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Brazil: Visible and Invisible Indians and Scoops · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Brazilian Indians were in the spotlight of world media this week and the local blogosphere has much to say about it. From the images of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, which were ‘leaked’ first in a blog that is now claiming attribution rights for its scoop, to the enraged protest caught on camera against the building of dams along the Xingu River in the Amazon basin where an official of Brazil’s national electric company got slashed by traditional machetes and clubs. Bloggers had different takes from the dominant mainstream media narratives.
Here is the Brazilian GLOBO video of the engineer's encounter with the Indians.
Since the gathering in Altamira, the Brazilian media have focused mostly on the issue of violence. GLOBO included a special report in its extremely popular weekend TV magazine FANTASTICO and here's the text (computer) translated into rough English. As you can see, the focus is on the engineer and the Indians associated with the confrontation and there is very little about the many consequences of building the dam. While the Brazilian mainstream media are preoccupied with the “hot” story, various blogs and NGOs have been struggling to deliver the deeper messages. Encontro Xingu ‘08 provides great coverage of the whole event with in-depth analysis by David Cunningham and lots of wonderful photos by Sue Cunningham. The Xingu Encounter was also reported by International Rivers along with English translations of the declarations of the Xingu Peoples. And here's the (computer) translated final statement of the broad coalition of Brazilian grassroots organizations that are opposing building of th,e Belo Monte dam.
Violence – Vision Share
How interesting that that in the midst of this debate over the proper focus when presented with such strong images of a violent event, Altino Machado, a famous blogger from Acre state in the Amazon region, presented to the world the first images of what could be one of the last isolated tribal groups in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest — the so called, ‘Invisible Indians’.
If you've seen Wade Davis's unforgettable 2004 TED Talk — where he evokes the magic of the world's cultural diversity, and speaks so eloquently about the alarming rate with which cultures and languages are dying — then you might find this photo as heart-stopping as I did. It's so surreal, I thought at first it must be a hoax. But Reuters just picked the story up, and I'm going to assume they did my fact-checking for me. The photo shows members of one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes, who were spotted and photographed from the air in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest near the Brazil-Peru border. Survival International, an advocacy group for tribal people, released the photos on their website and quotes Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior, who works for the Brazilian government’s Indian affairs department: “We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist …This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence.” “What is happening in this region is a monumental crime against the natural world, the tribes, the fauna and is further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the ‘civilized’ ones, treat the world,” Meirelles said. Apparently, more than 100 uncontacted tribes remain worldwide, with half living in Brazil or Peru. Extraordinary.
Unbelievable photo of one of the world's last uncontacted tribes – TedBlog
Extraordinary indeed. It was reported as breaking news at GVO on May 23rd, translated into Portuguese and Chinese, and launched into global awareness via the blogosphere. It took a week for the mainstream media to wake up to the “old news” but the pictures were still amazing and blogs were quick to point out that the media launched its stories without respecting the elementary rules of attribution.
Êta racinha miserável. Espera passar um tempo (cinco dias) e depois publica como se fosse furo deles. Seguem tratando a Amazônia como uma terra exótica, pois não aprofundam na questão que mais preocupa ao sertanista José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Júnior, que é “O começo do fim da Amazônia peruana“. Leiam a mensagem que recebi hoje do jornalista Tom Phillips, correspondente no Brasil do diário inglês The Guardian: – Caro Altino, tudo bem com você? Você tem o contato do José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Júnior por acaso? Um grande abraco. E assim foram dezenas de outros pedidos de contato com o sertanista que atendi por causa da reportagem sobre os índios isolados. Os russos são honestos. Confira aqui. Ou o brasileiro José Murilo Júnior, do Global Voices.
Racinha Miserável – Altino Machado
Altino, até os acreanos! Essa Renata Brasileiro, do Página 20 [leia aqui], é uma voadora. Ela escreveu: “A notícia veio à tona por meio da agência BBC e foi veiculada com destaque em quase todos os jornais on line no início da tarde de ontem. De acordo com a agência, as fotografias foram feitas durante uma missão da Funai, que incluiu um sobrevôo à região isolada”. Estou revoltado com a omissão da fonte correta pela mídia nacional e internacional, mas não poderia supor que seus vizinhos agissem dessa forma.
Tô com Altino e não abro! – Site Chico Bruno
Quem ganhou ou vai ganhar dólares com a divulgação das fotos dos “índios invisíveis” do Acre? Altino Machado, não se iluda. Entendo a sua frustação de jornalista que não foi devidamente citado nas matérias que hoje correm o mundo. Da mesma forma, vejo que o sertanista José Carlos dos Reis Meireles está satisfeito porque o trabalho dele está sendo reconhecido, deu entrevistas para dezenas de jornais e revistas do mundo etc. Mas o que a Survival International (SI) tem a ver com as fotos e o trabalho da Funai? Nada. Mesmo assim a ONG tirou a sorte grande e obteve, com as suas técnicas de marketing, colar o nome da entidade em quase todas as matérias relevantes de jornais e revistas mundiais que publicaram matérias sobre as fotos dos índios isolados, sem ter dado um centavo para tornar realidade o que vimos em primeira mão neste blog e na Terra Magazine.
Devolva os dólares, Survival! – Ambiente Acreano
Altino's blog is really a special source of information on the Amazon, and it is not by chance that his posts are now being featured in Terra Magazine, an innovative online editorial project that also claims a scoop for the pictures of the ‘Invisible Indians’. But while the online media environment still struggles to reach balanced business models, having to deal with so many new webnative variables, we may be witnessing the emergence of a time where ‘scoops’ of the old exclusive kind may not be what really matters. The discursive and flowing conversation of many voices in an open debate with mainstream authoritative media sources may be the kind of collaborative “scoop” we all are seeking right now.
The first steps toward building this new open media environment may be the recognition of the value of all those voices, which could start with simple and easy respect for attribution netiquete by the mainstream media… and bloggers.

author: Jose Murilo


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Burkina Faso: Level four culture shock · Global Voices
John Liebhardt

In The United Kingdom a bit more than a week ago, the Office of National Statistics reported that in the past ten years, nearly two million Britons have moved abroad, making up the second largest emigration in the country’s history. Presently, that means that 5.5 million Britons live in foreign countries. So, what does this have to do with Burkina Faso? It proves a point, a fundamental truth really, about foreigners: They eventually go home. Or at least most of them do. It just happens that in Burkina Faso, a number of foreign bloggers are getting ready to pack up their things and head elsewhere.
Leaving, of course, stirs up a lot of emotions. In a place like Burkina Faso, where many foreigners come to work in the field of development, getting ready to move on makes people philosophic on the nature of their work. Namely, did they do any good for the country?
Take for instance, Jill, from Jill and Markus in Burkina Faso. She’s been one of our most honest – and refreshing – voices from foreigners living in Burkina Faso. Many may be taken aback by some of her opinions, but they can’t knock her turn of phrases. In what may be one of her last posts from Burkina Faso, she doesn’t disappoint.
I've had a fun time being a teacher and teaching. I'll miss the review sessions when I ask a question like “What are the reproductive glands in a man?” and 100 students shout in unison “The testicles!” I'll miss handing back a paper with “Bon travail!” written on the top next to a sticker of a dinosaur and seeing the kid acting like a bad ass, fanning himself with his paper with a cocky look on his face, trying to make sure everyone around him sees his grade. I'll miss the time I got to announce to all the teachers in our end of trimester meeting that the highest scoring student in the class I calculate grades for was a girl and hearing their surprised, pleased reactions. I'll miss when I announce that the highest grade on a test was a perfect score and the whole class claps.

