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Israel:Blog Action Day for the Environment · Global Voices
Maya Norton

This post is part of Global Voices Online's contribution to Blog Action Day for Climate Change 2009.
As bloggers around the world geared up for October 15 to write about climate change and the environment, the Israeli blogosphere focused on a different date. This year, environmental organizations, activists, and perhaps bloggers as well, will mark October 24 as a day of climate change protest across the Middle East.
Events are being organized under the auspices of Friends of the Earth Middle East and 350.org. Activists in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria are all expected to participate. 350.org provides lists of regional protests, including one for Israel, while the Green Prophet blog supplies an additional list for all known Middle Eastern activity.
The name “350” sources from the idea that:
350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.
Our current count is 387.
Blog Action Day
A number of Israeli blogs have chosen to use Blog Action Day to bring the issue of climate change to the forefront, advocating for continued attention to the issue beyond the designated day.
JGooders promotes the Jewish Climate Change Campaign, urging readers to get involved with Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM), which begins on the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, starting October 19. JSAM, JGooders explains, will be commemorated by social action events in Jewish communities throughout the world.
While communities and environmental activists seek to raise awareness in the global community, what better way to get their ideas across than through images, videos in particular?
Alison Avigayil Ramer of Your Virtual Community Organizer posts “Top 10 Climate Change Videos for Change.org's Blog Action Day.” Among these is a video called “Flat,” by Israeli filmmaker Nitsana Bellehesen, which portrays the world in 2050. The video shows boys and their fathers visiting an exhibit dedicated to the female breast– which no longer exists due to the cancer induced by environmental and atmospheric toxins.
At one point, a boy points to a photograph in the gallery and says, “Look at that one. That baby is eating her breast.” The father responds, “Well, that's actually how babies used to be fed.”
While viewing of this powerful film is highly recommended, you should be warned that there is explicit nudity.
Ramer encountered the film, which was shown at the Breast Fest 2009: A Film Festival that Targets Breast Cancer, at the hub for social entrepreneurs where she works in Tel Aviv. She writes:
Web video can be an extremely effective way to raise consciousness about a sustainable business or cause. Video is a great interlude to all the text online and is relatively inexpensive to make, share and watch. The moving images and music can captivate an audience and convey thousands of words in just a few minutes. Especially today, now that we have numerous ways to share video on social networks and blogs, video has great potential to become viral and carry your business, non-profit organization or cause to thousands or even millions of viewers.
Note that while thinking about climate change can be disturbing, that feeling of discontent should lead to action, not apathy. At Judaism and the Environment in the Talmud, Carmi Wisemon, executive director of Sviva Israel, a prominent environmental organization, writes about the role of reflection in Jewish practice.
Israel and the Jewish world have just celebrated the holiday of Sukkot, in which they build huts where they eat meals with their families, spend quiet meditative time, and sometimes even sleep under the stars. Like Shabbat (the Sabbath), as well as many other Jewish holidays, Sukkot provides the opportunity to cease all action and think about our place in the universe.
Wisemon writes:
So this Sukkot [holiday], as we relax in our sukkot [huts], and admire the natural splendor of our lulavs and etrogs, think about the deeper meaning of the holiday.  We can all do our bit to prevent climate change, and that includes a 2,000 year-old tradition of praying for rain to fall– neither too little nor too much– in Israel, but also in the Philippines, Indonesia and even Atlanta.
On my own blog, The New Jew, which focuses on philanthropy and social innovation, I published a post on “Caring About the Environment, Jewishly.” There I share a speech by environmental activists who urge us to think about how the practices of traditional Judaism connect us to the natural world.
Shabbat– is an ecological treasure! A day to rest from shopping, manufacturing, driving!
Kashrut (keeping Kosher)– the idea that what we eat matters, that it’s upon us to minimize suffering of animals! We need to update this to take responsibility for the full impacts of what we eat, the stuff we buy, and what we put into landfills. We vote with our dollars and with our forks for the full story of our food and our stuff.
Brachot (the blessings over our food)- invite mindfulness of where our food comes from. To bless food we have to figure out whether it grew from the ground or a tree; from there it’s a short step to thinking of how it was raised, whether the people involved in getting it to us were paid a fair wage, whether its story helped or hurt our environment.
In keeping with the natural theme, Elisha at O'Sprinkles profers beauty through photography and reminds us what our fight is really about: growth and renewal in the natural world.
As you finish up October 15th, urge yourself to use Blog Action Day as part of a continuum. How can you reduce your carbon footprint, improve the way you use natural resources, and reassess your consumption patterns?
The Jewish Climate Campaign leaves you with some suggestions.

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: Can Tel Aviv Become a Biking Mecca?  · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Can Tel Aviv join the Netherlands and China as an ideal location for cyclists? Ami Vider of Tel Aviv Tomorrow discusses its potential.

source: news-globalvoices

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


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Israel: Charitable Giving at Every Level · Global Voices
Maya Norton

“The difference between being charitable and being a philanthropist is having a strategy,” writes Richard Marker in eJewish Philanthropy, explaining why “You Don't Need to Be Rich to be a Philanthropist.”


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Israel: Civil Marriage Good for Women’s Rights · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Elana Sztokman assesses how a new civil marriage bill would improve Israeli women's civil rights. She asserts: “Anyone who has encountered the real suffering brought on by this system cannot help but be in favor…”


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Israel: Exploring Hebrew’s Latin Roots · Global Voices
Maya Norton

BaLashon (On the Tongue) explores the Hebrew term kalgas קלגס, meaning soldier. He discovers Latin roots: “Caliga- Roman sandals, secured with nails (which made quite a bit of noise)- were apparently frightening enough to give their name to the Roman soldiers.”


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Israel: Future Gay Tourist Hub? · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Is Israel becoming a hub of international gay tourism, I Googled Israel ponders. He observes: “There is a clear trend definitely geared towards bringing in more gay vacationers and, to be more precise, their holiday dollars.”


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Israel: Sviva Israel is Best Practice in Social Media · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Sviva Israel as a best practice model in social media. Debra Askanase of Community Organizer 2.0 explains how in her case study: “How a Facebook Event Transformed an Organization.”


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Israel: What Other Countries Eat · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Daniel Lubetzky's Peaceworks blog posts photos of what countries around the world eat in one week. Each photo shows a family in their kitchen surrounded by a week's worth of food.


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Morocco: Banking fees uncovered  · Global Voices
Anas Alaoui

In a recent post, moroccan blogger Omar El-Hyani [Fr] explores banking fees in Morocco. He conducted a comparative review of major banks in Morocco based on the most common operations a bank customer is likely to perform.

author: Anas Alaoui


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Morocco: Blogoma participates in Blog Action Day · Global Voices
Anas Alaoui

Moroccan bloggers expressed their concern for the environment on Blog Action Day 2009, which focused on climate change this year.
The aim of the annual day, which falls on October 15, is to unite “the world’s bloggers in posting about the  		same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.”
The Blogma, as the Moroccan blogosphere is known, sprang into action with leading bloggers taking the podium to state their ideas on climate change and the environment.
Taha Balafrej [Fr], who writes about Moroccan environmental issues on Vues Du Maroc applauds the fact that a public institute such as the Moroccan Royal Institute for Strategic Studies is organizing an international conference about the effects of climate change on Morocco. He says:
C’est une initiative louable à plusieurs titres. D’abord parce que, de nos jours, il est inconcevable de prétendre parler d’avenir, de prospective, ou de stratégies des pouvoirs publics, sans affronter la problématique du climat. Et ensuite parce que l’initiative s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une réflexion soutenue visant à « suggérer des solutions adaptées aux défis que doit relever le pays en matière de sécurité hydraulique, alimentaire, sanitaire et environnementale ».
This is a praiseworthy initiative in several ways. First, because today it is inconceivable to argue about the future, forecasting, or strategies of government, without addressing the climate issue. And second because the initiative is part of a sustained reflection to “suggest solutions to challenges facing the country's water security, food, health and environment”.
In an other blog post, Balafrej warns about the danger of the authorities’ lack of attention on climate change. He writes:
Le Maroc se trouve dans une région vulnérable aux effets néfastes du changement climatique. Bien que peu émetteur de Gaz à effet de serre, le Maroc est menacé dans son avancement vers le développement et le bien être de ses populations. Il doit par conséquent rester attentif à l’évolution de cette question au niveau mondial, tout en étant actif dans le processus de négociation mené sous l’égide de l’ONU …
Morocco lies in a region vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Although low in its greenhouse gas emissions, Morocco is threatened in its progress towards development and welfare of its people. It must therefore be attentive to the evolution of this issue globally, while active in the negotiation process conducted under the auspices of the UN …
Bloggers who have participated in Blog Action Day addressed mainly the issues of energy and water supply.
Le blog d'Annouss [Fr] praises for more cooperation and a transfer of technology from developed countries to developing countries like Morocco. Annouss writes:
One of the big issues for Morocco is its dependance on foreign oil for energy. Moroccan government should address this issue with great ambition in order to reduce our dependance on foreign oil and take all advantage from our sunny lands and windy coasts. In 2008 renewable energy met 24% of Spain’s electricity demand … Why not develop clean energy policy in Morocco at a very large scale in cooperation with this european country. The advanced status that Morocco got with the European Union sould not be just a question of trade, immigration and fishing, it should also be a question of technology transfer and multilateral cooperation.
Indeed, this cooperation could see light as Omar El-Hyani [Fr] points out on his blog. In his contribution to Blog Action Day, Omar urges Moroccan authorities not to miss the green revolution – like it did with the industrial revolution and the numeric revolution. He states:
Le déclenchement pourrait probablement venir du projet Desertec qui a pour ambition d’investir 400 milliards d’euros dans la production d’énergie solaire à partir des déserts d’Afrique du Nord et d’Arabie, pour l’acheminer ensuite en Europe. Le projet est pour l’instant en cours d’étude, mais s’il viendrait à se concrétiser, ce serait un véritable tournant dans la production énergétique mondiale, jusque là très dépendante des énergies fossiles. Au Maroc, ce projet pourrait transformer la structure énergétique du pays. D’importateur d’énergie à 98% de ses besoins, le Maroc pourrait alors se transformer en exportateur.
The outbreak could probably come from Desertec project which aims to invest 400 billion euros in solar energy production from the deserts of North Africa and Arabia, for onward delivery to Europe. The project is currently under study, but should it see light, it would be a turning point in world energy production, until now heavily dependent on fossil fuels. In Morocco, this project could transform the country's energy structure. Importing energy to 98% of its needs, then Morocco could become exporters.
The second issue of water supply was addressed by Ibn Kafka [Fr], among others. The blogger focuses on the dependance of the Moroccan economy to agriculture and its need for water supply. Ibn Kafka writes:
L’enjeu pour le Maroc n’est pas seulement celui de la survie de son agriculture, mais également de son économie, tant l’agriculture – les agrumes plutôt – joue un rôle vital dans son commerce extérieur et ses rentrées de devises … De fait, le Maroc, aussi aride soit-il, exporte de l’eau: agrumes et tourisme, voilà les principaux consommateurs d’eau au Maroc. Le Maroc vend son eau contre des rentrées en devises, mais que fera-t-il quand son aridité sera telle qu’il ne pourra plus ni exporter des agrumes ni promettre piscines et golfs aux 10 millions de touristes ?
The challenge for Morocco is not only the survival of its agriculture, but also its economy, as agriculture – citrus rather – plays a vital role in external trade and foreign exchange … Indeed, Morocco, as arid as it is, exports of water: citrus and tourism are the main consumers of water in Morocco. The Morocco sells its water for foreign exchange earnings, but what will happen when its aridity is such that it can not export more citrus or promise pools and golf courses to the seeked 10 million tourists ?
The same concern was raised by Hisham on the Mirror Blog where he gave examples from his last visit to Morocco of the newest planned touristic projects, such as resorts and golf courses, that consume large quantities of water. Hisham wonders:
But the haunting question remains for developing countries like ours, on how we can hope for economic progress without damaging the environment or impacting on climate. It appears that the whole country took a pass on sustainability, obsessed as it is by economic growth, at any cost …
In the meanwhile, the sight of the Hawzi’ya forest being literally uprooted, left an enduring pain in my heart. No longer will I enjoy the reseeding scents of wild flowers, or the shades of an unacquired tree in a wild field, only a couple of miles north of home. Or maybe should I just resign to an inexorable reality?
Let's hope this will not be the case.
PS: For more information about climate change and its effects on Morocco, see Ibn Kafka‘s blog where he gives numerous references, documents and links.


