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South Korea: Government Plan To Increase Cigarette Price Meets Public Backlash · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korea’s Health department announced it would triple the price of cigarettes to curb the nation’s high smoking rate, prompting a new round of cigarette price disputes online. A Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDCP) study found that higher cigarette prices were the most effective policy tool to deter smoking and suggested increasing the price of cigarette from the current price of 2,500 Korean Won (USD 2) per pack to 8,000 won (roughly USD 7).
The percentage of male smokers in Korea reached 43 percent last year, while the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) average stands at a much lower 28 percent. The excessively low cigarette prices are believed to contribute to the nation’s increasing cigarette consumption. The KCDCP report also stated that if the cigarette price of 2,500 won had previously been raised to 8,500 won in 2007, the smoking rate would have dropped to 30.4 percent by now. Online, many Koreans have expressed that they agree that there is an urgent need to lower the smoking rate, but most of them are sceptical about the potential effectiveness of the policy shift.
An image of cigarettes from Wikipedia.
Blogger Pati35 whose father is a long-time smoker commented that raising the price more than three times is an excessive and inconsiderated for  a majority of lower income earners who depend on cigarettes as their only affordable stress release. The blogger called the government action a condescending move that points to an greater interest in the revenue generated by a hefty sin tax – 70 percent in Korea – rather than a sign of caring about public health.
일반 서민들의 수준을 생각한다면, 저런 가격을 쉽게 책정할 수 없을 겁니다…저런 식으로 줄이자는 것은 이제 담배도 있는 자들만 태울 수 있는 특권계층의 혜택이 되는 셈이겠지요… 비흡연자지만, 서민들의 스트레스 해소법 중 하나는 담배입니다…단순 스트레스 해소법을 넘어, 없는 분들의 유일한 낙이라고도 할 수 있을텐데요…아버지도 술은 못 드시고, 유일하게 즐겨하시는 것이 흡연입니다. 건강에 좋지 않기에 말려도 봤지만, 술도 드시지 못하고, 사회에서 쌓인 스트레스를 해소할 수 있는 많지 않은 방법 중 하나가 흡연이기에 그냥 기호식품으로 지켜보고 있죠…담뱃값 인상을 통해, 흡연율을 줄이자는 것은 어디까지나 근본적인 방법이 아닌 것 같습니다. 단순히 세금만 많이 벌어들이겠다는 것으로 생각되네요. 세금은 세금대로 걷고, 국민 건강은 생각한다고 생색은 생색대로 내려는 속내가 보이는 것 같아 참 그렇네요.
More than a few non-smokers have joined with smokers and approached this issue from the tax payer’s perspective, like non-smoking blogger Setre, who jokingly calls the smokers as patriots, in terms of taxes. The blogger recalls his childhood back in 80s when the middle-aged (a bit bullying) men used to smoke heavily in enclosed public areas like buses and trains and no one dared to complain about it; he pointed out that the changing social atmosphere turned hostile for smokers and now they have lost the tax payer’s rights on items they pay for.
현재 담배 한 갑당 흡연자들이 내는 세금은 1500원 가량이 된다. 일년이면 54만원, 10년이면 540만원을 세금으로 당신은 이미 낸 것이다. 세금 잘 내는 걸로 치면 흡연자들이야말로 가장 애국자가 아닌가…이제 흡연자들은 어디서나 눈총을 받는다. 사방이 탁 트인 공간에서도 혹시 모를 지나갈 행인을 위해 담배를 피워서는 안되는 분위기가 되었다. 이것이 맞다고 나도 생각한다. 그런데 이렇게 존중받지 못하는 흡연권을 가진 흡연자들이 내는 세금…세금에 대해서는 한 마디 할 수 있는 것 아닌가.
Moderate people supporting the government’s move agree with the intent but are hesitant about how it is to be carried out. Blogger See4110 wished the increase to be less sudden, though there are plenty of reasons for the increase itself. The nation’s cigarette price per pack has remained the same for five years since being set at 2,500 won in 2005.
물가는 껑충 뛰었는데 담뱃값만 5년째 그대로라는 건 비합리적으로 보인다. 하지만 6000원을 올리는 건 사람들의 반발심을 살 것으로 보인다…그 수위를 넘기면 정책을 전면적으로 부정 할 일도 예상되기 때문이다. 6000원이라는 극단적인 선택보단 차근차근 올려나가보는 건 어떨까?
Some instant reactions were bit desperate; many bloggers, like blogger Dino9587, said his dad has started stocking up cigarettes; several bloggers like blogger Fbgy1904 strongly urged smokers to quit smoking for their own benefits.
An image of smoking area in a train station from Wikipedia
Still, many have shown strong support for the government decision. As power blogger Kraze pointed out the increase should be enacted for the public health and welfare and for the environmental cause. The blogger referred to the failed attempt in 2006 when the former Minister of Health and Welfare, Yoo Si-min, had struggled to uphold the decision to increase the price of cigarettes by 500 won to pay for free vaccinations for children.  The blogger commented that there were, and still are, more smokers than non-smokers in Korea and that is why the attempt to increase the price of cigarettes often failed in the end and Korea still carries the bad reputation as a country where cigarettes are available for extremely low prices.
길거리 흡연도 줄어들겠죠. 비싼 담배를 길에서 대충 피고 버리긴 아까울테니까요. 3배 가까이 늘어난 세금으로 자신이 내 뿜은 담배 연기를 자기 혼자 모두 마시고 나올 수 있는 완전 밀폐된 길거리 흡연시설을 만들어 준다면 담배 한 개피를 피고도 10개피를 피는 효과를 거둘 수 있을 것 같구요..간접흡연이 줄어 들어 국민건강에도 도움이 되겠죠. 거리에 버려진 담배 꽁초, 침 등도 줄어 들어 청소 비용도 줄어 들 것 같습니다. 화장실에서의 흡연도 줄어들겠죠. 무엇보다 청소년의 흡연율을 잡지 못하더라도 흡연양은 줄일 수 있을 거라고 생각합니다.
Whether the move to raise the cigarette’s price is indeed the government’s condescending move or not, it still gives a plenty of reasons to smokers that it is about the time to quit smoking.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Welectricity  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeni wants you to vote Welectricity, “the brainchild of Vincentian energy consultant Herbert A (Haz) Samuel”, which delivers energy efficiency through social networking and is in contention for the GE Ecomagination Challenge.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Taiwan: 250000 Facebook users against inadequate court sentence · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

More than 250 thousand facebook users join together to condemn the recent court sentence that put a rapist in jail for only 3 years and 2 months, much shorter then 7 years and 10 months charged by public prosecutor[zht]. In the verdict the judge claimed that because evidences show the 6-year-old girl victim did not resist, so the criminal's action was not against her will.

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Taiwan: Learn Wing Chun with blog · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Meow Asks Taipei(妙問台北) constantly shares her experiences[zht] of learning and practicing Wing Chun(詠春), a martial art originated from southern China, with detailed human figures and graphs drawn by herself.


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Taiwan: Students ask for more rights · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

A team of university student representatives from various universities and colleges established their official blog[zht] and published the 2010 evaluation result of students’ right in universities.  They criticize some universities for opening courses just to ask students to do what employees should do, enforcing students to go to military courses, and forbidding students to march on the streets.


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Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana: Ramadan Cake Recipe · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“There’s a particular kind of joy attached to this month. Yes, it’s all about ibadah (worship) and the fasting and extra night prayers (Tarawih) can be a test, but there’s a sense of community that abounds during this month”: Lifespan of a Chennette says that “Muslims like making nice things to eat during Ramadan” and posts a mouth-watering chocolate cake recipe.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Music Royalties  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Fight down, fight down, and more fight down. That seems to be the life of the local artiste”: Outlish Magazine shines the spotlight on “a recent decision taken by the Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association…which allegedly paves the way for radio stations to not pay royalties to their collections agent of choice…”


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West Africa: Drug Traffickers and Politico-Military Dictators · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

The body of Moriba Junior Dadis Camara, son of Captain Dadis Camara, was found lifeless in a swimming pool in Longueuil, Quebec, where he was studying.  It was immediately considered to be a criminal act organized by drug traffickers. Antonio Mazzitelli already confirmed that Guinea was an important hub of drug trafficking.  The website conakrynews.net [fr] asked the questions that a lot of people in the world were wondering about below:
Simple drowning or premeditated murder?
From Conakry, Ibrahima remembers on koaci.com:
The first version talks about a settling of scores on the part of the network of cocaine traffickers, which the chief of the junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, had dismantled the day after the coup on December 23, 2008. … We remember that in the midst of this merciless struggle, the reign of Dadis Camara was initiated by the Secretary of State responsible for the battle against drugs and organized crime.  Directed by the Lieutenant Colonel Moussa Thiègboro Camara against the presumed drug traffickers, several Guinean nationals and foreigners have been put under arrest and detained in the Guinean prisons, and their trials are currently in process before a tribunal in Conakry.
However, the autopsy performed by the Quebecois jurist doctors rules out the hypothesis of murder.  A financed murder, however, would not have been surprising because this is one of the rare, positive acts from Captain Dadis Camara during his 12 months in power in Guinea:  the battle which he started against drug trafficking before the bloody events of September 28 [fr]. This theory, while unjustified in this case, demonstrates how important the drug lords have become in this country. Mamadou Ciré Savané writes about this on guinee24.com:
Sumptuous villas in ritzy suburbs with large salons of the Republic, the drug traffickers were housed in luxury.  Private jets from South America were parked almost daily on Soké soil in Guinée Maritime, or on Faranah soil  in Haute Guinée.  And Conakry, like the numerous capitals bought out by this network, had become the “by night” for drugs. Wait, there's more!  Well known engines, such as “Infiniti”, “Touareg”, ““Prestige”, Acura, Armada, Q7 or another X5, packed the streets of Conakry…
Three months after the hostile takeover by the army, arrests were made and confessions gathered.  The website lesafriques.com recounts the confessions of Ousman Conté, the son of the deceased president Lansana Conté, on the RTG (Guinean radio television) in March of 2009:
…in a show of direct confrontation between the accused and the accusers, supervised by Captain Moussa Tiegboro Camara, who was appointed Secretary of State two months ago and responsible for the war against drugs and organized crime:  “I recognize that I'm implicated in the drug trafficking in Guinea, ” confesses Ousmane Conté in an apology to the Guinean people.  “All those who know me know that I'm not a liar.  It's true, today I am in this business of drugs; I recognize that, but I'm not the sponsor.”  Nothing more was needed for a veritable whirlwind of arrests of the former dignitaries of Conté's regime to take place, as well as the arrests of the entourage of the new and powerful man in charge, Captain Dadis Camara, who was implicated as a friend of Ousmane Conté.
This penetration of drug traffickers among the potentates of the administration and the local army is not limited only to Guinea, but it concerns all of West Africa.  Citing the Chinese news agency Xinhua, afriscoop.net [fr] reports:
Senegal, due to its geographic location, has become a favored transit point of drug traffickers, state the players in the war against drugs. … According to the United Nations’ Regional Deputy Representative Against Drug Trafficking for Africa, Cyriaque Sobtafo, West Africa has become the revolving door for cocaine traffic.  “Naval vessels and planes full of cocaine arrive from Latin America to the poorly controlled ports and airports of West Africa.  In 2009, cocaine in transit through West Africa was estimated at 20 tons and valued at almost 2 billion dollars on the wholesale market in European cities,” he says.
The Sahelian are also concerned.  In fact, Baba Ahmed writes on africatime.com[fr], citing a UN report:
“Today in the Sahel, Islamic organizations are so much in control that they impose tolls on drug traffickers.”
But of the remaining countries, probably the most vulnerable to this plague is Guinea-Bissau.  The situation is such that a peace-keeping envoy, requested by the Community of West African States and the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, was accepted by the Guinean-Bissau government.  To this effect, the site operationspaix.net reports in this article dated August 13, 2010:
…this “dissuading” mission will have as its objective “to guarantee the security of civil authorities, to stop the politico-military upheavals, discourage coup d'etats, and support reforms within the army and security forces” all in the name of battling against drug trafficking.  Guinea-Bissau accepted their envoy on August 1.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Western Europe: A journey through tech for transparency projects · Global Voices
Sylwia Presley

