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Brazil, Mexico: Landless Workers Movement and Zapatistas · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The Western Hemisphere Policy Watch blog cites a meeting between the Brazilian NGO, Landless Workers Movement (MST) and the Zapatistas in Southern Mexico as proof “that the international left's designs on the Americas are quite real and very much alive.”


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Britain: Immigration realities · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Aba Boy comments on the anti immigration discourse currently taking place in Britain.  He suggests that 1,2,3, 4th generation immigrants down tools for a day “I think this simple act will give everyone a pretty good idea of the contributions or burdens that immigrants place on this society”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sokari Ekine


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Brutal murder of Guyanese government minister sends shockwaves · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“The news that the Guyanese Minister of Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, Satyadeow Sawh, was brutally gunned down at his home along with his brother, sister and bodyguard early Saturday morning is sending shockwaves around the Caribbean,” wrote Trinidadian blogger Jonathan Ali on April 23. Jonathan noted that “the Express article also calls Sawh's murder “unprecedented in the history of parliamentary politics in the English-speaking Caribbean-outside of the 1983 coup in Grenada”. Today, April 24, the news makes the front page of Newsday, one of Trinidad & Tobago's three dailies.
Among Guyanese bloggers, MediaCritic was first to weigh in with a newsflash early on April 22nd:
Minister of Fish, Crops and Livestock Satyadeo Sawh was gunned down last night at his LBI home along with three others. It is understood that the three others are his relatives.
More to come.
Update: The incident happened shortly after midnight. The three persons are the minister's brother and sister-in-law and a watchman while three others were injured including another brother of the minister.
Security guards around the area said that the gunmen opened fire on them before executing the minister.
Later in the day Guyana-Gyal admitted to feeling “icy fear”:
Fingers icy with fear dialling phones everywhere. Voices whispering the news from home to home. Four people – the Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeo Sawh, his brother, his sister and his guard gunned down at his home after midnight, last night. Other people injured. . . .
Guyana-Gyal also noted the earlier murder in Georgetown (Guyana's capital) of businessman Sher Mohammed Gaz Nabi of Nabi & Sons Construction Co, adding, “His jannazah, the prayer for the dead, barely float away…and now this. A shroud settle over this small, small land again, today.” Also posted on April 22 was a more cynical reaction from Guyana Providence Stadium:
Crime in Guyana is at an all time high and has stepped up another notch, now Ministers are becoming targets.
Living in Guyana can be difficult these days but dying is becoming easier
On April 23, Guyana Resource Centre ran the AP story and another from the Trinidad Express, then a Stabroek News piece on the reaction to the incident by local organizations. Also quoting Stabroek News was Trinidadian Nicholas Laughlin, who posted the following excerpt from the newspaper's Sunday editorial:
“If it does not dawn on the government after this that the state is no longer in control, then heaven only knows what it will take for the reality to penetrate. This is not about our normal unruly political game; we are into a different context entirely from anything which has obtained before.”
Guyana Resource Centre also started a petition requesting the intervention of peacekeeping forces:
The assassination of Satyadeow Sawh is more evidence of a plot to destabilize Guyana. Peacekeeping forces are urgently required in Guyana from now until the elections are over. Vote YES if you agree there should be peacekeeping forces from the UN, OAS, UK, and US; vote NO if you disagree.
On the same day, MediaCritic posted a few clarifications to his earlier entry, and raised the issue as to whether the incident was an assasination or a robbery gone wrong:
2. Stabroek News is reporting that the minister's murderers were dressed in ‘milatary fatigues’ as opposed to ‘black clothes’ as we had reported.
Now to the issue which is being hotly debated. Was the minister deliberately and purposely assasinated in a clean hit or was he the unfortunate victim of a robbery?
1. Stabroek News reports that the Commissioner of Police Winston Felix is insisting that robbery was the motive.
. . . .
2. Stabroek News also points to an incident which angered members of the PPP/C. One hopes that they are not deliberately spinning the death into one of their comrades for political gain. . . .
Also on April 23, Guyana Resource Centre  posted a Kaieteur News story putting the incident in the context of the rash of murders (42 in the past three months) which have taken place in Guyana, and today, Guyana 360's  entry takes the form of a eulogy:
Minister of Agriculture, who was also the Minister of Fisheries, Other Crops and Livestock, was one of the most charming persons in one of the world’s dirtiest games, politics. He was like the rose between the thorns. Could he have been the rose that wanted to turn this country around, well we thing so. But like many other roses before him, he was overcome by the thorns.
It was a sad affair this evening at his house, his wife, Sattie could hardly contain her self and why must she, did she ask for her husband to be taken away? NO she didn’t. . . .
while noting that foreign assistance is apparently being sought:
What will happen next no one knows, but the FBI and the Canadians have been asked to intervene. The FBI has a poor track record in this part of the South American Continent. Jolt your memories back to the Pegasus murder…the two missionaries that were murdered on the border and the missing AK-47s. Further we say not. . . .
According to jebratt, Minister Sawh will be cremated tomorrow, which has also been designated a day of mourning in Guyana.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Caribbean: Bureaucracy kills & biofuel · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Taran Rampersad is starting a “death and injury counter” in response to the region's lack of action in the area of disaster preparedness. “My theory is that all the bureaucracy kills people in a way that could be seen as criminally negligent,” he says. And why isn't the Caribbean thinking about biofuel?


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Cayman Islands: Residency for sale? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“According to very unconfirmed sources, the Cayman Islands government may be looking into a way to sell permanent residency and/or status – this time above the table,” writes Cayblogger, who isn't happy about this at all.


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Central Asia: Corruption in Education · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand covers corruption in education in Central Asia, describing how corruption works in the Kyrgyz educational system and efforts to combat it in a few countries in the region.

author: Nathan Hamm


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China: Human rights news · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Two interesting stories from the many this week on China Activist Weekly: statistics behind the country's death penalty and the hunger strike which following the Chinese New Year has seen many leading Chinese activists and intellectuals imprisoned, which last year's diplomatic defector to Australia Chen Yonglin calls “the biggest freedom protest in China since the 1989 democracy movement.”

author: John Kennedy


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China: Photoblogs allow exchange · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Photoblogs can not only get around keyword filters but language barriers too. Beijing-based Ziboy has invited his photoblogging peers to send in contributions to his exhibition to be held in China's capitol this coming Saturday, which will “[use] the form of photoblogs on the internet to promote exchange and understanding among people from different countries and locations.” (via Danwei)


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China: Today’s Canton captured · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Frances at Supernaut continues with the visual and textual representating of Guangzhou, one of China's largest cities, with posts on an upcoming DJ delight, the city's third modern dance festival, a photo tour through the largely undeveloped old city and the sci-fi endlessness of the south side of the Pearl River.


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Colombia: Extraditing Gabriel Puerta Parra · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson emphasizes the sensitive consequences of extraditing longtime narcotrafficker, paramilitary associate, and ex-government security agent, Gabriel Puerta Parra (alias “The Doctor”) to the United States. Included is a translation of an intriguing and recent interview with Parra by the news magazing Semana.

author: David Sasaki


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Czech Republic: Radio Transmitting Tower to Become a UNESCO Site · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jesse of Bored in Brno is wondering why “a Czech radio broadcasting tower might be added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Czech Republic: Unie Svobody and the June Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Douglas Arellanes writes about the unlikely “first moves in the relaunch of the Unie Svobody (Freedom Union), the right of center party that is still in the governing coalition along with the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats”: their posters, their slogans and their site, as well as potential problems with the party's potential supporters in the June election, the young people.


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DRC: Cardinal Asks Congolese to Protect DRC From Foreigners  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Etsou, asked Congolese to protect their country from foreigners, reports (FR)Renouveau Congolais.   “You have left this beautiful country to foreigners who are carving it out” said the Cardinal to local political actors.

author: Alice Backer


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DRC: convictions for rape · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Adventures of an Armchair Traveller reports on the conviction of “seven former Mouvement Pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) (or Armed Forces of the DR Congo (FARDC)) soldiers of the rape of 119 women and girls and other crimes against humanity”


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DRC: Informal vs. Official World Order · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege contrasts (FR) the official world order (UN and other international bodies) to the informal world order (multinational corporations and secret service agencies).  According to the informal world order, the DRC is not a sovereign nation, continues the blogger.


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Egypt: Sham an Nessim · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

According to Ibn ad Dunya, The Giza Zoo, the oldest Zoo in Africa (innaugerated March 1, 1891), reopened on Sham an Nessim, (litteraly the smell the brezze-festival) after being closed for 45 days, due to the bird flu. The Giza Zoo is normally one of the major attractions on this day, with about 700 000 visitors, Ibn ad Dunya said.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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El Salvador: Ban Against Gay Marriage and Adoption · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Andrés Duque says that backing by El Salvador's two largest parties probably means that an amendment prohibiting marriage and adoption by gay couples will soon be passed.


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Election waste in Thailand · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Zeerlhing in Thailand worries about the money being wasted in organising elections after elections in Thailand. Nevertheless, she is excited about getting the chance to vote. The second round of elections too faced boycott from the opposition parties. Several of the Thai Rak Thai party candidates ran unopposed but failed to win enough votes to declare them as having won the election.

author: Preetam Rai


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Ethiopia: bought by Hollywood actress · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Meskel Square reports on  Hollywood actress  Angelique Joli who is buying “Ethiopia” in Dubai “to help impoverished Africans”


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Ethiopia: Moral outrage at Zenawi · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nazret points to an op/ed in the Washington Post on Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi…”Dept of Moral Outrage.


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European Inbalance: Trade and Drought · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Soul on Ice comments on the drought in Somalia meanwhile in England's Chelsea Flower show, a commentator complains about the lack of water for the poor flowers…and trade inbalances via Euro farm subsidies.


