here will come as the fresh and excited new “ends” of this ever expanding global network meet “close and personal” within a non-hierarchical arena. The challenge for the “admins”, the ones responsible for the maintaining the core structure, is to preserve and protect an open center guaranteeing the free flow of  conversations. In order to do that, the “admins” will have to be open to a real discourse with all new “users”.
I see the IGF as a laboratory, as a great study and, possibly, as a birthing ground where many new approaches may come into manifestation. For its part, the UN may have the opportunity to discover new models for the accomplishment of its role in the world. But all this is speculation. There's only one way to find out. Let's get to work.


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Japan: sex’s trade · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“It is expected that in 2007 the sex industry in Japan will surpass the car manufacturing industry in terms of gross capital net gains”, reported by Alexpappas in Japundit.


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Prominent Bahraini Blog, Blocked! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

It's official, Mahmood's Blog (http://mahmood.tv) will be blocked effective immediately, by the orders of the Bahraini Ministry of Information.
Together with 6 other web sites (listed below), the official memo was delivered to all the ISP's in Bahrain this afternoon.
Mahmood Al-Yousif, is a prominent Bahraini/Arab blogger. His blog is the most famous one in Bahrain. His blog tagline read: “intelligent… informative… and fun!” and it is. he was until a while one of the Global Voices Authors. His intelligent post added a lot to on the coverage of the Bahraini Blogsphere.
Immediately after Mahmood made the announcement, he received endless support calls from friends all around the world. He was interviewed in at least three Bahraini daily newspapers and his news will be published tomorrow in Al-Wasat, GDN and Bahrain Tribune. Several letters went out to some NGO's to support unblocking Mahmood's Blog.
Few hours after Mahmood published the official memo, his blog is going up and down due to unexpected bandwidth load from visitors and supporters.
Following is a list of the web sites ordered to be blocked in today's official memo:
http://www.annaqed.com
http://freecopts.net
http://arabchurch.com
http://www.ladeeni.net
http://www.albawaba.com
http://kurdtimes.com
http://mahmood.tv
Among the above list, only Mahmood's blog is a Bahraini. Other web sites vary between news, religious and entertainment web sites.
Usually, no explanation is given to the web sites owners about the reason their web sites are blocked. However, looking at the official memo, it refers the press law no. 47, passed in 2002, which then added further restrictions on freedom of expression including the prohibition of “defamation of the person of the king and royal family members.” On 24 April, 2005, the Information Ministry issued a decree instructing web site and blog moderators of any site that included information on Bahrain to register with the Ministry and to assume responsibility for all materials published online.
In the past, authorities have blocked access to a number of political sites, including those of opposition groups, because the officials claim that these sites incite “sectarianism” and contain “offensive content.” The criteria for making such determinations, though, are not clear. In some cases, the Ministry of Information claimed it blocked only sites that seek to “create tension between people and to provoke resentful sectarianism.”

author: Haitham Sabbah


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South Korea: U.S pressure on new foreign minister · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Robert Koehler in Marmot's hole reports that local newspapers in South Korea suggested that the U.S government has been giving pressure to Roh for appointing Song Min-soon (the present  presidential adviser) as the new foreign minister.


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South Korea: witchhunt? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kotaji reports that the national security in South Korea started to prosecute Democratic Liberal Party's members for spying for North Korea.


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Arabisc: Sexual Harrassment and the Egyptian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

