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Thailand-Cambodia diplomatic row heats up · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

International movie and Martial Arts star Jackie Chan is in Phnom Penh this week to deliver a university lecture on peace. But his visit was upstaged by the arrival of former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who is now Cambodia’s economic adviser.
Thailand is protesting this appointment made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Thai officials are asking Cambodia to extradite Thaksin who is facing a two year jail term for corruption. Cambodia has refused the request arguing that Thaksin is a political, not criminal, convict. Also, Cambodian leader Hun Sen considers Thaksin as his “eternal friend.”
The reaction from the Thailand government was swift. Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recalled the country’s ambassador to Cambodia. He is threatening to close the Cambodia-Thailand border which could disrupt and hurt economic activities in the region. The Thailand Cabinet also suspended the Thai-Cambodian memorandum of understanding on joint oil and gas exploration.
Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup. To escape serving a prison term for corruption, Thaksin has been living in many countries around the world. The billionaire politician believes he could not get a fair trial in Thailand. He is accusing the present government of being illegitimate and repressive.
Analyzing the decision of Hun Sen to appoint Thaksin, Details are Sketchy believes this could be part of a strategy to force a regime change in Thailand
The PM’s statement significantly turns up the heat on the Thai junta. It also strongly suggests that Thaksin’s current visit to Cambodia is not merely some political stunt designed to enrage the Thai establishment — although it is certainly that — but part of a larger strategy aimed at regime change in Thailand. It’s hard to underestimate the stakes in such a gamble. The danger of war, say some analysts, has never been greater.
The Thaksin appointment is the latest issue dividing Cambodia and Thailand. The two neighboring countries are both claiming ownership over the historic Preah Vihear Temple. The border dispute has resulted in a few cases of skirmishes between the country’s border patrol units. The border war is the root of the diplomatic row today
The offer (for Thaksin to serve as Cambodia’s adviser) will make the Thai junta seethe with madness. They have only themselves to blame. The junta prompted this whole mess when it sent Thai troops to the border at Preah Vihear. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s opportunistic stirring of the pot is just the natural law of unintended consequences at work.
Davan Long praises the “brilliant strategy” of Hun Sen to appoint Thaksin
Many Khmers, including myself, view the nomination as a brilliant strategy by your government in every aspect.
As anticipated, Thailand PM Abhisit’s government has staged a number of PR campaigns to falsely accuse your government of interfering or meddling with Thailand internal politics, while it is clearly the same government that exports Thailand internal conflicts to Cambodia in the first place.
The Wandering Cambodian wants the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand to be more mature
While I was kinda expecting this, I still find this very insane. I’m just sick and tired of this political drama. The two governments are worse than kindergarten kids, doing what they are doing. Let’s act more like grow-ups, please!
Cambodian Bright Future criticizes the appointment of Thaksin
Cambodian government is putting Cambodian people and her nation into a burning fire. Cambodia has deserved full potential to play role of international diplomacy with Thailand, but why Hun Sen chose “crashing strategy” in this time?
Why Hun Sen appointed Abhisit's rival as personal economic adviser?
…appointing Thaksin is like slapping incumbent PM Abhisit. The question is that it is good or bad to publicly slap Abhisit like a comedian without having proper plan to deal with the border issue? Or Hun Sen is expecting to get that land back during appointing Thaksin or what?
Thaksin has been tweeting his activities and sentiments during his stay in Cambodia. Meanwhile, here are Twitter reactions from Phomn Penh on Thaksin’s new role as economic adviser:
john_weeks: K press conference: Thaksin says he will invite Russian/Middle Eastern biz pals to invest in Cambodia. Hmm….
ratpoe: @nabejero my informal survey – my tuk tuk driver – confirms the people like thaksin.
vdao1972: Wow. Thaksin is practically my neighbor. Just a brisk two block walk and I am on his front gate!
john_weeks: Thaksin tours central PP, traffic jammed up around Independence Monument…
ChrisInCambo: I've really got into Thai politics in the last week, with Thaksin coming to visit having roused my interest. Interesting stuff.
ChrisInCambo:@ktiu I can't believe Hun Sen actually went ahead and made Thaksin an adviser. Very big gamble, will have to wait and see how it plays out.


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Uganda: Coverage of Vice President’s son · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rosebell discusses the coverage of the death of Uganda's Vice President's son: “For the last 20 or so hours I have been involved in a discussion on my facebook page. it  was my reaction to the newspaper coverage of Vice President’s son’s death. First of all I do not in any way intend to say that there shouldn’t have been coverage, my focus and the focus of the debate is on the presentation of the news and the vocabulary used to sort of show like this was a national mourning…”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Uganda: National unity government unlikely · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The National Resistance Movement and its main rival the Forum for Democratic Change have separately dismissed the idea of a coalition government ahead of the 2011 polls, writes This is Africa.


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USA: Responding to Hate Crimes against Latino Immigrants · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

The murder of an Ecuadorian man in Suffolk County, New York in 2008 is one of dozens of hate crimes against Latino immigrants in the past 10 years, say Restore Fairness.

author: Solana Larsen


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USA: Veterans ask Obama to reconsider Afghanistan · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Brave New Foundation posts a petition and YouTube video with young veterans asking Obama not to send more troops to Afghanistan.


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Vietnam: Food safety · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Health authorities discovered that a Vietnamese bottled drinking water is not safe for consumption. Banned food items are also being sold in many market stalls.

author: Mong Palatino


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A Quest to Unite Religious Communities: The Charter for Compassion · Global Voices
Sadiq Alam

In a world of fragmentation and religious division, a unique and much anticipated document will be released to the world on November 12, after months of collaborative work online and offline by diverse religious leaders and great thinkers.
In February 2008, Karen Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who refers to herself as a “freelance monotheist”, won the TED prize, which is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000, and more importantly, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World”.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become even broader.
Karen Armstrong who is considered as one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world, said her wish was to create a Charter for Compassion, a document about the core shared value of every world religion and moral code: the “Golden Rule”. This is how she described it to the TED community:
“I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.”
A collaborative process
Global participation in an open writing process was the critical starting point for the creation of the Charter for Compassion. The submissions shared began a conversation that continues as the Charter is finalized and launched at http://www.charterforcompassion.org. People from all over the world have contributed to this Charter; it transcends religious, ideological and national difference; it has been composed by leading thinkers from many traditions with passion, insight, intellectual conviction and hope.
The Council of Sages for the Charter for Compassion includes notable thinkers and faith representatives such as Sheikh Ali Gomaa (the Grand Mufti of Egypt), Rabbi David Saperstein (Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism), Sadhvi Chaitanya (spiritual leader of the Arsh Vijnaya Mandiram ashram), and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (retired Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa).
Charter for Compassion Trailer from TED Prize on Vimeo.
Among the Charter’s partners around the world include TED, Tanenbaum Center, World Council of Religious Leaders, the Al-Ghazzali Center, The Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace among others.
Across the world more than 170 events are planned to help launch the Charter for Compassion (You can host your own too). The unveiling of Charter has already sparked lots of enthusiastic support followed by conversations across the global blogosphere.
Perspectives on the Charter for Compassion
Malaysian Journalist Niki Cheong wrote in his blog, “Malaysians were invited to stop by a studio to record what compassion means to them to create a viral video to promote Nov 12 – today – when The Charter of Compassion will be unveiled.”
Aizat Faiz blogged about his experience of participating in the filming of the Malaysian Chapter of the Charter for Compassion. Rantings by MMs reported that in Malaysia ‘the launching of the charter will be officiated by YAB Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. In the afternoon there will be a youth panel followed by an interfaith panel.’
Jewish and interfaith Tikkun Daily in the United States urged, “all should take the opportunity to remind those around you of the power of compassion and to think of ways to use compassion to transform and heal the world.”
Sujato's blog about Buddhism wrote: ‘We all need to do our bit to use religion to respond creatively and constructively to our environment, making it a force for helping rather than hurting, fostering love and inclusiveness, not alienation and ignorance.’
360 Digital Influence, a blog of the Ogilvy Public Relations firm, explores the question, ‘if Compassion is “viral”?’
Brian Carnell in the United States wrote some counter arguments about the Golden Rule at the center of the Charter, calling it “wishy washy feel good nonsense” that doesn't help solve “real moral dilemmas”.

author: Sadiq Alam


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Algeria-Egypt: Online Feud Over Football Match · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

