text:
UAE: Tweeting the Rain from Dubai  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

It's raining in Dubai and Twitter is abuzz with reactions about the unusual torrents for this time of year.
MMM, a Tunisian blogger who works in Dubai, remarks:
Omar F Kassim can't hide his excitement:
while Ash Chagla declares:
And what's so special about the rain? TeeJayGee69 explains:
Josephine Lake is excited and looking forward to no school tomorrow:
Parky London has other worries on his mind and tweets:
Meanwhile, mmgoon  reports there is no television:
and Ryan Harrison complains about driving standards:
Our last tweet is from Mister Aedan, who notes:
Sadly, even if he were to get great photographs, uploading them to Flickr and sharing them with friends would be a problem as the service is censored in the UAE.


text:
Ukraine, EU, Russia: Gas Pipelines Deal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam's Blog and Streetwise Professor write about Russia's reaction to the deal signed between Ukraine and the EU to upgrade Ukraine's gas pipelines.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Zimbabwe: Bloggers not happy with the Coalition Government · Global Voices
Denford Magora

Zimbabwean bloggers are unhappy with the way things are turning out within the coalition government between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai. The reactions are a mixture of distrust of Mugabe ad disappointment in the policy approaches of the MDC.
The blog Living Zimbabwe sees no point in Tsvangirai's remaining as Prime Minister if he is powerless. Supporting Mrs Bennett's statement that “unless Tsvangirai shows leadership now, it is going to be a waste of time having an inclusive government anyway”, the blogger says:
Nonetheless, what Mrs. Bennett had to say about the GNU was straight to the point and a fact that cannot be ignored. If Tsvangirai cannot protect Roy Bennett, what is the point of him being Prime Minister?
Most bloggers are frustrated by the lack of visible change in the lives of ordinary Zimbabwe. Kubatana blog, for instance, has a photo of a Zimbabwean reading the state-owned daily newspaper, The Herald, from 11 March, exactly a month after Tsvangirai was sworn in, with the headline: Harare Runs Out Of Water – Again.
Mostly in the firing line is Nelson Chamisa, the new MDC minister in charge of telephone and Internet services (ICT Minister) in Zimbabwe. Kubatana again reproduces a letter sent to the state-controlled telephone company, TelOne, which Chamisa is now in charge of and which is threatening legal action against the company for their “high-handedness”
Zimbabwe's collapse of Internet services, cut off by Intelsat because TelOne had not paid its debts, also elicited biting responses from the blogosphere.
Peace Love and Happiness blog has a post entitled, “Zimbabwe: Minister of Information and Technology, Pull Up Your Socks.” In it, the blogger says:
It has been a month since Nelson Chamisa was sworn in as Minister of Communications and Technology and by now we expect him to have made inroads towards the improvement of the telecommunications industry or at least made a tour of all the TelOne telecommunications exchange control rooms so that he familiarises himself with how the company operates but he hasn't done that. If he had done that he would have been informed that TelOne bills that are red in arrears and he would have sorted that problem. The word that is out among Zimbabweans at the moment is that Nelson Chamisa is very good at talking as an opposition member and very weak when it comes to walking the talk.
On Magora's Zimbabwe Blog,in an article entitled: Is Nelson Chamisa an Incompetent, Drooling and Clueless Minister, the new MDC minister is blamed for following discredited policies from ZANU PF, such as price controls on mobile phone charges:
Last week, Comrade Minister Chamisa announced that mobile phone charges were too high in Zimbabwe (which they are) and he was going to send a directive to mobile phone companies to reduce their charges drastically. So, we are back to price controls, which everyone, including the resident madman at the corner of First St and Jason Moyo as well as street kids, knows does not work. ZANU PF tried it and service suffered as a result. Infrastructure collapsed. Because profit margins are a function of the market, and not a result of a minister's say-so. It is an elementary concept, really, and I wonder how the MDC fail to grasp it.
What on earth has possessed Chamisa? I ask again.
With power and water cuts continuing, this week  the world should not be surprised to hear of more riots by soldiers. Most of them are failing to access their US$100 from the banks as promised by the Inclusive Government:

author: Denford Magora


text:
Americas: “Chuenga” A New Latin American Version of Digg · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Chuenga [es], is a new effort launched by a group of Latin American bloggers. The site is based on Meneame, the spanish version of Digg. As they say in their blog [es] “we give priority to Latin American news.” La Brujula Verde [es] analyzes the project's possibilities.

author: Juan Arellano


text:
Bangladesh: Independence Day · Global Voices
Rezwan

On the occasion of the 38th birth anniversary of Bangladesh, Unheard Voice lists 10 remarkable events for pre-independence and post independence eras each.

author: Rezwan


text:
Barbados: Being Green  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living in Barbados admits: ‘It's not easy being green”, but he's trying.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Barbados: Suspect Named  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Further media details indicate that the suspect is a 24 year old man. Apparently, the man was found with a camera, jewelry and an imitation firearm”: Bajan Dream Diary links to mainstream media articles that provide details about the suspect in the Terry Schwarzfeld murder.


text:
Caucasus: Pitiful democracy · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Writing on the International Federation of Liberal Youth blog, Bart Woord sums up a month of traveling in the South Caucasus by saying that democracy and governance are in a pitifully depressing state in all three former Soviet republics.

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
China: Official story on Tibet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Bandurski from China Media Project reports on the Chinese government's propaganda campaign on Tibet and the trip of “Living Buddha” to north America, but all effort seems to be in vain.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Colombia: Convergentes Restarting Activities · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The citizen media project, Convergentes in Medellín, Colombia, is restarting “with new spirit.” The site for HiperBarrio [es] has a summary of these latest activities.

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
Colombia: Searching the Bodies of Murdered Indigenous · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia publishes on its blog the route [es] the humanitarian minga is following since Monday in order to recover the corpses of the indigenous Awás murdered by FARC in February.

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


text:
Cuba: Antúnez Update  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense says that the Cuban authorities have “taken its fight with…dissident Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez) to a new, more frightening level.”


text:
Global Voices Book Challenge – Read Your Way Around the World! · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

April 23 is UNESCO World Book Day – and just because the Global Voices team loves blogs, doesn’t mean we have forgotten other forms of the written word! In fact, because we think reading literature is such an enjoyable way to learn about another culture, we have a fun challenge for all Global Voices contributors and readers, and bloggers everywhere.
The Global Voices Book Challenge is as follows:
2) Write a blog post about it during the week of April 23.
UPDATE: Tag your posts with #gvbook09 so we can find your posts.
If you would like to know what you should be reading from Vietnam, Bolivia, Mozambique or New Zealand, or any other country, just ask in the comments below! Someone is sure to give you suggestions.
And if you have any recommendations for any must-read works from your own country, please leave a comment too.
Once you have read your book (and written a post!) let us know – we’d love to discover what you learned on your literary expedition.
Feel free to use the images above and below to spread the word of the Global Voices Book Challenge!

author: Ayesha Saldanha


text:
Honduras: Linux Tour in San Pedro Sula · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Norman summarizes the Linux Tour in San Pedro Sula, Honduras [es]. A team of open-source software users are traveling around Central America to provide workshops and lectures on the possible uses of this type of software.


text:
India: The Characteristics Of The Next PM · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shakthi at I , Me and Shakthi writes about what he wants from India's next Prime Minister.


text:
India: Vlog of a Mumbai Youth · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rahul Katyayan scripted, shot and directed a movie on his life in Mumbai and posted in his blog. The movie (vlog) was made for American students who wants to know more about the students of their age from different part of world.


text:
Indonesia: Traditional Javanese artists · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Aroengbinang posts pictures of old traditional Javanese artists based in Jakarta.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Indonesia: Vegetable Seller’s Motorcycle  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

How does a vegetable seller's motorcycle looks like? R. Sa di from Indonesia posts a picture of this type of motorcycle.


text:
Iran: A Christian Blogger arrested · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to several sources an Iranian Christian blogger was arrested in the city of Isfahan in Iran about one month ago. He is a convert from Islam and he used to write about Bible in his blog.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Iraq: Six Years On · Global Voices
Salam Adil

