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Serbia: Referendum Fraud and Other Issues · Global Voices
Ljubisa Bojic

All ballot stations across Serbia closed in the evening of Sunday, October 29, as people voted for or against the constitution draft proposed by all political parties represented in the parliament. Radical party officials were saying: adoption of the new constitution is important because it states that Kosovo and Metohia are indivisible part of the country. The democrats argued: the new set of basic laws cuts any relation with the dark Slobodan Milosevic’s past.
For the first time in Serbian history, the poll lasted two days. All forms of advertising were used to stimulate citizens to vote. Those favoring the boycott of the referendum were neglected and underrepresented in the mainstream media. The pressure was pumping up. The first day of voting was marked by the relatively low turnout of 17.8 percent. Political leaders struggled to get 50 percent by calling all the citizens again and again over the TV. As the hours passed, they even announced that Albanian leader Agim Ceku was preparing fireworks and celebration which would take place if the referendum fails. At the end, 53.3 percent of legitimate voters showed up to vote.
However, there are doubts about these turnout figures – because of the numerous irregularities reported.
One activist of the Liberal Democratic Party filmed a scam:
She introduced herself as Crnjanski Vera, but she had no ID to confirm it at the election spot. She was allowed to vote despite that, which is against the basic democratic principles. Then the real Crnjanski Vera appeared, just minutes later, showing her ID. Members of the election commission were confused.
The dialogue you hear in this video is translated from Serbian here:
The activist: I am sorry for not bringing the documents. I was in a hurry to get here and vote. I am really Crnjanski Vera. Thank you for letting me vote without the papers.
Fifteen minutes later, the real Vera Crnjanski comes in.
Vera: I haven’t received my voting invitation.
Member of voting board (in further text MVB): It doesn’t matter. It’s just important you have got a personal ID. How’s your name again?
Vera: Crnjanski Vera.
MVB: Not Vukosava, Vera.
Vera: I am her mom.
MVB: It has been voted. Your daughter must have been here.
Vera: No, she hasn’t been here.
MVB: There you go. Crnjanski Vera signed here.
Vera: I am sorry but please take a look. Am I Crnjanski Vera? What does it mean? Please explain to me.
MVB: What about your daughter?
Vera: My daughter is Vukosava.
MVB: Has she been here?
Vera: No.
The activist comes back. She says:
Good evening, I am sorry to interrupt. I think you allowed me to vote just fifteen minutes ago, instead of this lady, without any credentials.
MVB: I haven’t been here.
The activist: You haven’t but the other members of the election board were here at that time. I didn’t have any ID. I said I was Crnjanski Vera. She was born in 1948. It means you didn’t look at the ID number. I don’t believe I look like I am 58 years old. You sprayed my…
MVB: I haven’t been here.
The activist: Yes, you were agitating in front; telling me what Agim Ceku said. It means one person can vote two or three times. I know what I wrote on the ballot paper. You sprayed my left forefinger and you should have marked the right one. You didn’t check the right finger with that lamp; which means I can go and vote somewhere else as well or I might have already voted before. Which finger glows? So it means I can use this forefinger to vote again.
Many are disappointed not so much by the content but by the context of the constitution vote. Just a year ago, when some opposition parties proposed elections to be held, the government said it was not time to disturb and destabilize the country when the significant question of Kosovo and Metohia‘s future status was being negotiated. But now, just a few months before the completion of Martti Ahtisaari‘s official proposal for the final status, all those “political factors” want an election to secure four more years in power before the issue is resolved. Only the Serbian Radical Party opposes, probably hoping to get more votes after the unwrapping of the Kosovo issue.
Milic and Milic blog followed the voting process minute by minute. In a post titled Impotency and the Province, he writes (SRP):
[…] Movies were made about people of this very country who marched on the streets in protest against the numerous election scams during the extremely cold wintertime just a few years ago. At the end, this Serbia torched the parliament building just to make the government admit the real ballot results. Numerous seminars and lectures were conducted in other countries in transition process [about how OTPOR and the citizens did it].
Do you guys remember a scene from Sex and the City, when Carry, fed up with all the critiques of the competence of her taste, turns to her Vogue editor and says: “But shoes? I do know shoes.” [Not so long ago], a reformed Serbia knew how to face the vote theft. Today, except for the activists of four [non-parliament] parties and a few NGOs, there is a pretty impotent and provincial (I don’t care as long as I don’t suffer) spirit. Doesn’t matter that they try to present themselves as [people of the world].
What happened during those six years [since October 5, 2000] to make the referendum robbing off topic, let alone the moving stone of the new wave that would carry on with the true democratization. Do they want to legitimize the stealing for “our thing” with the key difference that “our people” did the theft […]? What is our thing, this time? […] You can steal the vote you didn’t give by breaking one of the fundamental principles of democracy – one man, one vote – and letting more people vote ‘yes.’ […][Before everything that ensued during the two election days], 242 representatives of the people voted for [the constitution draft] they didn't read. If that could pass, [how can we say they are the voices of the people?] On the other hand, our thing is, I suppose, the new founding set of laws. To make the question clear, Serbia wouldn’t be the only European country without the constitution as [Vojislav] Kostunica fretted during the weekend [to peruse the people to go out and vote]. The old Slobodan Milosevic set of basic laws would stay in power, which is in many aspects better than the new one. […]
[…] [From vague statements made by the EU officials we can conclude:] if you are well off, it's OK with us, too, until your thing destabilizes the region, [at which point we would begin to care] […] They didn’t say without a reason that they would need some time to make a statement on the content of our [constitution], because the EU needs some time for that, contrary to our voters. In the short period of time, they have noticed some serious mistakes, which include: the position of judicial system, multilateral relations, obligations and decentralization.
[…]
In the fake modern Serbia video clips are exchanged on a daily basis. The content in most cases is porno pictures and VIP sex clips boosted by tabloid coverage. Referendum fraud video didn’t even trigger some notable interest of editors of the so-called independent media. […]
Author of this blog is frustrated because Serbian online voices are disregarded by the mainstream media. He cites one example, which illustrates the impact that the U.S. blogging community has on political decision-making process:
“Also in 2002, many blogs focused on comments by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Senator Lott, at a party honoring U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, praised Senator Thurmond by suggesting that the United States would have been better off had Thurmond been elected president. Lott's critics saw these comments as a tacit approval of racial segregation, a policy advocated by Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign. This view was reinforced by documents and recorded interviews dug up by bloggers. (See Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo.) Though Lott's comments were made at a public event attended by the media, no major media organizations reported on his controversial comments until after blogs broke the story. Blogging helped to create a political crisis that forced Lott to step down as majority leader. The impact of this story gave greater credibility to blogs as a medium of news dissemination. Though often seen as partisan gossips, bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light, with mainstream media having to follow their lead. “

author: Ljubisa Bojic


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South Africa: state funeral for P.W. Botha? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dumisani argues that state funeral for P.W. Botha is simply a bad idea, “We actually have a debate about whether it's appropriate to name South Africa's main international airport after O.R. Tambo, a giant in making South Africa the country that it is today, and then we have a crazy dictator get hero status?”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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South Asia: Identity and geography · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on identity and the word term South Asian. “If “South Asian” exists mainly in the imagination of the diaspora, does that make it less meaningful?”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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The real Caribbean? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Is the Caribbean Global Voices portrays the true Caribbean?” asks Trinidad blogger Taran Rampersad, in a thoughtful post pondering the ability of certain kinds of initiatives to represent communities adequately.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Trinidad & Tobago: DNA testing · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Trinidad and Tobago's police comply promptly with a request from their London counterparts for a DNA sample. Why, wonders the Modest Goddess, didn't they act with the same promptness in connection with DNA testing for a now infamous local case involving the murder of a minor?


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Ukraine: Banya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Carpetblogger writes about banya and private parts.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: News Digest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Recent updates on Ukrainian business, politics, utility services, opinion polls and more, at Foreign Notes.


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Venezuela: Vuelvan Caras · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Guillermo Parra translates an Op-Ed by Elizabeth Araujo about Chavez's respect for Castro and the revamped Vuevan Caras Mission [ES].

author: David Sasaki


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Who owns Jamaica? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The central issue in Jamaica's next general election, says Xamayca, is determining who has “ownership” of the country.


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Africa: Africans and African-Americans · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Home of the Mandinmories on the relationship between African and African-Americans, “We failed to take the time to learn enough about each other and end up sticking to preconcieved notions. Thus we end up in isolated communes within the same city.”


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Africa: missing very little about the US · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

There is very little Kenyan Pundit misses about the US.


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Africa: taking orphans to the West · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Jackfruity writes, “It's a horrifically crass thing to joke about, but here at Jackfruity we're all about crassness (not to mention ending clauses with dangling prepositions), so I'll go ahead and say it: if I had 100 shillings for every time I've been asked to take a Ugandan child back to the States with me, I'd be able to…well, I'd be able to take a Ugandan child back to the States with me.”


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Argentina: Blog de Alzheimers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mariano Amartino applauds the concept [ES] of Mal de Alzheimer [ES[, a weblog which aggregates experiences, resources, and information regarding Alzheimer's Disease.


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Argentina: Language and Authoriatarianism · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Posthegemony looks at how authoritative regimes transform language and rhetoric to validate their governance and power. Specifically, he reviews some of the points brought up by Marguerite Feitlowitz in her book, “A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture.”


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Chile: First Wimax Nation in Latin America? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Journalist and veteran blogger María Pastora Sandoval writes in El Mercurio Online [ES] that Chile became the first country to transmit WiMax internet access last week during a Formula 1 racing event. A commenter named “Onan” disputed the claim [ES], however, when it was mentioned on ALT1040, saying that Colombia has had WiMax for the past six months.


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China and Africa: Africans Courted in China  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Granite studio blogs about a brief history of China-Africa relation: China's leaders blame the West for failing to successfully engage African nations in mutually beneficial trade, but China's goals seem to have more in common with Western imperialism and neo-imperialism of the 20th century than Beijing's leaders would like to admit.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: china daily news recruitment · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Positive solution blogs about the recruitment process of the big elephant organization – china daily news.


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China: how to be together with Mao? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Wang Xiaofeng answers the question: how to be together with Mao Tse-dong by posting a few pictures for people's free association.


