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Russia: How Passengers of “Nevsky Express” Tell Their Stories Through Social Media · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Russian authorities continue to investigate the crash of the train “Nevsky Express”[ENG] that happened between Moscow and St. Petersburg on Friday night. According to officials, the tragedy that took lives of at least 25 passengers was a terrorist attack. The crash raised a number of questions. Many people ask what happened during the first hours after the crash and why it took so long to start reporting on it.
Since the tragedy happened far from any major populated area, it took several hours for reporters to arrive on the spot. Only then the first photographs and videos started to appear everywhere. But what happened to social media platforms that actively reported on the plane crash in Perm [ENG] in September 2008?
The only passenger who immediately reported about the crash of “Nevsky Express” was a Twitter user Lazy Frog. She tweeted 12 times about the crash before she arrived home. Here is what she wrote:
I am alive. But I should tell about it later. If someone tells anything in news, please write me.  They don't tell us anything here.
Later, many passengers from first cars – only last cars were derailed – said they were clueless for the whole hour after the crash. Lazy Frog posted few additional updates:
We boarded another train. I did whatever I could to help.
We are now at SAPSAN (new train that evacuated passengers to St. Petersburg – G.A.). I wish it would go slower.
They announced now that specially trained people would meet us at the train station.
The day after the tragedy, Lazy Frog summarized her experience:
I felt the first emotions about what happened when we got closer to Piter (St. Petersburg – G.A.). I wasn't worried at the place of the crash. I was a little concerned about my shoes – it was so muddy around and sharp stones.
Saturday revealed more first-hand information when passengers started blogging about their experiences. The most popular blog post related to the topic was written by LJ user paltus_mk [RUS] who was in one of the last cars heavily damaged by an explosion. He wrote [RUS]:
All that happens within 10 seconds when you understand what is about to occur. I had enough time to prepare my body. But nothing can help against the Newton's laws when dozens of tons of metal suddenly stop at high speed – just luck … …therefore I was just lucky. My brother was lucky, too, despite the fact that his wounds were more serious than mine.
[…]
Everything from something that went wrong till the full stop took about 30 seconds. It was dark and silent. Then wounded people started to cry. I was on the floor, smashed by other bodies. I moved the bodies. I saw that I was covered with blood but it wasn't mine. I saw that I am ok and my hand\legs work. I had a bleeding wound in my head. I had to get up and waited for some time before men with less serious injuries cleaned the way out.
[…]
Suffering was all around. We were sitting at the end of the train car and all the bags flied toward us. A lot of wounded people around. Durng the first minutes after the crash, the car was just a buch of bodies, chairs and parts of the train that were equally distributed around.
Paltus_mk tells the story of evacuation from the first minutes after the crash with many details but, at the same time, avoids description that may disturb readers. He writes that passengers started providing the first aid to each other heroically and without panic. He says it was impossible to count how many people died. The rescuers arrived only an hour and a half after the crash. Paltus_mk and his brother were finally evacuated to a local hospital and he later arrived to St. Petersburg.
Another survival story was published by a blogger pancakyes on another Russian blogging service Ya.ru . Her train car was not damaged by the explosion. She published her first post at 22:11 – a half an hour after the crash – right from the place of the tragedy. She wrote that the train stopped because of some accident, few cars were derailed and she would come home later than expected. Almost an hour later, she added that there were victims in the last two cars. On Saturday,  pancakyes published the whole story of the crash [RUS] as she witnessed it:
We felt few shakes that were getting stronger and stronger. Things started to fall down from the table. It was not clear what happened. No announcements. First, we were thinking that it wasn't serious. Maybe someone stopped the train by accident. But conductors with pale faces started running around collecting mattresses, tablecloths and water. They asked us not to leave our seats unless we are doctors. We heard some bad things from their radios. Some rumors started to go around. We didn't believe that two cars were disconnected and they were so far. Later, we fund out that it was true.
We went out and wanted to help. Went up untill the third car. […] We didn't want to be just gawkers and make a crowd without any opportunity to help. We also didn't want to see what people who came from there told  us.
Immediately after the crash, social media platforms became the first place where Russian journalist were looking for information. A reporter from a Russian news agency RIA-Novosty left a comment on the pancakyes‘ blog and asked her to call him immediately. Tatyana Landa (LJ user Elada) wrote on her blog [RUS] about a friend who was on the train but survived. Two reporters immediately left comments asking her to contact them. Tatyana later published  an angry  post [RUS] where she told that a journalist from “Komsomolskaya pravda” (Russian tabloid newspaper) was trying to call her several times during that night. The post turned to a place were people started to discuss if journalists can use bloggers as sources of information about the train crash. Reporters also tried to contact  a blogger who wrote [RUS] that she had decided not to take the “Nevsky Express” at the last minute.
Some bloggers expressed their frustration [RUS] with the fact that so few people from the train used social media to report about what was happening. And, apparently, there are several explanations why social media didn't play major role in the coverage of the “Nevsky express” tragedy.
Twitter, the most convenient platform for live blogging, is relatively unpopular in Russia. According to twitRU [RUS], there are only 2,700 Twitter users who write in Russian language. At the same time, popular Russian blogging platforms as Livejournal.com or ya.ru could have been used for live reporting but, as discussed above, there is only a couple of examples of this use.
The second explanation is related to the role of mobile devices and connectivity. The number of portable devices in the country is growing. More and more Russians can use Internet and various Web-applications on the go. This trend is especially strong in the area of Moscow and St. Petersburg. But the crash happened far from any metropolitan area where, as witnesses reported, the cell phone coverage was limited. A blogger pancakyes recollects the connectivity problem:
The phone connection was very bad. Everyone probably tried to make a call at the same time and the net was overloaded. I started to get SMSs only when I was on the second train (the one that took passengers to Saint-Petersburg – G.A.). I could use the Internet occasionally, but it was very difficult.
In contrast, the plane crash in Perm last year provided many opportunities for citizen reporting:
1. The plane crashed within the city borders where  many people could see what happened right from their windows. The “Nevsky express” crash, as noted earlier, happened the rural area.
2. The  social media coverage in Perm was based on the accounts of those who witnessed the crash but were not part of it (unfortunately, there were no survivors on the plane). All the witnesses of the “Nevsky Express” incident were passengers on the train.
3. Most people posted their updates on the plane crash in Perm using their home computers. The “Nevsky Express” survivors had to rely on their mobile devices.
These differences explain why social media reporting was prevalent in the case of the plane crash and almost absent in the situation with “Nevsky Express.”
It is also possible to claim that Russia has not yet developed the tradition of social media reporting. That is why only two passengers were motivated enough to go online and assume the role of citizen reporters. It may also explain the hostility of passengers and bloggers toward journalists who were looking for information on the crash in social media.
It looks like the Russian blogosphere is still far from being a major source for breaking news. It still remains as a place for distribution of information and broad discussions about what has happened.

author: Gregory Asmolov


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Russia: Thousands Protest Against Trading Center Construction · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

On November 29, thousands of people in Moscow went out on the streets to protest against the construction of a new trading center. This center would replace the “Cherkizovski” market [ENG], which was closed down in June because of many illegal activities on its premises. The photos of the protest can be found here [RUS].

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russian authorities stop application process for domains in new .РФ zone zone · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

The Russian Coordination Center for the new national Cyrillic domain .RF stopped the application process for new domains. Anti-cybersquatting measures turned out to be infective and the center plans to review the rules of submission process, Russian news agency Prime-Tass reported [RUS]. It's not clear what will happen to the registered domains. Some sources claim that all previously approved domains will be deleted.


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UAE: Call for Action  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

UAE blogger An Emirati's Thoughts calls for action following the “recent slump in the confidence in Dubai's debt management capabilities.”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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UAE: .il unblocked?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

samuraisam, from the UAE Community Blog, asks: “Has anyone else found the Israeli TLD to be unblocked from the UAE? On my Etisalat connection it seems to be open.”


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Yemen: An Architectural Gem  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yemeni Omar Barsawad shares with us information on the Yemeni capital San'aa. “Be it in Sana'a Old City or the mud bricked houses of Hadhramout, Yemen's architecture remains very much traditional and unique. And is still being preserved in most parts of the country,” he notes.


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Yemen: The Greatest Journey  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yemeni Omar Barsawad reflects on Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam.


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Bangladesh: Spreading the Warmth · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladeshi blogger Sadiq Alam, who blogs at Inspirations and Creative Thoughts, has taken an initiative called ‘Spreading the Warmth‘. The goal is to distribute winter clothes for those who live on the street in Dhaka, especially the children and the elderly.

author: Rezwan


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Barbados: 43rd Anniversary of Independence · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Today, the 43rd anniversary of Barbados’ independence, has bloggers talking about what the occasion means.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Caribbean: Barath Shines · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

West Indian bloggers wax poetic about the amazing test century by cricketer Adrian Barath.


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Dominica: Those Politicians · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominina Weekly shares its thoughts on regional politicians.


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Egypt: Spotlight on Zabbaleen  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Regine, at we make money not art, introduces us to photographs by Bas Princen of Cairo's Mokattam Ridge or Garbage City (Zabbaleen) – where a community of mainly Coptic Christians live and make a living out of collecting, sorting and disposing of Cairo's waste.


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India: Corruption Is The Hindrance  · Global Voices
Rezwan

“India needs to be made free of corruption before it can become developed. But the entire existing Indian governance ecosystem will prevent this from happening,” opines Rajesh Jain at Emergic.


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Iran: A blogger released, another arrested · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian authorities released Mohammad Ali Abtahi,former vice president and blogger on a $700,000 bail one week ago after his lawyer said he had been sentenced to six years in prison. Human rights activists reported  [fa] that a few days ago Sasan Aghayi, a blogger and journalist got arrested in Tehran.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Students surprised Ahmadinejad’s advisor in Paris · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian students in Paris criticized Iranian government and its repression policy against Iranian students and opposition in a meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president's advisor in Paris. Here are the films [fa].


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Lebanon: Bulldozing Ancient Ruins in Beirut · Global Voices
Layal Al Khatib

Lebanese Blogger finkployd at Blogging Beirut posted photos of a bulldozer clearing ancient ruins facing Martyr Square in Downtown Beirut to make way for another building.

author: Layal Al Khatib


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Pakistan: Reduce The Size Of The Cabinet  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pakistani blog My Distinguished Sense supports the recent proposal of reducing the bulky cabinet of Pakistan explaining the reasons.