So, I was feeling a little sad when I walked into my last class ever. Luckily, my students are really very thoughtful. They went out of their way to bomb their last test. And in really dumb ways, too. Many of their answers were just the question rephrased. And knowing that I have a million tests to grade, some of them made it easier for me by answering “Why” questions with just “Oui.” And the guys whose tests I graded last blatantly cheated so that the last thing I did as a teacher was to write “Cheating!” in big, red letters on their tests. They're so sweet!
And then there were the students who'd figured out that after being their teacher for two years, I'm not coming back next year. They're the ones who've been stopping by the house to exchange addresses so we can write, who've been very politely carrying my bag to my bike for me after class, and who wished me “Bon voyage!” as I left the classroom. Those jerks, making it hard for me to leave this place.
Before we go on to those leaving, let’s stay with teachers for awhile. As a former English teacher in a foreign country – this one in Eastern Europe – I understand that teaching school is a perfect opportunity to view every level of a given society. As Liz Jordan points out in her blog, Africa and Other Things, education’s perception in the eyes of parents and the rest of society illustrates how a country views its children and the state of its future.
The results from the second trimester at my school were absolutely depressing. Remember: to be considered as passing, a student’s grades must average out to a 10/20, 10 being la moyenne. Now earning 50% of the points here and 50% in the States is not the same thing. In my school in America at least, most kids got Bs (80-89% of points), others got less and some got more. Here, I would say that a kid doing B-level work like that would get about 11 or 12 out of 20. If they make 10/20 as an average at the end of the year they can continue on to the next grade. If they don’t pass once, they repeat the year, and if they don’t pass twice then they can no longer continue at the school. At the end of the second trimester, we had only 30% of our 6th grade students with the moyenne. In the 9th grade class, there were only 5 students (out of about 60) who had the moyenne. The class average for this class was about 7/20. Think about that. That means that for their tests, on average, a student will only earn about 1/3 of the points. At the end of this year these students will take their national BEPC examination to see if they have “passed” the first cycle of secondary school and can continue into high school. How do you think the class is going to do if their grades are this poor?
There are two reasons that results like this are depressing. First, if on average only a third of students will be able to continue in school, the school will not be able to function for long because unlike a free public school in America, most of a school’s money here comes from the students’ annual fees. Without enough students, there’s not enough money to pay teachers, buy supplies, and in short a school cannot run.
The other side has to do with where these kids go if they don’t go to school. They go to the fields or they go to town and look for work. And then they face hard times because there’s just barely any good ways to make money here, let alone good money, and while they’re no longer burdening their families with having to pay school fees, they’re certainly not able to really help their families either. There are still so many families who, even if they had the money, don’t see the importance of education. I don’t mean that they should see the value as an American does. I mean that they don’t seem to really believe that if their children go through school that the amount of money that they’ll be able to make (and therefore use to support the family) will be so much greater than if they had never been to school. If the child is actually motivated then this difference will eventually completely outweigh all the trouble – time and money – that school was.
As Liz finds, the solution is not as simple as you’d think:
This mindset is a real source of frustration for me. Investing in the future is just not something done here by most. Investing in the coming harvest: yes, investing in not angering the ancestors: yes, investing in preventative health care: no, investing in your children’s futures: not really. People are focused on what will go in their bellies tonight and perhaps on tomorrow but you can’t count on much beyond that. Who can blame them? They don’t have a choice. But with school they kind of do have a choice. Yes there will still be many families who simply cannot afford school fees; this I understand. But for other families, maybe if the father went and drank beer less often or bought a less fancy moto or cut down on other frivolous expenses then more families would come up with the means to send more children to school. Finding the money has to start with prioritizing education. Certainly there are starting to be a lot of families who are learning by experience what an asset an educated child can be.
Becca Faso’s classroom worries are in other areas.
How have I been keeping myself occupied lately you ask?? Well, I have been teaching Sex Ed. That's right. Sex Ed. In Africa. In french. Actually the french makes it easier because I don't react when i say things like “muqueuse uterine.” Pleasant. I had to draw lots of diagrams of the reproductive organs on the board for the students . . . in colored chalk. Corpus cavernosum in purple. Oviduct in green. It was a good time. They had many many mis-understandings about the origins of pregnancy which I was very sad about because they tend to become sexually active at young ages here. “Madame, is it true that if you only have sex during the day you won't get pregnant?” “Um . . . no. That is NOT true. The time of day has nothing to do with it.” We talked about STD's and condom use. Family Planning and the menstrual cycle. There are several illegitimately pregnant girls at my high school and I really feel strongly about teaching sex ed. I must admit though, and its difficult to admit this to myself, but I fear that it all went in one ear and out the other and then when it comes down to it they will side with their traditional beliefs. Argh! This is development. You battle mind-sets and points of view and its a lot of work for not a lot of gain. You can give a day-long sensibilisation about the evils of female circumcision (which is illegal and yet still rampant in Burkina) and then have someone approach you and say “Sorry I can't meet your for tea tomorrow. My daughter is getting circumsized.” Wait . . . what?
Let’s get back to those short-timers. For the Dabbler in A Dabbler’s Diary, these past few months have been spent contemplating the age-old question: Have I given as much as I received?
A person whose opinions I value recently suggested that my frustration of feeling that I was not a “good” volunteer came from my inability to decide exactly what kind of volunteer I wanted to be. Was I the well-integrated stranger, the spoiled expat, the worldly writer, or the Peace Corps party socialite? They all seemed attractive choices to me, and so I tried to be all of them at once, or each of them during different phases of my service. I didn't come to Burkina Faso to significantly change anything. I came for the arguably selfish reason to learn, believing it to be the height of arrogance to try to “save” someone without understanding them, but I got caught up in the excitement and peer pressure of my more idealistic colleagues, and in my rush to prove myself I made some incredibly naïve mistakes. In my 2nd year I calmed down, and I tried to focus on organizing activities that would be productively beneficial to my village rather than earn me a mark that I could show off as a badge of my competence. (Please note that I am not accusing all of my fellow volunteers of the same fallacy; many of them have done remarkable work.) Today, only a handful of weeks remain before I take my leave of Burkina Faso and return to the United States. All of my personal goals for joining Peace Corps have been accomplished; what remains is the consuming need to fulfill my part of the bargain — not to Peace Corps, but to the people who have been my neighbors and friends for nearly 2 years. How can I repay them for the things that I learned from them, that they shared with me? This isn't guilt, nor is it charity, that I'm talking about. It is a sense of responsibility.
The ever-organized Burkina Mom stumbled upon a sad truth while preparing her family’s menu four weeks in advance: With the rainy season not yet underway, Ouagadougou’s markets now offer very few vegetables. “I was struck by all the stuff that we don’t have right now (like broccoli, cauliflower, decent green beans, etc) and things that have gotten really dear,” she writes. “Cabbage is still a good value. But it’s hard to build your menu around cabbage day after day.”
Then she noticed something else:
Women walking the dirt roads of Ouagadougou, selling pale yellow cakes from baskets balanced on their heads. These cakes are made of neere powder (from neere tree pods). It’s considered “famine food”- cheap and not very tasty. It’s what you eat when there’s nothing else. This is the first time I’ve seen it being sold in the streets of the capital city.
And, later, she goes on to provide a little more background.
The neere tree(or Locust Bean tree in English) seedpods are gathered and opened. Inside are the small black seeds that are saved and fermented to make the popular soumbala seasoning that goes in almost every Burkinabé sauce. But surrounding these seeds is is a sweetish yellow powder. This is removed, crumbled and pressed firmly into a half a gourd. Then it is popped out of the mold, retaining the dome shape. There's no other ingredients to these “cakes”- not even water and there's no cooking involved. The powder is said to be rich in vitamins A, B and C. I certainly hope it is, because a lot of people are using this a filler in their diet these days. Rice and other grains have gotten so expensive, even city folks are going back to the “wild” foods from out in the villages.
One “cake” costs about 6 cents US (25 fcfa)- quite a good value if you are really hungry
How does it taste? I kind of like it. I think it tastes vaguely like chestnut flour. The texture is a bit creepy, though. Kind of like biting into sandy styrofoam. Valentine spit it right out. Lucky we can still afford rice!
