text:
Afghanistan: A Slice of Life at FOB Kalagush · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

Parun, the “capital” of Nuristan province, courtesy flickr user Saleem Nuristani.
Not your typical embed: Andrew Klavan spent a few days with Forward Operating Base (FOB) Kalagush and wrote his account in the U.S. magazine City Journal. It's quite well-written: despite the requisite Kipling shout outs (though they make much more sense here, this being the literal setting of a famous Kipling novel and actual biography), he explains well the challenges the U.S. faces:
This so-called provincial capital was largely a figment of the Afghan government’s imagination. As we carried our packs along the lone mud road, we came upon the “town”: a collection of half-finished ramshackle buildings and wooden huts with idling native workers staring balefully from the porches. Rory, who had a habit of echoing my unspoken showbiz thoughts aloud, muttered to me, “Deadwood,” just as I was thinking, “Tombstone.” …
The main mission was to break ground on a new FOB site. Moving the PRT close to the provincial government would make overseeing new projects much easier. The trouble was, the chosen site was owned by a little nearby village called Pashki. Four months ago, the Pashki elders had agreed to sell the land to the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Now, though, they were worried that the U.S. presence would attract attacks from the Taliban.
It's worth reading in full, even if you have to skip past all the references to how he wants to make it into a screenplay just to give it to those America-hating Hollywood liberals. The point about moving the PRT makes sense in one way: PRT Kalagush is practically in Laghman province (see, for example, this BABEAA post), and many of the locals there view themselves as in Laghman. The PRT has to airlift itself to Parun to do business with the provincial government, or else suffer through an agonizingly slow two-day trip hundreds of miles out of the way thanks to the steep valleys.
But in another way, moving the PRT doesn't make a jot of sense.
FOB Kalagush, courtesy flickr user Hayat Nooristani.
As Klavan so ably put it, calling Parun the capital of anything is more of a wish than a statement of fact. Aside from the basic fact that provinces in Afghanistan don't have capitals the way states in the U.S. do, Parun in Nuristan is a particularly ineffective one. In his lecture at Boston University, David Katz, a senior foreign service office attached to FOB Kalagush, mentioned that Parun is not only basically inaccessible from Kalagush, it is for all intents and purposes inaccessible to the rest of Nuristan as well. Moving FOB Kalagush from an accessible, if possibly disputed, area to one that is basically inaccessible doesn't seem to make much sense.
Regardless, Klavan's article is a wonderful snapshot of the sorts of challenges the U.S. faces as it pushes into isolated communities in Afghanistan.  And of the many policy challenges facing the government—well, both governments—as they try to build lasting institutions that can eventually contribute to peace.

author: Joshua Foust


text:
Afghanistan: Evaluating Counterinsurgency Practices · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Strategist reviews the paper, written by “counterinsurgency guru” David Kilcullen about the West's strategy in Afghanistan – what's right and what's wrong. The latter prevails.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Adil Nurmakov


text:
Afghanistan: Schoolhildren Attacked by Acid Terrorists · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Patrick Frost tells about a shocking incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where some unidentified perpetrators used water guns to shoot acid at a group of girls headed to school.


text:
Afghanistan: What Obama Should Know About Afghanistan · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Azar Balkhi opines that President Elect Obama will be able to do a good job in Afghanistan if he does not use President Bush strategies.


text:
Bangladesh: Change is in the offing · Global Voices
Rezwan

An Ordinary Citizen comments that the people of Bangladesh wants a change in the political system needing reform and the impending election is their hope for their wishes to come true.

author: Rezwan


text:
Bangladesh: Cox’s Bazar in the New7Wonders · Global Voices
Rezwan

M@q at Here I am… posts a video campaigning to vote for Cox’s Bazaar Beach of Bangladesh in the New7Wonders contest.


text:
Barbados, Cuba, U.S.A.: Obama’s AG · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Diaspora bloggers Keltruth Corp. (Barbados) and Babalu (Cuba) discuss Barack Obama's choice of Eric Holder for the post of Attorney General.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Barbados: National Interest · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Underground says that the issue of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary needs to be sorted out “to hopefully reach an amicable agreement in the national interest.”


text:
Bermuda: No Obama  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the Premier suggests “that white Bermudians would not have voted for Barack Obama”, Vexed Bermoothes and 21 Square counter that argument by saying: “The question to ask is whether whites vote along the lines of race or the lines for or against the ideals Obama  stands for.  Ideals the PLP certainly do not today represent…Without belabouring the point, Dr. Brown is no Barack Obama.”


text:
China: Protest and Repression at Earthquake Area, Gansu Longnan  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

According to mainstream news report, around 30 peasants from Wudu（武都） district Dongjiang（東江） town paid a petition visit to the Longnan（隴南） city committee yesterday (17-18 of Nov), but it ended with police repression. There is little explanation on what had exactly happened as information has been blocked.
However, two videos have been uploaded in youtube showing the street fight between protesters and police. In the video, sound of gunfire is rather visible:
Beifeng tried to figure out the background of the confrontation by searching on the web. And it seems that the incident is related with the land acquisition compensation and the relocation of the Longnan City after the earthquake. Here is a translation of Beifeng's investigation:
Land acquisition and city relocation
陇南位于甘肃南部，是全省唯一地处长江流域区域的地区。在地震前，该地区进行了大规模的城市建设，许多群众农民土地被征。为修建新区政府办公区，武都区整个东江镇及半个汉王镇的农田、居民居住区都被征用。有消息称，有许多人被开发商强行拆迁，许多人至今仍住在帐篷内。
在 5.12特大地震中，陇南伤亡300多人，成为继四川之后的最大灾区。2008年7月有谣言传出，当地市委、市政府以地质原因提出了将行政中心从武都区迁往成县的规划，引起早先武都区拆迁农民及全区居民的强烈不满。这个谣言出现后陇南市政在极短时间内就通过地方媒体进行辟谣的官方讲话，很快将事态安定了下来。但在辟谣后一周，陇南市的网民发现，陇南武都区因地质问题迁建的讨论文档已赫然挂在国务院行政网站上，而陇南市府官方并没有针对此事做进一步澄清，结果在短时间内激化了武都与成县人民的矛盾，自此开始，社会流言与网络相互谩骂不止。拆迁农民亦多次上访。
17号早上有消息传来，“陇南市搬迁到成县以已经国务院批准”，相信这则传言是引发群众再次上访的直接原因。
2008年11月17 日上午9时30分开始，甘肃省陇南市武都区东江镇30多名拆迁户再次集体到陇南市委上访，要求对陇南市行政中心搬迁后他们面临的住房、土地和今后的生活等问题做出答复。11月17日下午，大批群众和居民在陇南市委门前集体上访，陇南市委和相关部门的干部及时进行了接访，但未与上访人员意见达成一致。当晚，聚集和围观群众陆续增加，围堵至凌晨，未见到主要领导。由于未知原因，人群冲入市委院内，打碎玻璃，砸毁汽车，烧毁部分办公室，引发了这次次的严重冲突。
Police's trap
A secondary school youth from Wudu gave more background on this confrontation in the comment section:
原因是搬迁之事政府在很早以前就出来辟谣，告诉群众不要相信谣言，况且还为此逮捕了６名所谓的传谣者．更重要的是自从王义来武都做市委书记以后，拆了很多的民房，尤其是武都东江镇，毫不夸张的说一个很大的镇子被移为平地，数万人没了自己的家，王义给群众的答案是要把东江建成陇南新城，群众没有说什么他们相信政府，东江镇的居民全部住进了临时安置房，没有人抱怨，因为他们相信党会让他们过的更好！可是王义要一走了之，要那么多人永远无家可归，大家说人们能不愤怒吗？．５１２武都人民都没有被吓倒，１１月１７日武都人真的愤怒了，他们自发聚集在市委抗议，武都人是很文明的，开始只喊喊口号＂反对搬迁＂没人那么过激，然而在１７日夜群众愤怒了．在１７日夜有几个维持执安的成县武警把几个群众抓到市委大楼拳打脚踢，致使重伤，群众忍无可忍冲进大楼只是想救出群众，抓出打人者，可是没等人走近又是一阵警棒石块，这才越闹越大．到目前已有上百人被捕，很多人受了伤，生命垂危，更可气的是，调来的军车上竟写着＂反恐精英＂在抗震救灾在中人民解放军树立的深厚情谊被王义在一夜之间瓦解了！
Information blocked
Another comment urges people to help spreading the news:
到11月18日，至少已经有数十名无辜群众遭暴打致死。消息都封锁了，很多更真实的照片都发不出来。而在这个帖子里，竟然是政府的御用笔杆在那里乱打官腔，群众的感情他们根本就是在当做垃圾,而百姓的言论遭到大量的封锁，只能发布在少数冷门论坛里，根本无法引起外界重视。我们死了很多同胞，至少我们不希望他们死的太冤，在死后还要被冠以“暴民”的帽子。市委书记拆完了，招商了，引资了，要调离拍屁股走人了，很难不能让人相信他背后的动作。甘肃省委不明真相，封锁消息，这种大事连四百公里外的省会兰州都没有多少人知道！天理何在？我们的意见，我们的冤屈难道就这样被强权和官僚们压制！？无奈之下，只能希望大家口口相传，让更多的人知道真相。希望能够引起关注。就在刚才，大街上防暴警察还在向群众释放催泪瓦斯，官逼民反，民不得不反。天理何在，希望大家了解真相，让更多的人都了解真相，大家都转帮忙传一下。谢谢。