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Peru: Cow Parade arrives to Lima · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón

For the past days, Lima has been invaded by life-size cow sculptures. The Cow Parade shows 80 different works in parks and public spaces of the city that will be auctioned to collect funds for several organizations. The event was originally created in Switzerland to promote milk-production activity.
The sculptures can be around the city, as listed by Viajando por Perú [es]  website:
Cada pieza que ha sido diseñada y pintada con creatividad e ingenio se viene exhibiendo en la Plaza de Armas (10 vacas), Pasaje de los Escribanos (5 vacas), esto en Cercado de Lima. En Miraflores se podrá ver la muestra en el Parque Salazar (15 vacas), Parque del Amor (5 vacas), Parque Raimon[d]i (12 vacas), Parque Kennedy (10 vacas). Mientras que en Pueblo Libre las verá en el Parque Central (4 vacas). En Surco se exhibirán 9 vacas en el Jockey Plaza. Barranco también muestra estas piezas en en Parque Saenz Peña (7 vacas) y el Pasaje Chabuca Granda (3 vacas).
Cow with the colors of a bus line, Kennedy Park
But, how did it all started? ***Tota Iluxtra*** blog has the answer [es]:
Hace unos años Walter Snapp suizo se le ocurrio promocionar la actividad de los productores de leche en Zurich con colorida[s] vacas pintadas con los pinceles de artistas locales, las cuales fueron diseña[da]s en fibra de vidrio. En 1999 el empresario Meter Hanig de Chicago, adquirio los derechos y llevo el conce[p]to a USA, desde entonces este peculiar evento [h]a recaudado 25 millones de dolares para fines beneficos.
Cow dressed with a vest, Kennedy Park
The blog Corresponsales escolares [es], hosted by Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, tells us who will get the benefits from Lima Cow Parade:
Luego de la exposición se realizará la subasta de 64 esculturas para recaudar fondos para el Centro Ann Sullivan del Perú, la ONG Socios en Salud y La Fundación Lima.
Sitting cow looking cool, LarcoMar
The exhibit will be held until February, 2010.
Colorful cow, LarcoMar
All the images in this post were taken by the author, both in LarcoMar and Parque Kennedy (Miraflores).

author: Gabriela García Calderón


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Saudi Arabia: Citizens’ Fury At Flood Deaths · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Saudi Arabia's second largest city, Jeddah, was struck by heavy floods last week, and the death toll has risen to more than 100 people. Poor infrastructure and mismanagement of city works construction have been blamed, and thousands have joined a Facebook group criticising the authorities. Bloggers in Saudi Arabia have also been vociferous in condemning the local government, as we hear in this post.
On YouTube albaraa1994 posted this video showing the flooding:
Saad Al Dosari says:
If anybody wishes to write a management book about project management failures, he will find plenty of examples in this aged bride of the red sea; Jeddah. Project management failures, this is my only explanation to what happened in Jeddah this past week. Millions and millions of riyals have been spent on projects that promised state of the art infrastructure to the long time forgotten city and guess what; those projects could not stand four hours of rain!
Ahmed Al Omran says:
This would not have happened if the people of Jeddah had a say in how their city is run. This would not have happened if there was transparency and accountability in how our country is governed. I’m beyond angry and disgusted.
According to MuSe:
Ironically most of the dead were non-Saudis and the poor, even death know how to discriminate. lots of head should be rolling the following days , lots of unfaithful and corrupted officials, but i am not optimistic about that, they keep gambling on our forgetting nature.
Najla is outraged:
Zuhair Alghamdi has an idea:
Eman Al Nafjan makes a suggestion:
Heavy rains led to flooding because of how the city is managed. Millions go into its infrastructure for digging sewers and putting in pipelines and paving roads but by the time the money finally trickles down to the purchase of material and hiring contractors, it doesn’t cover the costs anymore. For the past few years the people of Jeddah have been complaining and grumbling about it. […] I propose that the king hand over the Jeddah municipality to ARAMCO as he did with KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) when it became apparent that officials were skimming the budget.
KAUST is near Jeddah, and some students have written about how the rain affected the KAUST campus. Eric says:
This morning, after a rather romantic thunderstorm, all hell broke loose; along with a handful of houses. […] After blocking out the sirens and the impressive filing of emergency crew workers lining the streets I was able to soak in the damage of this otherwise harmless rain storm.  The roads were flooded two feet deep in water, the entire female population had been evacuated from their housing (sent to Jeddah for at least the next week), and ten male students were relocated because the conditions in their homes were “uninhabitable” (in other words, they didn’t just have leaks, they had entire ceilings collapse in the middle of the night as a result of water build up).  In short, KAUST had become a refugee camp in a matter of hours.
Another KAUST student, Nathan, writes:
Heavy rain is something like a natural disaster because the infrastructure here is not designed to handle water. Homes flooded, streets flooded, and the mobile phone network was knocked out for a while. The rain was pretty incredible, we must have got three inches in just under an hour (about 7.5 cm). The weather network says that Jeddah only gets 54 mm of Rain every year – we've exceeded our limit for the next 1.5 years in one night!
Ibrahim Hudaif asks:
Do they have at least a disaster recovery plan for the Shaheen the supercomputer center at KAUST?
Finally, Ahmad Qushmaq points out what makes these floods a little different:

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Saudi Arabia: Raed on Air  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi blogger Raed, who blogs at Falsafat, posts a chat with his nephew Khalid [Ar] as his debut vlog at Raed On Air.


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Singapore: Is It a City or Country? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Singapore. License: CC0 Public Domain
Is Singapore a city or a country? This question seems silly since Singapore is globally recognized as an independent state. But for Singapore Law Minister K. Shanmugam, Singapore should be treated as a city. This remark triggered a debate in the blogosphere.
In his lecture during a meeting of the New York State Bar Association International Section, Shanmugam observed that many people are criticizing the dominance of a single party in Singapore politics because they are comparing Singapore with other countries. He insisted that Singapore should be judged as a city.
“…nobody questions whether there is a democracy in New York…. This is where most people make a mistake. I have tried to explain that we are different. We are a city. We are not a country.”
Cavalierio accused the Law Minister of “twisting logic” to justify authoritarian rule in Singapore:
And now, for all our efforts and sacrifices put into creating a precious piece of country, we are told that we are not a country after all. It sounded vulgar; sounded like a shirking of responsibility, like a dereliction of duty.
Singapore, if you are not my country, who is?
Shanmugam’s motive was less lofty: he was arguing that Singapore’s political system shouldn’t be measured against the yardsticks of ‘a normal country’, where Singapore would invariably appear undemocratic. Instead, he argued, Singapore should be compared to ‘cities’ like Chicago, San Fransisco, and New York City – cities that have enduring one-party rule. Cities that are democratic.
Sometimes when we reach into the crux of the matter, we find that it is the old chestnut again. The old self-serving chestnut of authoritarian rulers pretending to be a democracy, twisting logic to suit one’s power.
So in the end, the answers that Shanmugam provided to his American guests last week, about our press, our judiciary, our political system, were non-answers really. Pertinent questions explained away in a camouflage of rational non-responses.
Rachel Zeng wants Shanmugam to elaborate his point since she couldn’t understand that line of thinking
Personally, I find that a little difficult to swallow. If Singapore is not a country but a city, then which country is our city part of….
Well, I don’t get it. I will really appreciate it if our dear K Shanmugam will kindly enlighten us here since he has been paid so much to play a part in the governing of Singapore city.
Commenting on this blogpost, Anon clarified that critics should first read the full transcript of Shanmugam’s lecture to appreciate the context of his assertion that Singapore is a city, not a country
Read the transcript. When he spoke about Singapore being a ‘city’ rather than ‘country’ he was explaining why elections in Singapore were so lopsided despite us holding free and fair elections. He compared Singapore to cities in the USA, and how many cities in the US had a single party dominating elections for decades.
While he did say that Singapore “isn’t a country”, he certainly didn’t mean it that way!
Clement Tan is disappointed that Shanmugam, a leader from the new generation, would deliver a controversial argument like this:
I am very disturbed by what the Singapore Law Minister said… At least with Lee Kuan Yew and members of the older guard, I knew what I could expect from them- whether or not I actually agree with them, is another issue. But with K. Shanmugan, part of the newer generation of Singaporean political leaders, I'm not even sure if he actually believes, connects and knows what he's arguing for.
The Temasek Review dissects the loopholes of Shanmugam’s arguments
Did Mr Shanmugam make a “honest mistake” or a freudian slip? If Singapore is NOT a country, then are we still considered a sovereign and independent state? So which country owns the sovereign rights of the city of Singapore?
Singapore is unique in the sense that it is both a country and a city at the same time.
As an important minister in the Singapore cabinet, Mr Shanmugam’s words carry a lot of weight.
Why are Singapore males serving National Service when they are only defending a city and not their country? Who does our Prime Minister report to? What value does our pink IC have? Are we citizens of a country or residents of a city?
The Journey of a Decade believes that yes, Singapore is and has always been a city:
Not say I say what.. This sentence seems to have angered quite abit of Singaporeans…. Lets get this straight… no one said anything about Singapore being a country. We have always been a city.
We have always been an island city state. I can understand how we often we hear things like defending the country among others….it is not exactly correct. It should be defending the city.

author: Mong Palatino


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Sri Lanka: Future Of Freedom And Democracy · Global Voices
Rezwan

Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe at Groundviews discusses the fate of the internally detained persons and the future of freedom and democracy in Sri Lanka.


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

Discuss SVG “question[s] the foundation” of violence against women in Caribbean societies.