After a month of abstinence (from sex naturally) during daylight hours in the Holy month of Ramadhan, a mob of sex starved Egyptians decided to celebrate Eid by attacking and sexually harassing women on the streets of Cairo.
The first the incident was made public was during a television show, posted on You Tube by Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas. From what I gathered from reading blogs, women were attacked by mobs, who touched them up, hit them and tore off their clothes in the busy Cairo streets. While others were lucky to take refuge in shops, some were pulled out of taxis, where the orgy continued.
The mobs became more organized on the second day of Eid, following sporadic attacks on the first, with the police keeping a safe distance as if it wasn't their business.
Blogger Malek gives us a chilling account of the abuse he witnessed.
فوجئنا بفتاة في أوائل العشرينات تعثرت على الارض والتف حولها عدد كبير من الشباب يقومون بتحسس اجزاء جسدها ونزع ثيابها عنها
لم افهم او لم استوعب بمعنى ادق ما يحدث قامت الفتاة مسرعة مره اخرى وحاولت الركض في اي اتجاه الى ان رأت مطعما سوريا يدعى المضيفة او شئ من هذا القبيل ودلفت الى الداخل وحاوط الشباب المطعم ولم ينصرفوا الا بعد ان صاح اخر (في واحده تانية قدام ميامي
ركض الجميع اتجاه شارع طلعت حرب مره اخرى ووجدت هناك فتاه محاصرة تماما داخل دائره محاطة بمئات من الشباب يحاولون ان يتحسسوا جسدها وينزعوا عنها ملابسها انقذ الفتاه هذه المره سائق تاكس قام بإركابها لكن الشباب لم يدعوا التاكس يمر وشكلوا حوله دائره
مره اخرى تدخل بعض اصحاب المحلات وقاموا برش المياه على الشباب وجذب الفتيات الى داخل المحلات
Malek, whose post has other incidents which he witnessed, said he and his friends were forced away from the scene.
الصور التي اخذت لم تكن دقيقة بما فيه الكفاية ولم تظهر حالات الانتهاك كما يجب لانه عند كل حالة انتهاك كان يتم تشكيل دائرة ضيقة جدا وتكون الفريسة في داخل الدائرة ولا يرى احد ما يحدث بشكل جيد
The attacks he had witnessed left Malek with more questions than answers.
Malek, who was also at the scene on the second day, was also surprised at the lack of police intervention.
لم يكن هناك ا ي تدخل امني على الرغم من وجود قوات امن مركزي بجوار جامعة الدول العربي وبجوار السفارة الامريكية الذين لايبعدون سوى 5 دقائق سيرا على الاقدام من مكان الاحداث.
كان هناك اليوم تطور في الأداء بعد ان كان بالامس مجرد هجوم عشوائي اصبح الشباب يشكلون قطارات بشرية ويقتربون من الفتاة بسرعة ويحاوطونها تماما ويبدأون في التحسيس على أجزاء جسدها .
For many sexual harassment comes as a shocking despicable act, but according to illustrious Egyptian blogger Ala, “everybody knows it's prevalent but denial flows like a river in Egypt.”
Why is sexual harassment bugging the Egyptian blogosphere as I am writing this? Why has it united almost all Egyptian bloggers under one theme, which has generated scores of posts and hundreds, if not thousands of comments, over a few days? Why is it making all those people tick? Was the attack of a mob on girls during the Eid festivities because of religion, poverty, drugs, corruption, unemployment or lack of human rights, freedom and democracy in a country with a population of 70 million and growing? Well, according to Egyptian bloggers, it could be all of the above.
According to Ala, it could be the start of a new Egyptian folklore.
Radwa, who witnessed incidents on the second day of the attack, tried to analyse it differently. At first, she reacted to the incident with shock and horror.
Back in the safety of her home, Radwa reflected on the youth involved in the attacks as well as the victims fleeing the scene.
Radwa is at a loss in what brings all those men together in this brutal attack on women.
Radwa doesn't hide her disappointment at the lack of media coverage of the attacks.
From Mansoura, Gemy Hood, bring another link to the story, which is truely shaking the Egyptian blogosphere.
Gemy lists other incidents in which girls were harassed and then urges women to protect their rights by not keeping silent.
Meanwhile, Bint Saad, attempts to analyse the situation as a social phenomena that has always been there.
Bint Saad says a number of factors contributed to the chaos witnessed during Eid.
فلا اجد سوى ان اقول . اللهم ارفع غضبك و مقتك عنا
Amen.


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Armenia: Parliamentary Election Monitor · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian has posted his first Armenian parliamentary election monitor, a weekly roundup of news regarding the coming election.


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Belarus: News Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about yet another arrest; prize for Milinkevich, and the Belarusian language museum.


