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Africa: Gay and lesbian voices in African blogosphere · Global Voices
Haute Haiku

Homosexuality is perceived as a new phenomenon in Africa and a taboo. It is outlawed in many African countries. Many African leaders have condemned homosexuality as being un-African. The Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe once described gays as worse than dogs and pigs. Former Namibia's President, Sam Nujoma, once stated that “Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society.”
Nigeria introduced a bill in 2007 banning same sex marriage. According to Rod 2.0 the bill is the most comprehensive homophobic legislation ever proposed in the world. Early this year homosexuals in Nigeria stormed the National Assembly seeking for legislation that will guarantee the protection.
Lifestyle, culture and religion have become the invisible fence to many homosexuals in Africa barring them from their freedom of sexual expression. A Kenyan blogger, Wilde Yearnings, was quite optimistic after US President Barack Obama officially declared June being a gay pride month and decriminalizing of homosexuality all over the world earlier this month. He posted Obama's speech on his blog:
My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world…NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
Naughy Feeling commented on the post:
It is great our comrades in America are getting recognition. In our dear country we can't stick our necks in the sand and tell ourselves all will be well. The gigantous task ahead demands of us that we kid not ourselves of the responsibility ahead of us. It may require sacrifices but all for the greater good. May God bless LGBT kenya n give us strength for what is ahead. But hey, look on the bright side, we can still have fun at it.
But will culture, religion and lifestyle factors derail the decriminalisation of homosexuality in most African countries or will it be as Wilde Yearnings described “meanwhile in Kenya… The struggle continues…”?
It has been said that homosexuality is a lifestyle  adapted by Africans from the West, SebaSpace a Ugandan blogger tries to points out that his “sexuality”  and “him ” are one, that homosexuality cannot be a lifestyle because for him to be involved with someone it has to be sexually, emotionally and spiritually bringing the fact that homosexuality is a physiological function too.
SebaSpace has been on a constant war with an anti-gay blogger also from Uganda and the war is always revolving around religion, culture and lifestyle. This created a stir in the LGBT blogosphere and another gay Kenyan blogger  wrotes a post to answer the three questions The Red Pepper had asked. The questions were:
1. If you try to drink water through the ear, you naturally spoil it because it was created by God to do the hearing function. That's physical harm.
2. when they discovered you were gay. You know very well how we love having grandchildren in Africa. Imagine what goes on in your parents’ minds to know that you will never give them grandchildren (I am assuming that you a die-hard gay man but if you are bi, please forgive me). So that is emotional harm.
3. Spiritual harm. You tamper with God's plan of procreation. Understand that the main reason of creating the sexual organs was procreation purposes. For you in an attempt to be very creative, you put your organs at the disposal of pleasure only (I hope it is fun).If you have radical parents, they can start questioning God as to why he gave them such a child. I know parents of a gay boy who visited scores of witchdoctors thinking that their child had been bewitched. I can give you as many reasons as possible. I hope you are an objective gentleman who looks at things objectively.
With so much hate from all sides, will the African Leaders put their priorities in order from all the pressure by the UN, IMF and World Bank and speak out for the sexual minorities or will still hold them in this invisible cage?
His answers:
The Ugandan rag called Red Pepper has been engaging Afro gay, a fellow Gay blogger from Uganda in arguments regarding the situation on Homosexuality in Uganda. Follow this link to see the full post. Recently, the editor of red pepper wrote to Afro arguing that he (Afro) was causing Physical, emotional and Spiritual harm to his family by being gay.
I promised Afro that I will write my responses to the Editor on my blog and link back with him. I have taken their questions, edited without altering the message and I have responded to each question.
I tend to disagree with you when you say that homos have never done anybody physical, emotional or spiritual harm.
Without any prejudice I want to tell you that they are guilty of all the three accounts.
Count 1. If you try to drink water through the ear, you naturally spoil it because it was created by God to do the hearing function. That's physical harm.
Red pepper has made three elementary mistakes (assumptions) 1) The common one that homosexuality is equal to sodomy (their shallow analogy of the ear above) 2) Following number 1 above that sodomy is practiced only by homosexuals and 3) That all homosexuals engage in anal sex.
I will deal with the last one first. Is the paper saying they are ok with someone with homosexual orientation as long as they don’t engage in sex? Have they ever heard of celibate gay people and gay people who don’t engage in anal sex? Well, I have and know both types.
It's worth noting, that from the very beginning sodomy and homosexuality were two categorically separate things. The correct definition of sodomy–then and now–is simply non-procreative sex, whether practiced by heterosexuals or homosexuals. It includes oral sex, masturbation, mutual masturbation, contraceptive sex, coitus interruptus, and anal sex–any sex in which semen does not find its way into a uterus.
The anal sex thing is one elephant in the room, but it's not an inherent part of being gay, it isn't an activity engaged in exclusively by gay people.
SebaSpace refused to answer the questions from Red Pepper. He gives reasons for his refusal:
If you look at the e-mail below, the editor of the Red Pepper has valid questions he is asking and, ordinarily, I would answer them – indeed I have answered these questions over the years more times than I have had hot dinners.
The problem for me now is I don’t believe the people asking the questions are sincere. Rightly or wrongly, I think all they are looking for is material to feed their tabloid frenzy and so I have refused to provide the answers. That said, I think it would be okay for other bloggers to attempt to answer them on their blogs or wherever as they are legitimate.
Here is the e-mail I got from the Red Pepper and the questions they posed [heavily emended for clarity]
Thanks for the reply.
Well, you have not answered Phiona's question and I am sure she will maintain her opinion. I also have a feeling that you don't have an answer for it. The times I have interacted with you I have discovered that you are a clever man who cannot answer a question unless you are sure the answer is convincing.Again I tend to disagree with you when you say that homos have never done anybody physical, emotional or spiritual harm.
Without any prejudice I want to tell you that they are guilty of all the three accounts.
While gay and lesbian bloggers in Africa use blogs to express themselves freely, there are also anti gay bloggers targeting them. One of them, Blake, had a blog called Kenyans Against Gays before it was suspended for violating Blogger's Terms of Service. Kenyan  Gay wrote about the suspension:
A couple of years ago, a dude called Blake started this blog and I think the first thing he did was to announce its launch on my blog. Over time, that blog grew with articles explaining why he felt he should take a position against us etc.
However, from propagating his position against homosexuality in recent times he moved to actually calling for gay people in Kenya to be killed. I have been alerted by a reader that the blog has been suspended whilst being investigated for possible blogger rules violation. I suspect it is because of his latest position that was quite militant.
I am a believer in freedom of expression and actually think that blog helped expose that there are some willing to propagate hate to get their point across. But I draw the line when someone advocates for homosexuals to be killed.
I think his blog served us more than it aimed to destroy us. This is because we have many Kenyan gay blogs and Blake used to visit all of them and in the comments section try to drive traffic to his site. If you followed links, you would find that very many of the comments were from people who attempted to engage him intellectually on gay issues. Unfortunately, there were those usual vile comments from both sides with most insults coming from him. He was a troll on my blog until I decided to ignore him.
When you visit Kenyans Against Gays blog you get the following message:
This blog is in violation of Blogger's Terms of Service and is open to authors only
However, Blake went on to start another blog using WordPress.

author: Haute Haiku


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Bahamas: No More Impunity  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Womanish Words vociferously calls for “no more impunity in the Bahamas for those who commit violent crimes against children and women.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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China: A leaking dam? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chinese information activists have been testing and collecting information about the government sponsored filter software, “Green Dam Youth Escort” via blog posts, twitter (search #greendam) and collaborative platforms since the WSJ's news about Beijing government required PC makers to install filter software for all the PCs shipped to China from July 1 2009 onward popped up. Some of them collectively put together a technical analysis of the software at google document and the result shows that the filter is full of flaws:
Collaborative Testing: a leaking dam
Current versions only support Windows; effective only when used in conjunction with Internet Explorer or Google Chrome, it has no effect when used with Firefox. The harmful information screened by the software includes politically-related harmful information, and the software relies on non-conventional methods to install, also ineffective within Firefox, closing the browser and adding the website address onto a banned list without confirmation. In Internet Explorer, the software's ability to classify clearly political content as “harmful information” is unreliable; for pornographic content, Green Dam is able to make relatively accurate assessments. When used with Firefox, however, the software shows no response.
Deep blue sea, upon testing the program, asked:
从上述测试来看，此软件对系统资源的占用是巨大的，会严重影响到一些用户的正常使用。会另一些不熟悉电脑网络设置的人群深受其害。
From the above test result, the software would occupy much computer resources and affect other programs, junior computer users will suffer.
Over blocking
ESWN translated some teacher's comments on the filter software from KDnet:
- I don't want to discuss whether the functionalities of Green Dam are good or bad, but it is a nuisance because of all the upgrading that goes on.  We are a rural school, and we are using rural distance learning equipment (namely, Lenovo computers).  If we install Green Dam, then we cannot do simultaneous network broadcasts or hard disk protection.  Even if Green Dam guarantees safe Internet usage, how are we to maintain the software on our computers?  Our computer instructor is going to sit around all day to watch Green Dam being upgraded one computer at a time.  I am going to faint!  Our supervisory leaders must not know how to use computers!
- Let me say something here.  We were ordered to install the software.  So I have to come to this website and curse.  After we installed the software, many normal websites are banned.  For example, it is normal for students to like games such as 4399, but not any more … many news reports have certain normal words but they are banned … for example, when
As the keyword filter list includes words such as “touch” and “play” and the graphic detection is set to identify the proportion of skin color in a picture, funny results come out (also from ESWN's post):
- Can I determine the content of the text filtering?  Today, a teacher posted an exam question which talks about “students playing touch-ball game.”  The Word document was shut down.  I spent a long time trying to determine the cause.  This was really depressing.  It will be a lot of work dealing these kinds of things in the future.
- How much flesh color does it take to make something “pornography”?  I went on the Internet to check out some animal photos.  A lovely little naked pig was sent onto the black list.  Pitiful little pig!  I was curious, so I looked up some photos of naked African women.  Oh, they were not censored!
All LGBT content banned
Jzyg found out that all LGBT contents are banned :
一款绿色的流氓软件，把同性恋和色情，暴力等同，安装后默选项将会自动屏蔽所有包含有同性恋内容的网站，经测试国内知名的同性恋网站,如爱白、淡蓝、夫夫网等安装该软件后均会导致无法正常访问。测试还发现，只要网页中含有同性恋、gay、lesbian等与同性恋有关的词汇及经软件自动判别图片中“肉色 ”过多，和两个同性亲昵的动作出现后，网站即被屏蔽，无法正常显示。被屏蔽后，网站被自动列入软件黑名单内，该台电脑将无法再次打开此网站。
Government budget and procedural justice
Given all its flaws and not so reliable filter result, the question followed is why the MIIT would spend more than 41 million yuans to pay the software company, Jinhui Technologies, one year license fee?
The company's software promotion picture (below) seems to celebrate the fact that “Green Dam” is uphold by the government and taxpayer's money (represented by the two hands):
Indeed, the project is in partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and State Council Information Department. However, many people questioned the lack of consultation and monitoring of such partnership. A commentary written by Wang Lin, a law professor, in ifeng pointed out that:
工信部如此大手笔撒钱是否合乎政府财政支出的程序正义？从报道中可知，所谓供“全社会免费使用”，实则也是纳税人自己埋单，因为工信部等几部委使用中央财政资金4170万元人民币买断这套软件的一年服务。照工信部推行“绿坝-花季护航”的决心，应该不会只用一年就撤退，下一年度是否还要花费数以千万计的巨额资金购买软件服务？这样的大手笔，是否需要列入政府预算，接受人大代表的审议？
这种以行政强制来推行的软件捆绑，还需接受《反垄断法》的拷问。
Moreover, we also need to check if the administrative promotion of this particular software has violated the current anti monopoly law.
Political concern
Apart from technical and procedural concern, fulue highlighted the software's latent political implications:
人们对政治层面的担忧就更多了，北京对互联网的管制是司马昭之心——路人皆知。除了秘密筑起臭名昭著的防火墙（GFW）外，更挂羊头卖狗肉，时不时借助一些运动进行整治。比如数月前刮起的那场声势浩大的“整顿互联网低俗之风”运动，运动过后中国的互联网依旧低俗，但是一些言辞尖锐的网站和博客却在运动中倒下。这就是北京理解的“低俗”！
而现在，又要强制推广一个所谓的过滤色情网站的软件，而所过滤的内容又不提交独立的第三方审核，影响这么广泛的政策出台前又不经过社会的广泛讨论。不免令人质疑，在北京看来色情是否也包括政治呢？或许在北京的眼里的，政治色情比肉体色情更可怕。
Now it promotes via regulation a so-called pornography filter software. However, there isn't any independent third party to monitor the filtered content. And there isn't any discussion in the society about the policy. People would of course doubt if the Beijing's definition of pornography would include politics. It is likely that Beijing regards political pornography more damaging than bodily pornography.
Other related articles:
Rebecca MacKinnon – China's “Green Dam Youth Escort” software, Original government document ordering “Green Dam” software installation, Green Dam filtering software scorned by many Chinese.
Imagethief – Why I'm not in a tizzy over China's new Internet filtering software

author: Oiwan Lam


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Croatia: Homophobia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Croatian Crescent writes on homophobia in Croatia.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Cuba, U.S.A.: Spy Games  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuban bloggers are abuzz about the case involving accused spies Kendall Myers and his wife Gwendolyn.


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Czech Republic: Anniversary of Destruction of Lidice · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CzechFolks.com and The Journeys of Captain Oddsocks write about an anniversary of the destruction of Lidice, a Czech village, by the Nazis in 1942.


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Czech Republic, Canada: Roma Asylum Seekers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word writes about Czech Roma asylum seekers in Canada.


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Europe: Updates On European Parliament Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Updates on the European Parliament election: Hungarian Spectrum on Hungary; Baltic on Latvia; Lituanica on Lithuania; Csíkszereda Musings on the UK, Romania and Hungary; two Poland-based UK citizens who did not vote – 20 East and Travels Without My Spaniel.


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Guyana: Passport to Efficiency  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyanese blogger Imran Khan was pleasantly surprised by his most recent experience at the passport office: “Whoever is responsible for the upgrade…particularly the attitude and professionalism of the officers, needs to be issued with the highest commendations.”


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India: Ignorance About North Eastern India · Global Voices
Rezwan

Paritosh Chakma at Musings Of A Chakma writes: “what irritate me in Delhi most are two things: (1) Ignorance about my native state, Mizoram, and (2) ignorance and insensitivity towards my physical attributes.”

author: Rezwan


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Iran: To Vote or not to Vote · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

One of the main topics during any Iranian presidential election is ‘to vote or not to vote’. In other words whether to take part in the election or boycott it. Although several opposition groups have called for boycotting the coming June 12  presidential election, it seems the weight of boycotting groups is much less than four years ago. A strong student association such as Tahkim Vahdat, contrary to four years ago, supports a reformist candidate, Mehdi Karoubi and calls for voting for change.
Probabaly the most creative initiative to encourage people to vote is launched in Netherlands. Kamran Ashtary, Netherlands based blogger and artist, and his two friends Farhad Golyardi, editor of Eutopia and Shervin Nekuee, an Iranian sociologist, launched a site named ‘Vote for Iran.”
Kamran writes:
I am voting with the hope that not only the hardline government will change, but that we will build a more democratic society where women’s rights, a free press, free speech, and human rights are not a dream. Last 4 years proved our right can be in more danger than we could even imagine.
Being part of this initiative was unthinkable for me just four years ago. Four years of right-wing Ahmadinejad has put Iran on a downward path. I believe that Iranian expats should play a more constructive role and not keep waiting for some magical transformation of power.
Iranians also in 25 different cities all over the world came together and announced they will vote:
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former vice preisdent writes:
Decreasing the wave of election boycott is one of the most important political events in this term. In previous election, vast boycott caused difficulties in recent 4 years so an incredible gift was presented to the president. Several days ago I saw a group of students who had collected nearly 500 signatures to boycott election in previous election. Now most of them try to invite people to the election.
Paicorg writes [fa] that the election should be boycotted. The blog mentions that this election is not competitive and free.
Tahrimen Etkhabat  (means boycotting election) writes [fa] that Iranians by boycotting the election can once more announce to the world that the Islamic Republic does not have any legitimacy.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Two internet TVs were filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Two Iranian presidential candidates,Mohsen Rezaee and Mir Hussein Mousavi, claim[fa] their internet TV was filtered 48 hours before presidential election.


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Japan: Social translation tool · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Masaru IKEDA from Asiajin introduced some social translation tools that are designed to fill up the gap between human profession and computer’s imperfectness.


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Latin America: The Problem of Child Labor – Part I  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Child labor is a sad reality in Latin America, and often many residents throughout the region become so used to seeing working children that they don't even realize it. Who has not used the services of a shoeshine boy or a young caretaker of cars? Awareness campaigns and other steps are being taken to change all of this. In observance of the World Day Against Child Labor 2009, which will be held on June 12, members of the Global Voices Latin American team helped to find related blog posts and links about this issue in their own countries for part one in this two part series.
Photo by Francesca Rauchi and used under a Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/francesca_rauchi/2266649087/
From Guatemala, Marcial Pérez Guillermo Herrera of Haciendo Camino [es]  writes about perceptions of the business sector in a report on child labor in the coffee industry, an area of production that utilizes huge amounts of this illegal labor:
El objetivo del diagnóstico es establecer un referente de conocimientos, información, causas y efectos del trabajo infantil en el sector caficultor de Guatemala, así como ofrecer insumos que orienten las estrategias de sensibilización, capacitación y divulgación sobre la problemática. Entre otros temas, el diagnóstico aborda el enfoque del sector con respecto al trabajo infantil, sus causas, el papel de la familia, la certificación y legalidad, el relevo generacional y la mano de obra, y la educación y el trabajo.
The goal of  this diagnosis is to establish a benchmark of knowledge, information, causes and effects of child labor in the coffee sector in Guatemala, as well as to provide inputs  geared to the strategies to increase awareness, training and disclosure about the issue. Among other issues, addresses the diagnostic approach in this sector regarding child labor, its causes, the role of the family, certification and legality, the generational workforce, education, and work.
In Ecuador, the situation is very similar, except the banana industry is changed for the coffee industry.  One of that country's presidential candidates Álvaro Noboa has been a businessman in the banana industry, and has come under heavy criticism for the the use of child labor.  Decio Machado of the blog Let's Change the World [es] writes about some of the findings from Noboa's industries:
En abril de 2002 Human Rights Watch emitió un reporte en el que denunciaba que “encontró que niños ecuatorianos, tan jóvenes como de ocho años, trabajando en plantaciones de banano en  condiciones precarias”. Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, La Favorita y Bonita fueron acusadas de ser provistas por plantaciones que empleaban niños como trabajadores.
Noboa, en un acto de sinvergonzonería sin igual, aseguró que no puede ser acusado de propiciar el trabajo infantil en sus haciendas bananeras, dado que el trabajo de menores en el área agrícola en general formaba parte desde hace muchos años de la cultura de la gente del campo en Ecuador. Según Noboa, los padres obligaban a trabajar a sus menores con el fin de evitar que el ocio los conduzca por el camino de la delincuencia.
In April 2002, Human Rights Watch issued a report in which it denounced that it “found Ecuadorian children, as young as eight years old, working on banana plantations in poor conditions”. Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, La Favorita and Bonita were accused of being supplied by plantations that employed children as workers.
Noboa, in an act of unparalleled shamelessness, said that he cannot be accused of being in favor of child labor on his banana farms because it has been part of the farm culture in Ecuador for many years. According to Noboa, parents forced their children to work with the aim of avoiding idleness that is the path towards crime.
Photo by Luis Carlos Diaz and used with permission. http://www.flickr.com/photos/periodismodepaz/494114134/
The Argentine website Taringa [es] publishes a detailed report about child labor in that country [es].  In addition to a providing a large list of companies that use children in its work, it focuses on the company Telefónica Argentina, the largest telecommunications company in Spain, as one of the companies most responsible for child labor. The report includes a photograph of a child distributing telephone guides in downtown Buenos Aires.  There is also a hidden camera video of the La Alameda Cooperative in the province of Mendoza that captured images of children working in rural labor [es].
The SES Foundation [es] in Buenos Aires has been working with young people and social issues. On its blog, they write about the problem of child labor in Argentina [es]:
El Trabajo infantil es un problema que crece. En la Argentina trabaja alrededor de medio millón de chicos y chicas menores de 14 años, según datos de UNICEF – Argentina. Fundación SES en convenio con el Ministerio de Educación, ha iniciado durante el mes de Mayo la sistematización de dos experiencias educativas de erradicación del trabajo infantil en las Provincias de Córdoba y Tucumán.
En Córdoba visitamos la Escuela Primaria Polo Godoy Rojo. … Es una escuela atravesada por diferentes problemáticas, pero una de ellas … son los niños y niñas que trabajan como cortadores de ladrillos o los que dejan de asistir en tiempos de la cosecha de la papa o de la vendimia, entre otras. En Tucumán visitamos la experiencia “A través de un Trabajo Interministerial, construimos un futuro distinto para los chicos de Santa Ana” que tiene como propósito favorecer el desarrollo de estrategias de inclusión, reinserción y o permanencia de los niños y las niñas que se encuentran en situación o en riesgo de trabajo en el Sistema Educativo Formal.
Child labor is a growing problem. In Argentina, approximately half a million boys and girls under of the age of 14, according to UNICEF – Argentina. In May, the SES Foundation, in an agreement with the Ministry of Education, started the systematization of two educational experiences of the eradication of child labor in the provinces of  Córdoba and Tucumán.
In Córdoba, we visited the Elementary School  Polo Godoy Rojo. … It is a school that is going through various problems, but one of them … are the children who work as brick cutters or those that leave for a period of time to harvest potatoes or the grape harvest, among others.  In Tucumán, we visited the campaign “Through an Interministerial Project, we construct a different future for the boys and girls from Santa Ana,” which aims to promote development strategies for inclusion, reintegration and/or the retention of boys and girls that find themselves in the situation or at risk of labor in the Formal Educational System.
Part II will be published tomorrow.

author: Juan Arellano


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Mozambique: Attack on Presidential candidate · Global Voices
Janet Gunter

Mozambican bloggers Carlos Serra [pt] and Paulo Granjo [pt] respond to the attack yesterday against politician Daviz Simango, in the northern Mozambican port city of Nacala. In addition to the reactions from the blogosphere, Simango's party (@mdmwiki), tweeted the attack.
Simango is the mayor of Beira, and founded his new party MDM earlier this year, after falling out with traditional opposition party RENAMO. Just days ago, he and his party confirmed a planned bid for the Presidency and a campaign for the October election. Simango was heading for a meeting of his party when his car was shot at by individuals in the assembled crowd who grabbed police weapons.
He escaped unharmed but media reports indicate three people were injured, including a policeman. Initial reports from Mozambican independent media suggest the shooters were members of RENAMO.

author: Janet Gunter


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Pakistan: Blast At Peshawar Pearl Continental · Global Voices
Rezwan

CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan brings you updates of the blast in the Pearl-Continental Hotel in Peshawar.


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Pakistan: The Islam Of Taliban · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pak Tea House quotes an woman from an IDP camp in Mingawera, Swat: “People outside Swat think we had Islam and Shariat. There is no Islam in Swat. The Taliban have finished it.”


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Russia: A “So-Called ‘Wahhabi’ Village” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Tanya Lokshina on “the so-called ‘Wahhabi’ village of Gudben” in Dagestan – at OpenDemocracy.net.


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Russia: Aleksandr Pushkin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian Blog marks poet Aleksandr Pushkin's 210th birthday.


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Russia: Artyom Loskutov’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog – on Artyom Loskutov's case: “Largely ignored in the mainstream media, Loskutov’s summary arrest nearly a month ago and continued detention have electrified the Russian internet, overwhelming the social networking site Livejournal and setting off a hunger strike. Loskutov heads a left wing, situationist-style artist collective called ‘Babushka After the Funeral’, which uses irreverent pranks and roudy street performances to oppose the government’s trend towards cultural and political chauvinism.”


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Russia: Blog Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The latest Russia Blog Roundup – at Siberian Light.


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Russia: Russophobe vs Russophile · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An Anglophone Russophobe vs Russophile blogo-clash – at La Russophobe (79 comments).


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Serbia: Directory of “Twitter Celebs” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A directory of “Twitter Celebs from Serbia” – at Belgraded.


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South Korea: June 10 democracy demand · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the June 10, 1987 victory over the military dictatorship. Over 1200 professors at six universities have jointly signed a statement concerning the “death of democracy” in Korea under Lee Myung-bak's presidency. (via Judy Han)


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Trinidad & Tobago: RIP “Shel Shok” · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian bloggers say farewell to late music producer Sheldon ‘$hel $hok’ Benjamin.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Smelter Not Welcome  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The State wants the people of Trinidad to believe that only a handful of residents of La Brea do not want the smelter. This is not true”: Attillah Springer and Rights Action Group T&T republish a press statement regarding the proposed Alutrint aluminium smelter in La Brea.


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Ukraine: Crimean Tatar Protest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about the continuing protest and growing discontent of a group of Crimean Tatar activists in Kyiv.


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Ukraine: No PRiBYuT · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana posts an update on the failed coalition between the Party of Regions and BYuT.


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USA: Saberi to Ling and Lee: “You are not alone” · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who was imprisoned for four months in Iran, is asked by the CPJ blog what she would say to journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee who were recently sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea.

author: Solana Larsen


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African photographers, writers and artists find their voice in blogs · Global Voices
Njeri Wangari

As more Africans come to realize the power of blogging as a tool for expression on a global scale, the number of bloggers has increased and so has the themes in focus.
In that number of growing blogs, a lot of African artists have also joined in with a huge increase noted in poetry blogs as well as emerging photography and visual arts blogs.
We review some of them.
Poéfrika is a weblog of creative, Africa-inspired writing. The blog features poetry by various African poets, interviews with poets, writers as well news and information on world renowned poets and writers alike.
The blog also has a lot of resource material for would be poet as it lists links to various poetry publishing magazines, writers who have been featured in the blog and other links of interest to writers including their potrait photos.
Poéfrika is run by Rethabile Masilo a Lesotho citizen but currently based in France. He also runs Canopic Jar and Basotho which also feature written and visual art.
Fikira Zangu (Swahili for My Thoughts) is a Kenyan blog ran by Bonyo Buogha Anthony who is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The slogan for his blog is
“Intense thoughts like active beings, come and go Haunt us then flee, leaving ajar the door.”
This is what he says about himself
….I my words forgot, and thoughts my wrote; I'm weeping laughter, Humming thoughts and writing beats, Walking thoughts and thinking walks….
I would say that is  a poetic piece right there.
Hi poetry is short and precise with most not exceeding 10 lines. The themes range from love to politics to his challenges as a poet.
An excerpt from his poem – Will you still be mine
Will you still be mine in the morning
After the evening passion fades
After all the pleasures of last night
have all been swept away
Will you still be mine
After the bitter arguments and fighting
After harsh words have been exchanged
will you open your arms and let me back in
Marten’s Blog is a purely photography blog run by Marten Schoonman who is based in Nairobi Kenya but one who travels a lot through the East African region and beyond.
The blog is an online diary captured in image form featuring a lot of breathtaking sceneries and immaculately taken photos of different people and items.
He also features some photos and photo sites that have fascinated him.
Africa Rock – Photo courtesy of Marten Schoonman
Merlin is a Campus student born in 87. He describes himself on his blog, iceboxmerlin.
got a swag to walk the talk, talk the walk sometimes, but always a down to earth and sensational individual to be around!’
You can tell from the image header that he is a great fan of animations. He labels his blog, ‘The Phanton Thought……..’
His disclaimer,
“Here are my thoughts on the world, life and the unraveling of the universe. The symptom of an involved mind with the features of life, is the intelligence and later a harnessed genius. It is the achieved Phantom thought of thick air!
His blog features a lot of poetry and prose in which he explores different issues and themes.
An excerpt of his poem, ‘The air is thick!…
Where the air is thick!
I have gone to a place,
like what a journey would be…
and had sweet thick mango juice,
A Kayamba playing in the back ground,
like that group of men call themselves Kayamba Africa
there was a man though,
a Rasta Man chewing at Muguka
green gobbler and something he's mumbling
between stuffing his mouth.
and puffing a cigarette,
the air here is unmistakably thick
so he says with a thick baritone voice,
“young man!”,
“write us some of that scribble you call poetry…”
“am in a mood for anything”
and a thick air came about me,
to put some sense into him!
Boyd Oyier is a 4th year student at a university in Kenya. He is also a self taught artist who loves to experiment and is currently working with charcoal and pastels.
A potrait of Malcom X as drawn by Boyd Oyier
His depictions of influential world faces on are superbly done with emotions that one can almost touch.
His blog is not more than a month old, something he started after attending a workshop on blogging and social networks in Nairobi.
He is currently putting together his first ever official collection that is titled “Politics in Black and White”
This is what he states as the purpose of art:
“The main function of art should be to connect to people. Each of us appreciates art in one form or another, but we are turned off by the ‘elite’ who decided to complicate art by using labels such as ‘surreal’, ‘new age’ and ‘contemporary’. The best art is the  art that you love!”
We look forward to seeing the collection online.
Tafsiri Hii is a Kenyan poet blogger who runs afropoem, a blog about a Black Woman’s Poem.
This is how she describes herself:
”Black; from the curl of my hair to the toe on my foot…. African; it's in the blood flowing in my veins, the music in my voice, the dance in my walk…. Lover of words; written, drawn, sketched, scratched… Appreciative of the power of said words; be they written, spoken, hidden or displayed”.
Her blog which is barely one year old confronts issues of trafficking of African Women for prostitution, love, culture and celebration of African Men among other themes,
These blogs are proof that there is more to Africa than politics as has been depicted by many African bloggers. We can be sure of seeing more such blogs.

author: Njeri Wangari


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Algeria: The President and the Military  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Writing at the Maghreb Politics Review, Alle discusses Algerian politics, and the relationship between the country's president and officers in its military establishment.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Brazil: Amplified conversations to fight the Digital Crimes Bill · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Art: Luciano Matsuzaki and Mariana Lettis
On May 14th a protest [pt] against the Digital Crimes Bill proposed by Senator Azeredo to typify crimes on the Internet took place in São Paulo to promote debate. On May 25th, it was time for a demonstration in Porto Alegre. On June 1st, a similar protest happened in Minas Gerais and a new one is being planned now in Rio de Janeiro.
These protests have been called “Against the Digital AI-5” after the Brazilian dictatorship's Institutional Act Number Five or “AI-5“, the fifth, and considered the most cruel, of seventeen decrees issued by the military dictatorship in the years following the 1964 coup d'état in Brazil. Issued in 1968, AI-5 abolished freedom of expression by introducing the preliminary censorship of music, films, theater and television. Any work considered subversive to the political and moral values of the country was censored and artists jailed. AI-5 marked the transition to the toughest period  of human rights violations in Brazilian history.
All over Brazil, mobilization against the proposed bill has been organized by a group of bloggers, who have put together a manifesto, a Twitter account and Mega Não! [Mega No!, pt], a blog created with the single purpose of gathering information and contributing to clarify what this bill might mean for Internet users in the country:
A proposta do Mega Não, é ser um meta manifesto, um agregador de informações e de diversas manifestações na Internet e fora dela, com o objetivo de combater o vigilantismo. Diversos núcleos ciberativistas estão surgindo e aumentando o discurso e a pressão popular contra o vigilantismo, tenta agregar, fomentar e ajudar a divulgar estes eventos é a nossa proposta, nos informe de seus movimentos, vamos juntar forças!!!
An online petition against the Digital Crimes Bill released back in 2008 has already gathered 146,627 signatures. Users of Orkut, one of the most popular online social networks in Brazil, have also entered this fight, since many of the demands of this bill are related to this specific social network. One of many related communities, “Não ao projeto de Azeredo” [No to the Azeredo Bill, pt], has already attracted 6,563 members.
Activists are also using Twitter as an informative tool for their meetings and collaborative blogging about the subject: the hashtags #meganao and #ai5digital are usually used by bloggers and tweeters and represent a source of information for those seeking updates on how to contribute to the campaign. In addition to this, many of the demonstrations’ organizers, supporters and enthusiasts can also be found on Twitter, such as @caribe, @pauloteixeira13, @samadeu, @arlesophia and @myris. To keep track with all the details on the repercussions of the demonstrations and the Azeredo Bill itself, people are also using Delicious tagged bookmarks to gather information in one place.
"No, Azeredo", in São Paulo. Photo by Andre Deak, published under a Creative Commons license.
Another interesting fact is that mainstream media has not been covering this situation satisfactorily. For many Brazilian bloggers and Internet users, it looks like the media outlets, in addition to Internet companies and the government, are willing to see the bill approved, so that they will have control over what people say and do all over the Web. Antonio Arles (@arlesophia) comments on this in his blog [pt] and stresses how the Internet is useful to gather information about the demonstrations:
Participei (presencialmente ou via Internet) de pelo menos três atos este ano em que a Rede foi importante para a organização, difusão e transmissão: o Ato contra a “Ditabranda” da Folha, o Saia Gilmar e o Ato Contra o AI-5 Digital. E é justamente essa possibilidade de exercício da cidadania um dos motivos da adesão dos oligopólios midiáticos ao AI-5 Digital. A lógica é a mesma da dos órgãos de repressão do Império Soviético ou da Ditadura Civil-Militar Brasileira. Apesar de usaram a máscara de “democratas” – usando argumentos como o da liberdade quando seus interesses estão em jogo, tentando confundir “liberdade de imprensa” com “liberdade da empresa” -, os oligopólios midiáticos são fruto de uma ditadura. Em última análise, são uma das faces da Ditadura Civil-Militar que continuam vivas depois da redemocratização. A questão é que, para além dos interesses econômicos, a tentativa de criminalização e de aprofundar vigilantismo na Internet é uma tentativa de manutenção do monopólio da informação/opinião e, conseqüentemente, do poder.
Protest in São Paulo. Photo by Andre Deak, published under a Creative Commons license.
Whether this bill will be passed or not, it seems that the main aim of the Brazilian authorities is to indulge international copyright companies. In an interview for the Observatório do Direito à Comunicação blog [Observatory of the Right for Communication, pt]  Paulo Teixeira, a PT [Labour Party] member of parliament for São Paulo, stresses:
Ele pretende (o Projeto de Lei Azeredo), em primeiro lugar, introduzir no Brasil uma coisa que alguns países estão introduzindo e que no Brasil, na minha opinião, nós não deveríamos permitir que se introduzisse. Ele está querendo introduzir os mecanismos de controle da internet para a garantia do direito autoral.
Signs read "Against the Azeredo Law Project" by @marioamaya
The Digital Crimes Bill has been discussed in several previous posts on Global Voices Online. Now it is up to activists, cyberactivists and Internet users to fight against the Digital Crimes Bill with even more strength. Otherwise, the Brazilian Internet might be turned into a place where people are guilty before they have even realized what they are being charged with.

author: Diego Casaes


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Bahrain: Bloggers Meet Set  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini bloggers are invited to a local bloggers meeting being held on Saturday, June 13. Mohammed AlMaskati has details in this post.


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Bahrain: From Blogger to President · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif has been elected as president of a local Rotary Club for 2010/2011, where he hopes to raise funds to develop community projects.


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Bangladesh: Helping The Cyclone Aila Victims · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Humanitarian Chronicle posts a personal journal of Nancy E. Smith of Humedica Bangladesh Team who describes the relief efforts conducted towards the Cyclone Aila victims in Southern Bangladesh. More images can be found in another post.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Ratko Mladic Footage · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A reaction to the footage of Ratko Mladic aired on a Bosnian TV station – at Rants of a Hyphenated Researcher: “These highly disturbing videos show the banality of evil: the man accused of murdering in cold blood 8000 young boys and men in Srebrenica, shelling Sarajevo on a daily basis and murdering over 10,000 civilians during the siege, and orchestrating the biggest campaign of murder in Europe since the Holocaust, smiling, attending his son's wedding, singing Serbian songs.”


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Central & Eastern Europe: European Parliament Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Sean's Diary examines the results of the European Parliament election in Central and Eastern Europe.


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China: Ai Weiwei Photos · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ai Weiwei, a famous blogger activist in China, took pictures of himself and undercover police who were watching him. (via China geeks)


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Croatia: Farmers’ Protests · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Croatian Crescent writes about farmers’ protests – here and here.


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Czech Republic: Missouri Family Photo in Grocery Store Ad · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eternal Remont writes about a Missouri family Christmas photo that ended up “as a the centerpiece of an advertizing campaign for a Czech grocery store.”


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Four Hundred Burmese Migrant Workers Arrested in Thailand · Global Voices
tan

Four hundred migrant workers, including their children who were studying in school, were arrested by Thai border guards who also burnt the houses, clothes and kitchen wares of migrants in the village who had managed to escape arrest.

author: tan


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Hungary: “Gypsies (Roma): Past and Present” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the history of Hungary's Gypsy population – here and here.


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India: The Future Of BJP · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rajesh Jain posts a series of commentaries on the future of BJP, which had a disappointing performance in the recent Indian Elections 2009. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)


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India: Tipaimukh Dam FAQ · Global Voices
Rezwan

The New Horizon posts a detailed FAQ on the controversial Tipaimukh Dam project in India and its consequences on India and Bangladesh.


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India: Treatment Of The Dalits · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amit Varma points to a picture by Ritesh Uttamchandani which brilliantly captures the treatment of people of the Dalit caste in India.  The blogger comments: “I’d also bet that there are hazaar (thousands of) people out there who wouldn’t see anything odd in that boy sitting under the table. Such it goes.”


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Indonesia: Deteriorating Primary Defense Weapon System · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Another Indonesian military helicopter crashed on Monday in Cianjur, West Java, raising concerns among Indonesians regarding the country's deteriorating Primary Defense Weapon System (Alutsista).
Last month, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yuhoyono (SBY) admitted [id] defense weapons procurement budget alleviation. However, he claimed that the government didn't cut the weapons maintenance budget.
Indonesia is currently having an unease bilateral relation with the neighbor country Malaysia over Ambalat. Both country claim ownership over the oil rich sea block situated in Celebes Sea which borders with Malaysian state Sabah.
Despite the agreement made by both governments to eliminate show of force, many believes that it's a crucial moment for Indonesia to defend its sovereignty.
A post appeared on Pemuda Indonesia baru blog questions the quality of Indonesian army:
Kembali Pesawat TNI  jatuh padahal belum lama tragedi Hercules berlalu. Pesawat jenis Helicopter Bolco milik TNI angkatan Darat (AD) ini yang membawa 3 penumpang dan 2 kru. Pesawat ini dikabarkan jatuh di desa Pagelaran, Cianjur Selatan, Jawa Barat.
[…]
Kejadian naas ini membuat kita bertanya-tanya, Sekuat apakah TNI kita? Pertanyaan ini timbul dikarenakan saat ini bangsa kita dihadapkan pada situasi yang sangat penting untuk membuktikan bahwa TNI kita Kuat. Dimana Negara tetangga kita saat ini sedang asyik-asyiknya memamerkan kekuatan (Show Force) tentaranya di Ambalat.
[…]
Menurut salah seorang Anggota DPR, bahwa kekauatan TNI saat ini masih diatas  Tentara diraja Malaysia, Tolak ukur dari pernyatan beliau adalah kuantitas, dimana Jumlah personel dan peralatan TNI masih lebih banyak bila dibandingkan dengan Tentara Diraja Malaysia. Tapi bagaimana dengan kualitas?
Jatuhnya pesawat milik TNI yang terjadi beberapa kali belakangan ini dapat dijadikan sebagai indikasi bahwa kualitas Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI) perlu dipertanyakan. Benar memang dari jumlah kita menang tapi dari kualitas sangat diragukan.
Once again a military air craft crashed, while the Hercules tragedy happened not so long ago.  A Bolco type Helicopter belongs to the Indonesian Army, the helicopter took three civilians and two crew members. The craft crashed in Pagelaran Village, South Cianjur, West Java.
[…]
The unfortunate event makes us wondering, how strong is our Military? This question arise in the midst of a crucial event when the army is supposed to be able to show its strength. Our neigboring country is ardently showing its military force (Show of Force) in Ambalat.
[…]
According to one people's representatives, Indonesian military force is still above Malaysia's, however his assesment was based on quantity, where (it's a fact that) our personnel and weapons are bigger in number compared to those belong to Malaysian Army But what about the quality?
The Army's plane crash that happened a few times lately could raised question regarding the quality of the Indonesian Army. Indeed we win in terms of quantity, (but) our quality is questionable.
Dwi Eka wrote a post on Think and Act for National Defense, not long after the crash of Lockheed C-130H in East Java last month, which killed 101 passengers and army members. She stated that Primary Defense Weapon System has been a serious topic within the government, and since 2007 the Indonesian military (TNI) experienced budget cut that made them  struggle to maintain the Alutsista.
TNI adalah ujung tombak pertahanan negara, dan pertahanan negara adalah penentu kedaulatan dan kelangsungan negara.
[…]
Boleh jadi, permasalahan alutsista bukan hanya karena terbatasnya anggaran melainkan serapannya yang juga rendah. Anggaran yang telah ditetapkan dalam APBN ketika dicairkan tidak tepat sasaran, atau mengalami kebocoran. Adanya sistem fee yang telah membudaya sangat mempengaruhi kualitas proyek. Sehingga tidak heran jika ada yang menginginkan audit ditubuh TNI. Ini tentunya didasari atas niat yang baik, bukan sama sekali untuk menggembosi TNI itu sendiri, melainkan sebaliknya, dengan sistem pengadaan & perawatan alutsista yang transparan & terukur, kita ingin agar TNI dapat menyerap anggarannya sebesar-besarnya untuk peningkatan kekuatan pertahanan. Audit dimaksudkan untuk melihat sejauh mana serapan anggaran itu berlangsung dan jika ada indikasi penyimpangan maka dapat segera dicari solusinya.
Selain itu, untuk meningkatkan serapan anggaran, masing-masing pihak secara jujur dan ikhlas harus menjunjung profesionalisme dengan mengedepankan aspek moralitas bahwa semata-mata kita berjuang untuk mempertahankan harkat dan martabat negara.
Berikutnya perlu dikaji ulang secara mendalam pula tentang bagaimana menata kembali sistem perekrutan, meningkatkan standar pendidikan prajurit dengan mengutamakan profesionalisme bukan pengharapan materi semata, dan mengisi kembali pos-pos yang selama ini terabaikan seperti memperkuat kembali wilayah perbatasan dan pemeliharaan aset negara serta kemampuan tempur personil TNI.
Upaya ini diharapkan dapat meningkatkan serapan anggaran yang terukur kinerjanya. Dengan demikian publik pun akan paham dan merelakan sebagian anggarannya dialihkan untuk sektor pertahanan.
The TNI (Indonesian National Army) is the lance of national defense, and national defense determines the state's sovereignty.
[…]
We can assume that Alutsista problem was not caused by limited budget, but also because the budget's absorption is low. The use of the available budget, which is included on the national budget,  is off target or leaked. The Fee system influences the quality of the (purchasing) projects. No wonder if some wants to see audit within the Indonesian Military. The audit is, of course,  a good intention, not at all a way to deflate the TNI but on the contrary, with a transparent and measured Alutsista's procurement and maintenance system the people are hoping that the TNI will absorp as many available budget as possible in order to enhance our national defence. The audit aims to see how well the military use the budget, so we can look for solution if there's any sort of (budget) divergence.
Moreover, to increase the absorption of the budget, each individual needs to be honest, sincere, professional, and sets out the morality aspect because we're fighting for the country's honor and dignity.
On the next level, we need to seriously reassess the recruitment system, increasing the education (and training) standard of our soldiers by emphasizing on profesionalism instead of material compensation, and refilling the abandoned posts, like enhancing our border strength and maintenance of the state assets and also combat capacity of the TNI's personnels.
This efforts hopefully could increase a well targeted budget's absorption.  With this the public will understand and allow their money to be invested for the defense sector.
Speaking to a local journal,   Air Vice Marshall Sagom Tamboen  said [id] that openly speaking about national defense and main defense weapon system could endanger Indonesia and the civilian population.
In Indonesia, homeland security and defense information is classified, according to the state law.
Next July, Indonesians will head to the ballots to choose the next RI 1 (Republik Indonesia 1 – head of state). The Alutsista matter is fast becoming the favorite agenda for the three hopefuls, each of them claim to increase the procurement budgets if they're elected.

author: Juke Carolina


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Iran: SMS is blocked  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several news site and blogs such as 3vomiband209 report [fa] that a few hours before Iranian presidential election SMS is blocked in country and several political blogs are not available.


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Iran: Woman activist call for unity · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

On the eve of the presidential election, Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani urges the country's social movements to unite now, while the world is watching.


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Iran:An American thanks Iranians to vote · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Tori from View from Iran blog expalins ‘why she, an American Jew, is so passionate about election in iran.’


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Japan: Raining tadpoles · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Pink Tentacle quoted and translated a story from Sankei about tadpoles falling with the rain to Japan's Ishikawa prefecture.


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Latin America: The Problem of Child Labor – Part II · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Child labor is a sad reality in Latin America, and often many residents throughout the region become so used to seeing working children that they don't even realize it. Who has not used the services of a shoeshine boy or a young caretaker of cars? Awareness and steps are being taken to change all of this. In observance of the World Day Against Child Labor 2009, which will be held on June 12, members of the Global Voices Latin American team helped to find related blog posts and links about this issue in their own countries for part two in this two part series.
From Venezuela, the non-profit organization Muchachos de la Calle [es] (Street Children) has been working to “develop citizens, through the teaching of artisan skills, in order to reduce the number of children and adolescents that live and/or work in the street” and shares its experience through its blog [es].  Another organization, Observatorio de Infancia y Juventud [es], is also working to “construct a social investigative organization in order to collect data that allows for the formulation and follow-up of public policies; as well as to receive complaints and provide support against the threat and violation of Human Rights of children and adolescents in Venezuela.”
The blog Periodismo Guayanés [es] writes about child workers who are the “last in line”:
el hecho de que exista un número significativo de instituciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales de atención a los niños, así como un ordenamiento jurídico favorable en la materia, no endosa el éxito, es necesario la implementación de los sistemas y el seguimiento de los mismos. Algunos expertos coinciden en que la anulación del trabajo infantil es viable, sólo si diseñan mayores posibilidades laborales para los adultos y sus comunidades, y que las soluciones están en brindar alternativas a las familias para que “rompan el ciclo de pobreza a través de cooperativas, y la adquisición de maquinaria agrícola, por ejemplo, no se sigan estancando los sueños de los más pequeños”. “Los costos de erradicar el trabajo infantil serían de 76 mil millones de dólares y los beneficios económicos netos para 2020 serían $330 mil millones de dólares. Es decir, habría un beneficio neto para la región si se eliminara el trabajo infantil” aseguraba en 2005, María Arteta, directiva del Programa Internacional para la Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil (IPEC) de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo.
the fact that there is a significant number of governmental and nongovernmental institutions that provide services to children, as well as a favorable legal framework in this field, it does not guarantee success, it is necessary to implement the systems and to follow-up. Some experts agree that the elimination of child labor is viable, only if there are better work opportunities for adults and their communities, and that the solutions lie with providing alternatives for the families so that they can “break the cycle of poverty through cooperatives, and the acquisition of agricultural machinery, for example, so that they do not continue to stagnate the dreams of the smallest ones.” “The costs of eliminating child labor would be 76 billion dollars and the net economic benefits for the year 2020 would be $ 330 billion dollars. In other words, there would be a net benefit for the region if there was the elimination of child labor ” claimed María Arteta, director of the International Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (IPEC) of the Organization International Labor Organization. in the year 2005.
Photo by David Sasaki and used under a Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/oso/3602948325/
A recent post from Mexican blogger Mario Luis Fonts describes the “atrocity of child labor.” He points out that families with low incomes, shortages, a lack of sound governmental policies, and even migration as some of the causes that lead children to this situation [es]. In addition, Maricel Pérez on the blog Sinergia a.m. [es] writes a touching story of a child worker, Pablo:
Más conocido como “Pablito”, este pequeño se levanta a las 6 a.m. y alista todos sus útiles. Camina muchas cuadras y en la calle de Corregidora, esquina con Universidad, deja todos sus herramientas de trabajo; cierra los ojos, ora y le pide a Dios “que me vaya bien hoy Diosito, no quiero quedarme sin un peso esta noche”. […]
Ya se acerca la noche, y Pablito sólo recibe $20 pesos, que seguramente es muy poco para los lectores; pero él dice que “me sirve para comprar una coca y unos tacos o unas papas de paquete en la tiendita de camino a casa; lo que me sobre se lo doy a mi mamá que trabaja aquí cerca en otra esquina”
Así puede ser la situación de varios niños que trabajan en diferentes calles de las ciudades mexicanas; unos pueden sufrir más que Pablito, otros menos que él. Lo que yo pueda decir sólo es un pedazo de lo que viven los que jamás son escuchados, los que gracias a un poca cantidad de pesos son auxiliados para sobrevivir; pero muchos no nos damos cuenta de su sufrimiento, de la realidad que viven aquellos seres, una realidad que parece ser distante a la nuestra, sin embargo, habrá que darse cuenta de que hasta que no nos preocupemos por escuchar a los demás; y por romper esa indiferencia hacia los otros; la situación de nuestro México no mejorará jamás.
Better known as “Pablito,” this small child woke up at 6 a.m. and prepared all of his items.  He walks many blocks and on the street Corregidora at the corner of University Street,  he leaves all of his work tools, he closes his eyes, prays and asks God “that all will go well today, I don't want to end up without a peso (Mexican currency) tonight” […]
Now comes nightfall, and Pablito only earned $20 pesos (approximately 1.50 USD), surely there sounds like very little for the readers, but he says “it helps me to buy a few tacos and a Coke or a packet of potato chips at the shop on the way home, what is left over I give to my mom who works here in another nearby corner “
This may be the situation for many children who work on different streets in Mexican cities; some might suffer more than Pablito, others less than him. What I can say is only a piece of how they live, and what might never heard, which thanks to a few pesos are enough to help them survive, but many of us do not realize their suffering, of the reality in which those human beings live, a reality that appears to be so distant from our own, however, we should become aware that until we do not sorry about listening to others and break this indifference towards others; the situation in our Mexico will never improve.
The blog Un Boliviano en Argentina [es], written by Juan Vasquez, a Bolivian immigrant living in Argentina posts a cultural question that discusses the problem inherent to culture and idiosyncracy:
un tiempo atras en una conversacion con unos compañeros, discutimos por un tema puntual dentro de la colectividad, q es la del trabajo infantil. En medio de la charla una de las participantes dijo algo q me llamo muchisimo la atención….dijo: …”tenés q ver el lado cultural de la cuestión, alla en Bolvia también trabajan en las cosechas, las chacras, y los padres de esa forma les enseñan. Para ellos esa la unica forma de aprender todo lo q se refiere a la siembra y cosecha. En los talleres pasa algo similar, los chicos aprender un oficio y ayudan a sus padres”… Ese comentario me dejó mucho mas preocupado, ya q no solamente es un discurso q “naturalisa” esa forma de trabajo y explotacion sino q tambien ese mismo tema fué argumentado en el fallo de un juez argentino Oyarvide dijo q la forma de explotacion en la q los bolivianos trabajamos aqui se puede explicar como una especie de “Ayllu”.
a while ago in a conversation with some colleagues, we discussed a topic within the community, which is about child labor. Amid the talk from one of the participants, he said something that surprised me …. he said, “you have to see the cultural side of the issues, there in Bolivia they (children) work in the harvests, on the farms and that is how the parents teach them. For them, it is the only way that they can learn about sowing and havesting.  In the work shops, the same thing happens, the boys learn a trade and help out their parents” … That comment left me very worried,  and not only because of the rhetoric that “justifies” that type of work and exploitation, but that also the same argument was used by the Argentine judge Oyarvide, who said that type of exploitation in which the Bolivians work here can be explained like some sort of “Ayllu” (political and social units of indigenous life).
And finally from Peru, I add a post from my blog Globalizado [es] that I wrote, and contains facts and figures about child labor in Peru that estimated that 1.8 million children are currently working. There are also rough estimates that the number could grow to 2.5 million children, according to a report in the news site RPP [es].
Las causas y consecuencias de esto son muchas, y dada la crisis económica no creo que haya mejoras en la situación. El Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia apoya a los niños sin embargo no es suficiente. Basta con recordar desde los casos de los niños esclavizados en las zonas mineras o las niñas que son víctimas de explotación sexual a los niños mendigos o los niños burrier para saber que hay mucho por hacer en este campo.
The causes and consquences of this are many, and especially due to the economic crisis, I don't think that the situation will improve. UNICEF supports children, however, it is not enough. It is enough to remember the cases of the children enslaved in the mining areas [es], the young girls who are victims of sexual exploitation [es], the child beggars [es] or the child drug mules [es] to know that there is a lot left to be done in this area.
What can be done to help alleviate this problem in Latin America and around the world?


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Mapping Iran’s Blogosphere on Election Eve · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

John Kelly and Bruce Etling share their study about Iran's blogosphere and election on the internet and democracy blog. Internet and democracy is the team blog for the internet and democracy project in Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Harvard.
Based on our monitoring of the Iranian blogosphere on election eve, it looks like Mousavi has broader support in the online blog community than Ahmadinejad. (For a broader understanding of the different attentive clusters in Iran check out our new online interactive Iran blogosphere map). The below maps show who is linking to websites associated with the candidates. It’s pretty interesting to see the contrast between Ahmadinejad  emtedadmehr.com), whose links are very concentrated in the Conservative Politics cluster, and Mousavi  mirhussein.com), whose links come from all over the map, not just the reformist politics group.
We are particularly struck by how many links come from the poetry cluster, which rarely links to political sites. Also, Moussavi has even more links from the CyberShi’a than Ahmadinejad.
This online interest doesn’t necessarily translate to the offline world, but it may indicate a broader level of excitement about Mousavi in the electorate, particularly among those outside his expected base of supporters, which could ultimately lead to higher voter turn out for Mousavi.
As Hamid Tehrani wrote earlier this week, YouTube is being used a lot by Iranians in this election. Here is one of the YouTube videos most linked to by reformists.
And here is the video most linked to by conservatives, which Hamid pointed to earlier in the week as an example of conservatives trying to discredit Khatami, who has supported Mousavi since he dropped out of the race himself.
Iran experts caution against trying to predict election winners Iran (because we’ve been surprised before), and we’d caution against predicting a Mousavi win just on this analysis, but it is certainly interesting to see the larger level of online support for Mousavi on the eve of the election. We’ll have to leave it to the voters at this point.
Some additional data and analysis on Iran’s election eve blogosphere is posted on Morningside Analytics Shifting the Debate blog. You can also catch an interview and find all of Hamid Tehrani’s posts on the Internet and the Iranian election on the PBS Web site.
Check back here next week for the big release of our Arabic blogosphere paper and accompanying event at USIP.


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Pakistan: Mayhem in Peshawar · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

Peshawar is the capital of the North-West Frontier Province and the administrative center for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. It is located on the edge of the Khyber Pass near the Afghan border. It is the commercial, economic, political and cultural hub of the Pashtuns in Pakistan and acts as a geographical and cultural front line among extremist, moderate, and liberal Islam. In the recent months the city seems to be ‘under attack’ with over 8 bomb blasts taking dozens of lives.
A recent attack targeting  ‘Pearl continental’, a five star hotel located in a high security zone has triggered panic across Peshawar. Al Jazeera English has details:
Kulsoom Lakhani discusses the attack in Changing Up Pakistan:
US officials said no Americans who had registered with the embassy were staying at the hotel, [this does not mean there were no Americans at the PC, just that none who had registered were there]. I hope the news focuses also on the Pakistani victims of this attack. It seems there were many hotel workers killed, much like the Marriott bombing in Islamabad.
The city is of prime importance at the moment being home to a number of  IDP camps. It also serves as a military base for those deployed to fight with the militants. In such conditions militants are bound to make their presence felt in the City, a much expected reaction to the ongoing battle in Malakand division. The Peshawar valley is bounded on the North and North East by hills, which separate it from the Swat Valley, where the army is currently engaged in a battle with the Taliban.
A blog post on Five Rupees contemplates on the recent mayhem in Peshawar:
A major bomb blast has rocked Peshawar, extensively damaging the Pearl Continental Hotel – one of the city’s few major hotels. The hotel was home to a large number of UN and INGO officials, as well as foreign reporters. Most of the UN officials belonged to the UN Food Program (credit: Dunya News).
It was a suicide blast. The bomb disposal squad reckons that about 500-550 kg of explosives were used which has caused a crate 8 feet deep and 25 feet wide. There were two attackers who first opened fire before driving their car into the hotel gates, which is similar to recent attacks in Lahore and Islamabad.
Faisal Kapadia regrets the unfortunate series of incidents in Peshawar in his blog DeadPan Thoughts:
The people of Pakistan are in shock, this is the third attack in so many weeks, each one brings more carnage and the realization that the war supposed to be fought far away in the mountains is now here in the streets of our cities.
Even now the police of our country are paralyzed having no forensics to trace our enemies and shoddy equipment, with a ratio of 1-500 plus civilians what security can they provide us?
Amid the ongoing war in Swat, the ordinary people are horrified realizing the worsening conditions all over the country. The Taliban retaliation to the army offensives seems to go on and grow fiercely. While the nation is under strain with the massive humanitarian crisis at hand. The killings of UNHCR and INGO officials are a major setback to the relief operations.
Raza Rumi at Pak Tea House shares his insight on the death of development workers in a recent blast:
Pak Tea House mourns the death of a dedicated aid workers in the Pearl Continental. As I am a part of the development ’set’, such incidents are deeply disturbing. After all development workers work in difficult circumstances for a commitment to their professions which in theory at least is based on idealism. We are saddened to see that UN staff have offered their lives along with scores of innocent Pakistani civilians. Why are the extremists killing innocent civilians – in a war surely you choose your targets or is it just a reflection of the mayhem they want to create and make it into another terror-zone.
The series of violence in Peshawar is evidence to the fact that the militants will be using massive force to destroy  ‘peace’ in Pakistan. Their violence crosses all barriers of humanity as they continue to work towards damaging not only the lives of people but also hampering the ongoing relief operations leading to further chaos.

author: Sana Saleem


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Russia: “Repatriation of Compatriots” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia reports: “After three years of effort, Moscow has succeeded in attracting the return of only 8800 of the more than 300,000 “compatriots” abroad whose resettlement in Russia it had counted on, an outcome that should not have surprised anyone familiar with Russian conditions or with poll results showing that many Russians would like to live abroad.”


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Russia: Soviet Leaders in Vladimir · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Arnis Balcus posts pictures from “a weird private house in Vladimir, Russia – the landlord has installed newly built monuments of all the leaders of USSR, from Lenin to Gorbachev.”


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Russia, U.S.: Reactions to WSJ Story on Web-Savvy Homeless · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Earlier this month, Russian social networking portal Habrahabr.ru featured photos and some translated text (RUS) from the May 30 Wall Street Journal piece on the online presence of the U.S. homeless – On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired.
The original English-language story has generated 93 comments. On Habrahabr.ru, there are currently 183 responses – and below are some of them:
kakains:
Wow!!! 0_0
Here you don't run into bums with laptops […]
isnotme:
Here even if you run into one, you wouldn't think that he bought it.
Unechka:
Here a bum would get killed for this laptop. And, quite possibly, by the law enforcement people.
Sigurd:
Here even an ordinary person who takes out a laptop in the street wouldn't survive for too long…
crazysiemens:
Here it's not even often that you run into an ordinary person with a Macintosh ))
jeje:
If this were April 1, I would've never believed it. But, damn it, we are dirt poor even compared to the bums in the United States.
dymdym:
These are singular cases. We also have all kinds of whiz kids among bums. One is even making movies and winning awards at festivals. But the majority are alcoholics.
r_p:
Here some students can't afford to buy a laptop […]. It's making me sad (
Inskin:
There is some difference – as far as I know, they have summer in California all year round. And there are many open – and free – wifi's, too, I guess. Here in [St. Petersburg], if you become homeless, then nine months of the year a laptop and internet are the last things to be concerned about. :)
Petrucha:
Here vodka is the best laptop.
hypercom:
There, bums can't live without internet, while here educated and well-employed people have no idea what internet is for. This difference is more upsetting that the difference in money availability.
big_jump:
Some people can't understand what they need a computer for, and internet is a totally different dimension for them altogether.


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South Africa: Trailer of the film “Prodigal Son” · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Leo Africanus writes posts a video of the movie “Prodigal Son”: The trailer for “Prodigal Son,” a film by Kurt Orderson, a South African director, who sets out to retrace his great-grandfather’s journey from Barbados (he was a merchant sailor ) to Cape Town at the beginning of the 20th century and in that way pointing to the mashed-up identities of the country’s coloured population.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Sri Lanka: Papaya Juice – A Cure for Dengue · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sandun Fernando writes: “You may have heard this elsewhere but if not, I am glad to inform you that papaya juice is a natural cure for dengue fever. “


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Taiwan: Comparing graduate education programs · Global Voices
David Reid

Scott Sommers writes about why he chose the Ph.D. program at National Taiwan Normal University. The article makes some interesting comparisons between graduate programs in the East and West.

author: David Reid


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Tanzania: One the road in Tanzania: a videoblog · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“On the road: Tanzania” is a videoblog of Marcus Prior, spokesperson for the World Food Programme in East Africa: “Travel with Marcus to Tanzania and see what life is like in the deep field. Visit nutrition centres, see school kids showing up for their daily meals and get a taste of original Masai goat.”


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Ukraine, UK: Artist Olha Pryymak (aka Olechko) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Little Miss Moi links to a Mirror.co.uk's profile of UK-based Ukrainian artist Olha Pryymak, who blogs at Olechko.org.


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Afghanistan: Iranian trace in taliban’s armament · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust analyzes the news about Iranian weapons for the Taliban in western Afghanistan, and reflects whether it is a deliberate policy or a coincidental or rogue activity within southeastern Iran.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Bahrain: No Pride In Being An Arab? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bahraini blogger Mohammed AlMaskati writes, “Forgive me, for I am an Arab“.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Bahrain: The Appeal Of Life In Saudi Arabia · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Natasha Burge, who blogs at The Voracious Vegan, is excited about moving from Bahrain  to live on the Saudi Aramco compound in Dhahran.


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Bermuda, U.S.A.: Guantanamo Controversy · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermudian bloggers are up in arms over the country's controversial decision to grant permission for four detainees of Guantanamo Bay to resettle in the tiny isle.
One bone of contention is how easily full Bermudian status was granted to the former detainees.  Vexed Bermoothes says:
That’s right.  All you expats who contribute for years to Bermuda’s community and economy, term limits for you and don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you leave.
But come on down you Xinjiang Uigher suspected terrorists … you’ll fit right in!
Breeezeblog echoes his sentiment:
On a purely selfish note, I’d like to know how come ‘the Uigur Four’ get given Bermuda status and yet someone like myself, who has lived and worked here for more than 26 years, is denied this privilege?
This is not to say that bloggers do not have some level of empathy for the former detainees.  Catch a fire notes that:
I am sympathetic to the cause of Uigur autonomy and rights. I worked and lived in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for about six months, living in Nanjing, just north of Shanghai. While there I became quite friendly with some of the Uighurs living there – they are not allowed to leave the PRC, but travel more or less freely within it.
I have also long opposed the US policy of Gitmo detainees which I see as contrary to international law and a de facto concentration camp. I have also opposed the US policy of rendition flights, and also put forward the fact that our airport has apparently been used to facilitate such renditions.
Breezeblog adds:
The four have long been declared a non-threat to the West and imprisoned unfairly by a paranoid and over-zealous US system and clearly could face torture or worse if they were sent back to China.
But they're still not sold.  Catch a fire continues:
The thing is, the US government has assured Bermuda, in the form of Dr. Brown, that these four Uighurs are considered innocent. That's fine. I am not necessarily going to dispute that. But the detainee problem is a US problem. It is US made, and as a result there should be a US solution. Pawning the problem off to smaller countries is a load of bull. If these detainees are innocent, and if the US is not willing to repatriate them to the PRC for the legitimate reason of fearing their resulting persecution there, then the US should take care of them.
The blogger even dismisses the move as a humanitarian action:
There are those who will defend this action as a humanitarian action. That is false. Under international law (caveat – I am not a lawyer) as I understand it, the detainees are a US problem and they are obligated to take them in if they are not secure in repatriating them to the PRC.
In fact, many bloggers smell a rat:
But something clearly doesn’t smell right here, as it usually does around Premier Ewart Brown. The fact that the UK Government and the Governor knew nothing about this is disturbing and the Premier’s insistence that there was no quid pro quo just doesn’t ring true. The self-serving Dr. Brown doesn’t seem the type of politician to go out on a humanitarian limb without something in return. If not, why would the US ask tiny Bermuda to take them when there are bigger countries that could far more easily absorb the men?  The Bermuda public have a right to know what deal, if any, was done.
Vexed Bermoothes agrees:
The key question is:  What did we trade for doing this? What deals were made? How does this fit in Bermuda’s national priorities?
Catch a fire has his suspicions:
It's hard not to conclude that Bermuda was either threatened (perhaps as regards our ‘tax haven’ status) or ‘encouraged’ (which would mean bribed) to take these people. That’s not good enough.
Vexed Bermoothes also speculates:
Did we get money to fill some of the big gaps in Bermuda’s coffers?  (News reports say that Palau is getting $200 million for taking 17 of the Uighers).
Are we counting them as air arrivals for Tourism?
Does he think this is cheap PR – getting Bermuda’s name in the news worldwide? Americans, come to Bermuda for some Pop and Sizzle!  And Boom!
Hey maybe the US will stop hassling us about all the piddly tax stuff?  In which case, you can expect Cayman to adopt a bunch of Afghans any minute.
Then he gets serious, writing a series of follow-up posts about likely repercussions on the island's tourism industry, the link between the decision to take in the detainees and the island's poor governance and the opposition party's reaction to the news, addding:
The decision still must have sign off by the UK via the Bermuda Governor.  They must be scratching their heads.  Perhaps this is another stab by the Premier to create a constitutional crisis should the UK overrule the move.  You see, the Doc is supposed to make decisions impacting foreign policy and security in concert with Government House.  Technically, he had no right to do this without consultation.
Catch a fire, who posts a second entry after he “had some time to sit and think about the situation”, has the last word:
I think its increasingly clear that there is going to be a huge negative public reaction to this move. The full extent of it at this moment is hard to make out, and whether this will lead to a no-confidence motion in the House of Assembly are just add to a growing sense of resentment and simmering anger towards Dr. Brown I cannot tell.
Public anger should be vented at Dr. Brown and the US Consul, and even at Government House in as much as it represents the UK. The Uighurs should be offerred our compassion as the pawns they are. Save your anger for those who made the decisions, not those who are victims of it.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Central & Eastern Europe: Another Update on EP Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

One more view on the European Parliament election in Central and Eastern Europe – from the Economist's Edward Lucas.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Denmark: #TV2Wikigate · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Last month, two Danish television hosts aiming to show that the participatory online encyclopedia Wikipedia is unreliable, instead ended up defending their own credibility when it was uncovered that the errors they showed off on television had been created by someone working for the program.
Wikipedia enthusiasts took up the fight [da] with TV2, and the ensuing public debate has centered on questions of journalistic integrity. On Twitter, it quickly became known as #TV2wikigate.
Stefan Bøgh-Andersen who manages the Danish RSS feed search engine Overskrift.dk has kept a thorough time line [da] on his blog of the Danish media, blog, and Twitter reactions to the scandal throughout the month of May. This post is based on his links.
Anders Breinholt and Cecilie Frøkjær
You can see an archived video of the program (May 13) on TV2's website. The hosts of the TV2 program Go’ Morgen Danmark, Cecilie Frøkjær and Anders Breinholt demonstrate supposedly laughable errors in the Danish Wikipedia entries for themselves, and encourage viewers not to trust what they read on the internet.
Since the “history” of all Wikipedia pages show which users make what changes, it was quickly uncovered by a Wikipedia user that the IP address of the person who created an error in Frøkjær's date of birth on May 12 matched that of the production company of the morning show.
Incidentally, the history page also shows that the error was corrected only four minutes later by another Wikipedia user.
Danish blogosphere bites back
On Bootstrapping.net, Thomas Madsen-Mygdal wrote [en]:
Yesterday the main morning news show ran a story about how anyone can edit wikipedia. They make fun of a world where everyone can participate and spread fear about how dangerous it can be.
To prove the point they humorously tried to show that they had edited the hosts’ own wikipedia entries with some prank statements. Like small bullies in kindergarten doing it on national television – f*** with our collective creation Wikipedia. Arrogance is a small word for it.
On Blog.Flugge.Net [da], Matthias Flügge Hansen magnified the Wikipedia screenshot shown on television to prove that it was not the live webpage, but probably a photo-shopped image.
Claus Dahl of Notes from Classy's Kitchen said the media must be coming up with these stories to make themselves look better. He wrote [da]: “The sub-text is of course, ‘who could possibly trust stories that are not produced by journalists?'”.
Media lies or satire?
Bloggers were even more incensed [da] when a TV2 editor, Jes Schrøder, defended the fabricated story in an interview with Journalisten.dk [da] the trade publication of the Danish Union of Journalists, on May 15.
Schrøder said the hosts were merely trying to show funny examples of what one could have written if one wanted to manipulate the text on Wikipedia. When he was pressed on whether that was an excuse for lying on television, he insisted it had been an attempt at “satire”.
Here is the apology that was eventually issued by TV2 on May 18. “We apologize for imprecisions,” says Frøkjær.
The aftermath
Danish social media company, Socialsquare, (co-founded by Madsen-Mygdal) organized a meeting on May 19 for organizations to discuss how to engage productively with online communities. Andreas Lloyd offered some practical tips [en], including “Get the facts straight” and “Show respect for culture you don’t understand”.
In Mediebloggen, Lars K Jensen wrote an analysis [da] on May 24 of what the scandal had demonstrated about the Danish blogosphere.
On the one hand, said Jensen, bloggers uncovered the story and were able to grab the attention of the press. On the other hand, they did not demonstrate the ability to take matters any further themselves. Instead they merely added their opinions to the echo chamber:
Hvem førte så historien videre? Jo, det gjorde et af de “gamle medier”: Journalisten.
Hvad var fremgangsmåden? Hvordan fik man historien videre? Jo, man greb knoglen og ringede til TV 2-redaktør Jes Schrøder. Uden at kunne sige det med 100 procent sikkerhed, så tror jeg ikke, at nogen af dem, der omtalte sagen på blogs og/eller Twitter overhovedet har forsøgt at kontakte TV 2.
So who followed up on the story? Well, one of the ‘old media’ did: Journalisten.
How did they do it? How did they move the story forward? Well, they picked up the horn and called TV2 editor, Jes Schrøder. I can't say it with 100 per cent certainty, but I don't think any of the people who discussed the case on blogs and/or Twitter ever attempted to contact TV2.
Det er muligt, at det er sådan blogs “skal” være, men det flytter ikke historierne nogen vegne.
Er det en konsolidering i mediebilledet, vi ser nu? At sociale medier og græsrødder finder historierne, mens medierne kører den sikkert hjem og bringer os og selve historien videre. Jeg tror det, og det er ikke nødvendigvis noget dårligt. Selve blog-mediet er rettet mod, at folk kan lufte deres egne holdninger, synspunkter og erfaringer.
Maybe this is how blogs “should” be, but it doesn't really move the stories anywhere.
Is what we are seeing a consolidation of the media? That social media and grassroots find the stories, while the media drive it home and carry us and the story further. I think so, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. The blog medium is intended to let people air their own opinions, views, and experiences.


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Dominican Republic: Fair Trade Cocoa · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The transformation of the Dominican Republic from a producer of low-grade cacao…to a powerhouse in the production of high quality organic cocoa has been one of the most remarkable agricultural developments of the last three decades in the Caribbean”: Repeating Islands has the delicious details.


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East Timor: Church and homosexuality · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Roman Catholic Church has contributed to the further marginalization of gay citizens in East Timor, according to the East Timor Law and Justice Bulletin blog.

author: Mong Palatino


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East Timor: UN tells staff to dress properly · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The United Nations has instructed its personnel in East Timor to dress properly. The UN reminded its staff to “Avoid revealing or provocative clothing in public, be clean and presentable at all times and dress conservatively when attending religious and official functions.”


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Haiti: All Things Haitian  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Haitians are passionate, intelligent, dynamic. Artistic and creative”: The Haitian Queen explains why she chose her blogging moniker.


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Inaccurate travel advisory on East Timor · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Lost Boy notes that the travel advisory of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on East Timor needs to be updated. The blogger insists that the security situation in the country is calm.


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India: Top Ten Solutions For Eve Teasing · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Rational Fool posts a list of hilarious solutions to tackle the eve teasing problem in India.

author: Rezwan


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Indonesia: Wayang Kulit · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The traditional wayang kulit is a famous shadow puppet play in Indonesia. lekhikaa blogs about a project to make the wayang accessible to foreigners.


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Iran: Several reformist sites got filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several reformist news sites such as Norouznews were filtered today. At the same time international media reports a huge turn out in Iranian presidential election where a reformist candidate, Mir Hussein Mousavi, is considered President Ahmadinejad's main challenger.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Sportsman of the Year · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeng News Magazine reports that Jamaica's Usain Bolt has been voted World Sportsman of the Year.


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Japan: Why highly educated women want to be housewives? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mari Kanazawa wondered why highly educated women in their 20s want to quit their jobs and become housewives.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Kazakhstan: Football Mission Impossible · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Dina reports that the England national football team’s arrival to Almaty, Kazakhstan, brought obvious excitement, but the final score was below expectations of the fans.


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Kazkahstan: Blogger interviews a pop star · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Juldyz Almatbayeva interviews an enigmatic beauty of Kazakhstani show-business Dilnaz Akhmadiyeva – a singer and producer with the plans of conquering Western audience.


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Kazkahstan: Nuclear scandal explodes · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sorge reports on the new high-profile corruption scandal in Kazakhstan around the country's KazAtomProm, the largest strategic state-owned enterprise of Kazakhstan.


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Kyrgyzstan: Journalists Under Attacks · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena says that continuing attacks on journalists in Kyrgyzstan have intensified in recent weeks, while investigation efforts obviously are not sufficient enough.


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Kyrgyzstan: U.S. airbase launches Twitter account · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

According to Elena, military's PR office for the U.S. Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan believes joining to the Twitter social network will help the world to know more about the base’s goings on


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Pakistan: Blast In Lahore · Global Voices
Rezwan

Lahore Metblogs reports that today a suicide blast at Jamia Naeemia Mosque situated in Garhi Shahu area of Lahore killed 4 people and injured 8 people.


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Peru: Marches of Support in Lima · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Twitterer Omar 2312 has photos of the marches of support in Lima, Peru for those in the Amazon region caught up in the conflict with the police. Juan Arellano of Globalizado [es] has photos of the heavy police presence that were closing off streets in response to these mobilizations.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Russia: “The Vyatlag Archipelago” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ekaterina Lushnikova writes about prison camps in the Vyatka region at OpenDemocracy.net: “The Kirov Oblast is located about 1,000 km to the northeast of Moscow. It is the largest province in the Volga Federal District – 120,000 sq.km. Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and a few Monaco principalities would easily fit in this area, but instead of principalities the entire north of the Oblast is occupied by camps. These camps were built under Stalin. However, they started sending people here much earlier – under the Tsar.”


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Serbia, BiH: Mladic Videos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgraded comments on the Ratko Mladic videos recently aired on Bosnian TV.


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South Korea: Media bias against English teacher · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Metropolitician wrote in Korean Media Watch on the media bias against foreign English teacher in South Korea.


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Sri Lanka: Words & Images From IDP Camps · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Humanitarian Chronicle publishes a report from an anonymous writer who visited some  camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Sri Lanka. Accompanying with these pictures the author portrays the grief and lack of hope of the IDPs.


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Thailand: Combating Iodine deficiency · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Jotman notes that “Although Thailand was the first country in the region to make progress against iodine deficiency, of all countries in ASEAN, Thailand has made the least progress in recent years.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Smelter Protest  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Rights Action Group T&T republishes a letter to the editor regarding an “imbalanced” news report claiming that an injured baby died as a result of the smelter protests, while This Beach Called Life concocts an imaginary conversation about the protest action between the Prime Minister and Attorney General.


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Uzbekistan: Another Border “Incident” · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reports that a Tajik citizen was gunned down and beaten by Uzbek border security agents in Syr Darya Oblast in Uzbekistan.


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Uzbekistan: Border Problems · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elina Galperin reports on several most recent problems on Uzbekistan’s border with other Ferghana Valley neighbors.


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Zimbabwe: Faces of the crisis and a cry for help · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Civicus.org
The CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation organization has published Time 2 Act,  an online video in which people in Zimbabwe present the various ways in which the crisis the country is going through is decimating the population and the quality of life of the survivors. In the following 3 part video, citizens discuss how the mega devaluation the currency is going through affects their ability to eat and clothe themselves, speak about violence and plead for help from mediators such as the South African Development Community.
Part 1 of the video starts with a young student speaking how Zimbabweans are not free: they are not free to eat, to clothe themselves, to nourish themselves, to learn from teachers paid decent wages, or free to seek aid from hospitals in case of disease, or to purchase things due to the usage of other currency: Rands instead of Zimbabwean dollars.  The situation has worsened, to such extent that people believe the system has collapsed in many levels: health, safety, economy and government. Health-wise, ill people arrive at hospitals and die there, due to lack of attention. Even then, there is no respect for the dead: families have to pay extraordinary sums just for morgues to take the bodies.
Here is the Second part of the video, on how the new economic downturn is affecting the community: salaries paid in Zimbabwean dollars have to be converted into the more stable currency, the South African Rand, and it isn't enough even to buy basic necessities. Another topic discussed are the human rights violations and the limitations on free speech the country has been facing:
The third and last part of the video is a cry out for help and support from the Mediating bodies, the South African Development Community and the South African Government. They wish for them to take the plight seriously and help out the former Bread Basket of Africa, which they now are calling Africa's basket case.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Bahrain: Disappointment In Iranian Election Result · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bahraini blogger Ali Abdulemam cannot believe that Iranians have chosen Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again, and reports what he discovered while following Iranian blogs.


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Bahrain: What Happened To Bahrain’s Blogs? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bahraini blogger Mohammed AlMaskati wonders what has happened to the local blogosphere: “We had a decent online community, and a good thing going. I used to skim BahrainBlogs before my daily round on newspapers and local forums… We have just lost all of that.. Why?!“


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Brunei: Anti-corruption blog · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Brunei Darussalam has a personal blog which is used to update citizens about the government's anti-corruption drive.


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Brunei: Anti-corruption drive · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The anti-corruption drive in Brunei seems to be working as reported by the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer of Transparency International


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Cambodia: Expansion of ATM bank machines · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Introduced only in 2004, Automated Teller Machines are getting more popular among Cambodian bank customers.


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Cambodia: Laundering money · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vutha from Cambodia believes laundering money is not difficult as he enumerates the steps on how to safely transfer dirty money in the world.


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East Timor and a crocodile story · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Notes from Abroad writes about the legend of a crocodile which died and became the lands of East Timor.


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India: The Twittering Minister · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shashi Tharoor becomes the first Indian minister on Twitter and this has sparked a debate: “Should government ministers use Twitter to keep the public informed of their daily activities?”, informs Sepia Mutiny.


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Iran: A cartoon on Iranian election · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Nikahang Kosar , Iranian leading cartoonist and blogger, published a cartoon on Iranian election and Ahmadinejad's victory.


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Iran: Face Book and You Tube were filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several news sites and blogs such as blogger 6819 reports  [fa] that Face Book, You Tube and several Iranian news sites got filtered. Iranians used Face Book and You Tube to publish several films and photos about protest demonstration in Iran.