text:
Korea: Battles between Netizens and Newspapers  · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

It started from complaints and small protests against the US-Korea Beef Trade. Koreans were upset due to the process of the negotiation of the trade between the US and Korea and due to unconditional support from major media for the current government. Candlelight vigils were expected to disappear after several days, but they have continued more than 40 days and more people with their families participate every night.
And recently, major conservative newspapers, ‘Cho-Joong-Dong’ – an abbreviation of the names of the three biggest Korean newspapers – have been seriously attacked by netizens. Netizens announce a battle with newspapers.
Campaigns not to subscribe Cho-Joong-Dong, not to go to restaurants that subscribe to Cho-Joong-Dong, not to watch KBS—the national broadcaster— to subscribe to other progressive newspapers, to leave other newspapers in subways for other commuters, to praise companies that give advertisements to other newspapers, to protest companies that put advertisements in Cho-Joong-Dong, and not to purchase products of those companies, are spread by the Internet. Netizens actively share their ideas on how to promote their campaigns.
While major media hasnn’t treat this movement seriously, the campaign in several days has prompted a 30 percent decrease in advertisement requests in the Chosun Newspaper. Netizens’ activities even led several companies to decide to cancel their advertisements to Cho-Joong-Dong newspapers and to put public apologies about their advertisements on their websites.
조선일보와 중앙일보, 동아일보의 광고기업들이 네티즌 항의에 따라 광고 철회를 알리는 내용이다.
“…네티즌의 비판과 우려는 곧 우리 국민이 르까프를 아직도 애정이 담긴 시선으로 지켜보고 있다는 것으로 생각하고 겸허히 받아들이며, 회사영업에 다소 지장이 초래되더라고 국민정서를 고려하여 지적하신 언론매체 광고는 자제하기로 결정하였으며 이후 광고에 대해서는 신중을 기하도록 하겠습니다.” – 르까프(http://www.lecaf.co.kr/)
“금일 주요 5대 일간지에 광고가 동시에 나가지 못해 고객님들의 정서에 부응해 드리지 못했던 점을 죄송스럽게 생각하며…” – 신선설농탕(http://www.sinsunfood.co.kr/)
“신문광고로 고객님들께 심려를 끼쳐드려 죄송합니다. (중략) 고객님들의 질책대로 금일 이후 광고에는 신중을 기하겠으며…” – 농협목우촌(http://www.moguchon.co.kr/)
“…We consider that netizens’ criticisms and concerns toward Lecaf mean that people are still concerned about us with affection. Even though it might affect our business, we consider people’s sentiment and decide to restrain ourselves to put advertisements to media that is laid a finger on. Afterwards, we will be more careful about placing advertisements.” – Lecaf
“We apologize not to follow customers’ sentiments and to put advertisements in five daily newspapers at the same time…” –Shinsun Food.
“…We apologize for causing worries to customers by newspaper advertisements[…] Following customers’ rebuke, we will be more careful of putting advertisements…” Nonghyup Moguchon.
Why are netizens upset with Cho-Joong-Dong?
[…]국민과 함께 하지 않는 대통령과 정치인들, 그리고 언론들은 결국 심판받을 수 밖에 없는 건 당연한 이치다. 조.중.동 등 한나라당 기관지로 치부되는 언론들이 쓰레기 취급을 받고 있다. 그건 이명박정부와 한나라당의 시녀노릇을 하고 있다는 이유 때문이다. 1년전만 하더라도 조.중.동은 노무현정부의 한미FTA강행과 소고기 수입문제에 대해 검역주권을 강조하고 요구했던 논조의 기사들을 게재했으나, 이명박정부로 권력이 바뀌자, 360도 기사내용이 바뀐 것이다. 이것은 결국 자신들의 권력에 아부하는 조.중.동이라는 언론들의 기회주의성과 이중성을 적나라하게 드러낸 것이다. 언론이란 국민과 민족을 대변하는 정론직필이 아니면 이미 그 존재가치가 없는 쓰레기에 불과하며 생명이 끝난 것이다. 또한 인터넷 시대에 있어 권력의 실체는 더 이상 언론들이 아니라, 정보를 공유하여 정확하고 객관적인 진실을 알아내고 주장하고 행동하는 네티즌들이 권력이다. 따라서 언론들이 더욱 국민과 민족을 대변하는 진실보도와 공정보도를 하지 않으면 대중은 외면한다는 의미가 된다[…]
A netizen’s simple comment became popular.
미래의 한국사 시험문제:2008년 시민혁명으로 폐간된 신문은? 정답: 조중동.[…]
An interesting thing to be observed is how netizens utilize technology well. They give light to candlelight vigils and physical conflicts between demonstrators and policemen on the popular Internet channel, Afreeca (Korean Youtube), which was the territory of broadcasting. Their mobile phones and gadgets are used for sharing visual experiences with non-participants and those graphics are transferred to the Internet instantly.
Here is a netizen’s response.
새벽까지 인터넷 생방송을 지켜 보다가 저도 연일 이런 생활이 계속 되는 통에 피곤하다는 이름으로 ,,가만히 앉아서 피곤하다고..그냥 잠이 들고 말았네요.잠이 편하지 않습디다..꿈도 뒤숭숭하고..무언지 모를 압박감에 깊은 잠에 빠지지도 못하고..어젯밤 많은 분들이수건이며 쵸코파이며 따듯한 옷, 물이 필요하다고 하는데도 전 아무 것도 못하고 그냥 멍하니 화면만 바라 보다…그러다 잠 잔다가ㅗ무식한 돼지처럼 잠 자겠다고 그냥 잠이 들었네요……….. 정말 미안합니다. 미안합니다……..죄송합니다………고작 평범한 아줌마가 할 수 잇는 일들을 찾느라 이리 저리 조중동에 광고하는 회사이름 찾아 전화 돌리고…………홈페이지 찾아가 서명하고 글 쓰고..등등의 일련의 일들도 님들의 애씀 앞에선 그저 휴지보다 못한 일들이 되고 맙니다[…]
On the other hand, the Fair Trade Commission announced that they will reconsider releasing a regulation (Shinmoon Goshi) that allows newspaper companies to give benefits and gifts to their customers even though it was prohibited for more active media. Major newspapers that have capital such as Cho-Joong-Dong can survive, while small capital newspaper companies have a hard time to compete.
It seems that it’s not a temporary battle.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kuwait: Shaikh Saad Remembered  · Global Voices
Abdullatif AlOmar

Kuwaitis are still mourning the death of their former ruler Shaikh Saad Al Abdulla Al Sabah.
Aggz The Aggressor writes:
We will strike with an Iron Fist!”
“We may die, but Kuwait will live on!”
I always remembered his words during those terrible days of the Iraqi Occupation, they gave us hope, enforced our need to remain steadfast in our hopes of returning to our country.
Estekana sums up his feelings of sadness in a poetic manner, saying:
We won't forget your love to your people
And we won't forget your hand waving happily to us
How can we forget the Man of our liberation
How can we forget Jaber's support?
Shagran writes:
ولقد توالت للأمير الراحل الكثير من الأعمال في بناء الدولة الحديثة
ولكن من وجهة نظري البسيطة فإن أهم عمل قام به الأمير الراحل بعد بطولات التحرير هو اعـــــــــادة بــــنـــــاء الــــدولـــــــة

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Abdullatif AlOmar


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Kyrgyzstan: Govt faces call for help from diaspora in Afghanistan · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena writes about the Pamir Kyrgyz from Afghanistan that ask the Kyrgyzstan government to help them with the education and health care.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Laos: Extreme vacation site · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Laos, a former war zone, is now a popular extreme vacation site in the world. The “cave city” which is Laos’ main tourist attraction, features 468 caves

author: Mong Palatino


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Lebanon: Attacks on the army · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Friday Lunch Club reports on two terrorist attacks on the Lebanese Army – one in the south of Lebanon being by a suicide bomber and the other was in the north of Lebanon.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lebanon: Israel exchanges Nissir for remains · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“He has an Israeli Jewish mother and a Lebanese Muslim father and held Israeli citizenship at the time of his arrest,” reports Sursock about the freeing of Nassim Nissir, who was received in Lebanon.


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Lebanon: Media betrays viewers · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“Inciting hate, open communication messages from political camps on air waves. The Lebanese media has done a shame to itself,” states the Lebanese Inner Circle.


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Lebanon: Presidential Inaugural Address · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The Lebanese Inner Circle posts a video of the new Lebanese president giving his inaugural address in parliament upon his election.


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Lebanon: Prime Minister re-named · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“The truth is that Hizbollah and its allies have made peace with the sectarian system, in doing so it has undermined its credibility,” writes Sursock about the re-naming of Mr. Fouad Saniora as prime minister.


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Lebanon: Win-Win Situation · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“There's one thing that I've noticed since the Doha agreement was reached: both sides seem to feel like they've won. Part of me thinks that this is another example of the Lebanese ‘lick-and-stick’ philosophy that is equally present in the domains of plumbing and politics,” writes Sean on the agreement and election of new president.


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Mahathir enjoys blogging · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Former Malaysian leader Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who recently became a blogger is already very happy with his month-long blogging experience.


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Moldova: Neutrality and Transnistria · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes that one way to solve the Transnistria problem could be for Moldova to declare “permanent neutrality, withdrawing from GUAM (Georgia – Ukraine – Azerbaijan – Moldova, or the Union of Former Soviet States Who Have Difficult Relations With Russia And Aren’t Joining The EU Any Time Soon), and committing to never joining NATO.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Pakistan: Blast outside Danish Embassy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan and CHUP! on a bomb blast outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Philippines: Whistleblower now a blogger · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

An anti-corruption crusader in the Philippines, who testified that allies of the president have signed an anomalous contract, started blogging last weekend.


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South Korea: Beef Protest Intensified · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The protest against importation of U.S beef has been intensified. Since last weekend the protest has been directed against the president Lee Myung Bak and police violence. More from CINA. Jamie from Two Koreas has collected some photo and vidoe links.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Sri Lanka: On Journalism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews on the state of journalism in Sri Lanka given the conflict situation, and the indifference of the government.


text:
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Karma · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeni, from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, blogs about Karma.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Syria: No Shia’a Version for Holy Qur’an · Global Voices
Razan Ghazzawi

Ahmad Nathir Bakdash [Ar] tells us that he has uploaded a version of the Holy Qur'an on the internet here. He notes that he hasn't found a version of the Holy Book for Shia'a as some claim and concludes his post by asserting that there is no such thing as a “Shia'a version of Holy Qur'an.”

author: Razan Ghazzawi


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Taiwan: Bridging Digital Divide with Puncar · Global Voices
Leonard Chien

While Taiwan is well developed and people enjoy relative equal opportunities compared with other regions around the world, the digital divide between urban and rural area is still wide. Several projects are ongoing in the island with an attempt to reverse the trend. Project in Recycling and Transferring Used Computers [zh] (二手電腦回收轉贈計畫), founded and executed by Environment Protection Administration (行政院環保署), for example, collects, repairs and sends used computers to remote areas and schools. Digital Community (數位好厝邊), established by Chunghwa Telecom Foundation (中華電信基金會), is also introducing digital learning resources to deprived communities.
It is, of course, insufficient to have computers and internet access as people need basic skills in using technology. To help people in remote villages and tribes learn and understand internet tools and applications, such as blogs, Twitter, Google Maps, Facebook, etc., Association of Digital Culture Taiwan (ADCT) [zh] (台灣數位文化協會) starts a new project named “Puncar” (胖卡) [zh].
This 10-year-old second-hand car, although can only ride 80-90 kilometers per hour, is well equipped with cameras, computers, portable solar panels, and so on. In May 2008, volunteers have spent three weekends organizing training courses in five distant villages and tribes in southern and eastern Taiwan.
Participants in different age groups gather in the community center for the event.
One local participant A-shan (阿珊) records the event in her blog [zh]:
徐兄在台上跟大家解釋著部落格是什麼…怎麼弄…又如何使用。
[…]
伯伯轉動著滑鼠…重覆著剛才課程內容，讓自己進步每一分鐘。
Tim (CEO of ADCT), standing on stage, introduces and explains what blog is, how to use it and what can be done.
[…]
Participants move their mouses, repeat what are taught, and try to improve step by step.
Philsu(阿寬), joined the tour in the second week, reflects on his experience [zh] with Puncar:
在跟小朋友互動的舉手投足、言語交流間，
體會了好多好多事情。
那是一種內在性的衝擊，撞擊著自己習慣性的思考，
進而延伸出好多的問題跟反思。
哪怕只是短短數小時的相處，
哪怕我們只是將簡單的網路地圖＆部落格使用方法帶給你們，
但我似乎獲得了更多的東西。
I have learned so many things through interactions with these children. The experience has affected my old habits and thoughts, followed by many questions and reflections. In fact we only spent a few hours with them and taught them how to use online maps and blogs, but it turned out that I have learned more from them.
Qweaz (陳力), driver and photographer of Puncar project, offers a complete photo record in his Flickr album.
Tim Shyu (徐挺耀), CEO of ADCT, says [zh] in the Puncar blog:
部落格行動車將集結優秀及熱情的師資人才，設計活潑實用的網路教學課程，以實際走 訪的方式，運用該社區已有的硬體設備，協助解決「軟體」上的不足。並進一步發掘各偏遠地區的經濟特色，給予資訊科技方面適合的建議與支援的可能。
Puncar will recruit more members with passion and skills, and design more interesting and practical internet learning programs. We visit different villages, make use of existing facilities, and help solve the problem of skill insufficiency. Through the tour, Puncar will look into the economic characters in these rural areas and provide suitable IT advices and supports.
Puncar project will last for at least three years. Carrying on with its experiences in May, Puncar will be on the road again in July. For further details, please contact ADCT through adct DOT npo AT gmail DOT com .
All pictures are used under Creative Commons license

author: Leonard Chien


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Tajikistan: Where Is Rahmon Going With This? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Beyond the River provides a comprehensive update on the overall political and economic situation in Tajikistan.


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Thailand: Anti-government protest · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Juth.Net, together with other family members, joined an anti-government protest in Thailand.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Dog Lover · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from Trinidad & Tobago, This Beach Called Life says: “You can tell more about somebody by their attitude to dogs, and by extension animals, than their attitude to money, sex or butt tattoos.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: No Hope · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago blogger Attillah Springer laments the murder of an 8-year-old girl, and with it, “our capacity to guarantee the brightness of our future.”


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Turkey: Barber to be Beheaded in Saudi Arabia  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Turkish blogger Metin writes about the plight of a Turkish barber who has been sentenced to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia for “using God's name in vain.”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Vietnam’s economic woes · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Charvey in Vietnam tackles Vietnam's economic problems. Inflation seems out of control and it is affecting the currency, writes Tin Quê Hương.


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Yemen: Dinosaur Tracks Near Sana’a · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“No dinosaur tracks had ever been found in the Arabian Peninsula before; but just about 30 kilometers from Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, fossils now reveal that a herd of 11 gigantic dinosaurs — sauropods – about 150 million years ago, left deep tracks into the earth,” reports Omar Barsawad from Yemen.


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Yemen’s HIV Aids challenge · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Omar Barsawad writes about Yemen's HIV Aids challenge in this post.


text:
· Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Readers at Unheard Voices respond to the news of a major army reshuffle in Bangladesh.


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A chat with portuguese speaker bloggers  · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Agry [pt] starts a series of interviews with the female Portuguese speaker bloggers on his blogroll, people who  show a commitment to promote their people's history, culture and hopes. The series starts with Brazilian economic consultant Milu Duarte, from Blog da Milu [pt].

author: Paula Góes


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Afghanistan: It Isn’t Always Extremism That Drives Extremist Violence · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust analyzes socio-economic situation in Afghanistan, as Pakistan shuts down another Afghan border refugee camp, which used to house over 50,000 people.


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Armenia: Election Blogging · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer reports on a seminar staged by the Yerevan Press Club concerning the role of the local media during the recent presidential election in Armenia. The blogger says that his presentation on blogs was of particular interesting and that traditional journalists were interested enough to ask question after question.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Energy Globe Award · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Cicer et cetera, the blog of the Deputy Director of the Boston-based Armenian Tree Project, reports on the organization's award for one of its projects in Armenia at the Energy Globe Awards recently held at the European Parliament in Brussels. The blogs gives a brief overview of the project.


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Bahamas, Haiti: Haitian Migration  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dan Schweissing posts a summary of Amnesty International‘s report on the global state of human rights, highlighting the section on the Bahamas “that deals specifically with Haitian migrants.”


text:
Bangladesh: No lunch for garment workers · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bangladesh from our view on the poor working conditions faced by workers in the garment industry.


text:
Bermuda: Image Matters · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Bermudian blogosphere has been talking this week about the decision by the island's Premier to hire a Public Relations firm to tweak Bermuda‘s international image, which has been recently sullied by everything from the ruling party's attacks on the free press to the lack of transparency with electoral reform and freedom of information.  All this has been made even more glaring by the Premier's recent shut-down of a parliamentary debate, adding that the Government will do the same “every time there is the implication or insinuation of something dishonest or corrupt” by the Opposition.
A Radical in Bermuda pulls no punches on the issue, saying:
It seems our glorious leader feels it is necessary to spend even more tax payer dollars to come in and “fix” Bermuda's international image, you know, the one the media and opposition ruined.
Politics.bm, in citing a long list of reasons that he believes has caused the island's reputation to be tarnished, adds:
Here's a suggestion. Bermuda's image problem isn't a public relations problem, it's a public policy one.
21 Square analyses the situation in the context of transparency and good governance, saying:
Any reasonable individual would recognize that the easiest means to counter corruption allegations and abuse of parliamentary procedure would be to increase transparency in government.
He goes on:
Premier Brown recently announced that the Bermuda government would hire a foreign public relations firm in hopes of countering the poor image of governance Bermuda has developed.  While Premier Brown's suggestion that the opposition is abusing parliamentary privilege may be valid, any reasonable observer would note that the easiest way to counteract this would be to televise the parliamentary sessions and publish Hansard minutes.  This would make it readily obvious whether or not the opposition indeed is abusing parliamentary privilege.
Vexed Bermoothes, tongue in cheek, echoes his sentiment:
So, what to do when the uproar about corruption, mismanagement, secrecy, and lack of accountability becomes so great that the country’s reputation begins to get sullied?  Of course, hire an overseas PR agency to spin your way out of it! Brilliant!
Nevermind the fact that the Cabinet Office already has a large internal PR team. Nevermind this does NOTHING to address the root problems that are causing the malcontent amongst Bermudians and our customers.  Nevermind this will become an exercise in burnishing the Premier’s tarnished reputation. It’s got nothing to do with Bermuda really.
As if to underscore this point, 21 Square writes:
So, rather than increasing transparency and giving the public greater confidence in trustworthiness of our leadership, what we're seeing is the opposite. Increasing transparency would absolutely be a reasonable course to countering allegations of corruption and abuse of parliamentary procedure.  By decreasing transparency Premier Brown is doing more to raise questions about the trustworthiness of himself and his colleagues as it increases the credibility of the attacks made by the opposition.
Finally, IMHO.bm, in a pained post about a 14-year-old girl who was found dead, says:
On a side note, THIS is the reputation that Premier Brown should be more concerned with. May be the Island would be better off allocating money to the 50 man short police force instead of spending more on a PR firm.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Book on Srebrenica · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog shares information about Hasan Nuhanovic's book – “Under the UN Flag: The International Community and the Srebrenica Genocide.”


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Tuzla Massacre · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Baby and YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett – on the ‘American style crime’ in Tuzla.


text:
Bulgaria: Paper Money · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Maya's Corner writes about the Bulgarian paper money.


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Burkina Faso: Winyé Mask Festival · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

BurkinaMon writes about the Winyé Mask Festival in Burkina Faso:  The Seventh Annual Winyé Mask Festival was held on Friday and Saturday in Boromo- a small town just about two hours’ drive from Ouaga. I was there as usual, friends and family in tow.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Cape Verde: Beer is cheaper than petrol · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Pedrabika [pt] is getting surprised by the day about the rise in petrol prices in Cape Verde: “200 $ 00 for petrol, is that it? Even beer is cheaper. This way we'll have to start traveling on foot and continue ignoring the pocket shaking policies. Otherwise no one reacts, political parties make some statements, people mourn and life goes on…”


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Cape Verde: Meet Pedro Gomes · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dan writes about Perdo Gomes, a Cape Verdian basketballer: “Pedro Gomes is a very important part of the national team, a key man behind the scenes, involved with virtually everything to do with both the men’s and women’s national basketball teams of Cape Verde, the CVNT. Pedro has a very interesting history. At the moment, he is working for the United Nations, UN, on various anti-terrorism and anti-drug trafficking programs.”


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China: Another Mistake by Human Flesh Search Engines · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated several pieces on Internet human flesh search engines’ attempt in digging out the identity of Fan Xiaohua.


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China: Clearer answers and investigation into quake response needed · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Last month the Chinese government said that the process of obtaining complete information as to why so many school buildings collapsed in last month's earthquake is underway. This week it began reigning in media which have been asking too many questions, even barring grieving parents from protesting. The first attempt at providing answers came this week from the Sichuan Ministry of Education in the form of five key reasons for the number of school-related deaths, which haven't gone over well with many [zh] bloggers.
Well-known blogger-journalist and author Ran Yunfei, who lives in Chendgu, had this to say about these five points in his May 29 post, ‘How are the children wrongfully dead to be allowed to rest in peace?‘
当初地震部门将地震震级从7．８级修正为8级后，有位朋友说政府正在向实事求是的方向挺进。我对朋友说，你未免太轻看这个政府集体为恶的智商了，也许他们正在“科学”而有效地利用灾难找脱辞呢。我并不是个怀疑一切的人，我对活在中国的个体有相当同情之理解，但对政府却很少放弃怀疑的态度，这是几十年来频发的人祸加诸于身的惨痛教训。不轻易相信乃至质疑政府是一个现代公民的基本素质，何况一个权力大到令人惊骇的地步，视人命如草芥，根本没有真正监督的政府？你要是轻信这样的政府，那你所遭遇的一切悲惨生活，就是它对你活生生的恩赐。它这样置你于死地的“恩赐”，你不仅只有接受，你用血汗钱养活了它，反而还要你对着镜头说“感谢党，感谢政府”，它进而戴上“伟光正”的光环，使一切恶政变得不仅自然而且高尚。六十年无一例外，这次发生地震灾难后，政府不少部门的表现就是他们一惯嗜血本能的展现，其中最不能容忍就是中国教育部和四川省教育厅为他们错误的无耻辩解。
许多人看到了昨天四川省教育厅五点所谓对灾区学校倒塌的查处意见，至为愤慨。其实前天教育部新闻发言人王旭明就公开提前定下了四川省教育厅查处学校倒塌的基调。对这个政府运作方式不陌生的人，都应该从逻辑上揣度到，即四川省教育厅这样的查处基调，在震后很短时间内他们早就在内部达成了共识。而且这共识还不只是来源于教育部，应该来源于更高层对去人祸而认天灾的政治把戏。
我认为中央政府应该重建教育部，令部长周济辞职以谢国人；整顿四川省教育厅相关的官员，并对直接责任人绳之以法。不然，恐怕中央政府的公信力，将会越来越低。
Here are the Sichuan Education Ministry's five concluding points as they've been getting spread around online and as posted by Ran Yunfei, slightly shorter than the official version as they've stripped of bureaucratese and rephrased clearly:
一、这次地震首先是超过了预计强度,学校校舍抗震难以抵御如此强烈的地震。
二、灾情发生在上课期间,集体伤亡人数比较多。
三、学生上课时集中在教室,楼面负荷大,疏散时又集中在楼梯间,这些走廊、楼梯相对来说是建筑比较薄弱的,所以造成了一定的损害。
四、根据四川省教育行政部门提交的材料,四川省倒塌的相当多的校舍建筑时间比较长,校舍陈旧落后,这也是导致部分校舍垮塌的重要原因。
五、学校的建筑在抗震方面本身就存在着设计方面的先天性缺陷。
2. The disaster struck during class time, so the numbers of collective casualties was quite high.
3. During class time, students were gathered inside classrooms, so there was a large burden on the floors, and during evacuation again they were gathered within the stairwell, and these corridors and stairwells were relatively weak parts of the buildings, so this created definite harm.
4. According to information supplied by Sichuan Education Ministry administrators, quite a few of the school buildings which collapsed in Sichuan province were built quite a long time ago, so the schools were old and unmaintained, and this is a major factor leading to the collapse of some schools.
5. Inherent defects existed in the designs of the school buildings themselves with respect to earthquake resistance.
The transcript of a talk given on May 31st by legal scholar and active blogger He Weifang has been posted to message board website Paowang. In it He focuses on the role of the Procuratorate, the Chinese version of the American Attorney General's Office, should be playing in the legal and administrative aftermath of the earthquake, seeing it as the most suitable body to provide that degree of oversight.
He makes several points to that effect, starting off with calling for the need for the Procuratorate to be ensured independence as it carries out its work in, among many things, overseeing compensation given to parents to children lost in the earthquake, transparency as those responsible for things like the ‘tofu dregs’ construction of school buildings are sought out, seeing that the practice doesn't continue as new houses and buildings are constructed, and at the same time, ensuring those eventually brought to trial are guaranteed a fair trial and not one aimed at placating an angry public.
The key suggestion He makes however, is the activation now of article 71 of China's constitution, which he says has never been put into effect:
第四点，我回应一下，我觉得目前是不是也应该启动一下特别调查制度。我们国家没有一个超然的、中立的、公开的机构，来对这样一个大事进行调查，我觉得四川的大地震应当马上由全国人大设立特别调查委员会，宪法第71条明确规定人大可以设立这样的委员会，因为它是一个非常综合性的问题，包括地震预报，到底预报没预报，如果已经有了这样一个确定的结论，最后不公开，谁的责任？包括房子的质量问题，包括其他的赈灾过程中出现的问题，我觉得需要有一个委员会来进行一种非常公开、透明、权威、超然的调查。但是我们的宪法第71条存在20多年了，到现在一次都没有启动过。2003年孙志刚事件的时候，许志永他们提出违宪审查制度，但到现在26年时间过去了，我们这个特别调查委员会从来就没有启动过，所以我们说它是一个“睡美人”。

author: John Kennedy


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China: Not Welcome for the Olympics · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jeremy Goldkorn from DANWEI listed out six types of foreigners not welcome for the Olympics according to the legal guidelines of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee.


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China: Open Market to Charity Work · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Guo Yu Kuan from my1510 pointed out that China government should open market to charity work. The writer said the distrust towards China Red Cross in the recent disaster relief is mainly due to the monopoly problem, if there is competition, the charity organizations would be more open and transparent.


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Colombia: Children in Caldas to Receive XO Laptops · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Greg Yohn of OLPC News writes about the latest announcement by the governor of the Colombian region of Caldas that 65,000 children will be receiving the XO laptops.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Croatia: Marko Perkovic Thompson’s Concert · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A discussion of Marko Perkovic Thompson's recent concert in Zagreb – at Balkan Baby.


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Cuba: Now is the Time  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense thinks that now is the time to pay attention to Cuba.


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Czech Republic: Homer Simpson Restaurant · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word writes about a Prague restaurant named after Homer Simpson.


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Estonia: Communication · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's foreign ministry's “communication problem [that] is, sadly, exemplary of a larger inability of the Estonian government, or indeed, other actors within Estonia, to communicate efficiently outside of the domestic market.”


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Estonia: ‘Zavood’ Pub in Tartu · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

AnTyx writes, according to one reader, on “a local issue with international appeal”: Zavood, “the most legendary of Tartu booze houses.”


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Europe: Geographic Confusion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word reports that John McCain “still thinks that Czechoslovakia exists.” Lituanica reports that “the Czech-Moravia Football Federation officially apologized to the Lithuanian Football Federation and Lithuania’s Embassy in Prague for playing the national anthem of Lithuania’s neighbouring Baltic State Latvia during a friendly match between the Lithuanian and Czech national teams.” Eternal Remont concludes: “It is for this reason that Eternal Remont is a vocal supporter of Czechoslovenian reunification.”


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Guinea: Old man and the sea · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africa Flak discusses politics in Guinea comparing it to Zimbabwe: “There’s a part of me that has to hand it to Lansana Conte and his henchmen in Guinea Conakry. Like Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, he’s used his country’s wealth – in his case minerals like bauxite and uranium – to tell Western governments, international community, various NGOs and their finger-waving ways to bugger off.”


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Guyana: Lines of Love · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana uses John Agard's poetry to explain why she cannot separate love from sex: “The poems speak on all possible aspects of a couple's involvement–the physical, the cerebral, the spiritual…”


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Guyana: Wining Season  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“All the time at any given time there is always a set of wining up and wining down to launch a product, open a building or school, celebrate an anniversary or any occasion for that matter”: Living Guyana figures there must be a more appropriate way to demonstrate support.


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Honduras: Accident at Tegucigalpa Airport · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve writes about the recent accident of a TACA airline jet that crashed at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  He also describes his experience landing at that airport and offers a suggestion, “let international flights arrive at San Pedro Sula, and offer connections in small planes for those traveling to the capital. The airport is just too old for the newer jets.“


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India: Ending slavery · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Weight of Silence from India on an online global competition to identify innovative approaches to exposing, confronting and ending modern-day slavery.


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Remembering “Ratty” · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Perhaps…Ratty had in fact been a part of the hotel’s amenities, a way of reminding guests that the chic, pricey establishment they were staying at was in fact part of a community…”: Caribbean Free Radio remembers the 12-year-old boy who had been a fixture at Jake's on Jamaica's Treasure Beach.


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Japan: Disturbing Children Program · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ghoti from Japundit posted an animation which has been complained for not being not suitable for children. But the blogger's daughter loves it.


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Japan: Sound Princess · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Peter Payne from Japundit introduced a Japan's woman toilet facility called “sound princess”.


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Kyrgyzstan: Conversion & Community  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan writes that Forum 18 reports on turmoil surrounding the burial of a 14 year old Baptist convert in Kyrgyzstan.


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Peru: Blog Contest for High School Students · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (UPC) has announced a blog contest for high school students.  One of the contests goals is to, “Encourage the use of accessible and new technologies among high school students.”  The contest is also sponsored by BlogsPeru, writes Juan Arellano of Globalizado [es].


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Russia: Anniversary of Khodorkovsky’s Sentencing · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

James of Robert Amsterdam's blog writes about the third anniversary of the sentencing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.


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Somalia: Saving Somalia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rob's analysis of international aid and the socio-political situation in Somalia: “It seems in the rush to apply standard developmental thinking no-one has remembered that this is Somalia. Policies are being implemented that would have been risky in fragile states emerging from war, the Ugandas, Rwandas and Ethiopias. But Somalia is no longer a fragile state or even a failed state. It is a post-failed state, with its own mechanisms and institutions for survival.”


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South Africa: Eruptions from the fault lines · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Alex, an American blogger, witnessed violence against immigrants in South Africa: “What follows below is a chronology of my journal entries leading up to and during the violence. My thoughts and analysis will be limited by internet cafe time”


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Southeast Asia: Series of unfortunate disasters · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A destructive cyclone in Myanmar. The China earthquake which was felt in Hanoi and Bangkok. Two earthquakes in the Sumatra island which rocked Indonesia and Malaysia. A strong typhoon which destroyed many towns in north Philippines.
In the past month, natural disasters hit the Southeast Asian region claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and destroying billions of properties.
Blogger Lynn Leng Lang exclaims:
“Ah, super sad lah. What the hell is happening to Asia?!”
Myanmar is still suffering as cyclone refugees continue to suffer from hunger and illnesses. The junta’s incompetence is another disaster which worsened the situation in the cyclone-ravaged regions of Myanmar.
Perhaps a U.S. official was correct to accuse the junta of being guilty of criminal neglect for blocking large-scale international aid to cyclone victims. Or as the prime minister of Singapore said, “Myanmar is fearful of allowing foreign aid agencies into the country to help because it could show that the ruling junta was not capable of handling the disaster.”
Because of the junta’s behavior, Endoh's dungeon believes the world was right in being pessimistic in giving aid to Myanmar. It is indeed extraordinary that three weeks have passed before Myanmar’s leader issued a public statement about the cyclone disaster. More than 100,000 people were killed and General Than Shwe managed to remained quiet about it. In other countries, this leader would have been ousted already.
Credibility is important so that governments can be effective in disaster management. Aid will not arrive quickly if a regime is perceived to be despotic. The sentiment of As Zewt As It Gets is common today:
“Now, I am sure all of us have got a wonderful generous heart and are all eager to contribute one way or another to help the victims of the recently occurred disasters both in China and Myanmar. However, I just want to say that we should be mindful of the channels to which we are contributing to. If you wish to contribute to any form of Myanmar relief fund, make sure the organization you are contributing to goes directly into the country to aid the victims and not just handing the money to the junta government.”
Many bloggers in the region are not fans of the junta. jere-iamwhatiam from Singapore writes:
“The purpose of a government is to govern the people, to make lives better for them, to take care and protect the people. What the government in Myanmar has done is total disregard for its people's lives and well-being. By delaying aid and a lack of prompt response to the disaster, they are just killing their own people.”
Filipino blogger Under the sun adds:
“What kind of government would put selfish interests ahead of the citizens’ welfare at a time of great crisis, when the only choice is between life and death?”
Noting that Thailand is an earthquake-prone zone, a new law requires all new buildings to be earthquake-proof. Reacting to the recent China earthquake which was felt in Bangkok, bloggers are asking about the safety of old buildings and skyscrapers.
Crunchy is also asking about the steps implemented in Malaysia to prepare for future strong tremors:
“Are houses and high rises in Malaysia built to withstand even a minor earthquake? Or even considerations and guidelines for developers to follow so that buildings can withstand tremors multiple times a year and throughout the years. With the ‘tidak apa’ attitude and certain quarters or people who just cared about their pockets, I doubt these issues would get any attention at all until something major happens. What do you think? Am I being too paranoid?”
For many days, the damage wrought by a strong typhoon in north Philippines was not adequately reported by the media. Even the national government was not initially aware of the extent of destruction. The Philippine president was scuba diving in central Philippines a day after the typhoon left the country.
Darlene's blog site writes about the situation in one of the provinces hit by the typhoon:
“Typhoon Cosme destroyed more or less 700,000 homes affecting at least 38,000 families. This frightful event left residents no choice but to temporarily transfer in evacuation centers. Moreover, Cosme also lead a landslide causing roads to be closed and great flood destroying land farms.”
Strangely out of place was shocked:
“The following day, Candelaria looked waaaaaay different. The electric cables were all on the ground. Big acacia and mango trees were on houses and establishments. The church, the school and the public library had some windows broken. Almost every corner you turn you’ll see roofless houses. Some of the older structures looked like cardboard boxes on the ground. The town was, and I quote my mom, “extremely devastated.”
Pictures of the typhoon disaster in the worst-hit province were uploaded by The harvest is great. Northern Philippine Times lambasts government inaction:
“Every year, government officials say during dry months they have contingency measures for calamities like storms in preparation for rainy months. But every time a typhoon strikes, most government offices are caught flat-footed while roads are closed, barangays are submerged and power lines are down. Programs regarding disaster control or management are reactive, not proactive.”
Natasha loves noodles comments on the China earthquake, Myanmar cyclone, and the Philippine typhoon. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore delivers a speech about the need for international cooperation to help Myanmar. Assistance can also be given to other countries in the region:
“We in ASEAN cannot perform this job on our own. Myanmar's needs are way beyond what Myanmar itself or ASEAN as a whole can provide. This is why ASEAN and the UN have jointly convened this Pledging Conference. We in ASEAN can play little more than a facilitating role in fostering greater trust and cooperation between the international community – which has the capabilities – and the Myanmar government.”


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Soviet History: Valery Martynov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belatedly, a link to a Soviet-time spy story – at ExecutedToday.com.


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Sri Lanka: Press Freedom and Conflict · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews from Sri Lanka on the role of the media, and press freedom in times of conflict.


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Sri Lanka: Tourism Overkill · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Ultrabrown goes to Sri Lanka and complains of tourism-overkill.


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Sudan: Why do we pay attention to Darfur? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Why do we pay attention to Darfur?: “One of the questions I’ve wanted an answer to for some time is how the community focused on Darfur has managed to attract so much attention to their cause. While the situation in Darfur is dramatic and dire, there are a number of other situations on the African continent that demand attention and, generally, receive a small fraction of the attention paid to Darfur.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Colour of Survival  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from Trinidad and Tobago, Grounding says that “what much of this – Go Green/Save the Planet/Environment Day thing – is really about is attempting to ensure the survival of the human race.”


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Ukraine: More Infighting · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about the next round of infighting within Ukraine's “democratic coalition.”


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Ukraine: Paul McCartney · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about Paul McCartney's upcoming free concert in Kyiv.


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Ukraine: Svyatoshyn Roses · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Olechko is away from Kyiv and feeling homesick.


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U.S.A.: Arthur Mkoyan’s Dream Act · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Talk Turkey comments on the case of an immigrant from Armenia who has been in the United States since the age of two. The valedictorian at his high school in Fresno, Arthur Mkoyan will be deported after he graduates. The blog criticizes Congress for not passing the Dream Act which would allow illegal immigrants who are high-achieving high school students the legal right to stay in the United States.


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Venezuela: Gaining Admission to Public Universities · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Last year, President Hugo Chávez anounced the elimination of admission tests to get into universities in Venezuela.  They will be substituted by a National System of Admission. This new system must, according to the experts, create a social value, be practical, and be feasible with the country's resources. It must also be part of the public policies regarding Higher Education
Every year around 400,000 students seek to be admitted in Venezuelan public universities. Unfortunately, it is not possible to satisfy every demand, which leads to the discussion of how to assign students to a specific program based on certain criteria…but which criteria?
The Central University of Venezuela has witnessed demonstrations on the issue, especially during the election of the heads of the Academy. Some say that these changes are another of the President's demagogic strategies to (re)gain popularity by satisfying mediocrity and immediacy. Others feel that this new system represents a more democratic and more equal way to have access to a post-secondary education.  The new policy has yet to be placed in effect, but Venezuelan bloggers have their own thoughts on the current and new systems.
Photo by Kit Kath and used under a Creative Commons license.
To Josefina of El Muro Te Lamenta [es], the elimination of the admission test doesn’t solve the issue:
El problema no es entrar, sino hacerlo en condiciones para salir exitosamente. Sin condiciones básicas de entrada, no se pueden formar profesionales competentes comprometidos con su país. Una vez recibidos, la Universidad no puede defraudar, ni a ellos ni al país.
The problem is not how to get in, but doing so in certain conditions that would permit one to successful finish. Without basic conditions for admission, it is impossible to educate competent professionals committed to their country.  Onde they are accpeted, they cannot defraud them or the country.
Joacoramon of Venezuela Libre [es] adds the goal should be to provide equal education for all:
Eliminar las pruebas internas para ingresar al sistema de educación superior no resuelve el problema (…) El Gobierno lo sabe, pero prefiere colocar el paño caliente, antes de resolver el problema de fondo. Este es el problema de los gobiernos con vocación populista (…) abanderados de una igualdad que no existe. Iguales, como gotas de agua, deberíamos ser desde el principio de nuestra educación, calidad es lo que debe privar en la escuela básica y en el diversificado. (…) Y me pregunto: ¿quién, después de ver toda la discriminación impulsada por este Gobierno puede dar garantía que todos los bachilleres serán considerados a los ojos del Ejecutivo, iguales, como gotas de agua?
Eliminating admission tests does not solve the problem. The government knows that, but prefers to put a band-aid instead of solving the real problem. This is the problem with populist governments (…) defenders of an equality that doesn’t exist. Our education is the one that should be exactly alike, just like two drops of water, but from the beginning. A high quality education should be start from elementary school and go all the way through high school. (…) and I wonder, who, after seeing all the discrimination supported by this government can honestly believe that all high school graduates will be seen as equals, like two drops of water, to the eyes of the government?
In a Country of the Blind [es], Andrés shows another fact about the differences between private and public education in Venezuela:
¿Por qué entonces se produce el fenómeno de la exclusión de los estudiantes de las escuelas públicas? El mayor grado de admisiones a aspirantes provenientes de los colegios privados es consecuencia de la baja calidad de la educación pública del país.
Es también preciso comentar que existen varios factores que agravan la situación de las admisiones en las universidades y están son el factor socio-cultural. Durante el primer gobierno de Rafael Caldera decidieron cerrar las escuelas técnicas, con esto vino la idea de que todos debíamos ser universitarios, cualquier cosa por debajo era indecoroso, y con ello vino un segundo problema de mentalidad.
Luego esta un factor de injusticia que son los articulados de las normas de las universidades publicas que otorgan cupos a hijos de trabajadores, profesores, políticos, deportistas y artistas destacados. Por que hablo de injusticia sobre este caso pues hoy por hoy el 40% de la población estudiantil universitaria de la universidades publicas ingresan por medio de los conocidos artículos, que además son blanco de la corrupción interna de la universidad, del CNU, y de la OPSU.
Why does this produce a phenomenon of exclusion of public school students? The high number in admission of graduates from private schools is a consequence of the low quality in public schools.
It is also correct to comment that there are certain factors that make the situation even worse: the socio-cultural factors. During the first Rafael Caldera’s administration, they decided to shut down technical schools and after this, came the idea that we all should be university students. Anything below that was shameful. With that, came another problem; a mentality problem.
Then, there is another unfair factor: some articles in laws of public universities laws grant admission to the children of workers, professors, politicians, athletes and artists. Why do I say it’s unfair? Well, it seems that 40% of the students in public universities have been granted admission thanks to these laws, something that has been the target of corruption inside the university and the organizations that arrange general admission tests.
Writer and professor Barrera Linares in his Duda Melodica [es] gives an opinion on whether the tests also measure other important skills.
De las varias pruebas que llegué a evaluar alguna vez, muy pocas estaban relacionadas, por ejemplo, con procesos relativos a otros fenómenos, si se quiere más cualitativos, pero también humanos, como la reflexión, la opinión, la argumentación, el ambiente, la vida comunitaria, la actitud crítica, las comunicaciones, entre otros. A mi juicio también muy importantes si los relacionamos con algunas carreras universitarias existentes o futuras.
From all the tests I ever evaluated, few of them were related, for example, to other areas, more qualitative if you will, but also human, like insight, opinion, debate, environment, life in community, critical thinking, and communications among others. In my opinion, these are also important if we relate them with some careers that currently exists or will exist.

author: Laura Vidal


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Zimbabwe: x1000 and x1,000,000 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

What is x1000 and x1,000,000?: “x1000 and x1,000,000 : everyone in Zim will know what this means. It appears on signs everywhere on cash registers, scales and invoices. What this means is that you take the amount displayed or recorded and multiply by one thousand (add three zeros) or one million (add six zeros) and that’s the figure you pay.”


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Afghanistan: Cobblestone v. asphalt, engineers v. insurgents · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Peter Marton continues discussion of the road development strategy in Afghanistan and the impact it may have on the insurgency (and counter-insurgency).


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Afghanistan: What’s Wrong With the ANP? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust cites the UNDP report saying that Afghanistan actually has a kind of normal number of police, but underscores that the major problem that remains is corruption.


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Africa: Time for e-governance has arrived · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

David Kobia discusses e-governance in Africa: “I suppose we can now officially thank government policies in African countries for their failure to expand fixed lines, leading to a projected 22% increase in mobile phone subscribers. 330 million people will own a phone in Africa, in 2008.”


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Bahamas: Hope Sells · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Apparently, hope is a marketable service and bankable commodity”: Simon at Bahama Pundit blogs about the business of selling hope, saying: “Like food and energy prices, the cost of hope continues to escalate.”


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Bangladesh: Making History · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mash from Bangladesh on why Obama becoming a nominee is a historic event.


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Bermuda: Cry for Justice · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Breezeblog calls for justice in the murder of a 14-year-old Bermudian student: “I can’t even begin to think about what sort of person decides to rob such a young girl of her life.”


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China: National Outrage · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Two cold pointed out that Chinese people as a whole shouldn't be so easily outraged by foreign media or foreigner's comment, such as Sharon Stone's comments on the earthquake. The blogger pointed out that Chinese media also had made many unsympathetic comments to other countries’ misfortune [zh].


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Dominica, Trinidad & Tobago: The New Cricket?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominica Weekly links to a BBC Caribbean interview with FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner on the future of football in the Caribbean: “Mr. Warner feels that football has taken over from cricket and that it has a more promising future.”


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Ecuador: The Amazon Tribes Vs. Big Oil · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

A rekindled interest in the richness of the Amazon is one of the results of  recently distributed photograph showing members of an uncontacted tribe in the Brazilian Amazon shooting arrows at the photographer's airplane  which surfaced on the Internet on May 23rd. However, to some organizations, the Amazon has never been far from their minds, and today we´ll see some videos brought by Amazon Watch, some which were showcased on Witness‘ The Hub editorial section.
First, a video explaining the extent of damages that are imputed to the Chevron- Texaco oil company toxic waste management which for years has contaminated the Amazonian Basin in Ecuador. In the following video, indigenous group members tell about their health problems, cancer and their case against Chevron-Texaco where they ask them to clean up after themselves.
Then, from The Hub, curator Chris Michael  picked the following two videos. First, an animation which spoofs corporate propaganda videos and shows a different perspective on the toxic oil waste disaster in Ecuador, inviting viewers to learn more about the trial, about Chevron-Texaco in Ecuador and answers to their replies that they were within the law and weren't the cause of the disaster, and in general about the harm of oil exploitation in the amazonian basin at Chevrontoxico.com
The next video portrays the story of how the tribal leaders are still struggling to keep this disaster from repeating itself, and the Ecuadorian government's insistence on leasing tracts of land where Indigenous reserves lie for oil exploitation, not just without the indigenous tribe's approval but in spite of their open opposition.
Finally, an independent documentary that can be downloaded for free titled Justicia Now: One People's Fight Against Big Oil. Following, a short clip of the film, where it tells how the biggest oil reserve lies under the most biodiverse region in the Amazon, the Yasuni reserve in Ecuador:

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Egypt: Great Firewall of China Coming Soon  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian bloggers have one hand on their keyboard and another on their hearts. Following a recent crackdown on bloggers and online activists following the April 6 unrest, some are now predicting the worse is yet to come.
Tarek, at Not Gr33n Data, writes:
It's getting more and more fishy everyday, the Newspapers are attacking what they call “The Dark World of the Internet”, you may read Al-Ahram Newspaper's article here [Ar]. They are blaming the Egyptian people because they use the internet to … ehm … spread rumours, call for strikes, and post videos that may harm the Egyptian National Security!
You know what, I am getting more and more confident now, that the Government's next move will be filtering the Internet. I already had similar suspicions a long while ago, but now I am really afraid that they may start filtering the Internet here in Egypt very soon, they may block sites such as Facebook, because what's said that the April 6th General Strike was organized there. They may also block YouTube, and who knows what will they block next.
Seems that the Great Firewall of China is on its way to Egypt.
Mostafa Hussein [Ar], also from Egypt, is equally infuriated with the attack on online activists. He uses the same style the article was written in to discredit the credibility of newspapers and writes:
أكاذيب مفضوحة, وألفاظ مطاطة, وسب وقذف بلا حسيب ولا رقيب, وأخبار كاذبة, ودعوات للتشهير, ومحاولات للوقيعة بين أبناء الشعب الواحد. هذه هي الصورة السوداء للصحافة الرسمية في مصر حاليا للأسف الشديد, والتي رسم سوادها قلة من السياسيين, وإن كان هذا السواد يغطي حاليا علي أغلبية استخدامات هذه الوسيلة الإعلامية التي يفترض أنها أكثر عراقه ونظافة من هذا المستوي إلي الدرجة التي بات الأمر معها يستدعي وقفة من القراء ضد هذه الإساءات والانتهاكات الصارخة قبل المطالبة بتدخل الجهات الشعبية لإعادة التوازن إلي هذه المنطقة الخطرة علي المجتمع وعقلة واستقراره وحريته!
وعلي الرغم من أن مصر تفخر بأنها تملك أكبر عدد من قراء الصحف في المنطقة العربية, فإنها عانت في الفترة الأخيرة إساءة استخدام السلطة لهذه الوسيلة, حيث باتت جرائد الحكومية الشهيرة مثل الأهرام و الأخبار ساحة مناسبة يستغلها ضعاف النفوس للتضليل والكذب, ولتبادل عبارات السب والقذف والتعليقات المبتذلة التي تسيء إلي مصر بالدرجة الأولي, بل وتسيء إلي هذه الوسيلة المطبوعة الراقية التي يجيد الغرب المتحضر استخدامها بما ينفع مجتمعه, وانتشرت حملات وهمية تكالب علي إطلاقها علي الصحف بعض السياسين المصريين المندفعين بحثا عن المال والكرسي, وربما من المستترين خلف أسماء مستعارة أو وهمية, بعضها يتضمن دعاوي تحريضية علي التخلف أو علي نشر الأكاذيب.
Easily exposed lies, flowery language, insults and slander, unfounded news, libel and attempts to create a rift between the citizens of one nation. This is the black picture of our Egyptian official Press unfortunately. Its blackness was painted by a few politicians, even though this darkness now covers most of the uses of this mass media which is supposed to be clean and rich. It has now become imperative for readers  to take a stance to redress the imbalance in this dangerous medium on society, its stability and freedom!
Although Egypt prides itself with having the largest number of newspaper readers in the Arab world, it has recently suffered from abuse at the hands of the authorities of this medium. Famous government-run papers like Al Ahram and Al Akhbar have now become the suitable forum for those who mislead and lie, as well as for the exchange of slander and insults which harm Egypt particularly and this publication in general, while the civilised West continues to utilise this medium in a manner which benefits their society.  Imaginary campaigns against newspapers have also been launched by some Egyptian politicians in search of money and power. They may perhaps be those hiding behind fake names – and who rally for spreading messages which encourage backwardness and spreading lies.


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Guyana: It’s Not Easy Being Green  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana-Gyal was trying to get into the spirit of World Environment Week – until she encountered a frog.


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Hong Kong: Where’s the Apology · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

CNN and Sharon Stone have apologized to Chinese people. Yesterday a Tibet monk has also made an apology of what he had said about the repression. William Sin wonders why there still isn't any apology for June 4 marsacre for more than 19 years [zh].


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Hungary: Passion for Food and Wine · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Hungary is a country with a very rich culinary tradition. It prides itself in its cuisine, and this is reflected in the many Hungarian blogs devoted to food or those that mention local dishes and wines at any given opportunity. Here's a little selection that we've found with just a quick browsing.
The blog Food and Beverages in Hungary reviews food and beverage festivals around Hungary, and often offers typical Hungarian recipes to its readers. One of the latest recipes posted is for a pastry filled with cottage cheese called túrós batyu (the word túró means cottage cheese and turós batyu means cheesecloth), pictured below.
Túrós batyu, by Nóra Schüttler
Nóra Schüttler, the author of Food and Beverages in Hungary, also blogs about food at Hungary Starts Here, a portal with all sorts of practical information about Hungary. In her latest post for the portal blog, she described a folk festival and fair (including a video) and offered yet another delicious recipe for a traditional Hungarian dish: Lecsó (pronounced as: leh-choh).
Lecsó, pictured below, is a simple dish “made from paprika, tomato and onion, sometimes also contains sausage and some rice or egg.” Nora describes it as follows:
Originally a Serbian dish, it has been fully assimilated into the Hungarian kitchen like the Hungarian stuffed pepper. This simple pepper and tomato ragout is served both as a side dish and as an appetizer in Hungary. It is an essential component of many Hungarian dishes.
A preserved version is also used in recipes as a substitute for fresh tomatoes and peppers when they are not in season.
Lecsó by Zsoolt
Another very popular Hungarian food blog is Chew.hu, where many recipes can also be found. The latest ones, for example, are Báránypörkölt, a lamb stew from the Upper-Tisza region, and Almaleves, an apple soup. Chew also reported that last weekend two competing wine festivals were running in Budapest, recommending the Badacsony Wine Festival because not only “the Badacsony region are pretty darn good – look out for the signature kéknyelű” but also because the festival “which started life as a standard wine and cheese festival, now features some of Budapest's finest restaurants.”
Another wine festival that took place in May, the Somló Spring Festival, was reviewed by the The Hungarian Wine Guide. The blog described this festival, which takes place in the town of Somlóvásárhely, as follows:
All ages and all types of people were present: old ladies from the neighbouring villages sat in the tent quitely sipping their drinks while staring at the stage to check the appearance of a folklore dance group, there were families wandering around, kids riding horses, and some young folks trying to get a bit drunk. I really couldn't spot any of the urban yuppies here who usually frequent these types of events. And no foreigners either.
It was charming and looked more like a big family reunion in a family where winemaking tradition’s got its roots from times when Juhfark was not yet recognised as a standalone grape.
Mangalica Festival in Budapest, photo by Carolyn Bánfalvi from Chew.hu
Hungarians love their pork, as Buda Bites author Carolyn Bánfalvi explains:
Since I’ve been living in Budapest I’ve been eating more pork than I ever have before in my life. And the pork here is great. It’s definitely the meat of choice, and meat from the Mangalica pig–a heritage breed that nearly died out during the Communist-era–is the choicest kind of pork.
With this in mind, it is not surprising that Andy at The Hub Blog recently devoted two posts to describe a traditional Hungarian pig killing that he attended. According to him, the regular schedule is:
Awakening (at 5 o'clock), pálinka [Hungarian brandy], killing the pig, pálinka, breaming the pig, pálinka, breakfast (fried?/baked? blood with onion), stripping the pig, pálinka, lunch (lots of meat), pálinka, making black pudding, liverwurst, sausage etc., pálinka and wine.
He describes a moment of the hours-long pig killing:
I gulp down some wine, look at my watch, then step over a box of pig’s head (ears, snout, face etc.), and around a bucket of fresh, chopped up skin. Five minutes earlier, our friend Támas had picked up a piece of this, tossed salt onto it, and popped it into his mouth. ’Try it. It’s goood’ he’d said, holding one out to me. Woof! Politely, I’d declined.
However, in spite of it, he says: “I still like meat, and I’m still fine with the fact that to eat it, you have to kill an animal.”
Cukrászdá pastries. Photo by Dumnezu.
If (Mangalica) pork is the meat you cannot miss, pastries from a cukrászdá (a mix of coffee house and sweet shop) are an equally important Hungarian culinary institution. However, as the blog Dumneazu pointed out, there are currently very few old style honest cukrászdá left in Budapest:
Say you are slogging about downtown Budapest on a busy afternoon, and the caffeine and cream cake urge hits you. Now, this being Budapest, there ought to be some kind of Hapbsburg-centric old fashioned coffee house nearby waiting to serve up espressos and little cakes in a historic setting full of stuffed chairs and newspaper stands. One small problem: such places are pretty much gone. The city is full of cafes, but most are simply… bars… The old kavéhazák -coffee houses- so often touted in the tour books, didn't weather the changes of the early 90s well. Most closed, or were turned into snobbier, pricier Disney-Monster coffee houses.
But there's the Auguszt Cukrászda , which according to Dumneazu is almost an anachronistic place, “an island of rest” that has the best traditional kréme cakes in the world:
The Auguszt is the last bastion of the classic Hungarian pastry known as the krémes. Krémes are simply vanilla cream cakes encased in flakey pastry with a dusting of powdered sugar on top. Something so simple, however, is prone to bastardization, and most of the krémes you find around Budapest use some kind of gelatin in their cream. Not so the Auguszt. This is the same krémes that my grandparents knew.
Flodni pastries. Photo by Dumnezu.
Another favourite café of Dumnezu‘s is the Fröhlich Cukrászda, one of the last kosher cafés in Budapest:
At Fröhlich you get exceptionally good, light Hungarian pastry in a kosher version. No lard in the flour, for one thing, and often prepared without milk or eggs so that the result is pareve and can be eaten with any meal. […]
Most come because Fröhlich is the social hub of the neighborhood. And also the home of the world's best flodni. Flodni is considered the emblematic Hungarian Jewish cake: a triple sandwich of nuts, poppy seeds, and apple in a pite dough cover.
And if you're worried about getting fat while in Hungary, Dumneazu adds a little piece of advice:
Now, here's a dirty little secret about Budapest pastry houses: whatever you eat there can count as a healthy meal. Just eat two or three cakes. Every day thousands of elderly Budapest grandma types in fancy purple hats devour multiple cakes and call it a well balanced lunch.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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India: Bullying a Blogger! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A website – Kerals.com decides to bully and abuse a blogger, when she protests against unfair use of her content on their website. More at Ginger and Mango.


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India: Soon to come, elections · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With the general elections scheduled soon in India, Songs of Sixpence on the prospects of the current coalition in power.


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Iran: Bloggers remember Ayatollah Khomeini · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Muslim Bloggers in Iran created a logo to remember the 19th anniversary of death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Islamic Revolution.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Student protest and hunger strike · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to [Fa]Ehterame Azadi,an Iranian blogger, more than 50 students of Tarbiat Molem University in Tehran have started hunger strike to protest against the bad condition of their university.


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Japan: Bad Comments on South Korea · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole quoted from local newspapers about Japanese foreign ministry's homepage's travel advisory on South Korea. The website gives a bad impression on South Korean society.


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Kazakhstan: Bill’s Affair Kills Hillary’s Campaign · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arman reviews an unexpected continuation of the story about alleged Bill Clinton’s lobbying for his friend’s uranium business in Kazakhstan, the affair is expected to have even worse influence on the presidential campaign of the ex-president’s wife

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: Re-repatriant wave coming? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Zhanna Zhukova reflects on the publications in the Kazakhstani media about the alleged return of former ethnic emigrants from Germany to Kazakhstan.


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Madagascar’s bloggers ambivalent about Sichuan earthquake aid · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The Malagasy government volunteered to help the international aid effort for the earthquake victims in the province of Sichuan, China. The immense proportions of the humanitarian disaster prompted the government to donate  $100,000 USD to the Chinese ambassador Wo Ruidi  in Madagascar for the rescue relief effort (fr)
The Malagasy blogosphere had mixed reactions to this donation, despite unanimously recognizing the sadness of a catastrophe of this magnitude, citing that more than 70% of the population still lives below the poverty line, there is a global food crisis and some regions in Madagascar are still trying to recover from the destruction caused by the hurricane season.
Tomavana, who also translates  for GV Malagasy,  posted on the blog, Malagasy Miray:
“Car c’est de façon quotidienne que la majorité de la population malgache affronte les difficultés de la cherté de la vie, augmentation du prix de l’huile alimentaire, de celui du carburant, des coupures “chroniques” de courants et autre cyclone de façon annuel. Or quel contraste entre le manque de fonds, excuse immanquablement invoquées par le gouvernement face à l’absence d’efficacité des réponses apportées à tous ces problèmes nationaux et cette solidarité internationale. A ce que je sache, ce don ne provient ni de l’argent de Ranjeva ni de celui du président Ra8, mais bien des caisses de l’état, donc du contribuable ?”
Tomavana’s post induced a few reactions in the comment section:
Manalina agrees with Tomavana (fr)
“Si sans cœur tu es alors sans cœur je suis … on sait tous ce qu’il en est”
The Malagasy government is working hard to strengthen the ties with China. In recent news, President Ravalomanana traveled to Shanghai in May and is on record for  wanting  to “expand collaboration with China”.   The Malagasy government also was also prompt to support China’s handling of the riots in Lhasa  in March and state that they would participate in the Beijing Olympics whether a boycott is in place or not.
Tattum believes that charity ought to start at home and Maintikely says that her grandmother is still waiting for the roof  and the walls of her home to be replaced after the latest cyclone. Maintykely also wrote in her personal blog that the president was guilty of a blatant conflict of interest when he  protected the price of oil from going up with state subsidies when he owns the company that provides most of Malagasy cooking oil.
Dotmg, on the other hand, does not understand all the negative reactions to the act of solidarity by the  Malagasy government (mg):
“Rehefa misy andrarezina lavo ve ao amin’ny tanànanareo dia tsy mandeha mamangy ianareo, na mandeha mamangy ihany fa tsy mitondra solondranombary tsy masaka, sa manome ihany fa fanahy iniana atao kely satria izy aza manankarena noho ianao, ka tsy ho hitan’ny vazan’ainan’ny hareny izay kely hataonao anaty valopy?”
Vola thinks that the shocking part is the fact that 100,000 USD is really not enough when one considers the fact that 70,000 people died and  many more are still not accounted for. If it was meant as symbolic gesture of solidarity, she asked, then wouldn’t a symbolic amount be more appropriate?
Many Malagasy bloggers have been actively raising fund for the earthquake victims in China and Cyclone victims in Myanmar through Facebook.
Another topic of international solidarity that got the Malagasy blogosphere talking was the call for help from Diana, a high school student in Mahajanga, who wants to help a baby born with a congenital malformation and his family get the proper medical treatment. The Malagasy Diaspora in Italy, France, Canada and South-Africa came together to raise funds for the operation and transport of the baby and his caregiver to the capital city, Antananarivo.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Muslim Couple in French Court  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Shaheen draws our attention to a court case between a Muslim couple in a French court in this post. The court annulled their marriage because the Muslim-born wife misled her husband and wasn't a virgin.


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Pakistan: On Democracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Pakistani Spectator on the idea of democracy – not just theoretically, but as a choice that people make.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Peru: President Says Country Closer to Overcoming Poverty · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Among the varied and recent controversial statements by Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez, and one that has provoked commentary from the most diverse political sectors, not to mention ordinary citizens, is that Peru is a step away from overcoming poverty and, moreover, soon will no longer be a developing nation.
The Lima daily, El Comercio, published the President's statement:
The President of the Republic, Alan Garcia, highlighted the reduction of poverty in 2007, affirming this decrease is a sign of the country's correct economic management, and predicting that by the year 2015 poverty will be reduced to less than 10% [of the population]. “This is good news and means that Peru is on the right path, following a good economic and social model. And, if we keep it up, in 2008 and in 2009, poverty will continue to diminish (.) My goals is to go beyond so that by 2015, we will have less than 10% [of the population living in] poverty,” he said. Based on the figures [provided by] the Peruvian National Institute of Statistics and Information (INEI), he sustained that poverty had decreased by 5.2% in the last year, meaning that one million, 380 thousand Peruvians are  no longer poor.
Roberto Bustamante, writing in El blog del Morsa [es], is skeptical and cautious, recalling criticism regarding the methodology employed by civil servants in the current government and, although he recognizes there is a decrease in poverty rates, he highlights that this reduction in poverty is not across the board and there still exists much inequality. Let's read more from his post, Less Poor People in Peru:
La verdad, a estas alturas del partido, no sé si creer. El anuncio de la reducción de la pobreza en de 44% a 39% se da en un contexto, marcado por una  alta desaprobación presidencial, y justo cuando los precios de los alimentos se están estabilizando de una forma u otra. … desde donde tengo entendido por lo que se dice, lo que se ha hecho es bajar la valla de la pobreza. De ese modo, evidentemente, hay menos pobres en el Perú. La pobreza también tiene varias caras. Para empezar, si vemos el problema de la desigualdad en términos relacionales, podremos darnos cuenta que existen accesos inequitativos inclusive  entre hombres y mujeres en espacios rurales pobres. Como se afirmó en su momento, las mujeres rurales quechuahablantes son más pobres entre los pobres.  Otro tema, ya para que me acusen de  derrotista, es la desigualdad económica. Como señalé, en efecto, a nivel macro Chile pudo haber crecido económicamente, pero eso no lo hace un país menos desigual que Perú, donde  el quintil superior es enormemente más rico que el quintil inferior, en términos de ingreso económico per cápita. Seguimos apostando por el chorreo como modelo, pero no para acortar las brechas entre los que ganan demasiado y los que ya se están ganando alguito.
Truthfully, at this stage of the game, I don't know whether to believe it or not. The announcement of the reduction in poverty from 44% to 39% [es] is given in a context marked by a high presidential disapproval rate [es]  and just when the price of the food items is becoming somewhat stable. …as far as I understand, according to what is being said, what has happened is that the threshold of poverty has been lowered. Given that fact, clearly there are now less poor people in Peru. Poverty also has different faces. To begin with, if we look at the problem of inequality in relative terms, we would see there exists inequitable access even between men and women in poor rural communities [es] . As was mentioned, rural Quechua-speaking women are among the poorest of the poor [in Peru]. Another issue, so I can be accused of being a defeatist, is economic inequality. As I mentioned, in fact, at a macro level Chile may have grown economically, but that doesn't make it a less unequal country than Peru where the top fifth of the population is enormously wealthier than the lowest fifth, in terms of per capita income. We're still betting on the trickle-down theory as a model, but not to diminish the gaps between those who earn much and those who are just now earning a little.
Dennis David in Psicosociales [es]  doesn't hesitate to categorize President Garcia's declarations as demagogic and illustrates his post, Complete demagogy: By 2015 we will no longer be Third World, with explanatory photos:
Unas cuantas fotos que muestran el abandono de los niños y damnificados del terremoto, que aún esperan apoyo; mientras el presidente García, los medios de comunicación adeptos y sus instituciones celebraban la disminución de la pobreza. ¿Por qué no muestran a esas personas que dejaron de ser pobres?. ¿Dejar la pobreza significa conseguir un trabajo con un salario de 500 soles en una service? ¿Qué significa realmente la expresión de Alan García que el Perú en el 2015 dejará de ser del tercer mundo?. ¿Moriremos todos, desaparecerá, sera un territorio de otro país? ¿Cada peruano ganará la lotería?….
[Here are] a few photos showing the abandonment of children and the survivors of the earthquake who are still waiting for aid while President Garcia, [his] supporters in the media, and his institutions celebrate the decrease of poverty. Why don't they show those people who are no longer poor? Does not being poor mean finding a job that pays a salary of 500 soles a month in a service? What does Alan Garcia's statement that by 2015 Peru will no longer be a Third World country really mean? Will we all die? Will Peru disappear? Will it become the territory of another country? Will every Peruvian win the lottery?
Cesar Vasquez in his blog, Perú: Política y Economía [es], quotes statements made by Farid Matuk, former director of the INEI (National Statistics and Information Institute) during the Toledo government, (Matuk is also quoted in the post at El blog del Morsa). The post is titled Farid Matuk explains how Alan's regime manipulated the poverty figures in Peru – Calibration: Science or Art?:
El día de hoy, martes 27 de mayo de 2008, me enteré de una característica no documentada de la medición de la pobreza que explica como se logra esta acelerada reducción de la pobreza en base a un artificio matemático, que a comienzos de 2006 había documentado para un artículo de la Revista Coyuntura de la Universidad Católica. En dicho artículo explicaba que existen cinco pasos matemáticos críticos para distorsionar la medición de la pobreza, y como en la medición del año pasado y en la del presente año se ha manipulado –con absoluta certeza– dos de los cinco pasos críticos que determinan la línea de la pobreza, y por ende el total de pobres. El primero de ellos ha sido modificar el centro de gravedad de la población de referencia, es decir donde esta el centro de la sub-muestra que determina la línea de pobreza. Desde el año pasado, el centro de gravedad son los hogares ubicados en el 38% de la distribución del ingreso, mientras que todos los estudios anteriores tenían por centro de gravedad el 40% de la distribución del ingreso. El segundo de ellos ha sido modificar el rango de referencia de la población que determina la línea de pobreza. Desde el año pasado, el rango de referencia son dos quintos de la población, mientras previamente era únicamente un quinto de la población. Ahora se tiene como rango de referencia los hogares ubicados entre el 18% y el 58% de la distribución del ingreso, mientras que antes eran los hogares ubicados entre el 30% y 50% de la distribución del ingreso.
Today, Tuesday, May 27, 2008, I learned about a non-documented characteristic in the measurement of poverty that explains how this accelerated reduction in poverty is attained via mathematical artifice, which at the beginning of 2006 was documented in an article in Coyuntura Magazine, [published by Lima's] Catholic University. That article explained there are five critical mathematical steps to distort the measurement of poverty, and how last year's measurement, [as well as] this year's, has –with absolute certainty- manipulated two of the of those five critical steps which determine the poverty threshold, and as a result, the total number of poor people. The first of these [manipulations] has been to modify the center of gravity of the population in reference, that is, where the center of the sub-sample that determines the poverty threshold is. Since last year, the center of gravity has been those households in the 38th percentile in the distribution of income, while all the previous studies had their center of gravity at the 40th percentile in the distribution of income. The second one has been to modify the range of the population reference that determines the poverty threshold. Since last year the range of reference has been two-fifths of the population, while previous it was only one-fifth of the population. Currently, the range of reference is those households between the 18th and 58th percentile of income distribution, while previously it was households between the 30th and 50th percentile of income distribution.
President Garcia mentioned, among other thing, that soon Peru's growth would surpass Chile's. I would like to quote Giovanna Aguilar of El Gran Combo Club [es]  who coincidentally touched on the subject recently in the post, Peruvian Growth, Chilean Worries?
La revista chilena  quépasa ha publicado, en su edición del 24 de mayo, un interesante artículo de Andrés Benítez titulado  Por que Perú nunca alcanzará a Chile . En este artículo se analiza la situación de Chile y Perú en cuanto al crecimiento obtenido en los últimos años y las posibilidades que tiene el Perú de superar a Chile. Luego de cuestionar si efectivamente, el crecimiento que viene experimentando el Perú (7.1% promedio anual en los últimos años) es suficiente para superar el crecimiento y desempeño de los chilenos, reconoce que Chile ha perdido ritmo, pero que Perú no está en condiciones de alcanzarlos: “La respuesta corta es simple: estamos perdiendo el ritmo, pero de ahí a que nos alcance Perú es otra cosa”
Por otra parte en su análisis revisa cifras importantes que permiten hacer rápidas comparaciones entre países como el PBI per cápita (el de Chile es de alrededor de US$ 10,000 mientras que el de Perú es cercano a los US$ 3,500), periodos que le tomaría al Perú para alcanzar a Chile con supuestas tasas de crecimiento promedio por año, etc., para concluir que a pesar de que Perú tiene un crecimiento más acelerado que Chile en estos momentos, no lo alcanzaría. Y no sólo porque el tiempo que necesitaría para ello es largo (56 años, según sus cálculos) sino por las razones que anota, y que creo que son las que más deberían llamar nuestra atención: Perú no es un país estable económicamente y El Perú no tiene una institucionalidad estable ni eficiente.
On May 24, The Chilean magazine quépasa published an interesting article by Andres Benitez titled, “Why Peru will never surpass Chile.” In this article, he analyzes the situation between Chile and Peru with regards to its recent [economic] growth and the possibility that Peru would surpass Chile [economically]. After questioning if, in fact, the growth Peru has been experiencing (on average, annually 7.1 % in recent years) is enough to surpass the growth and performance of Chile, he recognizes that while Chile has lost its rhythm, Peru is not in condition to surpass it: “The short answer is simple: we're losing our rhythm but that Peru would overtake us is another thing.”
On the other hand, in his analysis he reviews important figures that permit quick comparison between [the two] countries; for example, their Gross Domestic Income (Chile's is around US$ 10,000, while Peru's is close US$ 3,500), the time period it would take Peru to overtake Chile with assumed rates of annual growth, etc., concluding that while Peru currently is experiencing a more accelerated growth than Chile, Peru will not overtake Chile. And not just because the time needed to do so is lengthy (56 years, according to his calculations) but for the reasons he notes [below], which I think should be the ones that we [Peruvians] should notice: Peru is neither an economically stable country nor does it have stable or efficient institutions.
In conclusion, I am going to once again quote El blog del Morsa [es] , who expands on this matter, writing in a new post, Poverty and inequality:
Seguramente en los próximos días se aclarará mejor de qué trata esta singular  reducción de la pobreza en el Perú. Con el riesgo de cometer algún traspié, al no ser economista, lanzaré algunas hipótesis. 1. Efectivamente la pobreza se ha reducido en la cifra que comentó el gobierno. Lo siguiente es preguntarnos en qué zonas y por qué motivos. Al parecer, según comentarios de los propios ministros, la reducción de la pobreza se ha dado principalmente en regiones como la costa rural (tal cual  lo ha dicho el ministro etnotravestido, Ismael Benavides). Esto puede deberse, de hecho, no solamente a la inversión privada, sino también al buen momento que tiene el maíz y otros productos destinados a la producción de combustibles. 2. No ha disminuido la pobreza significativamente en los departamentos donde hay minería. Esto va de acuerdo al incremento de la desigualdad económica en el Perú en las últimas décadas. ¿Por qué si estos sectores van tan bien (en términos de generación de riqueza para el país), la pobreza apenas ha disminuido ahí? Aquí la hipótesis puede ir más bien por la redistribución del gasto, cómo se gasta en el país y dónde hay mayor acumulación de riqueza.
Surely, in the upcoming days it will become clearer what this singular reduction in poverty in Peru is all about. Despite the risk of making a blunder, since I am not an economist, I will throw out some hypotheses: 1. Indeed, poverty has been reduced by the figures provided by the government. What is left is for us to ask ourselves in what regions and why. Apparently, according to comments made by the Ministers, the reduction of poverty has been seen primarily in regions such as the rural coast (as the much criticized Minister Ismael Benavides has said). This can be due, in fact, not only to private investment but also the current strong price of corn and other products destined for the production of food items. 2. Poverty has not decreased significantly in the departments where there is mining. This is in keeping with the economic inequality in Peru in recent decades. Why, if these sectors are doing so well (in terms of generating wealth for the country) has poverty barely diminished there? Here the hypothesis may have to do more with redistribution of wealth, how the country consumes, and where there is the greater accumulation of wealth.
And well, another point to note is that the media harshly refuted the government of ex-President Toledo and his head of the INEI, Farid Matuk, when they announced the country was growing and poverty was beginning to diminish. It seems that not all the presidents receive the same treatment. As demonstration of this, I invite you to read the post Article in the BBC, which Carlos translates in his blog Peruanista. In any case, there are still two years of the APRA-led government. Let's hope they don't end like Garcia's previous government with rampant inflation.
Translation by Alejandro García

author: Juan Arellano


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Turkey: Largest Telecom IPO Offering · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Talk Turkey reports that Turk Telekom completed the fifth largest IPO of the world (and the largest in Turkey) by selling 15% of its stake for a total of $1.9 billion (2.4 Billion Turkish).


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Zimbabwe: Morgan Tsvangirai detained · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zimbabwean police have detained the main opposition leader: “We believe that Morgan Tsvangirai is currently being detained in Lupane Police Station. Please call the police station and alert them to the fact that the world is watching.”


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Afghanistan: Poppies to Perfumes  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Barnett Rubin analyzes a story from Jalalabad this morning about the effort to develop the essential oil and fragrance industry in Afghanistan.


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Afghanistan: Relatively Measuring Success · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reflects on an argument that May was the most violent month in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.


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Armenia: Liberalism and Gay Parades · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the reaction of a local theatre director to to much “liberalism” in Armenian society. In addition to warning that the situation will result in more pornography, the director also warned that Yerevan will eventually hold it's own gay parade. The blog disagrees with the conservative views.


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Armenia: Pro-Government Looters · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on the prosecution of three people arrested for looting in the post-election 1 March clash between opposition supporters and the authorities. Ironically, the blog notes, the men claim to be supporters of the new president and not the main opposition challenger, and says that there are always people who choose to exploit such situations for personal gain.


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Armenia/Georgia: Economic Relations · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Social Science in the Caucasus comments on a recent report it produced for the United Nations on economic relations between Armenia and Georgia. The blog says that despite an ethnically Armenian populated region in Georgia bordering Armenia providing a natural basis for the development of trade between the two, there is actually very little.


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Bahamas: Women’s Rights · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Amnesty International‘s 2008 report reminds Bahamian blogger Lynn Sweeting “that women’s rights are human rights and that human rights are in peril the world over.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bangladesh: US, Obama and Dreams · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In the middle of Nowhere from Bangladesh remembers life as a graduate student in the US, and reflects on how Obama could have a great impact on segregation in the US.


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Barbados, Bermuda, U.S.A.: What Now?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Now that Obama has the nomination…comes for me the real test.  If Obama becomes president he will be plunged into real politics and the needs of national and international balance”: Living in Barbados wonders what happens next, while Bermuda's Breezeblog is feeling “hopeful about American politics for a change.”


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Bermuda: Capital Punishment  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“There is a group on Facebook who want Bermuda to put Capital Punishment back on the books”: IMHO.bm weighs in.


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Brunei Street Rollerblading Competition  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Surkrew announces the winners of the Brunei Street Rollerblading Competition. Z-crew also blogged about the same topic.

author: Mong Palatino


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China: Who Should be Thankful? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The CCTV kept showing clips on earth victims expressing thanks to the government. Guo yu hua, an anthopologist pointed out that the government should thank Chinese people instead as they have showed high quality in supporting the relief work [zh].

author: Oiwan Lam


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Cuba: Prison Protest  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense blogs about the reported quelling of a protest by guards at Cuba's Combindado de Guantánamo prison “that started after a political prisoner tried to inform a human rights activist about abuses at the prison.”


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Czech Republic: Lisbon Treaty and Plan ‘B’ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

BBC's Mark Mardell writes about the fate of the Lisbon Treaty – and “Plan ‘B'” that's currently “kept under wraps in Prague.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Georgia: Diaspora in Russia · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Window on Eurasia says that one in five Georgians lives in the Russian Federation and considers how a sizable Georgian Diaspora might affect future relations between the two usually antagonistic countries.


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GV Summit 2008 – announcing reduced registration fees! · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

We've been working with our event partners in Hungary to have the registration fees for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008 reduced to a rate that would be more accessible to greater numbers of people.
We're delighted to announce that we've succeeded — registration fees for the Summit have been slashed from €210 (approx US$323) to US$152 for both Summit days (June 27 and 28), including lunch and refreshments, for those registering before June 25. Complete pricing details are available at our registration page, where our online registration system should be up and running shortly.
The Global Voices (virtual) office has been abuzz with growing excitement as the Summit date draws near. As many of you know, our community is scattered across the globe and in spite of working very closely and successfully together on a daily basis, the Summit is the only point in the year where we meet face-to-face as a group.
Nearly 80 members of the Global Voices community will be coming to Budapest from various parts of the world for the Summit, including a number of grantees of our Rising Voices outreach program, plus several guests arriving specially for the Global Voices Advocacy portion of the program. Countries  represented at the Summit so far include Burma, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Trinidad and Tobago, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Venezuela, China, India, Tajikstan, Bolivia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Iran, Kenya, Singapore, Bahrain, Peru, Malawi, Tanzania, UK, Philippines, Colombia, Canada, Japan, Serbia, France, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Taiwan and Armenia.
If you haven't yet visited the Summit web site and checked out our exciting program, we encourage you to do so. The moderators have been posting entries on the Summit blog previewing the panel topics and presenting the panelists, and we look forward to receiving your comments and input. For those of you who won't be joining us in Budapest, stay tuned for information about how you can participate remotely.
The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008 is taking place thanks to the support of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Open Society Institute, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the European Journalism Centre and dotSUB.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Hong Kong: 64 Art Action at Time Square · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A group of artists performed at Time Square to memorize June 4. Tinywest posted a short video at inmediahk.net on their performance.


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Hungary: Attitudes, Politics, Economy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Desmond McGrath of A Fistful of Euros writes about Hungary's politics and economy – and the fact that 61 percent of Hungarians seem to prefer life under communism.


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Iran: Come debate with us,Mr.Ahmadinejad · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Talkhon, an Iranian blogger, says [Fa] to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, please forget debating with Americans and come debate with Iranian young people who wants talk with you about the lack of freedom and their daily life in Iran.


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Japan: Death Art · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chiemi from Pink Mag blogs about an art exhibition on death theme. The writer inteviews the gallery owner Narutoshi Sekine about this art category.


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Japan: Haunting Beauty · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Edo from Pink Tectacle introduces a digital art genre by Yoshitaka Kawakami. Most of the works are about haunting look of school girls. The artist's gallery is here.


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Japan: OpenWeb.Asia · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Serkan Toto blogs about the openweb.asia project which is designed to be a network of premium blogs written in English that deal with IT, Tech and web stuff coming from Asia.


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Japan: Photograph Memorial Service and Festival · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan introduces a Shinto rite called photograph memorial service and festival hold by the Ozaka Shinto shrine.


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Kazakhstan: Did Kazakhstan Give the Election to Obama? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust opines on the Kazakhstan connection in a Clinton affair, which subsequently had an undermining effect on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.


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Kyrgyzstan: Someone is Relaxing, Someone is Fighting · Global Voices
Elena Skochilo

Undoubtedly, the meeting of the Kyrgyz bloggers became the most under discussion event of the Kyrgyz blogosphere in the second half of May. 27 bloggers met and even the bad weather didn’t prevent their nice communication.
Mr_carlson wrote  [ru]:
“To be honest, I was afraid that the participants of the meeting wouldn’t take an interest into each other. People are different ages, tastes and interests. The only mutual thing  we have are blogs. But I has been wrong, because the atmosphere of the meeting was just marvelous”.
Edil Baisalov, aka baisalov, one of the famous Kyrgyz blogger which began to post in his blog again after his scandal with the voting paper and escaping to Sweden commented [ru] this meeting.
“My congratulations! Now you can hold the different parties, meeting and political debates like in Moscow Russian LJ-bloggers do. There is one potential minus. If you know to each other, will be friends, will it be possible to have a variety of the opinions, or the Kyrgyz bloggers will have a group think?”
Kazakhstan’s blogger mantrovkz told [ru]:
“It’s positive meeting. The Kyrgyz bloggers are cool. Having such cute team you can easy make some business. I think you will find any needed specialist among the Kyrgyz bloggers”.
The other “relaxing” event became the arrival of the famous Russian rock-group Spleen to Bishkek. Unfortunately, the rainy weather made shorten the concert, but the Kyrgyz bloggers were lucky to make the excellent photos.
smilingyulka posted [ru] some photos from the concert and timurrs presented [ru] very nice portraits of the singer of Spleen.
When someone was relaxing, someone was fighting.
The scandal with the Speaker Adahan Madumarov became the most unexpected event of the last week of May. Baisalov wrote [ru]:
“I’ve forgotten about the days, when people adored Adahan and looked with admiration at him. How did he perform at the parliament tribune, meetings and the newspapers! You should see this! When I heard that the most important achievement of his activity as the Speaker according to his words became a removal of a rubbish, I was very upset for myself”.
Some blogger zigeunerin-kgz told [ru]:
“Adahan Madumarov resigned. Is it possible that there won’t be any snarls, spiteful notes and impudent comments about every speech of the Kyrgyz depuites?”
Meanwhile, the group of users, registered at one of the most famous Kyrgyz forum Diesel decided to write a letter to the President Kurmanbek Bakiev. The users were going to insist on making a special commission to search the reasons of the limitation of the electricity and the increasing of the prices. The users didn’t content themselves with discussing these sharp questions at forum. They hold a press-conference at the news agency.
One of the users Diesel Forum, an engineer Evgeniy Pankratov told [ru]:
“Sauns are working at nights, villas have electricity round a clock, but the ordinary citizens, hospitals and schools are without the electrical light. The government should reveal the objective reasons and punish persons who are guilty of the energy crisis”
Another user and a bank worker Rustam Abykeev told [ru]:
“The government should find the alternative steps to help to solve the problems of the vulnerable populations. For example, provide monthly food package for pensioners”.
The participants of the enterprising civil group from Diesel Forum told that if they didn’t receive an answer from the President, they would obtain it through the court.
Anyway, the limitation of usage of electricity has been cancelled for summer time recently.
We shall see what we shall see…
Also posted on neweurasia.net

author: Elena Skochilo


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Malaysia cuts fuel subsidies · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Friends of According to Izzat is supportive of the Malaysian government decision to cut fuel subsidies but the blogger could not explain why gasoline price should increase by 40 percent overnight.


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Medical mission in Laos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Lao Voices blogs about the medical mission conducted by a Japanese NGO in a remote province in Laos.