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Morocco: Next Earth Day to be held in Morocco · Global Voices
Anas Alaoui

The next Earth Day, which falls on the 22nd of April, will be held in Morocco, reports Dominique Lagarde on the blog Nomades Express.


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Morocco: Praise for Islamic Finance · Global Voices
Anas Alaoui

In a recent blog post, Paris-based Moroccan blogger Larbi (Fr) takes a closer look at Islamic finance. He writes: “While global finance has collapsed and the world was plunged into a financial crisis like no other, a little village still resists to this wave. It is called: “Islamic Finance”. Crisis? Do not Know! Consider that in 2008, the assets of the 100 largest Islamic banks have increased by over 66% reaching a figure of $580 billion.”


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Namibia: Petition to end forced sterilisation · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A campaign has been launched to end forced sterilisation in Namibia: “A coalition of civil society organisations has called on Namibians to join a campaign condemning the sterilisation of women living with HIV without their informed consent.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Posts in Portuguese on Blog Action Day ’09 · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Today is Blog Action Day, the yearly event in which bloggers all over the world gather together to raise awareness on an issue. This year's topic is climate change, especially timely because of the upcoming UN Climate Conference in December in Copenhagen. Portuguese-speaking bloggers have been excited for weeks and have now published many posts to contribute to the cause.
The Brazilian bloggers from Esse Tal de Meio Ambiente [pt], Minas Ambiente [pt] e Coisas de Sampa [pt], for instance, have created a standard post for those who have no time to create their own posts for the Blog Action Day but still want to reach their readers with a relevant message. They have also launched the campaign “A day without a plastic bag”:
Você imagina o que acontece com as sacolas plásticas que pegamos nos supermercados para acondicionar nossas compras, quando as jogamos no lixo?
Algumas vão direto para aterros sanitários, onde levam mais de 300 anos para decompor. Outras, jogadas nas ruas, entopem bueiros e provocam enchentes nas áreas urbanas. Outra parte, ainda, é ingerida por milhares de espécies animais – em terra ou no mar – provocando-lhes asfixia e morte. As estimativas são de que, todos os anos, a ingestão de plásticos causa a morte de cerca de um milhão de aves marinhas, cem mil mamíferos e inumeráveis peixes.
Dia 15 de Outubro é o Blog Action Day, dia em que blogueiros de todo o mundo se juntam para mobilizar a sociedade em prol de uma causa. [..] nessa data um desafio é proposto: um dia sem sacola plástica. E aí? Vai ficar aí parado? Junte-se a nós. Mobilize. Faça parte desta ação.
Have you ever thought what happens to the plastic bags we grab at supermarkets to carry our shopping when we throw them away?
Some will go straight to landfills, where they will take 300 years to decompose. Others, left on the streets, clog manholes and cause floods in urban areas. Yet others are eaten by thousands of species of animals – both on land and sea – suffocating and killing them. It is estimated that every year, the intake of plastic by animals causes the death of about a million sea birds, a hundred thousand mammals and countless fishes.
October 15 is Blog Action Day, a day in which bloggers all over the world gather together to mobilize society for a cause. […] on this date, a challenge is proposed: a day without plastic bags. So? Are you going to stand still and do nothing? Join us. Join the mobilization. Do your bit in this action.
Fire in the Amazon Forest. Photo by Flickr user leoffreitas.
Blogger Aninha from O Divã de Einstein [pt] has based her post for Blog Action Day (#BAD09) on the B F Skinner book “What is Wrong with Daily Life in the Western World?”, depicting many cases in which people don't react to the climate change discussions because they don't feel like it, and won't necessarily experience the impact of global warming today.
She adds:
A solução está muito mais nas mãos dos que têm poder para mudar as regras do reforçamento do que na “vontade”, “consciência” ou “informação” dos indivíduos em particular, porque a situação requer uma mudança drástica e rápida dos comportamentos de muitas pessoas – ou melhor de TODAS as pessoas – ao mesmo tempo. Não temos tempo para esperar que o ambiente remodele os comportamentos, porque quando estiver quente pra dedéu, e todo mundo começar a se preocupar em fazer coisas que não aumentem ainda mais a temperatura, a coisa não terá mais como ser revertida. E é por isso que é tão importante pressionar os caras que têm o poder de mudar o ambiente imediato das pessoas: sobretaxando o uso de combustíveis fósseis, fazendo leis que diminuam a emissão de poluentes que aumentam o efeito estufa, investindo em produção de combustíveis alternativos e na mudança da matriz energética, educando a população para a diminuição do consumo, etc e talz.
É por isso que eu digo: Obama!! Já ganhou o Nobel, agora se mexe, meu filho!!!
On the other hand, the bloggers from Homens Modernos [pt] emphasize that although most of the responsibility for the environment rests with the governments, ordinary citizen can make a difference too:
Não preciso nem dizer que mudança climática não é somente uma lenda urbana mas sim uma realidade em progresso que pode (ou não) vir a ter consequências desastrosas pra nós se ficarmos sentados de braços e pernas cruzados sem nada fazer pra reverter ou amenizar o quadro. Sim, claro que uma fatia grande deste fazer cabe aos governos do mundo, mas isso não quer dizer que não possamos dar uma bela “contribuída” nessa. E nem que esta contribuição não vá fazer lá muita diferença, porque vai. Afinal as escolhas que a gente faz todo dia tem peso e com certeza vão refletir no futuro do planeta, para o bem ou para o mal do próprio. Portanto, pondere as suas and take the green way as much as you can.
Tower of Belem in Portugal surrounded by garbage. Photo by Flickr user starrynight1.
Journalist and blogger Wander Veroni from Café com Notícias [pt] brings the role of journalism about climate change to the discussion. He says that nowadays weather forecasts and related news get much more attention than before:
Até bem pouco tempo, a previsão do tempo era tratada como uma editoria “menor” em boa parte dos noticiários. Coisa de menos de cinco anos atrás. Era muito comum apenas se noticiar a previsão do tempo do dia – ou no máximo do dia seguinte. Se acontecesse algo de mais importante no montante de notícias do dia, a previsão do tempo era a primeira a cair e não entrava no ar.
Hoje, vemos uma situação completamente diferente. Muitos veículos mantêm jornalistas apenas para cobrir fatos relativos ao tempo e temperatura no pais e no mundo. Além de render pauta constantemente, a editoria ouve especialistas e traduz termos técnicos importantes para que o público entenda o porque dos fenômenos meteorológicos interferirem no seu dia-dia.
Blogger Daiane Santana from Vivo Verde [pt] has made a selection of the 15 blog posts related to climate changes that had been discussed in her blog. She is among the most popular Brazilian environmental bloggers. As she says:
Hoje é um dia bem especial para a blogosfera e principalmente para nós, blogueiros ambientais, que tratam dos assuntos voltados ao meio ambiente com o coração aberto para nossos leitores.
Daiane has also blogged for the group blog Nerds Somos Nozes [pt], in which she brought up the issue of toxic waste and its impact on society. She pointed out the way every citizen can contribute towards fighting it:
Quando  empresas de telefonia promovem campanhas de devolução/coleta de baterias , não pense você que  com esta ação a empresa está gerando apenas lucro para ela, lembre-se que o seu ato de depositar aquela bateria inutilizada e até a carcaça de seu celular que “você considerou” como lixo, poderá ter um destino qualificado e deixará de ser um fator de perigo para você e sua família.
From Portugal, blogger Marta from the Mil Visões blog [pt] listed some tips that the average citizen can follow for an environmentally friendly lifestyle,  saying:
Apontada como uma das grandes causas para as alterações climáticas, as emissões de gases poluentes para a atmosfera têm deixado os “Deuses loucos”! E a nós também. É por isso urgente todos intervirmos para que os nossos filhos, netos, bisnetos e por aí fora, possam usufruir de um planeta mais limpo e seguro.
Se já se pode considerar lugar comum dizer-se que já se faz isto ou aquilo para combater estes fenómenos, muitos há que ainda acham que reciclar um pacote de leite não irá fazer a menor diferença. Mas faz, e muito! É a tal história do “grão a grão enche a galinha o papo”.
It's already common to say, that this or that is already being done to combat these phenomenons, many think that recycling a milk carton won't make the least difference. But it does, and a lot! It's like that saying that, “Grain by grain the hen fills her crop.”
Finally, Elisio Leonardo from Informática Moçambique [pt], published his post to the Blog Action Day too. He says:
É momento de pensarmos no futuro e mudarmos o nosso modo de vida, para fazer-mos da terra um lugar melhor. Michael Jackson disse isso no seu “Heal the World”,  e é exactamente o que o Blog Action Day está a tentar mostrar.
Many other bloggers from all over the world have been contributing to the Blog Action Day. You can track the updates through this link.