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Colombia: Government, banking and pyramid schemes · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Colombians are buzzing in outrage after the collapse last week of several investment offices which were operating as Ponzi schemes and pyramids, where people would deposit their savings and receive up to 300% in return. The last company standing was DMG, which has a massive following and is now being investigated and its owners arrested for alleged connections with drug trafficking cartels, money laundry and unlawful acquisition of funds. Surprising though, is that their followers have been unfailing in their support, defending DMG and its strategies on forums, comments and websites.
The topic of pyramids is so hot right now in the country that popular music singers have already released songs about it, as La Guayabita reports:
“Pongan cuidado señores
lo que les vengo a contar
por eso de las pirámides
nadie quiere trabajar
miren la fila tan larga
que hay que hacer pa’ consignar
yo con esos intereses
hasta me lo hago …
mamá me lo dijo un día
no meta la plata allá
porque esta gente es muy viva
y lo van es a robar”.
We had previously covered these pyramids and DMG, you can read more about this story in Colombia: people falling prey to pyramid schemes. Jaime Plata writes in the Atalap group blog about the pyramid schemes and DMG, pointing out how these pyramids have affected rural communities, for example explaining the inflation bubble where goods have gotten more expensive since people have more money to spend, but also to the fact that liquid assets have practically disappeared in some of these communities, since all the cash is invested in these companies:
Sabían que en algunos pueblos del Putumayo y Nariño los campesinos han dejado de sembrar papa, yuca, y hasta Coca, porque las pirámides les dan un mejor salario y no hay necesidad de matarse trabajando en un trabajo honrado!! También hay otros municipios que ya no tienen dinero circulante para usar, porque todo el dinero esta metido en estas pirámides, están teniendo que regresar al trueque porque no hay liquidez!!
In the comments, pastusos brings a completely different perspective to the problem, supporting DMG. The event mentioned regarding police stealing money can be seen on this video.
te cuento que gracias al dmg en el putumayo se dejo de sembrar coca y no por el glifosato ni por las campañas de publicidad mal hechas, porque empresas como esta aclaro NO SON PIRAMIDES LOGRO QUE este hermoso municipio tuviera otra oportunidad, oportunidad que el gobierno no les brindo ni les brindara jamaz[sic], jovenes profesionales sin empleo ni oportunidad alguna lograron proyectarse y salir adelant[sic], a su ignorancia les aclaro que carlos suarez nunca se volo y nunca incumplio, al contrario medios como rcn y caracol crearon panico en la gente permitiendo que las autoridades se tomaran las oficinas y como quedo registrado en pasto se robaran el dinero de los aportantes, siendo los principales autores del complot de sarmiento y grupo aval que manejan nuestro pais a su antojo y a nuestro presidente que le dio la espalda al pueblo
An insider view of the DMG system is shown in A Midas in the Tropics [es], where Julio Caycedo and Nathan Jaccard, explore the process of becoming part of DMG, and include examples of successful clients who managed to buy products such as cars or computers, and later paid them off out of the return, in such a way that they were practically for free. The comments are largely made by supporters of DMG, who believe that if DMG collapses, it will be the government's fault, and not the company's. They consider David Guzmán Murcia the messiah, who has taken them out of poverty. One of the strongest arguments on behalf of DMG has to do with the mistrust of banks in Colombia, and how someone, after saving a certain amount of money in a bank, at the end of the year ends up with less, after the banks debit for account management, for calls requesting information and other hidden charges, while in DMG they invest and 6 months later they receive the same amount of money they invested.
Marialucy comments what seems to be echoed in the rest of the supporters:
Yo he invertido en sitios aparentemente seguros como Corfipacífico, Fondos de Pensiones, Bolsa de Bogotá, Cáceres y Ferro y en todos he perdido dinero.
Que no me vengan a decir ahora que DMG es inseguro. Y si es así, prefiero perder la plata con ellos y no con instituciones donde uno pierde y el banquero siempre está barrigón y con las arcas llenas. Por lo menos David Murcia ayudó a mucha gente y si no alcanza para mí, bueno, qué se va a hacer!
Lo que sí es cierto es que el gobierno se mete en problemas si lo hace quebrar. Además los periodistas tienen mucho que ver con ésto pues se ensañan dándoselas de virtuosos y éticos.
Ojalá nos vaya bien.
So don't come here to tell me that DMG is insecure. And if that is the case, I'd rather lose my money with them and not in institutions where one loses and the banker always has a fat belly and full chests of money. At least David Murcia helped a lot of people and if it isn't enough to go around for me, well, what can one do?
What is true is that the government will get into a lot of troubles if they make DMG go broke. Besides, journalists have a lot to do with it since they attack from their high-horse of ethics and virtue.
I hope we do well.
Recently during the collapse of the other pyramids, one company left a parting message on the front door of their office, which Reticente reproduces on his blog, where the company berates the gullible investors for believing there was an easy, quick and effortless way to make money. It ends with:
Y recuerden, las únicas pirámides que existen y no se van, son las de Egipto. Les deseamos una triste navidad y vergonzoso año nuevo pelado”.
There is even a facebook group where they are discussing the possibilities that David Murcia Guzmán could be the next presidential candidate. Although it isn't translateable on a blog post, calls on radio shows also show that David Murcia's followers believe him close to being the next Messiah, speaking of him as a prophet unjustly picked on by the government for helping the poor.
One of the greater complaints has been the lack of action from part of the government, who didn´t take measures to stop people from investing in these schemes. If it was so illegal, why didn't the government stop it, and why were they charging the company taxes if it was in the shady side of the law? Some people have their own conspiracy theories about the relationship the government has with DMG:
Bueno pues segun mi Fuente que trabaja directamente en DMG; hace algunos años hubo un negocio para Lavar dinero del Narcotrafico, en especial de los paramilitares através de DMG y en estas marañas estaba interesadisimo don Alvarito asi que, segun la parte Administrativa de DMG mientras Alvarito este y se mantenga en el Poder DMG se mantiene protegida y funcionando. Osea que al cosa ya tiene mas sentido.
DMG itself has also defended itself on the YouTube Channel: On DMG Vs. Financial Terrorism (Part 1)  [es] he blames Aval group and its banking directors for the collapse of DMG due to their refusal to deal with DMG and their mudslinging tactics against the organization:
Currently, David Murcia is in the process of being extradited from Panama, where he currently lives, along with his wife, mother and other family members to answer to legal charges. DMG's supporters are blaming the government for freezing the company's assets and staunchly believe that the money they were receiving had to do with investments and trade and in the capital city of Bogotá they marched yesterday to prove their support of their hero. You can see images, read posts and view their perspective on their blog “Let us Work”. The following video records the support march which took place on November 17th to support DMG and protest against the government's actions:
As Apeláez writes in “The Putumayo Messiah”, with hard numbers to prove his point:
En particular, los holgazanes que invierten en DMG parecen no entender ( o entender muy bien) el riesgo que está detras de sus inversiones. Actuan como fanáticos religiosos detras del nuevo mesias que promete fortunas con sólo esperar y confiar. Suponen, también, que los retornos de su inversión son una muestra contundente de la mezquindad del sistema financiero colombiano y están dispuestos a inmolarse con tal de proteger al mechudo.
Según han dicho en los medios, cerca de trescientos mil colombianos son holgazanes que tienen una parte de sus ahorros en DMG. Si cada uno de estos tuviera invertido en promedio doscientos cincuenta mil pesos, hoy DMG estaría manejando en su último round cerca de treinta y ocho millones de dolares. Para poder cumplirle a sus inversores, el señor del pelo largo necesita recoger casi ciento veinte millones de dolares o de lo contrario colapsa. Si lo logra, necesitará trescientos cincuenta y cuatro millones de dolares para mantenerse a flote, y en caso de lograr conseguir esta plata con sus amigos oscuros, necesitará mil y pico millones de dolares para evitar ser crucificado.
La tiene dificil el mesias.
As the media have reported, close to three hundred thousand Colombians are bums who have part of their savings in DMG. If each one of those had invested on average two hundred fifty thousand pesos, today DMG would be handling in their last round close to thirty eight million dollars. To be able to follow through with their investors, the long haired man needs to amass close to one hundred twenty millios of dollars or it will collapse. If he manages that, he will need three hundred fifty four millions of dollars to keep his head out of the water, and in case he manages to get THIS amount with his dark friends, he will then need more than one thousand million dollars to avoid being crucified.
The Messiah will have it tough.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


text:
Costa Rica: Earthquake Felt and Reported on Twitter · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Cristian Cambronero of @fusildechispas [es] felt the recent earthquake in San José, Costa Rica and noticed others on Twitter did too, “16 tweets in the first minute after a strong earthquake in San José.”

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
Czech Republic: Anniversary of Peaceful Revolution · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word writes about the time when “Czechs and Slovaks got rid of the Communist regime” 19 years ago – and about those who “still vote for ‘the new communists’.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Czech Republic: Muslims in Brno · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belatedly, a link to the item on the Muslim community of Brno – at The Czech Daily Word.


text:
Egypt on Fire: The Gloves and The Invisible Hand · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

On Thursday November 6th when Egyptians were celebrating Obama's Victory, Al Ghad Party went up in flames. You can read about the initial blogosphere reactions here and here. Today I am sharing with you Wael Nawara's statements regarding the incident.
Nawara, who is a senior official at the party and among the detainees on the day of the fire, wrote in English and in Arabic about what really happened:
The so-called “National” newspapers, indeed all channels of the so-called “National” media, tried to portray the crime as a dispute between competing factions of El Ghad Party which ended up in smoke and flames. It was a cold-blooded communication strategy which aimed at discrediting the opposition and scaring the public. It also aimed at spreading a spirit of pessimism and apathy. They wanted to say, “… look how pathetic the opposition is. Look how dirty the tactics they use. How small the personal gains and political rivalry which motivate them.”
It was an intended message to the public. “You criticize the NDP so bitterly, look how pitiful the opposition is. You want to play politics, the only ‘clean’ club in town, at least relatively-speaking, is the NDP.”
Wael Nawara cited incidents of how internal elections took place previously:
They failed to mention that El Ghad members have elected 3 different party presidents in the past 5 years. Ayman Nour was elected in Nov 2004, Ambassador Nagui El Ghatrifi was elected in Dec 2005, Attorney Ehab El Kholy was elected in March 2007, and El Ghad members were getting ready to elect a 4th president on 7th Nov 2008. I, and two other candidates, ran against Ehab El Kholy in the elections of March 2007. My friend and colleague, Ehab El Kholy, won by 16 votes, getting about 45% of the votes while I got 42% of the votes. I contested election results on the grounds that none of the candidates had a clear majority of 50% +1 vote, and requested another round between candidates of the highest votes, myself and Ehab El Kholy. I did so, peacefully, lawfully, inside the party, through the council of “Wise Men”, or El Ghad Senates, who act according to the Party's bylaws as an “Internal Court” to resolve internal disputes. The Senates took several weeks then announced their verdict in my favor. I waived my rights for a second round and conceded to Ehab El Kholy and worked under his command since then. I am telling this little story, just to show that we can compete and have differences, but we can choose to solve our differences amicably, peacefully, and lawfully. El Ghad is no utopian opposition party. It has its problems, internal conflicts and limitations. But to portray the massacre of Nov 6th as a confrontation between competing factions is a gross distortion of the matter.
He also clarified the positions of former party members Mousa Mostafa Mousa and Ragab Helal Hemida:
The attack on El Ghad party by a group of thugs had nothing to do with who heads the party. Mousa Mostafa Mousa and Ragab Helal Hemida were both dismissed from the party on 18th Sep 2005, as per the verdict of the party's Senate, ratified by the Higher Council, the president – then Dr Ayman Nour- and by the General Assemblies of 20th Sep 2005 and 30th Dec 2005.
The attack on El Ghad Party on 6th Nov 2008 was a campaign commissioned by Mousa but encouraged by the security apparatus, which strives to eradicate any form of real opposition in Egypt. Ragab Helal Hemida, who came hand in hand with thugs and criminals to burn down El Ghad building, supervised a similar campaign on Al Ahrar party several years ago. He is an expert, a special agent which the regime uses to destroy and splinter opposition parties.
Nawara goes on to narrate what really happened supporting his version of the story by pictures published in El Badeel Newspaper:
In the first few days, after the events of Nov 6th, the so-called “National” newspapers spared no efforts in smearing our reputation in a filthy character-assassination campaign. Leaders of the “real” Ghad party were made to look as criminals and arsons. But when El Badeel newspaper started to publish photos from the crime scene showing Mousa and Ragab heading a group of thugs who started burning El Ghad building down, throwing rocks at the party's headquarters, setting clothes on fire and throwing them at El Ghad, then wrestled with firemen trying to prevent them from putting out the fire, then started smashing cars parked under the building, then started to lute our offices and smash furniture and antiques stolen from inside, then started dancing in Talaat Harb Square celebrating their victory in setting the building ablaze, etc., etc., etc. …, all of this happening in broad daylight, in the busiest spot of downtown Cairo, under a total absence of police in uniform.
The police mysteriously disappeared, despite advance warnings and official complaints filed by El Ghad leaders asking for protection after Mousa bluntly announced that he will attack the General Assembly. Talaat Harb Square, which is usually packed with security forces, suddenly became a Thug-land. In fact, traffic police stopped traffic to allow the attackers to proceed and complete the job at hand.
When all those photos became public … when Gameela Ismail, Vice-President and spokesperson of El Ghad, came out on Orbit and Dream Channels and showed those photos to millions of Egyptian viewers … everyone wondered … how come that only El Ghad leaders, who were trapped inside, who luckily escaped death by a slim margin, were accused of causing the damage, when in fact they were the very victims facing possible death, just a few hours before?
Then, and only then, did the Attorney General decide to call Mousa for questioning. Only then, did the regime start to notice, that the crime is too embarrassing to shove under the rug. But calling Mousa for questioning is hardly an achievement. Mousa is just a pitiful “glove” to some other mysterious hand which is determined to crush all opposition.
At the end he wonders:
… until when, will this invisible hand remain invisible and immune from questioning? Until when will this hand stay outside the realm of the law?
To those who are concerned I would like to ask a question. This pathetic lawlessness which ruled the streets of downtown Cairo on the day of November 6th, 2008; whose responsibility was it? Are we just going to throw the blame on poor Mousa, Ragab and a few other thugs? Come on. I am sure that the regime can do better than that. I think the crime deserves a bigger sacrifice.
Think a little. You can actually benefit from the situation. By putting the blame on some minister or another the regime can also get rid of him. This is a bonus at times like these. After all, let us face it, the “minister” in concern is becoming a burden on the regime and all too powerful to remain in office. After all, news of a likely cabinet shuffle is flying around. The regime is a survivor. I hope it will present a bigger lamb to the sacrifice this time.

author: Marwa Rakha


text:
Estonia: Citizenship · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about “a renewed public interest in the criteria for obtaining Estonian citizenship”: “The news that the Russian embassy handed out more Russian passports to stateless persons than the Estonian government did last year, however, is symbolic of the challenge that faces either this Estonian government or a future one.”


text:
Guyana: On Being Authentic · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I spent the first 19 years of my life in Guyana.  I have now lived away from Guyana for a longer time than I lived there.  Does that make me an inauthentic Guyanese?”:  Signifying Guyana responds to an argument that writers “who eventually opt to live and work abroad, cannot…lay claim to a truly Guyanese sensibility.”


text:
Hungary: A Look at the Judiciary System · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum is wondering how it is possible that “growing marijuana plants seems to deserve as harsh a sentence as murder” in Hungary.


text:
India: Yankee Hindutva · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amardeep at Sepia Mutiny writes about ‘Yankee Hindutva’, the American version of Hindu nationalism.


text:
Iran: A multi millionaire becomes Interior Minister  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sadegh Mahsouli, a former Revolutionary Guard who became a multi millionaire in recent years was appointed as interior minister. Nik Ahang, an Iranian blogger and cartoonist, has published a cartoon about this multi millonaire minister and a friend of Iranian president.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Iran: Cycling around the world for Peace · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

An Iranian couple is cycling around the world for Peace and Environmental conservation. They started their trip on 29th of April 2007 from Iran to promote peace. At present they are in South Korea. You can read all their stories in their RMC4Peace blog.


text:
Iran: More Than Five millon sites are filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian authorities recently announced that more than five million sites and blogs got filtered. Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, a high-ranking judicial official, said[fa] that enemies try to hurt our religious identity by using internet. No-filter, a site that fighting against filtering, says[fa]that Iranian authorities two years ago talked about ten million filtered sites.


text:
Iran: No Country for Old Trees · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

About one year ago Iranian authorities ordered security forces to rid the country of ‘western influences’ and ‘immodesty’. Fortunately they soon backed off again. But this time green bloggers in Iran and an Iranian daily newspaper, Etemaad, have reported on their new victims: old trees (via LA Times).
According to these reports, the authorities have ordered the cutting down of dozens of two-centuries-old mulberry trees in the northern Gilan province under the pretext of fighting local superstitions. Some people are placing candles and ribbons under them as part of an ancient ritual. It seems that the Iranian judiciary issued an order to stop this by cutting down the old trees.
Several bloggers shared their sorrow and astonishment of such destruction.
Mohmmad Darvish, a leading environmentalist and blogger, says  [fa]:
Iran is a low forest cover and we should protect of our trees. Taking care of our trees has deep roots in our culture and tradition. Our Zoroastrian ancestors asked us to protect our nature. The Prophet Muhammad also said that breaking a tree's branch is like hurting the wings of angels. Then how is it possible that they [authorities] can destroy the oldest trees in Gilan and be proud of it… Is it not better instead of cutting down innocent trees, to fight against the roots of superstition? Do you not think people who ask requests of trees will replace them by rivers, mountains or any other living or non-living beings?
(photo of the old tree above is from Darvish's blog)
Earth Soldier writes [fa]:
Superstition has roots in our life, we created them, and the trees are innocent… Some years ago two men were in conflict regarding of the possession of 100 doves. A judge ordered that all 100 doves should be killed. The innocent birds died, but do you think the conflict of these two men ended?
The blogger adds that the authorities want to cut down 40 trees and most of them are older than 200 years.
Blogger Z8tun says  [fa] that the superstition is not only about the trees, and that many people offer jewelry to shrines in order to have their prayers answered. The blogger adds that many poor people offer what they have, to get healing for themselves or their family members. Z8tun says you only could impose your will on poor trees.
According to Ahang Rabbani, trees have been victims in another story too. Ahang writes in Iranian.com :
During the early hours of Saturday, 27 September 2008, the custodians and grounds-keepers of the Baha’i cemetery in Isfahan visited the cemetery (on the road leading to Nain in Yazd Province) and found all the trees cut to pieces. It appears that in Iran, even for trees that are close to Baha’is – even deceased Baha’is – is a crime punishable by death.


text:
Israel: Ceasefire with Hamas Ends · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

The temporary cease-fire (tahdiya) agreement between Israel and Hamas has come to an end earlier this month with an escalation of violence in the region and a re-implementation of the Gaza blockade. Following information on Hamas preparations to abduct IDF soldiers through a tunnel, the IDF operated near the border in Gaza. The operation prevented the planned attack and killed seven Hamas operatives. In reaction, Hamas fired a massive barrage of rocket and mortar shell fire onto the Israeli south.
Earlier in June, the temporary cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas (mediated by the Egyptian government) included the following terms: 1) stopping of all Gaza-Israel violence and an ease in the blockade 2) easing of Israeli restrictions on cargo crossings 3) conducting talks about opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and prisoner exchange to free IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Israel pledged to refrain from massive offensive operations but reserved the right to carry out attacks on specific targets should the need arise. Hamas, on the other hand, regarded the temporary cease-fire as a tahdiya and not a hudna. Jonathan Dahoah Halevi explains the difference:
The difference between the two Arabic terms is substantial. Hudna means “truce,” which is more concrete than tahdiya – “a period of calm” – which Hamas often uses to describe a simple cease-fire. In traditional Islamic thought, a hudna is negotiated between an Islamic entity and a non-Islamic entity, but it can be reversed the moment the Islamic side has gained sufficient strength to resume fighting. Nevertheless, a hudna implies recognition of the other party's actual existence, without acknowledging its legitimacy.
A tahdiya has less standing than a hudna. Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’ leader, and his deputy in leadership, Musa Abu Marzouq, elaborated in recent months their interpretation of a tahdiya. In an interview with Al-Jazeera (April 26, 2008), Mashaal clarified that for Hamas, a tahdiya is “a tactic in conflict management and a phase in the framework of the resistance [meaning all forms of struggle].” He added that it “is not unusual for the resistance…to escalate sometimes and to retreat a bit sometimes as the tide does….The tahdiya creates a formulation that will force Israel…to remove the siege…and if it happens it will be a remarkable achievement….We are speaking of a tactical tahdiya….As long as there is occupation, there is no other way but resistance.”
The cease-fire has granted Hamas a golden opportunity to expand its military build-up for the next round of terror and violence. Blogger soccer dad expanded on this point:
But all that means is that Israel will tolerate a certain level of violations before it is forced to act. The cycle will repeat unless Israel takes decisive action against Hamas wiping out most of its terrorist capabilities, just as it did to Fatah during Operation Defensive Shield.
The point of the tahadiyeh from Hamas's standpoint is to allow itself to re-arm and prepare for its next campaign against Israel.
It's also reasonable to assume that Hamas has no intention of releasing Gilad Shalit anytime soon. Despite its political and military gains from the tahadiyeh, if Hamas is brazen enough to claim that Israel isn't keeping its side of the bargain while it flagrantly violates the truce (by rearming), it wants a lot more from Israel before it will release Shalit.
The lull agreement reached between Israel and Hamas was subject to an Egyptian pledge to do everything in its power to prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel pledged to refrain from massive offensive operations but is reserving the right to carry out attacks on specific targets should the need arise.
The events which began on November 4th have brought the violence back to the region and effectively ended the cease-fire. Doc's Talk blog describes the events as they unfolded:
Following information about Hamas's preparations to abduct IDF soldiers through a tunnel, the IDF operated near the border. The operation prevented the planned attack and killed seven Hamas terrorist operatives. Hamas reacted with massive rocket and mortar shell fire, unprecedented since the lull arrangement went into effect. After the immediate barrages, sporadic rocket and mortar shell fire continued (carried out by the smaller terrorist organizations). Israel responded by closing the Gaza Strip crossings.
Another event occurred on November 12, when the IDF killed four Hamas terrorist operatives who tried to lay an IED near the border security fence. The Palestinian terrorist organizations, led by Hamas, again fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells at western Negev population centers, including the town of Sderot and city of Ashqelon. The fire, in various quantities, continued uninterrupted for four days.
…Following the lack of goods in the Gaza Strip and in response to appeals from the international community, on November 11 Israel began delivering a limited supply of diesel fuel for the Gaza Strip power plant. However, the deliveries quickly ended on November 12 because Hamas renewed its rocket fire.
…In reality, closing the power plant led to local disturbances in the supply of electricity in the Gaza City area. However, the power outage was not complete because the Gaza Strip power plant supplies only about 30% of its electricity. Hamas, as usual, initiated a propaganda campaign which exaggerated the extent of the suffering caused to local residents, completely ignoring the terrorist attacks and rocket and mortar fire which caused the crossings to be closed. The objective of the campaign has been to exert pressure on Israel through the international community, the Arab countries and Israeli public opinion. That is done to force Israel to open the Gaza Strip crossings, despite the ongoing attacks carried out by the Palestinian terrorist organizations.
While the official Israeli stance has been coming out with claims that Hamas is staging the blackouts (not the first time Israel raises this issue), the situation on the ground in Gaza is dire. Amira Hass presents a more personal description of life in Gaza:
Offices, medical practices, private residences: All are darkened by power outages that may occur at any time of day. Every phone call starts with the question of whether the person on the other end of the line has electricity. Whether they managed to bathe the kids before the hot water ran out. Whether the washing machine was working when the outage began.
Refrigerators are particularly prone to malfunction and breakdown because of the constant outages. Also, the cellular phone system weakens and sometimes crashes. Not everyone can afford buying a generator for their home or office and paying for the gas it runs on. They have to save money.
The shortage in cooking gas and diesel is starting to worry many. One mother in Gaza City had to send her child to Rafah, where the shortage is not yet felt, to buy cooking gas. Meanwhile, it is till relatively warm for November and people are putting off thinking about what will happen if Israel continues to block the transfer of cooking gas or diesel used for heating into the Gaza Strip when the winter arrives.
From browsing Israeli press and blogosphere, it is apparent that not many had truly believed the lull would even last as long as it did. In his post, Crushing the tahadiyeh Zvi Bar'el writes:
A tunnel here, a roadside bomb there, mortar bombs, Qassams, border closures, border openings, an Israeli military force enters, “rapid and effective operations,” four killed, another six killed. The chocks that have until now kept the lull in the Gaza Strip in place, keeping it from rolling downhill, are failing with increasing speed and noise. Every party is careful not to declare that the cease-fire is over, since whoever does so will immediately be denounced as responsible for crushing that fragile construction. But the truth is, it's already gone. Almost five “normal” months since the deal was struck through indirect negotiations mediated by Egypt, and it's already time to prepare for the next stage.
…
Since the cease-fire went into effect, Israel has had some pretty good reasons to renege on the agreement and to launch an assault on Gaza. Arms and explosives have made their way to the Strip virtually undetected, tunnels continued to be dug and bombs planted throughout the territory against an Israeli ground invasion. Last week's “ticking tunnel,” dug ostensibly to facilitate the abduction of Israeli soldiers, was not a clear and present danger: Its existence was always known and its use could have been prevented on the Israeli side, or at least the soldiers stationed beside it removed from harm's way.
It is impossible to claim that those who decided to blow up the tunnel were simply being thoughtless. The military establishment was aware of the immediate implications of the measure, as well as of the fact that the policy of “controlled entry” into a narrow area of the Strip leads to the same place: an end to the lull. That is policy – not a tactical decision by a commander on the ground.
Most recently, Israel has been criticized by the UN high commissioner for Human Rights. Barak Ravid and Amos Harel elaborate on Israel's reaction to her comments:
Israel reacted angrily to comments made Tuesday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in which she called for an immediate end to its blockade of the Gaza Strip, which she said breached international and humanitarian law.
In a statement from her Geneva-based office, Pillay urged Israel to allow the flow of aid including food, medicines and fuel to resume, and to restore electricity and water services in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Pillay was also quoted as saying that 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months. She also called for Israel to end airstrikes and incursions in Gaza, and for Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets into Israel.
Israel imposed a blockade of Gaza after the Islamic group Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2006. It recently tightened the sanctions because of rocket fire at Israeli towns.
Pillay's demands provoked an angry response from Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, who accused her of being utterly shortsighted and repeating blatant misinformation.
“Overall responsibility for the situation in the Gaza Strip lies with Hamas, which invests all of its resources in arms and terrorism instead of providing for the civilians that it brutally controls,” Aharon Leshno-Yaar said, adding that Palestinian groups had fired more 170 rockets and mortars at Israel during the past 10 days.
Leshno-Yaar also rejected Pillay's claim that Israel has cut off essential supplies to Gaza.
“Electricity and water continue to flow from Israel to Gaza, and 33 trucks laden with supplies arrived in Gaza yesterday, with more waiting to enter as soon as Hamas ends its violent attacks,” he said.
Finally, on a personal note, from browsing blogs and news sites, even for myself it is increasingly difficult to maintain a solid opinion, as the situation on both sides of the border is ever more complex. One thing is very clear – both sides lack solid leadership, which seeds a sense of hopelessness. Even with the upcoming elections in both Palestine and Israel, there seems to be little hope for potential leaders to bring an end to the violence. What are your opinions? How can the elections affect this continuing situation if at all?

author: Gilad Lotan


text:
Jamaica: March for Peace · Global Voices
Bianca Welds

A recent upsurge in crime over the last few weeks has Jamaicans gravely concerned. Last week's discovery of the body of an eleven (11) year old boy was the latest in a string of attacks against the nation's children. Jamaican blogger (and mother) iriegal of A Fe Me Page Dis Iyah reveals that her own daughter was almost victim to a sexual crime and in a letter to the perpetrator cries out:
You are a sexual deviant, a pariah. When you decided that you wanted to harm an innocent person. A person who did not even know you were attempting to violate them then you doomed yourself to your own demons.
Compounding the situation, young women have also been targeted recently, with an upswing in the number of rapes and abductions in certain areas of Kingston, leading some to suggest the possibility of gang initiation being the underlying cause. Trinifem2 of Transition Sunshine examines her feelings about living in Jamaica, and how her behaviour has had to change in recent times:
I have often repeated that I refuse to feel caged up or threatened by the crime in Kingston. I face each day with joy and enthusiasm using the same precautions I would utilize in any major city. However, of late I have been coordinating with pals to run, walk and cycle in groups which I must admit has been a first for me as I have always enjoyed the freedom of bolting out solo.
Early morning walks alone and saying, “Howdy!” to people on the streets has been restricted […] I have attempted to stop watching the 7pm local nightly news […]
[…] I have resorted to reading the newspapers and listening to radio talk shows only.
Searching for solutions and ways to cope, inspiring herself and her readers with the legendary John Lennon‘s “Imagine“, she finds herself filled with questions daily:
Will an illiterate, angry, uncaring and unforgiving individual who may have never experienced gentleness or kindness, get up one day and recognize that his daily acts of fighting, stabbing, shooting and raping are wrong?
Whose responsibility is it to teach a man or woman right or wrong? Good or bad?
Email calls for a peaceful protest have begun circulating, with the complete text being shared by several bloggers asking Jamaicans to come out to support. Jamaican blog Long Bench asks their readers to “spread the word widely“, posting the entire email text. Expat trinifem2 of Transition Sunshine also posted the email within minutes of receiving it, expressing optimism through a YouTube video of the Loius Armstrong classic “What a Wonderful World“.
The message, purporting to be from Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, former Minister of Tourism, Entertainment & Culture for Jamaica, invites Jamaicans to join a march on Wednesday November 19th, 2008, which is the International Day for Prevention of Child Abuse.
So much of us have been talking on the phones, on verandas about what’s been happening in Jamaica these last three weeks. Here is an opportunity to do something more. Each of us need to stop being crippled by fear and do what we can to make a change.
Wear white for peace. Pass it on. Participate. Jamaica can be so incredibly beautiful, but it's currently in crisis.
Jamaican blog Long Bench reserves comment on the event but invites readers to:
[…] show up at the vigil and then come back and tell me how it was for you.
Although the impact of this event and its message will not be known until after it takes place, most Jamaicans, like trinifem2 of Transition Sunshine, remain ever “hopeful that things will soon change.”

author: Bianca Welds


text:
Japan: Asia 21 Tokyo Summit · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

From the 14th to the 16th of November the Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit was held in Tokyo, with 160 young leaders debating this year's topic of “Challenges Across Borders, Solutions Beyond Cultures”, focusing on ways to “make the culture relevant in our changing world”. The diary of the 3-day-conference, and pictures of the event, are available on the Asia 21 Summit blog [en].

author: Scilla Alecci


text:
Kazakhstan: Fighting Financial Crisis · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Patrick Frost analyzes how Central Asia’s greatest economic power, Kazakhstan, is handling economic crisis and how is the economic downturn effecting the stability, security, and development.


text:
Kazakhstan: Nur Otan TV Ltd · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports that in another move to expand the ruling Nur Otan Party's control over Kazakhstan’s politics and society, it is considering creating a media holding company.


text:
Kyrgyzstan: A nasty winter ahead · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Michael Hancock reports that the situation in Kyrgyzstan is getting worse, with hundreds of thousands of people classed as food insecure and at risk because of electricity and water shortages.


text:
Afghanistan: Mired in Combat · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

An interesting pair of stories in the New York Times illustrate brilliantly just how complex the problems facing the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan really are. The first is CJ Chivers’ look at an embattled outpost in Nuristan:
The Americans’ mission is to disrupt the Taliban and foreign fighters on supply paths from Pakistan’s tribal areas. Col. John Spiszer, the commanding officer for the larger task force in the region, distilled how the mission often worked. The American presence, he said, is a Taliban magnet, drawing insurgents from more populated areas and enhancing security elsewhere.
First Lt. Daniel Wright, the executive officer of the American cavalry unit — Apache Troop of the Sixth Battalion, Fourth Cavalry — put things in foxhole terms.
“Basically,” he said, “we’re the bullet sponge.” …
The unvarnished consensus among soldiers here, many of them veterans of the war in Iraq, is that the Pentagon’s efforts in Iraq undermined its efforts in Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda plotted attacks on the United States. The military has been reviewing its Afghan strategy. …
For now, the soldiers of Apache Troop absorb and repel attack after attack. Sgt. Michael S. Ayres, a squad leader, summarized the practical mentality: standing watch behind heavy machine guns, the soldiers are waiting for reinforcements so they can change the nature of their fight.
“We need all the help we can get out here, so we can push out patrols and get out of the defensive,” he said.
Photojournalist-blogger John McHugh, being treated for a gunshot wound at the Outpost formerly known as Kamu in 2007. 17 ANA and 7 U.S. troops died in that battle. McHugh's embed diary for the Guardian offers a great deal of insight into the challenges the U.S. faces along the Pakistani border.
They're stationed at King Zahir Shah's old hunting lodge/castle along the Landai Sin River. Combat Outpost Lowell used to be called Combat Outpost Kamu, which means it is in the far east of Nuristan, right along the border with Chitral. As one might guess from these place names, there are a lot of violent men roaming the hills, and their constant potshots have started to annoy (to say the least) the troops standing in their way. Chivers’ article is riveting reading, though like some other stories coming out of the Korengal or Nuristan it isn't exactly representative of the rest of the country.  (Earlier this month, Chivers also wrote of this outpost, chronicling the desperate fight to save one of the Afghans working for them on the base; a disquieting slide show is here.)
A Chinook lifts off from Camp Keating in 2005 to ferry supplies to the newly-built Combat Outpost Kamu (now Lowell). From Soldier's Media Center.
Further south, just across the border from Kunar, Jane Perlez writes of Pakistan's brutal fight against its own insurgency:
Behind mud-walled family compounds in the Bajaur area, a vital corridor to Afghanistan through Pakistan’s tribal belt, Taliban insurgents created a network of tunnels to store arms and move about undetected…
After three months of sometimes fierce fighting, the Pakistani Army controls a small slice of Bajaur. But what was initially portrayed as a paramilitary action to restore order in the area has become the most sustained military campaign by the Pakistani Army against the Taliban and its backers in Al Qaeda since Pakistan allied itself with the United States in 2001.
Ms. Perlez kindly tells us that the trip to Loe Sam, in Bajaur, was arranged by the Pakistani military. So what she reports and sees is not the result of independent investigation. It is, nevertheless, really interesting to see how the militants there have adapted to, say, the use of UAVs and the occasional helicopter attack. The Pakistani Army and Frontier Corps, two independent forces (the FC works for the Ministry of the Interior), have lost 83 men during three months of fighting. They've lost well over 700 since 2004—more than doubling American losses in Afghanistan.
Standing watch in Bajaur. Courtesy Mirror4.
Indirectly, this helps to show why it is so inappropriate to write off Pakistan as not caring, or doing nothing, about the militants in the NWFP and FATA. It's not that it's doing nothing, it's that the Pakistani government can't do much—especially if it wants to maintain a popular mandate and not throw it away by killing off hundreds more troops on a somewhat unpopular campaign.
In either case, both pieces are worth reading in full, on the off chance anyone thought things will improve dramatically now that the U.S. has a new President.


text:
Pakistan: More US drone attacks · Global Voices
Rezwan

CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan reports that another suspected U.S. drone missile attack at a house in northwestern Pakistan killed at least five and injured seven people.


text:
Poland: “Vexations of the Englishman” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At Polandian, island1 shares his “vexations of the Englishman in Poland.”


text:
Rollback in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme?  · Global Voices
John Liebhardt

A little more than a week after New Zealand’s National Party swept away nine years of Labour Party rule, new Prime Minister John Key stitched together a coalition government.
At the new government's swearing in ceremony in Wellington, Key’s center-right coalition promised to boost economic growth by cutting taxes, enacting free trade policies and expanding infrastructure investment.
Outside of jump starting New Zealand’s faltering economy, one of Key’s biggest domestic challenges will be to determine how much to preserve of former Prime Minister Helen Clark’s environmental policies, especially the carbon Emissions Trading Scheme ratified earlier this year.
To build his coalition, Keys reached out to the ACT Party, which campaigned on a platform to repeal the ETS. This partnership forced the National party to vow to delay implementing the pollution-control plan. Instead, the government will create a special Parliamentary committee to investigate amendments or alternatives to the ETS “in the light of current economic circumstances and steps now being undertaken by similar nations.”
This maneuvering comes at the heels of a recent United Nations report that ranks New Zealand with one of the world's largest carbon emissions increases since 1990.
As can be expected, many of New Zealand’s left leaning (and environmental) bloggers have deplored the potential roll-back of the ETS, however imperfect some may view the legislation . New Zealand’s scheme is scheduled to begin phasing in the forestry industry this year and introduce trading to the stationary energy and industrial processes in 2010.
“Just when the New Zealand government is taking us back to square one on climate change with a denialist dog and pony show, US President-elect Barack Obama has committed his new administration to serious action, declares No Right Turn:
Dirty America has just said that they intend to make “clean and green” New Zealand look like slackers. Is that really a reputation we want? Worse than the Americans?
If John Key really was “ambitious for New Zealand”, he'd want us to be better than that. He'd cancel ACT's denier forum and commit now to a stronger ETS with legislated targets for a 75% reduction on 1990 levels by 2020. The earlier we commit, the easier it will be, and a steeper path now always gives us the option of backing off later if it looks like the problem is well in hand. But if we follow National's “plan”, and sit on our hands for another couple of years while sending the wonks back to the drawing board for a completely new policy for the fifth time in 15 years, while having no long-term plan, then it is going to be much, much harder.
toad, writing in G. Blog, a community for Green Party members, worries that the new select committee will rehash already completed work and delay progress in carbon trading.
Of course, there will be no new evidence. This whole exercise is aimed at stalling doing anything to address climate change for another three years. On National’s part, this is because addressing climate change in any meaningful manner will annoy powerful farming and roading interests that helped to get them elected. On ACT’s part, it is because their ideological position doesn’t allow them to accept anthropogenic climate change – their peculiar logic is that if the free market can’t fix it, then it must not be happening.
Meanwhile, it seems that we all sit around for another three years doing nothing about climate change. Meanwhile, repealing the moratorium on further thermal power generation is one of National’s and ACT’s highest priorities.
Many bloggers from the left pointed to Tim Watkin’s (of the Pundit) tough questions he posed concerning the new coalition government:
Have we wasted the whole last decade debating climate change policy, if we need to go back and start from scratch with a select committee review of ETS? No party was happy with the scheme that was finally passed in September. It took years of negotiation and huge political compromise from those who voted for it. Now National will consider “any amendments or alternatives to it, including carbon taxes”. Are we just starting again then? Given that US president-elect Barack Obama is committed to a cap and trade scheme and even the United Nations is working on plans for a “Green New Deal“, why on earth are we choosing to give up our competitive advantage (ie years of policy work)?
Calling the Act party’s climate change policy a “friggin’ joke,” Tumeke saves most of the vitriol for the National party.
what are National actually going to do now in Government, and seeing as this means actually having to read National’s policy, it’s becoming quickly apparent the spin that mACTional is moderate is nonsense and that NZers have been sold a change lemon. It’s fascinating that National who drove a bloody tractor up the steps of parliament to fight the ‘fart tax’ are now so eager to bring in a carbon tax as a cop out from the emissions trading scheme, what a sick joke.
Richard Hurst writing in NZ Right Wing Leftie argues neither Labour or the Green parties are willing to admit the ETS will not deter global warming  and make the government too poor to build necessary infrastructure like wind farms, dams and sustainable urban centers:
They’ve both invested far too much political capital into the ETS insanity to backtrack now. Who cares if it won’t actually stop climate change, who cares if NZ’s emissions total just 0.2% of total emissions, who cares if infrastructure that we will need like wind farm Project Hayes, the Central Plains Water dam and irrigation scheme, new hydro on the West coast etc etc are being stopped by the RMA and a hostile Labour govt, who cares if the ETS will cost NZ billions and lower our standard of living while achieving nothing…power, pride and deep unwillingness to admit their wrong is far more important to Labour and the Greens than doing what’s best for New Zealanders and the environment.
By the time New Zealanders realize what a horrible mistake the ETS is it may well be much too late. Of course neither Labour, the Greens or New Zealand First have actually asked us if we want it or not their just going to shove it through anyway. Kind of thing an election should decide surely? Instead of rushing it through under urgency before anyone can pause for thought. Reminds me of the way certain changes were made in the 1980s….some things in Labour don’t change I guess.
New committee aside, not all right-leaning bloggers believe the Key government will bring change to the country’s climate policy. Susie the Libertarian argues in a guest post at Not PC that incoming environmental minister Nick Smith’s environmental values “would not be out of place in the Green Party.”
And that alone should worry any working New Zealander with at least half a functioning brain.
Before going off on a scathing review of rural life in England under new Labour of Tony Blair, she returns to her critique of what life in New Zealand would be like under Minister Smith:
..the essence and ramifications of interference by central planners upon YOUR property and, perhaps, YOUR livelihood under the banner of protecting the environment. And with the weasel having been given the added portfolio of Climate Change in addition to that of The Environment, you can bet your ever decreasing dollar that Nick Smith has every intention of stamping his mark upon New Zealand, both rural and urban.
Others argue that Smith’s appointment proves it is  politics-as-usual at the environmental portfolio.
A commenter to the Not PC blog, Mark Hubbard, argues:
With Smith also in charge of, snort, Climate Change, I think the farmers who were foolish enough to vote National are about to get a rude awakening over the ETS – which I assume Smith will have a big say in. You're right, he will take, if anything, the Green hard line.

Indeed, many of the new National Cabinet, including the much touted Paula Bennett, would be just as at home on Labour's front bench.

Same old, same old.

I can't see how I'm going to have any more freedom from Big Old Nosy Nanny State at the end of this three years; indeed, I suspect this will finally prove the absolute ascendancy of Big Statism, and the further pounding and hounding back of individual freedom to only the tiniest of flickering lights.
Another commenter, LGM argues:
Those of you who supported the pragmatic let's-not-waste-votes option of supporting ACT or National, now is your chance. Time to lobby your ACT and National Parties. Write some letters. Call up the talkback. Call up your MP's electorate office. Let them know what you do NOT want is carbon tax or ETS or any other climate change nonsense. Are you not bearing enough of a burden supporting govt rorts already? Surely you do not want to accept more?
We’ll end here with a more general piece on a new form of religion from Dark Brightness — Bleak Theology: hopeful science — in a post called “Climate Heresy”:
…I’m becoming more and more irritated with the new Green state religion. My Anglo-Saxon forebears occaisionally sacrificed a noble to Odin one-eye, and the Romans (who were not by any means saints) were disgusted by the Druidic habit of bone fires.
The current Greens want to sacrifice humankind. Moreover, knowing that adults can think, can see when they are speaking shite (it is hard to talk about global warming after a cool northern summer, and snow in November in the South Island).

author: John Liebhardt


text:
Russia: Lustration · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam writes that “it is time for Russia to reconsider lustration, no matter how difficult and complicated the politics of memory.”


text:
Russia: Russian March Photo by Drugoi · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scraps of Moscow and Moscow Through Brown Eyes both pick LJ user drugoi‘s photo as their favorite one from the Nov. 4 Russian March.


text:
Russia: Tatars Ask UN to Condemn 1921 Famine as Genocide · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia reports: “Tatar nationalists have appealed to the United Nations to recognize the 1921-22 famine in the Middle Volga as a genocide organized by Bolshevik Russia to destroy the Tatar nation and its elite and reduce Tatarstan’s opportunities to develop its own national life and pursue its independence.”


text:
Russia: “Technology’s Threat to Human Rights and Free Speech” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam writes that Skype is not “safe from the wiretapping efforts of Kremlin authorities.”


text:
Russia: The Crisis and the Hajj · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes: “For the first time since the end of the Soviet Union, the number of Muslims from the Russian Federation making the pilgrimage to Mecca is set to fall significantly, the result of a financial crisis that has cut incomes, increased prices and reduced private and government subsidies for those who want to go.”


text:
Sri Lanka: Radio Manager Detained · Global Voices
Rezwan

Free Media Sri Lanka reports that one of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) affiliates A.R. Vanna Loshan, General Manager of Vettri FM Radio was arrested under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in Colombo. IFJ and the leading media organizations in Sri Lanka condemned the detention of the Tamil journalist without charge.


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Flood!   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago has been at the receiving end of some heavy rains over the past few days, resulting in severe flood waters that have immobilized commuters, compromised infrastructure and wreaked havoc on the public transportation system.
But only a handful of local bloggers were on top of the story (perhaps the rest were too busy trying to find a way home).  Media Watch thanked the mainstream media “for bringing us on the ground reports of the flooding well before the major newscasts were scheduled to begin”, while journalist/blogger Paolo Kernahan thought that “the devastation across the country and in particular Port of Spain…demonstrates the desperate state of affairs in this country”:
Inclement weather is, of course, beyond anyone’s control. Our response to it is what makes us human.
Trinidadians were forced to revert to a primal state as flood waters predictably rose and swirled around our ankles, then knees, then necks. City Gate on a dry day is like a refugee camp in the Congo, a mass of humanity moving in unison like locusts in a swarm, hither and thither hoping to clamber onto a maxi without losing a shoe or your dignity. Just imagine City Gate this evening after rivers regurgitated their loads out onto South Quay and everywhere else.
People were actually fighting; frustration whittling away at already frayed nerves, men and women reverting to more primal instincts; survival, defense.  The predators are lying in wait for them, teeth bared, ready to pounce on this opportunity of weakness.  As frazzled city workers try to wend their way home, the killers from the ‘hotspots’ pounce on them, shattering windows and grabbing unguarded purses or cell phones.  So the saga of survival plays out in the wetlands of South Quay.
Meanwhile, diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch wanted to know “what works will be taking place to alleviate this.”  Paolo wasn't sure anything would be done as he continued:
We have been turkey-gobbling for years about a disaster management policy and an evacuation plan for the city of Port-of-Spain. There was no coordinated approached to advising members of the public how they should cope with the wide scale flooding, which I again emphasize was quite predictable.
Twitter had a few flood-related entries:
…and blogger Georgia Popplewell, who happened to be on the road during the downpour, posted this photo of a swollen Diego Martin river:
Finally, Paolo had a message for the nation's Prime Minister:
This is what I see Mr Manning, first world money but third world mentality that has our citizens confused and scared in a city that has become a watery prison with bandits waiting in the wings to pounce.  Good thing you had three men to hold umbrellas for you. I am still hurting for the young mother soaked to her slip, clutching two terrified children’s hands because she has no answers for the look of fear in their eyes.
So raise your champagne glasses in the Hyatt to all the monuments to your success while our people wade through muddy water, hoping that it is not more of the same in their living rooms, when, or if they finally get home.


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Up on the Mount  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Simply Trini Cooking makes a trip to Mount St. Benedict – “a terrific place for a retreat or just to get away from it all.”


text:
Ukraine: Interview With A Chernobyl Liquidator · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Chernobyl and Eastern Europe Blog posts an interview with a former Chernobyl liquidator – part 1 and part 2 – who now lives in the US and has written a novel in Russian about his experience.


text:
Uzbekistan: Alleged HIV Infections in Namangan · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nick writes that a number of international media outlets are reporting that at least 40 young children, mostly babies, have been infected with HIV at a regional hospital in Namangan, east of Uzbekistan.


text:
Uzbekistan: Khiva, the ancient town · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Akmal writes a story about ancient Uzbek city Khiva, “a fascinating place – one of the world’s largest open air museums.”


text:
Uzbekistan: Tashkent Is Quitting the EEC · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Michael Hancock writes that Uzbekistan has decided to withdraw from the Eurasian Economic Community, an inter-state union of post-Soviet countries, patronaged by Russia.


text:
Egypt: No Sexual Harassment Here, says the First Lady · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Two-thirds of Egyptian men harass women showed a survey reported by Reuters. Global Voices Online wrote about this topic the aftermath of the recent events here, here, here, here, and most recently here. But Egypt's first lady Suzanne Mubarak thinks otherwise.
Zeinobia writes in English:
Suzanne Mubarak said (in Al Ahram Newspaper) that Sexual Harassment in Egypt can’t be considered a phenomenon because of a couple of incidents!! She accused the media and the radical Islamists of blowing those incidents out of proportion!!
The first lady's statement does not surprise me. After all she, her husband, and her son believe that everything is fine and great in Egypt so you want to say something is wrong in the country in front of her !!
My dear friends Mrs. Mubarak does not walk in the streets alone except when they are cleaned from every thing including the humans. How would she see the sexual harassments incidents? How would she hear from other women and girls around her about their experiences if they live in an Egypt different than the Egypt we live in? How would she know if those who around her tell her day and night that everything is fine and great in Egypt?
It is ok that you live in a Palace and you move with bodyguards but do not underestimate that terrible phenomenon when the Western countries warn their females tourists from it. Do not underestimate it when your own official state research centers speak about fearful percentages of women who are harassed on a daily basis.
It is so provoking to hear her say such thing when she claims to be a feminist leader who liberated Egyptian Women in the last 26 years !!
In Arabic The Voice of Egypt  links to news sources quoting Mubarak on sexual harassment. The blogger notes:


text:
Bangladesh: Hajj pilgrims vote issue · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ghore Baire critically analyzes the point one major political party of Bangladesh raised that Hajj pilgrims will not being able to vote if the elections are held on December 18.


text:
Bangladesh: Tour on Padma river · Global Voices
Rezwan

Kristin Boekhoff posts about a photographic boat tour on the mighty Padma River in Bangladesh.


text:
Barbados: The Abortion Issue · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press comments on two regional mainstream media articles about abortion.


text:
Brazil: Attempts to censor a documentary about censorship · Global Voices
Paula Góes

London based Brazilian filmmaker Daniel Florêncio had a surprise on September 22, when his film Gagged in Brazil was taken off the Current TV networks. The documentary, “an investigation into the seemingly increasingly curtailed press in Brazil”, depicts freedom of press and the relationship between media and politics, looking closely at the involvement of  Aécio Neves, the powerful governor of the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation, Minas Gerais. It explores the way that the local media offers only favorable news about the Brazilian Social Democracy Party run government, and the lack of journalistic investigation or debate about the errors of the same administration. A day after, his former commissioning editor on Current TV contacted him to explain the reasons [pt]:
Segundo ela, na semana anterior, os executivos seniors do canal nos EUA receberam cartas com severas considerações e críticas sérias em relação ao filme. As cartas foram enviadas pelo PSDB de Minas Gerais. O PSDB afirmava que meu filme tinha caráter político-partidário, que não representava a realidade do acontecido no estado e questionava minha conduta ética na produção do filme. Junto as cartas foram enviadas também cópias da versão em inglês do vídeo produzido pelo PSDB e postado no YouTube.
Many bloggers, such as Paulo Fehlauer from Na Rua (screenshot above) had uploaded the video and for over a month exhibited an error message. Meanwhile, Current TV launched a month long investigation into the allegations and into Florêncio's journalism procedures, resulting in Gagged in Brazil being put back online. André Deak [pt], who had interviewed Florêncio [pt] for his blog earlier this year, brings the news as a victory for freedom of press:
Em alguns lugares (especialmente na rede), parece que o jornalismo ainda é possível.
Released on the Current TV in UK on May 27, 2008, and in the US a week before, Gagged in Brazil had a Portuguese subtitled version uploaded on YouTube, triggering a huge reaction: its link made the rounds on e-mails, networking websites and the video achieved over 2,000 hits on Google, over 100,000 views on YouTube, not to mention the 6,000 hits on the Current TV version, in English.
Commenting on the film at the time of its release, Catatau [pt] says:
Salta aos olhos o enquadramento jornalístico de determinadas figuras políticas, como Aécio Neves e Lula. Enquanto para determinados políticos a linha editorial é branda, para outros a cobertura é implacável. Como se a imprensa escolhesse o rigor ou a parcialidade a partir de um jogo que foge aos olhos do espectador.
Soon after, Gagged in Brazil – The Other Side, the video response below, was posted on YouTube by the youth group at PSDB – and other six followed. The filmmaker has been accused of partisanship, data manipulation and non observation of journalistic principles. It also suggests that the documentary did not deserve that much attention because the filmmaker was just an expatriate Brazilian from Minas, not a reputed British journalist.
Freedom of press – an old issue
Gagged in Brazil was inspired by Liberdade, Essa Palavra (“Freedom, That Word”), a 2006 video report by then journalism student Marcelo Baêta, shot for his graduation dissertation. It linked the firing of five journalist in 2002 and 2003 to stories they wrote/broadcast that were critical of Aécio Neves. As Neves gets ready to run as presidential candidate in 2010, “the issue of press manipulation continues to unfold in Brazil”, discovers Elizabeth Tuttle during an interview with Marcelo Baêta for the Columbia Journalism Review. What's the relevance of his documentary now?
First, Neves is one of the main presidential hopefuls for the 2010 elections. Second, the international repercussions of my video-documentary are still reverberating. This past May, it was heavily featured on the Current TV documentary “Gagged in Brazil,” which has since been viewed on YouTube 50,000 times. In June, the governor’s PR department posted yet another video response, this time to the Current TV's video.
In a recent comment on the article above, reader Diógenes Pinto Carvalhaes claims that Columbia Journalism School should not have published such an interview without “showing ‘the other side’ of this controversial subject”:
I thought this subject was buried in the past, but it returns again like a ghost. Why is it coming back? For the same reason that it has appeared in 2006… At that moment, the alleged censorship in Minas Gerais was a leitmotiv in the opposition campaign, when Aécio Neves was running for a second term. Macelo Baêta’s video was a precious item of propaganda against Aécio Neves and largely scattered by anonymous spams in the internet. Now, Aécio Neves is one of the names most seriously considered for nomination in the next Brazilian presidential campaign.
However, the case of media censorship in Minas Gerais is far from a buried issue. In the middle of the local election last September, the opposing news website ‘Novo Jornal’ was taken down by Brazil's Public Ministry (state level prosecutors) on charges of anonymity, as reported by Global Voices. And not even blogs escape from politicians’ attempts to gag those who try to have a voice on their own. Only last month, political scientist Fernando Massote [pt] was under threat of legal action by a local politician for replicating unfavorable news on his blog:
Informo que estou respondendo a interpelação judicial interposta pelo Sr. Marcio Lacerda. O candidato a prefeitura de BH me intima a confirmar conteúdos publicados no meu blog  www.massote.pro.br e me ameaça de processo por difamação, calúnia e injuria. Sendo assim, confirmo a autoria de todos os textos definitivos que foram postados e permaneceram no meu blog, da data em que foram publicados até hoje. Estes textos são muito conhecidos pela alta freqüência de visitantes à minha publicação eletrônica. A difusão do meu blog, como todos sabem, é uma conseqüência entre outros fatores, da grande crise da imprensa em Minas Gerais, causada também pela censura de que é vitima e que tem sido amplamente denunciada.

author: Paula Góes


text:
Cambodia’s new intellectuals · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vuthasurf uploads an article written by GV author Geoffrey Cain which was published by the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review. The article features young bloggers who are hailed as Cambodia's new intellectuals.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Cameroon: Questioning the Bakassi Freedom Fighters hostage exchange · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

A week after the 10 hostages (including 8 foreign nationals) kidnapped by the Bakassi Freedom Fighters were exchanged for the release of 13 prisoners, Cameroonian blogger Le blog du Prési wonders what a hostage is worth.  “I don't mean ‘what does a hostage cost?'”, he writes. “Even though these would be the worst criminals, are their lives so futile that they can be exchanged for those of other human beings?  At the very least, on this path, Cameroon is redefining the rule of clemency, liberating prisoners under duress, and at the same time exposing the victims of these prisoners to their terrorizers.”

author: Jennifer Brea


text:
China:  When Your Son Is Kidnapped · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a Southern Metropolis Daily news about a father seeking help online for finding his kidnapped son: the kidnappers demanded 30,000 RMB, but the police refused to accept the case because the amount has to be 50,000 RMB or more.  The helpless father therefore went onto the Internet for help.


text:
Egypt: Convicted for being a Blogger · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Is blogging a serious crime? And is speaking up for others something which warrants punishment?
Egyptian blogger Hanan El Sherif wrote about blogging and bloggers in Egypt (Ar) saying:
El Sherif continues:
Standing up for other people's rights, says El Sherif, has had its consequences:


text:
Egypt: Jailed for Complaining about Sexual Harassment  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian Zeinobia writes about how a 31-year-old woman and her sick elderly mother spent the night in jail, after reporting to the authorities that a police officer had sexually harassed her.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
Egypt: King Abdullah’s Glass of Wine  · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

A rumor has been spreading in the blogosphere, accompanied with a photograph of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia showing him seated beside US President George W Bush while holding a glass of wine in his hand. And as you all know, alcohol is prohibited in Islam, and it is a sin to drink or even stay in a place where it is being served or available.
Abu Ammar (Lukmet Eish) wrote here:
And also Nawara (Tahyyes) wrote here about the incident:
And although, Nawara's post was so brief, a huge debate was started in the commenting section on her blog. Some bloggers, like Tafatefo, were against the post, and he wrote:
I personally don't think the photograph is clear enough, and it is really hard to tell if it is wine or not.

author: Tarek Amr


text:
Egypt: No More Natural Gas to Israel · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

An Egyptian court has banned the export of natural gas to Israel.
On May 8th Economy Arabia wrote:
On November 19, 2008 an Egyptian court ruled in favour of Ibrahim Yousri, a lawyer who said that Egypt is losing $9m for each day because of that agreement.
Egyptian Chronicles wrote:
Ok this is a blow to the government , to Hussein Salem and to Israel. The judicial administrative court bans natural gas exports to Israel today. Now the Egyptian Government is obligated to listen to the court order or will they neglect it as usual?? More to come. I am very happy by the way.
And in a follow up post, she wrote:
Economically the Egyptian government made a huge mistake when it signed the agreement to export natural gas to Israel through Hussein Salem’s EMG Co.
It is unacceptable to waste your natural gas for price less than the average price now especially prices are escalating and we are entering an energy crisis era.
It is unacceptable to export your natural gas to Israel without the approval of the people represented in the Parliament.
It is unacceptable to export natural gas to Israel when the people in Gaza got no fuel.
Then she quoted the basis of the court's decision as per the judicial administrative:
The oil ministry has broken the constitution and law with its agreement in 2005 to export natural gas to Israel for 20 years. According to article no. 123 in the Egyptian constitution “ The natural resources are considered a very valuable resources to be owned by the coming generations not only for the current generations and thus the administrative authorities before the exploit of these natural resources should go to the parliament to be grant the permission”
At the end of her post she concluded that:
… the regime could not dare and go to the parliament to get an approval because it knows very well the people would refuse it totally.
As for Israel's reaction, she wrote:
The Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure expressed Israel's confidence that the political agreement between the countries’ governments will remain in force in keeping with the memorandum of understanding the two countries signed in 2005!!
I also will quote their closing line in the same article in Haatrez :
The court's ruling is subject to appeal in a higher administrative court and the Egyptian government sometimes ignores court rulings it does not like.


text:
Egypt Wins Sixth African Cup Football Championship  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Egypt, Ibn Al Dunya celebrates Al Ahly Club's sixth African Club Championship title in football.


text:
Egypt: American University in Cairo’s New Campus Sparks Debate  · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Designed to accommodate 5,500 full-time students and 1,500 faculty and staff, the American University in Cairo's new $400 million, 260-acre campus is technologically advanced and environmentally friendly. Students say that it was a premature move as they suffer sexual harassment and expensive food, among many other issues.
Chronicling Cairo wrote in a very sad post:
Since we moved to Heliopolis we've been dealing with an incredible amount of sexual harassment. Keep in mind that the entire time we've been living in the hotel so far has been during the month of Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims and the time in which all Muslims make extra effort to worship God and live in a pure and holy way.
As such, all sexual thoughts and acts during the fasting hours are technically forbidden. However, we cannot walk down the street in Heliopolis (in daylight or after sundown) without catcalls, honking cars, constant hissing, and what i'm sure are likely extremely lewd expressions in colloquial Egyptian being tossed our way. I was warned to expect the harassment, I can take the verbal abuse.
What I have difficulty accepting, however, is the physical component of the problem. Two weeks ago this sequence of events happened:
The fact that we're foreigners has no bearing on the level of harassment we're receiving–our Egyptian and Arab dorm-mates are harassed at an equal level. Surveys conducted of Egyptian women indicate that veiled women experience only 10% less harassment than unveiled women. My Palestinian suitemate told me that it will get even worse once Ramadan ends.
By deciding to house us in a completely isolated area full of military compounds that is hostile to outsiders in general, AUC put their female students in a terrible situation where there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop men from touching us inappropriately. And that makes me angry.
Scene and heard published the following letter from a foreign exchange student at AUC
Dear S&H,
I am currently doing a semester abroad here at AUC at the new campus and am unfortunately really disappointed. My friends recommended the program after spending a summer studying Arabic at the downtown AUC campus and told me how amazing it was to be right smack dab in the middle of the city and cultural festivities. I had heard about the new campus but was told it wasn't “that far” from downtown and figured I had nothing to lose. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I arrived at the new campus and realized I was in the middle of a number of developing upscale communities surrounded by desert…not exactly the cultural experience I was looking for. I have to take a bus or Cairo Cab downtown to be able to experience the streets and true culture of Cairo. I wish I was able to walk down the streets near Tahrir square and eat koshari and falafel sandwiches between my gaps like my friends had told me about…and although Cilantro's not bad, that's not exactly what I flew thousands of miles to experience.
I recently read an article in the Daily News that really hit home and I thought that this was the best place to voice my opinion and maybe open a discussion forum. In the article, the reporter recommended: “For the sake of its foreign students, AUC’s Arabic Language Institute should seriously consider returning to the university’s old location in the heart of downtown Cairo.”
YES PLEASE.
Will Ward wrote a post titled AUC: Food fight at the new campus
On my first day at the AUC new campus I waited in line over half an hour to buy a cardboardy bagel from one of the three chain food outlets that were up and running.
This was because the university had sold a concession to Delicious Inc, a company that operates chain franchises like Cinnabon, McDonalds, Cilantro, etc, to be the sole foodservice provider on campus.  A cup of coffee at one of these places runs 12-15 pounds, and a sandwich or salad would set you back at least 20.
For Ramadan this was not a huge deal because most people weren’t eating on campus anyway, but after Eid all hell broke loose.   With fasting over, no one was prepared to wait forever in a line to overpay for meh food.
After a few days, something fantastic happened.  Instead of complaining (my default response), a group of students set up small stands around campus and began selling snacks, apples and little packages of homemade pasta with roasted veggies.  These were cheaper and more delicious than Delicious Inc’s products, so naturally, the company tried to shut them down.
I am told that, after being closed initially, the students appealed the decision to the AUC president and were given permission to continue operating.  But then yesterday I noticed that Delicious had set up their own kiosk and had dispatched two Cilantro employees to hand out cookies to the passersby.
Getting warmer….but I’m not sold yet.  When they start delivering free double macchiatos to my office, then we’ll talk.  That may even earn them a coveted Friday in Cairo endorsement.
But in the end, even the student food is priced head and shoulders above the cheap filling lunch you can get for a few pounds at the downtown places.  The real scandal is that, with November almost here, there is no sign of fuul, tamiyya or koshary on the new campus as promised.
Meanwhile, I continue to spend a great deal of time at the old campus.  The wireless internet is still up and running, the cheaper, better coffee shop is still open, the bank is open with no lines.  There are trees, birds chirping, no desert rats, you get the picture.
Angry students got an apology from AUC's President
The head of The American University in Cairo apologized to attendees at a raucous and at times angry student forum today meant to address concerns about the new campus, which continued even as a blackout hit the university.
Flanked by two armed bodyguards, President David Arnold asked for the audience’s understanding and forgiveness for the problems the university has experienced this semester.
“I want to express my deep personal apology about the problems and suffering that we have encountered at the past two months,” he said.
The forum was hastily organized in response to a sit-in held by dozens of student protesters last week outside the administration building.
The group organizing the protest asked the school provide the details of its contract with food consortium Delicious Inc. and publicize all of its financial records, provide cheaper food alternatives, guarantee the campus is finished by spring, a reimbursement of four weeks of tuition, and a cap on tuition hikes.
During his address at the Motaz El Alfy Hall in the newly opened section of campus, Arnold acknowledged student frustration with the problems AUC has experienced in the move to Kattameya.
Arnold defended the move as the “right decision,” though he was immediately heckled for the comment.
He did not give a definitive answer about when the campus would be fully completed, but said he expected student housing would be ready for tenants at the end of the semester. An updated construction schedule is expected next week, AUC said in a statement.
To address student concerns about food on campus, the university has created a Food Services Committee, and will provide a summary of its agreement with Delicious Inc, the university said.
At the forum, Arnold announced that students would also receive a food coupon worth 200 LE.
He also agreed with the concerns that staff and students have raised about the bus service provided by Family Transport. Drivers for the Heliopolis-based firm have been in at least two accidents since the beginning of the semester.
“Bus service was not that good for the first two weeks of this semester, as many problems were taking place, such as the bus was sometimes full or it wasn’t on time,” Arnold said.
The bus services rebate will be worth 500 LE to each student, a third of the value of the bus pass.
But he said he was not entertaining a tuition refund of any kind. In its release, the university stated tuition covers 70 percent of education costs, the remainder covered by donations and AUC’s endowment funds.
“We have made a commitment towards offering higher education programs for you, so a reduction of tuition is unnecessary,” Arnold said.
In previous remarks to the Caravan, university officials said AUC has suffered a decline of almost $100 million in the market value of its securities investments, which were largely made with endowment funds.
On Facebook, several groups were created by students venting their frustration: Petition to return to the old campus, We hate the new campus, and Don't sell the old campus
.


text:
Grenada: Heavy Rains  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Yesterday's heavy rains turned Grenada's Annandale Falls dangerous – Free Spirit posts some photos.


text:
Guyana: Snake Tales  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A discarded snake skin reminds Guyana-Gyal of two stories that she learned through oral tradition, causing her to lament: “Instead of adding we stories to the grand history of man, to help illustrate the story of man, we the people is shedding we tales, leaving them to decay while we take in only them foreign ones now.”


text:
Harry Potter translated into Khmer language · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

GV author Tharum writes about the Khmer translation of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book. Tharum also reflects on how to improve readership in Cambodia today.


text:
Hungary: Eszter Hajdú’s Documentary · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about a documentary on “the devastating effects of Hungarian political divisiveness on families and friendships.”


text:
Iran: Two cyber activists jailed · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns online journalist Shahnaz Gholami’s arrest at her Tehran home on 9 November. RSF reports that theologian and online journalist Mojtaba Lotfi was arrested on 8 October for a posting a sermon by a well-known opponent of Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei online.


text:
Israel: Hoessein Derakhshan Arrested · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

Iranian-born Meir Javedanfar, who is based in Tel Aviv, blogs about Iranian Hoessein Deraskhshan's arrest in Tehran in this post on Middle East Analyst. Global Voices Advocacy covered the story here.


text:
Japan: 10,000 signatures to support a café · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

A small independent café, Berg, is facing possible eviction from a shopping complex in Shinjuku, adjacent to the world's busiest train station.  The building owner wants the 50-square-metre café out because the café owner has refused to sign a new contract that allows the company to evict its tenant after a certain period of time. Customers who frequent the café responded and set up the blog site LOVE! BERG!. Within six months, the site collected 10,000 signatures from people who support the café. However, the company ignored the petition and sent an eviction note in September asking the café to move out by March next year. Petition form here.

author: Hanako Tokita


text:
Kazakhstan: Political Economy and Blocked Blogs   · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

It has been more than a month since Kazakhstan’s telecom monopolist blocked access of the users to Livejournal, the most popular blog platform in the Central Asian country. At the same time, the networks of online discussions did not get bleaker, still providing speedy reaction to the socio-political and economic developments and vibrant activity of the blogosphere.
Last week President Nazarbayev urged the Kazakhstanis to buy housing now, when the prices have decreased. Slavasay is wondering [ru]:
Obviously, neither me nor any of my friends having income “above average”, do not belong to the “people”, which the president means. I don’t have money to buy an apartment in Almaty at these prices. I have even less desire to mess with the construction companies now, when thousands of people are not able to get their flats for which they paid – and which were never built.
Russia – the closest ally and the Kazakhstan’s neighbor with which it shares the longest border line – follows the steps of Kazkahstan, blogger megakhuimyak says [ru]. Russian leader Medvedev delivered his first state of the nation address and suggested extending presidential term up to 6 years, parliamentary term – up to 5 years, and to extend the powers of both institutions:
“Kazakhstan today is Russia tomorrow!”. Last year Kazakhstan extended the term of presidency – now Russia does the same. Last year we’ve got crisis – now look at Russia. You can taste the validity of this slogan”.
schriftsteller addresses the issue of integration between the two countries [ru]:
Against the background of financial crisis, the talks about Russo-Kazakh integration resurrected – they say cooperation can be an effective tool in fighting crisis. But if you take a look at the facts, it can be seen that integration has been undermined – large Russian companies refused to let Kazakh business enter the market and blocked all projects, which could have promoted integration. Ultimately, integration is the ability to share with the neighbor.
Alim-atenbek, however, is not too happy with the direction in which the country is moving [ru]:
Sometimes it seems to me that all public officials, police officers, judges et al. get employed with the state structures because they are not intelligent enough, or just want to make money out of their positions, or – rarely – desperate patriots. When these people get power, they get infected with superiority complex of a man who rules the world. The country gets rotten in the official lawlessness and we often contribute to its further corruption.
Finally, here is a brief update on Livejournal accessibility from Kazakhstan. Yesterday, Livejournal was moving onto another server facility in Montana, United States. Of course, the IPs have changed during this procedure. And at night Kazakhstani users were able to reach their favorite website without proxies and anonymizers. Pycm imagines what happened next [ru]:
Then the censors came to their office, had some tea for a start. And at 10.25 a.m. switched Livejournal off again.
In this regard, rosvet remembered [ru] a Stalin-era aphorism: “If you are still not in jail, it’s not your desert. It is our omission”.
Programmila says  [ru] that repeated blockage means censorship “by order from the upper levels” – so, technical problems with the routing are not an issue any more. Adam-kesher stresses [ru] that it is not serious for Kazakhtelecom to deny their implication in blockage, because it is clearly an IP filtering.
Also posted on neweurasia.net

author: Adil Nurmakov