“I've just passed the six month mark of being here in Djibo, and I have probably just officially hit level four of culture shock,” writes Charlie in her blog Blooming Desert. “I mean the one when everything seems more difficult and it feels like my sense of humour is hiding behind a cloud.”
She continues:
I am ashamed to admit that while we live in Sector 1 of Djibo, surrounded by people who can barely afford to buy millet to make nyiiri for their family, millet makes my stomach turn; we live on pasta, meat and vegetables instead. I am supposed to be sharing the love of Christ with these people but we have so much compared to them, that I often feel no better than the rich man with Lazarus on his doorstep. I am frequently unsure of how and when to help. I want to create work and life skills for people, not dependency. I want them to see through us a God who loves and cares deeply for them, not just white tubaakus who give stuff away. It's a constant struggle to do the right thing.
Keith Smith, who writes Under the Acacias, recently had one of his blog posts printed in the June edition of Christianity Magazine about the time he found himself preaching in a local mosque. His version can be found here:
I had been passing the mosque, and the imam was standing in the doorway. “A salaam aleykum,” I called out in greeting.
“Wa-aleykum a salaam,” he replied. I approached, we shook hands, and we went through the normal greeting sequence, asking after each other’s health and family.
“Toy njaata?” (“Where are you going?”) he asked.
“I’m just off to talk with people about the story of ennabi Iisaa Almasiihu.” Fulani Muslims know ennabi Iisaa Almasiihu (the prophet Jesus Christ) from the Qur’an, and hold him in high esteem.
The imam welcomed me into the mosque. I kicked off my sandals at the door, and went in. There were about half a dozen local men sitting in a group on mats in one corner, their backs propped up against the mud-brick walls and pillars of the mosque, the inevitable pot of Arab tea simmering away in the background.
“Bismillah!” the imam repeated, “Haalu!” (“Speak!”) The other men turned their eyes expectantly to me, waiting to see what this strange white man had to say.
In fact, Muslims and Christians share a lot of common ground, much more, say, than with the atheistic materialism of modern western society, so dominated by the pursuit and abuse of wealth, power, and pleasure that Christ so strongly criticised. This is not to deny the fundamental differences between the Christian and Muslim faiths, but our stories and moral values have a huge amount of overlap that comes from sharing some common roots.
So I began with what we held in common:
“We know that there is one God.”
“Wallaahi! Goonga!” (“In the name of God, it’s true!”)
As we end, and some of us say goodbye to Burkina Faso, let’s go back to an anecdote from Liz Jordan and her blog Africa and Other Things:
My dear neighbor Oued was very sick. Danny brought him some leaves. He told him to boil them and drink the resulting liquid. Leaves do everything here it seems. You eat some because they taste good. You put others around the house to keep away snakes or sorcerers. Others you drink to heal your body – but these rarely taste good at all.
“Even snakes do this!” Danny asserted to me.
“That’s impossible Danny,” I told him.
“Uh uh, I saw it! In Cote d’Ivoire! With my own eyes!” he assured me.
“Ok what happened. I’m listening.”
“Two snakes, big ones, gros gros,” he held up his hands wide apart. “They were fighting to decide who was the stronger one. They fought and fought and one snake won. The other was very weak and just laid there. The winner left and brought back leaves for the other one to eat.”
“Snakes have no hands, Danny. What did he get the leaves with?”
“A noore. His mouth.”
“Oh.”
“And the weak snake got better.”
“I see. Then what happened?” I asked.
“We killed both snakes, of course,” he said plainly.
“Oh.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: John Liebhardt


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Cambodia: Freedom of Flying · Global Voices
Tharum Bun

Educated in France to be an engineer, Santel Phin spent two years in Paris, one of the most romantic cities in the world.
In Cambodia, the 31 year-old Santel presently works at Phnom Penh International Airport for he likes terminal and pace of busy people.
Born in Kratie, the first province overtaken by Khmer Rouge forces, Santel, in recent years, writes mostly about literature and history. Much known as Khmerbird, he's a prolific writer who has gained attentions from visitors to his Weblog for his short stories, written in local language, Khmer. In 2005, Santel won the 2nd prize of the Nou Hach Literary awards for his 25-pages short story ‘Katouch’.
“Khmerbird is not simply a pen name, but it's also a freedom symbol for me. I dream of becoming a Cambodian independent writer, wrote Santel.”
from right: Santel Phin (much known as ‘Khmerbird’)
Here's my email interview with Santel. He discusses how uses Weblog to publish his love fictions and to connect with his readers.
Is Khmerbird your pen name or nickname?
Khmerbird is not simply a pen name, but it's also a freedom symbol for me. I dream of becoming a Cambodian independent writer. I found Khmerbird would be the only pen name that I could use in all my writing. If people really want to find out who I am, there's always a way. I have my personal profile at http://khmerbird.com, so people can find out who really I am.
When did you start blogging? Why?
I started blogging a few years ago, maybe since 2006. The first reason is to publish my writings and share my interest in literature, books, movies, and music on the Web. When you got passion in anything particular, you always want to share it with the rest of the world; I guess I am not the only one. I also start to know people, especially bloggers in Cambodia. It's always fun to share our daily life activities. So you might find many other topics more than my writings at khmerbird.com.
What do you like most about blogging?
A blog, when comparing to the old day, is a diary. So when something comes to your mind, you blog about it. What I like most about blog is that we share information: news, events, party or anything else with our friends as well as other bloggers. They can always come around and find something new whenever they have time.
What do you blog mostly about?
I like reading books and watching movies; beside my short stories, I share my views on new films and new books, not to mention photos from my trip and party. I blog mostly about everything; anything that matters to me I'd blog about it.
What is your most memorable blogging experience?
When I want to move my blog on wordpress.com to a new web host server. It was a nightmare. I could no longer stay on wordpress.com, there's no freedom; when your blog grows up, the room becomes too small. But when you have your own self-hosted WordPress blog, you start from scratch. You are on your own. I spent a lot of time to launch khmerbird.com; it took two weeks of delay, the site was completely down. Yet I'm not satisfied with the current version. I want to have a section for Cambodia related news; I might need to set up customized news feeds and display them on my blog sidebar.
What do you think about blogging/bloggers in Cambodia?
Blog is a basic platform to share information. In the last couple of years, a lot of new Cambodian bloggers (also known as Cloggers in Cambodia) are joining, and it's a positive way of keeping in touch among Cambodian people. There are many young talented people using their blog to discuss all issues, from social problems to personal stuff. It's a way to express idea. And it's good to see Cambodian people starting to express their ideas.
What are your favorite blogs?
Blogs I usually visit are:
http://kalyankeo.blogspot.com/
http://www.xwanna.com/
http://jinja.apsara.org/
http://tharum.info/
http://ijajaja.com/
http://boran.wordpress.com/
http://naraths.wordpress.com/
http://naryphing.wordpress.com/
http://www.khmerlyrics.com/
As a blogger, what's your dream?
I want my blog more sophisticated to provide more useful information to visitors from around the world, and to have it as a new Cambodia face. My dream is to have more visitors, 1000 visitors per day.
You're an engineer by education and profession, but you also write short story. What inspires you?
There's always something disturbing me. Everyday I see a traffic policeman takes money from a truck driver or a motor driver when I'm on my way to my office. At hospital I see doctors and staff only take care of patients who give them money; school teachers sell candy to schoolchildren in class to get extra money… I usually write about something that disturbs me. So what I have in my story is recreation of those things and change them to a different way. Sometimes I shock people in an insane way (in a dramatic way), so that after people read my story I could give them a flash of light, making them to see what they don't really see or care about.
Among all your short stories, what's your favorite one? And why?
I like my latest short story, ‘Malai – Story of my secret lover’. It is a well-organized short story, comparing to the previous ones. The story title is a touching one, and it is very difficult to find a simple way to describe it. It's an insane story. How could a virgin girl come to you and give you her virginity without asking?
So I began to find way to tell the story. The first draft has only 4 pages. People who read the first draft will throw the papers into the bin. It's a trash. It's insane and not realistic. I always work hard when I write the story because I want it realistic. I kept working on the first draft as I started adding things, creating the events, and inviting more characters. There had been a lot of changes from the first draft to the final one. The story is still the same, but everything started to make sense to people. And I paid attentions to arrange the conversation, so that people know who is speaking, and what are the character modes, not to mention their reactions when they're talking. I've never paid such attention in my previous works.
I like the story when every character in the story got their reason and responsibility for what they are doing, and in this one, I have tried my best. And I've learned so much when I was writing this story. I hope people will love to read it.