Tension is building between Egyptian and Algerian football fans ahead of a decisive match due to take place in Cairo on November 14. The encounter will determine which of both teams will qualify to next year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Egypt needs at least a two-goal win to force a playoff on a neutral ground while Algeria, which has failed to qualify to the World Cup since 1986,  will  battle to keep its current leading position in the qualifiers group. Ahead of the Saturday showdown, rival fans have been gearing up offline, as well as in heated online exchanges, escalating into a bitter “cyber-war” of intimidation.
Algerian blogger Adel [Fr], sums up the chain of events that led to the row. He writes:
Ce n’est pas sur le carré vert que le match a commencé à se jouer mais sur la toile. En attendant l’entrée des 22 joueurs sur la pelouse du fameux Cairo Stadium, la rencontre a débuté de manière assez peu banale entre les «Facebookeurs» (membres du réseau Facebook) algériens et égyptiens. Tout a commencé par de simples discussions dans les forums avant que cela ne prenne de l’ampleur. Voulant montrer leur savoir-faire dans la retouche d’image, les Egyptiens ont été les premiers à ouvrir les hostilités en publiant des photos «anti-algérien».
Les Egyptiens voulaient expliquer à travers un tel acte que leurs joueurs sont «très forts» et qu’ils sont en mesure d’écraser l’équipe nationale algérienne. Cela donna le top à une guerre d’un genre particulier. La guerre des images et des parodies.
Videos, dubbing scenes taken from famous Hollywood blockbusters, flooded YouTube, placing the face-off at a Homeric level.
In the following video [Ar], posted by hakemvoip [Fr], Mel Gibson is Rabah Wallace (Braveheart), an Algerian war leader who tries to galvanize his troops ahead of the much expected confrontation:
In this other video, Egyptian ulyesis welcomes Algerian fans to what he calls “hell” in Cairo:
Blogger GEMYHOoOD [Ar] posts pictures of thousands of Egyptian fans who queued up in different parts of Cairo, hoping to get tickets for the match. He publishes pictures of the gatherings:
GEMYHOoOD also posts some eyewitness accounts:
انا خدت اجازة اليوم ونزلت من الصبح لنادي الصيد الساعة 8 الصبح وللاسف لقيت موت ناس وزحمة وطابور فيه حوالي 3000 واحد ودفع وشتيمة والناس كل شوية بتزيد ومش عارف اقف من الزق والعرق بجد مهزلة
The official bus of the Algerian football team, which arrived in Cairo on November 12, was allegedly assaulted by local fans, as the following video, posted on YouTube by Vidéos Mouloudia Club d'Oran, seems to be showing:
The world football governing body FIFA, felt it necessary to issue a warning to the football associations of Algeria and Egypt, reminding both that “the preliminary competition for the 2010 World Cup should end as it began, in the spirit of fair play with the necessary cooperation of all the parties.”
A website, Algerie Egypte Match [Ar, Fr], dedicated to the event and monitoring all kind of news related to the match, was created by Algerian fans.
Within this climate of bitter rivalry, some people created a group on the social networking website Facebook, pleading for more tempered feelings. Laama Bouchema posts a message on the group's Wall saying:
[A]s much as i am angry for what happend to the algerian team, i do not judge a whole nation for what some idiots did! it is stupid what angry fans are doing! for god's sake it wont matter who gets in the [Wold Cup].
Egyptian blogger Lasto Adri [Ar], deplores how what was supposed to be a sporting event, degenerated into a nasty confrontation. She writes:
مندهشة من التعصب وتدنى مستوى لغة الحوار بين مشجعى منتجب مصر ومنتخب الجزائر والظاهر بوضوح فى التعليقات على المواقع الإخبارية أو الرياضية… ومندهشة أكثر بتغذية هذه المأساه إعلاميا بتعليقات من بعض المذيعين (من كلا الجانبين)…
المشجعون الجزائريون أخطؤوا فى المبارة السابقة.. لكن هل الرد يكون هكذا؟.. هل الرد يكون بطلب البعض تسميم اللعيبة ولا إقلاقهم فى منامهم ولا توليع الإستاد وقت الماتش من التشجيع؟..
ونرفزتنى التعليقات على أغلب المواقع.. وإفتكرت لما الجزائر -بزعامة الرئيس الجزائري هواري بومدين- كانت أكتر دولة ساندت مصر فى حرب 1973، رغم فقرها الشديد..
حزينة ان انتهاء علاقة مابين شعبين تكون بشقاق على كورة…

author: Hisham Almiraat


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Bahamas: Sister’s Keeper · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“We women survivors of violence of all kinds must break this collective silence…and we women who enjoy relative freedom and safety must extend our hands and voices to our sisters who do not, because we are not free until all are free”: The Bahamas’ Womanish Words calls on women to be their sister's keeper.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Barbados, Jamaica: Focus on Flogging · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“How to deal with discipline in a society is never easy,” says Living in Barbados, who adds that “Barbados is still working its way towards a wider acceptance that flogging is not the way to go.”


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Culture and Business News about Capetown in Japanese · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

“Information that you'll never find in guidebooks!” Emi, a Capetown resident that works in tourism, celebrates [ja] the launch of a Japanese portal for information about Capetown called “ケープタウン新聞 (Capetown News)”.

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Ecuador: X Biennial in Cuenca · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The 10th Biennial in Cuenca, Ecuador is showcasing artists from across Latin America, writes Darío Orellana of El Joven Darío [es].

author: Eduardo Avila


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Ethiopia: Color and identity in Ethiopia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Arefe links to an interview discussing color and identity in Ethiopia: “Color is a relevant to us now, but has it been so before the rise of European cultural and political dominance? Where do we stand on color?”


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India: Impressions Of TED India · Global Voices
Rezwan

Amit Varma at India Uncut shares his impressions of TED India, which he attended: “The conference itself was immaculately organised, and the kind of people I got to meet awed and humbled me. It was, if I may lapse into cliche, the experience of a lifetime.”

author: Rezwan


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India, Pakistan: Animosity Despite Similarities · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mohammad Yusha at Chowrangi wonders why Indians and Pakistanis fight each other at every possible opportunity. He points out that there are more similarities than differences between them.


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Jamaica: Home Remedies  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Phoenix in a Gas House writes an informative post about a few Jamaican home remedies.


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Nepal: Maoist Protests Disrupt Life In Kathmandu  · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Many people in Kathmandu who were affected by the traffic jam caused by the Maoists today expressed their anger in personal conversation and twitter even as ex-rebels sang, danced and recited poems while picketing at the front gate of the central administrative complex of Nepal,” reports United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal.


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Nigeria: Nigerian bloggers receives Change Agent Award · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nigerian blogger Ore writes about the award she received at the Grace Hopper celebration of women in computing: “I was awarded the Change Agent Award along with 2 other African women (1 from Nigeria and 1 from Kenya).”


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Paraguay: Indigenous Group Sprayed Aerially with Pesticides · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In eastern Paraguay, 217 members of the Ava Guaraní indigenous community recently came down with health symptoms that include nausea and headaches. It is believed that these individuals became sick as a result of intentional aerial spraying with pesticide, after they refused to vacate their ancestral lands.
Governmental officials confirm that parts of the indigenous group's land located in the Itakyry district in the Department of Alto Paraná had been sprayed where no crops are present [es]. Many of the signs point to Brazilian soy growers as those responsible for the spraying, in part because the indigenous community's land is valuable for the crop and that they had been in a dispute with the Ava Guaraní over the ownership of approximately 3,000 hectares [es], according to the blog Interparaguay [es].
José Ángel López Barrios of Bienvenidos! [es] describes the isolated community where the incident took place:
Itakyry es uno de los distritos del Departamento de Alto Paraná, distante a unos 450 kilómetros  de Asunción, capital de la Republica, se llega a el por caminos no pavimentados, su época de esplendor se dio en la época de las explotaciones yerbateras. Que termino al cabo de 100 años abriendo paso a la explotación de la soja en estos últimos tiempos……
It is demand for soybeans, and the rising prices, which makes land suitable for this crop at such a high premium. Some of this land is located on ancestral lands of indigenous communities, such as the Guaraní. Blogger Carlos Rodríguez of Rescatar [es] does not think that the spraying incident against the indigenous group is an isolated incident, and calls the act “genocide”:
Hubo un tiempo en que en Paraguay los aborígenes no eran considerados seres humanos. Eran cazados como animales y sus crías rescatadas como trofeos.
(…)
Otros fueron apropiándose a bala y sangre de sus tierras y como los indígenas no hacían gestiones ante las instituciones encargadas de titular las tierras que siempre les pertenecieron, el hombre blanco si lo hizo y se plantea el contrasentido de que los legítimos dueños de estas tierras, hoy son “los invasores”.
Y siguen siendo tratados como animales. Sólo así se puede entender que los productores de soja les envíen aviones fumigadores para lanzarles venenos encima, tal como lo ha comprobado el Ministerio de Salud que socorre en estos momentos a los indígenas intoxicados por plaguicidas para soja.
There was a time in Paraguay when the aboriginals were not considered human beings. They were hunted like animals and their offspring collected like trophies.
(…)
Some of their land was appropriated with bullets and blood, and as the indigenous did not go to the institutions in charge of of providing titles to the lands that always belonged to them, the white man did go to these institutions, it makes no sense that the rightful owners of these lands are now the “invaders.”
They continue to be treated like animals. It is only this way that one can understand how the soy producers can send fumigation planes to spray poison on top of them, which was proven by the Ministry of Health, which is now helping the indigenous poisoned by pesticides.
López Barrios is also ashamed of the history of mistreatment of indigenous communities in Paraguay [es]. As a descendant of emigrants to the country, he writes that the incident “makes him feel like returning to Europe ….but really … prefers that the exploiters leave.”
Ensañarse con un pueblo indígena que tiene más de 38 siglos de existencia en sus propios y verdaderos territorios, no me parece apropiado…. Si no respetamos a nuestros mayores nuestros días se acortaran sobre la tierra y si anteponemos la avaricia a cualquier otra virtud caeremos sin remedio…..


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Russia: Article On Social Network · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

The Daily Telegraph published an article “Social-media and networking websites booming in Russia” [ENG] by Denis Terekhov, one of the marketing specialists in Russian social networks.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Sri Lanka: The General Resigns · Global Voices
Rezwan

The most talked about person in Sri Lanka now is the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka. The former military chief, who spearheaded the total annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) and the Tamil liberation struggle, has come into spotlight after a newly formed opposition alliance nominated him as their candidate for the next presidential election in Sri Lanka.
General Sarath Fonseka Image courtesy Wikipedia
Bailaman reports that to counter the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa's immense popularity after defeating the Tamil Tigers, “the main opposition party in Sri Lanka (UNP) has formed an alliance to contest at the presidential elections. Led by UNP the new alliance will contest as the United National Front.”
There is a twist in this candidature as per Bailaman:
Interestingly Ranil Wickremasinghe has pledged to abolish Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka if his party wins. With his new set of conditions which requires Fonseka to agree to Ranil Wickremasinghe as PM, Fonseka's role in the governance of Sri Lanka will be minimal.
However Dzone reports quoting the Sunday Leader that:
Reliable sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said Fonseka has categorically stated that he will not abolish the Executive Presidency. Abolishing Executive Presidency is a vital component of the campaign spearheaded by the United National Alliance.
Although the presidential election is not due within 2 years, rumors are that  Mahinda Rajapaksa may hold them as early as possible, predictably in early 2010 to take advantage of his current public support. Speculations are high in the Sri Lankan blogosphere and Dheshapaluwa lists 7 reasons why Gen. Sarath Fonseka will run for President of Sri Lanka. To contest at the election Fonseka had to resign from his post in the Sri Lankan military immediately as the government is likely to announce election dates on Sunday, November 15, 2009.
And the expected happened today. Suranimala reports:
It is reliably learnt that Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka has handed over his letter of resignation from the post of CDS to the President Office today. It is also reported that Gen. Fonseka has mentioned 16 reasons on his letter of resignation as to why he decided to resign.
Another fact may have induced Fonseka to resign. Sudha Ramachandran at Asia Times tells how Sri Lanka was split  over war honors as Rajapaksa's allies downplayed Fonsekas contribution in defeating the LTTE and even had launched a campaign projecting Rajapaksa as “Sri Lanka's savior”:
Fonseka was a big part of the offensive, leading crucial military offensives. He was army commander from December 2005 to July this year, leading the planning of the final phases of the “Eelam War IV”, which culminated in the final defeat of the LTTE.
The Rajapaksa government has tried to downplay his contribution. “It was President Rajapaksa and his brother, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who steered the forces to victory against the LTTE,” Labor Minister Mervyn Silva said at a public rally recently, calling on Fonseka and others not to take “personal credit” for the victory.
Fonseka, an US Green Card holder, also was subjected to controversy recently as the US Home Security Department attempted to “interview him over allegations on war crimes in the last phase of the war”, reports Lanka Polity.  Sri Lankan government objected mentioning that “he has no authority to share any information relating to national security with third parties.”
Bloggers are also weighing in on Foneska's probable candidacy. Lanka Libertarian thinks that this is a game of the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe (UNP):
Ranil does not expect Fonseka to win if he is the opposition presidential candidate.
He is just fighting for his own political survival as unp leader in case of elections. He wants to revive the unp grassroots for parliamentary elections to prevent another dismal showing, and then hope to remain in control of unp after fonseka loses (or if there is no presidential election).
Indrajit Samarajiva at Indi.ca shows the irony of the situation:
The UNP traditionally includes minorities (though the riots were under a UNP government). They would now give northern Tamils the choice between the guy who bombed them and they guy who ordered the bombing. But stranger things have happened.
Lionel Bopage at Groundviews is apprehensive about another military chief turned democratic leader and poses some questions:
Under the circumstances, what guarantee is there whatever bourgeois democratic characteristics that remain in Sri Lanka will not be brought to an end by an army general elected as President of the country? Would not one want to remain President for life once elected? What are the safeguards that could be applied in such circumstances?