It's the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war and while bloggers remember the past, few seem to look to the future anymore.
Pioneering blogger, Salam Pax, who started the Iraq blogging phenomenon looks back six years to the beginning of the war. In a series of posts, Salam reveals previously unpublished notes from the days he did not have electricity to blog. His wish to break from the past is clear when he writes:
In three weeks time it’s the 6th anniversary for the fall/liberation of Baghdad.
Baghdad Falls / Baghdad is liberated.. all semantics. What is fact is our life in Iraq as we knew it ended at that day.
Since the start of the war in 2003 we had to move house three times for various reasons…
While looking through the boxes of our belongings I found the notebook, with newspapers, photos and the flyers I had kept. As five years have passed and we’re entering the our seventh year of our post-war/post-Saddam lives I thought it would be good to look over these notes and share what I have from that time with you…  I will upload it all online and throw the pieces of paper I have away. Hanging on to all of this for six years is enough.
For Sunshine, the war coincides with her time at high-school. At the leaving party for her school she remembers the good and bad events at her school in the six years that have passed:
My best memory [was] when I asked my friends to make a surprise for our friend R who lost her dad and several relatives, I thought she needed to feel excited and happy so I decided to buy her a PC computer, my friends participated with some of their savings and I bought the computer, wrapped it and took the present to school. The students, teachers, and R were shocked, it was the best birthday gift ever..
Beside all the good events there has been very painful memories, when R lost her dad and several relatives, when M lost her mother, whenever a classmate have to leave Iraq, or get a threat, as well as all the times we had to hide under our desks when shooting starts, there has been terrifying battles near school, a mortar once fall, too many car bombs exploded, mines etc .. Many times we had to go walking among the tanks; our way to school is dangerous.
I'll always remember the good events and laugh, and the hard ones will only give me the strength, power and make me prepared for every hard thing I may face in the future
Sunshine.
Laith reviews his dreams and reality:
When the US military started what they called Operation Iraq Freedom, I really felt so happy for one thing. I thought Iraq would be free again and we would have real government with politicians who really care about Iraq future and its people. I had a real big hope that services will be the best again and we would live happily again. I never thought that we would start killing each other for the sake of some strangers or to kidnap each other for money but I was completely wrong. I was sure that the American administration had planned very well for the stage after the war but I was wrong again. Nothing really changed in Iraq after six years. To be honest, we have one big change. Now we have hundreds of political parties that do nothing to Iraq and all they care about is their interests. After six years, the Americans approved that they came without any plan because most Iraqis are still poor and deprived from the simplest human rights. Iraqi governments and the American administration failed completely in putting Iraq once again on the right path.
I have to admit that after six years of the invasion, ALL MY DREAMS HAD GONE WITH THE WIND
After years away from Iraq, Attawie can only think of what she misses:
I'm away from beloved Baghdad. I'm away from family and friends. I'm away from the land I was born on; away of the soil I took my first step on, away from the house I was raised in, away from my neighbors, I'm away … but… not mind and soul.
War, chaos, loss of uncountable people and things, unemployment, corrupted system, mysteries, sadness, chain of mischief, lost dreams, burnt houses, smell of death, widows, orphans, tears, sad stories, cruel memories… That's all what we are left with?… I don't want to sound devastated. I don't want to show despair. I just want to tell you the picture is not pleasant, And it needs a lot of repair. What's going on right now is unfair.
I lost my focus and lost my words. I'm not sure if it makes sense. But that's all you're going to get on a Day Like Today. Life is frozen… the clock is broken. The prayers you're saying are not answered today… Oh Iraq, returning has become the dream that makes my day. Your memory is the sweetness in this bitter life. You are the sound of laughter, background music for this noisy life, the kiss on a mother's forehead, the grip of an infant fist.
Faiza writes a long post of her feelings after six years of war and occupation and concludes:
I smile, at the sixth anniversary of occupying Iraq, in spite of the sadness weighting on my heart, but I will never give up hope, ever; that Iraq will come back to its people, that a brave nationalistic leadership will come, a leadership that wants only Iraq’s interest, will negotiate the occupation out, and will withdraw all the occupation’s powers.
When will that day come?
Only God knows…. But it will come, no doubt… for these are God’s laws on earth…
And, in the way that only Layla Anwar can, an essay comparing the creation of a new Iraq to a mother giving a forced birth of a mutant baby:
It was a monster infant. A hydra with a hundred heads, a hundred skulls, an octopus with a hundred arms, a deformed face with hundreds of eyes, bulging..its skin made of scaling scabs, its body made of slime, an invertebrate crawling, with no legs to stand, and from its mouth, instead of gurgles, it drooled a burning caustic froth…
And it has kept crawling for 6 years already, sniffing like a rabid dog, sniffing for more…keeping scum for company and preying for more fresh blood…more fresh meat…
It was exactly six years ago and she is still lying in that delivery room which now looks like an overused, stenchy morgue…drowned in her own blood, mummified with slogans and jargon…her womb and mouth stuffed with newspaper articles and essays…with words…stuffed with a silent forgotten death, like the desolate forgotten walls of this city, where rats and roaches furtively scurry along, feeding on the monster's vomit and excrement…feeding on ashes and dust.
And on that note I will leave you to make up your own mind if the war in Iraq, six years ago, was really worthwhile.

author: Salam Adil


text:
Japan: Political volcano awaiting to blow? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan gives an update on the Japan political climate that the voting public will erupt, soon or late, is inevitable.


text:
Jordan: Amman joins Earth Hour  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Amman, Jordan, will turn off its lights for one hour on Saturday as part of Earth Hour, a worldwide initiative which urges people to turn off their lights for an hour on the 28th of every month, reports The Black Iris.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
Jordan: Blogger Exposes a State Secret  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Rami Abdelrahman has blogged about a closely guarded secret about his government's involvement in the war on Afghanistan – and is getting unwelcome attention from the intelligence service.
It all started a few days ago, when the global journalist and media researcher who lives in Sweden, posted and commented on an excerpt from the  Atlantic, which refers to a newly declassified NATO documents which reveals the extent of Jordan's involvement in the “war on terror.”
The document, according to the Atlantic:
…includes Jordan as being among the countries that are part of the international forces in Afghanistan, but it also includes the notice that Jordan doesn't want its name in the public domain, fearing the internal repercussions
The other Arab country named in the document is the United Arab Emirates.
Abdelrahman notes:
The kind of cooperation that has been long considered a national “secret,” by demand of the Jordanian government, but is well known to other partners involved.
On the not so secret “secret,” he wonders:
Wouldn't the NATO and its Middle Eastern allies do better if they were more transparent to their citizens about deals that would eventually be exposed? Why is there such need to hide, providing much space for opposition to fabricate stories and conspiracy theories and sell it cheap to the masses? Why leave us all, global citizens, resort to arbitrary interpretation, just when the need for public support is paramount? Anyone?
The next day, Abdelrahman follows up with another post, which includes a link to a PDF file of the declassified document “Jordan does not want to go public about.” The file is hosted on Wikileaks, a website that publishes  anonymous submissions of sensitive documents.
The declassified NATO document
The declassified NATO document
He notes:
I am publishing this just to be on the safe legal side, and to maintain the credibility of this blog and my reputation as a journalist, after publishing two days ago a blog post about Jordan keeping its participation from the international force in Afghanistan a secret to its own citizens. The original blog post can be found here.
Abdelrahman also tells us about some unwelcome visitors found lurking around his blog after his initial post:
Interestingly, analyzing readership statistics and domain addresses for those who monitored the blog, I found some interesting readers:
US Army Information Systems Engineering Command, (Headquarters Usaisc), visited 3 times on 24th March 2009, at 13:50:24, 13:50:38 and 13:51:22.
Royal Jordanian Hashemite Court (Rhc) visited once on 24th March 2009, 15:37:29
Jordanian Intelligence Department (gid.gov.jo) visited 12times (So far) on 24th March 2009  between 17:42:27, and 18:37
Jordanian Intelligence Department (gid.gov.jo) visited 12times (So far) on 24th March 2009 between 17:42:27, and 18:37:32
….among many other unique visitors between yesterday and today. I find it perplexing that no one leaves an official comment to explain, why does Jordan want to keep this a secret, when Jordanians understand and accept its alliances


text:
Mexico: A Lack of Water in Mexico City · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mexico City is running out of water. Daniel Hernandez of Intersections writes about what the local government is doing to address the situation, but officials say “drastic steps” may need to be considered including the possibility of turning off the water on the weekends.


text:
Mexico: Unsolved Feminicide Along the Border · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Violence along the United States – Mexico border has reached staggering levels.  The killings in border cities like Ciudad Juárez has already totaled 400 in the first two months of 2009. It is not only those involved in the drug trade that fall victims to the kidnappings and murders, young women have become unfortunate casualties in this crisis.
According to Amnesty International, more than 370 women have been murdered in the cities of Juárez and Chihuahua “without the authorities taking proper measures to investigate and address the problem.”  This crisis, often called feminicide, has been a cause for organizations and blogs to take to the internet to help raise awareness to the plight of the victims and their families.
Organizations are calling for justice and greater action by local and national authorities.  Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa [es] (May Our Daughters Return Home) is an organization based in Ciudad Juárez co-founded by the mother and the teacher of Lilia Alejandra Garcia Andrade, who was abducted and was found dead in 2001. The organization writes on its blog about the context in which many families live [es]:
En Ciudad Juárez desaparecen mujeres y no se vuelve a saber más de ellas, a menos que sus raptores decidan hacer aparecer sus cuerpos sin vida y con evidencias claras de haber sido brutalmente torturadas y asesinadas, violadas de manera tumultuaria y arrancadas partes de su cuerpo o quemadas. Es un dolor terrible para esta sociedad. ¿No hay nada que mueva a quienes pueden hacer algo al respecto?
La desesperación y miedo de las familias de vivir en tal inseguridad al ver a las hijas salir del hogar sin saber si van a regresar, no son motivo que afecte la voluntad de nadie de poner un freno a estos hechos.
A la fecha estos crímenes están impunes, y a las mujeres desaparecidas nadie las busca… y los asesinatos y desapariciones continúan sin que a la fecha haya responsable alguno.
In Ciudad Juárez women disappear and are not seen or heard from again, unless their captors decide to make their lifeless bodies reappear and with clear signs that they were brutally tortured and murdered, gang raped or with their bodies dismembered or burned. It is a terrible pain for this society. Isn't there something that can push those who are able to do something?
The desperation and fear of the families who live in such insecurity when they see their daughters leave the house without knowing if they will return are not reasons to affect anyone's will to put an end to these incidents.
To date, these crimes have gone unpunished, and no one is looking for the disappeared women…and the murders and kidnappings continue without anyone being held responsible.
The organization has received threats [es] for their work to put an end to the killings, according to the blog Contra el Feminicidio en México [es] (Against Feminicide in Mexico).
Mexican-American filmmaker and videoblogger at Chicana Feliz, Zumla Aguiar took a special interest in this story and worked closely with the organization to produce the documentary “Juárez Mothers Fight Feminicide” which is licensed under a Creative Commons license.  The film's description says:
The video does not try to pound you over the head with more information. It basically looks at the opinions of the mothers in regards to what was the final story with each case. Interviewed are mothers from all social strata but this film points out that the pain is equal and all valid emotions. The fact that the “women are poor” is pointed out by Marisela Ortiz from Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa as a reason why nobody does anything about these murders.
Another organization Red Solidaria Década Contra la Impunidad [es] (Decade Solidarity Network Against Impunity) uses its blog to share news about its activities fighting against impunity for human rights abuses including the murders of young women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and other parts of Mexico.
The international organization Witness has used citizen media to raise awareness and collect signatures for a petition to presented to Mexican President Felipe Calderón. In 2003, in conjunction with the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights [es] (CMDPDH),  they produced a short film called Dual Injustice. The story centers on the disappearance of Neyra Cervantes in Chihuahua, who disappeared in May 2003 and her cousin, David Meza, who who was tortured until he confessed to her murder.
Even though Cervantes’ remains were recovered and Meza was released after being wrongfully imprisoned, those responsible for her death have gone unpunished.  Witness is continuing its campaign through a petition drive, which will be presented to President Calderón by Witness founder Peter Gabriel, other well-known Mexican celebrities and the mother of Neyra Cervantes. Some Mexican bloggers are also writing about the presentation of the petition, such as the blog Resiste Chihuahua [es]
As the situation along the border towns remains dire and many crimes unresolved, the women from the organization May Our Daughters Return Home write about their struggles, but also about their hope [es]:
Las familias que participamos en este movimiento hemos convertido en fuerza nuestro dolor. Después de enfrentarnos, además del brutal asesinato de nuestras hijas, a la ineptitud, intransigencia, encubrimiento, corrupción, a la más indiferente actitud de funcionarios y autoridades.
Nos resulta complicado expresar con palabras el dolor desgarrador de saber asesinadas en tales circunstancias a nuestras jóvenes hijas, en un inmenso sufrimiento que no se extingue, y no podemos evitar las lágrimas cada vez que pensamos en ellas o miramos sus objetos personales y sus fotos. Nos angustia y crece nuestro suplicio al imaginar cómo pudieron ser los últimos momentos de nuestras hijas asesinadas a base de torturas y vivimos sin vivir…
Mantenemos la esperanza de que algún día la justicia para la desaparición y muerte prematura de nuestras hijas sea posible, ya que sería la única forma de recuperar nuestra propia vida. Solidaridad para quienes, sin ser nuestras compañeras, comparten ahora mismo la pena de haberles arrancado un pedazo de su vida.
The families that participate in this movement have turned our pain into our strength. After confronting, in addition to the brutal murder of our daughters, the incompetence, stubbornness, cover-up, corruption, and the indifferent attitude from the authorities.
It is difficult to express our heartbreaking pain into words, knowing that our daughters were murdered under those circumstances, it is an immense suffering that does not end, and we cannot stop the tears each time we think of them or see their personal things and their photos. Our anguish and torment grows when we imagine how our murdered daughters’ last moments must have been with the torture and we live without living…
We maintain our hope that some day justice will be served for the disappearance and the premature death of our daughters, as that would be the only way to recuperate our own lives. There is solidarity for those, even those aren't our companions, who share their own sorrow of losing a part of their own lives.