author: Tharum Bun


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China: 4-years Old Earthquake Pictures · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fang Li from mindmeters posted three pictures drawn by 4-years old children who survived from the Sichuan earthquake.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Donation Pressure on Multinational Companies · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a report from Southern Weekend about the public pressure on multinational companies regarding earthquake donations.


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China: Earthquake Propaganda · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lao Sun from my1510 criticized the post-earthquake propaganda in creating a savior image of the Chinese Communist Party [zh].


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China: Open Letter to Plainclothes Police · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zeng Jingyan wrote an open letter to plainclothes police demanding them not to harass her neighbors and her kids [zh].


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China: Sharon Stone on Earthquake · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lam Kay pointed out that the mainstream media had mistranslated[zh] Sharon Stone's comment on Sichuan earthquake and caused a lot of misunderstandings in the Chinese world.


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Guinea-Bissau: Experimental Theater Group · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“Guinea-Bissau is a sui generis country, because people's talents are in the most unexpected fields. Theater is one of them. Here is our word of encouragement to the Bissau Experimental Theater group, established in  2005″, Jorge Rosmaninho [pt] congratulates the group for establishing itself and hopes for its international recognition.

author: Paula Góes


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Hong Kong: Two Songs on Sichuan Earthquake · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Florence posted two music videos written for Sichuan earthquake victims [zh].


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Japan: Tokyo in 1935 · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger mojix links to a film [ja] posted at YouTube showing Tokyo in the year 1935.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Lebanon: Palestinian Children’s Exhibition  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese Rania Masri writes about a photography exhibition by the children Palestinian refugees, living in camps in Lebanon. “500 cameras were placed in the hands of 500 children in all the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon,” she explains.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Lebanon: The Doha Agreement · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Lebanese political leaders who met in Doha under the patronage of the Emir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani reached an agreement last week. The full text  of the agreement was posted by Blogging Beirut among others. As a result of the Doha Agreement the Lebanese parliament convened and elected a new president. The new president, Lebanese Army Chief, General Michel Suleiman , got 118 votes of the 127 members of parliament present. The total number of parliamentarians in Lebanon is 128. Mr. Fouad Saniora was re–named as prime minister and is now in the process of forming his cabinet. The Doha Agreement also led to the lifting of the sit–in that was staged by opposition parties in downtown Beirut. This sit–in began on December 2006. Most Lebanese bloggers’ reacted critically and with disappointment to this agreement. Following are some reactions from the Lebanese blogosphere:
Tears for Lebanon  begins his post by cheering the deal and then posts updates of the process that lead to the agreement:
Beirut – Lebanon is where the action will be after a deal was reached yesterday to end the political crises in Lebanon. Finally Lebanon this week will have a president and the tent city will disappear … hurray …what a break …The Lebanese will never forget Qatar.
The agreement was considered by many as another “no victor and no vanquished” deal struck by Lebanese parties. Ms Levantine  disagreed and listed the victors, the vanquished and the “fooled people”:
All hail the historic Doha Agreement, a major triumph for our ruling kakistocracy. The common wisdom is that the result was another “no victor and no vanquished” Lebanese achievement. Nothing can be farther from the truth as there are obvious winners and losers. […stating who the victors, vanquished, the writer also states that the destroyed are the people:]
The result of Doha is that we the People got fooled again, no surprises here. The only consolation is that we were offered a truce of a couple of months before the next round of fighting. We should use this opportunity to start a debate or a political movement to articulate a new vision for our country and come up with ideas that can work on a national level, a program that will act as the tide raising all the boats at once instead of just concentrating on isolated sectarian ones.
Time is running out.
Jeha's Nail  saw the problem in “the Arms” that are not monopolized by the State. This issue that was not discussed in the agreement in Doha says Jeha, who continues:
This is no mere Second Amendment issue; in Lebanon, the weapons are THE only issue, and should be monopolized by the State in a law-abiding country. As such, the agreement signed was nothing but an act of surrender to Hezb&Co, thereby confirming their takeover of Lebanon. The valiant leaders went after the crumbs Nasrallah left them, discussing electoral arrangements, ignoring the work their commission did.
Nihil Declaro  saw the agreement as futile as trying to “plug a bullet–ridden water tank, one hole at a time’:
I know I know I vowed not to get mixed in all this, but certain liquid spirits have a power of change. To use common internet parlance, I'm LMAO at how happy some friends are with the current solution. These solutions are as effective as trying to plug a bullet-ridden water tank, one hole at a time, instead of replacing the tank. Ok, bad simile, but it's hard to wax poetic prose knowing that every time a solution breaks, tens if not hundreds of people get killed.
I'm willing to open a pool on how long it will be before it does break. Any takers?
Jamal’s   sarcasm was pointed at the fast flip–flopping of hate then love among bickering Lebanese parties:
I think it's time I lift my self imposed gag order. I'm a person who lives in a state of denial. I could not handle the Lebanese week of honesty. People expressing their feelings freely was long overdue in Lebanon, and what do you know; all it took was a few days of open hatred and then  a la Emeril Lagasse … Baam a group hug to heal all.
In the Middle of the East  reports about the agreement and how it coincided with the Turkish mediated Israeli peace talks with Syria:
And so… 17 months after the opposition first demanded it, and through escalating their struggle consecutively from political pressure (pulling their ministers out of the government in december 2006) via civil disobedience and economic pressure (tent city in downtown Beirut since January 2007 and blocking the airport and airport road last week) to violent street action (also last week), they have finally succeeded in getting a blocking third in the government. It has been decided in Doha, Qatar, that a national unity government will be formed containing 16 M-14 members, 11 M-8 members and 3 further ministers to be appointed by the new president, current army chief of staff general Suleiman, who will be formally elected this coming Sunday. Coincidentally, the Israeli government has announced virtually simultaneously that they are now officially engaged in Turkish-mediated peace talks with Syria.
MFL  wrote about the lessons that the shocked and disappointed “civil society” should learn:
As for the Civil Society, well they were knocked in a shock and didn’t know what to do. A lot thought that their years of "long-term projects", "democratization Lebanon", and "lobbying" went down the drain. Well guess what, it taught them two lessons:
One, no person can assume carrying his/her principles from abroad and just apply them in Lebanon without understanding its history, problems, and ignore the situation of the region.
Two, they spent quiet a while on law reform and hit the wall. The ones with the real bargaining chips are the key-players.
Voices on the Wind  criticized the need for foreign mediators and saw it as a “testament to the failure of the current Lebanese political and social culture.”:
For one, nothing could hide the fact that this is just another piece of strong evidence that our consensual sectarian democracy is a disaster. In fact, even if (especially if?) we disregard the shameful coup, raids and counter raids that plagued the prelude to Doha, we have to realize that it took the Arab league, the Qatari Emir, all his relationships with regional and international powers, and no small amount of cajoling and hard diplomacy to forge a deal that can only be objectively viewed as a defeat to Democracy first and perhaps to March 14 – but only as a distant second.
That our country needs foreign mediators to resolve a national crisis is a testament to the failure of the current Lebanese political and social culture. That even then, no serious issues were solved in Doha, but only a power sharing agreement was reached is a testament to the lack of a will for progress and a consecration of the patronage mentality that has plagued us for centuries. That most of the terms of the agreement are easily in favor of the opposition is a testament to the usefulness of possessing arms and using them to forge a political agreement that is favorable.
Besides Beirut   saw the agreement as a “placebo” that has resulted in an election law that will reproduce the same political class that was responsible for the crisis:
The Doha meetings were less of a “shock treatment,” as they have been called, and more of a placebo – no doubt brought about by regional occurrences whose contours are yet to emerge. If I have been harping on obsessively about the electoral law, it is because if the other aspects of the agreement have momentarily brought us back from the brink, it is the electoral law that will serve to reproduce the political class that will take us back to the brink.[…]
If I were into conspiracy theories, I would say the political elite engineered the whole crisis to reproduce themselves the way they did in Doha. But this is not a conspiracy. It is a farce. If it is making many Lebanese happy, it is because the only alternative they are being offered by their leadership is even worse.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Mozambique: Beat the prices rise, get a bike! · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“With the increase in the price of petrol, it is very clever to begin thinking about getting the old bike out of bottom of the garage. There are only advantages. It does not pollute, and it also saves you a lot on gym (fees)”. Go to Toix [pt] blog to see the amusing picture he used to illustrate this post.


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On the return of the victims of xenophobia · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“Ultimately, we have not yet reached the time when the South African government will acknowledged, unequivocally, its responsibility for this whole issue. With empty thoughts and a huge incapacity for self-criticism (as a first step), the South African regime, apparently, carries on burying their head in the sand.” Agry [pt] comments on the news of the return of the victims of xenophobia to Mozambique.


