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Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek Baby Sales · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At The Golden Road to Samarqand, Amira discusses recent reports of the sale of babies from hospital's in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek. Amira, who spent a lot of time visiting a Kyrgyz baby house (orphanage for babies) when she lived in Bishkek, says that she is glad that Kyrgyzstan is open to international adoptions, and that she hopes that more of the babies in orphanages, many of whom have health problems, will be able to find homes.


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Laos: Thai-Lao Bamboo Soup · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Manivan Larprom posts video instructions on how to prepare Thai-Lao Bamboo Soup.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Preetam Rai


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Lusosphere Reports The First Round of East Timor’s Elections · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

“Who did you vote for?”
“I won't tell…”
“Why?”
“I'm not stupid…”
Timor-Leste is holding its first national election as an independent nation, and the vote counting now indicates the need for a second round to decide the next President. The voting occurred on April 9 and the counting process has generated some perplexing news, which should be expected in a country with no previous electoral experience. Less expected was the fact that the spokesman for the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Father Martinho Gusmão, delivered his press conferences in four languages one after the other — Tetum, Portuguese, Indonesian and English. After raising serious concerns by personally expressing doubts about ‘illogical’ outcomes from the ballot processing, Father Gusmão was removed and explanations were presented by other officials. Portuguese sources report:
A Comissão Nacional Eleitoral (CNE) de Timor-Leste só hoje deverá anunciar os resultados provisórios das presidenciais de dia 9, depois de ter concluído a análise das actas eleitorais e dos votos nulos. O excesso de votos contabilizados no distrito de Baucau foi atribuído a um erro técnico no escrutínio da pequena secção eleitoral de Vae-Gae. Um dia depois de o porta-voz da CNE, padre Martinho Gusmão, ter aludido à existência de situações “ilógicas” e “inexplicáveis”, Faustino Cardoso, presidente da entidade, explicou que o processo de revisão das actas e de decisão sobre os votos nulos e reclamados das 705 secções terminou cerca das 04h30 locais de ontem (20h30 de sábado em Lisboa). Foi um processo “meticuloso e demorado”, face à constatação de erros técnicos na forma como foram escrutinados e registados os votos em várias secções… A contagem dos votos da primeira volta das presidenciais deverá ser oficializada até sexta-feira. A segunda volta está marcada para dia 8 de Maio.
Timor-Leste anuncia hoje resultados provisórios – Timor Online – Em directo de Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste vive momentos complicados. O milagre da multiplicação dos votos tem agora uma nova versão neste país (ainda) da Lusofonia. Ninguém se entende. Observadores internacionais, sejam da CPLP ou da União Europeia, dizem às segundas, quartas e sextas uma coisa; às terças, quintas e sábados outras. Por coincidência os problemas só começaram quando se descobriu que Lu Olo, candidato da Fretilin, ia ser o vencedor da primeira volta. Coincidências… É que, com o desenrolar da contagem dos votos, ficou a perceber-se que objectivo primordial de Xanana Gusmão e de Ramos-Horta, que era dar o golpe fatal na Fretilin, falhou totalmente. Não sei se isso é bom para a democracia timorense. Sei, contudo, que a eventual vitória de Lu Olo é uma espinha na garganta australiana. E isso é algo que Camberra nunca aceitará. Por mim, permitam-me a sinceridade, quantas mais espinhas os timorenses enfiarem na goela dos australianos, melhor.
Confusão made in Austrália abalroa Timor-Leste – Alto Hama
Ao contrário do que se especulou afinal não houve fraude eleitoral em Baucau. Afinal não houve mais de 300 mil votos onde só estavam registados cerca de 61 mil eleitores; não compreendo esta dúvida dado que os eleitores timorenses podem estar registados num sítio mas são livres de votarem onde bem desejam. Afinal o que se passou foi só um erro da logística. O escrutinador em vez de colocar o número identificador da secção de voto no local certo colocou no lugar de votantes. Um erro, “inconsistências aritméticas por falta de formação de recursos humanos”. Mas, que é um erro gigantesco que pode bem assustar os seus vizinhos do sul pode. E quando estes se assustam… Entretanto, o escrutínio já acabou mas ainda não há resultados finais. Será que esperam a formalização das eventuais denúncias que os 5 candidatos possam fazer ao Tribunal de Recurso? Ou esperam autorização dos aussies? da CPLP não deve ser de certeza…
Afinal não havia fraude… – Pululu
In fact, the newest world nation might have known to prepare itself better for this inaugural electoral experience. In a country shaken by cultural, linguistic, and political chasms, uncertainties around the first voting procedures and ballot counting were bound to attract extra instability and uncertainties to the process.
Há quem considere as eleições de segunda-feira passada um sucesso. A sê-lo, talvez só pela relativa tranquilidade em que decorreram. Porque, quanto ao resto, quer-me parecer que não será exagerado se a elas nos referirmos como sendo um autêntico fracasso. São tantas as irregularidades, as falhas, as discrepâncias, as queixas e os protestos que surgem de todos os quadrantes que não há volta a dar-lhe: as eleições presidenciais, apesar da presença de muitos observadores internacionais, não deveram nada à transparência e não dignificam nenhum órgão de soberania, nem governantes, nem povo, nem líderes partidários, nem observadores. Ninguém. Sabendo-se que as eleições de 2001 não primaram pela transparência, não seria de esperar que nos preparássemos para que as primeiras eleições a serem totalmente organizadas pelos timorenses fossem diferentes?
Para onde vamos nós? – Timor 2006
À mistura com lixo vário, Ramos Horta e Lu Olo, sorridentes, no exemplar de um boletim de voto da 2ª volta das eleições presidenciais displicentemente colocado do lado de fora do reservatório cheio de outro lixo ; sim, literalmente no lixo, bem à vista de quem passasse a pé.
O outro lado das presidenciais – Timor 2006
Acording to the last polling results, the Fretilin candidate Francisco Guterres (aka Lu Olu) won around 26% of the vote, the independent José Ramos Horta (presumed to be really CNRT) won 22% and the Democratic Party's Ferdinand de Araujo “LaSama” was third with around 19%. At this time, no one disputes the fact that Lu Olu and Ramos Horta will face a run-off election in May. Indeed, the Portuguese bloggers tend to see Ramos Horta and Xanana Gusmão along with his Australian wife as enemies of the Lusophone cause in Timor as the more important concern. The campaigns will surely reflect and inflate this cultural and linguistic clash.
Uma coisa é certa: a Austrália tem sido a representante, na região, dos USA e das elites financeiras mundiais, que esperam de Xanana e Horta a entrega do país. Isso é aquilo que eles estão a procurar cumprir… Se deixarem, devagarinho vão lá – por cima de muitos cadáveres, mas vão indo. A isso chama-se vende pátrias! Se parece é porque é. Quanto a Alkatiri… quer vender interesses timorenses a quem, à China? Olhem, também vai vender a uns bons filhos da mãe… que exploram o povo chinês à laia de escravatura medieval! Nããã… Alkatiri tem um plano próprio do modelo de sociedade que gostaria de implantar em Timor-Leste, que talvez resulte. Convém é que expurgue o partido dos maus militantes e das práticas inimigas do seu projecto.
Do Minho a Timor por Terras de “O que parece é” – Página Um  (António Veríssimo)
Lu Olo afirmou que Cidália será uma maravilhosa primeira dama para o país. “Cidália é uma buibere, uma mulher de Timor-Leste, e ela será uma primeira dama que está consciente e conhece a nossa história, os nossos valores culturais e tradições. Cidália é uma mulher carinhosa, cheia de amor, inteligente, e com uma mente aberta, e usará a sua sabedoria e orientação para fortalecer o meu papel como Presidente da República,” disse Lu Olo.
Homem de família promoverá valores familiares – Lu Olo para Presidente
Lusophone bloggers in Timor also offer some words to promote the coexistence of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds in the country's demographic configuration. They are the ones who can speak about the scars left by the nation's troubled recent history — wounds that must be healed through tolerance and mutual respect.
Na nossa geração, ninguém aprendeu português, porque nascemos durante a ocupação Indonésia. A língua portuguesa era utilizada apenas em algumas liturgias da Igreja Católica – a maioria dos timorenses são católicos. Na escola estudava-se na língua indonésia (Bahasa Indonésia significa “língua indonésia”) e em casa falava-se Tétum, que é a nossa língua materna. Para nós, timorenses, aprender uma língua europeia, sobretudo latina, como a língua portuguesa, é necessário muito esforço e dedicação, pois estamos habituados a regras gramaticais bastante mais simples… Espero que aprendamos com os erros e falhanços que cometemos no passado, para resolvermos melhor os problemas, e enfrentar os novos desafios que virão no futuro, com mais maturidade… O povo timorense é um povo simples, humilde e preserva com muito orgulho a cultura e tradição que herdou dos seus antepassados. As pessoas são simpáticas e têm um espírito de vida mais comunitário, social. Apesar de estar a milhares de quilómetros da terra lusitana, Timor-Leste partilha com Portugal muitas coisas em comum devido à presença portuguesa durante quatro séculos e meio na ilha, também conhecida (por lenda) como a “Ilha do Crocodilo”.
Conversas de Herbário – Area de Projectos 2007 ESSPS
Que herdamos do nosso passado longínquo como povo colonizado pelos portugueses e ocupado pelos indonésios? De Portugal herdamos a religião católica, o nome como Paulo, Maria, António, a língua portuguesa dominada por uma pequena parte que hoje constitui a elite política do nosso país. Da Indonésia, o pior que herdamos foi uma mentalidade de corrupção da administração estatal (a única estrutura que oferece melhor condição em termos de prestígio social). Basta olhar para a chamada concepção de “proyek” aos “CV's”. Mas em termos de formação dos recursos humanos a Indonésia levou a melhor. Isso, ninguém duvida. Nestes últimos cinco anos temos assistido a declarações infelizes por parte de alguns líderes no nosso país, em chamar “Sarjana Supermi” aos que tiraram os seus cursos na Indonésia. Este tipo de declaração, indirectamente, quer dizer que eles não são necessários para o país. É quase uma bofetada para uma geração que não tinha possibilidade de escolher o melhor para si e para o seu país. Queremos ou não, temos que admitir que a distância que separa as duas gerações, os formados da Indonésia e os líderes que viveram no exílio, é enorme. Basta ver a criação e a formação dos novos partidos que concorreram às eleições de Assembleia Constituinte. A fricção e a diferença existem mas, tendo em conta tudo que herdamos do passado, a disputa política no presente entre os partidos políticos e os políticos das duas gerações, devem ser pautadas pelo respeito mútuo para que o percurso da nossa democracia emergente possa prosseguir o seu rumo sem sobressaltos.
Que herança? – Notas Soltas

author: Jose Murilo


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Malawi: If I was a young man, there could have been blood in this country · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to Malawi Politics, the president of New Republican Party (NRP), Gwanda Chakuamba, is a man of many faces: “Mr Chakuamba has a reputation for violent outbursts and has spent most of his adult life either on the political platform or in prison. “If I was a young man, there could have been blood in this country,” he said after losing the election to President Muluzi in 1999. He claimed he was robbed of victory after polling half a million fewer votes than his opponent.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Malaysia: Ethnicity of Election Candidate · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Susan Loone comments on the influence of ethnicity on Malaysian elections.  “Political parties should be really choosing candidates who can negotiate, speak out and understand policy making, instead of those who are only apt at inciting racist sentiments.”