author: Diego Casaes


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Puerto Rico: Reflections on the National Strike · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

On October 15, thousands of people in Puerto Rico flooded the streets to protest the government's decision to lay off around 17,000 government employees (in total there have been around 25,000 lay-offs this year). Workers and members of trade unions, women, environmentalists, religious groups, students, teachers, professors, lawyers, and the LGBT community, among many other groups of the civil society, answered the call of the labor movement that initially convened the strike. Universities, schools, and stores closed for the day.
Demonstration in Puerto Rico. Photo sent to GV by a participant.
The organizers of the event estimated that 150,000-200,000 people participated in the massive demonstration that started from different points in the heart of the metropolitan area of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, particularly from the financial district, and converged in the immediate surrounding of Plaza Las Américas, the largest mall of the Caribbean and whose owners contributed to governor Luis Fortuño's campaign. There have been no official estimates, although government officials minimized the number. The Governor and his Chief of Staff, Marcos Rodríguez Ema, immediately stated that the law (Law 7 of Fiscal Emergency) that made the lay-offs viable would not be repealed. There were no incidents, although at the end of the demonstration there were moments of tension between students and the police.
"Revolution Now" Photo sent to GV by a participant.
The methodist bishop Juan Vera, one of the keynote speakers of the demonstration and a member of the coalition of civil society organizations Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico, declared that the country would be in a “state of pacific insurrection” until the government changed its policies and that there would be more acts of civil disobedience and resistance. Other organizers of the event are already talking about future strategies and another strike that would paralyze the entire Island.
Photo sent to GV by a participant.
The Puerto Rican twittersphere was extremely active. The conversation flowed under the hashtags #paropr and #twittericans. The people at @caribnews, @qiibo, and @microjuris, among many other citizen journalists, were constantly tweeting updates and news about the strike, and providing links to photos and videos. Many twitterers proclaimed the strike was the first event in which Twitter was used as a platform to transmit Puerto Rico to the world. These are some examples of the conversation:
@edwinvazquez: Este es el día que Puerto Rico pasó el curso Twitter 101. #ParoPR (This is the day Puerto Rico passed the Twitter course 101)
@blogdiva I thought liberation theology was a thing of the past – am glad it still has influence. #ParoPR
@comatoso
Para quedar claros: denuncio el incumplimiento de la unicameralidad, la mala administración, el sabotaje al Colegio de Abogados. #ParoPR (I want to make clear that I denounce the non-compliance of unicamerality, bad administration and the sabotage of the Bar Association)
Pero si respaldo la reducción de empleados de gobierno y no tengo nada en contra de las APP si logran generar empleos y bajar costos.#ParoPR (But I do support the reduction of government employees and I have nothing against the APP if it generates employments and reduces costs)
@elchascas Consigna anticipada en #ParoPR: Si la poli da cantazo, contrarresta con twitazo! (The message for the day in #paropr: If the police gives blows, counteract with a tweet!)
@zerock: No apoyo a los mantenios. Que van a su trabajo de empleado publico a bochinchar y no hacen un carajo. #ParoPR ( I do not support people who don't work. People who go to their jobs as government employees to gossip and do nothing)
@elsorbeto Fortuño has Bush's same trickle-down stimulus. Stimulate rich friends pockets and trickling-down on everyone else. That's why we #ParoPR
Flows of information, opinions, videos and images also traveled through the Puerto Rican blogosphere like lightning. Here are some reflections on the national strike.
In his blog Sobre la comunidad LGBT y el mundo [ES], José Joel Degado comments:
Hoy las diferencias se fueron a un lado. Jóvenes, adultos, pastores evangélicos, metodistas y católicos, homosexuales, lesbianas y transgéneros, estudiantes, profesionales, abogados, médicos, independentistas, PNP's y populares; todos unidos en un sólo reclamo. No hubo incidentes mayores, aunque hubo intentos de provocación.
Puerto Rico se levanta del letargo. Es hora de que exijamos nuestros derechos de pie, de frente y sin miedo.
Today differences were set aside. Young people, adults, Evangelical ministers, Methodists and Catholics, homosexuals, lesbians and transgendered people, students, professionals, lawyers, doctors, people who believe in Puerto Rico’s independence, statehood, and commonwealth status, joined under one single claim. There were no major incidents, although there were some acts of provocation. Its time that we demand our rights, with our heads up, and without fear.
Feminist blogger Amárilis Pagán talked about solidarity in Brujas y rebeldes [ES]:
Hemos estado sufriendo las agresiones continuas de un gobierno caracterizado por la violencia sicológica e ideológica. Todavía hoy, ese mismo gobierno menosprecia nuestra inteligencia y cree que somos un pueblo manipulable a través del miedo y del individualismo. Por eso, han hablado de terrorismo, de independentismo, de minorías supuestamente violentas y malintecionadas. Están apelando a prejuicios que en el pasado le han servido para hacernos creer que el pueblo carece de poder y que el gobierno de turno es la única entidad con la inteligencia suficiente para tomar decisiones a nombre de todas y todos. Quieren que nos miremos unos a otras con sospecha y que nos atrincheremos en causas fragmentadas para que abortemos un movimiento democrático sin precedentes en nuestra historia…Estamos ante un muerto que aún no se ha reconocido como tal y que está dando sus últimos aletazos de desesperación para detenernos. Es sólo un fantasma opresivo al que hay pasar por el lado fijando nuestra mirada en la equidad y la justicia que están vivas y necesitando nuestra acción solidaria.
We have been suffering continual aggressions of a government characterized by its psychological and ideological violence. Still, today, this same government undervalues our intelligence and thinks we can be manipulated through fear and individualism. That’s why they have talked about terrorism, independence, and of allegedly violent and malicious minorities. They are appealing to prejudices that have served them well in the past in order to make us believe we are powerless, and that the government is the only entity with enough intelligence to decide for us. They want us to suspect each other and divide us into fragmentary causes so we forget about a democratic movement that has no precedence in our history. But the only thing that has died is the idea that the government is infallible…We are before a dead entity that has not recognized itself as such and that is desperately trying to stop us. Its just an oppressive ghost that we must ignore while we look towards ideals of equity and justice that are alive and need our solidarity.
Gil the Jenius has another take:
We are already too late protest. That level of activity had a window that slammed shut back when two stupid men were shot by viciously stupid policemen. Since then, We've been largely spectators in a victimization society, both observers and victims, sheep watching wolves fleecing “others,” unwilling to see that “they” are also “Us.” Who's the target We should be aiming at? Even We can figure that out now… But We don't want to. It sucks to grow up and learn to accept responsibility, right?. Like We have a choice…
In Cargas y descargas [ES] Biology professor and blogger Edwin Vázquez made a list of his 10 reflections on the strike. One of them is:
A la prensa estadounidense no le importa lo que sucede en Puerto Rico, a menos que haya tiros y catástrofes.  Lo sucedido prácticamente pasó desapercibido en EEUU.  CNN le dedicó más de una hora a seguir un globo donde no estaba el supuesto niño perdido (el niño apareció escondido en su casa) y quizás una línea al paro histórico nacional de Puerto Rico.
The Unites States’ press does not care about what happens in Puerto Rico, unless there are gun-shots or a catastrophe. What happened in Puerto Rico was practically was ignored in the United States. CNN dedicated more than an hour to follow a globe that was supposedly carrying a lost boy (the boy later appeared in his house where he was hiding), and maybe a sentence to the historic national strike in Puerto Rico.
Cuerpo de Documentación has uploaded photos and videos of the strike. For context about the national strike and the situation in Puerto Rico, please see previous posts “A Crisis with Many Names”, “Such is Life”, “The Battle over Public Lands,” and “Ready for the National Strike”. The people at the nonprofit Center for the New Economy have also been  posting in-depth analyses on the Island's economic situation.

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Argentina: The Approval of a New Media Law · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

The Argentinean Senate approved a new law of audiovisual media, which establishes a new series of rules for the regulation of open signal, cable, and satellite television and radio. In addition, it establishes minimum quotas for the airing of local music and films. The previous order that regulated this market since the last Argentinean dictatorship has been revoked.
Photo of gathering of those that support the new media law by Beatrice Murch and used under a Creative Commons license.
During the debate of the law, there was a lot of controversy going on at the radio and television stations. The main media group in the country, Clarin, which must let go a number of television channels, radio and a percentage of cable subscribers, provided completely negative coverage of the law and other media did the same. However, despite the discussions in the media, there were no massive protests in the streets, which was the scenario that took place during the debate for the raise of agricultural taxes in 2008. In the end, the government achieved an easy victory in the Senate. After December 10, the Congress will be renewed and the current Executive Branch will lose majority in both chambers of Congress.
At the blog Aristotelizar [es], they focus on the proccess of approval of the law in the Congress:
El tratamiento de la ley de medios arroja nuevas luces sobre el modo de gobernar del matrimonio presidencial que continúa erosionando la ya escasa credibilidad de las instituciones. Esta es una ley arcaica que se nutre del ideario del primer peronismo, a pesar de que el mundo ha cambiado y mucho, desde entonces.
At Nanopoder [es] blog, they forecast an extensive series of consequences, all bad, of the application of the law. There are also negative views of the new media law (or its treatment in the Congress, at least) at  Un Alumno Diferente [es], El Atrilero [es],  and El Observatorio Político [es].
On the side of those who see the approval of this law as something positive, Al Centro y Adentro [es] states:
La instalación del debate sobre una nueva ley de medios audiovisuales en el parlamento tuvo otro efecto en la población. Las franjas más progresistas de la población acompañaron, militándolo, el proyecto de ley que envió el Poder Ejecutivo al Legislativo. Esta vez la centroizquierda y casi todo el campo popular apoyaron la iniciativa del Gobierno (…). Las élites dominantes no pudieron imponer sus intereses particulares (…) en contra de la voluntad general.
More positive texts about this law can be found at Francisco José Bessone's blog [es], Arte y Brujería [es], Sin Zonceras [es], and Fin del Capitalismo ¿Salvaje? [es].
There was a long exchange of opinions at Twitter, which could be followed through the hashtags #leydemedios [es] and #leymedios [es] (media law).

author: Jorge Gobbi


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Bahamas: Fed Up With Crime  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“This country needs to be done with pandering to the criminals and give them their due so that the rest of us who want to live in a civil society can get on with it”: When it comes to crime, Sidney Sweeting at Weblog Bahamas says “enough is enough”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Egypt: Campaign Against Abusive Publishers · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Egyptian Fe-mail (Marwa Rakha) listed the signs of publisher-author abuse:
If your publisher
1) Makes you pay money to get published (cheap blackmail)
2) Does not consult you when changes are made to your original text
3) Does not consult you when choosing your book cover
4) Does not pick up the phone
5) Does not deliver the book on time
6) Does not distribute your book in the bookstores he promised
7) Does not market you or your book
8) Does not show up with copies on your book signing event
9) Does not send copies to the media
10) Corners you into a 5, 7, 10 year contract
Then he does not know what being a publisher means and you are abused
Taking a stance against abusive publishers, Marwa Rakha made her book, The Poison Tree – planted & grown in Egypt, available online for free download. Then she launched a free publishing service on her website:
Marwa Rakha's Free Publishing Service – Who Needs Publishers When He Has Friends
Yes … send me a PDF file of your book and I will publish it here, promote it on my blog, and send it to my official Facebook group.
In solidarity with their fellow writer, many Egyptian authors sent Marwa their books for online publishing. Mohamed Sami ElBohy (2 books), Bassam El Boghdady's Arabic translation of Richard Dawkins THE GOD DELUSION, Usama El Shazly, Mostafa Hussein, Mohamed Al Arafy (2 books), Ahmed Ramadan, Nashwa Nagy, Tarek Hassan Refaat (2 books), Ayman Shawky (2 books), and Ibrahim El Mahallawy. Two British authors joined the campaign as well; Alex Jenson  and Lynda Renham. Jasmine Madkour, Zeina Medhat (2 books), Adel Shaaban, Mostafa Mohamed, Mohamed Farouk, and Rehab El Melehy who turned their blogs into books and published them online as well.
While many bloggers linked to the initiative on their blogs, Zeinobia shared her experience with the publishing “hell” in Egypt:
Now I am not surprised at what Marwa suffered or is suffering with her publisher at all , this is a normal thing in Egypt , publishing is just a printing for profit job in Egypt nowadays. It seems that most of the publishers are vampires in Egypt and this I am saying from a personal experience.
Without mentioning names after the death of my late grandfather I found out his last book on which he was working and I used to help him in was published without our knowledge , I found out by coincidence  online !!
On the WHO NEEDS PUBLISHERS WHEN HE HAS FRIENDS initiative, Marwa wrote:
The relationship between a writer and a publisher in Egypt has turned into a textbook definition of abusive relationships! I am not out to attack paperback books … I am not undermining their importance … I am just trying to put an end to this farce-in-disguise. When we feel desperate and option-less we compromise. I decided to set an example of “the other options” that writers are not aware of …. who the hell needs a useless publisher who serves as nothing but a lousy print shop when another door opens … I am paving the way hoping that more people will follow. Publishers have no business if writers say NO but writers are scared … just like an abused woman!

author: Marwa Rakha


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Japan: Avatars come to life in the anime Summer Wars · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Against the background of the Japanese countryside, feel good sentiments and an extraordinary virtual world are featured in Summer Wars  (サマーウォーズSama wozu) [ja], the  new animated movie by director Mamoru Hosoda [en].
The anime tells the story  of Kenji, an awkward teenage math genius who finds himself involved in an epic battle in a virtual world where he must become a code breaker and battle avatars to win. His allies are the members of a traditional, old-style Japanese family.
Summer Wars [en], created by the award winning director and screenwriter, was received very positively by the Japanese public and topped 1 million viewers in the first few days after its release this summer.
MoriGuru particularly appreciated the mix of different elements and the family values that the film conveys.
テーマ的には人と人のつながりは大切だよねという普遍的なものみたいですけど、大人数の親戚とか、今の時代ならではのネット上の仮想空間とかそういう要素の融合が独特の雰囲気を生み出していたと思います。
正直言うと、最初は「あれ…なんかイマイチかも？」と思って観てたんですが
徐々に勢いのある展開が続き、一気に盛り上がっていったので不安は吹き飛びました。
鑑賞後に心地よい気分で映画館を後にできる作品だったと思います。
大家族って騒がしそうだけどいいなあって思いました＾＾
Taka also praises the anime and describes elements that he recognized in his own life.
観ていて、僕自身といろいろと共通点もあって、思いのほか感情移入してしまいました。
例えば、こんな共通点が。
●僕の出身が長野県（サマーウォーズの舞台は上田、僕は伊那出身）
●毎年夏休みになると、長野の僕の実家に、東京から従兄弟たちが泊まりに来て、
みんなで大騒ぎして遊んでいた
●高山家は女系家族
●僕の祖母が春に亡くなった
●サマーウォーズの栄おばあさんの誕生日（8月1日）が、僕の家族と同じ
The movie has received also some criticisms, however. The ‘teenager saves the world’ scenario, in particular, has made some  [ja] consider the story too light weight to claim a special place in the viewer`s heart.
Blogger at Kz Loghouse feels somehow unsatisfied at the sentimental scenes.
感動シーンが満載でとても心にグッとくるものがありました。
ありましたけど・・・何か足りないような・・。
例えて言うなら「涙は出るんだけど、鼻の奥からツーンとくる感じじゃない」って雰囲気。
Summer Wars was first released as a manga to test people`s reactions and kazahoshi ranks the written version.
< 対象>
中高生以上
< 五段階評価>
・面白さ　　 ★★★☆
・読み易さ　★★★★
・文章　　　 ★★★
・補完　　　 ★★★☆
・総合　　　 ★★★☆
部分的に違うところがちょくちょくあり、ラストに至っては全く別物でした。
結論を先に言えば、映画には到底敵わない。
Valuation on 5 points:
Fun　　 ★★★☆
Readability　★★★★
Style　　　 ★★★
Others　　 ★★★☆
General　　　 ★★★☆
In some parts the book is different and the ending was completely different.
In conclusion though, the movie has no rivals!

author: Scilla Alecci


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Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados: Salt  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Things must be bad in Trinidad when Chinese (from China) workers, who seem to constitute the government’s entire economic stimulus plan, don’t get paid…the most visible indicator of what we have taken to be prosperity in Trinidad has simply collapsed”: B.C. Pires provides interesting commentary.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Poor Coverage  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

An incident at Beetham Gardens in Port of Spain causes KnowProSE.com to take a look at the roles of both mainstream and new media: “Here's what I got from the media: some stones thrown, some gunshots, some tires lit…in what is categorized as ‘almost a riot’.  From the social media, people were being robbed…pictures were hidden in Facebook, no video, nothing. In a time when everyone's mobile phone has a camera…this is what we got.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Registration Legislation?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian bloggers Nicholas Laughlin and Caribbean Free Radio draw attention to the “possibility of regional legislation for registering journalists”.


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Tunisia: Electoral Campaign Not on Track   · Global Voices
Lina Ben Mhenni

Tunisia is gearing up for its presidential elections on October 25. The election campaign started on October 11, but not all political parties and politicians are able to join the fray. One of those parties is Attajdid (The Renewal), whose posters were absent from the elections banners. The party has also been prevented from starting its election campaign. And if this is not enough, the authorities have censored the  party’s  mouthpiece “Attariq Al Jadeed” (The New Way) without a convincing reason as explained by blogger Sofiene Chourabi :
On the other hand, the pictures of the candidate of the ruling party – Tunisian president Zine El Abidine ben Ali –  were everywhere, and sometimes illegally. He also made several appearances on TV to promote his campaign, and that is not allowed as stated in the electoral code. Kisses from Tunisia wrote about this and showed pictures from the electoral code and pictures of the ruling party candidate campaigning for his party on a private TV channel.

author: Lina Ben Mhenni


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Tunisia: Watching Arab Media on HIV/AIDS · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Zied Mhirsi is a Tunisian doctor, blogger and activist, currently based in the United States, who is dedicated to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Middle East and North Africa. In September 2008 he started a blog called HIV in the Arab World [Ar], which monitors Arab media coverage of HIV/AIDS.
A wide range of subjects are covered in the blog, such as an awareness-raising campaign [Ar] in Tunisia, reasons for the spread of AIDS in Iraq [Ar], and a Saudi religious scholar's opinion [Ar] on the permissibility of marrying a person with HIV/AIDS.
In this post, Zied tells Global Voices Online about his work, and how it all began.
AIDS Awareness Ribbon, by Auntie P (used under Creative Commons License)
What prompted your interest in working in the field of HIV/AIDS?
A family member died of HIV/AIDS when I was 11. This was in the 80s and at that time there was nothing we can do. This event shaped my life and made HIV/AIDS become part of the issues that are dear to me. During my medical school, I joined the Tunisian Association Against AIDS (Association Tunisienne de Lutte Contre le Sida) and never left the HIV field ever since.  I worked in Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan so far and I’m looking forward to help my colleagues and friends in more countries.
What are the greatest challenges for people living with HIV in the Arab world?
Stigma and discrimination is definitely on the top of the list. Stigma is partially due in my opinion to the fear-creating approach that our governments and activists adopted as a main prevention message. Fear is often paired with ignorance and stigma is a consequence of this mix.  Stigma makes it more difficult to convince people to get tested, and hence to get treated. It also contributes in denying basic rights to those who are infected and does not allow them to have security regarding their future (work, family…).
When did you start the HIV in the Arab World blog, and who are you aiming at?
I believe in the power of media in changing behaviours and bringing awareness. For many years Arab media has been neglecting the issue of HIV/AIDS and during the last years I observed some changes in the way they framed HIV/AIDS. I created this to better follow the way Arab media reports about AIDS and to offer to those interested a webpage that collects all the articles that talk about this epidemic in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region. It is also a way for me to keep connected with the MENA HIV news.
You also have a Facebook group associated with the HIV in the Arab World blog – who is it for?
I left the region in 2007 and moved to the United States where I work for the department of Global Health at the University of Washington. This move made it difficult for me to keep in touch with my friends and colleagues from the region. I created this Facebook group to reconnect with my friends and to offer an opportunity for activists and HIV/AIDS professionals to meet and discuss about the issues that are important to them. It is a primarily a networking tool and also a forum where news and emerging issues are discussed. The group is open only to those who are working in the field and has already more than 42 members from all over the Arab world.
How many HIV-positive people are there in Tunisia? Can you describe the work of the Tunisian Association Against AIDS [fr]?
Tunisia’s HIV epidemic is relatively small (3000 estimated cases/10,000,000 inhabitants). We estimate the prevalence to be one of the lowest in the world. This is due to male circumcision, a good healthcare system, conservative sexual behaviours and the government/civil society’s work. There is however a lot that needs to be done in order to prevent the disease from spreading larger. These actions include a need to target vulnerable groups with better designed prevention interventions and more work on the policy and epidemiology level.
I joined the Tunisian HIV association in 1997. This NGO is the largest and one of the most popular ones in Tunisia. We work in the areas of HIV prevention, care and support, and advocacy. We cover the Tunisian territory with more than 5 local offices and we participate in many international activities and networks that represent to us a source of funding and partnerships.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Australia: Suffer the children · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Asylum seekers and illegal migrants must be in the top five hottest issues around the developed world. After the arrival of the Tampa, a cargo ship that had picked up refugees at sea, Prime Minister John Howard used border security as one of his catch cries in the 2001 Australian election with telling results.
This week his successor Kevin Rudd became embroiled in another controversy:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he spoke to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the weekend before Indonesian authorities intercepted 260 Sri Lankans on a boat who were on their way to Australia.
Asylum seekers stopped after PM's call
Heavyweight blogger Mark Kenny is Political Editor of The Advertiser, a News Limited paper in Adelaide. He blogs at The Punch, an online venture that brings together both News Limited staff and dozens of independent writers from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. His response was scathing of the PM:
In just one interview in Adelaide this week, Kevin Rudd used the terms “tough” and “hard-line” over and over again and repeatedly declared the Government made “no apology” for its hairy chested approach to boat people.
His condemnation of both leaders is unequivocal:
Yet there is no more pressing moral question before the world than the human rights of the forcibly displaced – some 42 million of them at present. And like capital, the movement of people is a global reality also.
The Government should now have the courage of its convictions and stare down the fear campaign being waged against it. If ever there was a case for evidence-based policy, it is here and now. That would be real moral leadership – voters respect that too.
My name is Kevin Rudd, and I’m just like John Howard
Mark Henderson, at The Australian Conservative blog, has the opposite view:
Kevin Rudd unwinds the Howard Government’s tough but highly successful measures against boat people and almost two thousand illegal immigrants find their way onto Australian territory.
… What a joke.
The “most hardline measures” involves nothing more than a phone call to the Indonesian president.
Rudd is not prepared to make the really hard decisions the Howard Government took, decisions that made it deeply unpopular with large sections of the media and the elite commentariat, but decisions that actually stopped the flow of illegal immigrants and stopped the tragic loss of life at sea.
Tough on illegals? Who’s he trying to kid?
Guy Beres’ presents his self-titled blog as: ‘Reflections on social democracy, economics, the media, and spin in an age of incorrigible cynicism’. In a lengthy and impassioned analysis of the issue he argues:
The Opposition seems desperately keen to contrast its own historical rhetoric on asylum seeker issues with the slightly softer, more humane approach being taken by the Rudd Government. Forgetting for a moment the rather ugly and sometimes disturbing human rights issues raised by the previous government’s mandatory and indefinite scheme of detention, the Opposition wants to remind us that they were “tough” on boatpeople when in government, and that Labor is “not so tough”. In concert with this mode of attack, every rickety boat that happens to depart Colombo or elsewhere on its way to Australia apparently represents a failure of Rudd Government policy in comparison with the Howard Government’s illustrious record.
The boatpeople furphy re-emerges
Incidentally a ‘furphy’ is an Australian term for a red herring or false report.
Meanwhile we haven’t heard the last of these  Sri Lankan asylum seekers as they are on a hunger strike:
THE 255 Sri Lankan asylum seekers staging a hunger strike last night remained defiant, insisting they would not leave their boat or even consume liquids, despite the blazing heat.
A young girl who made a plea for asylum on their behalf has been the subject of a personal attack:
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Senaka Walgampaya, cast doubt on the account of a nine-year-old girl on the boat, Brindha, who made an emotional appeal for the Tamils to be helped. ”She is crying and weeping and said, ‘We were in the jungles for one month’,” he said. ”But she is quite well nourished and she spoke very good English. She is not from Sri Lanka.”
Boat people shun fluids in stand-off
There are seemingly no innocents in this ongoing struggle. It is not an issue that will disappear soon as a visit the news website of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will attest. A click on the refugees tag brings up dozens of recent stories involving Australia.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Azerbaijan: Happy Birthday, Emin Milli · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Wednesday saw the 30th birthday of detained youth activist Emin Milli, now on trial in Azerbaijan along with OL! youth movement founder and video blogger Adnan Hajizade. Milli, responsible for alternative video reports posted online, celebrated the day in prison.
His friends worldwide, however, also marked the day in what was billed on numerous Facebook pages as a day for Global Emotional Warming. Twitter was also used to spread the news.
Fighting windmills? Take a pill explains more.
Your friends and supporters gathered together all around the world to celebrate the day of Global Emotional Warming (that's how we named your birthday), to remember stories about you, to drink for both you and Adnan and even sing ‘Happy birthday’ in Azerbaijani. Your birthday became a flashmob of parties in London, Paris, Strasbourg, Istanbul, Ankara, Budapest, New York, Houston, Moscow, Basel and other cities of the World.
Other friends with blogs also posted entries to mark the occasion and toast their imprisoned friend. Support Adnan and Emin said that the event represented freedom and solidarity everywhere.
What happened this night?
Did you hear this whisper?
Did you hear this song of Freedom?
Emin was physically in a prison in Baku but he celebrated his birthday all around the world!
Baku is sometimes called the city of winds… Well yesterday, wind was blowing. It was a gust of wind that inspired us in Baku, in Istanbul, in Moscow, in Essex, in London, in Paris, in Strasbourg, in Budapest, in New York etc.
Emin was in prison but he was also in the voice of a Georgian singer in Budapest, in the heart of an Azerbaijani student in Essex, in the soul of a French girl in Strasbourg, in the veins of a young blogger in Baku, singing with his friends in Istanbul and drinking in an English pub…
Freedom and solidarity were everywhere.
Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines agrees.
Yesterday (October 14th) friends across several cities around the world, celebrated one person's birthday. Emin Milli turned 30. And though right now, he is behind bars in some God forsaken detention facility in Azerbaijan, his friends and supporters all around, showed once again that freedom has no boundaries, nor does friendship.
London, Essex, Istanbul, Paris, Strasbourg, Baku, Moscow and New York were among those few cities where Emin's friends got together to raise their glasses to a one very bright young man.
The blogger also remembers that Milli's associate and friend, Adnan Hajizade, spent his birthday in prison in July, as does Ali S. Novruzov in an entry on the Frontline Club blog. L4L, a new Azeri blog, even says that a local Baku-based rock band dedicated a concert to Milli.
Talking about normal… Yesterday one of the most talented Azerbaijani rock-bands Ozan […] dedicated their usual gig at Corner-pub in Baku to Emin Milli’s birthday. This is a very courageous move for Azerbaijan. This is the move that shows heart and fearlessness. When I said their singer and guitarist Nurlan halaldir(“all hail”) today, he answered: “Ilkin, it’s normal”.
No, Nurlan, it’s not normal. People that surround us every day are normal. Living their lives, not even trying to know what is going on. Too scared to go beyond normal. What you have done was beyond normal! […]
Meanwhile, as the trial of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade continues, Global Voices Online also wishes both detained blogger activists belated birthday greetings and hopes for their speedy release in a trial which most independent observers consider to be politically motivated.
More details on the case against the two video bloggers and youth activists is available in English on the OL! blog. Coverage in Azerbaijani is also available. The online Azerbaijan Network Television has also posted more videos of events worldwide celebrating Milli's birthday.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Banned books in Malaysia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

myAsylum lists some of the books which were banned in Malaysia by government censors.

author: Mong Palatino


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East Timor: Brothels raided · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Brothels and suspicious bars were raided by East Timor police. Some staff members of UN agencies working in Dili were seen inside the brothels. Tempo Semanal has uploaded videos of the raid.


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Georgia: Andy Garcia’s starring role · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Tbilisi's Blog – News, Events, Comments… reports that U.S. actor Andy Garcia has arrived in Georgia. The Hollywood star might play Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in a film on last year's August war with Russia.


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Hungary: “Downtown Smog Reducing Station” · Global Voices
Marietta Le

Last week, a strange construction appeared at Blaha Lujza Square in Budapest. The work of Téreltérítés Munkacsoport (‘Deviant Space Working Group’) was connected to the capital's public space and art festival, called Placcc. The construction – “Downtown Smog Reducing Station” – was created following the plans of Richard Buckminster Fuller, and united several ideas about urban environment.
András Földes of Képgyár blog (‘Image Factory’, HUN) reported:
It could be known about the luminous igloo mounted at Blaha Lujza Square that it was the work of young artists and architects, and it cleans the smoggy air by biological means. Which is a noble goal, polluted air is bad after all, clean air is very healthy on the other hand. But still, the euphoria around the futuristic construction was surprising at first. […]
According to the website of Placcc festival:
Although the group includes future architects, they felt it was important to approach space from other aspects, not only and exclusively an architectural point of view, therefore they explore the relationship of man and space through art in public space. The starting point of the work they are making for PLACCC Festival is the belief that we are not mere observers of (public) space, but can actively shape it and participate in its transformation.
This photo, taken by Rozmy, shows the inside of the plastic igloo where the algae filtration was taking place:
András Földes asked the leader of Téreltérítés Munkacsoport about the functioning of the so-called ‘smog reducer':
[…] The leader of the project and [university] professor, Antal Lakner, explained ardently the functioning principles of the algae filtration bio-catalyzer, adding after each of his sentence that this thing really worked, that it wasn't just an object of art.
“Here an artist, an architect, a biologist and a technician worked together to resolve an existing problem,” said Lakner, a Hungarian Algae working helmet on his head. “A detecting car came here, and demonstrated that the plantation produced a significant amount of oxygen,” he said as he looked lovingly over the glass bubble occupied with silent oxygen production.

author: Marietta Le


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Thailand: Another Lese Majeste conviction · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A 27-year old Thai citizen was found guilty of violating Thailand's lese majeste laws. The Thai citizen was accused of sending lese majeste clips to a British blogger in Spain.


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Thailand: The King’s health and politics · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Rumors about the alleged deteriorating health of Thailand King Bhumibol Adulyadej are said to be part of a political plot to destabilize the country. The King is the most important and unifying political symbol of Thailand.


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Africa discusses Climate Change · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

Blog Action Day 2009 was an online event organized by Change.org. It was a virtual gathering of voices discussing climate change. Bloggers from a sampling of countries in Sub Saharan Africa were among those who posted their thoughts, and in this post, we get to listen to their voices.
Kenya
The blogger at Theatre of Inconveniences reminds readers to also think about wildlife and the species threatened with extinction due to climate change. The blogger also looks at the extreme weather situation in Kenya, with a drought that has lasted many months and the expected heavy rains.
In Kenya recently, prolonged drought – and we can not rule out the effects of climate change as the cause – first killed livestock, then pushed the livestock into wildlife habitats, then killed the wildlife. Now Kenya is – ironically – waiting for El Nino rains to settle in so that it can save people, their livestock and wildlife. But the El Nino could be made more severe by the effects of climate change. So more people, livestock and wildlife will die. Iregi Mwenja, a Kenyan bushmeat researcher posted pictures of the onset of the El Nino rains in Voi today. One of the casualties of the big water was a masai goat that died in the floods.
The blog Sukuma Kenya took UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) to task on its use of gas guzzling SUV's that release more CO2 into the atmosphere than smaller cars. The blogger wonders whether for one day, the UNEP officials would heed their own advice to cut CO2 emissions.
The blogger on Katch up shares their experience climbing Mt.Kenya, one of the few snow capped mountains in Africa. The blogger mentions changes in the ice coverage as pointed out by the tour guide, and also notices other changes in the environment. A brief story from the blogger's mother illustrates just how fast the environment has changed.
I come from a cold place and my mother tells me how fast certain types of crops used to grow, rain was abundant, seasons were more than one and it was colder. Not anymore. Those days were definitely better and we have been losing.
South Africa
Rory of Carbon Smart writes about community empowerment and climate change. The effects of climate change on the majority of Africans will be severe, and any strategies at dealing with climate change should provide support to the communities.
In Africa particularly, stresses are already being felt – climate change is not something that relates only to the future. The most vulnerable communities are those who struggle the most, as they are living on the edge – quite literally on the periphery of economic activity, whether they are subsistence farmers or urban slum dwellers. In this position, they don't have ‘wiggle room’, or the flexibility to adapt their lifestyles to the changes they are experiencing. As a result, strategies for climate change adaptation must ensure that communities do have the means and understanding and support structures to enable them to keep ahead of environmental changes. A key point to be made is that the answer lies not primarily in technology or aid, but crucially in building relationships – institutionally, socially and financially.
Poetry and Poesie shares a poem on global warming
The bergs look limp
to me nowaseasons,
I shouldn't read
National Geographic,
that once was a tree
now covered in blinding shots
of glaciers gliding all the more
readily
sweating in the gloaming -
a new word I coined
for global warming.
I don't need to read
journalistic twilight musings,
I can see when a bear
is panting to death,
I can see the whales flail
in the a-krillic blue sea,
I know the götterdämmerung
is going to be a hot event
Inuitively.
Uganda
Climate Change. Its not just Koalas.
Rebecca writes on Jack Fruity about her experience in the Global Change exchange program, that will be documenting the effects of climate change and partnering with established bloggers in the Global Voices community.
It can be easy to forget that climate change is about more than trees and cuddly animals and fish swimming around in some distant ocean — all of which I care about, don't get me wrong (especially the cuddly animals). But climate change also has real, physical effects on humans: it's altering weather patterns in unpredictable ways, causing crops to fail for lack of rain in some places while floods wash away entire fields in others.
Ghana
Jemila Abdulai  writes on Circumspecte blog, she looks at the climate change deniers, and those who believe it to be a hoax, debunks their arguments and sets forth the lessons for Ghana and Africa. The lessons include Information, Education and Accountability.
Ghana and other African countries are relatively better-off (I think) when it comes to pollution. How can we reduce what pollution we have, and how can we prepare for the future?
We should be doing our research and looking at all these models (failed or otherwise) to inform our own policy decisions. If we don't keep ourselves informed, we will have a situation similar to our current economic systems; we'll have policies, laws and structures that do not work for us. Already, many multi-lateral companies get away with polluting our countries without so much as a slap on the hand for this. That's where our concern should be: strengthening our legal structures to protect our environment and consequently, our population.
A great roundup of Ghanaian blog posts on Blog Action day is done by Mac-Jordan of Accra Conscious.
We end with the voice of ‘cuppatea’ on the blog A colourful life of a Gay Kenyan:
So in summary, stop polluting, plant trees and be nature friendly! It will save mother nature and planet earth and you'll make nature fans like me globally happy! The future generation depends on nature. Positive action today, Better tomorrow for future generations.
Note: For previous Global Voices posts, kindly see these links.
– Reading the world on Blog Action Day
– Israel: Blog Action Day for the Environment
- Rising Voices summarizes blog posts from its grantees.

author: Juliana Rotich


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Argentina: Travelcamp Buenos Aires 2009 · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In Argentina, the First Travelcamp Buenos Aires took place on October 13. Jorge Gobbi of Blog de Viajes [es] summarizes the event, and states that one of the most controversial topics was the means to pay for travel because of the bank costs and credit card fees that increase the overall price.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Armenia: Oligarch’s staff allegedly implicated in animal cruelty scandal · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Facebook users today posted links to a video shot at what is alleged to be the private zoo of oligarch MP Gagik Tsarukian. Better known to most Armenians by his nickname, Dodi Gago, Tsarukian is believed to be Armenia's wealthiest citizen even if his tax returns reportedly suggest the contrary.
The former world arm-wrestling champion is also head of the second largest political party in the Armenian National Assembly as well as the President of the Armenian National Olympic Committee.
No stranger to controversy, especially given reports in the local press which allegedly link his bodyguards to shoot-outs and the beating of journalists, the latest scandal reportedly linked to members of his entourage saw the light of day via Twitter.
The video was quickly removed after the first posts were made on Facebook and links were quickly re-tweeted. The video has since rematerialized on Daily Motion. Unzipped sums up the feelings of most who have seen the video so far.
Thanks to a tweet by @GoldenTent, I came across this link to the YouTube video, which alleges that Armenian oligarch and head of ruling Bargavatch Hayastan (‘Properous Armenia’) party Gagik Tsarukyan stages this fight between his lions and a donkey. (or it was staged at his ‘private zoo’)
[…]
This is so disgusting that at first I could not force myself watching beyond the first few seconds. Then I forced myself… I felt physically sick after watching this video.
Any country, any society which has any prospect of calling itself a “civilised” should ban these sorts of outrageous displays of animal cruelty, and perpetrators should be held responsible before the law.
In February, a YouTube video highlighting illegal hunting in an Armenian nature reserve resulted in the dismissal of the head warden. However, if the video shows what many allege it does, it remains to be seen whether any action will follow.


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Bangladesh: No Business Channel · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ten new private TV channels have been approved by the media regulators of Bangladesh but none of the 21 channels in operation in the country are business channels. Bangladesh Corporate Blog wonders why the Bangladesh business sector “would be deemed so negligible so as not to deserve any attention in terms of a specialized media channel?”

author: Rezwan


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China: Does Internet matter? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Li Huafang discusses the relation between the Internet and politics with reference to Yang Guobin's paper, the Internet and Civil Society in China: a preliminary assessment, and Hu Yong's book, the Rising Cacophony: Personal expression and Public Discussion in the Internet Age.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Fisherman buys newspaper Ad to thank government · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated an interesting local news story about Chongqi fish farmers having spent 100,000 yuan in thanking the local government's anti corruption campaign. The story is both a praise and a parody of the government as fighting against corruption has become a credit rather than a duty.


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Ghana: Blog Action Day ’09 · Global Voices
Mac-Jordan

Blog Action Day, codenamed #bad09 by tech gurus and geeks, is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. The aim of the event is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion on that particular day. This year Blog Action Day took place on October 15, with bloggers all over the world writing on the topic of climate change. Below is a round-up of the various posts by members of the Ghana Blogging Group on Blog Action Day.
Gameli Adzaho, author of The Gamelian World Blog, presented a post on “5 Voices on climate Change“. In it he sampled views from five global leaders. In his opening remarks, he talked about the significance of Blog Action Day and how “the phenomenon of climate has engaged the world's attention over the past decade, provoking debates in science, politics, business and technology.” The five global leaders he discussed were former US Vice-President Al Gore, Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, US President Barack Obama, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
Gameli ended his post with a series of questions—”What are your views on climate change? Is it for real? Is it a myth? In what ways do you think that the world can use its resources more sustainably? Can developing countries contribute to reversing climate change?”—to which he hopes to get to answers to soon.
Next to post on Blog Action Day was The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) whose contributors are AWDF, Bisi and Roselyn. Their post related to “Climate Change and Women“.  AWDF is an Africa-wide grant-making foundation for African Women. The vision of the AWDF is for African women to live in a world in which there is social justice, equality and respect for women’s human rights.
They started their post by taking issue with statements made by Arun Agrawal in his paper on Social Dimensions of Climate Change, which was prepared for the Social Development Department, The World Bank, Washington DC, March 5-6, 2008. In his paper, Agrawal stated that “climate change will be pivotal in redefining development in the twenty-first century. How nations, societies, communities, and households respond to the impacts of climate changes and variability to which the world has already been committed will in many instances determine their prospects for growth, equity, and sustainability”.
AWDF views climate change as an environmental change, which is also driven by humans—fundamentally a human problem. The impacts of climate change are expected to seriously (and disproportionately) affect the livelihoods, health, and educational opportunities of people living in poverty. AWDF also made a few recommendations for dealing with the situation.
Kajsa Hallberg Adu, co-founder of Ghana Blogging Group and author of the Rain In Africa blog, had a lot to say on Blog Action Day, but was shocked at “how not current the topic is in Ghana”. Kajsa laments the absence of Ghana from a web site counting down to the UN Climate Change Summit and asks: “Really, when was the last time you heard someone discuss climate change around here?”
Yet Ghana came in for some special praise from Kasja:
A way to globally reduce the carbon dioxide emissions is to make sure we travel with public transport rather than individually in our own cars. Today, many Ghanaians travel in packed trotros, shared taxis or “Kufuor busses” and hence do not emit too much CO2. Can we say the same about the North/West? But as Ghanaians grow richer – our goal is to become a middle income country as soon as possible – more Ghanaians can also afford their own cars.
In my opinion the problem in the discussion about climate change is that while developed countries are struggling to be sustainable, developing countries are already klimatsmarta, but not by choice. Rather the “environmental consciousness” or sustainable living is caused by last year's topic; poverty.
Finally, Edward Tagoe, author of Tagoe Blogger blog and also a software developer-cum-poet, decided to share with his readers an interesting website called YOURENEW.COM. According to Edward, the site “is the perfect place for you to recycle or sell used cell phones, mp3 players, digital cameras and graphing calculators. You can also recycle and sell laptops, video game console, external hard drive, video game or DVD. If you can’t find your device in our catalogue or we can’t pay for it, you can always ship it for free and we’ll recycle it safely. So look up your device today, go green and get green! So look up your device today and go green!”
Also take note, October 24th, 2009 has been designated the International Day of Climate Action by 350.org.

author: Mac-Jordan


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Guadeloupe: The Water Days · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

In The French-speaking Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, also dubbed “the Island with Beautiful Waters”, water is vital. It is all the more central since it defines the two seasons of the Guadeloupean climate  either because it is scarce or because it is plentiful: “Carême” is a 6 month-long dry season and “Hivernage” is a 4 month-long hurricane and rainy season.  Unquestionably, Guadeloupeans not only depend on the availability of water resources but also on the quality of this precious liquid.
This is the reason why 46 years ago, the Syndicat Intercommunal de l'Alimentation en Eau et d'Assainissement de la Guadeloupe [Fr] (Intermunicipal Syndicate of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation) appeared among Guadeloupean institutions. At first, it started providing water to three cities and now it offers services to thirteen out of the thirty-six municipalities in Guadeloupe.  But today, the syndicate has to face a great number of issues that range from technical difficulties to environmental questions and they have, for the last eight years, organized les Journées de l'Eau en Guadeloupe (Water Days in Guadeloupe) in order to share their thoughts and projects with the professionals and the public. Blogger JarryCafé [Fr] who specializes in the daily life of Jarry, the economic center of Guadeloupe, promotes the 5 day conference:
Du 13 au 17 octobre venez vous informer au WTC de Jarry sur les problématiques environnementales de l’eau et ses enjeux dans les années à venir.
Stakes are numerous indeed and Guadeloupean blogger Indiscrétions [Fr] reports on different topics discussed by the president of the syndicate, like the deterioration of the waterways and the water purification plants, the huge waste of water and the possibility to stock water in case of droughts.  Besides these concerns, it seems that for years now a great environmental catastrophe has captured the interest of the Guadeloupean population, the Kepone crisis and Indiscrétions reports the president's cautious statement about it [Fr]:
Il y a eu des générations d'agriculteurs qui ont utilisé des produits phytosanitaires qui ont pollué les nappes d'eau, surtout en Basse-Terre. On dit qu'il y a des eaux polluées…
GaïaSoleil also explains that the Kepone pollution in Guadeloupean waters, among other topics, will be tackled during the course of the conference [Fr]:
Le problème de la pollution de rivières à la chlordécone est certes dans toutes les têtes lors de ces journées. Cette catastrophe écologique n’est qu’un aspect de la pollution générale des milieux aquatiques : d’autres produits phytosanitaires et d’autres pollutions, dont celles pouvant être occasionnés par les déchets ou les vidanges sauvages sont en cause.
Domactu has also mentioned the event and highlighted the regional cooperation implied by the theme of the conference [Fr]: “eaux: nécessité, vérités et solidarités dans la Caraïbe” (water, necessity, truths and solidarities in the Caribbean).  GaïaSoleil also insists on this feature as it presents the foreign guests and their collaboration to this conference [Fr]:
…les intervenants de Cuba, de République Dominicaine, d’Haïti ont eu l’occasion d’exposer les problématiques de l’eau sur leurs territoires et les solutions qu’ils ont choisies.
This last quote from Indiscretion is all the more central since it goes beyond the Guadeloupean concern for its waters and echoes a widespread feeling among Caribbean people: isolation and lack of regional cooperation [Fr]:
…Je vous parlais de l'eau de la Dominique pour irriguer Marie-Galante. J'ai vu, à Santo Domingo, une station d'épuration qui fonctionne parfaitement, qui coûte moins cher à la construction que tout ce que nous avons. Il faut regarder ce qui se fait autour de nous. Nous avons beaucoup à donner, beaucoup à apprendre.

author: Fabienne Flessel


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Honduras: Miracle Qualification to World Cup · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Irina Orellana celebrates Honduras’ qualification to the 2010 World Cup [es] and writes that for those that do not believe in miracles, then the goal scored by the United States in extra time, which vaulted her side to the finals, proves that miracles do exist.


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India: The Way Festivals Are Celebrated Now · Global Voices
Rezwan

“With the changing times, we should revamp the way in which the festivals are celebrated. Maintaining the essence of a festival is crucial for continuing our age old traditions and customs, but extravagance can be curbed in order to preserve our fast depleting ecology,” comments Adastrian at Unravelling the Enamoured Enigma blog.


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Jamaica: Change Takes Time · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Annie Paul blogs about everything from Jamaican coffee to reggae star Buju Banton's meeting with gay activists: “Yeah right, the Jamaican public is going to listen and learn from a castrated Buju when he tells them he has recanted and they should all follow suit by becoming ‘pro-gay’ whatever that means.”


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Japan: Urban renaissance · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joe Jones from Mutantfrog introduces the idea and history of urban renaissance in Japan.


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Little Bangladesh In Los Angeles · Global Voices
Rezwan

Taz at Sepia Mutiny informs that the 3rd Street between Alexandria Ave and New Hampshire Ave in Los Angeles, USA will be officially called as ‘Little Bangladesh’ from now on.


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Maldives: Photos Of Underwater Cabinet Meeting · Global Voices
Rezwan

The president of Maldives Mohammed Nasheed and his fellow ministers were 5 meters underwater for a cabinet meeting to make people realize the threat of global warming and Ali Adam posts some pictures of the event. Mohamed Abdulla Shafeeg posts some pictures taken minutes before the meet.


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Mongolia: Only Mongolians Can Protect Mongolian Rangelands · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Ariungerel on Nomad Green critisizes the effects of many projects aiming to protect or restore rangelands in Mongolia. “Once a project ends and the result is reported to the world, both of their money and minds would disappear”, and in many cases, those restored rangelands return to waste desert because local people still lack the mindset of sustainable rangeland protection.

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Pakistan: The Strategy To Win Against The Attackers · Global Voices
Rezwan

“For the people of Pakistan, however, the worst aspect of the attacks is that attackers belong to us. It is the trauma of being hit by our near and dear ones,” comments Azhar Aslam at Teeth Maestro on the recent suicidal attacks in Pakistan. He proposes some strategies to win the battle which include – all attackers must be declared Kafir and Kharijis so that they don't get any compassion.


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Russia: Election Fraud and Blogging · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Reports of vote-rigging in the local elections, which took place in 75 of Russia’s 83 regions on Oct. 11, spurred protests by citizens and politicians in the Russian capital – and quite an outrage among some of the country's bloggers.
In Moscow, the United Russia party, led by PM Vladimir Putin, took 32 of 35 seats in the city legislature; the only other party to make it to the Moscow Duma is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. There are documents and reports that have been circling the Russian blogosphere this past week, however, which suggest that the results of the election could have been different.
One day after the election, LJ user yakovlev_igor – Igor Yakovlev, press secretary of the Yabloko party, which did not pass the 7 percent threshold of votes necessary to win a seat – performed a simple math exercise on his blog, comparing the numbers (RUS) entered on one polling station's vote returns protocol (RUS) and on the summary table (RUS) posted on the Moscow City Election Commission's website later. Here's what he found (translation of the post and of the tables’ content – from the English-language section of Yabloko's site):
[…] Electoral district No 1702, Danilovsky district, Moscow.
All who has seen election campaigns of the recent years mark an unbelievable scope of fraud at yesterday’s election (Moscow City Duma election on October 11, 2009).
Here comes only one example of election fraud:
Protocol of the local electoral commission published at the web-site of the Moscow Electoral Commission
[…] 14 3. Moscow regional branch of the UNITED RUSSIA party 742 […]
Protocol of the local electoral commission given by the commission to YABLOKO’s observer
[…] 14 3. Moscow regional branch of the UNITED RUSSIA party 192 […]
United Russia simply “got” 550 additional votes from nowhere. 550 is a beautiful figure. […]
On Oct. 16, things turned even more “beautiful”: the protocol and the summary table from another polling station in Moscow showed that Yabloko did not receive a single vote there – even though Yabloko's leader Sergei Mitrokhin and his family cast their votes at that very location, polling station #192. LJ user yakovlev_igor reported on this development (RUS), too, posting both the voting data and photos of Mitrokhin inside and outside the polling station. Two days later, the Moscow City Election Commission ordered an investigation into this episode, and LJ user yakovlev_igor wrote (RUS):
[…] Not all the mass media wrote about it, but on blogs this has been one of the most discussed topics of the past three days.
Long live the bloggers!
LJ user avmalgin wrote (RUS) about the impact of bloggers, too:
In the Soviet times, there used to be the so-called [Samizdat]. Bulletins on human rights violations were being issued – a certain number of copies printed on a typewriter and distributed mainly among foreign correspondents. Of course, the bulletins were quoted on Radio Liberty, which increased the number of consumers of this info to the maximum. But let us not forget that Radio Liberty was being jammed. And the authors of the bulletins were severely persecuted. [Natalya Gorbanevskaya] – [LJ user] ng68, the first editor of the [Chronicle of Current Events] – would be better at telling this story. [Sergei Kovalyov], who had edited exactly seven issues of the bulletin, was imprisoned for exactly seven years – a year for each issue; [Ilya Gabay] was sentenced to three years; [Gabriel Superfin] [was imprisoned] for five years; [Aleksandr Lavut] – for three years. Et cetera. [LJ user] ng68 herself was dragged away from her typewriter, dressed in a straitjacket and taken to a mental asylum, after which [Joan Baez] wrote a song about her, [Natalia].
What was the Chronicle's circulation? Thirty copies. Well, maybe 50.
Right now in the LiveJournal our, so to say, Chronicle of Current Events has a circulation that the [anti-Soviet dissidents] of the 1970s couldn't dream about. I don't know the general statistics, but my posts are sometimes read by 10,000 people a day. The post about cheating in favor of the United Russia has been read by 45,000 people. Not bad. And this is not the only “chronicle” out there – not one, not two, but thousands. Of course, they are dreaming of plugging this fountain. Not my blog, of course, but LJ in general. I'm sure that they are thinking about it.
And here is what the same blogger wrote (RUS) about the results of the election:
[…] But United Russia doesn't want any competition, it is not used to discussions (“Duma isn't a place for discussions”), it does not understand what a multi-party system is about. The United Russia wants to be the only party out there, it want to be the new [Communist Party of the Soviet Union]. By now, even a fool understands that the strategic goal of the current regime has been the restoration of the Soviet regime. And so it is nothing but surprising that Russian parliamentary delegations are welcomed abroad, that the impostors are getting invited to international forums, etc. […]

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Yes or No · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As referendum day approaches for a new constitution in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Abeni says: “These days it is so hard to find a Vincentian as people prefer to identify themselves as NDP or ULP.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Suriname: Personal History · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

For Paramaribo SPAN, Chris Cozier visits Dhiradj Ramsamoedj’s home to view the artist's Adji (which means ‘maternal grandmother’) Gilas cups and notes: “This is a very personal navigation of his experience — his own memory and relationship to family and place.  This processing and reconfiguring defines the current moment in which many contemporary Surinamese artists are proceeding.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Open Content · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In Trinidad and Tobago…copyright culture is confused. Fortunately, most people who are creating content on the Internet from Trinidad and Tobago seem to at least have a clue about how copyright works. But even with that,” says KnowTnT.com, “a lot of people don't realize the power of open content.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Who’s to Blame? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the Trinidad and Tobago government is criticized over the sub-standard living conditions of Chinese labourers brought in to work on state construction projects, Survivein’ Trinidad says: “If a private company offers me a fully loaded contract (housing, travel allowance, etc.) to work in Germany and I get there only to realize that my living conditions are sub-standard, who is in the wrong? The German government or the company that contracted me?…Common sense before book sense people!”


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United Kingdom: ‘Super injunction’ lifted on Côte d’Ivoire waste dumping report · Global Voices
Judith Townend

Trafigura, the world’s third largest independent oil trader, has finally released the UK's The Guardian newspaper from a secret injunction preventing it from reporting the so-called Minton Report [PDF at this link].
After a strange week of battling between Trafigura's lawyers from the firm Carter-Ruck and The Guardian, and a week of terrible publicity for the company, Trafigura finally gave in and said the preliminary report could be made public.
The draft study contains details of waste dumped in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in 2006 – and evidence of its chemical components, and their potential effect.
The injunction banned The Guardian from reproducing or reporting the Minton Report which was already available on Wikileaks.org and the Norwegian media (maybe elsewhere, too). The order was obtained by lawyers Carter-Ruck on behalf of its client Trafigura.
“No newspaper can reveal the contents of this report, but at least we can now say that it exists and has been rendered secret. The option of ‘publishing and be damned’ is not available.” [The Guardian, 14.10.09]
But until last week no-one, except those it involved, knew that the injunction existed and that The Guardian could not report the order. Why? It's one of many existing secret injunctions, which not only ban reporting a story but also the existence of the ban itself.
The only reason we know about it now, is because of one British member of parliament (MP), Paul Farrelly. As Private Eye, a UK magazine famous for its investigative journalism and its disdain for Carter-Ruck, a leading media libel litigation firm, said this week on its website, Farrelly's “intention was to test this conspiracy of silence [i.e. secret ‘super injunctions’] by asking questions about it in Parliament”.
How? Because MPs are protected under the Bill of Rights of 1689, which declares that “freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any place or court outside Parliament.”
Therefore an MP's comments can be published without fear of legal action (a fuller history at this link). But The Guardian knew that to reproduce Paul Farrelly's question (below, tabled in Parliament, see point ii.) would contravene the existing order. So it contacted Carter-Ruck to see if they could change the terms of the injunction. “We were advised by Carter-Ruck that publication would place us in contempt of court,” stated The Guardian.
Carter-Ruck meanwhile maintained that The Guardian's account was ‘misleading’. Its full statement can be found at this PDF link. The lawyers acting on behalf of Trafigura said they would take further instructions from their clients, but The Guardian published its article first.
A very comprehensive account of the extraordinary activity online can be found on the Online Journalism Blog but to sum it up:
Simply put – whether defiant online users were the reason Carter-Ruck agreed to vary the order or not – Paul Farrelly's question could not be suppressed online. And what's more, thousands of people who had never heard of Trafigura now knew its name and its connection to a toxic waste scandal.
Then, later in the week  Carter-Ruck suggested debate could be blocked in Parliament by claiming that the secret injunction it had obtained is “sub judice,” ie. in active legal proceedings. If proved, it would prohibit any motion, debate or question concerning the matters going ahead, under Westminster rules.
A day later the Minton Report injunction was lifted in the British press.
Before, journalists could only say it existed, nothing more. And that's what was really controversial here.
Because the report is all to do with the dumping of waste in West Africa.
For background on the waste dump in the Côte d'Ivoire in 2006 please read this commentary on Journalism.co.uk: ‘The journalist and NGO collaboration to expose Ivory Coast toxic waste dump’. For more detailed information on events themselves, visit The Guardian's section on Trafigura and the Probo Koala.
Further information on the Trafigura-Guardian story can be found in the Journalism.co.uk blog updates at this link.

author: Judith Townend


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Bangladesh: Difficult Time For Journalists · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mahadi Hasan Talukder reports that the Bangladeshi journalists are passing through a difficult time because local corporates, non-profits and multinational companies have gripped the Bangladeshi media sector and are exploiting their influence on them.


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China: From heroic to ignorant masses, and then… · Global Voices
Minax

The Chinese communist ideology has been eroding rapidly in the past two decades due to economic development. Traces of its revolutionary belief can still be found in political propaganda pieces published in the state owned media. Words like “the masses” marks the past ideological imprint.
However, in recent years, the term “the masses” is more and more associated with large scale protests, or the so-called “mass incidents”. From the perspective of local government, such kind of “mass incidents” implies social instability and has to be repressed. And hence, “the mass” becomes more and more in association with negative adjectives. A typical example can be found in a report earlier this year on social unrest in Luliang County of Yunnan Province in which hundreds of farmers confronted the police. The local state owned media then quickly described “the mass” as those “who are ignorant of the truth and facts are stirred up by a small cohort of vicious power in the village…”
To rescue “the masses” from negative connotation that jeopardizes the communist party's revolutionary legacy, the Propaganda Department of Yunnan province issued a notice demanding local media to stop using terms like “刁民（sly and difficult people)” and “恶势力（vicious power)” and to stop labeling the masses as “不明真相 (ignorant of the truth and facts)”, “別有用心 (having secret and ill-intentioned motives)” or “一小撮人 (a handful of people)”.
The liberal-orientated South China Metropolitan (Nandu) Daily and the Beijing News promptly responded to the ban with editorials (Links: Nandu; Beijing News) in the subsequent two days. Nandu Daily traced the use of the term “ignorant of the truth and facts” back to a Xinhua News Agency's article on a social unrest in Jilin Province in July and pointed out that:
云南省委宣传部门的通知，激起了对一张“不明真相”的政治和社会标签的检讨。清理和检讨这些难孚人心的陈词滥调，也就是承认和检讨公共生活中那些心照不宣的权力之恶。这种恶既包括官员滥权的投机，也有媒体不能自主的跟从。因此，这对公权力是一种进取，于媒体是一种反思。但更重要的原则是，其实没有谁可以给公众随意贴上或者撕下所谓不明真相的标签，因为历史的真相始终掌握在他们的手里。
The absent/omnipresent subject
Tianya forum writer, Chao Yong, noticed that in the discussion of the Yunnan propaganda department's move, the subject – “the masses”- of the negative label of  “ignorant of the truth and facts”  has been omitted and its absence paradoxically marks its omnipresence in the Chinese political history –
在革命年代里，“群众”常常是作为一个褒义词出现的。究其原因，主要是因为“群众”乃革命的主体。…而毛泽东更是把“群众”推向了政治峰顶，他说：“群众是真正的英雄，而我们自己则往往是幼稚可笑的。不了解这一点，就不能得到起码的知识。”这种表扬让“群众”扬眉吐气，也让他们陷入一种集体幻觉之中，以为群众运动就是正确的，群众的眼睛就是雪亮的。实际上，无论从哪方面看，“群众”都不可能自己为自己释义与正名；只是因为革命，他们才被生产出了一种“政治正确性”。
另一方面，当“告别革命”的时代来临之后，“群众”的地位则开始下降，其词性也由褒义而中性，由中性而贬义…然而，改革年代，阶级斗争被束之高阁，下岗工人、无业游民、上访农民等等不再是革命的主力或帮手，而是变成了社会的不稳定因素。改革所依傍的对象也不再是无产阶级，而是有产阶级（中产阶级乃至新富阶层）。“群众”本来就没有经济上的优势，接着又失去了政治上的庇护，结果，他们被逼向了底层——这是经济、政治、甚至道德意义上的最底层。与此同时，相关部门与媒体也开始了对“群众”的舆论围剿。于是每当群体性事件发生，相关报道总会把“群众”指认为“不明真相”。这种固定搭配既唤醒了“群众”的本来涵义——乌合之众，也是对“群众”的“丑学”赋形。而通过“不明真相”的反复涂抹，“群众”也最终完成了其词性的蜕变与转换，被指涉的对象也被丑化和妖魔化了。
From “the masses” to “the citizen”
由此看来，无论是“群众是真正的英雄”还是“不明真相的群众”，说到底都是“意识到形态国家机器”的生产之物。经过这番忽而捧上天忽而摔到地的加工制作后，“群众”本身究竟是什么，反而变得晦暗不明了。而鉴于“群众”一词已被意识形态严重污染，我就觉得相关部门在禁用“不明真相”一词的同时，也该把“群众”一起禁用。或曰：把“群众”打入冷宫，谁来代替它出场呢？答案很简单：公众、公民或者民众。
In the comment section, many echoed Chao's view:
群众一词，现在已有贬义的成分，一说群众，必是和不明真象联系起来。可悲！政府是谁的政府？党是谁的党？
群众就是平头百姓，只有作为公民时才能显现作为“人”的权利。
用什么不一样呢?公众\民众\群众不都等于百姓.替党说话还是替百姓说话就以经把百姓与党分割了.

author: Minax


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