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Azerbaijan: Overbearing Landlords · Global Voices
Pervin Muradli

Aaron in Azerbaijan recounts two upsetting experiences with renting apartments in Azerbaijan. The blog notes how irritating  it can be when landlords appear anytime they want without notice or reason and even decide to stay overnight or impose their own way of keeping things in order.

author: Pervin Muradli


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Bahamas: The Play’s the Thing  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It’s got the story, it’s got the characters, and it’s got the timing to make it succeed for the moment. But what it should be looking to do is to last…it’s not enough to write a play that inspires us just to laugh. What is required is the production of a funny work that also gets us to think”: Blogworld reviews Ward Minnis’ new play.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Belarus: Bombings in the Minsk Subway · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Belarus twitterers share information on the latest bombings in the Minsk subway via 3 main Twitter hashtags: #minsk, #minskblast, #twiby. Notolerance-cp publishes first pictures [ru] from the scene of event (warning – some disturbing scenes).

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Remembering War in Sarajevo” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Café Turco writes about the April 6 commemoration of the liberation of Sarajevo in WWII and the beginning of the siege of the city in 1992.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Brazil: Mapping a Traditional Music Instrument Online · Global Voices
Debora Baldelli

Rabeca.org is an online project that aims to gather and present information about the Brazilian rabeca and Guanari rawé in a map with audio recordings, photos, texts and videos. The platform offers an opportunity to explore this fascinating instrument similar to a violin, but with a regional focus and tradition.

author: Debora Baldelli


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Cuba: Threat of the Internet · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In Cuba, access to the internet is restricted and very expensive for citizens, but it is also controlled by state institutions”: Laritza Diversent explains.


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Czech Republic: “Honor to the Astronaut” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Luboš Motl of The Reference Frame offers a Czech perspective on the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin‘s first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. (More in this 2007 post by the same blogger.)


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El Salvador: Blogging About Ordinary Life in El Salvador · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Tim recommends the blog El Salvador from the Inside: “Written by a ‘gringa in El Salvador,’ the blog captures great scenes of ordinary life in El Salvador. Recent posts have included tales of wandering street vendors, washing in a pila, and an old gentleman and his birds.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Guyana: Men’s Issues  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

CODE RED weighs in on the fact that Guyana has launched a Men’s Affairs Bureau, saying: “It seems that Caribbean governments are unable to address men’s issues outside of a framework of re-inscribing male dominance…if the intention is to ensure men’s right to a good life why is men’s violence toward each other not on the agenda?”


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Haiti: Relevance of Lavalas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

In the context of Haiti's recent elections, Toussaint on Haiti considers Fanmi Lavalas‘ political future: “The answer is not to cancel the last elections to have new elections that include FL. The worst thing that FL can do is continue with the same arguments of the last 24 years. If they to remain relevant they should develop into a true opposition that offers solutions…”


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Honduras: US State Department’s Human Rights Report · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Greg Weeks in Two Weeks Notice comments on the US State Department's Human Rights Report on Honduras: “On the one hand, it has 47 single-spaced pages detailing a wide variety of serious abuses–acknowledgment of these abuses is commendable.  On the other, the report dances around assigning specific responsibility to anyone through creative use of the passive tense and vague phraseology.”


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Hungary: “Refusing to Face the Past” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the revisions of history initiated by Hungarian politicians, including the history of the Holocaust in Hungary: “The new constitution will state that whatever happened between March 19, 1944 and May 2, 1990 simply doesn't exist. Or, more precisely, it existed but entirely independently from the Hungarians. They are therefore not responsible for anything that happened during those forty-five years.”


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Iran:Iranian exiles killed in Iraq · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iraqi forces attacked Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin of People, in Iraq's Camp Ashraf killing at least 25 people. Here is a film shows Camp Ashraf under attack.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:TV anchors before and after revolution · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Here is a film showing TV anchors before and after Islamic Revolution in 1979.


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Jamaica: Cruel Cartoon? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica Woman Tongue has her say about cartoonist Clovis Brown’s recent caricature of Vybz Kartel: “The genuine wit of the stinging editorial cartoon appears to have degenerated into little more than vulgar gutter sniping.”


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Kenya: Netizens React to ICC Charges Against Six Kenyans · Global Voices
Collins Mbalo

On 7 and 8 April, 2011, the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed charges against six prominent Kenyan individuals whom the ICC prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo believes bear the most responsibility for the post election violence that rocked the country in 2008.
The six individuals are William Samoei Ruto and Henry Kiprono Kosgey (both serving Members of Parliament), Joshua Arap Sang (radio journalist with a popular vernacular station), Francis Kirimi Muthaura (Secretary to Cabinet and Head of Public Service), Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (Deputy Prime Minister and serving Member of Parliament) and Mohammed Hussein Ali (Former Chief of Police).
Post-election violence in Kenya. Image by Daniel McCabe, copyright Demotix (13/02/2009).
The visit of the six to the Hague has drawn mixed reactions and raised political temperatures in the country with part of the coalition government supporting the ICC move and another denouncing it.
Dr Kabera Karanja of the blog Killing Corruption Monster discusses some of the tough conditions set by the court especially with respect to speech inciting to violence. He notes:
With  home-coming reception rally planned by the supporters of the two  presidential candidates, William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta and their  declared onslaught on their main presidential candidate rival Raila  Odinga, it will be a difficult or impossible balancing act to require  the two to tame their language. If Raila were to utilize this  opportunity to deride his opponents, then Ruto and Uhuru could easily  argue that the ICC is being used to silence them and therefore ‘working  for Raila’.
Ken Opalo observes:
Kenyan politics is currently in flux. Two key presidential candidates,  Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto may be barred from running for public  office next year on constitutional grounds. The key beneficiaries of  such an eventuality will most probably be Raila Odinga and Kalonzo  Musyoka, the Premier and Vice President respectively…
Over the last few weeks Uhuru and Ruto have been crisscrossing the  country and holding chest-thumping rallies to prove to someone – either  the ICC or the Kenyan political and economic elite – that they have the  support of the grassroots. They have also issued thinly veiled threats  that violence may erupt in the country if they are whisked to the Hague  and barred from running for president in next year’s general election.
The Diary of A Gay Kenyan comments on the live proceedings from the ICC:
I'm sitting at home watching Live NTV showing Uhuru Kenyatta, son of  Kenya's founding president, appearing at the Hague accused of crimes  against humanity. Looks like the penny has just dropped…
A guest post at Bankelele blog offered those travelling to the Hague to witness the proceedings some traveling tips under the post “A Kenyan Guide to the Hague“:
When crossing roads, keep an eye out for the bike lane, the tram lane, AND the car lane. And you might want to obey the traffic lights as well, as the pedestrians also wait for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green before crossing, even in the absence of incoming cars. When being driven within The Hague, you might decry all the “wasted” driving lanes that are taken up by the bicycle lanes, but there is no overlapping from drivers into the bike lanes as the cyclists also seem to have significant cycling rights.
Thinkers Room states:
I stand unsure whether to weep or laugh at the absurdity of Kenyans  celebrating the return of possible perpetrators of the election  violence. These same Kenyans for some reason don’t give a rat’s **##(expletives)  about the victims who lost family, friends, property, homes and  livelihoods!
I am forced to conclude that the media’s insistence on perpetuating  this farce is a start reminder that perhaps the media is missing among  the Ocampo 6.
Helping broadcast innuendo, tribalism and hate speech as far as I am  concerned makes the media just as guilty as the perpetrators.
In discussing the issue the Twitter hashtag #Ocampo6 is trending. A section of Kenyans on Twitter are actually urging the media not to cover the six individuals:
KE media need to give the #Ocampo6 a 7day media blackout .@ntvkenya @KTNKenya @k24tv @citizentvkenya Please RT
Facebook logo for page "I Support Ocampo6 Media Blackout".
One group has set up a Facebook page to coerce the media not to feature news items that focus on the campaigns by the suspects.
The following are Twitter reactions to the news:
@Jaydabliu: Don't blame the media for showing #Ocampo6 rally! Remember you have the option of NOT watching/attending!
@Arthurnyoiks:#isupport RT @Ngendo87: How about WE don't watch, listen or read any media on the #Ocampo6. WE give THE media a blackout!
@UncleCyrus: The social media is giving the politicians more coverage than the mainstream media itself.Just check the #Ocampo6 on twitter.
@SokoAnalyst: I am boycotting all media and @westfmkenya have given the #ocampo6 complete blackout… good.
These are just some of the tweets about the ICC process and the suspects; for more news follow the hashtags #Ocampo6 or #ISupportOcampo6MediaBlackout.

author: Collins Mbalo


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Mexico: Bloggers Reflect on Elections in Peru · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Tim Johnson in Mexico Unmasked and Richard Grabman in The Mex Files look at Peru's elections on Sunday, April 10 and compare them to the political climate in Mexico as the country prepares for the 2012 presidential and legislative elections.


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Poland: Remembering April 10, 2010 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Politics, Economy, Society shares memories of April 10, 2010, the day the Polish President and nearly a hundred other people were killed in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.


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Russia: Analysis of the Latest DDoS Attacks By Security Expert · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Andrei Soldatov, Russian security expert, analyses latest attacks on LiveJournal and other websites. According to Soldatov, “Kremlin did not have to use FSB resources to attack objectionable Web sites; it could simply steer the growing community of patriotic hackers in the right direction.”


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Russia: Environmentalist Sousveillance Project to Watch Over Water Reservoirs · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Russian environmental organization “Open Shore” [ru] has launched a sousveillance map [ru] of “occupied shores of Russian water reservoirs.” Activists map properties that were built illegally close to the water reservoirs.


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Russia: Hacker Explaines Why He Broke Website of “Zenith” Soccer Team  · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Nikita Volgin, a man who hacked the website of Russian soccer team Zenith, writes why he did it. Upset with the lack of criticism of Saint Petersburg administration in media, Volgin decided to use the website as a platform for “vox populi” against the administration.

author: Vadim Isakov


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Russia: Bloggers Debate Military Operation in Libya · Global Voices
Marina Litvinovich

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.
The situation in Libya, especially after the start of military operations by Western countries, has become one of the main topics of discussion in the Russian blogosphere. The peak came during the period of 20-21 March, 2011, when people became aware of the resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) regarding Libya. This is how it looks on the chart compiled with the help of Yandex's Pulse of the Blogosphere:
Pulse of the blogosphere (keywords Libya and Gaddafi). Yandex
Development of discussion
When analysing the development of a discussion around Libya in Russian blogs, one can highlight several of its characteristics:
Thematically, the discussion about Libya is built around discussions of the following topics and information events:
Also, in discussions around the theme of Libya in Russian blogs, one can highlight several prevailing propaganda themes:
1. Massaging the theme of innocent victims of the bombing among civilians. Here, photos and videos from Libya depicting the wounded and the consequences of the bombings were used very actively. One important element of this line was an open letter of Russian medical doctors [ru] in a Libyan hospital to President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin with an appeal to take a tough stance and stop the military operation. The text of this letter is full of bloody details:
Бомбы и ракеты поразили ЖИЛЫЕ дома и упали рядом с больницей. В здании Кардиологического центра были выбиты стекла, а в здании родильного отделения для рожениц с заболеваниями сердца рухнула стена и часть кровли. Результатом этого стало десять выкидышей, часть новорожденных детей погибла, женщины находятся в реанимации, врачи борются за их жизнь. Мы и наши коллеги работаем без выходных, чтобы спасти людей.
Rebels’ blockpost near Bengazi, Libya. Image by al-mak, copyright Demotix (03/03/11).
2. Discrediting Libyan insurgents,  presenting them as criminals, pointing to their connection to al-Qaeda. This line has actively used photo essays from Libya. The image on the right shows one of the typical pictures of a Libyan rebel – similar to a pirate from a medieval ship – published by many bloggers.
3. Proof and illustration of the propaganda war led, according to bloggers, by Western television networks. The bloggers point out that Western media do not provide a real picture of what is happening in Libya, and form their own picture beneficial for Western countries.
Blogger kulebyaka1 wrote on 18 March:
Я не знаю и не берусь судить о характере режима Каддафи – демократический ли он, легитимный ли он – не знаю. Кровавый ли – не знаю. Во всяком случае, за последний месяц ни одна сводка или репортаж из Ливии от Евроньюс или си-эн-эн (о русских сми вообще говорить не приходится) меня не смогли убедить в том, что Каддафи ради сохранения личной власти топит в крови Ливию. Показывают картинку одну – а говорят другое.
4. Description of life in the Libyan Jamahiriya as “socialist paradise.” A huge number of bloggers re-posted a short post [ru] full of dry facts and figures that identified the indicators of life in Libya, positively distinguishing it from Russia:
[…]
[…]
+++
Население Ливии при тиране Каддафи увеличилось в три раза.
Ливийцы при тиране Каддафи впервые получили достаточное количество питьевой воды.
Ливия при тиране Каддафи стала самой грамотной страной Северной Африки.
[…]
[…]
+ + +
The population of Libya under the tyrant Gaddafi has tripled.
Libyans under the tyrant Gaddafi for the first time received a sufficient quantity of drinking water.
Libya under the tyrant Gaddafi has become the most literate country in North Africa.
It is difficult to find the source of this post, but it has become the most important piece of propaganda within this last theme.
Russian bloggers’ interest in Libya
The fact is that Libya has never been of interest to Russian bloggers, with the exception of a narrow group of people with leftist and socialist views. However, when the level of interest toward Libya increased recently and more bloggers became interested in this country, its regime and Gaddafi himself, they were quickly given short and very compelling information illustrating the good life of Libyan people under Gaddafi. [This information originated from aforementioned leftist and pro-socialism bloggers – GV]
If we try to categorize the basic position of Russian bloggers in relation to the situation in Libya, we can distinguish three main positions:
1. Support for Gaddafi and his regime and harsh criticism of “the NATO aggression” against Libya. This position is typical for the bloggers with leftists, left-patriotic and socialist views. It is worth noting that this group is well-mobilized and actively involved in discussions. In addition to activities on the blogosphere where a community “I am for Gaddafi” [ru] was established, the websites in support of Gaddafi – kaddafi.ru and za-kaddafi.ru [ru] – have been opened. Support groups have been also opened on Facebook [ru] and Moy Mir [ru].
2. Criticism of Gaddafi’s regime and the military operation against it. This position is typical for popular bloggers and opinion leaders; journalist and former editor-in-chief of Nezavisimaya Gazeta Vitaly Tretyakov writes [ru] on March 20:
Я никаких симпатий к Каддафи не испытываю. Но что-то гнусное на севере Африки сейчас явно происходит. Третью войну затевают страны НАТО вне своих территорий за последние 10 лет. Это уже даже не тенденция. Это просто реальный “мировой жандарм”, причем безответственный.
Popular Russian blogger Rustem Adagamov wrote [ru], also on March 20:
Помогать устранению диктатуры с помощью “Томагавков”, конечно, можно, но толку от этой помощи, когда речь идет о странах космически далеких от ценностей западного мира, будет немного. А вернее его не будет вовсе. Печальный пример Ирака тому подтверждение.
According to popular blogger and founder of many online media Anton Nosik [ru]:
Давно и не нами замечено, что каждый народ имеет то правительство, которого заслуживает.
К арабскому миру это относится в той же степени, что и к любой другой части человечества.
Механическая смена Саддама, Каддафи, Мубарака или Арафата на другую арабскую фамилию никак не сказывается на способности его электората устроить нормальную жизнь без людоедства, братоубийства и исламского фанатизма.
Blogger puffinus briefly expressed [ru] his position:
Поддерживать Каддафи – это, конечно, себя не уважать. Но и одобрить натовскую интервенцию никак нельзя.
3. Position in support of the Western countries’ operation against Gaddafi and his regime. It is interesting that this position is represented by some bloggers with liberal-democratic and pro-Western orientation, as well as by the so-called “protectors” (bloggers supporting Putin and his regime).
Writer Bagirov said [ru]:
Лидера страны, который не стесняется во всеуслышание шантажировать цивилизованный мир тем, что он консолидируется с Аль Каидой, совершенно необходимо убить. Убить на **й, убить вместе с семьей – с детьми, внуками, правнуками, женами, племянниками, тещами, собаками и прислугой. Просто так. На всякий случай. Во избежание.
Очень надеюсь, что эту выжившую из ума грязную сволочь Каддафи убьют.
Igor Drandin, the representative of “Democratic Choice” party leadership wrote [ru]:
Честно скажу, я очень надеется, что ливийская оппозиция сумеет справиться сама, и режим головореза Кадаффи рухнет так же быстро, как и аналогичный режим бессменного президента Египта Хосни Мубарака, но, увы. Безумцам почему-то всегда везёт.
Сейчас важно, чтобы начатая военная операция стала быстрой и эффективной.
Когда в противостоянии бандита Кадаффии и народа Ливии, начал побеждать бандит, стало очевидно – военная операция необходима. Преступника следует уничтожать, а так же всех его подельников.
Honestly, I really hoped that the Libyan opposition would cope with all that by itself and the regime of thug Gadaffi would collapse as fast as the similar regime of the permanent Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But, alas, madmen are always lucky for some reason.
Now, it is important that the launched military operation is fast and efficient.
When in the confrontation between mobster Qadaffi and people of Libya, the mobster started winning, it became clear that the military action was necessary. The criminal should be destroyed, as well as all his accomplices.
Blogger 5-513 wrote [ru] on March 19:
Если некая политическая группа осуществляет на определенной территории высшую публичную власть и при этом данная власть не основана на результатах очередных выборов (всеобщих, равных, с тайным голосованием, с внешним контролем за подсчетом голосов, международно признанных) то такая политическая группа совершенно ничем не отличается от банды террористов, захвативших людей в заложники (в роли заложников в такой ситуации выступает все население страны).
Никакие насильственные действия в отношении подобной политической группы и ее отдельных представителей не могут именоваться “вооруженным мятежом”, “войной”, “вторжением” и т.п. Это не более чем операция по обезвреживанию террористов.
If a certain political group performs on a certain territory the role of the highest public authority and, at the same time, this role is not based on the results of elections (general, equal, with the secret ballot, with an external control of the counting of votes, internationally recognized), then this political group is absolutely no different from a gang of terrorists who took people hostage (in this situation, the entire country’s population serves the role of hostages).
No acts of violence against this political group and its individual members can be called “armed rebellion,” “war,” “invasion,” etc. This is nothing more than an anti-terrorism raid.
Наконец-то начали бомбить Ливию. – Давно пора.
Надеюсь, однажды руки дойдут и до России, свалившейся в самую гнусную обскурацию, в позорное гноище.
Режимы полковников мало между собой различаются: ложь, насилие, нищета и человеческий материал удручающе низкого качества. Социальное пространство, в котором тошно существовать…
Любить родину и ненавидеть государство – ещё одна извечно русская забава” – пишет блогер chernyshkov.
They finally started to bomb Libya. It's about time.
Hopefully, those hands will eventually reach up to Russia that fell in the most vile obscuration, in shameful abscess.
The regimes of colonels differ little among themselves: lies, violence, poverty and human material of disappointingly low quality. A social space in which it is sickening to exist…
To love the homeland and to hate the state is one of the immemorial Russian occupations.
The same theme serves as an argument for “anti-West” bloggers. They, in turn, fear that Western countries may march against Russia in the struggle for its oil reserves. It is interesting that some Russian opposition sympathizers have the same fear. Blogger egorka-me wrote:
А тем, кто радуется за повстанцев (а там реальные повстанцы, а не какой-нибудь марш несогласных), могу сказать, что капиталистам пофигу на взгляды – они поддержат тех, кто им будет нефть давать.
Сейчас в России для них все замечательно – Путин и Медведев дают. Делаем выводы, кого будут бомбить “Миражи” в случае народного восстания в России…
And to those who are happy for the rebels (and they are real rebels, and not simply dissidents), I can say that capitalists don’t give a damn about views – they will support those who will give them oil.
Now, everything in Russia is fine for them – Putin and Medvedev give [the oil]. Let’s draw a conclusion: whom would “Mirages” [fighter aircraft] bomb in case of a popular uprising in Russia…
This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

author: Marina Litvinovich


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Russian Bloggers Plan Flashmob Against Federal Tax Service  · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

After Russian Federal Tax Service  sent an audit invitation to long-deceased popular Russian writer Vasily Aksenov, bloggers planned a flashmob when people are encouraged to call the FTS and demand an explanation from its employees, radio Echo Moskvy reported.


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Russian Security Forces Ready to “Crash” Internet  · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Radio Echo Moskvy refers to an interview in “The New Times” magazine with an officer of Federal Security Service who said that FSS was ready to “crash” the  Internet in case of emergency and if it receives an official order.


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Russian Silicon Valley Has Unusually Expensive Website  · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Users and web designers on one of the most popular collaborative blogs Habrahabr.ru discuss the unrealistically high budget cost for creating and promoting the website of “Skolkovo” Innovation Foundation (Russian Silicon Valley). The users point out that the website was done for more than 100,000 US dollars but with a template that costs only 65 US dollars.


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Uganda: Is It a Crime to Walk to Work? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

This post is part of our special coverage Uganda: Walk to Work Protests.
Ugandans online wonder whether it is now a crime to walk to work. Two opposition leaders in Uganda, Dr. Kizza Besigye and Norbert Mao, have been charged with inciting violence and failure to comply with lawful orders. They were arrested as they walked to work in protest of high fuel/food prices.
#walk2work is a trending topic in Uganda's Twittersphere.
@RosebellK:
#Uganda police brutality continues http://twitpic.com/4jm8b5 @newvisionwire. #walk2work #Ugandawalks
@Coco_Bobo:
so bcuz fuel prices are too high, people in kampala have chosen abandon their cars & #walk2work & the govt is ARRESTING them for it! #WTF?
@malonebarry:
Ugandan police detain opposition leaders http://tinyurl.com/3ohtplr #Uganda #Ugandavotes #walk2work #Ugandawalks
@DrSsebo:
#besigye charged with insiting violence and not complying with police order #walk2work #ugandawalks
@Snottyganda:
@DrSsebo So when he is released and decides to walk home will he be arrested again? or goin back on police transpot #walk2work #ugandawalks
@RosebellK:
DP President #Mao being taken to NakawaCourt. Dr Kizza #Besigye bailed out on Shs10m bond. #walk2work #Ugandawalks
@schneidermanns:
arresting Kampalians who prefer walking to work, because fuel is too expensive? Whuuut?!! #walk2work
@niyimic:
@josephpowell My take is that these govt chaps over hype & dramatize these events. They should have let these chaps walk #walk2work
@josephpowell:
#Walk2work sounds like a perfectly legitimate protest – the NRM's intolerance despite a huge election win looks paranoid and weak
@Ethnicsupplies:
@gaetanokagwa crazy stuff #walk2work, surely walking to work is healthy but also reduces traffic
@gaetanokagwa:
So in #uganda if u hv no money and decide to #walk2work tomorrow I guess you will be looking at some jail time. U gotta love this #democracy
This post is part of our special coverage Uganda: Walk to Work Protests.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Unimondo’s Facebook campaign: “1 fan 1 albero” · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

“1 fan 1 tree” is the campaign launched by UniMondo, which focuses on reforestation in Kenya to balance out the C02 that we produce on a daily basis. The project is overseen by Tree is Life, a group of agroforestry youths who have already received awards for  their work. Spreading the word on Facebook, the number of trees that will be planted will depend on the number of fans added to the Unimondo.

author: Bernardo Parrella


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Armenia: Starlet ‘upset’ about Turkish magazine cover · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ianyan comments on attempts by the Armenian lobby in the U.S. to scandalize the use of a photograph of American-Armenian starlet Kim Kardashian on the cover of this month's Turkish edition of Cosmopolitan magazine. Coinciding with the anniversary of the the 1915 deportation and massacre of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, another Armenian blogger instead criticizes attempts at politicizing the issue instead of using it productively.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Belarus: Beyond Bomb or Blast · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

The Monday explosion in a subway station in Belarus capital Minsk is undoubtedly the largest act of violence in Belarus since World War II, leaving tens dead and some hundred injured. Understandably, people in the usually tranquil country reacted with both loathing and anguish, perhaps as a premonition of a shattered social fabric. Still, initial reactions from the blogosphere largely grasped at the question of who was to blame.
Although oppositional voices vary in passing the blame on Lukashenko and his regime, the overall impression is that this is what such a repressive system produces, by mechanisms of defunct societal interaction. LJ user svobodoff, for example, thinks that [ru] “the explosion has covered the regime in blood”:
Такого кошмара люди в относительно спокойной когда-то Белоруссии от режима Лукашенко ещё не ожидали. Последние несколько лет существования диктатуры преподносили много неприятных “сюрпризов” для миролюбивых белорусов, но никто не думал, что это может зайти так далеко.
A woman lights a candle in memory of the Belarus bomb victims. Image by Ivan Uralsky, copyright Demotix (12/04/2011).
Bloggers loyal to the regime reacted with vehemence against any attempts to pin the blame on the Lukashenko regime, as LJ user lyavon did [ru]:
Не успел рассеяться дым от взрыва, как в интернете словно по команде появились сотни постов с обвинениями в адрес властей… авторам уже все ясно – виноват опять президент. Злобная Петра на минскбае, засучив рукава, банит всех, кто пытается высказать мнение, отличающееся от утвержденного из Вашингтона. Просто п[—]ц, у этих свиней нет никакой совести… Люди! Одумайтесь!!! Нельзя так бесстыдно использовать чужие страдания!!!
зы: судя по всему, это попытка  разыграть египетский сценарий… сейчас будут призывать идти на плошчу и тд и тп…
But there are also reactions against the polarization of interpretations. Thus, LJ user khatskevich writes [ru]:
Вчера произошло два ужасных события. Теракт и реакция на него. Страшно подумать – буквально не успели кровь смыть, как в блогах и твиттере прогрессивная общественность уже стала делать выводы и бросать обвинения. Оппозиция винила власть и белорусские спецслужбы, лоялисты винили оппозицию и зарубежные спецслужбы. Смешалось в кучу всё – доллары, сахар, Ливия – всё, что могло послужить хоть каким-то обоснованием пропаганды. […] Лично мне кажется, что все эти домыслы и взаимные обвинения похожи на то, как если бы блогеры сбегали на Октябрьскую, перемазались в крови жертв, и стали бы кричать всякие лозунги, типа «это кровь жертв режима!» или «эту кровь пролили отморозки из пятой колонны» […]. Люди, вам не стыдно? Да, мы по разные стороны политических баррикад. Но разве это повод уподобляться всякой нелюди и устраивать пиар своих идей на крови жертв теракта? Мы что, не в состоянии отбросить идеологические противоречия в эти страшные дни и просто побыть людьми?
By the end of the day, perhaps some of the last sentiments may prove closest to the truth. It seems that people are simply fed up with the classical duality of “What is to be done? – Who is to blame?” when things go wrong. What this means for Belarus, only the future can tell, but at least it may be a sign of fatigue from the polarized divide between repression and resistance in the country.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Belarus: Reactions to Subway Explosion · Global Voices
Ashley Cleek

A bomb blast inside the Oktyabrskaya station of the Minsk metro on April 11, 2011, has so far left 12 dead and hundreds wounded.
Almost immediately after the attack, the hashtags #minsk and #minskblast collected condolences tweeted to families and friends of those killed or injured in the attack.
The BBC quoted [ru] a few eyewitnesses who said that “around 17:58” on Monday, April 11, 2011,  there was a “loud sound” and Oktyabrskaya – the metro station in the center of Minsk where the city's  two subways lines intersect – filled with smoke.
Minsk subway exit after the explosion. Photo by TwitPic user @mixal_by
While it is not known if the explosion has occurred inside a metro train or on the platform, the BBC Russian Service [ru] reported that two trains were in the station when the blast happened. They also posted one of the first videos after the explosion. The Belarusian government called the bombing a “terrorist act.”
Minsk correspondent for Gazeta.ru [ru] reported that police were not allowing journalists to access the area around the metro:
На месте ЧП милиция отбирает фотокамеры и сотовые телефоны у людей, которые пытаются снимать происходящее. «Милиция действует очень жестко.»
But numerous videos still appeared online. This video uploaded by YouTube user abryko on April 11 shows the immediate aftermath of the attack (WARNING: disturbing scenes):
This video uploaded by user iar107 on the same day shows the rescue operation after the explosion:
Ria Novosti reported [ru] that 157 people were hospitalized, among them 26 heavily injured on the morning of 12 April.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said that he suspected the attack might be connected to the 2008 bombing at an outdoor concert.
A few bloggers agree. Yuri Shevtsov says [ru]:
Я понимаю, и все мы тут понимаем, что мы атакованы серьезной террористической сетью. И что это не внутренний терроризм. Это – внешняя атака.
While other bloggers, assuming it was an act of terrorism, started speculating [ru]:
Если это терракт, если это не нелепая случайность с перевозкой взрывчатки, то это, имхо, – исламисты.
Наши “родные кавказские” исламисты. Не вижу других вариантов.
Others debated [ru] whether the act had been organized by Lukashenko to weigh down heavily on oppositions parties.
Blogger Shusharin [ru] posted:
КГБ взрывает Беларусь
Никаких других вариантов не видно. В белорусской оппозиции отродясь не было экстремистов.
Это выгодно только одному человеку – Лукашенко. Для того, чтобы начать террор против белорусского народа – уже не против оппозиции.
While posts and tweets of condolences streamed over Twitter, one post [ru] said that on April 12, people were gathering to light candles for the dead:
всем не безразличным! завтра в 19.00 возле театра Я.Купалы.цветы и свечи, в знак памяти. Передайте другим. Спасибо.

author: Ashley Cleek


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Brazil: The Wikicity of Porto Alegre · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

PortoAlegre.cc [pt] is a platform for “understanding, debating, inspiring and transforming [Porto Alegre]” based on the concept of Wikicity. The platform was designed in the Brazilian university Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos) as a way to ensure that everyone's “voices are heard to discuss concerns of the city.”

author: Sara Moreira


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Cambodia: Songs About Facebook · Global Voices
Sopheap Chak

The role of social networking site Facebook in facilitating protest actions has been affirmed in the Tunisia and Egypt uprisings; governments in many countries, including China, are wary of the political activities of their citizens on Facebook. But in Cambodia, Facebook is not yet considered a threat by the government.
Politicians led by Prime Minister Hun Sen (who has been in power since 1985) have created their own Facebook pages where they interact with Cambodian citizens and netizens.
There is however, a newer and interesting Facebook trend in the country: Cambodians are creating songs about Facebook. For example, ‘Facebook ends love‘, uploaded to YouTube by user lotusresortandspa on March 11, 2011:
The pop music industry has produced a number of songs related to Facebook. Cambodia Khmer Magazine, though claiming not to be a fan of the material, is impressed that many Cambodians are thoroughly enjoying these ‘Facebook songs.’
Below are examples of the songs uploaded onto YouTube (all in Khmer):
Khmerbird is surprised about the emergence of these songs, but expressed his agreement with some of the songs that blamed Facebook for the breakdown of relationships. In his article, ‘The effect of Facebook has been written in Cambodian songs,‘ he writes:
It seems a bit surprise when I hear the song but it might be true somehow.
Khmerbird cites a song by Khemarak Sereymon, titled ‘Facebook disturbs my love’ and explains its message:
He stated in the song that since there’s Facebook, his girlfriend  seems not to take care of him like before. He felt like he is totally abandoned. His girlfriend spent her time to connect with different people via Facebook. This of course could cause a serious effect in the  relationship.
In Cambodia, there are only about 250,000 Facebook users accounting for 1.73% penetration rate in the country, according to socialbakers.com. But with politicians endorsing Facebook and artists creating songs about the popular social networking site, Facebook will definitely attract more users in Cambodia.

author: Sopheap Chak


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Caribbean: Gayle’s Performance · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

When it comes to the calibre of Chris Gayle's captaincy, WICB Expose says, tongue-in-cheek, that “we don’t know who to believe.”


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China: Netizens’ Comments on Food Safety · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Geek translated some Chinese netizens’ comments on food safety.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: What Happened to Chinese Facebook Users on April 5, 2011 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shanghaiist found out from Social Bakers that on April 5, about 40% (250,000) of Chinese Facebookers disappeared.


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Colombia: Citizens Reject Proposal to Reform Higher Education Law 30 · Global Voices
Lully

The proposal of the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, to reform the  Higher Education Law 30 of 1992 [es] has not been received well [es]. University students, professors and common citizens agree that the majority of the proposed changes — especially those touching on financial matters and university autonomy — do not help improve the quality of education nor the lives of Colombians.
Before the matter is to be settled in the national congress, opponents of the reform proposal have tried to get the government's attention through meetings to analyze the proposal's impacts in university conferences [es], assemblies and other gatherings to debate the proposal in areas designated by the Education Ministry.  A recent large national march [es] has also brought attention to the issue. Organized by Colombian Federation of Educators [es] (FECODE [es]), it took place Thursday, April 7 with students and workers joining together in protest.
The flurry of gatherings has been accompanied by internet chatter on blogs, videos, web pages, and social media networks. Despite there being Colombians that accept the reform proposal, the loudest voices heard, as much online as in the streets, have been the voices of the opposition.
On his blog [es], Sergio Fajardo, vice-presidental candidate in the 2010 elections, makes a general observation while emphasizing the serious and bleak outlook of higher education. He also calls for the debate to stay civil:
(…) No es seria la reforma. No plantea la más mínima sugerencia sobre posibles formas de enfrentar el problema de la deserción que se acerca al 50% de los estudiantes que entran a la Educación Superior. Ni siquiera tiene un estudio de mercadeo para justificar la existencia de los agentes privados que entrarían al negocio.  (…)
(…) Somos muchas las personas que tenemos los argumentos y las realizaciones que nos permiten demostrar que la educación pública es crucial para construir una sociedad justa que crea igualdad de oportunidades, lo podemos hacer dando ejemplo de civilidad e inteligencia.
(…) This is not serious reform.  You do not propose the weakest option over all of the other possible solutions. Something better is needed to face the problem of drop-out numbers that are nearing 50% of students that enter higher education. Not even having a market study justifies the existence of the private agents entering into the public education business. (…)
(…)We are many people and each have our own motives and competencies which permit us to to show that public education is crucial towards building a fair society that creates equal opportunity, we can be examples of civility and intelligence.
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Si este en realidad fuera un país democrático, los titulares de primera plana se referirían a las multitudinarias manifestaciones de ayer en todo el país donde más de 30000 personas rechazaron políticas gubernamentales del Plan Nacional de Desarrollo del gobierno Santos como su Reforma a la Ley 30 y el manejo a las regalías, además de las políticas educativas que se han venido imponiendo sin ningún consenso y las malas condiciones laborales del Magisterio.
Jorge Luis Galeano in Hechoencali.com published a video [es] that shows what happened during the march in Cali, Colombia's third largest city. At the same time he relates [es] the positions of the different sides and reports the government's position:
Sin embargo, el Gobierno ha sido reiterativo en decir que las universidades no se van a privatizar y en que el capital privado no tendrá nada que ver en el precio de las matrículas. Lo que busca la reforma, ha dicho la Ministra de Educación María Fernanda Campo, “es hacer que los más de 3 millones 200 mil bachilleres que no han podido ingresar a la educación superior, tengan esa oportunidad ahora
Tomáz Garzía in his blog Mundo Desgrafiado, analyses and also explains [es] how students were removed from the University of Antioquia on March 31 by the mobile antiriot squad “ESMAD” [es]:
(…) En menos de quince minutos la policía entró por todas las porterías disparando gases e insultos, con los que metódicamente echaron fuera a todos los que en ese momento se encontraban protestando por la actual reforma a la Ley 30, que regula la educación superior en el país; y, sea dicho de paso, a los que no estaban protestando también los sacaron de la misma forma.
Suregión.com, from the Colombian regional department of Huila, made a record of how the reform was received in that region, reporting [es]:
La masiva movilización contó con proclamas como “se va caer, la reforma a la Ley 30 se va caer”. La comunidad Huilense manifestó su rechazo a este proyecto de Ley que interviene el carácter de la universidad pública bajo el argumento de permitir el capital privado para una mayor cobertura y calidad.
Crowds protest against the higher education reform in Bogota. Luis Ramirez, Copyright Demotix
Many blogs repeated and discussed what Semana.com [es] said on the subject including their list of the pros and cons of the reform proposal. Among the positives that this website noted included the following:
El Gobierno advirtió que los recursos son limitados, por eso, aliarse con la empresa privada es una alternativa.“Hoy un empresario contrata servicios con la universidad, pero queremos que no solo contrate, sino que invierta capital para desarrollar proyectos específicos, que se meta la mano al bolsillo y genere innovación con las universidades (…) que pongan la plata, vendan servicios, desarrollen conocimiento y ojalá ganen bastante”, explicó la ministra de Educación, María Fernanda Campo.
On Facebook various [es] groups have already been created [es] rallying against the reform of Law 30. On Twitter, messages on the subject are also appearing, like this pro-reform tweet from Alex Arango (@ALEXANDERCALI) from Medellin:
Desde que garanticen la calidad en la universidad pública, yo si apoyo la reforma a la ley 30/92.
Valeria Morales (@ValeriaMoralesR) tweets in disagreement:
Un pueblo q camina para adelnate y un gobierno q camina para atras, RECHAZO A LA REFORMA DE LA LEY 30.
For his part, Edgar Acosta (@EdgarAcostaM) says:
Ayer se envidenció el inconformismo a las politicas del #Gobierno y se dijo un NO rotundo a la reforma a la ley 30/92 de Educación superior.
Diego Correa (@diegoco66) also rejects the proposed reform and says “it must be debated and changed,” while Pedro Nicolas Perez (@pnperezz) saw the national march as a complete success:
Que alegría hoy la marcha, una marcha pacifica y ordenada. Se lleno 3 veces la Plaza de Bolivar. En Colombia se puede el cambio, hay que creer.

author: Lully


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Côte d’Ivoire: Laurent Gbagbo’s Fall   · Global Voices
Julie Owono

This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.
The breaking news came in at 1 pm GMT on April 11, 2011: Laurent Gbagbo was arrested at his residence in Cocody, with his wife, Simone, and close entourage. Five months after he refused to hand the power to internationally recognised new president of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, the crisis in the country has now seemingly found its epilogue.
The sequence of events from April 10 to 11, 2011
The French presidential office (@Elysée) [fr] announced via Twitter that France had accepted to take part in a new military intervention in Côte d'Ivoire on April 10, 2011:
@Elysée: En accord avec le Président #Ouattara, le SG #ONU a demandé à N #Sarkozy la poursuite de la participation française aux opérations ONUCI
By making this statement, the Elysée justified resuming [fr] the military bombardments targeted at the Presidential Residence in Cocody, Abidjan, where Laurent Gbagbo was bunkering down. This decision was made in response to an attack [fr] directed at the Golf Hotel, the former headquarters of Ouattara's camp, by Gbagbo's Forces of Defense and Security (FDS). The bombings began at 5 pm GMT (Abidjan Time).
This video was posted by Youtube User terryko0 on April 11. Its title: “Abidjan 10-04-2001. Tirs de missiles contre la résidence de Laurent Gbagbo” (Missiles fired at Laurent Gbagbo's residence):
The offensive deeply weakened Laurent Gbagbo's camp, as following footage shot a few hours after the attack, can attest, posted to YouTube on April 10, 2011, by user Atteby. In it you can see a wounded Sidiki Bakaba, Ivorian actor who recently gave an interview on Slate Afrique [fr] website:
In this video, uploaded to YouTube by user atteby, medical staff are shown in action, healing soldiers in the presidential residence:
In the morning of April 11, 2011, the following video shot from Blockhaus, an Ebrié borough in the district of Cocody, Abidjan, showed tanks belonging to UNICORN, the French force in Côte d'Ivoire on the move. According to lgconnectTV, the user who posted the media on YouTube on April 11, they were headed to Laurent Gbagbo's residence:
At 11 am GMT, international French television channel France24 confirmed the information on its live coverage page [fr]:
According to a Reuters press release published two hours later, Laurent Gbagbo was then arrested by French Special Forces, and handed to Ouattara's Republican Forces. France24, referring to the latter wrote :
Peace against all odds
Following their arrestation, the Gbagbo couple was taken to the Hotel du Golf, under the close escort of international forces. In the following video broadcasted by TCI, a TV channel known to be close to Alassane Ouattara, Laurent Gbagbo is handed a bulletproof vest to protect his life as he is being arrested:
Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised president of Côte d'Ivoire ordered his forces not to violate Laurent Gbagbo and wife Simone's human rights.
TCI also posted another  video in which the former president Gbagbo calls for the end of fightings, and for the return to peace:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qca5nDIw4yc
Je souhaite qu'on arrête les armes, qu'on rentre dans la partie civile de la crise, et qu'on la conclue rapidement pour que le pays reprenne.
In an address to the Ivorians and to the international community on April 11, 2011, Alassane Ouattara reaffirmed his will to enforce the rule of law, guarantee the “physical integrity” of Laurent Gbagbo and his wife, and take the first steps towards rendering justice.
This drive for peace is shared by many Ivorians, such as Diouf Mamy (@mymaluydealbi) who wrote on Twitter:
@mymaluydealbi: Après ce qui s'est passé, j'espère que Ouattara sera le président de tous les Ivoiriens sans exception. Que la paix revienne en #civ2010
This post is part of our special coverage Côte d'Ivoire Unrest 2011.

author: Julie Owono


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Cuba: No Questions Asked  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“We have to see Fidel Castro as a piece of living history. A stream of bright ideas…the only comandante. The man who never makes mistakes”: Iván García would like to comment.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Czech Republic: The President’s Chilean Pen Incident · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame comments on the Czech President Václav Klaus’ successful attempt to steal a protocol pen during a joint press conference with the Chilean President Sebastián Piñera in Chile.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Egypt: “We are all Maikel Nabil” · Global Voices
Asteris Masouras

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.
The sentencing of blogger Maikel Nabil on April 11, 2011, to three years in prison by a military tribunal in closed session for criticizing the army has Egyptian netizens in an uproar, exercising their newfound free speech rights while seeing them being threatened.
Nabil was tried by a military tribunal, despite being a civilian. Human rights organizations defending him alleged that his lawyers were tricked, and others cautioned about the dangerous precedent being set:
@monasosh: They LIED! told lawyers trial postponed & after they left found out he was sentenced & already transfered to prison #MaikelNabil #Egyarmy
@adamakary: #MaikelNabil sentenced to 3 yrs in jail. Army promised to postpone the verdict till 2morrow but convicted Maikel once his lawyers left court
@jonamorem: This is unbelievable! Tricking the lawyers and sentencing #MaikelNabil behind their backs sending him off to prison! That is unlawful!!
@jonamorem: Anyone still trusting the army after tricked sentencing of #MaikelNabil behind lawyers back must have lost his mind. #jan25 #Egypt #fail
@merritk: #MaikelNabil's lawyer says verdict not issued in open session, a violation of military court rules.#egypt
@fustat: First of all civilians like #MaikelNabil and others should not be tried in military courts, period!#EgyArmy #SCAF #Jan25
@zaynabon: #Army tried #MaikelNabil in a MILITARY court for blogging but #Mubarak is chilling on the beach in#Sharm? WTF is wrong with this picture?
@yassi2011: Not only #MaikelNabil. also #FreeAmr& all other civilians trialed in front of military courts in recent time #Jan25 #Egypt #SCAF
Mubarak 2.0?
Mikael Nabil in Tahrir Square on January 30, 2011. Photo uploaded by Mena Nader on Yfrog.
Nabil's sentencing came just two days after a bloody crackdown in Tahrir Square, following the biggest Friday protest after Mubarak's ouster. Anger at the army and consternation at a perceived backsliding to Mubarak-era tactics was palpable:
@cairowire: today is a sad day for both bloggers and for human rights in egypt. #jan25 #MaikelNabil
@HebzyA: So much for freedom of expression, transparency, fair trials #maikelnabil #jan25
@deena_adel: It depresses me that the basic right of individual free expression is still criminalized in #NewEgypt.#MaikelNabil
@amiramikhail: I just cried for the first time this revolution.#maikelnabil this is a blow.
@HebzyA: #maikelnabil sentencing is another slap in the face by the army to #jan25
@MaeSideB: They just keep coming, those slaps in the face. Great job letting us get rid of every last bit of trust we might have had left! #MaikelNabil
@bassemwahda: the Egyptian Army has fully donned the mantle of the SS, opinions are oppressed and criticism not allowed! #MaikelNabil #freedom
@bassemwahda: Arresting bloggers, misleading lawyers, make shift trials and bigoted sentences..has ANYTHING changed? #maikelNabil #egypt
@BrokenArrow: The #SCAF is Mubarak's regime on steroids#egyarmy #jan25 #tahrir #MaikelNabil#NEWEGYPT
@cairowire: one could say that the sentencing of #MaikelNabilsets a dangerous precedent, only this precedent had already been set by mubarak's regime.
@ghalyshafik: The sentence of #MaikelNabil is so disgusting. Reminds us all of mubarak days. #jan25 #egypt#tahrir
@zaynabon: Arresting and jailing bloggers was trend during#Mubarak’s era. Mubarak is over, this ugly trend must be over too. #Egypt #MaikelNabil
Many felt this development constituted a threat to all freedom of expression online in Egypt:
@sarahcarr: .@maikelnabil's blogpost doesn't contain anything new. Other people have published similar (and worse) allegations online
@monasosh: The basis on which #MaikelNabil was sentenced could apply to many of us. #Jan25 #Egyarmy
@saralabib: It's not only #MaikelNabil who will be jailed, it's the freedom of every single Egyptian that is put in prison!! #freedomofspeech died
@ArabRevolution: What's next? Jail for a tweet? #MaikelNabil #Jan25#Egyarmy
@lilianwagdy: Z thing is if Maikel Nabil was sentenced because of a blog post, a lot of us cud meet Z same fate simply coz of a hashtag like #Fuckthearmy
@fazerofzanight: This is Bullshit! #MaikelNabil sentencd to 3yrs, we'd better all find a fucking hiding spot, cuz we're all “not guilty” of the same crime
@JoliePagaille: what stands did the #egyarmy sentenced@maikelnabil ? freedom of speech? then i guess we are next for all our tweets!
@amira_salah: So being a blogger is a crime now!!! People remove ur blogger keyword from ur BIOs then!! #Shame#MaikelNabil
Solidarity and calls for change
As with Kareem Amer before, a familiar mantra echoed, solidarity themes and calls for real political change:
@amiramikhail: We are all #maikelnabil
@deena_adel: I disagree with most of #MaikelNabil's views, but I will fight to the death for his right to speak them.#Egypt
@tarekshalaby: As much as I think that #MaikelNabil is severely messed up in the head, it is outrageously unjust to throw him behind bars for expression
@rashaabdulla: #MaikelNabil's case is clear message to #Internetactivists. We have to defend #freedom of expression. This is not acceptable. #Egypt #Jan25
@AhmadMoez: After sentencing #MaikelNabil, I am 100% pro the protesting soldiers in #Tahrir in formal uniform. Time for unity of #Egypt.
@tammersalem: Now more than ever the need for a presidential council of different parties instead of the army is required. #egypt #maikelnabil #jan25
3awadalla: Does the military council remember why we revolted in the first place? No more prosecution!#MaikelNabil #Jan25
@AmrBassiouny: You know what, I'm gonna write an extremely anti-military blog. Let's see if I get arrested. #Jan25#Egypt #MaikelNabil
@AmrBassiouny: DO NOT let #MaikelNabil's case scare you. Speak free, don't insult, you're safe. Anti-Army blog tonight to break barrier of fear. #Jan25
Nariman Youssef wrote in a bilingual statement of support:
Maikel is a pacifist, a conscientious objector and part of a movement called “No to compulsory conscription”. He wrote some controversial articles in the past in support of Israel, and during the Jan 25 revolution, he posted a “message to Israel calling for solidarity with the Egyptian revolution“.
While the majority of rights activists and organizations in Egypt are defending him, offering moral and practical support, some remain conflicted about him because of his pro-Israel stance. The powers that be always choose controversial victims for such cases, mainly to divide public opinion over dissidents in general.
and mirrored his post, urging other bloggers to do the same.
More than 2,700 people have joined the “Free Maikel Nabil” Facebook group to date. A dedicated Twitter account (@MaikelNabilNews) was created within hours of Nabil's sentencing.
Soft targets and clear messages
Nabil's predicament echoes blogger Kareem Amer's four year sentencing in 2007. Amer was charged with insulting Mubarak and Islam, and served his sentence in full, despite an international campaign to have him released earlier. He was finally released from prison in November 2010 -several months prior to the January revolution- alleging torture and ill-treatment.
Human rights activist Ramy Raoof wrote in Global Voices Advocacy about the message intended by Nabil's persecution:
During the past few years, Egyptian activists and journalists have broke many taboos through media platforms. The army and military forces was one of the main taboos during Mubarak’s time and is still a “red-line” in the offline media [..]
The army in Egypt is sending a clear message that they don’t accept criticism and the charges against Nabil could be easily set against any other Egyptian netizen and human rights defenders to stop them from addressing human rights violations committed by military officers.
Egyptian expat columnist Mona Eltahawy and others also posited that the army had purposely picked an easy target to deliver their objective lesson:
@monaeltahawy: #MaikelNabil is new Karim Amer. Maikel sentenced 3 yrs for “insulting army”. Karim sentenced 4 yrs for “insulting Islam and the president.”
@monaeltahawy: Bloggers #MaikelNabil & Karim Amer: soft targets bec their writing on army (Maikel) & religion (Karim) made them unpopular. #Egypt
@jonamorem: Many who now r shocked at #MaikelNabilsentenced wldnt speak up for him bec of pro-Israel views! And now all lost in #Egypt. Great! #jan25
@3awadalla: By imprisoning #MaikelNabil, the military is setting an example of those critical of it & also taking their old revenge from Maikel. #Jan25
@3awadalla: Army knew they can pull the Israel card anytime about#Maikelnabil and we'll lose public support.
@mosaaberizing: Army officers indirectly confirming that they had a bone to pick with #MaikelNabil. “His story is quite long”.
@hebamorayef: SCAF General Otman says that blogger Maikel Nabil's calls against forced consciption would have “an effect” on other youth #MaikelNabil
However, Nabil's sentencing could have the opposite effect on youth than that sought by the army:
@deena_adel: I hadn't even read #MaikelNabil's blog post,”The Army & the People were never one hand” until I heard he got arrested for it #EgyArmy #fail
@Egyptocracy: Does the army actually realize that by sentencing#MaikelNabil they are only megaphoning his words?#EgyArmy #Egypt #Jan25 #Tahrir
Before sentence was passed, Nabil wrote from incarceration [ar], urging his fellow citizens to shoulder the burden of newfound freedom:
@jonamorem: READ #MaikelNabil from prison: “Freedom has a price, I pay the price in prison and you pay yours out of jail!” http://is.gd/uSfMUT #jan25
This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

author: Asteris Masouras


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El Salvador: Leader in Anti-Mining Movement Wins Goldman Environmental Prize · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