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Nigeria: Blogging the historic election (Part 1) · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

It's election time in Africa's most populous country – Nigeria. Nigerian bloggers have been blogging their sentiments and observations of the election. This round-up gives a brief overview of election reports and views shared by Nigerian bloggers before, during and after last Saturday's gubernatorial election.
Pre-election
Yomi Says blogs about pre-election campaign in Lagos state, Nigeria's economic hub, by President Olusegun Obasanjo (Uncle Sege): “Uncle Sege [Olusegun Obasanjo] and the Elections: Lies and Propaganda“
NTA aired the campaign rallies of Musiliu Obanikoro yesterday. Uncle Sege was there to promote his boy. If that was all he did, I would have no problem, but when a person in the shoes of Baba Iyabo lies and gets into blind propaganda in public, it is a shameful thing.
Baba Iyabo said that 8 years ago when the present administration of Lagos came in, he approached them asking that Lagos work hand-in-hand with them to develop its infrastructures; but that Bola Tinubu said, ‘No’. That was an outright, bare-faced, blatant lie.
Fortunately, there were some elderly citizens present, watching the telecast with me. None of these elders are into partisan politics, and all of them are principled, objective individuals. They all spoke up immediately to say that Baba Iyabo lied about that, and they accurately recounted what took place 8 years ago.
He then goes on to list some key areas in which he thinks the Federal government has failed Nigerians.
Musings of a Naijaman seems to have a scoop on the outcome of the elections before the elections even took place:
[…]In Nigeria, the political drama continues to unfold- what with the almighty PDP refusing to field governorship candidates in Rivers and Imo States rather than obey a Supreme Court judgement reinstating the rightful winners of the primaries. Nigeria can produce such bizarre results at times- from all that I hear about them, Araraume and Rotimi Amaechi, the candidates in question are hardly beacons of moral uprightness and yet one cannot help but support them in the injustice being meted out. Speaking to family and friends in Nigeria over the weekend, it seems as usual that Nigerians are resigning themselves to divine intervention- feeling completely helpless before the PDP behemoth. Frequent references were made as to how God intervened when Abacha thought he had his civilian succession sorted. The same mood of “what can we do?” pervaded the panel discussion at SOAS last week with Reuben Abati and Professor Akande- the general consensus was that the elections would be massively rigged but that Nigerians would accept the results. To put the icing on the cake, Patrick Wilmot, the writer and academic who was present at the SOAS event quoted the Secretary of the PDP as having predicted at a forum at Chatham House that PDP would win the elections by about 75 per cent. So ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, the results for the 2007 Nigerian elections, announced well in advance of any actual casting of votes.[…]
Omodudu wants to mobilize bloggers to cover the elections in “Calling Nigerian Bloggers…“:
Can blogging do for Nigeria what blogging did for the American elections? Will bloggers use their blogs as a tool for on-the-ground citizen journalism. Will bloggers post, up-to-the minute reports as the elections unfold? Will bloggers at least attempt to thwart the efforts of the individuals who have planned to rig the gubernatorial elections? Will bloggers take pictures and make videos of the pluses and minuses during the elections? Will we stop talking about our cats and shoes for one day, and focus on an issue that will determine how we live our lives in the next for years?
Snap a picture, make a video, write a comment. God bless you all.
Election Day (Saturday, March 14th 2007)
Ore's Notes is a blog run by a female Nigerian blogger. She shares her experience on voting day in “Voting in Progress …“
[…]As I moved closer to the front of the queue (These damned queues – I felt like I was a corper all over again. Even the sun cooperated in recreating the mood by beating down on our heads with cheerful ferocity.) people started complaining about not being able to find their names in the registers. This meant that they were not able to vote.
Na wa! Why is it always one thing after another? Just when we were all commenting that these elections were turning out to be so organised too….
An INEC official was found and she speculated on whether the officials had the complete list of voters’ names. She then went off, accompanied by one of the voters just so she wouldn't abscond, to look for the missing names. In the interim, a new queue was formed for people who had tried to vote, but whose names were missing. I stayed on my queue and when I got to the front handed my temporary voter's card to the official. Fortunately, my name was there and he asked me to bring forward my left thumb so that he could mark it with ink. I moved on to the second official, who marked the inner portion of my voter's card and gave me the stamped and signed ballot forms. I then moved to a side table to select my candidates on the forms.[…]
In a blog post titled “Voting in Lagos“, Chippla's Weblog shares a piece by a young Lagos-resident Nigerian on what it took to cast her vote.
[…]It would be an understatement to say that I was perplexed by the insistence of the INEC officials to stick to instructions—for I was shocked. But then, whomever it was that gave such instructions must have been myopic! For what was the essence of capturing voters registration data electronically during the registration exercise, if it was not to be used in a smart way? Where was technology being applied in the voting exercise? Why does the system in Nigeria choose to frustrate and punish people on the basis of ‘orders from above’, while other countries seek means of making life easier for their citizens? I was beginning to wonder if I was actually living in the 21st century and if the entire voting exercise would be fair.
The first vote was cast about an hour and a half after the INEC officials arrived. At this time, there were over 500 voters on the queue, which was growing by the minute. One of the male voters commented that it was due to the large population that things appeared unworkable in Nigeria. I chose to disagree with him. Planning, organization and dissemination of information were all that was lacking today. Even if there happened to be only 10 voters on the queue, poor logistics, organization and planning, as one saw in this exercise, would have resulted in an inefficient and complex voting process.
INEC officials setting upIn addition to that, if the INEC officials happened not to be properly trained they would have to work extra hard to get simple things done. This would in turn result in unkind words and insults from agitated voters. On my part, I was deeply disappointed with all the ‘noise’ INEC had made about being ready for the election process. Come to think of it, I dread to imagine what the presidential election would look like![…]
Yomi Says shares some thought about the day's event: “Monitoring the gubernatorial elections“
Up till now (11.15am), polling officers are yet to arrive at many polling stations. At other stations where polling has started, there are reports of shortage of materials.
It doesn’t look good. As usual, this leaves good room for malpractices. In the past, this has resulted in a situation where legitimate voters get tired and leave and pre-completed ballot papers are presented for counting at the end of the day.
Whether this delay is deliberate or merely a logistics problem from INEC, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Post-election
Black Looks’ blog post title says it all: “A novel in rotten democracy“
Nigeria went to the polls on Saturday for the first leg of the elections – the second leg voting for the President and national assembly is next Saturday. Today the Supreme Court ruled null and void the INEC’s (Electorial Commission) disqualification of Vice President Atiku Abubakar and at least 6 other governors. Nigeriaworld’s choice of headlines “Democracy Rules” is way off mark as violence, rigging and general thuggery seemed to have ruled the day.
Ike Okonta as always does an outstanding job in placing Nigeria’s elections in an historical and political context and asks a number of questions:
Will the elections hold? Will clear winners emerge? Will alleged losers accept their defeat with good grace, actuated by the larger national interest?
Grandiose Parlor asks “Was the Nigerian Elections Satisfactory?“
If the reports of the Saturday elections are to be reckoned with – it was a gross display of violence, fraud and total disregard for law and order.Just as political thugs and Niger-Delta militias were hijacking the process, some party chieftains and their goons were seizing ballot boxes, shooting and killing members of rival parties. Even INEC, the electoral agency in charge, omitted pictures of candidates in some states. As several mainstream media sites have reported, polling started very late in several polling stations nationwide.
When there are hard evidence that no state in the nation was free of violence or electoral fraud, yet the President deemed the elections satisfactory. Is Mr. Obasanjo in touch with reality at all? Or maybe I need my head examined!
We end this blog round-up with the entry by Break Of Dawn, in “Gubernatorial Election Results“
Finally, the Nigeria gubernatorial elections for the year 2007 have come to an end. There have been lots of mixed feelings about the exercise but INEC has declared the voting to be free and fair. Security was tight as armed soldiers and police were deployed all over the country to check violence and possible disruption. That notwithstanding, lots of issues were still recorded. I'll cover the election process in a later article. Right now here are the  complete results of the 2007 gubernatorial elections.
He then goes on to outline the election results as released by INEC. However, the concluding part of the blog post makes an interesting read.
Suddenly, the real reason for the 2-day unnecessary public holidays seems to have dawned on people. People initially thought it to be a gimmick by the presidency to keep Atiku away from the elections, and they were wondering if public holidays would be declared this week as well. Presently, it has been suggested that this tactic is actually against the AC … because if the court had ruled in Atiku's favour before the governorship elections, it would have been more difficult for the PDP to have rigged or for the INEC to announce inconsistent results in favor of the PDP. Obasanjo wants to have the last laugh and say “I told you” … but Time will tell.
God save our country Nigeria. Long live Nigeria.
————————————-
Author's note: The subsequent part of this piece will focus on the up-coming Presidential elections in the same country.

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Nigeria: chaos continues after elections · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Chaos continues after state elections in Nigeria last Saturday:
* Opposition kicks against PDP’s landslide victory
* Protests rock Edo, Benue, Osun, others
* Mob razes palace in Nasarawa
* Half-clad women march against ‘falsification’ of Ondo results
* Police teargas Oshiomhole, others in Edo


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Nigeria: state of emergency to be declared? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Will the state of emergency be declared in Nigeria?: “So just like I wasn’t surprised with the handling of the (s)elections last weekend, I will not be staggered in the slightest if a STATE OF EMERGENCY is declared.
But lets get one thing straight…It will be the beginning of the end.”


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Panama: Growing up can be difficult · Global Voices
Leon Kadoch

Being an adult represents new goals and endeavors. But the way a Panamanian Blogsphere Celebrity sees things, can be really funny and deserves to take a look at his loquacious point of view… Robdash wants to leave home.

author: Leon Kadoch


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Panama: The Soundtrack of your Childhood · Global Voices
Leon Kadoch

It´s curious how Latin American people remember their childhood. We all remember some parts of it, by watching TV, a few songs from the radio or probably our school. The old cartoons are probably some of the good memories we will ever get, and some of them are still part of your memory, mainly when you recall the theme song. Well, most of the cartoons in Spanish during the 80's and maybe part of the 90's were created by a man named as “Capitan Memo” who visited Panama recently, and Butter, el del Butterfest met him


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Russia: A Small Photo-Tour · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As “life comes closer to bearable in Moscow,” the Turkish Invasion gives a small photo-tour around Russia's capital.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Dissenters’ March in Moscow (2) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On the one hand, president Vladimir Putin's spokesman admitted Tuesday that there had been instances of “overreaction” by riot police during the opposition's weekend rallies.
But on the other hand, also on Tuesday, opposition leader and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov was summoned for questioning to the Federal Security Service (FSB), on suspicion that he had been propagating extremism.
There is a lot of media coverage of these two and other post-rally developments (here's what comes up when you google “kasparov kasyanov limonov” – this AP piece, for example) – but below is a bit more of what Russian bloggers have written about the Dissenters’ March in Moscow itself, as well as links to their photos.
(Warning: as in the previous installment, some links here lead to blogs with bandwidth-intensive content.)
- LJ user drugoi (photos and video);
- LJ user jetturtle (photos);
- LJ user zhenshen (photos);
- LJ user sholademi (photos featuring riot police in the context of the city and its various ads and signs):
On April 14, OMON fighters in Moscow took part in the casting for commercials of world-famous brands.
- LJ user khit (text):
April 12, 2007 -
I'm a dissenter, too [I disagree, too], but I'm not going to the March. Because what I disagree with isn't what the Communists, nationalists, and Limonov people [limonovtsy, members of Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party] disagree with. And don't try to explain to me that Communists and limonovtsy are absolutely not what they used to be, and that the nationalists who are going to be there are all good – derivative from the word “nationa” and not “ethnicity.” This [mixed up mass] smells of unscrupulousness. Not political unscrupulousness (you can't surprise anyone with that now), but human unscrupulousness. Disgusting.
April 15, 2007 -
Yes! Yes! Yes! I went there, even though only a day before, I was explaining in detail why I wouldn't go. But I wasn't lying. […] I don't regret having gone there. It was something to be seen with my own eyes. In order to once again realize that this regime is mean. And also to understand that, alas, we are not ready for resistance. Alas!
- LJ user orthannaer (photo, text – here, here, here, and here):
[…] An OMON sergeant. A normal guy. Some female journalist was trying to get him talk on the subject of whether he “enjoyed defending the regime” – so I also spent some time talking to him. I'll skip the conversation's beginning, here's from the middle:
He asks me: “Have you come here to cause something bad to happen?”
- No, I wouldn't want anything bad to happen. But if the fighting occured here, it would be my duty to tell how it all went, who started it first.
– Ah, come on, as always, you'll write that it was OMON that beat the crap out of everyone.
– If you start it, I'll write this. But if the NBP people set upon you, I'll write that they are the idiots.
– Oh yeah?
Then [an officer of superior rank] approached and we pretended that we were just standing next to each other. Then the guy said that they couldn't be photographed, and couldn't talk to journalists, and couldn't do anything at all – because they wouldn't get their bonus money if they did. I [ignored] this ban on photographs and took a picture, shooting upward, from the hip, and the guy didn't see it.
Anyway, what am I trying to say? If you approach them with hatred, you'll get hatred in return. Folks come out of the subway and look at the cops as they would look at animals, or mud beneath their feet (and I've seen many people like this today), and then they are for some reason surprised that they're being grabbed by their hands and taken to jail [obezyannik, “monkey cage”]. Cops are people, too. And they differ from one another. Just like anywhere else, some are bastards, and some are normal guys. […]
- LJ user bee-n-noa (photos, text):
[…] When we started photographing the police, an OMON fighter came up to us and asked if we had any posters with us. When we asked him what he'd do to us if we did have posters, he said mysteriously: “Well, it depends on what the posters say.” And after another question – “And what if it said, ‘Putin, give us back the election'?” – he lost patience and said that he wasn't allowed to talk with us. […]
- LJ user krocodl (text):
[…]
* There are many young people in the audience. I spoke with a friend a while ago, and he complained that he didn't like today's kids too much, because they seemed somewhat zombified to him. But there [at the March], there were many good faces, with thoughts and feelings in their eyes. This, of course, is a plus, but the minus is that OMON is aiming exactly at these very people. I heard it myself – when the Marsians [OMON fighters] were jumping out of the bus, their commander was yelling, “Grab the young ones first.” With such an approach, they'll become even more interesting and more adult in a while, of course, but I'm afraid it'll get pretty hard to explain to them about law and non-violent resistance. […]
* The second-largest group is, of course, people aged 50 and more. Something worth noting is that there are a lot more “middle-class” representatives now […]. Pensioners and the very elderly people are the second most intense group, too, whose drive can only be compared to that of the National Bolshevik Party guys. An idiotic country, where only the youngest and the oldest can afford being active – because both don't really have anything to lose. […]


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Russia, Ukraine: Foreign Ministry on Tymoshenko · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Over at Publius Pundit, La Russophobe‘s guest-translator guest-translates the response of the Russian Foreign Ministry to Yulia Tymoshenko's article in Foreign Affairs.


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Russia, Ukraine: Gevorkyan’s Column · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

La Russophobe‘s guest-translator translates Natalya Gevorkyan's column on Gazeta.ru: “Prison Camp ‘Russia’.”


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Serbia: Lack of Broadband · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 explains why Serbia is “ahead of Albania when it comes to broadband internet, but behind, well, everybody else in Europe.”


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Serbia: “The Emperors are Naked” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anegdote writes about Serbian politics: “You can destroy many things on the planet Earth, but one thing will stand as long as the humans live: utter and complete stupidity.”


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Slovenia: “Stay Away from Media Temple!” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Glory of Carniola gets cheated by his web hosting company, which prompts a number of fellow-bloggers from the region to start the “Stay Away from Media Temple!” campaign.


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South Korea: The Politics of Pride and Shame · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Hurt discussed about the politics of pride and shame in South Korea society. His prediction on the social and media reaction on the recent events at Virginia Tech, with the mass murder-suicide of Cho Seung-Hui is very accurate: There is going to be serious national shame, expressed through the shock of this “representative of the culture” – even if the kid had been living in the States most of his life. There will be Korean media pointing at the parents, expressions of shock that “a Korean could do such a thing”…

author: Oiwan Lam


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Taiwan: DIY media activist workshop · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Inertia from Heterotopias announced the DIY media activist workshop to be help in Taipei end of April [zh]. Details can be found here (en and zh Bilingual site):
“There will be several experienced media activists attend this workshop from Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea, including the non-profit art-technology organization and independent media center: Remo, Korean progressive media education orgnization: Med Act, video activists from V Activism, as well as Inmediahk.net, and Interlocals.net.”


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Taiwan: Fabricated News · Global Voices
Pipper Lee

On March 28th, TVBS, the TV station which has been long mocked as “TV Bull Shit”, broadcast some footage that caught the public's eyeballs. The footage, which showed gangster Chou Cheng-pao threatening his former gangster boss with guns, was later broadcast by other cable TV news channels. However, not until the investigation did the police find that the footage was actually a pseudo news shot by TVBS reporter Shi Chen-kang with the help of the gangster.
The fabricated news caused public outrage. Muser, who wrote three articles to criticize TVBS, pointed out that it was not the first time TVBS invented news. He indicated that the bias reports in daily life were more difficult to cope with than the dramatic pseudo news:
今天 TVBS 繼瀝青鴨捏造新聞事件之後，又爆發 TVBS 自導自演捏造「歹徒持槍嗆聲」新聞事件的醜聞，如果不是這個新聞牽涉到刑法，引起警方調查，這個新聞絕不會被閱聽人知道是經過自導自演、刻意捏造的新聞，而其他不涉及刑法、不曾被你仔細檢閱且注意過的新聞、甚至無法追究這些新聞人員相關新聞責任的報導，你又該怎麼辦呢？
Seeing the mistake of TVBS, other media blurred the footage immediately and criticized TVBS for inventing the news without any self reflection. Long-term media observer Benla condemned such attitude:
其它新聞台有什麼資格爽！昨天播周政保播的很開心，今天大家都在打馬賽克，沒什麼比這個更無恥的了！
Bad Mouth, the reporter in PTS, was soothed by the modest decision of PTS. Instead of following the trend to show the footage, PTS reprimanded news stations for broadcasting it. She advised other news stations not to hit TVBS when it was down, because “is it not all of you who got the footage and helped the gangster to threaten others by broadcasting it?”
Facing the critiques all around, TVBS decided to take them up without defending themselves. The call-in TV show Speaking on Your Mind at 2100 hosted by the general manager Lee-Tao(李濤) prolonged its runtime from one hour to three hours, receiving all the criticisms without interruption until the audiences hung up the phone themselves. They even arranged news director Pan Tzu-yin(潘祖蔭) appearing in the show to take the blame. Sarcastically, the “self-criticism” of TVBS resulted in a dramatic rise in audience rating. Tenz said deridingly, “What a genius to condemn its own employee on one hand while earning both audience rating and advertising fee on the other!” The cartoonist Mr. Zeng drew a series of comics for on  What the hell? Everything’s gone after the apology?
NCC (National Communications Commission), which is in charge of the management of cable television, decided to fine TVBS and TVBS-N each for one million dollars (total sum of two million dollars) and asked TVBS to replace its general manager Lee-Tao (李濤). The general manager finally resigned and made an announcement that he hoped his resignation could “stop vicious attacks on TVBS.”  The statement provoked more criticism.
Regarding NCC's decision on the fine, some thought it overdone while others consider it not enough. Both media-reform NGOs, Media Watch and Campaign for Media Reform, criticized that the punishment was “insufficient but over-exaggerated at the same time.”
They indicated that the supervising office should not interfere with internal affairs of the media; the request on the alteration of management staff was merely a stopgap measure which could not solve the structural problem of dog-eat-dog competition in this business. Besides, the scandal revealed the loophole and deficiency of the relevant law. Responding to these problems, NCC should make amendments to the law as soon as possible and take the blunder of TVBS into consideration when renewing the broadcasting license in the future.
Compared with the harsh attacks on TVBS management staffs, the two reporters fired in this event received many support from their colleagues. Having been a journalist for seven to eight years, An Ping Ke (安平客)wrote an article “We Can Do Nothing” to lament the severe working environment of media, where reporters have to betray their souls in order to earn a living. To attract the public attention, distortion of the news becomes the SOP (standard operating procedure) for news processing. What should reporters do when all the media become another “TV Bull Shit”. For An Ping Ke the answer is “We can do nothing.”
In his blog, Benla quoted a remark from a former TVBS reporter, who thought that these two reporters did make an unbearable mistake, but they had contributed lots of exclusives to the company. “The company gets benefits by broadcasting those exclusives, but when they get into trouble, where is the company? Does it pay the bail and hire a lawyer for them? I don’t think so. However, it is the news values internalized by the company that makes them violate the news ethics.”
In “Lee Should Apologize to Shi”(李濤，該向史鎮康道歉), press reporter HJB quoted a line from the film Infernal Affairs(無 間道), “If I can choose to be a good people, why being a bad guy?” He pointed out that the structural factor which sank media workers into depravity was “the anxiety driven by market competition, which gnaws media workers’ insistence on news ethics.” In letters-to-the-editor column, senior reporter Caroline Lin (林照真)also indicated that advertising system was to blame for such a media chaos. She said that the overcrowded TV channels in Taiwan and the extremely low audience rating, accompanied with improper advertising system, together shape a distorted media environment where news stations are subject to audience rating which the advertising fee is paid upon. Attracting the audience’s attention becomes the top principle prior to the quality of the news. When audience rating rules and producing sensational news is the easiest way to pursue it, journalists can do nothing but slaved by audience rating, sacrificing their dignity as well as professional ideology.
As audience, quite a number of internet users decided to improve media environment by their own effort. The net users in News100 made a list of advertisers with phone numbers who paid to Speaking on Your Mind at 2100 on March 28th and 29th. They launched a campaign to boycott the advertisers and protest on the phone. Besides, adopting the idea of a previous activity “Rejecting Bad Media, Count Me In,” Tenz started a campaign “Articulations: Skip News Channels Together,” in which he and other net users worked together to teach people how to set TV in the mode of automatically skipping particular channels.
“
The scandal of pseudo news had resulted in a big public reaction. However, as the media reformers suggested, it might be another turning point:
這並不是單一的偶發事件，而是整體惡質台灣媒體文化的縮影。然而，若是新聞台能因此深刻反省，主管機關ＮＣＣ為所當為，記者也開始團結反抗惡質的組織文化與媒體老闆違反新聞專業的無理要求，並且民眾一起對抗媒體暴力，那麼這起新聞史上集體的可恥事件，也將開啟新聞環境脫胎換骨的新契機。
This article was written by fool fitz and nausicaa, both are GV Chinese Project Team members.

author: Pipper Lee


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Trinidad & Tobago: Anamunthodo Freed  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Anita Anamunthodo, mother of four-year-old Amy who was raped and beaten to death in Trinidad last year, was yesterday freed on six charges of willful neglect and child abandonment.  Francomenz notices parallels between what happened in that case and journalist BC Pires’ diagnosis of a general West Indian malaise.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Naipaul’s Visit · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Writer (and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2001) V.S. Naipaul is in Trinidad for a week of celebrations honouring his 75th birthday year.  Jonathan Ali shares his thoughts on the visit.


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Ukraine, Poland: Euro 2012 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine and Poland will be hosting Euro 2012, Siberian Light reports: “Just over half of the matches in the tournament will be played in Poland but, to compensate, Ukraine will host the final of Euro 2012 in the Kiev Olympic Stadium.”


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Ukraine, Romania: Political Similarities · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Transatlantic Politics finds similarities between the current political situation in Ukraine and in Romania – here and here: “The ‘orange revolution’ in Ukraine and the ‘orange elections’ in Romania are ending in very similar ways: an anti-reformist majority in the Parliament is backing the Premier and trying to impeach the President, blocking early elections and any further efforts to shake up the judicial system, to fight corruption and to further democratize the country.”


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Ukraine: Stanik and Other Mess · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As the Constitutional Court seems to be working on the parliament dissolution case, Abdymok.net and Ukrainiana write about Justice Suzanna Stanik's corrupted career. Foreign Notes notes a few other political developments and concludes: “Should all be sorted by Christmas then..”


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Virginia Tech, rumors and change: the Bangla blogosphere spans it all · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Bangla blogs join the rest of the world in mourning the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Probashi raises the issue of gun control and points out that had a gun not been accessible to the mentally unstable Cho, he would not have been able to wreak such havoc. He urges “gun control is a must now”. While commenting on his post, blogger Hasib reminds us of Michael Moore's docufilm ‘Bowling for Columbine‘.
Change is in the air for the Bangla blogosphere. First, Somewherein blog moved server and then relaunched itself in an Unicode avatar much to our delight. The extremely popular Bangla blogging platform is suffering some initial technical glitches and bugs (one bug reportedly added the word ‘kangal’, which means penniless in Bengali, to every contributor's profile!) but the administrators are working full steam to get these irritants ironed out. Second, the Bangla language got another boost when Ekushey.org launched a Bangla version of the Mozilla Firefox using the localization feature. Omiazad tells us how to get started.
Change seems to be the buzzword in Bangladesh's political arena as well. Opbak questions the manner in which the military backed interim government (formed to facilitate a free and fair election in the country after Khaleda Zia's term ended in October 2006) is trying to get rid of the two leading political begums. Instead of trying them for the corruption charges leveled against them, both are being turned out of the country. Khaleda Zia is allegedly being exiled to Saudi Arabia and latest reports say that the interim government has banned Sheikh Hasina from returning to the country from the US where she had gone on a personal visit. In an interesting observation, voice of Bangladeshi bloggers lays some blame for this political upheaval at the door of the country's mainstream media, saying that they lacked ideology and changed tune way too often for comfort.
And finally, a strong breeze of rumor has been blowing across the entire land generating a loud buzz and taking up blogging space in the Bangla world. It seems that cell phones are spouting certain sms, calls, ringtones, (and God knows what else) which are causing phone owners to drop down dead! Darkangleblog says that this hoax has spread across the sub-continent and has resulted in atleast some people switching off their phones in fear. Kinkortobyobimur asks people to think rationally and Hasin warns people not to be taken in  by such hoax

author: Aparna Ray


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A Guadeloupean Family Heads Back to Africa · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Regardailleurs writes about a Guadeloupean family that decided to abandon the privileges of French citizenship and “repatriate” to Benin (Fr), land of their ancestors, after centuries of exile.

author: Jennifer Brea


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Arabeyes: Thoughts on the Virginia Tech Massacre  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

For Algerian student Nouri, who studies in the US, the shooting at Virginia Tech is too close to home for comfort. He links to the above photograph, from the Washington Post, which features one of his acquaintances, who goes to school there.
“The brown fellow to the right, just above and between the two girls in headscarves is a fellow named Khaled, who is also an Algerian. While 30 people were killed (including two Arab-Americans), it is good to know he is not hurt, and that the ordeal's bloodshed is done with,” he writes.
Arabisto bloggers are also giving the incident blanket coverage, especially that three of the victims are Arabs – two of Lebanese origin and an Egyptian Phd student.
Blogger Rima Abdelkader updates us on victim Reema Samaha‘s last dance here:
“Virginia Tech student, Reema Samaha, was murdered on Monday, April 16th along with a total of 32 other Virginia Tech students and faculty.  Her family last visited her the weekend before this tragic shooting to watch her perform in a festival at Virginia Tech.  A passionate dancer, Reema performed in a debka performance, a traditional Arab folk dance, with her classmates.  Here are three clips with her and her classmates in show from YouTube.
Two Virginia Tech student groups, Palestinian Awareness at Virginia Tech and the Cedars of Lebanon, sponsored this fair, called the International Street Fair 2007,” she explains.
The other victim of Lebanese origin is Ross Abdullah Alameddine, 20. Lebanese blogger Jounoune updates us about how the two Lebanese families are dealing with the shock in this link to a newspaper report.
Nadia Gergis , who also writes for Arabisto, links to an interview with Reema's father.
“A sad interview with Joe Samaha, the father of Reema Samaha, has been posted on MSNBC by reporter Stone Phillips. Seems like the school didn't inform the Samaha family of the shooting. We've also learned that her parents Joe and Mona Samaha, are graduates of the American University in  Beirut.
“We've are also learning from the New York Times of another victim of the shooting, who seems to be from Egypt. His name is Waleed Shaalan,” she writes.
And while the shooter was not an Arab, Gergis reports that a Palestinian student at the university took footage of the massacre using his cell phone camera.
“I am sure I am not alone in my thoughts today.
When I heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech, I said to myself at work today, “please, please, please don’t let the shooter be Arab.” I kept walking by the news praying that the anchors on CNN would not say, “could this be the act of a terrorist.”
While the killer’s name hasn’t been released, CNN reports that he might be Asian.  I am relieved. Isn’t that horrible, I am relieved that he is Asian and not Arab,” she admits.
But there was an Arab all over CNN today. His name is Jamal Albarghouti, who recorded shots being fired on the Virginia Tech campus through his cell phone for CNN’s iReports.
All we know about Albarghouti is he is a grad student at the school. Today, he shows us the future of citizen journalism. His footage was broadcast by several major television networks and he was even a guest on Larry King Live on Monday night.
Despite all this, Gergis says there were some attempts to link the massacre to Islam.
And I quote from Fox: “He apparently had scrawled the words “ISMAIL AX” on the inside of one arm, which may be a reference to the Islamic account of the Biblical sacrifice of Abraham.”
The haters have already started blogging on this. I knew it would only be a matter of time.
In Egypt, blogger Zeinobia mourns  an Egyptian victim in the massacre – Walid Mohammed Shabaan.
She admits that the shooting didn't raise her curiosity, until she realised there was an Egyptian among those killed.
“To tell you the truth I didn't pay much attention to the massacre that happened in the Virginia Tech ,yes it is horrible and I felt so sad to the families of the victims and angry that they lost their beloved ones because some crazy manic But I felt even more sadder and angrier when I knew that there was an Egyptian among the victims who were killed by crazy Cho.
“It turned out among the victims according to Virginia Tech. institute the Egyptian researcher Walid Mohamed Shabaan from Zagagzig in Delta , a doctoral student in civil engineering , he was working in the national center for Water researches and had a personal scholarship for PHD there since August 2006,” she notes.
However, Zeinobia is quick to criticise Western media for not shedding enough light on the Arab victim.
“There is no(t) much about him in the American media ,I don't know why they neglected him, I check the New York Times and I found nothing, in the American TV the same thing.
“Already I think his story is tragic even more tragic than many of the victims because this young man finished his study ,took his degree and was supposed to leave and return back home to Egypt on that day of the massacre, he should have returned home by today.
“Instead he will return home dead,” she says.
Meanwhile  Iraqi blogger Iraqi Konfused Kid, who is a university student in Jordan, provides links for the killer's two plays.
One of his readers notes:
christine said…
Hey, I've been reading your blog for a while. Thanks for creating it.
With this post you created about the Virginia Gunman, I thought how it's interesting that you keep up with the events in America when many people here are relatively ignorant of the events in your country and elswhere in the world. It just struck me as wrong somehow. America has to become more connected with the world. It's our only chance.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti-born blogger Fonzy doesn't hide his disgust  with the murderer Cho Seung-Hui.
“I’m sure everyone heard of the massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech by one of the resident students, some guy called Cho Seung-Hui. Apparently, the guy did what he did cos he had no life!!! And he videotaped a suicide message which was aired on NBC news. One of the quotes he said was:
“Your Mercedes wasn’t enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren’t enough you snobs. Your trust funds wasn’t enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn’t enough. All your debaucheries weren’t enough. Those weren’t enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything.”
SO WHAT?!?! He was poor so that makes it ok to kill 32 people??!! And he wanted to show the world how disturbed he was?” he writes.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bahrain: Land of Missed Opportunities · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Silly Bahraini Girl laments that her country – Wonderland – is a land of missed opportunities – “unless of course you are a drug baron, a high-class prostitute or an Islamic fanatic.. or better yet – all THREE together!”


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Bahrain: Squeeky Clean Government  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain has a “squeeky clean” government which is totally free from corruption, writes Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif.


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Bangladesh: Liberation and India · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The 3rd World View on a young Indian politician's remarks over India's role in Bangladesh's liberation. “But hey something is missing from the picture. They have wiped out the context of the Bangladesh Liberation War and the tremendous struggle of the Bangladeshis for the independence. Needless to mention the millions of lives lost in the cause.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bangladesh: Two parties and a Military strongman · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mash on political developments in Bangladesh. “The military strongman who has taken control of Bangladesh, Lt. General Moeen U Ahmed, is systematically purging the two most popular political parties in Bangladesh. Together these two parties enjoy overwhelming support in Bangladesh and have both held power after close elections during the past 16 years of democratic rule in Bangladesh.”


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Barbados: Cricket Legends Give Back  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cricket Legends of Barbados, an organisation which boasts famous names like Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Everton Weekes and Wes Hall, is lending its support to former team-mates who have fallen on hard times.  My Barbados Blog links to the full story on BBC Sport.


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Blogger in Morocco surmises on causes for recent bombings · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Everything Morocco reports on local reactions to the Casablanca bombings last Saturday in an article entitled “Is Morocco Still Safe?”
“To get right to the point, the root of the problem is poverty with all of its accompanying desperation and hopelessness. When there are high-rise apartments overlooking shanty towns and five-star boutique hotels sitting next to crumbling medina hovels, the disparity between wealth and poverty becomes so stark that it's impossible NOT to wonder why things aren't worse. In Casablanca alone, it is estimated nearly 5000 children live on the streets. If this is the published estimate, chances are its more,” the blogger writes.

author: Jillian C. York


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Brazil, Argentina: Soccer and Safe Sex · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Sex and Soccer meet in Latin American as two soccer giants face off in Latin America, prompting some amusing advertisements.

author: David Sasaki


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China: Cultural Worker License · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Media Project brings into focus a recent announcement by China's top cultural officials announced that the country would institute a new licensing system this year for employment in the cultural sector.


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China: Daughter’s Day · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Peijin Chen from Shanghaiist reports on the restoration of traditional festivial day in China. April 19 is the third day of the third month in Chinese Lunar Calendar, which is known as the “Daughter's Day” (女儿节). The background of the restoration trend is related to UNESCO's intangible heritage policy.


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China: Reactions to the Virginia Tech slayings · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In response to the slayings at Virginia Tech this week, upon seeing the shooter's ethnicity prematurely declared to be that of Chinese, many de facto Chinese bloggers were in disbelief, some ran with the false news to further their political agendas, but most were sympathetic to the victims, their classmates, friends and families. Then there were the views like those expressed in journalist and Bullog blogger Ten Years of Chopping Timber‘s post today, in response to two commonly-seen tragedies in China, ‘Waiting for Bush to Reciprocate‘
等着布什的回礼
美国弗吉尼亚理工大学发生殒命33人的惨案（包括凶手在内），我国家领导人及时地发出慰问电，果然是泱泱大国，礼仪之邦。几乎在这一惨案发生的同时，神州大地也发生了两起灾难：河南省宝丰县发生矿难，33人生死不明； 辽宁铁岭市清河特殊钢有限公司发生钢水包整体脱落事故，共造成32人死亡。罹难者人数如此接近，时间几乎在同时，按照礼尚往来的原则，布什应该给我国政府发来慰问电才行，
就算美国是惟一的超级大国，比较牛逼，但接到我国领导人慰问电后，也应该回电致以慰问。至今没有媒体报道布什发来慰问电，估计这份慰问电恐怕等不来了。
乍看此对比，会觉得布什这鸟人，何其不懂事，连民间百姓走亲戚也知道来而不往非礼也。不过先别骂布什，首先要看看两国政府对自己国民不幸罹难的态度。
在美国，人家连续一周降半旗，布什夫妇亲自到惨案发生的校园内慰问。如果我国也照此办理，估计天安门广场上的国旗没几天能升到旗杆顶端，国家领导人也没多少时间可以出国访问。我国这两起灾难发生后，除了他们的亲人，有几个为其表示悲伤呢？而美国政府把那场惨案当成国丧。
政府元首间对灾难的慰问，不看对方死多少人，而是看该国政府对灾难的慰问。尽管国有大小强弱之分，人有贵贱贫富之分，但对生命的态度并不仅仅取决于贫富，而是当家的对生命的态度。一个再富的家庭，视该家奴婢的死亡如小动物的死亡，随便找个乱葬岗埋了了事，别人怎么可能来悼唁呢？不知轻重地悼唁那是讽刺人家么。而再穷的人家，如果把家庭成员的丧事，郑重其事来办理，四乡八邻的人也会来表示哀悼，不去则是失礼。
所以，如果等不来布什总统的回礼，也不能怪罪人家。

author: John Kennedy


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Colombia: The disappointing debate on paramilitarism in Antioquia · Global Voices
Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez

Yesterday finally the long awaited “debate” on paramilitarism in Antioquia department, where President Álvaro Uribe was born and was Governor from 1995 to 1997, was held at the Colombian congress. There was a lot of interest on the topic, because opposition senator and former M-19 guerrilla leader Gustavo Petro had said he would reveal a list of 2,000 figures allegedly involved with paramilitarism. He did not show any list but he indeed did reveal other stuff. From the Washington Post:
An opposition lawmaker on Tuesday alleged that paramilitary death squads met at the ranch of President Álvaro Uribe in the late 1980s and plotted to murder opponents, an explosive charge in a growing scandal that has unearthed ties between the illegal militias and two dozen congressmen.
Basing his accusations on government documents and depositions by former paramilitary members and military officers, Sen. Gustavo Petro said the militiamen met at Uribe’s Guacharacas farm as well as ranches owned by his brother, Santiago Uribe, and a close associate, Luis Alberto Villegas.
“From there, at night, they would go out and kill people,” Petro said, referring to the sprawling ranch owned by Álvaro Uribe, who served as a senator from 1986 to 1994. […]
Uribe, since he first ran for office, has also been dogged by the fact that paramilitary groups grew dramatically during his term as governor in the northwestern state of Antioquia, from 1995 to 1997. During that time, he helped spearhead the creation of Convivirs, legal vigilante groups. Some were later denounced for having morphed into paramilitary death squads or for serving as fronts for paramilitary warlords.
Wow, I can’t wait for Álvaro Uribe’s reaction. But if some of Petro’s accusations were not “precise”, the government’s defence was no better. Before the hearing, Pablo Escobar’s cousin and main presidential adviser, José Obdulio Gaviria, like other Antioquia politicians, had said the debate was an attack against the people of Antioquia. Carlos Holguín, minister of the Interior, and Andrés Gallego, Minister of Transportation, defended Uribe and his democratic security policy.
The AP describes how “government records and statements by members of the security forces revealed that a civilian self-defense program known as Convivir – championed by Uribe when he was governor of Antioquia – was infiltrated by members of the death squads.” Reuters adds that Interior Minister Carlos Holguin accuses Petro of playing party politics by portraying Colombia “as a country of assassins and paramilitaries.” Finally, Bloomberg emphasizes that President Uribe has repeatedly denied his involvement with the paramilitary groups, but that “the allegations threaten the passage of a free-trade accord with the U.S. Likewise, the Washington Post reported that the controversy may influence “U.S. lawmakers as they consider additional anti-drug and military aid this year under the so-called Plan Colombia program, designed to fight narco-guerrillas.”
The 9-hour debate, which was followed with a lot of interest by many Colombians outside the country, who could only hear the audio streaming on Indymedia Colombia for one hour (inside Colombia it could be watched on state-run Señal Institucional), was somewhat disappointing (although this picture depicts Uribe’s younger brother departing with a member of the drug-dealing Ochoa family). The Colombian blogosphere has two remarkable, complementary articles. First, Jaime Restrepo criticized Petro’s way of conducting the debate on his centre-right blog Atrabilioso:
Pero lo mínimo que se esperaba era que la táctica cuestionada (el todo vale) no fuera parte de la estrategia que finalmente utilizaron para condenar lo que ellos mismos estaban utilizando: si el todo vale es lo cuestionado, resulta sucio e incongruente que para señalar esa forma de vivir de los colombianos (el todo vale) se utilice también el todo vale, y sobre todo un todo vale mentiroso y muchas veces sinuoso.
Then, centre-left equinoXio’s Julián Ortega Martínez also showed his disappointment:
Triste lo que queda del debate: verdades a medias, indicios mas no pruebas, crímenes por todos conocidos pero aún impunes, argumentos ad hominem, referencias a procesos judiciales inconclusos o pasados, la apelación ridícula al regionalismo pseudo-federal y la satanización del control político, equiparado a “hablar mal del país”. Censurable la actitud del gobierno, que NO QUIERE RECONOCER que el proyecto de las Convivir fue un fracaso rotundo que tuvo como resultado un caudaloso río de sangre, producto de las muertes de decenas de miles de colombianos en muchas regiones del país.
The result of the debate is sad: partial truths, traces but no evidences, crimes we all know happened but still go unpunished, ad hominem arguments, referrals to unfinished or old judicial processes, the ridiculous appeal to pseudo-federal regionalism and the criticism of political control, as equal of “saying bad stuff on the country”. The governmen’t attitude is also the subject of criticism, because it DOESN’T WANT TO RECOGNIZE that the Convivir project was a huge failure which resulted in a plentiful, bloody river, from the deaths of dozens of thousands of Colombians. […]
¿No es incómodo que el único personaje que se atreve a denunciar los crímenes del paramilitarismo y la forma en que éste infiltró y cooptó las instituciones locales y regionales tenga el rabo de paja tan grande como aquellos a quienes denuncia, a pesar de prestarle un gran servicio al país en tanto control político?
Isn’t it a little strange that the only public person who dares to denounce paramilitary crimes and the way they infiltrated and coopted local and regional institutions has a lot of skeletons in his closet just like those he’s denouncing, in spite of performing a great service to the country in terms of political control?
Finally, I must refer to Center for International Policy’s brief. There’s a lot to come, undoubtedly…

author: Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez


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Congo’s Rainforest for Sale · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Citing an article in the Guardian, Forum Realiance writes that since 2002, American and European companies have been buying up the rights to the Congo's virgin rainforests (Fr), paying less than US$20 million for an area roughly the size of Great Britain.


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Dominica: Looking for Wide Sargasso Sea · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bronte Blog reprints an article by Ellen Vanstone about Dominican author Jean Rhys and her acclaimed novel, Wide Sargasso Sea.


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Egypt: The Khamseen Attacks  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egypt has been hit by the Khamseen, according to blogger Issander El Amrani. “Today, one of the nastiest Khamseen in years is blowing through Cairo. My balcony is covered in dust, and the old doors and windows of my 1940s apartment are letting the fine red sand carried by the wind blow in, covering everything in the house with a thin sliver of dust. Your mouth feels dry and mealy, your nose congested, and their a vaguely rancid odor of hanging in the air,” he writes.


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Estonia, Latvia: Robert Amsterdam’s Impressions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Following his visit to Latvia and Estonia, Robert Amsterdam shares his thoughts on the two countries and their relationship with Russia.


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Georgia & Russia: Becoming Abkhaz · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Steady State reports why a Georgian would want to become an Abkhaz.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Georgia: World’s Best Reformer · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Chris Monasterski lists some of the policy steps taken by Georgia to become recognized as the world's best economic reformer.


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Guyana: Do The Chicken!   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Jolly Spectator reports that the enthusiastic, fun-loving attitude of Irish cricket supporters (not to mention their team's unique dance moves) have made the Irish the darlings of the Caribbean: “Said Irish Captain Trent Johnston of Guyana, Barbados, and Jamaica, ‘I think the locals have warmed to us.’  Why?  Perhaps it’s Johnston’s own jig called The Chicken, devised to celebrate the fall of a wicket – it’s being performed nightly at nightclubs by Guyanese cricket fans!”


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India: Starry Weddings and News · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

DesiDabba comments on the media frenzy over a star-studded wedding. “The emphasis seems to be more on generating news than reporting news. Agreed that the marriage in first family of Hindi film industry would be a news gold mine but bombarding the viewers with the same news over and over is a little too much. Yesterday I saw a 45 minutes program dedicated to the wedding and sangeet ceremony on Star News.”


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Iran:Reflections on Virginia Tech · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kamangir reports that Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, one of the topmost Shia clerics in Iran, gave his analysis of the Virginia Tech massacre:”The incident in Virginia Tech is a sign of deviation from faith in God, logic, and human emotions. There is a lesson in this event for everyone in the world. …the shooting proves how much insecure the materialist world.” Another blogger,Haji Washington[Fa] says if this shooting had happened in Europe, a wave of hatred would have created a lot of problems for South Asian people.The blogger adds this reaction did not happen in USA.He asks but if the killer had been an Arab or Muslim,what would have been reactions?

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Virginia shooting in Iranian Blogestan · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Haji Washington[Fa] says if a Korean student had killed people in a European university as this stupid guy did in Virginia Tech, a wave of hatred would create serious problems for South Asian people.The blogger says it did not happen, after this shooting, in USA. He asks if the killer had been an Arab or Moslem, what would have been reactions?


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Iraq: Sadr Ministers Out  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Omar is asking: now what after all the Sadr Ministers have withdrawn from the Iraqi government? “In a sudden move, Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has pulled his ministers out of the Iraqi cabinet. Many people are asking me why. It’s a good question, and I’ve being thinking about the reasons and implications. They aren’t very easy to determine because of the jumpy, and often illogical, way that this political faction thinks and behaves,” he explains.


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Iraq: Who’s in Control? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Lady Bird  mocks Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Malki's comments that he will be in full control of Iraq by the end of this year at the time she claims he cannot control a “single neighbourhood.”


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: VT Tragedy Hits Home · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Writing from Jamaica, The Life and Times of Michmac is saddened by the tragedy at Virgina Tech, yet relieved that “somebody up there is looking out for me”.  And TNTLime.com reprints an article from Newsday, which interviews a Trinidadian who is a student at VT: ““It is hard to take it in the magnitude of what has happened,” she says.  “It is a reminder of how things could go wrong.”


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Kurdistance: A New Front in Northern Iraq? · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Oh dear, not again. While it is unusual for me to outwardly state my opinions on a subject, I can say in this instance….I am not alone in my sentiment. Once more overtures have been made by the Turkish government to intervene in Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan. Unlike past incidents where the motives haven't been as clear, Turkish threats about crossing its southern borders have been in direct reaction to statements made by the Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani: “Iraqi Kurds would not accept any foreign interference on the Kirkuk issue as it considers it an internal affair that should be resolved internally.” For this story…I'll let both the Kurdish and Turkish bloggers explain…
Iraqi Kurdistan sums up the general situation:
The Turkish political and military establishments have made their hostility towards Iraqi Kurdistan their first priority. There is no day goes by, without hearing outrageous threats and intimidations by Turkish officials against the Kurdish federal region in Iraqi Kurdistan ( which the Turks insist on calling it North Iraq, and will get mad if they hear the name of Kurdistan attached to this region). They use different execuses to warrant their interventions in the Kurdish affairs in Iraq, either it`s the presence of PKK fighters in remote mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan and the blatant lies that they are getting logistic support from iraqi Kurds or it`s the issues of reversal of Arabization in Kirkuk, the Kurdish majority city in Iraqi Kurdistan
Now factor in Barzani's latest comments (according to Rasti):
“Any attack on Kirkuk would be considered an attack on Diyarbakir.”
~ Hilmi Aydogdu, DTP Amed Provincial Chairman.
It would appear that the main players in the Ankara regime have their panties in knots over Masûd Barzanî's remarks over the weekend that Turkish intervention in Kerkuk would lead to Southern Kurdish intervention in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan.
Here's a list of the more hysterical reactions . . .
Zaman's headline reads: “Ankara tells Barzani to ‘know his place:'”
Ah, and the fun continues:
Well, you knew it was only a matter of time, didn't you? The real ruler of Turkey, Yasar Buyukanit, finally came out today in his first press conference since taking up his position as the Turkish chief of general staff and “asked” the government for permission to invade South Kurdistan. And that whole bit about “asking permission” is window-dressing for all those idiots in the West who believe that Turkey is a democracy.
Rasti further responds:
These are the two points that should be brought up by the Southern Kurdish leadership at every opportunity, including media opportunities: First, the Ankara regime's repression of its internal colony Kurdistan, its rejection of PKK's democratic solution and ceasefire, and its continued repression and refusal to engage in dialog with DTP; second, the specifics of the Ankara regime's meddling in Iraqi internal affairs–something Turkey would never tolerate for itself–especially over the Kerkuk issue, since it is the real issue.
By the way, if the former Turkish ambassador speaking in the NPR report thinks that his claim to invade “Iraq” to pursue “terrorists” at will would be an imitation of US policy and, therefore, legitimate, he should consider that the rest of the world views Operation Iraqi Freedom as illegal according to international law.
Many blame current US policy for the root of this conflict. From Zaneti:
While the United States searches for a solution to the ongoing war in Iraq, another conflict is brewing presenting a grave new threat to the country's only stable region. Turkish forces have amassed along the northern border of Iraqi Kurdistan threatening invasion under the pretext that Kurdish rebels are launching attacks from Iraqi territory.
Iraqi Kurdish politicians accuse the Turkish government of using any excuse to hasten its ultimate goal of controlling the fate of Iraq's oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Despite this dangerous rise in tensions, the United States has employed a foreign policy that seems to further provoke this conflict.
The last word today will go to Turkish blogger Talk Turkey:
The Prime Minister of Turkey (and possibly its next President) warns the Kurds of Northern Iraq not to interfere in Southeastern Turkey. In response to threats by Turkey that it would interfere with Northern Iraq's plans of a Kurdistan. That's like saying if you hit me I'll hit you back. But the reason he threatens to hit you is in response to your threat to hit him first. Chicken or the Kurds syndrome I guess.
Enough with the talking already. Will someone make the first move. In Turkey's defense, it has years of accumulated deaths of its citizens (even if they are ‘Turkish’ Kurds) at the hands of separatist terrorists of Kurdish descent. But what happens when some of these terrorists are heads of state within their political and geographical domains. Kind of like Yasser Arafat was to the Israelis at one time.
What's stopping the Turks from engaging in an incursion into Northern Iraq to secure its borders? USA. The presence of US forces ‘protecting’ the Kurdish ‘minority’ in Iraq (although it's the Iraqi Arabs who are the minority in Northern Iraq.) The Turks do not look forward to engaging with the American forces. But the US has its own problems in the area.
My opinion has been heard on this, what is yours? Will this escalate? Are are these more empty words by politicians?

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Kyrgyzstan: Opposition Rally Photos · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Elena Skochilo posts photos of the ongoing opposition protests (ru) in Kyrgyzstan.


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Nepal: The Maoist Attitude · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! has a sharp-worded post on the attitude of the Maoists. The post evokes an interesting discussion in the comments space. “Because of its confusing stand, the Maoist in the past few days is behaving like an unsure and stubborn kid that is throwing everything that handy and in front of him. It is sad that the election isn’t going to happen on June 20 but to try to play politics out of this inefficiency is even more frustrating.”


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O’Reilly on Iran and Iraq  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egypt-based Blogger Issandr El Amrani pokes fun of Bill O'Rielly‘s interview with Condoleezza Rice on Iraq and Iran.


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Peru: Photo-Blogger Meetup · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Juan Arellano links to some of the resulting photography from Lima's inaugural photoblogger meetup last month. Not to worry if you missed out, the next one is right around the corner (April 22).


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Philippines: Schools Responsibility Too · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Touched by an Angel feels that the school should have informed the parents of the Virginia Tech shooting suspect as soon as they had come across disturbing material in his creative writing assignment. “My personal view on the matter is that the school should inform the parents if they see signs of a “troubled mind”. How else will the parents know? The sad part is that since the boy is in a US college, parents don’t need to be informed.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Philippines: SMS Tax · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blogging Bugs ridicules a politician's plan to tax text messages and use the money collected in education.


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Russia: Listening In On the Police; St. Pete Rally · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marina Litvinovich – LJ user abstract2001, Garry Kasparov's aide and PravdaBeslana.ru founder – has posted recordings of the walkie-talkie conversations of riot police officers deployed for the opposition's Dissenters’ Marches in Moscow (RUS) on April 14 and in St. Petersburg (RUS) on April 15. Radio Echo of Moscow has been playing one of these clips (RUS) all day long today, an edited copy, with beeps instead of the curses.
Here is one of abstract2001‘s summaries (RUS):
[…] There are some really interesting parts that could be combined with the video from the March. “Detain them all!”, “About 30 pensioners are standing there, what should we do with them, should we detain them?”, “About 50 people are moving toward Triumfalnaya Square and Kasparov is with them,” “Detain them all, with Kasparov!”, “Make sure that Kasparov doesn't leave, take him,” “Get us more [trucks for prisoners]!”, […] “Take them all and load them on!”, “Order them to detain Kasyanov! Take them and put them on the buses! Do you need more men?”, “They've fought Kasyanov off, he's walking along the boulevard!”, “What do you mean, they let Kasyanov go? Who's responsible for Kasyanov?” et cetera…………………… […]
There is also this thread (RUS) on RadioScanner.ru forum, whose users were listening in on the police during the Moscow rally:
Ivanov, April 14, 2007, 13:02:27 -
A quote: “There's no one on Rozhdestvenskiy Boulevard! Not a single person, only OMON. Who are we supposed to detain, damn it?!”
Ivanov, April 14, 2007, 13:03:21 -
And in reply – “Detain everyone – with or without [flags, posters, etc.] – detain them all!”
They'll have to detain the OMON guys :)))
***
Below are a few photo posts and reports from bloggers who attended the opposition's rally in St. Petersburg on April 15.
(Warning: as with the previous two installments – here and here – some links lead to blogs with bandwidth-intensive content.)
- Forty-eight pages of photographs from the Dissenters’ March in St. Petersburg this past Sunday – available for download in .pdf format here – by LJ user studio204 (St. Petersburg-based Russian photographer Dmitry Shubin). Two separate posts with these photos are here and here.
- LJ user gangleon (photos and text):
[…] Some 200 people were pushed with shields towards the Vitebsk Train Station. OMON used force against the people gathered there, despite the fact that they were not trying to do anything unlawful (well, except for attempting to break through the cordons). The other group was pushed towards Zagorodnyi Prospekt. OMON also cut off a group of journalists and also started beating them (not sure about this, didn't see it), breaking their cameras and other equipment. The newly-arrived reinforcement, yelling and doing the beat with their shields,  moved toward the last, numerous, group, of which I was part. As a result of the law enforcement's actions, many participants of the rally were wounded. One pensioner had his leg broken, for example.
The rally's organizers were not calling the participants to march. [One party leader] asked everyone to go home when the rally was over, and if some intended to walk to Smolny, they had to do it on their own. Nevertheless, people were not allowed to freely leave the square. […]
- LJ user miiir (text):
Soundproof
- We came here so that our voice was hea…
The microphone breaks off.
- …rd by all genuine citizens of the City, – the speaker continues without the amplifier.
All sounds drown in the hum of the helicopter hanging above the square, with the word MILITIA written on its door. The helicopter's door is open, so the word reads as MILIA.
- LJ user zirkov (photos);
- LJ user flilm (photos – here and here);
- LJ user near_bird (photos – here and here).


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Russia: Reactions to Virginia Tech · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog and Lyndon's Scraps of Moscow examine the reaction of the Russian media and bloggers to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.


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Russia: Shell’s Sakhalin II “Fiasco” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam writes about Shell's Sakhalin II “fiasco” and the maze of the Russian energy investment politics.


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Sarkozy on French Minorities · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Patrick Lozès looks back at French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy's history of controversial public statements about Africans and Berbers (Fr).  He wonders if, given unprecedented levels of voter registration among French minorities, Sarkozy's strategy of playing to the far right will backfire.


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Sri Lanka: Business of News · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

cerno writes with cynicism and honesty about the business of news. “Unsteady blurry shots of dull buildings become reverting. A true high for the news junkies. The get out of trouble free card for the politician facing the cameras after being caught with his pants down. The death toll is small enough for the victim profiles to be strung along for days.”


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Tajikistan: Cultural Faux Pas or Nation Building? · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Once Turkmenistan's former dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, or Turkmenbashi (“Father of all Turkmens”), died last December (as covered by Global Voices), the other Central Asian strongmen stood suddenly deprived of the “ne plus ultra of Central Asian dictators.” As such, Ian of Beyond The River says…
…the other leaders could always point to him when poked in the ribs by Western governments and NGOs over human rights issues.
Tajikistan especially is making headlines these days that seem to ring the Turkmenbashi bell. It all began back in 2006, when President Rakhmonov (more on his surname later) ruled that state employees should not have golden teeth anymore. Vadim of neweurasia quoted the president as saying…
“Once I met a Tajik in Switzerland” – recalls the president, “How did I know that he was a Tajik? Because he had a shiny mouth. It was shameful. He thought it was beautiful. People in the world are laughing at us. It shows the lack of culture.”
The stride of new cultural legislation went on: In March 2007, Rakhmonov decided that his name should actually be Rakhmon, thus scrapping the Russian suffix. Several bloggers detected a Turkmenistanisation in this move. As Bonnie Boyd of the Foreign Policy / Great Decisions Central Asia Blog noted:
This extension of presidential preference over private considerations is very reminiscent of the late Turkmenistani President, Saparmurat Niyazov’s rule.  Niyazov dictated what would be approved in the way of facial hair, dental work, educational curriculum, and relationships between husband and wife.  It heralds the beginning of a contingent dictatorship, where people are forced to change civic and private behavior mid-course due to the whims of its leader.
James of neweurasia cited more evidence for the shift in Rakhmon‘s cultural policies:
The latter regulation got extended by a new dresscode for students yesterday.
What is to make of this flurry of new legislation? Teo Kaye at Registan.net has the (witty) answer by posting a cartoon from his fellow colleague Tom Wellings:
It's quite clear what Rakhmon tries to achieve with these moves: He wants to distract from a dismal economic situation.
However, even Teo thinks that several initiatives shouldn't be laughed at and are actually quite normal for an independent country. In the comments to the post at Registan.net, he says:
As someone who taught a year of university in Dushanbe, I mostly agree with Rahmon’s latest rulings. Cellphones and silly clothes were something teachers regularly came to blows over with students. De-russification makes plenty of sense, even if it was possibly timed carefully and overall slightly impractical.
Lastly, what do Tajiks themselves have to say about the changes? Gulru, writing at neweurasia, comes to the following conclusion:
Are these changes positive or negative? Well, let the people decide. From my own observation, few people want to change their last name; however, according to Asia Plus, the Department of Justice is already envisaging the change of Russian ending “-ov,” “-ev,” into “-zoda,’ “-pur’ and etc.
Thus, the biggest mistake in these laws might well be in the tradition of Turkmenbashi, then. Despite some sense behind the moves, it would be best to let the people decide for themselves. But choice is a freedom Central Asian leaders only seldomly award their citizens with.

author: Ben Paarmann


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The Moroccan blogosphere reacts to the Virginia Tech massacre · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