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Haitian Blogger Yon Ayisyen: “I’m No Revolutionary Hero” · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Yon Ayisien (whose name means “A Haitian”) blogs at Ayisyen Sa Nap Regle? (“What's Up Haitians? ” in Creole) and might as well be renamed HaitiPundit.  He is the only Haiti-based Haitian blogger who blogs about politics and his blogging wit and vision is surprising for a 25 year-old.  Though YA blogs in French, we chatted electronically in English a week before Friday's legislative runoff. Topics spanned haitian politics and internet,  internet access in Haiti, day-to-day life and non-heros.
AB: So Yon Ayisyen, you have asked to stay anonymous but what can you tell us about yourself?
YA: Well, I can tell you that I'm 25, I'm Haitian, I've lived all my life in my country.  I guess I'm well educated. I'm one of those who had the opportunity to learn French at home and then in a good school. I read quite a lot too.
AB: Are you a university student in Haiti?
YA: I used to be. My university years are behind me now. With a student budget and schedule I'm sure I wouldn’t have time to blog. I studied in Haiti but I can't tell you what because not so many people do it here….
The Citadelle Laferriere built by Haitian Revolution hero Henri Christophe circa 1804 to prevent reannexation by the French. Courtesy Anders Brownworth.
AB: Why did you start blogging?
YA:I guess I usually have a lot to say, and I have an opinion on most things whether they have something to do with me or not.  I discovered blogging while surfing the internet, it seemed like an amazing way to reach so many people. I thought I’d give it a try.  I wanted to shed light on things that I think people don’t even realize. Things that are important or really terrible but that people here just don't care about. I'm not exactly a consistent blogger though.
AB:Why is that?
YA: Well it's hard times. Sometimes it's all the things I have to do, my job and obligations other times it's just that the things I could write are too depressing… Not to mention, I don't have an internet connection at home.
AB: You’re one of three or four Haiti-based Haitian bloggers that I've found. For a while there was Haitian Mofo who blogged in both French and English but he stopped. Now there’s also Parlons Peu but he uses his blog mostly to publish his late father Marcel Salnave’s journalistic works from the 40s. So when it comes to blogging about current affairs you’re  basically it. Why are you in such scarce company?
YA: The first obvious reason would be that not too many Haitians are able to access the internet. But also people are not very educated and the educated ones are not necessarily used to going on the internet to write their ideas, they’re not so familiar with that concept. And, it's not only Haitians; most people are not familiar with blogging. Most Haitians have their thoughts and ideas on things, they share them with friends, family and that's it.  They don't necessarily want everyone to know about their opinions, and of course when those opinions are about politics in this country they can be dangerous.
AB: What are the reasons for poor internet access in Haiti?
YA: Poverty is one.  Little electricity.  And of course computers are expensive.  Very few people can have dial up because most people don’ t have regular land lines at home. So it's all cell phones and wireless. And the equipment you have to buy for wireless internet access in Haiti is really expensive….
AB: Why do you blog anonymously?
YA: Well….. I'm only 25…. and very few people who do know me know about my blogging. I talk about politics and I say out loud what I think about people and I know that’s dangerous in this country. I don't want to expose myself to unnecessary danger, or expose my family. I'm no revolutionary hero, just a regular person with opinions.
AB: The D.R. of Congo under circumstances very similar to those in Haiti (UN mission, transition, elections, regular blackouts)  have a relatively active blogosphere. How do you see the future of the Haitian blogosphere?
YA: The Haitian blogosphere is nearly inexistent. I think the first step would be to actually have a decent number of Haitian bloggers who could represent the variety of voices in this country. I think people in the country have to worry so much about so many basic things that they haven't been blogging, at least not about politics. But I think we might see more personal blogs in the future.
AB: What about those people who do have internet access like you and who do have the time and ability to blog? I know they're out there. There are plenty of Haitian websites and message boards for example (most in the diaspora) but some out of Haiti too dealing mostly with entertainment. Why websites but not blogs?
YA: I think in Haiti ‘s case it's a matter of numbers. A blog is mostly about content, you need to have something to say. And it also tends to be something you do for free. People have to put time and energy aside to write things but  it's  just so the world could know.  Not so many are willing to do that.
AB: But have you visited the Haitian listserves lately?  Corbett, Haitianpolitics, Windows on Haiti, etc…There are lots of Haitians on those listserves who clearly have something to say, mostly about politics. They are probably older than you are –in their mid 30s and 40s– and many are also from the diaspora. But they're there and I wonder why even they who obviously have something to say are not blogging.
YA: I guess blogging just doesn't come as a natural thing. Maybe they just need to know that they can blog. Maybe we should get the word out: “Haitian bloggers wanted”.
AB: So what's life like these days for a bright young  25 year old in Haiti?
YA: Discouraging. Corruption, insecurity. Corruption is really a big problem.  I know so many people who just left the country and so many others who are trying to.
AB: Who reads your blog?
YA: Most are people from the US.
AB: What is the climate in Haiti now that the presidential  election is over. Do you have any predictions?
YA:  It's a wait and see situation. Opponents, supporters of Preval, are waiting to see what is going to happen, everyone is hoping for a better future but…. I personally know a few people who got kidnapped recently so, there is still much insecurity. And also, for the legislative runoffs parties and candidates are trying to make alliances to win seats so some ugly “maneuvering” is going on behind the scenes.
AB: What is at stake in the legislative runoff?
YA: A lot. Especially when you consider that the last time Preval was president, he had a parliament who opposed him and he just could not nominate a prime minister they would accept. So if he does not get the majority in the parliament, he will not be able to have a government that is truly his because the parliament votes the prime minister in.
(See my articles translating Yon Ayisyen posts here and here.)


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India: Death of a student · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Instant Me writes from Armenia on the death of the Indian student – “A fact that I would like to bring under, is that no one from the university, accompanied the body back to India. The reasons they gave was that a visa could not be made ready, and for it to get ready would take a week.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Iran: Cartooning the nucelar crisis · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Point of View  blog, we can discover several cartoons created by Sakhvarz, an Iranian cartoonist & blogger, about the ongoing nuclear crisis.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Women & Football · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Zannevesht (Persian) says that according to IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency), Iranian President wants to give permission to women to go stadiums watching football matches.


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Islamic Banking in Indonesia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Sarapanekonomy explains islamic banking in Indonesian context. Islamic banks operate under shariah law, which does not allow interest taking on investments.


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Japan: China’s military buildup · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In Hostile Maneuvers, Reloaded, Curzon at Coming Anarchy traces increases in Chinese military spending since the 1990s in the context of Japan's ratification of the American Missile Defense Plan.


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Japan: Tokyo’s consecutive earthquakes · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A series of small earthquakes in Tokyo every day this past week have left Jesse Jace at Chorus, Isolate, Confirm a little shaken up:
“As if to punctuate the phenomenon with an extra-heavy bullet point, there was a sudden tremor no more than five seconds after I had the idea to write about earthquakes, just minutes ago.”


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Kenya: Blog awards · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan Unlimited Kaybee Awards 2006 are now out.  A list of winners and nominees can be found on their website.  Congratulations to all this years winners.


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Latvia: More On Aivars Lemberg · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia posts an update on Aivars Lembergs, the man who might rule Latvia after the election in October.


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Lebanon: Iran Worse than Israel? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Iran appears as a greater threat to some Lebanese Sunnis than Israel. The reasoning behind this comes from both domestic and regional factors, however, it is couched in regional terms, Lebanon Profile said.


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Lesotho: Racism  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sotho comments on a recent post by Idland on racism against the Chinese population in Lesotho...We have so far only considered the moral and common-sense aspect of the issue. There’s an economic angle. Carrying out hate crimes (if that’s what they are) against foreigners will only:     * invite potential investors to back off and to go look elsewhere,   * speed up the closure of foreign controlled but job giving businesses,
* create a climate of instability that is incompatible with a healthy economy.


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Mongolia: Subsidized Flight · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst writes on the higher prices for domestic flights in Mongolia, sparking a lively discussion in the comments.


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Nepal: As Monarchy dies a death · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Amardeep does a great job of collating links on the fate of Nepal even as Monarchy seems destined to end.


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Nepal: Who is to blame? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Even as the revolution in Nepal unfolds, Bahas> asks if this is the time for reconciliation or confrontation – “Nepalese political parties are equally responsible as the king Gyanendra for the present state of Nepal. After 1990, the political parties badly misgoverned the country, forced Maoists to abandon the present constitution, spent most of the time in fighting to grab the power, many times untimely dissolved the parliaments without any logical reasons..”


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Nigeria: Debt cancellation · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Grandiose Parlor  comments  on the recent Nigerian  debt cancellation.  He wonders how Nigerians have benefitted from the debt and where the loans were spent. …”What disturbs me the most is that a greater slice of this money ended in the pockets of a handful of retired generals and former top-level bureaucrats.”..


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Pakistan: The Bin Laden Story · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The various sides of the Bin Laden story. Why various stories still float around and who benefits from them on A Journey To The End Of Time.


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Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2006 · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

It seem that FIFA World Cup fever is starting early at Saudi Arabia. Ahmed is posting some details about the Saudi football team and tagging other Saudi–male-bloggers to motivate them starts talking about Saudi and it’s participation in World Cup 2006.


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Serbia & Montenegro: Kosovar Schoolgirl Battling Dutch Immigration Officials · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CafeDA writes about Kosovar schoolgirl Taida Pasic's battle with the Dutch immigration authorities: “Pasic's family fled from Kosovo to the Netherlands when she was 12. The IND decided the family could not stay and they were given money to leave voluntarily. Taida said she returned to complete her schooling in the hope of going on to study law at university. Immigration officials came to the school in Winterswijk at the beginning of the year and put her in handcuffs in front of her classmates.”


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South Africa: Attack on Helen Zille · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Fodder reports on an attack on South African politician, Helen Zille who had “chairs thrown at her and a knife pulled  on her” .. He is critical of the ANC response which says the attack must be put in context!..


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Violence against women · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Abeni cites some alarming rape statistics from St. Vincent, and stumbles upon a web site organised by a group of men seeking to “raise their own and the community's consciousness about men's violence against women.” She asks for comments.