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Plastic bag plan takes effect in China · Global Voices
Kelly Proctor

Starting June 1, the Chinese government's country-wide plan to make shoppers pay small fees for plastic bags, and to forbid the production of ultra-thin bags will take effect. The move should save China 37 million barrels of oil a year. NGOs have been into the act earlier, pushing for relief from the ubiquitous plastic bag — Chinese use over 3 billion such bags every day.
The bag ban has been spreading throughout the world over the past couple years, popping up in places like San Francisco and England, and others. Such a proposal appeared in the southern city of Shenzhen last year, and even earlier in a city in the southwest China province of Yunnan has even tried to control 白色污染 (“white pollution,” or plastic pollution) starting five years ago with such a ban, with favorable
results.
On Chinese-language environmental BBS boards and blogs, news of the plastic bag ban has been a hot topic since it was announced in January. Many netizens are supportive, others concerned; below are some excerpts.
Blogger Liu KenPeng on Sina.com writes:
看到这个消息，真是 BIG FAST PEOPLE HEART（大快人心）啊！
记得在评论人类历史上最糟糕的发明时，塑料袋耻登榜首。这东西最可怕的地方，就是自然界没有办法分解.
When I saw this news, it really was most gratifying!
In discussing the most terrible invention in the history of man, plastic bags are the worst of the worst. This thing's most scary aspect is that it has no way to decompose in nature.
Others seemed nervous about the ban's implementation. One netizen posts on Baidu.com:
这其实是一个很严峻的问题.而且实际实施中必然重重困难.
从消费者的角度来看,增收塑料袋费,对于比较节俭的家庭主妇来说,为了最大限度的得到利益,对一些额外的不必要的物品的消费就自然减少.消费减 少，商场的利益减少，不排除某些无良商家谋私利私自提供免费塑料袋，消费者的了便宜，特别是一些素质不高的人，自然是你不说，我不说，大家心知肚明。所谓 上有政策，下有对策。环保目的最终仍不能实现。
This is a rather serious issue, and the implementation will be difficult.
From the consumer point of view, for housewives, in order to maximize their interest, they will reduce  spending on unnecessary items. It will affect the interest of shopping malls. Some irresponsible businessmen may provide free plastic bags. Consumers, especially those without environmental conscious, will accept that. We have policy on top, but people have their own strategies, and environmental objective still can't be accomplished.
Qianyuyu at Bjelf.com, the online Beijing environmental law forum, writes:
关于购物塑料袋不应该收费,而是应该限制使用!
从六月份开始,消费者在超市购买东西,使用塑料袋商家要开始收费了.这一政策不知道政府经过听证没有.如果开始收费,在这物价非涨的年月,老百姓的消费支出无形当中又增加了.这给老百姓带来的生活压力,不知道政府考虑过汉有.
为什么政府不出一个限制使用的办法,比如,每个购物都只能免费使用一个,想用第二个就是付费了了而动不动就是收费.塑料袋收费不是便宜了商家吗?现在大多数老百姓都是在超市购买生活必须用品.每一个都收费,会给商家带来多少利润.
…should limit the use of plastic bags rather than collecting fee.
Consumers need to pay for the plastic bags in supermarket starting from this June. I wonder if the government had any public hearing on such policy. As the inflation rate has been very serious this year, the fee would add pressure to ordinary citizen. I wonder if the government really thinks this through.
Why doesn't the government adopt a policy to limit the use. For example, everyone can get one free plastic bag and has to pay for the second. The policy of plastic bag fee will only favor the business people. People are buying necessary items in supermarket, with the fee, the business will gain extra profit.
On the Baidu.com BBS, others wondered if the small fee for plastic bags would even make a difference:
1   塑料袋才3毛一个,太便宜了.
基本上不会有什么影响嘛!
2   回复：塑料袋才3毛一个,太便宜了.
馒头1元3个 现在成2个了 你说有没有影响
1 Plastic bags (fees) will only be 3 mao, that's too cheap
Basically there will be no influence!
2 Reply: Plastic bags (fees) will only be 3 mao, that's too cheap
Steamed buns were 1 RMB for three, now it's down to two   Now tell me if that's influenced anyone

author: Kelly Proctor


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Russia: Medvedev and 1999 Apartment Bombings · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lex Libertas links to an op-ed calling for president Dmitry Medvedev to start a new investigation of the 1999 apartment bombings in Russia.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Syria: Golan Cherries for Export  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Syria, Sasa writes: “Syrian farmers living under Israeli occupation have asked Israel to allow them to sell their cherries inside Syria. Living under occupation means they can not travel to Syria or visit their families, and they certainly can't send shipments of their produce into Syria.”


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Ukraine, Russia: Personae Non Gratae · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On May 12, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was declared persona non grata in Ukraine, following his calls for Russia to take ownership of Sevastopol, a Ukrainian Black Sea naval port. (Earlier GV translations about the incident are here and here.)
On May 15, Russia denied entry to Vladyslav Kaskiv, one of the leaders of the 2004 protests in Kyiv and member of the Our Ukraine/People's Self-Defense faction in the Ukrainian parliament. Kaskiv was traveling to Moscow to participate in a TV talk show, in which his opponent would have been Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
LJ user varfolomeev66, a Russian journalist, compared the two cases (RUS):
Feel the difference
Today, Ukrainian MP Kaskiv was not allowed to enter Russia. It appears to be a rather adequate response to Ukraine's decision to ban mayor Luzhkov.
But let's pay attention to the details and consider just how it was done in each of the cases.
1. […] Luzhkov had been warned in advance (in written form!) about unacceptability of “extremist speech.” […] Kaskiv was detained at the airport without any prior warning.
2. We know well about the reasons for attacks on […] Luzhkov: his doubts on whether Sevastopol belongs to Ukraine and his threats to annul [the 1997 Russian-Ukrainian “Big Treaty” on friendship and cooperation]. What […] Kaskiv is guilty of is not known, however; the official explanation only states that he “presents a threat to security” – but what's behind that?
3. […] Luzhkov's persona non grata status was announced by a totally real [Security Service of Ukraine] employee, Maryna Ostapenko. About […] Kaskiv, no official representative (whose actions could then be appealed] has made a statement, and all accusations against him were attributed to “sources” in the border control service and Sheremetyevo [Airport].
Doesn't look like a big deal. But in reality, it shows the principal differences between the two regimes. The Ukrainian one, where officials have to explain themselves to the public and the media, and take responsibility for their actions. And the Russian one, where state employees are free to take any decisions they like without providing any kind of coherent public explanations.
This, among other things, is why Ukraine is labeled as a “free country” in international rankings, while our [Russian Federation] is “not free.” All is obvious and justified. And it is very sad.
Here is part of a discussion following this post:
salatau:
And Kaskiv is like a saint, right?
varfolomeev66:
It's possible that he is indeed some terrible enemy of Russia. But I, as a citizen, would like to know: what kind of threat, exactly, he poses and what crimes he has already managed to commit. But there are no explanations. Perhaps, because there is simply nothing to accuse him of?


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South Africa: Bloggers need to do more than just write · Global Voices
Muhammad Karim

A few South African bloggers are thinking about positive steps to take with regard to the current xenophobia crisis in South Africa. Stii asks, “What can we as bloggers do about the Xenophobia crisis?” and Mike Stopforth calls on South African bloggers to do something. Meanwhile, Afrigator has launched a special Xenophobia Crisis Page.
Stii writes:
So I just read Mike’s call for help. Mike is so damn right. We’re all sitting on our asses behind our computers and saying things like “shame, poor foreigners” [sic] while we do the sum total of zero.  Great bloody help that is, hey?!
I’ve though of this idea for a long, LONG time now, but I do not have a clue how to instigate such a thing, nor do I have the know-how of how it works. My idea is to have like a trust fund, NGO or something to which bloggers/technology people can contribute to financially. I’m more than willing giving money to any organization, but it would be nice to do it collectively as an organization I believe in, like this blogosphere I belong to. I do know that this is a fairly touchy subject and might well be a shitload of work, but I’d like something like this to happen!
Bloggers need to do more than just write:
Yesterday I wrote about how I felt we needed to do something more as bloggers (i.e., more than just write) about the xenophobia crisis in our country. I’ve had numerous responses, Stii came up with some suggestions and I also gather that a march has been organised.
I’ve also just received an email from my friend Dion Forster, who is a prolific blogger, respected leader in the Methodist church and a Mac and Vespa evangelist to boot, referring to his blog post from today. This hopefully provides you or your company with another practical avenue for contributing to the situation…
SA Rocks finds a list of things that South Africans can do to help foreigners:
Here’s a list I found from a facebook group:
Speak with your local councillor, individually or in a group, and ensure that (s)he calls a ward meeting to condemn violence.
Start conversations with family members, friends, neighbours, colleagues, fellow learners and students, etc. about xenophobia and violence and about taking a public stance against it.
Call a meeting at your place of work and organise a discussion on the violence and on xenophobia.
Join your community policing forum and ensure that the CPF acts to protect foreign nationals and anyone else being threatened or targeted in your area.
Report any agitation or threats against foreign nationals or groups of South Africans to the police.
Check with police stations, community centres and churches sheltering victims of violence on what material donations are needed, and donate blankets, food and clothes, as needed.
Participate in any public forums you can access, including calling into talk radio shows, public meetings, writing letters to newspapers, etc.
My Afritude blogs about “The SA Bubble Divide”:
After chatting to people I think that bubble has got bigger because certain sections of the population are ‘shutting down’ from communication and what’s happening around them in order ‘to cope’… How much can people take with the constant reports of corrupt officials, lack of leadership, greed, crime, violence, rape [including children] etc etc. it all seems to have just got too much for some to bear.
….
No matter what anyone says, the recent events have shown that this time, we are very much part of the ‘pity box’ that is seen as Africa and we clearly don’t have the tolerance or control we should have for our African brothers and sisters or their children. Even when our people [in years gone by], have been hosted by other African countries in their time of need. Someone mentioned the government is to blame for allowing poor communities to be burdened with more poverty. I agree with that, but we as South Africans still have a choice, why such violence?
Waiting in Transit wonders, “How could this happen in South Africa?”:
This xenophobia problem is getting way out of hand. What the mainstream media has failed to give significant coverage to though, the climate of fear which is being created across the country. This is not only facilitated by the violence which is spreading from province to province and town to town. Just this weekend, one of my friends whose family is originally from Malawi couldn’t leave his house because his dad was getting death threats over the phone.
This aspect is very scary, so many expats from other countries who I work with and deal with on a daily basis are now forced to keep low profiles so that people won’t hurt them or their families. It’s even gone to the point where these “Xenophobics” are using the Zulu language to distinguish whether a person is a foreigner or not. Many South African citizens are now being attacked because they don’t speak Zulu and hence are regarded as immigrants.
An Update from the Waiting in Transit blog highlights the United for Africa site which was launched using a mashup of Google Maps so that the xenophobia attacks can be tracked live and anyone can report further attacks in the country.
Fred publishes statistics regarding foreigners in the country:
Was interested to find out that most of visitors to our beautiful country were from our own continent. According to Eighty-20, out of the 779,094 tourists and visitors to South Africa in February 2008. 549,428 were from Africa. 69% of urban South Africans agree with the statement ‘Immigrants are a threat to jobs for South Africans, they should not be allowed into the country,’ and two thirds of South Africans agree with the statement ‘Most of the problems in South Africa are caused by illegal immigrants / foreigners.’
I think this is also interesting: The number of people the ANC brought back from exile at the end of apartheid was between 13,000 and 16,000.
What must the inhabitants of those countries be thinking now?
In The News changes focus onto how the attacks in South Africa are affecting Robert Mugabe:
Before the attacks took place, the focus was on how the runoff vote in Zimbabwe would pan out amidst the current violence that was taking place in Zimbabwe. The violence in Zimbabwe was getting worse in the build up to the runoff vote with the ruling party being accused of causing the violence so that they strike fear in the country and get people to vote for Mugabe in the runoff vote. There had been calls from the opposition MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, for there to be international monitors for the vote and for there to be UN troops in the country to ease the violence. The SADC region where all looking very closely at Zimbabwe to see what the outcome of the runoff vote will be but now they have to cast an eye on South Africa and Zimbabwe. Mugabe would feel much more comfortable with only one eye on him instead of having both eyes on him. With only one eye on him he may increase the violent attacks on opposition members and maybe find a way to rig the election result.
Mugabe now also has the luxury of turning to the South Africa government and telling them to keep quiet about commenting and trying to interfere with Zimbabwe, until they can sort of the mess in their own country being caused by the xenophobia attacks.
A blog at the University of Cape Town gives information on how the university is undertaking intiatives to help those affected by xenophobia attacks, offering help in a variety of ways:
There are a number of other initiatives underway, such as establishing a register of staff who can provide emergency accommodation for staff and students who may be displaced by the violence, the issuing of statements beyond simple expressions of outrage, the harnessing of analytic, intellectual and professional skills residing in the University community and the mobilisation of networks to bring political pressure to bear. In addition, students and staff are asked to raise issues of xenophobia among peers and in other contexts where challenges to attitude and practice can be effected.
The current situation seems to have stabilized, however there are still foreign nationals living like refugees and in need of desperate help.

