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Jamaica: Hostages Released   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Breaking news in Jamaica this morning is that a hostage situation has developed with the crew of a Canadian jet at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.  Canadian mainstream media is since reporting that the situation was resolved without any loss of life when “an anti-terrorism unit of the Jamaican military stormed the plane and disarmed the gunman”, but bloggers Caribbean-wide and throughout the diaspora are still in disbelief.
Bajan Dream Diary posted regular updates throughout the incident, while fellow Barbadian blog Barbados Free Press thought it better to take advantage of the tourism marketing opportunity the incident presented:
While the truth is, the situation could probably have happened just about anywhere — it didn’t. It happened in Jamaica, a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world and a gun culture that is even reflected in popular music. If any of our Canadian readers are thinking of a vacation in Jamaica, may we suggest you reconsider that Barbados is a much friendlier and safer vacation place.
Jamaica Salt agreed that:
The hijacking of a plane at Sangster international airport is what Jamaican tourism needed like a hole in the head.
This is the worst thing that could have happened to Jamaica as it faces major economic trouble. International headlines like this could not have come at a worse time.
But there is a silver lining:
On the bright side, at least everyone got out of it unharmed, that’s a major blessing.


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Jamaica: Perspective on Pirates  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica-based blogger Annie Paul happened to be reading a manuscript about pirates at a time when “the pirates of Somalia were rousing international consternation by capturing a US ship and holding its crew hostage” – and she shares an alternative perspective on this age-old profession.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Jordan: Lessons from Hannah Montana  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Jordan, Moey shares the 10 things he learned from watching Hannah Montana.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Jordan: Rainy Amman in Photos  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Thought Clouds, The Digital Bender shares those photographs from Amman, Jordan, in the rain.


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Kazakhstan: Blackout in Almaty · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Last Wednesday, April 15, due to damage of the high-voltage power line Toktogul-Frunze (the largest line in the Kyrgyz Republic), most enterprises and even strategic buildings in towns of the northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan were in blackout. The supply of gas and hot water has been suspended, ATMs were not working, later most Kazakhstani websites and radio stations were switched off. Mobile telephony kept on working.
Almaty has been cut off the electricity: dark streets, traffic lights not working, rain, accidents… The whole downtown was in blackout, most micro-districts also. One of our journalists even found a completely dark maternity hospital and recorded an interview with the doctor, writes pulemetchizza [ru].
Graveric posts panoramic pictures of Almaty in normal time and during blackout [ru]
Ehot says [ru]:
This time the situation was much worse than during the previous blackout. I personally saw the TV tower at that moment – it ran out of electricity completely, including the window of control cab – and then gradually illuminated again. This means a very serious problem. I'd like to thank road police for efficiently organized traffic management.
Programmilla tried to find news about the blackout [ru]:
Nothing. Only the Internet forum had a thread about it, but no details. I don't understand, is Almaty a big city or a village? Why there had been no information?
However, Almatian bloggers have always been known for their irony. Sav-age notes [ru]:
Energy services of Almaty took closely to heart (though a bit late) the recommendation to join the Earth Hour
Roxichka thinks positively [ru]:
Blackout is very romantic and sobering. We are too used to virtual life of Internet and television, and sometimes absence of light can be even joyful.
However, she admits the advantages of electricity:
light was turned on again right on time – before the start of Porto-ManUnited football match!
The conclusion of megakhuimyak is as follows [ru]:
It was known in November last year that Toktogul [reservoir] does not have enough water and will lack capacity this spring. It was known in September last year that our power grids are extremely depreciated, which means they are very vulnerable to accidents. But it became known only yesterday that nobody in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan did anything to handle this situation.
And restec considers [ru] that this blackout -
is a good reason to develop our autonomous system of electricity supply, most desirably, using alternative energy.
Also posted on neweurasia

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: Kazakh party vs. Chinese companies · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arman tells about the demarche of the Kazakhstan opposition party against expansion of Chinese state corporations presence in the country’s economy.


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Kazakhstan: Opposition wants to unite · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arman reports on the Forum of Kazakhstan’s democratic forces that took place last Saturday in Almaty, where the opposition parties voiced their intention to unite and create a single party.


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Kazakhstan: Team Astana in Trouble · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports that cycling team Astana, which includes stars like Lance Armstrong, Contador and Leipheimer, has been having financial issues.


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Kazkahstan: Web2.0 government · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Zara reports on the research that has been held in Kazakhstan on how effective are the blogs of the government officials.


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Kyrgyzstan: Elections and patron-client syste · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elina Galperin analyzes the political landscape in Kyrgyzstan on the eve of the presidential elections, marred by several political murders.


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Kyrgyzstan: Mysterious Murder of Sanjarbek Kadyraliev · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reports on the murder of the Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, who had never publicly supported the opposition.


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Kyrgyzstan: News About the President’s Election Race · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena continues reporting about the new faces in the election race for the president post in Kyrgyzstan.


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Kyrgyzstan: Serious Emergency at the Kyrgyz Electric Linesna · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena posts some facts about yesterday’s electrical blackout in Kyrgyzstan.


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Latin America: Pride on Local Musicians in YouTube’s Symphony Orchestra · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Image by *spud* on http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaun/3284113715/
Latin American bloggers have been writing about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s debut at the Carnegie Hall, where the winners of a world-wide online contest where were flown into New York to participate in this collaborative orchestra. Following, some of the winners selected to play at Carnegie Hall, and how some of them weren't able to make their dream come true.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra was a contest organized by YouTube in which musicians from all over the world submitted videos of themselves playing an instrument to a set piece of music, and were then selected by other YouTube members and musician Michael Tilson Thomas to appear in a mashup video of all the audition videos with the winners playing together as well as a trip to New York for a musical summit where they had the opportunity to share with all the other winners as well as important musicians. Here is the video from Carnegie Hall:
Peruvian blogger kinua writes:
El peruano Marco Antonio Mazzini tocará en el Carnegie Hall de Nueva York este 15 de abril. El portal de videos Youtube lo seleccionó después de participar en el concurso que lanzó vía Internet y al que se presentaron 3 mil músicos aficionados y profesionales de 70 naciones.
Although Mazzini lives in Belgium, he has stated that he is also representing Peru with his participation. Also an import is Irina Simeonova Kodin, who hails from Bulgaria, but lives and represents Brazil for this contest. This next video was uploaded by Irina to show-off the city that has adopted her:
The story of the different musicians is being documented by GramaFilm for Harmony, a film that will show the paths of several different musicians on their road to Carnegie Hall. The following video is a teaser- trailer about Manuel Ramos Reynoso from Mexico, and how his childhood dream of playing in the Carnegie Hall became true:
However, Yurii Inti Bullon Bobadilla wasn't able to travel to Carnegie Hall although he was selected as a winner, because his visa was denied. He did post a video explaining why he wouldn't be able to travel:
Also from Latin America is Larissa Natalia Ferreira De Mattos from Brazil and Jhon Wilson Gonzalez C. from Colombia. You can view the winning entries by these and other winners divided by country on this page. We wish them all the very best.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Lebanon: Activists Experiment with Social Media · Global Voices
Mohammad Azraq

The use of social media tools such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and mobile technology has become increasingly popular in activism and advocacy work worldwide in recent years. In Lebanon, a group called Social Media Exchange conducts training for NGOs, civil society organisations, and activists on how they can utilise social media to promote their work and reach a wider audience. They produced a very interesting video about activists in Lebanon experimenting with social media, shedding light on various blogs, Facebook initiatives, and websites used for social, socio-economic, and political activism in the country.
Blogging
During the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, young people like social and environmental activist Zena El-Khalil, who is interviewed in the video, used blogs to tell her side of the story and how she felt during that period. She was among a group of bloggers, some of whom had never blogged before, but felt the passion to let out their thoughts and feelings, and have their voices heard through online interactive forums. On her blog Beirut Update, and in her last post which dates back to November 2006, she wrote:
the war ended. maya's condition grew worse. she passed away and i have been left with a stain on my heart. what now? i have been living the past few weeks in total darkness, not know what lies ahead. not knowing if things could get any worse.. if i was going to lose anyone else… and today it almost happened in Palestine. i almost lost two more friends.
Twitter
Activists and bloggers in Lebanon have also begun using Twitter. For instance, Mustapha of Beirut Spring, recently used the popular service to campaign for better broadband connection in Lebanon:
And Nights uses it to converse with different activists from Lebanon and the world at large:
Facebook
Another group featured in the video was “Nahwa Al Muwatiniya” or Towards Citizenship, which is group formed by young people with the goal of monitoring parliamentary actions and legislations. Their impressive initiative “Naam Lil Hiwar” or Yes for Dialogue brings young people together in town hall-like settings to discuss issues that matter to them in Lebanon. The topics vary between social and political; issues like sex education in schools, protecting the environment, and reforming the economy, were among the those discussed. The group announces their events on their Facebook page and uses mass-mailing for invitations. On their website, they explain the purpose of their initiative:
The absence of real dialogue in the Lebanese society- and among youth specifically- is a major obstacle standing in the way of true democracy. Lack of communication and often leads way to more severe socio-political problems. Dialogue is therefore an essential feature of multicultural societies without which true partnership cannot be established. Naam lil Hiwar has successfully created an open space for dialogue by holding Hiwar sessions in Beirut for over two years. Open spaces for dialogue in different regions of Lebanon – where youth can discuss a kaleidoscope of political, social, and cultural issues – is needed as a communication channel. By creating sustainable Hiwar groups in different communities, Naam is taking the culture of dialogue to the streets where it belongs, with the aim of transmitting it to the political arena.
Websites
Al Majmoua is a micro-finance group that helps entrepreneurs around Lebanon connect to sources of funding from around the world. They are partnering with Kiva global network, an organisation based in the U.S that allows funders to lend money to entrepreneurs worldwide. They use their website to connect with these entrepreneurs and to also help them connect to lenders.
The recent years have witnessed a significant rise in internet penetration, particularly among young people in Lebanon. The service is being enhanced and the bandwidth expanded, and more and more organisations are realising the importance of social media and information and telecommunication technologies in their work. As all of this is happening, we continue to see more blogs, tweets, and videos coming out of Lebanon advocating for cultural, social, and political causes.

author: Mohammad Azraq


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Malawi Politicians Campaign in Cyberspace · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

The presidential and parliamentary race in Malawi is seeing innovative use of the Internet that Malawi's politics has never witnessed before. Parties and individual contestants have established themselves online through websites, Facebook and blogs to get voters’ attention.
The Malawi Electoral Commission accepted seven presidential candidates and their presence online may be attributed to their new efforts to sell themselves and woo the electorate—some of which is gradually relying more on the Internet in the country. While the political players go digital, Malawi’s Electoral Commission itself does not have a website of its own, causing some bloggers to complain about official website absence.
The Democratic Progressive Party:
With its presidential candidate Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, it has a website. The party also runs a Facebook account while Mutharika himself has a blog in his name.
New Rainbow Coalition (NARC):
New Rainbow Coalition (NARC):
Its presidential candidate Loveness Gondwe stated in a radio interview that her party has a website. Apart from that, Malawi Politics has ably captured her profile.
United Democratic Front (UDF):
With no presidential candidate presented to date, the UDF as a party does not have its own website. However, its desired presidential candidate, Malawi’s former president Bakili Muluzi, runs one in his own name bearing party colours. The site's presence online faces attacks from enemies like the blog Anti-Muluzi, which is openly against his candidacy.
Independent Presidential Candidate:
A new comer to the political scene in Malawi, James Nyondo has a personal website.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP):
Malawi’s oldest party also decided to go online while probably sadly maintaining an earlier site.
While what is online seems to leave out some items that the party actually touts in its rallies, the new website seems to be enjoying a good number of visits due to the need for knowledge about the party that claims to have changed. Some commentators (through the print) have described the website as more beautiful than any other on the race.
Other parties like Peoples Transformation Party (Petra) with Kamuzu Chibambo and Republican Party of Stanley Masauli do not have own websites so far.
Young parliamentary candidates like Chikondi Nkhoma in Lilongwe are using the Internet for passing on their manifesto to the electorate. The young candidate is also on Facebook. Dr Cornelius Mwalwanda of Karonga had a running website (in DPP colours) but it appears he shut it down following losses at primary elections.
News portals like Nyasa Times have been described by some as an online tool meant to serve the interests of one political party over others.
While Internet penetration in Malawi is under one percent, this development seems to appeal to a good number of Malawians within and in the Diaspora as they are now able to read and learn more about their candidates.

author: Victor Kaonga


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Malaysia: Facebook now more popular than Friendster · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Friendster is the top social networking site for many years already in Southeast Asia. But Facebook is now more popular than Friendster in Malaysia.

author: Mong Palatino


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Moldova: “Making Sense of Recent Events” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Below is a follow-up to the three earlier GV posts (here, here, and here) on the blog coverage of the protests and rioting in Chisinau, Moldova, that followed the April 5 election.
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow flew to Moldova's capital shortly after the violent events of Tuesday, April 7, and wrote this on his return:
[…] Although I missed the real action (which, since it now appears to have resulted in the loss of at least two lives, should perhaps not be trivialized), I felt like I was there for the second-most-important thing: the days during which Moldovans – opposition voters and PCRM voters; educated and otherwise; Russophone, Romania-oriented and otherwise – were doing their best to make sense of what had happened.
I heard a lot of different versions of the events of last Tuesday, none of which was entirely satisfying, and accumulated about 30 pages of notes which I'm now attempting to filter (for rumors, with which the city was rife) and distill into something that might help outsiders make sense of the situation there. […]
Lyndon's photos from his trip to Chisinau are here.
On April 19, Lyndon wrote that he was “still trying to figure everything out.” In this post, however, as well as in at least half a dozen others (tagged “Grape Revolution“), Lyndon has been linking to and commenting on some relevant coverage, background and analysis.
***
Here are some more links to bloggers’ opinions on the events in Moldova and the coverage they have received:
- April 8 – The LRC Blog: Moldova’s ‘Twitter Revolution’: Made in America?
- April 9 – Windows to Russia: The Twitter Revolution – “Made in America!”
- April 11 – Sublime Oblivion: Twitter Terror in Moldova
- April 14 – Foreign Policy Association's Russia: Revolutionary Relativism: Moldova vs Georgia
- April 15 – Turkish Invasion: Hello Moldova!
- April 16 – Eternal Remont: So just who is the poorest in Europe?
- April 16 – Blogactiv.eu: Moldova, Romania’s Dilemma
- April 17 – Russia Blog: Twitter Madness in Chisinau – What Happened in Moldova?

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Mongolia: Putin to visit Mongolia · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bilguun reports that Russian premier Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia in May, on the eve of the presidential elections.


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Pakistan: Terror Has A New Name · Global Voices
Rezwan

Faisal K. at Deadpan Thoughts realizes: “not a day goes by without some sort of threat in Pakistan to its citizens by these mysterious men we have come to know loosely as the Taliban.”

author: Rezwan


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Reflections on Barcamp Kuala Lumpur 2009 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bernard Leong shares his reflections on the recent Barcamp Kuala Lumpur 2009. He writes: Other than technology, we have topics ranging from social & youth entrepreneurship, corporate brands with social media, bloggers, to even salsa dancing.”


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Saudi Arabia: Support for fatwa prohibiting “immoral” women’s sports clubs · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Writing on Arabic online forum Al Saha Abu Marmesh applauds a new fatwa (religious edict) by a Saudi scholar which bans women only health and sports club in Saudi Arabia. “We have to stand together against all those who try to abuse our girls and women,” he writes.


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Sri Lanka: Winning Back The Tamil Diaspora · Global Voices
Rezwan

The Whackstar's Lair opines that the Sri Lankan people should stop considering the Tamil diaspora as the enemy. Because: “EELAM is right here, but it’s called Sri Lanka, and people of different races live here together. ‘Come home’ is what the government and all of us need to say to them. Win them back, prove to them we’ve changed, prove beyond doubt that this country is a place where everyone can live in harmony in reality, and not just in a speech of a politician or in the frames of a propagandist TV commercial.”


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Syria: Independence Day Celebration in DC Draws Crowds  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Imad Moustapha, Syria's envoy to the US, shares with us photographs from a celebration to mark his country's Independence Day in Washington DC. “The huge attendance was a testimony to how Syria is regarded by the American people despite years of trying to distort its image by former President Bush, his kick-side Cheny and their acolytes of hate-mongers,” he writes.


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Thailand: Red Shirt videos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Happi like a Hippo gives a list of protest videos uploaded by Thailand's Red Shirt protesters on YouTube.


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Turkmenistan: Turks Building in Ashgabat Again · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Michael Hancock writes that Turkish construction companies are again receiving contracts to build more great buildings in Turkmenistan.


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Unemployment in Singapore · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tan Kin Lian believes unemployment rate in Singapore is “seriously under-reported.”


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Albania: Trees in Tirana · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Nevada Yankee in King Zog's Court writes about the efforts of the Tirana mayor's office to make the city greener.


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Armenia: Maths problem · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on attempts by police to prevent a small march by a local political youth from heading to the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan. The blog posts a video and concludes that policemen very definitely can't count.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Student protest · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following the expulsion of Parviz Azimov from his university in Lankaran State University, the Dalga youth movement have staged an action demanding his reinstatement. Video of the protest at the Azerbaijani Ministry of Sport and Youth is available on YouTube.


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Bahrain: BahrainBlogs.org Blocked by Information Ministry · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Silly Bahraini Girl reports that her country's Information Ministry has blocked access to Bahrainblogs.org, an aggregator which brings all Bahraini blogs under one roof.


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Bangladesh: Student Politics · Global Voices
Rezwan

An Ordinary Citizen is worried about the continuous violence in different campuses of Bangladesh and comments that it is time to rethink about the objective of student politics in the country.


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Bermuda, Turks & Caicos: The Intervention Issue  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermudian bloggers Vexed Bermoothes and Catch a fire continue to discuss the suspension of self-governance in the Turks and Caicos islands.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: 1,000 More Srebrenica Victims To Be Buried July 11  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

1,000 new funerals of victims of the Srebrenica massacre have been scheduled for July 11, 2009, Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Bihac · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Travel report and pictures from “Bihac and surroundings” – at Bosnia Blog.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Genocide Prevention Month Commemorations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes about the Genocide Prevention Month commemorations in Sarajevo – here and here.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Intermarriage · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Gray Falcon writes about intermarriage in Bosnia & Herzegovina.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Re-Naming of Towns · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Amila Bosnae writes about re-naming of towns in Bosnia & Herzegovina's Republika Srpska.


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China: Free Wu Baoquan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A netizen has been sentenced to 2 year imprisonment for criticizing Ordos city government (in Inner Mongolia) for illegal land requisition. Spontaneous Online campaign calling for justice to Wu has been harmonized. (more in GVA).

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Impact of New Media · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Digital Times reports on Liu Jianqiang, Zhang Ping, Wang Lixiong's sharing on the impact of new media in a round table discussion at the University of California, Berkeley.


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China: More on Jackie Chan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kai Pan from CNReview translates Jackie Chan's comment on “Chinese need more control” with more semantic analysis of the context. Imagethief wonders where exactly should we place the context then?


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China: Property giant block newspapers · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

On April 15, Xinjiang Property Management issued an order to all of the communities it manages in Urumqi to block Morning Post newspaper carriers from entering – Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated local reports on how private corporate tried to manipulate the media.


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Costa Rica: Internet Cost Structure · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mirando en Marcelo [es] has a two-part series on the fee structure for internet in Costa Rica and how the costs will be lowered through a partnership with cable providers.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Czech Republic: “Kuličky” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame writes about the Czech movie “Marbles” (Kuličky), screened at the 22nd Festival of Czech Films.


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Ecuador: Social Web Conference in Quito · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

A conference called “Setting and Culture of the Social Web + 10 Suggestions for the Media that Wants to Change” was held in Quito, Ecuador with the participation of many well-known actors in the field writes Abelsuing [es].


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Fiji: Devaluation debate · Global Voices
Michael Hartsell

StartFragment
The past week bloggers in Fiji have had a lot to say about the devaluation of the Fiji Dollar.
On April 15, the Reserve Bank of Fiji devalued the Fiji Dollar by 20 percent, making it cheaper compared to other currencies. This means that more Fiji dollars are needed to purchase goods from outside the country. For overseas buyers, products in Fiji will now be less expensive.
The tourism industry welcomed the decision, saying cheaper prices will bring more tourists. Others say devaluation will affect the country’s poorest, especially when the government decided to decrease the retirement age to 55.
Loyal Fijian calls this devaluation is one of the most severe moves taken by a government in Fiji.
There can be no denying now that we are in serious trouble folks.
The smart businessman who are well connected would have been tipped off and squirreled their loot offshore before this announcement. The common man and woman will now pay more for all our imported products.
So next time you go to the shops to buy noodles, mackerel, powdered milk and just about anything else, you will pay more.
And this is on top of the inflation rate which surely must rank in the double digits now.
The Fijian economy has been hit hard before, inevitable when you consider the amount of political turmoil we have had. But we have come out without the economy collapsing.
On Twitter, gilbertfiji has advice for expat Fijians.
fijians working abroad? now is a good time to send money to fiji, after the Fiji dollar devaluation.
A post on the blog Intelligentsiya argues against it.
Perhaps the grand plan is to lure foreign exchange into the country leaving the majority of our citizens to tussle with hiked costs to 20% of imported goods. It includes essentials such as mortgage payments, food (rice, flour, potatoes), fuel, medicines, building materials etc and guess who has to pick up the short-fall or face the social impact consequences? Yes you Bainimarama. The “apolitical” tourism industry (we have not forgotten just how “apolitical” this group was in fighting Qarase’s draft qoliqoli legislation), will also bear increased costs of food importation that domestic production standards can’t meet.
The hint that exports will peak from the devaluation is shakey. Our export earning mainstay, the sugar industry, which still has lost its core buyer the EU has been on a consistent downward free-fall. The rise in domestic costs to boost exports effectively cancel out any savings as economist Satish Chand points out delicately.
Essentially no new money will make its way into the economy and the begging by the illegal RBF Governor that We the People need to bear inflation for only 12 months is ridiculous and downright arrogant. What more can this illegal regime suck out of its citizens?
Fiji's poor will be hit hardest, writes Raw Fiji News.
Following the devaluation of the Fiji dollar by 20%, inflation or cost of living in Fiji is expected to rise given that the cost of imported food items and things will become more expensive due to the weakened Fiji dollar.
This means that the cost of rice, flour, tea, and other basic items will increase hitting the pockets of poor people very hard.
Expect to pay more for bus fares and fuel in the next few weeks as Fiji’s biggest import commodity, fuel, will be more expensive to buy.
It is time to go back to the land and start planting your own food people.
Buy local made products, vegetable and fruits and cut off the fat from your weekly budget list.
Talking Fiji underlines the point that investor confidence brings investment, not cheaper currency.
I personally don’t see how the RBF (Reserve Bank of Fiji) and the interim regime can encourage foreign investment by devaluing our dollar, because any economist will tell you that this will hurt us more than it will benefit us.
I suppose this is why it is a ‘last resort’ option.
At the end of the day foreign investors will come to Fiji if the political situation in this country is resolved, the military return to the camp and the rule of law and democracy are restored.
Investor confidence is what brings in foreign dollars, not devaluation.
EndFragment

author: Michael Hartsell


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Guatemala: The Manatee Under Threat of Extinction · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The manatee, which draws tourists to Guatemala, is in danger of extinction writes Jorge Morales of Guate Zona [es]
.


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Guyana: Doing His Part · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyanese blogger Imran Khan is doing his part “to help save electricity, thereby saving fuel, thereby saving the environment.”


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Haiti: Senate Elections  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Alice Smeets posts a series of photographs of Haiti's senatorial elections this past weekend, while My Life, an Open Book… says: “It turned out to be a terrible election…not because people were killed, but because the voice of the people was not heard.”


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Honduras: Does the Country Need a New Constitution? · Global Voices
Leonidas Mejia

Honduras President Manuel Zelaya announced a decree calling for a referendum in which Hondurans will decide whether or not a National Constituent Assembly is convened to write and approve a new Constitution. The reasons provided by the President that such a referendum is needed are that there have been significant societal changes during the last few years and that democracy needs to be strengthened. This new consultation called a “fourth ballot box” will take place next November during the general elections.
These developments have resulted in a political hurricane within the country. On one hand there are those who say that it will be the people who approve or disapprove the President's proposal. There are also those in the opposition that believe that the president wants to remain in power indefinitely, and is following in the steps of other leaders in the region.
Mystery Honduras [es] writes:
En el ambiente político Hondureño se destila la hipocresía y cinismo, de aquellos que ahora se hacen llamar defensores de la CONSTITUCIÓN DE LA REPÚBLICA, son los mismos que la han violado cuantas veces han querido, con que moral me pregunto se hacen llamar defensores, utilizan los medios de comunicación que informan lo que les conviene, porque ahora hay que defender los INTERESES de los famosos “GRUPOS DE PODER” los mismos que están en contra de reformar la constitución, será por que perderán el poder político que han gozado durante años?
Blog Lectores [es] adds that Zelaya is taking a cue from some of his fellow Latin American leaders:
El tema está de nuevo en el debate público y el presidente Zelaya no ha escondido sus pretenciones de continuar gobernando.  La clase política de Honduras, incluido el mismo Partido Liberal, sostiene que Zelaya pretende reformar la Constitución de la República, por medio de la consulta al pueblo (la cuarta urna), como lo hicieron Hugo Chávez en Venezuela y Evo Morales en Bolivia, para luego perpetuarse en el poder.
Angelus of Honduras en el Mundo [es] writes about standing in the way of the consultation:
Muchos se jactan de ser democráticos, pero cuando dicen que se le consulte al pueblo, saltan con las excusas para oponerse, y es que es tan poca la voluntad de escuchar al pueblo, que increíblemente ni han reglamentado el plesbicito y el referendum en el Congreso Nacional.
Finally, Fortalecimiento Democratico [es] thinks that there should be other priorities in the country and  asks:
La cuarta urna, ¿para que? Acaso no sabemos que nuestro pueblo de hambre muere y donde están el dinero que ayudaría aliviar la pobreza, donde esta la Justicia, la igualdad, el derecho de expresión de Pensamiento, nuestro derecho a la Seguridad, DONDE ESTA, si el pueblo los eligió cuatro años, respetemos esa voluntad, que estos meses que quedan esa de trabajo en conjunto porque al entrar en una crisis nuestro país todos perdemos, nadie le conviene un caos institucional, POR ESO DEFENDAMOS NUESTRA DEMOCRACIA PORQUE SOMOS GENTE DE PAZ Y ENTONCES PARA QUE LA CUARTA URNA.

author: Leonidas Mejia


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India: Candidates Debate · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an Independent MP in the upper house of Indian parliament (Rajya Sabha) suggests a debate face-off between the two Prime Ministerial candidates: “A Dr Manmohan Singh vs. LK Advani debate would have been great for the Indian voter and Indian Democracy!”


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Iran: Free Potatoes Inflamed Electoral Fever · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The Iranian authorities have distributed free potatoes in recent weeks in different cities. Several Iranian politicians have criticized the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s government free potato distribution as an act of the presidential electoral campaign and call it a waste of public money. Iranian officials say that there was an excess of  potatoes supply  in Iran and the government has only bought and distributed them. The Iranian Tabnak site has published several photos of these potatoes distribution in a university in Isfahan. Several bloggers have offered their opinions on this ‘Potato Gate’.
Nik Ahang, an Iranian leading cartoonist and blogger, has published a cartoon (above) where ‘potatoes say to Ahmadinejad:we support you’.
Mmoeeini, who supports former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavai in the presidential election, considers the free potatoes distribution an attempt by Ahmadinejad to get votes. The blogger writes that the Iranian president pledged four years ago to distribute oil revenue among people and now that presidential election is coming soon, agents of the Ministry of Agriculture have distributed free potatoes  without making any noise.
Nemat Sibil says [fa]
طی روزهای اخیر ده ها کامیون سیب زمینی در شهرستان های اطراف تهران توزیع گردیده است.خانواده های ساکن در این مناطق با تحویل گرفتن کیسه های بزرگ سیب زمینی به صورت رایگان که محدودیتی در تعداد آنها وجود نداشت، از توزیع کنندگان تشکر می کردند.به نظر می رسد ارتباطی میان این سیب زمینی ها و سیب زمینی های توزیع شده در شیراز وجود دارد
Abbas Abdi, a political analyst considers [fa] the free potatoes distribution will only lead to a wastage of them, because people take as much as they wish and then they can not store them. He asks
why did not the government distribute free onions and what are the financial sources spent on this action?

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Islamist bloggers’ poems in praise of Ahmadinejad · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

While several Iranian bloggers criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the United Nations conference on racism in Geneva yesterday, some Islamist bloggers praised his performance.
Hamed Talebi, on his blog Khabarnegar Mosalman (“Muslim Reporter”) says [fa] “our artist friends beautiful are writing poems to support Ahmadinejad. During revolutionary and pro justice speeches’ of Ahmadinejad at the Durban conference a few good poems have been written and friends should help to communicate them by SMS….” Two of the verses are :
داني كه چيست معني آن ترك كنفرانس؟ *** يعني گريخت دشمن از آن منطق كلام
ايران به دليرمرد خود مي‌نازد *** با احمدي‌اش به دشمنان مي‌تازد
Madreseh Ma (“Our School”) says [fa] that the Durban conference became Ahmadinejad's conference. “What Ahmadinejad did can not be wiped off history's memory. Now the West is afraid of Iran participating in any conference on racism.”
Paberhnegan (“Bare Foot People”) writes [fa] that Ahmadinejad's performance in Geneva mad the Iranian people rejoiced. “He does not need to do any publicity for his electoral campaign. What he does is the best publicity.”


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Israel: Reflections on the Holocaust Memorial Day and Durban II · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

Yesterday was the national holocaust memorial day in Israel. Coincidentally, it was also the opening day of the highly contested UN Durban II conference on racism in Geneva. Dozens of delegates have   walked out as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave his talk, in which he described Israel as a “racist government”. His words: “The UN security council has stabilized this occupation regime and supported it in the last 60 years giving them a free hand to continue their crimes,” as dozens of diplomats from countries including Britain and France left the hall in protest.
Israeli ambassador to Switzerland was recalled and returned to Jerusalem following the Swiss presidents’ meeting with the Iranian leader. Shimon Peres said earlier in the day: “There is a limit to Switzerland's neutrality, and there is a border which must not be crossed. Everyone should realize that Iran is a country where people are lynched in the street for no good reason. It is the world center for terrorism and bloodshed.”
As the national holocaust memorial day unfolds, Israeli bloggers reflect and question the meaning of  the day's events.
Bravejeworld describes the events at the conference:
Mahmoud Ahmedinajad proceeded to prove all the anti-Durban I protestors right this afternoon as he launched into a predictable tirade against Israel and the Jewish people. Contrary to the principles and claimed purpose of the UN backed conference, Iranian's president proved to the world how hypocritical he actually is as by standing directly opposed to everything the Western world holds dear. As a result, many world leaders walked out of the conference as he began his speech to the delight and pleasure of the many spectators and thus reducing the conference to the shambles many were hoping it would be.
Dr. Ori Amity affirms how the Palestinian problem is certainly not related to race, nor is genocide, as Ahmadinejad claims:
True, the Iranian president is a ridiculous character, but especially with this type of person, we cannot stay silent. And before everything, it is necessary to refer to his accusation of genocide. With the Israeli Laissez-faire mentality, and some failures found here and there, if there was a masterplan to kill all Palestinians, we all would have noticed it by now: gas chambers in the Erez checkpoint, firing squads and death marches from Hebron to Jenin – someone would have already noticed, no?
The claims (towards Israel) over racism are somewhat right, especially with regards to the 1970's immigration law, which provides immediate citizenship even to the children and grandchildren of Jews, and not only to the Jews themselves. This is exactly the difference between discrimination on the basis of race versus religion. And still, the president is not worried about this law, but about the Palestinian problem. There are many different types of problems here, but certainly not based on race.
An important lesson learned from the holocaust is – never become indifferent to another person's suffering – especially if you are the cause. The Palestinian suffering is a fact, and the abstention from finding a solution for many years is unjust for both sides. This serves as a constant reminder that not everything is good, and if we will not act to fix the situation, we might lose that which today seems as most obvious.
Adi Shternberg brings up the example of Europe pre-WWII relating to the danger of non-action:
Hitler came into political rule in a legitimate manner. He made his way to the top against all odds, and proved he had political and strategical capabilities. All this would not have happened if the European countries would have stood strong and shown military might while it was still possible. Nazi Germany was far from powerful in its first years. France, England, Poland and Russia could have stopped the Nazi snowball in its first years… before it became too late; before history was written in blood.
The mere fact of organizing a conference such as Durban II during the formal holocaust memorial day, shows the historical and generational blindness that this ancient European continent has. Europe was totally destroyed during the world war, and could have prevented this. Europe lets this terrible conference take place – the type of gathering that supports the dark forces of the world. Europe can still stop this. It is not too late.
Navka writes:
Must it be on this day? When we remember the atrocities that happened in the world – the murder of millions of people because of hate, with no good reason.
Durban II conference opened, where the honorary guests Ahmadinejad gives a racist speech against Israel.
We must not provide these terrible people with a stage where they can open their mouths this way…

author: Gilad Lotan


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Jamaica: Ripple Effect · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Life, Unscripted, on the Rock, has more questions than answers about the recently-resolved hostage situation at a Jamaican airport.


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Lebanon: From the Election Campaign Trail · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

Campaigning for the Lebanese parliamentary elections in June is in full swing, and the Lebanese blogosphere is not skipping a beat.
Lebanon's two major political blocs, the Western-backed March 14 alliance and the Hezballah-led March 8 alliance, are heading for a tight contest.
The parliamentary elections are pivotal in Lebanon, determining the formation of government. The March 14 alliance currently holds majority in Parliament, and indeed the cabinet.
Hezballah and its allies are, however, intent on turning their status from opposition into the ruling majority.
A lot is at stake in the elections, the first since Lebanon's 2006 war with Israel, and after two years of political turmoil that nearly dragged the country into another civil war. Lebanon is also in the midst of an economic crisis, with the state debt soaring beyond USD 40 billion.
As expected, the Lebanese blogosphere is keeping a close eye on the developments in the elections and offering plenty of insight.
The election campaign has witnessed an explosion of political billboard ads, with Rami from +961 offering comments on the “billboard wars”:
On the road to any area in Lebanon you will notice dozens of billboards promoting the different parties or candidates running for the election.
And on my way to Sidon yesterday I saw the following ones.
One politician who has drawn interest from bloggers is Druze leader, and March 14 member, Walid Jumblatt. Bloggers are sensing another potential shift following a meeting with Druze rival, and Hezballah ally, Talal Arslan. Is Jumblatt about to flop again? Ex Oriente Lux? notes:
Roughly a year ago Jumblatt was the March 14 lightning rod who threatened Hezbollah’s weapons, now he drifts increasingly towards more centrist and conventional positions.
While most March 14 leaders are hardening ranks (or, the undetermined electoral lists notwithstanding, at least trying to), Jumblatt is keeping his options open.  This really doesn’t bode well for March 14 that Jumblatt feels the need to shift his position, though it is not surprising.
There also seems to be unease from [Michel] Aoun’s camp at the relationship between Jumblatt and [Nabih] Berri in particular.  Still, I think that this is more likely part of a broader strategy on the part of the Hezbollah dominated Opposition to weaken the ranks and resolve of March 14 in the weeks leading up to the elections.  For Jumblatt’s part he is merely trying to hedge his bets and observers ought to view him as a bellweather in the coming weeks.
Friday Lunch Club also took note of Jumblatt's softening stance towards Hezballah, quoting this from the media:
“…Speaking to Al-Jadeed TV, Jumblatt admitted that some in Hezbollah continue to doubt his intentions and stances. However, he urged them to distinguish between his previous and current positions and speeches. “I say one must distinguish between my speeches under the influence of blood with what I am saying now,” Jumblatt said, hoping to re-gain the “trust” of the Resistance party.
Qifa Nabki, on the other hand, has tried to predict the outcome of the elections. Not only is he predicting a victory to the Hezballah-led  opposition alliance, but an increasing possibility that Hezballah's main Christian ally in Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) may wind up holding the largest number of seats out of all the parties … including Hezballah.
For the past several months, polls published by both sides have predicted a swing of less than ten seats, and occasionally less than  five. When I did the numbers on the blog two months ago, I tentatively forecasted a very slim win for the opposition (66-62). Of course,  it could easily go the other way depending on how things play out in the swing districts of Beirut I, Zahle, and the Metn.
But assuming that this situation obtains, what would Lebanon’s new majority look like, in terms of its constituent blocs? Due to the built-in confessional quotas of the Lebanese political system, and the fact that Hizbullah has pointedly refrained from seeking more parliament seats than it won in 2005, a March 8th majority would — by necessity — have to be dominated by the Michel Aoun-led Change & Reform bloc.
In 2005, Hizbullah, AMAL, and their allies (SSNP, Baath, and a couple of independents) won 35 seats, while the FPM and its allies in the Change & Reform bloc won 21 seats, producing an opposition of 56 seats (out of 128). Assuming that Hizbullah/AMAL/& friends can win 35 again (a safe bet), Aoun’s bloc will have to come up with at least 30 seats to get to 65. If Hizbullah and Berri offer Aoun their three seats in the Christian district of Jezzine (which they swept in 2005), this will mean that the Change & Reform Bloc (which will include the Free Patriotic Movement, Suleiman Frangieh’s Marada, Elias Skaff’s Zahle list, Tashnaq, and some independents) will be 33-strong. And this is under the condition that the opposition wins only the slimmest of majorities, at 65. If they bump it to 68, C&R could have as many as 36 seats, which is the number that the Future Movement won in 2005.
The point: if March 8 wins, Aoun will be the big man on campus as he will preside over a bloc that is larger than all of Hizbullah, AMAL, etc. combined, and this is surely by design. To those who scoff, saying that while Aoun may look like he is in charge, everybody will know who wears the pants in the coalition, I would simply advise you to spend half an hour with the General. You’ll be disabused of that notion (and your pants too, for that matter) rather quickly.
Remarkz has attempted to allay concerns from staunch March 14 supporters that a victory for the Hezballah-led alliance spells the return of Syria's domination over its smaller neighbour:
In my own opinion, Syria’s role as the arbiter of last resort is on the wane. This development has little to do with technicolor exercises in mass delusion and nearly everything to do with the Israeli withdrawal in 2000 and the attendant political consequences.
Indeed, I might say that the ruling coalition’s anti-Syrian barking provided the regime in Damascus with a wider berth on the Lebanese scene than it will know in the future.
In my own take of the election campaign on my blog, Lebanese Chess, I have alluded to a new politik taking place in Lebanon as a consequence of the convergence of sectarian interests with the formation of multi-sectarian political alliances:
Whilst the past four turbulent years have been marred by heightened sectarian competition on the surface, an undercurrent of entangled co-operation among the sects and the realisation that no sect can act alone has produced an intertwined political web.
The fact that groups like Hezballah are releasing, for the first time, a national agenda – to remove confessionalism from the political system, introduce proportional voting, combat corruption and lower the voting age to 18 – is evidence that the political dynamics in the country have indeed changed. Hizballah, renowned as a fundamentalist Shia organisation, has spent much of its three-decade existence sticking to its Shia corner, avoiding at all times the central and corrupt Lebanese political process. This led to rivals accusing Hezballah of creating a state-within-a-state. But given recent developments, the Shia party has made a major u-turn and has acknowledged that investing in a central authority (the Lebanese political establishment) is necessary to protect the interests of the Shias. That is, the interests of the Shias are intertwined with the interests of all sects and groups in Lebanon.
Sectarian groups have realised that in order to protect the interests of their community, they must indeed take into consideration the interests of other communities, therefore investing in the state's institutions (such as its political process) becomes essential.
And, finally, there is a new Lebanese blog that is devoted entirely to the coverage of the June elections, titled Lebanese Elections 2009.

author: Antoun Issa


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Mexico: Theater Documentary Recounts Testimonies of Relatives of Women Killed · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Women of Sand is a theater documentary that chronicles the testimonies of relatives of victims of the feminicides of Juarez, Mexico and has been performed by more than 30 groups worldwide writes Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa [es].


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Morocco: Lalami’s Second Novel Secret Son Launched  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The View from Fez announces the launch of Moroccan blogger and author Laila Lalami‘s novel Secret Son. Lalami writes about the launch here.


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Peru: Recent Paleontological Discoveries · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

El Pensieve de Dinorider [es] posts links to various articles about recent paleontological discoveries across Peru.

author: Juan Arellano


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Russia: Bakhmina’s Parole; Khodorkovsky’s ‘Not Guilty’ Plea · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Former Yukos lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina has been granted parole today, while former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky has pleaded not guilty before court, Robert Amsterdam's Blog reports.


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Sri Lanka: Footage Of LTTE Brutality On Trapped Civilians  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Yzma’s Blog posts a video footage showing the brutality of the LTTE on the trapped Sri Lankan civilians while they were trying to escape.


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Sri Lanka: Lamenting On The War · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sri Lankan blogger Mathawaada, who blogs at A Collision Of Ideas, laments on the civil war hearing the news that the LTTE rebels are finally being defeated militarily: “Ah…this war. Yes, this war is older than me, just like anyone in their early twenties I also grew up with it. Of course the battles didn’t affect us directly but the constant fear and distress always tormented our minds.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Return on Investment?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Trinidadians always buy into this idea that hosting something will get us lots of free press.  Thing is: no-one really cares all that much who hosts the summit. Perhaps you get a few extra googles…but the idea that these things pay for themselves is delusional”: Club Soda and Salt is not convinced that the twin island nation's hosting of the Fifth Summit of the Americas was a sound idea.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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UAE: Pirates Linked to the Gulf  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Grapeshisha Blog, from the UAE, comments on a news report linking the Somali pirates to Dubai and other Gulf states.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Ukraine: Ceramics Museum; Chernobyl Exclusion Zone · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Uncataloged Museum reports on a trip to the National Museum of Ukrainian Ceramics in the village of Opishne, in the Poltava region. Chernobyl and Eastern Europe posts a 2006 video from a Pripyat.com editor's trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.


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Ukraine: Cleaning Up and Littering Down · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Observations on the “public, private and personal space” in Kyiv – at The Uncataloged Museum. Photos and video of the damage done to Kyiv's environment during this year's Easter holidays – at Ukrainiana.


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Africa: Entrepreneur-Investor matching site for Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Afrifunding.com is an online community platform where entrepreneurs who have plans for starting or expanding a business in Africa meet with global investors who want to invest in Africa, StartUps Nigeria reports.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Bahamas: Check Your Contents  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On the subject of Bahamian cultural heritage, Bahama Pundit‘s Larry Smith says: “The real issue here is one of judgment. We already spend huge amounts of taxpayer dollars on packaging the Bahamas overseas, while very little thought or money is invested in the product we are selling.”


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Bahrain: Submissions for Bitfilm Open · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Mideast Youth has been named a partner in the Bitfilm Festival for Digital Film and New Media, which will be Hamburg and Tel Aviv, writes the site's Bahraini founder Esra'a. The deadline for submissions is July 1.


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Bangladesh: To Protect Nesting Sparrows · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladeshi blogger Shahnaz, who blogs at Dhaka Dweller, shares a tragic story and suggests: “if you have nesting sparrows in your home, please protect them while they are raising their brood.”


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Barbados: Maloney Inquest Verdict  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press blogs about the upcoming inquest verdict on the death of I’Akobi Maloney, saying: “No matter what the findings of the coroner, the big losers in this inquest are every officer of the Royal Barbados Police Force.”


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Bolivia: New Electoral Law for December · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Miguel Buitrago of MABB provides an overview of the new electoral law that will guide the structure of the December general elections in December.


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Brazil: Judicial decisions, a growing threat to online freedom · Global Voices
Paula Góes

When it comes to freedom on the Internet, Brazil is a free country according to a special report released by the Freedom House. The country has scored a total of 26 points out of a possible 100 (the lower the score the greater the freedom), showing that it has a generally open environment with few government obstacles to access (5 points out of 25), a low level of content control (8 points out of 35 for limits on content), and few violations of individual users’ rights (13 points out of 40).
The main problem in Brazil, and according to the findings a growing threat, is judicial decisions leading to content censorship. Along with the United Kingdom and Turkey, the country faces a high number of violations of user rights from the threat of prosecution for libel and defamation. According to the report Freedom on the Net: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media: “Internet freedom is increasingly undermined by legal harassment, opaque filtering procedures, and expanding surveillance.” The same report offers the following statistical view of digital Brazil:
Brazil in numbers
Population: 194 million
Internet Users/Penetration 2006: 32 million / 17 percent
Internet Users/Penetration 2008: 68 million / 35 percent
Mobile Phone Users/Penetration 2006: 100 million
Mobile Phone Users/Penetration 2008: 151 million
Freedom of the Press (2008) Score/Status: 42 / Partly Free
Digital Opportunity Index (2006) Ranking: 65 out of 181
GNI Per Capita (PPP): $9,400
Web 2.0 Applications Blocked: Yes
Political Content Systematically Filtered: No
Bloggers/Online Journalists Arrested: No
Freedom on the Net: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media investigated 15 countries with the aim of looking at emerging tactics adopted by governments to control internet and mobile phone use, including attempts to control, regulate, and censor the content of blogs, websites, and text messages.
A growing threat
Although freedom of expression is a constitutional right, there have been a great deal of civil and administrative charges against bloggers, notably lawsuits by politicians. The latest blogger to fall victim to one of these is Juvêncio de Arruda, from the very popular Quinta Emenda [pt] blog, who has had to delete a few posts [pt] at request of a former Para state parliament representative, Luiz Afonso Sefer, who is being investigated by a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission into pedophilia.
According to Judge Teresinha Nunes Moura's decision [pt], the blogger must refrain from publicizing either on his blog or any other media any phrase which might be linked to the concerned politician. If Arruda had not complied, he would have had to pay a daily fine of R$1,000 (about US$ 457.89). Fellow bloggers claim blogs have in fact had an important role in bringing to light the accusations that led to a state wise investigation into pedophilia, and see this as the latest display of censorship in Brazil.
Hiroshi Bogéa [pt] points out that the blogger had commented on public information, and had been reporting on the investigation on a daily basis. He says that this suit shows that authorities are not happy with people having freedom of information:
Mais uma razão pra se aceitar a máxima que circula em Belém dando conta de que a força da família Seffer é capaz de tudo.
Franssinete Florenzano [pt], who has been following the investigation closely, cannot believe how quickly the blogger was judged, considering that Brazilian justice is infamous for its slowness to act. The suit was filed on the eve of a bank holiday and the summons was ready on the next business day. She points out that the justice system was very quick to punish the blogger who has made information public whereas the accused man in the investigation is free:
Tal celeridade seria louvável se tratasse, por exemplo, de proteger uma criancinha estuprada anos a fio, explorada como mão-de-obra escrava, privada de viver em família, excluída do convívio saudável com outras de sua idade, aniquilada em seus sonhos infantis, destruída em sua integridade física, psicológica e moral.
Lafayette wishes that Brazilian justice was always fast like this:
REZO, TODOS OS DIAS, SANTOS OU NÃO, PARA QUE A JUSTIÇA FUNCIONE ASSIM PARA TODOS, POBRES OU RICOS !!!
Following the same line of though, the blogger at Blog do CJK [pt] says he would not be surprised if the investigation into pedophilia comes to nothing:
Não se duvide, ao final de todo este processo, o único condenado pela Justiça pode ser o blogueiro.
José Carlos Lima [pt] highlights the important role bloggers have played in the State of Para:
Muita coisa que hoje virou notícia no Pará, incluindo a CPI da Pedofilia, rodou primeiro no mundo dos blogueiros, cujo símbolo de todos nós é o Quinta e seu condutor Juvêncio Arruda. Nosso desagravo e solidariedade.
Alan Souza [pt] confirms this type of silencing bloggers is a growing trend:
A moda infelizmente se alastra. O objetivo dos políticos é impedir que todos conheçam seus malfeitos. Por isso tentam censurar a livre opinião dos blogueiros…
A growing trend
News of blogs being closed down, bloggers having to delete posts or receiving threats abound, appearing on a near monthly basis. In October last year, a policeman's blog and great source of police news, Flit Paralisante, was ordered to be deleted for no clear reason. According to Rodrigo Viana, it is believed that São Paulo's Governor José Serra had something to do with the decision:
Mas, qual a justificativa para tirar o “blog” do ar?
Cometeu crime? É proibido delegado escrever na internet?
O mais estranho é que na sexta-feira ainda, poucas horas depois do despacho do juiz, gente da Secretaria de Segurança Pública de São Paulo ligou para as redações “avisando”: olha o blog do delegado saiu do ar.
Por que tanta diligência, tanta pressa em dar a notícia? Esse é papel de Secretaria de Segurança?
A decisão do juiz foi dada sob encomenda para o governo Serra? Por isso, a secretaria estava comemorando?
The most strange thing is that even on Friday, just hours after the the court order, people of the Cabinet of Public Security of São Paulo called the news outlets “informing” them: look, the Chief of Police's blog has been taken down.
Why do they care so much, hurrying to break the news? Is this the role of the Security Cabinet?
Was the judge's decision an order from the Serra government? And therefore the Cabinet was celebrating?
Chief of Police Roberto Conde Guerra did not give up and started updating a new blog hosted on another platform [pt], which is an easy way to trick the prosecution system. However, in most cases the affected bloggers have no financial resources to pay for the court fees and decide just to stop blogging. Meme de Carbono [pt] analyses the case of some bloggers who paid the price for complaining online about services they had paid for and were not happy with: apparently, according to Brazilian laws, customers who complain online even if based on actual facts, and name and shame, can be sued for pain and suffering, slander and defamation. He says this only contributes to impunity:
A justiça está sendo usada como um manto de invisibilidade que protege maus profissionais assim como o Um Anel de Tolkien protegia e corrompia quem o usasse: a invisibilidade corrompe mais do que o poder.
Todo ser humano deve ter direito de reclamar quando se sentir mal atendido, deve ter o direito de alertar os outros (e não só os amigos) de riscos que eles correm. (…)
A mídia tradicional tem recursos e advogados para defender seus direitos, mas os cidadãos ficam acuados sem possibilidade de defesa caso não disponham de recursos o que, infelizmente, é comum. O caso do post reproduzido a seguir é justamente esse: a blogueira perdeu pois não podia pagar os custos para recorrer contra a decisão em primeira instância.
Every human being should be entitled to complain when they feel poorly served, they should have the right to warn others (and not just their friends) of the risks they run. (…)
The traditional media has resources and lawyers to defend their rights, but citizens are cornered, unable to defend themselves if they have no resources, which, unfortunately, is common. The case of the post reproduced below is precisely this: the blogger lost because she could not pay the cost to appeal against the decision at first instance.
Alternatively, they may face court and prove they have not done anything wrong. In Rio Grande do Sul, A Nova Corja blog has had to delete parts of its posts and now the bloggers behind it face their second suit in one year because of a post they wrote back in June 2008. The first time, they won the case as the suit was rejected on the grounds of ineptitude.  They are now expecting proceedings of the others, which are based on the same post:
As pessoas precisam aprender, de uma vez por todas, que entrar na Justiça não é forma de ganhar a vida. Hoje em dia, qualquer coisa é “dano moral, calúnia, difamação”. Parem com isso. Considerem trabalhar.

author: Paula Góes


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Caribbean: Earth Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A few regional bloggers acknowledge the significance of Earth Day: Grenada's Spicewriter, Jamaica's Life, Unscripted, on the Rock and Bermuda's cartoon blog, The Devil Island.


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China: A practical handbook for beating street vendors · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The book, The Practice of City Administrator Law Enforcement, shows how brutal the practice of Chengguan. Joel Martinsen from DANWEI has translated the Southern Metropolis Daily report on the Handbook.


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China: Imagined hotel room stories · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated a Neteast story on a set of artwork titled as “Those things that happen in hotel rooms”.


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Cuba: National Football Team to Skip Gold Cup · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Even though it qualified, the Cuban national football team will not participate in the Gold Cup to be held in the United States in July because of “technical and organizational” reasons according to the Association, writes Miguel Gómez of Mi Columna Deportiva [es]. However, one commenter notes that the reason may be that they are afraid that more players will defect during the tournament as it has happened in the past.


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Cuba: Open Letter About the Relationship with the United States · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bloggers Cuba [es] writes an open letter regarding the differences between Cuba and the United States and hopes that change can happen now with the hope that both countries’ leaders “establish a sincere dialogue soon” and that “we need to look ahead, together.”


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Cuba: The Outside World  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The Summit of the Americas ended yesterday and it doesn’t appear that an urgent meeting of parliament…is being convened to discuss the proposals made by Obama”, writes Cuba's Generation Y, adding: “I can’t help asking myself, then, if all this ‘olive branch’ and the willingness to touch on broad themes, is not just words said to the outside world, phrases pronounced far from our ears.”


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Curaçao: Protesting for Autonomy  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands reports on a demonstration in Curaçao, “in opposition to a political reform agreement just concluded with the Netherlands.”


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DoGooderTV: Voting Open for the NonProfit Video Awards · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The voting period to select the winners of the DogooderTV 2009 Non Profit Video Awards ends this Saturday, April 25, so now is the perfect time to head over to their site, view the different videos uploaded by organizations to promote a cause. Today we´ll show you some of the competing videos which focus on international issues.
On the DoGooder Site, they explain a bit about this year's theme:
The DoGooderTV Nonprofit Video Awards highlight organizations that are using video to inspire and ignite social change. This year's theme, “Everyone's Doing It”, is meant to include submissions of all shapes and sizes, from organizational vlogs, to staff-produced web clips, to high-end, professionally produced videos. If your organization made a video—any video—in 2008, we want to see it!
Water:Charity is participating with a video about the need for clean drinkable water  in the Central African Republic and how their charity provides funding as well as training for locals so they can learn how to build and maintain wells. They are participating in the “Short Form” category:
In the “Staff Long Form” category, Elephants on the Edge follows an activist and documentary maker while he investigates about the illegal live elephant trade in Thailand and Burma, and manages to buy back a trafficked pregnant elephant to send her to a sanctuary:
In that same category, “Sharing Hope”, shows a charity dedicated to creating after school reading clubs for girls in Tanzania and giving them books and school supplies, in the belief that educating girls benefits the community far more than educating boys.
And this next video, “Ask Umbra's video advice on greening your office”, is competing in the Staff Short Form category is about making office spaces greener. Quite relevant information you might want to check out, particularly considering that today is Earth Day, and the whole world could use a little tender loving care with its finite resources:
This is just a sample of the videos that are competing, so head over to DoGooderTV to view the rest of them and vote for your favorite one.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Dominica: Tsunami Risk? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Steve's Dominica and Dominica Weekly blog about a report which suggests that “Dominica is set to trigger a tsunami which may kill 30,000 in Guadeloupe.”  Steve adds: “I don't know which is worse: the armchair scientist painting a Hollywood-style scenario, or the reporter dramatically renaming our mountain ‘Devil's Peak’ to fit in with the scary scenario.”


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Egypt: Bringing authors and bloggers together · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

“If you would have known that I would be reading your review, would you have written it differently?” Mahmoud Osman, author of Thawret 2053 Elbedaya, asked Egyptian blogger Gjoez after stumbling on her review of his book by chance.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Egypt: Excuse for Syrian ban of Facebook “Stupid” · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is not convinced with a Syrian Minister's excuse for the banning of Facebook – that it was banned to protect Syrians. She writes: “I do not know how she invented this stupid answer that shows a complete ignorance with the internet and the facebook not to mention shows the stupidity of a dictatorship that believes it knows best for its people !!”


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Egypt: “I heart Egypt”  · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Despite Jordanian blogger The Observer description of how he believes Egypt has become cruel to its citizens – after he went for a quick visit to Alexandria, Egyptian blogger fattractive wrote her interesting reasons why she loves her Egypt.


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Egypt/Morocco: New Technical blogs in Arabic · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Recently the Arab blogsphere witnessed the launch of two unique Arabic blogs – One by Moroccan blogger Mohamed S. Hjiouij, which focuses on professional blogging; and Techno-Media by Egyptian blogger Mohamed El Gohary, who's also a Global Voices Online Arabic lingua contributor, which specializes in explaining Web2.0 technologies and linking it to citizen journalism.


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Estonia: “The Fog of Cyberwar” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

IZO links to the Guardian piece on “NATO's cyber-defence headquarters in Estonia.” Evgeny Morozov links to his own piece on it on Newsweek.com.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ethiopia: The plight of Ethiopian muslims · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Negashi discusses the mistreatment of Ethiopian muslims, “Ever since the coming to existence of what is known as the Solomonic dynasty in the late 13th century, Islam and Muslims have been the prime targets of the leaders of the Christian North. Their southward expansion resulted in total annihilation of the various Islamic civilizations that flourished in large parts of the present day Ethiopia.”


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Ethiopia: What exactly is “Cadre Cola”? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

What exactly is “Cadre Cola” in Ethiopia?: Cadre Cola is what cadres consume. It is bottled by and for an exclusive clientele of government and quasi-government aid bureaucrats as well as third world dictators and their cronies. The taxpayers who finance it and the oppressed in whose name it is bottled either assume the Cadre Cola business is an obligation or something they can't live without.


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India: Election Cartoons · Global Voices
Rezwan

Election Cartoons 2009 is a blog by Kerala Cartoon Academy which posts published and unpublished cartoons on the ongoing elections in India.

author: Rezwan


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India: More Slumdog Millionaire Drama · Global Voices
Rezwan

Runa at Über Desi reports about the dramatic events in the life of Rubina, one of the main child stars (who originates from a Mumbai slum) from the Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.


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Japan: An Oscar to “Okuribito” (Departures) · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

For the first time a Japanese movie, Okuribito  (or Departures), has been awarded the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, over the French “The Class” and the Israeli animated documentary “Waltz With Bashir”.
Okuribito. By id: Prognatis.
Directed by Yôjiro Takita, Okuribito is based on the novel Nôkanfû Nikki (納棺夫日記, lit. Diary of an undertaker) by  Shinmon Aoki [ja] and tells the story of a young cellist who suddenly finds himself without a job and reluctantly accepts a position as an undertaker in his hometown, a small town in Yamagata Prefecture.
More a film about the meaning of life and human values than about death, it shows to the viewer both the Japanese customs in ceremonials held before and at the time of a person's funeral and also the concept of death as seen from the Buddhist viewpoint as merely a transition instead of an ending.
Takaya in the blog Cinema Novo, explains the philosophy behind the movie.
人間誰でも望もうが望むまいが、生まれる時と死ぬ時は人様が手を貸してくれる。
生まれる時は助産の手助けを受け、死ぬ時は納棺師によって身体を清められ、あの世に旅立つ。
昨年度のキネマ旬報ベスト1に選ばれた『おくりびと』を観てきた。
『病院へ行こう』などライトコメディの中に社会の矛盾を描く事を得意とした滝田洋二郎監督はここで人生の見送り人、納棺師の仕事をつぶさに描きあげていた。
[…]
映画の中、「人生最後の買い物は他人が決めるのよね」とランク分けされた棺桶の前で語られるように、一番肝心なはずの生まれる時と死ぬ時は我が身を人様にゆだねるのが、この世の習いであり、どんな死に方をしてもそれは変えようがない。
[…]
死とは何なのか、生き物の死がなければ、人は喰うに困るのに、死を忌み嫌う。
斎場の火葬場の職員であるお爺さんが「死は門だと思う」と語る時、人生の見送り人、納棺師の仕事の意味が掴めてくる。
「お疲れ様でした。いってらっしゃい。」
A scene from the movie. By id: sinemabed.
Okuribito will be on the American screens in late May and though it won an Oscar, as the blogger Guroneko says quoting a Mainichi Shinbun  article,
whether “Departures” will commercially be successful in the US is another matter.
Nonetheless it is worthy of note that, in Japan, it made some people reflect on the meaning of life as in the case of Suiren, who describes her feelings about the movie immediately after watching it.
Let me write about Okuribito first, because I was deeply moved by it.
I laughed a lot but cried much more than I laughed. […] What moved me so much, I wonder..?
Some people might live their lives successfully. Others might live feeling lonely or with depression. Some life might be exciting. Others might be just ordinary. Whatever, every life should be blessed.
I felt, in this movie, that one's life is treated so tenderly, so warmly, and with respect.
Despite being based on a novel, which is usually considered better than its cinematographic counterpart, the movie has been appreciated also by those who read the original story, like the blogger Zero-agency.
とかく本と映像を比較すると大概が映像の方が見劣りするが、これに関してはそれはありません。死者を送り出す納棺師の仕事を通じて見えてくるこの国の独特の文化を知り、また仕事に貴賎はないというが、現実の人間心理も上手く表現しているのも共感できる。本木雅弘の快演、余貴美子、山崎努の熱くて抑えた演技もこの映画を効果的にしている。
Besides, as the job blogger You points out, the movie highlights another important question common to many so called ‘developed’ countries, the difference between those professions considered desirable and those considered less so or even shameful.
『式』とはどんなものか、そして必要なものなんだなって感じさせる作品なのでは、と。
ただ形式的にやるわけではなくしっかり向き合い血と心を通わせる。これが大事なんだなと。
それと死を扱う仕事が底辺の仕事と言う認識がある日本人には甚だ疑問が残るな、と。
以前友人がそう言った職に就いたときに『仕事がなくなって最後にやる仕事だろ』と他の人に言われたときはショックだった。
命を最後まで見守る医者が立派で、それを見送る人が底辺ってのはおかしな話。充分誇りを持ってやる仕事であろう。と俺は少なくとも思う。

author: Scilla Alecci


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Kuwait: The Fanatics of this World · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kwtia, from Kuwait, lashes out at fanatics in this post: “Fear, paranoia and sexual obsessions are unfortunately the calling cards of these fanatics who want the world in little tiny simplistic boxes that are too small and too weak to hold in the crazily gorgeous multiplicity of possibilities offered up by science and art and the ability to love and create and be brave.”


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Liberia: 5th person takes US$10,000 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

2tango writes about 10 thousand dollar walk in Liberia: Like many Liberians, making ends meet daily is like moon walking with out the popper equipment, but for some, the GSM Company (cellcom) has made moon walking look like drinking coco-cola, and now the 5th person Williams Blamo had taken the us$10.000 dollar walk, all you have to do is just call and talk and use two dollars and you will received an electronic ticket for the draw at each week end…………


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Liberia: Fellow Bloggers, Please Assist Me… · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Liberian blogger, Denna Gibson, is asking for assistance from fellow bloggers so she can be able to blog consistently, “IT IS NICE TO BLOG CONTINOUSLY BUT U CAN NOT DO SO IF U DO NOT HAVE A LAPTOP TO YOURSELF. I AM APPEALING TO MY FELLOW BLOGGERS TO PLEASE ASSIST ME WITH A MINI LAPTOP.THIS IS MY CONTACT NUMBER 06514919″


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Liberia: What is the truth about arms discovery? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Natlyn discusses the “arms discovery” saga in Liberia: What seems to be a very serious lack of coordination among government ministries continues to hang dark cloud rather than clarity over Wednesday’s discovery of arms (or shells) in the suburb of Jacob’s Town in Paynesville as evidenced by two different versions provided by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MICAT).


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Martinique: Celebrating Aimé Césaire · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

Il y a un an disparaissait le Nègre fondamental, laissant le pays et son peuple orphelins et livrés à leurs propres choix.
This is how Martinican blogger Imaniyé introduced her homage-post to the late Aimé Césaire [Fr].  It is indeed with great reverence that Martinicans celebrated the first anniversary of the death of Aimé Césaire, who passed away on April 17th 2008.
Last week's posts in the Martinican blogosphere said a lot about how much people felt – and still feel – about this great man.  It is with a huge picture and a very brief quotation from one of Césaire's works that Bondamanjak paid homage to him on April 16th [Fr]; but the solemnity of the post does not hide the strength of its title: “AC pléré an nou lité” [Fr Creole], which means “Let's stop crying, let's fight now”.  As a matter of fact, Aimé Césaire was one of the precursors to the ideals behind the popular movement which took place from February to March 2009 on the island, as he was a staunch defender of Négritude and “self-governance”.
The multiplicity of the causes defended by Césaire is clearly shown in the huge number of contributions and comments sparked by the anniversary of his death – especially on the blog Montray Kréyol: since April 16th, Montray Kréyol has published an average of fifteen posts about the man himself, his achievements or tangible ways in which to honor Césaire today.  Indeed, one of the first posts on Montray Kréyol (published the day before the official anniversary) deals with the decision of the French national postal service to honor Aimé Césaire with a stamp. This decision triggers a very ironical comment from the author [Fr]:
Le nègre vous emmerde, et maintenant va falloir le lécher…
Il n’a pas l’air de plaisanter, M. Césaire, sur ce timbre-poste qui doit sortir le 17 avril en métropole, mais également les 17 et 18 à Fort-de-France, en Martinique. Et pourtant, c’est l’image de lui choisie par La Poste, qui a tout à y gagner, pour rendre hommage à celui qui élabora entre autres le concept de la négritude.
He doesn't look that nice, Mr Césaire, on this stamp which will be issued on April 17th in Continental France, but also on April 17th and 18th in Fort-de-France, in Martinique. However, that is the picture which has been picked up by La Poste, which is making a good deal with this homage paid to the man, who created with others, the concept of Négritude”.
Martinican blogger Imaniyé also posted a message to  Aimé Césaire, which she has chosen to call “Bélya Aimé Césaire” [Fr Creole], referring to a traditional Afro-Caribbean funeral wake dance and music, which also focus on the stamp.
In the blog Negritude, named after the concept Césaire founded, readers can have a look at a re-published post by Alain Nicolas, who has established a lineage between the recent social events in the French West Indies and Césaire's ideas [Fr]:
Un an après, au moment où se sont fait massivement entendre les voix des Guadeloupéens, Martiniquais, Guyanais, Réunionnais, aspirant à plus de décence et plus de dignité, le verbe du « Nègre vertical » résonne, étrangement prophétique.
Negritude also shares different initiatives that are being staged to celebrate the late poet and politician:
– plays in Paris and in Benin.
– official celebrations  in Martinique.
– the renaming of a university faculty after him in Haiti.

author: Fabienne Flessel


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MENA: Reflections on Durban II · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Wikipedia – President Mahmūd Ahmadinejād speaking at Columbia University on 24 September 2007
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s speech, and the way European Union representatives reacted to it at the United Nations Conference on Racism in Geneva (Durban II), has stirred debates among bloggers across the Middle East. Some bloggers accused him of showing off for his next electoral campaign, others accused the world of showing no willingness to work together for a better future, while others rejoiced because what Ahmadinejad said is exactly what they wanted to hear.
Saudi blogger The plucky, who is based in Australia, wrote:
From Palestine, Natalie bitterly compared the boycotting of the conference to the time when “people of conscience refused to shake hands with South African whites during the Apartheid regime as an objection to the racist system there.
Another blogger and human rights activist, Marcy Newman, who lives in the West Bank, Palestine, wondered – just like The plucky – on the irony she finds in the situation, saying:
The Zionist entity’s racist in chief is calling ahmadinejad racist. where is the irony? the Zionist entity is plotting a bombing campaign of Iran and the man who regularly calls for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is calling ahmadinejad racist.
From Bahrain, Esra'a, who was invited to be a panelist at the pre-Durban summit, reflected her thoughts after she realized how people were confusing between anti-semitism and the hatred of Israel, and how Iran was condemned for the wrong reasons despite having a lot to be criticized for at  the conference.
The Iranian regime was attacked NOT for oppressing their people in this Summit; despite these crimes being mentioned, that was barely the focus. They were attacked for threatening to “destroy Israel,” that was the premise of every criticism against Iran, even though Israel also threatened to nuke it! “Oh, but that was in retaliation.” It’s no different. Both governments are equally dangerous with an absolute disregard for human rights. Israel having a liberal “lifestyle” doesn’t change its corrupt politics that is threatening many of us, just like Iran is threatening us by funding militant organizations and violently oppressing anyone opposing it.
Arab-American blogger Fayyad, who writes at KABOBfest was skeptical in regards to US President Barack Obama's intentions after boycotting the conference and changing the draft text of the conference to omit mentions of the racism inherent to Zionism and the Israeli state.
Fayyad wrote:
With George Bush, we had a clear villain; a murderous abuser of human rights and executor of imperialist policies that many of his actions came under scrutiny, and even though he managed to get away with many crimes, they were not accepted as righteous by the wider population.
Obama, on the other hand, with his liberal movement mandate, gets away with more crimes than Bush, because the liberal who scrutinized Bush’s every action, are sleeping rotten when it comes to Obama, thinking that Change towards an equitable progressive society was achieved on election day.
[…]
So be careful, if Obama looks better than Bush, it means you just don’t know how he’s about to screw you. Careful Cuba and Venezuela. And if you’re looking for a black president to finally make America discuss its history of racism, wait a little longer.
From Syria, Omar who's based in Toronto, expressed his sorrow at how the world missed another opportunity to frankly discuss global injustices for a better future.
Conferences like the one held today are a great idea.  They should be an open forum for discussing injustices no matter which side the injustice is incurred by.  As soon as you limit what can be said at a conference
like this, you take away all credibility.  Sadly, this is exactly what happened today.
Another Syrian blogger Dubai Jazz, who lives in Dubai, echoed a different idea, questioning ‘what after the conference? what are Arabs doing about it?’
Today, he’s (AhmediNejad) the only loud voice in the region. The Europeans will find reasons (hell, they will concoct them if they have to) to walk out of any conference. The Arabs are more or less silent. And the Palestinian people are left in limbo.
That's what's happening today.
Back in Palestine, Mohamed who said that Durban II was a great platform for Israel, also criticized Ahmadinejad's speech:
Of course, that Ahmedinejad went surely didn't help, and that jackass is as much guilty for the failure of the conference as various Israel-lobbies in OECD capitals. If he really cared about the racism that the Palestinians face on a daily basis, he should've stayed at home and let the conference follow its course, rather than beautifully assist those attempting to hijack it into a pro-Israel choir.
Lebanese blogger Antoun, who lives in Australia, blamed the “West” as well as Israel for the Palestinian's suffering. He added that the West didn't storm out of Durban because of Iran, but because it didn't want to hear the truth. Highlighting excerpts from Ahmedinejad's speech, he further comments:
Ahmedinejad didn't deviate from the obvious, didn't descend into anti-Jewish vitriol, nor did he racially attack Jews. So why the furore?
Hundreds of thousands worldwide protested against Israel's racism in Western capitals throughout the Gaza war. Yet, Western governments continue to remain blind and deaf to Israel's racist policies.
And last but not least, Kal, an Algerian blogger and a student of International Relations and Middle Eastern/African Studies, also summed up  his opinion in two lines:
The bottom line at Durban II: Durban is a platform on which despotic majorities and dictators may stand on the backs of those whom they pretend to represent and agitate on behalf of.
Photo credit: Wikipedia


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Mexico: The San Juan Market in the Capital · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Lesley Téllez of the Mija Chronicles documents a visit to the Mercado San Juan, one of the oldest markets in Mexico City, where among the items she saw were fried grasshoppers, ant eggs, sharks, ducks and skinned baby goats.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Morocco: ABC Blogging Book Available Online · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Moroccan blogger Mohammed Saeed Hjiouij has published the second edition of his book ABC Blogging [Ar], which can be freely downloaded here.


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Morocco: Faces from Yemen  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Morocco-based blogger Maryam, of My Marrakesh, visits Yemen and posts pictures of people she met there in this post.


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Morocco: Media on Trial  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

‘The Committee to Protect Journalists is reporting that Ali Anouzla and Jamal Boudouma, managing editor and publishing director of the Moroccan newspaper Al-Jarida Al-Oula, have received suspended jail sentences and large fines for “defamation” and “insulting the judiciary,”’ reports Moroccan blogger Laila Lalami.


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Pakistan: Why Talibans are Getting Support in Swat? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pakistani blogger Ambreen Kazmi at Chowrangi blog answers the question “Why people of Swat support Taliban”?


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Paraguay: Open-Source Software Festival · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Guri of Paseando con Guri [es] writes about the upcoming open-source software installation festival to be held across Paraguay on April 25.


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Russia: Hyde Park; WinRAR; Hot Water; etc. · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A few links to recent posts at IZO: president Medvedev “to create a Russian Speaker's Corner, based on Hyde Park”; a Russian ad agency shows “how the WinRAR data compression utility shrinks files” – “bad idea, badly executed”; a useful link for Moscow-based readers who'd like to know when there'll be no hot water in their apartments; a translation of LJ user retromaniak‘s post on buying porn in Moscow; a link to LJ user militarev‘s post on “a special [mobile phone] tariff to Orthodox believers that includes free calls on religious holidays.”