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Ukraine: Crimea · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On the last day of summer, here's a translation of LJ user drugoi‘s photo report (RUS, Aug. 13) on his trip to Crimea, one of the favorite summer tourism destinations in the Soviet times, now facing fierce competition from resorts in Turkey and Egypt:
[Yalta] is like a native town for me; I was five when I was taken here for the first time, and then I've visited it an innumerable number of times, lived here for a long time and know the place very well, and miss it. I'm here now because I've missed it. It happens once every five-seven years now.
This time we've decided to stay at “Livadia” sanatorium, located in a small town near Yalta. The roofless building in the picture [Please visit the original post to see this and other pictures accompanying the text.] is part of the sanatorium's reception department. It absolutely does not mean that the rest of it looks the same. But this isn't a rare sight here, either – old things gradually collapse, new ones grow slowly, yet steadily.
Since our last visit in 2000, Yalta has changed a lot – there are more cars and more people, and every square centimeter of the city's surface is used to sell something. In summer, the resort city is desperately trying to recover what was lost during winter hibernation – everyone is selling something. A man walks out of his house, places floor scales on the sidewalk, writes on a piece of cardboard, “Scales – 1 hryvnia [$0.25]” – and he's already an entrepreneur, taking the much-needed kopeck back home.
The contrasts have grown more pronounced – utter poverty is next to luxurious limousines and palaces built over old vineyards. My favorite confectionary “Pchyolka” [“A Little Bee”], where I could stand for hours as a child, looking at the toy railway in the shop window, has been replaced with a casino. […]
[…]
They way they talk in the street is different now – there's more shokanye and fricative ‘g’ [Ukrainian pronunciation]. It appears as if people from Eastern Ukraine have replaced those from Moscow and Leningrad; the latter are now vacationing in Turkey and Egypt. There are very few cars with Russian license plates in Yalta – I've seen two or three.
[…]
[Livadia]'s center is a small square near a bus station. Buses are no longer running – they've been replaced with Mercedes minivans and taxis. There's also a small market here, where you can buy anything your soul desires. Our lifestyle here is the proper lifestyle of a Soviet tourist in Yalta – we buy watermelons, boiled corn, and drink homemade wine on our balcony.
[…]
[The Livadia Palace], next to which we live, has lost its calm grandeur and has turned into yet another money-making machine. Souvenir tents surround the palace, and there're wax sculpture exhibitions and God knows what else inside. Next to the home church of [the Romanovs], music is blaring day and night from the restaurants stuck right to the palace.
[…]
Take a few steps from the palace – whose flower beds are still taken care of, sort of – and there's ruin. Garbage is under every bush and no one's taking it away.
[…]
[Behind the summer residence of the last Russian czar], the stench of [excrements] was unbearable and none of the street lamps was intact – it looked like someone had deliberately torn off the light bulbs […] out of them.
[…]
Below are a few comments of the 132 that this post has received:
imitator_ua:
They steal a lot in Crimea's [government] :( No one's looking after the historical monuments – the whole territory has been given away to [individual entrepreneurs], and officials are pocketing the money obtained from them. Turkey and Egypt are indeed a better deal now – they, at least, have normal service and it's clean there.
bataky:
Terrible… to treat the land like this (wherever it is, in Crimea, St. Petersburg or Ryazan…). They talk about the government, [the Orange and the Blue ones], about a lack of funding… But it's so simple! When you go camping with friends, take an extra garbage bag with you. And everything will change right away…
gena_rublev:
We were in Crimea two years ago because of the problems with my foreign travel passport. I haven't had such a terrible vacation in a long time. In Simeiz, we paid $30 a day for a room that didn't have a bathroom of its own, where water was being turned on on schedule, and the landlady, named Evgeniya Nikolayevna, was running around the hallways, inquiring loudly who hadn't flushed the toilet completely, instead of cleaning it quietly by herself.
Then I quickly cleared up the situation with my passport and we went to Montenegro. For 20 euros a day we had everything there, including free grape vodka, sailing the sea in our landlords’ boat, and everyone's love. All this as well as the relative cleanliness and the European idea of what service is. Crimea does not deserve our oil dollars.
P.S. On the way to the beach in [Simeiz], there was a turd – it lay right in the middle of the road, drying in the sun. In the 14 days of our stay in this resort town, no one bothered to take it away.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: Rinat Akhmetov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man.

source: news-globalvoices

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


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Ukraine: Tymoshenko vs Yanukovych · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The election is a month away and Yulia Tymoshenko campaign rallies are reported to be drawing crowds of supporters. Alluding to president Yushchenko's 2004 poisoning, Foreign Notes writes that Tymoshenko “should watch what she eats from now on, and especially keep away from sushi…”


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Ukraine: Volunteerism Promotion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn bought her first car in Ukraine and has spent some time driving it in and around Kyiv, and now she's off for a week of traveling with a group of international volunteers as part of the UNV Volunteerism Promotion Campaign.


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Ukraine: “What Will the Elections Change?” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Taras Kuzio compares Ukrainian politicians to their French counterparts: “Yulia could become Ukraine’s Thatcher or Sarkozy – Yushchenko will always be a Chirac. Maybe a woman can do what a man could never.”


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Americas: Wikipedia in Spanish Not Growing · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Wikipedia in Spanish does not grow due to policies that cannot differentiate between self-promotion and actual topics writes Fabio.com.ar [ES].

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bolivia: Gathering of Bloguivianos · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

On September 1, Bolivian bloggers from across the country and some from abroad will gather in Santa Cruz for the first annual gathering of “Bloguivianos. [ES]” This gathering will provide the opportunity for some that have only corresponded through blogs or email to meet in person, and participate in a variety of discussions involving bloggers especially involved in those areas.
Organized by Mundo Al Revés [ES] and CEPAD [ES], as well as a committee comprised of bloggers Vania Balderrama [ES] , Jessica Olivares [ES] , José Andres Sanchez [ES] , Renzo Colanzi [ES] , Pablo Carbone [ES], Sebastian Molina [ES], and María Escándalo [ES].
The program for the day [ES] includes panels Blogs and Literature,  Blogs and Politics, Blogs and Journalism, and Blogs and Networks.  The day also features short presentations by Miguel Esquirol [ES] about the state of the Bolivian blogosphere as a representative of the community site Blogs Bolivia [ES], and from Hugo Miranda and Mario Duran about the Voces Bolivianas project in El Alto.
Miranda is also live blogging the event and updates will appear on the Bloguivianos site throughout the day.
In order to ensure that there is representation from across the country, the Voces Bolivianas project supported by Rising Voices offered two travel scholarships [ES] to two bloggers from El Alto, Willmar Pimentel [ES]  and Cristina Quisbert [ES].


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Brazil: Clarice Lispector on YouTube · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The Spectacled Bear comes across a fantastic adaptation of Clarice Lispector’s Tentação (Temptation) on YouTube and leaves a piece of advice about the Brazilian/Ukrainian writer: “If you haven’t read any Clarice Lispector/Giovanni Pontieiro yet, this video might just inspire you to get to the bookstore.”

author: Paula Góes


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Brazil: Violence and cinema · Global Voices
Paula Góes

John Baeyens comments on Manda Bala, the Jason Kohn‘s film chosen as the best documentary of Sundance Festival, and on violence in Brazil.  “Until you don’t understand that strange contrast of morale you won’t understand the roots of the violence and the reason why Brazilians take it as a part of their life”.


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China Telecom blocks FeedBurner RSS feeds · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

It has been reported that people who are using China Telecom are unable to access FeedBurner feeds. FeedBurner, which has been acquired by Google Inc since June, 2007, is the leading provider of RSS feeds, powering hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and news feeds (August 27, 2007: Feedburner is feeding 535,003 publishers who’ve burned 913,490 feeds).
More on Global Voices Advocacy

author: sami ben gharbia


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Colombia: Hiperbarrio Workshops · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The project Hiperbarrio, an outreach project based in Medellin, recently completed its first two workshops in the neighborhood of Santo Domingo Savio.  A podcast recorded by the workshop facilitators and the creation of blogs by the participants are two of the articles on the project blog.


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Happy Blog Day 2007 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

It's the third annual international day of hyperlinked love – Blog Day 2007. The Global blogosphere has grown tremendously since Israeli blogger Nir Ofir first came up with the idea of every blogger introducing five new bloggers to his or her readership.
Although the internet erases the physical distance between us, real life barriers such as differences in language and culture still persist and we often end up grouping ourselves online just as we do offline. Blog Day gives us a chance one day each year to reflect on who we tend to interact with online. Do they come from our same country? Speak our same language? Belong to our same social class? And it also provides the opportunity to invite new members to our online circles of friends. Blog Day is when we stop being shy and start saying hi.
With the help of Global Voices authors, editors, and translators, here is a small sampling of how bloggers across the world chose to commemorate the event.
Chefuri, a blog which normally focuses solely on cooking, decided to link to five blogs that have nothing to do with the kitchen:
Este es un post especial para celebrar el día de los blogs. Este iniciativa tiene como objetivo dar a conocer otros blogs que no tienen nada que ver en temática o idioma al blog que los recomienda. No hay ninguna norma que diga que un aficionado de la cocina no puede ser aficionado también a la informática o al baloncesto. Pues el espíritu de este post es mostrar 5 blogs recomendados por Chefuri y Chefwww que no tienen nada que ver con las gastronomía.
They go on to explain why they recommended Pizirisas, a video blog about basketball; Noticias Tech, which focuses on tech gadgets; El Rincon de Laura, a podcast about the “adventures and misadventures of a girl of the 21st century”; and DSWii, all about video games.
While most bloggers, like Chefuri, commemorated the day online, others got together offline. In Phnom Penh a group of motivated young people organized the first-ever Cambodian Bloggers’ Summit. You can read more about the summit on posts by Chantra, Details are Sketchy, and Sopheap. Preetam Rai and Steve Goodman both have lots of pictures from conference.
In Peru a large group of bloggers also met up offline. Johan Tennassi shares the agenda [ES] for BlogDayPeru [ES]. It includes the collection of donated goods for victims of the recent Peruvian earthquake and, later, a meetup in Lima's Mochileros Bar.
No massive reunion was planned in Colombia, however blogs are already linking to others. Comúnica wondered:
El portal encargado de promocionar la iniciativa lanza esta nueva versión que dice ser la tercera. ¿Qué tipo de acogida ha tenido? Es algo que valdría la pena saber.
Then, a day later, the blog was selected as one of the 5 recommended blogs from the Blogotemático podcast, a podcast about the Colombian blogging scene. Jorge Andrés Echeverry Mejía, Comúnica´s administrator has gone beyond the five recommendations in a post: he has written a separate article for each of the 5 selected blogs.
Colombia´s bloggers are currently posting their personal recommendations. Some of them are: vagabundos VIP, Piso Tr3s, Ojo al Texto, Fábrica de Cosas, user experience, medeamaterial and huellasPyP.
From Panama, everyone's favorite food blogger, Melissa de Leon, posted a bilingual video celebrating the day.
Writing from Johannerburg, South Africa, Glad to be a Girl recommends five blogs for Blog Day, which includes AfriGadget: Gadgets for Africa: Solving everday problems with African ingenuity.
This site is hysterical, especially after my recent travels and those brilliant wooden Congo bicycles!
And Credo Mutwa: Zulu Shaman, traditional healer, Zulu Sangoma & High Sanusi
Hmmmm, I added this one because Witch Doctors fascinate me … I'm not sure how much of it I'd read, but it certainly piques my curiosity!
Mrs M begins her Blog Day post:
So apparently, I’m supposed to recommend blogs I read to everybody…let’s see: I completely dig reading Postsecret. It’s just nice to know there are other people in the world with inadequacies too. I’ve recently discovered The Divine Miss M (no, not an unmarried version of myself) who’s from London, works in television and has a crazy director person to answer too. Indeed hilarious a read this one. My (amazing) friend Tobes Hanks is witty and engaging about news, life, journalism and irritating shit like the uselessness of having people around in general…
Ndagha decided to congratulate all bloggers, particularly Malawians:
Congrats to all bloggers in particular those coming from Malawi. Let us take this opportunity to blog and make our contributions be part of the global voice. Sorry that I have been too busy to write more than this on this important and historic day. Otherwise you can see that I enjoy blogging!
Vicki begins by explaining how Blog Day is celebrated:
Blog Day is traditionally marked by linking to five blogs which step outside one's comfort zone – the kind of blogs one would not normally blogroll – and advising the bloggers of your linking of them.
Chinese language bloggers seem less inspired than they were this time last year. A few posts came in from Taiwan, nearly nothing from Hong Kong, but a good couple dozen from China; perhaps a more creative shtick will bring better results in 2008.
Mainland IT bloggers were all over 3108 Day, casting their votes for the best 2.0 services that China's 130 million bloggers have to offer; Paopao at A Colourful Bubble? hits all corners with her choice five, sending readers to sites like Digg blogalike “fried egg” Jandan and Show Web 2.0. Over to Jandan's Blog Day votes we find cartoon blog TuDang, a trend PiscDong went with with his pick of doodle blogger DemiDov, ditto for NoKV who recommends blog artist Cherry Xue. WordPress user Yamalu remembers to give a tip of the hat to world-class sheer force of search, speed and thought bloggers like He “Veg Head” Caitou in his post, ‘Merry Blog Day’.
Naomed of Blog politique au Senegal uses Blog Day to depart from his usual themes–corruption, women's rights or political intrigues–showcasing blogs about his personal interests, like astronomy or Japanese floral arrangement.
For JIMaroc.com, blogging is a path to life improvement:
Dans ce jour du blog, nous tenons à remercier les lecteurs qui respectent nos initiatives, ceux qui nous encouragent, ceux qui commentent avec sincérité nos articles, ceux qui nous critiquent en nous montrant avec des évaluations lucides le bon chemin, ceux qui font preuve d'amour et d'intérêt…car, en restant attentif aux évolutions d'un blogger, en lui faisant des remarques réflechies, on fait du bien autour de nous.
And Moroccan blogger citoyenhmida reminds his readers that:
Dans la blogama, nous trouvons d'excellents espaces, parfois extrêmement animés, parfois très personnels, souvent engagés, des blogs…
From Serbia
In a public announcement about Blog Day, a political party, Strengths of Serbia Movement pointed out, that for them, the only way to have a say in that country is by using means provided by the Internet, because many traditional media boycott their activities. Blogs are important asset to every democracy as they picture freedom of expression. This organization whose president, Bogoljub Karic is politically exiled from the country says, the authorities should engage in promoting blogging culture and making infrastructure available, as only 23.9 percent of population goes online in Serbia.
From all of us at Global Voices, we wish you a happy Blog Day and we hope that our site serves as a bridge to meet new bloggers from around the world. If we missed your Blog Day post, please tell us about it in the comments section.

author: David Sasaki


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Kenya: WikiLeaks publishes report on corruption in Kenya · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mental Acrobatics breaks the news: “Earlier today part of the Kroll report on corruption in Kenya was leaked to the whistler blowers’ site WikiLeaks.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Kuwait: Dedicated Post · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese blogger Fonzy, who is based in Kuwait, dedicates this post to “a blogger friend, who became an email friend, then a chatting friend, then a real-life friend. And this post is simply what I think of her, after getting to know her.”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Kuwait: Lost Monkey · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yo_ghurt from Kuwait has seen a lost monkey in Salwa. Has anyone lost a monkey, she asks?


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Mexico: Enchilada Festival · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

“Who could live in Mexico without trying enchiladas?”  Now Mexicans and tourists alike will get a chance to try nearly 200 varieties of this typical dish.  Vivir Mexico [ES] provides details of the Enchilada Festival in Iztapalapa.


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Morocco: More on the Upcoming September 7 Elections · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

The September 7 Moroccan legislative elections are just one week away.  Last week,  we heard from Moroccan bloggers about the voting and elections process; this week we'll hear more about the different political parties and expected outcomes.
First off, Agadir Souss (fr) has provided introductions to two parties in the running: The USFP (Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires or Socialist Union of Popular Forces), and the PI (Parti d'Istiqlal or Independence Party).  The blogger promises to provide information on the other parties, saying:
Nous nous contenterons donc de proposer nos points de vue respectifs, jeunes et le plus objectifs possibles, en souhaitant une interactivité avec les lecteurs à travers leurs opinions et leurs éclaircissements
Mohamed El Kortbi of Partageons nos passions (fr) (“Let us share our passions”) has posted several photos of election-related locations, including this one:
Amina Talhimet (fr) espouses on the diversity of those campaigning:
Oui, ces élections ont ce quelque chose d'historique. Ultraconservateurs (islamistes pour les médias), conservateurs (droite historique), socialistes, anciens communistes, gauche de la gauche (anciens socialistes, anciens gauchistes) travaillistes, ruraux, centristes, indépendants, libéraux, partis nés de rien…sont tous au rendez-vous. Ils ont compris qu'il fallait que l'Histoire s'écrive avec eux.
Toute la question maintenant est de savoir, si ces mouvements politiques, qui ont tous leur légitimité, certains plus que d'autres bien sûr…, auront la capacité de mobiliser des madame et monsieur tout le monde dans le Maroc d'aujourd'hui. Celui où des jeunes de 18 ans vont voter pour la première fois dans l'histoire du pays. De cette frange importante de la population pour qui politique rime avec gros mot. De tous ces gens depuis si longtemps habitués à vendre leur dignité à l'insu de leur plein pour moins d'un kopeck…
The main question now is whether or not these political movements which are all legitimate, some more than of others of course, will have the capacity to mobilize Mr. and Mrs. everyday person in Morocco today. The Morocco in which some 18-year-old youngsters will vote for the first time in the history of the country, this important fringe of the population for whom politics rhymes with idiotic. All these people who are all too accustomed to sell their dignity without their full consent for less than a kopeck…
The ruling party wants to offer free internet access, but Rage Attitude call this a Utopian pipe dream:
Dans la ville phare du tourisme marocain, la municipalité peine encore à ramasser les ordures, à assurer complètement l'éclairage, à proposer des transports en commun dignes de ce nom, et à finir ses projets à temps, alors que c'est ce même USFP qui a la majorité au sein du conseil municipal. Loin de moi l'idée d'en dénigrer le Président, ce sont surtout les scissions et les conflits d'intérêts entre les membres qui imposent cette léthargie. Offrir alors Internet au peuple s'apparente à l'utopie !
Finally, Moonlight (fr) shares with us her growing concern that something unsavory is amiss:
Plus que quelques jours avant les élections législatives mais bizarrement la tension ne monte pas beaucoup. Peu de contacts des candidats avec le public et jusqu'à présent, je n'ai pas vu d'affiches placardées dans ma commune, de quelque parti que ce soit…Je ne comprend pas beaucoup ce qui se passe. Cela n'augure rien de bon. Les jeux sont-ils faits d'avance?

author: Jillian C. York


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Peru: Perception of the National Police · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Police in Peru receives very little respect and confidence from the country as a whole according to a national survey. Desde El Tercer Piso [ES] comments on why this is so, but acknowledges several shortcomings in the institution that may lead to some of these problems.


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South Africa: I should not be alive: a multimedia story · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“I should not be alive,” is a multimedia story from South Africa: “The story is about a South African who joined the SAS as a medic and was sent to serve in the front lines in Iraq. That’s about the extent of my spoiler so watch the video in the embedded player below to see how the rest of the story unfolds…”


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Taiwan: It’s all online games’ fault? · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

A fifteen-year-old teenager boy committed suicide because his parents no longer allowed him to play online games. Old Yuan and Old Yin doubt about the lack of teenagers’ voices(zh) on mainstream media reports, and Mr. Friday is questioning whether the problem is from Internet indulging as many report has inserted, or the ill-functioning communication between kids and parents(zh).

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Taiwan: What should be recalled? The Festival or the county’s head commissioner? · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