author: Muhammad Karim


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Armenia: Children’s Day · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped says that International Children's Day, marked worldwide on 1 June, took on a more political tone in Armenia this year with the families of detained opposition activists staging a protest yesterday near the General Prosecutor's Office and United Nations building in downtown Yerevan. The blog calls on the Armenian Government not to make declarations about the right of the child, but to instead comply with demands from international bodies to release their fathers, many of whom were detained only for their political activities.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Blogger of the Week: Rebekah Heacock · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Global Voices author for Uganda, Rebekah Heacock spent two weeks in the capital city Kampala back in 2006, and decided that she needed to return for a longer period of time.  When she did, in addition to teaching at a local orphanage, Rebekah was program coordinator with the Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA).  The non-profit organization brings young people from the United States and Uganda together for conferences and activities. This experience provided the opportunity to see different sides of the country and brought many new experiences.
During the extended time in this new country, she began to blog.  Her blog is called Jackfruity (read here about a description of the jackfruit).  “I started writing about local politics and my experiences there as a way to process what I was doing, and then I started getting comments from Ugandan bloggers and reading their blogs. The diversity of the Ugandan blogs that she read was certainly interesting,” said Rebekah.
I love the blogging scene in Uganda.  It's small compared to those in Kenya and Tanzania, which I think affords it a special sense of community.  At the same time, it's wildly diverse — on any given day my Google Reader holds posts from an avowed communist, an archbishop, a local journalist, a creative writer, a university student and the wife of a development worker.
Regularly writing and reading other blogs led to starting to write for Global Voices Online in May 2007, when the previous author moved back to the United States. The entire process of finding a topic and discovering different viewpoints is also interesting, “You never really know what you're going to get, which makes writing regular round-ups both entertaining and challenging.”
The virtual exchange between bloggers and their readers would help strengthen the blogosphere, but a desire emerged to meet one another in person. Together with blogger Josh Goldstein, it led to the launch of a successful and regularly scheduled event called the Ugandan Bloggers Happy Hour.
Ugandan Bloggers Happy Hour started in January 2007 with a dozen bloggers, about half-and-half Ugandans and expats.  I had no idea who would show up — I had sent invitations to all the bloggers I knew through comments on their blogs and had posted about it on my own blog, but other than that there was no plan.
We drank, talked politics and, if I remember correctly, discussed whether or not Philip Seymour Hoffman would make a good transvestite.  I found out most of the Ugandans thought I was a black man, and we took a lot of pictures.
Since then, we've had somewhere between 10 and 25 people each month, plus a couple of lurkers — bloggers who have shown up across the street or in a different corner of the bar to check things out without revealing their identities, then later written about it on their blogs.
It's more like a big group of friends than anything formal; people mingle and move around and push tables together.  I've had conversations about the Virginia Tech shootings, democracy, Montell Jordan and bootlegged DVDs.  A discussion about hip-hop for social change prompted a field trip to a breakdance class, and a group of Danish documentary filmmakers came once to interview bloggers.
Now as Rebekah is back in the United States working as the web producer for a newspaper in Lawrence, Kansas, she is preparing to begin graduate work in the field of International Affairs at Columbia University in August of this year.  Even though the midwest city seems a million miles away from the African capital, being able to continue to blog about Uganda helps Rebekah feel closer to the country where she had connected with so many people.
There's definitely a bit of disconnect, now that I'm back in Kansas.  GChat and Facebook have been great ways to stay connected to the blogren, and I'm infinitely grateful to the online editors of the Daily Monitor and New Vision for publishing an RSS feed.  Even though I'm less physically connected, writing has kept me intellectually and emotionally in touch with Uganda in a way that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
Living abroad always presents new situations, sights, smells and sounds, and often take awhile to become accustomed to new surroundings, but having a place to express those experiences proved valuable. Rebekah is quite grateful that blogging added another dimension to the unique experience of living abroad.
Blogging in Uganda grounded me in a way that few other things did.  It was a familiar act that took place in an unfamiliar world, and it was a way for me to process what I was seeing and how I was living.  The interactions I had with Ugandan bloggers gave a context for my thoughts that I couldn't have gotten any other way.  The slight anonymity afforded by the Internet allowed me to be more honest than I felt I could be with most of the Ugandans I met through my work, and the equally honest responses I got from many Ugandan bloggers challenged my perceptions and helped me refine my views.
Ugandan blogs provided an entirely different lens than international media or even local newspapers.  I was able to see what Ugandans wanted me to see, as opposed to what Invisible Children (an American advocacy organization focused on the war in northern Uganda) or the New York Times wanted me to see.  I think this is true of any country, and it's the biggest benefit of Global Voices, in my opinion.
The friends I've made among the Ugandan bloggers are some of the closest I have in the country, and staying in touch with them has kept me actively connected to Uganda.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Brazil: First blog falls victim to electoral law · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Not too long ago, the Brazilian justice announced its set of voting regulations and political propaganda for the local elections 2008, which were quickly considered by some bloggers rather anachronistic for forbidding campaigning through social web tools like Twitter, Orkut, and You Tube. Also not very long ago, on a separate post two months before the aforementioned, journalist-blogger Pedro Dória expressed on his blog his wish that Fernando Gabeira would run for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, believing that the blogosphere and netizens could join forces to convince him to put his name forward, a campaign which, some say, played a fundamental role in convincing the politician to run for Mayor.
Both pieces of news were covered here, at Global Voices Online, in March and January respectively and the two of them were pieced together last week, when Pedro Dória [pt] and other bloggers had to delete the banners they had displayed on their blogs in support of the now Mayoral candidate Fernando Gabeira, following a Regional Electoral Court decision. According to the law, political propaganda for this year's elections is only allowed from July 6, and the Rio de Janeiro Regional Electoral Court (the acronym TRE-RJ in Portuguese) demanded the banners be taken off, otherwise Gabeira's candidacy would be banned. Pedro Dória broke the news and expressed his indignation in a post that has amassed no less than 210 comments:
Nenhum político paga por este banner. É uma declaração de voto pessoal de minha parte. O banner leva a um argumento pela sua candidatura. É o meu direito como cidadão de manifestar o que penso, qual o caminho que desejo para minha cidade. Ninguém deve ser punido porque exerci meu direito de cidadão em uma democracia de manifestar minha opinião.
Mas a Justiça considerou que deve impor limites ao meu direito de expressar minha opinião. É um fato grave.
O Weblog é um veículo jornalístico. Eu sou jornalista. O gesto do Tribunal é uma censura à liberdade de imprensa.
No politician pays for this banner. It is a declaration of mine of my personal vote. The banner links to an argument for his candidacy. It is my right as a citizen to express what I think, what path I want for my city. No one else should be punished because I exercised my right as citizen in a democracy to express my opinion. However the Justice ruled that it should impose limits on my rights to express my opinion. It is a really serious issue. The Weblog is a journalistic vehicle. I am a journalist. The court decision is a gesture of press freedom censorship.
“Gabeira Rio 2008″vs “Censored by the Rio de Janeiro Regional Electoral Court”
The previous banner, the first one above, stating “Gabeira Rio 2008″ had been online for months even before the politician made his mind up about running for the elections. It has been substituted by a new one that now reads “Censored by the Rio de Janeiro Regional Electoral Court”, still linking to the post back in January calling for the Green Party politician to stand for elections. In another post that attracted hundreds of comments [pt], Dória answers readers comments on the new debate about censorship that this event  sparked on the Brazilian blogosphere:
Que não fiquem dúvidas: o Tribunal me censurou. Censura é isso, é dizer que não pode publicar algo em meu espaço. Uma intromissão em minha liberdade de colocar o que quiser aqui. Uma inteferência em minha independência editorial. Esta é a informação no novo banner. E este aqui, no Brasil, ainda é um regime democrático mesmo que capenga. Um Estado de leis. O tribunal decidiu que não posso publicar, não publico. Mas digo que fui censurado.
Let there be no doubt: the Court censored me. Censorship is this, to say that I can not publish something in my own space. An intrusion into my freedom to put whatever I like here. An interference in my editorial independence. This is the new banner's message. And this regime here in Brazil is still a democratic one even if a lame one. A state of law. The court decided that I can not publish it, I do not publish it. But I do say that I was censored.
Sociologist and political scientist Sérgio Amadeu [pt] blames the Brazilian blogosphere, himself included, for not fighting against the new regulations as soon as they were announced, and called the decision a grave interference with freedom of expression:
Não concordo nem um pouco com a candidatura do Gabeira, mas isso não me dá o direito de impedir que as pessoas, que com ela concordam, discutam a necessidade de sua candidatura. O objetivo da esfera pública é o debate entre os cidadãos sobre as escolhas que definem os destinos de sua cidade, estado, nação e planeta. Em vez de incentivar o espítito deliberacionista, a discussão política sobre as melhores alternativas para os governos, a Justiça Eleitoral do Rio de Janeiro age contra o direito de opinião e o uso público da razão. Ela acaba de exigir que Gabeira mande os blogueiros retirarem os banners que declaravam seu apoio. Um ato de confusão e censura. Isto é o que dá, não termos reagido com a força necessária a Resolução do TSE que restringe o uso da Internet nas eleições deste ano.
I do not agree even slightly with Gabeira's candidacy, but that does not give me the right to prevent people who agree with it discussing the need for his candidacy. The purpose of the public sphere is the debate between citizens on the choices that define the fate of their cities, state, nation and planet. Instead of encouraging the deliberating spirit and the political discussion about the best alternatives for governments, the Electoral Justice in Rio de Janeiro acts against the right of opinion and public use of reason. It has just demanded that Gabeira asks the bloggers to withdraw the banners in which they declared their support. An act of confusion and censorship. That is the consequence of  not having reacted with the necessary strength to the TSE resolution that restricted the use of the Internet in this year's elections.
Rogério Christofoletti [pt] is among the bloggers who got confused about what they can say and what they can not on their on blogs:
Não voto no Rio. Não poderia manifestar meu voto no Gabeira, embora simpatize com ele. Mas será que a Justiça vai me censurar também por comentar a censura ao blog do Pedro Doria???
I don't vote in Rio, so I could not express my vote for Gabeira, although I have sympathy for him. But will the Justice censor me too for commenting on the censorship on Pedro Dória's blog?
“If I was from Rio, I would vote for Gabeira”
Glaydson Lima [pt] can not vote in Rio either, but launched a protest publishing the above banner. He reminds readers that thanks to the Internet help, Barack Obama might win the American elections and stresses that any political debate is healthy for the population:
Debate na internet só é danoso para um grupo de raposas políticas que detêm o poder de mídia. Aqueles que conseguiram concessões públicas através de “arranjos” políticos. Que estão anos e anos sugando o dinheiro público através de todo tipo de ladroagem. Este tipo de gente não quer debate na internet. Este tipo de gente está batendo palmas para a decisão do TRE-RJ.
The debate on the Internet is only harmful to a group of political foxes who have the power of media. Those who managed to get public concessions through “political arrangements”. [Those who] have been for years and years sucking public money through all kinds of thievery. Such people do not want the debate on the Internet [to happen]. Such people are clapping the TRE-RJ's decision.
Gisele Honscha [pt], on the other hand, ponders other consequences of the non-regulation of blogs:
Não sou a favor da censura muito menos da coibição da liberdade de expressão. Por outro lado, devemos refletir: a partir da prática cada vez mais comum dos posts patrocinados, levando em conta que alguns blogueiros não costumam ser transparentes quanto a esta prática, como vamos saber quando um artigo em um blog é opinião e quando é propaganda? É possível que tenhamos “opiniões patrocinadas” nas próximas eleições? Como avaliar? Como julgar? Punir? Quem?
I'm not for censorship much less for hindering freedom of expression. On the other hand, we must think about it: considering the increasingly common practice of sponsored posts, taking into account that some bloggers do not tend to be transparent about this practice, how do we know whether an article on a blog is personal opinion or propaganda? Will we have “sponsored reviews” in the coming elections? How to evaluate? How to judge? To punish? Who?
Raquel Recuero [pt] believes that it is high time that what is regarded as electoral propaganda and what is a constitutionally guaranteed right of expression is clarified:
Inicialmente, estranho a ordem para que Gabeira retirasse do blog que não é seu e com o qual não tem nenhuma participação (exceto, talvez, por uma amizade com Pedro Doria) o banner e a campanha. Além de criar um precedente absurdo, não faz qualquer sentido. Isso quer dizer que, se eu fizesse aqui um blog em favor de um cadidato que detesto, o Exmo. Juiz mandaria cassar o candidato que não tem nada a ver com isso? Percebam o problema: com a lógica da Internet, onde cada indivíduo é um potencial produtor de conteúdo, é humanamente impossível ao mais bem intencionado candidato controlar o que 30 milhões de brasileiros estão fazendo aqui com o seu nome. Quero dizer, para mim, a ordem tem um vício em sua emissão, pois ela responsabiliza alguém que não pode ser responsabilizado pois não teria (tecnicamente) nenhum controle sobre os fatos. Em uma analogia simplória, seria como responsabilizar um candidato porque as pessoas estão falando sobre ele na rua.
To start with, it was odd to demand Gabeira to withdraw the banner and campaign from a blog that is not his and with which he has nothing to do (except, perhaps, being friends with Pedro Doria). In addition to creating an absurd precedent, it makes no sense. Does this mean that if I create a blog in support of a candidate that I hate, the Sir. Judge would ban the candidate that has nothing to do with it? See the problem: with the Internet logic, where each individual is a potential content producer, it is humanly impossible for the most well-intentioned candidate to control what 30 million Brazilians are doing here in his name. I mean, to me, the order is defectively issued, because someone who can not be held anyway responsible because he/she would have (technically) no control over the facts is made liable. In a simple analogy, it would be like making a candidate responsible of what people are saying about him/her on the streets.
Marcos Faria [pt] follows the logic explained by Recuero above and publishes banners supporting candidates that he does NOT want to see as the new Rio Mayor. He explains:
Agora, das duas, uma: ou os senhores juízes cassam todo candidato cujo banner eu resolver publicar ou então devolvem o meu direito a manifestar minha opinião. Porque quem proíbe um banner hoje proíbe um artigo amanhã, uma discussão outro dia, e acaba resolvendo que essa tal de democracia é uma coisa muito perigosa.
Now it is either one or another, the hounorable judges ban any candidate whose banner I decide to publish or give me back my right to express my opinion. Because he who forbids a banner today forbids an article tomorrow, a discussion another day, and eventually decides that this thing called democracy is a very dangerous thing.
Apparently, the judges went for the second choice. Thalles Waichert [pt] brings a piece of good news among all the confusion: in an overnight U-turn, the Justice decided that bloggers are now welcome to debate and express their opinions and candidates can now also use social networking tools to promote their campaign. He concludes that together the blogosphere is stronger than ever:
A voz da blogosfera se fez ouvir muito mais alto. O post do Pedro Dória falando sobre o caso foi publicado ontem. Hoje o JB Online publicou uma matéria dizendo que o TRE-RJ lançou uma portaria liberando a “campanha eleitoral nos blogs”. Olha que curioso… o discurso dos blogueiros forçaram uma alteração nas regras da eleição desse ano! Isso é grande heim…
The blogosphere voice speaks louder. Pedro Dória's post talking about the case was published yesterday [May 29]. Today the Online JB [Jornal do Brazil Online] published a piece of news saying that the TRE-RJ has launched an ordinance allowing the “election campaign on blogs” [pt]. Look… how curious that bloggers arguments forced a change in the rules of this year's election! This is the greatest point…


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China: Where are you, LES blood donors? · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

After the frightful calamity of Sichuan earthquake, people from all walks of life in China are attending various charitable activities to help those victims, however, lesbians, a special community which is unwelcome to the Chinese traditional mainstream, are left in a predicament when they try to contribute as blood donors.
The blog of les+, a voluntary Lesbian magazine, published an article titled by Where are you, LES blood donors? to criticize the ban on blood from lesbians:
近日汶川8级地震，举国悲哀，全国上下，捐款献血，人人尽力为灾区捐献自己的一份心意。同志社区内部，大家都为灾区捐款捐物，也有很多人在第一时间去献血，挽救灾区人民的生命。
有很多去献血的拉拉反映，她们看到献血规定中指明，同性恋者不许献血。有些人表明了自己的同性恋身份后，被血站管理人员拒绝了献血的义举（其中还有人是稀有的RH阴性血），理由是同性恋是易感染艾滋病的高危人群。
但是在因不安全的性行为导致的不安全血液方面，女同志不比任何一个群体更高危，甚至有研究数据表明女女性行为是较为低危的（较其她人群而言），这适用于所有相关的性传染疾病，包括艾滋病和乙肝。
在国难时期，人人都想贡献自己的一份力量，帮助她人，挽救生命。有关不合理的规定阻止了同性恋者献血的义举，凉了大家救灾的心。拉拉们希望积极参与到抗震救灾的行动中去，请不要拒绝我们的一腔热血！
北京女同小组同语目前正在收集拉拉献血的故事，并计划向有关部门呼吁修改献血规定。献过血的拉拉，请发邮件到tongyu.org@gmail.com ，告诉我们你的献血经历。让我们大家一起携手，消除社会对同性恋的歧视，帮助他人，帮助自己!
Comments in les+‘s blog:
作者：诱惑你 发布于：2008-05-28 06:40:50
不错
作者：Chelsea 发布于：2008-05-28 15:12:36
我不是医学专业人士，但是我想，如果的确存在同志基因的话，那这种规定就是合理的。
不过如果按这种逻辑推理下去……有暴力基因的、变异基因的，都更加不符合献血条件。
看他们觉得什么重要了。活下去重要，还是维持自身基因的“纯正性”重要。
作者：游客   发布于：2008-05-31 23:45:09
近日同事献血，需填一堆调查问卷，我也看到相关问题。
其中一条是：是否有吸毒、同性恋、艾滋病史。
它们将这三者放在一起，出发点就是错误地认为这三者是相关的。
拉拉的血其实比异性恋的血更安全些。
Being listed with other communicable diseases like AIDS and leprosy, all “the homosexual and people who have multiple sexual partners” are banned from donating blood, according to China's health standards for blood donors (《献血者健康检查标准》) .
The questionnaire of blood donation in Beijing Xidan in 2008
A thread in Tianya fully quoted les+‘s article that protests regulations against lesbian donors. Netizens, including many LESs, showed their views and experience of blood donations there:
作者：不能告诉你11　发布于：2008-5-28　13:59:12
不会吧，献血的 时候，告诉人家，是同性恋干什么？
医院里面难道对血，也是拿来就用？不进行基本检测的？那异性恋的血液有问题不是同样没有检测的嘛？
不会吧～～～～～～太恐怖了
作者：黄泉路上遛狗　 发布于：2008-5-28　14:10:29
有人鲜的是血小板，当时我只顾着眼花了，没注意这个细节，不过那个同性恋史是针对GAY的吧？
作者：沉默的小小猪　发布于：2008-5-28　14:49:29
我去献啦，会让你填个表格，里面有多个选项，其中一个就是：是否有过同性恋史…
填表格的话就无视那一条好了
只要知道自己身心健康，无各种疾病及遗传病就好
大家有钱出钱，有血出血，有力出力哇
作者：应该有个马甲了　 发布于：2008-5-28　18:07:13
针对GAY的。
当年鲜血看到那条，心里面很冒火
作者：xxxian　发布于：2008-5-28　20:27:55
目前的献血规定是针对所有同性恋者，包括女同性恋。
如果拉拉去献血，并在填表的时候说明自己是同性恋，也会被拒绝 – 我们听到不少这样的例子！
作者：xxxian　发布于：2008-5-30　9:06:41
这个规定明显不合理
如果能够呼吁有关卫生部门改变这个规定
能大大消除社会对同性恋的偏见和歧视
希望这里的版主能支持一下，谢谢 ：）
作者：豆子的挪挪　发布于：2008-5-30　15:34:41
我四次献血都是在2004年以前，我没有注意这个，但是四次献血都很顺利
作者：作客人生　 发布于：2008-5-30　18:02:10
我也献过四次了，一年一次，都看到这个条例了，不过我自信自己很健康。而且血液中心每次都会发短信给我，告知我的血液检验结果很正常，这些短信我都留着。留的结果也许是赌气，或者是原谅他们的无知。我们的血都是红的。原谅这些世人吧。表达自己的心，让别人说去吧。
作者：共老　发布于：2008-5-30　19:00:57
明显的歧视条款!!!!!!!
同志们的地位很低啊.
虽然说医学上早就承认同性恋不是心理疾病,
但你随便到图书馆找几本心理方面的书来看看,
赫然的标明这一类疾病,还告诉你很多治疗方法.
没病也给你整出病来.
不要以为最近几年的版本没有了,多的是.
作者：老婆的黏豆包　回复日期：2008-5-30　21:29:24
我5月23日去献的血。
我承认我撒谎了，我是拉拉，我有纹身，而且好像当天老朋友还来了（献血时没来）。
不过5月28日，我收到如下短信：“感谢您捐血救人！您5月23日献血检测合格，欢迎2008年11月23日后再次奉献爱心！62758257上海市血液中心【上海献血】
。。。。。。
作者：走出巫山的云　发布于：2008-5-31　3:26:54
他不让去献,我就不去献了,免得惹麻烦。虽然我是同,其实我从来都没有乱性,要说我的血液带病毒的风险其实比好多异性恋者低很多,国家这样的规定其实也没用,献血的时候谁知道谁是同性恋者呢,要真对用血的病人负责的话，我想还是应该进行严格的检测。这其实是歧视同性恋者的一个规定。
If he doesn't want me to donate, I won't do. I don't want to make troubles. Although I'm homosexual, I never have promiscuous sexual acts. As for the risk of contaminated blood I am actually much safer than many heterosexual people. Such clause made by the authorities is useless. Who can tell the homosexual from the heterosexual during the blood donating? The safety of blood users can't be guaranteed unless a strict verification is conducted. So the clause is nothing more than a discrimination against the homosexual.
作者：雨水之恋y　发布于：2008-5-31　7:11:17
刚来这里做志愿者的第二天因外援血浆没到，我们几个就匆忙献血，医生做了简单血检就直接用注射器抽了，血袋也没有，更别提填表了，所以还不知道拉拉不能献血的规定，即使有也是不合理的，拉拉一样爱国，一样有颗赤子心，一样有人权，平什么受歧视？
A post in Netease BBS also quoted and introduced the article of les+‘s blog. Some netizens expressed their negative feelings of homosexuality and different views on LES blood donations:
作者：游客   发布于：2008-05-30 11:13:58
很奇怪。炒作？？
我没献血过，所以不太清楚……
献血的时候会问性取向么……
男同性恋得爱滋的比例是比异性恋要高……
因此无辜牵扯到女同性恋也是比较倒霉的事情……
作者：游客   发布于：2008-05-30 11:52:12
正视问题，不应该激动，为了大家的安全，有权利拒绝不安全因数，这是歧视吗？同性恋问题值得深思。
作者：ziyue44   发表于：2008-05-30 14:09:26
个人观点：只要法律没有禁止，那么人家同性恋，那是他（她）们的自由，谁也无权干涉。站在旁观者的角度上看，人家同性变，与你有关系吗？防碍你了吗？既然没人，那又凭什么去干涉别人的私人行为。
作者：lunlun-1988   发布于：2008-05-30 14:32:02
爱国是可以的，但为了安全起见，这样的措施是应该的，不是歧视，希望当事人应理解这问题！我虽不是专业学医的，但我也一直在选修医学，我知道这是个世界问题，不是仅中国才有的！望你们先查哈相关资料和了解政策后，再做相关事情，还有多党和政府的工作欲与支持，我在此仅代表我个人先向你们表示感谢，感谢你们的爱心
作者：游客   发表于：2008-05-30 14:46:16
我去献过N次血了?怎么就没看到你发的那些规定呢?
炒作的话麻烦你看以下现在是什么时候!
国难啊!!!!你要是有点爱心的话把你的这个时间放在宣传上面的话也可以为灾区人民做出很大的贡献了啊!!
同性恋的问题麻烦大家以后再说好吗??????????????????

author: Meng Zhang


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Georgia: The Lost Colony · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Steady State briefly reviews The Lost Colony, a documentary film by a Dutch filmmaker on the primate research center in Sukhumi, capital of the breakaway region of Abkhazia in Georgia. The film was specifically produced to mark the Sukhumi Primate Center's 80th anniversary. The center is the oldest of its type in the world.


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Armenia: Children’s Day Photos · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Lifelines posts photographs from yesterday's marking of International Children's Day in Armenia. In the first post, the blog posts photographs from the annual chalk-drawing in Yerevan's Liberty Square, and in the second it posts photographs from an Armenian Dance Sport Competition.


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Armenia: Dusty City · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Life Around Me decries the lack of green space and the associated amount of dust in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The blog says that several showers a day are necessary to get rid of the grime caused by countless unfinished construction sites and environmental destruction in the city.


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Armenia: E-Government · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer commends the Armenian Foreign Ministry for utilizing the Internet in its activities. The blog even notes that it has set up a YouTube channel.


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Bahrain: Detainees at home and abroad · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Last December, a number of Bahrainis were arrested following clashes between protestors and security forces, and many are still being detained. Allegations have been made that some of them are being tortured. In February, eight Bahrainis were arrested in Saudi Arabia, apparently for straying into a restricted area.
Concern has been expressed about the health of one of the December detainees, Abdulla Mohsen, who used to be a blogger, and Babbling Bahrania has addressed an open letter to him:
Dearest Abdullah,
The “cage went in search of a bird” – Kafka.
It was only a matter of time – but still, I didn’t expect you to be caged up for this long. Each word is a dagger wrenched out of a heart weighed heavy with shame, guilt and sorrow over what you are having to endure. The pen doesn’t know what the heart will say, but you have seen these words even before they appeared on this page since you are closer to my heart than the jugular vein. The pen is merely executing this letter-writing exercise as a postdated transcription of my tormented thoughts drained by internal bleeding. … In your letter you say that “they can fire bullets at us and at our dreams but they can not stop us from dreaming”. … Stay strong, passionate and committed…a hero needs no saviour, but we definitely need you!
Meanwhile, Ahmed Al Bader writes about the eight men being detained in Saudi Arabia:
فهل يجد هؤلاء الثمانية وطنهم الذي أحتضنهم ورعاهم؟!!
They are eight held in Saudi Arabia (Majeed Abdulrasool Salman Al Ghasra, Abbas Ahmed Ibrahim, Sayed Ahmed Alawi Abdulla, Isa Abdulhassan Ahmed, Mohammed Hassan Ali Marhoon, Mohammed Abdulla Al Moamen, Ibrahim Marzam and Mohammed Mahdi). Their story is stranger than fiction. They were arrested at the beginning of March not for a crime they committed but because they took a wrong turn and entered a restricted military zone. What is strange in the matter is that they have been in solitary confinement, each in a cell not knowing of the other, since their arrest. In the first and only visit of their families to them, three weeks ago, their families said that their attires have changed a lot since they last saw them and that the effects of physical and mental exhaustion was apparent on their faces – the exhaustion of being away from home and relatives.
They all enjoy a clean record – morally and politically. They have nothing to do with politics. Their interests are in sports or cultural activities. Where is justice, humanity and rights? They have not committed a crime or have been sentenced by a court of law. Since their arrest to this day, the same comment is being repeated: “Nothing has been proved against them and investigations are continuing.” This is the third month and investigations are still continuing.
Will those eight ever find the nation which nurtured and protected them?

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Bahrain: In the Land of Law · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Khalid [Ar] is surprised with knee jerk reactions taken by the government – after the Minister of Interior issued an order to ban issuing work permits for workers from Bangladesh – in a country which prides itself of being a democracy with laws and a constitution in place.
He writes:
في العهد الجديد ظهر مصطلح الديمقراطية.. والمدعومة بدولة المؤسسات و القانون ..!! في هذا العهد .. حيث اى فعل أو توجه أو عمل يجب إن يستند إلى قرار أو مرسوم أو تشريع ..!!! ولكن مؤخرا ظهرت عدة أموار تناقضه أو تتجاهله وعلى المكشوف .. كما يقال ..!!! فحرية الصحافة أصبحت بعد فترة من العهد الجديد تشكل عبأ على السلطة التنفيذية وهذه الأخيرة بدأت في الضغط على ما يسمي بالسلطة الرابعة وهى الصحافة ..!!! وظهر ما يسمي بالتقنين على ما يطرح للنشر .. فجريدة تحظر نشر موضوع ما وأخرى تبتر فقرة و أخرى تحذف جملة أو كلمة ..!! وأخرى تنشر بالكامل ..وخاصة الصحف الالكترونية ..!!! هذا النشر أو الحظر أو البتر يعتمد على نوع العلاقة التي تربط الجريدة بالسلطة التنفيذية والمتمثلة بالحكومة ..!!!
مؤخرا صدر قرار أو تعليمات من سعادة وزير الداخلية – مملكة البحرين – بإيقاف إصدار تأشيرات العمل للرعايا البنغاليين…!!!! بسبب الجريمة البشعة التي ارتكبها احد رعايا بنغلادش ..!!! وهنا يطرح مجرد سؤال .. ما هي الدوافع الأساسية لمثل هذا القرار أو التعليمات ..؟؟!! وما هى المرجعية القانونية لإصداره ..؟؟!!! هناك جريمة و هناك تحقيق وهناك قضاء ..!!! فلماذا هذا الحظر على أمة ” بنغلادش “..؟؟!!! ولماذا هذا التمييز ..؟؟!! وتحت اى عرف أو قانون أو تشريع يتم معاقبة شعب بجريرة فرد أو مجموعة …؟؟!!! السنا في دولة المؤسسات و القانون …؟؟!!! هل كان قرارا صائبا ..؟؟!! بالتأكيد .. لا ..وهو خطأ فادح .. فاليوم يتحدث الجميع وعل كافة الأطياف إن كافة البنغاليين مجرمون … قتلة .. يجب طردهم ..!!
In the new era, that of what is called democracy and the freedom of press, some people write because they have finally found an avenue to express their opinions on certain topics!! This space was almost always prohibited for reasons called “security reasons.” Of course, they are security matters for some! The government for instance, cannot be mentioned except in a favourable light. Criticising it or accusing it of anything is unlawful in the civil sense and a sin in religious terminology. Although governments are made of people, who only do right in the old system, they do right and commit mistakes in the new one!!!
In the new one, the terminology Democracy has emerged, and it is supported by a state, its institutions and the law! In this era, anything you do should stem from a decision, decree or constitutional amendment!! Lately, a few incidents contradicting this have happened openly. Freedom of Press has become in this new era a burden upon the government, which in turn, started to pressure the Press. This led to some control on what is being published. For instance, a newspaper may prohibit publishing an article altogether; a second may delete a paragraph;  and a third may drop a sentence or a word. Others, especially online publications, will publish the article in full. The decision to publish or censor articles depends on the relationship between the newspaper and the executive branch, represented by the government.
Lately, the Minister of Interior in Bahrain issued a decree banning issuing new work permits for Bangladeshis!! That was because of the horrendous crime committed by a Bangladeshi!! And here I would like to ask: What were the main motives for issuing this law? What are the legal grounds for issuing it? There is a crime, and there is an investigation and there is a justice and courts system. So why is there this ban on the people of Bangladesh? And why this discrimination? And under which law is a whole nation being punished for the crime of one individual or group of people? Aren't we in a country of institutions and laws? Was this decision correct? Of course not and it is a grave mistake. Today, everyone is talking as if all Bangladeshis are criminals and murderers, who should be thrown out.


