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The French Presidential Election: A View From Outside the Metropole · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

In the five years since the last presidential election, and in particular after the 2005 riots and the headscarf controversy, immigration and race have moved to the center of the political debate.
This, combined with the fact that the election marks the first time in France's history a woman has come this close to the presidency, might account for Sunday's unprecedented voter turnout, the highest since 1965.
Here's a view of the election from outside the metropole–voters in overseas French departments, interested bloggers in former French colonies, and the growing ranks of hyphenated French.
Like many francophones, Vive la Francophonie is skeptical of Sarkozy‘s sincerity when it comes to solving France's racial problems and improving relations with the francophone world.
Ecoutant Sarkozy  à 20 30 j’en avait les larmes aux yeux, il voulait me protéger, il voulait la fraternité de la grande famille française, il était contre les « parachutes  dorés » . Pour  un peu  il  serait devenu social-démocrate en un clin d’œil ! Fini le Sarkozy condamnant tout le monde au bagne perpétuel,  avec une retraite entre  65 et 70. Dernière  volte face : Coassgen, sur « RCJ » annonce un référendum sur l’Europe…
Mais d’autres arguments plaident pour Royal : les jury populaires, la proportionnelle à l’assemblée nationale, le  droit de pétition, l’encadrement militaires des petits  délinquants, les internats de proximité, la flexisécurité, peut-être une  plus grande attention à la francophonie puisqu’elle est née au Sénégal
Listening to Sarkozy at 20:30, I had tears in my eyes.  He wanted to protect me, wanted brotherhood for the big French family, he was against “golden parachutes.”  For a moment it seemed he could have become a social democrat with the blink of an eye!  Sarkozy finished by condemning everyone to prison for a life sentence, proposing retirement between age 65 and 70.  Last about face: on “RCJ” Coassgen announced a referendum on Europe…
…there are other arguments in Royal's favor: popular jury, proportional representation in the National Assembly, the right of petition, the placement of juvenile delinquents in military academies, local boarding schools, flexisecurity, and possibly a greater attention to francophones because she was born in Senegal.
At Demain Le Congo Brazzaville, Mouvimat, who clearly has no love for Sarkozy, maintains that nothing is certain; but as if anticipating a Sarkozy win, wonders what France will be like under Sarkozy.
Si la raison l'a emporté au premier tour, rien n'est moins sûr, même si l'on se rend compte que pour une fois, les élections sont conformes aux prédictions des sondages. Les sondages sont-ils devenus une science exacte ? Certainement pas ! Mais nous savons qu'ils influencent les petits esprits et les petites opinions qui se disent :”la majorité a raison donc je vote comme la majorité !”
Si Sarkozy passe, il se pourrait que les Français le regrette mais ce peuple est pétri de contradictions et c'est ainsi qu'il aime à avancer en se vautrant dans sa propre contradiction…s'il gagne dans quinze jours aura tous les pouvoirs…
Mouvimat goes onto call Sarkozy the “standard bearer” (Fr) of the monied classes, one step away from supreme power, and says that Jews are the “masters of global finance.”
Community web portal Yabiladi.com posts an online poll which suggests that like other minorities, French Moroccans remain suspicious of Nicolas Sarkozy, who received only 7% of 1057 votes.  Centrist candidate Francois Bayrou received 25% and Segolene Royal was most popular, with 48%.  Royal and Bayrou have benefited, Yabiladi explains, from the French Moroccan community's position of “Anything but Sarko” (Fr) .
Of the election results, French-Lebanese blogger Frencheagle –a rightest in favor of Bayrou, not Sarkozy–writes of that France has chosen “mediocrity and arrogance” (Fr). Segolene Royal is the mediocre candidate making promises she cannot possibly keep, and Sarkozy the arrogant one, notably for his handling of the 2005 riots.
Frencheagle, who seems to have preferred Bayrou, writes that the results show France has significantly shifted to the right.  A rightist himself, Frencheagle thinks this is generally a good sign, but he's not keen on seeing Sarko in the presidency.
la France n'a jamais été autant droite qu'aujourd'hui, si on accumule les votes de François Bayrou, Nicolas Sarkozy, et Jean-Marie Le Pen. Plus de 60 % de la population française estiment en effet que désormais seule une politique de droite pourraient venir à bout des problèmes auxquels fait face leur pays. Je ne peux qu'être bien sûr que content de cela, étant et me considérant de droit. Je déplore cependant en soit arrivé à avoir un Sarkozy deuxième tour, ne fait plutôt penser à un roquet plein président de la république, il a l'art de polémiquer, de provoquer, mais sûrement pas de se poser comme arbitre entre Français qui agissent dans l'intérêt de tous.
Global Voices author Samsoum has an in-depth roundup of the Tunisian blogosphere's coverage of the French presidential election.  Girl from Mars wonders why Tunisians seem to be more interested and knowledgeable about French politics than their own.
Guadeloupe and Martinique both saw record turnouts, with the majority of voters in Guadeloupe voting for Sarkozy (42.6%) and in Martinique, for Royal (48.4%).
Overseas departments voted on April 21st, one day ahead of France, so as to “avoid the impression their vote was useless” (Fr),  explains Greg at Internet Rapide.  Because of the early vote and the time difference, broadcasts of television and radio news from France were temporarily suspended in order to comply with the ban on campaigning after the Friday before the poll.
As passionately as Et Si Nous Parlions writes about his loss of faith in Sarkozy and his support for Royal, Trop Nul en Guadeloupe explains why Segolene Royal is “dangerous for France.”
Marie-Ségolène Royal qui s'est présentée comme une mère aux Français, n'est en fait qu'une fourbe dissimulée sous un beau visage, refait lui aussi pour endormir l'électeur.  Depuis le début de “SA” campagne, il y a six mois, Marie-Ségolène Royal n'a cessé de suivre l'actualité au plus près pour adapter ses thèses aux souhaits des uns et des autres. Dans ses tentatives de précisions, sont apparues ce que l'on a appelé des bourdes, mais qui n'étaient en fait que le résultat d'un creux sidéral au niveau de ses idées.
Méprisante avec le PS, son parti, puis à nouveau une fidèle partisane, Marie-Ségolène Royal n'est en fait qu'une courtisane se donnant au plus offrant.
Marie-Ségolène Royal, who styles herself a mother of France, is nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing, a cheat hiding under a pretty face (that too redone to lull voters).  Since the beginning of “her” campaign six months ago, Marie-Ségolène Royal has not stopped following current events to adapt her position to the wishes of someone or another.  In her attempts to be specific, she has made many so-called blunders, but these were in fact the result of the hollowness of her ideas.
Once disdainful of the Socialist Party, she has become its newest, devoted member.  Marie-Ségolène Royal is nothing more than a courtesan giving herself to the highest bidder.
Trop Nul en Guadeloupe also thinks many Sarkozy supporters may have voted for Royal so that Sarkozy would face Royal–and not the more moderate Bayrou–in the second round of elections.
Samson Point Com writes about the election from Tahiti.  As in the French Antilles, French Polynesia votes a day earlier.  However in this case if they did not vote a day ahead, with the time difference Tahitians would know the outcome of the election in France before the polls even opened in their country.
Like many before him, Sampson notes the record interest in this presidential election.  However, he thinks that attention has become somewhat farcical and does not represent genuine civic engagement.
Maintenant, les candidats, on les découvre autant dans VOICI et GALA que dans LE MONDE ou L'EXPRESS…
On entend que cette campagne a passionné les français. Mon oeil comme dirait Le Pen ! C'est de l'auto persuasion non ? On nous bassine avec des petites phrases…on se demande qui est le personnage en photo dans un cadre derrière Arlette Laguiller (est-ce qu'elle a un “mec” ?), on nous montre des photos de Ségolène en jeans parce qu'elle ne met pas que des robes, etc…
Il y a les attaques verbales plus ou moins frontales, et puis les pervers (enfin surtout un…) qui répond “qu'il ne répond pas”, que les autres se querellent et que lui s'occupe des Français…
Now, you are as likely to find the candidates in VOICI and GALA [i.e., tabloid magazines] as in LE MONDE our L'EXPRESS…
You've heard about how this campaign has enthralled the French.  Yeah right! as Le Pen would say.  Aren't we just talking ourselves into it?  We swim in a sea of meaningless words…we ask ourselves who is this person in the photo behind Arlette Laguiller (did she go get herself a “man?”), we show photographs of Segolene in jeans because she normally only wears dresses, etc…
Samson once went through an “angry adolescent-abstentionist period” (Fr).  He is full of doubts.  Nevertheless, he writes that it is important to vote and that if people are ever to practice a higher level of politics, civic education is essential.  Parents should talking to their children about politics.
Et si nous parlions, written by a francophone African, country unknown, explains his reasons for supporting Segolene Royal, even though as recently as one year ago, he was a Sarkozy supporter.
Sarkozy's handling of the 2005 riots have made the author of Et si nous parlions believe that Sarkozy, and the majority of the French, are not really interested in building a multicultural, multiracial France.
Il y'a un an, j'étais prosarkozyste, je suivais avec attention ses idées qui avaient l'air d'apporter du changement dans cette France sclérosée. J'étais pour la discrimination positive parceque j'ai toujours cru que “un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras”. En effet, au lieu d'attendre, probalement 1000 ans que la France change de mentalité et réintègre sa partie colorée dans son histoire. Je préfère qu'on discrimine positivement en attendant que le monde soit meilleur.
Puis un jour, il y'a eu les émeutes des banlieues, j'ai attendu que cet homme politique traite ce problème de manière pragmatique. C'est a dire remettre du calme mais aussi essayer de comprendre, trouver des solutions sociales au problème des exclus de banlieue. J'ai attendu qu'il profite de cette occasion pour relancer l'idée de dsicrimination positive. Avec 40% de chomage dans certains villes, on peut comprendre que l'emploi est la première solution contre l'émeute des banlieues. C'est alors que nous avons tous compris avec stupéfaction que Sieur Nicolas comptait se servir de la peur qu'a naturellement, historiquement, psychologiquement et socialement un blanc de neuilly pour un jeune basané de clichy sous bois en France.
C'est alors que j'ai compris a quelle sauce Sarkozy comptait nous manger. Et c'est alors que j'ai décidé de regarder ailleurs. Si Sarkozy avait été au pouvoir pendant cette dernière decennie, jamais quelqu'un comme moi ne serait arrivé en France. Je ne scierai pas l'arbre sur lequel je suis assis.
Et Si Nous Parlions is deeply skeptical that either the Left or the Right is seriously committed to addressing racism in France, but that the Left represents the lesser of two evils.
C'est vrai qu'il ya presque autant de noirs /arables voire plus à l'UMP qu'au PS. Mais l'UMP de Sarkozy a viré à l'extreme droite. C'est une UMP qui dit aux basanés, nous ferons rien pour que vous reussisiez mais une fois que vous serez riche et populaire, nous oublierons que vous venez d'ailleurs. C'est une UMP qui ne veut garder que les meilleurs, les favorisés ecrasant sur son passage ceux qui souffrent de l'exclusion dans les coins pauvres de France. Je ne pense pas qu'il y ait moins de racistes a gauche mais je pense qu'il ya une difference entre legitimer le racisme et ne pas en parler. La difference est que l'auteur du racisme doute du bien fondé de son acte. Je ne veux pas d'un pays qui croit que c'est normal d'habiter en cité parce qu'on est noir, que seuls les etrangers posent problème, que la polygamie est source des emeutes de banlieues…
J'ai tout prévu , Si Sarkozy et Le pen passent au second tour, j'estime que la France l'aura merité. Il n'y aura plus aucune raison pour moi d'etre pacifique, plus aucune de croire en une France qui se veut diverse. Je ne resisterai pas pacifique et je voterai a ce moment la pour le repli communautaire parceque je pense que de toute facon on ne pourra rien faire contre un majorité de gens qui les aurons sciamment choisi. Je créerai donc ma boite de noirs pour des salariés et des clients noirs. J'adhererai à des associations de noirs etc… Vous me direz, tu feras exactement ce qu'ils veulent. C'est exact mais au moins ce sera pour mon propre intéret.
While the blogger is not sure Royal will be better able to represent him than any of the other white candidates, Royal, at least, has more convincingly spoken to the interests of African immigrants.
Les intellectuels nous diront ne pas voter pas pour elle parcequ'elle est une femme. J'ai des milliers de raisons qui pourraient me pousser a voter pour elle objectivement. La premiere est que je suis africaine et que c'est la seule candidate qui a dit à la télé à des millions de francais sut TF1 que la France a participé aux pillages de l'Afrique. Ceci ne veut pas dire qu'elle fera mieux que les autres. Mais arretons d'etre idealiste, c'est a nous de changer nos pays d'origine. Cepndant, le fait qu'elle le dise est deja un bon debut. C'est aussi la candidate qui propose des visas aller/retour France/pays d'origine pour permettre aux africians ici de retourner plus facilement vers leur pays et aujourdhui, je pense que pour la diaspora qui est installée ce n'est pas negligeable.
Although the fact that she is a woman is not the primary reason this blogger is voting for Royal, the symbolism of her gender is not lost on him
…pour la premiere fois, une femme risque d'etre presidente en France. Au fond, je ne crois pas qu'elle soit moins au plus competente que les autres. Mais je pense que le symbole qu'elle represente va au dela de la politique. Je m'explique.
Les femmes sont globalement discriminées dans cette société malgré toutes les lois de parité. Un femme a ce niveau de l'état est une amorce naturelle au changement. Nous ne changerons plus nos hommes mais nous changerons nos petits garcons qui sauront q'une femme peut aller la ou un homme peut aller. Qu'est ce que ca change pour la minorité que je suis ? C'est le symbole dans l'esprit des gens. Aux USA, il fallait compter avec Hilary clinton, aujourdhui il faut compter avec Barak Obama. On en est pas la en France mais c'est une amorce.
…for the first time, a woman has a shot at being president of France.  Deep down, I don't believe that she will be any more or less competent than the others.  But I think that what she sympbolizes goes beyond boplitics.  Let me explain.
Women are discriminated against in this society, despite being equal before the law.  A woman at this level of power is naturally the beginning of change.  We can no longer change our men, but we can change our young boys, let them know that a woman can go wherever a man can.  What does that change for the minority I belong to?  It's a symbol in people's minds.  In the US, you looked to Hillary Clinton, now you look to Barak Obama.  We're not there yet in France, but it's a beginning.
Photos: Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal; Source: Wiki Commons