text:
Palestine: Dancing Defiantly in Gaza · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

At Tales to Tell Sharyn Lock has posted photos of cultural groups dancing and playing music in the ruins of the Red Crescent complex in Gaza.


text:
Palestine: Remember The War · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Young Gazan blogger Lina AlSharif has made two videos to mark three months since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began.


text:
Palestine: Testimonies Regarding Israeli War Crimes in Gaza · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bloggers in Gaza have not been surprised by the testimonies of Israeli soldiers documenting war crimes they committed or witnessed during the recent attacks on Gaza – or by any of the other stories now being reported regarding the Israeli military's conduct.
Canadian activist Eva Bartlett blogs at In Gaza:
What we knew of Israel’s war crimes during Israel’s war on Gaza, what the medics, the victims, the doctors, the witnesses have testified is now gaining growing recognition. The calls for international inquiry are growing, as are the reasons. […] The Guardian has just published an excellent series of articles and videos on Israel’s crimes of war in and on Gaza.  Included in the reports are focuses on attacks on medical workers, Israel’s use of drones to target and kill with pinpoint accuracy civilians, and Israel’s use of civilians (including minors) as human shields during their military operations. […] People in Gaza were very acutely aware of the lethal drones, without having to be told thus by formal groups or experts.   At new year’s the sordid text message about zanana (drone) missiles spread in a dark attempt at humour. We knew they were deadly.
Eva then provides links to other media sources, including Al Jazeera, Ha'aretz, The Independent, and The Times.
Australian activist Sharyn Lock writes at Tales to Tell:
Do you remember that before the ground incursion began, E and I were spending nights with our Jabalia friends as they hid in the basement while the bombs fell? And then we would go out in the morning (somewhat less bombs) to document the attacks. And you might remember a picture we took of a yellow truck in which a family had been blown up.
Well, what I didn’t know was that Israel was actually using footage of the last minutes of these people’s lives, taken from the air, as a youtube propaganda video about how they were just targeting Hamas rocket firers. However the locals told a B’Tselem field worker the same story they told us (the Guardian newspaper picked up on it also) and a very different version of events was posted to youtube here.
Louisa Waugh, who works in Gaza, writes at New Internationalist's Gaza Blog:
An American friend who has lived in Jerusalem for almost two years tells me she thinks Israel is unnerved by recent testimonies from soldiers who were recently in Gaza.
The Israeli soldiers were graduates of the Oranim College military academy, which has just published the testimonies. They describe attacks on civilians, including what one soldier described as ‘The cold-blooded murder’ of an elderly Palestinian woman, and incidents of soldiers being ordered to trash civilian houses and throw the contents, furniture and all, out of the windows. The academy director, Dany Zamir, told an Israeli radio station that, ‘[The testimonies] conveyed an atmosphere in which one feels entitled to use unrestricted force against Palestinians.’
Alongside these disturbing but unsurprising revelations which the Israeli military says it will investigate, is the ugly scandal of T-shirts with vicious slogans being worn by some young Israeli soldiers. According to reports in the Israeli media, and BBC news, one of the T-shirts has the slogan ‘Bet you got Raped!’ over a picture of a bruised woman in a head-scarf. Another shows the picture of a clearly pregnant head-scarved woman with the words, ‘One shot two kills.’  […] I think my friend in Jerusalem is overly optimistic: it's hard to get any perspective on Israel from here in Gaza, especially so soon after the devastating offensive. But mainstream Israeli public opinion seems to be that although the Israeli military offensive in Gaza was clearly brutal and disproportionate, Palestinians got what they deserved.
Mango Girl, who is based in Egypt, refers to a report that a rabbi accompanied Israeli soldiers:
Dirty laundry from the recent military campaign against Gaza is being aired in Haaretz [newspaper], and one of the allegations is that a radical rabbi was brought in to exhort Israeli soldiers to do their religious duty in clearing the land of non-Jews so that Jews could realize their religious rights to it. Golly gee, do you think that maybe Israel is motivated by religion or religious identity? You mean they’re not super secular and liberal and democratic and are, just maybe, more similar to the unwashed wild-eyed jihadi Arabs they are fighting than different?
We end with a thought from Lebanese activist Natalie Abou Shakra, who blogs at Moments of Gaza; she asks about the images of warplanes she has posted:
Don't they look like insects, the ones that bite deep into your skin? […] And, to humanity's dismay, when one searches on the internet, the search results display artistic photos of the war planes, as if they can be added to a collection… perhaps they would like to also take artistic photos of the aftermath of using these man-slaughtering machines looking at the Israeli Apache… does it not look like an abnormally large insect (an abnormally large fly)… do you understand what i mean now that we lived a horror movie…? there were huge insects and parasites feeding on human flesh


text:
Paraguay: A Possible Agrarian Reform · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

An agrarian reform in Paraguay is possible writes Liam of Políticamente Incorrecto [es], but will take a lot of work and if the state corrects its errors.


text:
Paraguay: Introduction to OLPC Paraguay · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

OLPC News introduces readers to the new project in Paraguay that is working with 10 schools in Caacupé through the distribution of XO laptops for children.


text:
Serbia: Remembering NATO Bombing 10 Years Later  · Global Voices
Sinisa Boljanovic

On March 24, 1999, NATO forces began attack on Serbia and Montenegro. The bombing went for 78 days. A few thousand people were killed, many buildings, bridges, railroads, roads and factories were destroyed. Also, many people still experience mental and psychic effects of the fear they had been through.
Ten years later, Serbian bloggers are reminded of those terrible days. Below is a selection of some of their journal notes and recollections from the beginning of the war, translated from Serbian.
Dejan Jovic posted this entry:
Today NATO’s forces have attacked Yugoslavia from air, from submarines and warships. The attack began at 7pm. The first wave lasted 2 hours. About 20 targets are hit: the Police Academy in Novi Sad, airports in Batajnica and Danilovgrad  (Montenegro), several barracks  around Pristina and around Nis as well as factory shops of Crvena Zastava in Kragujevac. The second wave began about midnight and it is still going (now it is 00.45. (Yugoslavia declared the state of war. The last night Veran Matic was arrested  and B92 was closed. Now only national stations and agencies can broadcast. Journalists from countries which are members of NATO, including BBC, can report only by phone. Twenty-five journalists have been arrested temporarily so far and one is beaten. Because of all that, there are very little video reports but it is absolutely clear that the attack was very very strong. […]
[…] Milosevic says that he is for peace and agreement. It is not possible to appraise why he says that – whether because he wants to inform NATO that he is ready to withdraw himself or because he wants to justify a lengthy war. In this moment it seems that he can’t withdraw himself very easily. I don’t know how he could be more cooperative with the West after this bombing, if he couldn’t do that before it. Also, people are much more anti- West than they were several days ago. [The West] forgets that Milosevic is a legally chosen president and that he is not without support of voters like Saddam Hussein.
News at 1 am. Russia and China condemned aggression. Russia asks session of the Security Council. For this attack, Clinton and Blair condemn Milosevic directly. Clinton compares Kosovo with Bosnia and mentions hesitation in the first and second world war. India condemned action of members of NATO because they ignored the United Nations. India also says that NATO became an instrument for realization of goals of ethnic separatists and that could be the case in the Kashmir […]
Angie01, in her blog titled ”Notes of Madness”, wrote:
[…] In the evening I come out on my spacious balcony and smoke. I notice some unusual and big star which is very near by me. I don’t know from where it is here. I’ve never seen it before. I call my family. Everyone feels uneasy. No one know what's happened.
A little later, I talk on the phone with my sister from the bathroom. In the middle of a sentence there's a strange sound.
She asked me what that was. I don’t know. “What can we do now?” she asked. I don’t know. I go to see. I open the door. And then I hear zvvviiiiijuuuu. The red-yellow light filled the room. Then there was an explosion. It was strong, destructive and full of  dark forebodings.
Everyone is frozen at the moment. And then one more bomb explodes.
You can hear screaming all over the hallways, people are running, children are crying. You can hear people calling over the floors.
Neighbors ring our doorbell. They said that we should go to the bomb shelter. […]
[…] Girls are throwing up inside. Some old women faint. My neighbor squats with a baby in her arms… there is no air, there is only stench and fear. Everything has changed in 20 minutes. […]
[…] A neighbor, a refugee from Bosnia, arrives. He said that he came for us. And he added that  the bomb shelters were not suitable for those bombs. If they were hit, they might turn into tombstones over us. And we leave and never come back there.
This is how it began. […]
Readers commented on Angie01‘s post. Here are some of the comments:
Vidomir Pavlovic:
I was sitting 100 meters away from the barracks in Sremska Mitrovica when a rocket whistled over my head. It was ghastly…
Then one young woman was killed. She came out right after the detonation to see what happened, to see where the rocket hit. She was about 1 kilometer away from the barracks and was hit by shrapnel. It pounded into her head or breast. I forgot. But she was dead on the spot, on the balcony on the first floor. She had just moved into that flat…
She had two little children…
Bili Piton:
One doesn’t know whether one hates more those who bombed or those who caused it.
Sybil:
[…] The maniac [Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Serbia and Montenegro] has burdened us with the bombing by 19 most civilized countries. The biggest disappointment after the bombing was that he kept his seat and Kosovo was lost. It would have been better the other way around. […]
Pix3lchick:
[…] Sadness, hopelessness and depression because of fact that, after 10 years, he [Milosevic] is still alive through the current ministers’ statements, in which they says that the bombing happened because of false accusations of ethnic cleansing. (From where did the refrigerator trucks come to us?)
Jasmina Tesanovic wrote in her blog titled  “La vita e’ bella” (‘Life is beautiful’):
March 26, 1999 – 5 PM:
I hope that we all will survive this war: Serbs, Albanians, good and bad boys, those who took weapons, those who deserted, Kosovo’s refugees who are roaming through the forests and Belgrade’s refugees who are roaming the streets with children in arms and running to find the nonexistent bomb shelters when they hear the sirens. I hope that NATO’s pilots will not  leave their wives and children forever. I saw them on CNN, how they cried while their husbands were preparing to attack targets in Serbia. I hope that we all will survive, but the world will not stay the same. […]

author: Sinisa Boljanovic


text:
Singapore: Desecrating a National Icon · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Miss Loi writes how the Merlion, Singapore's national icon, has been desecrated over the years.


