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China: Revolution’s victims’ stories blogged, not forgotten (1/4) · Global Voices
John Kennedy

For a good number of years, Sichuan-based blogger-journalist Ran Yunfei (冉云飞) has been collecting the stories of those persecuted as right wing elements during the Cultural Revolution, another part of Chinese contemporary history largely left unexplored even to this day. Early this year Ran began posting his research findings on his blog. Early last month Ran participated in a discussion in a Chengdu teahouse titled ‘On Right Wing Research.’ A transcript of the talk was later posted onto his blog in four pieces; here is the first installment:
杨远宏：
今天下午，我们请来了博闻强识、怪招迭出的著名作家、学者冉云飞先生来给在座的朋友们作演讲，他今天演讲的题目是“关于右派研究”。在冉云飞开始这个演讲之前，我荣幸地通报大家，今天来的朋友们当中，有一位最老的前辈右派先生，就是八十六岁的萧赛先生，也是作家萧赛先生、学者萧赛先生，请大家欢迎。（鼓掌）也来了一位最年轻的右派，前《星星诗刊》的副主编，全国著名诗人、鲁迅文学奖获得者张新泉先生，请大家欢迎。（鼓掌）这位年长的萧赛先生和现在已经不太年轻的新泉先生都是今天第一次来参加我们的草堂读书会，我本人和读书会的朋友们对这两位朋友的到来表示热烈的欢迎和由衷的感谢。（鼓掌）
冉云飞先生今天所讲的话题，其实牵涉到对中国历代体制和文化的广阔而又深刻的思考。中国的历代统治者、集权专制者从来没有把知识分子与社会的关系摆在一个正常的、正当的位置。在他们看来，知识分子不过是一撮毛，不过是附在统治阶级这张皮上的一撮毛，如此而已。这一撮毛如果顺服一点，那么也许还可以留在这张皮上，如果这撮毛略有不顺服，或是这撮毛甚至倒立起来了，那这撮毛就可能被拔去。皮之不存，毛将焉附，是对中国历代知识分子和统治阶级这种关系的形象生动地表达。
在这样的关系当中，中国的知识分子不仅仅丧失了自己的文化品格，而且更重要的是丧失了作为一个知识分子的独立人格。一个知识分子的独立人格就是不仅要思考，还要有批判精神。因此在上一次周雨樵先生所讲的“毛泽东与文革”和今天云飞所要讲的“关于右派研究”这两个历史个案，虽然时间相隔十年，整风反右已经过去将近五十年了，文革过去已经四十年了，而这两场革命给我们留下的记忆，在这块土地上所造成的灾难，今天我们仍然记忆犹新。
文革和整风反右与其说是一场文化的灾难，不如说是一场人的灾难。它是对中国知识分子的良知、道义、独立人格、独立思考、怀疑精神、批判精神的一次全面的迫害、打击和摧毁。这以后中国知识分子开始走向分裂。特别是到了当下这个时代，中国知识分子的精神、道义、良知是荡然无存。因此冉云飞先生今天所讲的这个话题，仅管它是一个历史个案，仅管它已经过去了将近五十年，无疑，它会引起我们对在这块土地上发生过的，历史上遗留下来的集权专制造成的灾难进行全面、深刻地反思。
其实我们如果往后追溯一下，对知识分子的打压和迫害，早已从延安整风就开始了的。有一点我不太明白的是为什么专制统治者对知识分子怀有一种天然的怀疑和敌意。正是这种怀疑和敌意，防范之心，造成一代又一代的文字狱。在座的朋友们都知道，这是从秦始皇焚书坑儒就开始了的。我记得现在中国出了本高尔基写的《不合时宜的思想》，在这本书里面高尔基当初针对以列宁为代表的布尔什维克对知识分子的残酷迫害，高尔基出于当时还没有泯灭的良知，他实在看不下去了，他就到克里姆林宫去质问列宁。如果我没记错的话高尔基质问列宁是这样说的，你们所迫害的，是俄罗斯的大脑。而列宁是怎么回答的呢，他说：什么大脑？一堆粪便。当我在这本书中看到列宁这个回答时我大为震惊，为什么这些集权统治者对知识分子都有一种天然的敌意呢，他本身也是知识分子嘛。为什么他们要把知识分子看成集权专制的天敌？其实当我提出问题时答案也就已经在问题之中了，今天在冉云飞先生开讲之前，我就简单地为冉云飞先生拉开序幕。
冉云飞：
谢谢各位。参加草堂读书会较多的朋友应该是了解我的，而别的朋友可能也多少知道我一些。所以我在这里也不做自我介绍了。我首先在这里说一下我今天的讲题“关于右派研究”。因为关于右派研究这个问题，无论是从大陆还是海外来讲，目前写的关于技术性的右派研究的书还不少，但真正有份量的研究的书实质上并不多。我为什么要把今天的讲话题目定为“关于右派研究”？尽管我们来反省，来批判，来声讨集权专制对知识分子的迫害，对国家大脑的迫害，我认为对关于右派这个问题的批评，不管怎样我认为都不过火。问题是到底怎么样的批评才是最重要的。
这个话怎么讲呢，那就是我们在批评一个东西的同时，要占有大量详实的资料，这才是一个人做学问的态度。我们不能采取共产党那种搞法，以论代史。比如说我们先讲好这个观点是正确的，然后我们再去找资料，这不是一个做学问的方式。虽然关于右派这个事情可以激起很多人的愤怒，也可以激起我冉云飞的愤怒，对不对？在前不久，也就是前两天吧，中央电视台搞的一个“感动中国”的节目，我就在我的博客上写了一篇文章叫《政府越无耻，百姓越感动》，后来发到“天涯”上，那跟贴简直多得很，可以说是群情振奋，后来“天涯”当局把它删掉、打包。就是这样，政府越无耻，百姓越感动，我坐在这里，为什么要先讲这一点，是因为政府的很多做法是无耻的，他拿了纳税人的钱，却不替纳税人做事，他的合法性何在？我在我的文章当中写到，比如说我写到徐本禹让我感动、黄战辉让我感动，高耀洁让我感动，他们越让我感动，越让我感到这个政府的无耻。因为他们该做的事情不做，他们拿了我的钱不为我办事。
我的文章主体就是这样写的，那么这个国家很奇怪，但这个国家的老百姓也很奇怪，你政府无耻吗他还越感动，他不知道这个感动的背后政府到底是一种什么样的缺失。我在那篇文章中说了，政府在管和整老百姓这方面中国政府是世界第一，在关怀和爱护老百姓上面也是世界第一，但是是倒数第一。（鼓掌）
在今天讲关于右派研究的问题，我可以这样说，在今天我们看到的所有关于研究右派的写作，都十分缺乏原始资料。关于这方面在国内有朱正先生的《一九五七年的夏季》， 和胡平写的《禅机：一九五七》，包括叶永烈写的《沉重的一九五七》，这些东西基本上都是一堆常见资料堆砌，而很多资料也是极不全备的，非常不完备。为什么呢，事实上这几位的书还都算不上是学术研究，不能算平心静气的研究，只能算对资料的清理和罗列。有鉴于此，我本人对这个问题的研究也开始多少年了，很多年前我就在收集右派资料，今天我带来的这一份叫《右派资料知见录》（编年初稿）。编年是什么意思呢，编年就是从一九五七到二OO五年，凡是我能够见到的右派资料，我全部将它罗列出来了。今天我拿了一叠来。 这个工作很多自以为有才华的人是不愿意做的。他觉得这个工作又琐碎、又繁复，工作量又大，这些确实非常之大。要翻很多刊物、很多资料、很多报纸，要钻很多图书馆，要钻很多故纸堆。这么多年我每个星期天早上都要去旧书市场，明天又是星期天我依然还要去，这些都是我每一个星期天早上在旧书摊上淘的书和资料的一部分。因为我星期天从来不睡懒觉。我这样说的意思就是关于右派的研究要象冉云飞这样作。要象谢泳这样作。谢泳，黄河杂志的副主编，研究储安平，研究西南联大，研究《观察》杂志等卓有成效的学者。同样也需要我这样的人来做这种最为基础的资料。
这个就象我们曾经做过一期张献忠屠杀四川三百六十周年的一个小辑一样。张献忠屠杀四川我曾经做了个资料，现在我又发现了一些。我这个人很喜欢做一些非常基础的资料，只有在这些非常基础的资料上再进行详实的研究。这样做下来，我就可以这样说，什么叫木板上钉钉，板都板不脱，什么叫详实有力。希望大家在将来写回忆录的时候，写文革回忆录也好，写右派回忆录也好，写肃反、三反五反回忆录也好，大跃进回忆录也好，或者是全民民歌运动回忆录也好，四清运动回忆录也好，大家首先要做到第一点，那就是忠实于自己，你说的话自己应该负责。第二点就是要忠实于历史，就是你不管怎么样批评政府也好，批评他人也好，你首先对于资料要有个详实的把握，这种态度才是一个人做学问的态度，是一个人诚实的态度。我觉得这真要涉及到诚实，因为你不能因痛恨某一个人，就把某种观点强加于他。同样的，你不能因为痛恨曾经的政府，你说的话就可以没有根据。我认为一个人说话就应该有根据，当然我不是说我们每一句话都查得出根据，但是对每一句话我应有逻辑，从逻辑上可以推断出那种必然性和或然性。我说这个的意思也就是各位若需要这个资料可以拿去复印，同时告知大家我的很多资料在网上都有公布，你只要输入冉云飞就可查到。这份《右派资料知见录》刚才我拿给几位老右派看了他们都觉得吃惊，因为他们只知道自己是右派，不知道这一堆，这么多详实的资料。所以我在下面要讲的第一点就是怎样收集右派资料。
如果你能收集到详实的资料，比如你要研究抗战，要研究日本侵华史，你要研究日本的罪行，你手上有日本人的证据就是最棒的。比如说樊建川手上有很多日本人侵华的证据，樊建川在这个问题的研究上就是很棒的。这些证据拿出来你板都板不脱。同样的，右派的很多资料用几种方法可以收集。第一就是旧书市场可以收到一些，这是个人可以去找的；第二就是图书馆，图书馆五七年到六O年到六一年六二年这四年之间资料还保存得有。也许你觉得这样翻起来很麻烦，我在这里告诉大家一个捷径，有本工具书叫《全国主要报刊资料索引》，是上海出的，每年都有，那么你要去翻哪个时候的资料那上面都有。你可以把关于右派的分类从那当中找出来，同时找报刊实物来核对，这样就可以节约你找资料的时间。
第三点活着的右派我们要抢救，这不是开玩笑，你身边的右派你应该去做访谈，做访问录，做口述历史各种工作。我对今天在座诸位是所盼焉，希望大家都来做。这点我觉得胡适先生非常了不起，四十岁的时候他就开始写胡适杂记，开始写胡适回忆录，也就是四十自述。胡适先生曾经说过，所有的人回忆出来的历史加在一起，它就是一个比较完备的历史。因为历史它会呈现出很多种面貌，然后让那些研究者，让那些解读者更加全面地看到这个历史。并不仅仅是说只有你冉云飞回忆的才是历史，张三回忆的就不是历史，对不对？它可能有着互相印证甚至于互相矛盾的地方，互相抵触的地方，但最重要的是要全方位地尽可能准确地恢复和接近历史的原貌，这一点特别重要。所以我说在座诸位自己当过右派的，自己亲聆过右派谈话的，或者你周围有亲戚朋友是右派的，我希望你们做一点这样的工作，这个东西保留下来，其作用相当的大，那么这是第三点。
第四点的资料收集是这样的，目前能够找到的这些老一辈的人，他们留下的只言片语，还有他们留下来的各种资料，现在已经出版的，我已经收集了不少。因为这个工作非常浩大，比如说你要做一个人经历过五七年后的传记，假如说我做流沙河先生的传记，或者说我做某某人的传记，我可能做到有一节它涉及到右派方面的。所以这种工作量相当大，但这种工作必须要有人去做。但现在是许多亲历过一九五七的人的传记里，反右这一章都语焉不详。所以我劝写回忆录写到一九五七，或者说替经历过一九五七年灾难的人立传，尽量不要回避。哪怕你写的暂时出不来，资料先存着也行。我觉得从这四方面来进行资料的收集。我们不要觉得收集资料无关紧要，在我看来，资料是铁打的证据，这种证据比你说的任何东西，呼的任何口号都有力量。
对于这一点我说一下去年我到美国去访问，美国人对历史的做法就像我刚才说的那样的做法。他们做南北战争研究也好，做种族隔离研究也好，他在这方面就是一种全方位的的收集资料，首先的工作就是恢复历史的原貌。
以上是我说的第一点叫收集资料。第二点我们要做的就是，现在根据官方的说法当年打成右派的是五十五万人，对于这个数据，官方的说法我一直表示怀疑，如果这个官方的说法再加上我们民间的研究，我们可不可以得到一个接近真实的右派名录。我觉得第一就是要收集象我这样的资料编年，我这个资料是从一九五七到二OO五年，每一年只要有涉及到右派的，有回忆到右派的，那么这些资料里面都有。我搞的是这种编年体的，它的好处是一查就查得到。第二点我说的最好是编一个右派名录，编一个右派名录的工作量相当大，如果像我上面说的资料做不好的话，编右派名录的困难更是相当大。我说这个话的意思是现在相当多的研究右派的书和一些文章，很多人转去转来就是章伯钧、罗隆基，流沙河。。。这些人要不要关注呢？这些人值不值得研究呢？当然值得，非常值得。这些著名的右派（你看历史是何其的残酷，右派也有著名和不著名之分），但对于搞研究的人来讲，你不管他右派著不著名，他对于我来说，他就是一个研究的个案，一个右派他不出名，他也应该得到最为基础的关注，最为认真的对待。
但是在这点上，我可以这样讲，我们现在对很多著名右派的研究都还做得不好，比如说章伯钧先生的女儿章诒和女士写的《往事并不如烟》，写得非常好，很有文采，但事实上这本书在有些史实上是有问题的。从整体上讲，她的价值观我是认同的，但在史实上有很多是有待核实的。那当然这也并不影响《往事并不如烟》是一本非常好的书。但是对于我们读书的人来说，我们第一要务是求真，求真的目的是为了什么？是为了获得我们的自由、体面和尊严，当然也有对知识的纯然热爱。特别是对于一个知识分子，应该坚持自己的思索，所以我觉得这些著名的右派尚且没有很好地研究，何况这些小右派，和这些不出名的右派？
谢泳在给我的一封信当中曾说过（关于那封信我在我的博客上专门回了一封信，同时发在关天茶舍的新年展望当中的，文章的题目叫“与谢泳兄书”），实际上有很多不出名的右派，或名气不大的右派都没有受到应有的关注。这方面第一是资料不好找，第二是研究者的心态不大对，只注意著名右派去了，而不注意那些不著名的，也是右派的人，他们的命运也很悲惨。做为一个研究者来讲，要恢复历史的原貌，不管你著不著名，都应该得到相应的研究，相应的尊重。所以第二点我说的就是要做一个右派名录，那么右派名录应该有一些什么样的资料呢？我觉得基础资料就应该有籍贯，生年和死年，打成右派时候的年岁，主要右派言论，还有劳改地点、管制地点、主要报刊的批评目录等，我认为就要由这些资料组成。我刚才说了，还愿意重复一遍。还要加上他的劳改和管制地点，还有他的职业，比如是编辑啊，是老师啊，是工人啊还是学生等等。如果能够做到这些，就基本上是他的一个小传了。这样一个右派名录做出来，我认为是一个有利于千秋万代的事情。有这样的资料可以进行量化的分析，可以进行必要的社会学研究，对不对？
这样做慢慢地做下来，到目前为止，我也收集了很多右派资料，我目前做的右派名录已经有大几十位了，就是按照我的这个做法已经做了大几十位了。我的名录里有很多很不出名的人。我刚才说的做右派名录的最后还应有一个备注，备注就是要注明是否改正。是否改正这点很重要，因为还有很多右派是没有改正的，据中央公布的全国只有六个右派不被改正，就是说只有罗隆基、章伯钧等这几个大右派不被改正，这几乎是一个通行的说法了。意思就是说除了这六个右派，其它的右派和错误都得到了改正。说个老实话，我认为这个说法是比较无耻的，因为它不是事实。因为有很多人被打成右派不仅不了了之，而且是明着写的不予改正。
当说到这点时我要提到我的前辈黄一龙先生，黄一龙先生和沙河先生和曾伯炎先生的关系都很好，也是被打成右派的，他打成右派的时候是成都市委宣传部的副部长，还是市团委的我记不太清楚了。这位老先生现在也已有七十几岁了，他写杂文写得非常好，同鄢烈山、刘洪波、何三畏这些人还有我的的关系都不错，他们做了一本书叫《当代四川简史》，涉及到右派的部分，涉及到五十年到六十年的这个历史刚好是黄一龙先生在写，这当中涉及到四川的右派具体的数字我记不住了，大致是五点五万。那么全国是五十五万好象四川一下子就占了十分之一，所以我觉得是不大准确的，你全国有这么多个省，如果用四川的五点五万来验证全国的五十五万，我认为逻辑上都有点问题。但我不是说用这个数字来反推全国的数字，我只能说当时四川是遭受得比较凶的了，要不就是五十五万是假的。其实这个工作是可以反推的，你只要仔细做几个省的数字统计，就可以把它推翻掉。比如江苏，它要出《当代江苏简史》，也要涉及到右派，比如说它的右派是六万，你加几个省也许就冒出去五十五万了。所以这个推论是不准确的，甚至是错误的，甚至是掩盖的。
我在这里谈一下《当代四川简史》里，黄一龙先生的这段记载里说四川的右派都改正了，其中只有二十一名下落不明的事。在这二十一名下落不明的人当中，就有我们著名的右派学姐，我们学校生物系的冯元春女士，关于这位学姐我也收集了不少资料，对冯元春的言论和她在学校的行为我觉得一点也不亚于林昭。我正在准备写一篇长文章叫《纪念冯元春女士》。我对这篇文章准备了很久，主要是有些资料还有待核实，所以准备慢慢地写出来。那么这个二十一人下落不明已经写进了四川当代简史当中了，而且是官修的四川当代简史。但我在前年的有一天（具体时间要查当时的日记）我花二十元钱收到一叠资料，是四川省委统战部发的，是一九八七年八月三十一日发的（好像是这个日子，待查），这本资料是横排十六开，总共有七页，名称叫《四川不予改正的右派名录》，刚好二十一人。这和黄一龙先生写的下落不明的二十一人刚好对上了。有天我走到沙河老师那里就把这个复印资料拿了本给他，他才晓得被骗了。你想一下，光四川就有二十一位不予改正的右派，怎么全国才只有六位不予改正的右派呢？这不是荒唐吗？全国有多少个省啊，那还有多少名右派至今不予改正，这一点很多人都不知道。我如果不是收到这个资料，我实在也无法证实这个问题的真伪。所以说资料的力量是多么的伟大，他可以节省你很多废话。
对于共产党，你是说不赢他的，因为他可以开动媒体说，我们只有六位不予改正，其他的都改正了。你怎么说得赢他呢？但这是从他们自己保留的资料中看到的，你才会恍然大悟“原来如此”。所以我说做研究的人就是要有这种上天入地的研究方式，你才可以把问题完全地研究出来，这就是我说的做关于右派名录的备注一项。而这样的名录做出来，是一件功德无量的事情。但如果仅靠个人的力量，是非常微弱的。
下面第三点我觉得右派研究我们要看大的环境。现在有很多人的书，比如叶永烈的书，朱正的书，胡平的书，还有一个英国人写的关于反右的书，他们对于反右以前的基础背景不是很清楚的，或者是说得不是很清楚的。我本人可以这样说，反对和整肃知识分子在共产党当中是由来已久。有些人告诉我说（今天早上还有人在我的博客上跟帖说）应该从一九四二年算起，就是王实味他们被整肃开始算起。当然这个算法如果要在时间上从那儿算起是可以考虑，可以讨论的。但事实上如果你就不研究别的东西，你就研究中国共产党早期的党员，比如参加一大二大的这些人物，凡是知识分子味道浓的人，在二五年过后基本上都靠边站了。你知识分子味道越浓，就越被整肃，陈独秀先生，瞿秋白先生都是很著名的例子了，还有郑超粼，对不对？包括后来投降变节的陈公博这些人，都是有很浓厚的知识分子味道。我可以这样说，一个纪律非常严明，严明到残酷的组织是不能容许知识分子的。我们今天说知识分子，什么叫知识分子，有些人曾经嘲笑说，现在的知识分子无非是知道分子，这个话很刻薄，但实际上是点到了今天很多读书人的要害。很多读书人也确实只是一个知道分子，有时连知道都不知道，有些人甚至是不知道分子。那么什么是知识分子和知道分子的差别呢？我举个简单例子，从小你妈会告诉你成都在重庆的西边，你就知道了，你一直记住了，这绝对就是一个知道分子。但是重庆到成都怎么走，用什么方式走，在走的这一个过程中你有什么想法，你有什么思想和心得，有什么体验，你要做到与众不同的概括。那么我认为从这样一个意义上去思考你才会变成知识分子。同样的，你知道这个政府它很多不作为，知道这个政府他整肃百姓很厉害，厉害得让你俩脚发抖，尿都吓出来了，那你肯定是一个知道分子。但是如果你知道他为什么整肃你，要把你的尿吓出来，为什么不让你有自己的头脑，为什么不让你像一个体面而有尊严的人这样的活着，为什么不允许你批评它，反思它？如果你这样想了，你就近于一个知识分子了。这就是知道分子和知识分子的区别，所以我告诉你，一个纪律严明到残酷的组织，一个入党申请甚至要考查你的祖宗八代，要关心你的婚姻，要关心到你个人私生活的组织，他怎么可能容纳真正的知识分子。除非你完全顺服它，除非你真是识时务者为俊杰。
事实上，这样的组织不可能容纳下不同的想法，不同的声音，乃至意见的，它是不允许对它有意见的。凡是与它不同，就被称之为“反动”，我认为是极其可笑的。在我看来，生在这个国家也好，生在这个世界上也好，有不同的意见是正常的，我认为在这个世界上不存在极权意义上和意识形态上的反动。而是只有异见。如果你想对冉云飞的东西不同意也好，对张三对李四的东西不同意也好，对任何一个人，任何一个党派，任何一张报纸，任何一个电台的异见都不叫反动。你批评共产党也好，批评人大批评政协也好，那都不能叫反动，只能叫异见。就是不同的看法，仅此而已。怎么说你就叫正确，我就叫反动？哪个说你就铁定正确，我就不正确？同样的我们做研究的人，我不认为我研究出来的东西就不能批评，就不能受到置疑。我说过我随时准备着受到置疑，随时准备着来自于许多方面的不同看法，所以我们要贡献的就是异见。任何人说你反动你都不能接受。你说凭什么说我反动，难道你就是不受置疑的正确吗？哪有这样的人？哪有这样的组织？是天然的正确！就像我前两天写的那篇文章《政府越无耻，百姓越感动》。我说伟大的、光荣的、正确的这种无耻的表扬，在这个世界上绝对没有那个比这更无耻的了。当然啊，他都把光荣、伟大、正确都占齐了，你就只有去反动了，你只有把反动这个名背了嘛。如果你要说点异见，你就只有去反动，因为他把正面的都占完了，只有他正确，除非你跟着他鹦鹉学舌，趋炎附势，否则你就不能叫正确。你更不可以伟大，当然你也没什么光荣可言。所以我刚才说的右派的研究背景，就是这个右派是怎么来的，就像我刚才说的一个纪律严明到残酷的组织根本不会容纳知识分子，他首先就是民主的敌人。
一个党派，一个独裁政权，我们都知道生活当中凡是涉及到垄断的行业，电信也好，邮电也好，铁路也好都搞不好的，这是经济生活中的垄断，而政治生活中的垄断就是一党独裁。我们这个国家最大的垄断就是一党执政。而这个党这个组织严明到到非常刻毒，非常残酷，所以它天然地不能容纳知识分子。自从它诞生的那一天起，它不仅是民主的敌人，而且是自由的敌人，它也是真正的知识分子的敌人。它其实天然地就种下了一九五七年大批的知识分子被打成右派的因子。从那以后，三十年代整AB团，四十年代的整风，只不过是五七年反右的一种预演，用共产党的话来说是一个小规模的战斗。而一九五七年是一个大规模的战略演练，一九六六年的文革就近乎是野战军的战斗了。
以上是我挖的第一个根，而第二个根以一九四九年作为共产党的建国开始。如果你大量地看四七年、四八年的文献资料的话，共产党在这种温和的语气下已经显示出他们的强硬态度。而他们的强硬姿态不仅仅是用在对待国民党的态度上，强硬，非常强硬，他们在谈判当中再也没有像毛泽东到重庆谈判时的那种相对说来软弱的态度了。同样地他对知识分子的态度也很强硬。把大规模的知识分子都弄去进行土改，东北的土改，比如象丁玲写的《太阳照在桑乾河上》。四九年以后参加土改的人就更多（在这里我还要说一下，我这个人喜欢说的就是四九，也就是指四九年，有很多人说解放前解放后，而这种说法我认为都是意识形态被洗脑的说法，那就意味着他有一种先天正确，你四九年前是旧社会，而我们现在是新社会了，所以他先天就预定了他的正确性）所以我认为准确的说法就应该是四九年前四九年后。我们做学问和做事都要注意，我们很多时候被意识形态洗脑过后你不自觉地就装了很多这样的东西，这是一种集体无意识。
在四九年的六月份，著名的史学家陈垣先生，北京师范大学的校长，写了一封很著名的信叫《致胡适先生的公开信》，可以说那就是一个著名的转折点，标志着知识分子的转向。实际上是用陈垣先生作一个标志，向大家提个醒，意思是说我共产党来了，你们只有拥护和不拥护，最好是拥护，不拥护嘛，后果是什么你们应该明白。他用陈垣先生这样一个史学大师来拉开知识分子改造的序幕，很有象征意义。我认为陈垣先生称得上是一个大师。而现在很多人都称为大师，象前几天张中行死了，也称为大师，我认为很可笑的。张先生是不错，但不可谓大师。我曾经说过，四九年以后还能称得上大师的，是以前硕果仅存的人。而四九年以后受的这种中共奴化基础教育能成为大师的人的概率无限趋近于零。我这个话说得又坚决又准确，为什么呢？我的意思是说你不能说全部都不可能，万一突然出来一个天才呢，对不对？所以我用的是无限趋近于零，你仔细想一下，像余秋雨这样的名声不可谓不大吧，但是他算得上是大师吗？他算哪门子的大师？他仅仅是一个知道分子，像这些没有自己头脑的人，没有自己思想的人，仅仅是个知道分子而已。所以我说象陈垣先生这样的史学成就，那确实在二十世纪都是数得着的。陈垣先生对佛教的研究，对道教的研究，对《资治通鉴》的研究，对年代学、校雠学诸方面都有极深之成就。他抗战时写过《胡注通鉴表微》这样著名的书，为什么人他要写《胡注通鉴表微》呢？这个胡三省是南宋的人，在元朝的时候还活着，他又不敢表达自己的思想，就通过在《资治通鉴》上的批注来表达国家已经灭亡的哀痛，来表达他的民族思想和抗敌思想。陈先生的文章写得非常漂亮，学术功力也是很高深的。但是在共产党的统治下，再高的人再伟大的大师都经不住摔摆，共产党是很厉害的。在国民党统治的时候，很多人都雄起在，很多人批评国民党的腐败，那简直振振有词。但是在共产党统治以后，他就不敢说了。所以到了一九五七年储安平先生著名的“党天下”言论就被打成了大右派。储安平先生就说得非常好“国民党领导时民主是多和少的问题，而共产党领导时民主是有和无的问题”，就说你国民党再坏，民主总是有的，它只是一个多和少的问题。你看储安平先生批评国民党，他自己办《观察》杂志，批评得那么猛，当然《观察》后来是被封了，他本人受没受到像我们今天这些人受到国安这样的骚扰没有，受到拘查没有，受到传唤没有，至今我没有看到过记录。从这种对比你就可以想见哪个时代言论更自由，那个更好，那个更不好。

Comments
yjiahongyuyao
敬仰你们!——敬仰你们的思想与认真的做事态度！
冉云飞
为什么我突然不能跟帖贴长篇内容？
sooooooo
深受启发，谢冉兄！
我也一直比较关注右派以及当代史上其他运动的研究，深感资料是个大问题，也一直在注意搜集，虽有零星进帐，但收获总的不大，以后当更努力！
除谢泳外，北大钱理群先生似乎也很关注右派的命运，早先他写过《所有“右派”兄弟姐妹，你们在哪里？》，去年《随笔》杂志第5期发表了他的《活着：艰难而有尊严》，就是关于四川右派钟朝岳先生（一个“不著名”的右派）的文章，还附有钟朝岳先生自己的文章《九死一生》，冉兄想必已经寓目？
野鬼艳春
“在共产党的统治下，再高的人再伟大的大师都经不住摔摆，共产党是很厉害的。在国民党统治的时候，很多人都雄起在，很多人批评国民党的腐败，那简直振振有词。但是在共产党统治以后，他就不敢说了。所以到了一九五七年储安平先生著名的“党天下”言论就被打成了大右派。储安平先生就说得非常好“国民党领导时民主是多和少的问题，而共产党领导时民主是有和无的问题”，就说你国民党再坏，民主总是有的，它只是一个多和少的问题。”……
——
冉兄的研究方法是很对头的
得出的结论也是符合事实的
但是伟光正它永远不会主动推出历史舞台的
真正的知识分子
依旧还是只有在“太阳”底下夹着尾巴做人的
想起“三个代表”是气愤的——球大个需要你来代表啊？
除了代表你共惨裆自己！
就像送大熊猫给台湾一样——所幸的是台湾不是伟光正的顺民，还有拒绝的权利和胆气；大陆的知识分子，可悲就可悲在：对于共惨裆强加给你的种种非人待遇，你完全失去了拒绝的权利！你要独立思考？你要民主自由？——没门！
yjiahongyuyao
——“什么大脑？一堆类便”如果列宁这样说，那么按列宁的话就是:如果人的大脑都不必思索……能清一色、大一统，那样最好！也用不着统制者刻意去变着法子清理了。专治国家怕用大脑，不要大脑……限制的结果是:只要你动用大脑，就衍生了“派别”，各个群体、部门，最好是领头儿的带着一群听话的大脑袋猪。集权统制，只这个“派”的划分，就够阴森可怖、残酷无情——更何谈民主、自由？有的只是：集权统制取代民主异议；派别划分取代平等自由。看了后面两个帖，受不少启发，觉得自己该明白和思索的还有许多、许多
德阳
才读完 储安平与《观察》不久.储安平先生就说得非常好“国民党领导时民主是多和少的问题，而共产党领导时民主是有和无的问题”，如今大陆与台湾相比,也是有无民主制度与民主制度是否健全的区别.另,冉兄,视右派皆平等甚好,记住他们每一个才可能”明白”我们每一个.期待余下的几段,可惜我那时已经离川,不能亲临读书会.
蓝紫木槿
震撼！期待下文！
martincn
冉兄辛苦.你让我看到学问之路的真相,也许我和它今生无缘,但你演讲的内容与研究的态度及方法却不会轻易从我脑中抹去。一句题外话,前几日从宜宾到成都过”黄金周”,无法上网,此之间倒似近实远了。
yjiahongyuyao
这样严肃的,有良知的文章,还引不起国人思索,还有人做恶心的广告,可见国人大脑退化后的动物性有多强。列宁所说的大粪,除了异端,可能还有资产阶级自由化,不过如他之类的领导可能怕异端要比自由化更强烈.所以必要的时候可以用动物性来麻痹和阻止异端的思想.不过,我常见的是,真正的自由总是精神的,总是更多的远离动物原始本性的……
冉云飞
野鬼兄，独裁者当然不会自动退出历史舞台，所以我们得更加努力。
ddrose
可笑的是我们的教育，右似乎总是与不好连起来，而真正害人的却是一系列的左。

author: John Kennedy


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China: the dissoluteness of Olympic building chief · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN compared the reports in Mainland China and Overseas media concerning the corruption case of Beijing vice Mayor Liu Zhihua (the Olympic building chief). The former described his conduct by terms like “dissoluteness” and “degeneration” without much explanation. No comments and discussions were allowed in internet forum. Overseas media found out that “dissoluteness” means power, money and sex; but what is the exact ratio of the three is still opened to speculation.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: the phone number in Mission Impossible 3 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

There is one scene in Mission Impossible 3 taken at Shanghai old city where a phone number “13347707266” painted on an old wall just over Tom Cruise's left shoulder. A netizen traced the number and wrote an interesting “mission” story. ESWN has translated the story into English.


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China: Why Chinese people are not good at football · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Li Yin-he, a Mainland Chinese professor on woman studies tried to explain why Chinese people are not good at football by confucian culture and the national character of a peasant state: Chinese masculinity are more intellectual (zh). Virtual China has translated part of her viewpoints into English.  However, Korean also uphold confucianism and they play much better football. The cultural explanation is too Han-centered.


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DRC:  Opposition Protest in Kinshasa Today · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege reposts a MISNA article stating(Fr): “A ‘motorized procession’  (…) is currently heading towards  the area of Royal, in the center of Kinshasa.  The demonstration headed by Etienne Tshisekedi's UDPS party gathers the partisans of many political parties. They  demand once again that political talks take place for an apeasement of the climate before the first round of presidential and legislative elections  July 30.”

author: Alice Backer


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Egypt: Solidarity events planned tomorrow · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Hossam el-Hamalawy reports that the Liberties’ Committee has called for a stand in solidarity with detained journalists and activists tomorrow Thursday 12 noon, at the Press Syndicate. At 1pm, activists will also assemble in front of the General Prosecutor’s office to demand the release of the detainees.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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French Guiana: French or Brazilian? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Yesterday's Soccer World Cup match featuring Brazil was an eye-opener for Carnet de Guyane who blogs (Fr) from French Guiana: “Do I really live in France? (…) Since the beginning of the Cup, Brazilian flags are everywhere. (…) But today was worse. People dressed in yellow and green. Even I joined in.” She finds it interesting that the same fervor was not visible when France played earlier in the day.


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Global Voices in Chinese! · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Last September, Taiwanese blogger Portnoy started translating Global Voices posts into Chinese – not all of them, that would be impossible for one person, but picking and choosing things he thought the Chinese speaking world ought to know more about.
Portnoy's translation hobby has now turned into a full blown GVO Chinese Translation Project, which he recently announced on his blog here.  Translated GVO posts are being published on two blogs: one in mainland China using simplified Chinese characters, and the other in Taiwan using traditional Chinese characters (which is blocked in China because the so-called Great Chinese Firewall blocks many Taiwan-based blogging platforms).
Here is how Portnoy describes the translation group's motivations:
簡單來說，GVO翻譯計劃有兩個目的：
第一：透過翻譯，將世界其它地方的在地觀點傳達至中文世界。
第二：提供主流媒體忽略的視角，讓中文網絡世界能與其它國家的blogger對話。
To put it simply the GVO Translation Project  has two purposes:
First, to relate perspectives from other parts of the world to the Chinese speaking world through translation.
Second, to provide points of view that the mainstream media neglects, so that the Chinese online world can converse with bloggers in other countries.
If you are fluent in Chinese and want to help translate GVO,  click here for Portnoy's full write-up in Chinese on how you can get involved.   There is a GVO翻譯小組 Google Group, as well as a GVO 翻譯計畫 wiki hosted at Taipedia.
If you have questions about the project, please hit the comments section on this post and Portnoy will respond. We certainly hope that Chinese speakers from all over will be interested in helping out.
Congratulations to Portnoy and his group for getting this important project off the ground!!
Naturally, Global Voices welcomes grassroots translation efforts in all languages.

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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Guyana: Remembering Walter Rodney · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

On the 26th anniversary of the June 13th, 1980 assasination of Guyanese historian Dr. Walter Rodney, Guyanese Resource Centre links to a Guyana Chronicle article outlining the incident and Rodney's vision, and to a Kaieteur News piece announcing that progress is being made toward the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the killing.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Haiti: 12th Annual “Livres En Folie” Book Fair · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Yon Ayisyen is back but not to talk politics: “Livres en Folie, ‘The 12th Annual International Haitian Book Fair’, says (Fr) the blogger,  will take place Thursday. You can order their books online before then.”


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Haiti: Dress code · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Troy, a US missionary based in rural Haiti, is refused service at a government office because he's wearing shorts. A friend tells him, “”Look, man, we have a new president now. You can't just do whatever you want in my country, man. This is seewious.”


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Hong Kong: debate over questionable poll · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Commerical Radio in Hong Kong launched a questionable poll on “the female artists they would most like to indecently assault” and resulted in a joint protest by woman organizations. The poll was eventually banned and the programme were suspended for two months. It resulted in an online petition against the ban. And the debate between woman organizations and youth netizens took place in internet forums and blogs.
Duimanpark pointed out that the issue had been politicized and the Government took the chance to strengthen its control over broadcasting industries (zh). And there were over 100 comments made in a blog post on the woman organization joint statement in inmediahk.net; the hot debate was concerning the strategy of woman organizations in relation to youth, sex and media space (zh).


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India: Kashmir and Fanaa · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kashmir on a recent release Fanaa which was based on protagonists in the backdrop of Kashmir.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Indonesia: Where the Left failed · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Martin Manurang in Indonesia tries to answer “Why the right wing radicals succeeded in establishing their network while the left failed?”

author: Preetam Rai


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Iran: Football & Politics · Global Voices
Farid Pouya

We read in Fallosafah that a few days ago in Iranian TV, a football magazine editor was saying that victories in football can be helpful for the governance of country (Persian). This editor added Brazilian government will face problems if their football team does not achieve victories.

author: Farid Pouya


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Iran: New Blog to Back Women · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

A new blog, Zanirani, is launched to back the women activists who tried to demonstrate two days ago but was repressed by the policewomen. The blog says what these women asked for such as more legal rights, is our wish too (Persian). Many people including academics, journalists, writers and bloggers have already added their names to this blog.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: Iraqi in Jordan · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Zeyad is in Amman, and what he describes is not what Jordanians might agree to. He said: “Amman is the same as I left it last time. An ever expanding bustling city that gives the false impression of modernity and a progressive, enlightened society. Yet, every Jordanian I spoke to thinks that Zarqawi is a martyr. One taxi driver frankly told me that one should not rejoice over Zarqawi's death, for one simple reason: Americans and Iraqis are happy about it.”


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Israel: Life over the fence · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Jerusalem Gypsy asking a Palestinian friend if he will be at her daughter wedding, he said “Only if I'm not in jail” and told me he is up for a court hearing the day before her daughter's wedding. The reason? He invited two old friends of his, men in their sixties, to his home to do some work at his house. He's been friendly with them for years and they do handymen work around his house. Unfortunately, the separation fence was built so that his friends are over the fence and not inside like he is. He is a resident of Jerusalem, they are now considered West Bank Palestinians. By law, he cannot any longer invite his buddies that he knew most of his life over to his home even for a cup of coffee unless they have a permit. Well, he was caught by the police who checked their id's and this could carry a 6 month prison sentence (even if the “infiltrators” have a clean police record which they do). He didn't feel like asking his old buddies whether they had permits. He did what he always did and invited them over. Everyone in his neighborhood does because the fence split the town in half.


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Japan:  foreigners database · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

JP in Japundit reported that the Japanese government is planning to create a central database of information about all registered foreigners in the country for the purpose of “improving services to foreign residents.” Is that really for your own good?


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Kazakhstan: Sarsenbaev Public Hearing · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Aldiyar reports on a public hearing on the conclusions of the preliminary investigation into the murder of the Kazakh opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaev.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Kenya: Stocks & Investment options · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan blogger, Bankelele posts the latest tips and news on the Kenyan stock market and local investment deals

author: Sokari Ekine


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Korea: blogging world cup  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yesterday it was the Korea first World Cup match. Andy in the Marmot's hole was doing semi-live blogging on Korea-Togo game; while Robert Koehler discussed about the joy killing comments made by Hankyoreh concerning how the nation seems to have forgotten the fourth anniversary of the deaths of Sin Hyo-sun and Sim Mi-seon, two middle school girls who were accidentally crushed by a USFK armored vehicle on June 13, 2002.


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Kurdistance: Wednesday? · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Today is Wednesday, correct?  I just came back from organizing a conference for work and well…my mental faculities are not up to their normal snuff.  So today, we will quickly review the top five posts from the Kurdish blogosphere.
#1-Sami from An Iraqi's Thoughts is back writing again after a hiatus of several months.  In this comeback post he states that he no longer lives in Iraq and hasn't felt like commenting on the events there because of his chosen exile status:
I have not stopped caring, but I have realised that false hope was what I used to have. The death of Zarqawi, and yes he was a criminal and a terrorist, is not going to solve the militant islamic fundamentalism that leaves tennis players being killed and women being forced into submission.
#2-Miriam from Pearls of Iraq writes that “I hope that I am not the only one that gets detoured on the internet.” She also lists a bunch of Kurdish videos clips of various “pick-me-up” subjects available on youtube.  Lots of fun.
#3-Vladimir on From Holland to Kurdistan lists Kurdish video clips of a very different type: Kurdish protests in Syria and Turkey (Western and Northern Kurdistan).
#4- the-kurdistani is also writing again after a brief hiatus.  This week an impassioned plea for the Kurds in Northern Kurdistan (Southeast Turkey) to stand up to their oppressors:
realize! no one will help you. you are alone in this sacred war of freedom, in this holy cause. no one will help you, unless they have interests in helping you. splash some water to your tired and wrinkled face, come to back life! die, if it is necessary for an ever-living cause! dont hesitate, think and re-think what your enemies have done to you!
#5- and a little bit of lightheartedness from Rasti in comment on a video clip of President Bush sparring with a Kurdish woman at a press conference:
I think Dubya's worst nightmare would be that of being tied to a chair and enclosed with a room full of Kurdish women who are determined to get their message across, and I have the suspicion that if his nightmare ever came to pass, we'd have a free and independent Greater Kurdistan in a New York minute.
Alright, so there is my top five (and yes…I know that three of them deal with video, but sometimes you need to relish in the lighter side).  Have a great week!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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La Reunion: Living on a Volcano · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reunion-USA2 writes (Fr): “When I lived in La Reunion, some wondered whether I was frightened of living so close to a volcano. Well, actually no, you never think about it just like, I think, Californians never think of the ‘Big One’ (gigantic earthquake) that might happen any minute.”


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Lebanon: Take it to the next step · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

So now we're back in Lebanon. A country where an influential minority, that I call the cosmopolitan population, finds that it can mix freely and enjoy leisure time together without regards to sectarian lines. But is that as far as it goes in Lebanon? Leisure and Friendships? What about the more serious matters in life? Why don't we find more business partnerships that cross familial and sectarian lines? What about Politics? And Marriages? Why the red line? Raja wonders.


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Lust, Caution · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Danny Bloom in Japundit provided some backgrounds on the Ang Lee's latest film “Lust, Caution”. The original story by  the late Chinese novelist Eileen Chang (張愛玲) (1920-1995) is only about 10 pages long.


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Malaysia: Independent Police Commission · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

KTemoc argues why Malaysia needs an independent body to investigate the wrong doings of the police.


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Mexico: Three New Presidential Polls · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Three new fascinating presidential polls have just come out in Mexico. Both the Mitofsky (ES) and Milenio/María de las Hera (ES) polls give Andrés Manuel López Obrador a slight lead over Felipe Calderón, but in the biggest shock, a group called “Mexicans & Americans Thinking Together” say that PRI candidate Roberto Madrazo is actually ahead of Felipe Calderón (ES).

author: David Sasaki


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Nepal: Media and the Government · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepali Netbook on the intricate relationships between the politicians, diplomats and the media. “It turns out the royal government paid up to 99 journalists or media organizations to carry favorable coverage.”


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Nigeria: Adire Textiles · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Timbuktu Chronicles posts on Adire African Textiles, a business that produces local traditional Adire fabrics


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Nigeria: Bakassi Peninsula · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Shhh comments on the The Bakassi peninsula  which lies between Nigeria and Cameroon – is rich in oil and subject of continued disputes and violence between the two countries.


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Nigeria: Leadership essay competition · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Naijablog writes about a Nigerian Leadership inititiative worth 250k to be won for writing an essay on Nigerian leadership.


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Pakistan: Hindu temple · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lahore Metroblogging on the destruction of the only Hindu temple in the city, and clearing the air.


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Peru: Creative Commons Contest · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The launch of Creative Commons licenses is coming soon to Peru wit Perú iLaw taking place on June 27th and 28th. A contest was just announced, open only to Peruvian bloggers, which seeks the clearest explanation of why Creative Commons licenses are useful in Peru (ES). The three winning essayists will win free entry to iLaw and a Creative Commons kit.


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Philippines: National Flag, U.S. Connection · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Manila Rat finds that Philippines national flag has design elements that pays homage to the US flag.


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Pressuring change through blogging II · Global Voices
Maurina H

A late addition to the issue concerning pressuring change in the government through blogging is Zul Funkmasta. He postulates that not only the education system that does not encourage voicing out ideas, but it is also the Bruneian culture of discouraging the voicing out of ideas, concerns and criticisms.
We can blame it on the education system or even our own culture for this 'sydrome'. The idea of voicing out ideas, concerns and criticisms are some what not part of our 'operating system'.

author: Maurina H


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Russia: Buzz Words For Journalists · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Imitating the legendary Ostap Bender, East-West Shout Out comes up with a “writers set” for journalists covering Russia: “The solution is to create set of code words which can be used in different combinations / situations and with varying density.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia, Ukraine: Bringing a Spouse to the U.S. · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stephan Clark of Everybody I Love You sets out to explore what it takes to bring one's foreign spouse to the United States – partly because this is what the subjects of his research often have to go through, but also because he is getting married to a Russian national himself. Stephan also writes about the wonderful work of currently Lviv-based photographer Carolyn Drake: “Carolyn and I had hoped to document the men and women who meet in Ukraine through the marriage agencies.”


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Singapore: Singapore-Australia Relations · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Serendipity points to an article on Singapore's Prime Minister's visit to Australia and hopes that relations will improve after the low point last year when Singapore hanged an Australian who was convicted of  smuggling heroin.


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Sri Lanka: Military and the LTTE · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

How far is the Sri Lankan military sold out to the LTTE. Moju on “Defence hierarchy in the country was in for one of its biggest shocks last week when it was presented with a list of some 45 names – all from the security forces – who have been found to be on the LTTE pay roll.”


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Sri Lanka: Tantrums in Oslo · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Tiny Little Fractures on the LTTE – Sri Lankan Government talks in Oslo –  “It looks like the Tigers are doing it again, walking out of Monitor Safety talks (not peace talks) because of the lack of ‘ministerial’ representation.”


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Taiwan: ipod sweatshop · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The breaking news of ipod sweatshop in China has been picked up by Taiwan Citizen journalism (zh) website Coolloud as the contracting company Foxconn (registered in Hong Kong) is owned by a Taiwanese multi-national corporate Hon Hai. According to the report workers work 15 hours a week while earning USD 50 a month. The Shengzhen (Southern part of China, near Hong Kong) based factory  campus is surrounded by many security guards. If a worker leaves the production line, they would be punished. Male workers’ punishment is doing “press-up”!


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Taiwan: On Chen’s recall · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The recall motion on the Taiwan President Chen Shiu Bien is now a most hot topic.  David from jujuflop had a lengthly discussion on whether it will succeed? whether it is a good move? or whether it will backfire KMT? etc.   Michael Turton also picked up the discussion in The View from Taiwan.


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The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bolivian bloggers are beginning to take full advantage of the different multimedia tools at their disposal.  Jonathan Olguin recently opened a Youtube account and has begun to upload various news clips from Bolivian television.  His blog Business and Politics in Bolivia also provided samples of some of the pro-autonomy commercials that have been running on television in anticipation for the July 2 Referendum on Autonomy.  A new blog called Marketing S.O.S. [ES] created by Leonardo Byon covers different advertisements and marketing campaigns in Bolivia and around the world.  In Bolivia, the word “marketing” is not translated into spanish, as it remains in the english form of the word in business and in academic circles.
La Vida del Chico Larva [ES] is a blog in which cartoonist, Joaquin Cuevas finds space to publish some of his art.  His work can now be seen in the newspaper El Candil, after severing ties with the major La Paz newspaper, La Razon.  He is also working on a series of flash animations.  His latest cartoon depicts a Frankenstein promising a new country through a Constitution, which appears to be thrown together in a similar Frankenstein-esque fashion.  The aforementioned Referendum coincides with an election of 255 representatives or Constitutents to rewrite the nation’s Constitution.  With a little less than two weeks away, no one seems to care about the elections.  Jim Schultz from the Democracy Center’s blog explains why it is a lifeless election, where one cannot even tell an important election is right around the corner.
What will be debated is how the country will be reformed and whether the new Constitution will resemble anything like the previous document.  Joup, a blogger from Santa Cruz, highlights important parts of Article I of the current Constitution [ES], which states, “(Bolivia) is multi-ethnic and pluricultural, based on unity and solidarity of all Bolivians.”  Her blog is called Este arcoiris se llama Joup (This Rainbow is named Joup) and it appears she finds these words in the current Constitution to be vital.
Some worry this constitutional exercise may bring about more confrontation between Bolivians.  Even with the new Assembly on the horizon, the conflicts between Bolivians have not ceased.  Palabras Libres’ Mario Ronald Duran Chuquimia questions, “Does housing cost a life? [ES]”, which refers to the recent conflict in the Department of Oruro where a group calling themselves “The Roofless Movement” began to occupy land and current dwellings. He thinks the dream of having one’s own dwelling is a legitimate goal, but demanding free land continues the vicious cycle leaving Bolivia as the continuous beggar.  The conflict between members of the movement and the police sent to forcibly remove those who had illegally seized land and dwellings tragically left one policeman dead and several others injured. Angel Caido also writes about the tragic confrontation and states that the just and reasonable operation should have been acted upon when the crowd was only 200 and not when it ballooned to over 8,000 [ES].  He blames the Departmental Prefect, who didn't take swift action to prevent the tragic event.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Tunisia/World Cup: Rahdi Jaidi Saved the Day · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says (Fr) Afrogoals.com: “Tunisia can thank Rahdi Jaidi. He scored the equalizing goal for Roger Lemerre's team which was headed for a big disappointment against Saudi Arabia (2-2). He was therefore named ‘Man of the Match’ by FIFA.”


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Ukraine: Coalition-Building War · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes posts an update from Ukraine's coalition-building front. More info in previous entries on Foreign Notes.


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Ukraine: Family Trip to Crimea · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Petro of Petro's Jotter is “suffering from blogger's block” but manages to share impressions and highlights from a recent family trip to Crimea: “The meeting with Dimri the real estate guy in Yalta whose parents are 100% Tatar, who spent 12 years living in Donetsk and now taught himself to speak and read Ukrainian and insists on raising his children as Ukrainians.”


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Ukraine: SBU and the Clans · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about the dangerous relationship between Ukraine's security service and “the clans.”


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Uruguay: Visiting the US Embassy · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Abby describes her visit to the US embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay.


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Uzbekistan: The Coke Wars · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann discusses the latest round in the wrangling over Coca-Cola in Uzbekistan. The country's bottling company was formerly owned by the former son-in-law of the country's president, and the former owner is now suing Coca-Cola for not backing him when the Uzbek government took his stake in the country from him.


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Venezuela: Electoral Fascists · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Guillermo Parra has translated an Op-Ed by Fernando Rodríguez, which appeared in yesterday's Tal Cual exploring the competing rhetoric around Venezuela's electoral process.


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Venezuela: The Boom to Continue? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Oil Wars seems convinced that Venezuela's tremendous economic growth with continue and increase in the coming year.


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Violence, Policewomen & Football · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to the media and several blogs police in Iran have beaten and arrested tens of people after a group of women activists tried to hold a demonstration asking for greater legal rights in a square of the capital Tehran on Monday 12 June. Several bloggers have reported about this event and taken photos of the demonstration.
Pictures say more than words
Mansour Nasiri, a Tehran-based photo blogger, has taken several photos of the protest and police women (identifiable by their brown headscarfs). The blogger explains that the rally demanded equal rights for women. According to Nasiri the female police officers beat many of the women  protesters.
The policewomen, identifiable by their brown headscarfs and the truncheons they are holding, are seen on the left of the picture. Nasiri explains that, as well as asking for equal rights, the women were calling for the ullification of a polygamy law that allows Iranian men to have four wives at the same time.
Kosoof another photo blogger has published excellent photos from the repressed peaceful protest. The blogger says :
“I feel pain…a lot…not for the photos that you are looking at…but for what I saw and there is no photo of that (Persian).”
We are human beings with no rights!
Sharbighese says she was scared and had an exam to prepare but she decided to join the demonstration. She says the number of cops were more than people who dared to shout slogans such as “we are human beings but we have no rights” or “we want the abolition of anti women's laws” (Persian). The police could not control the crowd, many people watch us but afraid of supporting movement…
Repression & policewomen
Lady Sun writes about the information that she got through yahoo messenger from a friend in Tehran. She reports:
“One of my friends who was in an office near Hafte Tir square ( protest place) told me in yahoo messenger that there were a lot of policewomen with teargas. They had also red sprays to put on women, so that they would be recognized in case of escaping. She also said that the event was badly organized and not a single location in the big square was selected from before. So people were scattered in different parts of the square. She said some people were taken to jail and some people were taken to hospitals”
and in a later addition she says
* Update 2: Pain, pain, pain, disgust, violence, cruelty, barbarity, fundamentalism…
Nobody knows exactly how many people are arrested. Some are disappeared, some have voluntarily disappeared; no accurate news. My friends’ bodies ache because of being beaten up, but their hearts ache more. Their hearts ache, but
While the main focus of attention inside Iran was on the demonstration many eyes were also outside the country – and of course it was the football world cup which occupied their attention.
Iran lost its first match to Mexico: 3 to 1. Iranian bloggers as usual try to analyse the match and find the guilty ones for this defeat!
Where are supporters ?
Legofish says German TV did not show Iranian supporters in stadium, except a sleepy man, even when Iran scored a goal. The blogger says may be the Iranian government asked them not to show them (Persian). The blogger says according that according to his friends in Germany there are not many Iranians around to watch Iranian national team matches.
A Defensive Game
Parsa says our team wanted to take one point out of the match and played a defensive game. The blogger adds it was a heavy loss and our team is a fragile one with a lot of difficulties in its defence (Persian).
Good coach but not great one!
NickAhang, Canada based blogger & cartoonist, says our coach, Branco, is a good but not great one. The bloggers like many other Iranians have criticised Ali Daei, the Iranian captain, as being too old to play. The blogger adds if he wanted to honour Daei  (37 years old player) he could make him his assistant. NickAhang addsAli Daei is  a great player but he is only a part of national team (Persian).
What is the real disaster?
But some defeats are more significant than others. Abbas Maroufi, Germany based writer & blogger, says our defeat in football is not the real disaster. He writes that beating up women by the police women is the real disaster (Persian).


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West African blogs round-up · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

Under the acacias, whilst giving a brief round-up of some news from Burkina Faso writes about Rains, locusts and hunger in a blog entry titled:  “What's happening in Burkina?“
The rains have started in the south of the country, and good rains are predicted for the Sahel. Steve tells me there has even been at least one rain in the north, although this is too early to be the start of the season there. Last year's harvest was good, but as we enter the toughest time of year, long-term effects from the 2004-5 food crisis continue due to “depletion of household assets including high livestock mortalities and indebtedness, notably in the northern part of the country, where very high malnutrition rates continue to be reported.” The UK is giving £1.5 over the next three years to the West African Sahel region to try and help tackle the vulnerabilities of the area.
Locusts fortunately seem unlikely to be a problem this year.
The FIFA World Cup is on, and so is the excitement amongst soccer fans worldwide.
the (wish I was in) Ghana journal shares an opinion about Ghana's chances in the Germany 2006: God bless our homeland
Last October, when Ghana qualified for the World Cup, a gigantic street party broke out in the middle of Osu, my old neighbourhood. I was having dinner with the JHR crew and we stumbled on the street party and joined in to the dancing, and were promptly swarmed by all teenage boys within arms’ reach. It was an incredibly good time, one of my favourite memories. I had rushed to file a story for the Toronto Star, the power went out, and then the dancing. So with the big event starting today, I read this story and was pretty shocked. Even when Ghana got smoked at the African Cup in January, footie was on everyone's mind. I've been hearing how Ghana doesn't have a chance, is in such a tough group, etc. But the Black Stars gave me two of my favourite memories from my time there (the other: watching them smoke Uganda in a qualifier in Kumasi) so I will be cheering until they're back on the plane.
Another Ghanain blog, The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana, joins in: Excitement Reigns Supreme in Ghana as Black Stars Play Italy this Evening
Over the past couple of weeks, many column inches have been dedicated to praising the Black Stars over their possible defeat of the Italian Azzuri in the FIFA 2006 World Cup. Considering Ghana is in the World Cup for the first time ever, pundits might speculate wrongly and dismiss the Ghanaian team as underdogs.
Oluniyi David Ajao adds his voice: Africa in the World Cup (Germany 2006)
Africa is parading five nations in this years edition of one of the world’s most popular sports event, the World Cup. Out of the five nations, four are featuring in theWorld Cup for the first time ever. These countries are Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Angola with the exception of Tunisia who have featured in the World Cup before.
Over the past few days, Cote d’Ivoire was beaten by Argentina in a match that ended 2 – 1 whilst Angola was beaten just yesterday by a lone goal in a match with Portugal.
Away from soccer, Scribbles from the den looks at Independent Candidates: The Much Needed Tonic for Cameroon’s Lethargic Democratic Process?
Since the 1990s when multiparty politics once again became the norm across Africa, the possible participation of independent candidates in elections has been the subject of heated debates on the continent. Increasingly, the idea is gaining ground as many African countries now allow independent candidates to take part in local and national elections. In fact, all over Africa many independent candidates now control local councils, occupy seats in parliament, and in the case of Benin’s Yayi Boni, occupy the Presidency of the Republic.
Home of the mandinmories shares some Images of Torture
Reporters without borders release the above photos of the tortured body of a Gambian journalist at the hands of the security forces.
Read the rest of the accompanying press release at the blog.

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Zimbabwe: Army steals maize · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Beareded Man reports that the Zimbabwe army steals maize from local farmers...”The Zimbabwe government has stationed soldiers and police on roads leading into cities to prevent farmers from moving maize to a black market for the grain in urban areas, forcing them to instead sell to the state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB)”.


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Africa: Ebay · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

White African posts on “Global Artisans” and EBay in the developing world and has some ideas about how this may work in Africa.


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Africa: Micro credit plus · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Africa Unchained points to a report on the importance of providiing access to credit for  micro-entrepreneurs particularly women the majority of whom are stuck at micro level and unable to expand.


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Africa: World cup – 1 point for Ghana & Africa · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Soul on Ice is writing daily reports of  an African perspective on the  World Cup – Germany v Poland its David Odonkor who comes out tops!


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Armenia: A320 Crash Investigation · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Nessuna notes that the analysis of the black box from the Armenian jet that crashed near Sochi recently is finished, but says that it does not answer all the questions about the crash. She also says that the results of the investigation should be public.


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Armenia: Interview with Christine Allison · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian interviews Christine Allison, a researcher curently in Armenia studying the oral history traditions of Kurds.


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Bahamas: Sustainable tourism · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Bahamian tourism industry is almost 200 years old, writes Nicolette Bethel, but that longevity may in fact work against its becoming a sustainable enterprise. “It’s not sustainable because it doesn’t place the uniqueness of The Bahamas — our landscapes, our culture, our selves — at the centre of the deal,” she says. “Oh, it sells that uniqueness, rather the way that Madison Avenue sells the features of cars; but we don’t make that uniqueness central to the endeavour, so much so that it will be preserved.”


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Bangladesh: Alternate Healthcare · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

imperfect world 2006 on alternate healthcare in Bangladesh. “The experience has left me dazed but at the same time has given me a wonderful insight into healthcare – both modern and alternative – as it operates in Bangladesh.”


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Barbados: Enron was here · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press points out the fallaciousness of Prime Minister Owen Arthur's assertion that “Happily, we in the Caribbean have thus far been spared Enron-type experiences,” by reminding us that Enron used Barbadian and other Caribbean “offshore companies and banks to set up some 900 front companies to facilitate the movement of money to the detriment of Enron shareholders.”


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Cambodia: Ramvong – Ramvong Disco in London · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Andy Brouwer points to an Ramvong Disco being organized in London. For people who don't have experience with this traditional Cambodian Dance, Andy posts a diagram of hand/feet movements to get one started.


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China: fabricated World Cup News · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a local news report on the massive fabrications made by Chinese reporters on World Cup. For example, a reporter without a pass wrote an exclusive interview with FIFA World Cup committee chairman Franz Beckenbauer!

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Google.cn moved to Beijing · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Williamlong explains that earlier this month internet users could not access google.cn. Now the server is moved to Beijing. It implies that google.cn will be more stable by subjecting itself to the list of censored keywords (zh).


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Egypt:  How to be an activist in 3 seconds · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Here is a small tip from the Egyptian blogger El3en Elsehrya on how to become an activist:
Just make a random mix of talks about the following:
1-Human Rights
2-Women Rights
3-Coptic Prosecution
4-Detained Bloggers
5-Random Personal Experiences
6-Sexual Freedom
7-Resenting Religions
8-Communism and socialist theories
9-Whatever topic others are talking about at the same time , e.g Judges…
10-Egypt is Not an Arabic country
The tip is a very close description of the existing topics discussed in the Egyptian blogsphere.


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Ethiopia: Migrating to Arabia · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nazret.com points to a report on the perilous journey of Ethiopian migrants to the Arabian Peninsula


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Guyana: Blog performance · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyana Providence Stadium assesses the performance of a few Guyanese blogs. Among the category headings is “started out hot & sweaty and then simply fizzed out”.


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India: Culture specific nursery rhymes · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A hilarious post on Domain Maximus as a response to the govenrment in one state deciding that traditional nursery rhymes were to be done away with. He comes up with a bunch of side splitting new ones that are more culture specific.


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Interview with Leo Prieto · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

(he doesen't surf the internet, he dives into it!)
Leo Prieto has blogger activism in his DNA. He has lived in countries like Thailand and Holland, and now resides in Chile. He has personally taught more than 2,000 people in Chile to better understand “Web 2.0” and use blogs. He has several projects, from a start-up focused on developing web applications, called Aardvark (ES), to a network of sites which he owns and operates, including FayerWayer (ES), Saborizante(ES), Nuyorker (ES), Zimio (ES) and his personal blog (ES) , that recieve almost half a million readers a month.  Along the way he has been very active on major issues involving the democratization of technology in Chile.
GV: Leo tell us about the blog workshops
LP: We did these workshops with Fernando Flores (ES) for ten months in 2005. We started by giving the participants a view of the future, and by motivating them to get involved in being part of it. Then we taught them how to use blogs and other empowering tools that are available for free on the Internet. They all left the workshop with their own blog. In Arica, for example, some of the students that took part in the workshops, later put on their own workshops, thus teaching more people.
Since then, a lot of new communities have appeared. Like  “Cloggers”, in Concepción. My first lecture involving blogs was in 2004, specifically about Creative Commons and the freedom of information. So you could say that I have been participating in the blog conversations since late 2004, but it wasn’t until I met Mr. Flores that I understood how important it was to get everyone in on this.
GV: What are your impressions of Chile's blogosphere?
LP: At first blogs they were something weird, now they are more professionalized. The blogosphere started with a handful of individuals, early adopters. Then Atina Chile (ES) started talking about blogs in Chile. Even though it is not widely recognized, Senator Fernando Flores introduced this conversation into the Chilean public agenda. So, there is a blogosphere before and after Atina Chile. Before, we blogged without knowing or recognizing other Chilean bloggers. Now a lot of them know each other thanks to this conversation generated through Atina Chile. I met Roberto Arancibia  (ES) there, and he has blogged since early 2003 – he actually started his blog almost a week after I started my own. Later on, Atina Chile started doing blogging workshops, so a new generation of bloggers sprouted from there. There are different communities of Chilean bloggers. A group of bloggers appeared in reaction to Atina Chile, who didn’t participate in the workshops, but started blogging thanks to all the noise that was made. Groups like the Chilean band CHC (ES), for example, use their blogs to promote their concerts and upload their songs. It’s amazing to see how people show up to their concerts, only aware of them thanks to the blog, and then sing along to all the songs. Original Hamster (ES), another musician, does the same thing. I see blogs as a powerful new media that can compete directly with TV or radio.
GV: How do you see Chile's possibilities with communication?
LP: There are two main issues that concern me, broadband and high definition television. I think people should start taking broadband very seriously, and get concerned about this issue. Citizens should demand broadband as a right. I talk a lot about this subject, trying to promote my concern through the radio, newspapers and blogs. Together, with Atina Chile, we have gone to see the Chilean Sub-Secretary of Telecommunications, to express our interest in helping the Chilean government in achieving “Broadband for All” (Banda Ancha para Todos). In Chile the telecom companies sell broadband, when it isn’t. They sell Internet connections at speeds ranging from 128 Kbps to 800 Kbps as broadband. This is false advertising, a lie. According to the ITU, broadband starts at 1.5 Mbps. So the first thing that should happen, is to make a law that regulates this. So companies don’t trick their users into believing they have something that isn’t what they expect. Today real broadband (1 Mbps and up), is a luxury. This must change, it has to be the starting point for any Internet connection.
Also, this “minimum speed” has to increase as time goes by. So in 10 years, the basic broadband connection should start at 25 Mbps, or hopefully more.
Public schools have 128 Kbps connections. Most of them are connected thanks to an initiative from Education Ministry called Enlaces(ES). These programs got all the public schools online. But 128 Kbps is not enough, specially if you are sharing. They need true broadband. Since the program started, ten years have gone by. If they had broader connections, public schools, medical centres and municipalities could be the Internet hubs where neighbours and citizens could get online. The fact is that this will allow people to get motivated and be a part of the information society. Governments have to be serious on this issue. In Korea, for example, the government took it so seriously that now 75% of the population have broadband Internet access. In Chile that figure is close to only 0.5%. One of the ISPs, Telefónica (ES), says that 4.000.000 Chileans have internet access. But that doesn’t mean in their houses, in most cases it means the can access the Internet where they study or work. Cisco, the broadband equipment manufacturer, says that 800.000 people in Chile have broadband, but that is counting connections as low as 128 Kbps. If you only count connections of 1 Mbps or higher, that number goes down to 70.000 in a country with a population on 15 million.
Chile is in a privileged position today. It’s the Latin American leader in information technology but we are loosing this advantage because the government doesn’t have a master plan to keep this up. During the Ricardo Lagos administration, a lot of research was done on the issue, but the actual government doesn’t recognize that research, and wants to do it again! The four years of this goverment is not enough time to do new research, develop a plan, and deploy it! President Bachelet said in her speech of the 21st of May, that one of the four main concerns of her government would be to give people access to the information society. Let’s hope she delivers before her term is over.
GV:  Wat about the digital TV concern?
LP: Because of the World Cup, a lot of people are buying a new TV. In 1962, a lot of Chileans bought colour TV's to watch the World Cup. But people today don’t know what they are buying. People don’t know the difference between a Plasma TV and a High Definition Plasma TV. There is a demand, but that demand is not real because people don’t really know what they are buying. They could be buying a beautiful flat screen Plasma TV, that won’t work with HDTV. The government hasn’t chosen an HDTV standard, so the TV channels can’t publicize these services, and so the stores don’t either. If the government and the TV channels don’t get their act together,  this will never happen. Today no South American country has high definition. In Brazil, a cable operator will air the first high definition transmission in this part of the world fo the 2006 World Cup, in June. We could have been first.
GV: Are we loosing our ranking in the technology sphere?
LP: If we want to be the technological leaders in Latin America, we need to achieve four things: low cost computers, public broadband Internet access, promote freedom of information and open source software. Chile was one of the first countries in the region to offer cellphone services. Historically we have been in the forefront of technological deployment in South America, but now we are loosing it. Argentina and Brazil commited to the “100 dollar laptop” that Negroponte is promoting. Chile said that we have to think it over, and decide on  another solution. Think about what, which solution? After all the schoolchildren in Argentina in Brazil have laptops, then will we decide to do it?
Brazil sees the force of Linux and Open Source Software and invests on that, on developing their own “flavor” of Linux, adequate to their needs. Their government decides to promote Creative Commons and the freedom of information. Our government’s official advisor on these matters is Microsoft! One company that will obviously promote their own products. In other words, Chile is missing the chance to take part of the enormous open source community, and instead commits to one company’s view.  If the Chilean government promoted Free Software, we could have our own version of Linux, an incredibly powerful free operating system, instead of promoting a crippled version of Windows.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Iran: Fashion & Photo · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kamangir has published a photo from an Iranian fashion show. The blogger says he wants to show that Iranian women have the sense of fashion.


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Iran: Inflation! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Ali Mazroi, reformist politician & blogger, writes about inflation and how government has failed to control prices. The blogger writes there is no activity in real estate and capital (stock) market then more money is spent for consumption. He adds government’s decision to reduce interest rates discourages people for saving and gives them the motivation to consume (Persian). All these consumption will push prices higher and people’s buying power will decrease.


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Kazakhstan: Freedom House · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann looks at Freedom House's assessment of Kazakhstan and finds it lacking.


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Kazakhstan: Kazcosmos Guest Workers · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila of neweurasia translates a Russian language post about Kazakhstan's entry into the space industry. The country has launched two of its own satellites from its launching facilities at Baikonur and now it has plans to woo foreign aerospace professionals to work in Kazakhstan.


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Kenya: Village life · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

A report on the rains, drought and world cup from Kenyan Villager


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Laos: Preparing Banana Leaves · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Manivan Larprom at Thai & Lao Food Blog has instruction on how to prepare banana leaves for wrapping traditional Thai and Lao food.


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Malaysia: Serpent Valley · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Malaysian blogger Alvin Lim points to an article about an archeological site in Malaysia that was seat of a pre-islamic civilization.


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Mexico: Politics and Cows in Mexico City · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boz has posted some pre-election notes from his recent time in Mexico City. In other news from the capital, José Luis López says that Cow Parade – the art phenomenon which started in Zurich – just ended its Mexico City leg and is now headed for Guadalajara. You can see photos of the cows at Jose Luis’ Flickr account.


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Nepal: A democratic future · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

International Nepal Solidarity Network on ensuring a democratic future for Nepal. “Many organizations and individuals are collectively organizing a national conference entitled Citizens’ Initiatives for Future-2 on Asar 3-4, 2063 (June 17-18, 2006) at the premises of Tribhuvan University's central campus at Kirtipur. The main objective of this conference is to actively deliberate on the issues and methodologies for ensuring inclusive, independent and participatory constituent assembly election in Nepal.”


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Nepal: April Revolution and after · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

History is rewritten rather fast after the April Revolution in Nepal. United We Blog! on “Meeting half a dozen Janaandolan (People’s Movement) victims who are trying to cope with post-treatment life, our blogger probes beneath their dreams, desires, anxieties and sorrows and concludes that they have become forgotten heroes.”


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Nigeria: Identity politics · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Monef in the city writes about identity in the age of “globalisation” – a Nigerian born in Britain, living in the US and working at the British Embassy – so the question is “who is she”?


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Nigeria: Republic of Monarchs · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Chipplas Weblog goes in search of “true republics” and finds that in Nigeria for example, a republic that is full of monarchs that in his opinion have no place in modern Nigeria


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Pakistan: Germany’s Economy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within on the impact on Germany's economy thanks to the World Cup. “Last time the world paid so much attention to Germany was 16 years ago when the (Berlin) Wall came down. During ongoing World Cup 2006 German government, businesses, economists and politicians are hoping for a kick, to the national economy – let up in tourism with a million soccer coming there, Adidas anticipating {euro} 1.2 billion worth of World Cup related sales, 60,000 new jobs being created and every third job is expected to be a permanent one.”


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Philippines: Fast Food and Health · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Dr. Emer at Parallel Universes talks about a consumer group in the US suing a fast food chain for using oil with trans fatty acids that might cause coronary heart diseases. The blogger, concerned about health issues observes the popularity of the same chain in Philippines and says “As they say around here, “masarap kumain ang Pilipino.” Period. I'm sorry to foreign readers if I can't quite capture the exact meaning of that phrase in English, but it roughly says that Filipinos love to eat. Their eyes and tongues cannot discern the difference between good fat and bad fat. The argument is always — is it delicious or not?”


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Poland: Homophobia and the EU’s Mild Response · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srdjan Cvijic of The TransAtlantic Assembly writes about the EU's unfairly mild reaction to homophobia and intolerance in Poland: “More importantly, the case of Poland, and the mild reaction of other member states, directly compromise the EU enlargement and foreign policy. How can the EU pretend to demand from the hopeful candidates in Turkey and South Eastern Europe to respect its human rights standards when some of its own Member States (Poland) lag behind in this respect?”


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Poland:  Warsaw Equality Parade · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot posts Joseph Vogt's pictures from the Equality Parade that took place in Warsaw on June 10, and writes about the event that drew from 2,000 to 10,000 people: “Unlike similar marches in Poznan and Krakow which ended in bloody violence, this demonstration was peaceful and pleasant.” Becca Steel of Boo posts 90 pictures from the parade and writes: “The police were on hand in enormous numbers and created a barrier between us and the rather straggly group of counter-protestors, who incidentally seemed to be protesting against paedophilia […] (nobody's told them homosexuality isn't the same thing as paedophilia you see, poor ignorant bunch).” Aaron Fowles of p3 writes about Abigail, an American expat who attended the parade: “She kept pace with the parade despite having one prosthetic leg. She held onto my arms at times for support, but she marched right along with the rest of us.”


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Poland, World Cup: Almost a Tie · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dayhawk writes on Poland's resistance to Germany during a World Cup game yesterday: “The Polish, who have not won a football match against Germans in 85 years, were shooting for a tie, tackling, stealing and blocking every German effort to score.”


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Russia: Anti-Chechen Feelings · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time quotes from “an interesting and discursive study of anti-Chechen feeling in Russia.”


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Russia: Kalashnikov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile takes a minute from his preparations for getting married and posts about Mikhail Kalashnikov and his famed creation: the AK-47 gun.


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Russia: Private Vs Free Medical Care · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

St. Petersburg-based Megan Case explains why she'd only go to private clinics from now on, following her recent visit to “a scary unfamiliar hospital in a sleeping district even grimmer than mine.”


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Russia: Shifting Attitude Toward NATO · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time writes about Russia's shifting position regarding NATO.


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Russia: Travel to Yasnaya Polyana and Tula · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jane of From Russia With Blog writes about and posts pictures from her recent trips to Tula and Yasnaya Polyana (and Leo Tolstoy's grave) and to Count Khrapovitsky's abandoned estate.


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Russia: “Whatever you do – don’t smile! · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jane of From Russia With Blog posts on how to stay safe in Russia: “Whatever you do – don't smile!”


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Singapore: Online Auctions · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indi at  indirani.net is asking the Singapore government to regulate how buyers and sellers behave on online auctions. “I am saying this because 99.9% Singaporeans tends to perfectly obey what the government instructs them to do so and what better way than to ask the Singapore government to help us create a fair play among sellers and buyers in the Singapore Yahoo! Auctions and eBay Singapore.”


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Sudan: Prosecution for murder and rape · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Passion of the Present has a report on the possible prosecution over thousands of killings of civilians, massacres and hundred of rapes.


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Trinidad & Tobago: The clash with England · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“How dare a man be six foot seven and called Crouch?” writes Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat Blog, in his entertaining account of Trinidad &  Tobago's clash with England today at the World Cup.


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Turkmenistan: Local Elections · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Peter of neweurasia discusses the upcoming local elections in Turkmenistan and their potential significance as a sign of limited democratization.


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Ukraine, World Cup: We Sing Better Than Play · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Oleksandr of Messages From Canada writes that his Spanish classmates teased him following Spain's victory over Ukraine in the World Cup yesterday.


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United Arab Enirates: A 27 bucks to beat your wife · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The secretdubai say it is great and glorious day for wifebeaters throughout the UAE after hearing the Federal Supreme Court confirming a lower court verdict imposing a Dh 100 (US$ 27) fine on a husband found guilty of assaulting his wife.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Arabisc: The Arabic Bloggers Ken, Media, Anti-Blogging and the World Cup · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Blogging nightmare…
Starting with hot news this week, it looks that the Egyptian blogsphere is going to have more hard time in the near future.
Following Aljazeera's one hour TV documentary (Arabic) about blogging and its role in the political scene in the Egyptian street, one of the oldest, biggest and most read newspapers in Egypt, published a long report about the bloggers. The article was published at besara7a blog and is titled “The Bloggers Declares Revolution on the Internet: A sociological Study on Bloggers and their Blogs” (Arabic).
The alarming news comes from 43arb and Jarelkamar. Tadwen blog sums up the story as following:
Now, that is scary! We can understand the need for “anti-terrorism force”, but “anti-blogging” security office?! Wow!
On the political side…
The “Gaza Beach Tragedy” had a big presence in the Arabic blogsphere. The Palestinian cartoonist, Amal, in her new latest work sums up what is going on, world wide (World Cup 2006) and the tragedy news coming from Palestine on the World Cup opening day:
Playing with the words equivalent to ‘World Cup’ in Arabic (كاس العالم) the cartoon is simply ‘bad-mouthing’ the world (not the World Cup).
Still on “Gaza Beach Tragedy”, a campaign was launched to call the Arabic TV channels, to use the scenes of the tragedy as much and as often as they can.
They wrote a letter and asked readers to send it to AlFajr, Aljazeera and Alarabiya TV’s. The letter reads:
On the sarcastic side…
Surfing the Moroccan blogsphere, I came across a new Arabic term, funny one, but has a strong roots that refers to the rising numbers of unemployment in Morocco and the Arab world.
Heyttism, is the new term. Hamoud explains the roots of the term, he said:
Heyttism!! Added to personal dictionary.
Arabic language and the Internet…
Marwan, from Subzero Blue blog, writes in his Arabic blog about the new Google News service in Arabic. He seems have found something we all have missed for long time. Marwan writes:
تجمع “أخبار غوغل” قصص ومقالات إخبارية من مصادر للأخبار تزيد على 150 مصدر من جميع أنحاء العالم، وترتبها أوتوماتيكياً ووضع أهم وآخر الأخبار في الصدارة. يتم تحديث موضوعات الأخبار كل 15 دقيقة، ولذا فمن المحتمل أن ترى قصصًا إخبارية جديدة في كل مرة تراجع فيها الصفحة.
أظنّ أنّه جيّد جدّاً أنّ غوغل تهتمّ أكثر فأكثر بادخال اللّغة العربيّة في خدماتها مؤخّراً كخدمة البريد الاكتروني و الترجمة و الآن الأخبار.
أتمنّى أن نرى المزيد من الخدمات على الانترنت مستعملة اللّغة العربيّة من غوغل و غيرها، مساعدة في تقوية الحضور العربيّ على الشبكة.
Google news gather the news stories from more than 150 news sources from all around the world, then sort them automatically and puts the hot news on top. The front page is refreshed every 15 minutes, so you might see new stories every time you visit the page.
I think it is a very good move from Google to introduce the Arabic language in its services like E-mails and the translation services and now the news.
I hope to see more online services from Google and others in Arabic, which will strengthen the Arab presence on the Internet.
Not far from the Internet; The Emirate's blogger Ben Kerishan is criticizing what he calls the foolishness and backward mentality of the way things are dealt with in his part of the world. He said:
After giving many examples of material published online and describing how it mock and ridicules the intelligence of our brains, Ben Kerishan concludes:
Very harsh, but maybe true!


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Argentina: Music: Matilda · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fernando Casale has been listening to the second album by Argentine synth-pop band Matilda and so should you. All nine songs are available for download.


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Armenia: Businesses Threaten to Close · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis writes that the appreciation of the Armenian dram has led some Armenian businesses to threaten to close up in Armenia and move to neighboring countries.


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Bahamas: “Brokeback” and censorship · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Nassau Bahamas Vacation reports that a group of lecturers at the College of Bahamas were refused permission by the Plays and Films Control Board to screen the film “Brokeback Mountain” in the context of a public lecture on the topic “Church, State and Human Rights: The Politics of Censorship”. “Brokeback Mountain” was banned by the Board earlier this year. The lecture, which was scheduled for today, is still likely to take place, though one lecturer remarked that “we will not have the benefit of putting our study in its proper context. . . .”


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Bolivia: A De-dolarizing Rumor · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas publishes a rumor he received via email that Bolivian President “Evo [Morales] will de-dolarize the Bolivian economy and turn all deposits held in American dollars (USD) to Bolivian Bolivianos (BOB) at an exchange rate of BOB5 per USD, effectively stealing 37% of the savings of people who hold their assets in USD.” Ruiz Navajas emphasizes that “the one that has to decide whether this is a malicious rumour or what is to come is you, the reader.”


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Bosnia-Herzegovina: Trip to Srebrenica · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ed of Balkan Baby writes about his trip to Srebrenica.


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China: Mao as Jesus or Joke? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Earlier last month Peking duck commented that young Chinese considered Mao a big Joke. Voyage seems to disagree and said that he wouldn't be surprised to see Mao's temples to be built across China.  The blog puts up a few photos on Mao worship in Mao's Ancestral Hall in Hunan's Shaoshan, the birthplace of the Chairman.


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Colombia: Finding Less or Less to Find? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson offers three leading explanations as to why Colombia's security forces have interdicted less cocaine the first half of this year than in recent, previous years.


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Costa Rica: Grown Men Crying · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Uri Ridelman has some entertaining pictures from the first day of the World Cup when Costa Rica played tournament host Germany. In a related note, Bob Glass explains why “grown men were crying in San José.”


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DRC:  UDPS Sends Delegations to its Diaspora Branches · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege posts pictures of recent UDPS  meetings involving party delegations from Kinshasa in Liege and Anvers, Belgium. It encourages (Fr)  its worldwide members to mobilize for June 30, date of the official end of the UN-led transition: “The plumbing is leaking in the Congo and we have matches in our hands, what are we waiting for to light the fire?”

author: Alice Backer


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Ecuador: 3-0 Against Costa Rica · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ecuador is ecstatic with their (ES) victory (ES) over Costa Rica.


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El Salvador: Rainy Season · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim Muth says that “El Salvador is nervously greeting the regular storms of the rainy season.” Laura, based in Ahuachapán, has the photographic evidence.


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Georgia: The Paradox of Choice · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sue of SueAndNotU writes about Georgia's regional food specialties and remarks that the constant availability of foods in the United States denies Americans some of the great pleasures of unavailability.


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Guatemala: Intro to Livingstone · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The bilingual blog, Chapinadas gives a brief introduction to the Caribbean port city of Livingstone.


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India: Flickr and Picasa · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Amit Agarwal compares Flickr and the recently released Google Picasa photo album service.


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India: Technology and Culture · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Perspectives on technology and culture in India. Dina has a set of interesting observations on technology, usage and hardware in India.


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Indonesia: World Cup Fever & Minister Blog · Global Voices
A. Fatih Syuhud

Despite Indonesia never reaches final round of  Football/Soccer World Cup post-1945 of its independence, soccer has always been the most favorite sports ever in the country. So, no wonder then if majority of Indonesian bloggers give one or two postings dedicated to the biggest event on earth now being held in Germany.
Iwan who gives a tip for those who have been busy with their works on how to keep update with the  event without television. While Agus Setiawan who happens to be doing research in Germany right now gives a “live” coverage from Germany for his faithful blog readers.  He concludes his posting by saying:
One thing that I feel a bit at odd is about the climate. Before the World Cup, it's a bit cloudy, rainy and cold. Strangely, a day before the event was started, the climate in Germany totally changed toward the better up till now.  As though the nature loves the big event also. Cloud, rain and cold seem to love  soccer game just like most of German population and do not want to disturb what the Germans and the world enjoy watching.
Some Indonesian IT-geeks who used to post only IT-related issued dont want to be left behind either. Hianoto, for example, make a long posting (in Bahasa Indonesia) about how to enjoy watching the World Cup without friends.
Minister of Defence Blog
Last but the least, out of topic, I'd like to introduce a new blog owned by Indonesia Defence Minister,  Juwono Sudarsono here (via Priyadi and Enda).  It's a good news for Indonesian blogger and he's the first minister to have a blog. A commenter named Anis in Priyadi's blog jokingly said that Juwono could be the strongest candidate to be  the Defence Minister of Indonesia Blog.

author: A. Fatih Syuhud


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Iran: Government & Communication · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist politician & blogger, says  most Iranian statesmen sites have not turned into a communication means.The blogger adds they are mostly promotional and are a part of the related offices or organizations’ show-off. Even if they have daily information part they are not that serious in replying to e-mails and the comments.


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Iran: Paradoxes of Life · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Marge Ghesti  talks about different paradoxes in Iranian society. The blogger writes many girls like to have intellectual boy friends but they get married rich guys such as business men or lawyers. He adds he does not understand what matters more with Iranian girls or women: Having right to divorce or virginity (Persian).


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Jamaica: Hangin’ with Bob Marley · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Geoffrey Philp overcomes his hesitation about writing about the experience of meeting and playing football with Bob Marley.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Japan: the spread of Japanese kawaii  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

What is the implication of the spread of Japanese Kawaii (cute) image? Is Kawaii a new phenomena or rooted in tradition? Marie Mockett puts up a summary of different viewpoints in Japundit.


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Kazakhstan: OSCE Chairmanship · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Adam Kesher of neweurasia writes about Kazakhstan's bid for the OSCE chairmanship in 2009 (RUS).


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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Today I will concentrate on politics. And before you switch off, let me point out that when it comes to politics, Iraqi bloggers will both surprise and entertain and certainly not bore. So on with the show.
If you read no other post this week read these
Morbid Smile posts the heartrending story of how ignorance and alcohol brought tragedy to a nearby family.
The father, A. who was the driver who used to drive me and my sister to college everyday for the last year, made a terrible mistake … He was a drunkard man and we doubted if he had any education. He's got the most adorable the cutest two little daughters, his wife was very nice and lovely woman but he didn't know how to keep that treasure for good! …
And with the drink came violence against his wife and despite the best efforts of his neighbors the family split up. The story does not end there. One day, drunk and angry that he could not see his daughters, he went to his wife's parent's house with a rifle and killed his wife and her mother. And when he escaped, driving at high speed, he was shot and badly wounded at a police checkpoint that mistook him for a suicide bomber. Morbido writes:
Since we heard the news, Mom and I were thinking of his daughters all the time. Did they saw their father killing their Mom and Grandmother? Are they ever going to love him or forgive him one day? I feel very sad for the devastated family, and I feel even worse just to think of what is going to happen to the girl, who is going to take care of them. He could be a good man with a kind heart, but ignorance took a big deal of him that left him blinded with anger and irrationalism. If he wasn't an ignorant man he would have realized that alcohol was destroying his family and destroying the human being within him. He could have done something to restore the peace inside his house to raise a wonderful family in a healthy environment, but he didn't know the gift he was given and he wasted it all that, and wasted his life.
When I was still at school I would always avoid the adults when my family went out visiting friends and play with their younger children instead. Riot Starter reminds me why. She writes, “When a teenager like myself pays a visit to the Adult world, the result is a very similar to that of having visited Wonderland.” And she posts several stories of the blatant hypocrisy of the adult world around her:
A Saudi who by no means was allowed by his government to buy alcohol, and is well known to give his credit card to anybody going to a winery…
An Iranian … when it's women who he knew forehand were already married, he would greet them refusing to shake hands. However, he shook hands with every other woman/girl who wasn't wearing a ring or whose ring he couldn't notice while staring “elsewhere”. So much for being religious. …
A Moroccan whose wife was Japanese, and who's apparently way too desperate to dump being Moroccan to being a Jap…
A Palestinian who came “cheering” us about Zarqawi's death, talking about how Americans, Israelis and all of these people are pigs …  She then ran to the nearest American she could find in the crowd, and after a warm greeting she was busy…
In fact the sanest person she met was an Egyptian who lived most of his life outside of the Arab World. “He's actually more aware than all the people I've mentioned above, myself included of course, combined!!!”
Beating around the Bush in Baghdad
While there has been much comment on George Bush visiting Baghdad recently, Iraqi bloggers have given us a unique perspective.
Fayrouz wondered: “The media said Iraqi prime minister Al-Maliki was given five-minutes notice before meeting the president. The first thought in my mind when I saw him shake hands with President Bush was, ‘What if he was at the toilet at the time? Did he have the time to wash his hands before he ran to meet the President?’.” But Joking aside she has a serious point to make:
I realized he had to meet the President at the American embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone. Does this mean the Americans think the Iraqi government can't provide security for the American President at Al-Maliki's office? I thought this is somewhat of an insult. No wait, THIS IS AN INSULT when Iraq is considered an independent country.
Mohammed of Iraq the Model has an opposite opinion. From the people around him and the newspapers he reads: “the visit definitely left a positive impression that America is dead serious this time about finding solutions for Iraq especially when it comes to security and critical parts of reconstruction like electricity.”
Finally Baghdad Connect mimics stereotypical American red-necks and announces:
Yo Jose, we don’t want illegal aliens sneaking through our borders and take our jobs away! Haven’t you heard of visas?
More Views on Zarqawi
The news of the death of Zarqawi continues to reverberate around the world and Iraqi blogger are an important part of the analysis. I have already written much about Iraqi blogger reactions. However, these cannot pass without mention.
Baghdad Connect takes issue with the triumphalist tone of the Iraqi Prime Minster's announcement of the death of Zarqawi and for timing this with the completion of the cabinet thus “morphing the celebration of civilities as a symbolic alternative to criminality and not as a transcendence to our great civilization.” Which brings bad memories of the behavior of Saddam's regime. Further, he writes to the PM:
Perhaps Al-Zarqawi’s effigy could pass as a joke in other countries, but in ours it's a daily fear because our nation, just in case you forgot, lives out side the Green Zone!
Two days ago streets fliers were thrown in Al-yarmok district … to warn the residents that 250 children will be abducted and slaughtered to avenge Al-Zarqawi death. This is what happens when you immortalize vile deeds by brining them under a memorable spotlight.
Bloggers are also reporting about the chasm that has now appeared between Iraqi opinion and the opinion of Arabs in the neighboring countries. Zeyad is in Jordan now, on his way to America. He writes:
Amman is … an ever expanding bustling city that gives the false impression of … a progressive, enlightened society. Yet, every Jordanian I spoke to thinks that Zarqawi is a martyr. One taxi driver frankly told me that one should not rejoice over Zarqawi's death, for one simple reason: Americans and Iraqis are happy about it. That about sums it up.
Iraq the Model is more blunt:
It is totally unimaginable why someone would describe the head chopping, children murdering terrorist as a hero. It's disgusting and infuriating beyond words.
This wrongful description of evil is a major reason for misery in this region and it only contributes to justifying more unjustifiable death and violence. This makes one sometimes wishes that Iraq is somehow lifted away from these perverted sociopaths who surround us.
In other news
Iraq the Model discusses the reaction to “the launch of the new massive security operation ‘Forward Together’.” in Baghdad. He says that there is a mix of anxiety and hope but there are few people escaping the dangerous districts to safer parts of Baghdad because “in Baghdad you can't find the same feeling you would find in Ramadi, that is the fear that the operation will include collective punishment and this is because Baghdadis are used to living standards of a big city … they have suffered enough from militants of all types and want their city life back.”
But the Iraqi government is not getting such an easy time from other bloggers. Sami who was stirred from a looong blogging slumber by the death of Zarqawi writes: “The parties fought over the silly ministries where as the education and higher education both went to extremely relgious men. u see why i am not that optimistic for now?????” and Faiza is pessimistic after the Iraqi government failed to secure the city of Basra despite the pronouncements of the Prime Minister when he “went to Basra, and issued fiery statements; he said– we shall hit with an iron fist all the powers that are tampering with the security of Basra.” She wonders:
The cities of Baghdad, Diyala, Basra, Karkook, and other cities are witnessing acts of violence, sectarian or ethnic dislodgment … and the occupation forces do not interfere to stop any of this daily bloodshed, but they do beat the drums that they are going to bring in extra forces from Kuwait, to besiege Ramadi and cleanse it from the resistance, or the insurgents, as they call them. Why? Which is the priority? Stopping the daily Iraqi bleeding, or eliminating the resistance against the occupation? … As for the Iraqi bleeding, who cares about it?
And Finally….
Neurotic Wife has left Baghdad but is finding it very hard to let go: “Letting go…Letting go aint easy, not for me that is…Letting go of people, letting go of emotions, letting go of stuff…Never was easy, and I dont think it ever will be…There are certain memories that I cant seem to forget”. And she calls her memories of Baghdad Pandora's Box because when friends ask her about Iraq:
Memories that I buried deep inside and was surprised they surfaced back … I remembered H…H was a guy who worked closely with HUBBY…He was kidnapped a month after I got to Baghdad, and till now he wasnt found, nothing…not a corpse…and not alive…He has 5 kids…And i also remembered the last conversation I had with him, a day before he disappeared… He said “you know, life is too short, you should enjoy it while you can…Forget negativity, forget pessimism” He continued “I believe in God, and I believe that if he chooses to take my life now, then Im comfortable…” …Just telling the story to my friend brought tears to my eyes…I remembered something I have buried deep down, I remembered a memory that at the time caused me to have a nervous breakdown…It was July of last year…Wow, and he's gone …
…After H's story I went to another and another and another…It was like Pandora's box…All sad, depressing stuff, that probably made my friend feel uncomfortable.
Who says I always have to end on a positive note?

author: Salam Adil


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Mexico: Participitory Radio · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Radio host (and now blogger) Ana Maria Salazar invites readers to participate in an online chat following her Saturday night radio program “Seguridad Total.” Also on Saturday, a gay pride parade in Mexico City.


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Mongolia: Protest Claims Life · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yan notes that a protester in Mongolia has died after a confrontation with security forces. The protest was over mining issues and Yan says that the ongoing public debate over mining in Mongolia could stand to be more civil.


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Nepal: Ceremonial Monarchy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the future options for Nepal's king given political suggestions that ceremonial monarchy be retained.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nepal: Contradictory Maoists · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

As the Maoists criticize the King, Nepali Netbook points out the contradiction. “A day after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala emphasized the urgency of retaining a ceremonial monarchy in the interest of peace and stability in Nepal, Maoist supremo Prachanda issued an ultimatum to King Gyanendra: abdicate or face execution.”


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Pakistan: Travel Writing and the Internet · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shirazi reflects on travel writing and the internet. “The Internet that is wrongly considered a pedestal for instantaneous scribbles mixed with emoticons and indecipherable abbreviations has already become a place to find some good travel literature, travelogues and travel stories in addition to online trading of travel services. It can be one of the best display places for local writers to showcase what Pakistan has to offer.”


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Peru: Creative Commons Launch Party · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Cultura Libre invites the whole world (or, at least those in the Lima Area) to the official launch of Creative Commons licenses in Peru. The party will take place on June 28th at 7 p.m. at the law school of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. More information (and a pretty poster) at Creative Commons Peru.


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Reunion: Chikungunya Epidemic Confirmed · Global Voices
Alice Backer

LSZ Blog, a health-related blog covering Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, writes (Fr): “It seems that Chikungunya fever has reached a quasi-pandemic dimension  with more than a million people infected during the past 24 months in a large geographic area encompassing the East-African equatorial coasts, the Indian Ocean islands and half of the Indian peninsula.“


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Reunion:  Hiking into the Cirque de  Mafate  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Audrey from Reunion Passion posts (Fr) two new sets of photos of her native island: a slideshow of mostly beaches and a gallery of the Caldera of Mafate. She says (fr): “The Cirque de Mafate is synonymous with isolation, solitude and inacessibility. There are only two ways to enter it and to leave it: by air or through hiking trails.” She then offers directions on hiking into the caldera.


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Serbia & Montenegro: SCG Team Defeated by Argentina · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Daniel Ginsberg of The Native Speaker writes about the sad end of the Serbia & Montenegro team – “the only team representing a country that doesn't exist.”


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South Korea: Call for International Support in Daechuri · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An annoucement was put up in Days in Daechuri (a U.S military base in S.Korea) to call for international support to protect the farmers against forced evictions. A foriegner's house is being organized to facilitate visits for foriegn journalists interested in learning about Daechuri and the surrounding area's struggle, and to accomidate foriegners for as long as they wish to stay.


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Tamil: Blog aggregators, education, middle east and manslaughter · Global Voices
Bharat

Tamil blogs have risen in a big way since they started showing up some years back. Similar to other blog spheres, collaborative blogs were started, blog aggregators came into existence, tag teasings were done  and podcasts were made( [link 1] [link 2] [link3]. Thamizmanam, an automated blog aggregator tracks approximately 1000 tamil blogs and its statistics say that there are approximately 100 – 150 posts made everyday which attract anywhere between 750 – 1000 comments. Though the number of posts is not very significant compared to the bigger picture, the average readership as reflected by the healthy post – comment ratio is very good. Another automated aggregator is Thenkoodu. Even mainstream aggregators like bloglines and technorati support tamil blogs. Gilli is an aggregator that features posts hand-picked by a group of very efficient bloggers who religiously keep track of tamil blogs from various parts of the world. Kasi, in a guest column for gilli, traces the evolution of tamil blogs till date. Tamilblogs has a directory of tamil blogs sorted alphabetically in tamil. With quite a significant presence of the language in the blog world, it's a wonder that google does not offer a tamil search option with blogsearch.
The recent elections in Tamil Nadu saw the political party DMK rise to power. One of their major political moves was a law that made tamil a mandatory language in schools that fall under the Tamil Nadu State board stream. Badri shares his thoughts on the issue. Things can get tricky when translations for scientific terms/processes are made. New words are born in tamil with brisk neologism, but it is indeed a challenge to first coin tamil equivalents for the existing terms and then to keep pace with the new ones. Penetration and web presence don't help much like the english language to spread new words. Selvaraj has a couple of posts on ““An Introduction to Chemical Engineering”” which primarily distinguishes chemistry from chemical engineering. He also discusses some chemical engineering processes and provides translations to some key words used in the field. It shows that technical studies entirely in tamil are difficult but not impossible.
Football is on and the tamil blog world is no exception. kaalpanthu2006 is a dedicated blog on the Football WorldCup 2006. Liveblogging of the matches, post-match analysis and predictions can be found here. All in tamil.
The Middle East too has a small poulation blogging in tamil.  Narayanan shares his experiences in Dubai while on a business trip, Dubaivasi invites people to a blood donation drive , Azadak sheds some light on skyrocketing real estate prices in Dubai and Raja has a poem depicting his love for his motherland.
The Sri Lankan tamil blog world seems to be sober.
[Warning:Disturbing images]
Jeyaraj talks about the killing of a family in Vankalai by Sri Lankan Army soldiers ending the post with a couplet from Thirukkural. Moorthy Martin, his wife, son and daughter were killed by a group identified as Sri Lankan Army personnel by eye-witnesses. It is alleged that Mary, Martin's wife was raped and all the four were subject to brutal torture. koluvithaluvi mourns the death and Karthik has a poem in tribute. (The story in english and a follow up)

author: Bharat