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Bangladesh: EU and Illegal Immigrants · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Words and Bites on a new EU directive in question, which deals with the deportation and detention of “illegal immigrants”, which many think may have serious human rights ramifications.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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China: CCTV’s Ban on NBA · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhen Yefu complained about CCTV's ban on NBA and demanded an explanation as the ban affected consumer's interest[zh].


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China: Don’t be a Chinese Kid · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lao sun from my1510 criticized the official propaganda in using children from the earthquake for showing the success of the government in relief work in the June 1 Children's day [zh].


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China: Earthquake Victims’ Psychology · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zengying reminded the media to be sensitive about the earthquake victims’ psychology [zh]: the propaganda about well managed relief work would cause resentment for those who didn't receive enough help whereas unsympathetic reports about victims’ misbehavior, such as wasting food would also result in great distress.


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China: Looting of Disaster Relief Materials · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a blog post and a local newspapers report on a story about the looting of disaster relief materials.


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China: Pizza and Cultural Disorientation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maryannodonnell writes about the cultural difference in the perception of food with a detailed description of her friend's pizza dinner.


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Dominica: Combating High Food Prices · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominica Weekly has a few tips on how to survive the effects of rising food prices.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Dubai: Internet Problems  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Seabee‘s internet line was disconnected. Read how fast the Dubai resident got his connection back.


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Egypt: Blogger Kareem El Beheiry released · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Egyptian blogger Kareem El Beheiry has been released yesterday from prison. Kareem was arrested by Egyptian police in connection with the April 6th strike in support of the textile workers in Mahalla City.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Georgia: Lost Monkeys of Abkhazia · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

This is Tbilisi Calling comments on a new documentary film about the Primate Research Center in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. The blog says that there is speculation that in the Soviet period there were attempts to create a hybrid between humans and monkeys and that some of the primates are believed to have escaped during the civil war in the early 1990s.


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Guyana: Racism and the Writer  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In a small society such as ours, with limited access to resources, a political system that is based on racial division is going to naturally shape a racially defined socio-economic system, the definition of politics after all being who gets what, when and how”: Writer Ruel Johnson blogs about racism in Guyana.


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Hong Kong: Journalist’s Frustration over Earthquake Report · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Gunner returned from his trip in Sichuan earthquake center and expressed his frustration over the news company[zh]. ESWN has translated part of his post.


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India: Spelling Bee in the US · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Imagined Universe muses about the Indian-American obsession with the spelling bee in the US.


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Indonesia: Controversial sexy movie · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Prince jake notes that while the fuel hike has claimed the highest attention in Indonesia, a controversial movie is also gaining national spotlight.

author: Mong Palatino


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Iran: Digital activity against renaming of the Persian Gulf · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In recent years, Iranians have launched a relatively successful digital campaign against the renaming of the Persian Gulf as the Arabic Gulf.They used Google Bomb and E-Petition and Iranian hackers attacked Arab language site that renamed Persian Gulf and called it Arabic Gulf. Digiactive covers four years of this digital activity.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Farsnews has been shutdown for three days · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Moeini , an Iranian blogger, says[Fa] that Iran based conservative Fars News has been shutdown for three days. The blogger adds it seems this agency was accused of publisihing “lies” about the possible dismissal of the central bank governor because he rejects President Ahmadinejad's economic plans.


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Israel: Gay Marriages and the Torah  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jewneric  discusses the Torah, homosexuality and gay marriage in Judaism.


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Israel: Respect from Arabs  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Israel, Yael notes that there is a silver lining to each cloud. She adds: “Among Arab nations, the fact that we are going after Olmert for his corrupt behaviour is winning us a great deal of respect. They are looking at us and saying ‘hey! this is a model to follow –those who engage in corruption, no matter how high they stand, should be held accountable and brought to justice.'”


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Israel: Visiting Jerusalem  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Imshin, from Israel, takes a trip to Jerusalem and reports his findings here.


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Jamaica: Fastest in the World · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Several Jamaican bloggers are excited about the performance of local sprinter Usain Bolt, who has broken the world record for the 100 m dash: “High accomplishment stems from school pride, which in turn translates to national pride.  All this when our crime rate (and food prices) have risen alarmingly. How to convert the success in one area of national life to less murders in the other is a question that we might be asking as we celebrate.”


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Writers’ Feud · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Caribbean Free Radio and Geoffrey Philp link to Christopher Lydon's report on the Walcott-Naipaul feud that got even more nasty at the recently-concluded Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica.


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Japan: Mixi and Anonymity · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Mixi is Japan's most popular social networking service by a longshot, beating out its competition with over ten million users and taking the lion's share of the local SNS market. So big is Mixi that it even plans to take on the Chinese market, not that its founder Kenji Kasahara really needs to.
But the future may not be so bright for Mixi. After having found itself in hot water a few months ago for a change in its terms of use agreement, it now faces a new competitor, with Facebook having been localized by volunteers into Japanese. Mixi and Facebook are both social networking services, but they are very different in the way that their users handle identity: whereas the Mixi mode is obfuscation (fake photos, fake registered names, etc.), in Facebook users generally use their real identity.
Blogger mechag takes up the theme of Mixi and anonymity. In a post entitled “The real enemy that broke the culture of real names in Mixi“, the blogger comments on the new Japanese version of Facebook:
Facebookが本格的に日本でサービスを開始するらしい。実名を強く推進していくそうだ。実際そうなるかはともかくとして、実名でのSNSというのは当然あっていいと思う。リアルで普通に生活している場合と同様に、身元を明らかにし、仕事、近所付き合い、親戚付き合い、地域や趣味レベルのコミュニケーション手段として、SNSは便利なツールだと思う。
もちろんそういうSNSでは、我々が現実の世界で用いているような様々な防衛手段、嘘をつき、隠し事をし、建前で付き合う、というスタイルが求められるだろう。他人を無制限に信頼することは出来ないし、他の友人に知られたくない人間関係もある。
そういうものをきちんと保護できる機能をもつSNSは電話や郵便などと同様に本当の意味での社会のインフラとなるだろう。逆に言えば「良心」で成り立っているコミュニケーションツールというのはインフラにはなれない。悪意まで包含して初めてインフラとして機能する。
mixiの場合、やっと最近フレンドをグループ化して公開できる日記を区分けできるようになったようだが、「良心」の幻想に引きずられるあまり遅きに失した感がある。日記の暴露が社会問題化した時点で「良心」から卒業できなかったために、mixiの実名文化は壊れてしまった。悪意に対してあまりにも無邪気に無防備だった。以前から警告は発せられていたのに「人の良心を疑うのか」「我々は人の良心を信じる」とほとんどカルトのような狂信でmixi教の信者達は警告をことごとく拒絶していた。
Mechag then goes on to argue that if real names are endorsed, the system should not be set “open to everybody” by default. The entry continues:
現実の世界で自分の交友関係のリストを誰にでも見えるように首から提げている人はいない。それじゃ小学生の名札だ。いや最近は小学生でさえ名前や学校名が書かれた名札を付けているのは危険だという議論になっている。
その中の活動も、現実の世界のそれがそうであるように、誰が見るともわからないようなところに本音や自分の思想・信条など決して書かない。赤の他人はもちろん友人にも今の自分の悩みをさらけ出すなど以ての外だ。そういうものはごく親しい限られた親友や家族にのみ公開する。
実名による責任あるSNSというのはこういうものを言うのであって、善意と良心の幻想に頼ったものではない。究極のコミュニケーションツールというのは「いかにコミュニケーションを制限するか」という点に注力して設計されたツールだと思う。
もちろん匿名のSNSはあっていい。上述のような本当の意味で責任のある実名SNSでは対応しきれない人間の側面が沢山あるだろう。やたら「実名」によるコミュニケーションを賛美する人が多いけれど、それは実名に幻想を抱いているのだと思う。まるで恋愛や結婚をしたことのない少女が恋愛にあこがれるようなものだ。
「見ず知らずの人に本音をぶちまけたい」という不条理な願望、ある意味破滅願望に近いと思う、をもつのが人間なのだ。自殺したい、犯罪を犯したい、そういう人間の負の側面を否定してはならない。光と影、善と悪、愛と憎悪、理論と感情、博愛と利己、ネットワークは最終的に人間のすべての思考活動の受け皿になるツールでなければならない。実名での発言がきちんと社会的に保護されなければ、いくら呼びかけたところで実名は普及しないだろう。
The entry finishes with a parallel to the manga of Ishinomori Shotaro, creator of Android Kikaider:
石ノ森章太郎のマンガ「人造人間キカイダー」の主人公ジローは不完全な良心回路(ジェミニ)を持つロボットで、その不完全さゆえに作中で悩み、苦しみまくるのだが、長い戦いの末にジローが最後に手にしたのは完全な良心回路ではなく悪の心(服従回路)だった。正義と悪、2つの相反する回路のせめぎ合いによって、優しさだけでなく強さを身につけ、「これで僕は人間と同じになった」といっていずこかへ去っていく。
今の世相はネットに完全な良心回路を求めてさまよっているジローに似ている。そんなものは手に入らないし、もし手に入れたとしても幸せにはならないだろう。それでは人間の心の半分しかサポートできないからだ。
Thanks to Taku Nakajima for the suggestion to translate this blog post.


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Jordan: XBox Questions  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

K Sharif, from Jordan, is considering buying an XBox games console this summer and has many questions.


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Kazakhstan: Export More, Gain More · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

As Adam reports, the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan has declared that it will review the newly introduced export dury for oil exports to cancel all prerogatives that foreign oil companies used to have.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: Press Freedom Only a Little Worse · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports on the Freedom House’s “Freedom of the Press 2008″ survey, in which Kazakhstan’s press in 2007 was only slightly less free than in 2006.