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Trinidad & Tobago: Getting Your Blog Read  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Public Relations asks the question, “What is it that gets a blog read by lots of people?” and comes up with some helpful advice: “You can form relationships online at minimum costs with maximum reach once you do it right.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Political Satire · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Nicholas Laughlin has a chuckle at some satirical political columns that ran in the Trinidad Guardian close to half a century ago and asks, “Could anybody working on the Trinidad newspapers today come up with something like this?”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Soca Artists on Assault Charges?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Trinidad Insider reports on another incident at Zen nightclub, this time involving the alleged assault of a young man: “The assailants may include soca artists Machel Montano, Benjai and Kernal Roberts.”


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Writers in Guatemala · Global Voices
Renata Avila

In a country where people purchase more beer and sports magazines than books, where several languages are spoken (not only Spanish), and where a considerable number of people is illiterate, the context is challenging for a writer. In a country where books are not “Tax Free”, where children barely read the books, not even the compulsory ones, children are not enthusiastic with the idea of literature as a profession. Most of the writers find it really hard to publish a book, and even harder to make it profitable. They often work as journalists, analysts, engineers and also write regularly. Few of them are full time writers, many of them, unknown locally.
However, they have found, through blogging, an opportunity to express themselves, to share their works, and to promote the interest among Guatemalans, especially in poetry and short stories.
Poetry is the pioneer in the art of blogging, Pablo Bromo on his Bicicleta [ES] is blogging since 2005. Other poets blogging are Alejandro Marré with Marré v. Marré [ES] , Alan Mills and his revolver [ES] , Gerardo Sandoval with “Palabras Mayores”, and Arnoldo Gálvez with “Tercer Perfil” [ES]
The Novelist Ronald Flores even has his own domain [ES], where you can find not only his work but also critiques, suggestions and even comments on international books
Every Thursday you can read and comment on the column of Maurice Echeverría, a young, but quite successful Guatemalan writer in Buscando a Syd [ES].
You can read Claudia Navas either in Ordinaria Locura [ES] or in a collective blog called  Panoptico Literario [ES], Wingston González [ES] a young Guatemalan writer just started with his blog ALFILER [ES] a collective project of e-books and critics with a blog called LIBROS MINIMOS [ES] (little books), where many of the writer-bloggers are sharing their publications and also comment on their blog .
What is important to stress is the use of technology and spaces such as blogs to promote culture, where they can attract young readers and also share their ideas with the world. All of them have at least a book published, and they have several literary prizes and book awards. And they are using the blogosphere to share their works, completely open minded to critics to build a new, free culture in Guatemala, and to let the world know what they are saying with their blogs.

author: Renata Avila


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Zimbabwe: Don’t come back to Zimbabwe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

From Kubatana blog: “I’ve just received a reply to an email I sent to a friend informing them that I had been offered a fellowship to study at the prestigious Radio Netherlands Training Centre (RNTC).
All he said was good luck in your studies and don’t come back until there is CHANGE. He added ‘find something else to do there to kill time’.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Afghanistan: Fourth Estate in the Balance · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Safrang reports that Afghanistan's parliament is debating a bill that would further erode the diminishing freedom that Afghanistan's media enjoys.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Africa: the cultural construction of African homosexuality · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Gukira discusses “the cultural construction of African homosexuality”:
If we are to understand the cultural construction of African homosexuality, it must be from within the prison. Once we understand sodomy as a tool of political repression, or, more precisely, as being intertwined with political repression, then we can understand, if not condone, why otherwise progressive Africans may find the idea of homosexual rights repugnant. In part, this meditation attempts to move away from the tradition vs. modernity and religion vs. secularism stalemates by locating contemporary ideas of homosexuality within, arguably, indigenous contexts.


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Albania: Ruminations on Elections · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Tirana attempts to place the French and British elections into Albanian context.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Argentina: The Gated Community Divide · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Ian from GoodAirs writes about the increasing trend of Argentines living in “countries”, which are gated communities protected by walls and razor wire.  Even with the perceived protection, there is a robbery every 3 days in one of these communities, making it not as safe as one might think.  Another drawback is that children residing in these countries live their lives in a bubble far from the realities of their own country.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Argentina: The Maradona Rumor Mill · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Juan Pablo Meneses of the Crónicas Argentinas [ES] blog, which compiles all things Diego Maradona, discusses the latest death rumor that caused quite a false alarm stir, which has become such a common occurrence in Argentina.  He finishes with, “why does Maradona die so often?”


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Armenia: British Election Scandal · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian discusses an Armenian election scandal involving the British embassy.


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Armenia, Georgia: Comparing Local Governance · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Social Science in the Caucasus compares local governance in Armenia and Georgia.


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Armenia: Pop Stars for Status Quo · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia reports that Armenia's pop stars have finally come out in support of the ruling political party in the country's parliamentary election campaign.


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Bahrain: Mahmood’s Den Fourth Anniversary · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Godfather of Bahraini bloggers Mahmood Al Yousif marks his blog's fourth anniversary with a gift to his readers.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bolivia: Screening of “Cocalero” in the Chapare · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Much of the world's interest in Bolivia has to do with the first indigenous president, Evo Morales.  He got his start as a union leader with the coca growers in the Chapare region of Bolivia.  A recent documentary called “Cocalero” followed Morales during his victorious campaign of 2005.  The film's director, Alejandro Landes, took the film to the heart of Morales’ old stomping ground to screen the film for the cocaleros, and Luis Rodriguez of Diseccionando a la Musa Perdida [ES] was along for the ride.  He chronicles the journey from Cochabamba to the tropics of that department and observes the farmers as they watch familiar scenes unfold, where he writes, “during the film, amidst the silence one could be heard saying proudly, “look, there I am!”, followed by heavy laughter.”


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Bulgaria: Escalators Fixed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

In the early 1990s, the escalators of Sofia's Main Train Station did not work, writes Sofia's Hidden Beauty: “The escalators’ colour became darker and darker, dust and rubbish irreversably damaged the mechanisms and they turned just into dangerous alternative of the stairs.” Now some of them do, again.


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Cameroon: Autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs from Cameroon · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dibussi Tande on Cameroonian national figures with autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs: “For example, Albert Mukong and Christian Tobie Kuo both wrote two volumes of their memoirs. Same with Jean Martin Tchaptchet (who shared that infamous last meal with nationalist leader Felix Moumie in Geneva in 1960), who has published two autobiographical volumes, and promises more. Footballer Roger Milla and musician Manu Dibango both have autobiographies.”


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Cameroonian Videogame · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

At Le Blog de L'Afrique, Nino writes about Play Detective, a video game developed by a Cameroonian programmer (Fr) named Sila Kayo.  A reader comments, “I have always wondered if there were video game developers in Cameroon…It's great to know that there are people interested in this kind of development, which is rather complicated and unexplored in our region.” Nino responds that there are other examples of Africans able to create high-tech game products despite limited means; “Often it's the will and the courage that is lacking.”

author: Jennifer Brea


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Cayman Islands, Jamaica: Interesting Cartoons · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Writing from the Cayman Islands, Mad Bull posts three cartoons drawn by the Jamaica Gleaner’s Las May that he thought “were either funny, or interesting, or funny AND interesting, all at the same time.”


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China: culture certification system · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI has translated an interview with Liu Changquan of the Ministry of Culture's Cultural and Artistic Talent Center from Southern Weekly about the newly proposed certification system for entry to cultural sectors.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Dog Abuse Triggered Internet Debate · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Josie Liu from China in Transition reported on a recent internet debate (17000 comments) about animal right VS human right. The discussion was triggered off by an incident of burning dogs in Nanjing city.


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Colombia: Leading Cause of Death for Children in Bogota · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Balada Del Elefante Azul [ES] is frustrated at the fact that the leading cause of death for children aged 12-17 in Bogota is by bullet or knife.  He is also bothered by a culture that seems to applaud those that “appear on television and proudly saying that they were a guerrilla, paramilitary or soldier.”


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Egypt: Sinai Bedouins Seek Refuge in Israel  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Writing at Kabobfest, blogger Hanaan  reports the plight of a Sinai bedouin, who is seeking entry into Israel.
“You know police brutality has reached a new low in Egypt when hundreds of the country's poorest would rather seek refuge in Israel than face Mubarak's hired guns. The government should be ashamed of itself…” she rants.


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Estonia: “A Russian Rebellion” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As Tallinn seems to have entered the second night of rioting over the removal of a Soviet war memorial, here's a blogger's recap (with photos, RUS, by LJ user mrprophet) of what happened the previous night:
A Russian rebellion
Today I've been to a true Russian rebellion, senseless and relentless.
For those not following the events: Estonian government has decided to begin excavations at the burial site of the Soviet soldiers and the Warrior-Liberator monument at [Tonismagi] Hill in downtown Tallinn today. In the afternoon, the police fenced off the monument and surrounding areas and covered the monument with a non-transparent cloth. Something like this has long been expected, so around 5 pm a predominantly Russian crowd started gathering near the National Library, located right by the monument.
I learned about it around 6 pm, when one of my friends called me. When I arrived at [Tonismagi], 2 to 3 thousand people were already there, chanting “Shame!” and “Fascists!”. The crowd was slowly but consistently growing, though the demonstration was extremely unorganized, due to the spontaneity of it all. Most people came to the square after learning about what was taking place from friends, over the phone, on the internet or in forums. Most people were young, but in general the crowd was pretty diverse.
In the meantime, the police cordoned off the whole square with a circle of OMON [riot police]. Nothing was happening for a long time. There were no speeches, people just stood and yelled slogans in defense of the monument to the fallen in the Great Patriotic War. The police and OMON acted calm. I witnessed only a couple of fights, when someone either threw himself on the cordon or something like that. They were using tear gas in response, but it didn't lead to mass aggression. At around 8 pm, the protesters spontaneously blocked [one of the streets adjacent to the square], and in response the police demanded that everyone disperse.
A helicopter was hovering above the crowd, some extra cordon fences were delivered, a water cannon arrived. From the crowd flew bottles, eggs, insults. The police didn't really react to that. No incidents happened while I was there – people, instead, were trying to stand there in an organized manner and to prevent provokers from throwing bottles into the first rows of the crowd. The first rows were comprised of all kinds of folks, from schoolkids to elderly people.
The truly tough stuff started happening around 9 pm. The police must've gotten tired of yelling into their megaphones for the rally to disperse, and OMON moved forward on the protesters. We were being pushed from the crossing near the library quite crudely. They were beating [us] with [rubber] sticks, and washing [us] lavishly with tear gas. Here's when the decisive moment came. The crowd got wild and the real Paris Commune began. The crowd was retreating, but all kinds of things were flying from it toward the police: stones that were ripped from the pavement, garbage containers, street poles. Everybody was yelling, “Fascists!” and “Russia!”
Here was when I decided that my life was more valuable than the lively photography, and so I moved away from the front rows. In front of me, OMON was fighting the retreating crowd. By that time, everyone had already been pushed from the square in front of the monument and OMON had begun using rubber bullets. The crowd ran, then stopped, shattering everything in its way. Ironically, at [Tonismagi] Street, where it was all taking place, there's the HQ of the ruling Reform Party, whose leader is Estonia's prime minister and whose initiative it was to start excavations at the Warrior-Liberator monument.
Finally, the people reached the turn to Parnu Highway (there's a small square there) and blocked the traffic completely. There were no police in this area at all, and so the crowd was overwhelmed by the real thugs. The protesters gone mad blocked all the paths with barricades made of sidewalk fences that they tore out, they started breaking windows, lighting fires and breaking into shops and kiosks. They nearly set on fire one of the houses near the highway, but the cooler heads, fortunately, extinguished the fire soon.
I stood behind this chaos a bit longer and went home. Police sirens became audible to me only when I was already far away from the place where it was all taking place. The police turned out to be absolutely unprepared to what took place after OMON began to push the crowd out. Pogroms went on for 20 more minutes before I left the square, and I'm not sure they've stopped already. The unrest continues.
[photos]
The conclusions offer no consolation, of course. The police started dispersing the demonstration in a rather harsh way for no reason (whether it was needed or not isn't for me to decide), and the demonstration didn't want to be dispersed, so it responded even more harshly. Those who stood around me weren't thugs, but they were ready to fight till the end and to respond to every blow of the law enforcement forces with a blow twice as strong. The police were absolutely not ready to what happened as a result, when chaos prevailed.
It's crazy. The people have shown that they are capable of [fighting back] the authorities completely spontaneously, without the support of parties and movements. And it was just the first day. Can you imagine what's going to happen there on Victory Day, for which many people gather even without such reasons?
Anyway, I'm scared for my country. I'm scared because those reasonable people I saw at the beginning of the rally were beaten up during the rally's dispersal – and, very suddenly, they were replaced by the demented thugs. It all began as a spontaneous attempt to defend the monument. And it ended… the way it ended.
***
A set of pogrom pictures by Flickr user neoroma is here. (Update: Unfortunately, the viewing mode for this set seems to have been set to “private” at some point, so the link no longer works.)
***
A rather heated English-language discussion of the situation in Tallinn is currently taking place at Itching for Eestimaa – in the comment section to this post (131 comments so far).


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Ethiopia: the human rights center for human wrongs · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A critical look at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia: “Other institutes are created for solely political purposes. The Institute of Human Rights, the President’s pet project, will kick off its work soon. Andreas Eshete has unabashedly stated that the objective of the institute is to counter the “false Propaganda” of international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and show that democracy and human rights protection has shown immense progress in Ethiopia. Community members who know about the project dubbed the institute as “A Human Rights Center for Human Wrongs”. Now there is a plan to merge this confusing center with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution”


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France: Rapper Imagines Life as a White Man · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Regardailleurs blogs screenshots from an hilarious music video (Fr) called “J'suis blanc” (“I'm White”), the latest from French-Congolese hip hop artist Kamini.  God comes to Kamini and makes him white for nine and a half weeks and suddenly dealing with “argent, logement, les flics, les gens” (money, housing, cops, people) all becomes a little bit easier.  A wildly successful amateur video posted on YouTube and Dailymotion last year landed Kamini a record deal and made him famous.


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France: What You May Not Have Read About Voltaire · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Racisme et Histoire: Le Tabou posts a collection of quotes from some of France's most famous philosophers, writers, and politicians (e.g., Voltaire, Ferry, De Gaulle) you might not read in history books.  “I repeat, the super races have a right, because they have only one duty.  They have the duty to civilize the inferior races.” (Fr)


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Georgia: Talent, A Rush, & Photos from Abkhazia · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Josh Kucera has more from Abkhazia, a de facto independent region of Georgia, including photos and video from a talent show.


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Ghana: Ghana University library goes open-source · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Balme Library at the University of Ghana has gone digital and open-source: “Yes, you heard me right. The Balme library records have been fully digitized and guess the platform being used… Ubuntu 6.06! I needed to stretch a bit after sitting for some two hours and took a stroll into the main hall of the Balme library. I noticed some computer terminals and upon closer inspection, I realized the machines had Ubuntu 6.06 installed on them.”


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Guatemala: Laundry Day! · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

A photo of day of life in Antigua, Guatemala brings readers of Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo a glimpse into life in this Central American country.  The most recent photo shows a public washbasin where the women of the area wash their clothes by hand.  A shared water tank is combined with individual “stations” to make washing a community activity, where “public laundry washbasins (sometimes rivers or lake shores) served as the gathering place for news, gossip and community building through the interactions that take place. Public washbasins could be considered the first news broadcasting sites; batteries not required.”


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India: No Kiss for Gere · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A kiss on stage leads to much trouble for Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty. Desidabba has more. “I simply can’t comprehend on what basis the chief judicial magistrate found the “kissing episode” to be “highly sexually erotic”; I mean what did he see that we didn’t, maybe somebody slipped him some porn instead of the actual footage. The only logical explanations behind such a thoughtless decision could be either the judge ain’t getting any or he himself intends to plant a kissy on Shilpa’s rosy cheeks or he prefers Mr. Gere’s luscious lips on his own cheeks.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Iraq: Al Maliki Snubbed by Saudi Arabia  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Ladybird debates  why Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki was denied a visit to Saudi Arabia. While some claim it was for ‘technical’ reasons others say that he was snubbed because of his support for the Shia.


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Iraq: Satirical Stats  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

I have found a great Arabic Wiki called Beidipedia (lit. Eggepedia) about the Middle East in general but is predominantly focused upon Iraq, its approach is to present satirical items in the traditional neutral news/encyclopedia approach a la The Onion, writes Iraqi blogger Konfused Kid, who is based in Jordan.


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Jamaica: New Caribbean Novels · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican Geoffrey Philp is excited about The River's Song – a new book by by Jacqueline Bishop – and other soon-to-be-released Caribbean novels.


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Japan: Reactions to Tokyo Governor Ishihara’s re-election · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

On April 8 and April 22 nationwide local elections were held throughout Japan, gubernatorial elections on the 8th and local assembly and municipal elections on the 22nd. Among 13 gubernatorial elections, the Tokyo elections attracted the most attention, with incumbent Ishihara Shintarou running for a third term. Over the previous two terms, Ishihara's comments on various sensitive issues, notably on the topics of foreigner communities, crime, and women's issues, have sparked numerous debates in and outside of Japan. Although he won over 50% of the votes, a sizeable group of Tokyo citizens as well as people elsewhere voiced concern and disappointment at the result. Discussions on the outcome continued for a period of time following the election, with bloggers on various sides of the issue presenting their views.
A housewife in her 40s, blogging anonymously, expresses her relief at Ishihara's re-election victory:
まあ、まずは ホッ としました。—-
だって、韓国民団や、北朝鮮礼賛者や社民党やフェミニストの
集団が支持する浅野さんが、まかり間違って当選したら、折角
不法外国人を取り締まったり、日教組に支配された学校から
狂信的な反日教師達を追い出したりしていたのに、元に戻る
どころか、今度は、外国人が偉そうにする都市になっていた
かも知れないからです。
Another blogger, Aiharaharu, comments on the anti-crime and security policies that Ishihara was pushing for during his election campaign:
都知事は、石原さんがいいよ！
何故なら、TV番組のインダビューのコメントを聞いたら、他の候補者よりも治安意識が強いコメントをしていたからである。
治安はいいほうがいいよ。治安がいいと聞くだけで、心がホットしますし。実際犯罪とかって、他人事のように感じるかもしれませんが、いつ遭遇するかはわかりません。
Because, based on comments he made in TV interviews, he has a stronger sense of the need for security than other candidates.
It's better that we have security. I feel relieved when I hear that we have security. In fact, it's like, when you hear about crimes, you think that it's somebody else's business, but you never know when you yourself might encounter them.
特に性犯罪はこれから増える可能性があるので、石原さんに対策を早くこうじて欲しいと思う。専門家の話によると、マスコミはあまり性犯罪については詳しく報道していないと聞く。性犯罪者は、再犯率がかなり高い。しかも、自分の意識では、やめられないそうです。やったら君ら、あとがないよ……というよな対策をこうじて欲しい。また各個人がしっかり自衛して欲しいと思う。
あとは、外国人による犯罪もこれからますます増えると思われる。より東京は、流動化していくので、外国人がやってくる。そうなると東京で犯罪をおこすグループもたくさんやってくるかもしれない。東京は犯罪しやすいと思わせないためにも、外国人による犯罪の対策をもっとしようと思っている石原さんにまた都知事になってもらいたいと思う。浅野さんはやはり中華系の団体に応援を要請したりしているので、危険な要素があります。
いろいろ石原さんにも難点があったりしますが、他の候補者と比べると治安に対しての意識が強い石原さんに1票をいれるのは、お買得な気がします。私は、埼玉県民なので、都知事選に参加できません。もし私が都民なら、石原さんに1票をいれています。
Another pro-Ishihara blogger, momonga_seven, points out that the Olympic bid was a factor in his choosing Ishihara:
今回は迷いもなく私も石原さんに一票を投じましたが、やっぱりこの方しかいないじゃありませんか。
東京オリンピック招致問題は、もし仮に断るような方が知事選に当選したとしたら、日本の国益にとっても重大で、今後開催できないことにもなりかねていたかも知れませんでした。
他の知事立候補者たちは、”オリンピックを中止して福祉にあてるべき”と掲げていたが、具体的な政策内容に乏しいこともありました。
そうでもあるにも関わらず、野党陣営は立候補者をできるだけ少数に持ち込めなかったことも、纏まりもなく原因の一つだと思います。
On the other hand, bloggers like this one, an anonymous blogger from Heiwa e no michi (平和への道), expressed their concern about the political awareness of Tokyo citizens:
石原都知事が三期目の当選を果たしました。今回の選挙結果の意味するものは、東京都民の民度の低さを鮮明に示したということではないでしょうか。これで石原都知事がジャブジャブ税金を浪費しても文句を言えなくなりました。どうぞお好きなようにやってくださいということです。東京都民は、地方のことなど考えず、自分さえよければそれでよいと言う、利己的な人間が多いのでしょう。やはり、落ちるところまで落ちないとわからないということです。
Blogger Kuni, a Japanese photographer based in the U.S., compares the Tokyo election to the U.S. presidential election in 2004:
すこし前のことになるが、東京の石原知事が再選されたということを知ったとき、２００４年のブッシュ再選時と似た、半ば絶望感の混ざったなんともいえない暗鬱な気持ちになった。
確かに対立候補に魅力が欠けていたこともブッシュのときと同様だが、それでもこのときの大統領選挙では、それが無知を基にしたものであれ、ブッシュを心から信じて彼に投票した、中西部を中心とした保守的アメリカ人たちのれっきとした「意思」によって再選が果たされた。
しかし、今回の都知事選挙はそういう「意思」をもった人たちの力で石原都知事が再選されたわけではないと思う。どちらかといえば、都民の大多数の政治への無関心さや軽薄さによって、なんとなく結果的に再び石原都知事を生み出してしまったのではないだろうか？
[…]
東京都民は、こういう人間を仮にもリーダーとして持つことに恥ずかしさや怒りを感じないのだろうか？普通に考えれば、こんな人が再選されるなど考えられないはずだ。柳澤厚生労働大臣の暴言のときもそうだが、やはり国民自体がこういう暴言や差別感覚に鈍感になってしまっていて、自分の目先の日常生活には関係がないと無関心に切り捨ててしまっている人が多すぎるのだろうか。
だから、石原都知事の「再選を防ぐため」に投票場に足を運ぶこともしないし、別に誰が知事になったところでそれほど生活に変化はないとたかをくくっているのかもしれない。
無関心でいることは、とても怖いことだと思う。こういう知事を持つことの災難が我が身の上に降りかかってきてから気付いても、もうそのときには、がん細胞の如く都政の破壊は進んでもう手遅れだと思うのだが。。。
Finally, many people have cited the comment Ishihara made in 1975 about then-Tokyo governor Minobe:
「前頭葉の退化した六十、七十の老人に政治を任せる時代は終わったのじゃないか？」
As many have pointed out, Governor Ishihara is now 74 years old.

author: Hanako Tokita


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Japan: Reflections on postwar “Child’s Play” · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Debito reproduces a passage from John Dower's famous book “Embracing Defeat” dealing with the games children played in post-WW2 Japan, including “holding a mock black market, playing prostitute and customer, and recreating left-wing political demonstrations.” Debito comments that Dower's account “is something rarely considered in historical accounts: The barometer of social suffering as absorbed and reflected in its children doing what kids do: trying to have fun.“

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Thoughts on the Abe “apology” · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japan, Beyond the Tamagawa reminds readers, with respect to recent comments by Prime Minsiter Abe Shinzo about the Comfort Women issue, that Abe “didn't intend [his comments] to raise such a stink. He did say what he personally has said he believed for years. Japan's Imperial Army did not force women to become sex slaves. It was contractors.“


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Japan: Three Days Priest · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Harvey from Japan Newbie explained the expression of mikka bouzu, three days priest, which is  used to describe someone who is unable to stick with something they have started to do.


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Kazakhstan: Investment & the Court · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

An American businessman in Kazakhstan, Marc Seidenfeld, has been arrested in what appears to be a frame-up by local business interests to retaliate against him for selling his business in an open auction, raising its final sale price. Bonnie Boyd says that this points to a serious problem with rule of law in Kazakhstan.


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Kenya:  Kenyan film wins African award · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Last month Nigerian films made a sweep at the African Movie Academy Awards. Incidentally, only one film from Kenya was nominated, Voice in the Bin for Best Film,” writes KenyaImagine.


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Korean bloggers on Virgina Tech shooter Cho Seung-hui · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Since the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007, it’s not hard to guess that the South Korea-born shooter, Cho Seung-hui, and what he did are among the hottest issues for Korean bloggers. As the visual shock of the mass murder is fading from the headlines, the angle from which bloggers are viewing the case has been changing.
Bloggers like Kim Hyung-hui criticize Cho Seung-hui as an example of problems coming from the excessive passion of Koreans for education:
미국에서 사상최악의 총기사고가 발생 하였다는 뉴스를 처음 접했을 때 나는 옆에 탄 승객에게 중국인이 아니라 우리나라 사람이 사고를 쳤을 것 같다고 이야기를 하였었다.왠지 느낌이 우리나라 유학생일 것 같다는  생각이 불현듯  든 이유는 사교육 열풍으로 부모의 강압에 못이겨 외국유학을 간 학생이 그 중압감을 못이겨 분노가 폭팔한 것으로 내 다 본 것이였다.우리나라처럼 부모의 광적인 교육열이 잇는 곳은 세상 어디에도 없기에 그같은 큰 사고를 친 나라 사람은 우리나라 학생일 것이란 생각이 든 것이다.
“Freedom, Self-dependence, and Independence” at the “Agora” discussion portal, Daum, compared Cho Seung-hui with Frankenstein and Pinocchio:
프랑켄슈타인의 괴물은 끝끝내 자신을 창조한 프랑켄슈타인을 살해하고, 그 스스로 자신의 몸을 불태웠다고 한다. 버지니아 공대에 또 한명의 프랑켄슈타인의 괴물이 잠들었다. 그와 반대로 피노키오는 그를 만든 제페트의 사랑으로 결국 한낱 나무인형에서 인간으로 거듭 태어난다. 한 사람을 무시무시한 괴물로 만드느냐, 나무인형에서 인간으로 화(化)하게 하느냐는 우리가 얼마나 진실하게 ‘마음이 가난한 사람들'을 다시 한 번 돌아보느냐에 달렸다. 우리에게는 더 나은, 더 아름다운 세상을 만들어가야 할 사명이 있다. 그것이 천명(天命)인 것이다.
Some bloggers who study abroad identified with Cho Seung-hui's loneliness. The blogger 36.5°C talked about her own experience in a blog post entitled “loneliness of students abroad”:
고독이란건 무서운겁니다. 낯선 땅에 떨어지면 그 고독이란 녀석이 정말로 피부에 와닿습니다. 조승희씨는 한국말도 제대로 못했을 것 같네요. 그 나이에 가서 계속 영어만 썼다고 하면 말이죠. 그치만 미국에서도 친구 못사귀고, 그렇다고해서 한국에 돌아와서 한국말을 해서 일자리를 찾을 수 있나 돌아갈 곳이 있나. 조승희씨는 고립된겁니다, 이 세상에서요.
Another issue being discussed was identity. When the criminal was revealed to be a South Korean (in terms of his nationality), the Korean government and some associations apologized for this tragedy to American society, in part because of concerns about the safety of Koreans in America but also because of guilt that someone from the same ethnic group had done this. This attitude produced two responses: why do Koreans have to apologize? Some bloggers have also criticized the strong and unnecessary nationalism of Korean society.
Blogger Hugitong wrote:
솔직히 아무리 국적이 한국인이라고 해도.
걘 어릴때부터 미국에서 자라, 미국 교육을 받고 영어를 쓰는 미국인인데,
왜 한국이 대신 사죄한다고 하고 한국언론이 더 들끓는건지.
여기서 유학중인 학생들이나 한인들의 입장은 생각조차 안한다.
문제는. 한국인이 저질렀다. 가 아닌것이다.
진짜 문제는. 왜 이렇게 미국에서 총기사고가 빈번한가 인것이며, 왜 경고를 받았음에도 불구하고 학생을 방치해놨냐는 것이며, 그런 애한테 누가 총기를 팔았느냐인것이다.
자꾸 이런식으로 한국에서 들끓으면 문제의 포인트가 한국인-이민자들의 문제로 변질될까 걱정스럽다.
Another view expressed by Korean bloggers is that Cho Seung-hui was not actually the perpetrator, but a victim and even try to find similarities between 9/11 and this incident. Winemaster is one who has expounded on these theories, putting forward 18 reasons why Cho Seung-hui could not have been the shooter. The main points are translated below:
1. A person who can accurately shoot each target three times must be a professional. According to gun experts, it is impossible to shoot 32 people in several minutes unless you are a professional (13 dead with 900 shots from three guns by two people at Columbine). But he bought the gun a month ago.
2. Cho Seung-hui killed himself with two shots on his chest and one shot on his head. There are three ways to commit suicide with a gun. 1. above the ear 2. inside the mouth 3. right under the chin. A bullet was stuck in the backside of his head.  Then who shot two bullets in his chest? He had three shots like other victims.
3. There was no one who saw his suicide. His corpse was discovered in the classroom. But one witness said that the shooter ran away from the classroom.
4. One witness said that the shooter was about 6 feet, but Cho is quite short.
5. The gun seller said that he bought 50 bullets. But according to the massacre, he needed more than 200 bullets.
6. He was careful to erase the serial numbers from the guns, but the receipt was found in his bag left in the place.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kurdistance: A Week Like Any Other · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

The news coming out of the Kurdish blogs this week is as varied as the landscape of Kurdistan itself. From predictions on Syrian Kurd alliances with Israel, to censorship in Turkey; from explorations of Northern Iraq, to essays on intolerance, the Kurdish bloggers cover it all. But for this week, I think we will begin with why, to Kurds, April is considered as the “Bride of the Year”.
Why is April the bride of the year? April behaves like the bride. It is between winter and spring. The snow has not melted yet; the flowers start to come out; and the trees start to bloom while the mountain peaks are covered with snow. There are occasionally also snow blizzards. One would wander whether one is going to see the black soil again. So April is caught between winter and spring and does not know what way to go—stay in winter or head toward spring. What way is the sweetest? Is it not like a bride? Bride is ready to marry and it is so hard to leave her parents’ house because that house give her life and brought her up to marriage age. Then there the groom that wants to take away from her home and bring her into his home where she finds another kind of happiness. The decision is very hard. What shall she do? Shall she stay in her old home or go away to the new home? She cries and doest not want leave her family home. Can she tolerate that her whole life? It is not possible to prolong this old habit. The new force draws her and she becomes a part of her new life or husband. So is the month of April. She finally decides to go with spring and give new life to everything that wants to be alive.
As with any marriage, there are times of great beauty and great pain. Michael Totten has two beautiful posts this week about Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan in which he describes the “Red Zone” and the trials and tribulations of keeping the peace.
Vladimir on From Holland to Kurdistan writes about supposed predictions of Syrian Kurds allying with Israel:
It's the question if Kurdish parties in Syria would openly accept Israeli support, despite that they are pro-Israeli. It could make the Syrian regime attack the Syrian Kurds by making anti-Zionist propaganda versus Kurds. It could also result into a mass Arabic attack against Kurds and a rehearsal of the tragedy of 2004. At that time the Syrian regime also blamed Israel for their own problems with the Kurdish minority.
Rasti focuses alot this week on Turkish censorship in its multiple forms, from presenting an interesting article on Turkish censorship laws to showing how the three killings of Bible publishers in Malatya has ties with the Kurdish experience:
The recent murders of Christian publishers in Malatya are examples of the extreme forms of censorship to which the Turkish state has had recourse throughout its history, particularly since the September 12 coup. In light of this tradition of extreme censorship, it might be appropriate to discuss another publisher and his battles with the Ankara regime.
Ragip Zarakolu is one of those brave and noble Turks who has stood for justice since 1968 when he began writing. With the military coup of 1971, he began his long history of persecution by the Turkish state. At that time, he was tried and imprisoned for having “secret” relations with that well-known subversive organization, Amnesty International.
With his wife Aysenur Zarakolu, he founded Belge Publishing House in 1977. Together with Aysenur, through Belge, he published writings that other publishing houses would not have touched with the proverbial ten-foot pole, especially after the September 12 coup, writings about minorities in Turkey, the Armenian Genocide, the Kurdish situation, and the impunity of the state in its terrorism against the people. In 1986, he joined with others as one of the founding members of the Human Rights Association (IHD), which has had a number of incredibly courageous human beings associated with it such as Akin Birdal, Eren Keskin, and Osman Baydemir.
Blogger Karer on Kurdistan writes about a Turkish co-worker's repeated reluctance to understand why being a Kurd from Turkey is different than being Turkish:
Later on I wrote to her that I would like to correct her on the issue of being Turkish. I clearly delineated the difference between being Turkish and Kurdish. I reminded her that we both speak Turkish, which I was forced to learn. Known Turkish or other languages is a fine thing, but being forced to learn Turkish is raping the mind of other people. It is a psychological sickness to force other people to change their identity or culture. The enforcer is capable of doing everything, ranging from genocide to destruction of countries because the mindset is based on resorting to force that could be detrimental any time. If an intellectual who has taught at a university level and does not know the differences and has not accepted uniqueness of differences within a country, the normal layman could be much worse and ignorant of events happening in his/her country and around the world. This ignorance I thought would be only challenged by reminding them kindly of the environment.
And our last word today goes to a new Kurdish blogger, Zaneti, who writes about intolerance to the Kurdish people in general:
“Light wisdom means heavy burdens”, a Kurdish proverb that could not apply so well to any other ethnic group or nation in the world. The lack of understanding and knowledge of the world surrounding them, oftentimes, resulted in the consequences of many tragedies that Kurds faced throughout their history. While unable to know how to help themselves, burdens of oppression, genocide and lack of rights continued to get heavier and heavier.
Many groups throughout the world may face similar consequences when living in ignorance. Without knowledge and wisdom to do so, one cannot progress and move forward for the betterment of his or herself or his or her people. Of course, challenges and tragedies cannot be blamed solely on ignorance. However, those without knowledge are always left behind by a fast-moving world where each group or individual is only concerned with his, her or it's own needs and desires… And needs and desires of one entity are fulfilled at the expense of another. Those without knowledge to protect themselves and move forward lose and their burdens get heavier and heavier.
It is true, knowledge is empowerment. And indeed, ignorance is not a bliss.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Kuwait: Healthcare Update · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“(M)isinformed decision-makers and erroneous popular belief have shifted resources away from many of the basic foundations of a sound health care system (in Kuwait),” writes blogger Nadeem, as he continues to discuss healthcare in Kuwait.


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Kuwait: The Truth About Franchising  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Business-minded Kuwaiti blogger io81 briefs us about the difficulty of owning franchises of famous brands. “Most of you out there had thought of opening up a store that you have encountered some where around the world… The truth is its not that simple, i had my share with different franchises and read many contracts, the things that people do not understand is the commitment required in such ventures,” he writes.


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Lebanon: Two Kidnapped Found Dead · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The Lebanese police found the bodies of the missing youths yesterday evening. Security measures were stepped up in Beirut. The victims were buried today. Political leaders called for restraint and letting the investigations to take its course. Riemer Brouwer                and Jounoune have updates on this hideous crime.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Liberia: the man da can put Charles Taylor inside · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Liberian Ledger on Liberian English and “the man da can put Charles Taylor inside.”


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Macau: Gambling Disneyland  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Onemanbandwith has a post about Macau's recent development, 17% growth in GDP. As the writer said, “for someone to win at the tables, someone else must lose“.


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Martinique: Happy Anniversary Le Blog de [Moi] · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Le Blog de [Moi], written by a (self-described) petite, black lesbian from Martinique, celebrates its first anniversary. “I blog therefore I am?  No?  I blog because it makes me more comfortable with who I am…and so paradoxically, the biggest difficulty becomes being myself and not who or what you want to see (or read).  We are all there, I think; those of us who blog.  Some are just more bored than others.” (Fr)  Happy Anniversary!


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Mexico: More Discussion on Abortion Decision · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The decision by the Mexico City Assembly to legalize abortion angered many in a society where many practice Roman Catholicism.  Some bloggers like Ciudad de Mexico [ES] presents arguments from both sides but wonders “why not allow a public debate on the matter?” or better yet a referendum to let the public decide.  There are some bloggers like Goleech [ES] who is “for the despenalizacion of abortion, but not necessarily for abortion” and is also in favor of more discussion and debate on the matter.


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Moldova: Coverage of Transdniestria · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A comprehensive overview of coverage of the situation in Transdniestria, over at Scraps of Moscow.


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Morocco: Fez for Weddings  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Moroccan blogger Sameer tells us why the ancient city of Fez is an ideal wedding spot.


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Myanmar: Respect for Sex Workers · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Moe Moe urges men to respect sex workers and practice safe sex.  “Least men who want to sleep with them can do, is to treat these sex workers with respect and try to have safe sex. Why should they be treated badly just because they are providing you with a service that you seek out knowingly?”

author: Preetam Rai


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Nepal: The Diplomatic Act · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepali Netbook attempts deciphering diplomatic due processes. “The fact that Chinese Ambassador Zheng Xianglin became the first foreign envoy to present his credentials to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala contained much symbolism. The normally reticent official Chinese media, too, highlighted how this development broke the tradition of ambassadors presenting credentials to the king. Equally meaningful was the reality that the Chinese recognized Koirala as head of state only after the prime minister unequivocally called for Beijing’s inclusion in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as a full member.”


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Papua New Guinea: Remembering The Veterans · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

On ANZAC day, Islandbaby remembers the unacknowledged veterans who fought the Japanese in the Second World  War.  “And this year I Remember. I remember those who fought with the ANZACs and remain unacknowledged by many. Specifically the Australian Aboriginal veterans and from my corner of the world, the 55,000 fuzzy wuzzy angels and the 4000 Papuans and New Guinean soliders who fought in all but one of the allied campaigns in this, my country.”


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Peru: Tributes to a Peruvian Poet · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

At the age of 61, Peruvian poet José Watanabe succumbed to cancer and left behind many admirers of his work.  The son of a Japanese immigrant father and a Peruvian mother, Watanabe had no desire to visit his father's homeland recalls El Blog Del Morsa [ES] during a dinner with the poet.  Perhaps this was because he was so immersed in the arts of his own country and cultivating the talent of young artists.  Finally, the blog Presencia Cultural [ES] leaves us with YouTube videos of Watanabe reading his verses aloud.


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Pray for Malawi’s former president, 21st century Pan-Africanism, Google sponsors African students , and Donor aid raises questions  · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

Malawi is reviewing its Republican constitution and hot issues on the table relate to the executive and term limits. As reported here before, Malawians are busy discussing the possible return of former president Dr. Bakili Muluzi. Based on how one understand the constitution, the debate is whether the Malawian constitution allows him or not to stand for presidential election after he served two five-year terms. The blog Malawi Politics is running an appeal for prayers so that he may not stand:
Please pray and ask everyone you know to pray for this Muluzi Guy not to stand again, remove all of all desires in his body and mind so he may enjoy all that former presidents benefits, and that MALAWI has to continue to be the wonderful country to its citizens,neighbours and visitors.
The power of Prayer is unsurpassed, unsurpassed. I want the whole world to have her (Malawi) in their prayers the next few weeks. God will hear our cry. Please do not be offended by my plea. This is only a request for your help. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this and helping with our request.. No words can express how much power we have when we do a little extra to come together.
GV Author finally finds own copy of The New African
When Malawians in diaspora travel back home, they are faced with an opportunity to see relatives and old friends, read the mushrooming publications in the country and enjoy new discussions on the political scene. But for Global Voices author, Steve Sharra, his recent trip back made him buy a much-missed copy of The New African, which he had last read ten years ago.
The latest issue of this London-based pan-African monthly magazine features among others people like Lovemore Munlo, a Malawian serving at the Special Court in Sierra Leone. Munlo is a Malawian attorney who once served as Minister of Justice in the dying days of Dr. Banda’s rule. There is also  “Confessions of a CIA AGENT: How the imperial powers control Africa.” But Sharra liked the magazine for one reason: Its focus on the path to the renaissance, from a social justice and an Afrikan epistemological perspective in which he sees hope for Malawi:
As for Malawi, there is a growing sense of optimism amongst the middle class, who see a new Malawi emerging before their eyes. While some of this optimism is being generated by government policies that stress fiscal discipline, food security and economic stability, some of the vitality is also being generated by ordinary Malawians who have never stopped working hard, despite popular beliefs to the contrary held by the educated elite. Some have asked if Malawi will also experience a rebirth as the rest of Africa does, and my response has been that it will take a pan-Africanist perspective that asserts our place on the continent. Obviously that needs further redefinition, but I am glad to say The New African appears to me to be a part of that process to redefine pan-Africanism for the 21st century.
Blogger campaigns for AGLOCO
New things always take time to be accepted. Clement Nyirenda feels he has to challenge internet users to sign up for AGLOCO which is a short form for “A GLObal COmmunity. This is an Internet based economic network, which enables members to get their share of the InternetAGLOCO reveals that advertisers, search companies, online merchants and other businesses currently pay lots of companies to deliver attention and commerce. In light of this,  promises to be a global community of Internet users whose active members can be paid for all their online activity. It is said one does not have to do anything extraordinary to be part of this revolution. Why is it wise to sign up?:
When a good thing is coming up, there will always be negative sentiments. Even Lotfi Zadeh, the father of fuzzy logic, encountered criticism in connection to the fuzzy logic theory which he proposed some decades ago. Some sections of the society still regard fuzzy logic as controversial maybe because the principles enshrined in it are a threat to their own career orientations. Despite all this, nowadays, there is a wide acceptance and a broad track record of successful applications of fuzzy logic. I hope that with this observation, you can now agree with me that it is really wise to sign upfor AGLOCO.
Blogger's critical look at international aid
Malawi is one world's least developed countries heavily dependent on donor aid. Economists, politicians, and policy makers are challenged by the problems the country faces. While Malawians generally praise donors for the support, few ever take time to critically examine the intentions behind some aid initiatives. A Malawian UK-based blogger Cryton Chikokohas has explored this subject. In his post, “My Lamentations on donor aid,” he cries out on behalf of his country.
He first looks at recent plans by Madonna who was reported to be assisting Malawi orphans with money. On this Chikoko questions Madonna's financial support to Malawi and offers advice to the pop singer:
In reference to Madonna I believe if you give, give openly with no strings attached. To put a proviso that her funding comes with the condition that her religion is taught is not charity in the true sense. It is using charity to further her own ideology on some of the poorest people in the world who do not have the luxury of choosing to accept her cash or not.
The abuse to the poor are diverse and take many forms. Because poor people often don’t know what’s good for them, they are assigned to the tutelage of richer people. It is difficult for the poor to bite the hand that feeds them. They are venerable to abuse therefore need protection. In fact some of the rich amass their riches from the poor! They pretend to help. These are the rich who are shrewd, manipulative, and brilliant and there is always something they want to control and get from the poor at the end.
Then Chikoko takes a swipe at Bretton Woods institutions:
By the way do you know that IMF receives much of its income from loan repayments from poorer nations? As a result, that leaves nation like Malawi stuck in a vicious circle of misery.
Google sponsors African students
A regular Lilongwe-based blogger Soyapi Mumba welcomes Google's Summer of Code program, where they sponsor students to work on open source projects. Each student receives a stipend of 4500 USD in total. Soyapi says recently, Google accepted 900 students from 6,200 students’ applications and out of these successful students, 2 are from Africa: one from South Africa, another from Nigeria. But Mumba has a question:
But what do you think about this number of accepted students from Africa? Is it representative of the number of capable Computer Science or Engineering students in Africa? I believe there are a lot more potential Dare Obasanjos out there who deserve to get on this program but weren't aware of this opportunity. So how do we help them get on the program next year? Congrats to the 2 successful students! I hope this number grows exponentially in the following years.

author: Victor Kaonga


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Puerto Rico: Health Care System · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil the Jenius shares his thoughts on capitation payments in the Puerto Rican health care system: “If you think money isn't the issue just make the rounds (pun intended) of several medical offices in any part of Puerto Rico. It won't take you long to see signs stating that ‘Cash Only’ is acceptable. No checks. No ATM or credit cards. And certainly, no medical plans, though the doctor is almost certainly on one or more medical plan capitation systems.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Republic of the Congo: Biometric Identity Cards · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Demain Le Congo Brazzaville thinks President Sassou won't stand a chance winning the upcoming election unless he manages to rig it.  Sassou plans to create biometric identity cards, but DCB warns against putting too much faith in an electronic voting system (Fr), which may simply encourage a different kind of fraud: “virtual voters.”


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Russia: Blondes Who Disagree · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam comments on the rally of The Blondes Who Disagree, calling it “an obvious attempt to ridicule and discredit the recent Marches of Those Who Disagree, which were so brutally suppressed by the authorities.”


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Seismic Activity and Tidal Waves in Chile · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Chile is a land of the earthquakes. In recent months, the Aysén region has been affected by small seismic activity every day.  Last weekend, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, caused a fjord landslide into the sea. Big waves crashed into the small city of Puerto Tortuga, devastating everything in its way.
Many criticized the reaction of the authorities,  for example Copihues Rojos [ES] posts:
Las autoridades discuten si fue tsunami, maremoto o sólo marejada, como si esto tuviera alguna importancia para los que perdieron casas, familiares o sus animales. La Presidenta  fué a la zona. Inmediatamente la derecha criticó, que era un error haber ido, pero si no hubiera ido igual la criticarían. El asunto es que hay que solucionar los problemas que deja el sismo y prever lo que pueda venir, por que aún no hay nada seguro sobre lo que vendrá. Hay que tener en cuenta que hace dos años hubo un fuerte terremoto en el norte del país, en la zona cordillerana y aún lo que se derrumbó esta en el suelo, antiguas iglesias construidas por los españoles, monumentos históricos etc.
The authorities are discussing whether this was a tidal wave, tsunami or only a swell, as if this has any importance for the ones that lost houses, relatives or their animals. The president went to the zone.  Immediately the right wing criticizes her that was a mistake to go, but they would have criticized her if she hadn't gone. The issue is to solve the problems that the earthquake left and to prevent what might come; because it is still unknown of what might happen. We have to consider that two years ago in the north of the country there was a strong earthquake in the mountain range and what had fallen down is still on the ground, old churches build by the Spanish, historic heritage, etc.
Capitán Tricolor [ES] is a disaster volunteer, ever since the earthquake of 1985 in the central zone of Chile. Referring to the Aysén situation, he recalls the seismic activity that has been affecting the area since January. He explains that the Onemi (ES), (National Emergency Office) wrote a report in March that advised to evacuate the zone an earthquake over 6 on the Richter scale would produce damage.  He explains the reason:
El caso de Aysén es diferente, la misma Onemi había anunciado que los movimientos telúricos que han afectado la zona desde enero son de origen volcánico (formación de un cono volcánico submarino), se informó de la muerte de fauna marina por el aumento de la temperatura del agua y la semana pasada se había informado de desprendimiento de laderas de cerros luego de un sismo fuerte.
The Aysen case is different. The Onemi announced that the telluric movements that affected the zone since January are of a volcanic origin (formation of a underwater volcanic cone), and they informed about the death of the marine fauna due to the increase of water temperature. Last week they informed of a landslide of the hillside after a strong earthquake.
Up to now, 3 people have died and 7 are still missing.
The blog El Morrocotudo [ES], posted two impressions of foreigners that were in Aysén:  Steve and Rhonda Wilson are missionaries in the the Patagonia and Jen, a British woman, lives with her boyfriend in Coyahique.
The Diban [ES] , the Department of Libraries, Archives and Museums has information about Earthquakes in Chilean history and some photos. The Seismology Service [ES] of the Universidad de Chile (ES)  has a complete report of seismic from month to month.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Serbia: Ganja March · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 writes about the upcoming “Global Ganja March” in Belgrade.


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Singapore: Netcasting your Lesson · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Rinaz in Singapore is calling out all teachers to emulate her friend Kevin who regularly videos his lectures and posts it online.


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Somalia: Mogadishu Tech Massacre · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Espresso Royale Commentaries discusses “Mogadishu tech massacre”:
The Mogadishu massacre was bigger in number but lesser known to most people because it didn’t make to be a prime media piece. This massacre was even worse. It was Virginia Tech shooting multiplied by 100 and it is repeated daily and ongoing.
In Mogadishu, there is no lone psycho-shooter, no Cho Seung-Hui but thousands of American-armed and trained Ethiopian killers, equipped not with 9 mm handgun and a .22-calibur pistol but with M16 rifles, machine guns, heavy mortars, howitzers, armored vehicles tanks and helicopters, all USA made, gift to the Ethiopian killers.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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South Korea and Japan: Illegal Selling of Game Code · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James from Japan Probe quoted from South Korean local news about a suspected case of stealing of Game Code, “Lineage III”, from Korea’s largest game maker NCsoft to a major Japanese Game Company.


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Sri Lanka: Art and Children · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

cerno attends an art competition awards ceremony and is struck by the children present. “The majority of these kids were from rural schools. A string of Mahavidyalayas, Madya Maha Vidyalayas, and simple Vidyalayas. Words not heard among us Colombo types used to abbreviations of Visaka, Ananda, Royal etc. There were two kids who seemed to be particularly emblematic – both were from the youngest age group from their respective provinces. “


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Sri Lanka: LTTE and the Government · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indi.ca explains LTTE's strategy. “The LTTE is the most efficient terrorist organization ever. They don’t even hit anything, they just take off or hit something nearby, the government panics, and it gets reported as an attack on the airport. More important, it gets perceived as an attack at the airport.”


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Taiwan: Taiwan Refuses Olympic Torch · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Turton blogs about the refusal of Olympic Torch by Taiwan government, as local politicians regarded the route as “domestic”.


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The Balkans: Turbofolk · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Bosnia Vault lists useful resources on turbofolk music.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Zen Closed  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad Carnival Diary confirms that Zen, the nightclub embroiled in controversy following the Akon and Machel Montano incidents, has been closed indefinitely.


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Uganda: Uganda ratifies Framework Convention on Tobacco Control  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Jackie Tumwine reports that the Uganda government has ratified Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC): “Uganda signed this first ever global public health treaty back in March 2004- the same month that the national ban on smoking in public places came into force.”


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Ukraine: Politics Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dan McMinn's roundup of recent Ukrainian political developments gets a life of its own, as usual, as the comments start coming in (31, so far).


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“What Kind of Lebanon Do We Want?” · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

As Lebanon's political leaders offer up their usual litany of what he says is useless rhetoric, French-Lebanese blogger Frencheagle asks his readers to remember one question: “What kind of Lebanon do we want?” (Fr).  The problem of coexistence, he says, is one that an international tribunal on the civil war alone cannot solve.


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Africa: African cities · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Saharan Vibe posts photos of different African cities in “African Cities Part 1: Isn't Africa beautiful!”


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Chile: Vendors vs. Police · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Chileno captures some footage of a tussle between police and street vendors, and follows up with an interview with the vendor involved.  The city government of Santiago is trying to clear a popular promenade of street vendors that compete with shop owners.


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Colombia: Paramilitary Scandal, Crimes, and Media ‘Coincidences’ · Global Voices
Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez

El Tiempo recently devoted its crime and law section to a shocking special on paramilitary crimes [ES], titled Colombia looks for 10,000 people, which includes some grisly pictures. In one of the articles, Francisco Villalba, a.k.a. Cristian Barreto, who participated in the Ituango massacre in 1997, has confessed to making use of the Justice and Peace law, some of the atrocities [ES] that happened on his “training” three years before:
Villalba asegura que para el aprendizaje de descuartizamiento usaban campesinos que reunían durante las tomas de pueblos vecinos. “Eran personas de edad que las llevaban en camiones, vivas, amarradas”, describe.
Las víctimas llegaban a la finca en camiones carpados. Las bajaban del vehículo con las manos amarradas y las llevaban a un cuarto. Allí permanecían encerradas varios días, a la espera de que empezara el entrenamiento.
Luego venía “la instrucción de coraje”: repartían a la gente en cuatro o cinco grupos “y ahí la descuartizaban”, dice Villalba en la indagatoria. “El instructor le decía a uno: ‘Usted se para acá y fulano allá y le da seguridad al que está descuartizando’. Siempre que se toma un pueblo y se va a descuartizar a alguien, hay que brindarles seguridad a los que están haciendo ese trabajo”.
De los cuartos donde estaban encerrados, las mujeres y los hombres eran sacados en ropa interior. Aún con las manos atadas, los llevaban al sitio donde el instructor esperaba para iniciar las primeras recomendaciones:
“Las instrucciones eran quitarles el brazo, la cabeza, descuartizarlos vivos. Ellos salían llorando y le pedían a uno que no le fuera a hacer nada, que tenían familia”.
Villalba describe el proceso: “A las personas se les abría desde el pecho hasta la barriga para sacar lo que es tripa, el despojo. Se les quitaban piernas, brazos y cabeza.Se hacía con machete o con cuchillo. El resto, el despojo, con la mano. Nosotros, que estábamos en instrucción, sacábamos los intestinos”.
El entrenamiento lo exigían, según él, para “probar el coraje y aprender cómo desaparecer a la persona”.
Durante el mes y medio que Francisco Villalba dice que permaneció en el curso, vio tres veces las instrucciones de descuartizamiento.
“Ellos escogían a los alumnos para que participaran. Una vez, uno de los alumnos se negó. Se paró ‘Doble cero’ y le dijo: ‘Venga, que yo sí soy capaz’. Luego lo mandó descuartizar a él. A mí me hicieron quitarle el brazo a una muchacha. Ya le habían quitado la cabeza y una pierna. Ella pedía que no lo hicieran, que tenía dos hijos”.
Los cuerpos eran llevados a fosas ahí mismo, en La 35, donde calculan que enterraron a más de 400 personas.
Villalba assures that for the cutting up learning they used peasants who brought up together during the occupations of neighboring towns. “They were older people taken on trucks, alive, tied”, he described. The victims arrived to the estate on topped trucks. They were taken down with their hands tied and moved to a room, where they remained locked for several days, waiting for the training to start.
Then the “bravery instruction” came up: people were separated in four or five groups “and there they were cut into pieces”, Villalba told during the deposition. “The instructor told me: ‘You stand up here and secures the one who cuts’. Every time a town was occupied and someone is going to be cut, the ones doing that job must be provided with security”.
Men and women were taken out the rooms on their underwear. Still with their hands tied, they were taken to the place where the instructor awaited to start the first recommendations: “The instructions were to take off their arms, their head, to cut them alive. They came out crying and asked us not to hurt them, [they said] they had a family”.
Villalba describes the process: “The people were opened from the chest to the belly to take out the guts, the innards. Their legs, their arms, their heads were ripped off, with a machete or a knife. The rest, their remains, [were taken out] by hand. We, who were on instruction, took out the intestines”.
The training was compulsory, according to him, to “test [their] courage and learn how to disappear people”. During the month and a half Francisco Villalba says he was in the course, he saw cutting instructions three times. “They chose the students to participate. Once, one of them refused to do it. ‘Doble cero’ [a paramilitary chief] stood up and told him: ‘Come here, I can do it’. Then he ordered to cut him up. They made me to cut one girl's arm. She was already taken her head and one leg out. She asked them not to do it, because she had two children”.
The bodies were taken to common graves at the same place, La 35, where it is estimated 400 people were buried.
Blogger reaction was eloquent. Juglar del Zipa [ES] wrote:
Entiendo que les haya parecido simpático quitarles los brazos para ponérselos donde estaba la cabeza. Entiendo que ahora tengan que reducirlos a su mínima expresión para poderlos ocultar fácilmente. ¿Pero tienen que hacerlo cuando están vivos?
I understand that they found it nice to take their arms out to put them where their head was. I understand they now have to reduce them to their minimal expression in order to hide them easily. But do they have to do that when they're alive?
Sociología para novatos [ES] O-Lu uses her discipline to try to explains this savagery:
¿Cómo es un país cuyo sistema judicial se expresa en la ley del Talión ? ¿Qué tipo de aventuras se viven en una sociedad donde los poderosos no han tenido que pasar por aquello que Norbert Elias llama el «proceso civilizatorio»? ¿Es admirable o todo lo contrario una sociedad donde los gobernantes, en menos de una generación, han brincado de machos capataces de finca a señores dueños de los destinos de millones de personas? ¿Qué tipo de escenarios se obtienen? La respuesta la padecemos los colombianos, día a día.
What is a country whose judiciary system is expressed under the “eye for an eye” law? What kind of adventures are lived within a society where the powerful haven't had to go through what Norbert Elias calls the “civilizing process”? Is it admirable, or the contrary, a society where rulers, in less than a generation, have jumped from macho farm foremen to lords who own the destiny of millions of people? What kind of scenarios do we get? We Colombians endure the answer everyday.
Coincidentally, Vice President Francisco Santos, whose family owns El Tiempo, was accused [ES] by former intelligence chief Jorge Noguera (arrested in February for allegedly allowing the paramilitaries to infiltrate the secret police and freed on a technicality) of being behind the “discredit campaign” against him and President Uribe in an interview [ES] for a local newspaper.
Some people think that El Tiempo, which endorsed Uribe's bid for reelection in August 2005 less than a year before the election, is going to “leave alone” the president because of the scandal. Last week, El Tiempo wrote an editorial, which was called “infamous” by presidential adviser José Obdulio Gaviria, about the debate on paramilitarism in Antioquia (Uribe's native province). Because of that, El Tiempo was not invited to the press conference held by Uribe in order to defend himself from the accusations by senator Gustavo Petro.
Orlando el Curioso, a regular commentator on journalist Felipe Zuleta's controversial blog, wrote [ES], referring to Noguera's allegations:
La tradicional oligarquía de Bogotá, representada en los Santos y su Diario, están empecinados en no permitir que el renovado Cartel de Medellín les quitela hegemonía secular y, por tanto, le están poniendo la zancadilla al virrey Álvaro de Uribe y Vélez para que asuma Francisco de Santos y Calderón.
Esta campaña, tras bambalinas, se inició al otro día de la segunda posesión del Virrey, y sino me quieren creen, revisen la hemeroteca de los pricipales diarios y revistas del pais a partir de esa fecha. No más, en el primer mes del segundo periodo, le reventó más de un escándalo al arriero que ha venido creciendo como bola de nieve.
Bogotá's traditional oligarchy, represented by the Santos [family] and their newspaper, are insisting in not letting the renewed Medellin Cartel to remove their age-old hegemony and, therefore, are hindering viceroy Álvaro de Uribe y Vélez for Francisco de Santos y Calderón from taking office.
This campaign, behind the scenes, started the next day after the viceroy took office for the second time, and if you don't want to believe me, check out the main newspapers and magazines in the country published since that day. On the first month of the second term [August 2006], a lot of scandals blew up on the arriero's face, which have been growing like a snowball.
But El Editor thinks a little differently [ES]:
No sera mas bien que la familia Santos quiere marcar distancia con respecto a la parapolitica, por un lado, porque se dieron cuenta del lodazal en que se habian metido y, por el otro, para no ensuciar su imagen con miras a las proximas elecciones presidenciales (recordemos que Pachito y Juan Manuel aspiran a la presidencia).
Isn't it that the Santos family is distancing themselves from parapolitics, because on one side, they realized the quagmire they got into and, on the other hand, so to not to tarnish their own image with aim at the next presidential elections (let's remember Pachito and Juan Manuel [the Minister of Defense] are aspiring for presidency)?
For a lot of Colombians, El Tiempo's Tuesday feature was not news, but a sad, cruel part of their daily life. Although FARC guerrillas have committed savage and “creative” crimes too (remember the collar-bomb and the horse-bomb, and besides the thousands of people they keep hostage in the jungle), Colombian paramilitaries could now be compared with nazis or Japanese Unit 731, whose researchers, who performed vivisections “in the name of science”, were forgiven by Americans in exchange for information. On Thursday, Attorney General Mario Iguarán, referring to the corpses of two teenage girls found with around 50 bodies at a common grave in Meta province, slammed paramilitaries’ sponsors by saying that “they did not pay for safety, they paid for blood”.  Whether this feature is a “coincidence” or not with another news stories (Petro denounced his office was illegally searched by police and that a former army colonel could have been behind a death plot against him; this happens days after Uribe implied his intelligence services were spying on opposition leaders), which are given “less” importance on the front page is a fact that should not be ignored.

author: Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez


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Egypt: Freedom of Speech Campaign  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Nora Younis wonders why free speech ends people in prison in her country as she spearheads a campaign for freedom of speech. “Egyptian pro-democracy activists and bloggers are facing various forms of prosecution everyday,” she explains.


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Egypt: New Bahai Blog · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Issandr El Amrani  links to a new blog about Egyptian Bahais. “Seeking Justice focuses on Egypt’s official discrimination against Bahais, an issue we’ve talked about before. It has links to other Egyptian Bahai sites and blogs,” he notes.


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Egypt: Spotlight on Israel  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Khaled Diab, who lives in Brussels, visits Israel and writes about his encounters here.


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Hong Kong: Hollywood Star Chow Yun Fat Supports Queen’s Pier Preservation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Citizen reporters at inmediahk.net put up an exclusive report, with youtube clip (zh), on how Chow Yun Fat visited the Queen's Pier at 5:30am this morning (April 28), to show his support for preserving the historical landmark, Queen's Pier, in Situ.
An English version of the report can be found at interlocals.net.


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India: The other side of gender · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Responding to issue of a gender bias in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), The Other Side presents well, the other side – by pointing to what appears to be the real issue. “But the malaise runs deeper than that. In our society, career choices are made by parents, not by students themselves. Worse yet, these choices are made at the age of 14-15 years or so when the students take their Class X exams.”


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Iraq: George Orwell’s 1984 · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Majed Jarrar argues  that our present has a lot in common with George Orwell's 1984.


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Iraq: The Wall of Segregation · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Emad Khadduri  links to a post by another Iraqi blogger - Riverbend- on the controversial wall being erected around Iraqi towns. “According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans cooked up, it will ‘protect’ A'adhamiya, a residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads couldn't empty of Sunnis,” notes Riverbend.


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Iraq: Why are the Democrats Doing This? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Omar doesn't mince his words when addressing the Democrats. “Why are the Democrats doing this?” he rants. Instead of trying to come up with ideas to help they try to halt the sincere effort to stabilize Iraq and rescue the Middle East from a catastrophe. I am Iraqi and to me the possible consequences of this vote are terrifying. Just as we began to see signs of progress in my country the democrats come and say ‘well, it’s not worth it, so it’s time to leave’. Evidently to them my life and the lives of twenty five million Iraqis are not worth trying for and they shouldn’t expect us to be grateful for this,” he writes.


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Israel: Controversarial Articles  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israeli blogger Desert Peace  discusses  the controversy which surrounded articles he had posted on a peace solution for the Israeli-Palestinian stand-off.


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Israel: Picture Quiz · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israeli blogger themiddle wants you to play the guessing game this week and let us know where this picture was taken.


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Israel: Traffic in Downtown Jerusalem  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israeli blogger Izzy Bee focuses on traffic problems in downtown Jerusalem here. “Bartov has narrowed traffic lanes downtown so no ambulance or fire engine could possibly get to a medical emergency or a terrorist's bomb site. Concrete pillars prevent vehicles from pulling over to let them pass. Siren, schmiren: it's just a big bottleneck. Plus there's nowhere to park,” explains the blogger.


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Israeli-Egyptian Bloggers Meet  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yaba Yaba, an Israeli blog, updates us about a meeting between an Egyptian and an Israeli blogger here.


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Japan: Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” popular among Japanese · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

Ken at What Japan Thinks reports on the results of a recent survey by MyVoice indicating that almost half of all Japanese want to see “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore's recent film about climate change.


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Japan: Has the age of the Internet arrived? · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

Japanese blogger hirochan comments on the recent elections in Japan [Ja] and gives his insights into the nature of the role of the Internet in political and election campaigns in Japan. He points out the fact that Japanese politicians are not maximizing the potential of the Internet as a tool, and points to the failure of such politicians to use this tool to compensate the lack of coverage by mainstream media.


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Kenya: Kenya Investment Forum in Toronto · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Recently, Kenyan blogger and Global Voices author, Steve Ntwiga, attended the Kenya Investment Forum in Toronto, Canada: “I found it very telling that the Kenyan Government choose to present Vision 2030 to Kenyans in the diaspora at exactly the same time that the plan was being revealed to Kenyan back at home for reasons that seem very clear to me. To some extent, non-traditional media coverage of the various forum events focused on political issues which muddied the waters significantly since this event was all about luring capital for formal investment.”


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Mali Presidential Elections & ATT-cratie · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

As Malians prepare to go to the polls on Sunday, Le Sphinx blogs critiques of the incumbent, President Amadou Toumani Toure, at ATT-cratie (Fr) and has just published the second volume of an ebook on the subject.


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Reunion: New Community Political Blog · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Éric Fruteau announces (Fr) the launch of echosale.com, a community blog run by the local opposition in Etang-Salé, Réunion that aims to serve as a forum for debate and a political organizing tool.


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Turkey is Typing: The Killings in Malatya · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Turkey was stunned this week with a series of tragedies, a bus accident which killed 33 elementary students and most notably the brutal murder of three Christians who worked at a Bible publishing house in Malatya.  The White Path lays the scene:
A handful of monsters walked into a Bible publisher in the Turkish city of Malatya the other day. They found three innocent people inside: Two Christian missionaries and a worker. They tied the hands and feet of their victims, tortured them, and then slit their throats. It was a yet another day of barbarism in the dark side of Turkish history.
Reaction to this act has been one of general condemnation, from Turkey and My Foreign Perspectives:
But it just gets worse! Yesterday, in Malatya, Turkey, famous for its apricots, this town experienced mayhem too with the killing of three people, whose throats were slit and found with their hands and feet bound. Why? They worked in a publishing house and thought to be doing missionary work.
Were they peaceful people? Probably. Did they deserve to die because they believed differently than others? No.
Erkan's Field Diary describes his first seeing of the news on the subject, at first he thought that it was just more news about violence in the southeast of the country:
When I was in a hurry glancing at news, I only saw the title of a news piece and concluded in my mind quickly that it was probably an attack against PKK sympathizers (like in the Şemdinli case but succeeded this time). See how it is normalized. It is an eastern city and there are possible suspects. Although that idea itself is not good at all,  this is different, this is more brutal, and more beasty.
Ignore Me If You Can posts her feelings on what is becoming of her country:
For years; Turkey has been a home for Catholics, Christians and Jewish descendants. When you walk the streets of Istanbul, you feel that diversity in every street, on every corner of the historical part of the city. It’s magical.
Then, I get a wake up call; “Three slain at Bible publishing house.” “Priest slain in Church.” “Pope shot by Turk.”
All this hatred is so unnecessary and sickening that sometimes, my pride fades away and is overtaken by shame.
It shames me to know that the country that I am a part of and that is a part of me has ceased being a peaceful haven for those who wish to speak their mind and follow the religion of their choice. It is now the pawn of dark forces trying to tarnish our image and abolish the peace and religious tolerance that so many have worked for for so long.
Athanasia's Daily worries that the events would be misconstrued and encourage more attacks against Islam itself:
Islam does not deny Christianity, on the contrary, Islam accepts the previous religions and say that they all belong to same God. According to Islam, Jesus is a prophet just like Muhammad and we should respect him just like we respect Muhammad. We obviously need to learn more about Islam.
Celal from Icarus Redeemed posts a video blog from a Christian preacher who knew the victims.
While it has been reported that 10 people have been arrested for the crime, Turks are still wondering what these new events mean for their country and how Turkishness is perceived.  The last word goes to The White Path:
As a more short-term solution to Christophobia, we Turks need to begin to stand against it more vigorously. Our all-mighty state shows no lack of determination in punishing insults (and sometimes even criticisms!) against “Turkishness” and its perceived sacred pillars. It should also start punishing those who spread hatred against the Christian — or Jewish, Armenian, Kurdish, etc. — citizens. That hatred not only ends in horrible bloodsheds, but also puts shame on us Turks more effectively than any insult could do.
Top Links for this week:
1. Both Talk Turkey and The White Path discuss how Abdullah Gul is the right choice for the Turkish Presidency.
2. The Carpetblogger talks about a new flavor of toothpaste.
3. Athanasia's Daily tells you how to waste time watching the musical version of Casablanca.


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Venezuela: RCTV’s Loss of License · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

RCTV (Radio Caracas Television), a private media station and critic of President Hugo Chavez will not have its license renewed by the government at the end of May.  Oil Wars wonders what will replace RCTV, but thinks this is an opportunity to restructure how media is controlled.  However, Caracas Chronicles mentions polling results that found nearly 70% of Venezuelans do not agree with this non-renewal, “making it the least-popular move of his eight-year presidency.”


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Africa: building applications for mobile phones in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Building mobile phone applications in Africa, from Ethan Zuckerman's “Geek tracking, African hacking”:
Eagle’s new project – EPROM (entrepreneurial programming and research on mobles) – is trying to encourage people in developing nations to learn how to build applications for mobile phones. This involves building a community of mobile developers and providing curiculum for students to learn how to build applications in this space. EPROM is running an “SMS bootcamp”, encouraging developers to build tools around SMS. There’s a real challenge in teaching this course in Ethiopia, where the local telephone company ETC is blocking most SMS traffic. Teaching in Addis Ababa, he managed to convince ETC to provide a small supply of unlocked SIM cards, which has let students try applications like movie listings, weather information, craig’s list-type applications, and “crush lists” for automated online flirting.


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Africa: ingenuity at a young age · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Afrigadget on ingenuity of African children: “Most African children are forced to create their own toys from scratch. Below are some samplings of what they make with what’s available. Old tire inner-tubes, soda cans, mud, bailing wire and sticks are just a few of the materials used to create imaginative toys.
In just about every country in Africa you’ll find the boys making cars, motorcycles and airplanes out of tin cans and bailing wire.”


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Africa: more African than thou · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Koluki posts photos from the “drum jam session” at the White House and asks, “… ON THE PATH TO SELF-RIGHTEOUS “MORE AFRICAN THAN THOU”?”


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East Timor: Chinese Involvement in East Timor · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Tumbleweed finds a Chinese petroleum company building a petrol station in Dili, the capital of East Timor. The post also some discussion on other construction projects that the Chinese are involved in.