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China: Paint the city black · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Being winter there aside, can you imagine the capitol of China adorned with a Tarzan theme? The Beijing Summit & Third Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is underway this weekend, and here is what some bloggers had to say:
Shmily @ Mblogger.cn:
中非合作论坛北京峰会暨第三届部长级会议于11月1日在北京开幕了，坐在车上看着街上那红红的中国结、五彩的旗帜、友好的标语、喜庆的灯笼，突然有种声音自心而起，向每一根毛细血管漫延：我生活在北京，这里是中国的首都。呵呵······看着那相距不足百米即可相视而望的武警官兵，我也告诉自己：这就是北京，一个有着浓浓政治色彩的都市。
MSN Spaces blogger Yang Chunyan666 with a take on Vice-Minister of Commerce for PRC and Secretary-General for the China-Africa Summit-Forum Wei Jianguo‘s official statement:
魏建国说，中非合作论坛创立6年来，在中非领导人的高度重视和亲自关心下，在中国与非洲国家政府和各届人士的不懈努力下，中非在各个领域的互利合作迅速发展。此次论坛北京峰会上，中非领导人将就进一步发展中非关系深入交换意见，全面规划双方未来在各领域的合作，会议必将为中非友谊和合作注入新的活力。
MSN Spaces blogger Moonwalker 1981 with some background analysis:
新闻：中非合作论坛北京峰会
新闻：法总统希拉克访华成功
前些天一直不敢把这两个消息一起做，是因为法国在国际社会上的地位完全是得力于在非洲的势力，如果离开了非洲，那么法国不要说什么争雄世界，就连国内问题都难保不出错。
因为这些西方国家都是用其他国家的贫穷和内乱来换取自家纸醉金迷的生活的，这个法国也不例外。他在非洲有几千人的军队、有压倒性的媒体力量、有法国支持上台的政府首脑、有十来个国家参加的、用法国金融力量保证的“非洲法郎”、更不用说西方世界那套“输出产品，输入资源”的老把戏，法国的影响力之大，以至于在非洲做调查，发现非洲人认为最著名的人竟然是希拉克。
如果法国丢掉了非洲，那么他会缺少多少资源、市场、和政治经济力量？一个没有资源支撑的法国就不能继续他现在的生活方式，其国内社会结构、消费方式也会剧烈变动，内乱、崩溃，瞬间可见。
现在北京在法国总统访华的同时召开中非合作论坛北京峰会，那可是拆法国的后院啊，可看不明白的是：法国总统高高兴兴地回去了，中非合作论坛又热热闹闹地开起来。不悔有些糊涂了，北京是用了什么办法让大家都开开心心地？难道一句“和谐之道，中外之需”就能掩盖事实上的政治、经济、地缘竞争？这绝对是不可能的。
With her office being where it is and how the Summit affects it, MSN Spaces blogger Welking Satin Silver wishes her coworkers wouldn't smoke during meetings:
中非合作论坛峰会期间,请勿开启会议室的窗户(谢谢合作) [会议室的窗户刚好对着一个五星级宾馆的正门,峰会的国外首脑或许在此下榻,为了安全因素,狙击手?]
What are we gonna do come 2008? asks MSN Spaces blogger Julia 300300:
后天是中非论坛北京峰会日，也就是说这几天的戒严都是为了那天做铺垫。新闻上说明天北京饭店附近将实施限时通过，要知道明天是个多么美好的周末啊。
这是我到这儿以来遇到的第一个北京承办的重要会议，从31号那天开始，好多路段为了迎接会议已经戒严。那天小二从机场回来，说每个出租车司机手里都有政府发放的峰会期间戒严说明，目的就是为了向乘客解释为什么某某路段要绕道。
许多私家车主在这两天改为乘坐公交车，5环内禁止外地车辆通行（不过，我们跑进四环都没事儿，不靠谱。）。
More on what might just be the aforementioned taxi driver how-to guide from MSN Spaces AnDongDong:
中非北京峰会，出租车司机领导开会交代如下：
1. 届时重要街道肯定会封闭，同时，北京交警全体出动。
2. 非洲国家普遍较穷，很多领导人不是专机，就坐普通飞机过来。
3. 非洲全部代表团加在一起有大概三千多号人，我们党领导人要在机场一一握手，因为接待能力有限，非方可能一大半都会打车。
4. 任何事情司机必须让步，不得与国际友人发生冲突，就算少给两块钱也算了。
BCChinese.net blogger Clemence Liu lists the countries whose leaders will be in attendance and the Yculblog.com China And World blogger posts about a similar but smaller conference next week in Shanghai, and MSN Spaces’ Jenny Liw posts about her run-in with the delegates at the airport in Beijing:
下午1:30从所里出发去接叫Anne的德国MM,接外国人真辛苦,主要是只见过照片,说14:50到,结果晚点了,15:20到,结果我们一直迎来了一批又一批的外国人,非洲居多,可能因为峰会,怎么那么多非洲人,莫非他们国家满18岁的全部来开会?
MSN Spaces blogger Meng Ying77 lives for summits like these:
这两天忙着采访中非论坛，不管是去外交部还是峰会的新闻中心，我的采访都游刃有余，但就是英语让我张不开嘴，见了国外的记者就晕菜。别看我这哑巴英语，今年还接待了两拨美国的教授、校长。我都带着词典去，英汉两用的，真是汗颜。那些教授们一定不敢相信他们认识的那个有着地道美国口音的Fanny会有一个这么笨的妹妹。
前两天，好友娟从比利时回国开会，她现在已经是驻欧盟的外交官了。她说11月底有两个欧盟的官员来中国考察，这个活动很重要，关系到中国企业在欧洲的市场问题。她要我到时候接待一下，因为老外公私分明，不愿意让官方接待，她只好动用我这个私人关系。我很愿意陪着对我国企业有着重要作用的欧盟官员们到处转转，但我这英语……突击突击，看看这一个月能不能达到简单对话。
估计我的下个任务就是接待联合国官员了，哈哈。

author: John Kennedy


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Cuba: 5 questions with Sandra M. Castillo · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The latest installment in Geoffrey Philp's “Five Questions” series is an interview with Cuban writer Sandra M. Castillo.


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Iran:TinTin in Tehran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Forever Under Construction blog, we can discover one of Zartosht Soltani's art work:TinTin, famous reporter in comic books, in Tehran, an imaginary cover for TinTin's trip to Tehran.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Japan: Dolphin meat · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kaishin in Japundit blogs about the recent discussion about dolphin hunting in Japan. Health specialists pointed out that bottlenose dolphin meat contains high quantities of mythril mercury, a dangerous toxic form of mercury, that may cause various ailments as brain or nerve damage.
Lee in Tokyo Times also discusses about that.


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Kazakhstan: Abilov Trial · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Adam Kesher reports that one of Kazakhstan's most popular opposition figures faces prison.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Kazakhstan: Borat · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

With the “Borat” movie appearing in theaters today, Sean Roberts asks if Americans really get the joke and KZBlog reports on some reactions to the character.


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Kazakhstan: The Last Czechs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila reports that Kazakhstan's very small Czech community, which was repatriated in recent years.


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Kenya: are digital newspapers a rip off? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The idea of selling Kenyans abroad digital newspapers is great, but poorly executed.


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Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek Protests Continue · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Roberts Report has photos from protests as does Flickr user teokaye. Registan.net has a summary of the last two days’ news.


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Latvia: News Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia posts a news roundup.


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Lithuania: Eurolines Bus Trip · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude writes about being the “self-loading freight” for the Lithuanian Eurolines bus company.


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Malaysia: Online News Site Barred From Party Convention · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Malaysian reports that popular Malaysian online site Malaysiakini is not being allowed to cover the ruling party UMNO's annual convention. “The ruling Umno began actively banning malaysiakini soon after the online media exposed the illegal logging by Umno Pahang of a vast swath of peat swamp forests in the state three years ago.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Malaysia: Remembering Japanese Occupation · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ooi Boon-Leong remembers life as a young kid in Malaysia during the World War 2  Japanese occupation. “We were disturbed by the Japanese only once when they came in trucks. We heard the rumbling of their trucks when they went over a bridge which they had to cross to reach the rubber estate. All of us then ran deeper into the jungle which surrounded the rubber estate. All the younger women would put on ugly torn and patched peasant clothes and make themselves as uninviting as possible by rubbing ash or mud on their face or arms and were the first to run away for everyone had heard of their rapes.”


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Mexico: Altar de Muertos · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo of Ocho Cuartos writes jokingly about what a Monterrey Altar de Muertos [ES] would look like: “Our altar would be finely decorated with an ashtray of “the mountain city,” a replica of the faro del comercio monument, a traffic citation for $300 pesos; all of which would be above a flag of the Tigres soccer team. We would also have a toy Hummer with tinted windows and a pirated CD of Reggaeton music.”


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Mexico: Oaxaca at a Standoff · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Liz Henry adds to the immense amount of commentary and analysis on the continuing violence in Oaxaca by looking at the role women and female bloggers have taken in the movement. Colin Brayton disagrees with the translated verb conjugation of a Washington Post reference to Proceso's Jorge Carrasco. Ana Maria Salaza publishes the first-hand account of Franc Contreras. Mark in Mexico continues with his own first-hand, anti-APPO accounts, concluding that he is “really having trouble coming to grips with what happened here today. It seems obvious to me that if some 5000 or so more riot police do not arrive within the next 24 hours, the city will be lost.” Finally, Ricardo Carreón opines: “this conflict has been growing for some time as the Federal Government was trying to avoid it an make it a local conflict.  It is too late now and the APPO has grown too radical and too powerful to be overlooked.  Fox is on the last days of his Administration.  Will he fix this for once and for all?”


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Myanmar: Lavish Wedding · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Meanderings points to a YouTube video (now removed) of Burma's military leader Than Shwe's daughter. The blogger is saddened by the lavish lifestyle of the leader while the country continues to suffer.


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Nigeria: anything can happen · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

In Nigeria, anything can happen.


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Panama, Guatemala, Venezuela: Security Council Compromise · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Certain governments and institutions in the region (especially the international media) are desperate to divide the region into two camps and force everyone to choose sides,” comments Boz in a post that applauds the decision by Guatemala and Venezuela to support Panama as a compromise choice for the UN Security Council.


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Philippines: Honoring the departed · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Most Catholic Filipinos celebrate November 1 as the day for honoring both the saints and the dead. Since many Filipinos visit their departed loved ones in cemeteries, November 1 is a holiday in the Philippines.
Touched by an Angel describes the typical November 1 scenery in cemeteries:
“All Saints Day seems more like a school fair to me except there are gravestones, tents, picnic tables all over the cemetery. The mood at the cemetery is festive with children running around, the ice cream man ringing his bell, the taho vendor yelling taho, kids playing with melting candle, teens surfing at the SMART BRO internet booth, food vendors raking in some sales from the crowd. It’s a yearly ritual for our loved one whom we love, miss and remember always. Once a year, we share that common bond with families with a similar loss.”
Confessions of an Expat’s Wife, who now lives in Istanbul, longs for this Filipino family tradition:
“My family and I usually go to the cemetery in the morning and there we meet up with all our relatives. I usually look forward to this because this means I will be meeting up with my cousins and be able to play with them. Normally, for the play part, we wait and collect all the melted candles and sell it to the nearby vendor. The elders would reminisce on the good ol’ times with the departed and at the end of the day, we would pray the rosary for the spirits of our friends and family who passed away.”
Captain’s Log on how he blogged in a cemetery. Bikoy posted pictures of how November 1 is celebrated in rural Philippines.
Filipino librarian links stories about the history of Halloween and where to find haunted places in the Philippines. Nostalgia Manila features a popular urban ghost story about the white lady in Balete Drive. According from folklores, Balete tree is a favorite spot of wandering spirits and other paranormal entities. Iloilo City Boy recounts an encounter with ghosts during the 2004 presidential election campaign.
Feisty Momma is annoyed over seeing parents staying in their car while their kids go knock on everybody’s door during Halloween. Scribbles is proud of her Halloween dress at work. Cathy Chronicles on how Manila is adopting Western practices during Halloween:
“As a child in the 70s, Halloween wasn't really such a big deal. Trick or treat was something we just read about in books and Halloween parties were confined to the movies or television. Well, times have certainly changed and Manila has become very western in its practice of Halloween traditions.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Poland: Driving Deaths · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about a significant number of lethal car accidents that occurred in Poland on the day Polish families visit graves of their dead relatives.


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Reunion: Moslems and Music · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Zarabes.info, the blog of the moslem community in La Reunion, rounds up (Fr) various recent articles about moslems and music and asks: “What is the real relationship between Reunion moslems and music? What will happen during Sharukh Khan's next concert?”

author: Alice Backer


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Russia: Dostoyevsky’s Translations Re-Designed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time announces that his “translations of Crime and Punishment and The Idiot are among five titles chosen for recovering by design artists to celebrate Penguin’s 60th anniversary.”


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Russia: Moloko Store · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare posts a picture of what looks like “the last unbranded store in central Moscow.”


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Russia: Moscow’s (In)Accessibility · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Perekhod: an underground walkway in Moscow – by Digenis.org
The hype surrounding the Russian blogosphere's fate has subsided, and the collective attention has shifted to the fate of tomorrow's Russian March.
One Moscow blogger, however, is concerned about something quite different: LJ user kmaka (quoted in a recent translation) and her 4-month-old daughter in a pram are doomed to stay on one side of Tverskaya St. only. Here is why (RUS):
My patience is up
People with prams in the city center get abused systematically and quietly. From [Okhotnyi Ryad] to [Mayakovskaya], there is not a single [underground walkway equipped with a] ramp that would allow to cross Tverskaya with a pram. It's okay, though, we are used to it by now and walk on our side of the street.
There are practically no grocery stores anymore, and the only one left, Eliseevskiy, had a surprise for us: I approached the check-out counter with the pram today, but failed to get out. For security purpose, the store has installed additional scanners that have devoured 5 cm of the aisle, and as a result, no standard-sized pram can pass through. Mine was being carried out manually today, like [Lenin's corpse], by compassionate customers. Security guards stayed unmoved.
Tomorrow, I'll go talk with the store's management about violation of the Law of the City of Moscow #3, of Jan. 17, 2001, on citizens with impaired mobility.
I wonder if my journalist [LJ] friends would be interested in writing about it all. I'm ready to supply tons of material on “One day in the life of a young mother with a pram in the center of Moscow.”
Judging by the comments to this post, kmaka is not the only one frustrated – and her reasons for frustration aren't the only ones, either:
prudi: By the way, only once have I seen a public bathroom [that could be accessed by] people with disabilities. […]
ssspring: […] Even when there are ramps, they don't fit strollers, and parents of 2-3-year-old kids have to drag both strollers and the kids in their hands through all underground walkways.
anya_anya_anya: I sympathize! I know what it feels like. It's no different outside city center. But motherhood is happiness. Imagine, however, what life for someone in a wheelchair is like in our wondrous city… Our state doesn't like its citizens.
kmaka: Honestly, I don't care who is happy or not. There is a store that I frequent and where I leave –  believe me – a lot of money. And if my pram can't get through in there, I'll send an inspection and fines their way.
[…]
kmaka: And it's not making me feel better at all to know that someone's having it even worse.
[…]
miumau: […] In Germany, most stores have a wide check-out counter […] that has those extra 5 cm for strollers, etc…
And often it does help to intimidate them with journalists. Maybe you should promise that if they move [the scanners], they'll get some praise and promotion in an article? ;-)
kmaka: I've already been there today and talked to them. They've found a wide check-out :)
[…]
fasilitator: […] In our [small town near Moscow], stores have this note on their doors: “Do not enter with prams!” And only in the past two years, other stores have appeared, only you have to drive through a potato field there.
[…]
alisezus: There was time when I dreamed of walking down the streets of Moscow with a baseball bat, smashing to hell the windows of all cars parked on sidewalks.


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South Africa: politics of reconciliation · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kameelah has a problem with “policy of reconciliation” in South Africa: mandela has been at the center of attention for quite some time as a greater leader and example of progressive nation building tactics. but when he goes on to lead the tribute to botha, i began to get worrried. there is forgiveness of folks who do wrong and apologize and then there is leading a tribute to a man who clung onto white-control, never apologized and never acknowledged his wrong.


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South Korea: Missle test reaction · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jamie in Two Koreas discusses about propaganda reports and commentaries on the missle test in Korea and U.S.


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Tajikistan: Low Key · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alexander Sadikov reports that with Tajikistan's presidential election only three days away, the campaign is still very low key.


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Thailand: Loy Krathong Festivities · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Don Gilliland at Bangkok Dazed complains about the excessive firecracker sound but otherwise likes the Thai festival of Loy Krathong “Loy Krathong is a beautiful Thai tradition. People all over the country flock to the nearest body of water on the full moon night in November and float a krathong (a thin, circular piece of banana tree that is decorated with flowers, candles and sticks of incense) and make a wish.”


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Thailand: Pro-Democracy Taxi Driver’s Suicide · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bangkok Pundit reflects on the suicide of a taxi driver. The driver hanged himself off a pedestrian bridge in Bangkok. His suicide note said that he was sacrificing himself for democracy. The same driver has earlier tried to kill himself by ramming his taxi into a tank immediately after the coup in Thailand.


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Trinidad & Tobago: A geographically isolated communicator · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Trinidadian blogger Karel McIntosh is interviewed by the Forward podcast about her experience as a public relations professional in the Caribbean and as a “geographically isolated communicator”.


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Voices from Kazakhstan  · Global Voices
Leila Tanayeva

Welcome to our latest roundup of blog posts and online discussions from Kazakhstan Russian-language blogosphere.
The Oil Business
Kazakhstan boasts having unique oil and gas deposit, Karachaganak, 150 km east from the city of Uralsk in the northeast of Kazakhstan. Having an area of over 280 square kilometres, it holds more than 1,200 million tonnes of oil and condensate and over 1.35 trillion cubic metres of gas, and is the biggest investment project in Kazakhstan. Starting from 1991, Kazakhstan government starting making deals with foreign companies, including AGIP (now ENI), British Gas (now BG group), Texaco (now Chevron Corporation) and Lokoil.
On neweurasia Kazakhstan, Marat reveals the history of Karachaganak, discovered in the 1980s (RUS). Marat shares some curious details: in 1991, for example, at the peak of oil extraction and due to poor safety measures regulation, one of the wellsites started spitting gas in the air as a huge fountain. As in 1991 the country was busy with “putch” and the following collapse of the Soviet Union, no one really cared. Safety rules require burning the gas and hydrogen fountains, so locals could enjoy the vivid scenery of liquid fire shooting up to 300-500 meters. Tungush, a small village 3 kilometers from the field has dissapeared, then the inhabitants were moved to Aksai, a nearby town, by the Soviet Union. After its collapse, the flats were successfully boozed away, and when foreigners arrived to the field, the inhabitants of the village started complaining, and subsequently, each family got one flat in Aksai, one in Uralsk and a car in addition. Other villages started looking at it as an example… In his Livejournal, Marat posts photos from Karachaganak.
The Atyrau Informant updates from another oil-rich corner of Kazakhstan – city of Atyrau on the Caspian sea. On 20 October, a big brawl started between Kazakh and Turkish workers of Tengizchevroil company, where, according to Tengizchevroil General Director Todd Levy one Indian, 193 Turkish, and two Kazakh workers suffered injuries. The Atyrau Informant kept his readers updated on the conflict, posting photos from local websites on the day when the conflict started, commenting on possible reasons behind the conflict, and giving his personal views on the issue. The incident sparked anti-Turkish sentiment in Kazakhstan blogosphere, which then grew into general resentment about discrimination against locals at foreign oil companies. In many comments, the Government was blamed for letting in companies that discriminate, do not allow labour unions and hire illegal workers.
From Marat‘s post on neweurasia Kazakhstan, we find out that not only oil company employees, but also miners face hardships in Kazakhstan (RUS). Recently, 43 miners died in an accident in Karaganda, and Marat thinks that we got used to hearing about miners dying in explosions. He attributes it to poor safety regulations and again, restrictions imposed by foreign companies.
Several Days Before Borat Hits the Screens
The commentors on KUB blog are listing Anti-Borat characters of Kazakhstan public life. One of them is a local singer Takezhan with his low-budget video, another is Minister of Information and Culture Yertysbaev (on the picture), and the third is Kazakhstan's deputy foreign minister Rakhat Aliyev, who invited Sasha Baron Cohen to visit the country.
“No one used to laugh at us and they still don't!”
The first four minutes of the film posted in Almaty Livejournal community got a variety of responses. LJ user constantiner says:
My personal opinion is that “Nomad” made more damage to Kazakhstan's image than Borat
Erik Sultanov, a press secretary of the Muslims Union of Kazakhstan, went over to the UK, interviewed Sasha Cohen and posted it to Zonakz (RUS). The following two comments represent the spectrum of reactions to Borat:
Borat is definitely smarter than stupid Kazakh officials, so Kazakistan deserves him. If Borat comes to Kazakhstan, he would find it even funnier.
Their humour is different from ours… Foreigners just don't understand our hospitality. I know one Englishman who was trying to pay to the old lady for arranging a “dastarhan“, a table with food, and when an interpreter explained him that it is not necessary, he thought that it was a provocation…
Journalism and Freedom of Speech
Askar Shomshekov blogs about freedom of speech and freedom of press, particularly, in Pavlodar region, where he works at the Media Support Center (RUS). Ann Olson, an American media trainer, told him that the West does not know what to do to make Kazakhstani media free, and our journalists – professional. Many years of financed programs on media support, sponsored by American taxpayers, have not made Kazakhstan media free and professional. Whom, how and what do we need to teach?.. As Adam Kesher‘s post on Russian-language neweurasia Kazakhstan shows, Kazakhstan fell from 119 to 128 place in the annual rating on press freedom compiled by Reporters without Borders.

author: Leila Tanayeva


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India: Testimonies on street harrasment · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blank Noise Project puts some testimonies together and calls out for more action against sexual harassment on the streets. “don’t expect anyone to think of me as their sister or mother, but to really look at women as citizens who have every right to be out on the streets, without any explanation. Sometimes we just love to walk, stand around, hang around, without looking ‘available.’”


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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

If you read no other blog posts this week read these
Today I present a series of must-reads from the Iraqi blogodrome. Each one is powerful and not to be missed in its own way.
It took a huge email exchange between Iraqi bloggers, but the rumble over the Lancet study estimating 650,000 Iraqi deaths prompted Riverbend to post for the first time in more than two months. She writes:
This has been the longest time I have been away from blogging… Every time I felt the urge to write about Iraq, about the situation, I'd be filled with a certain hopelessness that can't be put into words
I and every Iraqi blogger knows this feeling all too well. She continues:
It's very difficult at this point to connect to the internet and try to read the articles written by so-called specialists and analysts and politicians. They write about and discuss Iraq as I might write about the Ivory Coast or Cambodia — with a detachment and lack of sentiment that, I suppose, is meant to be impartial. Hearing American politicians is even worse: They fall between idiots like Bush — constantly and totally in denial, and opportunists who want to use the war and ensuing chaos to promote themselves. …
So far, the only Iraqis I know pretending this number is outrageous are either out-of-touch Iraqis abroad who supported the war, or Iraqis inside of the country who are directly benefiting from the occupation ($) and likely living in the Green Zone…
We literally do not know a single Iraqi family that has not seen the violent death of a first or second-degree relative these last three years. Abductions, militias, sectarian violence, revenge killings, assassinations, car-bombs, suicide bombers, American military strikes, Iraqi military raids, death squads, extremists, armed robberies, executions, detentions, secret prisons, torture, mysterious weapons – with so many different ways to die, is the number so far fetched?
To appreciate the power of her writing one should look to the reaction of western bloggers. Billmon, a prominent America political blogger was driven to write:
The point deserves frequent repetition: We did this. We caused it. We're not just callous bystanders to genocide, as in Rwanda, but the active ingredient that made it possible. We turned Iraq into a happy hunting ground for Al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army. If Iraq is now a failed state, it's because of our failures. … There was something about Riverbend's quiet despair that forced me to think hard about my own moral responsibility as an American for a genocide caused by America — because of a war started in my name, paid for with my taxes. … I've spoken against it, written against it, marched against it, supported and contributed to politicians I generally despise because I thought (wrongly) that they might do something to stop it. It's why I took up blogging, why I started this blog.
But the question Riverbend has forced me to ask myself is: Did I do enough? And the only honest answer is no.
Salam Pax video blogs for the BBC. He gets to visit the Saddam trial and gives us the “Salam Pax guide to the Iraqi High Criminal Court“. His conclusion is most siginificant. He observes: “The death pain and violence this war has inflicted on us Iraqis has stripped this moment of its significance. I think we need to achieve peace first and then we can think about justice.” I wonder how quickly these words will be forgotten in the media circus following the verdict of the Saddam trial.
A Struggle Against Cancer. Marshmallow26 posts a tribute to her mother who died of cancer in 1997. She writes of her mother's struggle against the disease and how the family had to work against the sanctions on Iraq at the time in order to bring medicines to treat her. It takes only the strongest soul not to shed a tear reading this post. Here is an excerpt:
On the day of November 1st 1997, which I consider it as the black day in my life…the most fuliginous day in my life…in that morning I was washing the dishes and I heard my MOM was calling me and my sister, girls come on to mama I want to see you before I go…
I told my sister, what is she talking about??? She opened her eyes and looked at both of us as she was recovering from coma, I will never ever forget that excerpt. She said “you two take care of your selves and your dad,” then she pointed to the corner of her room and said “Oh, my mother is waiting for me, I have to go, I have to go, I love you daughters,”
Then she went back to coma, I started crying severely at that time, because I realized that was the end…my sister did the same.
Zappy writes about “Them”.
“They” came in more than ten cars, each car had four Armed men in it, they closed the street from both sides, they entered the house and abducted a young man, they put him in the trunk of a Car, I called 130 [the police] six times, continuously the phone rang without any answer.
I was standing in the Roof with my AK-47 and just stared at them.
This is the first time I witness such an event, and I felt so hopeless, there were too many of them.
A better way to report the news.. In Mecca recently Iraqi religious leaders got together to issue an edict forbidding sectarian bloodletting. Iraq the Model did not believe that this would lead to any reduction in violence. And Konfused Kid reports on the conference with his “Bulls**t monitor” in full operation. If only all news reports came with one of these:
REPORTER 1: Do you have any mechanism for implementing your edict on the ground? (actual question was more decorated than this)
KHOSH-WALAD SAMARRIE 1: blah-blah yaddad yadda peace and prosperity, but we hope that Iraqis are naturally good and this is the last night of Ramadhan.
REPORTER 2: Do you have any method by which you can apply your fatwa in Iraq?
FROWNY-JALAL TURBAN 2: wiggilie-wiggilie peace humpty dumpty love sumbul bulaybul dumbk dunaibuk understanding.
REPORTER 3: Excuse me, but on terms of a practical appreciation of your document, do you expect that it will be endorsed and applied (same question reworded)
THE COORDINATING GUY IN THE MIDDLE: All right buddy, you asked for it, this is the top religious clergy here, we tell you how in which direction to shit and how many papers you use to wipe your arse, we are here to say that blood is forbidden, it is up for the Iraqis, the natural loving and peaceful nation to endorse it, if they do not – we have made ourselves clear on the matter.
Konfused Kid also gives the essential explaination of why at times of war and failed states, people rally behind sectarian militias:
Anyone who calls for peace is shut-up by the realities of life as it is, everybody is so afraid of each other, I remember when Zarqawi died and I went to the mosque to listen to the Friday speech in an Adhamiya mosque, the Imam was practically crying! Nobody wants militas or Zarqawi, but everybody is so afraid of the other now, there is no trust.
Unless the National Reconcillation gimmick targets those who you should really make up your peace with, the blood-soaked Baathists, the backbone of the insurgency, who had their homes and money but now lost it all and are giving Iraqis and Americans a hard time about it, it will be fruitless. al-Qaeda is worthless without their straetgic allies the Baathists, who adopted a more Islamic veil to fit in with the times and bring us all to this sectarain lollapalooza. Shiite militas atrocities are infintely more horrific, but you have no right to blame them when you are part of the blame, get real. … These murderers will lose their support only when you negotiate with the Baathists. …
PEOPLE ARE AFRAID. and they resort to their sectarian identity because they ARE AFRAID, not because they are hateful beings.
Sunshine describes the day that violence in Iraq came too close to her home… “while I was still in my bed I heard VERY loud explosion but it seemed to be far away from my neighborhood. I left bed and went to the living room ,at 7:30 while my mom was preparing to go to work we heard many explosions with heavy shooting just behind our house , my brother ( two years and half) ran from his room , shouting , crying , and shaking ” MAMMY , NO,MAMMY ” , he was sleepy , my sister was also asleep she left her room crawling , we hide in my grandparents’ guest room , my grandpa was in his work , as soon as he reached there, two vehicles exploded near al-mosul university , we were very worried about him. he saw the whole thing . in that horrible explosion 25 were killed and 38 were badly injured ,all were from Iraqi citizens.”
Over at Alive in Baghdad, Qassem posts his story of how he was arrested and interrogated by American troops. The story is eye-opening, bitter and funny and you should just read it in full. Here is an excerpt:
after we finished our food the marines shouted at me ..”Everyone go back to his bed …and NO TALKING …..move now” he shouted and I told the other detainees what he said …..one of the detainees was funny ..he loved to make it funny …he did not move although I told him what the soldier said ..he just stay sitting and ignored the soldier shouting!!!
“Hey Othman ……what you dong …go your bed this soldier getting angry,” other detainee asked Othman (the naughty detainee)
Othman ignored him too ….then he said “Just let me alone …I want him to be mad …just go.” he said …signing by his hand to us, to go
Then Othman said to me “Qasem, Qasem …..if he asked you what it is the problem …tell him that I am a crazy man ok??? Just do that ”
My Honorary Iraqi for the week is Michael Rakowitz (well he is part Iraqi already!) who runs a shop in New York. When he tried to import a truck load of Iraqi dates he found that their journey was a mataphor for the plight of all Iraqis who try to travel out of Iraq and a strong statement about all the failures of the Iraqi economy. Follow their progress as the dates are are initially delayed as the exporter evacuates his family from Baghdad; get stuck for 3 days waiting in a long queue at the Iraq/Jordan border; get sent back because they were not certified free of radiation (apparently depleted uranium munitions have had an affect on Iraqi agriculture); get refused entry into Jordan on the second attempt for “security concerns”; get routed via Syria as a last resort; enter Syria but get stuck at the airport because Syrian customs officials demand a $1200 payment to process out the necessary export papers. He reports:
Atheer [the exporter] apologizes for the delay, that he really thought that it would only take 21 days from the time we officially put our original agreement into motion, and we both remark on how much everything has changed since we first began our work together, what with the deteriorating situation in Iraq, his family’s move out of Iraq and into Jordan to flee the dangerous situation there, and now the exodus of Iraqis into Jordan and the subsequent tightening of the border.
“You know, this (delay) is your government’s fault,” Atheer tells me.
“I don’t know why the USA did this. This man (Saddam Hussein) was so afraid of the US. He was like their slave, and would have at least kept the stability of the country. Now look at it. Nothing normal can happen.”
And finally
Neurotic Wife is bored in the Green Zone and to escape thinking of the sadness of Iraq outside she goes shopping. What follows is a snapshot of life in the little security bubble that America created in Iraq…
My shopping spree was amazing. Went to Abercrombie & Fitch, bought a few pairs of jeans, visited the beautiful aisles of Victoria's secret, oh and found a really nice winter jacket at Aeropostale. Went to drugstore and bought a few woman's necessities. Checked out BCBG and Converse. I tell you, spent maybe an hour or so rummaging through the aisles. It was soooo much fun and it felt good too. For a short time I was on a high. For a short time I felt kinda normal.

author: Salam Adil


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Martinique: What’s Wrong With Hair? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Displeased that more and more women are turning to complete eyebrow removal, Le Blog de [Moi]  asks(Fr): “Do modern societies have a problem with body hair?” She then notes the ever increasing popularity of body hair removal dating back to the 1990's.


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Nepal: Kumari System · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bloggers Nepal on a system of rituals and traditions that might violate a girl's rights. “In the last couple of days Nepal’s unique culture of worshipping Kumari, the living goddess, drew widespread national and international media coverage after the Supreme Court ordered the government to investigate into whether the practice of worshipping a virgin girl violates the rights of the young girls.”


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Pakistan: Mobile phone companies · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan on industry statistics, which companies are likely to do well and competition in a volume-heavy market. “But eventually as in saturated markets, if mobile operators want to avoid simply competing on price, they will have to compete on superior service,  innovative features and ease-of-use. As an example of new trends there were so many text messages (SMS) sent on this Eid that the networks of all 6 companies were kept extremely busy!”


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Pakistan: Why I Blog · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within has a piece on why the author blogs. “I love the way ideas change when I blog them. I love that someone who reads something I write might see something I didn't realize was there. I love the conversation that takes a direction that I didn't expect. I love the learning,”


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Sri Lanka: Peace, war and politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Transcurrents.com on the political situation and the war clouds. “The Geneva conclave has come and gone! As predicted in these columns the parley was a failure. The summit took place without any agenda because both parties could not agree to a common one.”


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Africa: A low IQ and poverty · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Naija blog on the claim by an evolutionary psychologist from the London School of Economics that Africans are poor because of a low IQ.


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Indian Ocean: Bloggers Feel Connected to the World Through Global Voices · Global Voices
Alice Backer

‘Bloggers of relatively remote countries in the Indian Ocean such as Madagascar and La Reunion have noticed recent GV articles on their blogospheres and expressed enthusiasm about GV's work and about the spotlight on their countries.
‘Proof that We Can Make a Difference’
France-based Malagasy blogger Harinjaka noticed Global Voices’ story on Malagasy bloggers’ reflections on global warming:
En effet, une discution entre JoGaNy 2.0 qui se trouve au Canada et Aiky à Madagascar (Celui qui a écrit l’article) est à la fois retransmis et traduit sur un Blog qui s’appel Global Voices. Ce dernier est un Blog 2.0 qui rassemble toute la communauté de blogueurs du monde entier et publie les billets les plus pertinent de chaque blogosphère. Nos deux bloggeurs malgaches y plaident l’effet du réchauffement de la planète à Madagascar et le monde entier les écoute sur Global Voices ) c’est ça que je trouve beau
Ben oui quoi, GlobalVoices c’est The blog du mouvement mondial pour la liberté d’expression et puis c’est le liens direct entre médias traditionels et les blog puisqu’ il travail en collaboration evec l’agence Reuteurs. Et devine ou est ce que le mec du TIMES va pêcher son article ?
Le fait que l’echange entre Jogany et Aiky soit publié là bas est tous simplement la preuve que notre blogsphère malgache n’est pas en reste, et qu’elle pourra bien faire la différence sur des sujets important comme celui qui touche à notre environement
Scoop: Nos deux blogueurs ne font pas que discuter par bolg interposer, ils envisagent déjà de faire un blog meeting à Tananarive pour mieux faire bouger les choses.
Many Malagasy bloggers chimed in with what they thought of Global Voices. Many from Manyland had this to say:
J’ai découvert Global Voice y a de ça 3 semaines seulement mais j’avoue que c’est super géniale comme concept : The World is talking. Are we listening ?
‘Event of the Year’
Likewise, the portal of La Reunion's blogosphere, Reunion Permanente noticed a recent Global Voices story on the country's bloggers:
Mais l’évènement de cette année c'est bien évidemment les 15 min de gloire de la blogosphère réunionnaise sur le site de journalisme participatif américain globalvoices : A ne pas rater.


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Moroccan bloggers gain in popularity and reduce the predominance of French blogs  · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

I went to Morocco for a long vacation. Once back to my home sweet home, I had to deal with my son's adenoids which caused me to stay away of my weekly roundup. Thank God, everything is just fine now. So here I am, back to my favorite hobby of spotting the most original Moroccan blogs and bringing them to you so you can see, by yourself, how wonderful is the Moroccan blogosphere (Blogoma) and how interesting is to be part of it.
It's even more interesting to meet the bloggers(Fr) in person, and I had the privilege(Fr) to talk(Fr) to some(Fr) of the stars(Fr) of the blogoma. I discussed with them and I was amazed by their way of thinking and their emancipation especially that most of them were women.
I have interviews I'll be sharing with you every week, but for now let's have an updated look on the Moroccan blogosphere.
Blogo ergo sum
It's now evidence that Morocco is taking seriously his bloggers. After the Jankari scandal, the Moroccan Media is stressing(Fr) the growing number of the blogs in the country. And while some of them tend to not give credit to what they call “a perishable phenomenon,” most of the Moroccan journalists applaud(Fr) the emerging of the blogs as another form of journalism in a country avid of more forms of expression.
A growing number of Moroccan Internet surfers have become bloggers this year due to cheaper Internet access, the general availability of ADSL and the launch of a number of local blog platforms. Current developments in the already diverse Moroccan blogosphere include the creation of an Arabic-language blog platform and an Internet portal combining news, a subject directory and a blog platform.
According to an article published by Magharebia.com, the increased access has encouraged a number of Moroccan businesses to launch their own platforms. Blogjahiz.ma(Fr) is the major Moroccan platform at the present. The immense popularity of blogs among young people has led to the recent launch of Marblog.com(Fr) by Multimedia Studios(Fr).
“The dominance of French in the Moroccan blogosphere is beginning to lessen as Arcanes Technologies’ recently-launched Blogjahiz is the first Arabic-language Moroccan platform.”
Says the writer of the article.
Larbi,Star.. against his will!
We all know by now that Larbi(Fr) would love to be a more normal blogger. But hey, when it comes to blogging, the readers are the only judges. And they decided(Fr) Larbi was a special(Fr) blogger.They are not only Moroccans(Fr) but from different countries(Fr) with their interest for Moorcco(Fr) as a shared quality.
The reason of this consensus is that Larbi launched Maroc blogs.com an aggregator of Moroccan blogs. And it's already gaining a big audience and is of a big help for me.
Gossips..Gossips..
Many things happened while i was in Morocco. Nadia(Fr) married Blaise(Fr), and  M.S Hjiouj'blog(Ar) changed the look.
Hjiouj is posting a series of interviews(Ar) with some popular Arab bloggers(Ar), among them Ahmed Bla Fransya(Ar)and Haitham Sabbah. Yes, it turned out Haitham has fans even in Morocco!
By the way Hjiouj is among the Arabic blogs selected(Ar) for the final of the BOBs, along with Rachid Jankari‘s blog(Fr).
Sonia(Fr) is back after an absence of some long seven months while Chigaf(Fr) didn't updated since her voyage to Paris, three months ago.
Black is beautiful, says(Ar) Anima and Manal promises to never try herself as a chef(Fr).
Soumiaz is back and smoking, while le baroude wants a Rolls royce(fr).
The View From Fez confirms the already widely known huge popularity of Hayfa Wahbi and announces that  Brazil's international soccer player, Ronaldo Luiz Nazario De Lima, is visiting Morocco in December, part of a mission in favor of children.
The Real Madrid player told on Friday the Spanish daily “ABC” he will visit Morocco to try help children by his presence. “I was not born in a Favela (slum), but I grew in a very poor community and I know what poverty means,” he said.
Before leaving you, I would like to thank all those of you who took the time to send me emails asking for the reason of my absence. Being missed feels good.
That's it for today, see you next Wednesday Inshallah;)

author: Farah Kinani


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Pinochet’s Gold: Gone with the Wind · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

These past weeks, the news of Pinochet's investments in gold was enough to make bloggers write, not only from Chile, but also around the world.
Carololine (ES) posts the complete Facts about this development, and also the magnitude of the news:
Este “peso en oro” supera los cien millones de dólares, son más de más de mil lingotes de oro los que brillan en nombre de Pinochet .El Consejo de Defensa del Estado (CDE) presentó ayer un escrito para que el ministro a cargo pueda decretar medidas cautelares sobre estos bienes.
A partir de ahora Pinochet entró en la categoría de los grandes dictadores que lavaron fortunas a nivel mundial.
Benjamin (ES) , a right-wing student published an imaginary dialogue about the topic. He starts:
El oro de Pinochet ya existe, aunque no esté en ninguna parte. Ya la noticia dio la vuelta al mundo.
He continues explaining that the bank account of US$ 27 million dollars, attributed to Pinochet doesn’t exist; it was “only” US$ 8 million , but no one clarified the news.
Other people, have the concern that this chapter has more to do with political rhetoric, as Sebastian (ES) explains:
Muchas veces nos hacen creer que la verdad siempre es la que prevalece antes que todo, sin embargo, las situaciones son controladas por estrategias comunicacionales, con esto quiero referirme al caso chile-deportes, los hechos concretos son claros; irregularidad en los dineros asignados para la institución. Donde figuran asignaciones a políticos esencialmente de la bancada de concertación, cuando este escándalo se hizo público, se publico una supuesta cuenta en lingotes de oro por parte del señor Pinochet, información que supuestamente fue entregada al canciller, lo cual es totalmente falso…

author: Rosario Lizana


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South Africa: taking over the world · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Latifah is taking over the world (a poem):
I am a photographer- I keep telling myself
One day, just one day the name will be written on the
Star Newspaper, picture by- “Busisiwe Sigasa”
This is a beginning of it , the beginning of greater things to come.


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The Week That Was in Bahrain  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Freedom of expression in Bahrain received yet another slap in the face this week with a government ban on what is the kingdom's most famous blog. The Ministry of Information issued a gag order, blocking Mahmood Al Yousif’s blog, among a handful of other sites for breaking publication laws.
The blocking of the site in Bahrain, though easily overcome by bypassing the proxy by using anonymizers, brought more attention to the blog and the level of censorship and freedom of expression in Bahrain than the ministry may have anticipated. In addition to bloggers decrying the unwarranted move, which the ministry withdrew a few days later, newspapers and journalists in particular rallied behind the blogger ridiculing the ministry's decision to block the site.
On October 29, Mahmood announced the gag order to his readers in a matter of fact manner.
“But if I go off the air for too long, you know the reason, and it’s not inconceivable that prisons will be used to silence criticism. You know what to do if this site DOES in fact become blocked… you know the required tools to unblock it,” writes Mahmood.
Fellow blogger Haitham Sabbah was quick to announce to the world the ministry's decision and reason or lack of reason for it.
“Usually, no explanation is given to the web sites owners about the reason their web sites are blocked. However, looking at the official memo, it refers the press law no. 47, passed in 2002, which then added further restrictions on freedom of expression including the prohibition of “defamation of the person of the king and royal family members.” On 24 April, 2005, the Information Ministry issued a decree instructing web site and blog moderators of any site that included information on Bahrain to register with the Ministry and to assume responsibility for all materials published online.
In the past, authorities have blocked access to a number of political sites, including those of opposition groups, because the officials claim that these sites incite “sectarianism” and contain “offensive content.” The criteria for making such determinations, though, are not clear. In some cases, the Ministry of Information claimed it blocked only sites that seek to “create tension between people and to provoke resentful sectarianism.” explains Sabbah.
It later transpired that Mahmood's blog has been blocked because the blogger continued to highlight the Bandargate Scandal, despite a high court order to forget about it.
To lift the ban, Mahmood said he had to make a few concessions to the authorities.
“I hope that this would have demonstrated to the Bahraini authorities that restricting access to information is not the best policy to pursue.
Let me also confirm that I have made some concessions to in order to lift the ban on the site; specifically, I have heeded the “gag order” issued by the High Court published on the 5th of October, 2006 restricting comments and further discussion specifically dealing with their case against Dr. Salah Al-Bandar. I have therefore temporarily removed four articles published in this stream which are held in a queue unavailable to site visitors. These articles will be re-published at the expiry of that gag order. All attendant comments on those articles are also unfortunately sequestered with their parent articles.
All articles and comments published prior to the gag order remain in place.
Based on this and our discussions, the Ministry of Information has agreed to lift the block on Mahmood’s Den and cancel the pending court case,” wrote Mahmood.
The ban was lifted on November 2.
Although Mahmood's blog is now available for the general public, the struggle is still far from over for others.
But rest assured, for Bahrain's bloggers are though cookies, who are demanding answers from authorities, who may in turn simply reply by blocking their sites!
“I'd like to point this out to whoever disagrees with our initiative or finds it too risky: We are not here to whine about the fact that these websites were shut down, we are here because we want certain questions answered. Why is the information provided in the blocked sites being kept away from us? We may very well disagree with everything any of the blocked websites represent, and unless it's the promotion of violence, racism, and general bigotry, we here at BHU feel that the authors should still be able to maintain the right to say it. That's all. We're not campaigning because we're part of their organizations or because we share their opinion, we're doing this to secure the free flow of information in and about Bahrain within the country itself. Is that so wrong?” say the authors of Bahrain-Uncensored.
It is no wonder then that Bahrain's ranking in the World Press Freedom Index stands at 111!
“In the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, in between 168 indexed countries, our beloved Arab countries makes sure to be among the worst.
Here is the list in order from “best” to “worst”:
Kuwait – 73
United Arab Emirates – 77
Mauritania – 77
Qatar – 80
Morocco – 97
Lebanon – 107
Jordan – 109
Bahrain – 111
Algeria – 126
Egypt – 133
Palestine – 134
Sudan – 139
Tunisia – 148
Yemen – 149
Libya – 152
Iraq -154
Syria – 153
Saudi Arabia – 161
Oman – ?,” laments Haitham Sabbah.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Trinidad & Tobago: Decoding PM-speak · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor reads between the lines of recent statements made by Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister.


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24-hour demonstration against Internet censorship · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

The goal of the demonstration is to draw attention to online censorship in the thirteen nations RSF terms “Internet black holes” – by clicking on a map of these nations, users register their protest against Internet censorship and for the release of over 60 cyber-dissidents currently under arrest for writings on their blogs.
The protest takes specific aim at Yahoo!, inviting users to record messages for the company's founders. Yahoo! is a special target for RSF because the company's has cooperated with Chinese authorities in investigations of journalists, supplying information that helped lead to the arrest of Shi Tao, a journalist serving a ten year sentence for “divulging state secrets abroad.”
RSF is also inviting visitors to the site to start blogs hosted by the organization – RSF will feature opinions from these blogs on in a weekly section titled “The Blog View of the World”. Finally, RSF will be launching a version of their site in Arabic, complementing the current versions in French, Spanish and English.
We're very grateful for the hard work that RSF does to promote online freedom and openness. Please visit their site today and show your support for their efforts.

author: Ethan Zuckerman


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Albania: Winter Blackouts · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Tirana writes about possible winter blackouts in Albania.


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Arabisc: How did Arab bloggers react to Saddam Hussein’s verdict? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

While Arab bloggers writing in English jumped on the opportunity to comment on Saddam Hussein‘s death sentence, those writing in Arabic seemed to be slower to react.
Among the few commenting on the story making the headlines yesterday and today, Batir Wardam from Jordan, says what is more important than hanging Saddam Hussein now is protecting Iraq.
للأسف ستكون الأيام القادمة مليئة بحملات تأييد ودعم لدكتاتور روع آلاف الناس في العراق، وسيستمر احتلال العراق وقتل مواطنيه والصراع الطائفي والعنف الانتقامي من التنظيمات البعثية، وفي النهاية سوف يدفع المواطن العراقي وحده الثمن.  المواطن العراقي العادي هو الذي دفع ثمن سكوت العالم العربي على جرائم صدام وهو الذي يدفع الآن ثمن الاحتلال الأميركي ووحشية التنظيمات الطائفية، والعراق الذي هو أهم مليون مرة من صدام حسين معرض هو الآخر للإعدام فهل يمكن لأحد أن ينق
Another Jordanian blogger Kamel Al Nsirat says the verdict has made Saddam Hussein a martyr in the eyes of Arabs, whether the noose is tightened around his neck or not.
Al Nsirat gives us a description of his infatuation with the former Iraqi president and the impact the verdict has had on him in the following few paragraphs.
From Algeria, Rasheed Wald Bu Siafa says the hanging of Saddam signifies the death of Arab dignity.
The Algerian blogger continues in his defence of Saddam Hussein, comparing the situation in Iraq today with what it was under his days.
From Kuwait, Kuhaylan said that Saddam Hussein deserved more than death.
من وجهة نظري لايستحقه , لان من هم على شاكلة صدام واشباه من الحكام العرب وغير العرب المستبدين في حكمهم ,الطاغين على شعوبهم وجيرانهم الاعدام هو راحه لهم ونهاية لقصه طويله عنوانها اللعن والشتم والكره من الناس .
ان صدام بطبيعته الجاسره والمتكبره لم يثق في حياته باحد او عاش في هذه الدنيا من اجل ولد او طموح , هؤلاء الموت كان جزءا لايتجزأ من احلامهم فلماذا نأتي نحن ونكافأهم بتحقيق احلامهم !!
ان ما اتمناه ان يحكم على صدام وزبانيته  هو اعطائهم جرع يوميه منتظمه من الغاز المضحك حتى يتلف الدماغ ويصبحوا كالقرود في السيرك , فلا يزجعوا العالم بابواقهم الاعلاميه او يرددوا شعاراتهم الرنانه وتهديداتهم المستمره , وافضل ايضا ان يخصصوا قنوات خاصه لهم بجودة القنوات الغنائيه التي تنشأ يوميا  وان يعرضوا عليها لمدة 24 ساعه في اليوم 7 ايام في الاسبوع مباشره وحصريا على هذه القناه حتى يفضفض الناس عن همومهم باسدال اللعن والشتم عليهم وايضا لتنظيف شاشة التلفزيون بدون ماء فقط ب (…) , واتوقع النجاح الباهر والفضيع لهذه القناه , واول من سيعلن في هذه القناه هم من الحكام  العرب الباقين من هم على شاكلة صدام
Iraqi blogger Ibn Al Basra (Son of Basra) doesn't hide his satisfaction with the verdict. But he says Iraq would need a miracle to heal.
ابتسمت وانا استمع الى الخبر… واشاهد صدام وهو يرعد ويزبد ؟؟؟؟ ههههههههههههه ضحكت هذه المرة بقوة وبحرقة وكأنني انتقم من هذا الجلاد. ايباه ، قلت لنفسي …كان هذا المجرم البائس يحكم العراق بيد من نار وحديد وكان لا يرحم من يقع تحت يده ابدا،
ولكن السؤال  يبقى؟
من سيعيد للعراق عافيته؟ من سيعيد لنا عمرنا الضائع؟ ومستقبلنا المفقود؟ من سيعيد لنا اقربائنا واخوتنا واحبائنا؟ من سيمحي من مخيلتنا سنوات القهر والظلم والارهاب؟ لا احد … لا احد .
Another Iraqi blogger Rose Heart took to the streets after hearing the verdict and narrated to us the scenes of happiness and people distributing sweets after hearing about Saddam's fate.
ملايين الناس كانت تنتظر تلك اللحظة
وصدر الحكم بالأعدام شنقا حتى الموت
ملأت عيني الدموع تذكرت بريئا اعدمه نظام صدام شنقا حتى الموت بلاذنب جناه
وكان آية في الطهر والخلق
قيل لنا : خذوا جثة كلبكم .شنقوه فهو في نظر الحكومة لايستحق ثمن الرصاصة
ما اصغر الدنيا
ما اعدل السماء
اراد صدام ان يعدموه رميا بالرصاص لأنّه قائد عسكريّ ربما ليموت بسرعة ولا عذاب الشن
كما اضاع زمني واضاع شباب ملايين الناس غيري
قبل اعلان الحكم كان هناك صمت يسبق العاصفة ايدي على الزناد وايدي تحمل علب الحلوى
وبعد النطق بالحكم حمل اهل الضحايا البنادق والمسدسات واطلقوا النار ابتهاجا وفرحا وخرجت الامهات الثكالى الى الشوارع تلقي الحلوى وتوزعها على المارّة
Just like all the other bloggers before her, Rose's concern goes beyond Saddam.
ولاجدوى من ايّ حكم عليه بعد الآ


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Bangladesh: Long hours in Tokyo · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Even as people from South Asia send remittances back home, Drishtipat talks of the wave in the 80s when the promise of money had people from Bangladesh going abroad. “He told us how he’d gone to Shobuj and Maroof’s flat and found 7 men sleeping in 2 small rooms. He described how Shobuj woke up at the crack of dawn, went off to work, and did not return till midnight. 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, week in week out, month in month out.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bolivia: 42 Regions · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Miguel Buitrago criticizes a plan by the Bolivian government to add a political layer of 42 regional subunits between the country's nine departments and 327 municipalities. Miguel Centallas, however, argues that the new subunits might actually strengthen the municipalities. The two Miguel's have a useful discussion on the issue in this comments thread.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Neretva River · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River writes about the campaign to save the river after which the blog is named.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia: The Energy Card · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River writes about reports on Russia's plans to use energy card against Bosnia: “In a hideously cynical move to try to once again project power in the Balkans, Russia has turned to its status as a major energy supplier to the former Yugoslavia in a bid to force Bosnia not to prosecute Serb war criminals at a time when the ICTY is sending more and more cases back to the region for trial as the Tribunal prepares to close.”


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Brazil: Lula’s Victory · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

The presidential election results in Brazil showed, despite dire opposition predictions that victory for Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would produce an untenable political situation, that Lula indeed has the political capital needed to lead Brazil for the next 4 years. Speculations about a divided country and the possible governance problems vanished in the face of the final results, which gave Lula 5.5 million more votes than in the 2002 election when he won his first term. In the first week after victory, blogs were still analyzing the election statistics to assess the new political landscape.
As primeiras 48 horas posteriores ao segundo turno mostraram que estavam equivocados aqueles que apostavam num recrudescimento da crise política no caso da reeleição de Lula. A expressiva votação do presidente e sua forte recuperação no Sudeste, onde venceu, e no Sul, onde perdeu por pouco, sepultaram as teses aventureiras do “terceiro turno” e da “eleição sub-judice”.
O clima em Brasília já é outro – Conxão Política | Franklin Martins
Alckmin só venceu em sete Estados: São Paulo, os três do Sul, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul e Roraima. E só neste obteve mais que 55% dos votos. Fica difícil falar, assim, em “país dividido” por regiões e mesmo por classes. Lula teve vitória ampla nos chamados grotões, sim; mas nas regiões mais desenvolvidas é que faz sentido falar em divisão, jamais em hegemonia tucana. Tanto é que foi onde Lula mais reconquistou espaço do primeiro para o segundo turno. Com quase 61% dos votos válidos, praticamente repetiu o resultado de 2002.
A derrota do simplismo – Daniel Piza
No segundo turno, além dos votos dados aos outros candidatos levou mais cerca de 4 milhões de votos de Alckmin. Graças ao seu desempenho pessoal na campanha. Não foram os governadores que ajudaram a ele ter mais votos. Ele é que ajudou os governadores. Não foi conta do PT. Foi por ele, pelo grande artista que é. 12 milhões de votos a mais. Não são razões de sobra, para ele se achar o máximo? Usando um termo meio em desuso: “é ai que mora o perigo”.
12 milhões a mais – Inteligência Estratégica
The press conferences after the elections have shown a calm and relaxed Lula, waving with agreements with the opposition and improvements in the relationship with international partners. Indeed, the relaxed mood extended through the week with the Day of the Dead holiday [November 2] and the President decided to take some days off to cool out from the last month's double work schedule as candidate and chief executive. As reasonable as rest seems, his absence at the Iberian-American Summit has caused complaints from Brazil's neighbors and partners in the Mercosur common market.
Em público, Lula diz que quer estabelecer “relação privilegiada” com os EUA no segundo mandato. Em privado, ele organiza sua primeira viagem internacional como presidente reeleito. Vai ao encontro de Hugo Chávez, presidente da Venezuela e inimigo número um de George Bush na América Latina… Na semana passada, em entrevista a três jornais europeus –o italiano La Repubblica, o espanhol El Pais e o francês Le Figaro—, Lula dissera que um de seus objetivos na área externa é o estreitamento de relações com os EUA. Fez questão de diferenciar-se do companheiro Chávez: “A relação da Venezuela com os EUA não é a do Brasil. Cada presidente governa em função da cultura política de seu país. Quando se trata de política externa na América do Sul, pensamos igual, mas quando se trata de relações estratégicas, ele (Chávez) pode pensar uma coisa e eu outra”.
Depois de acenar para os EUA Lula encontra Chávez – Josias de Souza
Lula é criticado por ausência em cúpula ibero-americana – Em um momento crítico da crise entre Uruguai e Argentina, exatamente quando os dois países anunciam que foi interrompido o diálogo, Lula, presidente “pro tempore” do Mercosul, tornou-se motivo de piadas e críticas na televisão e nos jornais uruguaios por ter sido fotografado de sunga, descansando em uma praia. O questionamento estava também nos corredores da cúpula, segundo contaram diplomatas, e se tornou um dos principais assuntos do encontro. tsc tsc tsc.
Por que Lula não foi??? – Alerta Brasil
In his first appearences after the election, Lula also signaled that he will not go further with the controversy about the media role during the campaign. But the blogosphere is still in congratulatory mood about how the alternative debate got traction and made a difference in the process despite being ignored for awhile by the traditional media channels. It seems clear to all who followed the election campaign on the web that something very new has emerged. There is a significant new citizen media and now there is a large audience eager to follow the debate on new policies for the communications sector. But there are also the ones who see all the novelties merely as Worker Party strategies to dominate the media space.
A respeito, vale citar declaração recente do deputado federal Ciro Gomes, eleito com mais de 600 mil votos no Ceará e um dos políticos mais demonizados pela imprensa justamente por ter idéias próprias. Em entrevista ao blog Conversa Afiada, do jornalista Paulo Henrique Amorim, sediado no portal iG, Ciro refletiu: “Precisamos ter clareza de que não temos de ter medo de avançar em uma questão substantiva, que é a questão da democratização dos meios de comunicação. Quando a gente discute esse tema, os que têm o monopólio da mídia vão sempre inventar que isso é autoritário. Não é”.
Mino Carta – Carta Capital – Genial – Olhos da Eternidade
É isso aí. Em primeiro lugar, Amorim acha que Carta Capital é exceção “numa mídia maciçamente de oposição”. Huuummm. Nem Mino Carta, seu amigo, definiria a revista tão bem. Amorim é hoje o jornalista mais petista do Brasil. Não sei se é convicção ideológica ou ainda rancor contra a Rede Globo. O que ele diz não tem nem importância nem influência, o que não quer dizer que não revele intenções — afinal, ele é um “deles”.
Controle da mídia: uma conversa do arco da velha  – Reinaldo Azevedo
É curioso essa relação Lula e mídia. No geral, concede o que lhe exige, vide TV digital. Em circunstâncias normais, jamais ousaria enfrentar o desafio da democratização da mídia. O tema, que vai acabar se refletindo na nova Lei Geral das Comunicações, está se impondo por si.
Lula e a mídia – Luis Nassif Online
There are some bloggers who really got worn out from the passionate and  polarized debate that took place across the Brazilian web during the last weeks of the election campaign. Now is the time for them to calm down in order to renew an environment where people can work and collaborate together.
Neste cenário, em que proliferaram adesivos com dizeres estúpidos como “o bem sempre vence o mal”, não é de se admirar que eu tenha encontrado gente lamentando a reeleição com termos como “o Brasil não vai agüentar mais quatro anos de Lula” ou, pior, “bem feito, esse povo agora vai tomar na cabeça” (frases verídicas que tive de aturar na última segunda-feira). Por que ainda me espanto com essa torcida do contra, neste clima futebolístico que incitou rivalidades gratuitas e fez com que pessoas usassem termos pejorativos como “petralhas” e “tucanalhas”?
Festa da democracia? – Pensar Enlouquece, Pense Nisso
Summing up, Lula seems to be in a better position for his second term compared with what he had four years ago. Now he has a significant political base. As we observe the meaning of what his voter support expresses it appears that Brazilians expect to have a President ready to make it right, to make corrections in the areas that produced so much frustration for his supporters during the first term. Two main aspects are center stage: the ethical one and economic development.
Pelo menos 15 dos 27 governadores eleitos estão alinhados com Lula no segundo mandato. O apoio majoritário pode se configurar num dos principais trunfos do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva na composição da base aliada no segundo mandato, conforme analistas políticos. Para o cientista Carlos Melo, do Ibmec, contabilizando apoios formais e informais, Lula parte de uma base de 17 [ele inclui os governadores eleitos da Paraíba e de Goiás], podendo ampliar para 20 o número de governadores aliados.
Governadores Devem ajudar a costurar a base aliada – Brasil! Brasil!
Lula ganhou a segunda chance. A partir de amanhã as maiores cobranças não partirão dos carbonários, mas de seus eleitores. Com esse segundo voto de confiança, não poderá mais falhar, seja no plano ético ou no econômico. Ele não foi eleito pela mídia, nem pelos coronéis. Foi eleito por pessoas que, de norte a sul, mesmo ante escândalos concretos, acreditaram que ele poderia ter a segunda chance e melhorar o Brasil. Não tem mais o direito nem de errar, nem de se acomodar, nem de empurrar a política econômica com a barriga.
Gente Humilde – Luis Nassif Online

author: Jose Murilo


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Brazil: Shooting Araucarias in Rio Grande do Sul · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ricardo Carreón has posted some breathtaking photographs of the unique Araucaria trees near the Brazil-Uruguay border.


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China and Africa:  Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Positive solution blogs about the local media report on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC): Its the mutually beneficial development, stupid!


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China: Can China’s internet media compete globally? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fons Tuinstra outlined the discussion on whether China's internet media can compete globally in China Herald.


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China: foreign actor · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hu Ge, the famous video spoof producer in China, is preparing to shoot a 20 mins internet video and is now looking for a foreign actor who will act as a CIA agent (zh).


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China: Lei Feng condom  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lei Feng is a national icon for youth in China, now he appears on a condom package. Details see Fons Tuinstra.


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China: Oil in Xinjiang · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael in the Opposite end of China writes about the implication of oil in Xinjiang: a blessing and a curse.


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China: real name registration · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated an article from Southern Weekend on the blogger real name registration system proposed by Ministry of Information Industry.


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El Salvador: Volcano Alert Cancelled · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Salvador Canjura has posted photos of Volcán de Santa Ana while the blog of El Salvador/CNY Companion Diocese notes that the red alert for Santa Ana's Ilamatepec volcano was finally cancelled.


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Fiji: No Coup · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ms. Vakaivosavosa in Fiji downplays the coup rumours. “Life is normal here and there's so much more to worry about than the war of words in the media. I spent the day out of the office today and nothing is unusual or out of the ordinary. People are aware of the war of words but they are going about their everyday business.”


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Former Yugoslavia: Can video play a part in truth, justice and reconciliation? · Global Voices
Gavin Simpson

It fell to the controversial figure of Carla del Ponte, prosecutor at the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague, to lament the slow progress of justice in the Former Yugoslavia in a lecture she delivered last week.  del Ponte picked out Serbia as a country “removed from the European values”, arguing that truth and justice remain “relative concepts, rather than absolute values”.
In the wake of these comments, the time seems ripe to consider how video fits in to the quest for post-conflict justice.  How does the use of video relate to such concepts as truth, reconciliation and accountability?  It's an especially interesting question in a region like the Former Yugoslavia, where the population remains so starkly divided in its interpretations of the recent past.
As the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) noted, video of historical atrocities is being used as part of the continuing propaganda war in the Former Yugoslavia, and few debates around video footage in 2006 have been as highly-charged as the one that accompanied this video clip, first broadcast by Serbia's B92 television station in August 2006.
Warning: the following video contains graphic imagery of human rights abuse
The video depicts events that took place during so-called “Operation Storm” in August 1995.  It came to light almost exactly eleven years later – the most recent example of video footage apparently released to coincide with the anniversaries of major atrocities committed by different sides in the Balkan wars.
On this occasion, the victims on video are Serbs – a civilian shot by Bosnian soldiers and a convoy of refugees harassed by Croatian Army units.  When B92 and stations in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia broadcast the footage, political shockwaves quickly spread across the region.  Serb leaders demanded prosecutions of the men responsible, while one Bosnian politician called on Serbia to do more to bring its own alleged war criminals – particularly Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic – to justice.
While some Croat and Bosnian representatives derided the video as a “montage” or a misrepresentation of history, a Croatian opinion poll released a few days ago shows that a growing number of Croatians, nearly 70%, were aware that Croat troops committed atrocities against ethnic Serbs between 1991 and 1995, a far higher figure than previously supposed by the Croatian media.  The poll also revealed that 80% of those polled – including both Serbs and Croats – believed that these atrocities were war crimes, and that the perpetrators should face justice.  Most respondents also felt that justice could not be delivered through the Croatian courts, and would prefer war criminals to be handed over to the International Criminal Court at the The Hague.  It's not yet clear to what extent the release of the Operation Storm videos influenced this perceived change.
Similarly, in June 2005, many Serbs were shocked into re-evaluation when a video depicting Serb atrocities was broadcast close to the tenth anniversary of the massacre of Bosnian civilians at Srebrenica.  On that occasion, international media attributed great importance to the video's emergence and profiled the Serbian activist Natasa Kandic who had traced and exposed it.
As the IWPR reported, videotapes have played a conspicuous role in shaping perceptions of war in the Former Yugoslavia, often setting off cycles of ill-feeling and retraumatising the victims.  Even some feature films have had a divisive impact.   But are there ways in which this kind of video can be used constructively to aid post-conflict reconciliation and justice?
One initiative that gained a lot of international coverage is the Videoletters project, which has attempted to create video dialogue among people affected by war in the Balkans.  It uses the video letter format used by many migrants to stay in touch with family and friends back home.  Many of the videos created in this project were aired on public TV stations across South-East Europe and stimulated a vibrant exchange of perspectives, comment and discussion.
GV Eastern Europe editor Veronica Khokhlova has pointed to debates about video footage of atrocities in the past.  However, in the realm of Balkan blogs, many of which are cross-linked on sites like East Ethnia, there seems to be something of a dearth of examples of vlogging or other home-grown initiatives dedicated to reconciliation.
How might video be used in this or other situations?  As training or education materials?  As evidence?  To promote reconciliation?  What role can citizen journalism play?
There are many other places where video might play a role in the path to justice, and eventually, reconcilation – Uganda, Colombia, East Timor, Rwanda, where Videoletters began working earlier this year, and Armenia/Turkey, where, as in the Balkans, the debate runs over into artistic expression, such as Armenian-Canadian film director Atom Egoyan’s feature film Ararat, or Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s comments to a Swiss newspaper magazine.
If you know of any examples of this kind of use of video anywhere in the world, let us know.  Whether it’s the kind of video that tries to turn the tide away from war, towards a peaceful common future, or the kind of video that tries to stoke the embers of a conflict, we'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
[Additional research and reporting by Sameer Padania]

author: Gavin Simpson


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Guatemala: Ricardo Arjona · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Chapinadas congratulates Guatemalan singer and songwriter, Ricardo Arjona for his Latin Grammy award for best male album in vocal pop with his new album “Adentro”.

author: David Sasaki


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Hong Kong: tracing conservatism · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dave and Stefan has another post on Hong Kong history. This time it is about Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Minister of Great Britain in 1839 when the United Kingdom embarked on the Opium War against China. His opinion has some similarity with today's local conservatives.

author: Oiwan Lam


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India: Being Osama in New York on Halloween · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The author at Synchroni-Cities decides to dress up as Osama for Halloween in New York. Fascinating account of what people observe. “people chose to laugh, rather than being angry or afraid of a brown man dressed as ‘Osama’, and in downtown New York, not so far from the WTC.
And if you really look at it, as my father would say, at the end of the day, the Levi’s jacket mattered more.””


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India: Punjab, Globalization And A Brief History · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

a reader's words on Punjab, a brief political and economic history and questions on the future of the state and identity. “What implications would these new processes have for the manner in which we have imagined Punjab and Punjabiyat – within the national and global contexts? Will the processes of globalization and the new technologies enable the two Punjabs to rediscover their common cultural heritage?”


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Iran:The longest held political prisoner in Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kosoof has published a recent photo of Abbas Amir Entezam, former deputy Prime Minister, ambassador and the longest held political prisoner in Iran. The blogger adds in December 1979, he was charged with “treason and spying for foreign governments”. He was arrested afterwards and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Revolutionary Courts, without the due process of an attorney or a jury.


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Jamaica: Death by dancing & the murder of a heavyweight · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Stunner weighs in on the death of a young Jamaican woman from engaging in movements associated with the “dutty wine” dance craze, and the murder of former heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbick in Portland.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Japan: watching old movie · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

K.M Lawson at Japan History Group Blog writes a commentary on an old Japanese movie (1975)  called Shōrinji Kempō (English title: The Killing Machine). The blogger read into the historical details and the perception of international relation in the movie.


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Kazakhstan: Borat Opens · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat, the story/mockumentary telling a “Kazakh” journalist's quest across America to marry Pamela Anderson, opened over the weekend in North America much of Europe and neweurasia looks at different perspectives on how the movie affects Kazakhstan.


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Kazakhstan: Free Haircuts · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZBlog reports on a bizarre scheme in Astana, Kazakhstan in which local officials have required hair salons to provide free services to pensioners and veterans of World War II.


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Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan: Steinmeier · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on the visits of Germany's foreign minister to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Both trips were part of a region-wide tour that comes as Germany works on a comprehensive Central Asia policy to promote during its coming EU presidency.


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Malaysia: Free Access Zone in Johor · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at aisehman.org feels that Malaysian citizens might find Johor's plan of setting up Free Access Zones (where the residents can seamlessly travel to and from Singapore) insulting. Johor is a Malaysian state that neighbours Singapore and it sees these Free Access Zones as a way of attracting foreigners to live there. ” Will Malaysians be able to live in the FAZs? Will it be some semi-exclusive enclave Malaysians — for all intents and purposes — can only gawk at from the relative squalour of their existence?”


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Mexico: Multimedia Oaxaca · Global Voices
David Sasaki

IndyMedia Mexico has a wealth of multimedia resources related to the ongoing conflict in Oaxaca including video, audio, photography, and text.


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Mexico: Three Bombs Explode in Mexico City · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Three bombs exploded in Mexico City just after midnight last night, damaging buildings but injuring no one. The bombs, which exploded between 12:03 am and 12:15 am, did significant damage to the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federacion (TEPJF — the nation's election judges), PRI party headquarters and a Scotiabank branch,” writes Mark in Mexico. Michelle Dion notes that “no one has claimed responsibility yet, and it's not clear if it's related to the protest in Oaxaca or the incoming administration.” And radio host Ana Maria Salazar provocatively asks “shall we call it … terrorist acts?”


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Moldova: Borat in Moldova and Romania · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova writes about Borat: “
Borat's “Kazakh village” was in fact filmed in Romania, so it was fun to watch the first four minutes of the film on YouTube and know what all these villagers were saying to Borat. His “wife,” Oxana, didn't say what the sub-titles say, but she did say some incredibly dirty stuff. […] Sascha Baron Cohen has the chance to take his characters into the realm that Andy Kaufman did with his, but right now there is a major difference; Kaufman didn't think twice about insulting and offending his audience, whereas Baron Cohen plays it safe and exploits people that few Americans will ever come into contact with.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Nepal: The Royal Silence · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Who exactly will determine whether or not Nepal needs royalty? Nepali Netbook says “In the end, here’s what everything boils down to: Nepalis may believe they are capable of running the country without the king. The external stakeholders don’t seem to be so sure. Now, isn’t the royal silence getting real scary?”


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Nicaragua: Early Election Results · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Daniel Ortega is President again,” writes VivirLatino as the Sandinista frontrunner remains about six percentage points ahead of Eduardo Montealegre. Boz reminds readers of “el pacto” between former Presidents Aleman and Ortega which has led to the latter's plausible victory. Randy Paul gave some more background information on election eve. Liza Sabater protests Ortega's misogyny and Barricada is updating the preliminary results as they come in.


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Pakistan: World Islamic Economic Forum · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Islamabad on the World Islamic Economic Forum. “This year the forum is opening under the theme of “Unleashing the Potentials of the Emerging Markets” and it will be organized jointly by Pakistan and the Asia Strategic and Leadership Institute (ASLI) based in Malaysia.”


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Peru: Network Against Child Pornography · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Red Peruana contra la Pornografía Infantil [ES] is both a weblog and NGO hoping to promote the eradication of child pornography on the internet. President Dimitri N. Senmache Artola is hoping to spread the message throughout the blogosphere.


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Puerto Rico: Mosquito experiments · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“For things like this the colony has always been useful,” says (ES) Tinta Digital, discussing a series of experiments conducted on mosquitos in poor communities in Puerto Rico by the Centers for Disease Control.


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Reactions to the Burmese “Royal” Wedding Video Clip · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

A clip from a leaked video of Myanmar's (Burma) military ruler Senior General Than Shwe‘s  daughter's wedding was posted online last week.  People who have seen the video are appalled by the vulgar display of wealth.
Myanmar blogger Myouez at Blog of Nyen Chan Yar writes.
People of Myanmar want to watch that video because we want to see how dictator Than Shwe and his family is wasting country’s money as their own wealth and how they were accepting bribe as “wedding gift”.
Bhojman sums up the reasons why the ordinary Myanmar citizens are angry.
The lavishness of the event is in stark contrast to the poverty and suffering being endured by most of the country. If it's true the couple received $5o million worth of wedding gifts then I am truly distressed.n Most do not earn enough to even feed their families, minority groups are continually on the run from the Burmese military, their crops and homes destroyed, their women raped and many forced into slave labour to build roads or be porters for the military.
Nicholas Farrelly at the New Mandala blog wonders if there is any political intrigue behind the leaking of the video
Real questions remain about the video’s appearance on the Internet, and its relationship to power politics within the Burmese regime’s inner-circle.  If anybody has any potential answers, don’t be shy about posting comments.  It would be great to get some discussion going on Burma’s military elite and the implications of this video.


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Russia: Deportation of Karachais · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

J. Otto Pohl writes about yet another tragic anniversary: the 1943 deportation of Karachais “from their ancestral homeland in the North Caucasus to desolate areas of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.”


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Russia: National Unity Day · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about “unity and disunity on National Unity Day” in Russia.


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Russia: Winter Blackouts · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ruminations on Russia wonders if there's going to be a blackout in Moscow this winter.


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Serbia: Albanian Evangelicals and Kosovo Independence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

South East Europe Online reports on the reaction from the Kosovo Albanian evangelicals and American misisonaries working in Kosovo to the claims of Serbian Orthodox Church that some key U.S. evangelicals “are joining their lobby against Kosovo's independence.”


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Serbia: Attractions of Halovo · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Trans Europa Express writes about the blacksmith and other attractions of “Halovo, Serbia: 538 meters above sea level, 500 meters away from the Bulgarian border. Number of houses: Depends on whom you talk to. Between 230 and 300.”