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Belize: Dangriga Town · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Nyasha Lang reports on a visit to Dangriga Town, Belize, where she visits a radio station run by a Garifuna perfomer and learns how easy it is to fall into the habit of wearing several hats.


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Bermuda: Dr. Brown’s opportunity · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Valentine Michael Smith leaves aside satire for a moment and considers the opportunity that lies before Bermuda's newly elected Premier, Dr. Ewart Brown.


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Brazil: Lula Cruises to Big Victory · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Publiu's Pundit reports that Brazil’s incumbent President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva has cruised on to an easy victory in Brazil’s runoff election. With 94% of the tally counted, the final score was 61-39, a very strong showing.


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Brunei: New GDP Figure · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The guest blogger at Brunei Resources explains why the new GDP figure for Brunei is both a good news as well as bad news.


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Bulgaria: The Tripoli Six Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Declan Butler posts an update on “the buildup of international pressure” in the Tripoli Six case.


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Caribbean: Say no to monarchs and “faith schools” · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Yesterday, he advocated that those Caribbean islands that haven't yet done so detach should themselves from the British monarchy. Today, Jeremy Taylor makes the case for the abolition of “faith schools”.


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China: Ancient Chinese sex advice · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Alan Baumler at China history group blog goes into the text of Sunu jing–The Classic of the White Girl, to discuss about Chinese thought.


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Czech Republic: Another Scandal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Arellanes.com translates another article on yet another political scandal.


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Estonia: History · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's history.


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Ethiopia: clash over trademark · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethan discusses the clash between the Ethiopian government and Starbucks over trademark, “Last year, the Ethiopian government filed trademark applications to protect the names “Sidaro”, “Harar” and “Yirgacheffe” – the hope was to prevent unscrupulous coffee dealers from buying inexpensive beans from other countries and selling them as “Sidaro”, whether or not they emerged from the region.”


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Hong Kong: where have all the trees gone? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dave and Stefan notice that tress from Nathan road at Kowloon Peninsular have been disappearing gradually over the past decades. So where have all the trees gone?


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India: Adopting a child from Malawi · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

30in2005 on the recent media frenzy over Madonna adopting a child. “As she lives here and apparently wanted to adopt a child why couldn’t she have done so here (country of her husband Guy) or in America (her own country). Are these children not needy enough or is it that the media frenzy is greater with an African child? Children are not accessories and I fear no matter how noble the intention, by doing this she has created an ill required storm.”


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Iran: UN Resolution Targets Iranian Students · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian Truth discusses the current draft Security Council resolution on Iran which states, in part: “all States shall prohibit specialized teaching or training of Iranian nationals, within their territories or by their nationals, of disciplines which would contribute to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program”, The blogger says the expansive and broad language of the resolution and the potential impact it may have on innocent students and families is breathtaking. This is nothing short of a resolution designed not only to cripple Iran's nuclear program, but Iranians altogether, regardless of their association with the current government.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Mediocrity · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“We are the people of the plateau—we work as much as is necessary to reach a flat, safe place,” says Jamaican novelist Marlon James of his compatriots. “Then we stay there for thirty years.“


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Jamaica: Striking it rich · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Francis Wade considers what could happen if Jamaica were suddenly to strike it rich.


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Japan: confession service · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lee at Tokyo Times introduces a confession service in Japan. Most of the clients are men in 30s who want to express their love but are afraid of being rejected.


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Kazakhstan: Dariga · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Dan O'Huiginn profiles Dariga Nazarbaeva, the politically powerful daughter of Kazakhstan’ president.


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Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan: A Big Week · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts notes that next is a big week for three Central Asian countries. Three very different events will take place that show how different their politics have become since independence from the Soviet Union.


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Kazakhstan: Social Business Corporations · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZBlog reports on Kazakhstan's plan to found “social business corporations” in the country's regions to drive economic growth and meet social needs. Though the idea behind them is seemingly similar to “social entrepreneurship,” KZBlog notes that no one seems too interested in the social end of the things with the SBCs. Rather, these will be businesses that capitalize on state property to create profits that will fulfill certain financial obligations of the state.


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Kazakhstan: Unfree Speech · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, Leila translates a Russian language post on press freedom in Kazakhstan.


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Kenya: Nairobi in October · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“I have not been in Nairobi in October in a long time and the explosion of colour has caught me by surprise. Well it isn’t really an explosion of colour but an explosion of purple,” writes Mental Acrobatics.


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Kenya: recognize gay and lesbian citizens · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A statement in support of gay and lesbian citizens of Kenya, “It is time to scrap the laws that the British imposed upon us and left us with, laws that the colonizers themselves scrapped long ago. Let Kenya move out from the shadows of her colonial past and recognise the rights of her gay and lesbian citizens.”


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Kenya: the art of positioning in Kenyan politics · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

You Missed This explains why the president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, has already won re-election, “Two gentlemen by the name of Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote what in my view is the most important marketing book ever written in the 60s called Positioning. This book changed marketing forever and every Kenyan needs to understand the basic principle behind positioning as presented in this book before it is too late. This is because the Kibaki campaign machine is about to steal an election based on this simple principle of marketing and human behaviour.”


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Korea: North Korea spy case · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Robert Koehler in Marmot's Hole blogs about the details of spy case against the general secretary of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and a former DLP central committee member.


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Kyrgyzstan: Corruption in Education · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tolkun Umaraliev reports on corruption in Kyrgyzstan's education system.


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Kyrgyzstan: Lack of Competence · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Mirsulzhan Namazaliev writes that both the government and the opposition in Kyrgyzstan are destabilizing the country by failing to engage in dialogue. He says that only well-known and respectable centrist politicians can fix this situation.


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Macedonia: Joining the EU · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River writes about Macedonia's plans to join the EU.


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Madagascar: 2nd Lit Classic Available Online · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Actualite Culturelle Malgache is working on making available through its blog (Fr): “A novel published in 1897 and authored by Adolphe Badin, Une Famille Parisienne a Madagascar Avant et Apres l'Expedition [A Parisian Family in Madagascar Before and After the Expedition ].” The blog explains: ” Of course the text should be read with a grain of salt: it is of its time and carries prejudices common to the end of the 19th century.”


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Mexico: The last moments of Bradley Roland Will · Global Voices
Sameer Padania

Journalism seems like a precarious profession to practise in Mexico.  It's ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist.
The latest tragic example of this came on Friday 27th October, in the southern state of Oaxaca, with the shooting of Brad Will.  Brad was in Oaxaca as a journalist for New York City Indymedia, trying to get stories out about the protests in Oaxaca (for up-to-date accounts and context of the crisis in Oaxaca, read my GV colleague David Sasaki's latest post).  While filming skirmishes between paramilitaries and protestors in Santa Lucia on Friday afternoon, Brad was shot in the abdomen and neck, and died from his injuries, prompting the CPJ to call on the government to investigate Will's death.  Now Indymedia has released the tape that was in Brad's video camera when he was shot.
It's a sixteen-minute video with English subtitles, and beware, the last minute (from 15'30) is very difficult to watch.  Click the picture below to launch the Quicktime video (there's a YouTube version without subtitles here).
There's more footage at Mexican opposition blog Hoy PG, which points to a piece of unidentified news footage of Brad Will shortly after he was shot – not for the faint-hearted.
It's a moot point whether these are human rights videos per se, but Brad's tape in particular ends so shockingly, and depicts with such brutal suddenness the risks run by those determined to bring human rights stories to light, that it demands to be seen.  But as one of the blogs David Sasaki quotes had it, there's a balance to be struck between outrage at the killing of Brad Will, and at the mounting number of local deaths and injuries.
Part of the reason that Brad was in Oaxaca was because there has been scant international attention paid to the growing crisis there.  But while cases like Brad's – involving attacks on journalists and human rights activists from information-rich societies – gain huge amounts of traction in global media, in this case bringing Oaxaca to the top of the news agenda, the far greater number of local journalists and human rights activists affected in similar ways rarely receive the same level of coverage.
Think back to Alive In Baghdad, which brought us the Iraqi Torture story a few weeks back, and which finds that its correspondents can receive harassment and intimidation, if not worse.  One correspondent, Marwan, was recently kidnapped by a militia group, possibly the Mahdi Army.  Iraq is an extreme example, but it's by no means the only example.
At the end of the information chain, all over the world, there are people working to bring to light human rights abuses, oppression, torture, genocide.  They are often working under difficult, extreme conditions, whether alone or in a group, undercover or in public, and often without a safety net.  They might be journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, doctors, mothers.  They often live in fear of repercussions, for themselves, or their families.  Most of the time, it's these people – the locals – who are threatened, attacked and imprisoned, rather than foreign correspondents or international human rights workers.  Brad Will was working with these people to tell their stories, and suffered a tragically similar fate.
Anyone already doing or supporting this kind of work should take note, and prepare accordingly.  The WITNESS manual Video For Change has a chapter on safety and security (PDF, 1.28 MB), an essential read for anyone going into similar situations.  The Rory Peck Trust, mentioned in the chapter, offers support to  “the families of freelance newsgatherers killed whilst on assignment [and] to freelancers who are unable to continue their work due to severe injury, disablement or imprisonment”, and works in Mexico, as well as South Asia and the Middle East.  Feel free to add other useful resources via the comments box.
As for Oaxaca, if you're interested in the background on the protests, in addition to David Sasaki's latest post, you could do worse than read previous updates:
David Sasaki on the original teachers’ protest in June 2006  |  Liza Sabater shows 8 videos from the June protests  |  October 10th: APPO says “Stay away from Oaxaca”  |  October 12th: More updates from Oaxaca-based bloggers  |  October 19th: More death in Oaxaca  |  October 27th: APPO locks down the city

author: Sameer Padania


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Nepal: Maoists and the People · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

BlogDai comments on the Maoists and the People. “An actual “People's Movement” is starting to take hold. For the first time, we see what appears to be mass, spontaneous outrage and intolerance of Maoist cruelty. Just a few days ago, thousands of citizens took to the streets in Jhapa in a mass display of disgust at Maoist atrocities.”


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Nigeria: poor air safety growing cause of concern · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Following the plane crash in Nigeria last week, Ore's Notes lists other recent plane crashes in the country, “Nigerians may have been deemed the “happiest people in the world”, but perhaps it's time we started facing our issues with a greater degree of seriousness and less laughter.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Pakistan: Halloween · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within on people in Pakistan celebrating Halloween. “The festival has recently become popular with children and young people in Pakistan and is especially celebrated in Lahore with delicious food and music.”


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Russia: War Memorial · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude posts pictures of a WWII memorial in Novgorod.


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Russia: Youth Extremism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about youth extremism.


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Serbia: The Referendum · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blog coverage of the referendum on the new Serbian constitution: at East Ethnia, here and here; at South East Europe Online, here; at Belgrade 2.0, here, here and here; at Dictionary of the Serbian Mess, here; and at Estavisti, here.


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Sri Lanka: Telecom and Conflict · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

LirneAsia on telecom in Sri Lanka suffering because of the conflict. “Now, Dialog and the people of the North are paying the price of the path of war.  For two months, the mobile networks have been shut down in the North, with service being allowed intermittently in the East.  This means that approximately 220,000 families are unable to communicate with their loved ones in the North and that another 200,000 or so families are not sure their phone will work when they most need it.  “


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Tajikistan: Democratic Split · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alexander Sadikov reports on divisions within Tajikistan's Democratic party which he says have developed into a political stalemate.


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Uganda: steamed blood for dinner · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

How about steamed blood for dinner?, “I think that is quite an overexcited statement. I lost my motivation on page 85 when I found this recipe on how to cook a dish called ‘steamed blood':
* ½ litre of blood
* ½ teaspoon salt
* Drain the plasma from the solid blood. Add salt. Place the blood in a metallic container with a cover or wrap in a banana leaf. Steam for 30 minutes. Cut in nice dices and serve as a side dish,” writes a Danish development worker in Uganda.


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Uzbekistan: Cannot Be Saved · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Shohruh says that China and Russia cannot save Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan.