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African Path: Weaving Tales of Africa’s Past, Present and Future · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

African Path is one of the most exciting African citizen media projects. It is an online platform whose content comes from bloggers, readers, artists, and specialists. It also aggregates news on Africa from different sources.
At the moment, African Path has 24 bloggers writing articles on various topics such as politics, music, gender, history, popular culture, social activism, and identity politics.
Joshua Wanyama, a Kenyan entrepreneur based in the US, is the co-founder of African Path. In 2003, after finishing his B.S in Architecture, he started Interactive Spectrum, a technology firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In January 1st, 2007 he officially launched African Path. A digital path of woven tales of Africa's past, present, and future.
Recently, Joshua Wanyama spoke with Global Voices Online about the project.
Ndesanjo Macha: Tell us about yourself and how/why you started blogging
Joshua Wanyama: At the heart of all things, I am an entrepreneur. I seize the opportunities presented to me and try to make something of them. My partner and I had done a blog before to highlight the services our company, Spectrum Interactive, offered. I didn’t do much on that site. There were too many other things that I needed to accomplish and I couldn’t keep up with the blogging. I started blogging again once we decided to create African Path. It was a lot easier with content on Africa since I didn’t need to do a lot of research to understand the audience. I have been observing and participating in African culture since I was born.
I have felt that knowledge is a key source of growth for humans in general and a necessary ingredient in the development of Africa. I felt a site like African Path would help the people who had experienced success and failure, want and excess to tell their stories. And those who were looking for such content could find it at a central point. The beauty of providing a working solution in Lesotho since it is already being executed in Chad is helpful in developing not just one country or ethnic group, but the knowledge can be shared and used in all countries thus fueling economic growth that we all seek in Africa.
NM: What is African Path?
JW: African Path is really a network of different knowledge bases that provide human connections and interactions. These knowledge bases cover as many fields as we could provide content for. The platform is online and the providers of content are bloggers, specialists, readers and artists who weave tales of our past, present and future. Hopefully what is put up influences someone to think further than what they have thought before, to network with people who share their vision or to create the ideal connection to enable one to elevate their living standards and give them a sense of dignity.
NM: How did the idea and the name come about?
JW: I have been working with newspaper clients for more than twenty months. Spectrum Interactive developed an online newspaper template (News Portal) that enables upstart and expanding news and blogging organizations to scale their services online. That meant the basic infrastructure for African Path was in place.
In December of 2006, my partner and I decided to create our own news and blog aggregator site for Africa. We had tried getting partners who would edit such a site while we provided the marketing, brand and technology expertise but to no avail. We therefore restructured the company so I could dedicate my time on the development of African Path while he kept our other business interests going.
I have always had a love for Africa and wanted to develop something with the abilities I had in order to have a positive impact on the continent. I think African Path is on the way to achieving that goal. Media coverage in Africa is predominantly biased and western based. We need an African perspective on the world stage so we can tell our own stories. My goal is to develop African Path into this vehicle.
While searching for an appropriate name, I knew the name had to reflect an ever changing, ever growing perspective of African development. While one might be down today, tomorrow they would have moved forward. So African Path wants to be part of that move. We want to provide some of the things that one would use to make this move. Information is the greatest tool to empower a people. Africans need a source of information that makes it easier for them to be empowered. Yesterday’s mistakes should stay in the past. We need information to make the right decisions that help us move forward today.
NM: Who are the people behind African Path?
JW: My partner Charles Baarsch and I. Charles is a programmer by expertise and a visionary in how he sees the world especially business. He has been in business for many years so he provides me with valuable knowledge of what to do and what not to do to avoid the pitfalls that can bring a business down. On the other hand I’m a designer, marketer and entrepreneur.
NM: How does African Path operate?
JW: We work with bloggers from all over Africa. We are always recruiting new ones especially for the countries we are yet to represent. They can provide content as regular African Path bloggers or sign up as guest bloggers and post whenever they feel like it. We also work with musicians and their agents in creating a database and profile of the continent’s musicians. We feel this will be an important vehicle in telling Africa’s story. If you are searching for artists in Mozambique or Togo for that matter or a kwaito artist versus soukous, we want to be able to provide such information for our readers.
I also serve as the editor, marketer, and sales representative for African Path. I have a part-time employee who assists in marketing the site. We want to grow the site so that it can become self-sustaining and provide employment for people especially those back in Africa.
NM: How do you see the future of blogging and citizen media in general in Africa?
JW: I anticipate a rise of blogging. Citizen media will continually grow. I think we will start seeing a more concerted effort to provide expertise in an area or a model that can allow for bloggers to earn an income by sharing their knowledge. More than that, blogging allows anyone to leverage their knowledge and potentially create a reputation that can give them a better chance at landing a prime job, improving your business or creating a following that can lead to political positions.
I also think a move to mobile technologies will improve the offerings for bloggers. Cell phones are really the access points for information in Africa. There exists some opportunity for entrepreneurs who can develop systems to serve content from news and blogging software to mobile phones in a package. I think we will keep seeing pilot programs and finally real products that will offer such services.
NM: Should Africans care about blogs and blogging?
JW: Africans should really care about blogging. Other than localized newspapers, one can’t access news generated by Africans featuring issues specific to them. We need that. Blogging provides access to alternative sources of news and stories that are important to Africans.
The need for African news generated by Africans goes back to creating our own identity and stories. When a western media house reports, on Africa, it is all blood, gore, famine, crime and other negative images. For them, a positive image is tourism. Africans have a lot more than just these issues. We need to hear about a farmer who has created a better way of tilling the land that has enabled the village to have a surplus of maize, or the lady who built a company employing 20 people from good fiscal management and hard work. These are the stories that make Africa wonderful. The hope that all Africans have in abundance is lost in the media and this leads to a negative connotation and identity for Africans. We have to take back our stories for future generations will love to hear what we had to say and actually see it as our own perspective and none other. The examples I have mentioned above transcend borders. I think any pan-African vehicle has to offer solutions that work across borders otherwise they will be irrelevant in most markets.
NM: Considering the socio-political realities in Africa, can African bloggers bring about concrete social change? Do you know of any success stories so far? Any negatives?
JW: I think African bloggers can affect how their countries are run. Whenever you have a group of people sitting together discussing politics and economic growth, everyone has a heated discussion based on their reality. Blogs capture this spirit. The effectiveness of blogs though is reserved on how many people read these stories. We need to come up with ways to deliver the same content from other sources. This is the way to affect the socio-political situation in Africa through blogging. While the percentage of people with access to the Internet keeps growing in Africa, most of the people who can effect change through voting do not have access to the net. This makes cell phones a better option in disseminating information. Strikes have been carried out in Zimbabwe through sending SMS messages.
The biggest negative I see is the lack of regulation. Both good and bad content makes it onto blogs. Stories that highlight human achievement and those that destroy the human psyche are part of blogging. Depending on what one reads regularly, you can influence one’s thought to the detriment of a community. Bloggers have to remember that the moment you have more than yourself reading your content, then you have an audience and you have to be responsible for what you do.
NM: What value does African Path add to the African blogosphere?
JW: The main value is creating a vehicle to carry out these stories. More than that, most African blogs sit in obscurity due to poor marketing and positioning that affects site traffic. African Path’s job is to connect bloggers and artists to an audience that is predominantly African or those with an interest in the continent.
We also want to become an organization that is able to create employment for Africans and be part of the economic development of the continent. Through how we work and interact with bloggers and other entrepreneurs, I see an opportunity to help strengthen and develop each other so we can maximize our potential. I get comments from bloggers I interact with on how to improve our site and vice versa. I have been asked for suggestions on ways of monetizing blogs and other ideas. If we can be able to create networks that provide access to funds or ideas that can generate positive growth in each other, then I think we will be facilitating economic, social and political growth of Africa.
NM: What kind of future do you see for your project, African Path?
JW: I want African Path to become a destination point on material in Africa. Through relationships with other companies and media houses, we want to provide relevant content to African readers. I look at the Yahoo! model where they have news, music, images, search, directories and other community content in one branded vehicle. We have such a rich community of blogs, music, film, theater, experts in various fields and businesses.
We want to create a consistent voice that rings true in the Ivory Coast just as much as Tanzania, information that is relevant to a Libyan or Namibian. This will take work but it is possible. We have already proved the model works and we are providing an important service to Africans. We now want to strengthen that, create a solid brand that is relevant to Africa and recruit as many bloggers from all the African countries as we can.
NM: Corruption, economic mismanagement, and the lack of rule of law are some of the main problems facing Africa today, what role can African Path and other African bloggers play in addressing them?
JW: First off, we can highlight where injustice exists. This exposure should enable others to join in demanding change, accountability and better management from our leaders. Special blogs such as Mzalendo cover African leaders and track their performance. We need to have such programs whether within African Path or as relationship within the blogging community. One big issue is the right of a blogger either as a journalist or private citizen in voicing their concerns. The recent arrest and jailing of Soliman in Egypt is a sign of how much we have to progress before we are on good ground. If countries block access to the net or certain blogs, we then are toothless tigers in our attempts to speak out against injustice. We have to find a way for people on the ground in Africa to read our stories just as much as those in the Diaspora.
Another issue is, some might just complain but never do anything. We need solutions to get Africa past the position it occupies in the world. Bloggers have to start looking for solutions, partnering with entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations and media houses. Let us find a way to improve the lives of all Africans. You can’t change anything by trying it yourself. Let us share the knowledge and opportunities available to us to effect change.
NM: What role could African Path and African bloggers play in providing a more balanced coverage of Africa?
JW: While the bias is there as I have already stated above, we can change how the world perceives us by controlling our own destiny. An example would be when a site visitor runs into a story or web site that shows a positive view of Africa, that would be user generated content facilitated by what the blogger has in place on their site.
A common standard or operation model of bloggers with like interests will probably help in pushing this common perspective. The South African, Nigerian or Kenya blog rings act as such a body. I have turned down bloggers who I felt they would provide a biased view such as what mainstream media does and that wasn’t part of African Path’s vision. The stories of corruption, mismanagement, famine, war and bad governance need to be told but this is only a fraction of what constitutes Africa.
If we fail to provide a balanced view, we fail our children. The heritage and mistakes of past generations do not have to extend to future generations. We have a lot of knowledgeable Africans who work in unified settings regardless of race, ethnic and clan associations. We need to continually emphasize our oneness instead of promoting our differences.
In closing, I would like to state that I believe in Africa. I believe the solutions to Africa’s problems lie within the continent. There are people who are working day and night to improve lives and change the continent. It might be a parent teaching a child to respect the sanctity of life or a school teacher spending a few extra minutes with her students so that they might have a better future. The pulse of all these people, leaders who are both educated and illiterate, is reflected in each and every blog on Africa. Whether social or political, economic or cultural, the variety within African blogs and the knowledge spread throughout is enough to make a positive impact in Africa. All we need to do is harness it and apply it in the relevant areas. While farmers in Rwanda might have searched for a solution within their community thirty years ago, they now have a chance to talk to someone implementing the said solution in Equatorial Guinea. That is the power of globalization. Bloggers are the vehicles to spread this wealth of information.