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Sudan: China Blood and Oil · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Coalition for Darfur has a op/ed on Chinese investment in oil in the Sudan and why America should complain… China is now underwriting its second genocide in three decades. The first was in Pol Pot's Cambodia, and the second is in Darfur, Sudan. Chinese oil purchases have financed Sudan's pillage of Darfur, Chinese-made AK-47's have been the main weapons used to slaughter several hundred thousand people in Darfur so far, and China has protected Sudan in the U.N. Security Council.


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Taiwan: Regional aggregator coming · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Prominent Taiwanese blogger Portnoy has started an English-language blog, Portnoy in Between. First up? Time to see a Chinese-language blog aggregator.
“It is nothing about English hegemony;” he writes of Asia247 set to open June 4, “it is about how to communicate effectively, how to break the language divide, and how to enhance our understanding of our neighbors.”


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Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: US Army Bases · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A Flickr photoset prompts Mad Bull to satisfy his curiosity – whetted years ago in Lit. class — about the presence of US army bases in Trinidad and Jamaica.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Opposition Leader sentenced · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Caribbean Free Radio links to a newsflash from a Trinidad & Tobago daily stating that Basdeo Panday, the country's Opposition Leader has been found guilty of “deliberately failing to disclose a London bank account.” According to the news item, Mr. Panday “has to pay 1.5 million TT Dollars to the state and serve 2 years hard labour in jail”.


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Ukraine: One Man’s Chernobyl 20 Years On · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stefan at Dykun writes about a Ukrainian relative who was sent to work in Chernobyl 20 years ago: he's in his 40s now but walks with a cane. “Mykhajlo wears what must count as the thickest glasses ever worn by a human being–they should definitely find a place in a Museum of Strange and Unusual Medical Devices, such as we have here in Minneapolis. He told me that his eyes are slowly “melting.” He said that he feels like his internal organs are slowly decaying, changing form, and becoming something like a moosh of organic flesh without distinctions. He is becoming a body without organs (but not in the liberating sort of way that certain poststructuralists have celebrated). He says that at some point his body will prematurely just stop working and become a body without organs and without a soul, without a life. It could be soon, or it could be in a while. “


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Uzbekistan: ABA Shutdown · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Olesya comments on the first steps in the inevitable closure of the American Bar Association–Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative in Uzbekistan.


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Vietnam myths uncovered · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Preya at Dreaming of Hanoi tackles some of the myths people have about Vietnam.


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Writings from the Kenyan Sphere   · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

Kenyans mourned the passing of several people. There was a tragic plane crash where 14 people lost their lives, including several members of parliament and government officials, who were on a peace mission. Many kenyan bloggers had tributes, one of them was by Ntwiga who observed
The death of these citizens is a great loss to the country especially that of Dr. Godana whom I feel was one of the few politicians in the country who used his solid educational and professional background as a launching pad to champion the cause of his constituency and Kenyans in general in a very articulate and public way. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these Kenyans at this very trying time.
April 21st was designated as a national prayer day by the government, noted by mhujumu.
A World Bank staffer June Bitutu Nyanchoka, was fondly remembered by bee, and Udi, in heartfelt goodbyes.
“… Shakar Mehta, Kenya’s 1970/80s rally ace and president of the Rally Commision of FIA has  died in his sleep in London.”  Ntwiga wrote:
“This is another example of yet another Kenyan who found the honor he deserved outside his home nation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
May they rest in peace.
Ben of SwampCottage notes the exit of Kroll Associates from Africa with Africa being deemed ‘too risky’.
Kroll associates had been retained by John Githongo, the former anti corruption official in Kenya.
Bankelele points to The East African writer Jaindi Kisero's piece on politicians stalling the bank reform process
Early this month, Kenya Cricket wrote to the Nation Newspaper and his letter got published, he also has more articles about cricket in Kenya, with coverage of Nakuru Akshar league results and other matches.
Wambui hates the Kenyan phone network, that is so unreliable and quite frustrating for diaspora kenyans trying to call home using phone cards.
Spicebear misses Kenya, saying ‘…i miss church back home. there is nothing that compares to mass done the african way. when i do attend mass down here there is an orchestra with various stringed instruments and lots of excitement but man! i miss songs in swa, drums, kayambas and co-ordinated clapping…’
Future diplomat reflects on teachers and their legacy
Kenyan Villager shares his experiences on family get-togethers, and wonders as i did during easter holiday, ‘…By the way , what the hell are Easter Eggs? Can someone please enlighten this villager?’
In Music, Stunuh announces a kenyan artist by the name of Didge, who sings in swahili,
What began as a hip hop career has now grown into an ‘Urban Swahili’ soul project that is rich in content, maturity and truth. The 24 year old crooner has blended swahili’s beautiful mashairi (poetry) with neo soul to create a sound that can only be described as rich as Kenyan coffee.
Dj Mocha has exclusive piece on Wawesh, a kenyan artiste.
Outward bound? Bankelele and Mentalacrobatics mused about travelling to other places in Kenya as opposed to always visiting the coast, on both post are resources, links and ideas for places to visit in Kenya submitted by their readers.  One of the comments in Mental acrobatic's post from Ms K was to Shompole which i must say looks like a very beautiful place to visit. For bankmeister's post on domestic tourism click here.
That's all for now, be sure to check out the kenya unlimited aggregator, lots of great kenyan bloggers…so little time.

author: Juliana Rotich


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Yemen: The chewers of Hadhramout · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Yemenis are well known for chewing Qat. However, Omar does not seem to be one of them. Discover what is Qat, what it taste like, why do they chew it, and all what you need to know about it, and why Omar does not like it?


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Zambia: Freedom to be heard · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zambian blog, Real Life of a Journalist posts on a local project “ Freedom to be heard Campaign through Radio”  which would help to provide ….”a medium for people especially women and children to express them selves to government leaders, community heads, civil society heads and the rest of the country what problems they are encountering.


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Zimbabwe: Nothing in Bulawayo · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

This is Zimbabwe comments on the lack of livestock and human activity  during his travels to the  Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo…”The reasons seemed obvious … the consequencs of the misrule of the Mugabe regime … unemployment, emigration, little or no seed and fertiliser and poor health care.”


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Afghanistan:US & Taliban · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

AfghanLord reports  on recent Taliban attacks: Suicide bombing and attacks around the country especially in the south against international and American forces embarrassed those involved in the country, especially the US.


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Africa: Chinese visit · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

akwaabaghana reports that the Chinese leader, President Hu Jintao begins a week long tour of Africa - no doubt to check on how his country's investments are going and to encourage African leaders to welcome even more Chinese money.


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Africa: Oil · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

My Hearts in Accra writes on oil and its relationship with various African countries.  Certain African countries have benefited from the high demand  and the  expensive  supply side – countries we dont generally hear about in relation to oil such as Chad Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and the Congo Republic


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African music #7 · Global Voices
Obi

Nothing beats a music festival.  You meet like the music lovers, people interested in the genre and enjoy the good party vibe. And though you know the lineup in advance you have no idea what antics will be displayed on stage.  With these musings I look forward to the 4th London African Music Festival taking place between the 19th and 28th of May 2006.  Looks set to be a brilliant showcase with artist like Kanda Bongo Man and Cheikh Lo (left) taking center stage.  Get a ticket, catch a show (there are a few free foyer performances so no excuse).  Welcome to the African Music roundup.
Found a really cool online African music show, African Beat, hosted by David Vandy and Executive Producer Matthew Lavoie (Voice of America).  I really dig Vandy's presenting energy with a beautiful selection of music streaming out of my computer's speakers.  What did one do before the internet? Great show (available in various media formats).  Soundtrack to this roundup. Enjoy.
First massive big up to MsaniiXL for winning the Kenyaunlimited Best entertainment blog award 2006 (the kaybees).  MsaniiXL, in addition to an appreciation post, writes about poet and rapper Muki Garang:
“If “ya'll” havent heard about Muki Garang, he is an emcee that has been doing his thing for minute, he also does poetry(I know one of KBW fam posted something about this but it escapes me who, apologies are in order)”
The post provides a video stream to one of Muki's music videos and some great links to other artists.  Muki is a  Nairobi based Sudanese rap artiste.
Still on the topic of Sudanese rap artistes Street Knowledge reviews the album, “ceasefire”, by Sudanese rapper, Emmanuel Jal:
“You may have heard the story behind this more than the music, but definitely don’t sleep on the sound, which is deep no doubt. Jal’s garnered much press as a rapper who was conscripted as a child into the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in the war that has torn up Sudan the last few years.”
Emmanuel has an excellent website with loads of media for your enjoyment. Good stuff.
Lock it down reviews a number of records and talks on album “Various Artists: African Rebel Music” (Out|Here Records)
“Presenting hits from 10 countries ‘African Rebel Music – Roots reggae and dancehall’ gives a first insight into the new reggae dancehall movement in Africa (including a very informative 24 page booklet).”
Dj earball of SoundRoots celebrates another year in the life of artist Hugh Masekela.
“When you think of Masekela, you have to think not only of his music, but his role as something of an ambassador-at-large for South Africa (and specificically, black South Africa). The stories he tells in his songs capture snapshots of life, past and present, for ordinary South Africans.”
In another post dj earball mourns the sad loss of a friend and honours his memory with a song, “the soul” , from South African poet/musician Mzwakhe Mbuli. Rest in peace.
sungoddess of Blogcritics.org writes an excellent post on the popular hip hop crew, Orishas, from Cuba.
“Solid percussion and full throated singing features as much as rapping and scratching, and the flow is impeccable. There is a true base Cuban son and merengue base built upon with hip hop back beats, beutiful melodies and a real mix of grittiness and silkiness… it's a fascinating blend. The music is sophisticated, while blending African rhythms in with a very modern hip hop sensibility.”
From the comments you can tell how great these guys are. A Lo Cubano!!
Functional Nomad, writing on dub peotry, blogs about the launch a new/first book of dub poems:
“I was at the launch of d'bi young‘s new/first book of poems last night at the Lula Lounge. I had expected the event to be a love-in, but instead was greeted with a snapshot of a community in action — Toronto's dub poetry, or dubpoetry as Klyde Broox insists, community. Hailing from the Jamaican dance hall and reggae traditions, dub poetry has kept its roots firmly planted in the musical tradition, but with an obvious acceleration of the textual dynamics.”
Reflecting on the event he writes:
“What I realized last night, however, courtesy of d'bi young's outspoken comments on the issue, was that I was witnessing a working-class literary tradition. It brought to mind images of Joe Wallace reading to crowds of thousands of workers, or Dorothy Livesay and Milton Acorn and Earl Birney contributing to social justice and communist causes through their poetry. The connection between the dub performers and their issues/ideas/politics and their audience was perfect and indelible.”
Dub poetry is a very interesting genre and the main champions of the scene are Benjamin Zephaniah and Linton Kwesi Johnson.  Informative post.
Nkem Ifejika of African Shirts writes about the unstoppable UK, Ghanaian born rapper Sway:
“UK hip-hop doesn't get enough airplay or exposure, which is why selling a mere 20,000 copies of an album is considered successful. Shame that, because there are some very good artists out there, and Derek “Sway” Safo is one of the very best. He won a MOBO last year, and was one of several Africans (he's Ghanaian) who did well in an awards show traditionally dominated by winners of Caribbean origin.”
He provides a YouTube video of Sway's latest single “Little Derek”.  Sway dropped a brilliant album recently and the skits between songs are hilarious.  In one he mimics a young Koffi Anan.  Top 10.
I have had a few serious queries on what's good and hip on African Hip Hop.  Everything I say so on that note I'll sign off by pointing you in the direction of two of my online music spaces where you can stream and listen to good African hip hop and other African music flavours.  The African Hip Hop Project (name says it all) and Africa, the center of the world (traditional and contemporary stuff).  Enjoy and see you next roundup.

author: Obi


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Aruba: Donkeys · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

ArubaGirl explains the presence of bands of wandering donkey's in Aruba.


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Bangladesh: Lennon and Bangladesh · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

imperfect world 2006 draws up an analogy between Lennon getting shot and Bangladesh becoming free, and wonders who Musharraf looks upto.


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Belarus: Alternative Student Resource · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Iryna of TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a Belarusian-language alternative online student resource – www.studenty.by: “More than 10,000 people visited the web-site when the first cartoon about Vasilek, a freshmen university student who came to Miensk from a small village, was posted a couple of months ago (you can see it at http://studenty.by/news848.html). A series of cartoons will show students’ life in Belarus disclosing its severe social and political problems. The second cartoon was expected to appear in March, but its production was delayed, since several of the creators were arrested and spent a couple of weeks in prison. Now the authors are re-writing some of the dialogs to include recent events and experience into a new episode.”


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Bloggers react to Colombo bomblast · Global Voices
Mahangu

Reports of the recent bomb explosion in Colombo trickled in to the Sri Lankan blogosphere today, with veteran political blog Nittewa being the first to pick up the story.
Meanwhile, new comer Moju threw up a thread that got some discussion going, and although this as usual quickly degenerated in to trolling, a few commentors left some good links.
Thank you Advocate, for these youtube videos which feature TV captures of some post blast footage.
Although I've summed up a little of my past experiences with bombs in this post on my personal site,
The actual scene of an explosion is nothing like the glamorous setups you see in movies or on TV. There’s a lot more gore than cinema, and none of the music to keep you psyched. The smell of flesh and fear, entwined, inseparable. A stench that climbs up your nostrils and stays there, lodged between your nose and your mind.
most other Sri Lankan weblogs have been suprisingly quiet on the issue.

author: Mahangu


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Bolivia: Morales’ First Trip to the U.S.? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Would new Bolivian president, Evo Morales come to the US to play a game of football? Eduardo Ávila explains.


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China: America’s oil foe · Global Voices
John Kennedy

China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter continues to make the case that China and the United States are locked in a race to the bottom of the world's oil barrel.
“Like a player in a modern version of the Great Game—the classic contest between the British empire and Czarist Russia for mastery of Central Asia—China is roaming the world in search of energy supplies to feed its economic expansion,” the blogger writes, “and Washington is watching.”


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China: Google deletes Tibet? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Has Google Earth left Tibet off the map? (via China Herald)


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China: Underdeveloped Western region · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Outside In blogger outwits a gang outside a cave during travels in Western China's Muslim-dominated Ningxia Autonomous Region.


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Chinese opera in Singapore · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Chinese opera came to Singapore with the early immigrants from China. They were very popular in the days before movies and television. Some troupes are still active and once in a while they stage a show. themediaslut has a photo heavy post on one such performance.


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Dahab Spring Tears · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Another black day! Yesterday, Egypt was having a national holiday, Sham an Nessim, just few days after the Coptic Easter, which means that many Egyptians were in Dahab as well as foreigners. At about 19:15 local time, three different explosions rocked the tourist town of Dahab. It was reported that at least 23 dead and up to 150 people were injured.
Condolences, sadness, condemnations and anger are floating all over the Egyptian blogsphere. Some blogger wonder what's keeping the Egyptian president from firing the Interior minister.
Ibn ad Dunya from Fustat blog said:
I would think that an imadiate result would be the sacking of the Minister of Interior, Habib al Adly. it’s unprecedented in recent history that a minister of Interior gets to keep his portfolio after three major terrorist attacks. Usually the president’s paticience is not that long.
Free Soul is depressed:
It is enough to listen to the news everyday to get you into deep depression, I don’t know how to express my emotions but it seems like I am lost.
It seems the ethics I have has no real meaning, they are nonsense, they don’t have any meaning but in my fake world, but in the real outer world they mean nothing, they don’t exist.
Free Soul was not the only sad person. Zeinobia also was going to cry twice:
First time when I saw the Judge Mohamed Hamza in the Prime Time “10 O'clock ” in an exclusive hit interview from the Cleopatra hospital, the Head of the North Cairo Court was attacked by the Police forces yesterday Morning in front of the Judges Club !!
Second Time when I saw the victims of Dahab ‘s photos on the Egyptian National TV among them, a young baby , just months , seems to me not Egyptian but Foreigner , I couldn't take it any more , it is just a little angel that did nothing wrong except being in the wrong place and wrong time
This is the saddest Spring day ever
and this is the saddest Sinai Liberation day, some one wants to kill our celebration deliberately.
Why during feasts? Why three times blasts happen in 6/10 (October war) and 23/7 (the revolution) and now 25/4 (Sinai liberation)? Free Soul said.
There is a fear in Egypt that Sinai Bedouins will be main suspects/victims as happened before. DNA is not ready to believe this happening again and calls all of this as lies:
The bombings in Dahab didn’t happen. It’s all lies. The terrorists haven’t won again. Our tourism industry is doing great, and it’s well on it’s way to recovery from last year’s fiasco. The Bedouins have nothing to do with this. It isn’t a coincidence that this bogus piece of news came out at the same time it did last year. We shouldn’t expect anything to happen in July – another Red Sea high season. Nobody died, nobody got hurt. There’s nothing to see here. Move along.
Along the same concept, Ibn ad Dunya said that government denial of possible al-Qaida involvement is to save tourism industry:
Another development will most probably be mass arests of suspects, and the government will do anything to say that this was not al Qaida, that it was homegrown, anything to save the tourism industry. In fact i already heard some official saying that this had no connection whatsoever with any of the recent attacks.
On the other hand, Maryanne thinks that if Sinai Bedouins has anything to do with these blasts, it is government to blame. Sinai Bedouins lacks everything. Education, medication, development, etc.:
But has anyone considered sharing the benefits of development with the local families? Very few. With all of the money flowing through Sinai, very little has stayed there to benefit the Bedouin who barely manage to exist in their beautiful hell. No schools, no training, no hospitals. What are the children here expected to do in the future in this situation? How are children who have no material assets, no chance to learn the skills needed in the increasingly urban society that we have here, going to manage as adults who have no possibility of employment?
Why do we need to look abroad for the perpetrators? As the government has said, this is a local problem but it is a very serious one that needs attention.
The Egyptian Arabic language blogsphere equally critical on their government. The economical consequences are drastic. Mohammad Rabie describes the situation in his words:
محمود
شريك الأولاني في المكتب ، عنده شغله في القاهرة بس شغل دهب فيه حركة أكتر ، و برضه بيساعد في المصاريف ، انهارده بيفكر يفض الشركة و يرجع للقاهر
Mahmood
He is Abdulrahman partner. He also has another business at Cairo, but Dahab office returns more income for him. Today, he is thinking in dissolving the company with Abdulrahman and return back to Cairo.
Mohammad Rabie then closes his post with wonders. He said:
Ahmad also thinks that all what is happening is due to governmnet's wrong priorities:


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Dominica: New sports stadium · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

ThandieLand asks whether the Windsor Park Sports Stadium, an international-standard sporting facility, is a gift or a burden.


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Elections’ Race Between “Two Lefts” · Global Voices
Iria Puyosa

The official announcement of Teodoro Petkoff’s candidacy turned Venezuela 2006 presidential race on. Since April 20th, when the announcement was made, the Venezuelan political debate has been focused on what the editor of daily newspaper Tal Cual has to offer to the voters. Venezuelan bloggers have been debating Petkoff’s announcement from diverse perspectives:
Rayas y palabras highlights the ability to lead democratic dialogue as the main characteristic that differentiates Petkoff from President Chávez, who leans toward authoritarianism. According to HLP’s judgement, both leaders are not far apart regarding their approach to social policy.
Blog de RomRod points out that Petkoff’s major drawback is his lack of electoral machinery to reach the poor neighborhoods where Chávez’s personal appeal penetrates.
UnoConTodo claim that Petkoff’s candidacy generated hysteria among chavistas. Nonetheless, pro-Chávez blogs have been only  copying and pasting a few articles from other pro-government sites in which Petkoff is labeled as neoliberal and accused of being an IMF agent. The best pro-Chávez blogs, such as El espacio de Lubrio are avoiding the topic of the country's most famous guerilla fighter, Teodoro Petkoff, running for President.
The strongest criticisms against Petkoff come from abstentionists, who characterize the socialist democratic leader as a Trojan horse, infiltrated by chavismo in order to break the opposition boycott against the elections. Meanwhile, libertarian  bloggers regard Petkoff—as well as the others presidential candidates — as Little Chávez, populists, who are not going to promote the country's economic development.
English posts that contain "Teodoro Petkoff" per day for the last 30 days.
~
Venezuela – 2006 Presidential Elections  / Teodoro Petkoff

author: Iria Puyosa


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French Antilles: Banana Drama · Global Voices
Alice Backer

InternetRapide.com  points (FR) to recent efforts to promote Martinique and Guadeloupe bananas, including a commercial   and website featuring athletes from the two islands.  The blogger cites increased competition from American corporations and international regulations limiting French government subsidies as threats.  Caribbean Free Radio gave the commercial a thumbs up.


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Guyana: Playwright · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyana Diaspora profiles Britain-based playright Michael Abbensetts.


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Hong Kong: Health hazard ignored · Global Voices
John Kennedy

sevenyearsinChina‘s Han Girl stayed up late one night last week to show us why it wasn't in Hong Kong television station TVB's best interest to cover a recent report from Greenpeace which found levels of pesticides—some banned in the European Union—in vegetables sold in the city's two largest supermarkets at up to 240 times the safety level.


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Hungary: Budapest Cliches · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar cites an amazingly cliched text about Budapest for aspiring expats.


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Image from Haiti:  Sell Art, Support a School · Global Voices
Alice Backer

La Bonne Recolte by  J.B. Chery.  Image courtesy AyitiCherieConnexion
AyitiCherieConnexion   posts a slideshow of Haitian paintings and writes (FR):
She posts a link to the artwork still available after the auction.


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In love with the little prince · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Asri tells us why she likes Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book The Little Prince.  The author's simple style has Asri smitten and has a lesson for her own writing style.


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India: The Young Working Woman · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The dilemmas of being a young working woman in India Iat genderbenders.


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Japan: Creative manhunt methods · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The An Englishman in Osaka blogger posts on the unique way Japanese police track down their most wanted.


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Japan: Online language learning · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Chris Bunting at Buyo shares his discovery of two free online Japanese learning tools: one mouse-over pop-up translator and a vocabulary-drilling role playing game.


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Kazakhstan: Terrorist Bust · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

James looks at the winners and losers in the recent announcement of the breakup of a terrorist ring by Kazakh authorities.


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Kenya: We are not all running · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan blogger Gukira writes that not all Kenyans are runners and wonders what Kenyans are running from? “As the Kenyan sport, running is less a ritual of patriotism than a critique of the nation.”


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King wants the courts to resolve Thai election deadlock · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

BangkokPundit links to Thai newspaper stories that have the Thai king declaring that he will not intervene to appoint a prime minister. The king is asking the country's top courts to help resolve the deadlock.  Even after two rounds of elections there is no clear winner as boycotts have led to 13 seats remaining vacant. The parliament cannot convene to form a new government until all the seats of the lower house are filled.


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Latvia: Dangerous for Russians · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia writes that, according to one survey, “53 percent of [Russian] respondents named Georgia as the most dangerous country to Russians, while Latvia came second with 29 percent.” Belarus and Kazakhstan are considered the safest.


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Law against abusive men · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Touched by an Angel talks about a new law  in the Philippines that protects women from abusive husbands. The post illustrates a case where the law came to the rescue of the blogger's friend.


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Nepal: Maoists and the King · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy For Nepal on the reaction of Maoists to the political developments in Nepal.


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Nepal: Release by South Asia Forum for Human Rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat has a post with a release by the South Asia Forum for Human Rights on the developments in Nepal and the duties of various stakeholders - “It will not satisfy the demand for the establishment of a true democracy in the country, for the fulfillment of which the nation has risen in a spontaneous and mass revolt.”


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Nepal Revolution: Victory · Global Voices
Paramendra

The April Revolution in Nepal is a landmark in the country's history. People poured out into the streets for 19 days in all towns, villages, cities. The country was totally shut down. And the king caved in. This is a victory for non violence, for democracy.
Democracy For Nepal celebrated the obvious victory, but it is also guarded as to the Maoist response: 18 Days Of April Revolution: Victory, Maoist Reaction To Democratic Victory: Not Right, Declare Constituent Assembly On First Day Of Parliament.
Dinesh Wagle, the founder of United We Blog,was  recently in New York City: and was extremely unhappy he had missed the April Revolution.
It appears that a constituent assembly finally feels possible, the Madhesi community needs to work to attain equality for the first time in Nepal: it is a civil rights issue. Madhesi Rights: Total Equality.
United We Blog as always has great on the ground coverage and commentary:  Leaders Vow to Preserve People’s Power,  Roadmap of New Nepal,  King Renounces, All Eyes on SPA,  People’s Power.

author: Paramendra


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Nepal: Understanding India’s Stand · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepali Netbook on India's stand on the situation in Nepal – “History is instructive here. Remember the Delhi Compromise of 1951 under which Jawahar Lal Nehru constructed the platform for King Tribhuvan, B.P. Koirala and Mohan Sumshere Rana to work out their differences?”


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Nigeria: Internet exchange points · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Oro reports that Nigerian internet traffic will soon have it's own exchange points which should speed up the time it takes for your email to reach its destination and vice versa. “The Board of Nigerian Communications Commission has approved a proposal to fund the setting up of Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) in Nigeria. The proposed IXPs which will operate on a not-for-profit basis, will be done by NCC in collaboration with the ISP community under the umbrella of Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN) to achieve this objective.”


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Romania: Kiosk As A Local Version Of Wal-Mart · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An American in Romania writes about “the Romanian version of Wal-Mart”: “The Romanian kiosk looks nothing like a Wal-Mart, that's why it is so deceptive. It's a tiny building with room inside for one or maybe two people tops. You could probably link arms with three of your friends and completely surround the thing. Yet packed inside every Romanian kiosk are nearly enough products to stock your average Wal-Mart.”


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Russia: Klyukva v Sakhare · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Konstantin Dlutskiy of Russian Marketing Blog writes about “another nostalgia food product” – klyukva v sakhare (cranberry in sugar).


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Russia: Svetlana Bakhmina’s Sentence A “Replay” of the 1930s · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog writes that the case of the former Yukos lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina might be a “replay” of the 1930s and deserves “international interference or protests.” “The convicted mother of two, who has been in detention since 2005, is not only legally innocent — her standing within YUKOS clearly prevented her from playing a significant part in any corporate wrongdoing — but innocent in the sense that victims of hurricanes and terrorist attacks are. She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and so got railroaded. […] Bakhmina, a hard-working professional mother and wife, is nothing but a victim of the evil system Putin has partly set up, partly revived, partly inherited.”


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Scrapped Malaysia-Singapore Bridge – loosers and gainers · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Competitivemalaysia lists the loosers and gainers in the recently scrapped bridge project between Malaysia and Singapore.


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Tajikistan: Host · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on what Tajikistan gains by playing host to India's first foreign military base.


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Travel India: Different Flavors · Global Voices
Mridula Dwivedi

India is an interesting destination and here are a few posts (one from our neighbours, Nepal too) that talk about it without any unnecessary frills or gloss.
Anil at Windy Skies while traveling through Goa (India) finds an unlikely bar in a small village: White House.
I find the atmosphere surreal, but I cannot imagine Goan bars fitted with anything other than these dim yellow bulbs for it would simply kill their character. Better still if they were to operate out of brick structures held together in mud covered walls painted red or blue, or left to themselves like some village bars out in the countryside, the red laterite bricks exposed to the elements. “White House is an unlikely name for a bar,” I say aloud as Raju walks up to the counter to ask for a quarter of Cashew feni, and soda.
No longer Kerela's (India) best kept secret, Munnar is still very beautiful. Abhi at Blue Marbel takes us through Munnar
Nestled amidst the Western Ghats and the greenest of tea plantations; this quaint little plantation town is Kerala’s best-kept secret until recent times. Munnar derived its name from ‘mun-ar’, which means ‘three rivers’ in Malayalam. Located at an altitude of 5250 feet above msl it makes for an ideal tea county. Today it’s coming up, and coming up fast as a hot-spot hill station full of moony eyed honeymooners, tea-tasters and the backpackers!
From the Western Ghats we move to Auli (Uttranchal Himalayas, India) with Arun from India Travel Blog
I noticed a few people playing cricket just below the snow line, taking advantage of the warm weather. And some one had already set up a tea stall there! Climb a little higher and the cricket ground gave way to ski slope!
VJ from VJ's Travelogue takes a trip to Mcleodganj and brings back some lovely pictures and an account of his trip.
Mcleodganj (‘Ganj’ means market and McLeod, a Scotsman.) is truly special city. An impromptu trip again . Till I boarded a bus to Dharamshala , I wasn't sure , if iam going to make it or not .But I knew this was happening, finally.
Kiran at Beautiful Earth recounts his experience with porters he met while trekking in Jomsom (Nepal).
The porters were a hardworking lot
They would carry trekking gear all day as much thirty kilos a man while the people who employed them carried fancy walking poles and photography equipment
A little early in the night all the porters got together around a fire and began to cook
A little later into the night dinner was being served amongst themselves
They all gathered around a table where there was plenty of meat to eat and arrack to drink
They even invited some from the trekker group who employed them for a night of merry

author: Mridula Dwivedi


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Trinidad & Tobago: Bob Dylan, calypso fan · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jonathan Ali links to an Observer article on Bob Dylan's efforts to become a deejay, noting the presence on Dylan's playlist of a song by Trinidad calypsonian Lord Beginner.


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Ukraine, Belarus: Chernobyl Links · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Megan Case posts links to Chernobyl-related websites and writes about her own memories of 1986.


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USVI: Condo protest · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Frank Barnako reports that demonstrators protesting condominium development were barred from attending a ceremony marking the opening of the port in St. John, US Virgin Islands.


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Uzbekistan: Drug Usage · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Nick of neweurasia reports on anti-drug initiatives in Central Asia and the two levels of the drug problem in Uzbekistan.