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Thailand: Former Prime Minister Passes Away · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Samak Sundaravej — former Bangkok Governor, cooking show host, and Thailand's 25th Prime Minister passed away last November 24.
Samak was a controversial political figure who was legally removed from the top post last year when the Court ruled that he violated the law for hosting a cooking TV show while holding a public position.
Bangkok Pundit highlights the obituaries published by major newspapers. Thaizer describes Samak as a keen chef who popularized Thai food:
A keen chef, Samak’s passion for Thai food made him a regular at the fresh food markets of Bangkok and his gruff, no-nonsense approach made him a popular host of a cookery show on Thai television. Ironically, it was the television show which would eventually see him ousted from the position of prime minister.
Samak is fondly remembered as a true culinary enthusiast
After his election victory the first thing he did was invite reporters from all over Thailand to his home to sample his homemade noodles. Samak is a true culinary enthusiast, and we think he'll be a great contributor to the reputation and enjoyment of delicious Thai food all over the world.
A youtube video clip shows Samak’s well-attended funeral bathing rite:
Bangkok twitterers react to the news of Samak’s death
zaz_zy: RIP Khun Samak the cooking world will miss u. Truth Be Told … That is absolutely right.
TAN_Network: Red shirt supporters to protest against presence of Democrat MP's at Samak's funeral
Tongteng: @suthichai Although I aint like Khun Samak, I would say that I'm quite perplexed seeing many negative comments 'bout him online today. RIP.
praditpi: Samak Sundaravej, 25th prime minister of Thailand, passed away today. With all his goodness, I wish him rest in peace
anirutpichedpan: Death of K Samak proves many people forget the good notion of 4giveness in its entirety!Only hate remains!Forget about conciliation,I say
wisekwai: RIP Samak. Thai politics has lost a bit of color.
ChadapornLin: it's sad upon Samak's death that I try to think of good things to remember him by out of courtesy but I just can't
During a royally-sponsored funeral rite, the anti-government Red Shirts (most of them were Samak supporters) outside the temple booed government officials who attended the ritual.
Samak had many critics. After his death, some bloggers have chosen to highlight his negative legacy. Harrison George points out the anti-democratic record of Samak
Samak has established the right of all Thai political leaders to spend a career justifying murder, jailing opponents, shutting down the media and foul-mouthing anyone with the temerity to question them, and still be described, as his successor as PM Somchai described him, as ‘devoting his life to democracy’.
Bangkok Dazed describes Samak as a “creepy political character”
He may have been colorful but he was also a nasty character who embodied the worst traits of Thai politics. I only wish he would take a few hundred other current politicians to the grave with him.
Political Prisoners in Thailand writes that Samak is a political dinosaur:
Samak was one of Thailand’s old guard who was able to stay on the scene and politically relevant because many basic features of Thai politics remained unchanged. In other words, because the political environment changed relatively slowly, the political dinosaurs have been able to adapt and even thrive


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Trinidad & Tobago: Numb from CHOGM · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

This Beach Called Life features a press ad that was taken out by “a group who knows Trinidad and Tobago better than any foreign or local politician”, adding in a follow-up post: “The only thing that CHOGM did for citizens of this country was to send the fed up level well above 69% but still far away from the instability level of 96.73%.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Right the Wrongs · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Now Is Wow Too says the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister's position on gay rights “leaves much to be desired”.


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USA: Historical Truth of Thanksgiving · Global Voices
Simon Maghakyan

“To European-Americans this holiday is laced with fanciful symbolism and metaphorical memories about that great feast between Pilgrims and Indians. But the historical truth often goes untold and unheard,” writes Rusty’s blog.

author: Simon Maghakyan


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USA: Thanksgiving, a Celebration of Genocide? · Global Voices
Simon Maghakyan

On Livejournal, Christopher Bradley in the USA explains why he hates Thanksgiving. “I don't think there's any need to have holidays with the specter of genocide over them,” he says.


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Video: Worldwide youth express themselves in 60 seconds · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

OneMinutesJr Logo
The OneMinutesJr project gives young people between 12 and 20 years of age from many corners of the globe the opportunity to express themselves, speak out and learn audiovisual skills to communicate across borders, languages and distances through 60 second videos.
The OneMinutesJr project results from the joint effort of the European Cultural Foundation, the One Minutes Jr. Foundation and Unicef, as well as other partner organizations. On their website, you can browse through years’ worth of one minute videos from different countries, some sent in by individuals, others are results from workshops where youth are taught the skills to write, film and edit their ideas.
These short videos portray the concerns, ideas and dreams of youngsters from many different backgrounds, and give us a window into their daily lives. For example, from Poland, Ludmila Kierczak makes a video explaining who she is. To view the video, please click on the image below  to go to the OneMinutesJr site.
In Bangladesh, Mobasshera Tarannum Adiba illustrates a couple of articles from the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the video, I want Freedom, she touches on Article 12: Children have the right to have their views heard and their voices should be respected and Article 16 which states that every child has the right to privacy.
From Mongolia, Tuvdenjamts (Tuvden) Altankhyag illustrates the right every child has to their own culture:
And in this next video, Simone Tonge from Antigua and Barbuda, exercises her right to freedom of expression in Confessions of a Female Adolescent:
Ibrahim Ide from Niger illustrates the right children have to a family that loves them and protects their rights in With or Without:
For more one minute videos, you can check out the main site for the project at TheOneMinutesJr.org or you can visit the UNICEF One Minutes Jr. Channel on Youtube to see many other 60 second videos created by youth on the topic of Childrens’ Rights.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Arab World: Reactions to the Swiss Ban on Minarets · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

On Sunday, November 29, 57.5% of Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets atop mosques, paving the way for a constitutional amendment.  The referendum will affect the building of new minarets–not mosques–and will not effect Switzerland's four existing minarets.
The ban has sparked mixed reactions throughout the Arab and Muslim blogospheres: While some bloggers are outraged, others make the point that banning minarets does not hinder practicing the faith.
Lebanese-American Pierre Tristram, who blogs for About.com, opens a post with this paragraph, condemning the Swiss decision:
How can 59 million people be so dumb, Britain's Daily Mail famously asked in a day-after headline of the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. The Daily Mail can notch a new one for its shame gallery: How can 3 million Swiss be so bigoted?
Tristram closes with this scathing comment:  “The difference between your average Swiss and Iran‘s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the poster child of racist rants, has just gotten much narrower.”
Egyptian blogger Hicham Maged searches for an answer in his post, and concludes:
In a nutshell, I am looking forward for Swiss people to re-evaluate what happened; it is not only whether law protect citizen's rights or not, which is something important to debate and go for in the Swiss courts to correct for sure, but what is more important for me is that this fatal mistake should set up an alarm for not falling into the swamp of ignorance where nothing fill it but fear, anger and stupidity ~ Everywhere!
Another Egyptian blogger, whose blog is entitled Not Green Data, recognizes the credo that “a mosque is a mosque,” but laments the loss of the mosque's beauty in the Swiss ban:
Can you imagine a cube of Swiss Cheese, without its eyes – the holes in it? Or a Swiss Knife without the compass or the screwdriver? This is exactly what the Swiss people want to do with mosques. A mosque will remain a mosques without its Minarets, and it will still function the way it is supposed to function without them. But it will then loose its architectural identity and beauty.
British blogger Matthew Teller, a Middle East travel writer, focuses on the propaganda posters of various Swiss
A poster by the Swiss SVP calling for a ban of minarets
campaigners, picking apart both sides of the battle in this post, describing the poster to the left:
The repulsive SVP, who’ve used what the Financial Times called “strident populism” to target ‘foreigners’ of all kinds in Switzerland as criminals, benefit cheats or worse, kicked off the campaign with the poster opposite: “Stop! Yes to the minaret ban”. Look at the imagery: minarets as missiles, women as menacing, the burqa as concealment, black as a threat, the Swiss flag cast into shadow from the east, the cross obliterated.
Algerian-American The Moor Next Door, seeing the ban as a power struggle, remarks:
The minaret, for its opponents, symbolizes Islam’s “arrival” in the Alps. It stands to proclaim the Muslim presence above other faiths and peoples. Banning it, then, is to ban a symbol of Muslim power and existence
…
The aesthetics of identity, and therefore power, are what the drive is really about. It is a way for a people in doubt to affirm and define their confused identity by rejecting that of the newcomer’s.
Syrian blogger Maysaloon has a unique perspective on what the most important narrative of this story is.  Setting aside the issues of bigotry, fear, and architectural integrity, the blogger makes the following point:
Neither Swiss bigotry, nor the religious or architectural significance of minarets are what is important about this story. What is important is that for the first time in 400 years, at least since the Ottomans besieged Vienna, Muslims are having a real impact on what is happening in Europe.
The blogger goes on to highlight the ways in which Islam has influenced the “west” and vice versa, concluding:
To sum it up, I am not worried about the bigots. Minarets and sharia can be banned, headscarves can be torn off, and all the cartoons in the world will not stop the fact that Islam is now in Europe, and it is in America, and it is spreading throughout the world.
To conclude, Mauritanian Twitter user weddady‘s comment on the end result of the referendum sums up well the sentiment of many.  He says, ” Now no one can pretend that Europe doesn't have a problem with Muslims, nor can anyone deny the extensive Islamist presence there.”

author: Jillian C. York


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Bermuda: PATI Opinions  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermudian bloggers put in their two cents’ worth on the proposed Public Access to Information Legislation.


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Bhutan: Another Ban · Global Voices
Rezwan

After the tobacco ban, Penstar informs about another prohibition in Bhutan; local authorities have banned alcohol during the choedpa festival in Wamling village.


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Caribbean: World AIDS Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Regional bloggers discuss World AIDS Day.