“Francisco Pineda, a leader in the anti-mining movement in Cabañas, was named yesterday one of the 2011 recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize,” Tim reports in his blog on El Salvador. “Francisco Pineda is a farmer with a degree in sustainable agriculture and is the founder and president of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, a community volunteer association.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Fukushima: Public Criticism and a Rising Anger · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.
The recent escalation by the Government of the crisis at the Fukushima power plant from a category five to category seven, the highest level, now puts it on a par with the disastrous accident at the Chernobyl power plant in Russia in 1986. Even as a category five disaster it had prompted an unprecedented outpouring of public criticism in Japanese society.
Open protests against Tepco as operator and the government as monitor had been relatively muted until recently, but this has now changed. Tepco was responsible for the placement and maintenance of obsolete structures and for failing to ensure adequate safety measures and backup systems that would have guaranteed a working cooling system despite the strong quakes and tsunami.  Governments, both past and present are seen as complicit for their inadequate supervision and inspections of the facility as well as for the recent extension of Tepco's operating permit.
Fukushima, Japan. Image by Flickr user Gonzalo Deniz (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
On April 10, 2011, more than 15,000 people gathered in Tokyo streets to protest against the nuclear power industry and the problems it had caused. In a city with over 13 million people this might seem like a very small number but it was the first time that ordinary people had taken to the streets to voice their opposition to nuclear power. As further proof of the widespread anger another 10,000 people followed the protest on Ustream thanks to Yasumi Iwakami’s team who broadcast the event live.
Reluctance to criticize?
For many foreigners however, used to much bigger numbers of demonstrators in their own countries,  doubts remain. Why do Japanese people seem so reluctant to criticize the company and industry responsible for this man made disaster and the government which let it all happen?
A recent discussion appearing on Twitter shows that a lack of open protest does not mean that the Japanese people have not been questioning or complaining of the actions of the authorities as some foreigners have implied.
The following thread originated from a foreigner's doubt that was expressed to user @SaveJPN:
z_kakiya: RT @SaveJPN: とても深い。深くて悔しい。->「今日、外国の記者に『大地震の直後であっても礼儀や秩序を守る姿に世界中が感銘をうけて称賛したが、いま人災を撒 き散らす政府に抗議の声もあげない日本人に世界は冷ややかな目を向けている。彼らはただ集団行動をしただけだ』といわれた」
Reflecting on the foreigner's words, some readers began to wonder whether, for the Japanese, it's deemed more socially appropriate not to raise voices in complaint when something goes wrong.
@Arugha_Satoru: @z_kakiya ハハハ。サーセン。マジレスすると政府に文句言ってる関係がどうにもアレなひとたちばかりなので、黙っている方がマトモに見えてしまう的なあれとかもあるのかも知れないですが。
@z_kakiya: @Arugha_Satoru んですよね……。 直接抗議がスタンダードから遠いからなあ……。 実際非常に厳しいですしね……。
However, Inuinu_void questioned this, blaming the Japanese media who have been covering up Tepco's faults as it is one of the major sponsors of many  television shows.
@Inuinu_void: はっ きり言うけどさ、日本人は怒るべきだと言ってもどう怒りを表明しろと言うんだい。　表明したところでマ スコミは東電の味方でろくずっぽ報道しないし、運動していそうな連中はプロ市民ときている。　いま日本人の怒りというのはマグマのように水面下で蠢いてい る。それに気づくのか？外国人は。
Anti nuclear power protests in Kouenji, Japan. Image by Flickr user SandoCap (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Attempting an interpretation of the Japanese mentality in such a situation, Arugha_Satoru says the lack of protest might be due to a general desire not to spark panic that might hinder  those who are trying to manage the emergency.
@Arugha_Satoru: 東電とかに怒りをぶつけるヒマがあったら現地助けろよ！　が日本人の大まかな（一般的な）共通見解なんじゃないのかな
@Arugha_Satoru: あとは「現地で略奪とかパニックになるくらいなら怒りはあっても今は我慢するべきだろ、別にそこまでグローバルスタンダードになる必要なし！」　かな。
Kenokabe says he doesn't agree with the ‘be quiet, you won't change the things anyway’ kind of thinking because only by voicing criticisms will problems be solved.
@kenokabe:「声をあげない」ことを美徳とする結果、横並び「和」を上等とするくせに「同調圧力」という横並びには嫌悪感がある。デモとか熱心にやってる人らをもう横目でニヤニヤするような空気はよくないとおもう。
@kenokabe: 以上踏まえてもっかい言うと、僕はこういうのはひとりひとりが「声をあげて」変えるしかないって立場だけど、他方「騒いだってどうにもならんで」っていうのはTLでよく見かける。どう思いますか？RT @Inuinu_void:
@kenokabe: そろそろ海外では僕等日本人総体に切れはじめてるようです。RT @ququri: 許したくない対象は東電や、現場の処置を不透明にしてしまっている不甲斐ない政府なのだけれど、それらてっぺんのどうしようも無い存在を今迄許してきた私にだって責任はあるのだ。だから、より、尚更、腹立たしい。
Besides the recent street protests in Tokyo, a wider section of the Japanese people have been reacting and showing  appraisal for a song titled ‘It was a lie all along’ by singer Kazuyoshi Saito which has already recorded more than 491,000 views. The lyrics have been translated here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b01yohRgfyc
Anti-nuclear power protests in Kouenji, Japan. Image by Flickr user SandoCap (CC BY-NC 2.0).
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Guatemala: The Women Running for President · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Mike in Central American Politics writes about the women running for president in Guatemala, and argues that “Guatemala is almost guaranteed to have a woman occupy the presidency or vice presidency after September's election.”


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Peru: Reactions Following the First 2011 Electoral Round · Global Voices
Isabel Guerra

Voter in the center of Peruvian voting process. (Photo: OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Peru, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The day after celebrating the elections in Peru on April 10, the results were clear: there will be a second round, and as of writing this post, in accordance with the official numbers from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), with 72.373% [es] of the electoral tickets counted, Keiko Fujimori extends her advantage over Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and will be the rival to Ollanta Humalla, who currently maintains first place with 29.02% of the votes.
Taking into account that the ONPE's report is one of counted votes, not an accurate representation, it remains clear that as the electoral votes that continue arriving from distinct corners of the country proceed to add up, the results for Fujimori and Kuczynski can cross one another's path temporarily [es]; but as the total number of counted votes is determined, it will be unlikely that the expressed tendency in the exit polls [es] (Ollanta Humala in first place, Keiko Fujimori in second, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in third) will change substantially.
Bloggers, candidates, and analysts coincide that this result is principally “an angry vote” [es], a vote of punishment for the economic policies managed by the governments in recent years, that have fomented growth and created a new prosperity that curiously does not sit equally with everyone, but rather has further accentuated the gap between the extremes on the socioeconomic scale.
Roger Merino explains it clearly in his blog Comparación Jurídica y Análisis Crítico [es]:
…como hace 5 años, “los otros” han vuelto a ganar categóricamente en primera vuelta. Esos otros, gente que trabaja horas de horas en el campo, los obreros de las fábricas, los pobres de la sierra rural y de la Amazonía, los pobres limeños que viven en los pueblos jóvenes (algunos de los cuales ya no son considerados como tales porque según INEI [la agencia nacional de estadística] ya no ganan 257 soles mensuales, sino 280!), esa gente que creemos que no existe porque se abrió por ahí un nuevo centro comercial o se construyó un edificio, esa gente tiene voz y tiene voto. Cada cinco años recién sentimos su presencia y tenemos la desfachatez de sorprendernos por los resultados.(…) Tratemos de entender los problemas en vez de insultar y menospreciar, tratemos de aprender algo de esta elección.
The results of the first round have had enormous repercussions on the social networks, above all due to the fact that the three candidates most voted-for were the least favored on the social networks during the campaign, much like what had occurred in Colombia with Antanas Mockus.
As Augusto Ayesta [es] points out, in newspaper La República:
hoy podemos ver que el Perú no es Facebook, ni Twitter, ni Hi5. La mayoría de electores no está allí y aunque más de seis millones de jóvenes entre 18 y 29 años hayan ejercido su derecho a voto, la lucha se sigue dando, fundamentalmente, afuera de la red.
Those who are not happy with either of the two candidates that have entered the second round express their feelings on social networks, as Juan Carlos Olivera [es] demonstrates on Facebook:
Es tiempo de ver quién quiera [sic]al Perú. Si no te gusta que Humala y Keiko estén en segunda vuelta, no te vayas del país. Hay que quedarse a luchar en contra de cualquier influencia chavista o liberación de algún asesino, seamos el ojo vigilante ante cualquier huevada[tontería] que haga el próximo presidente.
Others, such as Jose Benjamin (@Jose_Benjamin_) [es] and Vanessa Liberati (@Cori1610) [es], complain openly about the “socially resentful” who gave their votes to Humala and Fujimori, even labeling them ignorant, like Carolina Gonzales (@ADAMGASMIC) [es]:
@MariMim @joselynmegalam el voto de humala y de keiko predomina en los sectores C,D y E (los mas ignorantes) los mas manejables!
Or more openly, as Miguel Angel Cárdenas (@dragonrampante) [es] points out:
“Voy a pagarle la multa a mi empleada [mucama doméstica] para que no vote por Ollanta”, le escucho a una ppkausa [simpatizante de Kuczynski]. Se merecen un Humala! pero nos friegan a todos
Another large sector reacts to these comments. Katya Delgado (@mamibrujita) [es] states:
Realmente, viendo los comentarios en FB de algunos PPKausas [partidarios de Kuczynski], entiendo por qué Humala ha ganado estas elecciones. Da pena ver tanto racismo
Many Twitter users set themselves apart from the comments on the social networks that are qualified as racist, like @Kñoda [es] and the popular Peruvian Chef Gastón Acurio, who comments on his Facebook page [es]:
A poor neighborhood in the Chorrillos district in Lima (Photo: J. Enrique Molina)
Antonio Salazar (@Bitocho) [es] alludes to the sector of poor Peruvians and Josué Calderón (@JosueZeroBalas) [es] voices his opinion on Twitter:
Hoy no ganaron los IGNORANTES, ganaron LOS IGNORADOS… Tomemos consciencia, dejemos de creer q el Peru solo es tu cole [colegio], tu uni [universidad], tus patitas [grupo de amigos]
While the candidates that did not pass to the second round say mea culpa for their errors, admit defeat [es] and evaluate the country's new political scene [es], Peruvian businessmen are expecting and awaiting the proposals from the two finalists [es], as well as those politicians who are already beginning to retrain themselves and evaluate who they will support in the second round.[es]
And social network users also meditate, doubt [es], withdraw themselves and even announce that they will take action from anti-Humala [es] or anti-Keiko [es] platforms. Some simply invite others to maintain vigilance for democracy in the country, as Carlos Gcg [es] or Janter Mozombite Manuyama [es] invokes:
Recien me despierto de esta pesadilla que se veía venir, me da pena mi país, pero que podemos hacer amigos asi es la democracia y a prepararnos para estar vigilantes a los posibles atropellos que puedan venir con la elección de cualquiera de estos dos señores, recordando las épocas universitarias en que peleamos contra la dictadura fujimontesinista…Hay que estar alertas de nuevo.

author: Isabel Guerra


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Russia: Two Projects Win The BOBs People’s Choice Awards · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Two Russian projects win The Best of Blogs People's Choice Awards. They are: rospil.info, crowdsourcing anti-corruption community in the nomination “The Best Use of Technology for Social Good,” and the blog of Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper in the “Reporters Without Borders Award” nomination.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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South Koreans Baffled By Five Consecutive University Suicides · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Koreans are buzzing over recurring suicides at one prestigious university. The school's unique penalty tuition system, which was adopted by the President of the school, also came under fire for driving students to extreme stress, even to their deaths.
Four students and one professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST), one of the nation’s top-tier universities, have committed suicide in the last three months. Local media outlets and KAIST’s students themselves have blamed the pressure of intense competition and especially KAIST’s unique penalty system, which charges students extra fees for underachievement, for contributing the suicides. The most recent suicide of a student took place on April 7. According to Korea Herald [en], a KAIST professor who had mentored the last victim recalled that his student had suffered from his unsatisfactory grades. On April 10, KAIST's one renowned professor who was being charged with embezzlement of research money was also found dead.
Image by Pi Magazine Photo Library, CC License, from Flickr site.
Penalty tuition
Twitterer Lee Dong-hoon's(@Mr_DongHoon) tweet[ko] summarized how the penalty system works.
카이스트.학점이 3.0이하로 떨어지면 0.01점당 63000원씩을 부과/학점 2.5면 약 300만원.이 더러운 벌금의 이름은 ‘수업료.’ […]
A dentist/professor, Lee Yun-jung (@eyunjung)  tweeted [ko]:
카이스트 서남표 총장은 매우 이성적이고 합리적이지만 낙오자로 찍히는 고통을 모르는 것 같습니다”며 “학생들의 자살은 타인의 고통에 공감하지 못하는 이성이 얼마나 폭력적인지 보여줍니다. 광기는 이성의 결여이기도 하지만 이성의 극단이기도 합니다.
Mental Weakness? Calls for KAIST President to Resign
Right after the fourth suicide, President of KAIST, Suh Nam-pyo said in a press conference that the school will scrap its penalty system. But it was never enough to quell public concerns and ongoing debates. Korean net users are calling for Suh to step down since he was the one who had created the system in order to maximize the competition. They have even filed an online petition[ko] on the Daum Agora site, urging him to step down. Since KAIST is a university heavily supported by the government, Suh will also have to show up at a parliamentary questioning session on April 18 to explain about recent deaths.
Furthermore,  Suh's inappropriate comments after the suicides have turned Korean people and even his supporters against him. On April 4, a few days after the third death, Suh posted a message [ko] on the school’s homepage, indirectly conveying his opinion that the suicide was a sign of mental weakness.  Kyunghyang newspaper reported [ko]. that just two days before the fourth suicide, Suh said, ‘suicide rates in prestigious universities in the U.S are much higher than ours’, when a KAIST freshman who fights against the penalty system asked about the recurring suicides.
Cho Gook, Seoul National University’s law professor and one of the most influential Twitters (@patriamea) tweeted[ko]:
KAIST 학생이 네 명 자살한 후에야 서남표 총장은 ‘차등수업료제’ 폐지를 발표했다. 학생을 ‘공부기계'로 만들려고 수업료로 위협하며 비극을 낳게 한 장본인은 도의적 책임을 지고 물러나야 한다.
After Cho received criticism regarding his call for Suh to step down, Cho tweeted [ko] another message, explaining why the resignation is necessary at this point:
서 총장만 물러가면 해결되냐고? 물론 아님. 서 총장에게 ‘원한'이 있냐고? 만나본 적도 없음. 그러나 사태의 최고책임자가 그대로 있는 상태에서는 아무리 탁월한 능력을 가진 KAIST 구성원들도 방향을 재설정하기란 어려움은 분명함.
Systems Cause Suicides.
Some people, pointing out KAIST's unique status, assert KAIST students should take the stress for granted since they are being supported by the government and enjoy privileges while ordinary students have none of these benefits. KAIST is the university established by the Korean government as the nation's first science and engineering institution and it has received huge government financial and legal support ever since. Its students are exempt from military duty which all able-bodied Korean men are oblige to undertake. A Christian theologian, Hahm See-young (@Deraugustinus) pointed out [ko] this aspect.
카이스트는 국민세금으로 공부한다. 자기발전뿐만 아니라 국가와 민족을 위해 헌신해야 한다. […]학습량과 연구량 수준에서 볼 때 한반도대학은 구미선진국대학과 비교하면 너무 쉽게 졸업한다
South Korea is infamous for its education fever. As one of its side effects, the suicide rate, even among teens, is unprecedentedly high. It is  estimated [ko]  that three elementary school students, 53 junior highs and 90 high school students, totaling 146 students, have committed suicide in 2010 alone.
A net user ID: Suh Sang-hyun, who dropped out of KAIST in 2010,  wrote [ko] in various public forum sites, accusing Korean society of its obsession with good diplomas.
“이 학교에서 우리는 불행하다” 대자보를 보고, “불행하면 자퇴하면 되지 않느냐”는 댓글을 읽고 몇 자 적습니다. 동의합니다. 자살할 만큼 불행하다면 자퇴(보통은 휴학)하는 것이 맞습니다. […]그럼에도 그러지 못하는 학생이 많은 것은 대학 졸업장을 중시하는 한국 사회의 문제입니다.[…]
President Suh had also adopted an intensive English course system which force almost every class to be delivered in English. Suh claimed this reform would increase the school's competitiveness, but there is even a professors’ collective movement against the 100 percent English-based class since in most cases, English classes has decreased students understanding level and muffled down active conversations between teachers and pupils. Blogger 격암(:Gyuk-Am) analyzed [ko] that the Korean education system has hit an impasse where a reform in any kind would be criticized, despite its necessity.
대학생들이 자살을 했고 카이스트에서 공부하는것이 힘들다는 이야기가 나올때 서남표총장을 비판하고 보다 경쟁이 없는 환경을 주문하는것은 쉬운일입니다. […] 결론적으로 말하자면 서남표총장의 개혁이 답은 아니라고 할지라도 대학으로서는 앞도 뒤도 막힌 것같은 상황인것도 사실이라는 겁니다. 느슨하게 하자니 망할것같고 채찍질을 하자니 부작용이 나오고 그런것이죠.
To boost students morale, KAIST has decided to give students two days off from April 11 to 12 and encouraged them to have conversation with professors, a tepid measure with many doubting its effectiveness.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Uganda: “Mary the elephant” killed · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Window shopping elephant” in Uganda has been killed: “The female elephant, recently risen to fame when pictures were published in the Uganda media about walking along the Katunguru roadside stores, was apparently poisoned and found dead.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Uganda: #walk2work Arrests Spur Hunger Strike, Future Protests · Global Voices
Rebekah Heacock

This post is part of our special coverage Uganda: Walk to Work Protests.
Rather than backing down after the arrest of two Ugandan opposition leaders for staging a “Walk to Work” protest against high fuel and food prices on Monday, Ugandan activists have responded by announcing a hunger strike and planning more demonstrations.
According to the Uganda Talks Blog:
Mukono North MP Betty Nambooze told journalists today that the leaders have decided not to eat anything as they go about their duties at Parliament. She said that there was no point for them (leaders) to eat when the public can hardly afford food.
News of the protests is widespread on Twitter, where #walk2work continues to trend in the Ugandan Twittersphere.
@uchaguziug:
Opposition insists on Walk to Work protests every Monday and Thursday #walk2work
@vote4africa:
#Uganda Walking Schedule: Mon & Thu #walk2work / Fri, Sat, Sun #walk2church @AJEstream @bbc_global @cnn @hrw #africa #protest
Some in the Twittersphere, however, are concerned that tweets won't translate into action:
@nsw_DC:
Hopefully opp can keep this momentum up…but where is civil society? http://bit.ly/dPFQMm & http://bit.ly/dKfoDD #Uganda #walk2work
@AndrewMwenda:
Uganda's opposition this morning surrendered their strategic initiative by not re-attempting their “walk-2-work campaign
@oletan:
@AndrewMwenda Agreed. Walk one day and it is a protest. Walk for days on end and it becomes a movement. #walk2work
Others are choosing to view the incident in a more humorous light.  On satire blog Urban Legend Kampala, Erique writes:
Yesterday was walk to work day.
For those who still don’t know what that was all about, it means girls were supposed to walk to work naked and boys were just supposed to buy popcorn and sit by the roadside while updating their Facebook status messages with LOLs, OMGs and mssstttcchhews, where appropriate.
Just joking. It was just a public holiday for government to celebrate its annual arrest of Kizza Besigye. It happens once every year.
@Elirri:
Ugandans being arrested for walking “under the influence of legs”-interesting country
@tmsruge:
I am hopping & skipping my way across town RT @aoyako @tmsruge do u have a date in afternoon. Will you walk or… But you may get arrested
@emmanuwamanya:
Where can I get a walking permit? #walk2work #fb
This post is part of our special coverage Uganda: Walk to Work Protests.

author: Rebekah Heacock


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Zimbabwe: No hope for security sector reforms · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sokwanele has no hope for security sector reforms in Zimbabwe: “Zimbabwe’s security forces comprise the Central Intelligence Organisation, Zimbabwe National Army, Airforce of Zimbabwe, Police and the Prisons, whose commanders are war veterans and President Robert Mugabe’s close allies.”


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Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, U.S.V.I.: Flood Waters  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Reports of severe flood damage in St. Vincent and Barbados, here and here, and an earthquake in the U.S. Virgin Islands.


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Cambodia: Durian statue in Kampot · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tales from an Expat reports that the durian statue in Kampot, Cambodia is now complete in time for the Khmer New Year. Durian is a tasty fruit in Southeast Asia.

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Saving Prey Long forest · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Andy Brouwer blogs about the destruction of Prey Long forest, the largest remaining lowland evergreen in Cambodia.


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China: Cleaning Up Shenzhen · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mary Ann O'Donnell blogs about the recent urban cleansing movement in Shenzhen, which has rid 80,000 “dangerous people” out of Shenzhen city. While most of the mainstream media praised the city government's effort, critical voices can only be found in Weibo.


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Cuba: Targeting Bloggers?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The personal freedoms of members of the alternative blogosphere are at risk after the official media publicly accused them of being mercenaries”: Laritza Diversent says that referring to bloggers in this way is “completely groundless”, adding: “It is very possible that, by using the State-controlled media, they are preparing an operation to silence the alternative voices of Cuban society.”


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Grenada, Caribbean: WICB Woes  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blah Bloh Blog is unimpressed with the new logo for the West Indies Cricket Team, while WICB Expose renames the Calypso Cup the “Collapso Cup”.


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Guyana: Giving Fish a Bad Name  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Boy, does Guyana-Gyal have a fish story for you!


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Interview with Gaël Brassac, Global Voices Translator · Global Voices
Claire Ulrich

This interview is part of our ongoing series of portraits of Global Voices contributors. Translators are behind-the-scenes contributors who allow readers to read our content in other languages.
Interest in a particular country is often one of the reasons that takes a reader from being just that to become a contributor to Global Voices. Japan is at the center of Gaël's concerns right now, but it was thanks to his interest in Bangladesh that he first discovered Global Voices.
See here for other portraits of bloggers and translators of Global Voices worldwide.
Global Voices translator Gaël Brassac in Kyoto, in April 2010.
[All links forward to French articles unless noted otherwise].
Were you a frequent Global Voices reader before starting to translate into French?
Gael Brassac: I discovered Global Voices in early 2009 at the university, when I was carrying out research on the monitoring of geopolitical strife in Asian countries. I had heard of a mutiny within the Bangladesh army. Sources of information were quite rare in the press, but on Global Voices I discovered a very good article [en] by contributor Rezwan, which helped me a lot! Gradually, I began to translate for the site and I also now contribute as an author.
Which Global Voices article that you have translated struck you the most?
GB: One of the first that I translated was about Egypt in June 2010, ‘My name was Khalid and I was not a terrorist‘ [en]. It explained why this young Egyptian, who had incriminating videos of the local police, was murdered by those same officers. The article showed widespread corruption throughout the state of Egypt, all throughout the police force. Less than a year later, everything changed, but demonstrators in Tahrir Square did not forget Khaled, and waved his portrait during the best as well as the worst moments of the Egyptian revolution.
You live in Drôme, France, but Japan is central to your life, especially at this time. Why Japan?
GB: Blame it on the TV series Club Dorothée and its Japanese manga animation when I was a kid! As a teenager, I started reading my first series of manga like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, GTO, and Rurouni Kenshin, among others. As for literature, I read Murakami Ryu, Haruki Murakami, Osamu Dazai, and Ryosuke Akutagawa in particular. I wanted to learn the language and live in the country. At first, I studied English and Japanese with the intention to start a business between France and Japan, but the marketing and strategy courses got the better of me. I preferred to engage in something where a commitment to solidarity and human beings were the main concern, not money. After a year in Japan, I trained in management and did a humanitarian project at the University of Aix-en-Provence, France, and that’s where I met my girlfriend Zainichi, a Korean citizen born in Japan. Currently, I'm looking for humanitarian work in France, Japan or elsewhere. But when I get old, I will for sure go to live in Japan.
How have you coped with following current events [in Japan] from France?
GB: The week after the Japan earthquake, the tsunami and the [Fukushima nuclear power plant] radiation leaks, I was very stressed. I actively followed the news but the mass of conflicting information in the traditional media gradually put me off, and in order to be less on the edge, I selected a single source of information, a forum. When a disaster like this happens in a country where one has so many good memories, a girlfriend, friends, and where one still hopes to live, it is difficult to handle. But I'm sure that Japan will rise above it as it was able to do so after the Second World War. I hope it will adopt a progressive policy on sustainable energy and take the right decision just as they did when they wrote the article 9 of the Japanese Constitution of 1946 when they renounced war forever.

author: Claire Ulrich


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Jamaica: Divine Poetry  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Diaspora litblogger Geoffrey Philp says of Kwame Dawes’ poem Shook Foil: “There is a divine symmetry of the human with music and the landscape– evidence of a ‘natural mystic’ transforming the mundane into the miraculous.”


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Japan: A Japanese medical aid worker’s diary  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Anonymous translator ( @anontrans) translated into English some blog entries posted by “a Japanese nurse who was dispatched to Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Japan as a member of one of the first disaster medical assistance teams to be sent from Tokyo just several days after the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011.”


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Japan: Quakebook, a book born on Twitter · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Journalist and blogger Jake Adelstein presents Quakebook [en], “a compilation of art, stories, and essays to raise money for Japan earthquake survivors” which started with a single tweet. The book, officially titled 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, was co-written by popular writers and artists and 100% of revenue will go directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society.


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Malaysia: Cyber Attacks Shut Down Independent News Website  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysiakini, an independent news portal in Malaysia, has been inaccessible since Tuesday 12 April, 2011, after being targeted by cyber attacks:
A cyber attack beginning at 11am today shut down Malaysiakini servers simultaneously, making the website inaccessible to readers four days ahead of the Sarawak election.
The Malaysiakini technical team has determined it to be a denial-of-service attack, where an attacker uses computers in different parts of the world to swarm Malaysiakini servers to the point that they are unable to cope with the massive traffic.
Both our servers, which are hosted at two data centres – TM Brickfields and Jaring – have been affected by the attack.
The attacks were launched a few days before the Sarawak state elections whose results are expected to affect the chances of national political parties in the next elections.
Malaysiakini still inaccessible in Manila, capital of the Philippines.
Fortunately, Malaysiakini’s news articles have been posted on Facebook. Here is a list of alternative sites to access Malaysiakini’s reports on the Sarawak elections:
Aside from Malaysiakini, the hard-hitting website Sarawak Report was also targeted by cyber attacks. It has since then moved to a new address.
There are reports that Malaysiakini’s twitter account was also suspended. @mongabay reacts:
Did #Twitter get fooled? Why did @twitter suspend @malaysiakini (Malaysia's independent news source presently under cyber attack)?
@alphiy comments too:
Wait, what? Malaysiakini twitter account has been suspended? Goodness me. First, DDoS attack, and now this? Classy. Really matured.
Did Twitter suspend Malaysiakini's account?
On Facebook, Karpal Singh accuses the ruling party of being behind the attacks:
MALAYSIAKINI HAS BEEN HIT BY DDOS,MALAYSIAKINI CEO SUSPECT THIS ATTACK IS RELATED TO SARAWAK ELECTION.I THINK ALL MALAYSIAN KNOW THAT BN GOVERMENT IS BEHIND THIS ATTACK
kranjini criticizes the ‘dirty tactics’ used by the ‘interrupters’”
Well, well…..dirty tactics by…eerhmm…errhmm…we all know by whom ya**wink-wink**..
Thank GOD MalaysiaKini has got an alternative site.
Sorry interrupters, better luck to distort the network next time…**evil grin**
Enrico Aditjondro from EngageMedia urges netizens to support Malaysiakini:
Help us keep the information from critical Malaysian websites up and flowing. Unprecedented attacks on these sites during the current elections in Sarawak are preventing people from accessing information about the corruption endemic in Malaysian politics.


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Mexico: Netizens Deploy the “Failed State” Meme  · Global Voices
Deborah Esch

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
A feature article by political historian David Rieff , published in the online edition of The New Republic on March 17, 2011, provides a rich yet succinct context for the genesis of the idea or topos of Mexico as an actual and certainly a potential “failed state.” Its epic title, “The Struggle for Mexico,” is followed by an interrogative subtitle that raises a question that has been pending since late 2008:  “Its present is grim, its future uncertain – but is it a failed state?”
From a diplomatic point of view, the U.S. military’s Joint Forces Command did the incoming Obama administration no favors with the stark warning it issued in November 2008. In its annual evaluation of the threats America’s armed forces were likely to face in the future, it declared that, “[i]n terms of worst-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.”
[….]
Not surprisingly, this didn’t sit well with the Mexican government of Felipe Calderón. And so, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose references to U.S.-Mexico relations during her Senate confirmation hearings had been so perfunctory as to be nonexistent in political terms, was obliged to make a trip to Mexico City in March 2009 to smooth relations between the two governments. This was followed the next month with a visit to Mexico City by President Obama himself. Jorge Castañeda, Mexico’s former foreign minister, quipped at the time that Calderón “wants to hear [Obama] say that Mexico was never a failed state, is not a failed state today, and even in their deepest, darkest fears will never, ever be a failed state.”
Mexico peace protest, April 6, 2011. Image by Flickr user Pepe Rivera (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Flash-forward two years. “Buggs,” a founder of the popular blog Borderland Beat, which reports on drug violence from both sides of the border, picks up the thread and posts an article from the EFE news agency dated March 27, 2011.
President Felipe Calderon said in an interview published Sunday by the Spanish daily El Pais that Mexico was not a failed state and blamed the United States for the illegal flow of arms into his country. Calderon said he regretted the fact that the matter of referring to Mexico as a failed state appeared in a U.S. government report.
In Mexico, the meme has been adopted as the title of the blog Estado Fallido [es] (Failed State), whose mission statement reads:
Este blog nace por la necessidad de ofrecer una cronica periodistica de la ingobernabilidad, la desbordada crisis de seguridad nacional y la Guerra que vive Mexico.
Intelectuales, academicos y columnistas aun debaten si Mexico es o no es Estado Fallido. Lo cierto es que algunas regiones del pais han caido en la ingobernabilidad absoluta.
This blog was born from the need to offer a journalistic chronicle of the lawlessness, the spiraling national security crisis and the War that Mexico is experiencing.
Intellectuals, academics and columnists are still debating whether Mexico is or is not a Failed State. What is certain is that some regions of the country have fallen into absolute lawlessness.
On Revoluciones Mexico – RMX, blogger Gregorio Ortega Molina posted on April 4, 2011, under the title “Mexico va que vuela para Estado fallido” (“Mexico is well on its way to become a failed state”).
La decomposicion social, la anomia de los gobiernos, la debilidad de las instituciones, el desorden y la impossibilidad de dar seguridad juridica y publica porque la violencia y la desconfianza desborden a las autoridades, son sintomas que permiten establecer un diagnostico:  el modelo politico y economico de Mexico dio de si, y intentar la restauracion equivale a llamar a gritos la implosion de las fallas sistemicas y estructurales que afectan al Estado mexicano, para convertirlo en uno fallido.
Some commentators make the case that Mexico is emphatically not an #estadofallido (#failedstate). A post on the blog Burro Hall takes a pragmatic view:
While we continuously hear people refer to Mexico as a failed – or failing – state, no one here went to bed last night wondering if the government would still be functioning in the morning. (On the other hand, if that ever happened, 99% of the government workforce could easily be deemed nonessential.)
And writing under the title “En corto…sin cortes” [es] (“In short…without cuts”), columnist Jose Ortiz Medina provides a global framework for his argument against the “failed state” premise.
Veo lo que esta ocurriendo en Egipto, veo lo que esta ocurriendo en todo el Norte de Africa, veo lo que esta ocurriendo en Asia, veo lo que esta ocurriendo en Africa, veo lo que esta ocurriendo hace mucho tiempo en Somalia, veo lo que esta ocurriendo en algunos de nuestros paises en America Latina.  En este pais todos los dias van a la escuela 36 millones de alumnus, puntualmente.  El pais functiona.  Tenemos poderes muy fuertes separados, independientes:  el Ejecutivo, el Legislativo, el Judicial.  Es un pais que tiene elecciones regulares.  Se gana y se pierde; se debate muy fuerte, no se persigue la prensa.  Hay absoluta libertad de publicar, de presenter todos los temas en un ambiente de libertad sin precedents en Mexico. […] La verdad es que Mexico esta realmente muy, muy lejos de ello.
On Twitter, the ubiquitous hashtag #estadofallido (#failedstate) conjoins a range of analysis and opinion. Materia FECAL (@kklderon) tweeted a link to a Facebook page bearing a powerful photo of starkly anti-Calderon graffiti.
Carlos Campos (@CarolvsCampi) used the hashtag to point to a relevant report in La Jornada [es] which quotes former Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva saying that violence in Mexico stems in part from a history of not paying attention to the poor.
Writing from the city Reynosa in the state of Tamaulipas in the aftermath of the latest discovery of mass graves in the region, Pablo Navarro (@DELREYII) took to Twitter to address his country's president directly, signaling one among countless impacts of criminal violence on daily life in Mexico:
“Autobuses de pasajeros prefieron no cruzar por Tamaulipas y cancelan sus rutas” // @FelipeCalderon  Sr. Presidente ke sigue  #estadofallido
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

author: Deborah Esch