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Serbia: “Countries Rush to Include Kosovo in Their Constitutions” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

South East Europe Online posts a hilarious, Onion-style piece on Kosovo: “After Serbia included Kosovo in its constitution, other countries from the region have declared their intentions to do the same. They point out that they are doing this in line with their good neighborly relations policies. The governments of Albania, Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary have made it clear they are planning to adopt new constitutions which mention Kosovo in their preamble. They say they must stand by Serbia, just as they did in the original Battle of Kosovo in 1389. […]”


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South Korea: peace activist sentenced to two years · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Days in Daechuri reports on the verdict of anti-U.S military base leader Kim Ji-tae; he is sentenced to two years imprisonment for obstructing civic affairs.  Father Moon Jung-hyun, Representative for the Pan S.Korea Solution Committee against US Base Extension in Pyongtaek (KCPT) criticised that the trial is politically motivated.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Oiwan Lam


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South Korea: rock music · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

R. Elgin blogs about the “godfather”, Shin Joong-hyun, of Korean rock music in Marmot's hole.


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South Korea: who are US allies? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Robert Koehler comments on a commentary by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist which was viewed by Korean media a “naked expression of anti-Korean sentiment”. In the article, the columnist called Japan and Taiwan US’ real allies.


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Taiwan: corruption case · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sun bin studied President Chen Shui-Bien's self-defence of the corruption charge.


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Taiwan: Former Justice Minister  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The former Minister of Justice, Chen Ding-nan passed away in the midst of the President corruption scandal. Levitator has more background on the Chen.


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Tajikistan: The Election · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia Tajikistan reports on voting for Tajikistan's president within the country and outside the country.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Thailand: No $100 Laptop · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Technology blog Engadget reports that Thailand is pulling out of the $100 laptop project for its schools. “Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was a big fan of NickNeg's pet project, but sadly, his countrymen kicked him out of office in September, making Thailand somewhat of a tough sell now.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Trinidad & Tobago: Cricket, breathalysers and crime · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Manicou offers his two cents on the West Indies cricket team's defeat in the ICC Champions Trophy, Trinidad and Tobago's proposed breathalyser law and observes that “murder in Trinidad has no modus operandi.” And crime comes a bit too close to home for Karen Walrond as well.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Africa: Africa-China relationship · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africabeat on Africa-China relationship: Africa comes to China, a Chinese man encounters Africa, and jumping on the Beijing bandwagon.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Zambia: e-democracy in Zambia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

E-democracy in Zambia: “In comparison to their Kenyan counterparts who are still engaged in a snoozefest, the Zambian Parliament has a pretty snazzy website.”


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Africa: gospel according to Botha and Mugabe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Gospel according to Botha and Bob.


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Africa: no to Taiwan · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africa-China relationship: No to Taiwan, yes to infrastructure.


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DR Congo: presidential election in D.R. of Congo · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The way the wind is blowing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.


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DR Congo: tension in D.R. of Congo · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Congo Girl getting worried about Kinshasa and D.R. of Congo.


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Are companies being socially responsible in your country? Let us know!! · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

On Thursday November 9th, at 6:30pm EST  (23:30 GMT / 07:30am Friday Beijing time), Reuters will be hosting a live conversation about corporate social responsibility at its New York headquarters.
According to the special web page built for the event: “Corporate responsibility is increasingly important in today’s global landscape, with companies taking a greater role in developing communities, working to reduce poverty and addressing the health of our planet.”
But are companies – multinational as well as local – making nearly enough effort to be socially responsible? You, our dear readers and community members, likely have a few opinions on this subject.
We hope you will express your views on your own blog (please tag your posts with CSR for “corporate social responsibility” in Technorati) or let us know what you think in the comments section of this post.  We will be feeding relevant blog posts into a special section of the event page. Also, I will be in the room on Thursday and will relay your views to the panelists.
We also hope that the Global Voices community will join us live on the day by listening to the webcast (link tba on the event web page) and participating on the live chat. Your participation will bring some badly-needed perspectives from developing countries and non-Western nations.
Your participation is especially important because if you click on the event web page, you will see that the panel of speakers is, well, not exactly the most geographically, economically, or ethnically diverse panel we've ever seen – to put it mildly.
If you'd like, please help us spread the word and get more friends to participate by putting a badge for the event on your blog:
See you on Thursday!!

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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Bangladesh blog buzz · Global Voices
Rezwan

Here are the latest buzz from blogs on Bangladesh:
* Diaspora: Zubaer in Drishtipat blog gives an insight into the Bangladeshi Diaspora worldwide and how their remittances are contributing to Bangladesh's economy.
Ulysses at Back to Bangladesh, an NRB himself had decided to return to Bangladesh despite many apprehensions and discusses why Bangladesh needs them badly.
However, Rajputro shares a story of disappointment where a talented NRB was refused a job in the Dhaka University.
* Politics: Nazzina of a nikonian's blog dissects Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus's recent speech giving advice to the president and chief adviser of the caretaker government on how to tackle the current political situation in Bangladesh.
* Media: Niraj slams the international media accusing that every time a political disturbance occurs in Bangladesh they try to prove that Islamists are going to take control and turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan. He explains why Bangladesh is not going Islamic.
* Tour: Rumi of Drishtipat blog takes us to a virtual tour of Dhaka with Google Earth.
*  Photographs: Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, well known as city of mosques, rickshaws and fine muslins has many historical architectures. Ershad tries to keep a visual record of Dhaka city through photographs in his blog ‘Dhaka‘.
Back to Bangladesh also posts a couple of thematic picture series from Bangladesh: ‘Kids Waiting for Eid’ and the ubiquitous ‘Foochka (Panipuri) stands’.
* Cycling: Back to Bangladesh has some bicycling tips for Dhaka.
* Architecture: Shafiur of imperfect world|2006 introduces an website of an architect of Dhaka.
* Violence: Jakarta Casual depicts the acid attacks on women in Bangladesh and how the society is tackling this issue.
* Child labor: Andrew Morris of Morris the Pen  discusses  a different class of child labor in Bangladesh, the domestic helps.
* Interview: Naeem Mohaiemen interviews Shahidul Alam, a renowned media activist and director of the award-winning Drik Picture Library (drik.net).

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: Minorities and attitudes · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan reflects on being a member of a minority and the attitudes towards minorities in South Asia. “Or is this how minorities think? Is it an inferiority complex? Why do majorities have to always keep in mind that minorities can be sensitive. Minorities can be tyrants also.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: Independent or no? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Caribbeat says that Barbados is not an independent country.


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Dominican Republic: Maldito Flow · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Maldito Flow, a “Spanglish”-language comic strip about a group of struggling Latin artists trying to make a name for their independent label, is now being distributed via weblog. Blog posts are occasionally accompanied by music clips.


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Guyana, India: The Blue Billion photoblog · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyanese Imran Khan purports to present a picture of “the other India” on a new photoblog named for a Pepsi cricket slogan.


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Hungary: Bribing to Give Birth · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about Hungary's corrupt health care system and the changes that may occur in the near future.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Hungary: “My 1956” Posters · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric posts his favorites from an exhibition on the 1956-themed posters.


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India: Hyphenated identites and on turning Canadian · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

What does it mean to change one's nationality? Lotus Reads on the occasion of turning Canadian. “few years ago saying they were Indian-Canadians would have seemed unpatriotic, but these days it seems everyone is happy to embrace their hyphenated identities, so I say it with pride: my kids are Indian-Canadians!”


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Interview with Jordan Halevi, a Canadian Researcher on Iranian Blogs · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Jordan Halevi (online alias) is a young Canadian researcher who has conducted a survey on Iranian blogs. In this interview conducted by Global Voices‘ Farsi language editor Farid Pouya, he discusses, among other things, his research project and the Iranian reaction to the questions in his survey.
FP: Can you introduce yourself and your research project?
JH: Certainly. My name’s Jordan. I’m a Canadian graduate student with a research interest in how new media are shaping socio-political realities in the Middle East.
Not long ago, I became intrigued with the phenomenon of Iranian blogging, and decided to conduct a bit of independent research on the topic. My main aim was to gather some basic quantitative data on the demographics and surfing patterns of the readers of a few popular Iranian weblogs. My hope was that such information, however incomplete, could add some richness to our understanding of how blogging, as a medium, is coming to play a role in the Iranian public sphere.
My methodology was quite simple. First, I created an online survey, offered in both Farsi and English, aimed at gathering the kind of information from respondents that I mentioned above. Then I simply asked a couple of prominent Iranian bloggers to post a link to the survey on their websites.
I actively ran the survey for a few months, and gathered between 300 and 400 usable responses, which I then queried for patterns. While there were no big surprises in the data, they did reveal some interesting trends.
FP: What got you interested in Iranian blogs? Have you compared them with the blogospheres of any other countries?
JH: If my memory serves me right, I was first alerted to the topic of Iranian blogging by the surprising amount of media coverage the phenomenon was receiving. A bit of preliminary research also revealed that the Iranian blogosphere was one of the largest, and fastest-growing, blogging communities on the web at the time. The fact that this ‘weblogestan’ was flourishing, despite the notoriously restrictive policies of the Islamic Republic, intrigued me, to say the least.
With regard to your second question, the short answer is ‘no’. During the early stages of my research, I did explore whether there was a comparable phenomenon occurring in the Arab world. However, at the time, it seemed that was not the case.
It’s my understanding that things have changed remarkably since then. A comparative study would definitely be interesting at this point.
FP: What are the main questions that you asked in your survey?
JH: I guess you could say my questions were divided into two main “sets”. The first set was aimed at gathering basic demographic information on the respondents, and included questions pertaining to things such as their age, gender, language, location, computer-literacy, education and religious and social self-perceptions.
The second set of questions was intended to flesh out the surfing and blog-reading habits of the respondents, as well as to ascertain the degree to which blogging is permeating the Iranian social fabric in general.
Included in this second set were questions on respondents’ internet access, browsing frequency, favourite blogs and blog content, and so on. They were also asked to share any experiences they may have had with state censorship, and to estimate the degree to which they discuss ideas they’ve read on blogs with others.
The survey is actually still online, so, if you’re interested, you and your readers are more than welcome to check out the questions first-hand: http://www.iranblogproject.squarespace.com.
FP: How did Iranians react to the survey?
JH: With perhaps only one or two exceptions, all the respondents were highly supportive of my efforts, and they demonstrated this by providing me with encouraging comments and even private contact information. I also received quite a bit of positive feedback and support from the Iranian community here in Vancouver.
Moreover, word of my survey rapidly spread from two or three blogs, to sites I’d never even heard of, and numerous Iranian bloggers with whom I’d had no correspondence were kind enough to enthusiastically promote my survey on their sites.
Basically, the response was heart-warmingly positive. I’m sincerely grateful for all the thoughtfulness and energy expended by the hundreds of people who participated in the project, from Tehran to Paris to Toronto. Despite its humble scale, I guess you could say the project’s success is a testament to the collaborative power of the internet.
FP: Could you share some of your conclusions with us?
JH: Absolutely. First of all, despite the fact that the survey targeted readers of specifically ‘Iranian’ weblogs, about half the participants were in fact Iranian expatriates, answering the survey from countries such as Canada, the USA, and France. To my mind, this highlights the transnational nature of the blogosphere and, specifically, the role it can play in maintaining ties between a vast diaspora and a home country.
Second, while there was some degree of variation, a striking majority of respondents fit the following demographic mold: a 20-32 year-old highly-educated university student or graduate, well-off, living in a large urban centre (most often Tehran, Vancouver, Toronto or Esfahan), who is fairly computer-literate and an avid internet user.
In terms of gender, 60% of respondents were males, while 40% of respondents were females.
Something that definitely stood out was the wide array of respondents’ views on religion. Despite their demographic similarity, respondents ranged from the devoutly orthodox, to the outwardly atheist. A number of contrasting comments were offered up, and this served as an interesting reflection of the diversity of opinion amongst young Iranian adults (or at least amongst those who answered my survey) regarding the ideal role of religion in society.
In terms of censorship, just over 22% of all respondents claimed to have persistent state censorship problems, and another sizable group said they’ve experienced problems with state censorship at least occasionally. While not overwhelming, this implies that, for those within the Islamic Republic, the censorship of blogs is at least somewhat of a hindrance, (if not a palpable danger for those whose blogs are specifically targeted).
Regarding the pervasiveness of blogging within Iranian society, the numbers were modest. 60% of respondents said they were the only ones amongst their family and friends who actively read blogs. However, a majority did say that they at least occasionally share ideas they’ve read on blogs with others. Together, this suggests that while the influence of the blogosphere is by no means ubiquitous, it is slowly percolating throughout various spheres of Iranian society. This is something that’s really hard to quantify, however.
FP: Did the outcome of the survey surprise you?
JH: On the whole, the results were pretty much what I expected. That being said, the respondents were, on average, even more highly educated than I would have guessed, and there was certainly more religious and social diversity than I expected amongst the participants.
For instance, I did not predict that so many of the respondents would characterize themselves or their families as “government employees” and, at the same time, I was genuinely surprised by the range of views expressed on religion.
Finally, what was really interesting to me was how word of my survey spread so rapidly – and in such an asymmetrical way – throughout the Iranian blogosphere (resulting, for instance, in a slew of respondents who’d found my survey via sites I had never heard of, such as a group blog run solely by Iranian librarians). That sort of ‘organic’ growth was really fascinating.
FP: Any new project on blogging to share with us?
JH: Well, I’m currently looking for an appropriate academic venue to publish my findings in their entirety.
That being said, I’d love to see a synthesis of the sort of provisional quantitative research I’ve been doing with some of the qualitative studies done by researchers such as Celine Petrossian or Nasrin Alavi. The effects of blogging on Iranian society may be more subtle, and fundamentally cultural, than they are urgently political, and I think that’s something worth exploring in depth.
Apart from that, I also think it would be interesting to study how bloggers have been covering recent events in more overtly troubled places such as Iraq and Lebanon.
I’m sure we could all think of countless more topics like this, each of which could be a fascinating research project unto itself.
On that note, let me end here. Thanks for your interest in my research, Farid, and all the best with Global Voices – I think it’s an awesome site and I look forward to watching it evolve.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Abolish the practice of stoning, Now · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Khorshidkhanom has given a link to Amnesty International action to ask Iranian authorities to abolish the practice of stoning.Up to nine women and two men in Iran are under sentence of execution by stoning.


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Jamaica: Live TV, dead children · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“a 21st century child not much different from the Victorian: one whose circumstances have forced him to grow up too fast,” writes Jamaican novelist Marlon James in his analysis of the effects of certain forms of mass media on young people.


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Lebanon: Sweet and Sour · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Iraq, Palestine, Israel, and an alternative drink to the regular carbonated soda were topics discussed in the Lebanese blogs this week.
The reconvening of the internal political discussion among rival Lebanese politicians in the form of “the consultations” was also the focus of many blogs.
Before embarking on the tiresome task of reading about the various conflicts in the Middle East it is advisable to start with the refreshing “jallab” drink which is described graphically by Jamal:
In Lebanon, well in the Middle East to be more precise, the ultimate thirst quencher is Jallab.
Jallab is two parts. The chilled liquid part is made from a syrup concocted (yes I love the verb concoct and all of its concoctions) from dates, grapes, and rose water. Part two is best described by…
The issue of female/male relationships in Lebanon (and maybe elsewhere) is a thorny one. An article was published in the New York Times discussing just that. Among the many bloggers who critiqued this article was Rampurple who blasted :
This article make women in Lebanon seem so desperate for marriage where in reality, if we are simply going to talk about the women clubbing, most of them are university students and/or career oriented women not so desperate for marriage as they claim. […]
I also find it degrading for men, to place a quote in the article that all men who stay in Lebanon are not-ambitious, have closed mentalities and stay to find a virgin to marry. In my opinion hat quote is hilarious…
Let us now turn to politics, war and other related issues. Let’s start with Lebanon. What does each party in the wide Lebanese political spectrum want from the discussions they are having? Jamal has one answer:
As our esteemed leaders are slated to reconvene Monday, many are wondering what their plans are for this round of round table chit chat. I will tell you what each of them wants, what they really really want.
I'll start with the godfather of the parliament who has successfully combined the characteristics of super glue and teflon in his persona. Nabih Berri loves the status quo and would love for it to continue forever. His natural fit is as the third side in unholy trinity of war criminals along with Geagea and Jumblatt. However, his popular base is enamored with the most Holy of men which puts him in a tough position that he skillfully transformed into a position of strength, way too much strength….
Sietske in Beiroet went to the south of Lebanon and came back with more pictures and reflections on the situation there.
Are the Lebanese capable of committing acts of terror? The answer is no according to Jeha’s Nail, and here are the top 10 reasons why:
1. We are always late; we would have missed all the flights.
2. The pretty girls on the plane would distract us.
3. We would talk loudly and bring attention to ourselves.
4. With food and drinks on the plane, we would forget why we're there.
5. We talk with our hands; therefore we would have to put our weapons down.
[…]
What other less publicized sectors were damaged in Lebanon and Israel as a result of the July war?  “I want to go home” throws some light:
Low times for pot smokers: A newspaper report in Israel indicates that the war in Lebanon during the summer between Israel and Hizbullah has dramatically raised the prices of cannabis in Israel, sending pot smokers everywhere into a frenzy.
Anarchorev has these questions about the noble goal of spreading democracy in the area
Suppose that it is true that “the world united”, how can one support democracy or the elected government by massacring (or providing the bombs for that very purpose) thousands of civilians? Isn’t it a given that such an action would merely embitter the Lebanese against the bombers and their bomb-providers and supporters (even the so-called united world), and would encourage perceptions that the government is merely a spokesperson of these bombers/bomb-providers? How does that strengthen democracy, unless one is to go by the imperialist philosophy (killing = pacifying) with a propagandistic twist (killing to liberate)?
Saddam’s trial in Iraq also had its share in the Lebanese blogosphere. Here are two samples. The first is from Maya[at]NYC
I am not defending Saddam Hussein or his actions. Massacres have happened under his regime. There is a self-righteousness though that is, the least to say, annoying. “He got what he deserved” this ruling is a good thing…
What about the Sharon-sponsored massacres of Sabra and Shatila? For how long are we going to ignore that wound that hasn’t started healing yet?
What about this last war that we barely survived! “In love as in war, all is fair”. Except that in everything, “deux poids, deux mesures”.
Modern day history seems to choose and pick which atrocities to remember and which to forget.
The Holocaust is probably the most gruesome horrible mass-murder of all times. And the European Jews have suffered persecution and discrimination more than humanely possible. But the modern world still lives in the guilt of the crime of a few. Till when?
On the other hand, the Armenian Genocide is still unclaimed. Documentaries about the genocide have been facing strong opposition both for their making and in their airing. Politically incorrect, since Turkey is the big ally du-jour.
Deux poids, deux mesures…
The second sample of comments on Saddam’s trial is from “Marxist From Lebanon”:
How the heck you sentence someone before the whole Trial is over? I never liked Saddam and definitely hated him for slaughtering all the Proletariat and Marxists over there, but isn't it a coincedence that Saddam's sentence is out just right before the elections in the US states, and specially the Republicans’ weakness is how they managed Iraq?
… btw yesterday I heard Bush on CNN saying that they invaded Iraq to protect Israel? WTF? Is this the latest excuses for their blunders of not finding Weaponry of Mass Destruction there while the only country that uses banned weaponry and openly has Nukes is Israel…. taking about real democracy…
And there is always the Palestinian issue. Sophia is rethinking the concept of peaceful resistance:
I used to advocate peaceful resistance for Palestinians but I am wondering whether peaceful resistance is not one of the many ways to get killed when you are resisting a power like Israel.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Moscow: Photos of a Neighborhood · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Two-Zero takes a late-autumn walk through one of Moscow's neighborhoods and posts pictures.


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Nepal: The state of education · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy for Nepal comments on the state of education and government role in primary education in the country. “I made a short visit home to Gulmi over Dasain. The message from Gulmi could very well be a message from any of the other 74 districts of Nepal. Despite the conflict and suspension of many development activities, there has been steady progress in basic education.”


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Nigeria: rebirth of the insurance sector · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rebirth of the insurance sector in Nigeria: “This is in view of the current recapitalisation exercise, which is aimed at positioning insurance firms for new challenges in this ever dynamic world.”


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Pakistan: Architecture in Bahawalpur state · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan on the architectural heritage in Bahawalpur state. “The legacy of Bahawalpur state has been in ruins like many other historical places of the country. These building have potential to attract a great deal of tourists. But what the heirs and the government need is a good planning and political will.”


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Poland: On Fighting Homophobia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot isn't surprised at the Polish governement's unwillingness to fight homophobia: “A more shocking post would be: ‘Polish Education Ministry funds gay rights campaign!’”


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Recently in Peru · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A Doce Horas De Distancia (“12 Hours Away”) is the weblog of a Peruvian mother of two living in Maryland and married to a Jewish American man. In a post titled “Prejudice, Discrimination, or Simply a Mistake?” she describes the faulty assumption of her daughter's teacher.
— Honey, show your nanny the picture you painted yesterday…
— Excuse me, I am not her nanny, I am her mom.
— Ah, oh, uh…I heard you speak Spanish so I thought you were her nanny …I am sorry…uh…my twin’s nanny is from Peru…she is such a good nanny…I am sorry…
Hacia una semana que habiamos matriculado a mi hija en ese colegio. Ese dia habiamos llegado temprano y estabamos sentadas pintando con crayolas cuando llego la profesora y nos escucho hablar en espanol. Su logica me resulto muy interesante “como hablas espanol, entonces eres su nana”. Su pre juicio: todas las hispanas son nineras. Existen millones de nineras hispanas en los Estados Unidos. Son baratas, por eso la ninera de sus trillizos era hispana. Las nineras hispanas hablan a los ninos que tienen a su cuidado en espanol, porque no saben hablar ingles, y como los ninos pasan la mayor parte del tiempo con ellas, tambien aprenden a hablar espanol.
No solo fue la confusion la que me incomodo, si no ese airecito de discriminacion que soplo en mi cara cuando me hablo. Poco despues retire a mi nina de ese colegio, por otras razones, claro. De todo esto lo que mas recuerdo son son las suplicas de esa profesora diciendome que piense en mi hija antes de cambiarla de colegio, y yo mirandola a los ojos y diciendole en el mas perfecto ingles que jamas ha articulado mi lengua, pero con mi acento hispano bien pronunciado, que “of course I am only thinking of my daughter”.
It wasn't just the confusion that discomforted me, but rather the hint of discrimination she blew in my face when she spoke to me. A little later I withdrew my girl from that school, but for other reasons, clearly. Of all this, what I remember most is the imploring way the teacher told me to think of my daughter before changing schools. I looked at her in the eyes and said in the most perfect English I've ever spoken, yet with my Hispanic accent clearly pronounced, “of course I am only thinking of my daughter.”
Meanwhile, back in Peru, La Casa del Árbol (“The Tree House”) is a weblog, which encourages reading among Peruvian youth. Recently it featured a two part interview with Peruvian writer Maritza Valle Tejeda. Here is a small excerpt:
El problema de lectura en el Perú es muy grave, según estadísticas y estudios diversos somos un pueblo que abandonó  los libros y la buena lectura. Analfabetos funcionales nos llaman ¿Cuál crees que sea la raíz del problema?
Primero no creo que seamos un país de analfabetos pero si de iletrados. Y creo también que las raíces del problema son dos: En las zonas urbanas la llegada de la  televisión reemplaza las horas de lectura o literatura oral que se acostumbraban hacer en los hogares; cuando el abuelo contaba sus aventuras, o los padres leían con sus hijos antes de ir a dormir. En las zonas rurales el problema es la falta de libros y materiales adecuados.
Nos hemos olvidado de la lectura recreativa que es el cimiento para la comprensión lectora y el razonamiento matemático. Está demostrado que aquellos jóvenes a los que sus padres les leyeron de niños alcanzan el mejor desarrollo …
First, I don't think that we're a country of illiterates, but rather that we are uncultured. I believe that there are two roots to the problem: In the urban areas, the arrival of television replaced the hours of reading or oral literature that was a custom in the home; when the grandfather recounted his adventures or the parents read to their kids before bedtime. In the rural areas, the problem is a lack of books and adequate materials.
We have forgotten about recreational reading, which is the foundation of reading comprehension and mathematic reasoning. It has been shown that young people whose parents read to them as children, reach a greater level of development.
We end our peek into Peruvian kaffeeklatsch with a post from our usual Peruvian contributor, Juan Arellano, who is once again hoping to stir the motivation of his fellow country-bloggers to discuss one particular topic; the upcoming regional and municipal elections [ES].
Nuevamente molestamos a los bloggers para motivarlos a postear sobre un tema en especial. Esta vez nos alejamos de los temas blogueros para tocar uno de actualidad: las elecciones municipales y regionales. Por definición las elecciones son algo donde participa la ciudadanía, aunque se comenta que este proceso está resultando bastante apático entre el electorado, lo cual no sabemos si se debe a un hastío político, a que ningún candidato emociona a la gente o, en el caso de Lima a que los resultados ya estan practicamente vistos.
Como siempre, hay quienes se involucran más que otros, ya sea como activistas de un partido o como simples votantes que se informan y emiten un voto consciente. En el otro lado tenemos a quienes ni les va ni les viene el tema político y si bien acuden a votar, probablemente lo hagan al azar o guiados por cualquier cosa menos por un análisis de las ofertas electorales. Una variante adicional esta formada por quienes consideran que si bien es un derecho ciudadano tampoco debe ser una obligación el votar. El asunto pues va, entre otras cosas, por hacernos una idea de cuanta participación ciudadana se da realmente en estas elecciones y si esta participación es espontánea u obligada.
En fín, las opiniones y puntos de vista son abundantes, y los bloggers, acostumbrados a opinar sobre todo, pueden ejercitar una vez más su derecho a informar al mundo sobre esto. Se puede elegir cualquiera de los subtemas planteados para postear o los tres si son de su agrado, al final son sólo guias, pautas de temas que pueden tomarse o no. Si para alguien no le resultaran motivadores pero desea participar, también puede exponer su propio acercamiento al tema o su punto de vista, siempre y cuando se mantenga dentro del tema general. Por supuesto se espera el uso de diversos enfoques y acercamientos, el uso del humor y del sarcasmo es aceptado, pero recuerden “El pacto de no agresión”. Eso sí, solicitamos a los participantes ser constructivos y proactivos. Es fácil decir que algo o todo está mal, lo interesante es ver como cambiarlo para bien, o sacar provecho de las situaciones adversas.
Like always, there are those who get more involved than others, whether as party activists who or simple voters who inform themselves and cast their ballots with awareness. On the other hand, we have those who don't pay any attention to politics and if they go to vote, they probably do it at random or guided by anything except electoral analysis.
In the end, the opinions and points of view are abundant and bloggers – accustomed to to opining over all else – can once again exercise their right to inform the world. Any of the following subtopics can be chosen to post about. Or you can choose all three – at the end they are only guides, suggested topics that you can take up or not … We ask the participants to be constructive and proactive. It's easy to say that something or everything is bad; what's interesting is to see how it can be changed and made good or finding benefits in adverse situations.
The suggested sub-topics include:
You can see all of the participating posts [ES] so far at BlogsPeru.

author: David Sasaki


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Saddam at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Goodbye Iraq's butcher;
may you never grow in our dreams.
You were the farce that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you tormented those already in pain.
Now you belong to hell,
and in shame we spell out your name.
…
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the nightmares you brought us through the years.
Goodbye Iraq's butcher,
from a country lost with or without you,
we won't miss your iron fist
not that you ever cared.
Poem by ihath
Iraqi bloggers all reacted immediately to the announcement of the death penalty for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The responses are as varied as there are bloggers but I see out of these one common thread comes through. That there is a sense of some relief that one painful chapter of Iraqi history has passed even though some do not see an end to the current one.
If you read no other posts read these:
Hala_s gives her support to the execution verdict and roundly criticizes those who complain about the trial.
So what! This is what he deserves. A theatrical court! Again so what isn’t it better than no court at all?
A lot are worried about the injustice the trial reflected.
A simple Iraqi man had the best answer and said on TV, “Those who think of it this way have never been ruled by a dictator and simply have no idea what dictatorship means”.
…Hasn’t anyone thought of how important it is to recognise the real cause of our conflict and who was behind it in the first place?
Let us forget about his crimes, who brought the Americans over?
If we don’t learn from the past there would be no future for us.
The western media iwas even worse, “Shia and Kurds are celebrating and Sunnis are lamenting!” How come I don’t meet with those Sunnis?
The British tried to stir up strife between Shia and Sunni from 1917 to 1958 and failed. The Iraqis natural and impulsive unity and love for each other wouldn’t allow it. While after nearly 50 years it took them few months to cause this uproar.
Who do you think is responsible for turning us to a fertile land for this?
Chikitia gives the essential history of what it was like having grown up in Saddam's Iraq. From early childhood where she was taught in school to love Saddam through to the slow build up of anger as she became aware of all the injustice around her:
I grew angrier when I learned that the Kuwait gimmick proved to be a green-eyed monster in disguise. I grew angrier when my high school chum told me how bitter it felt to be fatherless, knowing that her dad was actually alive and kicking in Iranian dungeons, paying the price for a reckless kid's passion for adventure. I grew angrier when a friend of mine told me that she was once married to a communist whose body was found in a mass grave in Nasiriya…
Chikitita called that friend after the verdict was announced, expecting her to be happy, but:
She was in tears.
“Get outta here don't tell me you feel bad?” I teased …
“Well I do! My neighbour lost her sons. The militia killed the four of them and wrote Wahabis on their door! I've known them for 30 years, for God's sake!” she said.
“So not feeling good about the verdict, eh?” I asked.
“He killed my husband, but I have never been as scared for my son as I am now,” she said.”
Riverbend expected the verdict but she wonders what is left for America to do:
I’m more than a little worried. This is Bush’s final card. The elections came and went and a group of extremists and thieves were put into power (no, no- I meant in Baghdad, not Washington). The constitution which seems to have drowned in the river of Iraqi blood since its elections has been forgotten. … Reconstruction is an aspiration from another lifetime …  Things must be deteriorating beyond imagination if Bush needs to use the ‘Execute the Dictator’ card. …
It’s not about the man- presidents come and go, governments come and go. It’s the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics. It is the rage of feeling like a mere chess piece to be moved back and forth at will. It is the aggravation of having a government so blind and uncaring about their peoples needs that they don’t even feel like it’s necessary to go through the motions or put up an act. And it's the deaths. The thousands of dead and dying, with Bush sitting there smirking and lying about progress and winning in a country where every single Iraqi outside of the Green Zone is losing.
Opinions from around the blogodrome
Iraq the Model sees the verdict as a step towards democracy:
This is the beginning to build the foundations for the state of law and accountability we're fighting to establish, and the verdict we expect to come tomorrow will … send a strong message to some of the current mini-Saddam's of Iraq who will also have their own days someday.
I'm speaking about the leaders who try to hinder the process of building the nation of pluralism and rule of law; those are just as criminal as Saddam and even if we bore with them so far for one reason or another this patience will not last indefinitely.
We had waited for thirty years to see Saddam in the cage and we will wait again to see the rest of criminals meet the same just fate.
Hammorabi agrees: “this is not going to bring back the beloved ones that he killed to their families but at least it will sooth their long-lasting inflamed wounds and above all it will help to prevent similar things to happen not only in Iraq but elsewhere. The sentence of Saddam is a step forward for the end of a dark period on the life of Iraq and the world. This may give more hope for the Iraqis and stability in the region.”
Asterism (that's me) smells irony. I commented that with Saddam executed the Baathist opposition in Iraq will be defeated. And now, after failing to defeat the Mehdi Army militarily and through pressure on the Iraqi government, “America has handed the Mehdi Army the defeat of its biggest internal opposition in Iraq on a plate.”
Nibras Kazimi also sees the end of the Baathists and the insurgency:
From the very beginning, the Ba’athist strategy in launching the insurgency was to re-instate Saddam Hussein.  … And all this energy expended in cunning, propaganda, guerrilla warfare and bringing the country to a sectarian boil was for one crazy goal: bringing back Saddam. … Today, we learn that the insurgency is doomed, and that the insurgents know that they are facing doom. And today, they have come to recognize doom in whatever length of rope is necessary to hang a man—indeed, to hang an era.
Marshmallow26 has a sense of hope from the verdict. She writes, “It is true that the history will remark this event as the end to all those black days in Iraq’s History correlated to the long stretch of 35-year time… But hopefully it will recover and heal up all wounds of our nation, and makes it to stand up on its feet again and show to the whole world of what a united cites subjected to one country we are, and what a great people Iraqis are…”
Ishtar interviews two Iraqis who both lost family to Saddam. The first a Sunni from Tikrit whose father was killed by Saddam for plotting his assasination:
He went on to say but after the topple of Saddam and the instalment of a new government who claims to be in opposition of Saddam, we thought our family would be rewarded as it had sustained a big damage because of my father, in the contrary, my eldest brother house was cordoned by the vehicle of the ministry of Interior and its men … kidnapped my brother who is 36 yr and after 24 hour we found his body dumped in the trash.
Since that time, I with my family and his family are moving from one place to another in fear of death squads, and you want me to be happy?!!!
The other was an old man who lost his only son for being a member of the Shia Dawa party:
He said, “ I began to envy the people who were considered as martyrs in time of Saddam, at least, he used to grant them permanent salary, car and piece of land and a salary for their parents, what did Dawa party give me for my son? only car bombs and IEDS.
Raed Jarrar looks at the American hand behind the verdict:
The bankrupt bush administration seems to be planning … to announce saddam’s death verdict … in a pathetic attempt to manufacture a small victory in Iraq to effect the mid-term elections. After 16 years of wars, sanctions, invasions and an ongoing occupation, the only victories that the bush gang is still celebrating in Iraq, after capture of the former ally and showing him in his underwear, is executing him now.
At the same time that millions of Iraqis were and are still being killed, injured, and displaced because of the U.S. interventions, at the same time that the Iraqi social fabric is being destroyed and turned into fragments, at the same time that Iraq as a state is being “wiped off the map” and cut apart, at the same time that everyday in Iraq is worse than the day before, and at the same time that tens of thousand of U.S. solders are being killed, injured, and traumatized for the rest of their lives and trillions of the U.S. taxpayers money wasted, the one and only victory that the bush administration can claim is hanging the former dictator.
Zeyad, however, thinks the timing is unrelated to the US mid-term elections but takes issue with Americans who see the verdict as a sign of progress in Iraq:
Take a look at the celebrating Iraqis on the streets: whose posters are they carrying? This is not as much a celebration of the death of Saddam as much as it’s a celebration of the birth of new tyrants and warlords. The tide has turned forever. The new victors in Iraq are the followers of Sadr and Hakim, and as the Ba’athists and Sunni insurgents and jihadists become more localised and irrelevant, the next conflict will be between those two. The way I see it now, the breakup of Iraqi is inevitable. It is already a fact on the ground and there will be nothing but bloodshed in the near future. Is that a milestone for Iraq?
Neurotic Wife does not want Saddam dead. She says: “He got away, way too easy… Way way too easy… With just a pull of a rope, he will be gone, but the mothers, the orphans, the fathers, the sons, everyone, everyone who lost their dear and beloved will never forget him nor forgive him…Never… To suffer in a tiny cubicle of a cell, with no toilet, no clean water, no good food is what he was supposed to get…Exactly like what he used to give…To say I want him tortured is an understatement. No International Court of Law will allow what I have in my mind for that criminal…Hanging him is a great great pity…”
The last word goes to Shalash al-Iraqi as translated by Zeyad:
I have extremely conflicting emotions, as if I’m standing in a huge rubbish dump, and they want me to smell old rubbish. I’ve forgotten Saddam’s crimes when faced with the atrocities of brutal crimes we experience today. I am choking with death and they want me to remember the deaths of my grandfathers. …
We do not want the enemies of national unity to exploit this event by killing our people in the name of revenge for Saddam Hussein, when they are far from being his supporters, or for others to dance with joy for the sentence, when they are liars. Because there is nothing we have gained from his fall except death, death and death, and fear, fear and fear.
I do not deny that Saddam was a dictator. Show me one person in the Green Zone who is democratic, even on TV.
I do not deny that Saddam was brutal, terrifying and mystifying. Are the brothers in the Green Zone angels of mercy?
Saddam used to appoint his relatives and party members. Do you want me to bang on my head?
Saddam stole the people’s riches. Do you want me to tear off my clothes?
Saddam was a traitor. Do you want me to hurl myself on the floor?
Saddam was sectarian. No. I have to laugh at this one. …
We came out of Saddam’s night, but we fell into a well, when will we come out?
And Finally…
Konfused Kid reviews the trial as one would review a movie…
ACTING
Asked about his performance on the trial, Saddam Hussein said that he could've done a lot better and that his performance sounded robotic and uneven, no where near his accolade-earning performances in earlier seasons, while we all respect the great multiple-award winning figure for his fiery and inspirational performances…
SCRIPT
While the script was predictable to a great degree, the writers did an especially nice job by some neat touches here and there, there was an ingenious scene where Saddam Hussein, upon hearing his death sentence, shouted: “Allahu Akbar”, and a watcher above also said the exact same words – except Saddam said it in protest of the court's injustice while the wather applauded that court's integrity….such an ironic and fascinating display…
DIRECTION
The director does an absoluetly brilliant job as always, the visuals are slick and Saddam's make-up is absolutely spot-on, every camera captures a sublte nuance and the special effects are downright spectacular. Brilliant.
and … cut!

author: Salam Adil


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Serbia: Bad Things in Belgrade · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 posts a list of 44 bad things in Belgrade and readers are adding to it in the comments section.


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Serbia: Constitutional History · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 lists Serbia's previous constitutions.


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Tajikstan, USA: Having a Baby · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Candide looks at the pros and cons involved in choosing to give birth in the United States and Tajikistan.


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Trinidad & Tobago: The responsible executive · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“‘Corporate’ and ‘responsibility’ involve a contradiction in terms, of course, but I guess there's no harm in trying to imagine what a progressive corporate boss might do (as opposed to say), should such a creature exist,” writes Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor in the preamble to “The Responsible Executive's Manifesto”.


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Africa: Regional Integration and Airlines · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Sanaga Peregrinations  builds on Ethan Zuckerman's recent post on  African regional integration and asks (Fr): “In the same vein, does each country need its own airline? Why do exports from African countries to other African countries only represent 10% of the continent's total exports? Ethan proposes arguments in favor of a pan-african free market.”

author: Alice Backer


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Argentina: Film: Born and Raised · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Robert Wright reviews Pablo Trapero's newest film, “Born and Raised”. But beware, Wright warns that “if you plan to see it, don’t read any further…”


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Armenia: Bowing Out · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Zarchka of Life Around Me explains why she decided not to participate in “Hye Superstar 2.”


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Armenia: Corruption · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian notes Armenia's lack of change in perceived corruption according to Transparency International's new report. He compares Armenia's performance with that of its other neighbors in the South Caucasus.


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Armenia: Farewell Aram · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Blogrel notes the passing of Aram Asatryan, a famous Armenian musician.


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Armenia: US Election · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Life in Armenia says that the results of US congressional elections is good for Armenian causes.


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Aruba: Royal no-show · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In ArubaGirl's neck of the woods, the rumour that Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is going to pay a visit to their church fills the pews on Sunday.


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Brazil: Congress wants to track Internet users · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Boing Boing reports on a bill to be voted in the Brazilian Congress that would force every user and provider under its jurisdiction to identify them self in every transaction. The vote was scheduled for today but it was suspended.

author: Jose Murilo


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Brunei: Calling Brunei Bloggers · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Monkeyfruit, a mainstream journalist, has launched an effort to network with Brunei bloggers. “We are looking to arrange more fun collaborations with Bruneian bloggers in future, so if I have your URL, there's a good chance of you being invited to participate :).”


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Chile: Senator Flores Withdraws from Party · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Senator and vetaran blogger, Fernando Flores, has posted a letter [ES] he sent to Party For Democracy head Sergio Bitar announcing his withdrawal from the political party, which has been accused of political corruption. Fellow veteran blogger Leo Prieto applauds the decision: “We need transparent politicians, giving an example to follow, respecting the laws, and working for us. We need politicians with clean hands [ES].’


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China: Best of the blocked · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Nominations for this year's Best of the Blogs have been set and votes can be cast now. Here's part of 23 year-old nominee Zeng Jinyan‘s—her MSN Spaces blog has been blocked in China since late summer—thank you post [zh] from earlier this week:
在旅行中，10月28日我看见德国之声工作人员发给我关于BOBs的电子邮件，才得知自己被提名为记者无疆界特别奖。时间匆忙，当时并没有多注意，觉得中国比我有勇气、有良知又有文笔的人多的是，被提名者肯定不少。甚至怀疑德国之声搞错了，呵呵。
写完《孟买的上海梦》，心血来潮用GOOGLE搜索BOBs的中文信息。发现有意思是，新浪网上关于BOBs也是有报道的，正文提供了“花花世界”、“非常真人”、“韩寒的博客”、“柴静的博客”的链接，其他被提名的博客，主要是谈论新闻、政治、社会、性等话题的博客，全部没有链接，更不用说我的博客——一个被长期软禁在家的北京人的妻子描写日常生活的日记。新浪是什么目的才如此做法呢？我不知道。可能是过于敏感了，我马上想起盲人律师陈光诚，他被美国《时代周刊》评选为塑造世界一百人时，中国大多主流媒体对此事的报道是：一共有五个华人入选《时代周刊》“塑造世界的一百人”，分别是温家宝、黄光裕、李安、马军等，抹去了代表先驱与良知的陈光诚的名字。
顺便提一下，“鼠尾草”是一位勇敢坚强的美女，在与疾病作斗争的过程中，把美食和快乐献给大家。相当不错，惊喜地发现，原来她也是中国人民大学毕业的，算是我的师姐。
韩寒82年出生，比我大一岁，是我高中时的偶像。印象深刻的是，高中时读完他的书，我心想完了，人家如此聪慧，十几岁就做了许多人一辈子也做不成的事情，我却还在没日没夜、循规蹈矩地为残酷的高考准备，恐怕一辈子也赶不上他出息啊。由于心脏的病史，高考前预备体检时被告知，很可能不符合体检规定，永远没有进入大学的机会。竟然是叛离学校教育的韩寒，成为一大刺激力，让我觉得非争一口气上大学不可，最后在正式体检前饮鸩止渴式地服药和“锻炼”以至成功上了大学。
至于我的博客“了了园”，已经被屏蔽，在国内没有破网工具（代理软件）是无法阅读的。如果生活在大陆的人读不到了了园的故事，被提名的意义就被动地打折扣了。对于被防火墙封锁的中国人来说，这是现实。
Guangzhou-based web news editor and blogger Wen Yunchao has been busy preparing the the full set of stories in the latest edition of Net News This Week [zh], which he writes straight to his blog:
网络曝光“新版”明星电话
近日，一份收录了近400位内地娱乐圈人士电话号码及地址的名单在网络流传，有媒体查证该名单准确性接近90%。去年6月曾发生过“600明星电话泄露事件”，近日公布的部分号码虽然曾在去年就被曝光，但是并未更换。法学教授叶林建议当事人要求相关网站删除相关帖子，“如果网站或是相关运营商没有采取措施去补救，难免要承担散播他人隐私的责任。
城市偷听语录流行
继网友“小刀断雨”在天涯论坛发表了《偷听北京———一个城市无意而真实的秘密》的帖子之后，一股“偷听城市”的热潮正在网上流行，“偷听广州”、“偷听长沙”、“偷听重庆”、“偷听上海”等纷纷出现，并且有逐渐蔓延的趋势。所谓“偷听城市”，就是在公众地方听到别人的说话内容，附加事发当时的场景，发到网上供大众阅读分享。事件也引发了各方的争论，支持者认为是最真实的记录和表达，反对者认为庸俗无聊传播不良文化且侵犯隐私。不过，大多数参与的网友只是觉得好玩。
假冒谷歌MP3搜索网站
10 月31日晚间，有人在donews发帖宣称google已经推出MP3音乐搜索，网址为www.gugemp3.com。谷歌中国发言人表示，这是有人冒充谷歌推出的网站。目前谷歌中国还没有推出MP3音乐搜索的计划，谷歌也正在调查此次冒牌的MP3搜索引擎事件。随后，该网站首页出现一则“关站声明”，称网站给GOOGLE带来了负面影响，向GOOGLE中国表示歉意。并称删除原有内容，不再提供MP3搜索服务。用Firefix 2.0访问该网站，会提示：“此页面已经被汇报为蓄意伪造为诱骗用户透露个人或金融信息的页面。输入任何个人信息可能会导致ID偷窃和其它欺诈行为。”
MySpace“清除非法文件”
MySpace 社交网站将用技术手段阻止用户往自己的网页上传”版权所有”的音乐文件。MySpace将运用来自一家叫Gracenote的公司所提供的技术，对网站存在的非法文件进行扫描和甄别。清除任何未经授权而发布的材料。其发言人称，一旦扫描发现非法文件，这些文件都会被清除。那些不断违规的注册用户将被禁再登陆MySpace。该网站据报拥有9千万用户。
国家严查非法提供下载
媒体报道，国家版权局、信息产业部、商务部、公安部等部委将开展为期三个月的打击网络侵权盗版专项行动，将重点打击以营利为目的，通过网络提供电影、音乐、软件和教科书下载的非法经营行为。截至目前，国家版权局已经通过各种途径搜集整理线索302件，这些案件就发送到当地版权部门，进行查处。据介绍，目前美国的电影都没有授权可以在网络上使用，国内电影也大部分没有这样的授权。

author: John Kennedy


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China: generational change · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Diligence China discusses about the possible changes in future China when the new Chinese generation (1990s) become the major decision makers in the country.


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China: journalist’s day · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

November 8 is the journalist's day in China. China media project has a detailed report on how various news institutes talk about the journalist's day.


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China: legalization of prostitution · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chinese Law professor blog found two articles, one in China Daily and one in Southern weekend, discuss about legalization of prostitution with a positive attitude.


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China:Xinjiang and the territorial legacies of empire  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Granitestudio has an interesting historical account of the relation between Chinese empire and the west (Xingjiang and Tibet) since modern time.


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Colombia, El Salvador: Shakira · Global Voices
David Sasaki

John Guzman at Proyecto Colombia congratulates Shakira who took home four Latin Grammy’s. Tim Muth says that just a couple days later the Colombian pop diva was in San Salvador as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador promoting anti-violence activities among the youth of the country.


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Colombia: Interesting poll numbers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Citing the most recent Invamer-Gallup poll of 1,000 Colombians in four cities and notes that President Álvaro Uribe's popularity fell six percentage points.


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Cuba and the Internet · Global Voices
Carlos Gradaille

There has been a lot of talk lately in the Cuban blogosphere about Cuba's attitude towards the Internet. The reactions appear to be as diverse as the myriad persons concerned with this rather heated issue. Some of this discussion was provoked by a recent report by Reporters without Borders about restrictions and censorship for Cubans accessing the World Wide Web.
Connection to the Internet in Cuba is slow, and Cuban nationals cannot normally ask for the service to be installed at home, with some rare exceptions given usually for work reasons, in which case the employer pays for the service for its employee. Only companies and foreign visitors or residents can hire the service and pay for it, as prices are awfully high, and the quality of the connection is still not good. Yet many average people get access to the World Wide Web at work, mostly IT staff of connected companies, or people subscribed (also for work reasons) to the health network and ISP Infomed, which gives access mainly to many specific web sites such as Wikipedia, free software resources and health-related pages.
On the one hand, apologists for Cuba's policies defend the government's position, attributing all the responsibility for the poor bandwidth of Cuba's link to the Internet to the US government, which is said to be blocking all attempts in the island to connect to high-speed links. The general argument is that, as the overall connection speed of Cuba is not sufficient to serve the entire country, the government has to control this scarce resource in order to use it optimally for the benefit of everyone, albeit indirectly.
On the web site of the Party for Socialism and Liberation there's an English version of an article by Jose R. Vidal, a professor of at the University of Havana, who writes that
This is how scarce financial and technological resources are directed towards the essential interests of the country and the possibilities offered by the internet, in general, and how information and communication technologies favors the entire population and not only those that are connected to the internet.
The blog Proposiciones (ES) reprints an interesting article from the Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde. The author of the article argues that
Since the first days of the Internet, the US has interfered the access of Cuba to it, and at the same time has unleashed a ferocious campaign against the revolution, accusing it of not giving freedom of connection to the global network.
What really happens is that, because of the laws of the blockade, the country is unable to connect to the international fiber optics channels that pass near its coasts, thus having to connect through satellite links which are more expensive and it limits considerably this resource.
On the other side, the most extreme critics of Cuba's policies state that such control is an excuse of the Cuban government to grant access only to those people they consider are “ideologically secure”. They also report that acquiring computer equipment in the island is not affordable for many, and even if people had the means to do so, it is not as simple as going to a store.
Another interesting argument from these critics is that the claims that the US government blocks Cuba from connecting to high-speed links are not true, and they base this assertion on a debate that occurred recently in a UN summit in Athens, Greece, between a Cuban government official in charge of electronic commerce in the island and an independent researcher and networking engineer, who asserted that “the Cuban government's problems stem from its own telecommunications monopoly and its official censorship policies”. (For more information on the Internet Governance Forum in which this debate occurred, see Jose Murilo Junior's Global Voices article.)
El Güinero talks (ES) with some irony about these issues:
Lately, the “grandma” [a play on words referring to the Communist Party daily, Granma] has been doing its best to deal with the fuss about a report that criticized the limits of accessing the internet on the island. They have come up with a logic of “you tell me what I will tell you.” Fantastic! And as part of the offensive, “La China” –  or maybe it was Ramiro who is in charge of computing now – unleashed UN representative Juan Fernandez to declare war.
Also, some of the posts reflecting these and other opinions have already been cited recently here on Global Voices, a few of them from the blog Child of the Cuban Revolution, which has a series of articles about Internet in Cuba (No Internet for you, Castro's Internet I, II and III).
It’s been a lot of fun watching the Castro regime and its apologists trying to explain over the past few days why the vast majority of Cubans are effectively barred from accessing the Internet.
As you'd expect, it’s the fault of those evil Americans – the “criminal” commercial embargo stops Cuba from linking to fast fiber optic cables, etc, etc.
And finally, there are also some blog posts in the middle like the one by El cubano de la isla on his blog Mi isla al mediodía (My island at noon). In an article entitled Hipocresía (ES), he refers to his government's position as an hypocritical one, and at the same time criticizes the US for its policies for a “Free Cuba”, also considered by him as hypocritical as well.
The blogger Left-handed on his web site Por la izquierda (On the left) also assumes an intermediate position by arguing that both sides of the controversy are to blame (ES). He goes as far as to say that “The biggest damage that [the US]  has made to this island is to maintain a blockade that serves more like a pretext and justification to cover all that has been done wrong….“

author: Carlos Gradaille


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Ethiopian bloggers take on female genital mutilation · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

The highly sensitive subject of female genital mutilation dominated much of the Ethiopian blogosphere over the past week.
The sudden interest was sparked by news that an Ethiopian man had been jailed for 10 years in the US for aggravated battery and cruelty to children after prosecutors claimed he had used a pair of scissors to cut off his daughter’s clitoris.
The central accusation was that he had been engaging in the traditional practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) that is common in some African cultures including Ethiopia.
It is a subject that rarely appears in the mainstream media – and is seen as too taboo for general discussion.
But Ethiopia's bloggers rose above the embarrassment and squeamishness that often surrounds FGM and came up with a series of passionately thought-out posts and arguments. Their readers also did their bit. The comment-count under each substantial entry was well into double figures.
Almost everyone who wrote about it went out of their way to condemn the practice.
Female Genital Mutilation is barbaric. The quicker everyone is made to understand that fact and to stop making polite excuses for it, the quicker shame and fear of the law will save millions of girls and women from a perverse worldview centered on their own essential ‘sin’
of being born female.
wrote ethiopundit in Fear of a female planet.
Living even in the most civilized country, Ethiopians seems to have problems escaping from the tight hold of tradition. The father who was jailed for the genital mutilation of his two-year-old daughter is a case in point.  Is this a desperate attempt of a father to shelter
his daughter from the permissiveness of American culture?
wondered I Was Just Thinking in The tight hold of tradition.
The “traditional” practice of Female Genital Mutilation (or ‘cutting’ for the squeamish or ‘circumcision’ for those in denial) is the most shocking thing I have come across since moving to Ethiopia
wrote Meskel Square in Ten years for genital mutilation.
Unsurprisingly, Ethiopia's female bloggers came up with some of the most pointed criticism of FGM as a tradition.
But almost all of them then went on to mount passionate defenses of the man whose conviction had sparked off the whole discussion.
Khalid Adem is Innocent wrote Ewenet Ethiopia, one of a steady stream of new names on the Ethiopian blogging scene (‘ewenet’ means truth).
Khalid simply does not fit the profile of an Ethiopian who would
insist that his daughter be circumcised. He is not a nomad or peasant
who immigrated from rural Ethiopia. He grew up in metropolitan Addis
Ababa and came to the US at the age of sixteen. He is an educated,
urban and modern African man who became an adult in America. It is
extremely unlikely that a person like him would even think of having
his daughter circumcised- let alone do it himself.
In Ethiopian, men never ever get involved in the actual ritual of
female circumcision. FMC is a female ritual, and it is always the
women (especially the grandmothers) that insist on and arrange for the
circumcision ritual by a traditional practitioner.
Ethiopia Encyclopedia, another new blogger on the block, took issue with commentary on CNN that implied that most Ethiopian immigrants would cut their daughters. She also questioned the evidence given in the court case in Ethiopian man circumcises 2 year old daughter?
I just have one question and I think it can reflect the question of anyone with COMMON SENSE. How can any child or human remember an event that occured when they were the age of two? Furthermore, how could she have remembered that it was specifically her father who circumcised her?
Weichegud! ET Politics was also far from convinced. In “Ethiopian Man Convicted of Female Circumcision”… Uhh…?, she wrote:
I've spent a few hours reading about this case and … folks, as much as I am a feminist-in-stilettos, there is a lot wrong with this case, not that you would know it by reading a totally hysterical article that is dependably posted on CNN. The man, Ato Kahlid Adem, was going through an exceptionally nasty divorce and custody case from a South African woman who only noticed that her daughter was circumcised after the separation? And the vivid details with which the seven-year-old girl remembers what happened when she was two unsettles me.
The last word goes to Free Khalid Adem yet another new Ethiopian blog set up specifically to fight for the convicted man. In Khalid Adem Is Innocent! it concluded:
Khalid Adem is innocent. This is a false accusation. He is decent, hard working ,and law abiding person. He couldn't have done such a
thing.
Elsewhere, Ethiopian bloggers remembered the first anniversary of post-election unrest in their capital Addis Ababa that left just short of 200 people dead.
Carpe Diem Ethipoia described the traditional mourning of the family of one of the victims in When parents bury their children: A story I've been dying to tell. Weichegud! ET Politics expressed her anguish in Burnt by Tears and Blood.
Things We Should Have Written Down came up with the most evocative post of the fortnight in Midnight in the Mini-Bus of Good and Evil, a description of a long bus ride from the ancient city of Harar to Addis Ababa:
A sharply dressed, neatly groomed young man shared his bundle with the teenage DVD-wielding girl, and there bloomed a romance that seemed to progress through every stage of a relationship during the twelve hour trip. First, timid conversation and flirting: they exchanged names and examined each other’s cell phones. Second, an act of kindness: he shared some of his chat with her. Third, deep conversation: they spoke of their families and their lives in Addis and Harar. Fourth, a move is made: he gently put a strand of her hair back beneath her tightly drawn shawl. Fifth, intimacy: she took of her head covering and laid her head on his shoulder. Sixth, comfort: they slept together for some time, intertwined like seasoned lovers. Seventh, discord: he gives her shoulder one caress too many, she retreats to the window, they stop speaking. Eight, separation: she leaves the bus at her stop without a final word or glance in his direction.

author: Andrew Heavens


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Finland, Russia: Song for Politkovskaya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Step At A Time links to a recording of a Finnish song for Anna Politkovskaya.


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Hungary: 1956 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric disagrees with a fellow blogger on the meaning of the 1956 revolution: “The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was primarily against Soviet domination and not just an internal conflict between Hungarian communists that spiraled onto the streets, where it became the failed fight for freedom you all have read/seen/heard so much about this past month.”


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India: Women and The Cosmopolitan · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An interesting (doubtless that it will be controversial) way to look at women's empowerment. By looking at back issues of the Cosmopolitan! Kamla Bhatt writes “Now, comes the important $60 billion question. Has the role of women changed or is it just a cosmetic change that we are witnessing in India? They have a quote from Urvashi Bhutalia, a well-know feminist who says that the changes are at the moment confined to the cosmetic level.”


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Jamaica: Cultures clash over “dutty wine” · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Ria Bacon comments on the clash of cultures taking place in the discussions surrounding the ultra-popular “dutty wine” dance since moves associated with the latter allegedly caused the death of a young woman. She also links to a YouTube video and reports that there are 2000+ similar examples to be found on the video-sharing site.


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Jamaica: Poet Shara McCallum · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The subject of Geoffrey Philp's latest installment in his “In My Own Words” series is Jamaica-born poet Shara McCallum.


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Kazakhstan: Of Phony Anthems · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZ Blog writes that the fake national anthem featured in the Borat movie is good satire of some of the things in which the Kazakhstani government takes pride.

author: Nathan Hamm


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La Reunion: Controversial President · Global Voices
Alice Backer

La Reunion is an overseas department of France situated in the Indian Ocean. Of the department's President, Nassimah Dindar, blogger Pierrot Dupuy writes  that (Fr): “she is capable of cynicism and has a propensity for sitting on rules and laws.” He then relates anecdotes that illustrate his point.


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Madagascar: Franco-Malagasy Solidarity · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Harinjaka  is happy that a local French NGO is flying Francia, a local girl in need of specialized surgery, to France for the operation but thinks (Fr): “the best way to help Madagascar is to give Malagasies the means to develop their own thinking and methods, rather than offering them the  key to projects that will rarely address real needs … Let's hope that in coming years the country will manage to obtain adequate surgical equipment.”


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Malawi: open source software from Malawi · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

With a light touch, Soyapi Mumba writes about free software developed in Malawi, “Fortunately, in the software world, with special thanks to free and open source software licences and the Internet, it is hassle-free to get software developed from Malawi. Within seconds, you can have an application downloaded and running on your computer. No human rights organisations going to court to stop you, no passport requirements and no mind-changing father or developer to bother you!”


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Myanmar: Taking Responsibility for Myanmar’s Troubles · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Myanmar's neighbours and other powers must take responsibility of state of things in Myanmar says the blogger at Macam-Macam. “The fish always rots from the head.  Always.  But Than Shwe gets to play the big fish in the small pond so long as Burma's neighbours – such as India and China – or further-flung nations such as the United States and Europe, do nothing about it.  These foreign governments must share the responsibility for Burma's plight.  And for the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.”. Than Shwe is the military leader of Myanmar.

author: Preetam Rai


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Nepal: Maoists and the Ruling Alliance · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! comments on the nature and importance of the agreement between the Maoists and the Ruling Alliance. “This is probably the best year in centuries for our country Nepal where we are seeing series of ground breaking decisions and agreements that will have long lasting impact on the future of Nepalis.”


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Nepal: The Maoist Chaseout · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Wagle Street Journal posts videos of the Maoists after a historic agreement with the ruling alliance in Nepal. “Protestors had stopped the vehicular movement in front of the office saying rebels were forcing the residents of the city to feed their comrades who have arrived in Kathmandu from different parts of the country to take part in a Mass Rally scheduled for Friday, Nov 10, 2006″


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Nicaragua: Ortega Triumphs, US Protests · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Leftside takes a look at how the US reacted to Ortega's victory in Nicaragua's presidential elections. Erwin Cifuentes has lots of informative election-related links. “Goyo and Juanita” at Pura Vida take a diplomatic stance on the results while Boz gives his usual five talking points.


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Peru: Transportation in Lima · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adding to his public transportation reviews of Los Angeles, Mexico City, Bogotá, and Caracas, David of A Ride for the Climate (who is cycling throughout Latin America) offers a transport review of Lima.


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Russia: Covering the “Russian March” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The “Russian March” rally by the Leo Tolstoy monument at Devichye Polye in Moscow. (Photo by LJ user hegtor, taken from the staircase of a 16-storied apartment building nearby. More of hegtor‘s Nov. 4 photos are here, here, and here.)
A few thousand ultranationalists rallied at Devichye Polye in Moscow Saturday morning. About 1,000 anti-fascist demonstrators counter-rallied at Bolotnaya Square later that day. Both events were heavily guarded by riot police.
Due to the worldwide LJ outage, live blog coverage of the controversial “Russian March” (which took place not just in Moscow but in other Russian cities as well) was scarce. The mainstream media, however, seem to have done even worse. Below is part of a discussion on Russian journalism that took place on the blog of LJ user plushev, a Radio Ekho Moskvy host (RUS):
plushev:
Freedom of Speech
Information blockade of the “Russian March” has been declared on federal TV channels. At least, until the evening news, when they'll tell us how a “provocation by a few nationalists” has failed.
I was watching Vesti-24 channel (at which I'd been lucky [to work]) at 6 pm. The whole newscast – not a word about the marches, only the celebrations all around, and Putin. There was an excellent intro to the video about [the president]: “After laying flowers, Putin answered questions of the cadets.” But on the video, it's the cadets who are answering Putin's questions. This isn't the funnest part, though. As they talk about celebrations, they are using a quote from [Moscow mayor Yuri] Luzhkov, who is speaking about possible disturbances, “all those instigators” and “provocations” – and it totally looks like Luzhkov has gone nuts: everyone's celebrating, and he is talking some nonsense.
wombatik: […] Let's imagine a semi-ideal situation. The ideal would be for you to produce a newscast at an absolutely independent channel, where there is no editorial policy in favor of these or those [political] forces. And you have an event – the “Russian March.” Will you include a story about it? It seems as if you have to, since there is the fact of it, which belongs in the informational picture of the day. But how can you do it so that the viewers, after watching the piece about the march, don't come running to join the demonstrators? Should history segments be included? I really can't imagine what to do in a situation like this. What would you do?
plushev: Are you serious? Imagine that a few thousand people took to the streets in London. Doesn't matter what for. In any case – it's an event. I'd like to see a TV company that would decide against showing it.
Me, I'm telling about it at Ekho Moskvy anyway, without editing the information out. Why should TV be any different?
wombatik: What do you mean, am I serious? That I don't know how to present it and under what dressing? The problem is I understand that it is an event. But I wouldn't want to [advertise] the “March.” At “my” TV station, this item would be given with some kind of analytical supplement. Like, this is this and that, this is where [the origins] are, and this is what the result of something like this was in certain countries. And would you present it just like it is, the way, say, it's presented on Ekho now?
plushev: Yes, I would present it the way it's presented on Ekho.
The problem is you treat news as PR. You've said it yourself. And you're not the first one who is genuinely surprised: on TV, they're good at beating this attitude into you, I've seen it already. And here are the results: a PR person is always thinking whether to include or not what's considered a news item. A news person, on the other hand, thinks only about whether something is news or not.
I don't understand at all why this issue is raised at all: “to say it in a way that wouldn't [inspire] people to rush to the march.” This is not the goal of the news, to think if people will rush there or not. The main thing is to tell about what's going on.
Just imagine that today many people were walking next to a mob of potentially dangerous, unbalanced, aggressive persons. If someone (let's say with the wrong skin color) got injured because, for example, he unknowingly happened at Komsomolskaya [subway station, where the “Russian March” was supposed to begin), those who hadn't told him about the potential danger would share some blame for his sufferings.
[…]
***
A very short video of the “Russian March” participants; their slogans: “Russians onward!”, “Long live Russia!” and “Death to the occupants!” – by yakovlev106.
***
There was plenty of inflammatory content at the Moscow rally, and a little bit of actual violence, with at least two cases that involved photojournalists.
One of them, Oleg Klimov, is also a blogger, and he mentions the attack in part 2 of his three-part photo report (RUS, Antifa and Fascists, Journalists and Fascists, Leo Tolstoy and Fascists):
[photo omitted]
I did end up getting punched in the nose. By the fascists. One was just passing by, approached me from behind and did a hook right into the camera while I was shooting. It didn't really hurt, but was disgusting. […] When there's no one to beat, it seems, they are beating journalists. […]
[photo omitted: three young demonstrators urinating under a tree]
In part 1, Klimov writes (RUS) about the antifascist counter-rally that he attended as well:
[photo omitted: “Nuremberg is a hero-city.”
I've always thought that we don't have fascists. Turns out we don't have anti-fascists. The rally at Bolotnaya Square was a worthless event. Journalists, not understanding the difference between “antifa” and “fa” fighters, attacked the masked teenagers, assuming that they were fascists. But they turned out to be nothing more than a militant group of antifascists, and many were surprised when they began to chant: “Fascism won't come through!” Our anti-fascists are elderly people, liberals and demagogues, but they are being replaced by the generation of antifascists of “direct action,” as it has already happened in the West.
[photo omitted: “Fascism won't come through.”
LJ user karimova witnessed an attack on another photojournalist – and got verbally assaulted herself (RUS):
Yesterday, at the [well-known disgusting event] some Russian [Cossack] beat up a female photojournalist – because she was photographing him.
When the riot police was seizing the Cossack, he was yelling that the girl attacked him first. A choir of [elderly women] was echoing him. When I interfered with the words “You are lying,” the [elderly women] choir switched over to me and diagnosed me right away: “[female Jew]” (!!!) and “prostitute” (!).
Organizers tried to look decent. [Sergei Baburin]'s phrase that “you shouldn't raise your arms in a pseudo-Roman greeting because there are journalists here” characterizes the spirit of the event very well. Baburin didn't say that it's shameful IN GENERAL for a Russian person to do it – he said it shouldn't be done when journalists are around.
Crazy [old women]. My God, it seems as if it was a revelation for them yesterday that the poets who had made a huge contribution to the Russian culture, [Osip Mandelshtam] and [Joseph Brodsky], were ethnic Jews. They refuse to accept it. Just as they refuse to come to terms with a simple thought that all Tatars, Bashkirs, Jews, Chechens, Dagestanis living in Russia – are as Russian as the majority of us, because they speak the same language, read the same literature and obey the same laws. […]
Anyway, people who gathered at the so-called “Russian March” hate Russia and refuse to accept it the way it is, and instead they are [obsessed with their own genes and genealogy].
I'm sorry that my acquaintances took part in [this], too. I hope they'll change their minds.
And yes. Luckily, the [disgusting] event was a failure, basically. The pathetic 1,000-1,500 of those who showed up, and of them at least a third were journalists and another third were totally sick and mentally unbalanced elderly people. Here's all of your “Russian rebellion.”


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Russia: Greeting Moscow Winter · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

It's winter in Moscow. Snowsquare posts a photo of a Beware – Icicles sign, and Two-Zero shares a few views of Moscow's snow-covered streets.


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Singapore: Getting Senior Citizens to Blog · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lam Chun See, a senior blogger in Singapore is conducting a talk on blogging for senior citizens.


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South Asia: Macaca, YouTube and Elections · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Quite a few blogs have had a reaction to the elections in the US. Sepia Mutiny reflects on the Macaca incident that was widely blogged. “There was a bit of gallows humor following the “macaca” gaffe that the use of racial slurs might actually help George Allen, but that turned out to be totally false: Virginia is changing. There are now a decent number of South Asians in Virginia – 77,000 – and a significant subset of them are voting American citizens.”


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St. Lucia: Overstaying one’s welcome in office · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

With a general election coming up in his native St. Lucia, Matthew Hunte muses on Sting's departure from The Police and politicians who overstay their welcome in office.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Tajikistan: Election Surprises · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alexander Sadikov says that those reporting that there were no surprises in Tajikistan's election are missing a few things.


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Tajikistan: Voices from Tajikistan · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Vadim rounds up some of the discussions in the Tajik blogosphere.


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Tanzania: Samsung’s investment · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Tanzania In Focus discusses Samsung's economic interests in Tanzania.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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The Moroccan blogosphere barely acknowledges Saddam Hussein’s sentence · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

Two major events marked the beginning of the week, for the Moroccan bloggers: The Green March and Saddam Hussein's death penalty. But only one event got the most attention. It's the first blog meeting held in Agadir last week end.
The Green March
Moroccan bloggers(Fr) discussed the Green March, and remembered the euphoria that went along with the spectacular event, 31 years ago.
Samir explains why is November the 6th a holiday in Morocco.
So today the Moroccan people have been celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Green March that helped the country peacefully retrieve it southern provinces from Spain under the Madrid accords signed in 1975 by Morocco, Spain and Mauritania .
As usual, Too Banal plays with the words, and the green March which in Arabic is “AL Massira Alkhadra” becomes La mass ira(Fr), which means the crowd will go.
Laurent Bevas posts(Fr) an article about the Sahara issue published in Le Monde Dipomatic(Fr). But the “copy-paste” of the article made Imane, his first commentator uneasy(Fr).
Mohamed Laroussi‘s father died 14 years ago, and it was on November the 6th.
Laroussi celebrated Monday a march, not the green one, but the one his father took toward peace and eternal rest. He posted(Fr) a touching letter to his late father asking him to enjoy life in heaven.
It's a big mess down here, my beloved dad.
Saddam …WHO?
To my not so big surprise, only few Moroccan bloggers(Fr) posted about the Saddam Hussein's death sentence.
Admin-word warns(Fr) that it's just a matter of turns.
Ze3ma a moula nouba , li massadch fomo(Moroccan dialect) yatkhayat lih !!!
Myrtus calls the sentence The verdict
That is all I can think of calling this, the conviction of Saddam Hussein for the murder of 148 citizens of his country.  Their crime?  Being unlucky enough to live in a town where some tried to assasinate Saddam Hussein.  They were murdered in reprisal.
Even though Attayeb entitled(Ar) his post not for the defense of Saddam, the words he used to describe the sentence show sympathy and affection for the Ex president of Iraq.
Agadir's blog meeting
Neither Saddam Hussein nor the Green March was as popular for the Moroccan bloggers as the first blog meeting in Agadir. Many(Fr) enthusiastic posts(Fr) about the event(Fr) that became Moroccan-Tunisian(Fr) with the presence of Adib(Fr) and Amine(Fr).
Ahmed wrote a long post(Fr) describing in detail the meeting, he definitely had very good time.
Bettar Nadia was as nostalgic as Ahmed, and depicted in detail(Fr) the two days meeting.
All those who participated in the meeting wrote the same sentence:
Merci les amis et a très bientôt, Inshallah
Gossips…Gossips…
M.S.Hjiouj is finishing his first novel which took him one night to write(Fr).
Ahmed(Fr) celebrated his birthday yesterday and loulou dedicated(Fr) a whole post for the event.
Label Ash has a new look, more elegant and with more captivating posts.
Moudawanat aloustad ‘s latest post is an interesting(Ar) short anecdote about improvisation.
Coup de coeur
Thanks to a tip from Bla Fransya(Ar), I discovered an interesting blog with quiet a unique story. Miloud Chelh(Ar), the author, used to write funny posts about his different jobs: painter, waiter..
Lately, he started writing for Al Massae(Fr), a popular newspaper launched by Rachid Niny(Fr). Miloud writes mostly standing up .He doesn't have time to seat, he explains. He still works as waiter.
That's it for today. See you next Wednesday, Inshallah;)

author: Farah Kinani


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Trinidad & Tobago: Corporate Social Responsibility · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Karel McIntosh provides an overview of corporate social responsibility in the Trinidad and Tobago context. And Francomenz asserts that “It’s sad that we may have to actually legislate magnanimity in order for businesses to understand the weight of their corporate responsibility, but in a climate where industry makes no apologies for having narrow interests and wide profit margins, perhaps it’s time to remind them that those margins are made possible primarily because of stakeholders rather than shareholders.“


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Trinidad & Tobago: Cutlass as metaphor · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

For Taran Rampersad, knowledge of the existence of a “brushing cutlass” — or a lack thereof — provides a useful metaphor for the digital divide.


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Uganda: living on the edge · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Living on the edge of the earth: “Northern Uganda has been at the centre of one of the most brutal conflicts in Africa. For the last twenty years, the Ugandan government has been battling a notoriously brutal rebel force called the Lord’s Resistance Army.”


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Ukraine: Utility Prices to Go Up · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about what awaits Ukrainians starting Dec. 1: “This winter Ukrainians are being hit with massive price increases – a doubling and more of their housing-communal-services tariffs and utility charges.”


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Uzbekistan: EU Sanctions · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net discusses the calls of NGOs for the European Union to extend its sanctions against Uzbekistan and analyzes what choices are available to Europe and the consequences of those choices.


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Venezuela: Rafael Ramirez’s Controversial Speech · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both Tomas Sancio and Miguel Octavio have links to a video (Octavio also links to an English translation) of Minister of Energy and Oil and President of PDVSA Rafael Ramirez saying that employees of the state-owned oil company that do not support Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution are free to quit. Luigino Bracci Roa says that the opposition-dominated media is purposefully misconstruing Ramirez's statement [ES] and Oil Wars believes the opposition is to blame for turning PDVSA into a political weapon. Daniel Duquenal, meanwhile, thinks that “watching how chavismo is trying to cover for the terrible Ramirez speech is perhaps even more degrading than the speech itself.”


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Zimbabwe: taking stock of election promises · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sokhwanele compares Zanu PF‘s election promises with reality on the ground in Zimbabwe.


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Arabisc: Egyptian Blogger Arrested While Arab Bloggers Debate Unity Issues · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

With most Arab countries waging a war on the Internet, Egypt decided to score brownie points with its bloggers by arresting yet another online writer.
Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has himself enjoyed a stint behind bars, reports to us his colleague's ordeal.
في مارس الماضي قامت كلية الحقوق في جامعة الأزهر التي كان عبد الكريم (الشهير بكريم) مقيدا بها كطالب بفصله بصفة نهائية من الكلية على خلفية كتاباته المشككة في صحة الدين الإسلامي و نقد بعض رموزه, و كانت جريدة الجمهورية قد نشرت وقتها ما يفيد بأن أوراق التحقيق مع كريم في مجلس التأديب – و التي رفض كريم التوقيع عليها لأسباب خاصة به – قد أرسلت نسخة منها إلى النيابة العامة. و بناءا عليه استدعته النيابة العامة في محرم بك بالإسكندرية لاستجوابه.
جدير بالذكر أن كريم كان قد تعرض للحبس من قبل في نفس التاريخ (6 نوفمبر) العام الماضي لنفس الأسباب, حيث اقتحمت قوة من جهاز أمن الدولة منزل كريم واقتادته لمكان مجهول، بسبب كتاباته على الإنترنت لبعض المواقع الإخبارية فضلا عن المدونة ” البلوج” الخاص به
و أثناء التحقيق مع كريم اليوم اعترف بمسئوليته الكاملة عما يكتب و أكد على تمسكه بحقه في حرية التعبير, لكن وكيل النيابة ركز على مناقشة كريم فيما يكتبه و بالتالي رد عليه كريم بتحليلات و استدلالات أذهلت المحقق, وفقا لما ذكرته المحامية التي رافقت كريم في أثناء التحقيق. كما اضطرت المحامية أيضا للتشاجر مع بعض الموظفين في النيابة بسبب استهزائهم بكريم و بحقوق الإنسان.
As is the case with any blogger's arrest, Kareem's detention too brought bloggers from Egypt and supporters from around the world to rally behind the cause, creating an online war zone against the authorities known as Free Kareem!
According to supporters, Kareem's detention has been extended for another 15 days, with allegations against him summed up as follows:
– Spreading data and malicious rumors that disrupt public security
– Defaming the President of Egypt
– Incitement to overthrow the regime upon hatred and contempt
– Incitement to hate “Islam” and breach of the public peace standards
– Highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt and spreading them to the public.
But not all bloggers are supportive of Kareem's plight. Fellow Egyptian Blogger Ahmed Shokeir shows no sympathy for the arrested blogger.
Away from Egypt, which has kept us busy for three posts now and moving to other topics, plans are well underway in the Arab blogosphere to have a common platform for Arabic bloggers to express themselves – if only Arabs learn to agree instead of disagree the whole time.
Haitham Sabbah, a Jordanian Palestinian blogger writing from Bahrain, writes about the issue.
Sabbah lists a number of projects to bring Arab bloggers together, including an initiative launched by Al Jazeera to form Bloggers Without Borders, and the ongoing war between different bloggers hurling accusations at each other and claiming to be the first to come up with the idea of a common portal for all Arabic bloggers.
في المقابل، فعالم المدونات الناطقة بالعربية ملئ بالأفكار والنشاطات الهادفة والذكية، ولا ينقصها سوي الدعم المادي أو المعنوي من هنا وهناك لتطويرها. فيا ليت الأموال التي صرفت وتصرف على مشاريع مثل “رابطة مدونون بلا حدود” المدعومة من الجزيرة، ليتها صرفت وتصرف على هذه المشاريع. ولذلك يذكرني بفكرة كـ “المرصد” التي كتب عنها احجيوج وغيره من المدونين العرب النشطاء والجادين، وأفكار أخري لا مجال لذكرها الآن. فمثل هذه الأفكار وحدها التي تستحق الدعم والعمل على إنجاحها، وليس تلك التي تنشئ وتعلن وهي نفسها غير مؤهلة بالحديث باسم المدونين العرب.
Hijiouj gives us his two cents on the project, linking us to Joha, who has a full idea of the scheme.
Joha explains his masterplan as follows:
Hjiouij  agrees with the idea, saying that an Observatory would be better than a union for Arab bloggers.
أهم ما يميز الفكرة، في نظري، هو أنها ستحل مشكلة الرابطات والاتحادات التي ينادي بها بعض المدونين ويرفضها مدونون آخرون بسبب مشكلة الوصاية. فهذا المرصد سيحقق ذات الأهداف التي تنادي بها تلك الجمعيات، وهو في نفس الوقت لن يكون له أي سلطة أو تمثيلية، وحتى لن يكون هناك نظام للعضوية.
المرصد سيكون بمثابة مدونة مفتوحة (أو ويكي) يمكن لكل المدونين المشاركة فيها بنقل ما يتعرض له المدونون عبر العالم من مشاكل والتخطيط لبدء حملات مساندة لهم. ستكون هذه المدونة تحت إشراف مدونين لهم تجربة في العمل الحقوقي واحتكاك بجمعيات المجتمع المدني، وهم كما قلت لن يكون لهم أي سلطة، فدورهم لن يزيد عن التأطير والإشراف على حملات الدعم المحلية
Sounds great! What do you think? Will Arab bloggers be united under one web address, which promised to plead their cause?

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Yesterday (8 November) was the Journalist's Day in mainland China.
Chj-guangcha had a very informative post about the history of the Journalist's day (zh).
In summary:
It begins from the Old China and the day is in memorial of a reporter Liu Yu-sheng (刘煜生) who work in Jiang Sheng Daily 江声日报. He was prosecuted by Guomingdang on July 26, 1932 and executed on Jan 21, 1933 under the charge of pro-communist stand. Later, people found out that Liu was prosecuted because he had written investigative report criticizing local government involving in drug business by collecting “tax” from dealers.
The issue resulted in a serious of protest from Journalist assoication and campaign for freedom of press. In August, 1934, Hanzhou Journalist assoication proposed 1 of September as national Journalist's day.
In 1999, the present Chinese government reset the Journalist's Day as 8 of November in legal term.
Some bloggers with journalist background expressed their feelings in reticence.
In reaction to a latest notice by an official news bureau, Li Tian Lun wrote:
今天是记者节。我吃了一只苍蝇。
Zhang Rou also has very complex feelings:
听说北京零下了，那么你们该穿上厚衣奔走在大街小巷才好；听说最近新闻管制的风声正紧，那么你们该更加谨慎理性才好；听说你们最近出了几条很牛比的新闻，把一些王八蛋们弄得鸡飞狗跳；听说你们把我当成堕落的理由，这让我不知该怎样伤怀才好！
记者节快乐！
Happy Journalist Day!
The China Media Project did a simple research on the buzzword among 180 mainland newspapers for November 8, came up with 62 articles mentioning “Journalist's Day”. The research has provide some background to the bloggers’ feelings. Five of the frequently used terms are: 1. Marxist View of Journalism, 2. Socialist View of Honor and Shame, 3. The Three Represents, 4. Guidance of Public Opinion, and 5. Harmonious Society.


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