text:
South Africa: China Shouts, South Africa Jumps · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

China has told the South African government to deny the Dalai Lama a visa. South Africa complies. I wonder if Zuma is going to carry on in this weak-willed manner? What a sharp contrast with Nigeria, which invited the Dalai Lama without any fuss, writes Jeremy on Naijablog.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
South Korea: Soju History · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Korea Beat translated a local feature article on the 90 years of Soju evolution.


text:
Thailand: Ex-PM Thaksin Reveals Conspirators Behind 2006 Coup · Global Voices
Markpeak

Former Prime Minister in-exile Thaksin Shinawatra called his supporters two days ago in Chiang Mai via video conference and revealed the people who are behind the plot that took him down in the 2006 coup d'etat.
From The Nation:
Without mentioning any name, it is understood he quoted Jittanart Limthongkul of ASTV-Manager Group as saying his father and media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul had lunch with a privy councilor, hence bringing about the opposition movement.
Sondhi Limthongkul is one of PAD leaders, who seized Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport last November against Thaksin's party government.
The key point is the “privy councilor” who really is General Surayud Chulanont, the former Army Commander and Supreme Commander. He retired before the 2006 coup but after his successor committed the coup, Surayud became the next Prime Minister after Thaksin, in the junta-backed government.
Thaksin got this information from General Panlop Pinmanee, who was also in the plot but later changed to Thaksin's side:
Thaksin went on to quote retired General Panlop Pinmanee about the Panlop-Surayud meeting in 2006 at a Sukhumvit home. He said Panlop recently told him about a secret plot to assassinate him.
He also said Surayud and two other privy councillors had sought and received an audience with “901” to pledge to oust him from power.
“901” is the call sign of the King. Thaksin has been accused of being “pro-republic” and “President-wannabe” for age.
From The Nation, Thaksin also accused Administrative Court president Akarathorn Chularat, Supreme Court president Chanchai Likhitjitt, Constitution Court judge Charan Pakdithanakul and PAD scholar Pramote Nakornthap of trying to remove his government by leaking rumours that he was behind the making of the pocket book “The King Never Smiles” (Paul Handley, Yale University Press) and that he was not loyal to the monarchy.
As expected, Surayud refuses Thaksin's claim, also Charan. Sondhi denied that he had talked to Surayud before.
Anyway, one poster from Goo-OnLine forum exposed a record video of Sondhi talking about his phone call between himself and Surayud. This talk happened in Virginia, USA.
Other forum poster from ThaiFreeNews, pro-Thaksin web site, posted more news of Thaksin's talking. After the “phone-in” in Chiang Mai, Thaksin called the editor of Matichon, another major newspaper, confirming his claim is true.
“คำพูดของผมทุกคำเป็นความจริง ที่ผ่านมาประเทศไทยไม่เคยได้เรียนรู้บทเรียน พิษภัยของการปฏิวัติ และไม่มีใครกล้าที่จะออกมาพูดความจริง ผมจึงต้องพูดเพราะคนเหล่านี้อยู่เบื้องหลังทั้งหมด การที่ต้องออกมาพูดความจริง เพื่อเรียกร้องความเป็นธรรม”
This is translation of Thaksin's word to Matichon:
The reactions from anti-Thaksin community are negative as usual (we can't find resolution for both sides soon). One blogger from OKNation posted a blog titled “Three time a day call, Thaksin's pointless idea“
Thumbnail image used is from the Flickr page of publik15

author: Markpeak


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Naipaul Nominated  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands Blog reports that “Trinidadian writer V. S. Naipaul is among the nominees for the Man Booker International Prize.”


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: SEA of Fools?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The children of Trinidad & Tobago are this morning sitting the dreaded SEA (Secondary Entrance Assessment) exam that replaced the even-more-dreaded 11-Plus”: Barbados-based B.C. Pires shares his thoughts.


text:
Uganda: Can short-term development projects bring change? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Eliza Anyangwe wonders whether short-term development projects such as the The Katine project in Uganda can deliver lasting change.


text:
Uganda: Linking rural farmers with export markets · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Learn how solar drying business links Uganda rural farmers with export markets.


text:
U.S. official holds dialogue with Myanmar Foreign Minister · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Stephen Blake, director of Mainland Southeast Asian Affairs met Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win in Yangon. This is an important visit and may signal a shift in U.S. policy towards the Junta-backed government of Myanmar.


text:
Armenia-Turkey: Obama’s dilemma · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Blogian gives its readers its opinion on the dilemma facing U.S. president Barack Obama in terms of fulfilling his campaign pledge to recognize the massacre and deportation of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.


text:
Azerbaijan: Corrupt Medicine · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Scary Azeri in Suburbs continues to compare life in England with that in Azerbaijan. In particular, speaking from experience, she compares health-care in the UK to that available in the former Soviet Union.


text:
Barbados: Moving On Up?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Will Barbados’ proposed housing developments be part of an economic and social package that is geared to give people a better standard of living?”: Living in Barbados questions the wisdom of high-rise developments on the island.


text:
Bermuda: Going on Faith?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Vexed Bermoothes and The Devil Island discuss the Bermudian government's faith-based tourism programme.


text:
China and Hong Kong: Can Shanghai be a new international financial center? · Global Voices
Winglok Hung

On 25 March 2009, Xinhua News reported China’s State Council has endorsed a statement to urge Shanghai to be developed into an international financial center by 2020 in order to keep up with “China’s economic influence and the Chinese yuan’s international status”.
The idea generates discussion in the Beiyouren Forum (http://forum.byr.edu.cn) on which city, among Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong will become China’s international hub. A mainland blogger, luoluokaikai, forwarded a post which states that Shanghai has a great potential to develop China’s financial services,
从外部条件来看，花旗、汇丰、渣打、东方汇理、荷兰银行等１９家外资银行都不约而同地选定其驻上海机构为主报告行。当中国成了世界上主要的资本输出国之一时，上海就会自然成为一个国际金融中心。目前国外看好上海，这是非常可喜的现象。…上海自己的经济实力和她的经济腹地是香港都无法比拟的，这是上海最大的竞争优势。
However, a Hong Kong blogger, lu miguan argues that it is hard for Shanghai to replace Hong Kong status,
上海要做金融中心，到2020年，世事難料，能否真正的「國際」，以現階段的政治環境的話，可能只會做到北亞區或者是中國境內的國際級數。這是因為有兩個核心問題未能解決，就是制度與自由。…當中「政治」就踩中了中共的地雷，所以youtube最近不能夠在內地登陸。如果一個網站都不能夠正常上客任人看，這是一個國際城市嗎?是一個大都會嗎?連觀看的自由也沒有，怎能讓外國人願意走進這個地方做生意呢?
Another Hong Kong blogger, Eyrnnyes also shares similar views,
上海，要成為「真正」的國際金融中心，不在是否齊心，又或是國家政策是否支持，那在於人民幣是否可以自由兌換！一天外資不可把他們在中國資金，自由兌換成本國貨幣或美金，再自由地匯出中國，上海，一天也不可能成為真正的國際金融中心！那更不可能取代香港地位！又正如利世民君和某在香港、國內有頗大的金融生意A君說，一天上海股市，除了熊市、牛市之外，還有一種叫政策市（以前叫朱市，即前總理朱融基市）存在，上海一天也不可能取代香港，成為亞太區的國際金融中心！