12 years, since 1996, Yilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival has successfully played the role of train to pull the touring industry of Yilan county, integrated local community, and hence become the model of all the other burgeoning and upcoming cultural festivals held at every city, every county and every town. However, you, no matter you are a Taiwanese or a foreigner, an adult or a child, will not be able to attend next years’ folklore and folkgame festival at Yilan any longer because this year's festival is going to be the last.
The well-known folklore and folkgame festival witnesses a different path of development took by Yilan citizens from the other areas in Taiwan through several different leadership of different political parties, many Yilan citizens were also proud of having the festival doing so well. But why such a once brilliant model of local activity must end this year? The head commissioner of Yilan County Lu Guo Hwa who announce this message 「in a sudden」 blamed the fatality of the festival to 「the change of time and space contexts and the flux of price index which affect people's visiting willingness, and has seriously damaged the financial base of holding another folklore and folkgame festival」(zh;report from UDN). And, without receiving any financial support(zh; report from UDN) from central government, the head commissioner is forced to make this decision with great sorrow. While he also said with full confidence that a new summer project for Yilan will be planned as a replacement of folklore and folkgame festival before the end of September, and he also promised the scale of it will be as great as any festivals in last 12 years–it does not sound like a very serious promise though.
Volare, who has been a working crew of the festival, tells us the hidden agenda and contradiction behind the curtain:
自從去年12月選舉換大大老闆，今年2月換大老闆以來，整個工作團隊就一直處在double低氣壓狀態；老闆們想新人新氣 象，利 用2006 ICFFF替自己增添功績，可是又沒有提出啥麼具體的方案，而我們這些第一線的工作人員所做的分析，卻也不入他們的眼；他們一個指示下來就是要辦雙園區 51天，也不管籌畫時間夠不夠，是否有足夠資金這樣辦理，我們就是得硬幹。再加上大大老闆一心認為ICFFF是前人功績，他的累贅，根本無心打理這一活 動…
After last December's election, we have a new big big boss, then this February we have a new big boss, and the whole crew members are under double depression since then; bosses like to use new faces and want to create good records for themselves with the 2006 ICFFF while delivering no concrete plan. The analysis made by us, who stand on the frontline, can never get their attention. They simply ordered a 51 days, 2 playgrounds of festival without caring about the lack of time to prepare, the lack of money to manage–we just had to do it! Furthermore, our big big boss always thinks of the ICFFF a record made by former head commissioners and a dragging dead weight on his shoulder, so actually he paid no enthusiasm on this activity…
Lack of Budget is the one and maybe the most important factor that stifles the festival, but the meaning of festival cannot be tagged by a single price, especially to most Yilan citizens and thousands and thousands of tourists who once enjoyed in the festival. In fact, the host has been using the most economic and efficient way running the festival. Lee Jin Huei, the former chief executive of the festival, explained the tight squeeze of holding the festival last year.
其他縣市經常羨慕宜蘭可以用這麼優惠的條件邀請到這麼多優秀的表演團隊，可是一聽到要自己連繫這麼多國際事務、又不能委託經紀公司代辦就紛紛打退堂鼓。
Many other cities and counties envied that Yilan could successfully invite so many awesome groups of performers with such inexpensive offerings, but when they heard that we had to deal with such huge amount of international affairs without having an outside agency to take charge on behalf of us, they just retreated.
She attributed the success of ICFFF to the perfect timing, great place, and well-working crew and performers; however, what followed the success are poor imitation and the penny pincher attitude of the local government which implanted its fatality.
Since Commissioner Lu announced the end of this 12-year-old model activity before entering any discussion with any local tourism business runners, the opposite political figures show their disapproving against his hurried and brash decision and their sorrow right away. Just as expected, the topic of an once brilliant activity grew by DPP local head commissioners killed by new KMT head commissioner is a even more brilliant excuse for a coming political fight, which could merely blurred the focus of issues and the untimely future of ICFFF. Many Yilan citizen bloggers soon speak out their mind, and some of them are ready to go further–starting cosign for the continuity of ICFFF and the recall of the head commissioner!
The Short-hair Girl in the Ivory Tower(zh)heard the news and just felt pleased and sorrow at the same time. She thinks that the ICFFF has lost Yilan's smell, and it's time to end. She hopes that in the future the tourists to Yilan would cherish her hometown much more instead of being visitors for only a couple of days. Little Rain Frog does not agree with the Officials that:
官方竟然將「特色被模仿」當作人潮流失的理由，可見他們根本不瞭解，特色需要不斷的創新，環境需要不斷的維護，稍微鬆懈，「品質」就沒了。
It's unbelievable that the officials uses 「specialty been imitated」as a reason people don't visit anymore. From the stupid reason we can see that they don't understand the specialty needs to be recreated and the environment needs constant maintain. A bit of loose will cost all the quality.
On the Official blog of ICFFF(zh), kkman just started the 「I JUST WANT ICFFF」cosign(zh). And Mark, a geek with political sensitive even began the online campaign to recall Commissioner Lu(zh).
當早上聽到宜蘭縣長呂國華宣佈停辦『宜蘭國際童玩節』，我只有一個單純的想法，這是宜蘭人自己造的孽，必須宜蘭人自己來解決…辦的不好，可以改進。但是停辦，就再也沒有機會。
When I woke up with the news that the Commissioner Lu had announce that this year's ICFFF to be the last ICFFF, I had only one simple thought: it's our own failure and we shall figure it out on our own…unsatisfying activity can be approved, but once you end it, there is no more chance.
Mark's idea is soon followed by many. Jas as an Yilan citizen, a designer who cares about public affairs and well-known blogger thinks that the commissioner was just covering his lack of ability by ending the ICFFF:
我們甚至看不到絲毫企圖解決問題的積極方案，這連帶也讓人懷疑縣府對問題評估的正確性…缺乏正向挑戰問題勇氣與作為的人，我們確實應該質疑他們察覺問題、解決問題的能力
We can't even see any positive plans coming out to solve the problems, which make me curious about how correct it is when the gov. measured the obstacles…A man without the gut to challenge the problems in the face and do something to them, well, we should be suspicious on their ability to find out what is wrong and what should be done.
Jas made two beautiful stickers for bloggers within his short lunch break time.
On the social bookmark wesite HEMiDEMi, people gathered and discussed this online activity. brahman brought out a possible solution(zh):
不知道國際童玩節有沒有商標專利？ 如果宜蘭基於財政考量，不想續辦，那麼看看其他縣市有沒有興趣要接手的，用一筆象徵性的價格把整套商標及活動流程買過來，也許這是個三贏的辦法?
Is there any trademark  or  patent protection on ICFFF? If the Yilan county has no willingness to continue because of financial concern, then maybe some other counties would like to take hand–just buy the whole trademark and activity rundown with a symbolic price–and maybe this is a win-win-win solution.
Rainlan says in HEMiDEMi's discussion(zh):
回憶、檢視一下呂國華競選縣長時的承諾吧 「…闢建亞洲最大的台灣風味小吃城，發展集觀光、美食、特產行銷及精緻工藝品販售的台灣風味美食廣場，以及推動海洋之星計畫，如籌建海岸、海面及海底 的奇景觀光遊樂區、海洋文化館、藍色走廊、賞鯨之旅…等具體競選牛肉」 哪一項已經做到或規劃了？！小吃城、美食廣場在哪裡？上個月，縣府規劃的購物網站也面臨關站的命運，哪來推廣「特產行銷與精緻工藝品販售」啊！
Let's review his election campaign. Here are his promises: 「To build the largest Taiwanese local cuisine market in Asia. To promote tourism, delicious foods and handicrafts to the world. To contruct the 『Ocean Star」 project, including recreational area at coastal region, oceanic culture museum, whale-watching tour, etcs.」 Where are those projects now? Has he done anything? The cuisine-shopping website designed by local government was closed last month. Where are those promotion and marketing now?
munch shares his criticism(zh):
同質性高，不是各地縣市節慶、私人樂園的能力大增，而是童玩節本身降格以求，放棄冬山河、乃至蘭陽平原的文化厚度，吸引迷戀後山 的朝聖客，反而淪落到拿著冬山河水清涼一夏的肉博戰，進入同質性高的商業戰場。 如果，只是多一個戲水場所，那麼童玩節再見吧！
The reason for the 「similarity」 is not because the other local festivals and private wonderlands are getting much excel in their business, but because the ICFFF degraded itself and turned its back on the cultural thickness grown by Dong Shan River and the LanYan Plan, and the pilgrims who are enchanted by 後山. Instead it fell low to become a flesh battle titled with Cool Summer using the water of Don Shan River, therefore into the business battlefield with no difference between each competitor. If ICFFF represents nothing but one more place for dabblers, then let's just say goodbye to it!
Now we'll just wait and see whether these online campaigns are going to bring a second life to ICFFF or just become what ICFFF has became: a dying activity. However, we hope that democracy runs on the rail, and we also hope that Internet can be a powerful tool to push democracy forward and let politicians hear citizen's voice. Just as Jas say(zh):
我們是鄉民，鄉民只知道貼貼紙話嘴炮，鄉民只知道童玩節給我們帶來的樂趣，鄉民只知道你不會做事就下台換人吧。
We are mobs, we mobs can only put on stickers and shout out lod online, we mobs only know the happiness ICFFF once brought to us, we mobs only know that if you are incapable then you shall be replaced.


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Tanzania: Tea that cures everything! · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

When the people behind the movie, The Listening Project, visited “where we were all created” and drank tea that cures everything!: “One day we went to a Masai Traditional Doctor. Got a tea that cures everything. It really does. Allan has never once had Malaria… drinks that tea daily and now I will as well. Over drinks that night Allan mentioned that there was a Black Panther in Exile in Arusha – Pete O’Neal. We talked about trying to meet him.”


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ThinkProgress blog banned from the U.S. military network in Baghdad · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

The liberal ThinkProgress blog has been banned from the U.S. military network in Baghdad. “The ban began sometime shortly after Aug. 22, when Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste was our guest blogger on ThinkProgress. He posted an op-ed that was strongly critical of the President’s policies and advocated a “responsible and deliberate redeployment from Iraq.” ThinkProgress said.


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Zambia: Fighting early pregnancies in Zambia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The work of Tufune WORTH Group in Zambia: “The inspiring women of the Tufune WORTH group have begun to use their collective power to fight promiscuous behavior and early pregnancies among young girls.”


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Zimbabwe: China withdraws support for Mugabe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

China withdraws support for Mugabe: “At the very least, they can smell change in the air.  Zimbabwe's no longer bankable, no longer a country in which to make long-term investments in industries or in people.”


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Argentina: Wikimedia Association Formed · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

There is a proposal to bring the 2009 Wikimania conference to Buenos Aires by the recently formed Wikimedia Argentina Civil Association writes Blog Pasa en Buenos Aires [ES].


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Argentina: Zoo At Night · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Buenos Aires Weekly is curious about the new program at the Buenos Aires zoo that will allow 20 visitors to tour to see the nocturnal animals at their more active times.


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Brazil: Adventure in São Paulo · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The second one of a ten part series of videos “Around Brazil” is available online. In a 45 minute programme, it aims “to show that although Sao Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world, it has a culture and diversity that is absolutely unique.” The videos are presented in English.


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Brazilian festival in New Jersey · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Off The Broiler writes on the 15th Annual Brazilian Independence Day festival, which is happening in New Jersey until September 3. “Last year I was yelled at for not giving anyone advance notice about one of the best Jersey food and cultural events of the year”.


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China: Charity pulled for thankless poor students · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A lot of embarrassed discussion has come out of the scandal this past week which many are calling CharityGate (慈善门), when five of the nineteen lower-income university students sponsored by an impromptu charity group consisting of twenty-two businesswomen in Xiangfan, Hubei province had their second year of funding cut as punishment for not expressing thanks to their benefactors.
Freelance blogger-pundit and senior news editor Chang Ping writes on his Tianya blog that ‘charity must not be about demands‘:
在襄樊市的一个助学活动中，主办者宣布取消5名大学生继续受助的资格，原因是他们“受助一年多，没有主动给资助者打过一次电话、写过一封信，更没有一句感谢的话”。就因为没有当面言谢，慈善变成了对受助者的惩罚和谴责。主办方和捐助者真的可以这样理直气壮吗？
从报道中可以看出，主办方组织的19位女企业家一年前曾经作出承诺，以结对子的方式，每年向22名贫困大学生捐助1000～3000元。承诺至少是一种君子协定吧，这些钱也不多，大学生们应该不会怀疑捐助者中途毁约，还有可能根据这个承诺安排了自己的学业和生活。如今，承诺才兑现了四分之一，女企业家们就要取消，没有听到感谢这个理由实在是有些勉强。不仅如此，还把他们作为“不知感恩”的“无情大学生”典型予以公开谴责。杀鸡吓猴，其他还在继续接受捐助的大学生的压力可想而知。
不能说这5位大学生没有过错，但是我认为，在这件事情中，女企业家们的做法过错更大，不仅使已经深受物质之困的穷人又增加了精神压力，而且扭曲了慈善的意义。
在中国，慈善被普遍视为一种施恩的行为。施恩的观念中不仅有自身高人一等的意思，而且往往要求受惠者的回报。这样就会给受惠者造成非常大的精神压力，甚至感到屈辱，所以就有“嗟来之食”那样的故事。为了解决这个矛盾，中国古人两头劝，一边强调“施恩勿念”，一边强调“受惠莫忘”。由于施恩者总是掌握话语权，所以书上到处写满了“吃水不忘挖井人”这类训诫。
Judging from news reports, a year ago the organizer had arranged for 19 female female entrepreneurs to partner up and make the commitment to each year donate CNY1,000-3,000 to 22 impoverished university students. A commitment is at least a gentleman's agreement, and the amount of money is not large, the students most likely never have suspected that the donors would renege halfway through, and quite possibly rearranged their courses of study and lives based on this commitment. At present, only a quarter of the commitment has been honored, and now the entrepreneures want to cancel it. This reason of not having received thanks is really just a little far-fetched; and not just that, the students have been cast as “thankless” and “ruthless university students”, a typical public condemnation; with the chickens now killed to scared the monkeys, you can imagine what pressure the remaining funded students are under.
You can't say that these 5 university students have not erred, but as I see it, in this instance, the entrepreneures have made an even bigger mistake; not only have they increased the mental pressure on poor people already in deep need, but they've also distorted the meaning of philanthropy.
In China, charity is widely seen as an act of bestowing favor. The notion behind bestowing favor is not just to demonstrate one's own rank, but far too often also comes with the demand for the beneficiary to repay it. This only gives the beneficiary enormous mental pressure, even leaving them feeling humiliated; that's why there are stories like “Food Handed Out in Contempt.”
In efforts to resolve this conflict [between shame and need], Chinese in ancient times took two sides: one side emphasized “bestow the favor, but don't preach while you're at it”, and the other emphasized “you can accept the favor, just don't ever forget you did.” As those bestowing the favors were the ones also with power and influence, this is why we so often seen in books admonitions like “drink the water, just don't forget who dug the well.”
Southern Weekly editor Chen Min shares on his Netease blog a story this incident brought to mind in his post, ‘To love you need an ordinary heart‘:
前不久，我应邀去苏州德胜洋楼公司参观，刚好碰上一家老小到公司向老板谢恩。这是安徽农村的一个贫困家庭，女儿国内本科毕业后考上美国一家著名的大学读硕士，但没有相应的支付能力。不知道通过什么关系找到德胜的老板。德胜老板跟他们素昧平生，但仍慨然为他们做了经济担保。一家人非常感动，执意要到苏州致谢。德胜老板拗不过，只好同意见面，派专车把他们接到公司。其间老板坦陈心迹：我帮助你们不是我天性就这么善良，而是美国文化的影响。
为什么说是美国文化的影响呢？德胜老板曾就读斯坦福大学，留美十余年，得到美国朋友的很多帮助。他说，最初，他在感动之余，总想要如何如何回报帮助他的美国朋友。但后来他发现，那些美国朋友根本不需要他的回报，甚至不需要他的感谢，因为能帮助他的美国朋友，都很强势，经济上精神上都是完全自足的，哪用得着别人来锦上添花。而且他们帮助别人，都极其低调，都看做非常非常私人的事情，他们因帮助别人而得到一份内心上的满足和安宁，就够了，根本就不愿意谁去大肆张扬。
于是，他总结出一个心得，在得到别人的帮助后，他应该做的主要不是向帮助他的人谢恩，而是应该像帮助他的人那样，在力所能及的范围内，尽可能地去帮助身边弱势的人，最需要雪中送炭的人。这样来形成爱的接力，让需要爱的人尽可能都得到爱，这样来回报整个社会，也许才是当初帮助他的那些美国朋友的初衷。
他由此得出一个结论，美国朋友对他的帮助，最重要的不是让他成了才，而是培养了他的爱心，使他从此成了一个有爱心的人。帮助人而不求任何回报，从此成了他的性格的一部分。所以他告诫那位即将赴美的学生：到美国后，最重要的是学习美国的文化，尤其是美国的爱的文化，让自己成为一个完善的人，一个有爱心的人，用自己的行动，尽可能传播爱，让爱因为你而走的更远。
刚好从苏州回来，就读到了湖北捐助人索恩的故事。对比之强烈，让我非常感慨。就已有报道来看，说捐助人索恩或许并不准确，更准确的说法应该是捐助组织者索恩。因为我没有听到捐助人自己的说法，我只听到捐助组织者对受助者提出这样那样的条件，只听到捐助组织者大喊委屈和大表愤慨。
So to sum up what he learned from all this, he said that after having received help from others, the most important thing was not to give thanks to them, but to learn to be like them, and within the limits of what it is in his power to do, do his best to help those around him who were less fortunate than himself; like offering coal during winter, helping them when they needed it. Forming such a relay of love ensures that those who need love most will get as much as possible, and thusly repaying all of society might very well have been the original intention for those Americans who at the beginning had helped him.
From here he made a conclusion, that of the help his American friends gave him, the most important thing wasn't that this helped him to go on to become successful, but that it fostered compassion within him, made him a compassionate person. Helping people with no expectation of repayment, from then on this became a part of his personality. So he admonished that student about to go off to America: once you get to America, the most important thing you must do is to learn from American culture, especially what love is in American culture, and allow yourself to become a more perfect person, a person with compassion, and through your own actions, do your best to spread love, and through you let the love travel as far as possible.
Bullog blogger Liu Tianzhao takes a more direct approach to the subject with his post, ‘Avoid the awkwardness of philanthropy and open up civil society charity groups: the rotten subject nobody dares to write‘:
湖北襄樊22名贫困大学生，一年多以前受到当地工会组织的女企业家的捐赠，其中三分之二未给资助人写信。据说这样的表现让资助者心寒，其中5名学生今年没能再获捐赠。媒体组织捐赠的负责人认为，大学生不知感恩，缺乏正确对待他人和社会的“阳光心态”。
关于贫困大学生的心态，似乎确实有讨论的必要。实际上，贫困的年轻人如何接受自己的身份、接受对他们来说格外残忍的社会现实，这确实是一个非常值得探讨的社会命题。但是反过来，捐赠者的心态也未必就很健康。在中国传统道德中，滴水之恩涌泉相报，这是对受惠者的要求；但是施恩不图报，这也是对施惠者的期待。实际上，也只有不图报答的捐赠，才具有道德含义，否则就变成了一种交易，仿佛是去购买一种名叫“感恩”的商品。当然我们可以说，不图报答的捐赠，它也有其心理动机，那便是收获个人的道德满足感——但这是一个自足的过程，而美德之所以为美德，就是借由这种方式让自己与他人都受益。
但是，我们看到捐赠者似乎非常期待受资助的大学生写信来，否则也不会因为心里不是滋味就停止了捐赠。就像人们批评大学生不知感恩，这是一种道德谴责；如果指责捐赠者是想花钱来购买“做恩人”的感觉，那更是诛心之论。事实不过是，这一场风波中，捐赠者和被捐赠者的表现都让人感到不美好，让人觉得慈者不慈、善者不善，从哪个角度去看都找不到美德的影子，难堪且让人失望。
不过，组织捐赠的机构要求学生写信汇报自己的学习生活，这本来也是合乎情理的。因为资助方本来就有权在资助之前提出一些要求，例如这些钱必须用在哪些方面，又或者这些学生在学校的成绩必须达到某个标准——大概捐赠者或者慈善机构，都必须借助类似的方式来保证它的钱不被滥用、完成初衷。但是，在襄樊这个具体案例中，当地工会并不是一个独立的慈善机构，它只起到了一个中间人的作用。这一慈善项目采取的是“一对一”的方式，就是说出资人与受赠者必须直接接触，而那封“汇报学习生活状况”的信，也要直接写给捐赠者。
写信给资助机构或者资助个人，听起来这似乎是非常小的差别。但是只要稍微体会一下受赠者的心态，就会明白这个差别很大。直接写信给资助人，就意味着要面对一种非常不对等的关系，而且几乎是强制性地、必须表达自己的感恩之情。后来的情况证明，这种强制性不仅是心理压力，而且是行动事实。让人非常想要逃避的，或许并不是感恩，而是对感恩之心的强制要求。
Though, for the donor organization to require the students to write reports on their schooling lives is completely justified. The donor has the right, prior to granting the funds, to put forth a few requirements, such as where the money is to be spent, or what level of performance the students are to attain——basically donors and charity organizations must all make use of these sorts of approaches to ensure that their money doesn't get abused, and to see the fruition of their original intention. But in this case in Xiangfan, the local union is not an independent charity organization, it's only just played the role of middleman. And this charity project took the ‘one-to-one’ approach, wherein those putting up the money and those receiving it must meet directly; as well, the “report on state of school life” letter must also be delivered to the donor in person.
Writing letters to the funding organization or to the funders themselves sounds like a small enough difference, but if one were to experience even a little of what it's like to be a charity recipient, one would see that the difference is in fact quite large. Writing letters directly to the donors implies they will be faced with an extremely unequal relationship, with what seems would be a forced, mandatory expression of feelings of appreciation. The later situation proves that this coerciveness is not just psychological pressure, but that it's part and parcel of the whole engagement. This would leave one with an extreme desire to get out, not perhaps of giving thanks itself, but of the forced requirement to do so.
As if the moral issues surrounding charity donations and recognition weren't sensitive enough, the discussion was further complicated a few days later with the revelation that the father of one of the university students whose funding had been pulled was in fact the deputy director of one government department in Xiangfang and the family neither lacking their own housing or bringing in just six hundred yuan a month, as the young woman had written on her charity application form.

author: John Kennedy


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Egyptian blogger Monem threatened again · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Egyptian blogger and journalist Abdel Monem Mahmoud, who has been released in June 2007 after 46 days imprisonment in Southern Cairo Torah prison, is “facing detention threats [again]. Both as part of the State’s clensing of political activists from the Egyptian scene and also for reporting on torture,” Nora Younis wrote. (…more on Global Voices Advocacy)


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Honduras: Museums in Tegucigalpa · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve introduces us to some of the fine museums in Tegucigalpa.


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Iran: Green bloggers protest natural disaster · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several environmental bloggers and activists participated in a demonstration on August 27th, against the death of more than 2000 flamingo birds in Lake Bakhtegan in Iran. They protested against the government’s indifference and violation of constitutional law. Iranian environmental bloggers tell the story of this ecological disaster and provide information about demonstration.
Tell me why
Mojgan Jamshidi, blogger and journalist, writes [Fa] the blog, Didban Mohitzist (means environment watchdog). She invites friends and all people who care about a green Iran to take part in the demonstration and refuse to tolerate destruction of natural resources in the name of roads or damn constructions. She refers to the articles of the Iranian constitution that guarantee protection for the environment and says:
We should ask them – the authorities – who are responsible for upholding articles 45 and 50 of the constitution whether they think they are doing their job, when unsustainable development projects block the flow of water to thousands of animals living in Bakhtegan and Urmieh lakes, causing the death of 2000 flamingos in a very short time. We should ask the people – our deputies – who are in the Iranian parliament, whether they have commissioned even one investigation about the destruction of natural resources in the last 30 years…
Jamshidi also criticized the Judiciary authorities’ inaction against people who destroy natural parks and resources.
Greenblog says [Fa] that several bloggers and environmentalists will be mourning on Monday 27 August to protest against the death of more than 2000 flamingos. The blogger proposes several logos that bloggers can publish on their blog in solidarity with the demonstration. All logos carry a photo of a flamingo and the date and place of the demonstration is mentioned.
Mountainwatch has published a couple of photos of the demonstration. The blogger says [Fa] he met and talked to Dlavar Najafi, the deputy head of the Department for the Environment. Najafi said the Iranian president and even the Supreme Leader care about the environment. The blogger says he does not understand how all this destruction can happen when such high-ranking authorities say they care.
Some Iranian bloggers outside Iran considered this event important and wrote about it too. The Spirit of Man has linked to several photos and says:
Members of environmental NGOs protesting in front of the Iranian Department of Environment showed their dissatisfaction with the environmental policies of the current government. Most of them are unhappy with how forests, mountainous areas and natural resources of the country are being destroyed and not being cared for properly.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Korea: Is being good-looking a privilege?  · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

‘Eol-jjang’ is one of the modern internet terms in Korea that was made in 2003 and indicates ‘best face’ (eol: eol-gul à face + jjang à top, best). It refers the best-looking person.
A teenager who is considered an ‘eol-jjang,’ turned out to be a criminal – she had been forcing other teenagers to have sex. According to her confession, she used the money on her appearance, such as buying brand-name goods. After this scandal was exposed by other netizens, another ‘eol-jjang’ was added to the list of teenage pimps.
This shocking news has raised the issue of why external appearance is getting more important and how the internet can exacerbate this problem.
Does the internet making society focus more on external appearance?
그런데 우리는 이 두 소녀를 비난하기 전에 왜 이런 일이 일어나게 되었나를 돌아 봐야 하지는 않을까? 몇년전부터 인터넷을 통해 선풍적인 바람을 일으킨 소위 얼짱 문화란 것의 배경엔 외모 지상주의를 부추기는 어른들의 상업적 욕심이 있었다 생각한다. 요즘 TV 를 보다 보면 성형 수술을 통한 미인 만들기에 대한 이야기는 물론이고, 한 연예인이 협찬을 통해 자신의 외모를 바꿔 가는 모습을 중계 하는 프로까지 관심을 끌고 있다. 필자는 외모 가꾸기나, 성형등이 나쁘다고 생각하지도 않고 그런 말을 하려는 것은 아니다. 자신을 아름답게 꾸미려는 것을 누가 뭐라고 할 수 있겠는가?
… 그러나 이러한 외모 지상주의를 캐이블 TV 뿐 아니라 공주파 방송에서까지 흥미용으로 끌고 나와 청소년들로 하여금 외모 컴플렉스를 가지게 만들고, 나아가 외모 지상주의로 이끌어 가는 것은 개탄스러운 일이 아닐 수 없다. 이러한 외모 지상주의가 잘 생긴 아이들이 학교에서 어떤 주도권을 쥐게 만들고, 그것을 더 돋보이게 하기 위한 비용을 마련하기 위하여, 이런 끔찍한 범죄로까지 가도록 한데에는 어린 소녀들의 책임만큼
외모 지상주의를 부추기는 매스미디어들의 잘못도 크다고 생각한다. 얼마전 외모가 좋지 않은 한 가수 지망생이 성형을 통해 거듭 나 성공하는 내용을 담은 한 영화가 큰 히트를 해 화제가 되었던 바가 있다.
이런 영화나 방송들이 주는 메세지들이 청소년들에게 어떤 영향을 미칠거라 여러분들은 생각하는가?
Looking at TV recently, there are so many issues related to making beauty through plastic surgery and a program in which an entertainer changes her appearance with the help of the sponsor. I am not trying to say that taking care of appearance and having plastic surgery are bad. Who could blame people who would like to be prettier? …
However, public media as well as cable TV stir up this external appearance for external appearance's sake for interest and this tendency causes youngsters to have complexes about their appearance. This is the most deplorable part. At school these good-looking kids take the leadership roles and in order to cover the expenses for taking care of themselves, they committed this horrible crime. As much as these girls, mass media also committed the crime. Not long before, there was a popular movie in which a not good-looking singing candidate became successful through plastic surgery. Have you thought about how these kinds of movies and mass media will affect youngsters?
JJungs’ DD(Daily Diary) focuses on criticizing bloggers who emphasize punishment for these eol-jjang and looks into the social problem.
오늘 아침에 일어나서 ‘ 얼짱 박다솜양 긴급체포’ 란 글을 보고 무슨 말인가 고민하다가 확인해봤습니다. 엄청난 일이 있었네요. 어린 나이에 친구들에게 원조교제를 강요하는 포주였다는 사실을 알게 되었습니다. 상당히 이쁜 이 아이가…
글에 대한 리플을 보면… 하나같이 그 아이의 문제를 얘기하며 처벌의 글들을 볼수 있었습니다.
한참동안 그 글을 읽으면서 문득 제가 예전에 읽었던 책과 지금 제가 속해있는 청소년 단체에서 공부했던 내용들이 떠오르네요. ” 가해자가 피해자고 피해자가 곧 가해자다.” 많은 네티즌들께서 다솜양에 대해서 처벌을 원하시는 것 같습니다. 그렇지만 좀더 문제를 깊게 봐야 하지 않을까 생각이 듭니다.
이 친구가 지금같이 된 이유가 있을껍니다. 다솜양이 어릴때부터 지금까지 살아온 가정 환경을 봐야 할테구요. 다솜양이 지금까지 모습이 될수 있었던 사회적 현상을 눈여겨 봐야하구요. 이런 것들을 다각적으로 보고 그 친구에 대해서 이야기 해야 한다고 생각합니다. 성급하게 이 사람이 이러하다, 저러하다 라고 말하는 건
상당히 잘못된 시각이라고 생각이 드네요. 참… 사람을 이해하는 것만큼 어려운 일인거   없을꺼란 생각이 들어요. 언젠가 CSI Miami 에서 나왔던 대화가 살짝 기억나네요.
‘ 큰 사건이 일어나기 전에는 자그마한 사건이 100 번 이상 일어난다’
앞으로 10 년 뒤 대한민국은 어떻게 되어 있을까요?
이게 작은 사건이라면???
걱정이 됩니다… 정말로 심히…
Checking netizens’ opinions…
It seems that everyone wants her to be punished. Reading those opinions for a while, I thought about a book I read and what I learned from a youth club I belonged to long time ago.
“Perpetrators are victims and victims are perpetrators.”
Many netizens seem to punish Park Da-som. But I think that we should think about this problem more seriously. There must be reasons why she became like this. We should check her family background for how she has grown up.
We should observe social circumstances around her. After looking into several angles, we should talk about her. I think it is way too hasty to judge this way and that way, and the wrong perspective. I think the hardest job is to understand people.
I remember a scene from TV series, CSI Miami.
‘Before the big accident happens, there have been more than 100 small accidents.’
How will Korea change after 10 years? If this scandal is a small accident…
I am worried… really seriously…
A more analytical post is below.
최근 싸이홈피든 블로그든 떠다니는 개인 사진들을 보시면 느끼실 겁니다 .
과거엔 그렇게 심하지 않았던 어떠한 현상 ..
과거 PC통신 시절엔 상대의 사진조차 보기 참 힘들었고 ,
자신의 얼굴을 밝히는 걸 꺼려 했던 시절이 있었습니다.
하지만, 지금은 조명빨, 각도빨 공식들이 나오며 ,
너도 나도 예쁘게 치장 된 자신의 사진을 알리는 시대가 되었습니다 .
싸이홈피들을 살펴보면 , 마치 연예인 같은 사진 ..
시대는 계속 자신을 알리는 체제로 계속 흘러 갈 것이며 ,
그것을 한눈에 알 수 있는 부분은 그것은 ” 외모” 이기에 너도나도 명품을 찾고 ,
패션코디에 관심을 가지고, 사진빨에 각별히 신경쓰는 문화는 지금 현재도 계속되고 있습니다 .
A new symptom which was not so much in the past…
In the PC communication time, it was even hard to see the other side's photos and it was the time to be reluctant to show their own faces. But now there are new tactics like ‘lighting efficiency’ and ‘angle efficiency’ in order to make oneself look better in a photo. Now is the time to show their own photos on the internet after using these tactics.
If you have chances to check homepages, there are photos like entertainment stars… The desire to show themselves in public is getting stronger. The best and easy way to show themselves is ‘external appearance,’ and so everyone is looking for ‘luxury goods’ in order to look better. Everyone is interested in fashion and the new culture that focuses on ‘photo efficiency’ continues.
Isn't the “Park Da-som” scandal a huge issue?
1. 인터넷 얼짱 ???
탤런트 구 모씨와 같이 인터넷 얼짱으로 연예인으로 성공하는 케이스가 생겼습니다.
그 분에 대한 자세한 사정은 알 수는 없지만 , “인터넷 얼짱 ” 이라는 아이템으로 시작된 이 같은 성공담은
우리사회의 외모지상주의 도화선에 불을 켜게 된 것이라 생각합니다 .
우리는 수많은 문헌들이나 미디어들을 보며, ” 권선징악” 적인 내용으로 ,
“사람은 겉만 보고 판단하면 안된다 .” 라는 .. 사실은 누구에게든지 박혀 있습니다.
하지만, 세상은 그런 인식을 가진 채라도 외모 위주로 흘러가고 있지요.
사진으로 이쁘고 화려한 사람이 보이면 바로 관심을 가지고 군중으로 몰리는 심리는 과연 무엇인지..
어쩌면 , 각 커뮤니티 포탈 사이트에서 마케팅 전략으로 내세운 이 같은 “인터넷 얼짱” 은
이러한 사회의 안타까움과 되돌리기 힘든 체제로 흐르는 것 같습니다 .
There was a case that an internet eol-jjang became the famous entertainer now. I don't know about her well, but I think that this successful ‘internet eol-jjang’ story beginning started ‘external appearance for external apperance's sake.’
Through many references and media, we have learned that ‘we should not judge others with their external appearance’ with many didactic stories. But this world is changing to focus on external appearance even though we still keep the learning we have had. Why are people interested in pretty and luxury looking people?
The “Internet eol-jjang” that community portal sites made as a marketing strategy seems to become a social system that we can't change now.
2. 결국 온라인 문화가 원인?
인간에게는 6가지의 감각이 있습니다.
시각, 청각, 후각 , 미각, 촉각… 그리고 제 6의 초인적인 감각..
제 6 의 감각은 누구도 정의를 내릴 수 없고 , 구체적으로 증빙이 완료된 연구자료도 없습니다.
하지만 , 일명 “직감” 과 같은 제 6의 감각은 개개인 누구라도 어렴풋이 존재하고 있으리라 생각됩니다 .
인터넷의 대중화 이후,
우리가 온라인을 통해서 느낄 수 있는 감각은 시각과 청각 ..
본래는 시각만으로 느껴는 감각을 최근 미디어의 발전으로 청각까지 느낄 수 있게 되었습니다 .
현재로서는 미각 , 후각 , 촉각은 구현하기 힘들죠…
시각과 청각은 어떤 사물이든 겉모습만을 판단하는 감각이고,
미각, 후각, 촉각은 겉모습 판단 후 2차적으로 느끼는 감각이기 때문입니다.
그리고 , 마지막 제6 의 감각은 최종적인 판단을 내리는 단계인것이죠.
결론은 현재의 온라인문화는 시각과 청각으로만 이루어져 있고 ,
… 따라서, 외모에 대한 관리는 어쩌면 가능한 것이겠지요?
Humans have six senses. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching… and the sixth sense, superhuman sense..
Nobody can define what the sixth sense is and there are no research materials to prove it. But individuals must have so-called ‘instinct,’ sixth sense.
Since the popularity of the internet, watching and hearing that we can use online…
Due to the development of media, we can use hearing now. It's difficult to use smelling, tasting, and touching now….Watching and hearing are the senses that you can use to judge external appearance. Tasting, smelling, and touching are the secondary senses not related to external appearance.
And then, finally the sixth sense would be the last step that you can have the final judgement.
In conclusion, the current online-culture is composed of watching and hearing. Therefore, taking care of external appearance might be more important?
3. 얼짱 박다솜 사건에 대해서..
어쩌면, 우리 인간들은 정말 어리석은 존재일 지도 모릅니다 .
본인은 온라인에서 만나게 되는 인맥은 100% 신뢰하지 못하게 되었습니다 .
당연한 것일 거라 생각합니다 .
눈으로 보는 것, 귀로 듣는 소리 …
이 두개의 감각에 기댄 채 그 사람을 모두 판단하는 것은
엄청난 초인적인 능력의 6 의 감각을 익힌 사람이 아닌 이상은 거의 불가능하다고 보기 떄문입니다 .
박다솜 사건은 이미 많은 매스컴이나 블로그 소셜을 통해서, 일파만파로 확산되고 있습니다 .
특히 지금 보여지는 사진은 불과 하루이틀만에 엄청나게 퍼지기 시작했죠 . 지금 퍼지고 있는 “박다솜 ” 이라는 얼짱의 사진입니다. 박양은 현재 원조교제 성매매 주선혐의로 체포되어 있는 상태입니다. 10 대이며, 범죄에 대한 인식이 한창 불안정 할 때 입니다. 물론 실수일수도 있고 , 나름대로 자신의 가치관에 의해서 행동했을 것입니다 . 현재까지의 네티즌 동향으로 볼 때 , 분명 마녀사냥으로 치닫는 것도 사실이죠. 박다솜에 대한 분노는 당연한겁니다. 피해자 A양과 B양…   같은 10대의 청소년이며, 나름대로 꿈을 키워가고 있는 아이들입니다.  결국 이 사건은 자신의 욕심을 위해 자신과 같은 입장인 두 친구를 이용하게 됩니다 . 그럼 박다솜 그 피해자 두명의 차이는 무엇일까요? 제 3자의 입장에서 본다면, 얼짱이다 . 아니다의 차이 ? 솔직히 얼짱의 대한 기준도 상당히 주관적입니다. 보는 사람에 따라서 피해자들이 가해자보다 더 얼짱 일 수도 있는겁니다 . 본인은 개인적으로 박다솜을 얼짱이라고 생각하지 않습니다. ( 절대 눈이 높은건 아니니… 오해마시길)
박다솜이 두명의 친구를 이용하게 된것도 자신을 얼짱이라 추종하는 군중들을 교묘히 이용했다고 ,
볼 수 있습니다. 정말 안타까운 현실이죠 . 그럼 , 박다솜이 얼짱이라 해도 추종자들이 없었다면, 이 같은 범죄가 가능했을까? 아마도 힘들었을거라 생각합니다 . 확실히 박다솜은 사람으로서 해선 안될 행동을 한 건 사실이고 , 많은 사람들의 비난을 받아도 싸며, 처벌을 받아도 쌉니다. 하지만, 전 다른각도로 보고 싶습니다. 이게 과연 박다솜 혼자만의 잘못일까요?
Maybe humankind's existence is stupid. For me, 100 percent I don't trust people whom I meet online. I think that this is natural. Things I see through my eyes, things I hear through my ears…
Judging people with these two senses would be impossible except people who have super sixth sense power.
The Park Da-som scandal has spread through mass media and blogs. The photos I show below have spread around in one or two days.
She is now arrested. She is a teenager and must be unconscious of the crime she committed. It might be a mistake. Or she might have committed those crimes thinking that it was not wrong. Going through netizens’ reactions to the present, it seems that it's like a witch hunt. It makes sense that people are angry with her. Victims A and B… They are teenagers and must have their own dreams of how they would like to grow up. For her own desire, she used her two friends who were in the same situation.
Then what is the difference between these two victims and Park Da-som?
In the perspective of the third party, the one is eol-jjang and the others are not? Honestly, the standard of eol-jjang is also very subjective. Depending on how viewers have opinions, victims would be more eol-jjang than the wrongdoer. I don't think that Park Da-som is eol-jjang (don't misunderstand me… I don't have high eye sights).
Park Da-som also used these crowds who support her as eol-jjang. It's a pity really. Then, if she didn't have these supporters, would this crime be possible? I am sure that it would be impossible. It's true that she committed the crime she's not supposed to do and she should be punished. But I would like to see it with different angles. Is it really her own mistake?
4. 결국은 우리의 잘못이기도 해 …
이 같은 일은 결국은 인터넷을 이용하고 있는 우리 모두의 잘못일 수도 있습니다 . 외모지상주의가 만들어 낸 정말 슬픈 비극인것이죠 .  외모가 좋으면 , 친해지고 싶고 따라가고 싶고 그러한 우리의 최근 심리가 이 같은 범죄를   불러 일으켰을 수도 있습니다 … 단순한 도덕적이고 윤리적인 이유라기 보다, 이대로 가다간 우리의 미래는 결국 포장에 의한 사회 모든 산업문화가 겉만 치중하는 문화가 될까 걱정됩니다. ( 너무 크게 확대해석 ???)…
이번 “박다솜 ” 사건으로 많은 생각을 해봅니다. 다시 한번 우리의 머리속에 각인 된 “겉만 보고 판단해선 안돼” 라는 개념을 어떻게 하면 살릴 것인가 .. 라고…
It is our mistake for using internet. It's the sad tragedy that external appearance became so important. Our desire to be friends with eol-jjang and to copy their styles caused this kind of crime…
I am worried that our industrial culture will focus on external parts more and more…
I thought over this “Park Da-som” scandal. How can we take back the concept, “We shouldn't make judgments based on seeing the outside,” which we had ?
Here are a video link, photos, and a victim's letter.

author: Hyejin Kim


text:
Kuwait: Is Summer Over? · Global Voices
Abdullatif AlOmar

Summer seems to be over in Kuwait as the country's blogosphere gets out of its slump. This week our bloggers discuss another ban in the country, buying illegal DVDs, a new magazine for Filipinos in Kuwait and a fun day out at .. a shooting range.
Intlxpatr talks about another ban in Kuwait – and this time the victim is melamine.
“Today on the front page of the Kuwait Times is the announcement of a ban by the Ministry of Commerce on selling any goods containing melamine, stating it was “based on information received from the Customs Department and office of the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and has to do with melamine containing urea formaldehyde, which is banned” because it is ‘believed to be harmful to health,” he writes.
Ana Filibini, a Filipina based in Kuwait, found a new magazine aimed at Filipinos in Kuwait. She also sheds light on her experience one Friday in the capital.
“Going to Kuwait City on a Friday isn't the smartest idea in the world. Aside from the congested traffic, lack of parking space and throngs of hundred people milling about everywhere going nowhere, it is also the day where weirdo's have their field trips. Oh yes it's true, they engage you in a conversation even if you pointedly ignore them,” she explains.
Bashar over at BlogAllAlong talks about something funny he found at a department store – an illegal DVD!
“So I was shopping in Carrefour in Avenues with the family and I saw 300 the movie. I bought the original copy from there, like a good American … arr I mean Kuwaiti. Taking it home, opening it when there is no one else at home, excited to play it in the home theatre and see what it’s like after so much great review about the movie graphics and direction,” he writes.
He discovers that the DVD is for sale in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh only. Read the rest of the entry to see why he decides to stop buying DVDs from Kuwait.
yo_ghurt at stillkuwaiting found a new activity to do while in Kuwait  – and it includes a lot of shooting!
“found something else to do in Kuwait last weekend which isn’t widely advertised. After some searching, I found The Shooting Range Complex next to (not inside) the Hunting & Equestrian Club,” she notes.
Forzaq8 once again points out another shortcoming in Kuwaiti newspapers and explains why he is losing faith in them.
“This isn’t my first time writing about newspapers in Kuwait, i believe them all to be bad. Sadly everyday I see more proof of that,” he explains.

author: Abdullatif AlOmar


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Malaysia: Blogger Apologises on Behalf of Malaysia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Haris Ibrahim apologizes to Indonesia on behalf of Malaysia for Malaysian police's manhandling of a visiting Indonesian Karate referee.

author: Preetam Rai


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Paraguay: Thoughts on Fernando Lugo · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

At his blog The Soybean Wars, Charles Lanes provides his impressions of Paraguayan presidential candidate Fernando Lugo, who he interviewed.


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Syria: History, Culture and Identity · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

In our roundup this week, we will overlook politics again to talk more about the people.
Abu Fares in this sensational post, laments the simplicity of the old Levantine-Mediterranean lifestyle. One that has been trenched and swept off with a new wave of “neo-cons” as he describes them, whether the Judeo-Christian Neo Conservatives or the Neo Islamists, they're two sides to the same coin.
Tartous, the dreamy little town by the sea is no more. It has physically mutated over the last three decades into a pathetic jungle of concrete. Moreover, on the social and cultural levels, the sweeping changes have been more colossal. By and large, we are no longer the cheerful seculars, open-minded Mediterraneans, provincial-metropolitans and discoverers-adapters of colorful ways of life. We were a unique and distinct group, transcending socioeconomic lines, facing the mysterious sea and always seeking the exotic delights lying beyond. We grew up in a Joie de Vivre ambiance unhindered by class, free of political guilt and insouciant to mass religious indoctrination. We heard the politicians and preachers like everybody else but we never listened to them.
And while Abu Fares laments, Omar from Deconstructed Life writes about the way people are pushed into the norms of society, giving as an example a simple story, that would happen at any given house in Syria.
She waited for me to go and order coffee (my mom’s friend that is..) and she whispers to my wife: so are you pregnant yet?
[…]
However, unlike me, she (da wife) is a very nice person and knows how to answer politely (my default answer would have been: none of your business).. So she started explaining how we’ve been married for less than 2 months now, and how we still want to enjoy time together and travel a bit, which is what we have been planning to do for a long time..
So the lady looks at Souha, my wife, and he says: what do you mean enjoy your time? Do you really think that you’re young? (my wife is 29 year old by the way)
Wassim, reflects on the concept of Identity, in a very enlightening post…
Why is that? Am I not a Syrian myself, yes…and no. Syria itself is named the Syrian Arab Republic but I no longer consider myself a Syrian nationalist, let alone an Arab nationalist. Does that mean I am no longer Syrian, or an Arab? As Maxime Rodinson discusses in his book called, pretty obviously, “The Arabs”; What is an Arab? Is it racial? Linguistic? Cultural? Religious? Each of these concepts fails to stand up to scrutiny, torn down by inherent inconsistencies. Yet still, I refer to myself as an Arab. I am a Syrian as a conscious and voluntary decision in a world which defines you based on something called a ‘passport’. If I was born in Columbia I would have been Columbian, so does that mean that my identity as an Arab and a Syrian is constructed? I think so, but that does not negate it's importance or power. On the contrary, a conscious and enlightened decision to embrace this identity is healthy and necessary just for the illusion of comfort and stability if nothing else.
And finally, a heart warming post from Abu Kareem, that leaves us, like him in a state of inner peace…
Last Sunday morning, I called my father in Beirut to wish him a happy 80th birthday. We exchanged a few words; he was never very good at connecting emotionally with his sons, but we could talk for hours about politics. As he thanked me for the call and bid me goodbye before putting my mother on, his voice broke a little; he was happy I called.

author: Yazan Badran


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Bahamas, Cuba: Black Holes  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Nicolette Bethel posts a map of the internet's “black holes”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bahrain: Birthday Special · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain-based Bint Batutta celebrates her birthday in style – taking us to a new resort in the middle of the desert for dessert.


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Bahrain: Ministerial Changes · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif writes about possible ministerial changes in the country's Cabinet soon.


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Bahrain: Young Filmmaker · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A young filmmaker from Bahrain enjoys the limelight at MidEast Youth.


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Bangladesh: Khaleda Zia · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mash traces political developments in Bangladesh as the former PM is arrested on corruption charges.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados, Belize: Hurricane Felix a Cat 5 · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On learning that Hurricane Felix is now a Category 5 storm, Notes From the Margin writes: “Currently, things are not looking great for Honduras or Belize”, while Belize-y Livin’ says: “Felix will be the 2nd Category 5 hurricane to hit Belize in 2 weeks! Yikes!  We already have 2,000 homeless people from Dean, and they’re expecting much more damage this time.”


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Barbados, Cayman Islands: Freedom of Information  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Notes From The Margin applauds the Cayman Islands for passing a Freedom of Information Act and would like to see similar legislation introduced in Barbados.


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Barbados: History of A Collapse?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press posts maps of the Brittons Hill area sent in by a reader, with the objective of “getting people to remember earlier land uses…maybe it will help in understanding what happened there last Sunday.”


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Belarus: Public Indifference to EU’s Demands · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

According to TOL's Belarus, most Belarusians don't care whether their country fulfills the 12 demands of the EU or not. Some of these demands include freeing all political prisoners and investigating the disappearances of politicians and journalists.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Sarajevo Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Novala, Europa posts photos from Sarajevo – here, here, and here.


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China: Anti-monopoly Law · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chinese Law Prof blogged a summary made by Paul Jones on the newly passed anti-monopoly law in China.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Burning Down Illegal Home · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chao Mu blogged a new photo showing a child in a ruin -a place used to be his home and was burned down into ashes by the Shenzhen government because the houses are illegal (zh).


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China: Faked Newspaper Page Won Top Chinese Journalism Award · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a blog post which discovered the fact that an award winning newspapers page from Yangzhou evening news was faked.


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China: Let’s Not Talk About Politics · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Cao Zenghui from new media observe urged that people should focus on business rather than talking about politics in the blog: we don't need to talk about GFW (great fire wall) and politics to prove our existence(zh).
Chung Nanhai commented that Cao's tactic was part of the politics in building the harmonious society (zh).


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China: Why patriotism won’t save the Chinese film industry · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief comments on  Han Sanping, Chairman of the government-backed China Film Group's call for more patriotism in Chinese movies: If Han Sanping truly loves the Chinese film industry he should therefore do everything in his power to ensure that the government sets it free, because at the moment it's in pretty woeful shape, and dictating priorities from the top is not going to help. Chinese films (and imports shown in theaters here) can't have sex, superstition, Chinese gangs or excessive violence. That's basically the entire movie-making playbook off-limits before the cameras even roll. Furthermore, since there are no film ratings in China, all films must be suitable for all audiences. In a country with 1.3 billion people that sets the lowest common denominator pretty low indeed.


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China: World Largest Christian Population? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kenneth Tan from Shanghaiist has written a piece on the development of religion in China and predicted that Christianity's next golden age will be in China.


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Costa Rica: The Yes Vote Rising · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Roberto Gallardo writes about the latest poll that found a 3 point rise in those that will vote “yes” in the referendum [ES] to decide to the fate of the Free-Trade Agreement in Costa Rica.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Cuba: Musical Chacon  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Photographer Roy Llera posts a shot of Chacon, a Cuban musician who passed away in 2003: “One day I found him at home in a small shack on a hillside in Casablanca…as most Cubans he invited me into his home and proudly stated ‘mi casa es su casa'…I felt at home…at peace.”


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Czech Rebublic: Multi-Culturalism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Rare to find voices in the Czech media and blogosphere explicitly defending multi-culturalism and advocating (more) open migration policies, but today I found two in one day,” writes Dr. Sean's Diary.


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Dailymotion in Tunisia blocked-unblocked-blocked again · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Dailymotion, France’s YouTube-like video sharing site has been blocked, again, in Tunisia. Still unclear if the government-controlled body, ATI (Agence Tunisienne d’Internet), throw whom all Tunisia’s ISPs are operating, has imposed the ban (read more on Global Voices Advocacy blog…)

author: sami ben gharbia


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Egypt: Jailed Blogger Identifies Torturer · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Brotherhood blogger Abdulmonem Mahmood, who has served 46 days in prison, has identified his torturer, writes Eliajah Zarwan.


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Egypt: More on Rumours About Mubarak · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Abu Aardvark, aka Marc Lynch, discusses how the media dealt with rumours surrounding the death of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in this post.


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Egypt: Photoblogger Wins Award · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egypt's leading photoblogger Wael Abbas won the the 2007 Knight International Journalism Award, announces the Big Pharaoh.


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Egypt: Tourists Treated Poorly  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Ahmad Al Ghashmary  writes about the abuse he met at the hands of Egyptian police while visiting the pyramids.


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El Salvador: Private Security Firms and Profits · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Due to the delicate security situation in El Salvador, many businesses, especially those that offer private security, are increasing their profits, writes Hunnapuh [ES].


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Free Speech Roundup: Tunisia, Egypt, China, Thailand · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

In this Roundup:
(1) France-based video sharing site Dailymotion has been blocked, again, in Tunisia. (2) Egyptian blogger Abdel Monem Mahmoud, who has been released in June 2007 is facing detention threats. (3) In China people who are using China Telecom are unable to access FeedBurner feeds. (4) And Thailand lifted its ban on YouTube but Veoh and MetaCafe still blocked.
Dailymotion in Tunisia blocked-unblocked-blocked again
Dailymotion, France's YouTube-like video sharing site has been blocked, again, in Tunisia. Still unclear if the government-controlled body, ATI (Agence Tunisienne d’Internet), through whom all Tunisia’s ISPs operate, is behind the ban.
On April 1st, 2007, Dailymotion was blocked in Tunisia for almost a week. Citizen Lab’s technical research director, Nart Villeneuve, who has been following the case, concluded that Dailymotion has most likely been blocked because it has been categorized by SmartFilter – the filtering software produced by Secure Computing, a US-based company, and used by Tunisia – as pornography: “It was blocked because SmartFilter categorized the web site as pornography, and, since Tunisia blocks the pornography category the web site was blocked. Some time between April 4, 2007 and April 9, 2007 SmartFilter removed dailymotion.com from the pornography category.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the Tunisian authorities’ blocking of access to Dailymotion. “The blocking of the www.dailymotion.com site may have been prompted by the posting of a number of videos on the political situation in Tunisia” said the organization in its statement issued on April 3, 2007.
On April 6th, 2007, following the ban on Dailymotion, Tunisian bloggers and activists have launched the “Unblock Dailymotion” campaign “in order to highlight the unfair ban and to draw the public attention to the aggressive censorship prevailing in the country.”
Egyptian blogger Monem threatened again
Egyptian blogger and journalist Abdel Monem Mahmoud, who was released in June 2007 after 46 days’ imprisonment in Southern Cairo Torah prison, is “facing detention threats [again]. Both as part of the State’s cleansing of political activists from the Egyptian scene and also for reporting on torture,” Nora Younis wrote.
In a blog post published today, Monem wrote that the officer Atef el-Hosseiny – who tortured him for 13 days in Nasr City state security headquarters in 2003 – together with Ahmed Moussa, an al-Ahram journalist close to the security services, are orchestrating a campaign against him and organising for his re-arrest.
According to Monem, the al-Ahram journalist has published information obtained from police reports, apparently filed by el- Hosseiny. The journalist is accusing blogger Monem of being the Muslim Brotherhood’s delegate to infiltrate the independent al-Dostour  newspaper. Monem is also being accused of publishing false information and using digital video cameras and cell phone cameras in his campaign against torture.
Tow weeks ago, on August 16, 2007, Monem published a very shoking video of Mohamed Mamdouh, a 12-year-old child who died as a result from being tortured at Al Mansoura’s Police Station, where he was held for stealing two packets of tea from a local shop.
China Telecom blocks FeedBurner RSS feeds
It has been reported that people who are using China Telecom are unable to access FeedBurner feeds. FeedBurner, which has been acquired by Google Inc since June, 2007, is the leading provider of RSS feeds, powering hundreds of thousands of blog, podcast and news feeds (August 27, 2007: Feedburner is feeding 535,003 publishers who've burned 913,490 feeds).
Moon-Blog, who has done a traceroute from China to check the block, found that the traceroute failed at the backbone level in China, blocked by 202.97.33.110 IP. “This IP address is a main router of China Telcom. It’s confirm that the Greate FireWall’s IP blocking works,” he said, adding that “because Feedburner provides content from countless websites. It could conceivably carry some information the Chinese authorities think it shouldn’t. So they try to blocks it.”
“This goes beyond blocking blog services like TypePad and is important to watch. This might be a sign of bigger trouble for RSS in China,” wrote Steve Rubel, the author of Micro Persuasion.
RSS and news aggregators, like FeedBurner, Google Reader and Bloglines allow Internet users to subscribe and view content from specified sources. In countries engaged in Internet filtering, RSS aggregators are being used to bypass filters and access content published on blocked websites.
Thailand: Ban on YouTube lifted; Veoh and MetaCafe blocked
The Thai Information and Communications Technology Ministry has lifted the ban on YouTube.com, Bangkok Pundit reported today.
According to The Nation, the Thai government lifted its ban on YouTube after a deal was made between the video-sharing site and local Thai officials.
YouTube “agreed to block any video clips deemed offensive to Thai people or those that violate Thai law.”YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc, was blocked on April 4th, 2007 following the appearance on the site of material critical of the country’s revered monarch: King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thailand’s ICT Minister, Dr Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, declared to the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SAPA) “When they decide to withdraw the clip, we will withdraw the ban.”
However, two YouTube-like video sharing sites, Veoh and Metacafe have been banned, according to Asia Sentinel:
Veoh, a site similar to YouTube, was blocked earlier this month after a user posted a risque personal video purportedly of the Thai Royal Family. ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom has said that YouTube would be unblocked once Thailand’s internet service providers (ISPs) have installed cache engines that allow officials to block individual URLs instead of entire websites. Supposedly this was going to happen a month ago, but still today visitors get this Thai-language message when clicking on YouTube, Veoh or Metacafe: “Sorry [state telecom company] TOT as an organization of Thailand has seized the connection of this website due to certain content, messages and images that are inappropriate that have had a tremendous impact on the hearts of Thai people.”


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Guatemala: Campaign Season in Full Swing · Global Voices
Renata Avila

September is a gray and rainy month in Guatemala. It also marks the month when Independence Day celebrations take place around the country with parades and civic expressions.  This year, the upcoming month is especially important because on September 9th, Guatemala will elect a new President, as well as other national and local authorities. Representing different perspectives many bloggers express their thoughts regarding the anticipation of the event by either expressing their views of the candidates or on the campaign itself.
Observers from another country can provide a different form of analysis of the election.  Gringologue blog provides analysis in the post titled CON MANO DURA (The Guatemalan Elections p1):
As the elections creep closer with each passing day, these issues are becoming more and more exaggerated. Every day there are more signs, more campaign songs, and more political ugliness. As with any election, scandals big and small have emerged, and more may be revealed as the campaigning gets even more competitive.
The scandals referred to arise from different serious problems, from impunity to links with drug dealers and organized crime. And in most cases, the candidates’ dark shadows emerge providing additional controversy.  The term “mano dura,” in reference to an approach to solving the security situation, has been controversial.  This is due not only for the message, but for the messenger, which is a former military officer in duty during the armed conflict, when the worst masacres took place.
This is expressed by the blog  Huhnapu E Ixbalanque [ES], on his post “Hands Clean“, where he said:
La premisa de que nadie es culpable hasta que no se pruebe lo contrario es aceptable en las cortes, pero no es suficiente para no escrutinar el pasado de alguien que pretende ser el compás moral de un pueblo.
The premise that no one is guilty until proven innocent may be acceptable in the courts, but it is not sufficient to not scrutinize the past of someone that tries to be the moral compass of a nation.
Not only are political campaigns generating controversy, but civic campaigns promoting voting are also raising eyebrows, such as the one that states “if you vote for criminals, you are a criminal“, as discussed by blogger Carpe Diem [ES]. He described the campaign as:
Un intento por evitar que personajes oscuros vinculados al crimen organizado y al narcotráfico lleguen al poder por medio de los comicios del 9 de septiembre.
An attempt to avoid the possibility that dark characters linked with organized crime and narcotrafficking might be elected in the elections of September 9th.
Blog Ordinaria Locura [ES] highlights the content of political messages in her post MACHISTAS Y MIEDOSOS, strongly critizicing the use of sexist comments in attacking the wives of presidential candidates or female candidates.
Desde que la campaña electoral empezó también comenzaron las campañas negras, que a mi en lo personal, ni van ni vienen, pero que de pronto hartan, no sólo por la basura que contienen, sino por la excesiva carga de machismo que conllevan….Se han burlado de todas y cada una de las mujeres que osan ocupar un espacio en la política guatemalteca.
Ever since the start of the electoral campaign, dirty campaigns were present.  From my point of view, it is not relevant, but will soon be too much no only for the trash, but also for the excessive “machismo” of its content…They had make fun of them all and each woman that dares to participate in Guatemalan politics.
And the view that there is lack of information necessary to vote is discussed by Un chapín desde el Japón [ES], in his post Elecciones en Guatemala:
Me hubiera gustado ver paginas de internet con perfiles de los grupos de trabajo de los partidos políticos (no solo de sus candidatos); planes de trabajo, en español y la mayoría de lenguas del país. No lo digo pensando en que todos tienen acceso a una computadora e internet, sino mas bien para poderlo obtener y distribuir (bajarlo e imprimir), haciendo llegar esta información a la mayor cantidad de personas posibles. Pareciera ser que mientras menos sabemos, mejor; lo cual es muy peligroso en cualquier democracia”.
I would like to have seen websites with profiles of the work teams of all the political parties (not only of the candidates); work plans, in spanish and in the other languages of the country. I do not think that all have access to computers and internet, but to be able to obtain the information and distribute (download and print), making the information available to as many people as possible. It seems to me that the less we know the better, a dangerous situation in any democracy.
The cities are covered with hundreds of posters and slogans, but some bloggers think it is really hard to find accurate informations and serious proposals from the candidates.
The weak campaign and propaganda is described by blogger Herbert Toaspern, who concluded on Ahh… los diputados [ES]!
Esta elección será recordada como que si fuera un Reality Show, en el que individualmente todos nos dicen con sendas vallas y muchas canciones: “voten por mí”
This election will be remembered as if it was a Reality Show, where each individual are saying to us with posters and a lot of songs: “vote for me”.
Guatemalans are waiting for the elections with expectations. It will be a complex day for a country with complicated past. In addition, there are concerns for security and bad weather is forecasted. Rain will not be good for a country where abstensionism has always been the winner. But let's hope we can show the world and tell the good news on our blogs on September 10th.

author: Renata Avila


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India: Hyderabad and bomb blasts · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

iFaqeer is deeply moved by one person's reaction to the bomb blasts in Hyderabad.


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India: Meter Down with a cab driver · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Meter Down has a fascinating series of podcasts – interviews with cab drivers in Mumbai.


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India: Rape and Consensual Sex · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Law and Other Things discusses if consensual sex based on false promise amounts to rape.


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Indonesia: Indigenous Fabric  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesia Matters has a post on Indonesian vice president recommending indigenous batik fabric for formal events as it is more suited to the climate of the country.


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Iran:FaceBook Banned · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Committee to Protect Bloggers informs us that FaceBook is banned in Iran. A Tehran based blogger confirmed this news to Global Voices.


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Iran:National Unity and Insults · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mohammad Ali Abtahi,reformist politician and blogger,says the Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran [Ali Khamenei] called this year, in domestic domain, as the year of “National Unity” but those who claim to obey the Leader from the highest level to lower levels made more insults, accusations and told more lies as compared to other years.


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Iraq: The Heartbreak Continues · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Sunshine continues to blog about heartbreak, shootings, car bombings, kidnappings and people being killed around her, in an Iraq torn by war.


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Jamaica: Election Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Jamaicans go to the polls, Jamaican Lifestyle says: “Finally the day is upon us and I am so happy it is coming and going. Please pray for peace on election day. Violence solves nothing!”  The Life and Times of Michmac, on the other hand, looks into Jamaica's political future and says: “Let the fun begin! I will be watching from safe Grenada.”


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Elections go Web 2.0 · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Given their small, close-knit populations, relatively low internet penetration, and the continuing primacy of the mainstream media as a source of information, most Caribbean nations are a long way from seeing the emergence of a homegrown US-style “netroots” movement that can genuinely and profoundly influence the outcome of a political election. But the “social web” seems nevertheless to be making its presence felt in election campaigns in Jamaica, where voters go to the polls today (September 3), and Trinidad and Tobago, where an election date is expected to be announced any day now. Here's a review of some of the notable uses of the web in the Caribbean's two largest and most dominant territories:
Blogs
Jamaica House, Jamaican Lifestyle, Jamaica and the World, Moving Back to Jamaica, City Girl and Stunner's Afflictions, were some of the citizen voices commenting on the Jamaican election campaign, but even more notable, considering the Caribbean media's ambivalence about the read/write web, was the Jamaica Elections 2007 portal set up by the Jamaica Gleaner, the country's oldest newspaper. The portal, which carried the coveted domain name jamaicaelections.com, incorporates a forum, a photo gallery, a polling service and a blog. Much of the blog's content, however, seems to be re-purposed articles or lists of links from the Gleaner, and the photo gallery would probably have been more comprehensive if the site allowed users to contribute their own images from the campaign trail.
With Trinidad and Tobago's election date still to be annouced, it's left to be seen whether any of the country's three dailies will undertake anything similar to the Gleaner‘s elections portal. But politically oriented Trinidadian blogs like The Manicou Report, Jumbie's Watch, Keith in Trinidad and Trinidad Media Arts & Culture can be expected to enliven the election season discussions, as should a newly launched satirical blog purporting to present the inner thoughts of Patrick Manning, the current Prime Minister. Activist bloggers like Shivonne du Barry, Attillah Springer and the Rights Action Group, whose efforts were galvanised by the government's siting of an aluminium smelter in a rural area in southwestern Trinidad, are unlikely to be silent either.
Video
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) beat the incumbent People's National Party (PNP) to the YouTube table, having posted the first of their campaign ads there back in July, and outdid the ruling party numerically as well, posting 31 videos to the PNP's 9. Also appearing on the JLP's YouTube channel are the series of televised debates between JLP leader Bruce Golding and PNP leader Portia Simpson-Miller.  While most voters in Jamaica would have first been exposed to these advertisements on local television, releasing the ads and debates on YouTube makes them available to the country's large disapora community in the US and elsewhere, as well as to other interested users. Among the other election-related videos posted on YouTube or is one of a debate organised by Jamaicans living in Miramar, Florida.
Of the three leading political parties in Trinidad and Tobago, only the United National Congress (UNC) currently has a YouTube channel. YouTube user Casadoma Netvision, however, has posted five videos of meetings of the Congress of the People (CoP), the newest of the three contenders. A search for material related to the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) yielded nothing at the time of writing.
Facebook
Neither of the Jamaican parties appears to have a presence on Facebook, but in Trinidad and Tobago the social networking site (currently the second most popular in the country, according to Alexa) has captured the imaginations of political parties and voters alike.
Of the three Trinidad and Tobago parties, the CoP proves to be the savviest user of Facebook. While the party risks creating confusion with its presence as both a Facebook user and a group (open membership; 682 members), the party's Youth wing has what appears to be a serious and fairly active group with 341 members. Another group called “I'm Voting COP!!!” has 142 members. Political leader Winston Dookeran has a user account which lists links to his hi5 page, two e-mail addresses and a telephone number. Moreover, Dookeran's account appears to be genuine, unlike the three claiming to belong to the current Prime Minister Patrick Manning of the PNM (the Trinidadian taste for jokes is alive and well on Facebook). Manning is also pilloried in numerous Facebook groups, including “I hate Patrick Manning” and “Manning is d worse thing that ever happen to T&T“. The PNM's only openly accessible presence on Facebook appears to be a user called “Pnm People“.
The UNC's presence on Facebook at the time of writing consists of a group (membership by request) with 120 members and three events.
On the voters’ side of things, a well-trafficked Facebook group called “T&T Elections …are you registered and where can this be done?” started by a teenager offers information and discussion about voter registration.
Political party web sites – who's the most “social”?
Of the two Jamaican party web sites, the Jamaica Labour Party has the more promising appearance, though further examination reveals relatively standard features. A “Get Involved” link leads to a page offering users two options for donating money (PayPal and Senvia Remittance Services). The party's YouTube videos are linked to but not embedded (rather surprisingly, the site instructs users to download a Flash player to view the videos). On the plus side (arguably), the JLP web site offers party ringtones for download.
The less promising looking People's National Party web site has a similar features to its rival's, but its video section has a built-in media player. The blog advertised on the main page disappoints with its two one-sentence entries, both clearly written by a party diehard. With only hours to go before the election, the party's “Donate” link is still promising electronic donations as a “Coming Soon” feature, listing instead three bank accounts where donors could physically deposit funds, after which they were instructed to “Please call/email the People's National Party to confirm receipt.”
Both Jamaican sites link to the Electoral Office of Jamaica's search engine, allowing users to confirm whether their names are on the electoral list.
Although it has yet to change its design to reflect its new title of “UNC Alliance”, Trinidad and Tobago's United National Congress wins the award for the most “social” of the leading Trinidadian party web sites, as well as the most comprehensive. The UNC's web site has a prominently positioned calendar of events and speeches from party events in both print transcript and downloadable MP3 form. Users can register for accounts which give them access to polls, a discussion forum, a live chat facility and e-mail notifications of site updates, as well as the ability to submit links. The “Links” section includes links to the UNC's Facebook page, a mailing list for New York-based party members and a Yahoo User Group, plus a link to the country's Freedom of Information Act. The site accepts donations via PayPal.
The Congress of the People web site is the most attractive and most modern in appearance of the three party web sites (the party is also the most recently formed). Via the site users can join the party, sign up as volunteers or to receive news updates, and make donations via PayPal. A calendar of events is accessible only after clicking a link on the main page, and a “media” section suggests that audio and video will eventually be posted on the site, but at the time of writing contains only print material. Also missing are links to the CoP's presence else on the web, including its vibrant use of Facebook.
Visitors to the PNM web site are greeted by a Flash animation of the party seal, which immediately pushes the site into third place in terms of the modernity of its design. It's the least attractive and user-friendly of the three party sites, with no interactive features except an online poll. A multimedia page offers material dating back to 2005 and 2006 and only available in streaming Real Player of Windows Media Player format. The site's greatest asset may in fact be an interesting set of old photos of Dr. Eric Williams, the party's founder and the country's first Prime Minister.
Does the Internet matter in Caribbean elections?
With official (2006) Internet penetration figures of only 12% for Trinidad and Tobago and 39.6% in Jamaica, it's reasonable to ask whether the Internet can have a real impact on the outcome of an election in these countries. One area where it seems fairly clear the Internet can have play a role in Caribbean elections is on involving overseas diaspora communities in the political process. The donation buttons on party web sites are a sign of their keen awareness of this, notably the Jamaica Labour Party's telling link to a money transfer service specialising in remittances from overseas, which in Jamaica are said to top the list of foreign exchange inflows into the country.
Analysing the politically-oriented online activity in her country in this election year, however, Trinidadian blogger Shivonne du Barry, while celebrating the “alternative spins” on current events being provided by blogs and social networking sites, expresses some skepticism:
All of this is enough to make me think that the population is really politically savvy and educated despite the lack of structured civics education in our school system. What I worry about is whether the online community, with ready access to computers and the Internet, are an accurate representation of the general population. What about the political opinions of those on the other side of the digital divide? And it may be that the Internet is just the latest forum for Trinis to do what they do best, talk. How much this translates into action is another question. Like a friend of mine, wary of all the online talk that has been taking place, recently wrote: “While we, ‘the future’, sit and occupy our time amusing ourselves with all these…discussions, the true leaders in the real world are doing as they please.”
Caribbean Free Radio writes in reply:
Juxtapose the 12% internet penetration rate and Danah Boyd's infamous findings about Facebook and class (assuming they apply to Trinidad and Tobago) and you conclude that Shivonne's concerns are well taken, as of course they are – they're the concerns perennially expressed in discussions about the role/value of the the internet in “developing” societies. But they also assume that, in the absence of Facebook and its equivalents, the political dialogue/activity taking place among this select group would have taken a different (and possibly superior) form (as well it might). Or taken place at all.
They also assume (more than likely correctly) that there's not some parallel activity taking place “on the other side of the digital divide” via cell phones and SMS.  They also assume that all online political activity will necessarily be partisan. Might we not see some serious citizen reporting this upcoming election season? Might some ordinary person not happen to capture some priceless image or bit of footage on a cell phone camera that the jaded media practitioners have missed?

author: Georgia Popplewell


text:
Japan: First Manifesto of Neojaponisme · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

W. David Marx, Ian Lynam, and Jean Snow have launched Neojaponisme, an online group blog following in the footsteps of neomarxisme, a “post-blog” about topics related to Japan and Japanese culture.

author: Chris Salzberg