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Algeria: Abusing Islam? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Algerian blogger and linguist Lameen Souag debates  the motives of bloggers who abusively invoke Islam into defining different behaviours and attitudes. “The likes of Al-Qaeda wrongly describe their own terrorist acts as jihad in order to make them appear legitimate to other Muslims; for Western governments to publicly accept this characterisation is about as sensible as it would be for Muslim critics of Bush to start losing no opportunity to call him a true American patriot, or a stalwart defender of democracy and freedom,” he writes.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Algeria: US Should Encourage Saudi  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Algerian blogger Nouri  cautions the West of misreading recent Saudi manoeuvres in leading Arab states. “The Americans should encourage Saudi leadership, because if their reaction to the Saudi drive for organization is mismanaged or misinterpreted, the consequences are potentially dire. And the consequences of continued Arab ambiguity and disunity are even more explosive and dangerous,” he writes.


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Armenia: Parliamentary Election Monitor · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian rounds up news concerning Armenia's upcoming parliamentary election.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Solving Politics · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Responding to the news of an attempted assassination of a provincial mayor that left four people dead, Harmick comes up with an innovative solution for solving Armenia's politics


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Bahrain: 15 Arab Billionaires Equal Gates · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bill Gates is worth as many as 15 Arab billionaires, writes Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif, who links to an article on Arab billionaires here.


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Bahrain: Life Without Cable TV  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger emoodz is enjoying life without cable television and he tells us why here.


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Bahrain: On Education · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif links to a video which serves as a reality check on the status of education in the Middle East and whether it really prepares students for the future.


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Brunei: Lasting Marriages · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Old Man's Blog relates the story of a friend whose marriage is on the rocks. The blogger who is himself a divorcee hopes for his friend to reconcile with her husband and get back together. The blogger laments the increase in marriages falling apart in Brunei.

author: Preetam Rai


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Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea: Tell-all Biography of Slain Activist Félix Moumié’s Widow · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says Le Pangolin [Fr]: “Marthe Moumié is the widow of Cameroonian nationalist Félix Moumié, assassinated in Geneva by the French Secret Service in 1960.  Marthe writes a book prefaced by [Algerian President] Ahmed Ben Bella… In the book, Victime du Colonialisme Français [ i.e “Victim of French Colonialism”], Marthe explains how after her husband's death she was tortured in Equatorial Guinean jails for 5 years. “

author: Alice Backer


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Congo-Brazzaville: Florence Arthaud, Tourism and Corruption · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Vous Reprendrez Bien Un Peu d'Humanisme is upset [Fr] that  veteran sailor Florence Arthaud has accepted the Sassou-Nguesso government's offer to participate in a sailing event there in less than 2 weeks for an event that is designed to boost local tourism. Says the blogger: “Are French sailors naive? Does Florence Arthaud lack critical thinking skills to the point of being had by any old crook?… This decision is a bad one because it cautions a violent dictatorial regime. “


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Dominica: Healthcare passes the Sniff Test · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living Dominica reprints an article she has written for Caribpro Magazine about healthcare in the Nature Island: “We may not live as long as the famous Dominican Ma Pampo who reached 127, but the fresh air and fresh food of this island have a healing quality. And we have been delighted to find this same healing touch in the lovely old fashioned caring of Dominican healthcare.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Global Voices is now on Twitter! · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices updates are now available via Twitter!
We can't guarantee you'll learn much about what we've had for lunch or why our computer is belching black smoke from one of its USB ports (that's what the other people on Twitter are there for), but we will keep you updated on what bloggers all over the world are talking about. Twitter updates are also available for the Chinese and Spanish versions of Global Voices.
So add Global Voices, GV in Chinese or GV en Español to your Twitter Friends list today!
You can also receive Global Voices updates via RSS and JSS feeds, e-mail  and by subscribing to our fabulous Daily Digest.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Guyana: Failed strategy for World Cup Cricket · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana Providence Stadium links to a story by by Vaneisa Baksh about the failed marketing strategy of the Cricket World Cup: “West Indians sensed early that this World Cup cared little for their company, their culture, and ignored the realities of life in this part of the world. It just hasn’t been enough about West Indians; can you blame them?”


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Guyana: Failed strategy for World Cup Cricket · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana Providence Stadium links to a story by by Vaneisa Baksh about the failed marketing strategy of the Cricket World Cup: “West Indians sensed early that this World Cup cared little for their company, their culture, and ignored the realities of life in this part of the world.  It just hasn't been enough about West Indians; can you blame them?”


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Hong Kong: copyright and creativity · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Rebecca has written up a detailed report on the copyright and creativity symposium. As she has pointed out, Hong Kong has lagged behind in web innovation.
Jacky carried on the discussion and suggested that the cultural industries had to seek new business model (zh).
Fongyun, a teacher, kept on protesting that the existing copyright practice will betray the development of knowledge (zh).

author: Oiwan Lam


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Hong Kong: Naming Pandas · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Hong Kong Government urged the public to name the two Pandas, a gift from the central government to Hong Kong to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of reunification. Fou Sing from inmediahk.net suggested to name them “Po Po”, “Suen Suen”, meaning universal suffrage (zh). In the comment section there are more suggestions, such as “Star Ferry”, “Queen's Pier”, and “July 1″ and “June 4″.


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India: Bloggers Code of Conduct · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Dina Mehta doesn't quite buy the concept of a Bloggers Code of Conduct. “It seems to me, culturally, it is a very North-American thing to think up. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love some aspects of North America and have met some of the finest folks there – but this operating out of ‘fear’ is one aspect I have written about earlier, that I find goes beyond protection.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: On Kabir · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indian Muslims on revisiting Kabir. “Nevertheless, a synthesis of sorts was navigated by hundreds of yogis, Sufis and poets of India. Very much a people’s movement from the below, Bhakti movement articulated a powerful vision of tolerance, amity and co-existence that is still relevant. This is many centuries before the suave, western educated intelligentsia coined the ‘people-to-people’ contact campaigns.”


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Iran:Hard Words for VOA · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Farjami [Fa] can not understand how VOA, Voice of America, ( Persian service) can interview Abdolmalek Rigi, a terrorist leader who killed innocent people in Iran. He considers it very shameful.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Tehran based music band in N.Y. · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Project 300 we read “Tehran-based music band Hypernova, spearheaded by former Vancouverite -and friend of a friend- Raam, is in New York. Check out what they're up to. The music scene in Iran is quite complex, none of the music I have so far posted here is actually ‘legal’ in Iran.”


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Iran:We care about sanctions Mr.Ahmadinejad · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kourosh Ziabari [Fa] talks about Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's interview with France 24 television 2 weeks ago. The blogger got surprised that Ahmadinejad considers that sanctions won't have any influence on Iranian economy.The blogger writes Iranians import everything and sanctions can really hurt country.


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Iraq: Shada, Shada, Shada · Global Voices
Salam Adil

So chanted Nibras Kazimi on the victory of the Iraqi Shada Hassoun, winner of Star Academy Middle East. What better than a trashy TV show to unite a divided country and get the blogs buzzing?
Today I have a mixed selection. A lifetime in a week of Iraqi blogger Konfused Kid, bloggers getting quoted by President Bush, and of course Shada.
If you read no other post this week read this
Konfused Kid has a fight with his father and learns more about life, friendship and people. He writes:
It all started when my father hit me with his fist.
at about 5:30 PM today, my father came out grumbling, and then began to reproach me for talking too loud on the phone with my friend, as always when he was reproaching me for something, my father was cathartically relieving his frustration and anger… However, this time, he was too angry, I usually know that any dialogue or reply whatsoever will not satisfy his craving, so I tend to murmur something about not doing it again and then I just freeze. This time, after the first few yells, his fist came POW on my head…I played it perfectly, I didn't reply or do anything, I just calmly endured his fists, until my mother came and told him to stop, he stopped but his yelling did not. He went to the kitchen, I came back, sat on the half-broken plastic chair, and finished my work on the computer, after half an hour, I took my passports, my money, and hit the streets.
Now homeless, the Kid goes for a walk with a friend who nearly gets gets arrested for not having the right papers. But being a good talker and a Sunni saves him. The Kid ends his day with this:
and so here I am, homeless, about to start my life as a single person, posting this to you from an Internet cafe which I am going to spend the night in, I called my mother and assured her I am all right, and then I went out with my friend to get dinner, the street was filled with policemen setting up checkpoints, the contraption our Iraqi lives seem to fearfully revolve upon.
The following day brings better fortune but not after a hard night.
My friend left me at the net center he works in about 10 PM that day, a Palestinian dude, Alaa, was in charge of the night shift, he was a friend of mine too. We got dinner and then, at about 1 AM, he whipped out a jodarya (like a very thin mattress), and said, “Dude, sleep on this side cuz there's, like, oil on that.” Unfortunately, the other side was filled with what can only be described as a life supply of the smell of sweat, which has come to be the most distinct smell that reminds me of Iraq now, if I tried to put my head on the other side of the jodarya there is a much worse smell in there, dirty socks that might have been worn by dead cats.
Anyway, by 3 AM the guy locks up, and I am left to solemn darkness to enjoy my first night all alone, I could not sleep until 5:30 AM.
At 7:30 AM my friend barges in like crazy, he was afraid that the owner of the internet center would come in and caps his ass
Later his father calls and they patch their differences up. But the whole experience leaves the Kid understanding new things about himself and his friends…
This experience was interesting in many ways, a lot of Iraqi kids have problems with their dads, and some even fight back, but this was my first – I was just thinking about it today, you see I happen to know this friend who orchestrates what he believes is a ‘True Friendship Test’ every once in a while, it's a pretty interesting concept except that his idea of it is bizarre, he digs up all his friends and becomes a real jerk with all of them to see who stays with him. In a way, what happened to me was a meter of friendship,- the reaction I got was very heartwarming, I got a lot of emails from concerned friends all over the world, and i was really amazed when some bloggers I barely know and some who I even fight with called me up repeatedly called me to check on how I was doing and offered requests from help, their kindness and understanding is something I hold dearly and which I would truly commit to memory, what's ironic is that this dude who conducts those friendship tests I told you about was the single person who knew about what happened to me and didn't bother to call. You don't need to make synthetic experiments on your pals, we're not in a warzone, goddammit, those kinda things come by themselves.
Quoted by the President
Getting quoted is a big thing for a blogger but nothing is bigger than being quoted by the President of the United States. But Mohammed of Iraq the Model is not letting this go to his head (links added by me):
First of all we're proud of it….Second I would like to make clear one point to bloggers like dailykos and some MSM supported blogs who seem so upset for some reason that the voice of some Iraqis is being heard.
I've seen some of them publish stories full of lies and accusations they can't support and I think it's pathetic to throw the “you're a sold-out propaganda” accusation at people just because they don't share the same point of view…This only reflects their lack of knowledge and the bankruptcy of ideas they suffer.
We speak the language of facts, supported by images and statistics and more important, we live here while they don't. We write about the good days as well as the bad days in Iraq's journey to a better future.
You don't even have to search in this blog's archives, just scroll down this page and you'll see both good and bad news—we witness an explosion and we write about it and we see progress and we write about it.
If they can't see that it's their problem, not ours.
Now a cynic may say that Bush must be really desperate if all he can do is quote bloggers for proof that his policy is working but I would say that this truly shows the power of blogging and its ability to match the mainstream media in its access to news and to the people that make the news.
Shada Shada Shada
She is the winner of Star Academy and has made a big impression on Iraqi bloggers. Zeyad says she “succeeded where Iraqi politicians failed. One out of every four Iraqis voted for Shada.” Roads to Iraq goes further. She says:
“Seven Million Iraqis voted for Shatha And that is more than Maliki’s votes including the forgery votes…
Special congratulation to:
The occupation forces, this girl in four minutes destroyed four years of effort to split the country.”
Marshmallow26 actually voted for her. She is beside herself with Joy:
Congratulations and million hugs to you Shatha, you improved your worthiness…Your Iraqi brothers and sisters’ votes crowned you the STAR. Yap…Yesterday was one of my best days ever!! I really jumped, laughed, cried and felt happy from the bottom of my heart…
Well, we spent the whole week voting…you know what? I'm not that kinda person who used to use the phone for vote in any show, BUT since Shatha attracted my ears before eyes and the same happened with all Iraqis, and since her competitors have big fans too, I said ” why not, lemme vote, just like any other Iraqi wants his compatriot to win this competition and draw the smile on every single Iraqi's face!”
…We all proud of you Shatha, and I'm proud that all Iraqi reunited on this issue, the south celebrated as the north and east and west, hope this will be a good prelusion for Iraq and Iraqis… I was supposed to write about my picnic and post some pix here but sorry I got overwhelmed by this happy ending…I even forgot about my eye when I was watching the last prime of LBC star academy 4's life.
Again congratulation Shatha and Iraqis, thank you for your votes and thanks for every one who supported the Mesopotamian daughter…WOW I'm so happy
Nibras Kazimi analyses the phenomenon:
1-She reinforces Iraqi identity; she's never been to Iraq, and is half-Iraqi by parentage, but because she chose to identify herself as Iraqi, she was embraced by Iraqis. It shows that Iraqi identity is still alive and kicking.
2-She successfully markets herself as a role model of the secularized and westernized modern Iraqi female; my mom and aunt were making phone calls from Baghdad yesterday celebrating Shada's victory as a big show-up to the mullahs. Maybe they're reading too much into it, but there's something to their instinctual reaction…
However limited the influence, this youthful frenzy over Shada and what she represents will definitely leave a mark on political issues (…popularity of religious based and sectarian parties in upcoming elections) down the road
Konfused Kid is not impressed to say the least. In a post entitled “Daughter of my Ass” he goes on to sum up his feelings about the show:
I must say that it is with a feeling of pure and utter disgust that I feel I have to include such cotton-candy corporate whoredom show on my blog. and this contempt is now only compounded by the recent manufactured event of having the winner of the show, an Iraqi of Moroccan mother who's spent almost all of her life in France, to win the show and be trumpeted as the symbol of Iraq's unity. I could almost feel the blobs of vomit boiling up right now.
It is not all about grand statements, the Kid has a serious point to make.
regardless of my own feelings about the show, I have no problems with her winning, or of the people who voted, but my beef is with all that thing about her becoming a national symbol…
we are too much afraid, and we only graze and polish our external image to prove to our dear Arab brothers how much strong we are, while inside our houses and ourselves, therein lies the roots of separation, of hatred and of discord, planted deep within, we are afraid to go deep there and solve them, instead, hey, here's that snotty lady that looks like a beautiful pig swagging around on that show, she is Iraqi, so let's give her a help….Iraqis have gone and done it yet again, proving how pathetic they really are, when we continue to insist on such frail people as symbols for our unity…
What good did this victory do for a mother who lost her son, or a family who lost their house. I can't believe our stupidity! I don't think any air-headed nation, even America, would do such a stupid thing when their country is being demolished and tattered piece by piece, this is not a time for celebration, it's a time of mourning. Don't cry all day, but still, respect the lost souls.

author: Salam Adil


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Iraq: Thoughts on  Captured British Sailors  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Omar links to his own article in which he discusses his thoughts on the captured British sailors.
“Understanding the motives and goals of Iranian government is useful in predicting the way the crisis will end,” he notes.


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Jamaica: Rex Nettleford’s UN Address · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Life and Times of Michmac recalls being taught by Professor Rex Nettleford and links to his keynote address to the United Nations on the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.


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Jamaica: The Burying Years · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Marlon James is forced to consider his own mortality as he enters the stage of life he dubs “The Burying Years”.


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Japan: Negective impacts of ODA · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Gyaku has translated an article on the neglective impacts of Japan's Official Developmental Assistance (ODA) in Japan and in developing countries. The writer, Tanaka Yu, is an activist on environmental, economic, and anti-war issues.


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Kyrgyzstan: Deepening Divisions · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Kyrgyz Report says that a prominent opposition leader in Kyrgyzstan is worried that the current tensions between the president and his former prime minister, who is currently trying to unite the opposition, will deepen regional divisions in the country.


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Lebanon: Hariri Murder a Mystery · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

American blogger Joshua Landis writes that the perpetrators of the February 14, 2005, Hariri assassination may never be tracked down. “His (Seymour Hersh – an American Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and author) sources at the UN tell him there is no evidence against Syria yet. That the Hariri killing was very carefully planned and executed, and that we might never find out who ordered that assassination,” writes Landis.


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Malaysia: Maid Culture in Japan and Malaysia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at a Japanese popular culture site J-List side blog explains why his daughter was surprised that the maids at a home that they were visiting in Malaysia were cleaning the house.


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Morocco: Prisoner’s Pardoned · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A total of 710 prisoners were pardoned in Morocco on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed's birthday, according to Sandy, who gives us a View From Fez.


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Myanmar: Blood Diamonds and Myanmar · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The movie Blood Diamond reminds blogger Man Actually of his younger mining days in Myanmar.  “And being once a miner myself deep in the jungle far north Myanmar's very own Jade Mines, you guess! how this movie would be so special to me..Along with the Archer and Solomon, the whole week I was thinking and wondering about Dee Rum, Hong Hkong, my dear comrades, the miners and how they are doing? I have always wanted to write about my experience in the jade land but whenever I tried to start the story I felt mentally draining and lost in translation emotionally hence never been able to materialize the story.”


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Nepal: A citizen journalism portal · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Salik brainstorms a bit about a citizen journalism portal for Nepal. “But freedom comes at a cost- I want to build a community portal that will make money which in turn will be provided to those who created contents and help run the portal itself. I know that such project will take a lot of my time and demand more knowledge and manpower.”


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Nepal: Cautious Welcome to Rebels in Government · Global Voices
Ujjwal Acharya

The Maoists of Nepal, who ended 12-year-long armed insurgency to come to the mainstream politics, joined the government on April 1 taking up five ministries under premiership of Girija Prasad Koirala. More than 13,000 people lost their lives due to the insurgency and that was something peaceful poluation of the country hated most. Now with the Maoists joining the interim parliament and now the interim government, people are looking ahead for the peace. Dedicated to Daniel Pearl writes:
With the induction of Maoist in the government and the current unity among the political parties, I hope we will see a new Nepal in near future. The violence will stop, parties will act responsibly and we are proceeding towards bright and prosperous Nepal.
United We Blog! has the minute-by-minute updates of the rebels sworning in at the parliament. Satyakura has the list of all the ministers and the common program put forward by the main seven political parties and the Maoists. The most important task for the interim government is the election of Constitient Assembly which will then determine the future of the monarchy in its first meeting. The date annouced for the election is June 20.
While the Nepali bloggers were thrilled by the hopes of peaceful future, they cautiously welcomed the Maoists inclusion in the government. United We Blog! represented the feeling of all people:
The induction of the Maoists in the government has sent waves of hope to Nepali people who are desperately looking forward to the successful completion of the peace process.
And, Nepali Perspectives says the choice of ministries by the Maoists is interesting because they all are directly related to the people. It calls it a ploy to gain the people's confidence and questions Maoists’ honesty:
If the Maoists have accepted a multi-party democracy for Nepal, which they say they have, there is cause for optimism. But if the current participation in the government is just a tactical ploy, there is an imminent need to be on guard. The actions of the Maoists even after the signing of the Peace Accord do not provide much confidence as to their intentions.
There are many people expecting revolutionary changes from the Maoists but The Radiant Star believes that's not going to come. It asks people not to expect too much as the Maoists since coming to the mainstream politics have only been fighting for positions and driving Pajeros. Hamroblog hopes that the government is not an April Fool joke and that they will will together leading us to the elections. Nepali Netbook calls it a defeat conceded by the Maoists while Everest Eyes reports that many people who are chased out from their villages by the Maoists still couldn't return to their places.

author: Ujjwal Acharya


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Nigeria: confusion before election · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Grandiose Parlor gives up on Nigeria general election, “As for me and my household, we have given up on the presidential elections because there’s nothing awe-inspiring or even encouraging among the present cadre of candidates. It is a shame that some of the promising candidates have either been bullied to step-down (Duke and Muazu) or simply got lost their way to the campaign ground (Utomi).”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Pakistan, India: I am a bandit · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within on language. “In the Angkor period of Cambodian history (9th-15th century) numerous Sanskrit and Pali words (by way of Buddhism) were absorbed into the Khmer language, and subsequently into Thai, since Thailand was a Khmer colony. The new words adjusted to their new homes imbibing the rules of pronunciation and sounds of the local languages.”


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Saudi Arabia: Maritime Crisis and Apologies · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi blogger Yazeez finds the mounting crisis on the British sailors captured by Iran as “ridiculous.” “Iran wants an apology, which is very justifiable considering the fact that what the sailors did was technically an ‘invasion’,” he writes.


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Saudi: Summer Holiday · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi-based blogger Nzingha is already planning for her summer holidays and is finding it hard to select between visiting the US or Malaysia. She also fills us in on problems with finding a suitable nanny for her children.


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Somalia: email describes “new terror” · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

New Somalia publishes an email from Somalia describing “new terror”:We have lived in Mogadishu for 60 years and we have never known fighting on the scale of what we have suffered in the last week. The Ethiopian troops have been using tanks and missiles to demolish whole parts of the city which they say are held by Al Qaida supporters. But these areas are ones which refused to support the Ethiopian invasion, and do not want the warlords to return. There is shelling all the time. It is completely indiscriminate. They are just destroying homes and shops.


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South Korea: FTA · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Walter Hendler from Ohmynews has put up a video on the recent anti FTA battle in Seoul with a background report on the negotiation and local politics.


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Sri Lanka: Cricket and Human Rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

True Sri Lankan comments on Amnesty International's campaign. “So shouting at Amnesty International is not going to help Sri Lanka at all. Sri Lanka has to gets it’s act together and face the reality of the situation. Everyone knows that the authorities are claiming that this campaign is aimed at demoralizing the Sri Lankan cricket team in order to get the support of Sri Lankans and shifting focus from the real situation of human rights.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: April Fool’s?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jonathan Ali is highly amused at what clearly must have been the Trinidad Guardian's April Fool's prank.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Smelter Fight Just Beginning · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago's Environmental Management Authority announced yesterday that they have given Alutrint the go ahead for an aluminum smelter to be built in La Brea.  “This in spite of two years of extensive comment, research and investigation which conclusively shows not only that aluminum smelting is not a financially viable option for Trinidad and Tobago but that we are ill prepared for the environmental implications of such a hazardous industry,” Attillah writes, adding that the fight is only just beginning.


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Tunisia blocks access to Dailymotion · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Sunday, 1st April 2007, the Tunisian authorities have blocked access to the popular French video sharing site Dailymotion, wrote the Tunisian blogger Astrubal.
“The blocking of the www.dailymotion.com site may have been prompted by the posting of a number of videos on the political situation in Tunisia” said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its statement issued yesterday, 3rd April, 2007.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Turkey is Typing…Film and Other Arts · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Pursuits of the artistic type seemed to be on the fingertips of the Turkish bloggers this week from film reviews to art galleries and music.
Film
Athanasia's Daily gives us her review of the film Apocalypto, which she gave a 7 out of 10:
That is to say, that man is just an ordinary man who may have lived any time and in any society. The movie is not about Maya culture. I dont think that the movie should tell us more about Maya civilization since it is not a documentary but a movie however we need more information to understand what is happening. Maya is nothing to do with the film. The territory that the man lives in is inside Maya territory, that's all. Besides we dont have to know anything about Maya but I felt like people including me watch the movie as we know basic information about the civilization. If you dont know what's happening inside the empire, then the movie only appears as an adventure of a man who is escaping from his enemies.
Erkan's Field Diary posts an interview from Özer Kiziltan, filmmaker of the controversial film Takva:
“Takva” is originally an Arabic word. It means “A man's fear of God” which is also the subtitle of the film in English.
The White Path reviews the film 300 with a critical eye:
This week I went to see the new chic movie, “300,” which tells the story of the ancient Spartans’ last stand against an invading Persian army. Yet what I have found in the film was, besides all the spectacular photography, a crude Orientalism and a thinly veiled fascism. The person who made “Orientalism” a household term was, of course, the late Edward Said, the most prominent Palestinian intellectual ever. According to Said, the whole Western scholarship about the East, i.e., the Orient, was dominated by a discourse intentionally created to depict this “other” civilization as inherently backward. The Eastern peoples, and especially the Islamic world, was portrayed as irrational, absurd and stagnant — an image which only served the imperialism of the West.
Art in its Various Forms
While Athanasia's Daily discusses the recent Mongol art exhibit in Istanbul, Istanbul Street Style explores the clothing of Istanbul's artists….and the Izmir Blog discusses the art of shopping for maternity clothes in Izmir.  Of course, we can't miss the art of the tabloid as Idil's Ignore Me If You Can points out that she lives in a country:
..that would rather read about some model going on a pilgrimage
to the Mecca (which appears on the front page of the newspapers)
than important news on global warming. (which appears at the back of the newspapers)
The Music of the Street
Metroblogging Istanbul posts about street performers (with pictures) in Taksim, while Tarkan DeLuxe gives us the run-down of the Turkish music scene:
By no means do I pretend to be a connoisseur of or an apt guide to the music of Istanbul, but here are a few suggestions to those that want to try out different sounds from the city's music scene, as opposed to the mainstream Turkish pop and arabesque sounds that tourists will usually hear.
Istanbul Beats
Possibly a statement too idealistic to make, but in music the talent and writing should be the main focus points. Looking at a beautiful face and body is always a bonus, but the packaging shouldn't overtake the album. Good visuals enhance a concept and help it sell, but it shouldn't be the driving force of an album.
Shiny pictures are nice, but the songs should shine more.
Check out some of the links, and maybe, just maybe, you will become as addicted to Turkish music as I am!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Turkmenistan: Head of the People’s Council · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, Peter says that the selection of Turkmenistan's president as head of the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council) indicates that he is more powerful than was previously assumed.


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Ukraine: Betting on Yushchenko · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people attended two major rallies in Kyiv: supporters of prime minister Victor Yanukovych and his ruling coalition were brought to European Square to protest president Victor Yushchenko's plans to dissolve the parliament; supporters of Yushchenko and his current allies stood at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, voicing their approval of this tough measure.
On Sunday, all was perfectly quiet and uneventful in Kyiv.
Then on Monday, Yushchenko dissolved the parliament, accusing Yanukovych of usurping power. The ruling coalition reacted to the president's order by defying it; the parliament continued its work throughout Tuesday.
How the situation is going to develop and whether the early election, scheduled for May 27, would take place, is anyone's guess right now. But Ukrainians seem to be used to such unpredictability. After all, it wasn't clear until the very last moment whether the president and the prime minister would reach compromise, and hardly anyone seemed too surprised when they didn't – but even if they had, it wouldn't have been a complete shock to many.
LJ user chernikovsun (Ukrainian journalist Andrey Chernikov) has written this (RUS) about the risky business of betting on Ukraine's president:
A political totalizer
I've got some political forecasting skills. But at a bookmaker's office, I wouldn't bet on the parliament's dissolution or its non-dissolution. Because our president is an unpredictable person. I haven't been able to figure out what determines the decisions he makes. And I would've lost on any stake I'd made.
Funny, but some gambling did take place (RUS) – at the forum of Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine's most popular news sites, founded by Georgiy Gongadze: Yushchenko's firmness allowed three forum dwellers to win 50 hryvnias ($10) and two more twice as much; one of the bettors who didn't believe the president would dissolve the parliament lost 200 hryvnias ($40).
Almost like betting but not quite is a survey question (UKR) posted at Ukrainska Pravda‘s forum; readers are asked whether they'd be prepared to support their president right up to the victory. Of the 154 voters, 132 said they would, 13 responded negatively, and nine said they didn't care:
VERBICKY: So we'll support him, but he'd let us down and recall his order on Easter's eve.
[…]
Kram: Yes, but even yesterday I didn't expect myself to feel this way!
[…]
Matroskin: No. In the two years of his presidency, one firm decision? […]
LJ user unika_ is one of those who is skeptical about the idea to re-elect Ukrainian lawmakers. She notes that Yushchenko's order to dissolve the parliament was made public shortly after full moon appeared in the skies on April 2 – and full moon is known to only make it worse for the mentally ill, according to unika_. Seriously, though, she writes:
[…]
They can do re-elections ten times or more, but the result would still be 50/50. Both optimists and pessimists understand this. So what's the point in spending money, distracting people from the work in the fields, stopping the ministries’ work?
[…]
And here is a view of someone who agrees with the president – LJ user skylump writes (RUS):
Hurrah. I'm glad. Yushchenko has made at least one dignified step. I continue to enjoy the story of the parliament's dissolution. Because the elites have to be taught democracy. The old European method, guillotine – or the old Ukrainian method, throwing hetmans [commanders] onto spike – do not fit the spirit of the time. Nowadays, the elites have to be reshuffled and led to bankruptcy during the multiple elections – to make them understand at least something.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Armenia: More Drams · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Armenian Economist reports that more cash is moving around in the Armenian economy.


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Armenia: Run for President · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Think you know how to run Armenia? Then this is the place to participate in a virtual race for the presidency.


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Bahamas: Discussing Slavery and Emancipation · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Nicolette Bethel longs for rational discussion about issues like slavery and emancipation and links to a South African blog that provides a good example of how to go about it:  “We can only dream of such an exchange occurring here. Can’t we?”


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Bahrain: Theatre Day  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain-based blogger Bint Battuta attended a play being staged in Bahrain as part of a festival to mark World Theatre Day.


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Bangladesh: Redefining democracy · Global Voices
Rezwan

Since the declaration of the state of emergency in January 11, 2007 Bangladesh is going through a major political shift. In a graft busting operation more than 150 senior politicians, top civil servants and businessmen have been arrested. The list includes influential ministers from past regime, MPs from the major political parties and top shot businessmen and ex Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's son Tareque Rahman was not spared. With the recent execution of 6 death-sentenced militants, the caretaker government had also sent the message that terrorism will not be tolerated. Sense of sanity prevails in Bangladesh after years of political acrimony between the major two political parties Awami League and BNP. Common people seem to be not much bothered by the suspension of some rights like detainment without charge-sheet and barring criticisms against the government.
While the chief adviser, in effect the prime minister of the Caretaker Government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is the Boss of Bangladesh (as termed by the TIME magazine ), the military backing of the government is more than obvious. There are no shortage of rumors and predictions but the January 11 change was more or less “a bloodless diplomatic coup in Bangladesh” as termed by the blogger Shada Kalo . It is clear that the armed forces do not want to come in front directly for many reasons and this move was tacitly supported by the Western governments.
Blogger Asif Saleh writes in the Himal South Asian writes about this ‘pseudo innovation of an unelected, military-backed government’, which is gaining popular support. He critics the conventional party politics in Bangladesh “If democracy can be manipulated to serve a chosen few, is it practical in developing countries?”
Shah Zaman Mozumder, like many Bangladeshis is impressed with the performance of the Care Taker Government and thinks that it has produced an alternate reality for Bangladesh. He approves the apparent long-time engagement of this form of government:
“What will any of us, the common people gain if these corrupt politicians are allowed to come back to power and start a repetition of the last 36 years? Do we really expect them to reform overnight and become saints? Is it more rational that we should allow the caretaker government to continue its noble task and go for elections only when an enabling environment for democracy is created?”
He even goes a little bit further in proposing:
“The caretaker government to organize a referendum so that we, the people of Bangladesh, can formally show our support for the actions undertaken by the caretaker government.”
But this euphoria of common people is mystified by some remarks of the chief of army of Bangladesh who said the military-backed interim government would build a new brand of democracy to overcome the country’s chronic poor governance. This has prompted a lively debate on this issue in the Drishtipat Blog. People are predicting that he is talking about the Singaporean model of democracy or the Musharrof model of Pakistan.
Bangladesh Watchdog publishes a criticism saying “Bangladesh army chief should be seen but not heard“. Asif Saleh warns:
“History shows that, just as night follows day, military governments that start with a clean agenda end up as part of the problem”
So what is the way out for Bangladesh? Shouldn’t it stick to the form of elective democracy after the transition phase and look at how reforms in the electoral process can be made to make it more effective? The other experiments will risk the navigation of the country in unchartered territory.

author: Rezwan


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Barbados: HIV-AIDS Ad Campaign · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

What crazy looks like wonders about the message a Trinidad-designed ad campaign is trying to send about HIV-AIDS awareness.


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Belarus: Romani Tales · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Olia Yatskevich of Romantic posts Romani tales from Belarus: here and here.


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Bhutan: Movies in Thimpu City · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Visit Bhutan on the only theatre in Thimpu cities that screens movies. “Well, I can still remember the last time i saw a Bhutan movie in the only picture hall or Movie Theater in the Thimphu. The Lugar Theatre which lies in the heart of the Thimphu Town put up the latest Bhutanese Movies and Hindi Movies but with the release of 22 Bhutanese movies last year, the highest since 2000, the 890-seater Lugar theatre in Thimphu is booked for local screenings upto January 2008.”


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Bolivia: Joan Baez and Mimi Farina · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Professor Zero, in her search for Peruvian cuecas, discovers a YouTube video of Joan Baez and sister Mimi Farina singing a Bolivian hymn written by Apolinar Camacho at a performance at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York.

author: David Sasaki


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Cambodia: Election Losers Joining Forces · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Details are Sketchy comments on the news that two of the worst performers in the recent commune elections in Cambodia, ,Prince Norodom Ranariddh and opposition leader Sam Rainsy are joining forces. “This really is beyond pathetic. Out of the 1,621 commune-level positions up for grabs in last Sunday’s poll, Prince Norodom Ranariddh won an impressive total of zero. Even most narcissist could take that hint.”


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Cambodia: Origins of a Cambodian Dish · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Phnomenon is trying to trace the origins of a Cambodian dish called amok trei . At the risk of being “pistol-whipped by a motivated official from the Ministry of Tourism “, the blogger suggests that the dish might have originally come from some other South East Asian neighbor of Cambodia.


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Chile: Two Gunshots Downstairs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“My lifelong quest for cheap rent has taught me a thing or two about gunshots,” foreshadows Chileno. [Warning, somewhat graphic images.]


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China: bmail? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yee blogs about the recent talk of Baidu CEO Robin Lee who claimed that: if they launch Email service,that service must provide unlimited storage.


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China: Google Pinyin Type Input · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yesterday Google released its pinyin type input in China. Keso found out that it could not input “two” by inputing “er”. This is a rather serious bug.


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China: Implications of the “Nail house” case · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Media Project has a nice round up on the media discussion concerning the implications of the Nail house case.


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China: Women Images · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Danwei TV's next episode is a Sexy Beijing show about feminism and International Women's Day in China. Their research is based on 4 major woman magazines in Beijing from March to April 2007.


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Czech Rebublic: Roma in Hrabal’s Work · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Romantic, a TOL-hosted blog on “Roma issues around Central and Eastern Europe,” writes about representation of the Roma in the works of Bohumil Hrabal, a Czech writer.


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Egypt: Bloggers Detained .. Again .. and Released · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

In what has now become the norm, two prominent Egyptian bloggers, along with a human rights lawyer, were detained in custody today and later released.
Another blogger has also been called by telephone to appear at a police station – which he refused to do unless he received official summons. Citing security reasons, this third blogger contacted GV and asked that all reference to his case be dropped.
The two bloggers were Alaa Abdel Fattah and his wife Manal and the lawyer is Jamal Eid, the director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. Alaa has previously spent time behind bars  for his activism.
Washington DC-based Egyptian blogger Nora Younis  announced the developments with alarm, saying that authorities are closing in on bloggers and are continuing escalating the stand off between them.
عبد الفتاح مراد كان قد رفع قضية ضد الحكومة مطالبا اياها بأغلاق 13 موقع ومدونة على الانترنت من المواقع والمدونات الداعمة للحريات، وحقوق الانسان، والتي كشفت وقائع تعذيب المواطنين في أقسام الشرطة مؤخرا وتقود حملات ضد جلادي وزارة الداخلية، وضد الدولة البوليسية، وتتلقى شكاوى المواطنين، وتقوم بعلاج ضحايا العن
بدلا من الاعتراف بالنقل الحرفي، قام القاضي بقلب الطاولة على المدون
Younis also gives us updates on the condition of the detained activists.
تحديث 3:40 مساءا توقيت القاهرة: جاري الآن ترحيل علاء ومنال وجمال الى قسم شرطة الدقي. مطلوب تضامن المدونين والنشطاء بالتواجد أمام القسم
Other bloggers who have reported the incident were Sandmonkey, Hossam El Hamalawy and Malek.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: Hypocritical Historians · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia accuses historians from time immemorial of being hypocrites. “Really we are since the beginning of history big fat hypocrites who only mention their rulers success but not their defeats never , we even change  history to make them appear victorious !!” she writes.


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Former Soviet Union: Blogging “Frozen Conflicts” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow thought it'd be a good idea to start a blog on “the so-called ‘frozen conflicts'”: “I could even just use this blog – ‘Scraps of Moscow’ would in some ways be a perfect name for a blog about these territories, what with their close ties to Russia.” But TOL is already doing something similar at Steady State: “So far, there seems to be just one person posting, but the content is good, especially since as far as I know there is no other English-language blog focusing on the post-Soviet conflicts (Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Transnistria).”


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Hungary: Post Office · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

We've already reported on postal service inefficiency in Russia and in Romania, and now here's a rather typical post office horror story from Hungary, written by Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar: “So, yes I needed one measley stamp, but had to wait forty minutes to purchase it from the little ray of sunshine behind the counter.”


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Hungary: Sports Betting Limitations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar reports that Hungary is required to “change national rules that limit sports betting.”


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Hungary: Statistics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar posts miscellaneous Hungarian statistics: “Did you know 56% of the Hungarian population make home-made jam?”


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India: Veiled Racism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

My Useless Banter on veiled racism. “It makes me so angry when people say racist things to you pretending as if they're not racist at all, and that infact because they're talking to you, it just proves that they're not racist. This guy at my workplace went to India for a holiday and the first thing he said on his return to me when I asked him how it went was, ‘At least, none of us got sick’.”


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Iran:Shirin Ebadi asks for a referandum on nulcear question · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Cyrus Online[Fa] reports Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist, asks government to organise a referendum on nuclear question. She says if the majority of Iranians reject government's nuclear policy, it means they are not going to pay the price for sanctions and military interventions.


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Iraq: Iran Attack Rumours  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogger and journalist Christopher Allbritton, who covers Iraq, disputes newspaper reports that the US will attack Iran on Friday. “Don’t believe it. I’m due to be on board the USS Stennis, believed to be one of the ships taking part in this attack, next week — and it won’t even be in the Persian Gulf. I’m not inclined to believe the US military would be taking reporters on boat rides in the Indian Ocean, for example, just a few days after the start of a new war,” he writes.


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Iraq: On Life in a War Zone · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Mama shares with us the horrors of living in war-torn Iraq here. “To see smashed car, due to explosion ,bomb or other accident, became familiar to anyone go through Iraqi roads. To be in your house , work , school ,or even in hospital church or mosque a very load explosion is something very expected everyday, you might get hurt by the shrapnel, or you could be blessed and only get terrified,” she explains.


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Jamaica: West Indies Team to Blame · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As we enter Holy Week, Idle Yout Speeks is careful not to crucify the Crown Prince of Cricket for the sins of the entire West Indies team: “Let's not be quick to behead the king while we let the headless chickens around him run amok.”


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Japan: Emoticons · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Japan Newbie blogs some mobile and computer emoticons in Japan. If you are interested, there are more from the previous post.


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Latvia: Deportations of 1949 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Very belatedly, here's a link to Peteris Cedrins’ post on Marginalia about the 1949 deportations of Latvians.


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Latvia: Hutcherson’s Visit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marginalia writes about a U.S. pastors visit to Latvia, gay rights and other political issues.


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Latvia, Russia: Border Agreement · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia and Marginalia write about the recently-signed Russian-Latvian border agreement. All About Latvia also comments on the Russian media's reaction.


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Lessons from the Free Kareem campaign · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Even though the “Free Kareem” campaign has not yet achieved its primary goal of getting the 22-old blogger Kareem Nabel Sulaiman released from the prison where he is sentenced to spend the next four years for insulting Islam and the Egyptian president Hosni Moubarek, support for the case is growing rapidly, both online and offline. Even those who may not agree with the things he wrote on his personal blog — or the manner in which he wrote them — are expressing solidarity with Kareem by signing petitions, demonstrating in the streets, blogging about the case and adding his banner to their sites and blogs. Worldwide rallies designed to help “Free Kareem” have taken place in front of several Egyptian embassies around the globe and the case has caught the attention of both mainstream and citizen media.
The role that Global Voices has played in covering, supporting and amplifying Kareem’s case is obvious. Since the beginning, our team of editors and authors have been continuously translating and reporting what their respective blogspheres are saying about the case. As you can see from the next animation, Global Voices has served as source of information for many who couldn’t find sufficient background knowledge and, given the existing cultural constraints and communication barriers across countries, offered a better picture of the situation than many other sources.
The success of the “Free Kareem”more campaign in attracting attention and winning sympathy for the young blogger's case should give new impetus to the exploration of an efficient strategy for supporting all persecuted bloggers and online writers, especially those who, for various reasons, have not succeeded in gaining the attention of the media or the blogsphere. The success of the campaign also makes it difficult to avoid answering some hard questions about the reasons for the overwhelming support it has gained.
Why is Kareem Amer is getting such attention, not just from the media, but also from politicians and people in the street? In a region where the Western media, armed with its familiar stereotypes and clichés, are used to focusing on Islam and religion as the most critical ingredients in any situation, people are asking legitimate question about the motives behind the support  given to the campaign. Is it possibly related to the fact that Kareem was criticizing Islam? Responding to the question, “Why Kareem? What About the Others?”, the activists running the “Free Kareem” blog have given an excellent answer to a question on many people's minds:
There are many people who are going through horrific and unimaginable experiences in prison. Many of these people don’t deserve what they are going through. We do realize this unfortunate fact, we never denied it nor do we consider Kareem more important than the many others in similar positions (…) As for the claim that the Western media is paying particular attention to Kareem and are treating him as a “special figure” because of his anti-Islam stance, this is hardly the case.
The Tunisian blogger Malek, who supported Kareem from the beginning and took part in demonstrations on his behalf in Paris, has tried to understand  the support given to the Kareem case as “selective compassion”, and makes the comparison between the coverage given to the Kareem case and that given to the case of lawyer, internet writer and human rights defender Mohammed Abbou, who – charged with writing online articles criticizing the Tunisian penitentiary system – marked his second year in jail on March 1st, 2007:
Le phénomène de la compassion sélective n'est pas nouveau. Faut-il certainement y voir la prédominance des médias de masses qui ont formaté l'information en la réduisant à des symboles qui ont pour but de susciter de l'émotion. Selon le pays, la culture et l'histoire du consommateur de l'information, sa réaction face à l'information n'est pas la même. C'est donc tout naturellement que pour les médias occidentaux, un blogueur égyptien incarcéré pour avoir sévèrement « critiquer » l'Islam, est beaucoup plus  accrocheur médiatiquement qu'un avocat père de deux enfants, époux d'une femme remarquable, torturer et jeter en prison pour un texte qui dénonce l'état des prisons  tunisiennes et les exactions qui s'y pratiquent. Les médias alternatifs qui ont émergé avec les nouvelles technologies de l'Internet, avaient initialement pour objectif de se soustraire à cette information du symbole et de l'émotion. Mais semblent en fin de compte succomber aux même tentations simplificatrices et stéréotypées.
Selective compassion is not a new phenomenon. At work here one can see the hand of the mass media, which manipulated information by reducing it to symbols in order to raise emotion. News consumers’ reaction vary widely according to country of residence, culture and his or her personal history. It is thus quite natural for Western media to consider an Egyptian blogger, imprisoned for his criticism of Islam, a much more attractive media-bait than a Tunisian lawyer, father of two children, husband of a remarkable woman, tortured and thrown in jail for a text which denounces the state of Tunisian prisons and the exactions which go on there. Alternative media that emerged with information technology and the Internet were initially intent on freeing information from symbols and emotion. It seems that, ultimately, they are caving in to the same temptation: over-simplification and stereotypes.
The bitterness and disappointment with which Malek has expressed the problem may raise a few eyebrows, although it pales in comparison with what is being said and written on blogs and in commentaries on what some are calling a double-standard in defending bloggers and internet writers.
With such a complex mix of agendas and interpretations, however, it is perhaps more constructive to inquire about the “how” of this success. The lessons we can learn from this experience and from previous initiatives adopted by the highly organized and thriving Egyptian blogsphere are many. Here are a few of them:
In the light of these considerations, and in order to understand the logic behind the success or the failure of campaigning, let’s take a critical look at the Tunisian cyber-activism experience over the past six years, (a situation with which I’m very familiar). There is no doubt that the Tunisian activists’ failure to gain the attention of the global blogsphere has partly to do with the fact that  they were seldom active on blogs, in spite of the pioneering role some of them played in the Arab blogosphere.
Instead, they concentrated their activism efforts on dissident websites, newsletters and forums, which prevented them from making connections with blogger communities around the world. These factors, combined with 1) the success of the Tunisian regime in creating an atmosphere of fear – which is too deeply rooted in the Tunisian blogsphere – and in isolating the most outspoken bloggers by censoring them and 2) the apolitical approach adopted by the Tunisian blogs aggregator, which excludes, censors and filters political blogs, don't help the Tunisian activists’ efforts to make themselves heard on the Internet and even within their local blogsphere. All this despite the sweeping crackdowns on the freedom of expression and the human rights abuses in the country.
The most successful episodes of the Tunisian cyber-activism were those conducted in English. It was interesting to see that the Yezzi Fock! – “Enough is enough”- campaign and The Tunisian Prison Map gained more support from English-speaking bloggers and activists than from the French-speaking online community. Moreover, numerous Tunisian bloggers and activists were disappointed to see that the censorship of the yezzi.org web site, was overlooked by the French media and even by the prominent French NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This caused a few Tunisian activists to reconsider the use of French in their initiatives as English online communities have proven to be more supportive, especially after Global Voices Online had spread the word. As Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman put it in his “Talk about advocacy and citizen journalism”:
At our best, we’re an amplifier for voices that might not otherwise be heard. Tunisian free speech activists start a site called Yezzi Fock – which means “We’ve had enough”, expressing their frustration with the Ben Ali government. We call attention to the site on Global Voices. Sometimes, we do a good enough job that other bloggers grab the story, like Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. Other times, we help the mainstream media find stories they otherwise wouldn’t encounter.
Consequently, in spite of the motivations which may have influenced the media coverage of Kareem's case and galvanized worldwide support, and apart from any conspiracy theories one might imagine, an objective examination of the situations shows that the campaign's success was due to several key elements. And above all other considerations, Kareem, like all those who are paying the price of exercising their right to free speech, do deserve support and do need help.
In a future article we shall draw attention to under-covered campaigns and point to specific cases of bloggers and internet writers who need our support. A few of them have been in prison for years, and a few other are being sued or harassed because of what they are writing online.
*We are Iran, The Persian Blogs, by Nasrin Alavi, Portobello Books, London, 2005, p. 344.


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Nepal: Protest Rally · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Photographs from a rally protesting the Gaur massacre at United We Blog! “The focus of the event might have been about the violence in Gaur, but the mood was definitely not. In contrast to the funeral march in Kathmandu, the Maoists at this function seemed a lot less angry, and much more enthusiastic. They were definitely having fun.”


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Northeast Asia: Toxic Sandstorm · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Pauken from Ohmynews writes about the toxic sandstorm in Northeast Asia: Floating dust carrying heavy metal materials from Chinese factories are invading the lungs of people from the Asia Pacific.


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Oman: Health Worries · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Omani blogger Lym  was in for a shock when she went to give blood. She was told she suffered from iron deficiency anemia – a condition triggered by low iron levels in the blood. “This is all to say that my lifestyle has to change as soon as possible and as drastically as possible. I should stop neglecting myself and health,” she notes.


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Oman: Leaving Gulf Air  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Omani blogger Muscati discusses reports that Oman will be pulling out of Gulf Air – once a regional airline but owned by Bahrain and Oman.
“While it is understandable that Oman is thinking about improving its own airline rather than continuing to spend on Gulf Air, which has been an ailing airline for so long that no one really remembers when exactly it was that this company was ever in good health. Still Gulf Air has assets that other regional airlines would kill for: landing rights all and a destination portfolio accumulated from its 50 years of operation that no other startup airline has,” he explains.


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Pakistan: Lawyers Rally · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Islamabad on a rally to protest President Musharraf's removal of Pakistan's Chief Justice. “The rally in Islamabad on Tuesday was the biggest street protest yet in the capital in protest of Musharraf's removal of Ifitkhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the court's chief justice, on March 9. The move sparked the biggest political crisis of Musharraf's presidency.”


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Russia, Central Asia: Russian Diaspora · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light links to neweurasia‘s stories on the Russian Germans and ethnic Russians living in Central Asia.


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Russia: Photos of Beggars · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow lets “Russia's beggars make the point themselves” – by posting their photos.


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Russia: Still More on Begging · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Natalia Antonova responds to La Russophobe‘s recent post at Darkness at Noon: “Babushkas are soft targets. ‘They’re ugly and they smell!’ ‘They liked comrade Stalin!’ ‘They eat boiled cabbage!’ Please. At this point, babushkas don’t owe us shit. And no one, not even La Russophobe, can now judge who was or was not a ‘true Russian patriot’ – considering the full scope of the chaotic meat-grinder that is the babushkas’ history.”


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Saudi Arabia: Phone Pests · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi-based blogger Nzingha regales us with her tales about phone pests and their annoying calls. “What is it with me and these perverts? Are there that many out there that I just can't seem to escape them, even when I don't leave the house?” she writes.


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Sri Lanka: Human Rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews on the regime's defenses about human rights violation wearing thin. “There is no escaping the conclusion that the regime is bent on a military solution to the conflict and that as far as human rights is concerned it is a toss up between a missing gene and being mala fide. On both fronts the regime’s defences are wearing thin.”


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Taiwan: Losheng Walker · Global Voices
Pipper Lee

Inspired from the discussion on HEMiDEMi, macdog created a service called “Losheng Walker” (corresponding to “Taipei Walker“, a magazine which focuses on food and fun in Taipei), using the API provided by UrMap.
This service allows users recommending featured food, drink, and snacks near the Lo-sheng sanatorium. The idea is to demonstrate that the community around the sanatorium may benefit from the reservation of Lo-Sheng Sanatorium, and to alleviate the resistance from the local residents in Hsinchuang City, where the sanatorium is located.

author: Pipper Lee


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Tajikistan: Bringing Treasure Home · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, Vadim reports that Tajikistan's government is trying to convince the London Museum to return the Oxus Treasure, an important collection of Achaemenid Persian metalwork.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Trinidad & Tobago: Caribbean Flowers · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Thebookmann‘s Caribbean Flower Series is a heady combination of compelling photography and interesting tales on each flower's origins.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Quotes of the Week · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jeremy Taylor catches announcers out on their pronunciations and scores two very amusing quotes of the week.


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Tunisia: IMF Evaluation of Banking Sector · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Zizou from Djerba points to [Fr] an IMF report evaluating the Tunisian banking sector and adds: “To my knowledge, no Tunisian press organ has mentionned it.” The blogger echoes the report in expressing concerns about the credit sector.

author: Alice Backer


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Ukraine: Gapchinska · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Olechko writes about works of Ukrainian artist Eujeniya Gapchinska.


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Ukraine: Kyiv Art Galleries · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Olechko recommends art galleries in Kyiv.


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Ukraine: Yushchenko’s Salary · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Taras Kuzio writes about president Yushchenko's earnings: “…I am not the only one who therefore remains skeptical of the President receiving $100,000 in honorariums.”


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Whiskey We’ve Got, But Where’s the Meat? · Global Voices
Luis Carlos Diaz

Venezuela is one of the principal oil-exporting countries of the world. However, petroleum is not edible and, lamentably, Venezuela's national food industry is not able to feed its population. So Venezuela is, since its economy stopped having an agricultural focus at the beginning of the 20th century, a country that imports almost everything it consumes, with the exception of a few internal industries producing basic necessities.
The lack of understanding of how these commercial channels operate means that periodically citizens find themselves with a shortage of some products. From 2006 onward, the shelves of Venezuelan markets and supermarkets have been seasonally empty of things like coffee, sugar, milk, chicken, beef, pork, cheese, sardines, oil, beans, caraotas (black beans, the base of our typical dish), and rice, among others. Other products such as the spare parts of vehicles or some medicines are also scarcely available, as Mario Concha reveals in his article Anorexic Revolutionary.
At the moment, the paradox of a “rich country” without the internal production of basic foodstuffs is highlighted by the increase in the consumption of whiskey. Scottish whiskey is available, and in a tour of the liquor stores of the capital, salesmen report higher sales of luxury items.
The problem of not finding something as basic as sugar, was recounted to the Venezuelan blogosfera months back by Consuelo, who blogs about a cafe he has managed for some time.
Señores NO HAY azúcar y como es eso? … hace poco lei en el blog de takeshi su problema con el azúcar y yo recordé el mío con las caraotas y recuerdo haber mencionado que por doquier en Barquisimeto hay cañaverales…ujum pero ahora no hay azucar…
A greater crisis came to life with the shortage of beef. It was a problem that dominated the front pages of newspapers and street-side conversations, because it directly impacts consumers and thousands of meat markets across the country. The official declarations of a minister who denied the shortage of supplies, were satirized by RomRod in a brief post [ES]:
No hay desabastecimiento. Tampoco hay carne, ni pollo, ni azúcar. Y leche de vez en cuando.
The official measures by the government were to regulate prices of some products, an action regarded by Yosmary as “social justice for all Venezuelans.” It was thought then that the cause of the shortage of basic foodstuffs was due to the fight to control prices and, furthermore, because it caused economic losses to the business class. That was seen as monopolizing and speculation by the production capitals of the country.
In order to end the situation then, the government announced two policies simultaneously: that the organized communities control the salesmen so that they respect the stipulated prices, and to fine, expropriate, or close the meat markets before they themselves, operating at a loss, close down. And so, the country advances towards a process of nationalization of the meat industry. The priest Arturo Peraza denounced in his parish blog the notion that the general population should serve as a “social police” of their own neighbors, or, in this case, local retailers.
La lectura del decreto ley contra el acaparamiento genera la sensación de que la sociedad civil se ha vuelto enemiga del Estado y éste le ha declarado la   guerra. Tal sociedad civil no son los grandes propietarios del capital, sino el bodeguero, los dueños de camioncitos, los carniceros, los   pescadores, los agricultores, etc.
The “persecution announcement” also caused discomfort at the neighborhood watch association “Radar de los Barrios”, which declared to the communities that they would not be made “to do the work dirty of the Government [ES].”
The act of asking the community to denounce the shop owners and causing anxiety in the streets was written about, almost jokingly, by Jeanfreddy who reminds us that many retailers are foreign-born. One Venezuelan characteristic is to turn all news into a joke, but it can quickly become classist persecution with elements of xenophobia. If previously people complained to shop owners saying, “You do not know who you're messing with, you don't know who I am. I am going to close down this joint, Mr. Portuguese. I know the owner of this building and I am going to have them kick you out,” Jeanfreddy writes on his blog Irresponsibility that:
Ahora se dirá boina roja en mano: te voy a echar paja con el Consejo Comunal, portu coño e tu madre!”
That conflict with the meat markets, without understanding the production chain behind it, continues generating chaos with regards to meat consumption. There have also been problems in other sectors like poultry, whose “flight” from the supermarkets caught the attention once again of RomRod.
¿Es que se los llevó alguna nave extraterrestre? ¿o llegó la gripe aviar y nadie nos dijo? ¿o es una víctima más de aquella famosa ley que dice “si no es negocio no lo vendo”? A buena hora se me ocurrió a mí hacer dieta con pechuguita a la plancha.
Apparently, the Venezuelan spirit in times of crisis is to resort to humor. For those who support the government, there is also the use of humor when speaking of the food shortage. One of the economic indicators, as already noted above, has been the increase in consumption. In the last year they were not able to supply all of the vehicles to the automotive market due to such a high demand, and the same has happened in other sectors of luxury items, where consumerism has caused product shortages. Consumption, in a country that is accused from the outside of advancing communism.
Back in December, Luigino warned: “Castro-communism advances in all the forms and colors. We spoke yesterday of how the stocks of car dealerships were exhausted, probably due to the record number of new automobile purchases in our country. Today, it is the cell phone that is hard to come by.” Accompanying his post is YouTube Video from Venezuelan state television in which a group of Chavista comedians make fun of the luxury item shortage. Because today we still lack meat, sugar, and black beans is obtained in the black market.
There are still no answers, and the digital conversation continues. Perhaps, as another blogger mentioned in informal conversation, the shortage of food will help with the strict diets in a country transfixed by beauty.
Translated from Spanish by David Sasaki

author: Luis Carlos Diaz


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Yemen: Widening Secratrian Rift  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogger Jane Novak links to an article which sheds light on a widening rift in the relations between various sectarian and religious groups in Yemen.


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Antigua, Trinidad & Tobago: WICB Job Vacancy  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Wanted by the West Indies Cricket Board: Strength and Conditioning Coordinator.  The West Indies Cricket Blog links to the job advertisement that seeks to ensure “West Indies teams are the best prepared teams so as to create a successful and winning culture.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Arabeyes: Pictorial Tour of the Middle East  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

American couple BSS and BRN, who live in Al Ain, in the UAE, have been busy clicking photographs of their new surroundings, bringing us up close and personal with the beauty of the architectural marvels they see around them.
A special interest is posting pictures of mosques on their blog, which showcase the elaborate architecture and design such places of worship boast. Altogether, BRN has so far posted images from seven different mosques in the town, which is about 120km away from Dubai.
In nearby Saudi Arabia, blogger Mohammed Fares takes us on yet another adventure  into the heart of the desert. This time he takes us to Jebel Baloum – a mountain which is 1045m above the ground at its highest peak and which belongs to the Tuwaiq mountain range.
Fares, who is a geocacher, takes us along with his cousins looking around for his stashes in interesting places.
“I have been to Jebel Baloum twice before through Nissah, to the south of Riyadh, but my cousin Hamad and I wanted to visit the Jebel from the east, i.e., through Wadi (valley) Al Howtah. The place has no shortage of caches and the last time we were there we bagged two caches: Tuwaiqcache and Fifth well. The latter cache is hidden above some old wells sunk into the ground not far from the main mountain. We also bagged part of Adam’s apple.. probably the most demanding and challenging cache in Arabia. Baloum is the Arabic word equivalent to Adam’s apple,” he tells us of his previous adventures.
On this trip, finding the treasure was much easier.
“The landscape is beautiful. A sense of serenity and tranquility surrounds the area. The whole site looks like a piece from another planet like Mars … not that I lived there but good for making a movie here. As we left the valley we noted a natural arch on our left. It’s a rock feature at the tip of Khashm Makrouq and is known to geocachers as the flying arch. We approached the arch and bagged our cache in no time .. easy one,” he notes.
Meanwhile Lebanese blogger Fonzy, who is based in Kuwait, posted this photograph (left) – with apologies to the ladies who may be insulted! I personally don't see why a woman would be insulted when she sees that image. My deepest sympathies to that jilted man/woman who came up with that bumper sticker and all the others who decided to display it on their cars!
While still in dry Kuwait, we stop at a post by Pepsi-Guy  who posts a photograph of  alcoholic beverages which are officially banned in his country under the title: Alcohol Legal in Kuwait! Needless to say, it was a cruel April Fool's Day joke!
Our last stop this week is in Bahrain, where blogger Mahmood Al Yousif  has made it a habit to post a photograph from his garden every Friday. A complete listing of his Friday photographs can be found here.


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Argentina: A Ride for the Climate Ends · Global Voices
David Sasaki

For over a year now we've been following Dave as he has ridden his bike from California through Mexico, Central America, the Andes, and Patagonia as part of his Ride for the Climate. That adventures is now over, writes Dave from Buenos Aires. This last entry is a great look back over the all 15,921 miles of the trip and a review of some of Latin America's environmental issues as global warming accelerate.


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Bahamas: The Evil of Politics · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Bahamian elections are announced, Sidney Sweeting at WeblogBahamas.com laments “the evil that men will do, all in the name of politics.”


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Bahrain: GCC oversight · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Bahraini blogger Mahmood's Den discusses the ills of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and their inability to implement important monetary policy.


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Bangladesh: In Conversation with Ravinder Randhawa · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

black and gray in conversation with novelist Ravinder Randhawa. “British-Asian writers may traverse all the territory from fantasy to reality, chick-lit to crime novels, but, in general, if a novel is by a British Asian author and has Asian characters it is immediately placed in the category of British-Asian novel. Or, additionally acquires the embellishment of ‘a multi-cultural novel.’”


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Bangladesh: Mohiuddin’s Trial · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying on the fairness of trials. “The Bangladesh desk of Amnesty International responded to an enquiry from Drishtipat, a Bangladeshi Human Rights organization, regarding their position on the deportation of convicted terrorist Mohiuddin AKM Ahmed to Bangladesh.”


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Barbados: Sky High Airfares · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On the heels of both the LIAT/Caribbean Star merger and the re-branding of BWIA to Caribbean Airlines, intra-island airfares are the highest they have ever been.  Barbados Free Press worries that “unless this issue is addressed, it will certainly restrict any meaningful growth in travel throughout the region.”


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Belize: Mayan Land Rights · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

History was made in Belize as Mayans filed a Supreme Court action aimed at forcing the government to recognize their indigenous land ownership rights.  Brad Brace calls it “an unusual show in the middle of the morning in the heart of the city, but still, by-standers could be heard shouting support.”


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Bloggers in India Mourn the Untimely Death of Shakti Bhatt · Global Voices
Gaurav Mishra

Bloggers in India have been mourning the untimely death of Shakti Bhatt, who passed away in Delhi last Saturday night after a sudden and unexpected illness. Shakti – who was in her mid-twenties – was the editor of Indian publishing house IBD’s newly launched Bracket Books and the wife of well-known Indian poet Jeet Thayil.
Delhi-based journalist-blogger Jai Arjun Singh has posted excerpts from his informal interview with Shakti, in which her informed-yet-inclusive, warm-hearted attitude towards writers and readers comes alive -
I'm not the first to say that we could do with more narrative non-fiction. It's easier said than done, because writers need advances for research and travel, and few Indian publishers are willing to fork out that kind of money. One can argue that it would be money well spent, especially if they have a marketing plan to back it up, and that bigger publishers should be more open to taking a risk, if there is one. It is a genre that deserves to be encouraged also because of the scarcity of creative journalism in India.
Mumbai-based journalist-blogger eM  – who many believe to be the next big thing in Indian chick-lit – has written a moving post on her friendship with Shakti -
When I think of her, I think of sitting in her living room watching her hula hoop, backwards and forwards, smiling, her hips working, her arms outstretched. “You're a lucky man,” I told her husband once, with all sorts of hidden innuendos at that hula hooping and he smiled at me and said, “I know.”
Delhi-based writer-blogger Nisha Susan has written about her shared dreams with Shakti -
I have only known her a few months but I saw years ahead of us, keeping pace, as we both wrote and conquered the world. I would be published and famous. She would be that strange beast no one has seen before, a successful publisher with impeccable standards and a serious novelist.
Delhi-based desi lit blogger Nilanjana Roy has written a beautiful post about Shakti's infectious vivaciousness -
Jeet and Shakti had one of the most open houses in a city that takes hospitality seriously. Shakti was always at the heart of those evenings, the one who encouraged us to try to use a hula hoop, to do zany writing experiments, to read serious poetry in a seriously unserious manner. She believed in the importance of silliness, and in her company, I found myself letting go, letting my hair down, relaxing into the moment.
Well-known US-based Indian writer Amitava Kumar, Mumbai-based desi lit blogger Peter Griffin, South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) Forum's Arun Venugopal, New York based Indian blogger Anand Taneja, Delhi-based journalist-blogger Shivam Vij and Delhi-based travel writer Lesley Esteves have all written moving posts remembering Shakti.
Finally, friends of Shakti and Jeet have started a blog, Remembering Shakti, and invited readers to leave a remembrance of Shakti, or a word for Jeet.
I never knew Shakti, but from what I have read about her in the last few days, it seems that she was a warm, vivacious and talented woman. My thoughts are with her friends and family as they mourn in her memory.

author: Gaurav Mishra


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China: Timely Sand Storm · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Rosu blogs photos of a sand storm interrupting the speech of the vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) during a tree planting event.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Colombia: Celebrating Internet Week in Medellín · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Noting that BlogsColombia recently organized a successful blogger bash in Bogotá, Juliana Parra and fellow Medellín bloggers are now planning their own event to celebrate Internet Week from May 14 – 18. A Medellín metro blog – MedalloBloguero [ES] – has already been set up.


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Costa Rica, Panama: Nearing Free Trade Accord · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bob Glass says that Panama and Costa Rica will renew talks on April 9 that might lead to a free trade agreement between the neighboring countries.


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Cuba: Dissidents Upset at Spanish Snub · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuban dissidents were insulted that the Spanish Foreign Minister did not meet with them during a recent visit to the island. Blog for Cuba has details.