author: Winglok Hung


text:
Czech Republic: After the No-Confidence Vote · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Updates on the situation in the Czech Republic following the no-confidence vote – at The Czech Daily Word and A Fistful of Euros.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Global Recession Survey: Survival Tips and Business Opportunities · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The global economic recession is spreading gloom and despair everywhere. But the human spirit cannot be easily defeated. Many are trying hard to cope with the crisis. Bloggers are offering survival tips to their readers. Businesses around the world are adjusting. They are adopting new strategies; some are even profiting from the crisis. In this post, I will try to mention numerous examples of individuals and companies exerting their very best to overcome the recession.
Surviving the recession
Frank Coelho de Alcantara from Brazil believes that in times of crisis, some cry while others sell tissue. To survive the crisis, he advises everyone to be innovative:
Inove. Melhore o que já existe e venda. A crise só existe para os que choram e compram lenços.
Evandro Sudré, another Brazilian blogger, emphasizes the need to cultivate an “inner strength and resolution reservoir” during hard times:
Problemas e adversidades fazem parte da vida diária, mas quando a crise nos atinge, é bom ter alguma reserva de força interior e resolução. De fato ter algum tipo de reserva na mente, da qual possamos formar um plano básico de ação e defesa com a qual possamos lidar com a situação. Você é a pessoa mais qualificada para ajudar nesta situação.
But there are those who are too overwhelmed with money problems that the only solution they could think of is to commit suicide. For example, more than 70 cases of suicide were reported in Gujarat, India involving diamond polishers who lost their jobs.
Others have chosen to fight. Investors (mainly in Antigua) who lost their money after U.S. billionaire Allen Stanford was charged with investment fraud banded together and formed a coalition to recover their wealth. The Stanford Victims Coalition issued this statement on their website:
Stanford Victims Coalition is an international advocacy group dedicated to fighting for the recovery of the billions of dollars belonging to the thousands of innocent people who are affected by the alleged fraud of Stanford Financial Group and Stanford International Bank in Antigua. SVC is not affiliated with any political group and there are no membership fees for victims to join.
In Brunei bloggers are criticizing bankrupt individuals who wanted to receive surplus funds from zakat collections. The paying of zakat, one of the pillars of Islam, is an act of giving up a percentage of one's wealth to the needy. Many were surprised that Bruneians with big credit card bills, automobile loans, and personal loans attempted to tap the zakat funds.
The recession is affecting the physical and mental health of many individuals. In Singapore gym and yoga studios are overcrowded since many want to release the economy-related tension; and those who have been retrenched are now spending more time on exercise. Singapore was the first Asian country to be hit by the recession last year.
Homesickhome, a worker in Qatar, discovered that the financial crisis can somehow solve shopping addiction.
Kapital, a Bulgarian weekly asked its readers how the crisis is affecting them. Simeon Djankov summarizes the results of the open forum
I read the answers to-date and found some expected and some unexpected things.
Rents went up, as few people can afford mortgages; several small businesses said their larger rivals are in such trouble that there is more opportunity for them; stopped watching TV (as the news is so gloomy); less social divide – the nouveau rich are only nouveau now; more time to read; take more interest in the rest of the world. My personal favorite: find economics more interesting.
Business adjustments
What are some the adjustments implemented by the business sector in response to the global crisis?
Instead of reducing the workforce, some companies in the Philippines are adopting shorter workweek hours. Because of low occupancy in their buildings, some landlords in the Manila are lowering the rates for office space. A Japanese company in South Korea used its savings and accumulated profits over the years to protect the living of its workers.
Fiji’s business leaders succeeded in pressuring the government to postpone the minimum wage increase promised to the country’s workers. They warned that the increase would force more layoffs and shutdowns. This is bad news for the labor sector.
Roshni Mahtani, founder and editor of www.theasianparent.com, suggests these cost-cutting measures for small businesses
1. Give Up Office Space. Monthly Savings: $1,500
2. Go Open Source. One Time Savings: $4,000. Monthly Savings: $100
3. Skype! Monthly Savings: Between $100 – $150
4. Interns. Monthly Savings: $500
5. Virtual Meetings. Monthly Savings: $100
6. Scale. Monthly Savings: $300
7. Incentivizing. Monthly Savings: Between $750 to $1,000 per sales staff.
8. Partnerships. Monthly Savings: $100 – $150
9. Save The Trees (And Money). Monthly Savings: $200
10. Social Media Marketing. One Time Savings: $2,600
Total Monthly Savings: Between $4,500 – $5,000 a month
Total One Time Savings: $6,600
Michel Monteiro from Brazil writes about the campaign launched by retail chain Ponto Frio: Customers who buy from the store will now have an insurance in case they are made unemployed, free of charge, covering the value of their purchases.
O interessante é que essa ação tem como enfoque a atual crise economica, e em seu anuncio busca tirar o temor que existe nas pessoas de comprar e não poder pegar, o que gera queda nas vendas. Assim, o consumidor poderá voltar a comprar, e fazer o dinheiro movimentar a economia.
Mais do que uma inteligente proposta de marketing, a ação é um serviço ao país, pois – de forma inteligente -, faz a economia nacional girar capital, e consequentemente manter níveis de venda, empregos, etc.
More than a clever marketing idea, the practice is a good service to the country, because – very intelligently – it makes money circulate in the national economy, and consequently, it maintains high levels of sales, jobs, etc.
Russia's “Financial Crisis Toilet Paper”. The label reads: What is to be done? From the blog of Notes on Moscow
Business opportunities
There are companies which continue to earn profit despite the crisis. Some of them are even benefiting from the crisis.
In Japan some of the profitable businesses today are the following: small and medium companies which process and sell parts of raw materials, fastfood outlets, e-commerce service providers, pachinko industry (gaming device).
Chikara Ueki from Japan shares a conversation with an entrepreneur about turning the crisis into an opportunity
１００年に一度と言われている経済危機、考え方を変えると１００年に一度のチャンスかもしれない。不況業種も含め、全ての産業に言えることかもしれません。
ただ、事例の通り何もしなくてもチャンスは生まれるのではなく、コツコツとやってきたご褒美だと思います。
However, as this case shows, it didn't just come out of nowhere. It is a reward for a long period of steady efforts.
Philippine Airlines increased its service in several countries which blogger Caswell Whiteside interpreted as a sign that more and more retrenched Filipino migrant workers are now returning home
Recently Philippine Air Lines began a service every day to Canada and the US whereas up until now service had been limited to four days a week in some cases, depending on the destination. Of course PAL played it up as being ‘new and better service’ to the public while in reality it is to facilitate the number of Filipino workers who have been laid off by their employers in several countries throughout the world, mainly Japan and the US and are returning home.
Part of Thailand’s stimulus plan covers the distribution of checks worth 55 US dollars to every low-income worker. The beneficiaries can use the checks to purchase store items in McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and 18 other major business outlets in the country. KFC even awards 20 pieces of free chicken to stimulus beneficiaries who exchange their checks for store coupons.
Every Woman’s Blog agrees with a condom maker who observes that people buy more condoms during recession because they wanted to prevent pregnancies.
I believe there is a lot of truth and logic in that. During difficult and uncertain times, people do not want to be caught unprepared with an addition in the family which will mean more financial burden on them.
Douglas Muir expects a sharp drop in birth rates in the world, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe.
Back to basics
Because of the recession, some are learning to appreciate the basic laws of doing business like providing first-rate service to customers. A Brazilian popcorn seller has won recognition for his creative ways of doing business. He has already given many lectures on entrepreneurship.
Agriculture is popular again among Japanese youth and celebrities as more people search for economic activities that have stronger foundations than the financial sector.  Kamiyama Yasuharu notes that the agricultural boom has become an interesting keyword in Japanese society today.
Cambodia reaffirms its reliance on agriculture to promote economic growth. A Lao economist believes that the “agriculture-based, self-sufficient nature” of the country’s economy will protect Laos from the global financial crisis. The economist added
People who live in industrialized countries live in fear of losing their jobs because they can’t grow vegetables and raise animals as people can in Laos.
In Jamaica, leaders of 21 private sector bodies have formed a pact of cooperation to offset the impact of the worsening global economic conditions. They have re-learned the value of creating a “social partnership dialogue” between the government, opposition, labor, business and civil society.
The thumbnail image used is from the Flickr page of suburbanslice. The Portuguese text was translated by GV editor Paula. The Japanese text was translated by GV editor Scilla.


text:
Hungary: Foreign Media Coverage · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the coverage of Hungary in the U.S. and Canadian media.


text:
India: Attending TEDIndia vs. Buying a TATA Nano · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pluggd.in is irked by the high cost (in Indian standard) of registration of the TED India conference and compared that one can buy a Tata Nano car with the same amount.  The blog adds: “There are ‘Ideas worth spreading’, but there are ‘people worth knowing/interacting whose ideas are worth spreading’” who will be deterred.


text:
India: Cruelty To Animals vs. Cruelty To Humans · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Life and Times of an Indian Home Maker comments: “Cruelty to animals is not a proof of our love for humanity. On the contrary people who are cruel to animals are likely to be cruel to humans also.”


text:
India Elections ’09: Netizens react to Political Campaigns · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

With the General Elections round the corner, major political parties like the Indian National Congress (Congress) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have each unleashed their election campaigns on the Indian populace.
The battle for the electorate mind space is being fought relentlessly (by both candidates themselves, their supporters and leaders) on the ground, in the MSM and online. The electorate in turn is watching closely and netizens are animatedly discussing these campaigns threadbare.
In a series of posts, we will explore blogger reactions to the election campaigns of  various political parties. In this post, the first in the series, we look at how netizens have reacted to the BJP's Online Campaign.
Drawing inspiration from the recently conducted US Presidential Elections, the BJP has launched multi-pronged online marketing campaigns, through blogs, websites, Social Networking applications such as Facebook, Orkut, YouTube, Twitter and online advertising. On this front, BJP's presence appears to be clearly more visible than competition and has given rise to a lot of discussions and comments.
According to this report, BJP's ‘streaming video campaign’ was getting ready to be splashed across YouTube, blogs and other Social Networking sites. Blog. Angsuman at Taragana tells us that 5ads promoting Advani are now to be found across 2000 websites.
Arun Subrahmanian is happy to note that in the upcoming elections, political parties are campaigning aggressively online and making use of open source software to do so. He writes in his blog:
The Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP, LK Advani has not only created his website and blog but is also marketing his website and blog heavily on the internet through search engine marketing. In the past several week i have seen different advertisements regarding this website online. BJP is actively promoting the website using Google Adwords. Whenever you visit an India related website you will definitely find the advertisement of this website.
The website of L K Advani is using Joomla (Joomla is an open source content management system). It is great to know that Indian political parties are using open source technologies, internet marketing tools for promoting their election campaign.
Screen shot of BJP ad at Sify News, a news portal
The AD Zone remarks:
‘Advani for PM’ must be the biggest spending advertising campaign on the Internet today.
Some bloggers however, are finding the splash of ads a wee bit annoying. Gururaj writes:
I wonder how much they spend on adwords each day or maybe an hour. If you are from India, from 2 months you can see only these ads on every blog/site on the internet. They are targeting indian internet users heavily. Personally I do like BJP, but ahem.. these ads are kinda annoying.
Sushant Kumar of Speak India Blog has some issues with the content of the aggressive online marketing of the BJP. Kumar feels that the execution is not very effective as it has some ‘serious flaws’ . According to him, the ad space should have been better utilised to crisply convey the BJP's election promises and strengths rather than merely pointing the viewer to Advani's website. He says:
The online user is smart and has less time to read long blog entries that too political ones,  hence the important points need to be conveyed boldly through the ads itself.
Sidin Vadukut, in a newspaper column writes an open letter to L.K. Advani saying that instead focusing his campaign on negatives, namely ‘name calling and finger pointing’ at the Congress, he should use his online campaign to drive home his vision for the country. He writes:
You have an opportunity to finally give Indian the positive approach to debate and politics that we have long missed. And even if you can’t do it nationally, you can do it on your blog. Talk about your hopes and aspirations. About what you will do to make this a better country. Tell us how young people can help you. Convince us of the vision you have for this country. But most of all, Mr Advani, realise that blogs are so 2007. We are all on Twitter now.
Interestingly though, the BJP campaign is very much on Twitter as well, through the official @bjp_, and its supporters such as @missionbjp, @friendsofbjp and @4bjp. The Twitter world is also buzzing with discussion and comments on these election campaigns. Harsha Pramod summarises some of the reactions being tweeted w.r.t the BJP's online marketing blitz.
Many expressed the opinion that BJP’s online advertisements might give over-exposure to the party. “What BJP doesn’t know is that too much communication kills a bad product faster!” says a tweet. “These days I am seeing Mr LK Advani on almost all sites…”, adds another. “Wow BJP is harnessing Google ad words to the hilt – any search for Congress, Rahul Gandhi or related gives you a Google ad on Advani,” says another. Political parties are being promoted on Twitter by unofficial Twitter accounts, much to the dismay of other users. “No politics on twitter ….pls… y do i c (why do I see) BJP & Congress surfacing?” asks another. “Is blog world becoming BJP world?” Exclaims another.
Some other comments from Twitter:
balajil woo amazed at the innovative style of bjp http://lkadvani.in/eng/ ,  friends of BJP http://friendsofbjp.org/,  advani@campus .. This is the way to go :)
abhiramr Wonder how much the BJP has spent on their online  Ad campaign.
SatyaVyas getting sick scraps from BJP‘s online campaign I am sure that 250 crore spent on Advani's campaign are going down the drain..leave me alone.
thecomicproject @nikhilnarayanan INC is woefully behind. BJP is smarter, engaging online, might turn blogs into a counterweight (if light) to MSM
Interestingly though, while there is a lot of noise around online campaigning, some bloggers like Joseph Thomas are sounding a note of caution. For example, Joseph says:
There are a lot of online campaigns going on behalf of several candidates for India general elections in 2009. The whole drama is very interesting. It looks like the campaign officers believe that the online campaign is going to work in India just like it did in USA. Evidently, they have not considered the % of citizens in India who use Internet and what % of it would actually go to the polling booths.
Joseph feels that a mere online blitz without being backed up by a solid on-the-ground campaign will simply not work in a country like ours. He makes a case in point while discussing the Facebook support group for Mallika Sarabhai who is contesting the elections from Gandhinagar in Gujrat, against BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. L.K Advani. He writes:
Then there is Mallika Sarabhai who is contesting against L K Advani from Gandhinagar. I was kind of surprised to see her Facebook support group as I do not understand how it is going to help her win the elections in Gandhinagar. I’m just wondering, how many of the Gandhinagar voters are going to vote for Mallika Sarabhai just because of her online campaigns? How many Netizens are there in her constituency? How are the online campaigns going to work if the on-ground campaigns are not working? So I think she better use her time for on-ground work, encouraging people to vote, convince them of the politics of BJP, and how she can make Gujarat a better place. It just doesn’t matter a person from Thrissur constituency (in Kerala) supporting Mallika Sarabhai to win from Gandhinagar (in Gujrat) through a Facebook group, because it is finally up to the people of Gandhinagar to decide whether she goes into parliament or not.
Watch this space for the next post in the series – blogger reactions to the Congress (INC) campaign.

author: Aparna Ray


text:
Indonesia: Deadly dam burst · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A dam burst outside of Jakarta Friday dawn which killed more than 50 people. Twitter user Indrika Kurnia writes: praying for my friend's father who was carried away by the flood from the dam breaking.. may God be with you.


text:
Jamaica, Canada: Caribbean Voices  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Is there room in Canadian literature for a Caribbean voice?  Jamaican diaspora author and blogger Pamela Moredecai shares her thoughts…


text:
Jamaica: Curtains for Calabash?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp is part of a group that has written an open letter to the Jamaican Prime Minister expressing disappointment over the news “that the 2009 Calabash Festival has been cancelled due to insufficient funding.”


text:
Korea: Blog, Bloggers, and Etiquette.  · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

While bloggers seem to be equally distant from each other, they are in fact not. They have their favorite blogs and bloggers, and they link their blogs to each other. They share their favorite posts from other bloggers with other websites. They leave their opinions on the posts of the bloggers with whom they are close and exchange their thoughts about social and political issues.
A blogger shared her experience with a world famous conductor. By sharing her private conversation, she might have contributed to hurting the celebrity’s reputation. While her post has been spreading over websites quickly and other bloggers put hers in their blog space, many bloggers criticize her. Others say it is the victory of blogging.
Bloggers argue about how far blogs should share information, opinions, and experiences, and a blogger leaves an interesting post, “ Blog, Blogger, Etiquette and gaps between them.”
블로그를 운영을 하면서 느끼는 것이지만 참 예의바른 분들이 많다는 것입니다. 물론 반대로 별별 찌질이 양아치들도 많지만 대체적으로 블로그를 운영하는 분들은 예의바르다고 생각합니다. 물.론. 그것이 블로거로서의 그들과 실존인물로서의 그들 사이의 간격을 생각하지 않고 하는 말입니다.
블로그라는 것은 자신을 나타내는 뭔가라고 생각합니다. 그래서 블로거라면 다들 자신의 블로그를 애지중지 금이야 옥이야 다독다독.. 생각합니다. 그리고 다들 ‘나만은’ 소통과 교류에 적극적이고 졸랭 오픈마인드라고 자신합니다. 그래서 다른 블로그에 가서 댓글을 남길 때도 뭔가 어젓한 모습을 보입니다. 디씨나 웃대, 개소문 죽돌이마냥 찌질이식의 글은 많지 않다는 것이죠.1
여기 두 명의 블로거가 있다고 가정합시다. 둘은 서로 상당히 친근한 사이라고 믿습니다. 그리고 서로의 블로그에 방문하며 댓글도 남기고 이런 저런 글들로 교류를 합니다. 그리고 약간의 농담도 합니다. 각자가 들고 있는 친근감의 정도는 같은 크기라고 생각하고 있었습니다.
멀리서 보니 당신과 나는 같은 크기의 친근감을 갖고 있습니다. 맞죠?
그리고 어느 날 A는 B에게 평소보다는 조금 심한 농담을 합니다. A의 입장에서는 자신이 가진 친근감의 정도와 B가 가진 친근감의 정도가 같은 크기라면 이 정도의 농담은 충분히 가능하다고 생각을 했습니다. 그런데 웬 일?!!
아뉘~!! 이 사람이 왜 갑자기 친한 척하시나요? 누구??
A가 생각한 친근감의 크기가 B의 것보다 x만큼 더 컸던겁니다. B는 A에게 말합니다. ‘어머! 누구? 얼마나 친하다고 그런 말씀하세요? 우리가 일면식이라도 있었나요? 직접 만나서 공기놀이라도 했었나요? 왜 갑자기 글케 친한 척 하시나욧!!’ 결국 둘 다 같은 크기의 친근감을 가지고 있다고 생각했지만 실제 그것을 재볼 기회가 되자 x만큼의 차이에 마음이 상해버린 것이죠.
현실에서도 이런 일은 허다하게 일어납니다. 그리고 오직 글로 만나는 블로거들 간에는 이런 오해는 더 자주 일어날 것 같지만 사실은 그렇지도 않습니다. 그 이유는 서로가 그런 일이 일어날 정도로 다가서질 않기 때문입니다. 그것이 블로거들 간의 예의입니다. 다가서지 않는다는 것.
사실 이런 일은 ‘좋은 관계'를 유지하고 있는 블로거들 사이에 더 빈번합니다. 서로에게 조금이라도 상처를 주지 않을까 극도로 조심하는 것이죠. 물론 이것은 상대방에 대한 존중이요 배려이고 필요한 것이지만 조금은 다가가야할 필요가 있습니다. 서로간의 간격을 좁힌다는 것. 그것은 서로간에 교집합을 만든다는 의미이기도 합니다.
A blog is a means for people to express themselves. Therefore, all bloggers take care of their blogs with their hearts. They are also so confident that they are active in communication with others and they’re so open-minded. So, when they leave their opinions in other bloggers’ posts, they’re polite. They don’t leave weird and crazy writings.
Let’s imagine that there are two bloggers. They believe that they know each other well. They visit the other side’s blog and leave opinions of posts. They exchange their opinions. And they joke around. They think that the extent of familiarity of each other is same.
When they look at each other at this distance, they have the same size of familiarity.
One day, A gave a little strong joke to B. A thinks that this kind of joke is fine due to their familiarity. But….
B responses: Why are you pretending you’re so close to me?
The extent of closeness that A thought was much bigger than that B thought. And B answers A. “Why are you pretending you’re so close to me? Have we met face to face each other? Have we spent our time together? Why are you doing this?” When they face to compare the extent of their closeness, there is the difference of X.
Things are happening all the time in real world. It seems that there could be misunderstanding between bloggers who just meet through writings. The reason is that they don’t try to be close in order to prevent these things happen. This is politeness that bloggers have for each other. Not to be so close.
It is common to bloggers who maintain ‘good relations.’ They are extremely careful in order not to screw their relationships up. Of course it is important in order to keep mutual respect and consideration. But sometimes it is necessary to be close to each other.
To make their distance closer. It means that they build up intersection each other.

author: Hyejin Kim


text:
Latvia: Health Care Budget Cuts · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Latvian Abroad cites an example of how “the budget cuts are taking their toll” in Latvia: “Sometimes, it's a very heavy toll.”


text:
Pakistan: Persecution of Religious Minorities  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rumbold at Pickled Politics comments: “Before the latest round of violence, the situation was already bad for minorities in Pakistan. But now increased numbers are fleeing as more of them are targeted by religious extremists.”

author: Rezwan


text:
Pakistan: Suicide Bombing at Mosque While People Praying · Global Voices
Rezwan

CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan is reporting that ” 48 people were killed (today) when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque near the town of Jamrud in the Khyber agency in northwest Pakistan.” The Blogger comments: “For a suicide bombing to occur at all is horrific, but to strike a mosque while people are praying is truly atrocious.”


text:
Palestine: Experiencing Contempt in Egypt · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Gull from the Gaza Beach is angry with Egypt: “The overwhelming majority of Palestinians who passed through Cairo International Airport have a stock of stories about the humiliation to which they are exposed … The Egyptian government contributes to the suffering of the Palestinian people.”


text:
Palestine: The Purpose of Checkpoints · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Marcy Newman, who lives in Nablus in the West Bank, describes driving home late at night, and the difficulties she had getting into the city through the numerous Israeli checkpoints that surround it: “these checkpoints are not to keep people in and out – it is to make people think they cannot get in or out. it is to make their lives difficult. it is to create a mentality of people who see themselves as imprisoned.”


text:
Qatar: Lost in the Carpark · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Christian San Juan, a Filipino based in Qatar, reminds us how easy it is to forget where your car is in a large carpark.


text:
Romania: TV Ad Breaks · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csíkszereda musings writes about ad breaks on Romanian TV: “In Romania, you can not only go to the toilet, you could run a bath, lie in it for half an hour until the water gets too cold, get out, shave, trim your nose hairs, get dressed, go to the kitchen, cook a large dinner, go out and buy a bottle of wine, invite your friends round, eat the dinner, play scrabble a couple of times, and then clean the house from top to bottom, before settling back down – and you’d still have time to make serious inroads into A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu (to be fair you probably wouldn’t get past the first book of the three, unless you were a really fast reader) before the programme restarts.”


text:
Russia: Financial Leasing Company’s Default · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CrisisCrunch writes about “the default by Financial Leasing Company (FLC), the first default of a Russian state-owned company since the 1998 financial crisis.”


