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Nicaragua-Costa Rica Conflict, Revisited: Part II · Global Voices
GV Contributor

This is the second part of a trip through the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican blogosphere regarding a recent border dispute.  See the first part of this report here.
Nationalism in the media
The nationalist agenda has been heightened in the media on both sides of the border. On the Costa Rican side (the tico side as it is locally known) we have the example of the TV channel Repretel [es], with commentary from Cristian Cambronero in Fusil de Chispas [es]:
Probablemente no existe escenario más fértil para el sensacionalismo, que el fantasma de un conflicto armado con “un país agresor”.
En general, la cobertura, desde el lado tico, ha sido sensata y libre de (grandes) polvorines alboroteros. Hasta este jueves, cuando Repretel decidió levantar la bandera como si en lugar de periodismo informativo, hicieran porrismo emotivo. El llamado es a sacar las banderas “para expresar nuestro repudio”. Se leyeron editoriales en sus noticieros de televisión (6 y 11) y en sus emisoras de radio (Reloj y Monumental), y en la edición estelar de Noticias Repretel el set apareció forrado en tricolor […] ¿Es ese el rol que le corresponde a los informadores en un contexto como el actual? Quizá el detalle más curioso es que el grupo al que pertenece Repretel ¡también es propietario de canales de televisión en Nicaragua!
There probably is not a more fertile ground for sensationalism than the fantasy of an armed conflict with an “aggressor nation”.
In general, the coverage from the Costa Rican side has been low-key and peaceful. Until this Thursday, when Repretel [es] decided to raise the flag instead of using informative journalism, people became emotional. The point of this was to “to express our disgust”. Reports were read on their news bulletins [es] (6 and 11) and on their radio stations [es] (Reloj and Monumental), and on the special edition of Repretel news, the set appeared covered in the three colours of the flag […] What is the role of informers in contexts like this? Maybe the strangest detail is that the group that Repretel belongs to also owns Nicaraguan TV channels! [es]
Oscar Cruz from Costa Rica comments [es]:
Creo que esta campaña es una apuesta oportunista para poder ganar empatía de la audiencia en general, ya no solo de las personas marginadas por la brecha tecnológica en sus casas, victimizadas por la televisión nacional de señal abierta, sino también en el social media, espacio en el que los medios  industriales han pujado duro recientemente.
But the Nica side (Nicaragua) is not staying behind. The official portal El 19 Digital dedicates its front page to the “defence of peace and sovereignty”.
A means of communication that breaks the fine line between nationalism and fanaticism was Canal 15, which even received insults on its official Twitter account.
El Infierno en Costa Rica [es], (also referred to on Bacanalnica [es]) comments:
Canal 15 de Nicaragua justifica su actitud ofensiva indicando a nuestro compañero @JulioCordoba que: “Es nuestra posicion editorial defensa de nuestra soberania y no aceptar insultos”. Este Chamuko entiende que dos personas se pongan a pelear como viejas de patio en Twitter, si hasta este pobre diablo lo ha hecho, pero esa actitud viniendo de un medio de comunicación oficial, “serio”, deja mucho que desear.
Regarding this matter, Canal 15 responds by broadcasting the report of the visit by the Organisation of American States  (OAS) to Nicaragua and Costa Rica several times per day and the report that was presented when they had returned to the organisation headquarters was one in which Costa Rican police are seen heavily armed with the subtitle: “COSTA RICA DOES HAVE AN ARMY”[es]
“Spammer” on Bacanalnica [es] comments:
Y anoche pasaron lo de la OEA y seguido pasan la marcha en CR de los niños que quieren la paz como que si ahorita ya estamos en guerra, pobrecitos que los manipulen en esto, como si los niños supieran que estaban haciendo realmente más bien les van a meter miedo y odio porque van a creer que están en guerra por culpa de Nicaragua, y eso si lo pasa CNN y lo editan para que miremos cuando la Chinchilla dijo lo de “al otro lado sacan al ejercito y acá nosotros sacamos a nuestro ejercito de niños”.
Lo ultimo que si ya cae en lo absurdo es que dijeron primero que en CR  habian camiones del ejercito nica […] para muuuuuucho después  enterarnos que ni eran del ejercito ni eran camiones militares, sino que  son de uso civil que lo único militar es el color verde…
And last night they showed the OAS report and then the march for peace by Costa Rican children as if we’re already at war; the poor things being manipulated like that, as if the children really knew what they were doing. Instead they are making them afraid. I hate it because they’re going to think that they’re going to war because of Nicaragua, which they are even showing edited on CNN so that we see when [President] Chinchilla says “over that side they bring out their army out and over here we bring out our army of children.”
The latest absurdity is that they said that in Costa Rica there were Nicaraguan army trucks […] and all that just to hear that they’re just civil vehicles, the only military thing about them is the colour green.”
The X Word
One subject that reemerges during these periodic and recurrent cross border crises is xenophobia.
“Pozuelo” on 89 Decibeles [es] stated:
Y hay un problema igual o peor que este último. Y es lo hipócritas que somos. Claro, basta a que unos cuantos soldados nicas se metan en una zona del país … para decir que nos están militarizando, cuando hace unos 3 meses tenemos unos kilómetros más abajo a unos cuantos buques de guerra “luchando con el narco”.
Carlos Fonseca M. wrote in Periodista en Pijamas  [es] about “Maybe he who shouts is the winner?,” [es] criticising the positions reflected in a compilation post on Global Voices Online carried out by a Costa Rican author on the blogosphere reactions in his country.
Me parece que para que una discusión sea de “altura”, es necesario escuchar los diferentes argumentos. Yo invitaría a aquel que me lea, vaya y comente con respeto y argumentos de peso algunas de estas “superioridades” morales que esgrimen nuestros vecinos. ¿Corrupción? ¿inseguridad? ¿movida política?… “no, eso sólo en Nicaragua” deben pensar, aquí estamos en la Suiza Centroamericana.
Those commenting on the original Spanish version of the aforementioned Global Voices post [es] return to these points and some even become offensive. Several touch on the theme of immigration; the report “Immigration in Costa Rica: social and labour characteristics, integration and public policies” [es] from CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) provides hard facts about immigration in Costa Rica.
Within this whole panorama there are also bloggers defending common encounters between both countries, with varying nuances.
H3Dicho [es] writes “Nicaphobia is for idiots,” but with subtle opinions about the Nicaraguan population:
El pueblo costarricense por el otro lado no solo es un pueblo de paz, sino un pueblo más educado, y no nos podemos rebajar al nivel del gobierno nicaragüense promoviendo la xenofobia, ya que sino nos convertiriamos en algo peor de lo que criticamos.
El choque cultural con el pueblo nicaragüense se da por la marcada diferencia de educación, ya que el inmigrante nicaragüense suele ser muy pobre y con poca educación, por lo cual suele ser víctima de chistes en nuestro país, pero lejos de ser un asunto de xenofobia, es más un asunto de clasismo, claramente comparable con la que recibe, en cualquier parte del mundo, el campesino cuando llega a la capital.
The Costa Rican people on the other side are not only peaceful people, but better educated, and we cannot be reduced to the same level as the Nicaraguan government by promoting xenophobia, as we would only become something worse than what we are criticising.
Culture shock with Nicaraguan people occurs because of the distinct difference in education; as the Nicaraguan immigrant is normally very poor with a low level of education, for which he becomes the butt of jokes within our country; but far from being a matter of xenophobia, it’s more a matter of classism, clearly comparable to the reception a villager would receive when arriving at his capital for the first time. This could happen anywhere in the world.
An article in Revista Paquidermo [es] states:
En efecto, resulta preocupante e indignante la ola de xenofobia que circula —sin tapujos— por nuestro territorio debido a los acontecimientos fronterizos de las últimas semanas. Dicha ola se ha manifestado con fuerza inusitada en las redes sociales. Se leen comentarios impublicables que llaman incluso a la muerte del otro como expresión máxima de hombría y revancha guerrerista.
From Twitter, Facebook and various forums, Nicaraguan opinions circulate, in a dispersed manner not because of lack of commentators, but because of the very way in which Twitter and Facebook function, without even counting the traditional media.
The Nicaraguan journalist Lucia Pineda Ubau of Canal 15 on her Facebook page states [es]:
SIGAMOS UNIDOS. NO PODEMOS SALIR DE NUESTRO TERRITORIO. Quiero felicitar a los canales 2, 4, 8, 15, 23 y 37. Tambien a unas 300 radio emisoras de todo el pais, que estuvimos enlazados, unidos en un solo puño transmitiendo paso a paso de forma integra y sin cortes todo lo que ocurrió en la OEA. En Costa Rica solo un canal de televisión transmitio la sesion y los otros continuaron con su programación normal. Resulta ilogico que un pais que dice estar  invadido, el tema no se lo sirvan sin cortes a su pueblo.
On Bacanalnica, the debate is like this:
TerrorBlade: Costa Rica está tomando una posición muy “débil” internacionalmente para hacerse sentir las víctimas por no tener ejército desde hace 60 años y hay chifletas de que ya están unidos con Honduras, Colombia y Ecuador. En medios de comunicación ticos y redes sociales están bombardeando con insultos y gritos de auxilio, incluso con sensacionalismo, los muy degenerados sacaron en sus medios de comunicación nacionales que los militares que están “en su zona” secuestraron pescadores ticos y se los llevaron a la zona nica para cobrar multas y los tienen de rehenes. Apoyen a la causa gente, denle ‘like’ a este foro. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Rio-sa … 6235690462
ARIBAI: … es notorio que la mayoria de ticos que opinan en este medio les importa poco el San Juan y mas que todo se sienten violados pues sus medios han vendido la idea que el ejercito nicaraguense esta metido en isla Calero, a la cual ellos consideran de su territorio. No porque el tico promedio conozca de cabo a rabo su geografia sino porque asi leyeron por alli…
Melissa: Si la gente deja de andar con el patriotismo fariseo y se centra en soluciones tecnicas dinamicas y puntuales, se acabo el tal conflicto. No se le da espacio para que el gobierno manipule y se le exige seriedad y prontitud en el asunto.
TerrorBlade [es]:  Costa Rica is taking a very “weak” position internationally by playing the victim for not having an army for 60 years and there is a rumour that they are united with Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador. They are bombarding Costa Rican media and social networks with insults and cries for help, even with sensationalism, the real degenerates broadcast in their national media that soldiers in “their zone” kidnapped Costa Rican fishermen and took them to the Nicaraguan zone to fine them and keep them as hostages. Support this case, people: give a “like” on this forum.http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Rio-sa … 6235690462
ARIBAI [es]: …It’s obvious that the majority of Costa Ricans who voice their opinions in this way do not care much about San Juan, and above all they feel violated as this medium has sold the idea that the Nicaraguan army has settled on Calero Island, which they consider their territory. Not because the average Costa Rican knows their own geography inside out but because that’s what they’ve been reading over there…
Melissa: If people stop exercising patriotism so hypocritically and focus on dynamic and detailed technical solutions, this conflict could be over. The government needs to be given space to handle this matter promptly and to give it the seriousness that it deserves.
Various initiatives are seeking to create links between both populations against xenophobia, such as the Facebook pages No a la Xenofobia [es] (No to Xenophobia), Ticos Y Nicas Somos Hermanos [es] (Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans we are brothers), or messages from @twittnice (Nicarguan twitter group).
"we denounce sites like these that foment xenophobia against Nicaraguans"
Unfortunately, cases of xenophobia are reappearing on both sides of the river.
Self-assessment and analysis from Nicaragua
Carlos Lucas in his blog post “NICARAGUA TIENE UNA DEBILIDAD ESTRATEGICA EN SU CONSTITUCION Y EN SU LUCHA INTERNA” [es] (Nicaragua has a strategic weakness in its constitution and internal conflicts) reports on the following, comparing article 10 Nicaraguan constitution to article 5 of its neighbor's constitution:
En su Constitucion (2007), Nicaragua tiene la debilidad gravisima de definir sus limites territoriales de manera genérica y deja abierta la posibilidad de que sus limites puedan ser cuestionados o especificados a traves de “leyes y tratados”
Costa Rica no menciona específicamente los laudos Alexander en su Constitucion, aunque no dice que sean parte intrínseca del Laudo Cleveland. Eso le permite la posibilidad de mantener reclamaciones fronterizas a Nicaragua, basadas en interpretaciones de acuerdo a la coyuntura de la situación interna en Nicaragua.
In their 2007 constitution, Nicaragua has a serious weakness by defining their territorial limits very generally and leaving open the possibility that those borders could be questioned or defined differently through “laws and treaties”.
Costa Rica doesn't specifically mention the Alexander arbitral awards in their constitution, though it doesn't say that the Alexander arbitrations are an intrinsic part of Grover Cleveland arbitration either.  This has allowed Costa Rica to uphold its border claims against Nicaragua based on treaty interpretations and the internal situation of Nicaragua.
Cornelio Hopmman, a German citizen based in Nicaragua, comments in his blog:
En la tradición jurídica nicaragüense vale lo que dice la escritura en su descripción por el texto y el mapa o el plano catastral figuran solamente como un adendum explicativo pero sin valor jurídico constitutivo, donde en el caso de conflicto la escritura prevalece sobre el mapa o el plano catastral.
En la tradición de Europa occidental el mapa prevalece sobre lo que dice el texto descriptivo, siempre y cuando éste mapa fuera levantado por un topógrafo con licencia pública, a los cuales las respectivas leyes les dan un rango y obligaciones similares a los de un notario público…
Toda esa diferencia se quedaría en pura curiosidad, si no fuera que en la disputa actual esa diferencia se hubiese vuelto fundamental…
Me permito la sospecha, que la mayoría de los jueces de la Corte de La Haya […] se vaya a inclinar en esa dirección de valoración, si acaso se presenta el caso, y dudo que se dejen convencer por Nicaragua para retroceder, para ellos,  a prácticas y tradiciones del siglo XVIII en cuanto al peso legal de narrativas contra el peso legal de los mapas, aunque eso sea todavía la tradición legal vigente en Nicaragua.
In the judicial tradition of Nicaragua, what the written agreement says in its description, through text and map or property survey, would figure solely as an explicit addendum but without legal constitutional value, and in the case of conflict between the two, the written word prevails over the map or property survey.
In the legal traditions of Western Europe, the map always prevails over what is said in the descriptive text, and this map would be prepared by a publicly licensed topographer, to whom the respective laws define a certain professional approach  and obligations similar to those of a public notary…
All these differences would remain a curiosity, if not for the present dispute that difference would not have become fundamental…
Allow me the suspicion that the majority of the judges of the Hague International Court […] are going to be inclined toward the Western European version of valuation, and  if the case presents itself, I doubt that they would let themselves be convinced by Nicaragua to regress, to them at least, to practices and traditions from the 18th century when the legal weight of narratives was greater than the legal weight of maps, though that would still be the legal view in effect in Nicaragua.
From the website Bacanalnica the users say:
Melissa: No hubo licitaciones, no tuvimos acceso publico a los datos de impacto ambiental, tuvo que ir un periodico y practicamente ESPIAR para que le FILTRARAN el documento del impacto ambiental. El secretismo desbordante de como se maneja algo de interes nacional con dinero publico?? o con prestamo?? no lo sabemos aun….
La draga es soberana de Nic. y dragar no debe existir probremas con nadie, Nicaragua tiene la soberanía del rio y no debe pedirle permiso a nadie, pero tampoco nos debemos volcar a solo prestarle atencion a este “conflicto” y cerrar los ojos a todos los errores de Ortega.
Claunica: En Carretera a Masaya ya aparecieron unas mantas que dicen “El Rio San Juan es Nica, Ortega 2011″. Si eso no es aprovecharse de la coyuntura para hacer politiqueria pues ya no se que sera.
Melissa [es]: There weren't public tender, we didn't have public access to the facts of the environmental impact, you had to go to a newspaper and practically SQUINT in order to sort out the environmental impact report. The glaring unknown is how could something of national interest being managed, with public money?? or a loan?? we still don't know…
The dredging ship is Nicaraguan and dredging shouldn't cause problems with anyone, Nicaragua has sovereign authority over the river  and shouldn't need to ask anyone's permission, but neither should we roll over completely to the government's side, lending more attention to this “conflict” and closing our eyes to all of Ortega's mistakes.
Claunica [es]: On the highway to Masaya there are already signs showing up that say “The San Juan river is Nicaraguan! Ortega 2011″.  If that isn't taking advantage of the situation in order to make politics then what will.
Carlos Lucas concludes:
La tesis subterránea es que en estos momentos el Orteguismo y la incapacidad de la oposicion de impedir su reelecion y continuismo, repitiendo el fenómeno Somoza de fractura social y politica, genera incapacidad nicaraguense de dotarse de una estrategia de nación en su defensa territorial. Y esa situacion se vislumbra aprovechable.
In the last few days the news on the border conflict from the Nicaraguan side has discussed either a viability study (according to official channels [es]) or a study from the de facto start of construction of a hydroelectric dam (using Brazilian funding) on the same San Juan River that they are attempting to dredge (according to government opposition sources [es]).
Políticamente Incorrecto [es] connects this recent news twist with the Nicaraguan government desire to link Christianity and patriotism as themes of their administration. The conflict has lost the media frenzy and the political realities on both sides of the border are asserting themselves.

author: GV Contributor


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Puerto Rico: Police Occupies the University of Puerto Rico · Global Voices
César Santiago

This post is part of our special coverage Puerto Rico Student Protests 2010/11.
For the first time since 1981 the Puerto Rico Police has entered the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico with the Superintendent stating that they “are here to guarantee the rights of those willing to go to class.” This happened just hours after a two day stoppage by students had concluded. Furthermore, it was announced that the police presence will be indefinite [es].
The Police at one of the entrances of the Río Piedras campus. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz of Diálogo. Republished under a CC License.*
Professor and blogger Érika Fontánez Torres from Poder, Espacio y Ambiente [es] expressed her concern with the arrival of the police into campus:
Repudiamos y protestamos enfática y totalmente, la ocupación de la Universidad de Puerto Rico por la Policía. ¿Cuánto más hará esta administración para arrebatarnos y destruir nuestra Universidad?. Basta ya.
The online publication 80grados [es] published a communiqué from the Law Students Action Committee, which calls for students not to enter the campus until the police comes out:
Hoy, debemos negarnos a entrar al Recinto de Río Piedras, y a todos los demás Recintos del Sistema de la UPR hasta tanto se retire la Policía de Puerto Rico de sus inmediaciones. De lo contrario, habremos condonado la muerte de nuestra Política de No Confrontación y de nuestra autonomía universitaria. No esperemos la muerte de una nueva Antonia Martínez, abatida a tiros por los fuerzas del Estado para defender nuestra Institución.
Antonia Martínez was a 21 year old student killed during a riot police intervention in a student protest in Río Piedras in 1970.
Despite the claims and concerns of students and professors, the police has remained on campus. Journalist Rafael Lenín Pérez [es] has reported on Twitter:
Reportan estudiantes que están cogiendo clases en RP que policías estatales son la orden en los pasillos cerca de salones
Others inside the campus have expressed frustration with the police presence. Twitter user Astrid Cruz explains how she feels about walking inside the campus:
I SO love walking around campus having univ guard + private guards + police patrols watching my every move. Police state, anyone? #LuchaUPR
In the meantime, an assembly of professors urged both sides to declare a truce for the well being of the university. The digital publication 80grados [es] published their declaration:
La Universidad de Puerto Rico no puede ser  forzada a escoger entre la intransigencia de la administración o la intransigencia de los estudiantes.
Se exhorta al Presidente y a la Junta de Síndicos que retire inmediatamente la Policía de la Universidad y a los estudiantes que pospongan indefinidamente su voto de huelga. Se exhorta, asimismo, al Presidente y a la Junta de Síndicos que se reúnan cuanto antes con los representantes del estudiantado y se inicie de inmediato un proceso de diálogo con la intención expresa de forjar acuerdos basados en el sacrificio mutuo, en la capacidad de cada cual de ceder, de escuchar al otro y de compartir responsabilidades. Lo que está en juego es nada menos que la sobrevivencia de la Universidad.
The students of the main campus voted in an assembly to start a strike  tomorrow, December 14, unless a special tuition fee of $800 –which will  start to be charged in January– is eliminated. Yesterday, thousands marched [es] from the Legislature to the Governor's Mansion in Old San Juan  (the colonial sector of the capital city)  in protest against the  imposition of this fee.
Protest against tuition fee. Photo Melissa Ortega from blog Desde Adentro. Republished un CC License.*
The President of The University of Puerto Rico, José Ramón de la Torres, has announced a meeting for today with representatives of the student councils [es]. Whether cooler heads will prevail before the scheduled strike of December 14 remains to be seen.
*Photo of Police officers by Ricardo Alcaraz of Diálogo republished under CC License NC-ND 3.0.
*Photo of protest by Melissa Ortega of Desde Adentro republished under CC License NC-ND 3.0.
This post is part of our special coverage Puerto Rico Student Protests 2010/11.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: César Santiago


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Russia: A New Initiative to Release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Few days before the court will announce its verdict on the second trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a new online initiative suggests to promise president Medvedev electoral support in exchange of Khodorkovsky's release. Led by Mikhail Gurevich, executive director of Russian media corporation RBC Group, the project launched a Facebook group [RUS] where the preliminary discussions take place so far.

author: Gregory Asmolov


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Russia: Google Launches Search of Russian Blogs · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Google launches blogsearch.google.ru, Russian-language blog search service. One of it's functions – to display the most discussed news of the Russian blogosphere. Almost a year ago, Yandex.ru, Russia's most popular search engine, closed a similar blog rating. Yandex claimed that the blog search and rating of blog entries wasn't efficient. Political bloggers, however, said the company closed it for political reasons.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: President Medvedev Argues with a Fake Lawmaker’s Twitter · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

President Medvedev had a Twitter clash with a fake Twitter account of Alexander Khinshtein, Russian lawmaker. The clash was about Medvedev's relations with the Belorussian president Alexander Lukashenko. Surprisingly, real Khinshtein apologized for the fake accounts’ critique.  According to RT,  “fake top official's accounts flood RuNet.”


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South Africa: Media pluralism is bigger priority than press ownership · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Guy Berger maintains that Pluralism is a bigger priority than press ownership: “There's renewed focus on newspaper ownership by the ANC, even as the ruling party is becoming less hardline about the Media Appeals Tribunal and the Secrecy Bill.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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South Africa: Wikileaks lessons for South Africa’s Secrecy Bill  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

WikiLeaks lessons for South Africa as the South African Parliament considers passing the draconian Protection of Information Bill (POIB): “Governments which mire themselves in secrecy can quickly become enemies to their own people.”


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Sri Lanka: Tamil Version Of The National Anthem Scrapped · Global Voices
Rezwan

Raja Basu at Potpourri informs that “the Sri Lankan government has scrapped the Tamil version of the island nation’s national anthem – ‘Sri Lanka Matha'”.

author: Rezwan


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Tanzania: The promising future of social media · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Question: Can you briefly tell us about yourself?
I am a Tanzanian with a legal background but I have a great interest in Web 2.0 ,which is a combination of the technology allowing nearly people to contribute and actually interact with the information before them. I am currently involved with Bongoline.
Q: Please tell us more about Bongoline
Bongoline is a new online community for Tanzanians. We are building a fantastic community of Tanzanians from a wide range of backgrounds in our groups, events, photos, videos, music, library, blogs, forums, marketplace, chat, etc. We publish and discuss contents on a wide range of issues that affect the Tanzanian community.
Bongoline allows members to organize themselves around relationships or interests, rather than that just focused on topic. Members that know each other (or want to meet each other) will connect by a variety of common interests. Bongoline has great tools to get members of like interest to connect to each other and share information.
Q: How are you involved with Bongoline?
I am the founder of Bongoline. I created Bongoline in July 2009 as a blog.  However, later I became more interested into creating something different that would allow readers to actually interact with the web pages more like you would do with an application on your laptop. Something that would allow Tanzanians to actually interact with each other and share information more easily than they would do in the traditional media. Something that revolves much more around the ability of a Tanzanian to build a web presence and to create visible links with other Tanzanians in the network. Therefore, in July 2010, I transformed Bongoline to a completely social network focusing more on building and reflecting social relations among Tanzanians.
Q: How would you describe the current state of social media in Tanzania?
One could say that many Tanzanians are now using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs. However, the number is not that high when compared with the developed world where the Internet is readily available or with other African countries such as Egypt and South Africa. For example, by 11 December 2010, there were only 194,920 Tanzanians on Facebook.  It is also difficult to tell whether these users were actually living in Tanzania or in the Diaspora.
However, Tanzanians are increasingly using the social media to share all kind of information including video and photographic content, to keep in touch, to be kept up to date on politics, entertainment news and gossips. Many Tanzanians are blogging on issues pertaining to their interests.  Local companies and media organisations are increasingly using various social media platforms to interact better with their customers and readers. Therefore, although the majority of Tanzanians are not currently using social media, the future looks promising.
Q: What are the main obstacles for individuals or organisations planning on using social media in the country?
Among the main obstacles are poverty, the scarcity and prohibitive costs of high speed internet connections and the limited number of personal computers in use. The Internet is mainly available in urban areas. Many rural areas don’t even have electricity. However, many Tanzanians are now using mobile phones to access the Internet, particularly social media sites. The widespread availability of mobile phones means that the mobile web can reach more people than the wired web. However, there still a long way to go.
Q: Tanzanians went to the polls last October. Can you tell us how social media tools were used during the campaigns and immediately after the elections?
During the campaigns, most candidates only toured towns and villages. Very few moved the contest online, posting campaign updates on Twitter and Facebook. There were bloggers blogging on the elections campaigns. Some bloggers were either candidates themselves or were blogging in favour of political parties or certain candidates. Others bloggers were neutral just reporting on the campaigns and election results.
However, it is important to note that the actual role of social media is not really about helping candidates interacting with voters, but voters interacting with each other. The whole idea of Web 2.0, and hence, the social media is about horizontal flow of information between citizens. So, during the campaigns, people were discussing and exchanging information in the form of video clips, photos, blogging, forum discussions, news, etc.
Q: Did politicians or political parties use social media differently from cyberactivists?
Proaches Tairo, the founder of Bongoline, a new online community for Tanzanians
The primary benefit of having a social media presence is the ability to reach a wide range of like-minded people quickly and without much effort – social media is viral by nature – and to engage with followers and fans on a personal, one-to-one level. However, I think very few politicians did actually use social media. There were few who used social media such as YouTube to enable faster communications by voters. Most of the information arrived at the social media sites after it has already been published by the traditional media.
Candidates and parties did not ruthlessly exploit the outreach potential of social media to get their messages across for the right reasons. For example, parties and candidates were not promoting social media presence on the homepages of their websites, thereby missing a simple way to grow their online communities and seize greater control of the online debate.
Q: What were specific political functions that blogs, twitter, facebook, online forums served during the campaigns?
They all acted as a source of information and discussions. They showed us that the old days where politicians got away with the occasional gaffe as long as the mainstream media did not pick up on it may be coming to an end. Some of the campaigning activities of political parties and candidates were recorded and posted almost instantly on these social media sites for others to see and hear.
Take for instance the status comments.  When someone on Facebook posted an observation or political view on Facebook, his/her whole friend network had the potential to see it.  If people commented back, not only did the original person received alerts, but also everyone who commented on it did receive an alert as well.  All of a sudden, what was thought about the process could be expressed and discussed more easily with much larger groups of people.  Breaking down the physical and geographic barriers had huge implications, as we are not confined to hearing the prevailing beliefs of our particular corner of the world.
There were also some blogs, tweets, and online forums that appeared to be more open to discussing the elections and were not so galvanized. However, there were also some blogs, tweets, and online forums that were either preaching for or against certain political parties or candidates
Q: Did the use of social media influence the way people voted? (what was the general impact?)
Social media may have considerable potential to reach, engage and influence the thinking and behaviour of voters. However, it is difficult to measure if a particular candidate benefited from use of social media to attract more voters. This is because social media is interactive and requires an affirmative action on the part of the users, as opposed to a passive response from the traditional media users. It is therefore not surprising that the candidates would have to be someone people want to touch and interact with.
It is also important to note that social media users are not ducks. If you try to direct them to think in one way, you will rapidly discover that they are much more like cats, opinionated and indifferent to your needs; and that you cannot herd them. I felt that the majority of the voters in Tanzania relied on the mainstream media to follow the election campaigns. Social media really was not so significant in Tanzania’s election race as far as influencing voters is concerned. That is not to say it did not have some impact of course.
Q: How would you describe the Tanzanian blogosphere and twittersphere at the moment? Do you consider it to be a new public sphere with influence?
There has been a growth of blogs across the country dealing with specific to general issues. Blogging is becoming more and more popular to many Tanzanians. There are very good blogs out there; constantly being updated with interesting information. However, some blogs are not regularly updated or are dormant which raises some questions about the reasons behind starting these blogs.
I think many people go into blogging thinking they are going to make money and do not take the time to write about something because they are passionate about it. Sadly, you will not make money the first day, week, month, or maybe even years when you first start blogging.
Blogging should be about your passion. You should love it, not loathe it. If you blog for money you will quickly lose faith, money should not be your goal. Your passion should flow through your blog and your readers should feel your passion. Clearly define your goals, define your passion and make sure people feel your passion. Your blog will be a place that people will want to hang out. It is in this way that the Tanzanian blogging community will become a new and an influential public sphere.
As far as the twittersphere is concerned, it gives potentially perfect real time feedback to any political event. Twittering can amplify the impact of an event. It can spread suppressed information and humorous rejections of the official line. Twittering may help Tanzanian journalists to engage in collaborative competition. However, twittering may neutralise the ability of the corporate media to transmit the dominant political ideology. In addition, many Tanzanians do not tweet. This may lead me to argue that twittering does not yet have public influence in Tanzania.
Q: In your opinion, could Tanzanians have used social media differently during the elections?
The biggest problem we had in the previous election was that few people turned up to vote. Although social media is generally used by the young, people who vote again and again are generally the old. I think social media could have been used to get the young people to vote. Barack Obama's wildly successful campaign in the United States used Facebook and Twitter to get people voting. However, this would not have been possible in Tanzania given the fact that still very few number of people use social media.
Q: What do you think is the future of social media and participatory democracy in Tanzania?
The trend indicates that social media is now becoming an essential weapon in the battle for people's hearts, minds and votes. Those who ignore it or are slow to engage will truly be left behind.  Facebook, after launching Swahili version in May 2010, will offer free access to its platform to mobile phone users in many parts of Africa. In October 2010, Google started testing a new service called “Baraza” for Swahili speakers in East and Central Africa. This service will allow people to interact and share knowledge by asking and answering questions, many of them of only very local or regional interest.
Thus, we are at an interesting junction in history right now, and it is fascinating to see how social media is shaping other parts of the world. Our leaders should now start to take note of the strength of social media, although it is still very much in its infancy. Tanzanian programmers should also design and launch new home-grown social media platforms and tools that will keep the Tanzanian online conversation going and growing in the years ahead. This would help to make a difference by getting more people, especially young first-timers to register to vote.
Q: Back to your project, Bongoline. What are the future plans of Bongoline?
To be the most comprehensive and intuitive online community for Tanzanians both home and abroad. Bongoline will be easy to use, but at the same time will be full of great features and information alongside a friendly, welcoming community. Catering to our users and members, will be our priority – not attracting big advertisers and filling our site with information that is distracting and irrelevant.


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Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica: Celebrating Christmas  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

TriniGourmet.com says that “in Trinidad, Christmas is Parang”, while Dominica Weekly blogs about seasonal celebrations in the Nature Isle.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Ukraine: Donbass Coal-Miners’ Miserable Working Conditions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

@Matteush comments (UKR) on the Ukrainian segment of an Al Jazeera documentary (YouTube video, in Russian, with English subtitles) about inhumane working conditions all over the world, including the coal-mining region of Ukraine, Donbass.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Wikileaks reveals how Singapore views its neighbors · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew thinks North Koreans are ‘psychopathic types’ and their leader is a ‘flabby old chap.’ Senior Singapore diplomats believe that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak is an opportunist while opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is guilty of sodomy. They also describe deposed Thailand leader Thaksin Shinawatra as “corrupt” along with “everyone else, including the opposition.” Japan is ‘the big fat loser’ as relationship between China and Southeast Asian nations continues to improve.
The source of these sensational revelations is Wikileaks. It is up to the readers to believe in the authenticity of these exposed cable reports. What is certain is that this latest batch of releases from Wikileaks will keep the Singapore government busy in the next few days and weeks as they try to minimize the damage caused by these reports in their foreign relations.
Meanwhile, here are blog and twitter reactions from Malaysia.
Din Merican is disappointed that the attitude of Singapore officials has remained “contemptuous” of Malaysia
It will be interesting to see how Singaporean diplomats can diffuse this situation.
As someone who has consistently supported better relations between Malaysia and Singapore and regards himself as a friend of Singapore, I am disappointed to note that the attitude of officials in Singapore has remained contemptuous of Malaysia. Old habits of mind are certainly difficult to change. I would have thought our two countries could move forward on the basis of mutual respect and interests with the warming of relations between the two Prime Ministers.
Ktemoc points out that the proof of Anwar Ibrahim’s purported guilt in the sodomy case is not factual but only hearsay
I read the news yesterday, and it’s an aspect of Anwar Ibrahim I have never really been interested in, well, for a couple of reasons. One, so long as it was consensual between adults then it bothers me not; two, it’s news that came about from a series of “I was told by …, who was told by …, who heard it from …, “ so it’s technically not factual, hearsay evidence so to speak. So what’s the big deal?
But let’s examine in more details where or who the source was. The Yanks heard it from the Aussies; the Aussies heard it from the Sings, in particular LKY; the Sings claimed they extracted it from ‘technical’ intelligence, meaning electronic interception or even land line eavesdropping.
rocky's bru tells his readers that he has not yet signed the petition to support Wikileaks
Bugger. So, we all support press freedom, right? We all signed up the petition to defend WikiLeaks, eh? Now, according to Wikileaks, the Aussies and the kiasu Singaporeans knew about Dr Anwar and Saiful all along, about it being a set-up and how Dr Anwar had known that it was an entrapment but didn't – or could not – give a damn.
Wow.
Damning ni.
Because it is Wikileaks, more people will believe that Saiful was buggered. Right?
By the way, I haven't signed the petition to support Wikileaks.
Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of Parti Keadilan Rakyat urges the publication of the ‘technical intelligence’ which was allegedly used by Singapore with regards to the case of Anwar
It should furthermore be pointed out that the cables exposed by Wikileaks are essentially information collected by third parties – like Australia – that were then shared to the US State Department. As a result, the cables contain all manner of information – including personal opinions and hearsay and hence are far from reliable.
I hope the ‘technical intelligence’ mentioned in Wikileaks could be revealed to the public since that was the basis that the Singaporean intelligence claimed led to their conclusion.
My Words, My Freedom is more worried about the ability of Singapore to intercept Malaysian communications
what concern me much about the leak is that, if it was true, how safe our secret information is? if the singapore intelligence can easily intercept our communications, what our security officials are doing? and, i'm afraid that our military secrets can also be compromised! hey folks,  our security is much more important that anwar and saiful's case! as my friend always say, “the future of our country is not depending on these two figures!” so, let's focus on more important issue than this sodomy case! ;)
Malaysiakini gathers the views of readers about the latest Wikileaks report. Rolls-Royce opines
The intelligence services always think they are more intelligent than others. Honestly, how much of the so-called leaked information are actually hunches that most of us have already had anyway?
Singapore talking bad about Malaysia, US talking bad about North Korea and Burma, Pakistan or Malaysia talking bad about Israel or Singapore, etc. These are to be expected. If we think these are great enlightenments, then we are the idiots.
Twitter reactions from Kuala Lumpur
CliffCLF: Wikileaks said that Malaysia was in a ‘’confused and dangerous’’ state due to “its incompetent politicians”. couldn't agree more though.
equal_o_not: @jonathanfun @timmysay just cos Wikileaks says that some1 thinks M'sia set him up? Fat chance……unless solid proof is provided.
sultanmuzaffar: WikiLeaks is now officially relevant to the Malaysians. More please!
drcheehoe: have second thoughts of #wikileaks being helpful instead of harmful. I prefer to think the cable leak about @anwaribrahim merely ‘cakap’
stephendoss: @matkeri the info is between diplomatic cables, wikileaks just exposes, it is not in a position to determine truth or falsity @Aisehman
YeoWai: actually who needs Wikileaks to tell us our politician is incompetent?
matkeri: @Aisehman bro, back to the source : WikiLeaks. No source, no leaks. Just a controversial rpt by a Sunday tabloid. :D
For his part, Anwar tweeted that the cable reports from Wikileaks strengthened his argument that there was a conspiracy on the part of the Malaysian government to set him up with a sodomy case and destroy his political career.

author: Mong Palatino


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Africa: Photos of Urban Africa  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

African Digital Art has posted some fascinating photos of urban Africa from Urban Africa, a popular Flickr group that showcases growing urban life in various African cities.


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Armenia: Facebook Storytelling · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Writing for Ararat Magazine, Global Voices author Simon Maghakyan says that that one Facebook Group is attempting to use the popular social networking site to teach children Armenian history. The post wonders if this might turn out to be a revolutionary way to get them interested in such subject matters.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Smoking the Pipe of Peace · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Ararat Magazine features a post by Global Voices’ Caucasus editor on Calumet, an ethnic lounge bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Offering a laid back environment for local civic activists, artists and musicians, as well as foreigners, to unwind in, it concludes that the recently opened venue is a breath of fresh air in what still remains a largely conservative and traditional society.


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Bangladesh: Artificial Kidney – A Rare Feat · Global Voices
Rezwan

Unheard Voice blog informs  that “Shuvo Roy, a Bangladeshi scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, has developed the world’s first artificial, implantable kidney.”


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Bhutan: Tobacco or Drinking Ban · Global Voices
Rezwan

Passu wonders why Bhutan banned tobacco instead of drinking.


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Caucasus: Average Internet speeds and prices · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Yerevan-based Civilitas Foundation compares the average speed and cost of Internet connections in the South Caucasus. According to that data, Armenia is well behind its two neighbors in the region with by far the slowest and most expensive connections available. Meanwhile, Georgia has by far the cheapest and fastest.


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Caucasus: Corruption · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Social Science in the Caucasus comments on Transparency International's latest Global Corruption Barometer. While noting that corruption has increased in the world, it nonetheless notes that levels in Georgia are significantly lower than in neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan.


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Chile: WikiLeaks Cable on Media Coverage of Mapuche Indigenous Group · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Luis Ramirez [es] blogs about a US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, where the media coverage of the indigenous Mapuche is criticized as being exaggerated in showing more violence than is really taking place, adding that positive news about the indigenous communities are not usually reported.

author: Silvia Viñas


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China: Meaning of the word “love” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maryannodonnell from Shenzhen Noted looks into the meaning of “I love you” in a cross cultural romantic relation in Shenzhen.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: More empty chairs · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Digital Times has an article on netizens’ interpretations of the three empty chairs on the front page of Southern Metropolis Daily. “It is a Tribute to Lui Xiaobo and Nobel Peace Prize!” Said the netizens.


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Côte d’Ivoire: Skirmish between Gbagbo’s and Ouattara’s supporters at Hôtel du Golfe  · Global Voices
Julie Owono

According to L'Intelligent d'Abidjan and  Diaby Mohamed, a blogger who visited l’ Hôtel du Golfe where Ouattara holds  his HQ, a  skirmish occured between Gbagbo's Security and Defense Forces (FDS) and Ouattara's  New Forces (FN).  This caused dissemination of many rumors but @ourmaninafrica reports  that calm has returned , except for roadblocks by Gbagbo's forces, and the presence of UNOCI forces.

author: Julie Owono


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Cuba: Human Rights Day Arrests · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Iván's File Cabinet says that “more than 50 dissidents and activists were arrested on December 10 in Cuba…for attempting to mark the International Day of Human Rights.”


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Cuba: What About The 11?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The European Union has backed off the full-fledged restoration of relations with Havana sought by the government of Spain, unconvinced that the Castro dictatorship has earned a change in treatment”: Uncommon Sense reasons that since the Cuban government “is unlikely to get…what it was seeking, why would it go ahead and release the 11 prisoners of conscience?”


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Guyana: Artist Passes On  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands notes that “Guyanese born painter and sculptor Donald Locke passed away last week…after a long battle with cancer.”


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Haiti: After Elections  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The situation here is like a volcano that has been building pressure for a very long time. The massive earthquake, the million homeless people and 300,000 dead, Hurricane Tomas, the Cholera epidemic…a biased election…all contribute to the people's frustration”: Pwoje Espwa provides updates on Haiti, along with photos, here, here and here.


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India: Open Access Indian Law Database · Global Voices
Rezwan

Yale Law Library blog informs that The Legal Information Institute of India (LII of India), a non-profit access to 50 databases of Indian law, is now open for public access.


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Japan: Blogging from the PM’s residence · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

With the aim to connect citizens to politics and show how's life at the prime minister's official residence, in November the residence staff launched a blog called Kan-Full Blog [ja] (Naoto Kan being the name of Japan's PM). The blog obviously has posts on the content of PM's press conferences and the government policies but it also shows the daily life [ja] at the residence.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: Fruity Samurai · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

The animated series Fruity Samurai [ja] (フルーティー侍), which received a special award for the section ‘World Wide Laugh’ at the last Okinawa International Movie Festival [ja], makes fun of the traditional swashbuckling movies.
The first three episodes can be viewed at Fruity Samurai Official Channel [mute] on Youtube.


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Kenya: Bloggers React To WikiLeaks Cables · Global Voices
Collins Mbalo

Kenyans celebrated their 47th year since becoming a Republic on Sunday December 12, 2010.The speeches by the leadership including the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki , Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka of the coalition Government were marked by terse and scathing statements against the American Ambassador to Kenya Michael E.Ranneberger  due to the latest rounds of WikiLeaks cables emanating from the American Embassy in Nairobi.
The opinions of Kenyan bloggers on WikiLeaks cables are however some what ambivalent. Odegle Nyang in his article “Of WikiLeaks and security” states:
I must admit , I am a bit confused with arguments on the wikileaks story. If I were a judge hearing this case, I would quickly disqualify myself. However I still find it quite intriguing. Who is at error here, is it Assange (whose name the west finds hard to pronounce) or is it the diplomats? On the one hand you could even say neither. Why because, everyone is entitled to his own opinion and the opinion of the diplomats about their missions is just that, their opinion.
Secrets should remain secrets:
Wikileaks had no business leaking this to the world. Its in my view stupid, juvenile and outright irresponsible. Everyone has secret thoughts and its natural and God given. If God wanted all of us to know what others thought about us, he would have made us super people capable of this very thing. In fact I think the cables on what other diplomats think of US may be worse than what we have been reading so far.
To Otieno Hongo the contents of the cables are not at all amusing in fact, he states:
I have been holding my breath to see if there is anything sensational to come out of Wiki Leaks about Kenya in the past one week but I have seen nothing ‘earth shaking’, except to state …. Kenya is indeed a swamp of corruption and that we facilitated exportation of military ware to South Sudan, in contravention of a peace accord we helped create…
He has some questions for Julian Assange:
1. Is the American government (in cahoots with key Kenyan politicians) behind the mushrooming of FM radio stations and Mexican Soap Operas, two institutions that have done more to promote stupidity among the general population than schools have managed to, the aim of which is to keep the entire population focused on triviality and consumption thus being unable to realize that they are being bled dry by politicians and big business
2. Does the American Government think William Ruto and Alfred Mutua were born stupid or it is something they have had to work hard to achieve? Is Alfred Mutua a US spy planted by the American Government to make Kenyans generally look stupid so that no one takes us seriously?
Cartoonist Patrick Gathara's depiction of US government's attempt to silence WikiLeaks. Image courtesy of Patrick Gathara
Gathara argues that the attacks on WikiLeaks are part of a global trend towards limiting media freedoms. He says that it is hypocritical for the US to be hosting the World Press Freedom Day in 2011:
It is, therefore, more than a touch hypocritical for the US to be hosting the World Press Freedom Day 2011 in order to, according to one online report, “prove its commitment to expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.” The theme for the commemoration will be “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers”. It will perhaps be the perfect opportunity to ponder why the governments of societies which pioneered press freedoms in the last century have become the new barriers to the spread of those same liberties in this one.
As diverse as the opinions are at the moment, it is certain that as more of WikiLeaks cables are released the more conversations we will witness from the Kenyan blogosphere.

author: Collins Mbalo


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Kenya: Kenya’s fastest rising Google Search words 2010 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya's fastest rising Google search words in 2010: “According to the Google Zeitgeist, Kenyans this year showed strong interest in social networking sites and virtual realities. “2go” topped the fastest rising list and “Makmende” came second.”


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Kenya: Ocampo’s list of six · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The only thing I’ve been waiting for more than the Kenya WikiLeaks is Ocampo’s list of government officials to be indicted with regards to the horrific 2007 Post-Election Violence.


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Malaysia: Moratorium on Medical Schools · Global Voices
Jerrenn Lam

The Malaysian government has imposed a five-year moratorium on medical programs across the country, with the aim of shifting the focus from quantity to quality as the number of medical graduates increase every year.
Pagalavan Letchumanan believes that imposing a moratorium alone will not be enough.
The current existing schools are just too many and they will keep increasing the number of students to make more money. Thus the number of graduates will continue to rise… I think it is important, especially for parents that medicine is not a guaranteed life anymore in the next 2-3 years time. I really hope parents and students will stop thinking about glorified life by doing medicine.
Pilocarpine shares the same sentiments.
Reading through them, I could not help but to point out how inappropriate for the Paper to stressed the low quality of grads from Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia or India, because through my little years with these junior doctors, I had seen more than a handful of house officers graduated from those countries having more knowledge, initiative and participation than those from local unis. If those oversea medical schools were substandard from the beginning, how do they pass recognition from our esteemed board of higher learning?
Medicine Malaysia also believes that the moratorium is inadequate, and there needs to be a reform in the medical schools to increase the quality of graduates.
The accreditation process of medical schools needs to be stringent and a high benchmark should be set. Attracting academicians to our shores and keeping existing ones should have similar priorities. This is what we want to hear from the Honourable Health Minister. A 5 year moratorium is a knee jerk reflex to a problem which clearly needs more addressing.
Alex Tang however, is relieved that the problem of an oversupply of medical students has been acknowledged, although he feels that it is too late.
The 24 medical schools are already churning out graduates while there are many other students in overseas medical schools who will be graduating and coming home soon. The impending oversupply of doctors in Malaysia is going to be a reality soon. Yet I see parents everywhere in Malaysia urging their children to study medicine.
It is clear that this issue is not being met with support by most Malaysians, and many had even blamed the government for creating the problem in the first place. Blogger Dr Hsu expressed one such opinion.
The sudden mushrooming of medical schools are apparently due to  shortages of doctors in the public sectors. This is because most doctors  in government service  resign after their compulsory services  and opt  for the supposedly greener pasture in the private sector.
In most other countries, the logical thing to do to counter this  brain drain of doctors to private sector  is to find out why doctors are  resigning from government service and then try to address the woes of  the doctors ,  and hopefully keep them  in service.  I call this common  logic.
The Malaysian solution , like in many other instances, does not take  common logic into account but rather uses the sledgehammer approach.
If the doctors do not want to stay in government service, then Malaysia  shall flood the market with doctors, so goes the Malaysian logic. Never  mind that setting up of medical schools and training doctors are  expensive businesses.
If enough doctors are produced, the market will be saturated with  doctors and thus doctors will have no where to go but to stay put in  government service.
These come in light of the report in Malaysia's leading English newspaper The Star of the Government's decision to impose a five-year moratorium on medical schools.

author: Jerrenn Lam


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Mexico: The Pilgrimage to Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

“Political parties, narcos, economic policies are transitory events, blips in time that aren’t meaningful in the long run.  What matters is what endures, and in Mexico, what endures is the pilgrimage to Guadalupe,” concludes Rich from The Mex Files in a post about the pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.


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Paraguay: Indigenous Youth Participate in Political and Social Leadership Seminar · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The blog despierta…Paraguay!!! [es] reports on a recent seminar where more than 120 indigenous youth (15-30 years old) from 60 communities gathered to debate, learn and share experiences about “their current and historical context, interculturality and participation, human development and the strengthening of political and social leadership.”


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Peru: Reactions to Changes in Internet Contracts with Telefonica · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Image by Flickr user nicolasnova used under the Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license.
A few days ago [es], a large number of tweets from users in Peru appeared on Twitter protesting against a change in the Internet service contracts provided by Telefonica Peru [es] in the category known as ‘Speedy‘ [es], among which the hashtags #timofonica (ie. ‘scamofonica’) and #speedygate were highly visible. On ryohnosuke.com the reason for such uproar is explained [es]:
ahora, tal cual modem 3G, el internet tendrá una cuota  fija mensual  bajo pena de reducción de velocidad; eso quiere decir, que  nuestra  velocidad contratada bajará si nos pasamos de la cuota de  descarga que  va de acuerdo a nuestro plan de internet. Para hacerlo más  claro, tomando el ejemplo del plan Speedy 1MB; si  llegamos a descargar  30GB en los primeros 15 días del mes, nuestra  velocidad bajará a tan  sólo 100kbps  (Speedy 100 para los nostálgicos)   hasta completar  nuestro ciclo mensual; entonces, sufriremos con 100kbps  por los 15 días  que faltan hasta completar el mes y así renovar nuestra  cuota mensual.
The strange thing about this is that this post appeared nearly a month ago on November 11th. And even stranger, on September 13th, Francisco Canaza from Apuntes Peruanos had already drawn attention to this topic in his post “Neutralidad, acceso a la red y Speedy ADSL de Telefónica”[es] (Neutrality, web access and DSL Speedy from Telefonica). Nearly three months ago, Canaza was already reflecting upon the internet service plans offered by operators and wrote:
En este nuevo sistema, el usuario consigue el uso de  servicios de banda ancha, logra el “mero acceso” pero no es libre de  establecer el uso que pueda dar al servicio contratado. El servicio  contratado, si bien es tecnológicamente abierto a cualquier uso en la  Red, termina limitado por las políticas comerciales. Las capacidades del  usuario resultan “segregadas” o separadas en virtud a la política  comercial del operador. Ese sistema en que la neutralidad de la red  termina, ya existe en el Perú y lo ofrece Telefónica del Perú.
Following this, he provides a link to the model contract which appears on Telefonica's website (modelo del contrato). This contract reveals another limitation, highlighted and criticised by Jorge Bossio in his blog Línea de vista: “Speedygate : Prohibido Internet para más de 5” (Speedygate: Internet Prohibited for More than 5):
Si conectas más de 5 computadoras en simultáneo también  estaría infringiendo las condiciones del contrato. ¿Cómo sabe Telefónica  cuantas  computadoras tengo conectadas en mi casa en este momento?  ¿Cómo hará esas pruebas y mediciones? ¿Tendré acceso yo a los resultados  de esas  mediciones? ¿OSIPTEL supervisará que se realicen bien estas  mediciones? ¿Qué es una computadora? Recordemos que hoy en día las  computadoras están en todas partes. Por ejemplo, en casa podríamos tener  los siguientes equipos conectados a Internet usando WiFi  en  simultáneo: Una PC, una netbook, un blackberry, un iPOD, un iPhone,   iPAD, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Camaras de vigilancia, etc, etc … ¿todo   cuenta? …
Jesús from X-Blog contributes the debate by giving an example of what these changes mean for a user trying to enjoy the full potential of their connection in “Adiós al Internet tal como lo conocíamos” [es] (Good-bye to the Internet as we knew it):
Juan tiene un plan de Speedy 1000, eso lo hace acreedor a  descargar sólo 30 gigas de información. paga 386,75 soles por el  servicio. Pues bien, Juan era de los que gustaba ver sus series online,  pagó una suscripción a Justin.tv, le gusta pasar los ratos viendo videos  musicales en Youtube, incluso conciertos en vivo, y cuando trabaja  gusta de poner Grooveshark  o Spotify para escuchar buena música.  Aparte, pensaba ahorrar y comprarse una TV con acceso a internet y ver  lo suyo en su cuarto desde  la cama. Ahora, Juan va tener que pensar  bien dónde hace clic, qué ver y  cómo. De hecho ya no puede comprarse la  TV.
And Hdanniel, one of the first bloggers in Peru, gets down to some serious calculation and explains [es]:
Vamos a suponer que tenemos un grupo de 100 usuarios  representando al  universo de usuarios de Teléfonica. Todos con el mismo  servicio: Speedy 1 Mbps.  De estos 100 usuarios: 93  son los buenos que usan el internet “con  moderación” y 7 los malos …  Considerando que el promedio es 7,5 GB entonces nuestros 100 usuarios  descargan 750 GB al mes. Esto quiere decir que para ser  un usuario “bueno” se debe usar solo 30  GB al mes, y por tanto si  todos los usuarios se portan bien se  necesitarán 3000 GB al mes para atenderlos. Vamos a  suponer que los usuarios abusivos (?)  usan el internet todo el día  descargando cosas sin piedad. Como máximo,  con 1 Mbps podrían descargar 320 GB al mes. En total todos ellos usarán 2240 GB. Lo cual deja 3000 – 2240 = 760 GB para los usuarios decentes, es decir 760/93 = 8,2 GB para cada uno al mes, más que el promedio general y seguramente  muchísimo más que el promedio para el 93 % … (por lo que) se puede  llegar a una conclusión sencilla: lo que dice Teléfonica es cuento. El 7% de usuarios NO afecta al resto
Other users expressed their continual disgust with Telefonica, as described [es] in Tecnología Diaria:
Las descargas ya no serán ilimitadas. No es novedad para ninguno el que Telefónica no goce de una muy buena reputación en la red. Se lo ha ganado al querer sacarle dinero a Google por usar su infraestructura, al hacerse autobombo y en general, al reforzar su imagen de que reiniciar el router es la   solución a todos los problemas de pérdida de conexión. Ahora encima, nos   limitarán las descargas.
But strangely, Telefonica has not acknowledged receipt of a large number of complaints, aside from several clarifications [es] on Twitter and on the company's Facebook page [es], like the following:
Telefónica te atiende Informamos a  nuestros clientes que la reducción de velocidad en Speedy  por descargas  mayores a 20 GB aplica sólo para nuevos contratos y/o  migraciones desde  Julio del 2010. Para una mayor referencia, el  promedio mensual de  descarga es de 7.5 GB y adicionalmente, el 93% de  clientes descarga  menos de 20 GB al mes.
These and other similar declarations have not satisfied internet users, who are looking to group together to protest and take greater and more effective measures on this matter. There is already a Facebook group ‘We Want Unlimited Internet’ (Queremos Internet ilimitado [es]) and a blog on Tumblr (Internet en Perú : #speedygate [es]) whose intention “is to maintain a single channel of communication. For now we are taking the names of those interested via an online form at  http://ir.pe/internet.html.” Until now, the media has shown little interest in the subject: the daily La República published a brief article [es] and El Comercio did the same through its blog Vida y Futuro [es].

author: Juan Arellano


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Peru: Red April, a Novel by Santiago Roncagliolo · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In a short book review, Greg Weeks writes: “Santiago Roncagliolo's Red April: A Novel is a creepy yet engrossing mystery set in Peru in March-April 2000. It focuses on the fight against Sendero Luminoso in Ayacucho. […] From the perspective of plot, the book keeps you guessing until the end.”


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Singapore dismisses Wikileaks expose as mere ‘cocktail talk’  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Singapore's senior diplomats believe the leaders of their neighbors are opportunists, sodomists, and corrupt politicians. And they think India is stupid and Japan is a big fat loser. This was reported last Sunday by Australia’s Fairfax Media group which got hold of several exclusive Wikileaks documents.
Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo dismisses the report as unreliable and reminds the public that the comments were taken out of context.
These are interpretations by US diplomats of what they have heard, their conversations. I don't think it is right of us to comment on these, because these conversations were confidential, some might be informal, but we don't know the context, so I would not go beyond that. But it is bad practice to me for such confidential communications to be leaked, because it makes future confidential communications that much more difficult.
What are the reactions of Singapore bloggers? Loh and Behold is surprised that diplomats made those embarrassing comments
Men – diplomats no less – it seems can’t wait to shoot their mouths off at the slightest opportunity!
We have some fine examples right here!
Such comments coming from an “Ambassador-at-Large” – whatever that means – are very embarrassing indeed.
Why do we still refer to some people as “diplomats” when they aren’t that diplomatic at all ?
Singapore Life and Times is hesitant to support Wikileaks
You can't deny that these news sell, and embarrass at the same time. In a sense, it titillates our baser instincts to uncover the way top leaders describe each other. It certainly is not gentlemanly talk, but that's the point. These conversations are not meant to be available to the public, so our protagonists let fly with colourful phrases about each other. I am sure that for every colour adverb used by person on another, at least another in like is made in return. You let loose under cover of confidence. Its fair game.
And aren't we all like this anyway? We say the damnest things about somebody behind their backs but are very civil in front of him/her. And we do so not merely out of spite, but to express our most honest views to the people closest to us because they know where we are comng from and the circumstances leading to those views (the context). And, truth be told, it is very useful communication. I am not trying to apologise for anyone, just that I agree that certain things are best left unsaid in public.
Which is why I don't support the growing chorus of voices in support of wikileaks. If you do, then can you also say what you say in private in public the next tine, and every other time? If not, then don't be hypocrites.
Musings from the Lion City points out that the views of Singapore diplomats are solicited by the Americans because Singapore is perceived to be the ‘most pro-America country’ in South-east Asia.
I believe the reason why the Americans asked for our assessment is quite simply because Singapore is the most pro-America country in South-east Asia.
I feel too much has been made of the whole WikiLeaks thing. The diplomats’ comments are unlikely to stoke tension in the region because talk is just talk. Worse, these are talk from 2 years ago! Embarrassing but they are nothing Singaporeans should be afraid or proud of.
Yawning Bread interprets the comments as a reflection of the the ‘hollowness of our sense of self-importance’
What’s worrying is that our foreign ministry officials may not be worth very much. They’re just parlaying common knowledge, open secrets or conventional wisdom. They don’t show themselves to have much by way of especial insight or conceptual boldness.
In fact, they too may know it, as seen from the way they quickly resort to hyperbole. It is precisely when one privately knows that one has no substance that one spices up the delivery.
These reports therefore suggest attempts to impress the Americans with our “understanding”  of the region by making exaggerated remarks. But the lack of substance and the contemptuous tone only reveals the hollowness of our sense of self-importance and further reinforces our shameful trait of arrogance.
Senang Diri thinks the diplomats gave a frank and believable assessment of the situation in the region
The comments made thus far are not necessarily a bad thing for Singapore. It would have been far more damaging, not to say embarrassing for Singapore, if her diplomats were exposed as bumbling idiots whose viewpoints were sought after only for comic relief. Thankfully, these WikiLeaks exposes have shown that behind closed doors, our diplomats do shine.
Singapore Notes urges government officials to ‘control that wagging tongue’ during ‘cocktail talk’
It's confirmed. The BMD (Big Mouth Disease) is contagious. More virulent that H1N1, our nation's security is being threatened by characters who's pecadillo is to prance around on the world stage, seeking adulation. Foreign Minister George Yeo says not to worry about the “cocktail talk”, affirming that these high earners are tasked to imbibe alcohol at tax payers’ expense. The least they could do is to learn to hold their liquor, and control that wagging tongue


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South Korea: A Controversy Over Free Internet Calls · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

In South Korea, as new applications offering the free internet phone calls via smart phones became available, the nation's two largest communication companies have decided to limit the use of mVOIP(Mobile Voice over Internet Protocol). Consumer groups, such as an Apple user group, ‘Smart Store'[ko] have started protesting against the company decision, @schbard tweeted[ko].

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Support the many voices of Global Voices – donate today! · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

As we wind down this busy year and take stock of the last twelve months, we're able to confirm something we've suspected all along: 2010 has been a tremendous year for Global Voices! Our organization—which celebrates its sixth anniversary on December 11—has taken some surprising and creative turns these past 12 months: we've acquired some very interesting new media partnerships, sharpened our research skills, and made some key changes to the way we approach multilingual content. And when they haven't been creating content for the site, our indefatigable community members have been hard at work in their own regions, making their mark on the world by spearheading innovative and meaningful citizen media projects.
2010 was also a Summit year for us. Here's a fraction of the Global Voices community in front of the Public Library in Santiago, Chile, which hosted this year's meeting.
In 2010, several groups of “GVers” launched projects combining volunteerism with information access. Members of our Brazil team set up Eleitor 2010 to track incidents affecting their general election in October 2010. Awab Alvi, Sana Saleem, Salman Latif and others from our Pakistani team ventured out into the flood-affected areas of their country to assist with the relief efforts, and also set up Pakreport.org to map and track relief needs and responses. Onnik Krikorian launched the special coverage section Caucasus Conflict Voices and creating the environment, established several training sessions and lectures on the use of digital media to advance peace in the region. Alexey Sidorenko and Gregory Asmolov of our RuNet Echo project created russian-fires.ru to map and coordinate citizen relief for Russia’s devastating summer forest fires – and won a prestigious award for their efforts.
Eleitor 2010, spearheaded by our Brazil team, tracked incidents related to Brazil's general election
GV’s Technology for Transparency Network, a new research project we launched this year, has been documenting citizen-led projects that use information technology to monitor transparency and accountability. New media partnerships with The Economist, Italian daily La Stampa, Russian radio station Echo Moskvy, and a pilot project with BBC Online in May introduced our work to new audiences. In 2010 we also completed a structural revision of our website to permit publication of original material in many languages, rather than only in English.
Changes to our site architecture allow for articles to originate in any of the languages represented in our translation community.
In 2010 Global Voices’ founders Rebecca MacKinnon and Ethan Zuckerman offered further proof of why they're among the world's leading authorities on the global Internet. Ethan gave a TED talk that perfectly expressed the effects of networked global media and the growing influence of citizen media. After numerous public appearances and columns in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Rebecca began work this year on her book Consent of the Networked, a “concerned citizen's guide to the future of freedom in the Internet age”.
Despite the successes in our community and elsewhere, citizen media remains under threat around the world, and 2010 saw its share of attacks on online freedom of expression. Azerbaijani bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade may have been freed and Egyptian Kareem Amer finally released from after spending 1,470 days in prison, but among those persecuted this year for expressing their views online were our friend and GV contributor Ali Abdulemam of Bahrain, and our Iranian former colleague Hossein Derakhshan, both of whom remain in prison.
The plight of Kareem, Emin, Adnan, Hossein, and others, as seen in our Threatened Voices project, is a reminder that free expression continues to be hazardous in many parts of the world. The response to Wikileaks shows that online speech freedoms is now a matter for serious debate in every country in the world.
So this month, as 2010 draws to a close, we’re launching a special appeal for support in continuing and building upon the work we've done this year. Our editors, authors and translators spend hundreds of hours a month combing citizen media from their countries and regions, selecting and contextualizing the most compelling voices, stories and ideas, helping make the picture of the world we live in more complete.
If you believe that what we do enriches the world, please make a donation. Or simply guide your friends and families to our site and help us out by sharing and commenting on our content. And most of all, please join us in making 2011 as memorable and exciting as 2010!
- Ivan Sigal and Georgia Popplewell

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Syria: Let It Snow! · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

It's been a whirlwind week of weird weather for much of the Levant, as relieving rains and surprise snows blanket the landscape.  In the Syrian capital, the streets are covered with snow for the first time in years.  Though the Damascus skies occasionally sprinkle snow, rarely does it stick to the ground.  One blogger, 50% Syrian, is thrilled by the development:
For most young Damascenes (20s, early 30s), this is the very first time in their life that they see it snow in Damascus. A report I just read says it’s been 25 years since it last snowed in this beautiful city of spirit and soul. But according to my father-in-law he saw it snow around 50 years ago… and doesn’t remember seeing snow on the streets of the Syrian capital, ever since.
Before settling in this city I most cherish and adore, I have been in and out of Damascus during many seasons, but this is the first time in my 30-something life that I see snow fluff down from the sky, so serenely and beautifully, filling me with hope and love, more than anything else.
Photo by Mustafa Hamido, Aleppous Project
Why so Syria? describes herself as a Mexican-American in Damascus by way of Boston.  For that reason, she was especially surprised to wake up to snow flurries.  The blogger writes:
Ok so Christmas is still a few days away but this morning we woke up to significant flurries in Damascus. What an unexpected and pleasant surprise! As I groggily opened my eyes and looked out the window, for a split second I thought I was still in Boston…
…This city is always full of surprises. Just when you think you’ve got the place figured out, BAM — SNOW! It kind of blows my mind.
Photo by blogger Why So Syria?
Syrian blogger Ayman Ashour unfortunately missed the snowfall.  He quips:
A Syrian satellite television channel shared a beautiful video on YouTube, illustrating the beauty of the Damascene snowfall:
First photo credit: Mostafa Hamido, Aleppous Project

author: Jillian C. York


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Uruguay: Winners of Blog Competition “Your Ideas Matter” Announced · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The winners of the schoolchildren blog competition, “Your Ideas Matter,” were recently announced [es]: three girls from the School Agraria de Raigón won first place in the innovative projects category; the school 93 of Maldonado [es] won first place in the school blog category; and students from Liceo 66 de la Teja [es] won first place in the secondary school blog category.


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Venezuela: Views and Thoughts on Internet Regulation · Global Voices
Marianne Díaz Hernández

Today, the Venezuelan National Assembly will be discussing a reform to the national telecommunications system, which includes the creation of a national Network Access Point, the regulation of all content distributed through the Internet, and the prohibition of several kinds of content (sex, violence, and those which “offend decency”). While Venezuelan politicians remain silent, netizens have expressed their views regarding this bill.
User Frick [es] said in his blog:
El argumento de las voces “justas” o “útiles” como catalizador de quién tiene derecho de tener libertad de expresión y quién no lo tiene no es justificativo de la censura y, de nuevo, no es potestad del estado tomar mis decisiones morales por mí.
User Lubrio (Luigino Bracci Roa), who identifies himself as a strong supporter of President Chávez, criticized that the law might be also applied to pro-government users [es]:
Alguien me llamará exagerado por suponer que este proyecto de Ley pueda usarse para censurar páginas del proceso revolucionario. El problema es que ciertos órganos del Estado, en sus intentos por parecer “imparciales” y no ser criticados, han acostumbrado imponer sanciones a “ambos bandos” cuando éstas se aplican. Por ejemplo, no me extrañaría que en el futuro Conatel decida bloquear a Noticiero Digital, pero para “parecer imparcial”, decida hacer lo mismo con Aporrea. O que decida sacar del aire a “Aló Ciudadano” por irrespetar a Cilia Flores, pero que, para “parecer imparcial”, decida sacar del aire a “La Hojilla” por irrespetar al alcalde Carlos Ocariz.
EnigmasPress [es] stated that government officials ignore the mechanisms of Internet:
Estos señores encargados de la reforma – Ley Resorte – censura – Control – Internet en Venezuela ignoran por completo la larga historia de las comunidades electrónicas. Ignoran la herencia de libertad del cyberpunk. Los manifiestos de Internet a nivel mundial y la filosofía y esencia del Zeitgeist y Phatos del mundo digital.
On the other hand, LuisCarlos Díaz [es] wrote about the inapplicability of the law, its incongruousness and its lack of coherence:
La reforma de la Ley Resorte que incluye a Internet busca ponerle puertas al campo y darle al Estado-Gobierno potestades de control, monitoreo y sanción que inmediatamente nos pondrán a la cola del continente en materia de libertades para los usuarios. Esto será tan difícil de explicárselo a un extranjero como Cadivi, pero nuestros legisladores creen que Internet es un “canal” con horarios y territorialidad. Creen además que Internet es un espacio que guarda las “buenas costumbres”. Creen que el prestador de servicio de Internet es el que difunde contenidos, y por lo tanto le ofrece multas si no los controla, que es una manera de sacudirse la responsabilidad de la censura.

author: Marianne Díaz Hernández


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Western Sahara: Wikileaks Revelations Spark Comments · Global Voices
Lina Ben Mhenni

Reactions to the diplomatic cables released by the whistleblower website Wikileaks continue to flourish all over the blogosphere. Revelations concerning the conflict over Western Sahara have sparked a few comments.
Ali Amar is a Moroccan journalist. Writing on VoxMaroc [Fr], a blog hosted by the French daily Le Monde, he underlines the fact that although the leaked cables revealed American diplomats’ reservations about bad governance and corruption in Morocco, they showed unwavering American support for the kingdom's position on Western Sahara:
[A]ux yeux de Washington, le Maroc demeure une monarchie bananière, régentée par une clique proto mafieuse. La realpolitik reprend cependant le dessus lorsqu’il s’agit d’épauler le régime de Mohammed VI, sur la question du Sahara Occidental notamment : un rapport de l’ex ambassadeur Thomas Riley daté de 2009 soutient sans détour le plan d’autonomie préconisé par Rabat.
Stephen Zunes writing on the Huffington Post, agrees. He dismisses views expressed by a diplomat on a cable dated August 2009, as flawed and distorted by an ideology, he says, is reminiscent of the Cold War (link added):
This cable is very reminiscent of the longstanding effort by State Department officials during the Cold War to delegitimize national liberation struggles by claiming they were simply the creation of Cuba, the Soviet Union, or some other nation-state challenging U.S. hegemony. Indeed, in a throwback to Cold War rhetoric, Jackson [the diplomat, author of the cable] insists that the Polisario Front, which has been recognized as the legitimate government of Western Sahara by over 80 governments, is “Cuba-like.” In the cable, Jackson calls for U.S. support for Moroccan calls for a census and audit of international programs in Polisario-led refugee camps, but not support for the international call for human rights monitors in the occupied territory.
A cable released earlier this month suggests that Algerian president is seeking a resolution of the conflict that would allow his country to “save face.” Fayçal, writing on the Algerian online news website Algerie Focus comments [Fr]:
L’Algérie aurait-elle tourné le dos au Front Polisario ? La question mérite d’être posée, surtout quand on lit un câble du site WikiLeaks assez intriguant qui montre un Président algérien voulant en finir avec un problème devenu trop embarrassant pour l’Algérie.

author: Lina Ben Mhenni


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Azerbaijan: Hijab ban introduced in schools · Global Voices
Aygun Janmammadova

Last week hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Education in Baku, Azerbaijan, expressing their outrage against new regulations banning the wearing of hijabs in schools. Press reports say that between 12 and 16 demonstrators were arrested.
A hijab-wearing student in Baku
In a move some say is designed to bring the secular predominantly Muslim country closer to Europe, Azerbaijan follows a number of other countries in banning religious head scarves in schools. It also follows the closure of several mosques late last year under a new law on religion.
Tamada Tales explains why, ostensibly, the ban was introduced.
Azerbaijan's school rules require secondary school students to wear uniforms, reminiscent of Soviet-era uniforms. The uniforms were reintroduced in Azerbaijani school this year to banish growing social inequality from classrooms, as authorities put it.
Strict followers of Islam are believed to be in a minority in Azerbaijan, although many outside observers believe the government is concerned about the rise of religious fundamentalism in the country. Several bloggers therefore saw this as an undemocratic attack on individual rights. Challenging the rationality of the move, blog @ gurbanoff, for example, considered it intolerant.
Bu axı demokratiya deyil, zorakılıqdır! Mənə maraqlı deyil, kim İslamı dəstəkləyir, kim islamiyətə qarşı çıxır, kim hicabı dəstəkləyir, kim soyunmağı… Məsələ ondadır ki, bir dövlətin xalqının geyimini əsgər kimi dəyişdirməyə çalışması sadəcə zorakılıq sayıla bilər.[…]
[…]Bu qədər absurd bir qərar ola bilməz zənnimcə. […]Mən dini rejim tərəfdarı deyiləm, amma din azadlığını sonuna qədər dəstəkləyirəm. […] Sadəcə geyimə olan hücum deyil bu, insanların inanclarına qarşı bir hörmətsizlikdir.
[…] I think there can be no other absurd decision than this. […] I am not a supporter of a religious regime, but I fully support freedom of religion. […] It is not only attack on this style of dressing, but is disrespect for people's faith.
A similar approach was taken by Simasız quldurlar blogu who also considered that the Minister of Education should be more concerned with tackling other vital problems afflicting the education system.
Misir Mərdanov təhsil mərkəzlərində hicablı şəxslərə qadağa qoymaqdan danışır. Mərdanov yaxşı olardı ki, Azərbaycan təhsilinin səviyyəsindən, təhsildə olan rüşvətdən,[…] danışsın.
[…]
Azərbaycan təhsil sistemində hicab yox, azad təhsil, savadlı, azad, vicdanlı müəllim problemi var.[…]Mərdanov bu problemin necə həll edilməsindən danışsa yaxşı olar.
[…]
There is no problem with the hijab in the education system of Azerbaijan. There is the problem of independent education, and educated, free and honest teachers […]
Nota Bene agreed.
[…] mənə elə gəlir ki, bu vahid məktəbli forması fikri də bəhanədir. Axı ali təhsil ocaqlarının ki, xüsusi bir forması yoxdur, bəs oraların bəzilərinə niyə başı bağlı qızlar buraxılmırlar?! Maraqlı sualdır, elə deyilmi?
Albeit in a minority, there were some bloggers who supported the ban. Reschadbabali's blog considered that there should be no place for hijab at schools in a secular country.
Yenə də dindarlar demokratiya davası edirlər. Təhsil nazirinin orta məktablərdə başörtüsünü qadağan etməsini bunlar insan haqqlarına hücum kimi qiymətləndirirlər […]
[…]
Din dövlətdən ayrıdı.[…] Məktəb də dövlətin olduğu yerdi. Bəs vicdan azadlığı? deyə o saat hazır sualın dillərində olduğu his edirəm. Vicdan azadlığı deyə inancını bəs niyə mənim beynimə yeritmək istəyirsən? Məcburammı ki sənin həqiqətlərini qəbul edim?
[…]
Religion is separate from the state. School is where the state is. How about freedom of faith? I feel this is the question begging to be asked. Why do you want to impose your confession on me by flagging freedom of faith then? Do I have to accept your truths?
Reportedly, as of today, some parents have decided that their daughters should not attend school in protest at what they consider to be a discriminative act. Meanwhile, video of last week's demonstration shows protesters to be mainly men.

author: Aygun Janmammadova


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Azerbaijan: Hospitality vs. privacy · Global Voices
Aygun Janmammadova

Aaron in Azerbaijan [Eng] shares his thoughts on the local practices and traditions relating to hospitality in Azerbaijan,  comparing them to those found in the West. The blog notes how perceptions of hospitality differ from culture to culture.


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Bahrain: Much Ado About An Ad That Says Nothing! · Global Voices
Dareen Al Saad

The short film, INFINITY, that had almost half a million viewers in two weeks and was supposed to be an advertisement for a telecommunication company in Bahrain, Batelco, says nothing about them! Beyond the wonderful illusion of play and adventure, lies turbulence where services and products are undermined, and a lack of credibility prevails, say netizens.
The video, INFINITY, An Epic Journey Through People's Ideas, a production of Spy Films has been received with great enthusiasm from most of the 431,096 viewers of YouTube. It takes us through the incredible imagination of a boy walking the streets of a futuristic city in Toronto, with an overcast of Middle Eastern features, much adventure and fantasy. In the end of the film, the message says: “What are you thinking right now. Keep thinking. Batelco bringing ideas to life.”
Besides its artistic ingenuity as a short film, it has provoked other types of discussions as to its effectiveness as an advertisement that informs the world about Batelco, their products and services, and a question of to what extent should advertisements address more substancial issues and social needs.
Batelco, previously a monopoly, but now withstanding much competition from other telecommunication companies in Bahrain, has recently rebranded themselves with a logo that has both B, for Bahrain, but slightly tilted so it looks like the infinity sign.
And with the launch of the short film, it had caused much of a stir not only in Bahrain where it had attracted 135,000 Facebook fans but also from the international community who had 359 comments in Youtube, and a few more technical observations on the producer's blog.
Overshadowing this publicity is a history of complaints about Batelco's services and its new brand image where gulfexpress responds:
“Indeed. They burnt that card a long time ago with their terrible and overpriced services (same goes to Zain, but everyone knows that both are two sides of the same coin). I'm very much anti-batelco, so any kick in their … by VIVA is welcome by me I mean how much could they have been ripping off if all of a sudden they can afford to roll out a discount of 92% on international calling costs??? 92%!!! They can try all they want to keep their customer base using misdirected advertisement, but what they fail to understand is what will count is the bill that comes to the customer at the end of the month. Stupid governmental idiotic mentality seems to still be running strong amidst the halls of Batelco offices.”
More controversial responses were found here and here. And in some extreme cases, a call to boycott batelco.
So Batelco's Vision seems to be farfetched,and contradictory to the Bahraini audience, so much that a Batelco Lover site was created, with 32% supporters and Batelco Hater with 68%.
Leaving Batelco aside, the movie making was brilliant, reflecting both CGI, and human creativity and genius!
And here some comments from the audience who loved the Utopian, heavenly vision of life:
tenrazo215: “An optimistic future!”
WARDOG325: “I wish life was really like this :P”
yuna1591: “Wow… I mean WOW”
Dreamwalker07123: “Delicious dream!”
Regedi7: “@pXlor /signed, it's absolutely stunning!”
Others who appreciated the creativity and innovation:
SimonEiri:
“@rg0057 The kid's like 10. I think the idea here is that, if you keep thinking, what will he think of when he's 20, or 30, or 40? It's about innovation, understanding and knowledge and how creativity is the foundation of all new thoughts. The kind of creativity we all had when we were kids, and we thought every stupid idea was cool. Creativity is not letting go of that, and applying it to the wisdom (and knowledge) we earn only with age.”
DaDesperado: “My mind is blown, this video proves that the mind has unlimited potential!”
ncoutlander
“This was great to watch! The imagination certainly has no boundaries and the ability to share those thoughts in a video is just plain awesome! Keep Thinking and we will most certainly keep watching.”
And a few who commented on Middle Eastern tradition/religion:
tyreisland
“@xzibillionaire yes my point is that in Muslim countries, not wearing a burqa is considered more than against “common decency” (whatever objective meaning that has [none]). And regardless of who wore my pants first, I do have the right to wear anything and so should they. They aren't doing it out of fashion but rather psychological tyranny from a nonexistent diety”
Xzibillionaire
“@tyreisland If u were informed a bit you would know that those laws are non existent in most Muslim countries. Most Muslims are non-arabs, and are from green tropical countries like Malaysia,bangladesh,Indonesia,India containing most Muslim population(80%) . And the biggest surprise of all is they all are democracies with even WOMEN PM. Infact not a single western country has achieved women being PM(20 years) like a Muslim country(bangladesh) did. Tyranny (whatever objective meaning varies)”
Moreover, some who posed a reality check:
rg0057
“Fiddling while Rome burns. Imagine if, instead of thinking about J/O, these people actually did something productive, like figure out how we're going to grow food 20 years from now, or how to keep our health care system from collapsing under the weight of the baby boom seniors, or how to improve energy efficiency by a factor of 10.”
mynameisguygal
“probably at a budget of 1 million +, eye candy, only achievable with huge budgets and large production teams question is… what's the point? maybe they're playing it on every theater screen in the middle east right now to raise awareness of their brand as they enter new markets however, given the 4 minute run time, i would have also taken the opportunity to communicate something more substantial … especially since the call to action is buried deep at the end”
BUT NOTHING ON BATELCO, ITS PRODUCT AND SERVICES, which left the audience absolutely oblivious to the main point of this short film!
A few comments communicate that:
theRealEthering
“What is this an ad for? I didn't know what Batelco was before I watched this and I still don't know. Do they make hallucinogenic drugs?”
meSticks
“So… cool as that is, I have no idea what this company actually does. Therefore, the advert doesn't really… well, advertise what it's supposed to. All I know is it's some company who have paid out for an extravagant ad :-p

author: Dareen Al Saad


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Bahrain: Naturalisation Cap? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Naturalisation is a thorny issue in Bahrain. Mahmood Al Yousif speaks out about the issue here.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Belarus: More Insight on Upcoming Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

More insight on this coming Sunday's presidential election in Belarus – at OpenDemocracy.net (here and here), and at Democratist.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Blogger.com Removes Two Blogs by Same Author for More than 12 Hours · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Blogger Carlos Quiroz writes, “On Monday, December 13, 2010 around by at 11:00 AM. my blog Carlos in DC was deleted by Blogger.com after I tried posting a video of the WikiLeaks anonymous activists. Blogger also deleted my blog Peruanista without any explanation. Both blogs were removed for more than 12 hour.”