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East Timor: The Past is Present · Global Voices
Keta Haluha

(left) Regina Magalhaes with her son, Fidelis, a human rights officer with Jesuit Refugee Services in East Timor. Her husband, Manuel, was killed in the violence that followed East Timor's bid for independence.  Photo by Stephen Steele
We combed the whole Bobonaro district and paid repeated visits to Batugade and Palaka, where bodies were dumped according to rumours. We only found few body parts scattered in different places. There was one case where we found one skull miles away from a decapitated body which we assumed belonged to the same person. Despite the recoveries many, including my own father and friends, have not been found. Worse, it has been eleven years and we still do not know what really happened.
Fidelis Magalhães wrote the above poignant words [see footer note] marking the eleventh anniversary of the UN run Popular Consultation which resulted in 78% of the population voting for independence from Indonesia. This ended an occupation lasting 24 years, which had resulted in the deaths of over 150,000 people.  However, in a paroxysm of violence organized and implemented by the Indonesian military and its Timorese proxies, over 1,500 people were killed in the period before, during and after the vote.  The victims and their families have not achieved much in the way of closure.
Fidelis’ story generated considerable interest in Timor, being run by the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) weblist. He talks about the murder of his father, Manuel Magalhães, who was one of the top leaders of the pro-independence movement in Bobonaro district (on the border with Indonesia). Magalhães was murdered along with fellow pro-independence supporters on 9 September 1999, as Chega [Enough, pt], the final report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, reports:
according to the Deputy General Prosecutor for Serious Crimes, on 9 September, Timorese Sergeant M147 (…) (Maliana, Bobonaro) received information from a villager that a group of people who had escaped from the police compound had been discovered on the river bank (…). Sergeant M147 then ordered a group of Dadurus Merah Putih militia to accompany him to Mulau. In this operation, 13 pro-independence supporters were killed. The victims were: Lamberto de Sá Benevides, Abilio Marques Vicente, Augusto dos Santos Marques, José Barreto, Pedro Luis, Lucas dos Santos, Luis Soares (Luis dos Santos), Jeroni Lopes, Domingos Titi Mau, Manuel Magalhães, Carlos Maia, Ernesto da Coli and Paul da Silva. The first nine of them, from Lamberto de Sa Benevides to Domingos Titi Mau, were ordered by Sergeant M147 to kneel down and raise their hands. Sergeant M147 shot them one by one with an automatic rifle. The other four were separately captured and killed. Manuel Magalhães and Ernesto da Coli were each shot and then stabbed. Carlos Maia was stabbed to death and Paulo da Silva was shot several times while trying to surrender. Manuel Magalhães was a CNRT leader and Carlos Maia a prominent pro-independence activist. All the bodies, except that of Paul da Silva, were carried to the beach in Batugade. Under the command of the two commanders of Saka Loromonu the bodies were also dumped at sea.
The same report says that only the body and remains from three victims were discovered and buried, though it was not the case of Manuel Magalhães.
According to one media report, Magalhães knew that his pro-independence activities were potentially fatal: “In his final conversation with his eldest son, Nivio, 19, on Aug. 26, 1999, he told the young man, “If I die, I don't want you to take revenge. I want you to build a country of peace.”” A few days after the tenth anniversary of Magalhaes’ death, last year, his daughter Ivete Liete Oliveira, wondered
is justice too big to ask? (…) We shouldnt just forget the past because past is what has brought us to where we are today.
Now it is the turn of the younger son, Fidelis, a former adviser to Nobel Prize Winner President Jose Ramos-Horta, now studying in London. He was one of the first advocating for national reconciliation in 1999, “in various parts of the country in different communities encouraging people to reconcile, to live without hatred and respect the rights of others”. In his note, he states that the other side of reconciliation is to “one day learn about what really happened and recover the remains of our loved ones”, as he explains:
For me the question is not about revenge, and I don’t even care about arresting the Indonesian generals. What I want is for the Timorese government to pressure Indonesia to let us know what happened and possibly help us to recover the remains. At the moment for many families of the victims there is still no proper closure. They were told to reconcile with the militias and forgive the Indonesians, but until now their own state seem absolutely incompetent to even ask for as little as truth and identification of burial sites. All seem to be overshadowed by pragmatism.
Photo from the memorial to Manuel Magalhães and those killed in the police station at the beach of Batugade, by Flickr user Rusty Stewart shared under a CC Attribution – Non-Comercial – Share Alike license
While Fidelis together with the help from friends “led families of the victims sweeping through every place we suspected of any significance, (…) gathered information from local communities regarding either possible execution or burial sites [and] searched in many places for almost two years.”, he now pressures the Timorese state for action:
The Timorese state seemed to be incapable to acquire any information from the Indonesian government regarding what happened and the whereabouts of their remains. The only things I found that belonged to my father were his trousers and a half burned bike registration card (according to some sources he and twelve or thirteen others were undressed,  hacked to pieces and dumped in the ocean). But even the trousers, I later handed over to the UN Serious Crimes Unit and have not managed to recuperate after all these years. Last year I was summoned by the Serious Crimes Investigation Team in which they handed a couple of photos of the trousers and the card with the accompanying words of consolation that the real trousers and card could not yet be returned  because the investigation was still “ongoing”.
Before I end,  a youth leader threatened to hit me for organizing the celebration of the international human rights day in 2000. What he said is worth remembering: “you are a traitor, you betray your own friends and father. The so called human rights is simply a way for us to forgive and do no harm to those who harmed us. The deaths will be forgotten. The UN and the government will forget”. I still hope he was not right…But perhaps it is just me, a chronic optimist.

author: Keta Haluha


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Haiti: Disease Trends  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Haitian Blogger says of the launch of a National Surveillance system for illnesses following the January 12 earthquake: “Given that the U.S. participants were affiliated with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief…it is significant that AIDs did not make the survey and was not one of the predominantly reported illnesses.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Italy: Social Media Week in Milan and Worldwide · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

This story was originally published on Global Voices in Italian on September 18, 2010
Social Media Week is an eclectic, multi-city, global event (Sept 20-24) aimed at connecting people, content, and conversations around emerging trends in social and mobile media. Last February edition attracted more than 7,500 attendees across 200 events in New York, Berlin, London, San Francisco, São Paulo and Toronto, while this week  many simultaneous events are scheduled in Los Angeles, Bogotà, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Milan [it]. Social Media Week first took place in February 2009 in New York with over 2,500 people attending across forty different events.
Over 90 free events are planned in Milan [it] alone, managed by more than 250 people including bloggers, entrepreneurs and experts. A large kick-off event is scheduled for Monday September 20 at Milan University focused on the City 2.0 [it] about how technology, and social media in particular, can help support sustainable development in the cities of tomorrow. According to some estimates, more than 70% of world population will reside in an urban environment by 2050.
The whole machinery for Social Media Week runs through a variety of online media and venues, from the main website and Twitter account to a Facebook page and YouTube channel. Each city also manages its own website and social media. Here is a promotional video projected in Piazza Duomo in downtown Milan:
Along with many discussions and presentations related to entertainment, new gadgets and platforms, fashion, entrepreneurship, and so on, the Milan program will address issues related to the non-profit world, new media and citizen media. For instance, there will be presentations from Italy-based projects such as Socialidarity 2.0 (social & non-profit news) and Eticmedia (a web-TV based on Corporate Social Responsability), while a local team will offer ongoing internet workshops for the elderly.
In the afternoon of Wednesday September 22 [it], the mediateca Santa Teresa will host a series of panels on user-generated content, particularly covering the current blog evolution and the rampant success of Twitter and Facebook for distributing information. Also addressed will be the new relationship between traditional media and the growing trend of relying mostly or only on online sources. In other words, how are social media affecting the news-gathering landscape and the information industry? Could citizen media play an even larger role in defining such environments in the future? A round-table discussion will include Global Voices in Italian [it], represented by Eleonora Pantò.
In cities such as Buenos Aires and especially Mexico City the local participants will also address matters pertaining to education, such as an all-day event called Educación 2.0 [es], focusing on teacher and student partnerships using multimedia and collaborative tools in the classroom. The Los Angeles team launched a fundraising campaign supporting children in the heart of Skid Row — promoting and strengthening the direct involvement of digital citizens in the society at large.
In addition to the physical events, Social Media Week organizers will also live-stream many of the events and host real time conversations at socialmediaweek.org, thus reaching a vast worldwide public. Also planned are live interactions among participants in the various cities (where time zones permit). And of course there is always need for volunteers to help organize or promote events in your city for next year, to spread the word around the globe…

author: Bernardo Parrella


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Japan: Hiring research talent from abroad · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

In “No choice but need to hire from abroad?“, Sibylle Ito outlines how some Japanese companies in different sectors are taking a multinational approach to supplement research and product development power.

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Latvia: Investigative Journalist Flees the Country · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Free Speech Emergency in Latvia reported on Sept. 12: “Lato Lapsa, a controversial Latvian investigative journalist with access to hundreds of pages of documents in a criminal investigation of politician and Ventspils mayor Aivars Lembergs, announced he was fleeing the country and shutting down his websites, including one that was a kind of Latvian ‘Wikileaks Lite’.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Latvia: Oct. 2 Parliamentary Elections · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Notes on the upcoming Oct. 2 parliamentary elections in Latvia – at All About Latvia, Baltic, and Juris Kaža's blogs (here, here, and here).


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Latvia: Translation of Rainis’ 1929 Article · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia translates an article on “the process of convergence” between ethnic Latvians and Latvia's Jews, Russians and Germans, written by Latvian poet and politician Rainis hours before his death on Sept. 12, 1929.


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Malaysia: Historic labor town · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

EngageMedia uploads a video about Batu Arang, a small town in Malaysia which was the site of numerous historic labor actions in the country.

author: Mong Palatino


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Mexico: Government Announces Plan to Protect Journalists · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Gancho writes about the government's new plan to protect journalists, concluding that, “What's missing is a genuine recognition from the government that journalists being killed is a substantial problem for the nation at large. I'm skeptical that Calderón's plan can will that element into existence.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Morocco: Brutal Death in Police Station · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

Blogger and activist Najib Chaouki creates a Facebook group to denounce police brutality in his country [Ar] following the death of a young Moroccan in a police station, the blogger says is notorious for the brutality of its officers.

author: Hisham Almiraat


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Myanmar: Women Candidate Percentage in the Elections · Global Voices
tan

According to a survey conducted by The Irrawaddy, less than 8 percent of the candidates running for the November 7 elections in Myanmar will be women.

author: tan


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Paraguay: Interpreting the Constitution · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

José Maria Costa analyzes [es] how the Paraguayan constitution is interpreted to fit different political agendas. For example: “For some, freedom of speech is a relative right: it works in relation to who and what is being expressed. For others, freedom of speech is absolute and allows them to violate the rights of others.”


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Peru: Hydroelectric Project Raises Concerns · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The blog Warmiboa [es] shares its concern about hydroelectric project Corina, which would divert water from two rivers (Huallaga and Marañón) to the coast in order to irrigate the desert, causing “unpredictable consequences.” The blogger explains that this project would affect the people of Loreto, who suffer from a lack of water during the dry season.


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Philippines: Official twitter account of the government · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

govph is the twitter account of the official gazette of the Republic of the Philippines


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Russia: Campaign To Save Pavlovsk Experimental Station · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vaviblog draws attention to the campaign to save Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov's Pavlovsk seed bank from destruction.


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Russia: Microsoft and Suppression of Dissent · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Reactions to the Sept. 11 New York Times’ story about Microsoft and raids on advocacy groups by the Russian security services – at Oleg Kozlovsky’s English Weblog, Streetwise Professor, and Robert Amsterdam's Blog.


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South Africa:  Zuma the patriarch vs ANC gender equality · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zuma [South Africa's President) the patriach versus ANC gender equality: “It should also not be controversial to point out the obvious fact that our current President (who is also the President of the ANC) is a patriarch and – in his private affairs, at least – a Zulu traditionalist.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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South Korea-Creative Ways to Revive Traditional Hair Styles · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Today is last day of Chuseok holiday (Korean version of Thanksgiving) and in westernized Seoul, it is extremely hard to meet people in traditional customs. South Korea’s Chosun introduced several ways to modernize disappearing hair styles from the past with photos and detailed explanation.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Trinidad & Tobago: Dat is Mas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands notes that “‘Mas Man Peter Minshall’ has won the prestigious Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at The New York International Film Festival.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Downpour · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Globewriter’s Weblog posts video of yesterday's “sudden thunderstorm in Port of Spain”, which caused severe flooding.


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Vietnam: ‘No Firewall’ website · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Pro-democracy group Viet Tan has launched the No Firewall website which aims to “assist Vietnamese internet users learn about circumvention techniques and digital security.” The Vietnam government has been accused of intensifying its internet surveillance activities to restrict dissent in the country


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Vietnam: Nutrition education · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Final Word suggests that many adults in Vietnam need to be educated about basic dietary facts since many people continue to associate obesity with good health.  He also observes that many women are obsessed with formula milk instead of promoting breastfeeding.


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Vietnam: Protecting endangered animals · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Kimberly Truong writes about the pledge of many restaurants in Vietnam not to offer endangered protected animals of the country in their shops.


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Zambia: The joys of working with rural communities · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rakesh Katal recounts the joys and challenges of working with communities in rural Zambia.


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· Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

In half-wired [EN], blogger and researcher Ellery Roberts Biddle interviews Cuban blogger Elaine Díaz: “…my conversation with her may have been one of the most enlightening exchanges I’ve ever had about Cuba.”

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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· Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Public policy expert and blogger Sergio Marxuach recently commented that Puerto Rico's recession [ES] has already lasted 54 months, and that there seems to be no end in sight. His post is in response to the NBER‘s announcement that the US recession ended on June 2009, after 18 months: the longest since the 1929 Depression.


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· Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Historian and blogger Ivonne Acosta comments in Sin mordazas [ES] on the Department of Education's prohibition of chess in public schools in Puerto Rico, and the immediate denial of the Secretary of Education after the public uproar.


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Anti-censorship webmaster arrested in Thailand · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the webmaster of the independent online journal Prachatai in Thailand, was arrested at Bangkok airport today on charges of insulting the monarchy. Chiranuch, more popularly known as jiew, was arrested after attending the Google Internet at liberty conference in Budapest, Hungary
Photo of Jiew from the website of Digital Democracy
Chiranuch Premchaiporn was detained by immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 2.30 pm today upon arrival from a trip to the Internet at Liberty 2010 Conference in Hungary.  The police showed an arrest warrant issued by Khon Kaen Provincial Court, and she will probably be sent to the province today.  Currently, the charges are not clear.
It seems she is also accused of violating the Computer Crime Act
redbebear RT @Thai_Talk: Re arrest of Prachatai's Chiranuch (@jiew), warrant issued 8 Nov 2009 citing Computer Crime Act, another lese majeste case! #Thailand
Immediately after her arrest, friends and supporters have used the hashtag #freejiew to demand her freedom. A blog was also set-up to provide updates about her arrest. Here are some latest news on twitter
bact Dear all, @jiew is alright. Immigration police officers are nice. We will arrive Khon Kaen city police station around midnight
veen_NT Chiranuch (@jiew) was sent to Khon Kaen to hear her the charge directly after being detained at Suvarnabhumi airport.
bact: @Incognito_me now with @jiew on car. To khon kaen town police station. Not police official car, but a private car of police officer
A bail is being required
MichaelBKK: RT @jfxberns: RT @s_narut: “@supinya: @jiew needs 200,000 Baht [6,666 USD] to be on bail. Her friends are helping now. #IAL2010 #netfreedom” #freejiew
Friends of jiew have given online instructions on how to donate for the bail fund.
Here are some twitter comments about jiew’s arrest
thaitvnews first they block 3G now they jail internet activist #freejiew
d3woysterburg3r: RT @jfxberns: Go ahead, Thailand, arrest the smart & honest people like @jiew from @pratchatai and promote the crooks.
jfxberns: @supinya I think the fact that @jiew spoke about free speech is the main reason for the arrest.
markmackinnon: Thailand's democratic facade falls away when journalists like Chiranuch Premchaiporn are prosecuted for, sigh, lèse majesté…
dvanpelt…and Thailand sinks even further down the ranks of civilized nations… #freejiew
emjacobi RT @jfxberns: Free Internet speech is dead in Thailand. Anyone can post a comment on any website & get the owner/manager arrested. #freejiew
#freejiew is now trending in Thailand.
#jiew is also a topic for global conversation.
Jiew was arrested around 2:30pm but only one mainstream newspaper in Thailand has reported the issue (it's now midnight).
s_narut Interestingly, The Nation is the only Thai mainstream media reporting about @jiew case right now. #freejiew http://bit.ly/bFmcXD
Sokapok comments on a post uploaded at New Mandala
How have things got so wrong that some of us believe that trying to shut people up and ignore them instead of listening to them and incorporating their concerns is the foundation for political stability? Isn’t it stark ravingly obvious that the opposite is the case? Why can’t these people see that? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills
jonny comments too
I’m going to go out on a limb here – and anyone who doubts my objectivity can refer me to the censors for speaking my mind – and reiterate my previously stated opinion that, from what (limited) understanding I have of the Prachatai case, arresting its director simply has to be a misapplication of lese majeste of the exact kind I fear is not only unreasonable, but seemingly unjust (at least on the face of it), and surely, if nothing else, simply an example of the kind that will be tragically and gleefully seized upon by those who have anything but Thailand’s best interests at heart.
A message for jiew
jjbrowny Sleep tight, take some rest. Tomorrow, arguably, the better day will come :-) #freejiew
In the past few years, numerous arrests have been made in Thailand in relation to the Lese Majeste. Thailand has also used the law to censor thousands of websites.


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Armenia: Army forced to act after hazing video circulates online · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

A video depicting what appears to be evidence of bullying in the military stationed in Nagorno Karabakh, a disputed breakaway territory situated within Azerbaijan predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians, continues to circulate online. The footage on YouTube was later taken down before it was uploaded again as well as to other video sharing sites such as Daily Motion.
Although hazing and non-combat related deaths in the army are nothing new in Armenia, the video came at a particularly sensitive time given a spate of deaths earlier this summer. Unzipped commented on its appearance online, raising concerns and calling for an urgent and immediate investigation.
This video was put on YouTube today and started circulating on Facebook. It titled (AM) Բանակի իրական դեմքը (‘The real face of the army’) and allegedly shows bullying and physical violence in the Armenian army. No description for the video is provided, and it’s not known when and where this video was taken. I can only assume it was taken via mobile phone.
At first, Armenia's Ministry of Defense tried to downplay the video, even suggesting that it had been fabricated. Moreover, there were some, especially among ethnic Armenians living abroad, who instead declared the video to be against the country's national interests. Martuni or Bust, however, not only uploaded copies of the video, but also strongly disagreed.
Do people and organizations in the Diaspora care enough to raise the issue of abuse and mismanagement in the army with the representatives of the regime in Yerevan? Would they demand the sadistic officer shown in the video to be court marshaled for humiliating those young… Armenian soldiers? After all, considering that this is happening on a very wide scale across country, this is as close to jeopardizing national security as you are ever going to get. Wake up, people! Tomorrow it might be too late.
However, on Unzipped, Ara Manoogian, the blogger behind Martuni or Bust, reported that rather than be commended for the move, threats against his life had been made instead. He did, however, also say that the Armenian Ministry of Defense promised to find those responsible for the incident. Nevertheless, as Unzipped implies in a second post, genuine concern was arguably not shown until spread of the video proved impossible to stop.
When we first exposed the video, they said it was ‘fabricated’ without even preliminary investigation. In an initial statement by MoD there were even threats to those who made and disseminate the video with partly successful but inevitably unsuccessful attempts to erase the video from the Internet.
Speaking before the parliament, Minister of Defence Seyran Ohanyan called the video a “disinformation”. “It’s a disinformation about our army, and I do not believe what was captured on that video has really taken place”, he said. Some pseudo-patriotic circles immediately pointed fingers towards the ‘enemy side’.
However… Only hours after the Minister’s statement, sadistic officer was identified and detained, and we received an official confirmation of the authenticity of the video.
As Unzipped updated its readers, an officer has now been arrested and is under investigation.
While current developments may be considered as a victory for online activists who exposed and distributed the video in the first place, this will only become a real victory for all of us, including MoD, if Armenian officials face up the widespread problems of corruption and abuse in the army and initiate radical reforms to ensure that similar displays of sadism as well as “suicides” and non combat deaths are prevented and dealt with. In the world of Internet, cover up is an outdated concept.
Martuni or Bust continues updating its readers on developments at http://aramanoogian.blogspot.com.
Photo: Graffiti in Yerevan, Armenia, by Garik Engibaryan and Edgar Amroyan protesting suicides, non-combat deaths and hazing in the army via Unzipped.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Brazil: Monitoring the Reform of a Park in Sao Paulo · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Though September 21 is a national day to celebrate trees in Brazil, SOS Parque Água Branca [SOS White Water Park, pt] blog called it the “Day of the Dead Tree” this year, criticizing the implementation of a reform project to this green area in the city of Sao Paulo where reportedly trees are being criminally killed [pt].

author: Sara Moreira


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China: Cat meat posing as mutton · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Elaine Chow writes in Shanghaiist about a recent rumor that “lamb shiskabobs” sold from street food vendors or mutton dishes from restaurants might have actually been made out of kitties.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Girl Committed Suicide After Being Molested by Police Officers · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Hush translated a local news story about a 16-year-old girl leaped to her death from hotel after being molested in Fenghuang city of Hunan province. Among the five suspects, two policemen are involved.


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China: The Most Awesome Train Door · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Youku video shows the most awesome subway train door in Beijing city.


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El Salvador: The New Anti-Gang Law Explained · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Voices from El Salvador explains the new Anti-Gang law in El Salvador. The post concludes with these questions: “does imprisoning gang members really treat the root of the problem?  Will the harsher penalties imposed under the new law be enough to deter individuals from joining gangs?”


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Ethiopia: The Ogadeni Problem · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

semantic Eritrea discusses Ethiopia's Ogadeni problem: “Back in 2007, Ogadeni rebels overpowered the defenses of a petrol company. This shocked the companies in the region and the Ethiopian government.”


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Ethiopia/USA: Protesters and supporters welcome Meles Zenawi · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Konobusiness blogs about the controversial visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister to Columbia University: “The intensity of the crowd, both pro and anti-Zenawi, caught police officers off guard as they were not wholly prepared for the number of people arriving.”


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Guatemala: Tuk Tuk Taxis Revolt in Antigua · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Photography blog Antigua Daily Photo shares images of a Tuk Tuk Taxi protest in Antigua: “It turns out, the tuk tuk taxi drivers were protesting the high number of traffic citations they are given by the Antigua Guatemala transit police. They felt they are being targeted unfairly by the transit police.”


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Humorous Web Reactions to Thursday’s Facebook Outage · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. The website was offline for a few hours on 23rd September 2010 due to a technical problem. Several jokes about the Facebook outage were soon streaming on Twitter, with many of them being re-tweeted by hundreds. A few are shared below:
Image via TWITTERWHALE on Twitpic
Image via TWITTERWHALE on Twitpic
@liammalone:
While Facebook Isnt Working, Twitter will go over capacity, (and MySpace remains unused,) some Americans will finally meet their neighbours.
@Lord_Voldemort7:
I shut down facebook. That'll teach The Social Network for trying to steal attention from the Deathly Hallows Trailer. Take that, Zuckerberg
@MTVClutch:
Facebook is down. We can't tell who's hungry or tired.
@AyyddG:
i love the way @facebook has to use @twitter to tell everyone why it isnt working. #fail.
@MetsMerized:
Facebook is down! Employee productivity skyrockets, rioting reported in major cities, USA climbs out of 6-year recession
@danicrino:
DNS FAILURE: Facebook is down which means 9 months from today, many children will born.
@alqaeda:
#facebook is down. Not sure if we did that, but we should claim credit anyway. Hitting the infidels where it hurts, etc
@Facebook posted the following updates on Twitter during and after the outage:
We apologize for today's outage. Read technical details about how it happened and how we've been fixing it: http://ow.ly/2J5dA
We've resolved the tech issues that caused the site to be unavailable for some people. Everyone should now have access.
Facebook may be slow or unavailable for some people because of site issues. We're working to fix this quickly.
Facebook has since apologized over the outage:
Early today Facebook was down or unreachable for many of you for approximately 2.5 hours. This is the worst outage we’ve had in over four years, and we wanted to first of all apologize for it. We also wanted to provide much more technical detail on what happened and share one big lesson learned.
The key flaw that caused this outage to be so severe was an unfortunate handling of an error condition. An automated system for verifying configuration values ended up causing much more damage than it fixed…
Some Mashable readers are more sympathetic with Facebook, about the outage:
In a comment, fpd wrote:
I never get the public outrage anytime something like this happens. It's the Internet, no site is safe from these types of issues. A lot of code goes into these sites and expecting 100% uptime is ridiculous. It happened to Google with Gmail, happens to twitter all the time, it probably happened to Yahoo! or Bing recently too and no one noticed. If you are honestly that dependent on these apps that if something happens to them you are screwed, you need to consider a backup plan.
Sakima Oak added his view:
Every website experiences problems but a website the size of Facebook and to be resolved and back online in less than 4 hours is incredible.
As Neale had mentioned, a custom system built from the ground up on PHP and I can't think of any other website that compares. Well done Facebook techies ;)
I would wrap up with this rather humorous view from JayNerd:
Facebook goes down once every four years.
Twitter still goes down every four hours

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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India: The Common ‘wealth’ Games ridiculed · Global Voices
Rezwan

South Asia Wired highlights some reactions from social media about the serious security lapses at the Commonwealth Game venues.

author: Rezwan


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Israel: Facebook Tags · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

David Bogner, from Israel, asks: “Am I the only one who is completely tired of receiving email notifications saying that [insert name of someone you kinda/sorta know] has tagged a picture/video of you on Facebook?”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Madagascar, rosewood trafficking: an investigator arrested · Global Voices
Claire Ulrich

The site Mongabay [in English] and the blog MyDago [in French] reported on September 17 that “a foreign journalist”, whose identity was not revealed, was arrested on September 5 in Maroantsetra in eastern Madagascar while investigating the smuggling of rosewood [in French].

author: Claire Ulrich


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Mexico: State of Human Rights of Indigenous Women · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In an interview for Vivir México [es], Pepe Flores asked Yalí Noriega –from Amnesty International Mexico [es]– about the state of human rights of indigenous women.


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Nepal: The Nepali Congress Has A New Leader · Global Voices
Rezwan

United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal informs that the 12th General Convention of the political party Nepali Congress elected Sushil Koirala as the party’s new president. Mr. Koirala beat three-time Prime Minister of the country Sher Bahadur Deuba.


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Peru: Superficial Solutions As District Elections Approach  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Gabriela García Calderón shares photos [es] of a recently fixed street in the Miraflores district in Lima, coinciding with mayoral and district elections. But the images that follow prove that only a few meters away the streets have holes that make it dangerous for anyone to pass through, especially those who use wheelchairs.


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Sri Lanka: Hearings of the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission · Global Voices
Rezwan

Valkyrie at Groundviews posts translations of reports on the hearings of the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) held in Killnochchi and Mullaitivu that appeared in Tamil newspapers.


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Sudan: How to Fix a Referendum · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Lessons from Sudan on how to fix a referendum: “For not only has registration failed to begin (the stipulated date was July of this year), it is still not fully clear who is eligible to vote and what defines eligibility.”


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Bhutan: ‘Happiness’ As A Millennium Development Goal · Global Voices
Sonam Ongmo

UN General Assembly. Image by Sonam Ongmo
Starting Monday, world leaders descended on New York to attend the annual General Assembly. But shy of 5 years from the deadline of achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals it was sad to see countries still mired in differences and using the platform to make jabs at each other instead of talk about cooperation.
In that respect, it was nice to have a little laughter – even whimsical as it may have been – when the PM of Bhutan proposed “Happiness” be included as the 9th MDG.
“I hear some laughter – and I see some smiles,” he said, smiling himself, as he paused to the reaction from the floor. This was followed instantly with a round of applause by those who supported his notion.
As people rise above the threats of basic survival, what will our collective endeavour be as a progressive society? Must we continue to believe that human life is to be spent labouring for higher income so as to be able to consume more at the cost of relationships, peace and ecological stability? Are the causes of depression, suicide, community disintegration, and rising crime to be accepted as inevitable? Could we not find a way to steer ourselves from the self consuming fire of greed that is fuelled by the media and paid for by industry and commerce which thrive on reckless consumerism?
And to this end, he felt that since the “ultimate desire of every citizen [in the world] was Happiness, it must be the purpose of development to create the enabling conditions for Happiness.”  His reasons for the proposal arose from the development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which Bhutan has been pursuing since the 70's.
Aside from this bold proposal, Bhutan also surprised many by vying for a non-permanent seat at the Security Council. The other two contenders are South Korea and Cambodia.
Bhutan PM Jigme Thinley and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Image by Sonam Ongmo
Blogger and photographer Yeshey Dorji said in response to the news.
Well, what can I say? He is our man and surely he thinks we qualify. So why not? I am excited at the news.
But not everyone was excited. Bhutanese refugees RP Subba and TP Mishra in an article titled “Why Bhutan's Gross National Happiness is a Joke” railed against the Prime Ministers speech on GNH.
And while this all sounds well and good on the surface — the surface is deceptive. The reality in Bhutan and among exiled communities abroad flies in the face of any assertion that the Bhutanese in general are happy.
Dhruva Mishra said:
When Bhutan coined the policy of “One Nation and One People”, it adopted measures to eliminate the culture, language and tradition of one of many ethnic groups living in Bhutan. This, and many other causes lead to an ethnic conflict and citizens were evicted out of their state en masse. More than 100,000 in number, these people are desperately trying to restore their destiny….
The Bhutanese as usual took to airing their views on their famous online forum Bhutantimes.com.
CosmicDust said:
If promoting GNH is a joke, should we promote war, terrorism and sale of nuclear weapons as you seem to suggest?
James Delphi tried to inject some objectivity into the argument:
It was Aristotle who asked the important question that all politicians and governments around the world should ask themselves once in while: “What is any Government for ?”
As western politicians intrude more and more in ordinary people's lives they would do well to remind themselves of what the main purpose of the government is ……
Aristotle's answer was “eudoemia” – to make the people “happy” in the fullest sense of the word.
So well done Bhutan for at least knowing why the government exists in the first place. Unfortunately, life for many people in Bhutan is very tough so many people will try to ridicule the Bhutan Government for its “aims”. It is not the principle that is at fault – although the delivery of the “happiness” may leave a great deal to be desired.
But the scathing criticisms continued. Tikaram Adhikari who claimed he was Bhutanese said:
GolabalPost and the readers would do well by enriching this concept of GNH by reading and reviewing other sources that talk about the true side of Bhutan and other perspectives on GNH. There are many sources for the readers to refer in order to understand the other and darker side of GNH as Bhutan has used torture as the main tool of taming opposing voices of its citizens
And Pinky Thapa, who also claimed to be Bhutanese responded on the same thread :
Wow, what a lies posted on this website!!!!!! As far as i am concerned those Nepali speaking people who are on exile are the most notorious people on this earth. In fact, what i know about the fact is that, this people are not forcefully evicted from the country. Most of they have been either dragged to the camps by influential people or others illegal immigrants. If there is discrimination , then see there are majority of Nepali Speaking people, who hold a dominant and influential position at the highest level in Bhutan. Though i am from southern Bhutan, i am treated with respect and have equal rights.
But there was a positive voice even from the refugee side. It came from Parangkush Subedi who has resettled in the U.S:
I just wanted to say that Prime Minister JY Thenley was just great at Columbia University. I like his speech and realized he is a man with vision. Whenever he makes visit US next time, please let me know and provide opportunity to meet him.”
So as GNH remains contentious even among the Bhutanese, only time will tell whether Bhutan has managed to convince the UN and member countries to incorporate “Happiness” as an MDG. And only time will tell whether this small country with big ambitions will secure a seat at the Security Council to represent and promote the objectives of many LDC's.

author: Sonam Ongmo


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China: Ai Weiwei’s English Tweets · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A group of volunteers help prominent artist-activist, Ai Weiwei, to translate his Chinese tweets into English.


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India: Banning Non P2P SMS · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rajesh Jain at Emergic criticizes the ban on all bulk SMS and MMS in India to prevent mass mobilization of people before and after the Ayodhya verdict.


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Japan: Relics of a US Army-Air Force base  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Ruins explorer and novelist Michael John Grist documented through pictures [en] what remains of Camp Drake, a joint US Army/Air Force base in Saitama (north of Tokyo) active until the 1970's.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Nobel Peace Prize should go to Liu Xiaobo · Global Voices
Andy Yee

Xu Youyu, philosopher and professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote an open letter (English translation here) to call for international support for this year's Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned author of China's Charter 08.  Meanwhile, C. Custer at ChinaGeeks commented on the grapevine that a Chinese organization is hoping to create and award one of their own peace prize, called the ‘Silk Road Peace Prize’.

author: Andy Yee


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South Korea:Soap Opera Fans Damaging Traditional Constructions · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

The Jeonju Hanok village is a treasured tourism spot where hundreds of traditional houses are preserved. A famous historical soap opera is being filmed there, and its fans have molested the village by scribbling the character's names on the wall with permanent marker pens, making people frawn at these photos circulating online.


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The Invisible Border Between Ecuador and Colombia · Global Voices
Paulina Aguilera Muñoz

The Colombia-Ecuador border is once again a contentious issue. Both countries have a border of 586 km (about 365 miles) and with it a long history of conflict, mutual accusations and reports of armed conflict and displacement. The death of Raúl Reyes, a member of the Colombian rebel group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), is perhaps the border’s most well known incident. Reyes died on Ecuadorian territory in March 2008 during a Colombian attack on a FARC base in Angostura, as bc10 [es] recalls. Other serious border issues are insecurity and fear, reports  El radar de la frontera [es]. The blog La Historia del Día [es] reports that crimes committed in the area happen in an environment of impunity.
Since Sunday September 19, Twitter users and news channels in both countries have announced, with differing statistics, the number of dead in the latest incident on the border in which FARC members died during an attack by Colombian armed forces, as infobae.com [es] states: “Up to 60 guerillas have died on the border between Ecuador and Colombia.
Reactions from the Ecuadorian side have varied. Twitter users retort the idea that Ecuador would not have supported the Colombian military, as shown in a link posted by Douglas Weber (@HCJBVozAndes)
Ecuador reitera que no se involucra en conflicto colombiano. http://bit.ly/9aPjSg
From Colombia, Hely Rojas (@sysmaya) reports:
Ecuador no reporta novedad en frontera y dice no ayudó Colombia en operativo.  http://bit.ly/coQiRY
Luis Alonso Lugo [es] states clearly the position of Ecuador in the words of the Defense Minister for Ecuador, Javier Ponce Cevallos. Cevallos had asked the United States to cooperate further with Colombia to protect the Colombia-Ecuador border. Alonso Lugo says, “Ponce explained that the cooperation of Colombia is essential due to the ‘enormous strain’ it would put on Ecuador to take on the annual cost of 100 million dollars, to keep 10,000 troops, ‘a third of its staff’, on the border area of both countries, where around 140,000 refugees of the Colombian conflict live.”
The invisible border: violence and displacement
The effects of this conflict on the border are numerous, yet the most serious has been the creation of a type of no man’s land.  The blog periodismodefrontera [es] (Journalism without borders) reports:
"Binational movement of women against war. Colombia-Ecuador border." Image by Flick user  padawan used under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license
Each week 50 Colombian families enter Ecuador either fleeing violence or to protect their children from being taken by armed groups, says Luis Varese, assistant director of the UN office for refugees, Quito, Ecuador [es], who denounced the “silence”:“They recruit boys by force from the age of 12, while girls are seen as “prizes of war” used as a form of currency and for sexual services. Indigenous people, with their knowledge of the jungle, are also valued.”
Ciudadanía Informada [es] reports that children who have a parent from each nationality have no right to citizenship in either country. Natalio Carrasco in the blog Cuaderno de Terreno [es], linked to UNICEF, states that children separated from or not accompanied by their Colombian parents have moved or have sought refuge in Ecuador to avoid being attacked or recruited by gangs. Others have seen members of their family killed.
Es muy probable que las experiencias vividas por estos menores  dejen profundas huellas tanto psicológicas como físicas en su desarrollo.  En el caso de las niñas, adolescentes y mujeres, aunque los varones no  quedan exentos, tienen el peligro de sufrir abusos y de caer en redes  explotación sexual comercial y trata de personas.
The organization of indigenous and rural people reports in Voltaire [es]:
Los que en la frontera norte del Ecuador habitamos procedemos de las zonas más empobrecidas del Ecuador y Colombia,  llegamos a esa zona luego de grandes esfuerzos,  atravesando penurias,  buscando  días mejores para nosotros y nuestros hijos, algo parecido  sucede con los pueblos hermanos de Colombia. Quienes habitamos en la zona de frontera norte de Ecuador y sur de Colombia  estamos siendo objeto de atropellos a nuestros derechos humanos y  ciudadanos contemplados en la Constitución ecuatoriana vigente y los  convenios suscritos por el Ecuador a nivel internacional, solo por el hecho de vivir en la zona fronteriza .
This position is confirmed by  Servindi [es] who reports on the death of the Indigenous leader Ramiro Inampues and his wife, María Lina Galíndez who were, “murdered on August 28 in a rural area near the city of Guachucal, close to the border with Ecuador.”
Pio [es] explains the conflict in this area in a forum on the website La Silla Vacía, where users discuss the problems arising from the building of El Corredor Sur [es], a road construction project which aims to connect the two countries which is putting the ethnic population in danger.
Es necesario aclarar que la única etnia en peligro de extinción con este  proyecto no son solos los Kofanes, también los Macaguajes (quedan menos  de 50), los Sionas, los Coregüajes y en menor medida los Ingas del bajo  putumayo. Todos ellos relictos de la cultura Ayahuasquera y su legado  espiritual.

author: Paulina Aguilera Muñoz


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Armenia: LGBT round table · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Pink Armenia reports on a round table on the LGBT community held in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, last week. The blog says that although government ministries accepted invitations to attend, none did.


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Azerbaijan: Journalists to visit Sweden ahead of November vote · Global Voices
Aygun Janmammadova

Gulara Azimzadeh's blog reports that seven journalists from Azerbaijan will visit Stockholm to see how the media covered the 2010 elections in Sweden. The journalists were selected after a competition held by the Azerbaijan Media Center as the country prepares for its own parliamentary vote this November and recounts the reaction from one of the fortunate winners.

author: Aygun Janmammadova


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Bangladesh: Income Tax Fair · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bauani informs that the tax authority in Bangladesh is arranging a tax fair (26-30 September, 2010) to increase awareness about Income Tax issues among the people of Bangladesh and provide more information to them.


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Brazil: Mainstream media flaw on Senator’s life condition · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

The politician Romeu Tuma [pt], a candidate for reelection in the Brazilian Senate, was wrongly announced dead by national mainstream media on September 24, “despite the fact he's alive, although, at the hospital”, as Pierre Lucena from blog Acerto de Contas [Getting even, pt] comments.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


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D.R. of Congo: Okapi Radio, Winner of “Free Media Pioneer” Awards · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Didace Namujimbo, journalist from radio Okapi assassinated on november 21st  2008 in DRC by Maneno.org on Flickr ( CC-NC-2.0)
On September 9th, 2010, the International Press Institute (IPI) granted the  “Free Media Pioneer” to Okapi Radio, the UN radio in the Democratic Republic of Congo, created by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the D.R. of Congo MONUSCO and the Swiss NGO Fondation Hirondelle. The radio has been broadcasting since 2002 in an effort to contribute to the peace building process in the country.
Since its inception, Okapi radio has displayed great ambition. The website Grand Lacs described its mission thusly [fr]:
Le projet Radio OKAPI, c’est: Un réseau de transmissions par satellite et de diffusion en ondes courtes et en FM, ainsi que sur l’Internet.
[…]
Des programmes consacrés à une information rigoureuse, non partisane, crédible, diffusés sur l’ensemble du territoire. Des programmes en français, en lingala, en swahili, en tshiluba, en kikongo, dans d’autres langues locales, et en anglais.
Des programmes consacrés à la santé, à l’éducation, aux droits de l’homme, à la culture, à la musique.
Reliefweb provides some background information on the impact of radio Okapi in DRC [fr]:
« Huit ans après avoir commencé à émettre, Radio Okapi a prouvé sa pérennité et a changé le visage de la couverture de l'actualité de la RDC »
Selon l'IPI, « dans un pays qui a souffert de la violence et du sous-développement, Okapi contribue à la paix et à la démocratisation en permettant la libre circulation de l'information ».
Radio Okapi a également contribué à la propagation de l'information dans et autour de la RDC grâce à son site internet qui est le site d'information le plus visité de la RDC, avec plus de 400.000 connexions par mois.
The radio project also inspired the documentary: “Radio Okapi- Radio of Life” that won several awards and was broadcast on several TV channels such as TV5 and francophone Belgian tv RTBF. Eric Maillard discusses the documentary on his blog [fr]:
Produit et réalisé par Pierre Guyot, ce film de 52 minutes se révèle touchant, percutant et tout simplement utile. Il propose en particulier des images d’archive extrêmement rares sur le génocide rwandais.
En 1994, au Rwanda, « La radio des mille collines » a réglé minute par minute le dernier génocide du 20 siècle qui fera plus d’un million de morts. La République Démocratique du Congo, pays voisin, a elle aussi connu une guerre civile qui a fait des millions de victimes. Avec des journalistes, Radio Okapi est née de cette volonté de faire autrement dans une zone de conflit : apporter aux citoyens une information juste et équilibrée et faire de cette radio un instrument de paix.
For africine.org, Radio Okapi  is[fr] :
… la fréquence de la paix en République Démocratique du Congo et la première radio nationale de cet immense pays au coeur de l'Afrique. Sa vocation : fournir une information fiable, rigoureuse et professionnelle à ses auditeurs. Elle diffuse ses programmes sur une grande partie du territoire congolais. Outre le studio principal à Kinshasa, elle dispose de 8 stations régionales, d'une vingtaine d'émetteurs FM et de 3 emetteurs ondes courtes. Dans ces stations, une petite centaine de journalistes, animateurs et techniciens se relaient 7 jours sur 7 pour offrir à la RDC une information de qualité en français, lingala, swahili, siluba et kikongo.
Afriqueinvisu.org gives the following take on  Okapi Radio and the documentary [fr]:
… est née du constat qu’aujourd’hui, en zone de conflits, là où la propagande est une arme de guerre, l’information crédible parce que non partisane, peut être une arme de paix.
« Radio Okapi, radio de la vie » propose des images totalement inédites du génocide rwandais, prouve qu’un média d’information peut promouvoir la démocratie et surtout montre le courage et le talent des journalistes de Radio Okapi dont certains ont, depuis le tournage de ce reportage, payé cette détermination de leur vie.
On Afriqueactu.net, Jean-Pierre Ndongo reminds us of the objectives of the IPI awards and the latest awards winners [fr]:
Créé en 1996, cette récompense honore les médias qui contribuent au développement d’une presse libre dans leur pays grâce aux efforts inlassables qu’ils fournissent et aux risques qu’ils prennent. Les derniers lauréats du prix comprennent « Novaya Gazeta », journal de la Fédération de Russie (2009), le blog américain « Talking Points Memo » (2008), l’agence de presse « Mizzima Inde & Birmanie » (2007), le journal « Yemen Times » (2006) et la radio indépendante zimbabwéenne « SW Radio Africa ».
For more information on Okapi radio,  here is their website.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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India: Tips For Eating At An Indian Buffet · Global Voices
Rezwan

Anirban takes a hilarious look at the proper way to eat at an Indian buffet.


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Israel: Are Peace Activists Harassed by Palestinian Men Being Silenced? · Global Voices
Carmel L. Vaisman

Israeli human rights activists, who regularly join Palestinian demonstrators in Bil'iin and Sheikh Jarrah, are recently blamed for ignoring and even silencing an allegedly common phenomenon of sexual harassment of women activists by fellow Palestinian demonstrators.
In the beginning of August 2010, Haaretz gender columnist Tsafi Saar stirred a feminist bloggers discussion on a problematic request raised by the Sheikh Jarrah demonstration organizers, asking Israeli women to dress up modestly for mutual demonstrations in East Jerusalem. Saar writes:
“…They raised the old outrageous argument that feminists should restrain themselves and give up a few things for the greater, more important cause, of fighting the occupation. The organizers stressed this request came from Palestinian women who felt uncomfortable in the presence of fellow women with bare shoulders. The activists who resisted this request brought up the problem of the Palestinian women status in their society, and pointed out that this request is oppressing by nature.”
A week later, feminist activist and blogger Hannah Beit-Halachmi, revealed the existence of a “secret” low profile workshop offered to women and transgendered activists on coping with sexual harassment at human rights demonstrations. Beit-Halachmi captured a screen shot of the workshop details that was quickly removed from Israeli Indymedia website, which reads:
“Israeli men, women and transgenders protest on weekly basis with their bodies against the occupation. Within this field of solidarity and mutual risk-taking lies a phenomenon of sexual harassment of activists and transgenders… within the field of direct action against occupation there is a role reversal in the power relations between occupiers (feminine tense in Hebrew – C.V) and occupied, dominant and dominated (feminine tense in Hebrew – C.V).”
Beit Halachmi reacts:
“The existence of this workshop shows sexual harassment is a common phenomenon in left wing demonstrations. The demonstrators against occupations accept this reversed occupation because it doesn't really concern them – the victims are women. These women shoulders could be covered so the demonstrators could continue feeding their self-righteous allegedly liberal egos and carry the torch of social equality struggle. I recommend that women condition their participation in these demonstrations to the complete stop of any demonstration during which a sexual harassment occurs. The demonstrators should not demonstrate unless they reach an agreement with their Palestinian counterparts that there will be zero tolerance to this phenomenon and he who harasses should be shamefully and publicly banned from the demonstration. I am sorry that there is seemingly no real left wing in Israel and that left wing women are cooperating with this phenomenon”.
Last week the issue was raised again by lawyer and publicist Roni Aloni-Sadovnik in a column she wrote for News First Class website titled ” The left wing betrays its raped activists“. Sadovnik mentions a case covered earlier by Haaretz of an attempted rape of an American peace activist in Beit Lechem. According to Haaretz, the Palestinian Authority has pressured the activist not to press charges in order not to undermine the public opinion supportive of the struggle against the occupation.
In her provocative column, Sadovnik speaks of another rape attempt on an Israeli activist that was also pressured to put it aside for the greater purpose, and refers to both as raped. She writes:
“When Pacifist movements need to prioritize their agendas, it's clear that ending the occupation comes before protecting women. Are we finally facing the naked truth that these movements are actually pro-Islamic disguised as humanitarians? As a feminist, I feel the hypocrisy and loss of moral conscience in the galloping left wing persistent action to end the occupation, while they are dumbstruck facing this horror they encourage and collaborate in hiding it”.
In response to those allegations, The Sheikh Jarrah demonstration organizers wrote a note on their Facebook page denying it:
“We take every case of harassment seriously and will stand against it as we stand against the breaking of every human right. The first rape attempt was made public due to the assistance of Israeli activists that helped report it. We have no knowledge of the other case and the allegation against us as accomplices to such silencing is slandering. We respect Sadovnik's reputation of feminist activism but we warned News First Class that if they do not delete this column we will consider pressing liability charges.”
Many of the supportive comments on this note on Facebook claimed these allegations are a sophisticated attempt to sabotage the struggle against the occupation, planned by right wing elements.
The above links were shared by many Israeli Facebook users over the last couple of days, spiting similar debates between activists who claim this impossible based on their personal experience, and women who stress that sexual harassment is an everyday phenomenon that can be found in any place and context and we shouldn’t be surprised it is found among human rights activists as well. (Links to many of these additional debates cannot be provided due to user's restricted Facebook privacy settings).
Some linked this debate with an earlier affair that stirred the blogosphere in February 2010, as blogger Eshkar Eldan Hacohen confessed in a personal testimonial on being raped 20 years ago by a well known humanist.
As other women who identified the attacker added their own testimonials, the Press picked up the story and revealed the alleged rapist and serial harasser to be no other than famous publicist, poet and peace activist Itzhak Laor. That affair has sparked a similar discourse within the blogosphere on the disconnection between human rights and women rights.

author: Carmel L. Vaisman


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Japan: “Our Park” a documentary about Tokyo’s Nike Miyashita Park  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Directors Emil Langballe and Maria Samoto le Dous produced a documentary titled Our Park [en] about Tokyo's Miyashita Park [en], which is also called Nike Park [en] after sportswear multinational Nike bought its naming rights in 2008.
The film focuses on the group of artists and activists who have been vocal in their opposition to the project [en].


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Lebanon: March to Save Beirut’s Architectural Heritage · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“Beirut used to be a city of gorgeous mansions and gardens and now it has become a boring heap of high-rises and construction projects,” said Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, 88, founder of the Association for Protecting Natural Sites and Old Buildings in Lebanon. Around 150 Lebanese men and women marched late Saturday in Beirut to protest against further destruction.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Nepal: Mysterious Fires In The Himalayan Mountains · Global Voices
Rezwan

Nepalese blogger ABC questions whether the recent wildfires in the Himalayan Mountains originated because of human negligence or natural causes.


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Pakistan: Kashmir Needs World’s Attention · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pakistani blogger Fatima thinks that Pakistan has not done enough to free Kashmiris from Indian occupation, “allowing them to live in accordance to their will”.


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Saudi Arabia: Licence to Blog! · Global Voices
Haifa Alrasheed

The latest announcement from the spokesperson of the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information Abdulrahman Al Hazzaa has created a storm of reactions on social media websites and blogs. The announcement stated that all Saudi Arabian web publishers and online media, including blogs and forums, will need to be officially registered with the government. Both Saudis and non Saudis protested the new law. On Twitter, the protest ran under the hashtag #haza3 – which refers to the ministry official’s last name.
Below are some of the reactions.
In his blog, Crossroads Arabia John Burgess describes the decision as controlling:
Once upon a time, the Saudi Ministry of Culture & Information was able to control what people said and heard through the media. It basically owned it all, if not literally, then through a tight hand on the controls. Newer media has made that level of control impossible, much as that disappoints some.
From Twitter iamsoos felt sorry for her blog:
Others decided to be sarcastic about the whole issue. kabdu says:
and Fouad Alfarhan adds:
and Abdulaziz Fagih suggests a new law:
Moreover, the announcement has gotten many bloggers upset. In her blog, Saudi Women questions Saudi citizen's freedom of speech:
Aren’t our freedoms curbed enough? Am I going to need written permission from my guardian to maintain this blog? Do I need a paper from work too? Do I have to run everything by the ministry before posting? How about if instead of blogging, bloggers wrote the exact same stuff in consecutive Tweets and on Facebook notes, what are they going to do about that? Are we supposed to register our Facebook and Twitter accounts too?
Likewise, Sultan Aljumairy express his disturbance in a very angry blog post:
As a result of the huge storm of reactions, the next day Al-Hazzaa denied that there will be any form of registration required from bloggers and forum owners. He added that the new regulation will only be applied to electronic newspapers.  The ministry claims that the spokesperson Al Hazzaa was misunderstood.
The denial has sparked reactions on new media and its effectiveness on the officials.
Fawaz Saad points how Twitter is now a powerful tool:
While some wondered why the denial came from foreign Press.
Samar Almoossa says:
Finally, Alfarhan suggests a loophole for electronic newspapers:

author: Haifa Alrasheed


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Africa: Africa Media Leadership Conference 2010 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Tweets from Africa Media Leadership Conference 2010 taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Bahrain: BlackBerry News Services Banned – Again  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Bahrain’s authorities have ordered a BlackBerry news provider to stop his services, citing violations of the media laws,” writes Habib Toumi. This is the second time this service is banned.


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Bahrain: Nabeel Rajab Banned from Travelling · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab reports on Twitter: “#bahrain I am banned from traveling.”


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Belarus President Refused to Start a Blog · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Blogger pilgrim-67 sarcastically comments [RUS] on Alexander Lukashenko's decision not to start a blog [RUS]: “That's a pity. I would be excited to read about Belarus cows and gaz wars in his blog […] I think his blog would be more lively than Medvedev's.”

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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China and Australia: Reactions to Chinese Asylum Seekers’ Rooftop Protest · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Veggie Discourse translated Chinese netizens’ reaction to the Chinese Asylum Seekers’ 2 days rooftop protest in Sidney.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Glory to the Stability Maintenance Contractors · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yesterday, September 26, the Chinese Government released its white paper on human rights. The Xinhua news report highlighted the positive aspect of the role of Internet freedom for the government to gauge public opinion and improve its governance.
Petition visit rate as human rights indicator
Given the fact that the term, “Human Rights” is politically sensitive term filtered out by domestic Chinese search engines, the white paper is a euphemism that leaves no room for debate. On the other hand, concerned citizens have shifted the focus of the discussion to the relation between the “great success” in China's human rights condition and the role of stability contractors. The government white paper states that one of the greatest achievements in China's human rights has been the decreasing rate of petition calls and visits in the past 5 years. In 2009, the petition visits rate had dropped by 2.7% from 2008.
In a discussion thread of the human rights white paper on the sina t.blog, many micro-bloggers “praised” a stability maintenance contractor, An Yuan Ding, for contributing to the decrease in the petition visits rate:
海阔天空229: 上访的人都被关进黑监狱了，信访量当然下降咯！(9月26日 12:59)
按剑清八极: 越想越觉得白皮书和安元鼎的事情好玩：安元鼎被曝光了，大家还正在找幕后主使的人呢。结果白皮书出来了，还说信访数量连续五年下降。你丫不是不打自招么？ 再怎么，你也应该拖上个一两个月再发报告呀。你是不是秀逗了。或者，你丫就在向全国人民示威，我就是幕后主使，你怎么着吧？(9月26日 12:47)
WhoYo88: 当然了，有了安元鼎，信访总量都转化成自杀率了，谁不知道中国现在自杀率全球第一。…(9月26日 12:27)
按剑清八极 The white paper and An Yuan Ding affair is so interesting. Now that An Yuan Ding has been exposed and everyone is trying to find out who is behind the company. Then the white paper was released and stressed that the petition visit rate has been decreasing for the past 5 years. This is an invitation for criticism. Why don't you defer the release of the white paper for a month or two. Or are you trying to tell the whole nation who is behind the scene? (Sep 26 12:47)
WhoYo88 Of course, An Yuan Ding has transferred the petition rate into suicide rate. Everyone know that our suicide rate has topped the world…. (Sep 26 12: 27)
Stability maintenance contractor: An Yuan Ding
So what exactly does An Yuan Ding（安元鼎）do for its business? The company is one of the most famous stability contractors responsible for intercepting petition visits in Beijing. According to Southern Metropolis Weekly's latest investigative report on September 24 , the contractor's business is to put the petitioners in jail or escort them back to their home county. The staffs of An Yuan Ding are called a “special security force” and they could act like police officers in arresting the petitioners. In fact, An Yuan Ding runs a large number of “black jails” in Beijing and invoices the local government for petitioners’ daily expenses and escort fees during detention. In 2007 the business’ annual turnover was RMB 8.6 million (about USD 1.2 million). The company was listed in the top ten security service brands by the Beijing city government and, in 2008, the business turnover reached RMB 21 million (USD 3 million).
The series of reports about An Yuan Ding has received a lot of echoes online. It quickly became the hottest topic in micro-blogs such as Sina on September 25. Under public pressure, the Beijing police decided to take action against the “illegal detention” and “black jail” business. However, at the same time, the police also raided the Financial Magazine and interrogated the editor about the report. In addition, the propaganda department decided to harmonize all the news related with An Yuan Ding on September 26. The political implications of the case can be aggregated through a Twitter search:
Political implications
doneydoney 最应该坐牢的不是安元鼎的董事长，而是安元鼎的客户！
jguanghong 这位朋友说得不够准确，不是我们离法西斯有多远，而是我们就是法西斯 政权。——笑蜀:居然有安元鼎那样邪恶的地下雇佣军存在，居然可以动用那样邪恶的地下雇佣军任意对付自己的公民，可见，如果没有媒体监督，如果没 有法治，如果没有政改，我们离法西斯到底能有多远？想想都让人不寒而栗。
jtyong: 安元鼎涉嫌犯罪，那它的合作者各地各级政府官员就是共同犯罪，能否一查到底？我们睁大眼睛看清并要真相！
ft9527: 安元鼎风生水起这么些年，背后是政府的睁只眼闭只眼。你当北京不知道这个保安公司在搞什么吗？只是还没人捅出来就放任自流而已 。甚至我怀疑不仅是放任，保安公司都有官方背景，安元鼎如此风生水起，只怕是北京在推波助澜。
dichenju 安元鼎问题与现象何止北京？已经偏及全国各地。属于不能依法行政的副产品！
zhiyongxu 上访无论正常不正常，国家信访局无权限制公民人身自由，可是其下属的马家楼每天关押访民，去年12月4日关押访民三四千人，那里才是最大的黑监狱，相比看安元鼎更像是分包商。
gongminyaoyao 安元鼎直接从政府部门拿货，再批发给地方政府。这钱就从维稳预算中倒腾到了各个腰包里面。要说洗钱，能比这还牛逼么。
cctv8964 从表面看，中国民众上访数量可能 减少了，但过去五年中国的维稳费用 连续上升，今年更是创下了划时代的 记录：维稳费用超过了国防开支。这 些维稳定费用都到了哪里？安元鼎可 能给民众暴露了这个利益链条里的冰 山一角。
89Lin 张千帆：安元鼎“这个口子一开，各地都纷纷效仿的话，后果很难想象。 最主要后果就是对公民基本权利的践踏，它得不到法律上的保障；同时它一定会出现越维越不稳的现象；还有就是黑白勾结越来越分不清，公权力可把权力委托给私 人行使，会造成中国公权力机构的黑社会化，黑社会变成合法正当化。”
SuperFish64 安元鼎代表维稳外包、QQ代表网监外包、360代表国安外包。2010,兲朝外包年。


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China: Tibetan writer awaiting trial · Global Voices
John Kennedy

An update in the case of imprisoned writer Tagyal and the latest hit single from hip-hop group Green Dragon are among the stories in Dechen Pamba's roundup of the Tibetan blogging scene at High Peaks Pure Earth.

author: John Kennedy


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Czech Republic: Protest Against Wage Cuts · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr Sean's Diary writes about a trade union-organized protest against wage and budget cuts in the public sector, which took place in Prague last week.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Dominican Republic: “The numbers do not add up” · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

“This week in the main newspapers we saw many numbers that were supposed to reflect the state of the economy and the public administration's financial solvency. More than offering certainties, they caused more doubts,” analyzes journalist and blogger María Isabel Soldevila in Con mis ojos [ES].

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Ecuador: Former Football Referee Caught Smuggling Heroin to United States · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Ecuadorians are devastated and surprised by news about one of their citizens: this past week, football referee Byron Moreno Ruales was caught trying to smuggle 6 kilos of heroin strapped to his body through the JFK international airport in New York City. Moreno has been a controversial referee, earning the nickname “El Justiciero” (The Righteous or The one who seeks justice). He  wanted to run for the Municipal Council in Quito, and before he got arrested he was working as a soccer analyst in radio station Radio Sonorama and TV channel Canal Uno in Ecuador.
The attorney behind the blog Aura Neurotica [es]  laments that Ecuadorian patriotism is made out of “paper, drugs, lies, tinsel, and drama,” and the classic “viveza criolla” (native wit or cunning).
Que vergüenza, que dolor, y que ganas de gritarle al mundo ‘no somos todos asi!!!’ Pero debemos asumirlo muchachos, la situación del arbitro caído en desgracia es la viveza criolla puesta en acción. Es 30 años de supuesta democracia y de los vicios que las corroen las que crean a un personaje capaz de dar noticias de fútbol y el día siguiente se pega 6 kilos de heroina en el cuerpo.
On June 2003, Moreno retired from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). The former referee is mostly remembered for giving a very debatable penalty to Korea (see video) during a game against Italy in the 2002 World Cup. In that game Moreno also sent off Italian player Francesco Totti and annulled an Italian goal, as journalist Ruben Dario Buitron  explains in his blog [es]. South Korea won that game and moved on to the Quarter-finals.
In his blog [es], Buitron also analyzes the media's reaction to the latest news about Moreno trying to smuggle heroin into the United States:
Este buen periodismo, en el caso de Moreno, presentó el tema con extremo cuidado, sin tratar de sacar ventaja de la supuesta estridencia del hecho y sin buscar ángulos amarillistas o sensacionalistas para vender más ejemplares o ganar rating.
Pero el otro periodismo, que no podemos negar que existe, olvidó una vez más que todos los seres humanos “noticiables” merecen respeto y que mientras más delicado es el tema, mayor rigor y menos adjetivos hay que poner en la difusión de los hechos.
Good journalism, in Moreno's case, presented the issue with extreme care, without trying to get advantage of the supposed harshness of the event and without looking for tabloid or sensationalist angles to sell more or get a higher rating.
But the other journalism, which we can't deny that it exists, forgot once again that all human beings that make the news deserve respect and the more sensitive the issue is, greater rigor and fewer adjectives should be added when spreading the news.
The blog Ecuador en Noticias [es] (Ecuador in the news) doubts that Moreno was acting alone; blogger David Guamba Torres suggests he could have acted because of pressure from other people [es].  He also questions the security in the Jose Joaquin de Olmedo international airport in Guayaquil:
Mientras tanto que las autoridades en nuestro país comienzan a culparse y hasta cierto punto hacerse los desentendidos, con respecto al control que se debió tener en el aeropuerto.
[…]
Pero, la verdad, es que los ecuatorianos ahora tendremos que “ser revisados” con más cautela al momento de viajar a otros países.
Un error de Moreno (o desesperación) que nos cuesta caro a todos.
Andes [es] released a video  showing Byron Moreno's actions in the immigration section of the airport. He passed the first two controls but he failed the third and was still allowed to board the plane. Jaime, in a commentary on Buitron's blog, criticizes the press for publishing this video [es].
Drug traffickers are known to use so-called “mules” to perform their illicit activities. In Ecuador, after a reform was added to the Criminal Code, people found carrying up to 2 kilos of drug are fined but are not charged like others involved in drug trafficking. The reform was taken because according to president Rafael Correa, “mules” are considered victims of the system; they are usually poor, unemployed and easily seduced by the drug cartels to carry small amounts of drugs in exchange for a minimum payment.
After enumerating all the jobs Moreno has held in Ecuador, Carlos Sagnay of Desde mi trinchera [es] concludes that he was not poor, and whether he acted as a “mule” or not, he still has to respond to American and Ecuadorian laws. He does the math and explains how Ecuadorians may become rich under the new law thanks to trafficking groups growing in the principal port, Guayaquil:
Entonces, las mafias del narcotráfico seducirían a las víctimas del sistema agobiadas por la miseria con un “mínimo pago” de $13,300 a $16,600, redondeados, por transportar dos kilos de droga avaluadas entre $133.333 y $166.666. ¡Manera rápida no sólo de salir del desempleo sino de enriquecerse y hasta convertirse en empresarios! A estos pobrecitos protege el presidente.
Byron Moreno remains detained in New York without bail and awaits a sentence from 10 years to life imprisonment. Ecuador will ensure Moreno has a fair trial in the U.S.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Egypt: Cancer Statistics Alarm · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The former head of tumors institute revealed in a medical conference recently held in Cairo that between 150,000-200, 000 get cancer annually because of Insecticides, the carcinogenic insecticides used in our vegetables and fruits!!” writes Zeinobia, at Egyptian Chronicles.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: RIP Ahmed Maher · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Former Egyptian minister of foreign affairs Ahmed Maher passed away earlier today after a sudden heart attack according to Egyptian media,” writes Zeinobia, from Egypt.


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Extra-judicial Killing By Pakistan Army In Balochistan · Global Voices
Rezwan

Let Us Build Pakistan reports that Baloch columnist and lawyer Ali Sher Kurd fell victim to extra-judicial killing By Pakistan army like many who raise their voice in Balochistan.

author: Rezwan


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Ghana: BarCamp Accra 2010 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

BarCamp Accra 2010 is around the corner: “I'm sure if you live in the capital, Accra, and you do not know yet of Bar Camps, then you obviously have not been listening.”


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Guyana: Leadership Style · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Envisage a country vibrant in idea exchanges and energetic businesses unafraid of political repercussions”: The Guyana Groove says that her homeland “could be a fully vibrant and thriving nation, but the authoritarian leadership has instead created a stifling and oppressive environment…”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Haiti: Slow Going  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Nine months after the devastating earthquake, many  are criticizing the slow pace of relief for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Haiti”: The Haitian Blogger reports.


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Haiti: Storm Stories  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bloggers write about their experiences with Haiti's recent storm, here and here.


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Macedonia: Blogging for Proper Language Use · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Two professional and licensed proofreaders, Biserka Velkovska and Maja Katarova, recently opened the blog Lektor [MKD] to dispense free advice on proper use of the grammar and other rules of the standard Macedonian language.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Myanmar: BarCamp Mandalay 2011 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

After the successful Barcamp Yangon 2010 in Myanmar, preparations are now being made for the BarCamp Mandalay 2011. The event also has a Facebook page.

author: Mong Palatino


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Nepal: The Political Stalemate Continues · Global Voices
Rezwan

Maila Baje at Nepali Notebook writes about the ongoing political stalemate in Nepal as the eighth attempt to elect a Prime Minister had failed.


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New video from the Global Poverty Project · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

The educational and campaigning organisation Global Poverty Project has released a two-minute video that depicts how each of us, not world leaders, can actually end extreme poverty within a generation.

author: Bernardo Parrella


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North Korea:Kim Jong-il Appointed Jong-un As the North’s General · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has appointed Kim Jong-un, his youngest son as a general in the North Korea's military, thereby announcing Jong-un as North Korea's next leader, officially for the first time. South Korea's Yonhap reported it as breaking news, quoting the North's official.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Pakistan: The Reactions On The Verdict of Dr Afia  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Raza Habib Raja at Pak Tea House analyzes the reactions of the Pakistanis on the recent verdict handed to Dr. Afia Siddiqui by an US federal court.


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Russia: Controversy On Twitter Use in the Government · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Russian General Prosecutor's Office registered [RUS] a Twitter-account @genproc [RUS]. Previously [RUS], Federal Anti-monopoly Service got @rus_fas [RUS] account. While more than 20 high [RUS] Russian officials already started tweeting, country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is sceptical about the new media which it considers an “information weapon.”


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Russia: Gay Activists Protest on Luzhkov’s Birthday · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Moscow Diaries writes about last week's gay rights activists’ protest against Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov: “It was sad to see, this protest. The protesters were so few that they were barely visible among the gajillion photographers and two gajillion police officers. Within a few minutes, eleven of the protesters were grabbed and hauled off — very roughly and cringe-worthily — by police […].”


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Russia: Lost and Found in Translation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Poemless posts a follow-up to her earlier entry about the contemporary Russian literature available in English.


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Russia: Search for Liza Fomkina and Her Aunt · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On her blog and in a Moscow News column, Natalia Antonova writes about the search for Liza Fomkina and her aunt, who went missing in a town near Moscow on Sept. 13, and whose bodies were found last week: “According to RIA Novosti, the main search and rescue efforts were conducted by volunteers and people living nearby. Since Liza’s body has been found, plenty of volunteers have gone on record to say that they believed the official rescue efforts to have been poorly organized and insufficient.”


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Russia: Shnurov’s “Khimki Forest” Song · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Good Treaty writes about and translates Sergei Shnurov's “Khimki Forest” song, “an obvious satire of liberal-leaning musicians prone to activist art.”


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Russia: “The Putin State Chronicles” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Streetwise Professor recommends Dmitry Sidorov's new blog at Forbes – The Putin State Chronicles – which provides “some great examples of the natural/mafia state in action.”


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Slovenia: Elections Overview, Part 1 – “The Mayor” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky posts Part 1 of the election overview, explaining in detail the upcoming vote for mayors of 208 municipalities, including the city of Ljubljana.


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South Korea:Korea Won the U-17 Women’s World Cup · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korea won the U-17 Women's World Cup for the first time.Korea’s online media Pressian[kr] focused on women team’s humble beginning; it started out to boost cultural exchanges with North Korea, and the player's quality was an optional matter. In 1990, it lost to Japan by 13-1 and to North by 0-7.


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Southeast Asia: Blogging about Football · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

There are many football blogs in Southeast Asia that provide relevant news stories and updates about football matches and programs in the region. Through email, I interviewed Erick Bui of Vietnam Football and Chamroeun of Cambodia Football Roubroum about football blogging in Southeast Asia.
Photo from Flickr page of Nhy Nguyen used under CC License Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
Erick gives a brief history of football in Vietnam
Football is unarguably the main and most supported sport in Vietnam. Its annual V-League competition has taken place since 1980.
When Vietnam was split into North Vietnam and South Vietnam, two national teams existed…After Vietnam was united in 1975, Vietnamese football suffered a long time of stagnation. In 1991, Vietnam national football team played its first international match.
Vietnamese football has made a lot of improvement since then. Both Vietnam national team and V-League are now one of the best in ASEAN region.
Erick names his motivation in maintaining an English blog about football in Vietnam
Contrary to the big number of football sites in Vietnamese, there are few English sites about local football on the net. That's the reason why I started Vietnam Football blog in order to help people know more about football in my country. I have a lot of friends overseas who are also football fans. They often question me about Vietnamese football because they find it quite hard to find the info. Looking at this matter, I think an English football blog can be an essential link between Vietnam and the world. I have the passion and decent football knowledge so I really enjoy blogging about Vietnamese football
Chamroeun is the first Cambodian football blogger. Through his blog, Cambodia Football Roubroum, he shares information about football games in Cambodia
I launched my personal blog on July 2008. My main goal is to spread the news on Cambodian football.
I noticed that our two neighboring countries, Thailand and Vietnam, have better football programs. The players are well-paid. But in Cambodia, the footballers are not really in good condition. Most of them play for free or with low salaries. However, our football has changed a lot in the last five years. Now we have a professional league which is sponsored by a Vietnamese company.
Erick and Chamroeun are also linking to other football blogs in the region. They recommend these websites: Jakarta Casual for Indonesia and Singapore, Thai Port Football Club for Thailand, S-league: Facts & Figures for Singapore, Filipino Football for the Philippines, Soccer Myanmar, Foul from Malaysia and aseanfootball.org which gives regional sports updates. These blogs also link to local football websites.
Haresh Deol, the blogger who maintains Foul from Malaysia, discusses sports betting which was a big issue in Malaysia a few months ago.
Talk about legalising sports betting is objected by many parties. Gambling is not healthy for all – majority or minority. Politicians are using this issue as a perfect avenue to claim how righteous and religious they are. The government should EXPLAIN the situation properly
I’m not for gambling, as I’m not for smoking. If it’s unhealthy, it's unhealthy. But if it's a good method to monitor the outflow of our Ringgit (author’s note: Malaysian currency) and a source of income for the government, why not?


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Sudan: A Look at Preparations for Referendum · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Amanda discusses preparations for referendum in South Sudan: “On Wednesday, a seven-member technical committee revealed the lyrics to South Sudan’s new national anthem, titled “South Sudan Oyee!””


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Thailand: Photo of Thai keyboard · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A yfrog photo shows a Thai keyboard developed by a Cambodian.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Parang Time  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Simply Trini Cooking blogs about Parang – “one of Trinidad and Tobago's folk music that seems in a remarkable way to stay true to its original form” – here and here.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Sweetheart Deal  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“For those of us who did not invest with CLICO, the mere idea of our taxpayers’ funds being used to rescue those who placed high-return deposits is deeply offensive. Both the CL Financial chiefs and the depositors who took the chance at investing at those incredible rates of return are being spared the consequences of their decisions by the bailout process”: Afra Raymond continues his examination of the ongoing CLICO debacle.


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Ukraine: Calls to Dismiss Deputy Defense Minister · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about a scandal involving Ukraine's deputy minister of defense, Oleksandr Cherpitsky, who is reported to have had a criminal past.


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Uruguay: A Weekend Celebrating the Country’s Heritage · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Every year, Uruguayans dedicate a whole weekend to remember their heritage during the so-called “día del Patrimonio” (Heritage Day); they attend different cultural events and visit historic sites and venues. To commemorate the weekend, Todo Por la Misma Plata [es] shares three videos of Uruguayan musicians.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Venezuela: A day in the life of an electoral worker · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The Devil's Excrement shares, “A day in the life of an electoral worker in Venezuela.”


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Venezuela: Blogging Throughout Legislative Elections · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Daniel Duquenal blogged throughout yesterday's legislative elections, adding information as the day went by and responding to numerous comments.


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Zimbabwe: Child Sues for $1.6 Million · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Reaction to an article about a tortured child in Zimbabwe who has sued for $ 1. 6 million.’ The child was incarcerated in prison where he suffered beatings from the state in 2008 in an attempt to force confessions from his ‘political activist parents’.


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Africa: Is the African Blogosphere the New Public Sphere? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A presentation by Cameroonian blogger Dibussi Tande at the 2010 Africa Media Leadership Conference (AMLC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.


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Africa: Thoughts on the world from Africans · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

African Scene is an online portal designed to provide intelligent commentary and musings on African and international affairs which cannot be shouted out by conventional media nor muzzled by any government…


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Azerbaijan: Obama calls for bloggers’ release · Global Voices
Aygun Janmammadova

Dönməzlik blog [AZ] says that it was surprised to discover that US President Barack Obama raised the issue of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video blogging youth activists imprisoned on charges of hooliganism by a court in Baku, with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, at the UN General Assembly. The blog says that after international institutions and US Secretary State Hillary Clinton, Obama is now the must senior figure to call for the bloggers’ release. It concludes that if not them, then who can influence matters? God, perhaps?

author: Aygun Janmammadova


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Bahamas: Straw Saga · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jerome Pinder at Weblog Bahamas says that the straw vendors who have been charged in the United States for the purchase and export of knock off luxury goods “have become the symbol of a lawless society.”


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Bahrain: Unwatchable TV  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Mahmood Al Yousif, from Bahrain, is livid that more money is being pumped into Bahrain Television. He writes: “this .. television station must be the most invested in in the history of broadcast and it’s still a completely unwatched and unwatchable station. And when it is watched, on those rare occasions, we see it being either completely unprofessional, or pouring fuel on sectarian tensions in this country.”


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Belarus: Opposition and the Presidential Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Andrei Khrapavitski posts a note on the Belarusian opposition and the upcoming presidential election.


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Bermuda: “Mockumentary”? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Of “the corporate-style movie…that has appeared on the Internet polishing the Premier’s image as a popular leader”, Vexed Bermoothes says it is akin to “what BP might undertake to restore its image after the debilitating Gulf oil spill.”


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Bolivia: The Story of the Uncle and Other Scams · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

They are often the oldest tricks in the book, yet people still continue to fall for them. In Bolivia, like other South American countries, a scam or attempt to con is often called “El Cuento del Tío” (The Story of the Uncle).  According to Wikipedia [es], this term comes from a story told by a crook, who says that he or she received an inheritance from an uncle, but needs money to make the long trip to pick up the money. The crook asks for a loan with the promise that it will be repaid well above the amount lent. Naturally, the crook never returns from this ‘trip.’  There are many variations of these types of scams, but they all result in someone being swindled out of money or other valuables.
Several Bolivian bloggers started a meme inviting others to admit their own stories of being conned. Even though they can look back now, and even laugh at the unfortunate series of events, they serve a lesson for others. In El Alto, Alexis Argüello writes about his experience at buying a used mobile phone in one of the city's markets [es]. These marketplaces that are understood to sell stolen merchandise are notorious for being a place where one can get scammed. Argüello was prepared and took every precaution to make sure that the mobile phone he would purchase would be fully functional. After negotiating a bit, they settled on a price:
“Te doy 250″ le dije, “noooo, hazme una mejor oferta. ¿A cuanto encuentras este equipo en las tiendas?” me dijo mientras ponía las cosas en su lugar”, “yo sé, pero es lo que puedo ofrecerte” le dije, “mmmm, ya ni modo, porque recién lo he jalado” dijo, “vale, pero ojalá no sea yo tu próxima víctima” dije mientras sacaba el dinero y le pagaba. Así, recibí el equipo, miré de un lado a otro para cerciorarme de que no me vengan luego con el cuanto del tío “ese es mi celular joven y este el ladrón…”. Inmediatamente tomé uno de los vehículos de transporte público con rumbo a La Paz.
“I'll give you 250″ (approximately US$35), I said, “noooo, make me a better offer. How much do these phone cost in stores?” he said while putting the things in place. “I know, but that is all that I can offer,” I said, “mmm, ok whatever, because I just stole it,” he said. “OK, but I hope I am not your next victim,” I said while taking out the money to pay him. I was given the phone, I looked around to make sure that someone would not come with the Story of the Uncle saying “that is my mobile phone, young man and you are the thief…” I immediately took one of the public transport vehicles towards La Paz.
When he arrived to his office, the phone would not turn on. After some fiddling with the case, it broke open and he found that the phone was filled with putty. So despite being careful in order to not be the victim of an accomplice coming up to him after purchasing the phone, Argüello did not check the phone carefully. He says that even though he lost money on the deal, he can look back and laugh because life is too beautiful to get upset.
Many of these scams prey on people's emotions, in particularly, one's own sympathy towards others. That is what happened to blogger Pepe Fuentes in the city of Sucre. It took place at his office, when a woman approached with tears in her eyes saying that her son had died in a nearby town [es]. She needed money to bring the body back home for the burial. However, she only needed the remaining 80Bs. (approximately US$11) for the full amount.
fue tan convincente y tan emotivo que mi corazón de piedra se volvió por un rato humano, saque los 50 bs que tenía en mi billetera y se los di diciendo que con gusto le hubiera dado más si hubiera tenido, la otra me abrazo me agradeció y se fue.
It was only after the woman had left did Fuentes started to wonder whether he had been scammed, but just to make sure, he went to other nearby offices and asked if a woman had come in. Two other offices also gave money, but he still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, until he saw something outside that convinced him otherwise.
pero después la veo en la tienda a media cuadra comprando una botella de trago riendo con un tipo, me ven, se suben a un taxi y se hacen pepa. Yo tenía razón!! Si me mamaron!! Claro que el tener la razón no me hizo sentir mejor, me dejo sin un mango en mi billetera y con una desconfianza ante futuras situaciones similares.
However, it is not always adults who try to scam money out of unsuspecting individuals for alcohol. Mario Durán of the blog Palabras Libres [es] came across a child who made up a story, and another who eventually revealed the true reason for the act.
Plaza Eguino. 1 pm. Joven, joven – escucho una voz que se dirige a mi. Miro y veo un colegial.
– ¿Que cosa?, respondo.
– Lo he perdido mi pasaje y vivo en El Alto, me dice con rostro compungido.
– ¿Cuanto necesitas?
– 3 Bs.-
Le doy las monedas… es dificil no tener pasajes y vivir lejos.
Camino unos pasos… digo para mis adentros “que caiman, he sido”. Retrocedo mis pasos, el mismo adolescente cuenta la misma historia a otro caiman, el adolescente me mira, le miro, empieza a correr y se pierde entre los automoviles.
La siguiente vez que escucho la misma historia con otros protagonistas, respondo “ya, cual minibus es, te embarco y te pago el pasaje”… algunos son cinicos y me responden “plata no mas quiero”. pregunto ¿y en que vas a gastar?, “en el tilin (juegos electronicos), pues”.
In Plaza Eguino. 1 pm. “Young man, young man” I hear a voice speaking to me. I look and see a school boy.
– “What?” I respond.
– “I lost my bus fare and I live in El Alto” (about a 20 minute drive from La Paz), he says to me with his sad face.
– “How much do you need?”
– “3 Bs.” (approximately $US0.40)
I give him the coins… it is difficult not having bus fare and live far away.
I walk a few steps… and say to myself “I was victim.” I retrace my steps, and the same boy is telling the same story to another victim. The boy looks at me, I look at him, he starts to run and he escapes among the automobiles.
The next time I hear the same story with other protagonists, I respond, “ok, which is bus is yours, I'll embark you and pay your fare” … some are cynical and respond, “I just want the money.” I ask, “and what will you spend it on?” (and they respond) “on video games, of course.”

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
China’s bizarre phenomena: buildings die unnaturally · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Hush gathered informations and pictures from ifeng.com and people.com.cn and showed how buildings die unnaturally in China.


text:
China: Uncensored District Government Website · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a news story on a grassroots government website in Xindu district of Chengdu city. The district government website does not censor away abusive comments, on the other hand, its officials give creative responses to unreasonable complaint.