These past few days, the world's eyes have been turned toward the Virginia Tech massacre; the Moroccan blogosphere in particular notes the connection that Fox News has tried to make between Islam and the Virginia Tech gunman.
Bo18, a blogger of the Moroccan diaspora, says, “You could've guessed it. Fox News created a subtle link between the mass-shooting and Islam.”
Fox News, in the aforementioned article, says “[Cho Seung-Hui] apparently had scrawled the words “ISMAIL AX” on the inside of one arm, which may be a reference to the Islamic account of the Biblical sacrifice of Abraham.”
Some bloggers were angry that the focus was turned away from helping the victims’ families and the university move on.  Myrtus says in her blog, “…can we please focus on the healing process instead?”  She then adds, “All the ugly speculations and finger-pointing to lay blame on the university officials, on America, on the police, and even go as far as connecting the murder to Islam are absurd to say the least!”
Another blogger, Eatbees, is not surprised by the incident, saying “Nihilistic mass murderers no longer surprise me in America, because they are a cultural phenomenon that surfaces every now and then. No one can deny we have a culture of violence, with blood on our hands from the Pilgrims to Fallujah.”
Blogger Laila Lalami sums it up well:  “People look for intrinsic reasons for Cho's acts, when the simpler explanation–to the extent that such a horrendous act can ever be explained–is that Cho was a mentally ill young man, who should never have had access to guns.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: R-E-S-P-E-C-T · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian blogger Elspeth at Now is Wow responds to a comment on a post she had written about American rapper Akon's appalling behaviour on stage with a female fan, in the context of Elton John's upcoming performance at the Tobago Jazz Festival: “Yes, women should respect themselves and not cheaply sell their bodies…but men also need to respect women.  Is it that once a male ‘superstar’ is heterosexual, it's okay…for him to do whatever he wants on stage, no matter how sexually graphic and disrespectful, and ‘get away’ with it? Meanwhile, Elton John quietly coming to play his piano and sing his songs is raked over the coals.”


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Ukraine: Kyiv Developments · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes and Ukrainiana run brief summaries of the recent developments in Ukraine; Abdymok.net posts a picture of riot police near the Central Election Committee: it may appear that Kyiv has begun to resemble Moscow.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine, Poland: Euro 2012 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot and Vilhelm Konnander write about problems facing Poland and Ukraine as they are beginning to prepare to host Euro 2012.


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Uzbekistan: Komilov Speaks · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net reports on a speech given by Uzbekistan's ambassador to the United States in Seattle last week.


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Voices from Ghana: The Black Star of Africa Eclipsed by Energy Crisis; Ghana@50, So What? · Global Voices
Emmanuel.K. Bensah

The pomp and pageantry surrounding the celebrations of Ghana@50 may be over, but the analysis of what it means for Ghana has spawned a number of ruminations for both Ghanaian bloggers and those blogging about Ghana.
Let’s start with a particularly interesting post by a Canadian blogger-couple A Canadian Couple Relishes Acronyms that present readers with a very serious and insightful look into what Ghana’s Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s decision to clear the streets of street vendors says about Ghana’s increasing Westernisation:
Where, then, should the blame lie for these aggressive actions against Accra’s poor? Granted, the federal government and the AMA [Accra Metropolitan Assembly] should shoulder a good deal of it, as must the global trading systems that ensure that the city, country, and continent remain in a state of poverty. But even with the regularly sighted ‘villains’ of Africa — corruption, bad-governance, and trade abuse — hauled out for their usual tongue-lashing, a piece of the explanation for what is happening on the streets of Accra is still missing. After all, the richest cities in the world, with less poverty and (theoretically) better, more accountable governments, do virtually the same things whenever the world’s attention is drawn to them.
To me, then, there is something bigger at play here: our constant striving for something that I will refer to here as ‘empire.’ What I’m referring to is our constant individual and collective desire to fulfill a limitless potential, to ‘be all we can be.’ This concept isn’t monopolised by any one part of the political or social spectrum, but is held by everyone: as corporations seek forever-rising profits, so too homelessness advocates will settle for nothing short of the ‘eradication’ of poverty. It lies at the heart of Western capitalism, and the societies that embrace it. In these societies, the word enough all but disappears from the national vocabulary, with debates between those holding opposing views becoming endless tug-of-wars, full of violence and rhetoric, in which the notion of compromise appears laughable, at best.
We get a glimpse of his standpoint when he says that the move was an “aggressive action” against the poor. It is both a very curious and  discerning comment coming from a non-Ghanaian, and highly- recommended reading.
He continues:
The pace of life and work in Ghana is notably slower than in the Western world. Foreign governments and aid agencies regularly voice frustration with their difficulty in getting anything done within a meaningful timeframe. As work days move slowly, so does corporate initiative
Then, how does a country whose work-pace is slow measure up with any Western, capitalist society?:
I could repeat all the stats about North American crime and incarceration rates, depression levels, suicides, et cetera. We’ve had it explained to us a million times over. The conclusion is that Western, capitalist societies are good for the wallet, but bad for the soul
All that said, what is bad for the soul in Ghana is the energy crisis—or mismanagement—that has tainted the period after the  independence celebrations of March 6, 2007.
Ewomi, explains:
In the suburb of Accra where I live, water is rationed for about 10 hours a week. Recently, we haven't had water for about two weeks, before that we hadn't for about two months. This is tha capital city, thank you. And the electricity IS on the blink. Last I checked the report, the water level in the dam was precariously, precariously, low. Ghanaians are actually taking heavy body blows.
Taking a critical look, nothing in the country really works. Yeah – lower inflation, lower interest rates, [somewhat] higher salaries – but you know, if you are honest, that all this just sounds good. If you doubt, just take a walk through Accra. Check out Darkuman official town. Madina Old Road. Etc. Oh, slums exist everywhere? OK. Check out East Legon. Osu. Squatters living in wooden kiosks around the corner from half a miilion dollar mansions. Open drains. Mosquitoes. Take a taxi. Take a tro-tro. Go to a public hospital. Live the Ghanaian experience. OK, the politicians we have are really full of the stuff – they do 1% when even 50% could have been acheived without sweat and really 1000% was required, but they want accolades and praises. And they are chronically unable to provide leadership.
Some months ago, Emmanuel argued that “Accra is in the Dark Ages” and that the country seems to be going backwards as far as energy is concerned.
Don Thieme, US blogger, writing in his blog Life Cycle Analysis, provides a historical perspective of the closing of Ghana’s aluminium smelter in the Ghanaian port of Tema:
The Akosombo Dam on the Volta River had been planned by British engineers prior to Ghanaian independence, but construction was not begun until Nkrumah secured financial backing from the United States in 1958. It became one of the first large projects undertaken by the World Bank, with most of the hydroelectric power that it was to produce promised to the newly created Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) for its smelter to be constructed at the port city of Tema. As can be seen from the map below, the damming of the Volta River created an immense lake totaling over 8300 km2 (3200 mi2). To administer the lake and dam, the Ghanaian Parliament established the Volta River Authority in April 1961 with Nkrumah as Chairman and six Board members.2As part of the deal made with the World Bank and United States corporations, Ghana gave a written promise that the Tema smelter would not be expropriated. Nkrumah and his economic advisors did envision, however, that local bauxite ore would be exploited for aluminum production in a “vertically” integrated national industry. The newly formed VALCO, on the other hand, was controlled by American investors. Particularly influential was Nkrumah's close personal friend, Edgar Kaiser, a California industrialist who built the Akosombo Dam and went on to found Kaiser Aluminum to use its power.3 Kaiser, Alcoa, and other aluminum companies making use of the smelter have found it more profitable to ship alumina from their existing mines in Jamaica and other locations than to open up new operations in Ghana. The “invisible hand” of international trade seems to have made an unsustainable mess in this case, possibly contributing to the rundown condition of the smelter which has suffered at least two disastrous fires in the past two years. In closing the smelter, Ghana apparently intends to devote the power from the Akosombo Dam to providing more stable electricity to its citizens.
The real truth is that the closing of the smelter notwithstanding, Ghana remains plagued by a serious energy mismanagement. Abocco, of Ghanaconscious, sums up the mismanagement:
I've talked to a lot of Ghanaians back home about the excitement regarding the celebration of Ghana's golden jubilee. A lot of them have complained about the amount of money being spent to celebrate Ghana's golden anniversary of independence when they do not have reliable power (electricity) and constantly have ‘lights off’. Ghana has outgrown the Akosombo dam and it cannot produce enough energy for its population
Meanwhile, The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…conveys his visceral disappointment about Ghana in general, and Ghanaians in particular. He concedes that the energy crisis afflicting Ghana is one that has dogged the EU, but at least it encouraged the Europeans:
Ghana is 50, yet we have an energy crisis when we shouldn’t. Let’s face it, though: energy problems are not unique to this country, for in 2006, Europe suffered blackouts, prompting the EU to factor energy as a key challenge and policy area for its burgeoning 27-member EU.
In Ghana, we have just resumed the load-shedding management programme, which started Thursday—some days after Ghana@50 dignitaries left.
In Ghana, no future prescriptions are forthcoming. He points the finger to incumbent energy minister Joseph Adda:
Had this energy crisis afflicted the UK, heads would have rolled, and incumbent Minister of Energy—Joseph Adda—would have been forced to resign. It would not just have been the opposition that would have called for it, but the buoyant and vibrant press.
Finally, two posts ask whether Ghana@50 should have been a moment for more reflection. The first one is from GHANA: WHERE MY HEART IS, who writes:
… it doesn't sound like Ghanaians at home really care too much about the Golden jubilee and I don't really blame them. There are more pressing things they have to worry about and for me the question at hand is always “should we really be celebrating?” Yes it is 50 years after independence but have we reached a status worth celebrating. Yes we can celebrate our age but I think our focus should be finding ways to move forward!
The second post goes a bit further:
I got the distinct impression, people did not have any other reason for celebrating but the fact that Ghana is 50 years old. That’s still a very good reason to celebrate, don’t get me wrong. I just wish there had been a lot more sober reflection and more concrete plans for the future.
Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the energy challenge that Ghana finds itself in is one that provides significant food-for-thought not just for policy-makers, but also ordinary Ghanaians.

author: Emmanuel.K. Bensah


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