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Tanzania: Tanzania’s got style · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bella Naija introduces Sheria Ngowi, a rising African fashion designer, renowned stylist and one of the  top menswear designers in Tanzania.


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The 5th Chinese blogger conference: micro power and a broader world · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The 5th Chinese blogger conference took place last weekend in a rural county Lianzhou in northern part of Guangdong province. Despite the inconvenient traffic, there were around 150 participants from China and overseas attended the conference.
The conference slogan this year is “Micro power and a boarder world”, the organizing committee explained:
今年年会的口号是“微动力，广天地”，旨在展望越来越微观的信息分享手段和管道，促进社会进步与协作，并带来直接效应的生活方式。一段媒母，一张照片，或者一枚明信片，都可能带来积极的社会改变，更不用说有千千万万的可能性正在孕育中，带给我们一篇广阔的思想天地。
Hu Yong, the keynote speaker of this year's conference, further elaborated the idea of “micro power” in his talk:
每个人承担责任，不是别的，就是微动力。微，就是每一个普通的中国公民，我在上面称之为“大人物”的人。动力，指的不是别的，而是说，不论言语有前条万条，改变世界的其实还是行动。
微， 也可以指日常化的微观政治。政治可以分为宏观政治和微观政治，宏观政治是结构性的，微观政治是日常化的。匈牙利作家康诺德1982年写过一本书叫做《反政 治》，其中包含了许多被后来的人们追踪的议题。哈维尔经常用的概念有“反政治的政治”和“无权者的权力”、“公民的首创精神”等。既然极权的权力是无所不 在、无所不能的，它全面扑灭来自生活的任何自发性和自主性，是对于广大丰富的生活领域的全面攻击和扼杀，那么，从生活的任何一个面向、起点、领域开始，都 可能造成对于极权制度的抵制和反抗。哈维尔的翻译者崔卫平老师认为，“反政治的政治”不去追逐政治权力，不制定一种纲领反对另外一种纲领，不试图以政治手 段（更替领导人乃至改朝换代）解决问题。相反，“反政治”提倡在日常生活的领域中随时随地展开工作。其实，这也说的就是如何从身边的治理做起。所以，在以 上我说到的互联网激发的中国民众的公共精神之中，我们必须大力强调“公民的首创精神”，即任何人可以从任何地方开始。这就是我所理解的微动力。
微 动力为什么重要？在过去，少数几个动力十足的人和几乎没有动力的大众一起行动，通常导致令人沮丧的结果。那些激情四射的人不明白为什么大众没有更多的关 心，大众则不明白这些痴迷者为什么不能闭嘴。而今天，有高度积极性的那些人应致力于降低行动的门槛，让那些只介意一点的人能参与一点，而所有的努力汇总起 来则将十分有力。比如，一封小小的明信片，也能汇成强大的呐喊。
Blogger Guangyao, reflected upon Hu Yong's talk and pointed out that the precondition to the practice of micro power is the ability to think independently:
然而微动力之前必需是独立思考，因为在这个社会哺育了畸形的价值观。在这个国家对成功的普遍定义是你是否成为一个能比别人赚更多钱的财主，这个社会不断容 忍对于社会良知和道德的底线，当然最畸形的是太多人对于独立思考的不自知。这个国家无疑比60年前有更大物质自由又更高的学历，然而这个国家在60年前后 一样没有独立思考精神。50年或者100年的未来赋予了今天重要的社会及历史的责任，作为每个具体的个体，应当以微动力之势前行。用艾未未的一句话，“每 个人承担责任，可能是这个社会将来变化的一个最基本的可能。如果没有这种可能，这个社会不会发生变化。”
Media studies student from Let's blog together interviewed Isaac Mao during the Asia blogfest and associated the concept of micro power with “cloud intelligence”:
“微动力，广天地”体现的思想，与毛向辉的“Cloud Intelligence”理论一脉相承。
在网络时代，人们有更多的机会随时随地分享。当人们在不断分享自己、分享自己认同的别人的观点时，慢慢地形成了一种现象，毛向辉称之为“Cloud Intelligence”。
一个人分享了一个观点，其他人看到之后又分享了这个观点，更多人看到之后继续分享给其他人。通过这样不断地分享，就可以实现一群人做决定。这跟水滴 聚集形成云的过程相似——毛向辉把个体比作水滴，而当个体因为认同某个观点而不断分享时，他们就聚集起来，形成一股力量，一股甚至可以改变国家政策、社会 秩序的力量。
今年6月，厦门网友郭宝锋因传播严晓玲案被福州警方扣留，网友发动一人一张明信片的行动，给狱中的郭宝锋寄明信片，写着：“妈妈喊你回家吃饭。”从全国各地蜂拥而至的明信片，最后真的促进了郭的释放。
小小的明信片能把人从看守所解救出来，体现了“微动力”所创造的“天地”，这就是“Cloud Intelligence”的力量。
Blogger Kissfree spelled out explicitly that “micro power” is to call upon citizen's awareness:
促进社会改变不一定要刀枪，微动力的力量不可忽视，我觉得微动力的本质就是呼唤公民意识，让人们多了一份责任，不再茫然然过日子。微动力通过汇集众人力量 来促进社会进步，虽然公民社会在天朝起步不易，但人心所向，不是一两个人物或是某个集团能阻止的，相反“他们”应当顺应潮流甚至加入我们，微动力–人民的 力量！

author: Oiwan Lam


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Trinidad & Tobago: Executive Presidency? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

B.C. Pires refers to an online article which implies that “the recent tete-a-tete between Massas Manning & Panday may result in the establishment, by a simple vote of the current sitting Parliament, of an executive presidency” in Trinidad and Tobago.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Will The Performing Arts Centre Perform? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The construction of Trinidad and Tobago‘s new National Academy for the Performing Arts has been controversial: Not only was the project reportedly taken away from a local architectural firm and given to the Shanghai Construction Group, it used – for the most part – Chinese labour, there were apparently no design consultations to determine the needs of the local artistes who would eventually be using the space, and the entire operation was managed by UDeCOTT, the company currently embroiled in the middle of a Commission of Inquiry into the local construction sector.  And then there was the hefty price tag.  Despite the obstacles, the academy was opened earlier this week, soliciting reactions from local bloggers…
Coffeewallah seems to be disenchanted with the overall level of good governance in Trinidad and Tobago – the performing arts centre being just another example to add to the list:
In the scheme of things don't you think we should be more worried about the $10 million spent on ANOTHER performance area at the Diplomatic Centre? Nah, that's just peachy. Because we all know that the hospitals are all equipped and adequately staffed.
This Beach Called Life also takes a tongue-in-cheek approach, claiming to have found “the missing pages” of the Prime Minister's speech made at the opening of the academy:
My dear friends, as we plunge the country into insurmountable debt and move into a new era of waste and reckless spending, we will see contracts awarded to more and more contractors via UDECOTT, the shining example of my feeling towards the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago – I don’t give a shirt or a slacks. My brothers and sisters, it will happen.
Meanwhile, kid5rivers compares the construction of the centre to the Teatro Amazonas, an opera house located within the Brazilian Rainforest:
Time shall tell what becomes of the TT$500 million National Academy for the Performing Arts Academy (North Campus), for our own history has shown that such edifices largely are underutilised and under-maintained.
Pleasure, a blog dedicated to the arts, is critical of the historic relationship between the country's government and the artistic community:
Tomorrow, the spanking new $518 million National Academy for the Performing Arts around the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, will officially open. But a few blocks away, at the corner of Roberts and White Street, Woodbrook, the historic Little Carib Theatre will remain boarded-up and shut.
The problem? Reportedly a lack of funding, with an additional $2 million needed to complete the restoration not forthcoming from the State. The same State that can pump $2 million into a flag around the crumbling Hasley Crawford Stadium and which can build arts academies apparently at the snap of its fingers.
The opening of the academy comes after a long history of the arts and artists in this country being relegated to the marginal by successive governments regardless of the status of the country's wealth. For decades, artists from all walks of life agitated for a proper home for the arts, but to no avail.
And what about a home for the contemporary arts, like the now defunct CCA7, which was once housed at the Fernandes Industrial Centre? Now, a spanking new arts academy has emerged. And this is something that should be welcomed. Artists should be happy, right? That's not necessarily the entire story.
The blog also takes issue with the building's design, which purports to be an interpretation of the national flower, the Chaconia, saying:
But that is a loose association; the structure looks more like an imitation of the Sydney Opera House. Or a kind of sophisticated alien space-craft.
Artist Marlon Darbeau, in response to that association, simply posts a graphic of framed government-issue text that reads, “The National Academy for the Performing Arts building design is a translation of our national flower, the Chaconia.” The headline of the graphic contains his commentary:
We Bought It.
After touching upon possible structural and architectural issues that the building may face, Pleasure has the last word:
So do we now have a Performing Arts Academy that cannot perform? That remains to be seen. Only a State serious about the arts will find a way to make it work, especially with Queen's Hall, which thanks to its own restoration is now the most technologically advanced facility in the Caribbean, just across the road.
Still, there are those who will note that it is better to have something than nothing. Yet, with the academy set to be run by the University of Trinidad and Tobago, it remains to be seen just what will be the role of organisations like the TTW and how the academy will relate to other cultural strands in the country. It is a little late in the game to be only now figuring these things out, especially after spending millions of taxpayers’ money which could have supported worthy artistic projects throughout the decades.


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Uganda: The Grasshopper Syndrome takes root · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ugandan politicians are behaving like grasshoppers: “Following the pattern of most dictator regimes coming to an end, Museveni and his collaborators in the armed occupation of Buganda are starting to behave like grasshoppers.”


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USA: Fort Hood massacre puts spotlight on Muslims in Army · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

A shooting rampage carried out by US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan that killed 13 and injured 31 in Fort hood, Texas has once again put Muslims in America under the spotlight – especially those serving in the army.
Moments after Major Hasan was announced as the suspected shooter, there was clear discomfort among newscasters and commentators regarding his religious and ethnic background. It's also been widely reported that Muslim service members have sometimes faced attacks from fellow services members.
Howard M. Friedman, Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Toledo, says in his blog ReligionClause:
“The military has been actively recruiting Muslims with the linguistic skills and cultural understanding needed to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However Muslims in the service face suspicion by some of their officers. “
Whatever suspicions of Muslim service members existed before the shootings, one can only fear that they may have been heightened by the mass murder in Fort Hood. Questions are still being raised as to whether Major Hasan was an extremist who carried out the attack based on religious ideology or he was simply mentally ill.
In Canada, writer Gwynne Dyer, at Vancouver weekly free paper Straight.com, argues that pointing out the murderer's religion overlooks some very serious issues:
“After a few days while the commentariat hesitated before competing narratives, the media are settling on the explanation that it was ethnic/racial/religious abuse that drove Nidal crazy. Bad people doing un-American things were ultimately responsible for the tragedy, and there’s an end to it.
The one explanation that is excluded is that America’s wars in Muslim lands overseas are radicalizing Muslims at home. Never mind that the homegrown Muslim terrorists who attacked the London transport system in 2005, and the various Muslim plotters who have been caught in other Western countries before their plans came to fruition, have almost all blamed the Western invasions of Muslim countries for radicalizing them. Never mind, above all, that what really radicalized them was the fact that those invasions made no sense in terms of Western security.”
Fox News, often criticized for its bias on issues related to immigration and conservative politics, is reportedly calling for the “screening of Muslims” in the army. At the Veterans Today website, a retired officer of the United States Coast Guard, Tom Barnes, says the news channel is playing up the stereotype to create “us versus them” tensions:
“… the news channel is being very “unhelpful” to say the least if this initially reasonable question soon turns into another Fox Channel crusade against “them”. This stuff is not only getting old, it is dangerous. The story is here.
As I have previously pointed out, this kind of thing has happened before in the U.S. Armed Forces. I am getting tired of Fox News telling me who my enemies are. All the time. Non stop. I had no idea there were so many “thems” out there!”
A number of newspapers are now examining how Major Hasan's actions will affect Muslims serving the in US army, and Muslim residents around Fort Hood.
Here is a video report by euroamericannews on YouTube about how some Fort Hood Muslims view the events.
As the investigation of the massacre continues, the spotlight on Muslims serving in the army will likely continue.

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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USA: Photo of Immigration Data Wishlist · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Spot.us shares a photo of an immigration data wishlist compiled on a white board at the California Data Camp.


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Venezuela: BarCamp Caracas 2009 · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

BarCamp Caracas 2009 is scheduled for November 27, and the blog No Suma Cero [es] writes about some of the topics to be addressed and how to connect to the various social networks for coverage.


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Zimbabwe: Old Mutual should stop funding Mugabe’s propaganda machine · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Petition Old Mutual to stop funding Zimbabwe's state media: “South African insurance giant, Old Mutual confirmed this week that it was a major shareholder in ZimPapers, the publishing group that produces some of Zimbabwe’s most vitriolic propaganda.”


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Africa: Obaasema: lifestyle magazine for the African women · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Check out a video about Obaasema magazine, a premier lifestyle magazine for the modern African woman.


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Africa: PayPal alternatives for African entrepreneurs · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Theresa lists PayPal alternatives for African entrepreneurs: “Although PayPal is ubiquitous in the States and Europe, there are many alternatives available online, most with far more relaxed policies about where and how money can be sent.”


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Morocco: Aicha Ech Chenna Wins Opus Prize · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Image by Hisham G., photo by Opus
Extramarital sex in Morocco is taboo, technically punishable by imprisonment, though the law is rarely enforced.  Unwed motherhood then, is the ultimate taboo, and women who get pregnant out of wedlock are often shunned from their communities.  That's where activist and social worker Aicha Ech Chenna comes in: In 1980, after witnessing an unmarried mother give up her child, Ech Chenna formed a social work practice with the sole purpose of helping unwed mothers.  Now, nearly 25 years after its official inception, Solidarité Féminine employs women at two restaurants, a bakery, four small shops, and a hammam (bath), and provides them with health care, child care, and job skills.  The organization also provides women with legal assistance, helping them to officialize surnames for their children (in Morocco, women lack authority to give their children a surname, and without a surname, it is nearly impossible to get an ID card).
And so, in Solidarité Féminine‘s 24th year, 68-year-old Aicha Ech Chenna has just been awarded the world's largest faith-based prize for entrepreneurship, the Opus Prize.  The prize will provide the organization with 1 million USD (over 750,000 MAD).  The Moroccan-American board, based in Washington DC, held an event for Ech Chenna, capturing the event on video and sharing it via YouTube:
Moroccan blogger Hisham of The Moroccan Mirror started his career as a doctor in Morocco, and has seen the plight of unwed mothers in Morocco firsthand. He writes of the experience, and lauds Ech Chenna for her efforts, saying:
We heard terrible stories about some unwed pregnant women being rejected from clinics by doctors or nurses, and about newborns being abandoned near the gates of hospitals and clinics, and we saw those same abandoned babies and infants (“ben X” they were called, or “son of X”) being brought to the maternity unit, malnurished and dehydrated.
To be fair, those women were reasonably well treated, though one could sense the coldheartedness with which their cases were addressed. It was then that I first heard of organizations like “Solidarité féminine,” “Association enfance espoir Maroc” or “Bayti,” and of wonderful people like Aicha Ech Chenna who took upon themselves the burden of helping those young mothers and abondened children, in a society that continues to put the responsibility of extra-marital relationship, mainly on women. A terrible stigma that only people like Ech Chenna might help erase.

author: Jillian C. York


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Cambodia: Journalist charged with defamation · Global Voices
Caroline Finlay

Ros Sokhet, a journalist well known in Cambodia for his contribution to the English language media, was arrested on October 30th and charged with defamation. On November 6th he was convicted of spreading corruption accusations about news anchor and newspaper publisher Soy Sopheap and sentenced to two years in prison.
Was it because he reported on corruption in Cambodia’s media or because he was corrupt himself?
Sokhet admitted sending the following four text messages to Soy Sopheap in October, as reported by The Cambodian Auckland Association Inc. (CAAI) News Media on October 30th.
“How much money did you demand from Khe Dara, her husband said that amount US$ 5,000, why were you so bad in action?”
“Khe Dara’s file was a little bit, but you extended to large, I received a report from Tong Seng who was threatened money by you as well as other members of CPP, all of them were very unhappy whatever you acted”
“Ok, all of CPP’s members were not happy, they want to destroy you. Moreover, CTN’s boss also did not welcome you”
“Tong Seng asked me…?”
Khe Dara is serving a prison sentence for firing a gun in public. Her husband Hang Mong Heng claimed that two journalists attempted to extort $7000 from him for not reporting the story, a statement he has since retracted. Tong Seng is a governor for the Cambodia People’s Party (CPP).
Why did Sokhet send those text messages to Sopheap? Why did Sopheap consider it a matter to refer to the police?
He said it was because,
“I heard some people talked about him [Soy Sopheap], some journalists criticized him at Atalantic shop [called Arun Reah], so I decided to inform him as soon as possible.”
The October issue of Southeast Asia Globe printed an article on corruption among Cambodian reporters, editors, publishers and TV news anchors. In that article, ironically penned by Sokhet himself, he writes that from the Atlantic coffee shop,
“journalists will make a phone call for an appointment and then set a price for spiking (deleting) the story or changing the facts to fit a victim’s preferred profile.”
Cambodian officials and publishers acknowledged that corruption exists among journalists, but none have taken responsibility. Pen Samithi, president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists, said,
“I recognize that there are many corrupt journalists and that only way to solve this problem is for the ministry of information to be strict in issuing a license to open a newspaper.”
Samithi is the editor and chief of pro-CPP newspaper Ramsey Kampushea. Meatophoum newspaper publisher Om Chandara also wants tighter regulation, and criticized the ministry of information,
“It hands out passes and registration to untrained journalists who go around exporting money everywhere, from capital to provinces.”
The minister of information, Khieu Kanharith, responded by passing the buck, “It [corruption] is because the authorities in the provinces are weak.” Sokhet quoted Soy Sopheap, “I am not corrupt and I have never received money,” in the same piece.
There is a great deal of foreign news coverage in Cambodia. The Phnom Penh Post gained fame for its war reporting in the 90s, and the Cambodia Daily, a non-profit project of Bernie Krishner’s, strives to not only produce high-quality news, but also to train young journalists. The Southeast Asia Globe, published by former employees of Germany’s Focus magazine, is a full color monthly with offices in Cambodia and Thailand. All employ Khmer and foreign staff. The Mirror translates Khmer language new articles into English and posts them online, while the anonymous author of weblog Details are Sketchy provides insightful commentary on the Cambodia and her media.
Cambodia’s press freedom rank by Reporters Without Borders improved in 2009 to the 117th most corrupt out of 175 countries polled, up from a rank of 126th in 2008. This year at least one journalist was arrested for reporting on corruption, not counting Sokhet, while last year two opposition journalists were killed in the run up to the 2008 national election.

author: Caroline Finlay


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China: Interview with Lu Guang, the photographer of “Pollution in China” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Hush has translated local online media Netease's interview with Lu Guang, who won this year W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography with a set of photos featuring “Pollution in China”.


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Egypt: Celebrities sans Diplomacy · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Bikya Masr reported two stories a couple of days apart about celebrity blunders and lack of tact.
Egypt’s chief Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass called American pop-star Beyonce a “stupid person” during her brief tour of the Giza pyramids:
during Hawass’ self-guided tour, he said “I showed her the Sphinx and I gave her a book on King Tutankhamen,” but then his anger and frustration made its way to the forefront.
“Then he stopped being diplomatic and said in anger, ’she’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she doesn’t want to understand’,” wrote Summer al-Gamal for Al Shorouk Newspaper.
Hawass is known for his outbursts. A number of foreigners have told Bikya Masr that he has employed Arabic to insult others at dinner events and gatherings, believing the non-Egyptians will not understand his Arabic. Beyonce, obviously, did not understand his jabs, Gamal said.
And speaking as an honored guest at the Cairo International Film Festival, Salma Hayek  described  how she was sexually harassed in Egypt when she was 17:
Hayek said she went on a touristic tour of Cairo, visited the Pyramids since her arrival earlier this month and expressed her happiness to visit Egypt for the second time in her life and that she thinks the country is very safe, saying she could accompany her daughter in the streets of Cairo without fear. In her native Mexico, where kidnapping is commonplace, this would be unheard of, the Frida, From Dust till Dawn and Fools Rush In star told the audience.
But, she recalled memories of her first visit to Cairo 26-years ago when she was 17, which immediately garnered the applause of the audience for revealing her age.

author: Marwa Rakha


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Egypt: One day before playing Algeria · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Hisham of GVO covered the Algerian side of the online feud and tension over the decisive football match due to take place in Cairo on November 14. The encounter will determine which of the two teams will qualify to next year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Some Egyptian bloggers enjoy a game with a twist.
Sue of AdBasha posted the Coca-Cola TV ad supporting the national team and wrote:
In what can only be called a brilliant initiative, CocaCola brings its fans an utter sense of nostalgia, mixed with goosebumps and smiles and even loud laughter.
With their latest National Football Team sponsorship campaign, “1989” marks some of the best commercial content I've seen in a long while.
20 years ago, same two teams, same crucial crossroad, same month…Egypt and Algeria met for a World Cup qualifying game; A Special Dedication to 80 Million Egyptians.
Zeinobia called the campaign a beautiful marketing disaster:
If you hear tomorrow that angry Algerian hooligans have crashed every single Coca Cola bottle in their country , do not be surprised.
If you hear tomorrow that someone has set the Coca Cola factory there on fire do not be surprised.
If you find that the Algerians are calling for boycotting Coke do not be surprised.
Despite how beautiful this ad is from the artistic point of view , I do not know if it is the suitable time to release it in this tension between the two countries.
The Algerian FM has visited Egypt to speak with his Egyptian counterpart and there is talk that the presidents of both countries will attend the match in order to ensure maximum security , I do not know about the Algerian President’s security but I know ours very well.
Henkel came up with a counter campaign entitled, “From Egyptian mothers to the Egyptian team”:
Meanwhile, MohAly is fed up with all the noise:
I am definitely cheering for Egypt, I even will allow my students to leave 30 mins early to watch the match, but I still can't see why is it as important as October war (as some papers have written)?! Does this mean if Algeria wins, it will be another Naksa that will take another 40 years to fix its consequences. I am wondering that we have reached a stage where I wish that we take our work as serious as we are dealing with football issues!
Football is the opium of the masses and in Egypt it is used to distract people from real issues but what about Algeria, Zeinobia thinks that:
Algeria is suffering from the similar problems that we have in Egypt and driving anger and despair. They are headed by sick president who refuses to leave his place , an army that controls the country, ghost of terrorism moving around and youth that want to leave the country in every possible way because of the economic conditions !!
The Egyptians and Algerians love their countries so much and are extremely angry that they feel helpless in front all these challenges despite they are not ; they just need a strong motive , a strong and real motive not a pseudo match for 90 minutes.
SandMonkey summed up the war explaining how the Egyptians are gearing up:
How the Algerians retaliated
And what happened one day before the game
Zeinobia thinks this video is sad:
It is very sad because it will be much better if I had heard those football fans screaming “We Want better education , We Want better health care system, We Want clean water and clean streets, We Want better salaries and better food , We Want democracy , We want our rights backs “ but unfortunately all what I heard was “We Want tickets” !!! It was just loud lost scream !!


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Hungary: Flu Vaccination as “the Great Hungarian Experiment” · Global Voices
Marietta Le

The vaccination campaign of the Hungarian National Public Health and Medical Officer Service (ÁNTSZ) has inspired a public debate among the institution itself, doctors, politicians and ordinary people who are just not sure whether the Hungarian-made swine flu vaccine is good or not.
Hungarian news sites report (HUN) on the “vaccine tourism” from Slovakia to the pharmacies at the border and news agencies confirm that  Hungary doesn't plan to seal its borders with the neighboring Ukraine (see the latest GV post about Ukraine and swine flu here).
Observer, a Hungarian blogger living in Kyiv, wrote a post (HUN) about her trip to Budapest:
In Pest, I came home for one week. Arriving to Borispol Airport, I put on a mask: I got it in store from a Hungarian colleague and kept it for the airport. There were fewer people at the airport than on an ordinary Friday. […] The number of passengers has decreased, it can be seen from the traffic of the border crossing points, the number of those leaving the country decreased by 23%, and of foreigners entering by 40%.
The ground service crew was working in “maskara”, but most of the passengers weren't wearing masks. It had been part of our preparations, that we'd vaccinated ourselves with Hungarian serum (yes, I have read the enormous debate on the net about the Hungarian vaccine, I had called up two doctors in Hungary – none of them had dissuaded me – in my judgment the risk there [in Ukraine] is bigger than the risk of the Hungarian vaccine – I thought rather to face the latter). […]
One part of the “enormous debate” mentioned by Observer is between the authorities and general practitioner doctors. One of them, Gyula Keszthelyi MD, a family practitioner in eastern Hungary, attracted the attention by his blog (HUN) where next to writing about prevention (HUN), and informing parents (HUN) about their right of not answering the letters they get from their children's school – which imply they're obliged to vaccinate their children while in Hungary it's not in the category of obligatory vaccination – in several posts he pointed at the mistakes ÁNTSZ is committing in its vaccination campaign. This generated a movement against his functioning. A Hungarian weekly Heti Válasz published an article on his case:
[…] 50 years ago, Mr Keszthelyi would just have been a village doctor, quietly grumbling under his breath and complaining to the elderly ladies among his patients. Today – thanks to giulio.freeblog.hu, the debating website he set up – his influence on people is comparable to that of the Hungarian Pandemic Commission. Tens of thousands of laymen read his fuming remarks on the site. In addition, he is also a regular visitor adding comments to several internet forums visited by other members of the profession, where the contradictory actions of the government are critically analysed to the tiniest detail. Keszthelyi found himself in the middle of a whole movement, when Ferenc Falus, the National Medical Officer threatened him with a fine of HUF 1 million and the withdrawal of his license, because he refused to administer the state-provided flu vaccines for free. […]
It wasn't only Dr. Keszthelyi who raised the question of administration and of the origin of the Hungarian-made vaccines, but also a consumer protection-blog Tékozló homár had a post (HUN) on it:
[…] The hospitals and pharmacies, anyway, didn't want to receive the vaccines delivered without an expiration date, since it's illegal like that, but the stuff should be sold out if the state had already paid for it. […]
Dr. Gergely (Greg) Bognar, assistant professor at the Center for Bioethics at New York University also reacted (HUN) through his blog dealing with bioethics questions on the swine flu debate turned to party politics, and raised the thought of a big experimentation:
[…] According to fresh research, voters supporting the governing party are rather on the side of vaccination than those of the opposition. […]
Politicians helped a lot for the population in knowing the way about the question: while the prime minister and the minister of health care vaccinated themselves in public, Péter Szijjártó, the deputy-floor leader of FIDESZ [party in opposition now], “considering every circumstance” won't vaccinate himself. […]
Why is the set-up of things like this lucky? Well, the situation is that there's a big question mark related to vaccines against flu. The question is not whether they're harmful – experts agree that they're harmless – but whether they're useful, and if yes, then how far. Does the defense against the new flu really worth 6 billion forints for a society? How efficient are the vaccines against flu financially? […]
We can try with not doing a clinical examination, but vaccinating half of the population, and the other half not, and then keeping the tabs on how many are getting ill, or dying from these two groups. […]
But this kind of research is not free of ethical problems either. […]
I suppose, it's already clear where I'm leading up to. The Hungarian society voluntarily, with enormous self-devotion, by the wise encouragement of politicians started an experiment similar to the one in Tuskegee. The population is dividing itself into two groups by political party sympathy: one group is getting the vaccine, the other, as a volunteer control group, is not.
The experiment plan is very promising, since ten million subject in a research is fair enough to exclude every kind of disturbing circumstances, and the distribution following party sympathy is more or less random. So everything is given to get serious scientific results from the Great Hungarian Experiment!
So it's not by chance that the world is looking at us with great attention. Observers will be sent by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prestigious periodicals as the New England Journal of Medicine, or the Nature, will report on the newest results. […]

author: Marietta Le


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India: The State Of Mumbai Airport · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Mumbai airport has to be the worst that exists in any major city in the world. With two runways that crisscross each other, arrivals and departures are severely constrained,” comments Rajesh Jain at Emergic.


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Japan: A message to Tatsuya Ichihashi  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Naoki Motoyama (本山直樹), guest professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture, addresses [ja] a post to Tatsuya Ichihashi　（市橋達也）, the alleged murderer of Lindsay Hawker captured on Tuesday after having been on the run for almost two years.
The blogger, who used to belong to the same karate club at Chiba School of Horticulture as Ichihashi, remembers one of the last conversations they had and invites him to apologize to the victim`s family and pay for his crime.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, the manga version · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

After more than 80 years since its first publication, Hitler's Mein Kampf  has become a Manga comic.
The 190 page volume, which sold some 45,000 copies in the first printing, tells in a very simple way the story of Adolf Hitler, from his childhood to his rise as the leader of the National Socialist Party.
Cover of the manga 我が闘争 (Mein Kampf)
It is part of a series by the publishing company East Press which in the past has released the manga versions of several heavyweight literary works such as Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Marx's The Capital.
Since further publication of Mein Kampf is already banned in several countries including Germany and Austria, the manga Waga Toso (我が闘争), as it is translated in Japanese, has given place to very different reactions abroad and in Japan, as blogger zoffy well sums up.
注目されている背景には、
・本書の著者がナチスドイツの独裁者アドルフ・ヒトラーであること。
・そして、ドイツでは今なお本著作の出版が禁止されていること。
・さらに、内容がネオ・ナチの思想を助長するのではないかといった懸念が世間にあること。
などの事情がある。
これに対し出版社側は、
「有名な本だが、読んだ人は少ない。どんな思想があれほどの悲劇を生んだのか、『悪魔』で片付けられるヒトラーの人間の部分を知る材料になると思った」
と企画の理由を話している。
Two scenes from the manga 我が闘争 (Mein Kampf)
Commenting on this particular manga, many bloggers chose to copy-paste an article published in the daily Asahi Shimbun on September  6th and titled The manga version of ‘Mein Kampf’ is a hit. Reactions range from critical to calling it “a historical resource” (売れる「わが闘争」漫画版　苦言も「歴史資料」の声も) [ja].
The same article, translated in English 　by the same paper a few days later, states the cause of the ban by saying that “The Finance Ministry of the state of Bavaria, which holds the copyright to the book, has refused to grant permission to reprint it out of sensitivity to victims of Nazi atrocities.”
However, journalist Yoshio Kisa (木佐芳男), former correspondent in Germany for the daily Yomiuri Shimbun and author of essays such as The Question of War Responsibility – Germany's unaccounted for past  (戦争責任”とは何か―清算されなかったドイツの過去), says he  does not agree with Asahi's explanation.
だが、発禁となっている本当の理由は、そんなきれいごとではない。出版すれば、ドイツをはじめヨーロッパ各国にいるネオナチ組織の聖典となって、政治的な大問題となりかねないからだ。バイエルン州の州都ミュンヘンのキオスクに立ち寄れば、いくつかの極右新聞が売られていることに気づく。ドイツには、それぞれ数千人の動員力を持つ極右・ネオナチ組織が複数ある。当局は、彼らを刺激しないように細心の注意を払っている。
Kisa, who considers the presence and actual danger of the rightist groups in Japan to be irrelevant if compared to those in Germany and in other European countries, also reflects on the publication of such a book in Japan.
日本で今、漫画版の『わが闘争』がどんな意味を持つか、どれだけの影響力があるかはよくわからない。しかし、４０年近く前の訳者の意図と漫画版刊行の意図とはそうちがわないだろう。
平野氏はこんな言葉も書いている。 　「戦争経験なき世代こそ、この書を読むべきではないだろうか。この書をくもりなき目で読み、客観的に判断することが、この世代にとって必要であり、戦後の教育を受けたものなら、十分な判断力をもって読むことができるのではないか」
The manga depicts Hitler as a man obsessed who accuses the Jewish people of being the origin of all Germany's evils. Its anti-Semitic thought is paramount and it seems unlikely that such a flawed figure could lead any reader to feel fascinated by his personality.
As some bloggers pointed out, the manga version of Mein Kampf  is an abridgement of the dictator's ideology and may be seen instead, as a different way to be introduced to the study of history. It needs to be supplemented with other sources theternal  suggests, praising the interesting East Press publishing project of making manga out of the world works of literature.
何かの話題が関心を呼び、より深い議論や理解に進むことはよいことだと思う。漫画では描き切れていないヒトラー本人の『わが闘争 』原作も読んだ方がよいし、他の関連本を読むのもよいだろう。読書はそのように進んでいくものだ。関連おススメ漫画としては、『マンガで鍛える読書力』でも紹介した水木しげるの『劇画ヒットラー (ちくま文庫) 』もよいし、手塚治虫の『アドルフに告ぐ 』はかなりのおススメだ。


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Japan: I want my husband dead · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Hideki Sakamoto (坂本 英樹)comments on the topic of the week: the bizarre results of the predictive search function of some Japanese search engines.
“If you enter the word otto (夫,　husband) in the Google search bar, and then press space, a few phrases are shown. But at the head of the list  is the keyword 夫死んでほしい (I want my husband dead), with 674,000 hits […].”
Though, the most searched one is 夫嫌い (otto kirai, I hate my husband), with 2,190,000 hits.
Besides, according to blogger Sakamoto, the first two keywords to be `suggested` after otto in the Yahoo Japan search bar are 浮気　(uwaki, infidelity) and 小遣い平均 (kozukai heikin, average pocket money).


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Liberia: Arrests made in Liberia’s gruesome murder · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ceasefire Liberia reports: “Police sources in Monrovia say it has made some arrests in the murder of the late Keith Jubah. Immediately after the incidence police arrested Abel Bondo and James Linka. Keith was Liberia's Public Procurement Chairman.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Liberia: From guns to notebooks · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

From bullets and guns to notebooks and pens in Liberia: “Waking up in the morning…with my uniforms…on my way to school, sitting in the classroom taking notes – is something that I really like doing every day.” These are of words of Matthew Jacobs, a former child soldier who fought the Liberian Civil War at the age of eight in 2003.


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Liberia: Photography workshop in Monrovia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ruthie writes about photography workshop in Monrovia, Liberia, which trained Liberian journalists on editing, picture taking skills, and street photography.


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Liberia: Too Late for Flowers · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Too Late for Flowers is a short story by Liberian writer Saah Millimono: “Theresa was in her seventies, lean, gray-headed, with a wrinkled face and almost toothless mouth when I moved into her house as a tenant. She had suffered a stroke that left her right leg crippled and her left arm useless.”


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Qatar: No one is above the law – really? · Global Voices
Shabina Khatri

No one is above the law in Qatar, a top official recently said in remarks made ahead of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which Qatar is currently hosting.
“Our system is based on equality and justice,” Attorney General Ali bin Futais Al Marri said in a recent program aired on Al Jazeera and reported by local newspaper the Peninsula.
Bemused, incredulous and wistful, Doha bloggers have been debating the merits of Al Marri's remarks all week.
On Twitter, IvanGiesbrecht said:
hahahahahahahahhahaha!!!!!!!!
According to the Peninsula:
The Emir has never interfered with the judiciary. The Constitution gives him the authority to grant pardon to a convict only after the court has issued its sentence. So during a trial he has never ever tried to interfere, said Al Marri, adding that it was at the Emir’s directives that his office as well as the judiciary have been separated from the executive. Such is the level of fair play and equality in Qatar that once a senior police official was accused of slapping an Asian. The allegations were investigated and after the charges were proved, trial was conducted and the policeman was sentenced to six months in jail and stripped off his job.
On the forum Qatar Living,
Nic said
We, who work here, all, know the level of integrity this countries displays and this reputation is becoming well known in the west among those who have never been here. Qatar is starting to be known by its hunger for fame and good reputation and instead of improving things, they just hide the problems under the carpet! Look how the article puts it: “In other Arab countries, the political will to combat corruption is missing.” What makes these guys think that they are any better from other Arab countries?!?!?!
genesis was more optimistic:
But we are learning. Why do you think they opened all those universities at EC and encourge critcal thinking among locals? They know that once those who graduated from those universities will demand change. Why all those institutes are established? Why sign all those International agreements? The Emir yesterday have given full support and power to the public attorney office & Audit bureau on tracking down corruption cases. We are a “new” country in the world stage. 15 years ago, there wasn’t even a system. Just a copycat from other bureaucratic Arab systems.
On Twitter, peterlada pointed out someone in Qatar is indeed above the law:
Actually the Emir is. By definition.
Though press freedom is guaranteed to a certain extent in Qatar's constitution, the Advisory Council in June recommended harsh punishments for Qatar-based journalists who write against the Emir, national security, religion and the Constitution.
But the State Cabinet last week called for a new press and publications law to “keep pace with the demands of the changing times,” stressing the importance of opening up communication between journalists and government officials.
Yesterday, during a forum for media experts held by the Doha Centre for Media Freedom (which has had its share of controversy over press freedom), journalists called for a revamping of the “outdated” law.
Local newspaper Gulf Times reported:
Nasser al-Othman, a former chief editor of Arrayah Arabic daily and a trustee member at the DCMF, called for abolishing the imprisonment clause in the current press law and replacing it with monetary penalties. “I believe that suggestions made at today’s meeting could be useful if taken seriously by lawmakers,” said al-Othman, who was named as the dean of Qatari journalists.
Other journalists wondered at the point of the roundtable, as no government official attended the session.
From the Gulf Times:
Abdullah bin Hamad al-Azaba, a columnist at Al Arab, criticised the absence of a government representative at the meeting, saying that such an absence had turned the discussion into a “dialogue of the deaf”. “I was saddened that HE Sheikh Hamad bin Thamir (the Al Jazeera TV network chairman) was absent while HE Sheikh Jabor bin Yousuf (chief of the official Qatar News Agency) left before the end of our discussion,” he lamented. DCMF deputy director general Mariam al-Khater, who moderated the discussion, said the DCMF is supporting the issuing of a “modern press law” that considers the changes in all fields in Qatar. Al-Khater pledged that the Center would continue its efforts until a new law press law, free from any imprisonment penalties against journalists, is issued.
For now, however, press freedom in Qatar – Al Jazeera notwithstanding – is still a goal to strive towards.
On Qatar Living, Xena, who works in print media, said:
I got here at the start of the paper, everyone was gungho about being in a new country with new possibilities. The atmosphere was electric…Then come the blows – you cannot print anything vaguely opposite to government stances, you can only print press releases, and you are not allowed to change them, bad english or not… Trying to get interviews with people is like trying to reach the US president – impossible – phone call after phone call, lists of questions, approval of questions, wanting to see the story before it goes to print and then frequently changing or retracting statements.
On Here, There and Everywhere, intlexpatr reprinted one man's comments on the typical newspaper formula in Qatar, saying “I almost split my sides, I was laughing so hard.”
Truthful Stranger writes:
Hence you always get the presence of evil (there’s always an Asian gang being deported for doing something dreadful like burglary or selling liquor) page 1, bottom of the page, that covers the Evil In Our Midst; then the sycophantic article about HH who has just made some pithy pronouncement on The Necessity For Mutual Understanding And Education Across The World, page 2; some phony figures about how much more the Pearl property or other investments have increased pages 3 – 5; some baloney about how safe the country is for investment, page 6; then the gushing op-ed about how the best societies in the world are so great because they have been enforcing Islamic values, pages 6 – 8; Qatar Airways wins award for best in-flight hot towels, page 9, and a new order for 500 Airbus aircraft (thanks to the strategic profitability of the airline! ha!) . And not to forget, Gulf Escapes Economic Downturn for the fourth week in a row, page 10 ad infinitum.

author: Shabina Khatri


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South Africa: Bookmark Awards was a world class event · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mike writes about The Bookmark Awards in South Africa: “From the high quality of the judging panel, to the evening’s entertainment (1st Project and the Dirty Skirts) to the really funky awards themselves, it really was a world class event.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Art or Ego? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“One thing that seems to me to distinguish good governance from bad is an understanding that cities and countries are built on communities, not on buildings”: Club Soda and Salt comments on Trinidad and Tobago's “latest white elephant”.


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Trinidad & Tobago: “Axe the Tax”! · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

From Trinidad and Tobago, This Beach Called Life clears the air on “the not-so-new property tax that has angered homeowners into an angry fireball. Citizens, despite cursing and more cursing, were about to resign themselves to paying the much higher property tax when, out of nowhere, a flagpole appeared.”


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Bloggers Remember TEDIndia: The Good, the Bad and the Quirky · Global Voices
Gaurav Mishra

When the legendary TED conference came down to India, Indian bloggers were understandably excited.
In the run up to TEDIndia, a few Indian bloggers got together to interview TEDIndia fellows and Geetha Krishnan put together a compilation of the TEDIndia fellow interviews.
During the conference, the TED blog fed the excitement by posting session-wise roundups (session 1, session 2, session 3, session 4, session 5, session 6, session 7, session 8, session 9) and reactions to the most popular talks (Hans Rosling, Devdutt Pattanaik, Tony Hsieh, Scott Cook, Pranav Mistry, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Shukla Bose, Anil Gupta, Kavita Ramdas, Sunitha Krishnan, Sidi Goma, Ramachandra Budihal, Ananda Shankar Jayant, Kiran Sethi, Eve Ensler, His Holiness the Karmapa, Shashi Tharoor) and even did a roundup of reactions to the conference.
TED India participants at the venue. Image by Kiruba Shankar
Several bloggers wrote posts about how TED touched them in unexpected ways.
Rajiv Dingra was one of them –
In my last 3 years and more of blogging experience Ive attended over 50 events (atleast) and each of them have left me richer in knowledge or in insight. But none of them have ever moved me to tears or made me go in deep thought or made me proud to be Indian all in the matter of days. TEDIndia infact was more a reflection of what are the grave issues in India and the brilliance and the fallacy of India rather than being specific to Technology, Entertainment and Design.
Peter Elst summarized TEDIndia in ten quotes.
While the overall reaction to TEDIndia was overwhelmingly positive, several attendees were left a little underwhelmed.
TEDIndia fellow Amit Varma complained that TEDIndia catered to Western stereotypes of India –
There was much exotica, and much mysticism served up that says nothing at all about the country we are today. The average foreign attendee would have gone away with his stereotypes about India reinforced, not shattered. That’s an opportunity missed.
Awesome backdrop for a dance party. Image by Kiruba Shankar
Amit also shared an interesting sociological observation –
The pharmacy at the Infosys campus in Mysore does not sell condoms. I want you to think about that for a moment. This is a campus where thousands of young men and women stay and work together. The official Infosys position on this matter, thus, seems to be that either a) Infosys employees do not have sex or b) Infosys employees have sex, but it should not be safe sex. Isn’t this interesting?
Aditi Machado was surprised by TEDIndia's strong focus on India –
In retrospect the India-focus at TED was too strong. When TED is held in the UK or the US, does the conference become all about those countries and those countries’ contributions to the world? I don’t think so. The running theme at TEDIndia, beginning with the first talk by Hans Rosling, seemed to be: ‘India will become the next superpower. Oh, and China too. But we’re in India and India is a democracy and we hate Commies, so we like India better.’ I’m sure many Indians were flattered, and I’m as patriotic as the next person, but it was disturbing to see that almost every speaker, especially the non-Indians, felt obligated to give us a big pat on the back.
Manjeet Kripalani at Financial Express also complained about TEDIndia's uni-directional programming –
The title was promising: “TEDIndia: the Future Beckons”. On the Mysore campus, India’s future had already arrived. It did not reflect in the programming of TEDIndia. The idea of TED is unique. Brilliant new minds who expound their futuristic ideas in 18 minutes to a sophisticated celebrity audience, interspersed with entertainment, music and some socially responsible talk. This TED conference was more “Bono Saves the World” than either Technology or Entertainment or Design. No soft or hard power, but powerlessness.
TED India talks. Image by Kiruba Shankar
TED attendee Our Woman in Havana rounded off her series of posts about TEDIndia (day one, day two, day three, day four) by deciding that the real genius of TED lies in its ability to gather together people who are hugely talented and successful in a diverse range of fields –
Some of my best TED moments were little breaks when a randomly struck conversation brought nuggets of new thought –talking literature with A who worked in microfinance with the Acumen Fund and discovering our common heritage; discussing whether Urdu should  be written in Hindi script in order to preserve the language in India with T; clashing head-on with J over Cuban politics at lunch; understanding from A why someone would want to put a boutique hotel in Ahmedabad; learning from B how designers can source organic materials; always always bumping into T and talking football, Punjabi and why lawyers are perceived as emptying rather than filling; dancing with a stranger; drinking coffee with an artist;  discussing with C how to put Shashi Tharoor on the spot with a question about Indian state accountability over genocide. The genius in TED lay in those moments where nobody knew what would come next, and could then be blown away by what did come next. At times, those were the speakers, and often, those moments came in the all too brief meetings we had with people who already seem to have become friends.
For me, TEDIndia was about a rediscovery of the power of storytelling –
These stories reminded me that the most powerful stories we can tell about ourselves are, in fact, stories about other people. These stories reminded me that by telling stories about ideas that are bigger than us, we become bigger than ourselves. These stories reminded me that we are shaped by the stories we tell others, but even more so by the stories we tell ourselves.
TED India group photo – the crazy version. Image by Kiruba Shankar
The TEDIndia talks will soon be up on the TED website, so do look out for them.
Cross-posted at Gauravonomics, my blog on social media and social change.

author: Gaurav Mishra


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Brazil: Was the blackout caused by hackers or UFOs? · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The worst blackout on record that cut electricity to 18 of Brazil’s 26 states leaving nearly 60 million people in the dark last Tuesday has been this week's hot topic on the Brazilian blogosphere. Power went out for more than five hours in most Brazilian cities, after transmission problems knocked Itaipu hydroelectric dam out. Itaipu dam, the world’s second-largest hydroelectric power producer, located on the border with Paraguay, was completely shut down for the first time in its 25-year history. Parts of Paraguay were also affected.
Among the many reports about “what-I-was-doing-when-the-lights-went-off” conspiracy theories reign: from one blog to another, the blame for the power cut that left up to a fifth of the population without power shifts from President Lula to Dilma Rousseff, his candidate in the next presidential elections, and from UFO to hackers.
From Sonic Downloads
Authorities have blamed a severe storm for bringing down a power line, cutting two other lines and ultimately shutting the dam, causing a domino effect that rippled across the country. Arauto do Futuro [pt] contests the official explanation based on reports by the National Institute for Space Research [pt] stating that there was a minimal risk that lightening would have hit any facility. He implies that economical interests might have turned Itaipu off:
Não seriam estes ‘apagões‘ a desculpa perfeita para acelerar a construção de PCHs ou as transposições de rios no Brasil? Contribuindo para o ‘programa de aceleração’ da destruição da natureza e da beleza cênica em diversos locais que ainda restam  preservados nesse país?
Coincidence or not, Dilma Rousseff, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2010 elections said in an interview a few weeks ago that there was no risks of blackout again in Brazil, referring mainly to the 1999 Southern Brazilian blackout. For Francisco Schieber [pt], the government served up lame excuses:
Apagão é rotina no Brasil. Uma média de um a cada seis anos, desde 1985. Bom, qual a diferença deste pros demais? Comecemos falando que este se deu no governo de um presidente que afirmou categoricamente que em seu governo jamais aconteceria algo de ruim (e até de bom, se olharmos com um pouco mais de cuidado suas declarações) que aconteceu no governo anterior. “Pois nunca antes na história destepaiz” aconteceu um apagão com proporções tão convincentes. Não restaram dúvidas: tivemos mais de três horas para concluirmos que realmente foi um apagão (ou blecaute, se preferirem). “Nunca antes na história destepaiz” um apagão foi tão mal justificado. E por que foi tão mal justificado? “Porque nunca entes na história destepaiz” o governo ficou tão desarmado com o que aconteceu, ou seja, nem eles sabem.
On the other hand Eduardo Guimarães [pt] suspects political forces and sabotage. He wonders whether it is possible that some sectors of the media knew the outage was going to happen, as most media outlets seem to have been prepared for the coverage:
Fiquei impressionado com a eficiência da imprensa. Às três da manhã, quando a energia elétrica retornou, havia montes de matérias nos portais de internet sobre um “apagão” que se abateu sobre vários Estados do Sul e do Sudeste no fim da noite de ontem. E os jornais todos saem hoje com matérias amplas sobre o assunto.
Detalhe: a falta de luz começou depois das 22 horas, muito próximo do fechamento das edições do principais jornais do país, que mostraram-se incrivelmente mobilizados para coberturas tão emergenciais. Pareceu até haver um esquema de “cobertura” muito bem montado.
O termo “apagão”, que foi o que vi no G1 e no UOL, deverá ser generalizado e explorado à farta pela mídia. Ela tentará vincular um episódio isolado e desencadeado por causa desconhecida ao racionamento de energia que ocorreu no fim do governo Fernando Henrique Cardoso devido a falta de investimentos em geração de energia naquela época.
A exploração de um episódio isolado, porém, terá vida curta… Mas será que terá mesmo? E se o episódio não for isolado e outros apagões misteriosos voltarem a ocorrer?
Detail: the power outage started after 10 PM, very close to the closing deadline for the early editions of the country's major newspapers, which proved to be incredibly well mobilized for emergency coverage. There even seemed to be a very well assembled “coverage” scheme.
The term “apagão” [a pejorative word for blackout], which was what I saw on G1 and UOL, should be generalized and exploited heartily by the media. They try to link a single episode triggered by unknown causes to the rationing of electricity that happened at the end of [former president] Fernando Henrique Cardoso's government due to a lack of investment in power generation at that time.
The exploitation of a single episode will be, however, short lived… but will it really? And what if this episode is not isolated and other mysterious blackouts take place?
São Paulo, twitpic by @douglasmiguel
Some people believe the power cut was caused by extraterrestrial visitors, as every UFO community knows, when an Unidentified Flying Object is near a grid it causes interference due to the UFO's electromagnetic effect. Mario Barros [pt] publishes a picture and this account of a reader who claims to have seen a flying saucer in São Paulo skies on the night of the power cut:
Por alguns segundos, enquanto ainda estava perto, pude ver claramente que se tratava de um objeto escuro, negro, de forma retangular, com 4 luzes brancas de brilho constante em cada ponta e 2 luzes vermelhas que piscavam de maneira diferente uma da outra na parte de baixo. Tentei filmar o objeto com o celular, mas não consegui captar nada. Não faço idéia de que altura estava, mas estava bastante baixo. Não havia som algum e me pareceu ser menor e mais rápido que um avião comercial. A medida que foi se afastando não consegui mais ver a parte sólida e escura do objeto, somente suas luzes vermelhas que piscavam e as brancas estáticas. O objeto surgiu a leste dirigia-se rumo a oeste e o observei até que ele desapareceu no horizonte. Tudo isso durou cerca de 1 minuto e meio.
For some the power outage was the work of hackers. Coincidentally, a few days before the outage, a report by CBS news magazine 60 Minutes blames hackers for targeting control systems causing the electrical blackouts impacting millions of people in Brazil in 2005 and 2007, when Brazil suffered electricity shortages and rationing. This fueled new claims that hackers were behind this cut. Could that be possible? A 23 year old hacker, Maycon Maia Vitali [pt] believes it is feasible. He has showed in his blog the security flaws of the website of one of the government agencies responsible for managing energy:
Ou seja, além de ter encontrado uma falha de SQL Injection, já descobri de cara que o sistema funciona rodando um banco de dados IBM Informix. A partir deste passo ficaria extremamente fácil para qualquer pessoa com conhecimento intermediário de SQL Injection invadir o Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico.
É interessante ressaltar que não tenho qualquer ligação com o ocorrido no dia 11 de novembro de 2009, e que irei parar a divulgação neste ponto para não comprometer mais ainda o funcionamento do sistema (odeio escuro). Não estou afirmando que o ocorrido foi causado por um ataque hacker, porém se tivesse sido, é importante deixar bem visível que o mesmo aconteceria sem qualquer dificuldade.
Espero que este post abra os olhos do governo, para que não possamos sofrer danos maiores em situações mais críticas.
I would like to stress that I have no connection with what happened on November 11, 2009, and I will stop releasing information at this point in order not to further expose the operation of the system (I hate the dark). I'm not saying that the incident was caused by a hacker attack, but it is important to make it clear that the same could have happened without any difficulty.
I hope this post opens the eyes of the government, so that we do not suffer major damage in critical situations.
São Paulo, twitpic by @douglasmiguel
Of course, a power outage of this dimension has fueled the Brazilian sense of humour too. Fabiano fayerwayer has collected the many jokes that did the rounds on Twitter, which kept many people entertained and informed during the blackout as a “great informal coverage of what is happening in many different parts of the country”:
Os engraçadinhos de plantão voaram em cima, e as piadinhas sobre Itaipu não param de aparecer. Tanto que resolvemos fazer uma pausa na nossa programação para trazer para vocês os 5 melhores tweets do apagão até agora! Confiram:
1. Alguem brincou lá em Itaipu e disse: “o último que sair apaga a luz”. O estagiário acreditou…
2. Estão dizendo que o Google comprouItaipu. Agora energia elétrica, só com convite…
3. Apagão: Muito mais econômico que horário de verão!
4. A Madona nem liga pro apagão! Elá tá com Jesus Luz!
5. Segundo meus cálculos, as maternidades vão estar lotadas em Agosto de 2010!!
1. Someone in Itaipu joked, “will the last one to leave please turn off the light!” The trainee believed it…
2. They are saying that Google has bought Itaipu. Now, electricity is by invitation only…
3. Blackout: much more economical than daylight saving time!
4. Madonna does not care about the blackout! She's with Jesus Luz! [Madonna's Brazilian boyfriend has the Portuguese word for light as his surname. The couple was in Rio on the night of the blackout]
5. According to my calculations, the hospital maternity wards will be packed in August 2010!
Blackout t-shirts in two versions: "Blackout! I was there/Blackout! I Twittered!" From Objetos de Desejo blog.

author: Paula Góes


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Dominican Republic: Energy Crisis Continues · Global Voices
Rocio Diaz

With less than three months on the job as the Vice-President for the Dominican Corporation of State Electric Companies [es]  (CDEEE for its initials in Spanish), businessman Celso Marranzini has seen the need to look for help outside of the country to resolve the serious energy problem, which has recently reached critical levels.
A delegation headed by Marranzini traveled to South Korea to seek technical assistance to help solve the energy problem [es], in which half of the electrical plants have been out of service under the argument that they are under maintenance. However, this has resulted in an energy deficit reaching 600 Megawatts, in which Dominicans have been under 9-10 hours of power outages per day.
As this is an ongoing problem that seems to be worsening to the current critical levels, the population has been showing its discontent, after holding onto the hope that Marranzini could solve the problem. These power outages are causing frustration and criticism of Marranzini's leadership. Twitter users, Elvis Medina and Ana Peguero provide some thoughts on the situation:
@anapeguero: Arroyo Hondo tenía circuito 24 horas hasta que llegó Marranzini, ahora nos dan apagones por un tubo… y la factura más cara to los días!!!
@elvismedina: Espero q para estas navidades, el sr. Marranzini, se convierta en Santa Claus y nos regale un poquito mas de ENERGIA…Oremos por eso..
In addition, street protests against the power outages have taken place in places like the province of Barahona and the National District. The most recent incident took place in the city of Santiago, where one person died and many others were arrested [es].
As a previous critic of the CDEEE before being named to head the entity, many hoped that Marranzini could solve this problem that has been going on for more than 40 years, and which has become an obstacle in the country's development.
While Marranzini has concentrated on improving the CDEEE's finances and the reduction of payroll, he has not been able to reduce the blackouts. The outages have reached the point that they have worsened since he took office in August 2009, maintaining the electrical system in such a delicate state, that some have even called for the return of Radhames Segura, his predecessor.
Cartoon by Harold Priego which depicts the call for Segura to return to his previous post, which is preferable to the current power outage situation. Cartoon republished with permission.
The solution goes beyond changing one public official for another. There are some that attribute the situation to personal interests and politics. For others, like Dr. José Antonio Vanderhorst, consultant on electricity, the core issue is the structure of the national electrical system.  He writes on the group blog Grupo Millenium Hispaniola [es]:
… por sí misma la despolitización es insuficiente. Es absolutamente necesario cambiar el sistema (eléctrico) que sigue muy influenciado por el paradigma de la CDE y de la capitalización que están orientadas a la oferta, cuando los problemas más complejos están en los aspectos sociales, organizacionales y culturales, que se corresponden al consumo que está en el lado de demanda.
Es urgente dar un giro para desarrollar e integrar los recursos de la demanda. La urgencia está en que la decisión de cambio de ley necesita ser introducido en el acuerdo con el FMI. De lo contrario, seguiremos sin resolver la crisis sistémica del sector eléctrico.
… depoliticization itself is insufficient. It is absolutely necessary to change the (electrical) system which continues to be greatly influenced by the CDE(EE) paradigm and the capitalization that is oriented to the supply, when the more complex problems are in the social, organizational, and cultural aspects, which corresponds to the consumption and demand.
It is important to make a shift towards the development and integration of the resources in demand. The urgency is in the decision to change the law needs to be introduced in the agreement with the FMI (International Monetary Fund). On the other hand, we still are left without solving the systemic crisis in the electrical sector.

author: Rocio Diaz


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Egypt: Nidal Hassan – Psychiatrist or Psychotic?  · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Major Nidal Hassan is the US military psychiatrist of Arab origins who recently went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, killing 12 soldiers and one civilian. He is now facing charges of premeditated murder. “Psychiatrist or Psychotic?”, ask Egyptian bloggers.
Nawara Negm sympathizes with him:
Hassan El Helali thinks  he is psychotic:
Wael Nawara wants to remind everyone that:
In late June 2007, Mr. Hasan stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The Washington Post.
“It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims,” he said in the presentation.
US-based Lebanese Dr Asa'ad Abu Khalil – The Angry Arab - quotes a newspaper report which says:
““When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal,” said Victor Benjamin II, 30, a former member of the Army. “But when a Muslim does it, they call it jihad.”
And Egyptian SandMonkey has tried to avoid writing about this because:
Anything I think of will sound contrived anyway. I mean, the [shooter] was Arab, Muslim and Palestinian to boot. What’s there to say? It’s an isolated incident? It might never happen again? This doesn’t mean that everybody in the military who is Arab or Muslim will act this way? For real? Do I need to say this? What is there to say?
I can only think of two things actually: 1) My deepest condolences to the families of the victims , and 2) in the name of every Arab or Muslim that will now get screwed over because of your actions: I hope you never enjoy a single day of peace in this life or any next one!


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Egyptians! Algerians! Wake UP! · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

From ferocious marketing campaigns to Facebook wars, hacking, and owl burning, the November 14th match between Egypt and Algeria has turned into an ugly war. Egyptian-Algerian actor Ahmed Mekky dedicates this wake-up call to the hypnotized mobs:
In hats off for Mekki,
Zeinobia wrote:
After hearing provoking and insulting rap from both Egypt and Algeria attacking each other , Ahmed Mekki ; Egyptian-Algerian Actor/director/rapper released this song which I believe should have been released earlier as it could help a lot in making both sides wake up from this stupidity.
Nawara Negm is falling in love with Mekki:
The lyrics: