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Brazil: Bloggers on why there is still racism in the country · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Two weeks ago, Global Voices Online reported the story of Januário Alves de Santana, a black man who had been beaten and punched by security guards of one of the largest international retailers in Brazil. He was waiting for his family in the car park of a supermarket when he was accused of trying to steal his own car, under the argument that, being black, he would not be able to afford a luxury car.
This re-fuelled the always heated and controversial debate on racism in Brazil (follow this link for a previous Global Voices post on this subject) and inspired many blog posts, most of them repudiating the upper class’ thought that racism does not exist in Brazil and that social class issues are the real reasons for cases like Januário's.
On September 11 students and employees of the University of São Paulo, where Januário Alves de Santana works, gathered together to discuss how racism is still present in daily life. The round table “Racism, Violence and Globalization” declared: “Carrefour attacks a Brazilian black man: that's the year of France in Brazil”. The Pão e Rosas blog brings us [pt] photos of the event and comments:
Todas as falas enfatizaram que o caso não é isolado, mas expressa sim como o racismo ainda é uma marca profunda da sociedade em que vivemos. Nós do Pão e Rosas nos colocamos de pé, ao lado de Januário e todos os negros e negras que sofrem com o racismo e a violência policial. Do mesmo modo, nos colocamos ao lado dos moradores das favelas que têm se manifestado contra a repressão da polícia , como em Heliópolis na semana passada. A realidade impõe que nos levantemos!
Alex Castro, from the Liberal, Libertário e Libertino blog [liberal, libertarian and libertine, pt], addresses the racism issue very meticulously and points out an alarming fact of Brazil's racial historicity by saying that the problem is actually that society lacks racial conflict:
No Brasil, nunca houve leis racistas proibindo negros de ingressarem em restaurantes, hotéis, tribunais porque a própria estrutura socioeconômica perversa já era garantia mais do que suficiente de que negros somente entrariam nesses ambientes pra varrer o chão e servir café. O Brasil é tão arraigadamente racista que nunca nem precisou de leis racistas para manter seus negros em posição totalmente inferiorizada.
His blog post was also featured on Rachel Glickhouse's Adventures of a Gringa blog and a few readers responded to his thoughts. For instance, Roger Penguino commented [pt]:
Para aqueles que sempre pensaram que no Brasil não ocorre problemas raciais, aqui encontra-se um ponto de partida para nova reflexão sobre a realidade. Sempre ouvi de amigos Americanos que no Brasil “everyone just gets along” e sempre foi difícil explicar a complexa e sistemática institucionalização do racismo brasileiro. Muitos ao olharam para população brasileira dizem ver uma mistura racial maior que de outros grandes países, mas claro que deixam de perceber os milhares que lutam contra si mesmos porque nesta mistura aprenderam a odiar sua própria condição.
In June this year, Lucrécia Paco, one of the greatest Mozambican actresses who was acting in a play staged in São Paulo, suffered from racism when she accidentally bumped into a white woman in the queue of a money exchange agency in a shopping mall. Leonardo Sakamoto from Blog do Sakamoto [Sakamoto's blog, pt] and the Viomundo blog [pt] republished and commented on the piece of news originally made public by Época Magazine [pt].
On that occasion, the woman pointed Lucrécia out as a potential mugger and screamed out loud asking for the immigration police. Lucrécia reacted shouting back to her that there were many Brazilians going to live in Mozambique, but rather than being mistreated they were being received with open arms. The journalist Eliane Brum, who interviewed Lucrécia Paco, reported:
Lucrécia não consegue esquecer. “Não pude dormir à noite, fiquei muito mal”, diz. “Comecei a ficar paranoica, a ver sinais de discriminação no restaurante, em todo o lugar que ia. E eu não quero isso pra mim.” Em seus 39 anos de vida dura, num país que foi colônia portuguesa até 1975 e, depois, devastado por 20 anos de guerra civil, Lucrécia nunca tinha passado por nada assim. “Eu nunca fui discriminada dessa maneira”, diz. “Dá uma dor na gente. ”
Glória Cabo, a reader from Blog do Sakamoto commented on the interview. She added her own family testimony on why Brazilians cultivate racism:
No Brasil não só é difícil ser negro, como também: nordestino, pobre, tatuado, gay, punk, feio. Nem as loiras escapam… Mas, de onde vem esse preconceito? E como acabar com ele? A origem do problema, no meu ponto de vista está nas nossas próprias origens. Somos descendentes de europeus preconceituosos, retrógrados e antiquados. Eu como filha de europeus, convivi com racismo explicito de meus pais, com comentários absurdos de que meu pai não queria ter um “negrinho” o chamando de avô. Eu mesma, confesso, que já tive pensamentos racistas. Mas, com a maturidade, analisei meus preconceitos e descobri que não eram meus, e sim uma herança pobre e sem sentido herdada de pais preconceituosos. Buscar a origem do racismo, analisar que diferenças são normais e necessárias, isso faria toda a diferença.
Pedro Turambar from the blog O Crepúsculo [pt] cites another  case he witnessed while shopping at Carrefour and that he considers racism. The shop assistant of the retail store asked a black woman to confirm she was the holder of the credit card she was using to pay for her shopping. Pedro suggested that the assistant only asked for confirmation because of the amount of goods the woman was buying. The black woman was actually a housekeeper and her employer, an old white lady who was away from the queue at that moment, came towards the assistant shouting “This is prejudice! This is racial discrimination”. He says:
O trabalho dela é perguntar e pedir a identidade. […]. DESDE QUE ELA FAÇA ISSO COM TODO MUNDO. Mas tanto você quanto eu, sabe que isso não acontece e não foi por isso que a moça pediu para a empregada provar que era titular do cartão
And added:
Eu iria pagar a conta com o cartão de crédito do meu irmão e tinha certeza que o caixa não iria me perguntar se eu era o titular do cartão. Dito e feito. Paguei com um cartão de uma conta da qual não sou titular, mas como sou branco, gordinho, fofinho bonitinho, jamais pensariam que eu roubei o cartão para comprar meia dúzia de produtos de limpeza.
O melhor foi o medo que eu coloquei no caixa que me atendeu. Ele ironicamente e sarcasticamente comentava o fato, e quando o cara do casal de trás disse brincando “Eu não to pagando com meu cartão não em! e se você falar que não é meu eu subo aqui em cima e fico louco”, o caixa morreu de rir. Até que eu disse que o cartão que eu acabara de pagar não era meu. Disse isso rindo também, por isso ele achou que era brincadeira, até que eu fechei a cara e repeti “O cartão não é meu. Mesmo. Eu não me chamo Daniel.” Ele olhou para mim e viu que eu falava sério. Engoliu o riso e claramente ficou com medo. Eu apenas disse “A mulher tá certa. Certíssima em dizer que foi preconceito, porque foi.”, me despedi do casal – que olhava para mim com uma cara de júbilo – peguei as compras e fui embora.
The best was the fear of the cashier who registered my shopping. He was ironically and sarcastically commenting on the situation, and when the guy in the couple queuing up behind me joked “I'm not paying with my credit card, ok! and if you say it's not mine I'll stand here [attendee's desk] and go crazy!”, the attendee snickered at it. Then I said the credit card I'd just used was not mine. I laughed too, because he thought it was a joke, then I got serious and repeated “The card is not mine. Not really. I'm not ‘Daniel.'” He looked at me and realized I was serious about that. He swallowed his smile and became afraid. I just said “The old lady is right. She is right to say it was prejudice, because it was.”, I said goodbye to the couple – who gazed at me with joy – got my bags and left.
Finally, a comment on the Alex Castro blog post is worth noting. The reader Te clearly says:
É mesmo, no Brasil faz falta uma Rosa Parks. […]
The video campaign Where do you keep your racism? features many true testimonials of racism in Brazil. It was produced as a public campaign against racism by Diálogos contra o Racismo (pela igualdade racial) [Dialogues against Racism (for racial equality)], a group of more than 40 civil society organizations dedicated to eradicating poverty and inequality and to stimulating debates in schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, clubs, households about racial relations, and how to change them.

author: Diego Casaes


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Cambodia: PM rides a motorbike to visit disaster area · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen rides a motorbike to visit a flood-affected province. A photo shows the PM has failed to tie his helmet strap.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Population increase · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodia's 2008 Population Census has been released. The census shows the country's population increased from 11.4 million in 1988 to 13.4 million in 2008.


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Cambodia: Professional training for dentists · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Details Are Sketchy criticizes a sub-decree by the Cambodian government which encourages dentists to undergo professional training but does not include a penalty for those who refuse to do so.


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China: The Founding of a Republic · Global Voices
Andy Yee

As a celebration of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October, the all-star epic “The Founding of a Republic” will be screened tomorrow, on 17 September. The film has stirred a heated discussion on the Internet – not for the film itself, but for the nationalities of the stars.
Some news reports in August said that among the 172 famous actors/actresses and directors involved in the film, 21 hold foreign nationalities.
Well-known mainland writer Han Han (韩寒) discussed this on his blog (8/12):
我认为，一个国家，能让这么多艺人转变国籍，这个国家一定是有他的责任的。
My personal opinion is that if a country can cause so many actors to change their nationality, this country has to bear certain responsibilities.
他们变换了国籍，是他们的选择，这个选择就像离婚一样，可能是感情破裂了，可能是遇见了更好的，在道德层面上是可以谴责的，但是在人格层面上是没有任何问题的。
It is their personal choice to change their nationality. This is like divorce: perhaps their affection for the country has somehow disappeared, or perhaps they come across something better. We can criticize them from a certain moral stand, but there is nothing wrong with their personal character.
对于普通老百姓来说，也就是吃不起住不起玩不起结不起生不起病不起死不起，但最关键的是，还移民不起，所以，看见你们跑了，不爽是肯定的。
For normal Chinese citizens, that is, for those who cannot afford to eat well, to live well, to entertain, to make good connections, to bear children, to fall sick or to die, the key point is that they cannot afford to emigrate. Therefore, seeing all these actors fleeing the country, it is natural for them to be envious.
This blog entry has generated a staggering amount of replies. Some are very critical about it:
徐然 2009-08-12 04:56:26: 既然是外国人为什么不在外国发展，跑到中国来碍眼
If they are foreigners, why don’t they develop their career overseas but in China instead
Totiliy 2009-08-12 08:29:07: 这个名单还只是艺人，要把什么科学家等等的都列出来估计更震撼，不知道商人爱不爱换国籍，估计有能力的都愿意吧
The list only concerns artists. If we include scientists etc etc, the results may be more surprising. Wonder if businessmen like to be foreigners, I guess they would like to if they have the ability.
新浪网友 2009-09-10 08:32:04: … 居然可以让这样一群外国人演建国大业，说明国家相应的管理者既没有原则又没有自尊心，没皮没脸，连累着国家被人看低…
The fact that foreigners can participate in this film shows that the administrators do not have basic principles and dignity. As a result, China is being looked down upon by others.
There are also a variety of alternative, sometimes mocking, views:
新浪网友 2009-08-13 15:55:58: 外国明星,演中国电影,而且是<建国大业>,辛苦他们了.人家千里迢迢来为我们国家拍<建国大业>,我们中国人要感谢他们啊.
Foreign stars participating in a Chinese movie, especially “The Founding of a Republic”, have came a long way to make this film for us, we, Chinese, should thank them for their hard work.
妮娜 2009-08-27 16:58:07: … 不要太极端了。入籍并不是卖国投敌。明星回来拍的是中国电影，参加世界影展代表中国，是为祖国作贡献…
… Don’t be too extreme. Having a foreign nationality is not betraying our country. They are returning to make films for China, to represent China in international film festivals. They are contributing to China…
飞翔 2009-09-03 12:57:59: 不是不爱这个国家，只是不爱这个制度！
It’s not that we don’t love this country, we just don’t love its system!
春雪 2009-09-09 21:17:01: 我们无权力去责备批评别人，每个人都会有不同的选择，拥有他国之籍并非不热爱吴中华之民族
We do not have the right to criticize others. Each person has its own choice. Having a foreign nationality does not mean that they do not love the Chinese race.

author: Andy Yee


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Dominican Republic: Switching Companies While Keeping Mobile Number · Global Voices
Rocio Diaz

Is it possible to change telephone companies and keep the same number? It is an option available in the United States for several years, which is often the benchmark for comparison in the Dominican Republic. Up until a few months ago, it was seen with some disbelief among Dominicans, even though the official sector has been pushing the project for number portability.
Photo by Santiago Nicolau and used under a Creative Commons license.
Things took a definitive turn when the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications [es] (Indotel, for its initials in Spanish) announced last April that the company that will manage the number portability platform has been selected . This responsibility falls to the Information Technology division of the Spanish consortium El Corte Inglés, a decision that initially caused skepticism, as noted by Joan Guerrero of the blog Duarte 101 [es]:
Desconozco la experencia y los criterios de selección que tuvo Indotel para seleccionar El Corte Inglés como futuro proveedor de este servicio en nuestro país. Haciendo un repaso rápido, este consorcio español tiene varias unidades de negocio y una de ellas es el aspecto de implementación de servicios como este. En España, esta empresa es que maneja la portabilidad numérica entre operadoras y de seguro, en varios países de la región latinoamericana. Tuve la oportunidad de preguntarle a Luis Rafael Pellerano, asesor legal de esta iniciativa, el por qué no se hizo la implementación de la portabilidad con una empresa local, que conocería el mercado mucho mejor. Tan sólo me dejó dicho que la selección de esta empresa valió por su presencia mundial; sin más detalles. Creo que esto deja mucho que desear.
Aside from this initial skepticism, some of which was generated because El Corte Inglés is primarily known as department stores in Spain, the issue of number portability was discussed on several blogs, always from the standpoint of consumer: How much does the average Dominican know about the issue? What implications will it have? At the moment there are great expectations for improved service offered by telephone companies, as well as fair and open competition.
Darío Martínez, a reader of Duarte 101 [es] sums it up:
La portabilidad numérica, si sale como se espera (excelentemente bien), será lo más positivo que tendremos los dominicanos en materia de servicio telefónico. Las telefónicas estarán OBLIGADAS a brindar un servicio excepcional a nosotros, pues cambiarse de empresa será un trámite sencillo y barato. Las telefónicas han perdido su mayor elemento de retención de clientes: ¡Ya los números telefónicos NO son su propiedad!
Will number portability fulfill expectations? In two weeks, starting on September 30, the plan will take effect, and the phone companies have already started with the allusive publicity, as has Indotel, with a simple, yet effective radio and television campaign with the clear and simple message: from now on, everything changes, except the number. Indotel has also used its Twitter account [es] to countdown the days until the measure takes effect, but also to answer questions about the changes.
On that date, the Dominican Republic will become the 3rd Latin American country to implement number portability, with Mexico and Brazil as pioneers in that area. Many believe that it will be a simple and painless process: for only 80 pesos (approximately $2.20 USD), payable in 4 installments of 20 pesos per month, the user is entitled to carry over his or her current number, provided that he or she gives notice of the decision before canceling the current contract.

author: Rocio Diaz


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Egypt: Bloggers call for a fun-filled harassment-free Eid  · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

As Eid Al Fitr (the end of Ramadan) approaches, women in Egypt are bracing themselves for even more sexual harassment than what has already become a disturbing norm.
Bloggers and online activists are also joining forces to fight the phenomenon, calling for a fun-filled and harassment-free celebration.
It all started on October 25, 2006, when Egypt witnessed the first mass harassment incident on the first day of Eid Al Adha (Courban Bairam).
On that particular incident, SandMonkey wrote:
The story is as follows for the those of you who didn't hear about it: It was the first day of Eid, and a new film was opening downtown. Mobs of males gathered trying to get in, but when the show was sold out, they decided they will destroy the box office. After accomplishing that, they went on what can only be described as a sexual frenzy They ran around grabbing any and every girl in sight, whether a Niqabi, a Hijabi or uncovered. Whether Egyptian or foreigner. Even pregnant ones. They grabbed them, molested them, tried to rip their clothes off and rape them, all in front of the police, who didn't do shit. The good people of downtown tried their best to protect the girls. Shop owners would let the girls in and lock the doors, while the mobs tried to break in. Taxi drivers put the girls in the cars while the mobs were trying to break the glass and grab the girls out. It was a disgusting pandemonium of sexual assaults that lasted for 5 hours from 7:30 PM to 12:30 am, and it turns my stomach just to think about it.
Since that day, sexual harassment has become a regular part of Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha in Egypt. Blogger Mohamed Hamdy launched a Facebook group and an online campaign calling for a fun-filled harassment-free Bairam:
The campaign made it to the Egyptian blogosphere and has been discussed on the following blogs: Shaymaa El Gammal, Mahdy Mubarak, Meshmeshya, Ego, Maha, Woman, Osama Abdel Aal, and Radio Horytna.
Blogger Ahmed El Sabbagh mourned the Egypt he knew saying:
Egyptians are still mourning a sexually harassed Egypt after the most recent Reuters report on harassment that revealed that two-thirds of Egyptian men harass women. Also, April 18 has been declared by harassed Egyptian blogger Asser Yasser anti-harassment day.

author: Marwa Rakha


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Guyana: “many waters”? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

What happens when drought hits the “land of many waters”? Guyana-Gyal wonders. “A rice-farmer living in my mother childhood village say that the water in the artesian well is running rusty. Rust. The colour of blood drying.”

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Iran: More protests planned on “Quds Day” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The protest movement in Iran continues to defy the Islamic Regime in different ways, from shouting ‘Allaho Akbar’ (God is Great) from rooftops at night (a common cheer at protests) to demonstrating on Quds (Jerusalem) Day.
The Quds Day, referring to the Arabic word for Jerusalem — takes place on September 18 this year. The Islamic Republic's authorities use this day to denounce Israel and show support for the Palestinians
But this year, the Iranian protest movement (Green Movement) who still dispute the election results that declared incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner in June, have decided to mark the occasion by defying the Iranian authorities and marching in the streets of Tehran and other cities once more.
Here is a video that showing a photo of Mir Hussein Mousavi, the reformist leader and main opposition candidate, attached to a bridge on Nyayesh Highway in Tehran, bearing this slogan: “Quds Day, Green Day”.
Several designs and photos announcing this event have appeared in Iranian online citizen media. Slogans and designs display the protest mood in country.
“Neither Lebaonon, Nor Gaza, my life is ready to be sacrificed for Iran”
“Quds Day, glorious green Iranian nation”
“Green is growing everywhere”
“All in Quds Day”
Iranian blogger NiaclNsight writes:
“The 30th anniversary of the International Day of Quds will be Green this year, according to reformist websites in Iran.Opposition leaders Karroubi, Khatami, and Mousavi have all confirmed their participation in this important ceremony, which is traditionally held in every city of Iran.”
Mehrshad writes [fa] “…if you want to protest to the current situation, be green on Quds Day.”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago: literary obituaries · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Litblogger Geoffrey Philp posts short tributes to two Caribbean writers who have died within 24 hours of each other: Trinidadian Wayne Brown (1944-2009) and Jamaican Trevor Rhone (1940-2009).


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Kazakhstan: Informal summit of the Caspian Sea states · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elina Galperin informs her readers that leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan met in Aktau (Kazakhstan) to ‘informally’ discuss the resources in the Caspian Sea. Iran did not take part.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: Right activist to continue his work in jail · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Slavasay writes that Yevgenii Zhovtis, the famous Kazakhstani human rights activist, who is currently waiting to serve a four year prison sentence for a traffic violation that caused a man’s death, is undeterred, and will continue to defend himself and others.


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Lebanon: “We’re Here, We’re Queer, We’re Online” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bekhsoos is an online magazine “covering topics related to (homo)sexuality in the Arab world”. Founded by the Lebanese group Meem, a support community for lesbians, bisexuals, queers, questioning women, and transgender persons, Bekhsoos was recently relaunched and will publish weekly from now on.
“Bekhsoos” means “concerning…”, and is a reference to the changing topic of each issue. As well as news articles and opinion pieces, Bekhsoos includes poetry, fiction, and personal stories that focus on queer and transgender identities in the Arab world. It also plans more investigative reports.
Nadz, one of the editors, explains the relaunch:
This is the new Bekhsoos. We’re back after almost a whole year of no publishing (the last issue we put out was in December 2008). So what’s different? For one thing, we’ve decided to publish weekly. […] Bekhsoos.com started out as a replacement for a “real” print magazine. We knew we probably couldn’t manage printing a magazine because we’d need lots of money to purchase a publishing license, do the printing, and it wouldn’t fit too well with Meem’s underground nature. At the time (exactly 2 years ago), Bekhsoos online was a replacement. Today, and with the way information sharing has evolved, it is clear to me that Bekhsoos actually belongs online. That’s where young LGBTs in Lebanon are looking for information, connections, and support. So it’s up to us to provide the information quickly, accurately, and consistently.
Nadz continues:
The age of “wow, gay groups in Lebanon, that alone is impressive” is over. It’s not impressive anymore. Now is the time for us to become engaged with our own societies, to think analytically, to advance politically, to understand the truth about oppression, to create, to research, to be proactive, to write, to write, to write! The LGBT community has always had a strong online presence – way before people were calling it “ICT [information and communication technologies] 4 social change” and “social networking.” That’s because we had no other choice. So we built websites and chatrooms on mIRC. Then we became bloggers. Then we came out on MySpace and started groups and causes on Facebook. Then we started a YouTube channel. Now, we’re tweeting. And guess what? The world is now moving into our side of the playground. And when media moves online, they’re coming to where we are strong and numerous and unafraid. They’re coming to where the younger generations are. And no, of course, this side is not the best because it leaves out the older generations, it leaves out the people who can’t afford internet or computers, it leaves out my mother. But they are on the course to getting there. It’s getting more affordable, more Arabicized, and more widespread. The Middle East is adding 500,000 internet users a month. That’s 6 million a year. If the queer community is everywhere online, then the internet users are bound to bump into us somewhere. They’re bound to listen to what we have to say.
A recent Bekhsoos article was called “5 Reasons Health Care for Lesbians in Lebanon is at Stake”:
Lesbians and bisexual women are alienated from the health care system in Lebanon. Barriers to medical care that lesbians face can cause poorer mental and physical health. […] Heterosexism and homophobia are endemic in Lebanon. “Coming Out” to your physician, even though essential, might be challenging. […] Lack of any adequate training of health care providers about lesbian health issues. The absence of formal education about homosexuality in medical school and residency training leads to an alarming lack of understanding of health issues relevant to homosexuals. Misconceptions and dogmas about homosexuality are prevalent in Lebanon. […] Some physicians still believe homosexuality is a mental disorder even 15 years after the World Health Organization has removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Morocco: Activists Break Fast in Public, Receive Punishment · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating or drinking (among other things) during daylight hours.  In a number of countries, it is socially unacceptable – if not entirely illegal – to eat in public during those hours.  For example, a recent case in Egypt saw a number of Muslims who chose not to fast arrested for their “crimes.”
Shortly after the breaking of that story, a group of Moroccan activists was reprimanded for breaking the fast in public, an action that is punishable under the Moroccan criminal code.  According to The View From Fez:
The Maghreb Arabe Presse said on Monday that local authorities “had managed to defeat an attempted rally that was to be followed by a public rupture of fasting for the repeal of a penal code”.
Moroccan newspapers have confirmed in their Tuesday editions this failed attempt to rally the “non-fasters” in Mohammedia.
This is the first time in Morocco that a group of “non-fasters” appears in public to claim the right not to practice Ramadan, observers note.
The Mohammedia protesters want the abolishment of a Moroccan law that punishes every Muslim openly breaking the fast of Ramadan, before the iftar meal which marks the end of the day.
Without stating agreement for the protesters’ actions, popular blogger Larbi lauds their courage:
Sans préjuger de leur cause il faut reconnaître aux quelques personnes qui se sont déplacés une certaine forme de courage. L’article 222 du Code pénal marocain stipule que tout individu connu pour son appartenance à l’Islam qui rompt ostensiblement le jeûne dans un lieu public pendant le Ramadan est passible de un à six mois d’emprisonnement et d’une amende.
Not everyone who commented on the post agrees that the protesters’ actions were courageous; in fact, the vast majority of them felt that the group was in the wrong.
One commenter, Bouchra, likens the protesters to armchair activists:
They should put this energy and effort into CONSTRUCTIVE actions, making our country better instead of Stupid events like these.
Go out and DO something good for your country instead of finding everything wrong with it. Go out and do something good for your country instead of finding everything wrong with it.
They watch cabe, are online and think they know it all… They watch cabe, are online and think they know it all … GROW UP ALREADY and BE A REAL CITIZEN! GROW UP ALREADY and BE A REAL CITIZEN!
Yet another commenter, casazone, points out potential hypocrisy within the ranks of the protesters, while alluding to Morocco's problem of pollution:
Il est “fort probable” que la plupart des manifestants qui ont mangé le sandwich Ont jeté le reste (papier, aliments, os, ..etc) sur la voie publique
Entre Nous Marocains [fr] finds the protest disrespectful to Islam, saying:
« Il y a cinq piliers dans l’islam, il faut pas punir seulement la violation du Ramadan, la loi ne punit pas ceux qui ne prient pas toute l’année ou ceux qui ne vont pas à la Mecque » précise Zineb El Razhoui. A notre tour on répond : Personne ne vous oblige d’être musulmane, mais on vous oblige de respecter les musulmans.
One commenter, going by the name of Etonnée (Astonished) is puzzled by the audacity shown by the group, and says:
Je sens de la manipulation,
Si vous n'avez pas envie de jeûner, ne le faites pas, vous n'êtes pas obligés de le faire, tout est question de conviction, Dieu n'en sera pas dérangé, des milliards d'autres le font, que sont quelques dizaines à ne pas le faire !!!! Mais une autre question me vient à l'esprit, pourquoi montrer votre refus en public et maintenant ????
Vous demandez le respect de votre liberté en bafouant celle des autres ???
Amongst the opposition were a few comments in support of the protesters.  One such comment, left on the Morocco Board, was a voice of support:
Hold on, these guys are just trying to bring to public attention a law that seems to infringe on individual liberties. I don't believe they are doing it just to defy the muslim community. If we accept that anybody who is seen eating before the break is reported to authorities. The next thing would be enforcing the 5 prayers a day. Look Moroccans have to mature a bit it is not just making sure that your neighbor will share paradise virgins with you that matters.
It is living freely now and here, that is the priority.
Fasting or praying or any other religious rite are private matters and the state has no business dealing with. Perhaps the oulemas should have a round table about Bars that miraculously vanish during Ramadan and open thereafter, talk about hypocrisy. Or perhaps they should discuss the role of the state in reducing poverty and prostitution as a duty of every muslim by giving zakat to provide for the growing number of this class in Morocco. Using zakat to reduce poverty, now that would be something to make proud of being muslim.

author: Jillian C. York


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Myanmar: Heart-shaped Mountain in Sagaing Division · Global Voices
tan

Nyi Lynn Seck had written an entry which shows a Google Earth image of a heart-shaped mountain in Sagaing Division, Myanmar.

author: tan


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Paraguay: No Funds for Education, but Funds for Arms · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Carlos Rodríguez of Rescatar [es] refers to complaints from the Paraguayan Ministry of Education who says that there are no funds to purchase school supplies, yet the country spends money on purchasing arms.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Paraguay: Venting Sorrows on a Blog · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In the group blog Somos Paraguayos [es] for Paraguayans abroad, David posts about a heartbreak story in Chile and writes, “I didn't know where to vent my sorrow until I found this blog.” He received 25 comments from others offering support and advice.


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Qatar: Country’s woes not expat labor’s fault · Global Voices
Shabina Khatri

Doha residents are expressing outrage about a recently released government study that blames Qatar's falling productivity rate on its unskilled expat labor force.
According to the study's findings, which were reported by local newspaper Gulf Times, average productivity per hour in the country declined from 4.8 per cent between 1990 and 2000 to 1.8pc between 2000 and 2007.
“This is very low compared to what has been achieved by China (10.1pc), Bahrain (5.13pc), India (4.1pc) and Oman (4.18pc) in 2007,” the study stated, citing a recent report from the Conference Board, an independent international business and research organization.
According to the story published in the Gulf Times, the study “held the large numbers of the low-skilled expatriate workforce responsible for the low output per hour experienced by the country.”
The study reports:
What is alarming is that over half of the expatriate workforce (55.9pc) are either uneducated or below secondary education level.
Low participation by nationals in the private sector “means 99.40pc of the private sector jobs are manned by expatriate workforce.”
One can hardly find another country in the world where foreigners fully control the private sector as is the case in Qatar. This situation should be seriously considered when it comes to developing the labour market policy.
The report prompted a torrent of scornful comments on Twitter and the forum Qatar Living, where the general sentiment seemed to be that companies here get what the pay for.
On Twitter, @adnandawood said:
This is so ridiculous its hillarious
On Qatar Living, commentator Don Robert said:
Human trafficking and expat exploitation is the reason for the slowing down of progress here in Qatar.
MagicDragon noted:
You are not the owner of the company. You have no rights. Why should you be more productive? Pay me 3 times my salary and I'll be 3 times more productive. That's the equation.
And Bthomas said:
I know a lot of people who are getting paid peanuts considering their education & work experience. Qatar needs to stop gambling with employees about their salaries and need to set a standard across various industry sectors. Without any motivation or comfort, employees will not remain loyal to their organization or their work.
In response to the study's recommendation to “decrease the reliance on the expatriate workforce especially those who are unskilled,”
@VEE6 asked,
There's an alternative?
On Qatar Living, commentator Alumnar  added:
It would be nice to see how Qatar would do with local people only doing all the jobs for a year. Can a country go bankrupt? If not the case, it can sure be CHAOS!
He suggested instead:
Review everything – Pay skilled workforce decent salaries. Invest in training programs. Don't overwork and underpay them. Use incentives and show them appreciation. Give them proper accommodation and allowances so they can eat enough to be able to work properly…
The conversation regarding workers’ rights in the Gulf was continued yesterday in a Huffington Post piece by architect Cameron Sinclair, who calls laborers “boom and bust refugees.”
In Dying To Work: Human Trafficking and the Construction Industry, Sinclair writes:
It is easy to point the finger at local officials and higher authorities, but let us not forget that it is the private sector that is equally, if not more, accountable…
Forget our environmental footprint, what is our ethical footprint? What good is building a zero energy, carbon neutral complex if unethical labor practices are jeopardizing the lives of those who build this architectural wonder?
CosmicChaos comments:
The point is that all laborers no matter their origins or where they are working deserve fair wages, safe housing, and a safe work place. Anything less is criminal.
I find it horrible that I have no clue if the people I hire to do a construction job are fairly paying their workers and making sure that they have the proper equipment to prevent injuries. I doubt any of them have health coverage if they are injured.
Somehow we need workers around the world to be able to say, “Enough!” However, this is difficult to impossible when you and your family is starving.
To see more comments on Huffington Post, click here.
For more on the discussion at Qatar Living, click here.

author: Shabina Khatri


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Singapore: Housing grants  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A single person from Singapore is complaining against a policy which prevents unmarried persons from applying for housing grants.


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Singapore: Independent press needed · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Trapper's Swamp deplores the state of media in Singapore and renews the call for a strong and independent press.


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Singapore: Toothless education bill? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A Singapore blogger criticizes the Private Education Bill for its lack of provisions that would deter criminal behavior among private school owners.


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Tajikistan: Free cheese and a mousetrap · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Salimdjon reflects on the recent deterioration of political relationships between Tajikistan and Russia, saying that “formerly strategic partners are now haggling over the same piece of cheese”.


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Thailand: Prime Minister is a twiterrer · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has a twitter account. Thai leaders have been using the internet to win public support.


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Turkmenistan: Cries from the Bedroom · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Anasoltan reports that a domestic violence hotline has been launched in Turkmenistan with the support of the OSCE center in Ashgabat.


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Aceh, Indonesia: Adulterers will be stoned to death · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bad news for married adulterers: The Aceh Regional House of Representatives has passed a law that imposes a death penalty for married adulterers. The guilty persons will be stoned to death.
Bad news too for unmarried adulterers and homosexuals: Aceh’s new law provides a punishment of 100 lashes with a cane and a fine of 100 grams of pure gold for guilty individuals.
Aceh is an autonomous province of Indonesia which enforces the Sharia law. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-dominated country in the world.
The RAB Experience reviews the controversial new law and identifies its relevant provisions:
Stoning is the sentence for those that knowingly commit adultery. However, this only applies to those who are married and knowingly commit this offense. For those that are unmarried, the punishment is up to 100 lashings with a cane. One of the accepted forms of evidence of adultery is a sworn oath that requires the oath maker to acknowledge that if they lie they will be damned in both this life and the afterlife.
Funnily enough, not that there is anything funny about this Qanun (Regional Regulation), a woman who is pregnant outside of wedlock cannot be accused of adultery without sufficient evidence of her crime.
The Qanun also deals with rape. Rape includes anal and oral sex. However, somewhat disturbingly the definition implies that rape cannot occur between a husband and a wife.
The other interesting aspect of this Qanun is that it provides for criminal fines to be paid in grams of pure gold. For example, if you get caught in the act of Liwath or Musahaqah, then the penalty is 100 lashes of the cane and a fine of 1000 grams of pure gold or 100 months in jail.
binsar pakpahan believes the “irrational” law is not suitable for Indonesia:
I found this news very disturbing. In my opinion this particular implementation of the law is more in of a political strategy of people who are going to be out of the legislation position to gain more popularity for the sake of their future stake in their own political parties. This also brings another negative story for the majority of Indonesian moderate Muslim. I know most of my Muslim friends, if not all, will find this law stupid, irrational, badly enforced, and totally not suitable for Indonesia.
Twitter reactions from Jakarta, Indonesia:
tobybudiartono: I wont b goin to Aceh anytime soon now!
tommysiahaan: Why r we goin bckwards??
dHeeLicious: I think it's against the human rights
ohhvi: Aceh's stoning and caning bill: I thought this only exists in my old testament bible. Pinch, am I in 2009 or 2000 Before Christ?
yogibeau: BOOOOO! i swear to God i never wana go there
erdina: And things become much scarier in Aceh
erdina: I keep on shaking my head in disbelief whenever I read abt Aceh's plan to pass the stoning bill. How did we let this happen?
Rights groups also criticized the new law as “cruel and degrading to humanity.”


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Argentina: Decline in Tourism · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Jorge Gobbi of Blog de Viajes [es] writes about the decline in tourism in Argentina and attributes much of it to the H1N1 effect and economic crisis.


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Barbados: seven photographers · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

The Bajan Reporter files a story from the opening of an exhibition of seven pioneering photographers in Barbados. “The old time cameras meant you had to be able to get it right the first time.”


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Botswana: What Botswana Creative Writers Need · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Lauri writes about creative writing and writers in Botswana: “I was told once that when the English Department at the University of Botswana suggested they start a creative writing programme there the vice chancellor asked – what for?”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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China: Pretending to be a reporter · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated the Retrial of Wu Baoquan, a netizen sentenced to 2 year imprisonment for exposing a land dispute in Ordos city under the charge of libel. On 16 of September, the verdict of the retrial was released, apart from libel, the court introduced the new element of “pretending to be a reporter” because Wu wrote as if he were a reporter in the Internet post.

author: Oiwan Lam


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D.R. of Congo: Why Congo Matters · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Why Congo Matters is a video by Emily Troutman who visited the Democratic Republic of Congo recently: “After spending a month in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I find myself speaking most often about the numbers: 5.4 million dead, 2,000 rapes per month, 17,000 UN soldiers, a war that started 15 years ago (or more?)…. “


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EU: Russophone Bloggers React to Dairy Farmers’ Protest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Wednesday, LJ user drugoi re-posted two Reuters photos of Belgian farmers spraying their fields with fresh milk in protest over low milk prices, and summarized the situation this way (RUS):
[…] Belgian farmers, drawn to despair by low prices offered for their produce, decided that it was more profitable for them to dump 3 million liters of milk than sell it for nothing. Currently, the milk price is approximately 18-20 euro cents per liter, while the production cost is 33 euro cents. To make dairy farming business solvent, they believe that farmers should be able to sell milk for 50 euro cents per liter. But for now they can only dream about such a price. Earlier, farmers had already blocked roads and given away the milk for free. And now here's their latest decisive action – fields near the Belgian town of Ciney have been fertilized with millions of liters of milk that no one needs. […]
And here is drugoi‘s post scriptum (RUS) to this post:
[…] They should've asked LJ users. Our experts always have recipes for all possible situations. For example, here the experts’ council could suggest giving the milk away to the starving children in Africa. Let's see who responds in the comments – and what recommendations we'll get.
LJ user drugoi has 41,453 readers among registered LiveJournal users alone, and, needless to say, many people have responded: there are 774 comments so far, and here's a translation of just a handful of them:
a_brosimov:
Would've killed them if I were God.
***
flymanager:
Indeed, they should have given it away to the needy. To export to Africa would be too costly.
lenin75ka:
Africa wouldn't allow European products in, just like Russia. The problems with sales that the local farmers are facing are much worse than those of the European farmers.
[…]
The price isn't going to go up if they give it away to the needy, because this would diminish the demand.
***
sokolhan:
It's better to sell it for 20 cents than to dump it.
***
lavradar:
Last century, during the over-production crisis, they were just dumping it into the river, so here they've actually done a pretty practical thing.
lenin75ka:
In the years of the great famine in the USSR, Stalin was offered American products for free, because the demand wasn't there at all. We were too proud and categorically refused – and showed off our “abundance” by staging feasts. So the farmers were forced to burn grain and dump milk into rivers. It seemed to have helped as a result – the demand returned.
lavradar:
Haven't heard about the “free offers” – but it's true about farmers giving away for free, only there are no sponsors to deliver it to Africa.
lenin75ka:
There were rumors in the West that many people in the USSR are starving to death, even newspapers were writing articles about it. But the USSR was denying these rumors were true. They were even staging huge feasts for European and American guests, to demonstrate that there was no food shortage in the USSR. And the West believed it. Offers of humanitarian aid from the U.S. government to Stalin stopped coming.
[…]
http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/bernard_shaw.htm
In the open letter to the editor of the Manchester Guardian, Bernard Shaw calls the reports of the famine in the USSR false. (Thursday 2 March 1933)
pashyrey:
Famine in the USSR was caused by the fact that the harvest was being taken away from the peasants and sold to the West. They needed currency for industrialization, and gas and oil weren't so popular then, grain had much more value.
lenin75ka:
Yes, the were selling. And – it was also rotting in the fields. Moreover, the West refused to buy – they had plenty of their own and the prices were collapsing towards zero.
***
denver07:
Well… Let's take Sudan, for example. Where people are dying off like flies. And they are dumping the milk… This mentality is somewhat alike to ours.
lavradar:
Well, so why don't you sponsor the delivery to Sudan.
***
onlymax:
http://www.rg.ru/2009/07/30/moloko.html [An article published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on July 30, RUS]
An unprecedented action is planned for tomorrow in Ust-Labinsky region of [Kuban]. Villagers drawn to despair by low milk prices intend to publicly dump their produce into manure.
Same stuff in Stavropol region.
***
pashaman:
This did happen before… In England… Some 100 years ago… But with vegetables. They were drowned in the sea.
[…]
And our [Russian] farmers are also selling their produce for 10 rubles [22 euro cents], and in stores it costs 30 rubles [67 euro cents].
daily_winegraph:
Ten rubles sounds like a good price. According to the info I have, it's from 4 to 6 rubles [8-13 euro cents].
kolbaska:
Four rubles per liter [8 euro cents].
***
zanozanet:
They should have dumped the milk into a swimming pool and then charged 50 euro cents for tickets there.
***
leo_nardo:
Don't they have orphanages and other preschool institutions in Belgium?
mcsdwarken:
I don't think Belgian orphanages and other institutions suffers from a shortage of milk.
***
tatti_anna:
Aren't they making anything out of milk nowadays? […] Like, division of labor – farmers are producing milk, other farmers are making cheese and cottage cheese […] People are too lazy to produce something, it's such a Russian way – to gather, have it rot, ask for more money… This has always been the cheapest option…
incogn1too:
Socialism does lead to this. Everyone wants subsidies from the state.
***
sergey_sht:
By the way, in 2002, when the EU refused to buy powdered milk from Ukraine, which resulted in a similar situation, our folks slaughtered the cows – so radical. And this reflects on the raw products market still. And [the Belgians] are just dumping the milk, drawing attention to themselves, but they aren't SLAUGHTERING the herd! It remains to be seen who is acting smarter in such a situation.
***
red_tengu:
They used to get good subsidies from the national government and the EU, and now the subsidies have been significantly cut (WTO and the crisis) – and the farmers’ revenues have fallen. No one wants to buy such expensive milk. In Latvia, by the way, milk prices are even lower – approximately 6 euro cents, and there were cases when farmers weren't getting anything for their milk – like, not fat enough, etc.
***
golovach_igor:
Why do they need so many farmers if no one needs milk? All Belgian farmers should urgently turn into citizen journalists, bloggers, sell their tractors, buy a camera with a laptop, and they'll have enough money left to buy a ticket to [Perm] – quite a competition that's gonna be!!!!!!!!
***
rolliks:
A good way to get money for the milk:
Day One. In a convoy of milk trucks, we drive into Brussels – and water the streets [with milk].
Day Two. In a convoy of milk trucks, we drive into Brussels. It smells. We still water the streets [with milk].
Day Three. We approach Brussels. The stench is terrible. Brussels residents meet us at the city edge with money. We sell the milk.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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India: Beer is against Indian culture? · Global Voices
Lester Bolicenni

Amit Varma, on India Uncut, wonders if beer is against Indian culture, after the Indian People's Party (BPJ) protested in opposition to a female minister who attended “a beer promotion party”.

author: Lester Bolicenni


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India: Commercialization Of Professional Education · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ram Bansal at India In Peril criticizes the commercialization of professional education in India and the mushroom growth of institutions offering such education. The blogger comments: “The setting up of such institutions is not related to the demand of professionals in the country, but purely with a purpose exploiting en-masse unemployment in the country, producing the same unemployment of youths having higher-level degrees in their hands.”

author: Rezwan


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India: Tips on portrait photography · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Charukesi at Itchy Feet shares some tips on how to capture that perfect portrait through the lense of your camera

author: Aparna Ray


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Indonesia, USA: Segway the symbol of US economy failure? · Global Voices
Lester Bolicenni

Jotman thinks the Segway PT, quoted as “the world's first self-balancing human transporter”, symbolizes everything that is wrong with the American economy.


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Japan: The boyladies · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An Englishman in Osaka introduced a theatrical troupe called the Takarazuka Revue Company. The group is famous for their boyladies – women performing man's role on stage.


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Kenya: CEO of Wildlife Blogging Site Named Pop!Tech 2009 Fellow · Global Voices
Samuel Maina

Dr Paula Kahumbu
Pop!Tech is coming again this October and on 9 September they issued a release announcing the 2009 Social Innovation Fellows which was also blogged about by Pop!Tech's Kristen Taylor.
Pop!Tech is a conference set in Camden Maine, where every year scientist, artists and innovators meet to discuss ideas and world changing actions around the world.
PopTech (poptech.org) is a unique innovation network – a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who come together to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping our future, and new approaches to solving the world’s most significant challenges. We are known for our thriving community of thought-leaders, breakthrough innovation programs, visionary annual conferences and deep media and storytelling capabilities.
In the list of 16 fellows was Dr Paula Kahumbu, an Kenyan ecologist educated at Princeton and the Executive Director of the Kenyan web-based conservation NGO, WildlifeDirect.
Excited about the news of recognition for their work, WildlifeDirect issued a release informing others of their head's selection and posted it on their main blog, Baraza.
On Wednessday, 9 September 2009, Dr Paula Kahumbu, the WildlifeDirect Executive Director was named one of the 16 fellows of the prestigious PopTech Social Innovation Fellows program of 2009 for her work at WildlifeDirect.
Pop!Tech fellows will attend a 5-day ‘boot camp’ just before Pop!Tech 2009: America Re-imagined conference (October 21 – 24, 2009, Camden, ME). This will be the second year of the Pop!Tech fellows program and the 16 fellows have been drawn from various fields and countries, three of them from Africa. Paula is one of the two that work in Kenya and the only one who comes from wildlife conservation field. Baraza says,
The 2009 fellows program – which is the second since inception – attracted more than 200 applicants from more than 30 countries. Of the 16 selected, only three are from Africa, two of whom are Kenyan. Although a number of these fellows deal with climate change and clean energy, only Dr Kahumbu has been selected for her work in using the internet to raise awareness and funds for wildlife conservation – especially in Africa. The 16 fellows represent organizations based in or running projects in USA, UK, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Kenya.
The other Kenyan in the list is Ory Okolloh of Ushahidi, an online platform for crowdsourcing  and mapping crisis reports. Nobody at Ushahidi or elsewhere seems to have blogged about her selection however.
Other blogs have also announced their representatives selection to the Pop!Tech list including  the Energize Clinton County who seem quite excited
As Pop!Tech Social Innovation fellows, we’ll be joining 14 other amazing innovators (!!) from around the world in a five day “boot-camp” just before the Pop!Tech conference.
ECC has also posted a video from the 2008 Pop!Tech on their blog to show what the new fellows should expect.
Paula Kahumbu will be presenting the WildlifeDirect concept that was developed by Kenya's renowned conservationist and anthropologist, Dr Richard Leakey back in 2004. Baraza says,
Dr Paula Kahumbu will be taking the WildlifeDirect idea and experience to PopTech to share with the other fellows. The WildlifeDirect idea was developed by Dr Richard Leakey and associates to bring together conservationists working in remote and often dangerous places – mostly in Africa but also in Asia and South America – and supporters of conservation through blogs.
We wish Paula, Ory and other  fellows a great experience during the Pop!Tech ‘boot camp’ and conference.

author: Samuel Maina


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Mexico: Recent Explosions Around Capital · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

El Nahual of México para los Mexicanos [es] takes a look at some of the recent explosions around Mexico City. He writes that no one knows with certainty the motive, but points to a message found the 2nd explosion calling for a halt to the construction of the new “megaprison.”


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Mexico: Spreading the Message of Islam · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Metro subway system in Mexico City is one of the busiest in the world, and approximately 4.5 million people use this form of public transportation on a daily basis. Due to this high volume of traffic, it has become a place for a group of Mexican Muslims to practice Da'wah, which is a way of preaching the religion of Islam.
In this video, Mustafa, shows some of the advertisements that have recently been placed inside the subway cars inviting people to learn about the religion. The advertisement is from the Islamic Cultural Center in Mexico City [es], which offers a weekend cultural event.
Another effort to spread the message of Islam took place on the streets of Mexico City. This other video shows a van driving up and down the streets of this neighborhood inviting people to a conference.
According to the most recent census, Mexicans are overwhelming Roman Catholic at a figure of 88% of the population.  The 2008 Census indicates that there are 25,000 Muslims in the country, which represents .02% of the total population.
While much of the activities and public events take place in the Federal District, there have been some recent coverage on a small group of converts in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. Journalist and blogger Franc Contreras of Mexico Monitor, also works for Al Jazeera English. In 2008, he traveled here to produce a report on a group of Mayan indigenous that converted to Islam. Watch the video report here.
There are also Mexican Muslims, who also use blogs to connect with others and to help spread the message of Islam. Carlos Alberto Rojas, also known as Isa, studied at the Islamic University of Madinah. He also maintains a blog where he offers up his assistance and support for those with questions. He publishes his phone numbers and the times that he is available to speak [es] with anyone with questions on Islam, fasting or to inquire about future events.


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Nepal: Maternal Health Care Challenges · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

Last week, two high profile visits brought maternal health care challenges in Nepal into media spotlight. Geri Halliwell, member of now defunct British pop group Spice Girls was in Nepal to draw attention to the country's dismal maternal health care system.
She did not limit her visit to the capital but went to the country side to learn more about the issue and called for better care for mothers and new born.
Well known Hollywood celebrity blogger Perez Hilton praised Halliwell's mission. His post also points to an alarming statistics of maternal mortality in Nepal.
“According to the UN, there is a one in 31 mortality rate for Nepalese women following child birth due to poor conditions, living in remote areas and the condition of uterine prolapse, which affects one in 10 mothers.”
Geri Halliwell received a warm welcome from the people and the Nepalese government too. But her interaction with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal received some scrutiny from the tabloids. Indian television network Star TV tried to portray the customary greeting kiss between Mr. Nepal and Halliwell as “controversial”.
Viewers though have a different view on the “controversy”. Shulav83 at Star News YouTube Channel comments:
“Don't make mountain out of a molehill..doesn't india's media have something else to report about???”
The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson's two day visit to Nepal did not create any such ripples. She was in the country with the White Ribbon Alliance to promote maternal health.
Sarah Sanyahumbi, head of British development organization DFID's Nepal division posted about the Duchess’ Nepal visit in the organization's blog. Sanyahumbi says maternal health care in Nepal is not up to the mark but things are improving.
“…despite all the challenges in this country, there has been really good progress on this issue and the numbers of women dying in childbirth has fallen by nearly half.  But still, every four hours in Nepal a woman dies due to pregnancy and/or childbirth complications, and 6 in 100 children will not see their fifth birthdays…..”.
High maternal mortality rates in Nepal mask another serious health risk to Nepalese women – Uterine Prolapse. It is a condition where the womb falls out of the vagina. In western Nepal about 600,000 women suffer from this painful condition. It happens when a woman returns to hard manual work too soon after childbirth.
Here is a video by Sudaron Karki on this issue, uploaded by YouTube user snowheadcouk, with personal accounts from women who suffer from the condition. (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES)
Visits by Geri Halliwell and the Duchess of York certainly brought the issue of maternal health in Nepal into media spotlight but it will take more than high profile celebrity visits to bring relief to Nepalese mothers who suffer because of deep seated prejudice and lack of awareness.

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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Russia: Victor Pylyavsky’s Paraglider Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Samara photographer Victor Pylyavsky flies a paraglider over the city and the region, taking pictures; his beautiful photos are currently part of an open air exhibit at one of the city's central squares. LJ user drugoi has photographed some of these photos and posted them on his blog (RUS).


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South Africa: How to vote for Big Brother Africa for free · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rafiq's tip on how to vote for Big Brother Africa IV for free: “Luckily there are alternatives you are able to vote for Big Brother Africa housemates via the web and… *drum roll* MXit.”


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South Africa: Top 10 Malema-isms · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Prisha lists her top 10 Malema-isms. Julius Malema is a controversial figure in South African politics. He is the president of the ANC Youth League.


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Trinidad and Tobago: public decency? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

News of seven people murdered in a single incident in Trinidad prompts bitter reflections from B.C. Pires: “what Trinidad’s ‘leadership’ reveals, more and more plainly each day … is what little sense of public decency there is left in the place.”


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Trinidad and Tobago: touring Chacachacare · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

In words and pictures, My Chutney Garden recounts the history of the former leprosarium on Chacachacare, an island off the northwest coast of Trinidad.


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Trinidad and Tobago: who pays for justice? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Jumbie's Watch reacts to news of a huge apparent shortfall in funding for the judicial system in Trinidad and Tobago's national budget for the coming financial year.


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Video: Call for submissions in Democracy Now Challenge · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Two months ago, we published the story of the winners of the 2009 Democracy Now Challenge with their videos telling the world what Democracy means for them. Currently these same winners are on a two week trip around the USA, visiting Washington, New York and Hollywood, and in the meantime, the Secretary of State has already announced the 2010 Democracy Now Video Contest.
The rules are very similar to last year's. Basically, you should enter a video that's less than 3 minutes long which completes the phrase “Democracy is…”. It should either be in English or have English subtitles, and it can be any style: animated or live action, a documentary or fiction. The deadline for submitting entries is January 31st, 2010; after which a selection process will take place including community voting until 6 contestants from 6 different geographical regions are chosen, and they will be the ones to travel to the USA to speak with people from government and media.
Here is the video they have made to promote the contest:
The contest is a collaboration between YouTube, the State Department and other partners, and more details about specifics to be considered before submitting the video can be found on the State Department's YouTube channel by clicking on Important Details.
On the YouTube blog you can view a clip from the 2009 winners’ television appearance, and if you wish to know a bit more about the winners, 4 of them submitted a video portrait of themselves.
Aissa Peñafiel from the Philippines:
Rodin Hamidi from Iran:
Anna Israel from Brazil:
and Lukasz Szozda from Poland:
Need inspiration to participate? Why not take a look at the 2009 winning entries?

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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A Halal Search Engine for Muslim Internet Users · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

ImHalal.com, a search engine in English launched earlier this month by a Netherlands-based company, only fetches results that are flagged as “Halal” and safe for Muslim users. Blogger Agharass [Fr] comments.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Bangladesh: Death in Dhaka Zoo · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shahnaz at Dhaka Dweller writes about the mysterious deaths of a number of animals in Dhaka Zoo.


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Barbados: Caribbean “hatchlings” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Barbadian artist Annalee Davis posts images of a new work at her blog, On the Map. Hatchlings: A Requiem uses painted eggs and a shredded copy of a regional integration treaty to comment on Caribbean insularity.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Bermuda: race and income · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

A recent report on income disparities between black and white employees in Bermuda triggers some statistical analysis by 21 Square. “The sad reality … is that white Bermudians are more likely to hold a higher level of education and thus are more likely to earn more.”


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Big Brother Africa IV: The Revolution is on · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Big Brother Africa 4:The Revolution is the fourth series of the Big Brother Africa reality television series, which began on September 6, 2009. The fourth series will air for 91 days and the winner will walk home with $200,000.
The show has already generated discussions online as it happened with Big Brother III.
Accra Conscious posts basic information about the show:
Bedtime will never be same again as all 14 contestants vie for a peaceful night of scheming on how to get their hands on the US$200.000.00 prize!
More information on the new BBA Revolution.
• The prize money for this year’s Big Brother Africa has been doubled – it is now US$200 000, a ‘winner takes all’ fortune.
• The new season has almost twice as much sight and sound capability as seasons 1, 2 or 3: there will be 40 ‘all-seeing, all-knowing’ cameras, and 100 microphones.
• The old rules banning conspiracy in the house have been lifted and contestants will be free to forge alliances, discuss strategy openly and play the game in an entirely different way.
• This year, audiences will be asked to vote for the housemates they want to see remain in the series rather than the housemates they want to see leave the house.
• This year there will be 14 housemates, compared to the 12 of the past; this year will include housemates from Mozambique and Ethiopia. The other 12 countries are: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Rafiq writes about free SMS service for voting for housemates:
When it comes time to vote on Big Brother Africa 4: The Revolution sending many SMS messages or phoning could be pretty pricey expensive. Luckily there are alternatives you are able to vote for Big Brother Africa housemates via the web and… *drum roll* MXit.
This is a quick and easy way for the 14million and change MXit users to vote for their favourite  for Big Brother Africa 4 housemate. I see this as huge win for MXit on their never ending quest to reach more users throughout the African continent. I am going to try and get some before after stats from all the 14 countries the Big Brother Africa contestants are from and see if the MXit numbers really grow within those regions.
David Ajao is not happy with celebration of promiscuity on the show:
My reservation about Big Brother Africa has always been its celebration of promiscuity.
Noni thinks that this edition of Big Brother sucks:
BIG BROTHER SUCKS THIS YEAR! THE BOYS ARE UGLY! WHY BIG BRO MUST U DISSAPOINT US? NOT EVEN AT LEAST 2 OR 3 GOOD LUKIN BOYS IN DA HOUSE! IM DISSAPOINTED
Mika analyses house members:
Jeremy from Kenya looks cute, and Itai from Zimbabwe looks like he has a huge pipi… Cant wait for shower hour. Hannington from Uganda looks like a queen, he describes himself in 5 words as “I am a god among men”…Ummm Okay sister! I wonder how many other guys are gay? Closet case…? Anyways, Quinn, from South Africa was in the top 4 search for YFM’s White Boy DJ.
So does Rafshizzle, a blogger from Uganda:
Hannington Kuteesa Kavuma – he’s a son of Judge Steven Kavuma and Member of Parliament Ruth Kavuma. He has just returned from Malaysia where he has been doing a course in IT. You can’t believe we were with this chap at the Kampala Rugby Club and he couldn’t tell us anything, well, good luck to him.Meanwhile, the other Ugandan is called Filbert Okure and we’re still collecting information about him so keep it right here. (They tell us, Hannington will leave, mbu).Anyways, Zimbabwe has sent Itai Makumbe – the 31-year-old loves politics. And you guessed right, most politicians bore except for guys like Ken Lukyamuzi, President Museveni and Idd Amin (RIP).Kenya also has two in Edward Muthusi aka Teddy and Jeremy Ndirangu.Nigeria has sent Kevin Chuwang – who is a 27-year-old unemployed chap.From Botswana: is Kaone Ramontshonyana – I honestly failed to understand the chap.First-timers Ethiopia is being represented by Yacob Yehdego – he promised to be himself, a thing that almost every Ethiopian says. His nickname is Yac. Need to wait…The hosts South Africa have a Mzungu called Quinn Silder – at 21 years of age, the charming white is the youngest in the house; plus he’s a DJ and radio presenter so he should be in the know of how to entertain people.Other first-timers Mozambique sent 23-year-old Leonel Estevda.
Pen Powder criticises this year's Revolution concept:
I was starting to enjoy the exciting twists in the Big Brother Africa Revolution but after seeing the elimination of Ras Wayo and no introduction of a Ghanaian female housemate, I think the concept of the revolution was not fully thought through and rather unfortunate.Some of the twists are pointless to the core: why are there more housemates from certain countries than others when in fact the idea of having a continental show was to bring the various countries together. With the introduction of 12 female housemates into the house on Sunday, there are now 4 Nigerians, 2 Kenyans and other multiple entries for some other countries while Ghana has no rep at the moment. Is this all in the interest of exciting viewership? Or are some countries better represented in the house because M-net/DStv stands to gain more from those countries?One funny thing is that Big Brother has allowed ‘voting conspiracy’ this season and most likely alliances are going to be formed along nationalities. This would most likely create a lot of antagonism among housemates and yet M-net came out boldly to say that they changed the voting rules this year so people would vote to save their favourite instead of voting out their least favourite to promote ‘positivity’ instead of negativity.In a surprise announcement, Ghana's representative, Ras Wayo became the second Housemate to leave the BBA House during the show's first Eviction Show. Wayoe entered the stage to a crowd chanting his name to a Reggae tune. He told IK, the host, that he was not surprised to have left the House and does not think his Rastafarian way of life played a part in viewers not voting for him.Well Ghanaians aren't surprised either because his Jamaican patois became an issue immediately when he was introduced into the house. So why was Ras Wayo chosen to represent Ghana in the first place? M-net and the producers of the show chose someone whom in their view would over the best entertainment value for viewers from all participating countries.
Narcissus asks, “is it just me or is anyone else of the opinion Itai’s totally gay?”:
These little factlets sent my gaydar to full readings: One of his favourite shows is, wait for it, America’s Next Top Model (I know!). One of his bad habits include, stealing glances of himself in the mirror (helloo narcissism, ahem). Lastly, and by no means least, should he win the grand lotto, he intends to use it to finance trips to London, Paris, New York and LA, seriously? Come on!
These two are the only reason I ‘may’ watch the show. I do hope the house stocked up on plenty of lotion, and Geisha which ‘’lasts and lasts’’, coz it’s going to be a long week for the boys, lol. Quite frankly though, I did expect more of a ‘’revolution’’, and not a re-enactment of an idea already applied in Spain on their version of Big Brother.
Ms B considers herself a “shameless fan of this manufactured reality show.” She talks about female members’ make-up:
The make-up was ridiculous,no black woman on mother earth has rosy cheeks!!!None!!I dare you to find one!!!The drag queen had eyelashes that could swat a fly and Nonhle had yellow nail polish on which had nothing to do with her outfit.I know fashionista's sometimes mismatch to match but she just looked like she wasn't sure what to wear.Sigh,we cant all be Rihanna now can we?
I hate it when women do that!aint nothing attractive (to me anyway) about looking like a clown.Make-up is supposed to enhance your beauty,not hide it.Keep it simple stupid!!!!And these women are representing other African women when they go out there,oh lawwwwd!!!


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Colombia: Love and Friendship day in Online times · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

candy by Yomi955
In Colombia, people don't celebrate Valentine's day on February 14th, but instead, celebrate the whole month of September with the peak during the third weekend.  On these days not only romantic couples give each other presents, but friends also get together for drinks or to eat, and one of the most frequent ways to celebrate the month is through gift exchanges, quite common in workplaces and classrooms.
Juan Felipe Beltrán writes on his blog:
Es el mes donde las personas, amigos, parejas y enamorados se reúnen para pasar un mes de felicidad, alegría, armonía y vida. En algunas partes las personas juegan al amigo secreto, el juego trata al principio en que un monitor encargado del juego da una bolsita a cada persona y debe sacar un papelito, en ese papelito hay un nombre de una persona y nombre que te aparezca ese tu amigo secreto, a ninguno de tus amigos  le puedes decir quién te tocó por que la gracia del juego es no revelar al amigo, porque si lo revela ya no será amigo secreto, entonces en cada día corresponde dar a tu amigo secreto algo, por ejemplo en un dia corresponde algo salado, el otro algo dulce, el otro algo ácido, el otro la broma y asi sucesivamente hasta que llegue el último dia que es el día del regalo especial. En Colombia es unos de los meses mas esperados y el más especial del año. [Ed. Note.- spelling corrected for clarity. ]
However, not many share this point of view regarding gift exchanges. Emmanuel Ariza writes about why he dislikes this celebration:
Aun hoy me atormentan las pesadillas de mis época de colegial, tener que comprarle un regalo a un “amigo secreto”, que por más que me esmerara, siempre iba a ser poca cosa para él. Todo para que a fin de cuentas, el pelafustán que tendría que darme el regalo a mí, diera cualquier bicoca comprada ahí de afán.
From youtube, creative online video collective Internautismo Crónico, has posted a video where one of their most famous characters, the Zarco (meaning someone with blue eyes), explains why he doesn't play secret friend anymore.  The character of el Zarco represents many of the youth that live in marginal areas of the city of Medellin, and speaks with a specific slang called parlache. In the video, he explains his reasons for not playing secret friend.
The reasons El Zarco gives are the following:
At the end the Zarco proposes making this month a time to spend with friends and loved ones, taking the time to make peace with anyone with whom we don't get along very well, but not a time for these meaningless games… however, he admits that he will be playing this year again.
The game has taken an online tint as well. Secret Follower (or #FollowerSecreto)  is the new method by which Colombian twitters are participating with their friends from the popular micro-blogging platform.  The methodology is explained in this page  and through this tool, people can send their secret follower messages, and anyone can also check out their own present. Click on the menu button and select a twitter user to see the types of gifts they have received: phrases of friendship, images of cute animals or candy, videos, poems and more.
The small gifts are popularly called “endulzadas” which means “to sweeten”, and in this online version they consist of nice pictures to share, links to fun websites or to sites where they can download their specific present.  One of the presents is the following example, a short video made with popular internet images:
So happy Month of Friendship and Love to all!
(Image by Yomi955 used according to Creative Commons attribution license)


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Cuba: “mistreating social property”? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Octavo Cerco reports on a confrontation with a minor bureaucrat at a bus station in Cuba. “With these people things can get very serious, they earn a pittance for a salary but have absolute power over five square meters and they apply it with …  irreverence, force and abuse of power.”


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Dominican Republic: three poets · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Repeating Islands features a new bilingual edition of poems by three women writers from the Dominican Republic: Aída Cartagena Portalatín, Angela Hernández Núñez, and Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo. “Each of them addresses shared political and cultural issues, illuminating what it means to be a woman living in the modern day Dominican Republic.”


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Georgia: Radisson SAS Iveria Hotel · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user cyxymu writes about (RUS) and posts photos of Tbilisi's Iveria Hotel, which was built in the mid-1960s, housed refugees in the 1990s (and was “the symbol of Georgia's shame” then) and has recently re-opened as Radisson SAS Iveria Hotel.


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Guyana: the colour of beauty · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Signifyin’ Guyana reflects on the troubling ideas about beauty that she and other dark-skinned Caribbean women encountered when they were growing up. “It took me a while to learn to ignore the inconsistencies from others and arrive at a healthy view of my skin color and facial features.”


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India: Welcoming Foreign Universities · Global Voices
Rezwan

Supriyo Chaudhuri at Sunday Posts discusses about a proposed bill, which will pave the way for Foreign Education providers to offer degree programmes independently in India.


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India: Women & Housework · Global Voices
Rezwan

“What is it about housework that even the most liberated of us women continue to willing wear it around our necks like a millstone that we are proud of?” asks Aparna Singh at Ultra Violet.


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Indonesia: Most wanted man confirmed dead · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

On Thursday morning, the Indonesian Anti-Terrorism Special Unit Densus 88 was reported to be in the middle of shoot-out with a small Islamic hardliner group at the outskirt of Solo, Central Java. Ono of the men involved in the incident was identified as Noordin M. Top, Indonesia's most wanted man.
Top and four of his accomplices died after 9 hours of shootout.
The National Chief Police, Police General Bambang Hendarso Danuri said [id] that there are 14 points on the militant's fingers that matched with the police record. Danuri also said that the success of the raid was a blessing during the holy month of Ramadan.
The twitterers cheered the accomplishment:
Breaking the fast together with the reporters at the Presidential Palace, President Yudhoyono said that he extends his highest regards to the Police and Detachment 88 for their hard work in fighting terrorism.
The president also said that the country should remain vigilant, because despite of Noordin's death the terrorist cells he created are still eluding capture [id], therefore the world needs to join hands in combating the roots of extremism and terrorism.

author: Juke Carolina


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Iran: ‘Leave your computer and join people’ · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Moje Azadi, invites [fa] Iranian internet users to leave their computers for a few hours and join people in the demonstartion in Quds Day to shout ‘neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life is ready to be sacrificed for Iran’.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Videos from Quds Day Protests · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

On September 18, Iranian protesters wearing green in support of the opposition, once more defied the Iranian government in the streets of Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, and several other cities as they protested against dictatorship.
The official Islamic Republic was observing Quds Day (a day of support for Palestinians against Israel) but the opposition prefered to ask for freedom in Iran rather than for liberation of foreign lands.
Iranian protesters chanted slogans such as ‘Neither Gaza nor Lebanon!’ ‘My life is ready to be sacrified for Iran!’ ‘Down with the dictator!’ and ‘Down with Russia’.
People attending the rallies documented the events by with photos (above) and videos.
Supporting opposition leaders
Protesters in Karimkhan in the central part of Tehran, chanted slogans in support of opposition leaders, Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehid Karoubi.
Martyr's mother
The mother of Sohrab Arabi, a young man who was killed in a demonstration only days after the disputed election in June, took part in the Qud's Day protests (as seen on iReport video below). People chanted slogans that ‘Sohrab is Alive!’ and ‘The government is dead!’.
There are more videos from the protests on iReport.
Warning the government
Protesters chanted in Vesal Street in Tehran, “This is the last warning – the ‘green movement’ is ready for uprising!”:
Down with Russia in Shiraz
Protesters in Shiraz rallied on Quds Day but preferred to chant against Russia, rather than Israel. This is in reference to opposition accusations that Russia has been involved in training repression forces of the regime.


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Japan: Japanese pickles · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ad Blankestijn from Japan Navigator introduced different types of Japanese pickling.


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Philippines: Deadly fight over a stuffed toy · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A scavenger was killed by a fellow scavenger when they fought over a stuffed toy they both found in a dumpsite. Ka-Blog! points to this story as reflection of the grinding poverty in the Philippines.

author: Mong Palatino


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Poland: Chopin’s Birthplace · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian writes about a trip to Chopin’s birthplace at Żelazowa Wola.


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Poland: Raphael Lemkin and the Katyń Massacre · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Raf Uzar writes about Raphael Lemkin's life and work and the current discussion of the Katyń massacre in Poland.


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Russia: Lebedyan Subway · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Aug. 11, LJ user victorprofessor posted a photo report (RUS) from a trip to the town of Lebedyan in Lipetsk region, where one man – Leonid Mulyarchik – has been trying to build a mini-subway since 1984, “the most unusual metro in the world.” Four TV stations have done reports on this unique endeavor since then, and two companies have volunteered to provide equipment to Mr. Mulyarchuk for free.


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Serbia: Tram Tour of Belgrade’s Music History · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgraded writes about a unique tram #2 tour through Belgrade’s music history, which was organized by famous rock journalist Peca Popovic.


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South Korea: 6% of Kids Addicted to Internet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Korea Beat translated a local news on a report released by the Ministry of Health which affirmed: 6 out of 100 fourth-graders, over 34,000 in total, have an internet addiction serious enough to call for counseling and treatment.


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South Korea: Government sued activist with libel · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ohmynews! International has a report on South Korean government libel charge against a prominent activist lawyer Park Wonsoon. Part was charged 200 million won for damages from the National Intelligence Agency (“NIA”) last September 14.


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South Korea: Protecting children · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Matt from Gusts of popular feelings wrote an informative article on the ineffectiveness of certain policies for protecting children and youth.


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Sri Lanka: Justice · Global Voices
Rezwan

“The week after Tissa was given 20 years for writing, two actual card carrying LTTE spokesmen were released on bail. Hence, being LTTE is pardonable, but being charged with meeting them or writing against the government (from a Tamil perspective) is not,” comments Indrajit Samarajiva at Indi.ca on the verdict of Sri Lankan journalist Tissainayagam.


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St. Vincent and the Grenadines: split electorate · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Lullabies, Fairy Tales and Other Self-Delusions thinks about the referendum on a new constitution for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and what it reveals about the state of the country's politics: “a finely delineated system of prejudices based on which political party you support.”


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Suriname: a vist to Marienburg · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Flickr user SOG P posts a series of images documenting a visit to a former sugar factory in Marienburg, Suriname.


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Trinidad and Tobago: a tribute to Wayne Brown · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

B.C. Pires writes an eloquent tribute to the Trinidadian writer Wayne Brown, who died on 14 September, 2009. “Wayne’s greatest gift … was the illustration of the relationship between the artist and his work.”


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Trinidad and Tobago: “appalling reporting” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

The Liming House responds to a news report in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper suggesting that Trinidad and Tobago has a dangerously high rate of alcohol abuse. “There is no evidence in this story of either fact checking or even the most cursory editing.”


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Trinidad and Tobago: pommecythere chow · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Simply Trini shares a recipe for a Trinidadian speciality: pommecythere chow, i.e. a kind of spicy pickle made a with a fruit popular in the Caribbean (also know as golden apple or June plum).


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Hungary: Budapest Citizens Fight For Their Right To Party · Global Voices
Marietta Le

On Sept. 1, a silence decree came into force in Budapest's District VI, which is well-known for its lively nightlife. The decree requires bars, restaurants and 24-hour-shops to close at 10 PM. The local council promised to review the regulation on Sept. 10 and keep further arrangements suspended, but the notary of District VI with a group of policemen started a round-up on Sept. 1 and made several bars and restaurants dismiss their guests and close their doors in Nagymező Street, which is also known as the Broadway of Pest.
The first civil disobedience movement and protest against the decree took place the same day at Liszt Ferenc Square, András Földes of index.hu reported (HUN):
[…] The demonstration of the outlets in Terézváros [‘Theresa City’ is the other name of District VI] Thursday night succeeded wonderfully. Protesting against the decree of the district, which came into force Sept. 1, the outlets at Liszt Ferenc Square turned off their lamps at 10 PM. Foreigners sitting on the terraces looked around wonderingly, as if they were waiting to get to know some special Hungarian habit. The citizens from Budapest were undisturbed, they kept on talking.
It became obvious that they knew what was happening when the lamps turned back on and a wave of applause swept over the terraces. The square again looked as if the decree of District VI hadn't come into force that day, saying that the outlets of entertainment, restaurants and shops were allowed to be open until 10 in the evening instead of midnight and 1 AM. […]
The Budapest Times published an article after the revision of the decree, reporting:
Despite having promised a suspension of the silence decree on bars and restaurants, the council of Budapest’s District VI voted against the discontinuation of the regulation at its session last Thursday. […] After the decision was announced around 50 district bar owners held a meeting and unanimously agreed to stay open after 10pm. […] They will likely close at 1pm, which, according to the decree, was previously the latest time a bar or a restaurant could remain open if no resident complaints were made against it.
The citizens started to organize a demonstration in front of the district's mayor's office on Facebook (HUN, ENG):
We had no other choice but to DEMONSTRATE against the so-called “silence order” came into force on the 1st of September, according to which ALL PUBS AND RESTAURANTS have to close the latest at 1 a.m. in district VI (Terézváros).
Unfortunately it turned out that quite a few members of the delegate board simply did not say the truth upon promising the withdrawal of the order came into force on the 1st of September. Now we’ve been assured by the renegotiation of the issue at the end of October, expectedly it will amount to the same result. So far negotiations and protests were not efficient, so our only way is a demonstration.
Noone has the right to paralyse the nightlife of downtown Budapest, to bankrupt well-known and popular pubs, to restrain the vivid clublife. Budapest is a real European metropolis which can not exist without night life!
More than a 1000 workplaces, yearly hundreds of thousands guests and the fame, renown of Budapest are at stake!
Would you like to party in the future in Terézváros? Than demonstrate with us! Without YOU it won't work. The more people are there the more evident it will be how ridiculous and destroying this order is.
The venue of evening parties is downtown Budapest, noone can take it away! […]
A website was started dealing with the topic, trying to reconcile the views of the local residents who want silence and rest at night and of those who prefer keeping the boisterous nightlife alive. Takarodó.com (‘sack time’.com, HUN) published several ideas and proposals that they would like to discuss with the local council. They're also spreading the word and try to invite people to the demonstration on Monday.

author: Marietta Le


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India: Bangla Blogs · Global Voices
Rezwan

Diganta at The New Horizon informs that two new Bangla (Bengali) blogging platforms have been launched by Bangla speaking people in India.


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Japan: Threats on Twitter · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Angry and frustrated, Akihito from the Polar Bear Blog reports that his wife received threatening DMs on Twitter and decided to delete her account [ja]. He thanks everyone who responded through Twitter, where many expressed outrage and offered encouragement and similar tales.

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Morocco: Don’t Blame the Rain · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

Recent flooding in Morocco has prompted bloggers to air their discontent with their country's lack of sanitation infrastructure. They went around taking pictures and shooting videos, sharing scenes seldom broadcast by the mainstream media. This is their citizen reporting.
Citoyen Hmida [Fr] describes the scene in Rabat, the capital. He writes:
Des milliers de voitures sont immobilisées sur toutes les artères de la ville depuis les premières heures de la matinée.
[…] Il a suffi de deux heures de pluie, d’une belle averse bien arrosée, pour que Rabat soit totalement immobilisée! […] A l’intérieur de la ville, des files interminables de véhicules sont bloquées sur les principales artères et sur les grands boulevards!
Des centaines  d'élèves n’ont pas pu arriver à leurs établissements : leurs bus sont bloqués dans les embouteillages! […] Ce que je rapporte là ne concerne que ce que j’ai pu voir ou que j’ai pu recueillir par des témoignanges directs! Que se passe-t-il dans les quartiers populaires? Y a-t-il des dégats plus importants que des embouteillages et des bouchons […] Qui est le responsable de cette lamentable situation? Va-t-on encore être à la merci de la pluie? Des inondations peuvent se produire, bien sûr, chez nous comme n’importe où dans le monde! Mais cela intervient quand les moyennes de précipitations sont hors-norme! Pas à la première averse de l’année, pas quand les égouts sont bien entretenus, pas quand les équipes d’intervention sont prêtes et bien entrainées, pas quand LES SERVICES MUNICIPAUX FONT CONVENABLEMENT  LEUR TRAVAIL!
Energumene [Fr] blogging in We Are Watching You shares pictures of the Rabat main train station and comments sarcastically:
Gare Rabat Agdal inondée, ce Matin.
Le nouveau ruisseau au bord des quais de Trains : Une idée ingénieuse pour décontracter les voyageurs.
Vous croyez que c'est la faute aux ingénieurs qui ont foiré leurs plans d'aménagements, ou les sociétés de travaux publics qui s'engraissent à coups de travaux bâclés ?
Détrompez-vous Mesdames, Messieurs, Nos ingénieurs sont très performants : Ces inondations sont préméditées, Ils viennent d'inventer le Train-Glisseur. Un train qui ne marche pas que sur des rails, mais aussi sur l'eau.
Here are some of the photographs:
Gare Rabat Agdal Creek
Gare Rabat Agdal under water
Mohamed El Kortbi, blogging in Partageons nos passions, also shares [Fr] a picture from inside of Agdal train station:
Inside Rabat Agdal
And Ibn Kafka [Fr], shares these pictures taken at the international airport of touristic Marrakesh:
Marrakesh airport under water
Marrakesh airport under water
Marrakesh airport under water
Writing in Arabic, Issam [Ar] reports on the flooding of the newly inaugurated tunnel under Boulevard Roudani, one of the most congested arteries of Casablanca, the over 3 million populated economic capital of Morocco. He shares the following video, shot by an amateur at the Roudani Boulevard tunnel and circulated on YouTube:
Issam  writes:
In some parts of Rabat, concrete collapsed in the streets trapping cars and buses, adding to the general bewilderment, as this video shared [Fr] by Energumene shows:
Inundations have not struck only poor neighbouhoods. In the following video, shared by online news blog Entre nous marocains [Fr], it appears that water flooded affluent parts too:

author: Hisham Almiraat


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Morocco: Rage Against the Sandwich Continues  · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

On Sunday, September 13, a group of young Moroccans gathered in front of Mohammedia train station. They decided they are going to eat in public: a picnic that in other circumstances wouldn't have attracted much attention. Only this time, it is Ramadan — the holy Muslim month, during which believers are supposed to observe fasting from dawn until dusk. Eating in public during Ramadan is often seen as a disregardful and disrespectful act and might attract the anger of the public. Moreover it is punishable by imprisonment to up to six months and heavy fines. As a result those who took part in the protest, were intercepted by members of the police who proceeded to interrogate and arrest some of them. A few days later, a wave of arrests of members of the group was reported across Moroccan cities.
The meet-up was an answer to an appeal launched by a group that first appeared on Facebook calling itself MALI? (for Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties and which acronym means literally “What about me?”). Those taking part in the event were reportedly trying to protest for the abrogation of article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code which states that “any person known for his/her affiliation with Islam, who ostensibly breaks the fast in public during Ramadan is punishable by one to six months imprisonment and a fine.”
The story sparked a passionate, often heated and at times offensive and polarizing debate in the Moroccan blogosphere and on social networks. Whilst the majority seems to be rejecting the non-observants’ action, some have raised the question of freedom of conscience in a Muslim society.
On Facebook a group of solidarity [Fr] with the imprisoned non-observants was created. The preamble reads:
La répression policière que subissent ces militants s'accompagne de menaces de mort quotidiennes de la part de barbus-fascistes qui eux bizzarement ne sont pas poursuivis. Ce laxisme n'est autre qu'une façon d'encourager ces personnes à commetre des actes haineux. Il n'y a qu'à lire la déclaration de la très gouvernementale agence de presse marocaine pour s'en rendre compte.
Le but de ce groupe est de soutenir les militants de MALI, et de réaffirmer notre attachement à la liberté de culte, il ne s'agit pas d'inciter les gens à ne pas jeuner, chacun fait ce qu'il veut.
Chaouki Najib, founder of a Facebook group [Ar, Fr] called “Those fasting and those not fasting, we are all Moroccans” sent a letter to members of his group, denouncing the threats against MALI protesters:
Naoufel  [Ar] wonders whether this story doesn't reveal an aspect of double standard within the Moroccan society:
أخيرا، أنا لا أدافع عن مالي..أنا مع حرية التعبير، من حق أي واحد أن يفعل ما شاء..أن أصوم أو لا أصوم أمر يخصني وحدي لكني في المقابل سأحترم صيام أمي و أسرتي و المجتمع..باختصار أريد أن أقول..أنا أتضامن مع مالي و أيضا مع من جرحت أحاسيسه..لكني بالمناسبة لا اعترف بأي ثوابت..
This sentiment of moral hypocrisy is echoed by Jillian C. York on her blog. She writes:
What concerns me is this: There is also a great portion of society that drinks, and does other things that are haram, but are condemning the protesters for disrespecting Islam.  This attitude brings to light something I noticed in Morocco: That Ramadan seems to make everyone an expert on Islam, and a great Muslim.  Many of those who might ignore religion throughout the year will at the very least fast (or give the illusion of fasting, even to their own families), often taking it further, lecturing their friends who don’t pray or chastising them for not making it to the mosque.  Lest you think I’m exaggerating, I’ve witnessed this myself numerous times.  In August, I’d be clubbing in Marrakesh with Moroccan friends, drinking and dancing; as soon as Ramadan started, I was the black sheep.
Many, like Amar Al Khalfi [Fr], who blogs on Nebrass Ash'abab, perceived  a conspiracy in the action of the non fasting protesters:
Across the blogosphere a flurry of attacks on MALI members ranging from insults, to heinous comments can be seen. Among them is this excerpt by H'med Lehmani [Ar] on regional online news website Oujda City:
P.S.: Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Morocco is signatory, states that…
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.