The Technology for Transparency Network focuses largely on countries outside of North America and Western Europe.  However, many of the trends in the use of technology to promote transparency and accountability, particularly with respect to open government movements, are piloted in western countries before being adapted in developing countries. We are not formally documenting these cases as part of our research, but we hope that by sharing several examples we can highlight the “state of the art” work in the technology for transparency space.  Let’s start with a tour of Western Europe:
Our first stop is the United Kingdom, where They Work for You is enabling citizens to access data about their representatives to the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Assembly. They Work for You was originally developed by a group of volunteers.  With the support of UK Citizens Online Democracy and MySociety it has expanded to allow others to use its data via an open API.  Based on a simple post code search, I was able to find my local MP and read his bio, recent speeches and appearances, and also — more importantly — his expenses, sponsorships, and additional income.
They Work For You
Another site supported by MySociety, FixMyStreet, is a model of active civic engagement at the local level. The site allows anyone to report local problems — graffiti, potholes, broken street lights — to be addressed  by local councils. By providing statistical information on how many reported issues have been resolved, the site administrators make it possible to judge the effectiveness of local authorities. If we add WriteToThem and HearFromThem to the mix (sites providing direct communication with representatives), we create an impressive picture of technological solutions for transparency in this country.
Traveling south to France, we come across Regards Citoyens.  This site, which is accessible on Facebook, Twitter and Identi.ca, is an umbrella of several transparency solutions. NosDéputés.fr is an online monitoring system of parliamentary activities. It presents 642 parliament members, profiling their activities from last 12 months (here is an example). I personally like the usage of tag cloud featuring words currently used by the National Assembly and graphs of current parliamentary activities on their main site. A separate part of the site is dedicated to site users and their activities related to monitoring the representatives. Another project, originally called Simplifions la loi 2.0, is currently a subpage of Nosdeputes.fr.  It documents current parliamentary work. Étude sur le redécoupage électoral is a site providing great insights into the proposed changes of the constituency limits, looking also at the impact of those on future elections.
Étude sur le redécoupage électoral
In Italy, Openpolis is the site to check out. With a community of more than 13,000 members and various content management options (tagging, graphing, etc.), it allows users to find their local representatives, ‘adopt’ them, follow their activities and contribute to an online database by uploading updates on the chosen representative. Openpolis’ sub-site Open Parlamento is a great real-time monitor of parliament activities, including this impressive visualisation on voting sessions and this profile of Silvio Berlusconi.
Openpolis is a product of Depp and Memefarmers. Depp is an association dedicated to e-democracy and open civic participation with an impressive range of experiences in the field of transparency. Depp developed a technology called politicaldesk, which enables the real-time tracking of parliament activities. They were also the authors of Voi Siete Qui, a platform that publishes the results of a questionnaire conducted with representatives of most of the participating parties in Italy’s 2008 elections. The questionnaire consisted of questions related to 25 major issues chosen by Depp’s community of users.  It was sent to all parties, most of which responded (the parties that did not cooperate are clearly identified). The results are available as visualization of distances between various parties on different topics prepared based on a multidimentional scaling algorithm. The site also allows new users to find out their own score on the chosen issues by filling out the questionnaire online.
Openpolis
Another Depp project, Eworkshop Senato Ragazzi, targets students at secondary schools, who are given a chance to actively learn about work of parliament by suggesting, rating and commenting on bills proposed by others. This e-learning community consists of students, teachers, and parliament representatives and is incorporated into larger platform, Senato Ragazzi.  Economia Partecipata is a showcase of how local authorities (in this case in the Lazio region) can provide their citizens with channels for increasing both transparency and active dialogue and civic engagement.
Navigating over to Switzerland, I was advised to check out the activities of Politools – Political Research Network, which brings together specialists from social sciences, political sciences, geography, history, information technology and art history to work on various project dedicated to transparency. The first of these is Smartvote, established in 2002 and still running today. The website allows citizens to find the candidates whose views most closely align with theirs based on a publicly available analysis of responses candidates have provided on 30-70 questions. The site was used for the first time during the 2003 elections. Another platform, ParlaRating (active since 1997), is using a multidimentional scaling method to rate political positions of various representatives on a scale from -10 to 10.
Smartvote
While studying the projects above I was trying to compare various aspects of their approach to what I have seen so far in Central and Eastern Europe. Recently I was conducting interview with a representative of Polish website Mam Prawo Wiedziec (“I have the right to know”). Their work is very similar to projects I have found in Western Europe from many points of view. They also use questionnaires to gain information about candidates in local, regional and national elections. They post profiles of politicians on their website and educate citizens on their rights. They focus on raising awareness around elections, aiming to convince citizens to vote for people who actually represent their views. They also mention a lack of proper political education (for which the Italian e-learning solution is a perfect answer). Other projects we have looked at in our first phase of research were also very close to those goals. I am more confident today in stating that most of the transparency projects throughout Europe might have a lot in common.
Now, if the goals and ways of work are more or less similar, I wonder where they differ? It would be interesting to see how projects in Western Europe are funded, for example. I have seen MySociety mentioned as a sponsor in the UK, and I know their work in Central and Eastern Europe is tremendous. I have seen Transparency International mentioned in connection with the French platform, and I know this organization is heavily involved in work in Hungary and in Poland. It is good to see those international organizations having impact in various regions of Europe and helping to keep many of those valuable projects sustainable.
As the final question to the readers and hopefully something to initiate further discussion I would like to mention the civic engagement itself. During a recent conversation with Polish transparency organization Watchdog, I heard something interesting – it seems that elections are what generate increased activity of various groups in Poland that are interested in transparency issues. It is also noticeable that the number of those short-term, spontaneous groups and projects is increasing. Organizations like Watchdog and Stowarzyszenie 61 (the organization managing Mam Prawo Wiedziec) find it fascinating and comforting that more and more civic actions are born during the times of elections, as this proves that the society’s involvement in public matters grows from one year to another. Despite my assumption that this might not be the case in Western Europe in seemingly more developed democracies, I see now clearly that grassroots transparency movements are present and growing all across Europe.

author: Sylwia Presley


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Zambia: Abuse of copyright rules online · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Malama Katulwende comments on the recent abuse of copyright by tZambian Watchdog and Lusaka Times websites and the issues it raises on the legal and ethical practice of the the websites.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Africa: 10 Most Influential African Fashion Websites · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

MyWeku brings you 10 of the most influential African fashion websites that cover clothing and accessories and bring timely reports on fashion shows, promoting African fabrics and fashion trends.


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Bangladesh: Recognizing The Vegetable Grower · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh Corporate Blog has this splendid idea of recognizing the farmers who grows the vegetables by including some personal stories in the vegetable packaging to give them some credit and make the product more authentic.

author: Rezwan


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Barbados: Back in the Saddle  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press reports that ailing Prime Minister David Thompson is officially back at the helm of government: “We’ll give him a week to settle in, but then he’d better be prepared to defend his wicket.”


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Brazil: Bolivian Immigration in Numbers · Global Voices
Manuela Tenreiro

Journalist Leonardo Sakamoto questions on his blog [pt], the official statistic placing Bolivia in the fortieth position as a source of immigrants to Brazil. An activist against slave labor, Sakamoto comments that hundreds come in yearly and are often explored in underemployment jobs, particularly in the greater São Paulo area.

author: Manuela Tenreiro


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Cameroon: Prisoner of conscience Lapiro de Mbanga · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Emeka writes about Cameroonian prisoner of conscience Lapiro de Mbanga: “Amid nationwide strikes and mass demonstrations, popular singer Lapiro de Mbanga, who had demanded that the president resign, was arrested and charged with inciting youth unrest. In September he was jailed for three years…”


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China: Beyond being second · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xie Guozhong from my1510 comments on China's rapid economic growth and stresses the need for economic adjustment for a healthy and sustainable economy in the long run.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Hidden village of Dafen produces 60% of world’s oil paintings · Global Voices
Gabriel Nada

Just outside of Shenzhen (深圳) is a village you've probably never heard of: Dafen (大芬). It has recently swelled from a mere 300 residents to a bustling artist colony of over 8000 full-time artists who produce an incredible 60% of the world's oil paintings. As blogger Flies among Clouds (凌云飞天) puts it:
稍稍远离繁华的街区，隐藏着另一颗文化宝石——大芬油画村。这里聚集着成百上千的艺术家，他们可以为你绘出任何一张脸。美联储前主席艾伦·格林斯潘的画像？孙女的全身像？都没有问题，他们会画好给你寄过去。当然，如果你要寻找真正的艺术，这里也有许多原创画家开设的店铺，其中不难找到优秀的作品。
Rumour vs. Reality
While international attention has focused on the fact that a large portion of Dafen's profitability comes from reproducing classic European masterpieces (Chinese law states anything over 50 years old is not protected by copyright), the presentation that Dafen's artists simply mechanically reproduce foreign art seems to be a somewhat misleading story, says He Wei La (何谓落):
十四号的下午5点左右，将我哥拖起来，去完成我们来深圳的使命，去传说中的大芬村！
大芬村，我来了！进入村子后发现和传说中的有很大的差异，听说的是产业化生产的行画，而进入大芬村后眼睛中轰炸的都是一些很行的油画，打眼一看，很好看，…还看到了一些原创性很强的画，…我们才开始真正的大芬之旅，卡里的钱都用了买油画了，还从信用卡中透了一些出来，基本上几个风格的画都选了一两张，票票花光了，手上多了很多负担，扛着好几卷油画。
It's the 14th, 5 in the afternoon more or less, gonna drag my brother, go to the whole reason we came to Shenzhen, go to the legendary Dafen Village!
Dafen Village, I'm here! Entering the village I discovered there's a big difference from the rumours, I heard it's kind of a factorized production line, but when I entered Dafen village my eyes were bombed with good paintings, took one look, really nice paintings, …also saw some really strong original works, …now we started to really visit Dafen, used all the money on our card to buy paintings, even dipped into our credit card a little, basically two of each kind of painting, spent all our money, our hands were full carrying a whole bunch of oil paintings.
Eastern Culture Western Power (文东武西) offers both useful facts and colorful pictures of the district as well:
走进大芬村，简直是置身于艺术的殿堂，到处都是画廊，满眼尽是画布——这里是中国油画的集散地。
Singing the praises of Dafen
One blogger, Pan Bolan descendant of the Gold Letter Generation (潘伯澜后裔金子辈) has even written a song about Dafen Village and is looking for support for it:
小山村里, 有着诗情画意, 世界的油画多产自这里。
小山村里，美名传万里，这里的油画销往世界世界各地。
这里是美丽的大芬村，村头的雕塑是画笔，油画创奇迹。
这里是美丽的大芬村，村头的雕塑是画笔，美名传万里，。
In a small mountain village, there's a special feeling in the meaning of a picture, most of the world's oil paintings come from here.
In a small mountain village, its reputation spreads for thousands of miles, paintings from here spread all over the world.
Here is beautiful Dafen Village, at the village entrance is a statue of a paint brush, oil painting creates a miracle.
Here is beautiful Dafen Village, at the village entrance is a statue of a paint brush, its reputation spreads for thousands of miles.
Criticism from Artists
While Dafen has turned into a Chinese Mecca for art and artists, there is a large market for mass produced cheap knock-offs of well-known masterpieces which is helping to drive Dafen's success. Artist and blogger Teacher Wang (王老师) writes:
眼下政府正大力扶植大芬这个油画产业，并把大芬定位全国第一个油画产业基地。无疑大芬从80年代末到现在走了十几年的历史，有过她辉煌的历史。也造就了一个历史神话。但是大芬你能满足过去的辉煌光圈吗？  你还在沾沾自喜你的历史？你有没有看到大芬的整体艺术水平跟其它城市，北京、上海、重庆等地的画家村进行比较，差距有多大。再跟欧美国家的艺术家的作品进行比较差距吗？
Something for all ages
Despite these professional criticisms from a working artist, the attraction for the general public comes in all ages, as this blogger for the Sunny Family (阳光家庭) children's group points out:
海悦阳光家庭综合服务中心社工按期为社区儿童举行了参观大芬美术馆的户外活动…通过“看画说话”的形式，也让小朋友体会到不一样的感受，增加了他们的学习兴趣；通过观看展览的画、以及社工的讲解，也让小朋友的视野得到了增长。
A growing future
Certainly Dafen has made its name and the majority of its money by becoming famous for affordable reproductions of famous works produced in a production-line manner, but as its reputation grows – and with that reputation interest from the art community – so to does its ability to produce creative and original art. A perfect example of this, from blogger Looking after Land under Heaven, is the Dafen Lisa (大芬丽莎), a giant collective mural of the “Mona Lisa” composed of 999 different sized tiles produced by 500 of Dafen's well-known artists.
What's next?
While the world concentrates on GDP, export volume, military increases, home prices, banking, mutual funds and the like…is one of China's quietest revolutions surging forward in a small village on the outskirts of Shenzhen, taking on and taking over world markets? Will we someday speak of Paris, Milan, New York, Berlin and…Dafen?
China's art and cultural scenes are quitely advancing as rapidly as the tech and business sectors and producing a staggering amount of art with those advances. For those who've never heard of Dafen, now's the time to find out.

author: Gabriel Nada


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Cuba: Same Old Song  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The imprisonment of three Cuban dissidents who were during a protest at the University of Havana proves to Uncommon Sense that “despite its release of some dozen members of the ‘Group of 75′ prisoners, the Castro dictatorship has not changed.”


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Egypt: Utilizing Technology to Demand Accountability on Torture, Police Brutality · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

The unfortunate emergency law in Egypt suspends personal rights and gives security forces unlimited power to unlawfully arrest, interrogate, and persecute anyone with unfavorable views. Perpetrators of police brutality and torture often go unpunished, but Egyptian bloggers and and tech savvy youth are not standing idly by.
Photo documenting police brutality courtesy of Torture in Egypt blog.  Used under a Creative Commons 2.5 NC-ND license.
The Torture in Egypt blog acts as a hub for individuals and initiatives concerned with torture and police brutality. It offers the latest news and reports, videos, victim testimonies, court records, case documents, NGO statements, confessions of retired high ranking police officials, and links to books and papers covering the topic. It also offers to help any human rights researchers and activists and provides them with resources that inform their work.
A recent tragic incident ended up with death of Khalid Saeed, an Egyptian citizen who was beaten to death in Alexandria by two police officers. Egyptians were outraged and heavily organized online demanding that his killers be held accountable for their acts. Bloggers penned dozens of posts, a Facebook page was created, and Twitter users tried to get Saeed's name to trend on Twitter in an attempt to raise awareness. Several protests were organized, including a silent protest outside the Ministry of Interior demanding justice. This pushed political parties to issue official statements on the matter. Many blogs still carry a banner reminding the readers that anyone of them could be the next Saeed.
Wael Abbas, the blogger and activist behind Misr Digital, made a name for himself by publishing leaked videos of instances of torture committed by police officers, some very graphic in nature. Abbas has also live-streamed protests from the streets of Cairo. He often publishes documents and images exposing corruption or forgery. His worked has earned several international awards and TV appearances on Al Jazeera and BBC. He was recently named as one of the 100 most influential Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine.
Interactive Torture Map
Other remarkable uses of technology include a Flickr photo pool named Piggidpedia موسوعة الجلادين, which contains over 250 photos of police officers, some of whom are accused of having committed breaches of human rights. The group is managed by a number of Egyptian bloggers, and all contributions and images are open to the public. Torturemap.info provides an interactive custom map of torture reports in different locations in Egypt. It also allows users to report on any new instances of torture in an effort to provide a visual representation of these abuses. This also makes it easier to search for various torture and brutality crimes committed in any given location or city in Egypt.
These bloggers, activists, and techies have managed to use freely available tools and online services to internationally embarrass the Egyptian government and pressure it into action against those abuses.  By doing so they have set a shining example for organizations and individuals working on promoting transparency and accountability in the MENA region, and around the world.

author: Anas Qtiesh


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Gambia: The Smiling Coast of Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Travel journalist Tony Knight blogs about his visit to Gambia: “The Gambians you meet are friendly and engaging. There is a level of bumster activity intent of selling you refreshments, gifts and tours. Having got their measure though, look beyond at the genuine welcome you get everywhere.”


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Guatemala: Three Indie Publishers Reviewed · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Alan Mills, in his blog Revólver, reviews [es] three Guatemalan independent publishers: Editorial Catafixia [es], Vueltegato [es] and Mata-mata, Ediciones Latinoamericanas [es].

author: Silvia Viñas


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“I love Malaysia” · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

SK Thew ponders on the problems facing Malaysian society and concludes that there is still hope to reform the system. Malaysia is celebrating its 53rd Independence Day.

author: Mong Palatino


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Malaysia: Racist Attack on Eve of Independence Day · Global Voices
Jerrenn Lam

In 2009 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had come up with the 1Malaysia unity concept, which was popularized by the media.
Blogger OutSyed The Box highlighted a news report that explains the 1Malaysia concept:
KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) — Malaysians should discard their  ‘ethnic silo’ mentality, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.The Prime  Minister said Malaysians must “stand together, think and act as one  people under the ‘1Malaysia concept’.”
“Lets break away from  operating in the ethnic prism as we have done over so many years. This  is also the meaning of the ‘1Malaysia’ concept.
“We must  respect each other, go beyond tolerance and build trust among each other  and build trust between various ethnic groups,” he told a press  conference here, Wednesday.
However, since the introduction of this concept, it has been criticised by many who believe that racial tension still exist in the country. Blogger Calvin Chew had told the story of another blogger:
I’ve heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don’t need to be told to be united. We’ve come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united.
Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders.
Yet, on the 30th of August, 2010, on the eve of Malaysia's Independence Day, this view was further strengthened when a story surfaced on social networking site Facebook about an alleged racist attack by several teenagers:
As we walked past them, suddenly one of them turned around and  started to make a flying kick (sic) to my friend. Noticing the ‘fun’ he is  having, his other friends started to do the same to me. It was so sudden  and all I was thinking at the moment was, “What the hell did we do to  them?”
Both of us ended up kneeling on the ground for a  moment before more kicks and punches came flying in. Even though both of  us had our tripod strapped across our shoulder, we were too shocked to  react to it. Eventually one punch landed right on my right forehead and I  started to bleed profusely. Seeing that they eventually stopped and  walked away.WALKED AWAY, damn it. They were not even afraid to run but  just WALKED AWAY like winning a game or something.The last thing I remember hearing from one of them was “Baliklah ke negara asal” (Return to your home country in Malay).
While it seems that the 1Malaysia concept is not making much progress, blogger Khoo Kay Peng weighed in on the issue:
What is lacking is the political will to implement the real spirit of  1Malaysia e.g. offering equality, sense of belonging, fairness,  socio-economic justice and mutual respect to all Malaysians regardless  of race or creed.
For the concept to be successful, the BN  (Barisan Nasional) government must not continue to play its race supremacy game. If a  particular race is seen as more supreme or privileged than others, the  concept of 1Malaysia will remain a mere concept without a soul.

author: Jerrenn Lam


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Nigeria: Nigerian Spoken Word Crusader · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Jibola introduces you to Plumbtifex, the Nigerian spoken word crusader:”As a person, he embodies an activist in all that he is. His dissatisfaction with all that is wrong with the Nigerian situation and general societal ills already mark him different.”


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Pakistan: A letter to the youth · Global Voices
Rezwan

Usama Khilji at Pak Tea House writes a letter to the youth of Pakistan asking them to prove their worth and their love for the country by being involved, standing up and questioning any wrong deeds around them.


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Peru: Site Uses Crowdsourcing to Report Thefts · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Juan Arellano writes [es] about quenoteroben.pe [es], a site that allows users to report thefts in Lima using Google Maps technology. The post includes two video interviews with the site managers, Gabriela Quevedo and Rudy Jordán.


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Russia: Video Depicting the Real Details of Putin’s Trip · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Far East bloggers share video depicting [RUS] details of Vladimir Putin's recent trip to Russia's Far East [EN] on Lada Kalina, a new model of the Russian car factory. The video shows that prime-minister took with him 3 cars of the same color, and one of them is broken already, while there are  28 cars (including 2 ambulances) to accompany him.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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South Africa: Plus size modeling in South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

African fashion blog, Ladybrille, links to a Zoopy TV video that looks at plus size modeling like in South Africa.


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Thailand: Tweet Yourself Thai · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tweet Yourself Thai is a blog of “short, timely, thematic lessons for intermediate learners of Thai.”


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Training In India: Change Needed · Global Voices
Rezwan

Supriyo Chaudhuri  opines that the training business in India needs fresh outlook and a change of gears.


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

On the occasion of Trinidad and Tobago's anniversary of independence, Plain Talk says: “Forty eight years ago we may have left ‘Massa’, but we kept the shackles of our minds firmly intact. Looked at honestly, we are no where near independence yet.”


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U.S. Virgin Islands: The Effects of Hurricane Earl  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Hurricane Earl made its way across the U.S. Virgin Islands yesterday as bloggers continued to share their thoughts and experiences.  Jamaican diaspora blogger Labrish, who “[has] been fortunate to travel to these islands several times”, was concerned about her acquaintances there:
My thoughts go out to everyone living on the islands with hopes that Earl spares you too much damage and that Fiona, fast following in Earl's tracks, will bypass you.
She may well have had reason to be concerned: My Barbados Blog, noting that Earl had already reached Category 4 status, linked to a Twitpic photo of Earl by NASA Astronaut, Douglas H. Wheelock, candidly commenting:
It's a Beast!
News of St. John‘s intermittent updates were helpful (although the blogger felt that the islands’ Federal Emergency Management Agency could have been a little more helpful themselves), and StormCarib.com provided even more information, since it published “what several people who are there are reporting, from their vantage”. The site's update at about 3:30 p.m. yesterday said:
Here is the latest from several people on the eastern side of St. John, USVI — there are a few branches down, but very little damage reported at this point during the passing of Hurricane Earl.  There are wind gusts reported around 40 mphs, and that has been ongoing, but limited rain.  Power has been off and on, mainly off right now. Internet is spotty if at all.
Given the strength of the storm and the forecast track, it will be interesting
to see what, if anything, the next few hours bring.
Those next few hours brought better news than expected; apart from a blown transformer and strong winds estimated to be within a 110 mph range, there was no major damage reported.  Things soon began to quiet down:
Everyone I've been in contact with still has hard-line phone service — and
that is great news.  If I hear anything noteworthy, I will pass it along.  We
are grateful that are friends have made it through.
Unfortunately, the blog did get a subsequent report of damage:
My sister and brother in law live on St John, (Contant area)…just spoke w/her by phone.  She said things really picked up after nine last night.  One house lost its roof, lots of rain.  They lost power yesterday a.m. A tree took out the line to their house, WAPA said they would be up first thing this morning but the winds are still too strong.
Live De Life also gave an interesting account of what the storm was like:
We're still here, haven't blown away…the eye wall went by around 3pm and the wind and rain just stopped. Jay ran down the road and picked up a boatie friend of ours so he could come stay with us. He said he saw some trees down and loose limbs, some water runoff but not too bad overall.
Around 6pm the winds and rain started coming down harder than it had all day. And it was coming from west and south west which was the wrap around bands. It was pretty bad. But now at 9 pm it's not too bad. It's still raining and you can hear the wind blowing but nothing too fierce.
In the blog's most recent post (this morning), Deb and Jay wrote:
Well, we came through Earl pretty good…the seas have calmed down but the water is a strange aqua color. I guess from being churned up. Still have a little bit of wind but it's calmed down dramatically over the last hour. So overall, all is well :-)
It remains to be seen whether Puerto Rico and the United States fare as well.


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Venezuela: Franklin Brito Dies After Several Hunger Strikes · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Franklin Brito, a Venezuelan farmer who had been on a hunger strike since July 2009, passed away from a respiratory arrest in a military hospital on Monday night. As previously reported by Global Voices, last year's hunger strike was the latest of numerous strikes:
Brito began his protest in 2006 against a decision by the Insituto Nacional de Tierras (National Land Institute), a national government office, which said that his lands were unproductive, a charge that Brito denied. The Institute ordered the confiscation of his lands. Some believe that the decision was a reprisal for corruption allegations he made against the Mayor of the nearby city of Sucre. His protests since then have included several hunger strikes. Even though the central government eventually returned ownership of the disputed lands and offered him compensation, the authorities failed to evict a group of people who have been occupying his land, leading Brito to begin his most recent hunger strike.
On Monday night, the news of his death spread quickly through Twitter [es] and blogs.
Radar de Barrios posted [es] a statement by Brito's family:
Hoy 30 de agosto de 2010 el agotado cuerpo de nuestro esposo y padre Franklin Brito, dejó de respirar.
Tras una lucha de más de seis años, más de ocho huelgas de hambre, la mutilación de un dedo y haber sido víctima de una irregular privación de libertad, el cuerpo de Franklin Brito dejó hoy de realizar funciones vitales.
Miguel Octavio wrote a brief post in his blog, The Devil’s Excrement, talking about Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez‘ “Bolivarian Revolution” as it relates to Brito's case:
The revolution that claims to be “humane” now has a tragic victim of its lack of scruples and humanity.
Will anyone ever be held accountable for his death?
May he rest in peace.
In Venezuela News And Views, Daniel Duquenal also mentioned the government's involvement, citing the attempted coup in 1992 led by Hugo Chávez:
Chavez has officially, inescapably, his first un-washable blood on his hands since he is president of Venezuela (he has a lot of un-washable blood from 1992, but that is another story).
In her blog, Martha Colmenares writes [es] about the lesson Venezuelans can learn from Brito’s experience:
El productor agropecuario Franklin Brito tenía días que ya no respiraba por un pulmón. No se rindió, expuso su vida, prefirió morir antes que claudicar en la conquista de sus peticiones, una lección para todos.
Twitter users also responded to Brito's death: Luisana Bellorin (@luisana_kbd) lamented that this happened in her country, and Adrea Surribas (@ANDREABCD) said she admired Brito’s bravery. Enrique Vasquez (@kike1947) also tweeted about Brtio’s courage:
Me averguenza no tener el valor que tuvo Franklin Brito !
On the other hand, Olga Elizabeth (@Chavista16), a pro-government Twitter user, looked at the political implications in the timing of Brito’s death, as Venezuela prepares for upcoming parliamentary elections on September 26:
Esto ya se sabía q iba a pasar antes de las elecciones.. La pregunta es: A quien le convenía la muerte del Farsante de Franklin Brito?
Also focusing on the politics behind Brito's death, Elias Cabeza Ibarra (@eeci1967) criticized the opposition's reaction:
La muerte d Franklin Brito,es usada x la oposicion como plataforma Mediatica Pornografica, sacando fotos y reclamando, xq no respetan?
Politics aside, Miguel Jaime (@migueljaime) condemned the media's coverage of the story:
Lo de la muerte de Franklin Brito es lamentable, tanto por las circunstancias mismas del deceso, como por el show mediático.
José Meza analyzed [es] Brito’s death in his blog La Culpa es de la Iguana (It’s the Iguana’s Fault), looking at what the tragic ending to his case reveals about the current situation in Venezuela:
Brito es la muestra más clara de cómo son las cosas en esta nueva Venezuela, llena de indiferencia, donde poco importa lo que se crea o piense si, de alguna forma, perturba o genera alguna molestia a quienes se creen dueños de la verdad.


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Vietnam: Helping people with disabilities · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Hold the Future is a Hanoi-based based charitable organization in Vietnam that offers vocational training and handicraft production to young people with disabilities.


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Zimbabwe: Mugabe and the White African · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mugabe and the White African, is a documentary that chronicles the plight of Mike Campbell – a white African in his fight against the government of Robert Mugabe.


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Azerbaijan: Free imprisoned bloggers · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

A petition has been started urging U.S. President Barack Obama to raise the issue of imprisoned video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, at the United Nations General Assembly this month. The petition can be signed online here.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahamas: Earl’s Path  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I am living in the post-Haiti earthquake era, no longer completely confident that the really terrible natural disasters always happen somewhere else”: Womanish Words had forgotten about hurricanes, and then along came Earl.


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Bangladesh: How To Mug A PC · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Fortnightly Tablet writes how several gangs use innovative ways to mug PCs from the owners in Dhaka city.


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Bermuda: Sacred Cow · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Politics.bm explains why he thinks “Bermuda's immigration policy is broken.”


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Brazil: Fighting Back the Digital Crimes Bill · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

João Carlos Caribé warns internet users that there is another move by the Brazilian Congress to pass the Digital Crimes Bill. He calls a blogging carnival and Twitter campaign [pt] to fight back the bill as part of the Mega Não movement.

author: Diego Casaes


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Chile: Law Requires Radio Stations to Include Chilean Music in at Least 20% of Programming  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Roberto Carreño Parra is critical [es] of a new law that requires the 1,200 radio stations associated with the Association of Radio Broadcasters of Chile (ARCHI) to include Chilean music in at least 20% of their programming.


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China: Confession of a Beijing Vagabond · Global Voices
Andy Yee

China Hush has translated the personal account of a Beipiao, or ‘Beijing vagabond’, which refers to a group of people who migrated to Beijing from other places in China in search of opportunities and a better future.

author: Andy Yee


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China: Feeling insecure about the mobile phone real name registration · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Beginning from today (September 1 2010) mobile phone users in China will have to show their identity card and register their real name when purchasing a new mobile number. It is estimated that there are over 700 million mobile phone subscribers in China, of which 70 percent are using pre-paid SIM cards and hence anonymous users. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stressed that the new policy would help the fight against criminal and abusive use of mobile.
However, according to an online survey conducted by ifeng.com, more than 80% of the opinion believes that the real name registration would not solve the existing problem, on the other hand, many netizens believe that the policy will create new problem.
Zhang Lin from hc360.com explains the potential problems of the new policy:
手机实名制的有一个前提，就是公民的个人信息安全。由于我国缺乏类似于《隐私权保护法》或《个人信息保护法》这样的法规，因此不少公司或个人将收集到的他人信息资料拿到市场上贩卖获利。在遍地开花的代理商处购买手机卡时，用户的个人信息基本上难以得到保密，这也是消费者最担心的一个问题。
造假证者可能会借着手机实名制这个东风大量造假，于是，手机实名制有可能会导致大量高仿真的假身份证的诞生。并且，许多消费者用他人身份证即可办理，运营商为了利益，“暗渡陈仓”，那么，手机实名制的意义则“形同虚设”了！
Today, the issue mobile phone real name registration （＃手机实名制） has become a hottest topic in sina micro-blog. Similar to the survey result of ifeng.com, the majority is skeptical about the new policy:
QQyong：大家来讨论一下今天开始实施的手机实名制吧！就我个人认为此方案实施的初衷是好的，但是为什么不先健全相关法规或条令来维护用户的利益和隐私呢？当然各大运营商肯定会首先站出来保证些什么，申明些什么，但是我想说你们保证用户利益的力度和措施根本不够或不够完善。亡羊补牢？为什么不先防范？
皮卡尔：#手机实名制#凡但做过SP的人都知道，实名制要解决的那些所谓的“问题”，纯粹在扯谈，在实名制的前提下，随便在业内混过一年的人，至少可以举出3-5种方法去继续以前的业务。反而是运营商拿到了更多更详细的筹码，可以卖更好的价钱了。数据库营销商和SP们都已经准备好了钱，跃跃欲试了呢。
weiruor：#手机实名制#其实是一个防君子不防小人的伪命题，只要骗子仍然大量存在，只要他们想进行骚扰、想进行行骗，这不是实名制就能解决的问题。再说了，以目前电信运营商们的形象，把个人信息交给运营商就能让人放心吗？因为个别骗子利用手机行骗，就让所有人都实名，这不是瞎折腾嘛…………
煮不熟的胖饺子：对于手机实名制，我真的也不知道可以说什么了，现在社会上最大的问题是什么，最黑暗最龌龊的事情是什么，所有人都心知肚明，该管的不管，该抓的不抓，就知道变着法子弄我们这些老百姓。要不要以后每家每户都放个监听器，看看会不会有什么反社会的暴力言论？
陈虾：感觉手机和网络都搞实名制…让我感觉很不安全


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Cuba: The Mother’s Experience · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Isbel Diaz Torres, writing at Havana Times, says that “at the very moment the expecting mother enters the Cuban system of pregnancy attention, she ceases to be the principal figure in the management of her own problems, priorities and interests.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Guatemala: Syndicated Criminals Denounce Conditions Impeding Their Work · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In Impacto Mediático, Mario Cordero reports [es] on syndicated criminals publicly denouncing that conditions in Guatemala are impeding the exercise of their work; they are also asking authorities to help protect their lives. Cordero writes about a particular case, where criminals were chased by a bus they had assaulted moments before.


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Hong Kong and the Philippines: The First-Person Account Of A Manila Hostage Survivor · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN has translated the first-person account of a Manila hostage survivor, Lee Ying Chuen, who urged the Hong Kong society not to direct anger to the weak.


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Hong Kong and the U.S: Rackspace’s phishing / copyrights policy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Bencheng complains about the unfriendly policy towards startups regarding web hosting service provider – Rackspace's handling of phishing and copyrights complaints.


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India: The Story Of A Backpacking Ninja · Global Voices
Rezwan

BlogAdda interviews Indian travel blogger Aparna Shekar Roy aka Backpacking Ninja who has backpacked in more than 25 countries.


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Indigenous People and Mines in Canada · Global Voices
Johanne Veilleux

It would be an understatement to state that  Indigenous community in North America have not benefited equally from the industrial development of the North American continent. Le Centre de recherche sur la mondialisation (The Research Center on Globalization)  made the following grim statement [fr]:
l’espérance de vie est moindre, les maladies sont plus répandues, les problèmes humains, depuis la violence familiale jusqu’à l’alcoolisme, sont également plus répandus. Moins de jeunes achèvent leurs études secondaires, une minorité d’entre eux entrent au collège et à l’université
In fact, I made the argument  in a blogpost [fr] that international development should be a North America’s preoccupation when it concerns indigenous people affairs. The relations between some governments (Canada and Quebec for instance) and indigenous people of their territories, have many similarities with relations between governments of the developed world  and the most vulnerable populations of the world. It is a much easier task to elaborate programs filled with good intentions and sign international treaties when they don’t impact us directly. However, when it comes to indigenous people and poverty (indigenous people in Canada are ranked  63rd  on the Human Development Index, while Canada as a whole is ranked 4th), the question become a hot issue, since we are in theory sharing  a territory, as well as resources which could help indigenous people climb some echelons on the Human Development Index.
Coal Mine in Canada by Vicky via ClintJCL on Flickr- CC license share alike-NC 2.0
Therefore, the Innu community, indigenous inhabitants of Labrador, Canada, have blocked access to a Labrador Iron Mines site since June 11.  According to Mining Watch, the Innu community is:
calling on the Government of Québec to declare an immediate moratorium on uranium exploration and mining throughout Québec (…) The Chief of the Innu of Uashat mak Mani-Utenam noted that several uranium exploration projects are found within their traditional territory and that all of these projects, as with all other authorisations by the Québec Government, require the free prior and informed consent of the Innu.
Representatives of the federal government, the Quebec government, the Newfoundland and Labrador government and indigenous leaders from Schefferville and Sept-Îles Maliotenam met to discuss economic opportunities that could come out of the project. But a consensus is still to be reached: the Dany Williams government of Newfoundland would like to get 80 % of the benefits associated with the exploration activities of the newly opened mines, while Labrador Iron Mines and New Millenium Capital offered   700 000$ of compensation to Schefferville Innus to convince them to take off the barricades.
This issue highlights the fact that some articles of the Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples that the government of Quebec supports, are not always respected in reality. A clear example of this dissonance is highlighted by blogger Armand McKenzie who cites the article 32 of the Declaration, which states that:
States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact.
What’s more, according to Melissa Filion, who blogs for Greenpeace:
Nothing has been done by the Quebec government, within the framework of the Plan Nord, to resolve the issue related to rights and titles of First Nation. (…) Up to now, the government is clearly interested by any kind of exploration and exploitation projects, whether it is new hydro electric dams, more forestry opérations or new oil, gaz or mines exploitation… Only big industrial activities, all in all ! (…) How the Quebec government expect to interact with First Nation communities who wish for a nations to nations dialog?

author: Johanne Veilleux


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It’s Time For 2010 South African Blog Awards · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The South African Blog Awards were started in 2005 to showcase the best blogs in South Africa voted for by the public. Nominations for 2010 South African Blog Awards took place between 2–27 August 2010. The top ten nominees in each category have now entered into the public vote phase, which runs from 1–17 September 2010.
The results of this vote will then be passed onto judges who will cast their votes to decide the category winner. The overall winner of the SA Blog Awards will be chosen by the judges from the selection of category winners.
The winners will be announced on 25 September 2010 at the annual awards ceremony at the One & Only hotel, Cape Town.Last year the event attracted more than 5 000 blog nominations and over 100 000 individual votes. Here are the finalists for 2010 SA Blog Awards in 25 categories.
Writing about the awards, SEO Cowboy calls for a better nomination process:
To be nominated one needs to just add a URL and a category telling SA blog awards about your site. This can be done by the owner of the site or any person that feels the blog is worth nominating.  The more nominations sent in of any source for any particular blog result in that blog making it to the “Voting” phase
He says that the nomination process is not enough for classifying a blog as “best in SA” because no other ranking factors are considered:
As fas as I know, no other ranking factors are taken into consideration apart from the amount of nominations you get so it seems that the blogs that nominate themselves and request their friends and networks to vote for them in the short time period become the top contenders. This to me is not enough criteria to class a blog as “best in SA” …. best according to who? the amount of friends  the owner of the blog has?  The bloggers reaction time?
Why not take Alexa ranking, social media presence and other figures into account? There was an article last year with the same issues at hand so it seems not much has changed since then. You can read the “SA Blog Awards 2009 are Meaningless” article where the author explains in detail the flaws in the nomination process.
He also takes issue with South Africa Blog Awards categories:
I have taken a look at the finalists in the “The Ogilvy Best Media and Marketing Blog” section to find that only a handful of Media and Marketing Blogs actually made it to the voting phase. Many of the blogs listed are not even media or marketing blogs. Some of the blogs are random, talk about everything blogs but only a few like IntegralWebSolutions (fantastic marketing blog, I will be voting for them), Memeburn, Expanda Blog , Fundamental Displays , 10and5 and maybe Urban Ninja actually belong in the category. Some even admitted that they were in the wrong category like TheGiven but hey, what can they do.
Now I only looked at one section so it may be that SA blog awards are just having a hard time categorising some of the “I post on everything” blogs. Maybe they should come up with an uncategorised section to dump all those blogs but if you are going to give away an award for a blog in a category then they should be sure that the finalists are indeed about that category.
Commenting on SEO Cowboy post, Galen Shultz supports the idea of using Alexa ranking:
I totally agree that they should take Alexa ranking, social media presence and other figures etc. into account. There also seem to be a few categories lacking. Particular writing styles could have formed a couple more unique categories for bloggers who don't neccessarily fit into any of the chosen categories.
I also think that no blog should be allowed to get more than one award per year. Look at how many 2oceansvibe scooped up in 2009. This really limits the scope with regards to the finalists and over-exposes just a few blogs. No doubt they will receive at least one award this year. The ‘rich’ just seem to get ‘richer’ *sigh* :P
Monty  believes that the process will take about 3 – 5 years to be refined:
I agree!
Although it's pretty cool that there is an awards competition for blogs, I think the process will probably only be refined in another 3 – 5 years.
A nomination process is a little bit dated to begin with, and there are many other ways to get the info for an awards system… Also, it would be nice to standardise these awards to the same time of the year… This year I missed out getting my blog nominated purely because of the short nomination process and the shift from last year's March/April to this years August/September award dates. Mental note to self, never take a sabbatical!
2009 South Africa Blog Awards did not pass without criticism. Afrika T considered the awards meaningless:
The 2009 SA Blog Awards as it currently is configured has become a meaningless exercise that will do little more than identify which blogs are quick and organised enough to nominate themselves and marshall/motivate their friends and networks to vote for them. Little if any inherent meaning is conveyed by winning an award (or failing to win one, for that matter). There are no pertinent independent or objective criteria involved in nominating blogs, in determining a short list, or in awarding the final winners in the various categories. In no way is the relevance or value of a blog linked to its winning or not winning an award.
That's not to say that there couldn't – or shouldn't – be a meaningful award for SA blogs, nor that the SA Blog Awards couldn't become that. The blogosphere in South Africa is socially relevant and strategically significant across economic sectors, and we have some great blogs worthy of commendation. However, the way these awards currently are run will neither recognise nor enhance this, effectively being a popularity contest devoid of real value to the winners.
He thought that the selection process was seriously flawed:
In the SA blogosphere as tracked by Afrigator, there are 4,548 blogs (as of the date of posting this). So 3 of the 10 blogs fall in the top quintile (20%), 1 in the 3rd quintile, and 1 in the 4th, with the other 5 not tracked. Not exactly compelling evidence of “top blog” status.
What's sad is that only 5 of the 10 blogs even BOTHER to be listed on Afrigator, which shows a lack of concern with their relevance to the South African context. 5 of the 10 blogs (not the same 5) also don't BOTHER to be indexed by Technorati, which shows a serious lack of seriousness, or of the understanding of the power and relevance of Technorati.com.
Now, HOW can a top SA Blog not be benchmarked against other SA blogs? Afrigator ranking should be a requirement. And how can any blog not be benchmarked against all other blogs? Technorati ranking should be a requirement.
Now, numbers aren't the full measure of a blog's value or relevance, but it's absolutely clear that the current shortlist selection process is seriously flawed. Two of the ten blogs in the Travel category aren't even blogs about travel! One (pakiscorner.com) is about sport, and one (66squarefeet.blogspot.com) is about urban container gardening – in New York City!
Witness This posts a number of questions voters should ask themselves before voting:
One’s main instinct is to vote for the blog(s) that you enjoy most and perhaps read the most often; but there are a few questions voters should ask before casting and determining who the winners will be this year.
1. Number of Authors
It’s a lot easier for a blog to gain rank and readership when there are several people behind its content creation. Blogs that publish fresh content several times daily are bound to get more attention than those that only publish once or twice a week. Google Caffeine also smiles favourably on blogs that update more frequently — further increasing rank and attention. So take into account how many authors each blog has before casting a discerning vote.
2. Ads and monetisation
Some blogs are purely in it for the money, which is usually evident by the number of ads a blog displays as well as the nature of the content. One should question what a blogger’s intentions are. Are they trying to sell you something or promote certain things or do they freely offer information or something of interest or entertainment value?
3. Success within a single year
Most blogs work hard to gain rank and popularity, but a steady soaring up the ranks is indicative of the author(s) dedication and persistence. Assess how well a blog has done in a single year and whether or not it is still improving and likely to soar to even greater heights. Compare or ask what a specific blog’s rank / readership was a year ago with what it is now and use these stats as a measure of its success.
4. Awards and Recognition
Ask if any of the blogs being voted for achieved any awards in the past. Did they snatch up a blog award (or awards) last year, and if not, were they a runner-up?
5. Free Design
Custom blog designs don’t come cheap, but kudos to the ones who spent 20k for a professional to zoosh up their blog. Although design is an all-important aspect of any blog, consider whether or not bloggers have made the most of a free blog template, or perhaps designed their own template themselves.
This is why the same blog, Witness This, deserves an award this year:
* I am the sole author of this blog and manage to publish three times weekly.
* This blog was only recently monetised and refuses to ruin its integrity with casino or bling ads.
* All articles that are no longer relevant or offer something of value are purged off this blog on a regular basis.
* Every comment is responded to asap and responding to readers/subscribers via email is a regular occurrence.
* Witness This started off with a free WordPress template but has since managed to get a free, new design from a family member.
* Roughly 40% of my articles have been published in a South African newspaper and last year one particular post won me a Foozi Foozball table valued at R12 000!
* In less than a year Witness This has managed to gain a top-ten spot on MyScoop and a top-hundred spot on Afrigator with an average of 30 000 unique visitors a month.
To vote for the finalists, one needs to do the following on this site:
1.Please type your email address, the security code and click Submit below.
2.You will be sent an email to confirm your vote.
3.To complete your vote, click on the confirmation link in the email. If the confirmation link doesn't work out for you simply reply to the confirmation email.
You can see South African Blog Awards winners since 2005 here.


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Kazakhstan: Illnesses of the Society and Twitter Leaks of High-Profile Glamour · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Summer blogging in Kazakhstan rarely reacts adequately to the news, not to mention creation of news. Even the most devoted citizen journalists provide rare and relaxed updates, overlooking many hot news, which could have spur heated online discussions in another season. However, the topics continuously in focus are the vicious characteristics of the current political system and the society’s passiveness and apathy.
Sadenova works in the umbrella organization for Kazakhstani NGOs and shares thoughts and concerns about her job [ru]:
I am not too sure that it is possible to cautiously, gradually and multi-dimensionally inject positive changes in the society […] People think that NGOs are useless, that all they do is spending away the money […] I can passionately speak about positive changes and really efficient NGOs doing great projects, but my opponents are fixed on negative. It is better to quietly work and believe that civil monitoring will start working some day, and we will stop spitting on the pavement…
Alim-atenbek thinks that the main problem – in addition to defeatism and apathy – is that [ru]:
еverybody wants to be professors, managers, ministers only to make money, not to be helpful to the society. Those whose ambitions are nurtured by the desire to make a change are few, because everywhere you go you see corruption and nepotism… In our country corruption gives birth to corruption – people give bribes to get a job, where they will have an opportunity to take bribes.
Lord-Fame tracks all news about aviation and air fleet in Kazakhstan. This, seemingly far from politics, topic sometimes brings an unexpected turn, when the authorities cancel all flights to and from Astana due to the rehearsal of the military parade’s aviation show [ru]:
How to spoil the holiday? […] Close the capital city’s airport. I think it’s a complete idiocy. Parades shall not infringe upon routine life. Can you imagine Moscow closing up its airports because of a parade? […] I read the Russian blogs and many of them complain about “police state”. Huh, you should visit Kazakhstan.
Thousand-pa continues the discussion about the notion of expediency in Kazakhstan, and comments on the propaganda side of the issue – particularly about the billboards with the photographs of President Nazarbayev [ru]:
There should be norms of presence of his images on a certain unit of area. I understand that the flock must always remember its shepherd […] But when there are three of them looking at you from different corners of one crossroad, it’s too much and makes you feel uncomfortable.
Eev has read an interview with Murat Muturganov, a Kazakh clown with a great popularity and recognition both in the country and abroad. Some of the user comments to the interview attacked the young artist for his poor knowledge of Kazakh language. This painful topic is believed to be a potential threat of clash between the rural traditionalists and urbanized west-oriented Kazakhs [ru]:
This commenter writes with numerous mistakes that the main problem is that Murat doesn’t speak Kazakh – thus, he is not a patriot. The patriot is a person, who works for the country and glorifies the motherland with his deeds. Some people think that the best patriot is the one, who does nothing, but knows the state language…
The same aforementioned alim-atenbek in another post reflects on the state of journalism [ru]:
We have a lot of well-educated and professional journalists who cover political and economic news. But why all we see on the TV is a total rot, propaganda about Kazakhstan as the best country in the world? Why they are doing it? Why it is so necessary to mention the President in every report and ascribe all merits to him? […] What is the reason of their blindness? What is the name of a disease that makes them inculcate mass psychosis through their reports? Finally, how they can be called journalists, if they institutionally and intentionally distort the real picture?
In this situation, alternative Internet-based sources of information can really make a difference – and sometimes very unusual people can serve a function of the citizen journalists. For example, last week there was a birthday party of the President Nazarbayev’s grandson. Earlier, there were rumors-based reports about parties that the presidential family members stage for themselves – bringing world-renowned pop-stars to sing for them. This time Anfisa Chekova, a popular TV diva from Russia, was invited to entertain the guests. She tweeted about her stay in Kazakhstan, and many Kazakh Twitter users were reading her updates and re-tweeting them. Yelikbayev was the only blogger to write a separate post about it [ru]:
[Anfisa Chekova] was conducting a highly informative for every Kazakhstani citizen Twitter-report. The thing is that she was recruited as a master of ceremonies for the birthday party of Aisultan Nazarbayev, a shy guy and a cadet of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. From her Twitter we learnt that
– she was settled at the Rixos Hotel, where bathroom slippers are decorated with Swarovski crystals.
– the party was livened up by [Russian pop-stars] “Serebro” and Vera Brezhneva, as well as [American R&B singer and fashion model] Ciara.
– the guests presented a brand new BMW X6 to the boy, etc.
Anfisa Chekova left no chances to the Kazakh opposition journalists and told everything she got in mind. I fully support this undertaking. There is no space for hypocrisy. If a boy wants a good party for his 20th birthday, let him have it. We know he can afford it. Like his aunt, who invited J.Lo and Britney Spears to attend her 30th birthday […] We live with them in parallel worlds. Their lives are interesting to us, but not vice versa.
Interestingly, shortly after the post was published, Chekova… deleted all her Twitter posts from Kazakhstan. Another guest star at the presidential grandson’s party was Ciara – a little fun photo report can be seen in the blog of Kiyah Wright, a celebrity hair stylist.
http://muzeagency.blogspot.com/2010/08/ciara-kiyah-wright-in-kazakhstanwhat.html

author: Adil Nurmakov


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LiveJournal Bloggers Killed During Terror Attack in the West Bank · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

A family of Russian-language Livejournal bloggers [RUS], Talya and Izhak Mass were killed during terror attack in the West Bank [ENG].

author: Gregory Asmolov


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MENA: Saudi Arabia Bans Moroccan Women From Traveling to Mecca · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

The decision last month by Saudi Arabia to ban Moroccan women [Ar] of a “young age” from traveling to Mecca, the holiest meeting site in Islam, to perform the Umrah, or minor pilgrimage, has stirred outrage in Morocco. Saudi authorities justified the ban on the suspicion that young female visa applicants (whether accompanied by their parents or not) “may have something else in mind” than strictly pious intentions, in clear reference to underground prostitution. Moroccan conservative members of the parliament have been vocal in condemning what they consider “a trial of intentions” and an “insult to all Moroccan women and to their families.” Bloggers are also reacting to the Saudi ban.
Tawaf of the Kaaba – a ritual of Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, by Omar Chatriwala on Flickr
Sudanese-born commentator Nesrine Malik who writes on the Guardian's Comment is Free considers that Saudi Arabia, by implementing this ban, is failing in its religious duties toward fellow Muslims. She has a suggestion:
Saudi Arabia has a duty to facilitate pilgrimages to Mecca for all Muslims worldwide. I would therefore suggest, in order to mitigate the problem and in the spirit of slanderous generalisation, that Saudi men be banned from Morocco, lest they use their tourist visas for “other purposes”.
Moroccan blogger Sarah (Words for Change) responds to the ban in a post she titles “I am a Prostitute, a Witch, a Drug Addict, a Zionist.” She explains her dislike of mounting stereotypes against Moroccans. She writes:
I tried to stay very diplomatic all this years while explaining how much Morocco is an amazing country and that what they talk about are cultural aspects of the Moroccan identity blablablabla. Today I decide not to be diplomatic anymore and to respond to what they accuse us of […]
Moroccan women are more honorable than many oriental manipulative little girls who practice superficial sex, anal sex to preserve their virginity and buy a Chinese spare virginity in case they lose it, and still they will act like virgin Mary “Achraf mini Echaraf Mafiich” [as if they were more honorable than honor itself].
Lebanese blogger Mustapha from BeirutSprings.com is shocked by the ban and says Moroccan authorities should have responded more vigorously. He writes:
But the blame sits not only with the Saudis. The Moroccans should have made a bigger stink out of this. They should have threatened to go all the way and if need-be ban their citizens from going to Saudi Arabia. Maybe this would generate the kind of publicity that forces the entire Arab world to debate this all-too-common stereotype.
Moroccan blogger Anas from Big Brother Maroc agrees [Fr]. He writes:
[Q]ue faire ? Notre pays n'a ni le pétrole des Saoudiens, ni suffisamment de puissance économique pour refuser “l'aide” en millions de dollars que donne la Monarchie Saoudienne au Maroc.
Si cela ne dépendait que de moi, j'aurai décidé de ne plus partir à la Mecque, mon pays économisera les millions de dollars au lieu de les transférer vers l'Arabie saoudite à travers les pèlerinages de Marocains, j'imposerai le Visa aux Saoudiens et je commencerai à corriger ce qui est à corriger dans mon pays.
If it were up to me, I would refuse to visit Mecca anymore, and help my country save millions of dollars instead of transferring them to Saudi Arabia through the pilgrimage. I would impose a visa on Saudis and start fixing the problems within my own country.
The issue also sparked a discussion on Twitter.
Miss Nabokov (Morocco) writes:
If this is how it's going to be, then Saudi men should be banned from Morocco as they're the ones that go over there looking for sex.
What makes me angry is SA [Saudi Arabia] & the Gulf accuse Morocco of lax morals when THEIR men are the ones coming over and exploiting impoverished girls.
Jillian C. York (USA) agrees:
Morocco is a pretty poor country. The blame is on Saudi Arabia for continuously exploiting that fact.
@Medmouad (Morocco) responds:
@jilliancyork I prefer to say both Morocco & KSA (Gulf in general) are to blame. If Moroccan subjects are well defended, it would be better
Afrinomad (Morocco) joins the discussion. He writes:
@jilliancyork it's revolting that from the perspective of Gulf Arabs, “Moroccan” is not seen a nationality but an occupation
Tarek Amr @gr33ndata (Egypt) tweets:
عشان الناس إل زعلت لما قلت الحج و العمرة لازم تكون تحت إدارة دولية بعيدا عن خبل السعودية و عنصريتها http://bit.ly/bfA9Nn
Jasmine Aladdin (Egypt) agrees. She tweets:
@gr33ndata da habbal weste3bat gamed awi we ta55aloofff begad we maloush ay 3elaqa bel deen!!!
Ahmed Fouad (Egypt) disagrees. He tweets:
@gr33ndata لا اعتقد ان سبب المنع هو العنصرية ولكن اكيد هوا المحافظة علي قدسية هذا البلد وطهارتة
This isn't the only time controversy was raised around this issue. More recently, the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan had to issue an apology after a popular cartoon it produces created a stir when it depicted Moroccan women as greedy witches scheming to lure wealthy Kuwaiti males into marriage.
The Egyptian Ministry of Information's website was reportedly attacked by a Moroccan hacker who broke into its server causing it to collapse. According to Hespress.com [Ar], a Moroccan online news website, the attack was meant to express anger at the way Moroccan women were depicted in an Egyptian TV series aired this summer called al-Aar (The Shame).

author: Hisham Almiraat


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MENA: That’s Not Hijab! · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

This Ramadan, several campaigns encouraging women to wear, or correct their method of wearing hijab, have been launched.  Two such campaigns–in Iran and Palestine–have sparked conversation amongst a subset of bloggers.
Campaigns encouraging women to wear hijab are nothing new; two years ago, Global Voices author Tarek Amr reported on one particular campaign that seemed to upset Egyptian bloggers.
"Woman without hijab is like a chair with three legs," reads this poster
The Iranian campaign, which has its own website, complete with online store, sparked ire from Nicole at Muslimah Media Watch.  The blogger writes:
If you still haven’t figured out that wearing black chadors will save your worldly soul and that wearing lipstick and heels will get you sent to the hellfire, Iran’s “Cyber Group for Promoting Chastity and the Veil [Ifaf]” is here to clear that up for you.  They are sponsored by the Iranian government and have a sleek website where you can view their posters, buy t-shirts, and brush up on hijab laws in Iran!
Digging into the meat of the campaign, she continues, referring to the poster at left:
“A woman without hijab is like a chair with three legs” is the most incomprehensible of the posters for me, both visually and textually. Why three legs?  Because we as women are somehow incomplete without hijab? Lacking in a solid foundation? Because we can’t be used to sit on? Clothes can do all that? Really?
The blogger concludes:
Muslim women have always had their Islam judged by their clothing and appearance. True, we live in scary times. However, the lot of Muslim  women has hit a new low when people find it necessary to launch an  expensive ad campaign to make sure we know exactly what we are supposed  to wear.  To drive the point home and blur the lines even more: ”Having little or no haya (shyness/modesty), is a sign of dark-mindedness, not  intellectualism, is a sign of ignorance not civilization” So don’t forget, sisters, being a blushing Muslimah is critical to being smart and civilized.  And you can’t have haya in heels and  lipstick!
Reader Rochelle comments on the piece, saying:
I think this campaign demonstrates what I’ve been trying to articulate for a long time: that compulsory hijab IS a big deal in Iran. I think a lot of us get so fed up with the obsession over hijab in the west that we assume that Iranian women don’t care about it or it’s not as big of a deal on the ground in Iran as in western perceptions of Iran. But to that argument I respond by saying this: if the hijab isn’t a ‘big deal’, then why does the Iranian government spend a ridiculous amount of of money, energy, and human resources on enforcing mandatory hijab? Clearly there is something big at stake here.
In Palestine, the campaign is aimed at women who already wear hijab, but who are wearing it “incorrectly.”  Lebanese blogger Rita Chemaly shares a photograph of one of the campaign posters, which she received from a friend in Palestine (at right)
"So that your hjiab is proper," reads the poster
The blogger comments:
it seems that this campaign is going in Palestinian streets.
in lebanon, we are used to see people wearing the veil in a more  modern look.
even a more fashionable look.
according to this campaign, wearing sexy outfits with a headcover is  not enough, and it is changing the meaning of the veil.
the veil is not intended for the hair, but it is a social identity,  were fluid and large clothes are needed.
what is your opinion about this matter?

author: Jillian C. York


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Mozambique: Government Appeals for Calm · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

A Verdade [The Truth, pt] released a statement from the Government of Mozambique, appealing to citizens for calm, as the night fell after a day of unrest in the city of Maputo.

author: Sara Moreira


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Mozambique: Maputo on alert with unrest · Global Voices
Janet Gunter

Yesterday rumors spread in Mozambique about a general strike via word of mouth, SMS, and even Twitter. The motive: the “unjust” cost of living – rises in the price of bread, water and electricity. Readers may recall that an increase the price of minibuses sparked riots and protest in February 2008. So the city went to sleep on edge.
While the mainstream media is just starting to report this, this morning bloggers and twitters have already been reporting on events. Eduardo Castro of Elefante News writes [pt]
Ouvi na Antena Nacional e li nO País (primeiro pública, segundo  privado) que a polícia não “recebeu nenhum pedido de manifestação  popular” para hoje aqui em Maputo.
Mas a cidade está visivelmente mais policiada. E já teve bloqueio em  Benfica, Xiquelene e Chopal.
Tem pouco chapa (vans) circulando por Mahotas. Já recebi telefonema  de gente que voltou pra casa depois de esperar por transporte desde  cedo, sem sucesso.
A preocupação é que se reedite 2008: os chapas fizeram uma  manifestação que convulsionou a cidade.
Na manchete dO País, o motivo da agitação: Água e luz com novos  preços a partir de hoje em todo país”.
I heard on the National Radio and read in O País (the former public and the latter private) that the police did “not receive any request for a popular demonstration” for today in Maputo.
But the city is visibly more policed. There was a roadblock in Benfica, Xiquelene and Chopal.
There are few chapas [minibuses] circulating around Mahotas. I received a call from people who returned home after waiting for transport since early in the morning, with no success.
The worry is that 2008 happens again: the chapas made a protest that threw the city into convulsions.
The front page headline of O País, the motive for the nerves: Water and electricity with new prices from today in all of the country”.
Sociologist Carlos Serra, who was an important source of information in 2008, writes [pt]
Com voz  calma, um representante do Governo esforçou-se no programa “Café da  manhã” da Rádio Moçambique (7:30/8:00) por mostrar que o governo tudo  tem feito para evitar que o preço do pão (mais caro a partir do dia 6,  estável desde 2008) fique mais oneroso… Ouvintes  do programa enviaram mensagens queixando-se da carestia de vida e  lamentando a subida do preço do pão, “alimento do pobre”, escreveu um  deles. O representante apelou aos ouvintes para procurarem substituir o  pão por outros produtos, por exemplo pela batata doce.
pelos  relatos que me vão chegando de vários pontos da cidade (Avenida de  Moçambique, por exemplo), penso que esta é uma situação que vai exigir  muito bom senso e grande prudência na gestão.
With a calm voice, a representative of the Government made an effort on the program “Breakfast” on Radio Mozambique (7:30/8:00) to show that the government had done everything to prevent the price of bread (more expensive as of the 6th, stable since 2008) from becoming more of a burden… Listeners of the program sent messages complaining of the high cost of living and lamenting the rise in the price of bread, “poor people's food”, wrote one of them. The representative appealed to listeners to look to substitute bread with other products, for example sweet potato.
Judging by the reports that are arriving to me from various parts of the city (Mozambique Avenue for example), I think this is a situation that will require much good sense and a great prudence in managing.
Twitter user BarataJorge reported
Linhas de  telefonia móvel congestionadas, na cidade de Maputo.
Another called TeknikNineMilli said
#Greve em  maputo. É o q dá abusar das pessoas. A parte má, é q há gente a pilhar,  vandalizar e etc.
Prolific twitter user Katembe is relaying reports of shooting, rock throwing and vandalism in the poor outlying neighborhoods of the city, like this one
Na  EN4, carros e autocarros a ser atacados com pedras” / “isto está mal,  nem dá pra pôr um pé fora de casa (Chamanculo)”
Freelance reporter Nastasya Tay tweeted
Rioting in township areas. Rubber bullets fired.  Burning tyres on the roads, and a smoke haze rising up over Maputo from  the fires.
A citizen media Ushahidi platform has been launched by  Jornal A Verdade (@verdademz). As of now, there are over 50 incidents among which reports of deaths, including of two children shot at Av. Acordos de Lusaka.
A Verdade [The Truth, pt] released a statement from the Government of Mozambique, appealing to citizens for calm, as the night fell.

author: Janet Gunter


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Nepal: Indian Embassy And The Media · Global Voices
Rezwan

United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal discusses in detail about the recent spat between the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and Nepal’s Free Media.

author: Rezwan


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Pakistan: Postcards From Hell · Global Voices
Rezwan

Farrukh Zafar visited some flood effected areas in Sindh, Pakistan and posted some pictures depicting the miserable state of the flood refugees in a relief camp.


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Paraguay: Environmental Consequences of Development · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Diego Segovia writes [es] about the environmental consequences of cutting down trees for soybean production and other practices that have increased air contamination. He asks, “is this the ‘development’ you want?”


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Russia: “Inaccessible” Moscow Rally · Global Voices
Dmitry Davidov

LJ user drugoi published pictures [RUS] from the latest rally “Moscow. Access Granted” meant to illustrate accessibility problems that a person in a wheelchair can encounter in the city.

author: Dmitry Davidov


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Russia: President Exposes Governor Using Twitter During a Meeting · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev asked [ENG] governor Belyh [RUS] to stop twittering during an official meeting of the presidential commission for modernization and technological development. According to Russian media [RUS], the fact that Belyh is using Twitter during discussion was reported to the president by his economical aid Arkady Dvorkovich [RUS], who was also using Twitter during the session.


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Russia: Three Scenarios of Internet Development · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Alexey Sidorenko suggests [RUS] three scenarios for how Russian Internet will look like in 2020. The first option is liberalization of the information space, the second is the increase of filtering and censorship, and the third is a preservation of the current ambivalent status quo.


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Serbia: “Better on Facebook Than in the Streets” · Global Voices
Danica Radovanovic

Usage of Facebook among Serbian youth. Photo by Danica Radovanovic
The new school year in Serbia is about to start, and Serbian daily newspapers publish numerous articles on the bad effects of the most popular social network, Facebook, frightening both parents and young people with negative and techno anti-utopian statements. A survey on the usage of Facebook among the youth in Serbia has been published recently, too, however, and its results suggest that things aren't really that bad.
Serbia is a country in transition; the political, economic and social turbulence of the '90s has influenced its culture and ethical values, as well as information and communication technologies (ICT's) and the creation of the online public sphere. It's not surprising that the younger and older generations in urban areas have embraced the new social media forms very quickly. But what about information, digital and media literacy, and critical thinking skills that will enable the people to use Internet services wisely and selectively?
For my doctoral research ethnographic data on Internet, I was talking recently with Nikola, an undergraduate student of the School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Belgrade, an open source activist and geek, and he told me how his generation was spending time in the socially (and ethically) distorted surrounding:
…in Serbia, the parameter of success represents a few statuses: a well-paid job in some government institution, or a marriage to a foreigner, an athlete or some businessman. For young men, similar values can be found. The idols are [popular Turbo-folk singers] Ceca, Karleusa and Seka, Paris Hilton, politicians, war criminals, criminals. The only thing that young people think about is money, hanging and fooling around, and instant success.
Even at universities! Recently I enrolled at the Faculty of Engineering. In my department, during the freshman welcome party, they played house music for two hours, domestic/local dance/turbo music of the '90s for another four hours, and kitsch folk music for the rest of time. […]
Few of them are interested in open source software, which is tragic: those are the future software developers, so they could learn a lot, but all they see is [Microsoft] and $$$. It's humiliating that some kids from my department don't understand the basic concepts of the Internet service usage, and yet they are hanging out on Facebook day and night.
This is not the first time that I hear from the young people who think differently than the majority of the young population in Serbia about the difficulties of growing up in an environment where there is the lack of a communication culture and education on the one hand, and the existence of kitsch on the other, and these forms of behavior are perceived as “correct” and desirable.
Many of these young people have left the country for postgraduate studies or to work abroad. Political events, social and economic changes, brain drain, high rate of unemployment, a visible gap between the nouveau riche and the lower classes, distorted values presented in the media and through street propaganda – all this has influenced the situation in the households and educational institutions, and is reflected every day in the (lost) art of communication.
Having in mind such an environment, the online public sphere created on the networking sites is no different, and the problems are magnified. There are numerous places where young people in Serbia spend their time online, and one of the most popular ones is Facebook.
Of the 7.3 million inhabitants of Serbia, 55.9% are Internet users, and over 2 million of them are on Facebook. They use the Internet for communication (sending/receiving emails) – 79.2%; for playing or downloading games, photos, films or music (64%); for sending chat messages to groups or forums (42.3%), and only 26.4% use the Internet to search for information regarding education, training or courses.
Recently, the Belgrade Open School carried out a research, asking this question: What high school students like to do on the Internet? It was conducted among 300 high school students taking the School's training program on online reputation. One should have in mind that these 300 young people use Internet every day, and they should not be considered as a representative sample, as it says in the survey's introduction. The results of the survey can be taken as indicators of some basic trends in online behavior of young people. According to the data, 55% of the respondents would rather spend more time online than studying for school.
When online, the Serbian youth are frequently on social network sites (Facebook, My Space, Twitter), chatting with their friends or downloading entertaining multimedia. The survey also showed that 75% of the respondents meet new people online as well, and for almost half of them these sites are an important source of information. Every third high school student says that they spend time with their friends equally face to face and online, while more than a half of the respondents spend their day in traditional forms of communication.
What do they do on Facebook? The two most frequent activities that this group of Serbian high school teens indicated are: making contact with their friends (61%) and “like”-ing their statuses (66%). Then: sharing content and information (56%), writing private messages (47%). Asked if they would add their teachers as Facebook friends if they asked them to, they said they wouldn’t mind (70% accepted their professors as contacts). Same about their parents (18% have a parent as their contact).
It's interesting that only 22.4% of the respondents play online games on Facebook: they'd rather spend time chatting with friends who are online (78%). Also, 13.4% of the respondents answered they would use Facebook for school and collaboration with their teachers, while 31.6% actively participate in groups, causes and fan pages they have joined.
One of the numerous comments on Facebook from a Serbian daily newspaper:
I think that the Facebook mania was created by the media who write about it non-stop! Each generation has something that differs from the previous one. A long time ago, the youth were obsessed with cinema, then with music and concerts, motorbikes, and now, in the computer era, it's time for the Internet and Facebook.
Sanja made an interesting comment:
Considering the tough times and the surroundings we live in – it is better to be inside the house with Facebook than in the streets with criminals… at least you know where your children are.
Milos says:
Facebook is a great way to get connected with friends abroad, I have a lot of them, so this way we can communicate much better and I can see what is going on in their lives. Also, Facebook is saving the time and money for mobile phone… While I was in school, it was much easier to send a message to my entire classroom on Facebook if we needed to make plans for something than to send text messages to all of them, individually. Facebook flaws? When you're spending time on Face and you don't have a reason for that… you waste time browsing other people's profiles.
However, the Serbian youth do not differ in their communication practices from their peers elsewhere in the world, or, at least, in Southeastern Europe, as my preliminary dissertation research data indicate. They are interested in the same things as the previous generations, they spend their time online and on Facebook for very clear, understandable, social reasons: they want to interact with their peers, friends from pre-existing networks in analogue life. They want to stay informed and exchange either information or gossip, as well as goofing, hanging around, joking, flirting, poking, “like”-ing on Facebook.
The social dynamics has not changed, but the new technologies have: it is always the same motivation, but different environments.
It is very important that both parents and educators on the one side and the Serbian media on the other side realize that the Internet is yet another channel for communication, not an evil tool, but also not some magic wand that will solve all their problems. Young people and their parents should build some trust in communication and help each other to understand the new technologies, introducing them to each other. Educators could work with students on information and media literacy, teaching them to think and process information online, to develop critical thinking skills, so they could navigate and grow up to be smart, young professionals.

author: Danica Radovanovic


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South Korea: Unexpected Weather Patterns Occur More Frequently Due to Global Warming · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Typhoon Kompasu and torrential rain will batter the entire Korea starting today. Meteorologists said global warming has produced a rare weather phenomenon by ‘boiling the ocean’ and altered the ecosystems in some places,  South Korea’s Joongang Ilbo reported.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Trinidad & Tobago: A Little Less Conversation · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The people want policies to be created, and leadership that quietly and effectively affects their lives and everyone else's positively in the soonest possible time”: Plain Talk wants less talk and more action.


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Trinidad & Tobago: National Awards · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The presentation of National Awards every year is probably the highlight of our Republic’s Independence celebration”: KnowTnT.com republishes the list of this year's honorees.


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Zimbabwe: Online constitution survey · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zimbabwe constitution survey is online: “…please send a blank email to survey@sokwanele.com to receive an auto-respond reply with information on how you can participate in Sokwanele’s constitution survey.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Africa: Preparing Africa For New Media · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africa should prepare for new media revolution: “Ultimately, considering the growth taking place in Africa, Kabushenga points out that Africans are at an advantage: digital media will eventually gain a prominent foothold in Africa, but we can learn from the developed world’s mistakes.”


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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Time for peaceful coexistence · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

In another guest post on The Caucasian Knot, youth activist and student Marine Ejuryan reflects on the negative stereotypes in play between Armenia and Azerbaijan because of the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. However, she notes, positive examples of peaceful coexistence are rarely if ever mentioned in the media and school text books although they should be.