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China: Environmental issues, citizens on move · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Last Thursday, in a press conference the Chinese premier Wen promised a 40% carbon emissions cut by 2020 as a measure to deal with climate change. Facing suspicion and questions, he reiterated the next day in a meeting with developing countries that it was a ‘serious and solemn promise’. But no one could fail to see how far China still has to go to curb its pollution and increasing energy consumption.
In October, Lu Guang, a Chinese photographer, was awarded the Eugene Smith grant, an international award for Humanistic Photography for his pictures documenting pollution in China. For foreigners, these pictures might be just another warning of the world of the environmental degradation happening in China. But for most Chinese, it was shocking in the extreme to see those familiar places, often seen on books and maps or heard from families and friends, now as dead zones unfit for human habitation.
So, what then will be the determining factors in the fight against the deteriorating environment of China?
Not necessarily the government. Compared to environment improvement, it has a stronger incentive in economic development and political achievement. As example, last week was difficult for people living in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province and one of the richest areas in China. People were appalled to find they were almost blinded by haze and fog, generated by car exhausts, construction site activity and power plant emissions. Highways were shut down because drivers could not see cars over 5 meters away. It is the most serious atmospheric pollution day in the last 10 years.
GV Blogger John Kennedy living in Guangzhou described the city as being ‘just like a huge construction site full of traffic jams.’
There is a reason for this huge burst of activity. To prepare for the 2010 Asian games, Guangzhou is being fully mobilized to build simultaneously 8 subway routes and a satellite city of stadiums and residences for the sportsmen, This political imperative takes precedence over all else.
Last Monday, again in Guangzhou, hundreds of residents waited anxiously outside a newly established office which processes complaints and appeals about plans to build several garbage incinerators which may be as close as 1000 meters to their homes. They fear that the resultant pollution will inevitably result in cancers and other diseases
Initially it was peaceful and people followed the procedure to fill in forms and line up but they finally became impatient when only 10 of the hundreds of complaints were received in a 2 hour period. Bloggers twittered about what happened there next.
@wenyunchao 来了辆警车停路边,一分钟后开走了。见到几个本地记者。陆续有人赶来,不过看似丽江的居多。有个人举着标语站到了解放路边,直接向民众诉求。 #pylj
@LEMONed
粗略点算，还在门外排队的就有超过两百人，还不断有人加入。但城管委已经不让再领表了！有来自南国奥园的业主高呼「吕秘书长下台！」 #pylj
“广州未来将走垃圾焚烧为主的路子，肯定要建垃圾焚烧发电厂，建几个，政府正在规划” 。
The remarks were seen as blind ignorance of the public opposition when in fact, residents had voiced their objections on the internet for months. The plan was revealed as early as 2006 but only in 2009 were the sites confirmed and land use permits issued. People were shocked to find that the view out of their windows in the future would be dominated by the incinerators. Property values soon slumped.
Back to the scene.
@wenyunchao 现场人士举起标语走向旁边的市政府,接访演变成游行及集会,我们将继续为大家直播。 #pylj
wenyunchao 人群已经聚焦在市政府门口,头顶上A4纸复印的标语白花花一片,有个81岁的会江村婆婆也为了,现场口号”市长出来”。 #pylj
@wenyunchao 群情比较激愤,一位会江村民说:我少活二十年也就忍了,可子孙们怎么办?吉祥路这一侧停了六部警车,不过秩序尚好。 #pylj
@LEMONed 喇叭广播说让这里几百人选5名代表进去见领导，这是想把我们先打乱！广州人民这么容易上当？我们随即齐声回应：「选5名领导出来」！警察顿时傻了 #pylj
Weng YunChao, on twitter and also a well-known blogger, comments on the scene:
@wenyunchao 这是未来国内群体运动很有代表性的问题,政府要对话,必须得有民众代表,但民众代表往往成为打击对象,政府往往找不到对话对象。事情往往因此而走向僵局。 #pylj
The indifference of the government and reluctance to talk with people is even a more serious problem than the pollution itself. An article by by Xinkuan Paper states:-
从省情调研中心发布的民调数据来看，超过98%的民众对“涉及众多民众利益，但有关部门垄断行政决策，未能及时通报消息”最为不满———这一对周边环境及 民众生活可能产生重大影响的项目，从2004年确定地址、2006年通过审批、2009年开始征地，5年中没有情况通报，没有听证，甚至电厂所在的会江村 村民也大多不知道有该项目的存在，直至它突兀地被民众关注。
There has been much controversy on the issue. Is incineration the best method to dispose of the mountains of trash? If the incinerators are not built at these places, where then should they be built? Again, John Kennedy has a coverage on the debate.
The government has made (9) two clear points. First, if the project gets stuck in an environmental assessment, it won’t be carried out. Second, if the majority opposes it, it will also be stopped. But it is left to doubt that it would.
However, distrust of ‘expert assessment’ prevails as experts are losing their creditability as people think they are puppets of power and money. Second, people see little sincerity on the part of the government to consider public opinion as in the past four years it made no attempt at a dialogue. Moreover, the residents have no idea whether they can keep fighting the authority if attention on the issue dies down.  Luckily, the demonstration on Monday ended peacefully although no one knows if there will be any act of reprisal or whether their complaints will have any effect.

author: Bob Chen


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China: Female deputy editor-in-chief being assaulted  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a local news story about a female deputy editor-in-chief, Le Qian, being assaulted by an attacker in front of her home.

author: Oiwan Lam


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France: The Day Without Immigrants · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

Many observers and actors of the French political scene suspect a hidden agenda behind the “national identity” debate  launched by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Solidary development [Fr], Eric Besson. The tightly defined government initiative was entrusted to the prefects, the state's local representatives.
Opposition members counter-attacked, with Martine Aubry, leader of the Socialist Party, saying at a meeting in Grenoble that President Nicolas Sarkozy was embarrassing France by opposing National Identity to Immigration.
And anyway, what sense does it make to call 2nd or 3rd generation citizens immigrants?
Remembering the Great American Boycott in the U.S., a one-day boycott of schools and businesses by immigrants, both legal and illegal, of mostly Latin-American origin that took place on May 1, 2006, a group or “collectif”, was created earlier this month, under the title : La journée sans immigrés – 24 heures sans nous (The Day without migrants – 24 hours without us), which is scheduled for March 1, 2010. The group's manifesto is featured on its website [Fr], and Facebook groups have been set up in 10 regions so far. There is also a blog and a forum.
The manifesto begins with these words:
Nous, femmes et hommes, de toutes croyances, de tous bords politiques, et de toutes couleurs de peaux, immigrés, descendants d’immigrés, citoyens conscients de l’apport essentiel de l’immigration à notre pays, en avons assez des propos indignes tenus par certains responsables politiques visant à stigmatiser ou criminaliser les immigrés et leurs descendants. Rappelons qu’un immigré est celui qui est perçu comme tel par les autres au-delà même de ses origines. Nous voulons nous réapproprier et réhabiliter ce terme devenu péjoratif par la force de l’instrumentalisation politique.
Asked in a TV interview, quoted on Le Blog de Rose Blanche, Peggy Derder, vice-president of the “Day without Migrants” Group, explained [Fr]:
Notre collectif appelle les immigrés, descendants d'immigrés et citoyens conscients de l'apport essentiel de l'immigration à ne plus participer à la vie économique de la Cité pendant 24 heures. Ne pas travailler peut prendre plusieurs formes: faire grève, poser une journée de RTT ou de congé… On appelle également à ne pas consommer : ne pas aller au Mc Do, ne pas faire de shopping etc. Par cette absence, nous voulons marquer la nécessité de notre présence. En agissant sur le levier économique, on veut montrer que les immigrés sont une richesse au sens propre et figuré, des éléments moteurs de l'économie et de la société.
The initiative quickly won support from a large part of the political spectrum. Center-wing activist MIP did not want to be outdone, and was linked to by left-side blogger Intox 007:
Alors, oui, si cette journée est l'occasion de montrer aux hypocrites que de nombreux jobs (et pas forcément ceux en bas de l'échelle) sont exercés par des immigrés, vocable réducteur et objet d'attaque ignobles. Et que ces citoyens là sont aussi dignes que le né-ici, mais qu'ils sont plus l'objet de mépris, et que cela doit être combattu.
Demain le nouveau Congo Brazzaville also happily relayed the message, as well as Algerian news forum city DZ.
However, there are also dissonant voices, and not only where they are to be expected.
Merle moqueur (“Mocking bird”) is fed up with This- and That Days, and she sarcastically warns against any misunderstanding of the “without Immigrants” motto :
Ah, ça nous manquait, la journée sans immigrés. Voilà une idée de gauche qu'elle est bonne , fédératrice, porteuse de lien social, et pas du tout nunuche. Voilà une formulation qui plaira à certains. Eteins ton ordinateur, prends ton flingue, monte dans le bus et va jusqu'à la cité des Primevères. Il n'y a plus de bus ? Il a brûlé ? Arrête tes conneries réactionnaires, camarade, et marche un peu, ça te fera du bien. Va chez les Noirs et tire dans le tas, c'est la journée sans immigrés, t'as le droit.
And why the 1st of March, so far ahead ? Back to the manifesto :
Le 1er mars 2005 est entré en vigueur le «code de l'entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d'asile» (CESEDA), plus communément appelé le code des étrangers. Cette loi symbolise une conception utilitariste de l’immigration, en d’autres termes, une immigration choisie sur critères économiques. Nous ne pouvions trouver de meilleur jour pour appeler à « une journée sans immigrés ».

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Ghana: 10 Ghanaian Christmas gifts · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Wo Se Ekyir has a list of 10 Ghanaian Christmas gifts.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Hong Kong: Democracy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tom Legg blogs about the recent political scandal on the attempt by the Beijing Basic Law expert in re-interpretation of the meaning of democracy in Hong Kong.


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Japan: Moving Beyond a TV Drama Production · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