text:
Russia: Sochi’s Mayoral Race · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Updates on the Sochi election – FP's Passport: “The world's most entertaining mayor's race.” RFE/RL's The Power Vertical: “The opposition sees opportunity. The Kremlin sees danger. And the pundits have something new to talk about.” Sean's Russia Blog: “The election circus in Sochi has some new developments. The alleged polonium murderer Andrei Lugovoi won’t be running. […] But the big news concerns this week’s  ammonia chloride attack on ‘Kremlin critic’ Boris Nemtsov.”


text:
Serbia: IMF Loan · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros reports that Serbia has received a 3 billion Euro IMF loan.


text:
Serbia: More on NATO Bombing · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgraded links to blog coverage of the 10th anniversary of NATO bombing, including his own 2006 post: “In the beginning, the first few days, it was scary because nobody knew what to do in this situation. This was the kind of things you only see on movies. The sirens go off – from that moment, you are on your own. Go to the shelter and you’re safe, but then you have to listen to all the crying babies and children, weeping grannies and mumbling old guys. So you choose to stay out and see what happens.”


text:
Serbia: “Ten Years of Nothing” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul Currion of The Unforgiving Minute posts his thoughts on the 10th anniversary of NATO bombing of Serbia.


text:
Sri Lanka: How Should Bloggers Respond To Plagiarizing · Global Voices
Rezwan

ICT For Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) comments: “rampant plagiarism by leading Editors and newspapers in Sri Lanka of content that appears on the web and in blogs is an enduring issue”. The blog also discusses how the Sri Lankan bloggers should respond to plagiarizing.


text:
St. Lucia: Waclott Square  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands Blog pays a visit to Derek Walcott Square in St. Lucia.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Sudan: Chilling Account of the Arrest of an Online Activist · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Sudanese Internet activist and lawyer Abdel Hakim Abdel Rahman Nasr was arrested in a raid on his house on the night of March 5 – and released March 11.
Nasr was detained only a few hours after he expressed his support for the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on the online International Forum for Nubia, where he is a moderator.
In this chilling post [Ar], on the forum which is now open to members only, Nasr details his arrest:
On his treatment during his detention, Nasr writes:
Nasr then details how he was woken up from his sleep by one of 11 men who raided his home:
The men then took him through a few villages, changed cars and stopped to pray. Nasr recalls:


text:
Tunisia: Dismissed Student Activists on Hunger Strike for the Right to Education  · Global Voices
Lina Ben Mhenni

A total of 158 Tunisians and their friends from around the world went on hunger strike for a day today (March 26) in solidarity with five students who have been on hunger strike since February 11 in Tunisia.
The initiative has been orchestrated on a Facebook group  [Fr] as a symbolic form of support to the students, who are members of Tunisian Students’ Union (UGET), and who have been suspended from university for their activism on campus.
According to the Facebook group:
Des etudiants en grève de la faim depuis le 11 février pour le droit aux études. Soutenons les et faisons une grève de la faim d un jour !
L'Union Générale des Etudiants de Tunisie (UGET) est confrontée depuis plusieurs années à une politique de persécution systématique de la part du pouvoir tunisien… Les jeunes syndicalistes de l'UGET sont régulièrement harcelés, tabassés, terrorisés et torturés au cours de gardes à vue en dehors de toute légalité. La police a recours à toutes sortes de violences pour obliger les responsables syndicaux à démissionner de leurs fonctions, à trahir leurs camarades et à abandonner toute action militante.
Des policiers armés gardent les entrées et arpentent les couloirs des universités depuis de nombreuses années (plus précisément depuis que Ben Ali a été désigné premier ministre du temps de Bourguiba). Voila maintenant plus de 23 ans que ces policiers, corps étranger à tout savoir et à tout enseignement, persécutent les étudiants tunisiens pour les empêcher de coller des affiches, tenir des rassemblements ou des meetings exprimant leurs revendications.
Pourtant une telle violence n'a nullement de justification. Les jeunes syndicalistes de l'UGET ne s'engagent que dans des actions pacifiques non violentes. Ils organisent souvent ces actions pour réclamer l'amélioration de leurs conditions d'études et de vie, le développement de la qualité de leur enseignement ou l'ouverture de nouvelles perspectives post-universitaires d?embauche et de recrutement. L'UGET s'engage aussi régulièrement, à côté du reste des forces démocratiques, dans la défense des libertés politiques. Il se réclame de ceux qui soutiennent les luttes sociales justes des tunisiens. Ses militants n?épargnent jamais leurs efforts quand il s'agit de solidarité avec les causes des peuples arabes et notamment celle du peuple Palestinien. Ce sont ceux là, les torts des militants de l'UGET, aux yeux d'un pouvoir dirigé par l'arbitraire et le non respect des libertés syndicales.
Le 11 février 2009, quatre militants et responsables syndicaux de l'UGET ont entamé, dans le seul et minuscule local de l'organisation 19 Rue Naplouse à Tunis, une grève de la faim illimitée. Ils exigent le droit de poursuivre leurs études supérieures et réintégrer leur faculté après avoir été injustement exclus, suite à des conseils de discipline à cause de leur engagement et de leur activité syndicale.
The Tunisian Students’ Union (UGET) has, for several years, suffered systematic persecution at the hands of the Tunisian authorities…Young UGET unionists are regularly harassed, beaten, terrorized and tortured, without any respect for the law, while in police custody.  The police resort to all kinds of violence to force union leaders to resign, betray their comrades, and abandon their activism. Armed police have guarded the entrances and pace the corridors of universities for many years (more precisely since Ben Ali was appointed prime minister under Bourguiba).  These police officers, all-knowing foreign bodies, have been persecuting Tunisian students for more than 23 years to prevent them from hanging posters, from holding meetings and rallies to assert their demands. Such violence is unjustified … the UGET students engage only in nonviolent protest, that they organize in order to demand an improvement in their living standards and the standards of education, and for the opening of new, postgraduate job opportunities…they also organize in solidarity with Arab causes, especially for Palestinians…
February 11, 2009, five UGET union leaders, at their tiny local branch in 19 Rue Naplouse in Tunis, announced a hunger strike of unlimited duration.  They are demanding the right to pursue their university studies and to be reinstated at their schools after being unjustly expelled, following disciplinary action taken as a result of their union activities.
The five students   are Ali Bouzouzeya,Taoufik Louati, Aymen Jaabiri, Mohamed Boualleg, and Mohamed Soudani and they are on hunger strike to demand their return to their classes.
Meanwhile,  police are preventing people  who want to support the students from entering the UGET premises where the students are on strike as seen in the video above.
Now after 43 days of hunger strike, their health is deteriorating and their lives are in danger. They have been rushed to the hospital several times and doctors ordered them to stop their hunger strike. However, they insist on continuing until they are allowed back to their universities. Despite this, the Tunisian authorities are yet to change their stance.
What will happen next?  Will the Government wait for their death to intervene? Only time will answer this question.

author: Lina Ben Mhenni


text:
Tunisia: Outcry over Italian Court’s Verdict on Tunisian Pilots · Global Voices
Lina Ben Mhenni

Two Tunisian pilots of Tuninter Flight 1153, which crash landed in the sea off Sicily in 2005 killing 16 people, were sentenced to 10 years in prison by an Italian court. The decision is being contested by Tunisian bloggers, who say the pilots’ heroic efforts in saving the 23 other passengers on board should have been celebrated.
Some thoughts from Tunisia [Ar] smells discrimination in the verdict and writes:
لكن اسمائهم ليست آلان ولا دافيد ولا جون بول بل شفيق الغربي و علي الكبّير لذا فعليهم دفع الثّمن في نظر القضاء الايطالي !! والتّهمة في نظر هذا القضاء المتعسّف هي انّهم لجؤا بسبب خوفهم الشديد بالانشغال بالدعاء والاستغاثة بالله بالدعاء في وقت كان يتعين عليهم فيه القيام بإجرآت الطوارئ لتجنب تحطم طائرتهم حسب ما جاء في تسجيلات غرفة القيادة. وهو عين الافتراء حسب ما تبيّنه تّسجيلات الصندوق الاسود التّي تبيّن ان الطياريين بذلوا ما في وسعهم لانقاذ ما يمكن انقاذه (طلب هليكوبترين، اجراء الهبوط الاضطراري قرب باخرتين لاعطاء فرص نجاة اكبر…) !!
But their names are not  Alain,  David, nor John Paul. They are named Shafik Al Gharbi and Ali Kbeyer. Therefore, for the Italian justice, they should pay the price!! They have been charged because they opted to pray for God to help them at a time when they had to perform  emergency  procedures to avoid their plane crash, according to recordings from the cockpit. But these are lies  as shown by the black box recordings. Indeed it  shows that the two pilots did their best to save what can be saved (they requested two helicopters and conducted an emergency landing near two vessels to give their passengers a greater chance of survival …) .
Articuler [Fr], on his part, echoes a similar sentiment:
Le tribunal italien de Palerme a prononcé lundi 23 mars 2009 son verdict dans l’affaire du crash de l’ATR de la compagnie aérienne tunisienne Tuninter.
Le verdict de la justice italienne a été très sévère et représente une véritable première ! Jamais, par le passé, les responsables administratifs d’une compagnie aérienne n’ont été condamnés à des peines de prison ferme. En prononçant des condamnations allant jusqu’à dix ans de prison, la justice italienne inflige aux responsables tunisiens des peines comme s’ils étaient de véritables chauffards éméchés sur la route. Et encore, on s’interroge si les ivrognes italiens du volant écopent de peines aussi lourdes !


text:
Albania: Anti-Smoking Law Not Working · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Albanian Blogger writes that Albania's “antismoking law has gone up in smoke.”


text:
Albania: Snow · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Nevada Yankee in King Zog's Court writes about Albania's high mountain villages isolated by snow.


text:
Cambodia: Demand for microfinance · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The economic downturn has raised the demand for microfinance programs in Cambodia.


text:
China: Chinese Al Jazeera?  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mutant Palm is pretty sure that China can't create a Chinese Al Jazeera. Why? read this.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Digital Civil Society Campaigns in the 2009 Indian General Elections · Global Voices
Gaurav Mishra

In my first post for the Global Voices special coverage on the 2009 Indian general elections, I had analyzed how Indian politicians and political parties are using internet and mobile tools for election campaigning. In this post, I'll detail how civil society groups in India are using digital tools to run voter registration and transparency campaigns in the run up to the elections.
The National Election Watch, a collaboration between 1200 NGOs led by Association for Democratic Reforms, seeks to increase transparency in Indian elections by combining information about constituencies and candidates with user comments and ratings on candidates. However, the website suffers from inadequate usage and the absence of rich data (Live Mint).
The Campaign for No Criminals in Politics aims to ensure that no political party gives tickets to candidates with criminal antecedents in the 2009 general elections.
The data on its website is based on the affidavits submitted by the 2004 contestants. The campaign has an active Facebook group with almost 5000 members and has also launched two videos to promote its campaign –
Bharat Votes (Facebook/ Orkut) also aims to create awareness about voting using social media tools (IBN Live).
Vote India is another voter awareness website which has got some traction (AFP/ TOI/ Washington Post). It has an active presence on Twitter and Orkut (1/ 2/ 3) and has also used a video to promote itself –
Vote India's page on section 49(O) has been widely cited in what I believe is a misguided discussion on “negative voting”. Basically, the idea is that voters should have the right to ask for a re-election by selecting a “none of the above” option, if none of the candidates are acceptable to them (DNA/ IBN Live/ Economic Times/ Live Mint/ Mid Day). A chain e-mail falsely claims that such a rule already exists. Many bloggers, like Deva Prasad and Vimoh, strongly support the idea and even call it a powerful agent of change. A Facebook group promoting the idea has more than 100 members and an online petition to recognize the negative vote also has more than 100 signatures.
Several city and state specific websites have come up to help voters register to vote and make smart choices about their candidates.  SmartVote and Bangalore Voter ID in Bangalore, Mumbai Votes in Mumbai, and Future CM in Andhra Pradesh are some of the more prominent examples.
Another category of websites aims to engage citizens into discussion and ideation on civic issues and then use the online community to initiate offline collective action at a later stage.
Lords of Odds, which runs an online sports prediction market in India, has started a Digg-like social voting micro-site called Manifesto to help citizens create their own manifesto for the elections.
I think that a social voting website focused on the elections is a great idea. In fact, three months back, I was toying with the idea of starting one myself at IndiaTalks. I wish that NGOPost, which runs an active social voting community on social welfare issues, would start a separate section on the elections.
Praja aims to use online tools to build a community of engaged citizens who can be mobilized to participate in offline collective action. Youth for Equality aims to build a political movement to end caste-based reservations in India. The Wada Na Todo Abhiyan aims to hold the government accountable to its promise to end poverty, social exclusion and discrimination. Change India, started by Lead India winner Rajendra Misra aims to channelize the energies of citizens, by building online and offline participatory platforms, to solve India's many problems (Rajendra Misra has recently joined BJP, so the initiative is hardly non-partisan anymore (DNA)). India Banao also aims to provide a platform for young people to participate in public affairs. For many of these websites, online participation is limited, and their effectiveness in organizing offline action is suspect.
Yet another category of websites aim to become the default source of news and analysis related the 2009 general elections.
IndiPepal is perhaps the most ambitious of these with blogs from several well-known analysts, but India Voting (Indian Express/ IBN Live), Engage Voter, India Numbers and India Votes 2009 also have content rich websites. These websites, however, are directly competing with election microsites from mainstream media — TOI, TOI Your Voice, DNA, The Hindu, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Your Manifesto, MSN, Rediff, NDTV and IBN Live (via Sidin Vadukut at Live Mint).
The Indian blogosphere has reacted positively to these grassroots initiatives, even though they have got limited traction. For instance, the ‘Indian Homemaker’ believes that campaigns like ‘No Criminals’ are a sign that we can still make a difference. Rajiv Dingra at WATBlog and Preethi J at Medianama have done good roundups of these initiatives.
Finally, the three most effective “civil society” campaigns in the 2009 general elections are run by corporate brands: Lead India/ Bleed India by The Times of India, Jaago Re by Tata Tea and My Idea from Idea Cellular. I'll cover these three campaigns in the next post in the series.

author: Gaurav Mishra


text:
Germany: Berlin Wall Murals Destroyed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

IZO writes about “an act of extraordinary cultural vandalism”: “a section of the Berlin Wall that had been preserved with its post-fall graffiti, including the iconic painting by Dmitri Vrubel depicting a kiss between communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Eric Honecker, has been “restored”, meaning the complete destruction of the murals.”


text:
Hungary: Avoiding an Early Election? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungary Economy Watch writes that “Gyurcsány plans to use the constructive vote of no-confidence to install another Socialist-led cabinet, and his government […] appears to have resorted to this unusual maneuver for one simple reason: to avoid an early election.”


text:
Indonesia: Sharia Finance · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

As the financial system crumbles in the developed world, some analysts in Indonesia are proposing to replace it with the Sharia Finance system.


text:
Iran: “Ahmadinejad, the most active President” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mosalmane Irani, an Iran based blogger, calls [fa] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,the most active President in the world. The blogger says Ahmadinejad has visited 32 countires and delivered 950 speeches.


text:
Iran: Iranian nature in photos · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Ariapars,Iranian blog, we can discover several photos from villages and nature in the southern province Khuzestan in Iran.


text:
Latvia: Data Inspectorate vs Penguin Movement · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Free Speech Emergency in Latvia reports that “the Latvian Data State Inspectorate has summoned the administrator of the website of the so-called Penguin Movement to explain what it claims were violations of laws and regulations with regard to handling and protecting personal data.”


text:
Macedonia: Upcoming Elections · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Central Europe Activ writes about the upcoming elections in Macedonia.


text:
Malaysia: Dress worth $30 million · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Despite the economic crisis, a designer in Malaysia has created a dress adorned with 751 diamonds. The price tag: US$30 million. The dress is called the “Nightingale of Kuala Lumpur”


text:
Poland: Justice System · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eternal Remont writes that, according to a study, “only 37 percent of Poles rate their justice system positively.”


text:
Russia: Caucasus Situation; Spring Draft · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about the situation in the North Caucasus – here and here – and about the spring draft into the Russian armed forces.


text:
Russia: “Cut-and-Paste” Journalism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eagle and the Bear writes about “cut-and-paste” TV journalism in Russia: “Over the course of dinner tonight, no less than two stories on the Vesti television news came directly from a separate print source.  Meaning they literally filmed the two print articles — one a Rossiiskaya Gazeta article about handling the crisis and the other a Der Spiegel article about the Georgian government’s actions in the lead-up to the conflict — and read them aloud, occasionally highlighting or zooming in on parts of the text.”


text:
Russia, Italy: Putin’s Namesake Arrested For Shoplifting · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander writes about a namesake of Vladimir Putin who was arrested for shoplifting in Italy.


text:
Russia: Lake Baikal Blog · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light links to a blog about Lake Baikal – Baikalogy.


text:
Russia: Obama Ice Cream Ads · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about Russian ads featuring Barack Obama.


text:
Russia: The Oligarchs’ “Debt-Go-Round” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude writes that Russia's “debt-go-round has become so huge and interwoven that it seems to be taking all the oligarchs down together”: “For the most part though, it’s looking like the end of era – and a very short list of Russians on Forbes next year.”


text:
Slovenia: Economic Situation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky posts an update on the state of Slovenia's economy.


text:
Thailand: New look and agenda for government-run TV channel  · Global Voices
Markpeak

In early-2008, Channel 11  was changed to NBT (National Broadcast Television, see Wikipedia). Channel 11 is Thailand's oldest TV channel run by the government's Public Relations Department (PRD). This change was done under ex-PM Thaksin's supporting party to counter the change of another TV channel, Thai PBS, under the Coup government before in early-2007.
Now that the opposing Democrat party is ruling the country, is it time to ‘change’ the NBT again?
Satit Wongnongtaey, Minister for Office of the Prime Minister who takes charge of the PRD told the press about “the reformation of NBT” which aims to start on 1 April 2009. The “new NBT” will have a totally-new program, new logo and new board. The new program will reduce the portion of news from 12 hour/day to 7 hour/day. The addition programs will be “knowledge” programs.
Satit gave more examples of the new programs: programs that focus on economics and labour problem, programs to solve the national reconciliation and harmony, and creative/moral programs. The old NBT staff will remain as the main producing staff for the new NBT.
While mentioning that the new NBT will not broadcast the “controversy” news, Satit insisted that the New NBT is not the initiative against Thaksin and will not be the reward for anti-Thaksin movement keyplayers.
From Prachatai (in Thai)
One good comment from Kapook, Thailand second biggest portal, member (comment #24):
I'm one of the producer for NBT channel. My program broadcasts once a week. Everytime the government changes, the new government comes and changes NBT schedule, move lots of program. I'm very bored with this. My audience will have to change their watching habit and time. Once they get used to the new timeslot, new government comes and changes it again.
The topic forum in Pantip, biggest forum site in Thailand, wonders why Satit needs to change NBT logo. One poster claims the source from NBT person that the NBT staff are the ones who ask for the new logo, not Satit himself.
The new logo contest comes from NBT staff. Their reason is the old logo is too aligned for one political side (Thaksin's) and they are not proud of being NBT people anymore under the old NBT logo.


text:
The Baltics: Deportations of 1941 and 1949 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eric Dickens guest-blogs at A Step At A Time about the Baltic deportations of 1941 and 1949.


text:
Armenia: Questions linger after post-election unrest · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

tzitzernak2 comments on the deaths of three opposition supporters during the 1 March post-election clashes last year. The blog says that although their deaths were caused by improperly fired gas grenades used by only four policemen, those responsible have not been identified let alone suspended from duty or prosecuted.

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
UAE: Russian Photoblogs From Burj al-Arab · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user sergeydolya posts pictures and shares impressions (RUS) of his stay at Dubai's Burj al-Arab, one of the world's most expensive hotels.


text:
Ukraine: Chernobyl Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Photos from a 2008 trip to Chernobyl – at GRcade.


text:
Ukraine: History of Carpatho-Ukraine · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

History of the short-lived Carpatho-Ukraine – at Ukrainian Policy Daily.


text:
Ukraine: “NEVER Step Out Without a Passport” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Turkish Invasion writes about a recent encounter with Kyiv police.


text:
U.S., Russia: “Peregruzka Meets Perestroika” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

In a post titled “Peregruzka Meets Perestroika,” Eternal Remont writes about Barack Obama's unscheduled meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev.


text:
Vietnam: Impact of economic crisis · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Lawrence summarizes news reports about the impact of the economic crisis on Vietnam.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Vietnam: Motorbike stunts · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Young “street artists” are performing their dangerous motorbike stunts in the streets of Vietnam.


text:
Azerbaijan: Barcamp Caspian · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Caucasus New Media reports from this week's Barcamp Caspian held in Baku, Azerbaijan. In particular, the blog notes presentations on localizing the Opera web browser for the Caucasus and fears about possible Internet censorship in the country.


text:
Azerbaijan: Blogger Interview · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Dotcom, an online project which has participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and the United States, has published an interview with Azerbaijani blogger Arzu Geybullayeva on blogging and citizen media. In particular, she talks about her work on gender issues and media freedom as well as about her blog, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines.