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What Happen to Skype in China? · Global Voices
Frank Dai

Skype, the successful VOIP program which has earned international reputation is said to be blocked in China for economical reasons, at least in the southeast city of Shenzhen by China Telecom, the largest ISP (Internet Service Provider) in mainland China.
Skype has been in a joint adventure with its Chinese partner Tom Online. Their simplified Chinese version of Skype is called Tom-Skype. The major feature of Skype is the function named “Skype-Out”, which allowed its user to call other people’s telephone with good quality of voice.
According to an article on Sina Tech, VOIP program like Skype is illegal in China since the Ministry of Information Industry only permitted six state-owned enterprises, including China Telecom, to operate such program. Skype would be blocked in the major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and the first step is to block users’ access to its server. China Telecom hasn’t confirmed it officially.
Virushuo cited a story of a Shenzhen Skype user surnamed Wang, who reported that his internet access was down and some ports were blocked. He consulted with the personnel at China Telecom, who replied that he had been added to a black list because he used Skype-Out and required him to guarantee not to use it any more. They also warned that next time he would be fined for 3000 Yuan, about 370 US Dollars.
Fons Tuinstra noted the international edition of Skype is still in effect and accessible. Anyone who wants to have this edition can email him at tuinstranl#yahoo.com as it is very hard to get in China. Lawrence Lee also point to a page in Chinese where people can download Skype of English version.
ZhangYizhen questioned the legitimacy of blocking Skype. He pointed out that Tom-Skype did not provide VOIP calling service directly. Users must buy credits from Skype headquarter in Sweden in order to use the PC2Phone function. He also said that the blocking decision may be not done by China Telecom national headquarter but its Shenzhen branch.
China has entered WTO and claimed to be market-oriented economy. However there still existed various forms of monopoly in which state-owned enterprises have an indisputable advantage over their rivalry on resources and governmental policies. This kind of competition is out of fashion as a blogger has put it, “Skype has been blocked in China but it won’t disappear”

author: Frank Dai


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A Trip to Omalo · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Caucasus Pictures takes the rough road to Old Omalo, the main village of Georgia's Tusheti region.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nathan Hamm


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Afghan Election Diary · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Human Rights Watch's Afghan Election Diary has numerous reports from the field and audio reports concerning yesterday's parliamentary election.


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Anti-Russian Feeling in Armenia · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian discusses anti-Russian feelings in Armenia and asks whether or not Russia's days in the South Caucasus are numbered.


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Argentina: Unaffordable Ushaia · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Travel guru, Jorge Gobbi, admits he is probably still far off from visiting one of his own country's most popular tourist destinations, Ushuaia. In part he says, international tourists have increased prices beyond what Argentinians can afford.

author: David Sasaki


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Azerbaijan Election Monitor · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Marianna Idrisova Gurtovnik has posted her latest report on Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections at neweurasia.


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Bahrain: Arabic Blogging · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Haythoo just started a free Arabic blogging service for Bahrain (in Arabic). The new blog service (http://bahblog.com/) is based on the Arabic version of WordPress, and seems to catch a lot of good attention from university students in Bahrain.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Bangladesh: Jamaat and life · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Wamy at moodlogic fears for his safey and life, as his father is a Central Jamaat leader, and maybe a target of violence.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bangladesh: Wal-Mart and Bangladesh · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Adda has a post on Wal-Mart violating labor practice and child labor law, and the children in Bangladesh.


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Bolivia: Social Forum · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Complimenting Nick Buxton's coverage, Movimiento Boliviano de Lucha Contra el TLC y el ALCA also has a summary of the Bolivian Social Forum held last week in Camiri.


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Brazil: US State Department Info Sheets · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Atari In Rio calls it unreasonable to judge Brazil solely by the U.S. State Department’s Consular Info Sheet.


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Cambodia: Imported labor · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Just how much, wonders Phnom Penh-based ThaRum, does Cambodia need expats?

author: Luisetta Mudie


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Chile: Celebrating Chile’s Founding · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeanette Jalil wishes Chile Chile a happy birthday and prosperous future.


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China: blogging with Chinese characteristics · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

EastSouthWestNorth compares blogging in China to the U.S. and Hong Kong. He explains why internet bulletin boards are more influential than blogs in China.

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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China: High suicide rate · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

HKDave picks up on a report about the lack of trained mental-health professionals in China, and the high proportion of rural women among the country's suicides.


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Ethiopia: Collective memory · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ethiopundit posts a long and thoughtful essay drawing parallels between Marxist thought and HIV/AIDS, and between Ethiopian political culture and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat.


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Guide for bloggers and cyberdissidents · Global Voices
Julien Pain

Reporters Without Borders will release a “Guide for bloggers and cyberdissidents” on the 22nd of September. It will be available on the RWB's website in five languages (English, French, Persian, Chinese and Arabic) and includes an article on “anonymous blogging” by Ethan Zuckerman which was developed on the Global Voices wiki . We will feature some excerpts from the guide this week and next, beginning with this short description:
Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they're tremendous tools of freedom of expression.
Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.
Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help bloggers, with handy tips and technical advice on how to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.

author: Julien Pain


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Hong Kong: WTO protests · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Che at Chatter Garden posts an account of the welcome extended by the Mexican goverment to non-government groups staging demonstrations at the WTO in Cancun, 2003. Hong Kong will host a WTO round in November.


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India: Blog Review · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indi Blog Review has a review of Death Ends Fun, a blog run Dilip D'Souza.


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India, Malaysia: Comparing Places · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

India Uncut posts a mail that has come in from an Indian in Malaysia and compares the contexts of Malaysia and India.


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Indian bloggers on film, books, blogging, and real life. · Global Voices
Uma MD

Apu of A Wind-up Bird Chronicle reflects on early feminist writing from the subcontinent. In the fiftieth year of Nabokov's Lolita, here's Hurree Babu of Kitabkhana imagining an aging Humbert and an aging Lolita.  Mumbai's J.Alfred Prufrock (yes, we have not one but TWO Prufrocks in India) of Prufrock's Page finds the spirit of T. S.Eliot entering Salman Rushdie in Shalimar the Clown:
Well, if Shalimar won't leave you alone, there it is, I said.
What you get reviewed for if you don't want to be profiled?
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME FOR THE SHORTLIST
Well, that Sunday Boonyi Kaul was on the hill, she had a hot lunch,
And she asked me to write it down, to get the beauty of it hot–
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME FOR THE SHORTLIST
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME FOR THE SHORTLIST
Goonight Julian. Goonight Zadie. Goonight Kazuo. Goonight.
Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.
Good night, awards jury, good night, sweet jury, good night, good night.
Please read the whole thing, it's delicious.
Jai of Jabberwock watches Herzog's The White Diamond in Delhi's plush PVR.  Neha of Within / Without watches Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and remembers her college days, days of a thousand desires and one fist-sized heart. George Thomas of Beware of the Blog listens to an interview with Tanushree Dutta. He discovers tired questions and interesting replies.  Megha of A Walk in the Clouds listens to R.D.Burman songs in Samadhi, shuddering at the sound of Lata's giggle and the sight of Asha Parekh being coy.  Writer Jaideep Varma of Jebbit has a new music blog in which he brings together his earlier print columns.
Sunil Laxman of Balancing Life posts about memories of South India, with its sweet waters, cascading rivers and delicious godumai halwa. Ludwig of Ships, Shoes, Sealing Wax has a few interesting questions for the economists.  Anand of Locana remembers mathematician Serge Lang. Roshan at Organised Nomad asks whether, in an ideal world, teachers shouldn't be paid more than investment bankers. Kaps of Sambhar Mafia is not happy with the Tamizh Murasu newspaper. Emma of Der Sturm in Meinem Kopf watches Ganesh immersions.  Writer/columnist Dilip D'Souza of Death Ends Fun is still on the road, looking at road signs, and finds that
Thalassery is home to the “Regional College Spoken English”, where you can “Speak The Western Way.”
Leela of Absolutelee goes to Dubai Rain 2005 and thinks of home:
Memories of enjoyable rainy days flooded the mind. Hair got plastered, water dripped down one's chin, clothes got heavy, home felt a little closer.
Sonia Faleiro of Colour of Water writes about bargirl suicides. Vikrum Sequeira of Vislumbres wonders about the gender apartheid he sees at a waterfall in South India.  Jasmeen Patheja of Blank Noise Project has a post on street sexual harassment: What would you do if you were assaulted on the street?
Oh, and finally, Amit Varma of India Uncut hosts a great blogmela!

author: Uma MD


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Iran: Iran Mistakes · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Farid Pouya writes that Iran made a mistake on 1982 when they rejected the Arab countries peace proposal, and now they are making the same mistake by rejecting the Europe package to stop uranium enrichment.


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Israel: Sharon’s Re-election Campaign · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Dave says that Sharon is now “campaigning” for re-election in the area of Israel that, Dave suppose, matters the most: the United States. Why? He says, because that’s how people win elections in the new century, they campaign in a totally different country. And that demographic that he is targeting in the U.S. wants to see settlements built, bigger, fatter and on more and more Palestinian land.


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Kenya: Cellphone money · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Bankelele has seen the future of money transfers in Kenya, and it's cellphone-shaped.


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Kenya: Diplomatic rape scandal · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Kenya Democracy Project quotes unnamed official sources on the reported rape of a Kenyan diplomat by a Kenyan diplomat in the United States, during the visit of President Mwai Kibaki.


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Lebanon: Kuwait media office explosion · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Ahmad reports that the explosion at Kuwaiti media office – Beirut was due to a grenade that the killed man was “playing with”. Ahmad was heading to the very same building, which hosts the media office.


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Malaysia: Bloggers’ pre-emptive strike · Global Voices
Jeff Ooi

Freedom of speech or is it blatant abuse of Internet as a channel for expression? Come over to Malaysia.
Just as the Singaporean government was hauling in three bloggers within a week and charging them under the Sedition Act, Malaysian bloggers are getting equally jittery over seditious commentaries being posted by readers in their blogs, and over their potential legal ramifications.
September 14, blogger Jeff Ooi, who was threatened with imprisonment without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) last October for a seditious remark on Islam left by a reader,  responded to the Singapore incident by mooting the idea of  “defensive blogging”. He quoted an excerpt of “Guide for bloggers and cyberdissident”, which will be released in full by Reporters Without Borders on September 22. The guideline is to inform bloggers how to “set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles”.
In a nutshell, Malaysia's cyberlaw has stated prominently that…
The Online environment is not a legal vacuum. In general, if something is illegal “off-line”, it will also be illegal “on-line”. In this matter, the relevant existing laws apply.
There is, apparently, a reason for some widely-read blogs like Screenshots and BrandMalaysia to start talking about upholding the Social Responsibility of Internet and Online Content aggregators, way before the Singapore incidents erupted. They both pointed to the guidelines included in the Content Code, which is an extension of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
September 16, The Malay Mail frontpaged blogger Peter Tan (picture below), who wanted an Internet troll who went by the nickname of “good man” to face the wrath of law.
Apparently, “good man” had written a seditious message in the commentaries section of Peter’ blog while he was attending an on-site seminar for the disabled, and was disconnected from Internet for several days. While criticising the Muslim-Malays in Malaysia for being responsible for myriad social ills, “good man” also urged Malaysia's major ethnic community, who are also known as “princes of earth” (bumiputra) to return to their historical homeland in Indonesia.
When Peter was alerted by a friend of the offensive commentary, Peter, who is a paraplegic, had to get his web-host to shut down his blog as he could only attend to the matter after completing the seminar.
On the same day Peter Tan went frontpage, blogger MackZukifli's blog commentary section was also delivered a seditious message of similar nature.
Related to that,  political blog Politics101Malaysia reported of other weblogs that had been spammed by similar troll. The victims included parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who also blogs, quicktopic, and other forums.
September 17, both Peter and MackZulkifli (www.brandmalaysia.com) lodged police reports against “good man”, furnishing the IP address of the culprit to the police so that they could nab him. Peter said: “If this (offensive commentaries by blog readers) is allowed to go unchecked, it will give a negative impression of bloggers.”
MackZulkifli took it a step further:
Screenshots and Brand New Malaysian have repeatedly spoken about gathering a form of collective thoughts and compiling it into a manifesto, that will table out ethical considerations for bloggers, perhaps like the one that I try to impose here. We are in the midst of planning a seminar cum workshop with related bodies and will be inviting corporate bodies to participate as well. Our aim is to come out with a self-imposed set of ‘ethical considerations’ that may be the catalyst to wider positive interactions and conversations online.
It is not known what action the authorities will take subsequent to the police reports. Nevertheless, it indicates that bloggers in Malaysia are taking pre-emptive strike to prevent the Singapore crackdown from spilling over  into Malaysia.
Nevertheless, there are obvious voices of dissent. One blog reader says:
Blog-owners should not make police reports or invoke laws which are subjective and liable to be abused against contributors. I can accept that they be law-abiding citizens and help the police should the police approach them. But to make police reports and disclose IP addresses voluntarily are conduct for which I have little respect.
Also read:  Singapore cracks down on bloggers

author: Jeff Ooi


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Mexico: 20th Anniversary of Mexico City Quake · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Arcos of ALT1040 remembers the 20th anniversary [ES] of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.


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Microfinance initiative · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Timbuktu Chronicles reports that major financial institutions are increasingly offering microfinancing options in developing countries.


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Nigeria: The bus stops here · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Chippla gets ready to say farewell to the time-honored, happy-g0-lucky methods of bus-boarding in Abuja, with the advent of posh new bus-stops in the city.


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North Korea: Nuke-free pledge · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

One Free Korea takes apart, in a point-by-point analysis, the unexpected announcement that North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for security and assistance guarantees from the other five parties to the China-brokered talks.


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North Korea: Translation issue · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Oranckay “re-translates” the English version of the statement issued by the six-parties to the Korean nuclear talks.


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Palestine: Home-made Landmines · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

International Solidarity Movement reports that on September 15th 2005, two International Human Rights Observers (IHROs)  accompanying shepherds from the Palestinian shepherding village of Qawaweis (in the southern Hebron district) were notified by one of the shepherds of the existence of two explosive devices placed under rocks on their land by some Hebron Settlers.


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Singapore cracks down on bloggers · Global Voices
Jeff Ooi

Freedom of speech or is it blatant abuse of Internet as a channel for expression?
Just as Malaysian bloggers are getting jittery over seditious commentaries  being posted by readers in their blogs, and over their potential legal ramifications, the Singaporean government has decided to charge three bloggers within a week, invoking the Sedition Act.
This had aroused mixed feelings, and some grave concerns, among bloggers on both sides of the strait that separates Southeast Asia's most networked countries.  The Associated Press reported that the arrests in had sparked fears of a cyberspace crackdown by authorities in Singapore and neighboring Malaysia, which have similar laws and ethnic sensitivities. The similarity is that the Muslim-Malay communities are the target of racial slur online; the difference is: While Muslim-Malays are a 15% minority in Singapore, they are a 65% majority in Malaysia. That makes bloggers’ reactions starkly varied between the two neighbours.
September 12, the Singapore government invoked the Sedition Act, the first time in 10 years, to charge bloggers Nicholas Lim Yew, 25, and Benjamin Koh Song Huat, 27, with sedition for posting racist comments online.
September 16, blogger Gan Huai Shi, a 17-year old student, was charged on seven counts of promoting ill-will in Singapore under  Section 29 of the Sedition Act.
It is a known fact that, charged with sedition, the Singaporeans face prison terms of up to three years if convicted.
In the first case involving Nicholas Lim and Benjamin Koh, the bloggers were charged for making anti-Muslim comments on the Internet. The duo were responding to a letter printed in The Straits Times Forum, which asked whether cab companies allow uncaged pets to be transported in cabs. As it is, most Muslims in Singapore are forbidden from coming into contact with a dog's saliva.
Lim posted his comments in an online forum for dog lovers in Singapore, www.doggiesite.com. Koh, who works at a kennel taking care of dogs, allegedly made similar racist comments on his blog, Phoenyx Chronicles, on www.upsaid.com.
According to court documents reported by New Paper, Lim's forum message began with: “The masses are idiots. ‘Nuff said”. He went on to make disparaging remarks about Muslims. Then, turning his attention to the Chinese and Indians, he wrote that listening to the complaints of “Chinese and Indians … was no less irritating”.
Koh was more pointed. According to court documents published by the media, his blog entry was peppered with vulgarities, directing his tirade at Malays and Muslims. His blog carried a picture of a roasted pig's head with “a Halal look-alike logo”.
In the third case involving Gan, he was alleged to have maintained a racist blog, which he called The Second Holocaust,  that attacked Christians and homosexuals. He was also allegedly to have hit out at the lifestyle, religion and economic situation of the local Malay community.
Why did the authorities have to step in, invoke the Sedition Act, and initiate action against citizens who ranted about Islam and Muslims online? There had been a variety of speculations.
The online version believed it was an effort to curtail debate in cyberspace which, because of its vastness, is where the authorities have the most difficulty patrolling or imposing control. Others suggested the action was actually a move by the authorities to send an indirect message about the limits of political and other discourse that had taken root in cyberspace.
Both may be true as, on September 17, the government-owned Singapore Straits Times rolled out an Op-Ed piece by its deputy political editor, Paul Jacob, laying a precursor to an official stance. The mouthpiece put the onus of upholding law and order in the cyberspace squarely on the blog and website owners. Quote:
The Internet is not a personal space.
Yet those who air their diatribe do so in the belief that they are not only anonymous, but also that there are no rules and constraints. This perception is reinforced if site hosts and moderators fail in their duty to act, and if fellow netizens don't come down hard and fast on them.
There are thought to be more than one million active Internet users in Singapore, and the maths would suggest there are more people with the ability to do good and police the system than there are those who preach intolerance, ridicule and call others’ beliefs into question.
So rather than question why it is that the authorities had to act, or the merits of which is the more appropriate law to use, or whether this is a prelude to a political clampdown, the Internet's cause will be better served if active users weigh in and do their own clamping down.
The article concludes with a kicker that says:
What these guys have done, as some have already suggested, is to give bloggers and chatrooms a bad name.
And if the community does not want to have Big Brother watching, then it's best that it does the watching itself.
The same day after the Op-Ed was published, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wasted no time in giving a context to the issue. A related ChannelNewsAsia story was swiftly picked up by Beijing (People's Daily Online and Xinhua):
“This is the message, it is not acceptable. It is against the law, and the Sedition Act specifically puts it down that you are creating distrust and animosity between the races, and we will act according to the law.”
The Singapore premier was quoted as saying that Singapore takes multi-racial and multi-religious harmony seriously and the government will take action against anyone who makes racist remarks.
Admittedly, there are Singapore bloggers who say the offenders deserved little sympathy because their remarks were repugnant, but the case had triggered concerns that Singapore's government might be tightening social controls.
“A part of me is fairly exultant at the fact that two people who… made extremely racist comments are being punished,” wrote blogger “MercerMachine.” “The other part of me is sick at the fact that there isn't even a pretense of free speech now.”
“Coup de Grace” was another immediate reflection of bloggers’ reaction just hours after the news broke. Admitting that his own blog entries had spoken out against Singapore's version of affirmative action, “does that make me liable to charges?” he asked.
He argued that the legal action would stifle beneficial expression and debate, and described the sections of the Sedition Act under which the bloggers were charged as “disturbing [sic] vague”.
Meanwhile, those curious enough had started looking up the Sedition Act online. Blogger Zeenie said: “The only (other) time I've heard the word ‘sedition’ used was in (the movie) Last of the Mohicans.”
About the Act, blogger Sammyboy said: “Based on the the list, just about every mother's son and daughter who has ever posted any messages here will soon be in jail.”
Blogger David, a national serviceman in his 20s, said the fact that people can be arrested “for voicing their opinion” struck fear into him. “People may argue that if I play by the rules, I'll be fine. But, who determines the rules?”
Others questioned if the use of the law was a double-edged sword. Shanghai-based Canadian blogger Myrick observed: “This doesn't solve the problem of racism, it forces it underground to fester.”
On the other hand, Benjamin Lee aka Mr Miyagi, who entertained his blog readers without ruffling racial and cultural feathers, told ChannelNewsAsia the following: “A lot of them will be looking at their blogs and wondering if they made any legally seditious remarks. I think because of the way this will be played up,  it's negative publicity for the Singapore blogging community.”
Even satirist Mr Brown had sensed the climate of fear and dished out an advisory: “Publishing race hate in any medium, be it blogs, email, print, tv, radio, or a piece of paper you put on people's car, is a criminal offence in Singapore, and I believe in many countries, like the UK. Something to bear in mind, whether you are a blogger or not.”
As if anticipating an avalanche of pro-free speech hyperbole from other bloggers, Alee J, a University of Bristol law student, echoed Mr Brown, noting that Singapore isn't the only country with limits on free speech.
Also read: Malaysia: Bloggers’ pre-emptive strike


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Sri Lanka: Tsunami and beyond · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sarvodaya has a post on Sri Lanka and recovering from the Tsunami, that hit the shores exactly 18o days ago.


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Ulaanbaatar’s Agricultural Market · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Mongolia Matters reports on last weekend's annual agricultural market in Ulaanbaatar.


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A Democracy Guy · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Democracy Guy, Tim Russo, highlights another democracy guy at work in Armenia.


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Burma: The coasts of Titan · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Myanmar blogger Kyaw Oo is taken with newly beamed images of Titan, one of the moons of Jupiter, complete with coastlines, rain and river systems, and seas of liquid methane.


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China: Panyu protest · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

EastSouthWestNorth posts a long essay about why the land dispute and re-election of the village committee in the Guangdong village of Taishi is worth taking the trouble to follow.


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China: What’s on wiki · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Hailey Xie has set up a wiki for people to add their knowledge of forthcoming events around China.


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Corruption in Georgian & Armenian Healthcare and Penal Systems · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia discusses corruption in the Georgian and Armenian health and penal systems.


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Echoes from the Tunisian blogosphere · Global Voices
Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Adib writes (in French) about the solar eclipse that will be visible from Tunisia on October 3rd, which will be nearly a total eclipse with 98% of the sun covered. It'll be best viewed from the southern city of Douz, the portal to the Tunisian Sahara. An eclipse festival will be held in the southern oasis town of Tamerza.
Houssein writes (in French) about how the UN is the failure of humanity, and that we shouldn't have expected much from this whole UN reform story.
A small Tunisian blogger gathering was held in Montmartre café in Menzah 6 a few days ago to say goodbye and good luck to Zizou who travelled to Lebanon to study at the AUB. He's been blogging about life in Beirut, the university, finding an appartment and more (in French).
Karim reviews the re-opened Monoprix stores in the Lafayette area in downtown Tunis.  Apparently it's a lot better now; more modern, better organized, wider choice of products and more.
Nawarat writes (in French) about the new comedy series, “Choufli Hal” (Find me a solution), about the daily life of a Psychiatrist and a fortune teller who live together, that the Tunisian TV will be airing this Ramadan. Tunisian TV is most watched in Ramadan because of all the really good Tunisian series they get ready for the month.
Chouchitou is happy to see that Tunisair, the official Tunisian air carrier, has launched their new website with the possibility of online ticketing (in French). The first 300 online reservations get a 25% to 50% discount.
Kartago has come across some old postcard photographs of Tunisia (in French). They're a real catch.
K-pax writes (in French) about how impossible he finds it to resist a good old Tunisian Ftira (Beignet, sort of like a holeless donut), covered in sugar or accompanied with some figs.
Hatem writes about how the list of Muslim holy places in Wikipedia was overloaded with false information and a bunch of cities and tombs, and stresses that the only holy places in Islam are Mecca, Medinah and Jerusalem.
Zied wonders if some of the comments that Tunisian youth use in coffee shops are racist (in French), even if they're not said in a racist way or tone.
Moufattich Kaaboura (in French) has tried painting some Arab calligraphy using water colours but wasn't satisfied by the result, but thinks it's interesting anyways and will try to follow up on it.
La Blogeuse brings us the results of the Top Model Tunisie 2005 competition (in French).

author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah


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El Salvador: Underwear Battle With China · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim's El Salvador Blog coversEl Salvador's battle with China in cotton underwear exports to the US.


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Guatemala: Thoughts On Survivor · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Chapinadas has two new posts on how Survivor portrays Guatemala.


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Honduras: Fighting Against Tuberculosis · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Honduras Last Week explains Honduras’ fight against Tuberculosis.


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Hong Kong: My territory for a horse · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Will Hong Kong's hosting of the 2008 Olympic equestrian events get the territory's racing-obsessed residents out jogging the MacLehose Trail? Hemlock doesn't think so…


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India: Coke-free · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

CSR Asia has a post on an Indian village that has declared itself cola-free.


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Kuwait Roundup · Global Voices
Bader

Just a little introduction to the Kuwait Blogosphere, we have about 277 blogs listed on KuwaitBlogs.com and most of them are being aggregated on Safat.KuwaitBlogs.com. We have a mixed group of bloggers that are Kuwait are in and out of Kuwait, as well as people form other countries that live in Kuwait.
Bo Ghazi has quit smoking and was looking for some help at the local Smoke Prevention Clinic , but found out that their only type of help is chemical with nicotine patches. He was hoping for some psychological assistance with a doctor that quit smoking or even a simple support group, but that wasn't available. He also surprised that it wasn't female friendly. The doctors they had were more of the religious type, and didn't seem like they were any female doctors available for consultation or advice.
Hanan points out the cultural effects of Starbucks  and coffee shops in Kuwait,how they have become the new hang out for the young and how hard it is to find a nice coffee shop by the beach to sit and relax. And that Ryan Reynolds is hot.
Entrepreneur posts a copy of satirical article posted in a coffee magazine on the different type of women in Kuwait.
Kuwait Tranny points out the state of make up of arab actress and how they are getting their inspiration from goth.
Shurouq shows the religious advice for school teachers, and administration staff on what to look out for in their students. Some highlights include making sure kids avoiding have bright/florescent bags for that might be distracting during class. also pens and pencils that resemble cigarettes or cigars, or ones that are mechanical for they might distract the student. No sharp objects such as pointed rulers, compasses etc. Yet nothing on what or how to teach the kids.
Dogzille announced the first private cost saving airline in the Arabian Gulf – Jazeera Airlines, and their new offer of 66KD round trip to Dubai and back form Kuwait.
Miss Undaztoood is saddened by the end of summer and the return of the people, the work and the traffic.

author: Bader


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Latin America: Technochica Joins Hipertextual · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Technochica has joined Eduardo Arcos‘ ever expanding blog empire, Hipertextual.


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London Walk for Belarus · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Volodymyr Campaign announces plans for a London walk in support of democracy in Belarus.


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Nepal: Demonstration in NY · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A photo-post on a demonstration in New York by for Nepal, as part of the NYC Rally Mobile Exhibition organized by Samudaya.org.


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Nepal: From India, a demonstration · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

International Nepal Solidarity Network on a demonstration in India by over a thousand Nepali migrant workers.


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Nigeria: Class war · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

A silent war is being waged, writes Chippla, between the Nigerian working classes who sit and listen to fire and brimstone sermons in the country's many houses of worship, and the ruling class who live it up overseas only to be arrested for money-laundering.


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Nigerian Suya! · Global Voices
Edward Popoola

A mala is seen here seated in front of his Suya Stand
Suya (pronounced Su-hu-ya)
That's the name of a piece of meat roasted on an open heat basin, with Oil, onions and salt.
Suya is a popular food among the rich and the Nigerian middle class. Suya is usually produced during the evenings on streets, club houses, hotels and social gatherings. Suyas are the speciality of ‘Hausas'tribes from Nothern Nigeria.
A piece of Suya could redefine your entire view about beafs. To eat Suya at any ‘Suya Stand’, the ‘Mala’ in charge will first give you a free appetizer. He cuts out a little piece and allows you to have a feel of what he has to offer. With this first taste, one could be tempted to turn his pockets all over for the mouth watering meat.
Suya is first hand protein as its devoid of all the chemicals that we call seasoning in modern day cooking. Nigerians love fun and there is nothing like having your hot Suya with Palm Wine or a bottle of the Nigerian beer.

author: Edward Popoola


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Pakistan: Perceptions in the neighbourhood · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Reality Cafe has a post on how badly Pakistan's image needs damage control in India, and follows it up with another post on the image of Islam on the internet.


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Philippines: Spooky tales · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The Sassy Laywer's Journal reports that six members of the U.S. House of Representatives have called for an enquiry into the activities of the CIA in the Philippines.


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Shirin Akiner’s Controversial Andijon Report · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Laurence of Registan.net has written an account of Dr. Shirin Akiner's defense of her controversial report on the Andijon massacre that has prompted many interesting comments.


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Sri Lanka: Age of consent · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on the proposal to reduce the age of conset in Sri Lanka to 13 years in Sri Lanka.


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Sudan: Give a woman a bicycle · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sleepless in Sudan gets caught up in a gender-skewed debate about the use of bicycles in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp where she works.


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Turkey “Teaching” Azeris to Pay Their Bills · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Katy of Blogrel takes issue with an unfortunately framed story about the troubles faced by a Turkish electricity company trying to collect on bills from its Azeri customers.


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Uganda: Atrocities continue · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“The Ugandan military and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army continue to kill, rape and uproot civilians in northern Uganda with brazen impunity,” says a recent report from Human Rights Watch.


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Uganda: Stretching a point · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

African Update lauds a report in the U.S. media asking what happened to the condoms in the Ugandan government's anti-HIV/AIDS strategy, but thinks that this may be one thing that can't be blamed on the Bush administration.


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Venezuela, Colombia: Chavez and Uribe in the U.S. · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Venezuelan-American, Alexdra Beech has written her impressions of both Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe's recent visits to the United States.


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Zimbabwe: Post-dramatic stress syndrome · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Zimpundit deconstructs his country's political drama (“the drama that is no longer a drama”), President Robert Mugabe's visit to the United Nations, and consequently his own political commentary.


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Afghan Warrior on the Elections · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Afghan Warrior comments on his country's parliamentary election.


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Bahrain: Reading Newspaper · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Amira tells you one more reason why you should not read newspaper over breakfast!


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Bangladesh: The same face everywhere · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Adda has a post on the human side of tragedies, irrespective of where they occur.


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Best of Blogs: Nominate your favorites! · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Grateful thanks to the esteemed Dr. David Weinberger for nominating Global Voices for the Best of Blogs Awards. The contest is sponsored jointly by Deutsche Welle and Reporters Without Borders.
There are 13 categories to nominate and vote. Here is how BoB team describes the award:
“Best Journalistic Weblog honors will be given out in each of the contest's nine languages while suggestions in the Best Weblog, Best Multimedia Blog, Best Podcasting Site and the Special Award from Reporter's Without Borders categories will be international free for alls.
Who can take part
Any Weblog or podcast in one of theBOBs’ nine languges (English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Persian and Arabic) can participate in the Deutsche Welle's 2005 theBOBs — The Best of the Blogs. Have a look at the requirements and suggest as many blogs and podcasts for as many categories as you want. A look at the Road Map will give you all the info you need about the contest's stages and details. “
Don't forget to nominate and vote for all your favorite bloggers from around the world. As far as the Global Voices team is concerned, all the bloggers who we read link to every day are winners!!
…and don't forget to download one of their badges for your own blog.


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Cambodio: New King online · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

ThaRum reports that Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni has followed his father's example and set up his own Web site.


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China, Japan: Hitler comparisons · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Danwei translates a recent article by a Chinese political commentator using a comparisons with Hitler, in what Chinese analysts are increasingly viewing as a “remilitarization” of Japan in the wake of the landslide election victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party earlier this month.


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China: Taishi protests · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

China Digital Times has a photo, courtesy of Duowei.com, of angry residents of Taishi village in the southern province of Guangdong, protesting official intransigence in the face of corruption allegations.


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China: Yahoo debate continues · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The debate over Yahoo!'s actions in China rumbles on in the blogosphere, with China Herald examining whether the company had a way out of the situation it found itself in with regard to cyber-dissident Shi Tao.


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Ethiopia: Warning about Zenawi · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ethiomedia reports on a warning from opposition leader Berhnau Nega that the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is “trying to take the country into a dangerous situation”. It also reports a comment from a political observer who wondered why the BBC was “ignoring major events in the country”.


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Georgia’s Traffic Patrol · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

It's been one year since Georgia fired its entire notoriously corrupt traffic police force and started over with new cars, higher pay, flashy uniforms, and a television show reminiscent of Cops. Oneworld Multimedia reports that the force now enjoys high public confidence and discusses the implications for Armenia.


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Hong Kong: American whispers · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

EastSouthWestNorth translates excerpts from a gossip column in the popular weekly magazine Next about some howlers spotted on a U.S. State Department-affiliated Web site purporting to give information about Hong Kong.


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Hungarian Political Fashion Report · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Pestiside.hu has filed two Hungarian political fashion reports. The first is on fashion crimes in parliament and the second reports that the socialist dancing campaign has begun.


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India: Chief Paid-Guest · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shaswati's Blog has an interesting post on guests who get paid to come to weddings.


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India: Not in that skirt! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sania Mirza, the tennis pride of India finds herself in a match of a different kind. Sepia Mutiny has a post on a radical Islamic group threatening to stop her from playing a match in Calcutta unless she changes her attire.


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It’s Out! Handbook for Bloggers & Cyber-Dissidents · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Reporters Without Borders has given Global Voices a sneak peak at the Handbook For Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents before its official Thursday release. Click here to download the full booklet. Thanks to Julien Pain for his hard work on this project. It is a valuable gift to the world's bloggers.
Lately there has been a proliferation of blogging guides published in English, but almost all of them are aimed at Americans and Western Europeans. Or they're meant for companies and organizations who want to use blogging for smarter P.R., “knowledge management,” or internal communication purposes, or for people who want to turn their blogs into little commercial media enterprises.  Then there are the articles about how you can improve your social and romantic life through blogging… or how to use your blog to make yourself notorious, get on TV and become famous…
The Reporters Without Borders Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents is not for any of those purposes. It is the first truly useful book I've seen aimed at the kinds of bloggers featured here at Global Voices every day: People who have views and information that they want to share with the world beyond their own national borders. They are often people whose perspectives are not well represented in their own country's media, and certainly not well reported by the international media. Sometimes they are political dissidents, but usually not. Mainly, they are just ordinary citizens with a passion to communicate with the world – and no easier way to do so than by writing, podcasting, and posting pictures on their own blogs.
The Handbook for Bloggers is for people who want to be serious participants in the emergent online global conversation: How to set up a quality, credible blog. How to get it noticed. And.. if you're in a country where there government might not like what you're saying, how to avoid getting in trouble when you by-pass the information gatekeepers and talk directly to the world.
As Julien writes in his introduction to the booklet, blogging can be revolutionary in countries where freedom of speech is not respected:
Blogging is a powerful tool of freedom of expression that has enthused millions of ordinary people. Passive consumers of information have become energetic participants in a new kind of journalism – what US blog pioneer Dan Gillmor calls “grassroots journalism… by the people, for the people” (see chapter on “What ethics should bloggers have?”).
Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest. Plenty of bloggers have been hounded or thrown in prison. One of the contributors to this handbook, Arash Sigarchi, was sentenced to 14 years in jail for posting several messages online that criticised the Iranian regime. His story illustrates how some bloggers see what they do as a duty and a necessity, not just a hobby. They feel they are the eyes and ears of thousands of other Internet users.
The Handbook for Bloggers is useful for beginners and veteran bloggers alike. It starts out with several introductory chapters, explaining how blogs differ from other kinds of websites, blogging terminology, how to select a blogging tool and web-host, and how to get started.  The middle chapters focus on tips that even veteran bloggers will find useful. Journalist, blogger and We the Media author Dan Gillmor tackles the issue of journalistic credibility and standards. Journalist Mark Glaser offers tips on how to “make your blog shine.” I learned a lot from the chapter on how to get your blog picked up by search engines, written by internet consultant Olivier Andrieu.
The most inspiring section is the “Personal Accounts,” short essays from bloggers around the world about why they blog and why blogging matters:
The final set of chapters takes a hard-core technical look at how bloggers like Arash might avoid arrest, how bloggers like Chan'ad and RFN might avoid being “outed,” and how bloggers and blog-readers in countries like China where the internet is heavily censored can get around the political “firewalls.”  Global Voices Co-Founder Ethan Zuckerman has written a fabulous Guide to Anonymous Blogging.  In a chapter aptly called “Technical Ways to Get Round Censorship,” the Citizenlab‘s Nart Villneuve gives the most thorough guide I've seen to getting around internet censorship “firewalls” by using proxy servers and other fun tools. Ludovic Pierrat then tells us how to ensure that our email is “truly private.”
Too bad that Chinese journalist Shi Tao didn't have access to that information – if he had, he wouldn't now be serving a 10-year jail sentence after Yahoo! handed over his e-mail information to the Chinese police.  Aptly, Juilen concludes with a final chapter entitled: “Internet Censor World Championship,” in which the Chinese government is the hands-down winner, followed by Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan.
All in all, an extremely important handbook and Julien Pain deserves great kudos for pulling it off.  Global Voices will be hosting an online IRC chat early next week with Julien and some of the other contributors. Stay tuned for details.
Meanwhile, I've got a question and a few thoughts.
I'd like to ask Julien (and maybe you would like to discuss in the comments section below): Will some bloggers by scared off by the use of “cyber-dissidents” in the title?  Most bloggers – even while they may have a political “edge” to them and talk about things their own mainstream media avoids – still don't consider themselves “dissidents” and don't want to be called “dissidents” by others, as such a label is more likely to bring negative attention and get them in trouble.  I know a number of people frequently featured on Global Voices who might be considered “dissdents” by outsiders, but who would never ever want to be labeled in the international media or on other blogs as such. I'd like to know what other bloggers out there think about this question.
In the next edition, I'd love to see a couple more sections. In one, I'd like somebody to address the issue of what I call “consequence awareness.”  I've discovered in my exploration of the international blogosphere that many bloggers start blogging – even anonymously on tools like Blogger – without really thinking through the consequences of what they're doing. Are they taking enough precautions to protect themselves from being discovered? Are they prepared to deal with the consequences of their own speech? Not only for speaking the truth on their blogs, but also if they unfairly or inaccurately accuse somebody of something nasty? I've observed that many bloggers start blogging without thinking these things through, because many people still harbor the impression that cyberspace is a free zone where anything is possible. As many are learning the hard way, that's not the case. In Singapore, two bloggers were recently charged with sedition for racist comments online, and this is now sending waves of fear through the Malaysian blogosphere.
I'd also love to see a thorough discussion for international bloggers on other legal issues like copyright and plagiarism. These are issues we have been wrestling with at Global Voices, especially as we discuss plans to do more with photos, audio, and possibly video. The only legal guidelines for bloggers I've seen anywhere are only applicable in the United States. These issues are important for those of us concerned with free speech because copyright violation charges are a great way for governments to shut down or discredit people they don't like.
Finally, one small nitpick: In the chapter “Choosing the Best Tool,” the list of international blogging platforms only contains three different blog-hosting services: Blogger, Livejournal and MSN.  The list for French-language ones is much longer. This is probably due to the fact that Reporters Without Borders is headquartered in France. Still, I think it would have been fair to include Typepad, which is widely used around the globe, as well as the free WordPress based service Blogsome, and Civiblog‘s free blog service for “civil society bloggers.” I'm especially uncomfortable having MSN featured so prominently as one of only three recommended hosted blog services given its track record of censorship.
But these are all small things. I raise them here because I think they're all departure-points for good follow-on discussion. Please read this excellent handbook, then hit the “comments section” and let us know what you think about it – as a blogger or as a blog-reader.


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Japan: Innovative photographer · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Photoethnography.com links to the innovative and striking work of Japanese architect and photographic artist Kazuhiko Kawahara.


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Jordan: Popcorn Mania · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

A recent attempt to break yet another Guinness World Record. Ameen Malhas posts some photos of the event sponsored by Fastlink while trying to fill a box with 36 cubic meters of Popcorn.


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Kenya: Wangari Maathai · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Emeka Okafor, on Africa Unchained,  admires Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, saying that she exemplifies what Africans seek in their leaders.


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Lesotho: Car-pooling dreams · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sotho shares a vision of how a car-pool might work to reduce petrol costs for owners and provide transport for pedestrians in a poor country like Lesotho.


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North Korea: Business as usual · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

NKZone wraps up the aftermath of Monday's North Korean nuclear agreement, saying Pyongyang has already reneged on the Beijing statement.


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Pakistan: Pesticides and health · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

CSR Asia links to a report on pesticides being blamed for damaging health in Pakistan.


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Should the US Pay Its Debt? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Should the United States hold payments in escrow for the use of its soon-to-be-vacated airbase in Uzbekistan? It's a controversial question at Registan.net.


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South Africa: A Tale of Two Cities · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Dialogue-South Africa posts a speech drawing parallels between the struggle against apartheid and the situation in Israel/Palestine, saying that “we South Africans have a unique perspective on this issue.”


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Sri Lanka: Coming back to life · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In Purgatory has a photo post on  Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka, which is still healing from the wounds of war.


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Sudan: Darfur pledge mp3 · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Via The Passion of the Present, a public service announcement mp3 advertising the “Darfur Pledge” campaign from The Ethic, namely to contact the White House weekly about the mass killings, rapes and displacement of people in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS


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Taking His Case to the People · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

foreign notes says that Yushchenko is getting bad political advice and needs to take his case to the people.


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Uzbek Nation Building · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann posts about Uzbek nation-building in pictures.


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Wal-Mart Finds A Way In · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Pestiside.hu reports that Wal-Mart has found its way into Hungary.


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Welcome to the Kurdish Blogosphere-Revisited · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Welcome to our second installment of the introduction to the Kurdish Blogosphere; where we will discuss the various types of blogs.
Cultural
Kurdish culture isn't easy to define as it varies from region to region, but it can be said that the heart of Kurdish Culture lies within the land of Kurdistan itself. There are many wonderful photoblogs of the region, the most notable (and with the most recent pictures) are: My Trip to Kurdistan, Pepuley Kurdistan, and  Maureen's Photo Blog. The following list is by no means exhaustive and there are many many Kurdish Blogs that have photo subsections, such as: Focus on the Unfocused from Medya Daily, Kurdo's photoblog from Kurdo's World, and Vladimir's photos from his blog  From Holland to Kurdistan.
Combining the Kurdish story and land, Kurdish film has been becoming more mainstream. Winning honors from the likes of the Cannes Film Festival, films such as  Zero Kilometer  have been bringing political dialouge about the Kurdish struggle to a wider audience. Other notable films that have been sparking dialouge within  film festival after  film festival are:  Vodka Lemon, A Time for Drunken Horses , and of course the immortal  Yol.
Music and dance is also an integral part of Kurdish culture. Piling from the Kurdistan Bloggers Union has an excellent link to a  Folkmusic site that focuses not only on Kurdish music but also Balkan, Greek, and other West Asian groups. Kurdish blogs are currently mourning the death of famed Kurdish singer  Marzia Fariqi. But if you would like a general introduction to Kurdish music and various popular artists the music site sponsored by the  United Youth of Kurdistan  is an excellent resource.
History
It is very difficult to discuss  Kurdish history in an apolitical way, but there are a few bloggers that excel at that task and should be noted for it. The cream of the crop would have to be Piling of the Kurdistan Bloggers Union with her blog  Incoherent Thoughts. Primarily in French, Piling often translates her articles into English for the readers of the Kurdistan Bloggers Union, her posts are always insightful and objective. Some posts of note are her historical background of  Cizre, the rose of Kurdistan, her commentary on the  condemning of the town Hasankeyf, and her more recent transcription of a conference panel centering on the  the Kurds and the new Iraqi Constitution.
Other blogs of note that focus on Kurdish history, but are not entirely apolitical, are the already mentioned  From Holland to Kurdistan and  Peshmerga Women, which is dedicated to illustrating the strength of the Peshmerga women who have given their lives for Kurdistan. If you are looking for resources on the current political history of the different regions of Kurdistan, Global Security has excellent resources for more information on  Kurdish Iraq (Northen Iraq, Southern Kurdistan),  Kurdish Iran (Western Iran, Eastern Kurdistan), and  Kurdish Turkey (Southeastern Turkey, Northern Kurdistan).
Well folks, that is all for this week, next week the fun begins: political commentary!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Zimbabwe: Simmering resentments · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Zimpundit warns the Zimbabwean government that it faces “impending rage” from its people, and highlights rumors that President Robert Mugabe is preparing the ground to stay on past his promised retirement in 2008.


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A Religious Feast · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

caucasus-pictures‘ Henning reports (in English and German) on being a guest in a Tushetian religious feast


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African countries get little from FDI · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Star Journal takes a look at a U.N. report which finds that African countries see little benefit from foreign direct investment.


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Argentina: Tough Times for Translations · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeff Barry writes of the increasingly smaller market for translated works of literature outside of the already established names.


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Armenia’s Constitutional Amendment Referendum · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia reports that in spite of international pressure and intense debate amongst politicians, most Armenians remain apathetic about proposed constitutional amendments, and that without a public information campaign, interest will likely remain low.


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Bangladesh: Strikes galore! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The 3rd eye view has really had it with those strikes in Bangladesh!


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Bolivia: Campaign Promises · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Avila of Barrio Flores covers what campaign promises have already been made for December's presidential election.


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Bolivia: Three Political Tests · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jim Shultz lays out all the political hurdles which lay between the presidential candidates today and one's eventual confirmation.


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Celebrating Armenian Independence · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Armenia just celebrated its independence, and watts up in armenia describes a small celebration marking the holiday.


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China: Taishi village discussion removed · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

EastSouthWestNorth reports that all mention of the Taishi village elections in the southern province of Guangdong has been expunged from the Yannan online discussion forum.


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China: WiFi in Shanghai · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Danwei scouts out the best spots for free WiFi Internet access in Shanghai, and provides a handy list.


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Egypt: Lowlights of Autumn · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Autumn, the date harvest, summer flu, horse counting cows, all what you missed to see in the countryside of Egypt. Nice illustration by Maryanne, Living in Egypt.


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Eritrea, Ethiopia: More war? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Nazret.com‘s Ethioblog picks up on a news release saying that Eritrea has warned that it may resume war with neighboring Ethiopia if the United Nations failed to resolve a border dispute between the two countries.


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Indonesia: Film director-turned-blogger · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Via Jakartass, and described by blogger-directory-compiler A. Faith Syuhud as “a young talented-ambitious-energetic film director”, Joko Anwar presents a multi-faceted blog, Lost in Punch-Drunk Adaptation of a Spotless Love.


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Iran: 25th Anniversary of the Iraqi-Iran war · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Iranian Truth posts a flashback to the dark history of the Iraq/Iran war, which started on September 22, 1980 and ended on August 20, 1988 leaving behind est. 1,000,000-2,000,000 casualties


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Iranian Bloggers and Collective Blogging: From a Democratic Exercise to Defend Freedom of Speech · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian bloggers in last six months have started a new experience: Collective Blogging. Six months ago several bloggers from different places with diverse point of views came together and launched KHABARCHIN in Farsi. Khabarchin whose creators called it Weblog Shahr's (shahr is City in Persian) news agency was a platform for several bloggers to collaborate together for first time.The objectives of this collective blogging were to inform people about useful links, blogs and news, to show that  people with diverse opinions can create a common platform, to prove that Iranian can do a collective activity together. Khabarchin lived just six months and its members prefered to put an end to this experience. In final message Khabarchin founders say that it was a fruitful democratic experience and they prefer to stop their activity at this moment that blog is still popular. By looking at blog's archive we see a real short news covering all kind of subjects from political prisoners and censorship to cultural events and music. One of Khabarchin's active members was Majid Zohari who is a very active blogger in Canada.
Another collective blogging's experience is PenLog creation. Penlog is association of Iranian blogwriters who has about 200 members/bloggers. Their main goal are to defend Iranian bloggers, to fight censorship, to promote freedom of speech on internet and to provide technical support for its members. Penlog organises discussions on Paltalk about different subjects such as censorship and methods to survive it. On Penlog we can read about arrested bloggers , Reporters without borders’ director's interview in Persian,…. Blog is in Persian and English.
Khabarchin's six month experience is an important experience to do collective activities. Penlog can become little by little a virtual institution to defend bloggers. On March 2005 Penlog protested arrest of blogger Omid Parvar. May be it becomes a voice for voiceless bloggers in future.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: American Policy in Iraq · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Is the coalition against Iraq weakening? LB of Baghdad Dweller is saying that she could never imagine that the biggest American Allie in the M.E. (Saudi Arabia) could criticize the US and it’s policy in Iraq.


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Israel: The Golden Calf · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Is the modern State of Israel somehow a Golden Calf? Brad Brooks-Rubin's wonders whether some in the current Zionist movement actually “support” and “defend” Israel to the extent that they actually promote idolatry of Israel.


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Japan: A tale of two giants · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Gen Kanai compares restructuring plans announced separately by two giant corporations this week: Microsoft and Sony.


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Jordan: World Forum on Music · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Hind Sabanekh is going to be among the only Arab Girls band to perform in the World Forum on Music, which is a global knowledge-building platform on music and society.


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Latin America: Approval Ratings and Campaign Polls · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bloggings by Boz has a comprehensive compilation of presidential approval ratings and campaign polls from around the Americas.


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Live 8: Tinkle of broken promises · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ma-Schamba, a Mozambique blogger who usually writes in Portuguese, picks up on an article by George Monbiot in the Guardian saying that most of the promises made to African countries around the Live 8 concert and G8 summit have already been broken.


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Myanmar: Young rocker · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Bangkok-based Myanmar blogger Wai Pyo picks up a feature from a state-run newspaper about 11-year-old rocker Aung Thiha.


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Nepal: An expensive walk · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A morning walk for the King is an expensive affair reports United We Blog!


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Nepal: Taking to the streets · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

International Nepal Solidarity Network has a post on women and teachers taking to the streets in Nepal.


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Pakistan: Cricket and religion · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The all-pervasive religion of Cricket in Pakistan. Chapati Mystery shares a few memories, prompted by Youhana's conversion to Islam.


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Palestine: Miss Seamiline Beauty Queen · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Sabbah post some links to photos of ‘Miss Seamiline’ Beauty Queen contest, which toke place in the Israeli town of Gilo, near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. An event to promote peace between Israeli’s and Palestinians.


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Philippines: Writing prompts · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Clair at Blah! checks out writing prompts: a Web site which tries to get around writer's block by suggesting prompts as you type.


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Polish Political Beat · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

PolBlog has an audio interview with Warsaw-based UK journalist Peter Gentle discussing what's at stake in Poland's upcoming election.


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South Africa: Barclays billions · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Wayne Wides, writing on commentary.co.za tracks the movements of the mysterious Barclays billions in the South African Reserve Bank's Monthly Release of Selected Data, with a little help from a local financial journalist.


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South Asia: Gay and South Asian · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kavita Chibber has an incredible post on being homosexual and South Asian, and how researching for a story helped her understand herself.


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Spotlight Caribbean · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Anguilla
Eric Olsen has a post on Blogcritics.org about Anguilla's upcoming Tranquility Jazz Festival from November 9th to the 13th. Bob Green's Anguilla News covers American Eagles’ recent announcement of more frequent flights from San Juan to the small island as well as the 2006 dates for Anguilla's annual Regatta.
Aruba
Aruba Girl, on her way to Puerto Rico for a shopping spree, seems slightly disturbed that neighboring Venezuela has democratically elected Hugo Chavez. Daniel Kuo was able to photograph Aruba's famed “Natural Bridge,” shortly after it collapsed.
Bahamas
The Bahamas were spared by tropical storm Rita, but Wolfgang – who unfortunately decided to stop blogging yesterday – was able to document the stormy weather on Sunday and said oil prices increased on mere speculation of the storm's effects. Bahamas Blog has a summary of the Bahamas International Film Festival as well as an insightful piece on how the Nassau Guardian covers graffiti and Bahamian culture in general. Womanish Words, in a highly reflective post, is curious as to what percentage of Bahamians have Lucayan ancestry in their blood were DNA testing to be done as it was in Puerto Rico. Nicolette Bethel examines the roll of government during disasters following Hurricane Katrina and the fire which destroyed the Bahamas’ famed Straw Market. Finally, Camlaw has advice for getting settled in Nassau.
Barbados
This, That, & Whatever was at the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting held in Bridgetown, Barbados this week and has an excellent summary. De Cooler: Soca News highlights Bajan soca artist, Edwin Yearwood's newest album. Bajan, Neil Benn, currently studying in the U.K. is not impressed with Nation News columnist Ezra Alleyne. Jdid, originally from Barbados, but currently living in Toronto, says the Caribbean has very few degrees of separation:
Plus I stopped and talked to the dread about his fete tomorrow night. Not sure I'll reach but the dread is cool people. Been buying ‘conscious’ reggae from the yout for like a year or more now and its only a few weeks back that I found out that he's in business with a bajan bredren that I've known since like 95. Small world aint it? Like earlier this summer I found out this sistren I've known since University is the cousin of one of my best friends back home. The Caribbean community just too small. Everyone's connected to everyone else somehow.
Bermuda
Whappenings has a good roundup of what's been happening in Bermuda this week including the rumors of the next James Bond movie being shot there. OffshoreNet has a thorough introduction to Bermuda  while Bermuda Blog has a set of photos from a walk on the beach to a friend's BBQ.
Cuba
Steven's Cuba Blog has an impressive set of three photographs entitled “Voices of Cuba.” The one pictured here is of Yadin, a computer programmer who says she can make more from renting a room than working as a programmer. The PF Hyper Blog observes that Cuba survived category 5 hurricane Ivan without any loss of life while Tasteful Future takes a closer look at the United States’ refusal of Cuba's offer to send 1,500 doctors to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Mora from Babalu Blog, meanwhile, takes a more critical look at Cuban doctors. Finally, Havana Journal links to an article on Castro's speech to the 3,515 new doctors from around the Caribbean and Latin America who recently graduated from the “Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics.”
Dominica
News-Dominica.com has a press release from the office of the Prime Minister announcing “a Massive National Clean-up and Beautification Programme in an effort to raise the consciousness of the Dominican people on the importance of the protection and preservation of the environment.”
Dominican Republic
Spanglish blogger, Cesar D, is having problems with both college and his car. Annie Sánchez explains the nicknames she's given her friends. Bracuta wants to know why so many disasters – natural and otherwise – have been occurring recently. Diego Vega is reminded of:
video clubs here in the Dominican Republic. They all have a small section called “Foreign Cinema”. There you will find all non American movies, including the few Dominican movies that they have… I figure globalization didn't work both ways here!
Grenada
Steve Brett has a collection of photographs from last month's Carnival in Grenada. Paul Gardenghi has an update on his new Grenadian podcast.
Guyana
Guyana-Gyal takes the challenge and tells a fictional story in 50 words. Emile Mervin focuses on the Guyanan Guyanese youth who visited Venezuela for the World Youth Forum, emphasizing their determination to meld idealism with capitalism. Taran Rampersad has left Guyana for Canada and offers an excellent recap of his time there. And Living Guyana feels insulted by the EU.
Haiti
We are still searching all avenues for a single weblog written directly from Haiti, a country with overwhelmingly expensive internet access. The National Coalition for Hatian Rights, however, has set up this Livejournal community to discuss all things Hatian. Haiti Innovation also has a blog-like format with an RSS feed and Western Hemisphere Policy Watch focused today on Haiti's current chaotic state of affairs.
Jamaica
Professor Charles Nesson has two posts explaining the work he has been doing in Jamaica. Jamaica Culture & People wonders if a photographed man is a descendent of the Maroons. The Egoist explains the significance of the colors on Jamaica's flag. Mad Bull has found three more bloggers to add to his ever-expanding Caribbean blog roll. Contemplation says “Hurricane Rita has us dead in her cross hairs” and Kingston Girl reports that the thunderstorms have already started.
Puerto Rico
Wooster Collective has a photograph of new street art in Puerto Rico. Gil C. Schmidt believes that his fellow Puerto Ricans must change first before they expect their government to. Aníbal Freytes, a longtime IT employee, is tired of working for the Puerto Rican government. Tinta Digital has an excellent post in Spanish (machine translated here) rethinking the university system in Puerto Rico. Roberto Borrero posts about the opening of an exhibit in San Juan highlighting contemporary Taino artwork.
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Abeni says it's campaign season, “that time of year when seemingly rational persons become almost unrecognisable.”
Trinidad and Tobago
Caribbean Free Radio has just released podcast episode number 32, a Skype-interview with journalist, Simon Lee. Peace River Postings describes a workshop given in Port of Spain on web technologies, during which all internet connectivity on the island was shut down. Karen W. discusses her identity and decides to refer to herself as “Englameridadian.” Solace offers up the ingredients for Trinidadian politics. Ana is tired of crime in her country after a third bomb went off in Port of Spain. Subway Chronicles has more information and links on the bombing. De Cooler: Soca News reports that:
Probably the oldest record store for soca music, Rhyner’s, is now closed. Founded in 1938, the shop now moved from Prince Street, Port of Spain in Trinidad to a internet based online shop. Diana Rhyner said, that piracy, vagrancy and banditry forced the shop to close.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Frank Barnako writes that tropical storm Philippe is expected to miss Saint John. Iris of Welcome to Paradox, meanwhile, has an all-inclusive list of how to prepare for a hurricane in the Caribbean.


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Sudan: Follow the crude · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ngomrom examines the death of Sudanese vice-president John Garang in a Ugandan helicopter crash , and the relationship between Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army and the possiblity of a seceded southern Sudan gaining possession of huge oil reserves.


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Sudan: Fresh killings, rape, destruction · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Aid worker Sleepless in Sudan reports fresh outbreaks of fighting in the troubled region of Darfur. “It is tragic to see that even after two years of conflict we are still witnessing fresh displacement and horrific stories of burning villages, killings and rape,” she writes.


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Taiwan, China: Full text of Li Ao · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

EWSN posts a full-length English translation of the controversial speech by Taiwan writer Li Ao, and urges readers to make up their own minds, rather than relying on imperfect summaries in the Western press.


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Venezuela: The Censored Dossier · Global Voices
Iria Puyosa

Update: Walter Martínez said that he and the people who support him are not defending a person; they are defending freedom of speech, and fighting corruption. Listen to the audio of Walter Martínez's statement. Chávez himself called to the VTV interactive news show, La Hojilla, to tell journalist Mario Silva to stop supporting Walter Martínez. Listen to Chávez’ phone call.
For more than two decades, the best international news coverage in Venezuela television has been presented by Walter Martínez on his half-hour, nightly show, Dossier. The Uruguay-born internationalist and journalist has worked in Venezolana de Television – the government run television channel – alongside six administrations, enduring various political trends.
Last Thursday 15, Walter Martínez was reporting on the United Nations Assembly from Caracas, even though he was the official head of Venezuelan press before the UN, and he was authorized to be in the New York headquarters. On Thursday's program, Martínez made the point that false revolutionaries were controlling government-run media in Venezuela, as well as influential political positions.   Excerpts from last Thursday Dossier can be seen following the link in the pro-Chávez website, Aporrea.
On Friday, Dossier was taken off air.  More coverage can be found at El espacio de Lubrio. An ambiguous official statement from the Ministry of Communication and Information and VTV board of directors asked that Martínez appears before the National Attorney Office to present any charge against public administrators that he may have. The statement also warns about the obligation to obey dispositions on responsible journalism included in the Radio and Television Social Accountability Law.
Luigino Bracci Roa—a Venezuelan pro-Chávez blogger—reports how the Bolivarian News Agency presented a distorted view of a small demonstration asking VTV directive to stop censoring Dossier.  Bracci conjectures “it appears like they (Bolivarian News Agency) got a call requesting to make the demonstration appear as illegitimate”.  According to Bracci—who says that he took part in the demonstration—, BNA portrayed the protest as it were smaller than it actually was, and stated that demonstrators were union members (1)  when they where mostly housewives, students, and middle age white-collar workers.  BNA also highlighted that private owned news channel Globovisión was covering the demonstration, and failed to report Martínez's remarks on the issue. Bracci pointed out that BNA claimed Globovisión as the opposition channel, implying that it was an opposition political show rather than a popular demonstration.
Comments on Lubrio’s blog entries emphasize that the Dossier case is not the first censored news show in the Venezuelan government run media. Baquiano says, “dissidence and direct critique of the leader among his followers is inadmissible [within “personality cult” regimes] because admitting so means to give reason to the “enemy”. Alberto Farías claims, “this is your revolution, a big lies-bag, theft to the nation patrimony, emotional manipulation of people that are searching desperately for a way to improve their lives”. Some chavistas blame Blanca Eckhout (VTV President)  and Mari Pili Hernández (officer in Venezuelan Embassy in U.S.) for Dossier suspension and remark that “they would like to have the credibility that this fellow [Martínez] has”.
The conversation is also taking place on other weblogs, such as Terreno Baldío, and EnigmasExpress.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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author: Iria Puyosa


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Trading Horses in Ukraine · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ukraine has a new prime minister, but to get one, President Yushchenko needed to cut deals with his opponents. Orange Ukraine says that while he did what he needed to do, he will fall victim to charges of betraying the Orange Revolution–an accusation he has directed at others recently.


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Uganda, Darfur: Interrelated conflict · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

UgandaCAN urges the international community to think of the fighting in northern Uganda and Darfur as part of an interrelated regional conflict.


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Bahrain: Musical Missions · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Zainab Alkhawaja praises the Musical Missions of Cameron and Kristina who have been around the Arab world. They have been to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Iraq. They talked to a largely American audience about the Arabs and their culture.


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Bangladesh: Business and Poverty · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Unheard Voices links to a story about business in Bangladesh, and the poor.


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China: Guangdong sweatshops · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

China Herald highlights Chinese media reports that the Guangdong provincial authorities have compiled a blacklist of 20 sweatshops which force workers into excessive unpaid overtime, underpay workers or use child labor.


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“Desert Nights” Shown to SoCal Armenian Community · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Martuni or Bust!!! reports on a screening for Southern California's Armenian community of HETQ's documentary “Desert Nights” on the trafficking of Armenian women and girls to the United Arab Emirates by Arab and Armenian gangs.


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Dispatches from the Yerevan Rock Scene · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian continues his stellar coverage of the Armenian rock scene with an alert that MDP will be making a rare Armenia appearance soon and points to more information on the band.


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Egypt: Kefaya · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Baheyya draws a quick portrait of Abdel Halim Qandil, a leader of the Kifaya movement (Arabic) and the editor-in-chief of Al Arabi, the mouthpiece of the Nasserist party and one of the most outspoken and virulently anti-Mubarak publication in Egypt.


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Globalization & Democracy: The Helsinki Conference 2005 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Helsinki Conference 2005: From Words to Action
I recently attended the Helsinki Conference 2005 in Helsinki, Finland (Sept. 7-9).   The conference was a follow-up to the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy initiated by the governments of Tanzania and Finland in 2002 to create a multi-stakeholder approach to solving world’s problems and build a lasting partnership between the North and South.
The main rationale behind the Helsinki Process is that since globalization is a cross-border phenomenon, it requires effective cross-border governance made up of different stakeholders such as civil society organizations, the media, trade unions, governments, religious institutions, academic institutions, private sector, and international organizations.
The first conference in 2002 took place under the theme: Searching for Global Partnerships. It focused on human rights. The conference this year was the second to be followed by the third in 2007 in Tanzania.   This year’s conference was entitled: “Mobilizing Political Will” and focused on development.   Over 600 participants from 70 countries discussed how to move the multi-stakeholder dialogue into concrete action.
I attended the conference through partnership between the Helsinki Secretariat and the Global Voices Project.   One of the main sessions that I was expected to actively participate was the workshop on communication, media, and citizenship organized by the Inter Press Service (IPS).   Unfortunately, I arrived in Helsinki the day of the workshop.   By the time I checked in my hotel and left for Finlandia Hall with my friend Vkii, the editor of the Malaysian online paper, Malaysiakini, the workshop was over.
One of the issues that were intensely discussed in the workshop was the power and the effectiveness of alternative media.   Participants concluded that alternative media has the potential of amplifying marginalized voices and empower ordinary citizens.   The evidence of the power of alternative media, they pointed out, was seen during the London bombing, Genoa G8 conference, and the 2004 Republican Party convention.
During the workshop, Naeem Mohaiemen, a visual artist, digital-media activist, and filmmaker, pointed out that Muslim voices and issues such as Muslim migration to the North were not given priority in the conference.  Later, in an email conversation, I asked him why he did not refer to the lack of presence of other religions in the Helsinki Conference. He replied:
It is obvious that there are very specific global issues that affect the Muslim community, i.e. active US involvement in crises in Muslim majority nations (Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, etc.), Muslim immigrants to North America and Europe, and post 9/11 racial profiling, detention, and deportation of Muslim immigrants.So it is a uniquely Muslim crisis, and not shared by other religious communities…
Naeem, who is based in Dhaka (Bangladesh) and New York (US), edits Shobak.org and is the Director of the documentary Muslim or Heretics.  After September 11, he collaborated with other artists to create Disappeared in America, a film, lecture, and multimedia installation about the plight of Muslims in the US.
Blogging the Helsinki Conference as it was happening was not easy because there were many interesting sessions going on simultaneously and lots of interesting people to meet and interview.   In addition, most of the time, due to the intensity of the discussions, I felt like simply sitting and listening.   There were roundtables and seminars on poverty, gender equality, anti-corruption, health, small arms, governance, and human rights.
The President of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa, and his Finish counterpart, Tarja Halonen spoke at the conference on the second day.  They both called for more action in mobilizing political will to build a fair world. Quoting the Finnish writer Zakarias Topelius who once wrote, “Nations need each other, for if each had everything he wanted, no one would seek out others, but each would live and work just for himself,” Mkapa said that cooperation is the best way to promote development and human security.   Stressing the importance of the multi-stakeholder approach, Halonen said that this particular approach is effective because it offers a bridge across different opinions.
Throughout the conference, I had a distinct sense of déjà vu.  I guess I have attended too many conferences and workshops on the subject of building a fair world.  I had to ask the former President of Ireland and the Director of Ethical Globalization Initiative, Mary Robinson, if the world needed another initiative to tackle poverty.   Robinson’s responded by saying that the Helsinki Process does not seek to create a new global institution or draft more reports.   “We simply want to move the world into action.”
Concrete action rather than words, policy papers, or promises is the main spirit of the Helsinki Process.   According to the Finish foreign minister, Errik Tuomioja, the Helsinki Process is a networking forum.   I have to admit that the “multi-stakeholder” approach to addressing world’s problems is highly appealing.  But how practical and effective the approach can be in solving real world problems outside the Finlandia Hall is something we have to wait and see.
The countries that are involved in the initiative at the moment have committed themselves to action.  The countries, known as the Friends of Helsinki, include South Africa, Egypt, Hungary, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, Algeria, and Spain.  You may notice that the world’s powerful nation, USA, is not part of the Helsinki Process. There were many indirect references to the US in different sessions until when the President of the Brookings Institution, Strobe Talbott, decided to say something about it.    “There has been a veiled reference to one country in this conference…my own.”
Most of the people I spoke with thought that the US was too arrogant to engage in a multilateral process initiated by “insignificant” countries such as Tanzania and Finland.   Well, according to Talbott, the US has been experimenting with unilateralism that is why it is not one of the Friends of the Helsinki Process.   He asked those involved with the Helsinki Process to strive to make the process as inviting as possible for the US.
One of the issues of that was of great concern to conference participants from Africa was corruption.   Rudolph Amega-Etego, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Grassroots Initiatives in Africa, wanted to know why Western governments preach accountability and good governance to African countries while at the same time, they let their banks keep million of dollars stolen by corrupt African leaders.   Other participants talked about western corporations that “buy” African governments.
I was able to speak with Birgit Errath, the Associate Expert with Global Compact, a UN initiative promoting voluntary corporate social responsibility, about corruption in Africa.  She is optimistic that future Mobutus and Abachas of Africa will not be able to hide money in foreign banks.   “Banks are forced to be more transparent because of funding of terrorists.”   She believes that in the future it will be possible to prevent corrupt leaders from participating in the global financial system.
Global Compact works with corporations to help them become more responsible in four key areas: labor, human rights, environment, and anti-corruption.   Currently, there are 120 companies in Africa working with Global Compact and a new regional center has been established in Pretoria, South Africa.
The conference ended with a strong commitment from participants to a multi-stakeholder cooperation. The next conference will take place in Tanzania in 2007 to asses the progress of the initiative.
While the conference was taking place, I was able to conduct an informal workshop on blogging to journalists and NGO activists from Africa. The leading photojournalist from Tanzania, Muhiddin Issa Michuzi, started blogging at Finlandia Hall the day I told him about blogging.   Michuzi works with the Daily News in Dar Es Salaam.   Another journalist working for the government paper and a university student will start blogging very soon.
I was looking forward to meeting, and possibly interview, two Tanzania’s presidential candidates, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jakaya Kikwete, who co-host the conference with his Finish counterpart, Errik Tuomioja. Kikwete, and the opposition candidate, Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba did not attend the conference because of their tight campaign schedule.Tanzania’s presidential and parliamentary elections are taking place next month.
On the last day of the conference, most of the participants attended a concert organized by Finnish civil society organizations.  My Finnish friends told that we were going to see big names in Finnish music scene and that the 5 euro we were going to pay was nothing.   Up to that day, I could not name a single Finnish musician.  Actually, I decided to go because the venue was not far from where I was staying.   To be honest, I was not expecting much.
Before the person everybody was waiting for, well, one of them, the chairwoman of the Tanzania Association of Non-Governmental Associations, Marie Shaba, managed to convince all Tanzanians in the audience to go up the stage to sing.
“We have to sing.” She insisted after some of us talked about our non-existent singing abilities.
“In Africa we say if you can talk, you can sing, if you can walk, you can dance.”
After an African elder says those words what do you do?We had to go up the stage.  We sang the famous Kiswahili song, Malaika.   Malaika is the Kiswahili song from East Africa made famous by Miriam Makeba and Angelique Kidjo.   We then led the audience to sing the chorus to Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up.
Then Kimmo Pohjonen came on stage holding an accordion. I am not into accordion music.   I did not understand why everybody was so anxious to see him.   Everybody moved closer.   The whole place was quiet.   After about 5 minutes, I realized that I was watching one of the best musical performances of my life.   It was amazingly intense and full pure energy. Kimmo combines light effects, chants, body movements, tapping, and slapping to create a sort of a spiritual experience.   He uses a sampler to create creative loops and soundscapes.   He records himself chanting, whistling, slapping, etc., and plays them back to accompany his accordion.
Marie Shaba, who lives in the coastal town of Bagamoyo told me that the performance reminded her of a communal dance in her town that usually takes people into trance.   What she did not know, I later learned from Kimmo, was that he attended the Bagamoyo College of the Arts where he learnt a lot from the local culture.   His teacher and inspiration was the late Tanzanian musician Hukwe Zawose.
Ismo Alanko, the leading Finnish rock singer and guitarist, performed much later.   Towards the end of his performance, Kimmo joined him. Watching these two musicians perform, I realized the disadvantages of having one nation (USA) controlling the world’s entertainment industry.   When will the world know of Kimmo Pohjonen? Or Hukwe Zawose?
A few minutes after 3am, when Vkii of Malaysiakini was busy dancing and smoking next to the “No Smoking” sign, I met Sami Hokkanen.   Sami is one of the coolest person in Helsinki.   Sami is the managing director of Provisual Oy, a production company in Helsinki that delivers content in various technologies such as mobile devices, DVD, and the Internet.   Sami, who gave me a quick tour of Helsinki, is behind the project, Pixoff.net, which shows Finnish short films and animation online for free.
Sami told me about the exhibition of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s photos.   I had to go see it before I left.   I did not regret.  The exhibition entitled Earth from Above is also on the web.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Hong Kong: Deconstructing Disney · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Walk the Talk reports on a lecture given by Asian Wall Street Journal reporter and Harvard-trained anthropologist Geoffrey Fowler in Hong Kong on how the mainland Chinese consumer is reinventing the Mouse (and coming up with a Cat).


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India: Cyclone Pyar · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Point of View has views on Cyclone Pyar hitting the East Coast of India, and reflects on the legacies of colonial rule.


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Iran: Iranian Thanksgiving · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Do you know the relation between Jashen Mehregan and the Christians Thanksgiving? This is what Ali Mostofi talks about here.


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Jordan: Amman Nightlife · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Dr. Marcy now in Amman says that unlike what Beirutis told her, there's night life in Amman.


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Mexico: Acapulco Sex Tourism · Global Voices
David Sasaki

CitizenShift highlights Diego Briceño-Orduz's new documentary about Acapulco's child prostitutes.


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Nepal: Challenging Autocracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! has a photo-post and commentary on an impressive anti-autocracy demonstration in Nepal.


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Nepal: Disappearing students · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

International Nepal Solidarity Network links to an article on Krishna KC, former vice-chairman of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Students Union, and the Supreme Court's take on the issue.


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Nigeria: Sex or prayer? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

trae_z at Trae Days blogs about losing his religion, though not his sense of God, and his scepticism about deifying human beings, though not about miracles.


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Rising Gasoline Prices · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Charles Ganske of the Russia Blog reports that just like in the United States, rising gasoline prices are a big issue in Russia at the moment.


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Scrambling for Votes · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot discusses how one of Poland's right-wing parties is scrambling for votes at the last minute before this Sunday's election.


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Slovenia’s 10th Referendum · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Slovenes go to the polls this weekend to vote in their tenth referendum since independence. This referendum concerns the future of Slovenia's national broadcaster, RTVS. The Glory of Carniola discusses what is at stake.


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Sri Lanka: International School · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

lastnode has a short and quick post on education and suffixes like “International” being added to schools.


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Sudan: Medair chopper service · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The Passion of the Present reports that the roads in West Darfur have become so dangerous that Switzerland-based medical aid NGO Medair has started helicopter flights to reach affected areas. Medair is one of the longest-serving NGOs in Darfur, with a presence there since 2001.


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Taiwan: Media watch · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Taiwan Tiger takes a look at the different sorts of spin in mainstream media reporting, notably in mainland China and the United States.


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Thailand: Working with Thais · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

SiamJai posts a 750-word essay on how to get better cooperation than most Westerners achieve with Thai colleagues in the workplace.


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Township Sessions: CD review · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Afromusing reviews the forthcoming release of “Township Sessions”, a CD released from an old cassette recording by the South African Philani Mothers Choir.


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Uganda: Prayer and action · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

UgandaCAN organizes a “Weekend of Prayer and Action” on behalf of children affected by 19 years of war in northern Uganda.


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Ulaanbaatar’s Magnificent Metro · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ulaanbaatar's metro is extremely difficult to find. Okay, it doesn't even exist. But that doesn't stop people from celebrating its wonders.


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Venezuela: Government Handling of Floods · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As Americans prepare for hurricane Rita, Venezuela News and Views takes a critical stance against how the Chavez government has handled flooding in Caracas.


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Venezuela: Virtual Workshop on Beginning a Literary Blog · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jorge Letralia, editor of Letralia, Tierra de Letras will be offering a virtual workshop in Spanish on setting up a literary blog. [via Veneblogs]


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Vietnam: Organic vegetables · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Noodlepie signs up for, and reviews, an organic vegetable delivery service run by a company called Organik Vietnam.


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Yurts · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand discusses Kyrgyz yurts and poetry about them.


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Zimbabwe: Farm manager beaten · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Zimpundit rails against the beating by a gang of armed men of white farm manager Allan Warner, quoting Martin Luther King Jr.: “Are we any better than they are if we treat them like they've treated us?”


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Kenyan Blogosphere Roundup · Global Voices
Ory Okolloh

- First things first.   The Kenyan Blogs WebRing recently celebrated it's first birthday and crossed the 100 member threshold.   Congratulations are in order.   Here are some snippets of the amazing community that is Kenya Unlimited.
- Bankelele offers up helpful information regarding buying shares on the Kenyan stock exchange
from outside Kenya. African Bullets and Honey
-   Are you in the job-hunting process and tired of the standard rejection letter script?  Wg-K provides an alternative (and funny) script.
- Why did the chicken post the blog? Click here to find out…hilarious.
-  Guessaurus fills us in on her love-love relationship with sleep.
-  A trip to Monaco makes MMK reconsider his career options.
- AfroFeminista would just like to eat her fries in peace.
- Haidhuru has a funny post that will probably resonate with many in the diaspora…”You know you've been in the States too long when….“
-  The upcoming constitutional referendum in Kenya is dominating the news.   Unfortunately, Kenyans are faced with a Hobson's choice and the process has turned into an opportunity for Kenyan politicians to take their usual demagougery to new levels.   Echawawa expresses his disgust with the unfolding circus.

author: Ory Okolloh