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

Zhenkov Cathedral, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Welcome to the latest roundup from the Central Asian and Caucasian blogosphere, brought to you (almost) bi-weekly by neweurasia's Ben, James, Peter and Luke.
As usual, we take you through the countries alphabetically. Unfortunately, the Azeri blogosphere is still underrepresented in our roundup – so if you're a blogger writing on/from Azerbaijan, be sure to drop us a line with your link.
Armenia:
The tragic death of an Indian student in Yerevan and the subsequent protests by the Indian student community has only been covered in great detail by some Armenian blogs. Onnik Krikorian, author of Oneworld, has so far provided the most comprehensive coverage of the incident. The Armenian authorities are believed to have reacted too slowly (the emergency service took 45 to arrive at the scene) and the rector of Yerevan’s Medical University is blamed of racism. There are many photos, an account of a demonstration written by Nessuna and the latest update on this Sunday's events. Nanyaar?, an Indian blogger based in Yerevan, has also covered the story. On her blog, there are photos from a cortège and an open letter to anyone concerned.
Georgia:
Sue of SueAndNotYou has a heart-warming account of what it means to have friends in Georgia. The story is about Felix, an “orphan kid who’s had just one lucky thing in his whole rotten lot in life and that’s his friends”.
Kazakhstan:
Adam Kesher comments on his blog about a border incident in which Uzbek borders reportedly opened fire on three Kazakh nationals as they were attempting to steal barbed wire from a temporary fence (link in Russian). Instead of carrying out a joint investigation with Uzbekistan, he says, Kazakhstan should issue a protest note as the actions of the borer guards are unacceptable. However, as Nathan at Registan notes, diplomatic relations between the countries have recently been on the mend. Ben of neweurasia argues that Kazakhstan's Iran policy is genuinely invidual. Maybe, as KZBlog mentions in the comments, this is because Kazakhstan has its own nuclear aspirations. Nathan of The Registan notes that English comedian Sasha Baron Cohen, aka Borat, found an unexpected defender in the daughter of President Nazarbayev.
Kyrgyzstan:
Civil society activist Edil Baisalov was the victim of a murder attempt last week. On his blog, he thanks all those who have wished him a speedy recovery. Known for his outspoken criticism of notorious gangster Ryspek Akmatbayev, Baisalov is sure that the attack is a sign of the mafia becoming ever more powerful in the country. Nathan of The Registan has also covered the event, as has Amira of The Golden Road to Samarqand. The latter post also features interesting insights into what Kyrgyz students feel about the current situation in their country. Also on the Golden Road to Samarqand is an interesting post about corruption in Kyrgyz higher education. An anonymous contributor to the Kyrgyzstan Student Blog has also posted on this topic.
Mongolia:
A hunger strike that started after a fire in a trade center has finally been resolved. Businesswoman G. Altan signed a contract with the victims to resolve the four month ordeal, reports Luke on neweurasia. He also reports on the ongoing protests in Ulaanbaatar where a protester has resorted to immolation – and lit himself on fire. Guido of Mongolian Matters reports on a bizarre online dispute: The Wikipedia profiles of several Mongolian politicians are severely contested. Is the son of prime minister Enkhbold also involved in the row?
Tajikistan:
Russian blogger Ailoyros has featured some photos of northern Tajikistan in a recent post (link in Russian). One of the pictures is of the Varzob River, which flows from the mountains to the capital, Dushanbe. On neweurasia, James reports that a USAID-funded project sponsors computer equipment for local mosques and Tajik Boy says that Tajiks are often victims of race-related crimes in Russia.
Turkmenistan:
Turkmen blogger Karakum has translated a discussion that first appeared on neweurasia into Russian. He is of the opinion that increased EU trade with Turkmenistan could reap some benefits for the populations welfare, contrary to what is commonly claimed by human rights organisations. However, Dennis de Tray, former World Bank country director for Central Asia disagrees on the Center for Global Development's blog. In the latest post on opposition Turkmen blog Paikhas, readers are promised the full imminent publication of an account of the Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 (link in Russian). This was the earthquake that claimed the life of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov's mother and many other members of his family. The book, originally written by Shokhrat Kadyrov, who runs the blog, makes the bold claim that only 50,000 people died in the earthquake, a much lower estimate than that offered by the Soviet and, latterly Turkmen authorities. The post also features historic photos of scenes of devastation in Ashgabat
at the time.
Uzbekistan:
The Fast and the Furious 4: Every Sunday in Tashkent there is an unofficial car race.  This last time it was stopped short during a crash. Follow this link for pics of the fender-bender on Vseyusnyi Blog. The United Nations hosted a Millenium Development Goals event for young people in Tashkent on April 22 entitled: “7th Annual Global Youth Service Day.”  The event was designed to allow young people to socialize and discuss development in the coming years both in Uzbekistan and the rest of the world and Alfisha has the rundown. The nature of Uzbekistan: Vseyusnyi Blog has another great set of nature pictures; mostly of flowers, but with a bird as well. The wife of imprisoned opposition politician Sanjar Umarov, Indira Umarova, has written an open letter to Uzbek authorities asking for the release of her husband. The letter got published on the Sunshine Uzbekistan Coalition's blog, in Russian and in English. Olesya of neweurasia reports that yet another international organisation, this time the American Bar Association, is accused of engaging in activities not foreseen under its charter and will most likely have to leave Uzbekistan soon.  An interesting and lively discussion about Islam in Uzbekistan took place on neweurasia after Ataman Rakim posted about the arrest of seven alleged Islamic extremists.

author: Ben Paarmann


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Zimbabwe: Unpatriotic · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Moral Fibre reports that Zimbabwean Vice President has complained that  young Zimbabweans are not generally patriotic.  Hardly surprising given the state of the country….”Circumstances in Zimbabwe are not conducive to a patriotic populace, I'm afraid. What with inflation at 913.6%, unemployment at 70% and the omnipresent threat of wide-scale famine, I doubt too many Zimbabwean youths go home at dusk to solemnly salute the Zimbabwean flag before retiring to bed beneath a large portrait of Robert Mugabe.”

author: Sokari Ekine


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Argentina, Uruguay: EU Sticks Nose in Conflict · Global Voices
David Sasaki

And Yes I Do Take it Personally paints EU involvement in the Argentina-Uruguay paper mill debate with a sarcastic brush.


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Armenia: Talks Break Down · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports that talks have broken down between Indian students and the Yerevan State Medical University and notes that a blog has been set up for students to write about the university.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Bangladesh: Homeland · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Returning to the countries we come from. Mezba on living in the MidEast, South Asia and Canada. The racism, quality of life and job opportunity confusion all thrown in together.


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Barbados: Future of the wetlands · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press posts the first in a proposed three-part series on the future of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, “the last remaining, healthy mangrove swamp on Barbados”.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Belarus: Chernobyl and Charnobylski Shlyah · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

br23 blog writes about how he, then a 10-year-old son of two physicist parents, learned about the accident at the Chernobyl power plant 20 years ago. Ivan Lenin writes about today's protest rally in Minsk, and TOL's Belarus Blog links to Radio Liberty's photos from the rally.


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Belarus: Chernobyl Neglect · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog notes that when it comes to Chernobyl awareness and aid distribution, Belarus is neglected: “70% of all the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. And yet, in mass-media world-wide everyone talks only about Ukraine. Belarus is lucky if it’s getting 5-10% of the coverage and 5-10% of the international Chernobyl aid.”


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Belize: VoIP blocked by local telecom · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Melody reports that Belize Telecommunications Limited has been blocking VoIP connections in the country and calls for users’ assistance in surveying the effects of the blocking on their internet usage. “They have gone as far as jamming chat and messenger programs like GoogleTalk, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Voice and other,” Melody says. “What this means, simply, is that BTL is mandating what you should and should not do with your internet connection.”


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Bermuda: Cruelty to animals · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Sean advocates a harsher sentence for a Bermudian man charged with neglecting his animals.


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Bolivia: Unity Festival 2006 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

GlowMain lists the DJ's that will perform at the 24-hour, non-stop, psychedelic trance event (ES) called “Unity Festival,” which will take place the first week of May in Bolivia.

author: David Sasaki


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Caribbean: CSME provides chance for success · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) may not “grab us”, says Francis Wade, but it may be the best shot the region has at a successful future.


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Central Asia: Beer · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net discusses the rapid rise in beer consumption in Central Asia.


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Chernobyl: Facts and Myths · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander writes about the facts and myths of Chernobyl: “The first news of the accident actually reached a western audience. High radioactive levels were registered at Swedish and Finnish nuclear plants already on 26 april. It quickly became apparent that the radioactivity emanated from somewhere within the Soviet Union. Western media immediately picked up the story and in the following days the Soviet government came under great pressure to reveal what had happened. The first news to a soviet audience came by way of a short TASS-telegramme on 1 May, declaring that there had been an accident with the Chernobyl reactor. One may assume that the date was chosen to drown the message in the 1 May celebrations. It was not until 14 May that Gorbachev informed the public by way of a television statement […]”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Chernobyl: Letters Never Written · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user wall4 – originally from Lviv, Ukraine, now living in Connecticut – writes about his experience as a soldier forced to serve in Chernobyl 20 years ago (RUS). The piece is accompanied by several black-and-white army pictures.
20 Years Ago. Letters I haven't written.
“Mama, I'll never forget how you were running back and forth outside the locked gates of the conscription center. Don't be upset, everything will turn out fine, I won't be staying there for a long time.”
“We are on the train, all became friends quickly. All dead drunk, officers don't stop us, they understand… […]”
“Kiev is empty, 6 AM, only water trucks are watering the streets constantly. At the checkpoint to the north of the city we pass trucks and buses with refugees. They are from there. We are on the way there. Everyone shudders – from the chill of the dawn and from fearsome anticipation. Everyone's sobered up long ago.”
“We've arrived, Polesskiy district, a tent camp in the field. A hot, wonderful day. We are all standing, afraid to sit down on the grass – because of radiation. Here's one who has lost patience and sat down. Another one after him. Ten minutes later, everyone's lying on the grass, sunbathing – and it's not scary at all because radiation's invisible.”
“We are in the no-go zone. Patrolling a village, guarding it from looters. Suddenly, there's rustling in the grass. […] A stooped old woman emerges: “Dear sons, let me get into the house and take a blanket and a pan. They chased us out, didn't let us take anything…” We turn our eyes away, there are tears of shame and grief in them…”
“Mushrooms are huge and there are plenty of them. The locals pick them along the forest road. They squeeze themselves through the fences, get into the Zone and pick mushrooms. We tell them: “What are you doing, people. You'll get poisoned!” – and they laugh in a friendly way in response, with peasant's slyness: “Nothing'll happen to us, look how beautiful the mushrooms are…”
“Mama, we've almost got caught in a serious shower today. Sasha Tatarchuk and I are walking at the side of the road, and suddenly hear great, scary noise. We raise our heads, turn around – a helicopter is over us, watering the road with a mix of iodine and lysol, to beat the radioactive dust down. We barely managed to run off the road's side, almost got sprayed by this stinking crap.”
“World Cup in Mexico. Maradona scores with his hand. […] USSR-Hungary 6:0. We are watching it all in the village of Osipovichi, Narovlyanskiy district of Gomel region, in the village school. On the blackboard are the words “28 krasavika 1986 goda” [April 28, 1986 – BEL]. It means that 12 km away from Pripyat children had classes two days after the accident.”
“Mama, I've seen the Red forest and the power plant far away. And the crimson sunset over it. It's incredibly beautiful here – forests, lakes and silence… In villages, cats and dogs come to our checkpoints and eat buckwheat with canned stew from the same plate. Sometimes they don't manage to share it and the dog barks at the cat, and the cat straightens out whiskers and responds with hissing. Cats win more often (as in real life). Horses, having gathered into herds, dropping foam, are running around fields and gardens covered with meter-tall grass. Sometimes an armored personnel carrier flies by at great speed.”
“Mama, soldiers guarding the perimeter of the power plant are given Swedish grape juice in cartons with straws, and chocolate. They are wearing small gauze respirators and rubbered protection suits. 19-year-old boys. Next to them I feel like a wise, experienced, brave warrior. I'm 22 already.”
“Going home. At last. The train passes the suburbs, approaches the train station. We are packed by the window, our cheeks and noses pressed to the windows. Home.”
To my friends Sasha Tatarchuk, Pavlik Fedorich, Vova Gamazin, Vitya Mostovets, Lyokha, Aristarkhushka, Ivan-Shayba, Zaliznyak. Be healthy. Let you children grow up healthy, this is very relevant for us all…


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China: American expansion discouraged · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Sun Bin blogger gives some economic-model advice to the United States in response to their perceived China-containing intentions:
“You will lose…The US has to kickbox also in Middle East, S. America, Europe, Russia and Africa. The US could then be dragged into exhaustion like the Soviet Empire. This is not good for the world. Focus on your competitive advantage, do not emulate others.”

author: John Kennedy


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China: Detained writers remembered · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Has it really been a year since Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong was charged by China for spying? And two months since Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao's arrest for what has yet to be announced? AsiaPundit‘s myrick reminds us in ‘lest we forget’.


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China: Intellectual property law · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Kevin Fisher at chinablawger takes a legalistic look at the glamorous side of intellectual property law.


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China: Kidnapping impacts family · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao—now considered by Reporters Without Borders to have been kidnapped by the Chinese state—has in these two months of illegal detention missed not only his own birthday party but that of his father's as well [zh].


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China: Photoblogs—translation not needed · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In the write-at-your-own-risk world of blogging in China, there are no fine lines between what's acceptable, what will get you blocked and what will get you thrown in jail. Lists of words and topics appear from time to time, but nothing official has ever been released.
It's tragic. What for many people is a healthy and empowering pasttime, blogging in China leaves some of the most articulate and informed voices out there feeling lumped in with spammers and smut peddlers. For every site that gets blocked in China, understanding of and connection to the rest of world moves a step further away; Wikipedia, Blogspot and now, even Technorati.
Photoblogs are of brilliant design, though, both in being able to get past keyword filters and in their ability to speak to any audience regardless of culture or language group.
Prominent Chinese photoblogger Ziboy had this in mind when he decided to organize an exhibition of photos from his own blog and those of his friends all around the world. In preparation for the show this Saturday in Beijing, Ziboy agreed to answer most of the questions Global Voices sent to him.
GV: What reasons do you have for organizing this exhibition and what do you think it will achieve?
Ziboy: This exhibition came about after I received an invitation from event planner Feng Boyi and Dimensions Art Center in Beijing. Other than presenting Ziboy's photographs, this exhibition also hopes to show works from photographers around the world who can be contacted through the internet. The goal is to show how photography and photoblogs are superior to words in facilitating understanding between people from different countries and regions.
GV: I see your photoblog is doing very well. How and why did you get started in photoblogging?
Ziboy: I started this blog at the beginning on 2001 after being inspired by New York photoblogs LightningField.com and LauraHolder.com and then bought a one megapixel digital camera to get started.
GV: Could you tell me more about what your goals are with your photoblog? Have your goals changed since you began?
Ziboy: The goal is to provide foreigners with a non-official window into Beijing and China not bound by the constraints of text, to let them see images from lives of normal Chinese that aren't found in newspapers, magazines, on television or in other exhibitions. From the beginning until now my goals and thoughts haven't really changed.
GV: What is the relationship between your photoblog and your offline photography?
Ziboy: Before starting a photoblog I hardly ever took photos, so you could say I took up photography only for this photoblog.
GV: Has your photoblog led to any cooperation with other photographers?
Ziboy: It got me a job as a photojournalist.
GV: Can other blogs use the photos? What are your views on Creative Commons (free reproduction with attribution)?
Ziboy: Sure. I'm not totally clear on what Creative Commons is, but I agree with their views.
GV: Does photography allow you to address issues that writers in China may not? What are your views on censorship in China?
Ziboy: [Ziboy politely declined to answer this question.]
GV: What are your blogging and photography plans for the future?
Ziboy: I hope to improve on PhotoblogChina.com, a website of mine which lists Chinese photoblogs.
Ziboy welcomes people to take part in the exhibition. Bring your works to the show, he says, e-mail them to him now or put them up on his Flickr site yourself.
Exhibition: Here-Photoblogger Ziboy's self expression
展览名称：此在——拍客ziboy的自主表达
Opening: 15:00 p.m. (Sat) April 29, 2006
开幕式：2006年4月29号（周六）下午3点
Address: Dimensions Art Center (798 Dashanzi No.4 Jiuxianqiao, Beijing)
地点：北京 798艺术区 帝门艺术中心 (酒仙桥路4号)
Time: April 29 – May 22, 2006
展期：2006年4月29号——5月22号
电话：64359665
Free 免费
Details on the event are available in both Chinese and English.


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China: Red but greening · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In ‘Is China Going Green, Part VIII?‘, China Law Blog‘s Dan Harris relates a Wall Street Journal story on increasing environmental awareness in the rapidly-developing Asian country to his own experiences there:
“We have found the same thing in our China work for foreign companies, particularly in the last few months.  Registering a company to do business in China is often easier if the company you are seeking to register does not pollute or goes to great lengths to minimize pollutants.”


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China: Technorati blocked · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Technorati has been blocked. Albeit limited, Technorati used to be the best Chinese-language aggregating one could hope to get.


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Dominican Republic: Book Fair · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

DR1 – Daily Dominican Republic News posts a brief report on the opening of the 9th International Santo Domingo Book Fair on April 24. Among the themes of this year's festival are the 45th anniversary of dictator Rafael Trujillo's assassination and the 500th anniversary of the death of Columbus.


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DRC: “A Poem From My Heart” · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Lines from a poem posted (FR) by Prince du Fleuve du Congo: “Son of this Sacred Land, I cry for your misfortune/Yet for your salvation, I fight with fortitude.”

author: Alice Backer


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Image from DRC: Kobolo Humor · Global Voices
Alice Backer

A Kobolo is a public transportation vehicle in the DRC.  It is also the Congolese word for trunk. Photo courtesy Le Renouveau Congolais.
In a humorous photo essay, Le Renouveau Congolais lists (FR) all the different positions that make Kinshasa public transportation bearable.


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DRC: Report Says Ruling Party Received Illegal  Corporate and State Funds · Global Voices
Alice Backer

NIZA, a Dutch NGO, published a report alleging President Kabila's party (PPRD) is illegally funded by private enterprises of the Katanga region and has received government funds, says (FR) Le Blog du Congolais.


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Estonia: Land and People · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes about a book about Scandinavia by Joanna Kavenna and his own perception of Estonia and its people: “Kavenna continually points out that Estonians are a simple people who are connected to nature and rocks and lakes. How true. I call my in-laws pakapikud – elves – because their idea of a good time is to rummage through the forests finding wild mushrooms or berries.”


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Ethiopia: Blogging media · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ethiopian blogConcoction points to an op/ed in the Economist that claims that news media are “already feeling the heat” from the blogosphere as blogs are changing the media.


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Guyana: Funeral of slain government minister · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyana Providence Stadium posts a photograph and a two-line report on the funeral of Guyana's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Crops and Livestock, who was murdered this past weekend. Guyana Resource Centre posts a Guyana news agency report on comments made by the Canadian High Commissioner during a speech made at the funeral.


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India: IT, Blogging and BarCamp · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

Information Technology and India are spoken in the same breath. Bangalore is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India, and it was therefore not surprising that two IT events were held in the city that hogged quite a bit of bandwidth in the Indian blogging spacee.
BarCamp Bangalore was held this past weekend at the Yahoo! Bangalore office. BarCamp is this unconference geek event that was first started in Palo Alto, California last year, and since then the event has gained momentum and BarCamps have been held in various parts of the world. BarCamp Bangalore was an interesting event that included geeks and techies from various parts of India, and the world. There were topics on mobile computing, Pinko Marketing, Ajax, Cyborgs, Web 2-0 and podcasting.. Lots of bloggers were blogging live about the event. Aside: It was an eye-opener to go this particular IT campus in Bangalore, which looked like it was right out of Pleasanton/Dublin/San Ramon IT corridor in East Bay or Redwood Shores in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bangalore was also the place where Google held a code-jam in India and about 15,000 people registered for the event.
The Telecom boom, especially the high volume sales of cellular or mobile phones in India has created quite a bit of buzz. The growth of number of handsets sold is estimated to be about 5 million per month, and many manufacturers and other players want to tap into this lucrative and fast-growing market. Mobile Pundit points out in his blog that Pantaloon, a clothing retailer, is getting into retailing mobile phones. Pantaloon is following in the footsteps of Bangalore-based MobileNXT.
While India is home to many Back Office Processing (BPO) companies, the number of companies that actually do Research and Development and product development is pretty low. Indian companies don't have a strong trackrecord of creating products. Can India innovate is a debate that has been going in the Indian blogsphere? Atul  started of this debate on Indian innovation by wondering aloud if I is for India and I is for innovation. Gautam Ghosh  responds with his view, and here is Mayank Krishna's thoughts on the subject.
Shifting gears and moving from urban to rural India, the debate is once again centered around how to use technology in these area? Rural India is a potentially new and untapped market for many companies. Recently Intel introduced a rugged PC for the Indian rural market, and  other companies are working on introducing  hi-tech gadgets and solutions tailored to meet the demand from rural India. In this context, Indra's Drishtikone writes about a tech-savvy rural India. There are many fundamental changes taking place in rural India that at times it is difficult to keep tabs on them. Indra talks about how ATM machines is being used in a village not far from Bangalore. He lists various initiatives that corporates and NGO's have introduced in the rural areas and wonders why the Government of India is not involved in this initiative?

author: Kamla Bhatt


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India: Violence against women · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Megha writes on violence against women and lists out signs to watch for. (Trigger: Violence)

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Indonesian Playboy  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Two colleagues are in a reflexology place enjoying their massage. A stranger joins in and starts small talk with them. The fun starts when the Indonesian Playboy magazine issue  comes up.

author: Preetam Rai


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Iran: Animal Rights! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Arrianna Matthieus, an American-Iranian blogger based in the United States writes about animal rights in Iran. Blogger says “In present day Iran, the cultural tradition has long overlooked the fact that dogs were highly esteemed in ancient Persia and that animals were protected from harm, and yet, in the Islamic Regime everything and anything that growls or bites is shut away and ignored. So I ask, what does Iran do about animal rights? Animals have the right to exist without pain and suffering too, no matter what the religious scholar told you in high school.”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Brain Drain! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

ArashKamangir finds an interesting point in Iranian President's recent news conference. Blogger writes “a reporter asked him about the brain drain. He replied “…the Iranian nation is free to go where ever they want and to live there.We are not disappointed that Iranian scientists work for others.”


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Iran: Women, Football & Ayathollahs · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Bidari  (Persian) considers Ahmadinejad's decision to let women watching football in stadiums a real mistake. Blogger says people who back President don't have this kind of requests. In addition now several Grand Ayatollahs are against Ahmadinejad's decision.


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Japan: Bush photo mocked · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Blog of the Riding Sun‘s Gaijin Biker has a caption contest for a photo of American president George W. Bush pulling on the arm of Chinese president Hu Jintao's suit during Hu's talk at the White House last weekend.
Some contenders: “Let go of my gorram jacket before I get Tiananmen on your ass,” “Bush: Hey, is this an Armani? Hu: No, this is made in China. It's an Ermani,” “PINCH GRIP!! You're IT!”


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Kenya: Ministerial perks · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

You missed this writes on Kenyan ministers whose perks have been increased and asks “what the MPs are going to do with all the extra tax-payers money that they are eager to line their pockets with.”


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Kyrgyzstan: Stop the Protest · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand reports that the Kyrgyz government is going to great lengths to prevent people from joining this weekend's planned protests


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Kyrgyzstan: To Build a Yurt · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Trent Milam writes about the process of and traditions surrounding the erection of Kyrgyz yurts.


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Latin America: Stories Broken By Bloggers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jose Luis Orihuela is making a list (ES) of stories that first broke on Spanish-language blogs and were then picked up by the mainstream media. Among the stories include Argentine soccer celebrity Diego Maradona's contract with a TV station (ES) and an anti-MTV marketing parody (ES).


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Loving wan ton noodles · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bunnywunny relishes home cooked food but remembers her childhood craving for a street vendor's wan ton mee, a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore.


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Marriage, Birthday  and identity crisis in the Moroccan blogosphere · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

I'll start today with some good news.
The first one: Morocco is among the four African countries which count the biggest numbers of internet users in a continent where only 22 million people use the net, that is 2.5% of the 900 million people living in Africa. But, this number has increased by 400% since 2000.
The second one is the marriage of two Moroccan bloggers. Houda (Fr) and Kamal(Fr) tied their knot last week. Congratulations!
The third one is about Lillytwill (Fr) who celebrated her birthday last week. Happy birthday to you Lilly!
The bad news is about Lynn (Fr) who decided to stop blogging. And according to her readers’ impressions, her decision has to do with some annoying and disturbing comments she started to get lately in her blog. Sad!
Palestine remembered
“We need to help the Palestinian people to carry on”, says  M.S Hjiouj (Ar) in a message he displays in his blog, asking his readers to help break the Financial embargo imposed by the EU and the USA on Palestine.
M.S Hjiouj launched this  Palestine solidarity campaign(Ar) the way many other Arab (non Moroccans) bloggers did. And although I can't tell if it was successful to generate the support it aimed to provide, I salute M.S Hjiouj's commitment to help make a difference.
Soumiaz hails the Iranian decision to help the Palestinian authority deal with the budget crisis caused by the withdrawal of aid by western nations .
I went through as many Moroccan blogs as I could, and except for M.S Hjiouj and Soumiaz, no other blogger posted about Palestine's newest crisis. And I just cannot help asking, why is it that the Francophone Moroccan blogs don't show interest when it comes to Arabs’ political problems which are not overmediated in the international level? While many of those blogs react immediately to events happening in France or Canada and the USA?
Does the choice of the language determinate the nature of subjects that are to be treated?
Being a Berber
Samir posts two interesting articles about being a Berber in Morocco:
What rights should the Imazighen have? Should they be allowed to teach their languages in the schools? How compatible is Imazighen culture with Islamic culture? Which identities are to take precedence—Moroccan, Islamic or Imazighen?
By the way, Samir is one of the authors of The View from Fez . Zany and El Glaoui are also contributors to the blog.
Loulouzip wrote some jokes about men(Fr), Crucivore retaliated  with “funny” anecdotes about women(Fr).
Lawyers and priests wear robes because they're as liars as women..
bla francya is back to his favorite subject(Ar), which is the way some Moroccans speak, mixing their dialect with French words.
I can understand this phenomenon if it only concerns  specific words or if the discussion is about the French literatture. But it also concerns simple greetings expressions.
What's the reason behind that?
Answers, anyone?
Blogs  swap
With no previous notice, Larbi(Fr) launched an uprising against the image of “ideal” young Moroccan many of his readers have forged of him. It started with a post full of cursing expressions(Fr) that he entitled “it's not me,ok?”, than a comment in Nadia's blog(Fr), where he expressed his concern(Fr) about the way he, sometimes, acts.
How can I reclaim more freedom for others when I'm not even capable of enjoying the small amount of freedom I have..
Then I say that I'm not credible.
Hmm..Deep, isn't it?
Last week, Larbi switched his blog with Adel's one. Not all of Larbi's fans enjoyed this swap thing , especially that Adel was, in their eyes, the opposite of their beloved Larbi.
Adel speaks his mind, and when you blog that way you cannot please everybody. But this young Moroccan blogger doesn't seem to care. He however gives his impressions about the swap.
so my experience is:
1.the good… they are good example of community
2.the bad… by the time you start to blog for them not for yourself
3.the ugly… that's enough reason (2) to shut down the blog
Larbi came out of this experience with a deep awareness of the challenge facing bloggers and which is to practice what they claim to believe. He was disappointed and hurt by some remarks and he's more than ever decided to become a simple blogger, with no specific considerations.
When you break down all the barriers, the best in human beings comes out.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, I think that the Moroccan blogosphere is starting to look exactly like the Moroccan society with the VIPs, the covetous, the rejected, the ins and the outs.. And that's alarming!
Blogs were never meant to duplicate the social system that shapes our “real” lives.
Coup de coeur
Nadia Lamlili(Fr) is the Moroccan journalist who won the CNN Francophone General Award, an annual prize in recognition of African journalists. Lamlili won the award for an article published on 24 September 2004 on migration to the north shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The piece focused on the intentions of migrants, the difficulties they encounter and the groups that profit from the human tragedy.
The good news is that Nadia has a blog, and I urge you to go discover it. You'll be impressed by her boldness.
That's it for today. See you next Wednesday, Inshallah!

author: Farah Kinani


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Martinique: Parental Rant  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Bien Vu wonders (FR) why his/her teen-aged son is being taught History in French class. “Martinique doesn't do anything like anyone else [in the French school system],” says the blogger “unless this is our very own national curriculum.”


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Mexico: Paticia Mercado “Wins” First Presidential Debate · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Arcos live-blogged last night's presidential debate in Mexico (ES). Arcos says it was leftist outsider (and blogger), Patricia Mercado who won the debate. Goleech agrees (ES), but says that Felipe Calderón of the conservative PAN party also left in good shape. Boz says that “By not participating in the debate, [leftist frontrunner Lopez Obrador] avoided making any major errors, but he also didn't take the opportunity to swing the election momentum back his way.”


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Mongolia: Traffic · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Shards of Mongolia reports that Ulaanbaatar's Peace Bridge, a major route for the tourists visiting for Mongolia's 800th anniversary this year, is being closed for improvements which will only make traffic in the capital more of a nightmare.


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Nepal: MPs and legal status · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Legal News From Nepal on the legal status of the MPs in Nepal in the context of the changing political environment.