There are some television shows that become fashion trend setters (à la Sex and the City) but what would you think if a show was designed as a vehicle to sell clothes?
With television stations in a financial slump with shrinking advertising revenues, Kansai Television is experimenting with a new take on product placement. Viewers are offered the chance to buy apparel and accessories showcased in the fashion drama Real Clothes [ja], which features popular actresses Hitomi Kuroki and Karina.
A summary of the show from Tokyo Graph:
The drama is based on Satoru Makimura's manga of the same name. Karina plays the role of Kinue, a saleswoman in the futon section of a department store. Despite her plain clothes and poor makeup, she ends up being transferred to the women's clothing department, where she has to be trained by her extraordinarily fashionable boss (Kuroki).
The RedPen blog gives a rundown of the system in a post titled “The border between advertisement and content is breaking down with ‘Real Clothes'” (崩れ始める広告とコンテンツの境界線、「リアル・クローズ」):
フジテレビは2009年10月13日（22:10～）より、関西テレビ制作のドラマ「リアル・クローズ」の放映を開始します。放送と同時に俳優が身につけている服やアクセサリーをネット経由で購入できる、いわゆるEC連動型番組ですが、公共電波を独占的、排他的に利用しているテレビ局のあこぎな商売として非難する声も上がっています。（参照：「主役が着た服、ドラマＨＰで即通販　番組？広告？境界は」）
リアル・クローズは電子番組表Gガイドを提供するインタラクティブ・プログラム・ガイドが開発したシステム「オンエアリンク」利用の第一号。出演者が着用した衣装やアクセサリーなどのアイテムや商品がテレビ番組のストーリーに連動して、ECサイトにアップされ、オンタイムで同じ商品が購入できるシステムです。出演者が着用している商品情報と番組メタデータをデータベース上でひも付け、タイムコードに合わせて配信・管理できます。
Blogger Masahiko thinks it's all right for fans:
ドラマで使われた洋服やアクセサリーが通販で買えるというのは、昔からあった試みかもしれませんが、もう少し洗練させればテレビとネットを繋ぐ良いコンテンツになるのではないかと思います。[…] 批判的な見解もあるようですが、番組や特定の俳優・女優のファンであれば、同じアイテムを欲しくなる人もいるだろうし、そういった洋服が着たいと思っている人に商品を販売するのは良いと思います。
Genta Iwamoto is resigned:
私はこれは良いと思います。
ってゆうか、こういう方法以外にテレビ局がスポンサーからの収入を
確保する方法ってないんじゃないかな。
少なくても私はこれより良い案ってなかなか思いつきません。
The Kirakira Hikaru Blog praises the show:
このドラマ、あんまり視聴率良くないみたいだけど、私は女性にはオススメ
出演者達の洋服を観るだけでも楽しい
ストレスがたまったり、悩み事があるとす～ぐ洋服やアクセサリー買ってしまう私^^;
まぁ、Ｏ型だから仕方あるまい。（血液型のせいかｗ）
でも、男性であまりお洒落な人と結婚するのはオススメしないｗｗ
女性の皆様。みんなで美しくなりましょね♪
The sales are not bad, or so Cyzo Woman reports:
初回放送時は同ドラマのホームページにアクセスが集中し、サーバがダウン。関西テレビコンプライアンス推進局企業広報部の大平雄司氏は、「初回放送終了後、翌朝10時までに約350点、第3回放送終了後24時までの累計で約2,400点の購入があった。1週間の売上の6～7割が放送当日及び翌日に集中している」と話す。
What about the effect on actors? Again, RedPen:
最近でこそ状況は少しずつ変わりつつありますが、第一線で活躍する俳優は企業のテレビCMには登場しても、通販番組に登場しませんでした。今回のリアル・クローズは香里奈さんや黒木瞳さんがドラマ仕立ての通販番組に登場するようなもの。色がつくのを極端に嫌う俳優に対する出演料は通常より高く設定しなければ、事務所側も納得できないはず。とはいえ、番組制作費に下げ圧力がかかっていますから、断り切れない事情もあるでしょう。こうした手法がドラマで普及し始めれば、俳優の賞味期限は加速度的に早まっていくことだけは確かです。
All in all, TV stations still have a lot of ground to cover before they find the sweet spot between television and the Internet, and public airwaves and commercialism. The good news is that the public seems to be willing to go along with the ride to experience those experiments. Of course, a lot depends on how refined the undertaking is, like Masahiko mentioned. Referring to the tagline for Real Clothes, “If you wear boring clothes, you will lead a boring life.” (つまらない洋服を着てると、つまらない人生になるわよ), a commenter on the fashion blog Elastic wryly points out:
リアルクローズの意味を知っている人は買わないでしょうね

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Maldives: On The Swiss Minaret Ban · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mohamed Aseel Hassan  from Maldives comments on the Swiss minaret ban: “I am outraged that one of the most liberal countries in the world would vote to pass such a ridiculous motion. It's a gross violation of peoples right to freedom of religion and of expression.”


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Mongolia: Climate Change Affecting Nomadic Way of Life · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mongolian nomadic families have historically depended on the vast land for their livelihood.  In the past, rangeland for their grazing animals had been plentiful, and food and water were readily collected from their surroundings. However, all is that is changing, as climate change is having a negative impact on their way of life.
Photo by Tonio94 and used under a Creative Commons license.
A recent article by Joshua Kucera in Eurasianet highlights some of these changes:
Global warming is having a harsh effect on Mongolia’s nomadic herders, who comprise about 40 percent of the country’s overall 3 million inhabitants. Since 1940, the mean air temperature in the country has increased 1.6 degrees Celsius. Heat waves are longer, and rain patterns have become “quite variable, decreasing at one site and increasing at a site nearby,” according to an assessment by the country’s Ministry of Nature and the Environment. The Gobi Desert, in the south of the country, is creeping northward.
The desertification of the Gobi Desert is reducing available land for their animals to graze, which are important sources of food. This population is also facing a freshwater crisis, as described by blogger Mandah, who writes about the  the water issues facing these communities:
Mongolian high mountain peak’s snowcap and glaciers have been melting and thinning because of the Global Warming. The thickness of the snow melting will become 131 centimeters by 2039. According to the scientist, the whole world will start to face fresh water shortage by 2020 and 108 million people actually have to deal with the fresh water shortage by 2025. Since 1996, Mongolian groundwater level has been decreasing constantly. Some of the biggest lakes in Gobi region such as: Taatsiin tsagaan, Adgiin tsagaan, Ulaan, Orog lakes as well as many other rivers dried up.
Blogger and local botanist Ariungerel adds information about these changes:
Nowadays, the meaning of the phrase “water is treasure”  is becoming clearer. Our country is situated far from nearest sea and has less water sources on the ground and underground compared with countries that has enough water sources. Our people range their life in line with water sources, for example: remote area can be utilized only in winter times because running water source is scarce there, only snow is available there. Elders said that they used to use mouthful water to wash their faces and hands, but in the contemporary world, we use many more litters of water for the same reason.
Many of these issues are not well-known within the country, much less around the world. However, a local project called Nomad Green has taken up the initiative to teach the use of citizen media tools like blogs, photogs, and videos to tell the story of this country and some of its environmental problems. The project started in 2009 as partnership between various organizations and institutions, and to date several workshops have taken place in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and other communities around Mongolia.
Photo of Nomad Green workshop by Portnoy (Working Man) and used under a Creative Commons license.
The project has already demonstrated positive steps in teaching Mongolians how to use these tools to tell their stories about environmental challenges of their country. Part of this proof is that the two bloggers previously cited in this article, Mandah and Ariungerel are a part of the Nomad Green project, which only adds to number of voices concerned about the environmental future of Mongolia.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Montserrat: Soufriere Activity  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands has an update on the activity of Montserrat's Soufriere volcano.


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Pakistan: Lest We Forget · Global Voices
Rezwan

M.P. Bhandara at All Things Pakistan comments on the issue of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh: “How cynical can we get as a nation? We can tolerate the presence of a million plus illegals from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma and Afghanistan in Karachi but we shut the door tight on our ‘own’ citizens.”


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Sri Lanka: Sloppy Service By The State Airlines · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dare to be different posts a letter from a disappointed customer of the Sri Lankan state airlines detailing the suffering due to negligence in service.


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Sudan: Ambassador reacts to Enough Said Project paper · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Sudanese Ambassdor reacts to a strategy paper released by Enough Said Project: Even before our most recent Sudan strategy paper went public yesterday, the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations had a strong reaction to our recommendations…”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Blogging & Journalism?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

KnowTnT.com explores the question of whether blogging is journalism.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Gay Issues at CHOGM · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

gspottt says that “for the first time at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting…in Trinidad & Tobago, there was significant representation of GLBTQ (gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer) activists among civil society participants, and a concerted effort to highlight issues of sexual citizenship and rights.”


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Uruguay: Mujica is President After Run-off Election · Global Voices
Mario Blanco

The new president of Uruguay has finally been elected: José “Pepe” Mujica [es], candidate from left-wing party The Broad Front, obtained the majority of the votes on the run-off election of November 29. The first round of voting for president occurred the last Sunday of October, with no candidate reaching the majority required. Mujica held the leadership then with his running mate, the now vicepresident-elect Danilo Astori, as he received 48.16% of the votes.
Photo of José Mujica by Agência Brasil. Taken from Wikipedia, using a Creative Commons License: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mujica
According to Portal 180  [es], Mujica is the first former guerrilla member that reaches the presidential chair of Uruguay. He was part of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros (National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros) during the 60s and fought the government of Jorge Pacheco Areco. He was involved in armed actions such as Toma de Pando [es] (Pando takeover) and Fuga de Punta Carretas (Punta Carretas escape, an epic prison break recently featured on a documentary by History Channel [es]).
Mujica also founded the Movimiento de Participación Popular [es] (Movement of Popular Participation), which led him to hold assigments as deputy, senator and more recently as Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries minister.
“Ni vencidos, ni vencedores” (“Neither losers nor winners”) was the phrase that the president-elect used to sum up his victory.
Strong opinions about the result of the election can be read on the blogosphere. The reaction of the anonymous author of the leisure-oriented blog Ociomentario [es] can be understood as disappointment:
URUGUAY ELIGIÓ POR PRIMERA VEZ EN SU HISTORIA UN PRESIDENTE ASESINO
To the author of the political-oriented blog ElPolvorin [es], the elected president represents a fake change:
como el nuevo portavoz del neo liberalismo en Uruguay disfrazado de Izquierdista, continua la política digitada por el FMI [Fondo Monetario Internacional], con dos caras y dos discursos, uno cuando viaje a Venezuela y el otro cuando viaje a EEUU, como Tabare .
Nada habrá que esperar de estos nuevos neo liberales, “vuelve el pobre a su pobreza, vuelve el rico a su riqueza”.
On the side that celebrates the president-elect, blogger Antonio Giossa, who is uruguayan but lives in Argentina, explains [es] that Mujica won the election because of three main points:
Primero y principal, será la continuidad del actual gobierno frenteamplista. Si bien su estilo lo diferencia un poco de Tabaré Vázquez, Mujica cumplirá a rajatabla el lineamiento planteado por el Programa Político del Frente Amplio.
Segundo, su personalidad y su carisma. Campechano, frontal, honesto, sin pelos en la lengua. Algo que a veces puede jugar en contra y cosechar rechazos, pero que también ha logrado generar una confianza casi absoluta de parte de los votantes y simpatizantes.
Tercero, el Frente Amplio logró demostrar, a partir del año 2004, que es una fuerza política que sabe ejercer el gobierno en forma responsable, efectiva y con un solo objetivo en mente: el bienestar del pueblo.
Mujica will be sworn in as president on March 2010 for a 5-year term.
Translated by Issa Villarreal

author: Mario Blanco


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World AIDS Day: Reflections and Raising Awareness · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

While it's true that most people know by now that HIV/AIDS poses a threat, World AIDS Day, which takes place today, attempts to focus the world's attention on this disease for a day and show just how big a threat still persists.
There has been progress in combating the disease since it was first identified in the early 80s, but HIV/AIDS remains a major public health issue. Over 33 million people are currently living with HIV worldwide, almost 70 percent  of who live in sub-Saharan Africa. People with HIV are living longer though, in part because of the beneficial effects of antiretroviral therapy. To highlight the need for universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment, care and prevention, the theme of this year's World AIDS Day is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights.’
Bloggers globally have used World AIDS Day as an opportunity to share their thoughts on not only this disease, but the significance of this day. Many of these blogs are included on Global Voices Google map of HIV-positive bloggers and groups who blog about the disease, which has been updated for World AIDS Day. Charlie Dale, blogging on My Journey with Judy… from the United States, reflects on the significance of World AIDS Day.
“Somehow over the years I guess I have grown complacent to what this day really means, if in all honesty anything to the masses. In the beginning it was in all the news stories, papers and events that this day was approaching and awareness and attention was brought to this monster killer.
Over the years though the media like the rest of us I guess has grown overly weary of a problem that is still fairly rampant and in the minds of the media VERY old news sadly to say…Long term survivors like myself I guess have grown weary, worn and tired. Many of us are just trying to survive day to day and make something of ourselves and our lives.”
But Claire Keeton, blogging for South Africa’s Sunday Times, says there is still an important role for World AIDS Day.
“It’s that time of year when Christmas decorations flood the shops and red AIDS ribbons come out. Tuesday is World AIDS Day.
Some people with HIV/AIDS and activists object to World AIDS Day – essentially saying it allows people to ignore the epidemic the rest of the year, as long as they remember it for a single day.
Paying lip service. Window dressing. Look at the Onion cover in that light.
From my side, World AIDS Day does have advantages. It’s the one time of the year that all media make space for HIV/AIDS stories.”
Many bloggers have done just that, made space on their blogs to share their experiences about this disease.  Aderyn Verwood from Germany, blogging on Vintage Verwood, says that until her good friend was diagnosed with HIV, she didn’t pay much attention to it:
“Like most people, I knew about HIV, but the role it played in my life was too insignificant to ever become more than a distant, abstract threat that seemingly did not belong to my environment. Now, no day goes past that I don’t think of it consciously, that I don’t hope for improvement of already existing therapies or for a breakthrough in scientific research, so that a cure might be found…To my friend, I’d just like to say: I hope that many decades from now, we will sit together, old and wrinkly, laughing about the times when we were young. I love you.”
Others took a less personal approach and blogged to raise awareness and spread the facts. Jessica Joseph, blogging on Alien in The Caribbean from Trinidad and Tobago, wrote a three-part exploration of sex and sexuality in the Caribbean in the days leading up to World AIDS Day.  In this first part, she looks at where the shame and secrets regarding sex come from:
“Some of the questions I would like to investigate are: Where exactly did our prudery and hypocrisy come from? What are the elements of sexual attraction? What are the dynamics of gender and sexual orientation? Some of the resolutions I would to make are: Sexuality and spirituality are not mutually exclusive. Good sex is also safe sex. HIV/Aids is a viral representation of a deeper syndrome and its cure lies in a holistic approach to sexuality even it means the painful re-breaking and re-setting of a bone (no pun intended) that was badly cast for a very long time.”
Some bloggers used art to express how they feel on World AIDS Day. Last year Richard Kearns, blogging on HAVVACC, wrote this poem in honor of the day and says he plans to write a new poem this year. Sinthalunda, a poet in Malawi, posts this poem:
“Here from this musty village
Come golden stars
Who dance the same rhythm
From far beyond the horizon;
Their light sound gets louder
As they walk to school
For the beat of lessons
Round the circle of subjects.
From this forgotten compound
Come complex joys
From children whose nose-dust
Has been cleaned by wind's awareness.
For now, the way of knowledge
In the world of education
Has taught them to sense
The voice of silenced victims.”
To encourage more bloggers to write about HIV/AIDS on all 365 days of the year, not just World AIDS Day, this past summer Rising Voices released “Blogging Positively,” a collection of case studies, interviews and best practices about citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. The guide highlights leaders in the HIV-positive community, contains tips for workshop facilitators and teachers and provides resources to help new bloggers get started.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Morocco: For Your Reading Pleasure · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Moroccan resident Ibn Ibn Battuta shares a list of nonfiction and travel books that keep him busy on the road in Morocco.


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Africa: 25% of TED Fellows represent Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

25% of people participating in TED Fellowship Program represent the African continent, writes Erik.


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Austria: How Social Media Set “Universities on Fire” · Global Voices
Helge Fahrnberger

Did you know that at this very moment many universities throughout Europe are occupied by students? Thousands of them are sleeping, cooking, debating and partying in their auditoriums to protest against the under-financing of the educational system and the so-called Bologna Process, a European Union education policy.
What is so special about these protests is the fact that they have not been centrally coordinated by student unions but have been organized entirely bottom-up, with the help of online social media.
It all started in Vienna, Austria on October 22, when a small group of students met for a flashmob in the city center to protest, and then headed to University of Vienna where they spontaneously occupied the Auditorium Maximum. By the time police arrived, the news of the occupation had already circulated on Twitter, mobilizing so many supporters it was impossible to clear the hall.
Within days, the occupiers – to their own surprise – put in place a remarkable organizational structure: Mobilization and communication was organized via the Twitter “hashtags” #unibrennt and #unsereuni (“university on fire” and “our university”).
Unsereuni website
A 24h webcast from the Auditorium Maximum was put in place. Organizational tasks from cooking to cleaning were structured via a wiki, and a website communicated with the public. Twitter, blogs and Facebook (32,400 fans so far) were used to spread the word.
This had two effects:
- For the first time protests of this scale did not need the support of mass media for mobilization. Within less than a week after the beginning of the protests more than 20,000 demonstrators roamed the streets of Vienna, preceding any mass media coverage. Media contacts were limited to a bare minimum (which produced much confusion). Students simply didn‘t need the media and since the protests lacked hierarchy, there was a shortage of spokespersons.
- Second, because everyone could follow what was going on inside the Auditorium Maximum (the webcast produced half a million views within one month) it kept the tabloid press from labeling the protesters as rioters or extremists. Too many people knew it wasn‘t true. The power of opinion-making had shifted.
Soon the protests infected other university cities in Austria and abroad: Today, less than a month and a half after the first protests, almost 100 universities in Austria, Germany,  Switzerland, Albania, Serbia, France, Italy, Croatia and the Netherlands are occupied or have seen other forms of mass protest.
On Wissen belastet, Max Kossatz, a blogger and media observer from Austria, has analyzed [de] the Twitter stream: 66,379 tweets by 6,780 different usernames have been published on the subject in the last month. 1,043 pictures were posted on Twitpic and produced 125,612 views – see this Twitpic photo mashup on Youtube. And especially interesting, is the following map of tweets that illustrates how the protests spread over time (watch in HD and fullscreen to get the full experience):
Gerald Bäck of Bäck Blog, who works in the media observation business, found out that the gross reach of the tweets, i.e. the unique number of followers exposed to them, was 386,860. His analysis [de] shows who the key influencers were, what URLs were most linked to and what hashtags were used most.
In his blog, smime, Michael Schuster who is specialist in semantic analysis, contributed an overview [de] of the “old media” covering the events. He counted  2,700 articles and identified four trends lasting roughly one week each: “Protests take place”, “protests continue”, “protests widen”, and recently, “ok, enough now.”
Luca Hammer of 2-Blog, a student and technical mastermind behind the Viennese web activities, has published a field report [de] of how wikis, Twitter and webcast were used to get things rolling.
It looks like the case of #unibrennt may become an early milestone in the transformation of Austrian politics by the use of online social media. It has created wide attention – and confusion – among established media and political structures, and created a spirit of empowerment among students and digital leaders.

author: Helge Fahrnberger


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Bahamas: Sick & Tired · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Sidney Sweeting at Weblog Bahamas says that Bahamians “are sick and tired – sick of the rampant crime and tired of the press conferences promising to do something.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bangladesh: Indigenous People · Global Voices
Rezwan

Photoblogger Monirul Alam comments on the indigenous people (adivasi) of Bangladesh: “Adivasis are among the poorest of the country. Participation of Adivasis in education is very low, and almost zero at the higher levels of education.”

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: Overcrowded Marine Transports · Global Voices
Rezwan

Subhan Choudhury at “Why did Bangladesh cross the road?” describes the state of the overcrowded marine transport vessels in Bangladesh which are prone to repeated disasters.


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Bhutan: Grades vs Education · Global Voices
Rezwan

Tomlax says: “those people who score more in exams are not really more educated.” Read the post at Kuzu-Bhutan Weblog to learn why.


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Brazil: Hacking for transparency and the right to information · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Last May, the Brazilian government finally introduced ‘right to public information’ legislation. An amended version of the draft bill has just been presented for public consultation by the Special Commission tasked by the Lower House of Congress with revising it. The Bill now goes to Congress for finalisation and adoption, and if approved, the law will regulate the Executive, Judicial and Legislative Powers, besides the entire public administration: at federal, state and city level. This law will carry out the provision of the 1988 Constitution that guaranteed this right and called for an implementing law.
Brazilian society has started to engage in debate. The discussion of the bill is informally open to the public on a web-based text annotation website. There is also the Brazilian Forum for the Right of Access to Public Information, and the Information is Your Right! campaign, whose aim is to spread the right of access to public information and mobilize people and organizations to lobby legislators to approve the bill. This campaign has invited the population to write to members of parliament suggesting ways to improve the bill. There are still some issues that must be addressed to bring the law fully into line with international standards, according to Article 19.
The blogosphere has joined forces. Pedro Valente [pt] translates into Portuguese the eight Open Government Data Principles, a set of fundamental principles for open government data by the US Open Government Working Group, and believes that, in Brazil, these principles should be enforced:
Toda entidade pública que gera dados de interesse público deveria liberá-los seguindo os princípios acima. Simples assim. Não importa de onde elas são.
And people have started to hack their way towards enforcing long awaited transparency: a collaborative task force has been created to develop small applications based on open technologies, government information and public data. The first Transparência [Transparency] Hackday, “two days for hacking into Brazilian politics”, was launched in São Paulo at the beginning of October, and the last camp took place this week, on December 1st  and 2nd, in the capital Brasília [pt]. Organized by journalists Daniela Silva and Pedro Markun [both pt], the event has free entry and is an opportunity for software developers, journalists and researchers to gather together to find ways to “scrape” data from official websites and create applications that bring transparency and participation to the political processes. From the first meeting, a small but important victory may be celebrated [pt]:
Na trilha de discussões do Transparência HackDay, o Grupo de Apoio Técnico à Inovação da Secretaria de Gestão Pública do Estado de São Paulo apresentou o projeto Governo Aberto, um portal de acesso a algumas bases de dados públicos do governo do estado, que serão disponibilizadas em formatos abertos e processáveis por máquina. O objetivo é permitir que a sociedade use essas bases em mashups, criando novas formas de participação política na web.
Por conta de uma demanda apresentada pelos participantes do evento, o Gati agora está abrindo as regras de acesso ao site Governo Aberto para serem discutidas na rede.  Além delas, também a minuta de um decreto (que deverá assinado pelo governador José Serra, legitimando e dando mais sustentabilidade à iniciativa) foi colocada em discussão.
Essa é uma chance muito importante de influenciarmos a maneira que o governo de São Paulo vai passar a liberar suas informações na rede – num projeto que é pioneiro e que tem potencial para ser referência para outros governos no Brasil.
Due to a demand by the participants of the event, GATI is now opening the access rules of the Open Government site for debate on the Internet. Besides this, a draft of a decree (which must be signed by Governor Jose Serra to legitimize and give more sustainability to the initiative) has also been proposed to the discussion.
This is a very important chance to influence the way the government of Sao Paulo releases its information on the web – a pioneering project that has the potential to be a reference for other local governments in Brazil.
Transparency HackDay in São Paulo, photo by Alexandre Fugita used under a Creative Commons license.
The fight has just started, after years of advocacy work by the civil society and pro-freedom of expression, and free access to public information, organizations, among which is Transparencia Brasil [pt]. The director of the organization Claudio Weber Abramo [pt] argues that despite the great importance of monitoring the government, the proceedings at the National Congress will not be an easy task, due to the  interests of various politicians to suppress information. He reports on a recent public hearing:
Ninguém se opôs à necessidade da regulamentação.
Isso não significa que não haja oposição. A questão é que, num assunto como esse, ninguém que se oponha vem a público para exprimir a opinião. Pegaria muito mal.
Conforme este que escreve frisou, a oposição à regulamentação será significativa no plenário das duas Casas do Congresso, e incidirá sobre a sua abrangência.
Explico: o projeto abrange os três poderes e as três esferas.
Os parlamentares provavelmente não se oporão a regulamentar o acesso a informação na esfera federal. Raciocinarão que o governo, o Jucidiário e o legislativo federais já estão bem lançados no sentido de abrir informações que detêm e que, de toda maneira, o problema não é com eles, deputados e senadores.
A coisa muda de figura quando se trata das esferas estadual e municipal.
Os últimos interessados em abrir informações sobre o gerenciamento do poder público nos estados e municípios são os deputados e senadores. Os interesses políticos de todos eles estão nos estados e nos municípios. Não é descabido imaginar que a grande maioria tem interesse em esconder informações em suas bases eleitorais, e não abri-las.
Essa é a principal pedra no caminho da tramitação desse projeto.
That does not mean there is no opposition. The point is that, in a matter like this, nobody will express their opposition publicly. It would be very inconvenient for them.
As I have pointed out, opposition to the legislation will be significant on the floor of both houses of Congress, and will influence the [bill's] depth.
Let me explain: the project covers the three powers and three spheres [Executive, Judicial and Legislative].
Lawmakers will probably not be opposed to regulating access to information at the federal level. They will reason that the government, the federal legislative and Justice are already well equipped to disclose the information they hold and that in any case, the problem is not with them, congressmen and senators.
The picture changes when it comes to state and municipal levels.
Those least interested in disclosing information on the management of public power in the states and municipalities are the congressmen and senators. Everyone's political interests are in those states and municipalities. It is not unreasonable to imagine that the vast majority of them have an interest in hiding information in their constituencies, instead of disclosing it.
This is the main stumbling block to the progress of this project.
"Information is a right of yours. You need to know". Information is Your Right! campaign logo.
The Right to Information is more than just an administrative governance reform. It is a fundamental human right. There is no democracy without a  right to information – not just freedom of information, but the right to it. It is paramount that “Brazilian citizens are convinced that they have the right to information and officials are convinced that they have the obligation [to provide it]”, as noted by Maria Marvan during the Public Debate on the Proposed Law last April.
For more detail on the South American context, also check: The Right to Information in Latin America: A Comparative Legal Survey, by UNESCO.

author: Paula Góes


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China: Draining the brain? · Global Voices
Marta Cooper

Both the blogosphere and the mainstream media in China have been alerting us to the country’s severe brain drain. According to the Global Times, around 1.4 million Chinese have gone abroad as students and scholars since 2007, with only a quarter returning after graduation. The Blue Book on Global Politics and Security, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also produced statistics on the situation. Its co-author Li Xiaoli claimed,
It has been a great loss for China which is now in dire need of people of expertise to see well-educated professionals leave after the country has invested a lot in them.
Why is there such a vast exodus of China’s brightest to the shores of Europe, Australia, the UK and the US? As the London School of Economics’ Bingchun Meng told me, there are practical reasons of research funding and how far a salary in China can match the benefits of the West. But, unsurprisingly, there are deeper concerns of the Chinese system of education: “one issue was whether I would be able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about in my class. Would there be any limits put on the way I design my curriculum?” Meng said. As a social scientist, furthermore, what Meng valued from her education both in the USA and UK was the autonomy of thinking, questioning and critiquing. “I was not sure if, after being in the West, I could go back to the Chinese system or push the envelope.”
What ‘s the online opinion? Blogger Nansongzhuang describes the situation vividly:
现在中国每年培养的博士硕士数目直追美国。但是你如果仔细调查他们的本科学位，就会发现他们大多出身于二流甚至三四流学校。所以造成了这样一种现象，一流本科生，二流的硕士生，三流的博士生，四流的教授，以此类推。更何况由于扩大招生，即使所谓一流的本科生之素质也远比不上当年。为了眼前利益，高校扩招的结果，使高校成为最大的废品制造场所。这些场所制造出来的”产品”在社会都无立足之地，是为就业难。而目前中国的高校充斥着最大的废品制造场所制造出来的”博士”，尤其那些以中国标准的一流的高校，那里”学术”骨干居然大多为当年考不上该校本科的人，这的确是具有中国特色的一道风景线。
那么中国一流的本科毕业生中的大多数都到那里去了？他们大部分都到欧美，到那些学术较公平，思想较自由的地方去了。
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Where have all our band one graduate students gone? They have mostly traveled to the U.S and Europe, to where they can enjoy openness and freedom.
As another blogger, Hezhihong, further explains:
有个领导与我谈心,告诫我:你不要傲气,聪明能干又如何?好如你是非凡、聪明到不用任何原料都可造出原子弹的人,但不准你去做,要你每天手拿扫把沿着十里东莞大道扫地,明复一日,奈何!…
我想这些赴海外读书的学生家境是富裕的,对上述的情况或有所闻或父辈们都经历过,与其说逃避内地残酷的现实不如说他们不想耗费时间与精力在这种有”特色”的竟争环境上。
“人际关系就是生产力”、”有无水平就看你能否把事情摆平”,近年来不但在官场、职场上都流行着几个概念
Throughout the English-speaking blogosphere in China, allusions have been made to a continuation of the Cultural Revolution. One chinaSMACK forum post claimed the excesses from 1966-76 “significantly degraded Chinese ‘educated, literate, artistic people’, but not totally destroyed.” One other forum-goer stated, “how can we expect any Chinese to really be an intellectual? 1.3 billion people and not one Nobel Prize should not be a surprise to anyone.”
Shanghaiist, meanwhile, published details of a Gallup survey, which showed that one in five university-educated Chinese want to jump ship for foreign lands:
So far, China's economic exuberance has not translated to widespread confidence in job markets. Brain drain will continue to be a concern as long as college-educated Chinese 1) fail to see job growth outpacing the influx of people to the cities and 2) compare their pay levels unfavorably to those of professionals in developed countries.
Even the aforementioned state-run Global Times produced a scathing opinion piece on the issue, in which it claimed “China has no educational innovation at all… [its] educational assessment system is a mix of ideas borrowed from the rest of the world.” It has been said that, in lieu of being provided with practical skills, university graduates have even been replaced by migrant workers in the job market.
Things became a little more heated in the summer of 2008, when a hacker/student reporter broke into Tsinghua University’s website and posted an essay that claimed “university education system is in effect ‘pouring s**t into the students’ minds’.” In reporting the event, chinaSMACK went on to claim,
Today’s various institutions of higher learning, including Tsinghua and Beijing University, no longer have the educational goal of fostering talent. Serious academic corruption, dry and irrelevant to society curriculum, and rote memorization teaching methods will lead to students developing rigid ways of thinking, losing interest in the curriculum, losing confidence in the college and even China’s entire education system.
Yet, as the website did point out, the upper levels are taking heed. In response to the hacker’s condemnation of Chinese education, Tsinghua’s principal Gu Binglin said, “I believe a real university should foster students’ independent skill, unique thinking methods, and the spirit to challenge authority.” He advocated ‘unique thinking methods’ (“trying different things to find solve problems, of grabbing hold of a line and then feeling your way forward”) and a more debate-centred classroom environment, indicating that such reform would be key to China’s higher education.
As a British student in China myself, the differences between the learning environments are clear: here, a narrative style of teaching is prevalent, with little engagement from students and much less critical debate than in my lecture halls in London. Meng also admitted that, upon moving to Penn State from Nanjing University, it took her about a year to get up to speed with the rigorous and participatory learning styles of the USA.
However, more recently it has been said that this severe brain drain is making a u-turn. This recent feature in Business Week shows how science-educated returnees are drawn in by the opportunity to create science programmes in the PRC, with its economic boom and increasing government-sanctioned programmes that aim to draw back in doctorates.
Blogging at techcrunch.com, UC Berkeley's Vivek Wadwha has also looked into this further: having done research on 1203 Chinese and Indian returnees, he found 51% of the Chinese held Masters degrees and 41% had PhDs, and shared an average age of 33. Further, 84% of the Chinese participants cited professional opportunities as a stimulating factor.
While they make less money in absolute terms at home, most said their salaries brought a “better quality of life” than what they had in the U.S (…) When it came to social factors, 67% of the Chinese (…) cited better “family values” at home. Ability to care for aging parents was also cited, and this may be a hidden visa factor: it’s much harder to bring parents and other family members over to the U.S. than in the past. For the vast majority of returnees, a longing for family and friends was also a crucial element.
74% of Chinese students and 86% of Indian students believe that the best days for their home country’s economy lie ahead. National Science Foundation studies have shown that the “5 year stay rates” for Chinese and Indians science and engineering PhD’s have historically been around 92 % and 85% respectively (NSF tracks these 5 years at a time, and the vast majority stay permanently).
Yet, the attraction of Chinese scientists and mathematicians back to their motherland is just one facet of a wider issue. The potential to continue this reversal is also dependent on whether or not China can improve its research environment, as UPI Asia Online’s Cong Cao also states. In Meng's view, although the Chinese Ministry of Education has been pushing forward in reforms, especially in attempts to alter the intensive university entrance exam system, educational exchanges with the West are also crucial: “this is not in terms of the West being superior, but they would be helpful in allowing Chinese students to step back and question many previous assumptions.”
Deeper reforms need to be made in the education sector that go beyond government-sanctioned programmes, yet remnants of the Cultural Revolution may well be visible in the lack of critical teaching styles that are too entrenched to be changed overnight. Will Gu Binglin's ideal of ‘unique thinking methods’ ever be realised in Chinese universities?
The Chinese quotes are translated by Oiwan Lam.

author: Marta Cooper


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Ghana: 13 things you should not miss when in Ghana · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

if you happen to visit Ghana in West Africa, there are 13 things you should not miss.


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Gross National Happiness: Bring It Home To Roost · Global Voices
Sonam Ongmo

The 5th International conference on Gross National Happiness (GNH) ended on 24th November, 2009.  It was held in Iguacu, Brazil and was attended by about a thousand participants from several countries of the world represented by all cross sections of societies.
According to the Center for Bhutan Studies, the aim of the fifth GNH conference was to bring together policy makers, civil society, intellectuals and academics and explore issues pertaining to development.
Happy Faces From Bhutan. Image by Flickr user laihiu and used under a creative commons license
Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the 4th King of Bhutan first coined the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) when he was barely in his 20’s.  As King of a small and poor country, he sought the unconventional path to development by focusing on the quality and happiness of his people rather than GDP/GNP as the ultimate goal.
The first conference was held in Bhutan in 2004, the second one in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2005, the third in Thailand in 2007, and the fourth was in Bhutan in 2008.
The 4 pillars of GNH include socio-economic development, preservation of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment and establishment of good governance. And these include many indicators like psychological well being, health, education, living standards etc.
The premise of such a philosophy is more or less embedded in E. F Schumacher’s 1973 revolutionary book, “Small is Beautiful; Economics as if People Mattered,” and something he called “Buddhist Economics.”
But as the world tries to grasp onto the idea of whether GNH can work or whether it is just a fuzzy notion, Bhutan – the country where the concept first originated – has been asking whether GNH has run ahead of itself.
The debate started when the Bhutanese Prime Minister returned from the conference last week and said that GNH has spread so fast that it is being taken more seriously in places other than Bhutan, its country of origin, and that the country is falling behind.
The leader of the opposition in Bhutanese parliament, Tshering Tobgay, avidly retorted on his blog:
“Very good. Our government now understands what the common man has long known: namely that, to increase happiness levels, we need is less talk and more action.”
Invisible, a reader, commented on his post:
“I strongly disagree with our Lyonchhen and say that, “Bhutan is not lagging behind in GNH.” Bhutanese Society is GNH Society. GNH is in our “values” and in our “thinking.”
And Tangba, another reader, commented:
“The fact is GNH was there since long time back and all the civilized nations had been implementing it for centuries. The only difference is that they didn’t call it GNH as we do. They called it by other collective names: quality education, good health care, clean environment, nature and wildlife conservation, preservation of culture and traditions, strong economy, freedom of speech, corruption free administration, human rights and so on. Then why are we making a big fuss about it?”
Meanwhile Rubiks at Kuzu-Bhutan Weblog begged to differ:
Some people may ask, “why all this fuss against GNH now?” Well! I say this – it has become incredibly difficult to have a meaningful debate about anything without someone dragging the term “GNH” into it…I am tired of this cliché.
…I know I am living in a real world and not some fairy tale world. In order to measure happiness, we need to have a very clear understanding about happiness. Happiness is a state of mind, which is not constant.  Philosophers have been trying to define “mind” for centuries, yet they are still left with the same fundamental question – what is mind? Happiness is a subjective entity hence to measure it objectively is just a fallacy.
Awakened fellow, a commenter on the above post, countered:
“Nobody says that Bhutan has achieved GNH. We all accept that there is much to strive for even to reach near GNH. But that doesn't mean that GNH is crap.
GNH is a broad idea. It is a guide and inspiration – not a rule, solution or a prescription. Yes, we have many problems and we are far from GNH. But, even just having GNH as our guide, and striving for it is a big thing.”
But Unagi agreed in another post on Kuzu-Bhutan Weblog:
“GNH does not mean having a Land Cruiser and living in a comfortable Duplex and getting a degree from the U.S. BUT what is GNH is the fact that every one is happy because they have the basic NEEDS.
GNH is a mutual benefit philosophy and you should share the unhappiness of those fellow citizens who are apparently NOT happy because their children are walking for hours to get to school, because they don't have enough food to survive and they definitely cannot worry about a Land Cruiser, believe me.
GNH is beautiful, I accept that but what I'm saying is…for GNH money is essential and for GNH to be ACHIEVED, resources need to be SHARED equally among everyone. Not some owning Land Cruisers and other not even being able to afford taxis. That is when MONEY comes into play for happiness.”
Some bloggers like Sonam Tshering argued that giving GNH a formal platform had, instead, made it worse for the commoner:
“In 2004, the Centre for Bhutan Studies for the first time organized an international conference on Operationalizing of Gross National Happiness. Subsequently, the centre organized similar international conferences in Canada, Thailand and this year is Brazil. Since then, the concept of GNH has grown beyond the comprehension of the common people.
Now the question that remains is how it can be applied in the ground realities of the common people. The concept has grown too high, most common people today feel that GNH is only for the experts and high level officials.”
The Bhutanese Prime Minister put the onus on the individuals to make it happen:
“It [a government] must try to create the right conditions, but the individual himself and herself must pursue happiness.”
As the debate rages on, it seems – at least – that they inadvertently agreed one thing: that Bhutan needed to work on GNH at home, rather than letting international academics seek definition and run away with the idea. So far, however, Bhutan has been pretty successful in selling it. This summer the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy also wanted to measure his country’s economic progress through GNH (the proposal was later rejected). Now the challenge remains to bring the concept home to roost.

author: Sonam Ongmo


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Guyana: Christmas Reading · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana thinks that books make great Christmas gifts, “and the sweetest part is that you don't have to go further than the internet to buy and send them.” Check out a few of her faves, here.


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Hungary: A News Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Some of the posts that have appeared on Hungarian Spectrum in the past ten days: “corruption and the unfriendly attitude toward foreign investors“; the Hungarian opposition leader's meeting with the Russian PM and the future of the Russian-Hungarian relations – here and here; murder at the University of Pécs – here and here; scandals surrounding the public television company of Hungary, MTV; politics and the H1N1 vaccine.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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India: Storey Telling Key To Marketing Success · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indian blogger Gaurav Mishra lists three reasons why storytelling is the key to social media marketing success.


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Jamaica: Dry as a Bone · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I'm glad we didn't get a hurricane, but also we didn't get not even one good tropical wave to replenish the reservoirs and quench the thirst of the parched land!”: Stunner reports on Jamaica's drought.


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Japan: Open government · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tobias Harris from Observing Japan blogs about the Hatoyama government's attempt in building a transparent and open government.


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Kosovo: Coal Imports · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros writes about Kosovo's need to import coal from elsewhere, despite having “the world’s fifth largest reserve” itself.


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Morocco: Celebrating Eid in the Bled · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

This past weekend, Moroccans celebrated Eid Al-Adha, or the Festival of the Sacrifice, often referred to in Morocco as Eid Al-Kabir, or “the big festival,” as opposed to Eid al-Fitr, known colloquially as Eid al-Sghir, or “the little festival.”  While the holiday shares the same meaning and traditions across the Muslim world, the celebrations are often uniquely local.
Erin says of her family's sheep: "He had no idea what was coming."
Bloggers in rural Morocco (referred to locally as the bled) are sharing their stories about this year's Eid. As Internet access is sparse and often prohibitively expensive outside of cities, many of the people blogging from rural areas are Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and are therefore positioned to give an outsiders’ perspective…from the inside.
Erin, a PCV who blogs at Reflections and Experiences in Al Maghreb Al Aqsa, explains her host family's Eid traditions, saying:
Joy in Morocco posted this photo on her blog
from her village cooking on Eid:
Moroccan's close connection with food. Sheep meat doesn't arrive in frozen packages. They slaughter it. They prepare all the meat- start to grill. Similarly is their relationship with fruit and vegetables, particularly in my region. Everything comes from their backyard, literally.
PCV oclynn in morocco was less of a fan of the holiday.  The blogger explains:
Smoke off the grills rising from all the rooftop decks as the heads and hooves of the sheep are first to go on the fire. Listening to the thrashing of my neighbor’s sheep on our roof as it is dying (and why does it seem to be taking so long?). Sheep were slaughtered on rooftops, the lot next door and on the sidewalk in front of homes. Everywhere. Blood running down the gutter. It must be L’eid Kbir. Not my favorite holiday, but the holiest of them all in the Muslim world.
Blowing up the lungs of the Eid sheep
Yet another PCV whose blog is called From the Cold Land with the Hot Sun shares an interesting experience from the holiday, complete with photo:
Though I'd like to divert the focus away from the gruesome and entertaining aspects of the celebration in favor of the more wholesome and boring ones, I did witness a jaw-dropping moment during the disemboweling of the animal that I cannot resist writing about here. Upon removing the lungs from the inverted and dangling sheep's chest cavity, the friendly man spattered in blood held them up by the still-attached esophagus for all to see. He then blew forcefully into the esophageal opening, causing the lungs to inflate fully– pink, glistening, and strange in the morning sun. It was so cool.
Cynthia, the blogger behind The Couscous Chronicles, is another PCV writing about the holiday.  She explains why it's best to have “family” in Morocco:
This year was worlds better than last year simply because I chose to celebrate it with my neighbors (who have really become my family here) and their entire extended family, which is a hilarious and wonderful group of people. Last year I felt like I just got shuffled around from house to house, drinking tea and eating meat and feeling awkward the whole time, but this year I felt like part of the celebration. Feeling like a real part of a family makes holidays a lot more fun.
Last but not least, Reading Morocco shares a slideshow of photos from a Berber village in Southern Morocco, attributed to Leila Alaoui:
Eid Al Adha from aida alami on Vimeo.


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Morocco: Jail for Chakib Khayari · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Maghreb Blog reports that the sentence of Chakib Khayari, a human rights activist and whistleblower, has been upheld in a Casablanca court. Khayari is set to serve three years in prison for accusing high-level civil servants of aiding in drug trafficking.