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Iranian Bloggers Write about Ahmadinejad’s Speech & Israel · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Ahmadinejad’s speech about Israel created a lot of emotions and reactions around the world. Iranian president said that Israel must be wiped from map! According to President “With God’s help we will experience a world without USA and Israel”! UN Security Council condemned Iran and World’s Media is still talking about this speech. Let’s look at some Iranian blogs to see what they say about this diplomatic disaster:
Former reformist vice President, Abtahi, writes in his Webnevest (link in Farsi)
“Israel is the most non-democratic country in the world. All human values stop at its borders…World has become Israel’s hostage”.
But he regrets that Ahmadinejad’s speech can empower enemy’s propaganda against Iran and create problem for country. In reality Abtahi does not reject Ahmadinejad’s idea about Israel but he only doesn’t approve his strategy.
In Iranian Truth, Nema Milanain created an open panel to let people express themselves concerning this subject: Sojourner put such an interesting comment:
“He (Ahmadinejad) said what he meant, simple as that. Such a statement should not come to anyone’s surprise, even if not diplomatically prudent. This was not a deviation in the rhetoric of the regime, simply because Kharazzi did not speak in such language in the past few years. Destruction of the Zionist entity has always been a revolutionary principle and remains an “article of faith” for many. This obviously does not mean one has to agree with it or not, even if a supporter of the revolution and its other principles”
Sharam Kholdi, a UK based blogger, published his dialogue with one of his friends about Ahmadnejad’s speech. His friend writes:
“I am afraid that no amount of incisive condemnation will align Ahmadinejad's (and his type) radical mentality with the rest of the world. It seems to be a characteristic of this type of extremist mentality to be completely delusional about the serious dangers and consequences of actions (or words). In an indirect way, it reminds me of the Iraqi minister of information who repeatedly denied the seriousness of war threats, during and below the shock and awe”!
Mr.Behi, a blogger from Iran, writes:
“There is a nice Persian proverb that says: “Sometimes a fool can drop a stone in a well that a hundred wise men won't be able to take it out!”.Mr.Behi Like many other regular human beings is shocked by the remarks that Iranian president produced this time. This is the most wrong speech he could have made in such a sensitive time. That is the result of putting a politically immature fellow in a position that words and even the tone of voice is important when you make a remark.”
FMSOKHAN (link in Farsi), an Iran based journalist, says Ahmadinjead is like a kid who can not control his mouth. Hoder , a Canada based blogger, says that Iranian president represents only a fundamentalist minority. Pasdar ( it means guard or revolutionary guard and link is in Farsi) , an Iran based blogger who is in love with revolutionary guards, says that Dr.Haji Mahmoud ( he means Ahmadinejad) says what we are thinking in Iran. In Fanous (link in Farsi) , a collective blog, we read that Israel is our enemy because it has not done anything to help Iran’s economic, human rights…conditions before and after revolution!! But Israel exists and we must accept this reality.
Another reality is that Iran has not been so isolated in the world for many years. Remaining isolated in a globalised world will be disastrous for Iranian people but what about rulers?

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: Transparency · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Raed Jarrar wondering, so, making the ballot boxes out of glass makes democracy more transparent in the Middle East!

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Jamaica: Irie’s Real Meaning, Fried Plantains · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jamaica Today explains both the true meaning of “irie” and how to make mouth-watering fried plantains.

author: David Sasaki


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Kenya: New development models · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan Pundit is working on alternatives to the “development aid” model of solving some of the “challenges facing Africa” . She also complains about the falling standards of journalism in Kenya.

author: Sokari Ekine


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Lebanon: International Support · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Mustapha wonders, whyArabs  side with a dictator against the whole international community?
Doha thinks that it's time for the Syrian people to be represented by someone who takes their interest into heart.


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Malaysia, Singapore: Cross-Causeway Catfight · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

The Flyz's Blog chronicles the controversy that erupted after Singapore celebrity chick-blogger XiaXue posted comments about toilets for the handicapped.  Malaysian blogger Kimberlycun called for a boycott of the products that advertise on XiaXue's blog.  Disabled blogger Peter Tan also chimed in. The deluge of email forced some to pull out.  Their war is echoing around Singapore-Malaysian blogspace and has hit the pages of the mainstream media..

author: Jose Manuel Tesoro


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Morocco: Shopping at Souq · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Watchout Nam LaMore walking around the souq (outdoor market) and swirka (little souq) of Morocco.


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Nepal, India: Borders · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Legal News From Nepal reports that a registration system has been introduced at Nepalgunj border crossing point. This is after years of an easy-border policy
Nepal and India have nearly 1750-km long common, open border where people did not need to obtain permit to cross the international border as per the 1950 treaty of peace and friendship between them.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nigeria:  Olamide Adeyooye · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

A disturbing report from Molara Wood – the body of 21 year old, Olamide Adeyooye has been found dead in burnt out chicken coop in Mississippi.  “May the beautiful Olamide now rest in peace.“


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Pakistan: Google Earth Dynamic Overlay – Made Public · Global Voices
Angelo Embuldeniya

Anne Wright and Randy Sargent of the Global Connections Project have been working hard to get out dynamic overlays of the affected quake areas in Pakistan.  (A dynamic overlay is one that automatically substitutes higher resolution imagery as you zoom in and so is much easier to work with.) Randy and Anne wrote a couple of hours ago to say that the new dynamic overlays are ready:
A Pakistan dynamic overlay containing 1-meter imagery and maps for
* Muzaffarabad
* Abbottabad
* Mansehra
* Murree
is available at http://jaga.gc.cs.cmu.edu/rapid/pakistan/.
Contents: 10 maps from DLR / Space Imaging, available from http://www.zki.caf.dlr.de/.
Here are a couple of screen shots:
Home of the Piffers? (KML file) Anne and Randy came across this while processing the satellite images. Anne wondered:
Do you supposed all cultures have analogs of high school glee clubs, or is this something else?
We asked around and are informed of this fascinating fact:
Army units in that part of the world “have a fondness for writing on hill-sides”!
(“Piffers” is short for the Punjab Irregular Force, regularized in 1865. What it signifies in 2005, we can't tell you.) Wow. So, as you look at the overlays, watch for secret hillside writing. Another correspondent tells of a hillside drawing:
There is a large engraving of Sir Lord somebody slaying a dragon “hidden” off the road to Muzaffrabad.  I think I still remember how to get to it.  Every local ten year old thinks that he is the only one who knows about it.
Here are a few move screen shots:
Manshera Helipad (KML file)
Ayub Teaching Hospital (KML file):
On a more somber note, here is a legend from a damage map of Balakot from the Eurpopean Commission's Joint Research Centre (do not follow this link unless your computer will handle an image 9000 pixels by 7000 pixels!) that you may find useful in estimating damage via these  overlays [the link from the image leads to a bigger version, though not huge, so it's OK to click on]:
Thanks to Kathryn Cramer for the above blog posting as well as for hosting the  images and kml/kmz files. Kathryn is also one of the many people behind the Pakistan quake relief mapping efforts and has marked up many disaster-specific maps of the South Asia Quake. If you're interested, you may check out more Google Earth overlays and maps of the Pakistan quake at Kathryn's blog.

author: Angelo Embuldeniya


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Pakistan: Ramadan · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

DeOwl reflects on the month of Ramadan, and the aspects of life which need more focus.


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Philippines: Servantitis · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Ricky Carandang has a theory why the Philippines is a “low-trust” society: being raised with too many servants.


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Poland: Chicago Voters · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

PolBlog notes that Polish voters in Chicago overwhelmingly voted for Kaczyinski in the recent presidential election.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Saint Lucia: Focusing Domestically · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Lordzenn emphasizes at length that recent controversy over a “secret meeting” of former Prime Minister Sir John Compton with authorities from Taiwan shouldn't take away attention from Saint Lucia's domestic crime problem.


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Saint Vincent: Weighty Issues · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Abeni's post on rising obesity in St. Vincent and the Grenadines sparks a lively comment thread filled with surprise, anger, and analysis.


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Somaliland Diaspora: Abdourahman Waberi · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa introduces readers to novelist, journalist, essayist, poet. Abdourahman A. Waberi was born in 1965 in Djibouti.  “He spent his childhood and adolescence in Northeast Africa. As Djibouti declared its independence from France in 1977, Waberi was just twelve years old, and he was heavily influenced by the upheavals of the time.


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Sri Lanka: Sarvodaya · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

indi links to the Sarvodaya Report on six months of post-tsunami activities and rounds up Sarvodaya's relief activities and history.


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Sri Lanka: Telecom Restrictions · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Telecom restrictions in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Telecome (SLT) has been asked to block calls to 13 countries for a stipulated period of time says Lanka Libertarian.


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Venezuela: Celebrating the White Sox · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bugs’ Blog says Venezuelans are celebrating the World Series victory by the Chicago White Sox who are managed by Venezuelan-born Ozzie Guillen.


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Voices From Zimbabwe Plus · Global Voices
Zimpundit

To contest or not to contest is the question the MDC, Zimbabwe's main opposition party, is struggling to answer as the senate elections draw nearer.  With no clear consensus emerging  both sides of the argument within the MDC articulated their perspectives all through last week and these are reflected in discussions by bloggers.
Opponents of the MDC's participation cite perennial election fraud by ZANU-PF.  Participating in the elections would be nothing short of endorsing the flawed electoral system.  According to, Captain Marlow,
“What I have doubts about is this: is it worth splitting the opposition for the doubtful prospect of being able to express yourselves and be heard (and if you read the comments linked above, it seems very doubtful)? Is it worth to legitimize another Mugabe-rigged election and therefore validate an inevitably flawed institution? Isn't the price to high?”
This camp also argues that participating will not do anything to alleviate the nation's problems; the lack of fuel, energy, food, jobs, and foreign currency.  This from Green Leader,
“If change is to actualize, it is not through having a senator or two from the MDC.   Parliament shows this.  There will be no difference in the senate.  hange will happen in the streets. We have seen throughout Eastern Europe that the power of non-violent protests to remove regimes. This is what Zim needs to have democracy. Spending billions of dollars on a senate campaign won't fix the wrongs of Mugabe's rule. Only removing Mugabe from power and trying him will.
Arguing the contrary, is the camp that holds that any progress, however small it might be, garnered at the polls is good for the nation particularly those who have maligned by Robert Mugabe's predominantly Shona government.
“The Ndebele haven't had leaders who are “our leaders” to them. Mugabe and his mostly Shona allies (and even some Ndebele stooges) remain to these people “their leaders.” I'm not trying to stoke the tribal tensions here. I'm exposing the deep seated, justified excitement that (mainly the Ndebele in the MDC) have in the opportunities of the senate.  The senate presents an opportunity to gain lost ground for some however flawed  it may seem.”
Agathon Rwasa Highlights Paul Rusesabagina's calls for the American public to encourage their leaders to take a more active role in response to the atrocities on the African continent including places like Burundi.  Rusesabagina, the hero whose life story inspired the harrowing movie Hotel Rwanda, was speaking in Iowa on his US tour.
007 in Africa bemoans the irony that there is famine in some parts of  the DRC when markets in other parts of the country are teeming with varieties of food.
“By the amount of food that is rushed into our faces, I realize that, if Congolese people are starving somewhere out there, it’s not for lack of food—which makes me very sad that basic lack of infrastructure seems to be the main reason for people dying here.”
Sahara Sarah takes time to correct some the stereotypes that people often hold about Africa and what it is like to work there.
After a recent theft from an expat in Malawi, bloggers Geeta and Mike of Hacktivate ponder how much of a crime the perpertrators committed.  Geeta is frustrated by the fact that,
“In some cases, the very agencies on the front lines of mitigating the food crisis in Malawi have contracts with companies that do not pay their employees enough to manage this crisis without external support.”
Mike demonstrates the disparity between what the guards are paid and what their monthly expenses are.
He is also startled to find that Mexican Mariachi music has penerated the Malawian market thanks to cellphone ringtones.
George Conard is excted about the prospects that the yagi or directional antenna have of improving communications in rural Rwanda.

author: Zimpundit


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Argentina: Anti-Bush Propoganda · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ana Toniolli has a collection of more anti-Bush propaganda as well as some thoughts of her own about his visit to Argentina.


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Armenia: National Dance Company · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

An American Dramaturg in Armenia reports on a performance of the Armenian National Dance Company.


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Armenia: Saving The Parks · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia has more on the protests in Yerevan to save the city's green spaces.


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Armenia: Without Support · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia reports that Armenia's President Kocharian is lowest among South Caucasus leaders.


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Azerbaijan: Getting Reality · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Carpetblogger writes that reality TV is coming to Azerbaijan in a new show called Gefes.


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Azerbaijan: Party views on NK · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Blogrel summarizes each Azeri party's views on Nagorno-Karabakh.


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El Salvador: War crimes from the Salvadoran civil war on trial in Memphis · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim's El Salvador Blog explains a war crime trial from the Salvadoran civil war being tried in Memphis.


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Ethiopia:  Riot police attack civilians · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Friends of Ethiopia reports on the clashes between riot police and supporters of the opposition party  in Addis Ababa, on Tuesday.  The clashes started after police arrested and revoked the licenses of 30 taxi drivers who participated in demonstrations against the government  and claimed the elections were rigged.  The police killed at least 5 people and many were wounded.


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Grand Ayatollah Reads Blogs · Global Voices
Hossein Derakhshan

Last week something extraordinary happened in the Persian blogging community. Mohammad Abtahi, a former vice-president of Iran and an enthusiastic blogger was visiting the eighty-something dissident Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in Qom, a religious city south of Tehran.
“How is Mr Abtahi's blog doing,” the Grand Ayatollah jokingly asks during a pause in a small gathering, while sitting on his special teaching chair which is higher than usual chairs.
According to a post on Abtahi's blog, the Ayatollah later tells him that he reads his blogs and asks him about its readership and the time he spends on it everyday. Like many, the Ayatollah is also angry about his website being filtered and provides the blogger cleric with a new unblocked web address for his website.
Any time you have party-animal teenagers and dissident old Ayatollahs doing the same thing, you must know it's a popular thing.

author: Hossein Derakhshan


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Guess the presidents · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mentalacrobatics asks us to guess the Presidents (photo shown of two men wearing ties) which one was George Bush the other Daniel Arap Moi.


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Hong Kong: Alienated By Own Blog · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Glutter feels her blog has a life of its own — and it's not hers anymore.


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India: Brown Madonna · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Chapati Mystery on the Royal Mail of UK having a Mughal Painting of the Madonna and Infact Jesus on a stamp.


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India: Diwali and After · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lots of posts about Diwali which was celebrated yesterday. Celestri.org on the author's first Diwali celebrations in India, and a little reflection in Delhi post-Earthquake and the blasts.


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Japan: War Crimes · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

A post by Curzon at Coming Anarchy on former U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara's remorse at helping plan the firebombing of Tokyo starts a discussion about war crimes and war criminals.


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Kazakhstan: Love All · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann discusses why Kazakhstan wants to be friends with everyone.


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Kyrgyzstan: Shaghi Bones · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand writes that, as in Mongolia, shaghi bones are popular in Kyrgyzstan and can be used for many games.


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Mexico: Día de los Muertos · Global Voices
David Sasaki

November 1st and 2nd mark Mexico's holiday, Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead.” Calypso Mexico describes celebrating the days in a small colonia in Vera Cruz, emphasizing that “Dia de los Muertos is about remembering your loved ones that have passed from this world. It is NOT about ghouls and goblins and witchcraft, quite the contrary. It is about a father or mother, uncle or aunt, sons or daughters or a grandparent – family that has died.”
Enigmatario has, by far, the most thorough and reflective post this year about the celebration and how its rites evolved from a mixture of Spanish and Aztec customs [ES]:
It's common to see families go to the cemeteries to clean the tomb of their dad or mom, turning the visit almost into a celebration. They bring cleaning materials and food, buy the favorite flowers of the deceased or, keeping the special significance of the date is the “cempasúchil,” [a type of flower pictured above] with its bright orange color that acts as a guide for the spirits from the altar, tomb, and this world.
Ernesto Alonso Lopez Uriarte also describes the festivities and traditions in detail, noting the distinct rituals which have evolved in various regions of the country on OhmyNews International.
Olganza explains the significance of the “la calavera,” a traditional short mocking epitaph [ES], and even links to a site [ES] which allows users to send a virtual “calaverita” by email. Chobojos exemplifies the tradition with a series of calaveras about famous political and media personalities in Mexico [ES] while G. Kleine posts a calavera for each of the bloggers she reads [ES].
There is also a group Flickr pool for Día de los Muertos, including a well-annotated photograph of a traditional altar.
North of the border, Mexican-American bloggers observe the day of remembrance as well. As California-based Gustavo Rojo notes:
It’s always interesting to see how Mexican culture is being accepted in the United States. It’s awesome that slowly but surely we are truly becoming multicultural, multilingual and much more. We are really privileged to be around so much diversity. Don’t resist it, embrace it!
The post has inspired comments from other Latino bloggers in the U.S. reflecting on what Día de los Muertos means to them. Responding to a post on the Gothamist entitled “Going All Out For El Dia de los Muertos,” VivirLatino writes:
Too many people seem to think that Latino culture comes in two flavors: margaritas and mojitos. This idea seems to be especially popular on days of historical importance like Cinco de Mayo (which by the way is neither Mexican Independence Day nor an excuse for hipsters to don a cheap sombrero and sing “la cucaracha”). Día de los Muertos is not chile flavored Halloween. It is a holiday and a tradition that has its roots in the mestisaje of spiritual and cultural practices of indigenous peoples and Spanish conquest. It is a day to honor the ancestors.
In San Diego, residents celebrated Día de los Muertos by launching “El Ombligo de los Barrios,” also known as “the Chicano Park WiFi network.” A post on Socalfreenet explains the significance of the event:
For years, Barrio Logan was known as “el ombligo de los Barrios,” “the belly button of the Barrios.” As the oldest Barrio in San Diego, it was the first stop for people who had just cross the border. It was the place to come to connect with family, with jobs, and even legal services from Spanish speaking lawyers. As other communities have grown, Barrio Logan has lost some of that central status. This landmark installation of a wireless network in Chicano Park, where thousands come to view world-famous murals each year, will bring some of that centrality back to the Barrio. On Sunday, October 30th, Barrio Logan will once again be “el Ombligo,” only now it will be a belly button of the Digital Age.
Update: Doctor Alán Flores has a nice summary of how Día de los Muertos in the state of Nuevo Leon has been influenced by their northern neighbor's celebration of Halloween. Cindy Mosqueda, a graduate student at UCLA, describes the difficulty in setting up a time-consuming altar with the demands of school. Joel sent me a collection of links relating to All Saints Day in the Philippines. Out of Costa Rica explains the holiday from a Costa Rican perspective. And finally, Comings Communique wishes his Brazilian readers a happy Dia dos Finados.
Wherever you may be in the world, Global Voices wishes you a very happy Día de los Muertos.


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Nepal: Celebrating Light! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the festival of lights in Nepal. Beautiful photographs!


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Open Cafe: 1 year on · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Digital Africa offers congratulations to the people at Open Cafe –  “One year of building open source communities in Africa“.


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Pakistan: Women and Media · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shirazi on the image of women in advertising and wonders what could be done to help improve the situation.


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Petroleum alternatives · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Chippla's Weblog asks what will come after petroleum? He says there are a number of possibilities such as solar and wind power, fuel cells and nuclear energy and even hydrogen.  But according to one Professor Levenspiel when petroleum (crude oil and natural gas) reserves become depleted, the only large-scale alternative that would be able to realistically and economically meet global energy needs is coal.,


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Poland: The Third Twin? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot says that the brothers Kaczynski must rely on a variety of groups to rule from the minority in the parliament and wonders whether or not Andzej Lepper can be called “the third twin.”


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Poland: Turnabout · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Warsaw Station discusses the curious political decisions of Zbigniew Religa.


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Singapore, Hong Kong: Materialism · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Responding to a news article about indebted Singaporeans, opposition politician James Gomez says that the promise of continued material growth creates a “false belief that debts accrued now can be cleared in the future.”  Stardom Dreamer feels that the only thing wrong with materialism is when one overspends, but rethinks his position after reading Mr. Wang's thoughtful rejoinder: money can't buy happiness.  Over in Hong Kong, Chatter Garden discusses the consumptive habits of the “post-scarcity generation.”


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Slovenia: The Case of the Disappearing Country · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Glory of Carniola has another case of Slovenia's disappearance from a European map.


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South AFrica: new blog · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Floyds Perspectives is a new South African blog by a young “politically active and thereof a young activist or perhaps a student activist. Lots of hope for the future and believe that distribution of resources should be responsive of sociatal needs not intended on profiteering.” In his latest post he had a couple of poems which he calls  “Floeytry… Poetry According to Floyd”


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South AFrica: Racism  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The FishBowl reports on a “bizzare” quote of the day “Hamburgers are to Cape Town cuisine what coloureds are to South African racial politics — everybody has an opinion on what defines the perfect hamburger.” Quoted from the South African Mail & Guardian in an article in search of the best hamburger.


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South Asia: In foreign lands · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

arZan ponders on why South Asians don't really interact with other South Asians when they meet on foreign lands. The comment thread is extremely interesting with varying views pouring in!


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Southeast Asia: Threat Poll · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Macam-macam's Fabian Foo discusses the results of his very unscientific blog poll asking readers what they thought were the “greatest threats to Southeast Asia.” Bird flu came in first, while “Chinese dominance” came in second.


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Taiwan: “Barbershop” · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

the leaky pen reflects on Taiwan's “barbershop” brothels and the all-too-human need for sexual comforts.


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Thailand: Blue Blood · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

OakMonster at Thai-Blogs.com explains her royal descent from King Mongkut of Siam.


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The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bolivia can breathe a sigh of relief.  Presidential elections have been rescheduled for December 18 after weeks of uncertainty.  President Eduardo Rodriguez emitted a Presidential decree that redistributed the highly disputed Congressional seats and as a result, determined that the elections would take place two weeks after the original fixed date.
Most of the Bolivian blogosphere had been rather quiet about the debate over these seats that were eventually redistributed in close accordance to the current population census.  Only Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas discussed the various proposals and their constitutionality in his blog Off Topic.
The main reason why the redistribution of seats was necessary was because of the change of Bolivia’s population due to internal migration.   Alexey sums up why many people, especially from the Departments of Potosí and Oruro, are moving to Santa Cruz: more jobs.
Miguel Buitrago from MABB posted a translation of a controversial interview with Movimiento Indígena Pachacuti (MIP) Presidential candidate Felipe Quispe, who had some interesting things to say about his future plans and his opinions on the leading candidate Evo Morales.
Scarcity of gas used for cooking was partially alleviated with the introduction of an additional 80,000 canisters to La Paz and El Alto.  However, Antonio Saravia speculates that these extra canisters will allow those involved with contraband to greatly profit.  He suggests in his blog The Economist en su Laberinto that Bolivia should eliminate gas subsidies.  Nick Buxton from Open Veins was on the receiving end of some suspicion by a Bolivian woman who saw him taking pictures of gas canisters.  Later, she realized he was not a “shameless tourist.”
One blogger who seldom expresses his personal thoughts on his site Bolivia … Lo Mejor Que Tenemos posted a rarely seen opinion on the recent Congressional crisis.  Normally, Danny scours the foreign press, especially from Argentina and Chile, posting articles without the commentary, about Bolivia from the viewpoint of these neighboring countries.  However, this week Danny wrote:
“As a Paceño (from the city of La Paz), but most of all, as a Bolivian, I stand in solidarity with the determination of the Cruceño (from the city of Santa Cruz) Parlimentary Brigade to return to its region if the Congressional seats are not given to them in accordance with the law”
Finally, Halloween has reached Bolivia.  Jim Shultz from the Democracy Center’s blog hopes that there will be a way to preserve the Bolivian traditions of Todos Santos while allowing for the holiday from the North.  However, Grillo Villegas says in his blog Almaqueloide that he has never attended a Halloween party, much less visited a cemetery with the traditional tantawawas.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

New in Kurdish cyberspace is the announcement of a new Kurdish news agency called Firat News, while there is some critism from some Kurds, as it is currently published in Turkish, it still is an exciting venture for those in Northern Kurdistan (Southeast Turkey). Plans for news in Kurdish are underway for the site. Also  Kurdish Lily has posted an announcement of a new Kurdish forum called the Kurdish Youth Center.
Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan regional government of Iraq, recently visited President Bush and  wrote a column for the Washington Post, in which he supported the recent U.S.-led operation in Iraq on behalf of the Kurdish and Iraqi peoples. Kurdish reaction has been uniformedly a  time-will-tell type attitude. However, in Barzani's meeting with President Bush, the president  referred to Northern Iraq as Kurdistan which many Kurds see as a small victory.
Even while the positive press from the Barzani meeting has pleased Kurds, there is still an alarming amount of mis-information about the situation(s) in Kurdistan. Recently the Washington Post was critisized for  publishing articles with an anti-Kurd bias. Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes posted a letter that he wrote to  a University professor who had published an article on a University webpage that was unfair in its protrayal of the Kurds, accusing them of having a “visceral hatred” for Arabs. Other items in the news that Kurdish supporters have been trying to illustrate the misinformation within are: a Russian researcher stating that there is no oppression of Kurds in Syria,  and elaborating on further unrest in Iranian Kurdistan; which have been provided to us from Vladimir of From Holland to Kurdistan. Also there has been some statements made recently from the Arab League that  they have never understood Kurdish aspirations of sovereignty, which to those that follow not only the politics of the Arab League but also of the Kurdish peoples comes as no surprise.
Despite the political concerns of the Kurdish peoples that have graced the headlines recently, nothing is more moving than the stories that come from the Kurds themselves. Piling of the Kurdistan Bloggers Union recently posted a personal account of displaced Kurds within Turkey.
“This husband of mine who doesn’t speak anymore was arrested and tortured several times. I don’t know what the charges were. There is always something. Soon after his last arrest, the soldiers came to the village. They brought us all together in the village yard. They asked whether we would finally agree to become guards. We said no. So they burnt down all our houses and forced us to leave. We went from village to village, from one kinsmen’s house to the other. No one took us for more than a couple of days. We came here. Look at the barren walls, the barren rooms. There is nothing. We have nothing. We are nothing. And my husband can’t speak, nor work, nor go out. Possibly, because of torture. “
Displacement of Kurds within Turkey is a serious problem and there is an estimated 4000 villages that have been destroyed within the last decade as part of the Turkish government's policy of “relocation”. Since the Kurds are displaced internally there is not an international law mechanism for institutions like the United Nations to intervene.
There has also been a new addition to the Kurdish blogs this week, a blog entitled Pearls of Iraq, which is written by a woman named Miriam who is working on various non-profit infrastructure programs in the Northern Iraq/Southern Kurdistan region. This blog will be an interesting one to follow in the coming months.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Uganda: Kiva · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Timbuktu Chronicles reports on a microcredit scheme run by an organisation called Kiva.  The scheme empowers individuals to make charitable, microfinance loans to rural entrepeneurs.  Currently the scheme is only in Uganda


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Venezuela: Satellites, iron pills, real poverty statistics, death to Bush, and please, pass me some Venezuelan made valium · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Daniel has a hodgepodge of reflections and news from Venezuela.


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Vietnam: Saigon Miracle · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Both No Star Where and The Rice Bowl get caught up in the miraculous sight sweeping Saigon: the statue of the Virgin Mary in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral is apparently crying.


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Zimbabwe: refusal of aid · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mugabe Makaipa reports that UN Secretary, Kofi Annan is “concerned over Mugabe's refusal to accept aid. “Annan made a “strong appeal to the government of Zimbabwe to ensure that those who are out in the open, without shelter and without means of sustaining their livelihoods, are provided with humanitarian assistance in collaboration with the United Nations” and other aid agencies.”


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· Global Voices
Beth Kanter

author: Beth Kanter


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Algeria: Breaking the Fast During Ramadan is a Crime · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Algerian blogger Nouri bin Khalid wonders, “I thought Algeria was supposed to be “secular”? Four men were sent to prison for breaking the fast during Ramadan in a resturaunt! “Public contempt of religion” is the crime. Had these people been eating outdoors, then there would have been public contempt, but that was not the case,” the lawyer said. Other clients eating in the same restaurant at the same time were not arrested, the lawyer added.”


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Argentina: First Thoughts, Mar del Plata · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Nadine Farid describes the scene in Mar del Plata as the sea resort town gets ready for the fourth Summit of the Americas.


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Armenia: Constitutional Referendum · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia discusses what just might end up being the most farcical referendum in the South Caucasus.


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Azerbaijan: Azeris Vote · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Registan.net has background, resources, and public opinion data on Azerbaijan's parliamentary election.


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Azerbaijan: Blogrel in Baku · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Katy of Blogrel is going to Baku this weekend and will be posting photos and reports about this weekend's parliamentary election.


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Bahrain: Corruption · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

SillyBahrainiGirl asks: “Isn't it reassuring to know that ministries and government agencies in Bahrain are corrupt?“


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Bahrain: Ramadan Alcohol Ban · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Bahrain's top hotels are being penalised from today for defying the Ramadan alcohol ban. Mahmood wonders: “we have plenty of personal freedoms in Bahrain. We also welcome tourists. What happened to “no compulsion in religion” and what happened to the individual's right to choose?“


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Bangladesh: Beyond the Censors · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A movie made about an important communist leader Ila Mitra who fought against the British Rule in India hasn't managed to get past the censors in Bangladesh.


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Bangladesh: Celebrating Eid · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan wishes his readers a Happy Eid and has a wonderful description of Eid Celebrations in Bangladesh.


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Cambodia: Genocide in Song · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

The Khmer Rouge in a song? Jinja of webbed feet, web log touches on the free use of the Cambodian genocide in Western popular culture in a post about Western music and Cambodia.


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Cambodia: Young Writer’s Life · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

ThaRum talks to a struggling young Cambodian writer.


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Chad: Republican Guard · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Black Star Journal wonders about the future of Chad's  President Idriss Déby regime since he recently dissolved the Republican Guard following a wave of desertions.  Apparently the deserters have now regrouped near the border with Darfur – a worrying development.


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China: Chinese Intellectuals · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Chinese journalist Zhao Jing (Michael Anti) announces that he will begin posting English translations of Chinese intellectuals’ writings on his English blog.


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China, Japan: After Yasukuni · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

At Angry Chinese Blogger, a thoughtful discussion, in light of news that Japan is finally considering an internationally acceptable war memorial to replace the war-criminal infested Yasukuni Shrine, about the choices facing both Japan and China.


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China, Taiwan: Madame Soong’s Alleged Affair · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

China Matters discusses the alleged affair between Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and U.S. politician Wendell Willkie. His conclusion: it happened.


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China: U.S. Internet Firms Struggling on the Mainland · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Imagethief explains why U.S. internet firms are doing so poorly in China.


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Chinese blog shut down just days after being nominated for free expression contest · Global Voices
Julien Pain

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the censorship of pro-democracy writer Wang Yi’s blog, which was closed down just days after it was nominated for the “freedom of expression” category in a blog contest being organised by the German public radio station Deutsche Welle.
The company that hosts the Tianya website closed the blog down on the orders of the Internet surveillance bureau in Hai Nan province (southwest of Guangzhou). When Internet users now try to access the blog, they see an error message saying it is “no longer accessible.”
A teacher at Chengdu university in the southwestern province of Sichuan and member of the international writers’ association PEN, Wang initially created the site to make all his writings available in one place. He gradually turned it into a blog dealing with sensitive subjects. One of his last articles was about a campaign by peasants in Guangdong province to remove a village chief accused of corruption.
The authorities had been trying for six months to block access to the blog. “As soon as I find a way to get round their filtering system, the local police use a new technique to censor my blog,” Wang said. He added that he was “very annoyed” with the Tianya company and the Hai Nan authorities for getting his blog shut down.

author: Julien Pain


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Egyptian Blogger taken in Detention · Global Voices
Karim Elsahy

Manal and Alaa's blog writes:
Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman is a 21 year-old Egyptian student of law at the Azhar University, Damanhour Campus, a women's-rights activist and a correspondent for Copts United.
In addition to writing at Civic Dialogue, he also publishes at a blog he maintains.
On Wednesday 26 October 2005, Egyptian State Security took Abdolkarim from his home, and confiscated hard copies of his writings. He is now on his way to an unknown detention. Three Egyptian bloggers visited Abdolkarim's family. The family attributed the state security raid to his writings, although it was not clear if his blogging is directly related. According to his brother, Abdolkarim's relations with Islamist Fundamentalists in his neighborhood of Moharram Bek, Alexandria, are tense. It is possible that the fundamentalists have filed a security complaint that led to his detention.
More: Committee to Protect Bloggers, Egyptian Blogs, and http://technorati.com/tag/abdolkarim
Update: According to Alaa, both digressing and MalcomeX(Arabic) visited Abdel Karims family to help but Baheyya reports (and Alaa confirms) that he may be in for a tough ride as he was very outspoken against Islam (Arabic).
Update: Abdolkarim emailed another blogger (http://endehash.manalaa.net) telling him how he doesn't fear getting his name published in a survey, as he beleives that the sensitive posts about religion he writes about should not be behind red lines. He also said that he fears the consequences and that he was once attacked by some thugs hired who attemted to beat him.
http://endehash.manalaa.net/kareem [via: Mostafa]

author: Karim Elsahy


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Eid Around the World · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Today was the first day of Eid Al Fitr around most of the Muslim countries and communities around the world. According to the Hijri calendar, this day marks the end of Ramadan and breaking the fast, which is what the word Fitr means.
However, while that is shared between all Muslims, Eid Al Fitr means a lot more than just breaking fast or ending a period and starting a new month. Each Muslim country and Muslim community has some special and remarkable events and acts that they practice during this day as a marks that makes it special for all Muslims to look forward for next year's Eid to celebrate it again.
Having said all that, some of our Global Voices authors would like to share with you, how Eid is celebrated in their countries. Here is some excerpts from what authors of Palestine, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Egypt and Jordan, like to share:
In Palestine – Palestinians manage to have the Eid spirit, just as much as occupation allows them to. On Eid you still can see joy in the eyes of children. It is important to create a celebration for kids in Eid.
In Tunisia – The closer family then gets together over lunch or dinner at the family house, or the eldest member’s house. The meal in the Tunis area is in most cases either “Mloukhia” or “Madfoona”.
In Bangladesh – It is customary to take blessings from the elderly who in return give monetary tips (Eidi). Specially the children are more kin to collect all the tips they can accumulate and have some money to celebrate on their own, like going to theatre in bunch or having a party.
In Egypt – You wake up early, go pray a special prayer with family and friends. Up until this stage, as well as the customary follow up breakfast, most Egyptians act cohesively. Divergence starts right after.
In Jordan – Eid, to the millions of people that live in the Fertile Crescent, is the sweet smell of freshly baked date-cakes called ‘Ma’mool’, the excitement of the crisp new clothes waiting to be worn, and the aroma of Arabic coffee hovering around the house.
Read more details per country
Palestine:
by Shaden Abdul Rahman
Eid Al Fitr is celebrated on the first of Shawwal, the tenth month in Muslim calendar. It marks the end of Ramadan, during which they have fasted. Ramadan is a holy month because it is the month in which the Holy Qura'an was revealed. Eid has an important aspect, that is charity which Muslims are expected to extend to the needy.
In the past years Palestinians spent Eid either mourning a son killed by the Israeli troops or showing solidarity with another family mourning a lost family member. This state of public mourning often leaves no room for Eid as every family grieves over a loved one.  Palestinians live in poverty, the majority of them are unable to buy their kids new clothes, toys and gifts. From daily house demolitions to arrests and killing, one would think Palestinians are unable to celebrate Eid, in a way or another, this is true.
Nevertheless, Palestinians manage to have the Eid spirit, just as much as occupation allows them to.  On Eid you still can see joy in the eyes of children. It is important to create a celebration for kids in Eid.
In Eid people visit each other and these visits always include coffee and special baked sweets filled with dates and nuts. Usually when someone dies people just offer Qahwah (coffee), if the person who died is considered as a martyr they will offer  sweets.
First thing in the morning people especially kids put on their nicest clothes and attend a Eid prayer followed by a sermon. After that prayer, hand-shakes, kisses and hugs peppers the joyful greetings of “kul 3am wa in intum bekheir” (may you enjoy a good health this year and every year). Women who spent the night making baked sweets bring some with them to the mosque and share with the community. After the prayer everyone heads to the cemetry to visit the graves of departed relatives. Woman hands out sweets while men recite Al Fatiha (the opening verse from Qura'an) on the souls of those who died during the conflict with Israel, sweets giving at the cemetry is called “rahmeh“. Muslims also distribute alms and food to the poor.
After visiting the cemetry, men visit their female relatives, bringing gifts of money and lingering there to drink coffee or tea and eat more sweets before moving on to the next house. Towns and villages become alive with people going from one house to the next, sharing greetings as they pass one another in the streets and each house invites the passers to come in and have something to eat or drink. Midday meal is a remarkable one during Eid Al Fitr, it usually consists of stuffed lamb (at least for those who still can afford it), or masnaf lamb (lamb meat cooked with yoghurt) or any other combination of meat and rice.
Home made Ka'ek (baked sweets stuffed only with dates, left side of photo) wa Ma'amool (baked sweets stuffed either with dates or nuts, right side of photo). By Sabbah
Home made Ma'amool. By Sabbah
As for kids, the best part of Eid is receiving presents and small coins. They run to the shops to buy balloons, toy pistols, candy and sparklers. It is normal to see male kids wandering the streets with so much joy in their eyes holding their toy pistols,  to them this is the only way they can face their fear and express the bitter feeling of injustice that torture them everyday. Their psychology is the product of living under occupation.
Scouts would start collecting charity after visiting the cemetries and placing flowers on graves. Fireworks play all day and night especially in the first day of Eid and lots of simple small fun places with lots of games are installed in the empty areas everywhere.
This Eid is the first for those who live in Gaza strip. During the past few days Gaza witnessed Israeli air raids that killed 13 Palestinians some of them were children, the latest air strike was on the first of this month (Novemebr), two Palestinians were killed just one day before Eid. Palestinian authorities said there will be no official celebration of Eid this year either due to the difficult circumstances Palestinians live in the light of the Israeli occupation.
Last year and every year under the occupation the majority of Muslims are prohibited from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli soldiers. It's pretty much like what happens when Muslim Palestinians decide to pray the Friday prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Often Israeli authorities will announce that access to Al-Aqsa mosque will be granted to Palestinians from the West Bank. What happens is that elderly male and female Palestinians endure so much pain trying to fulfil this religious duty in Jerusalem. After heated arguments with soldeirs at the check-points telling them to go back to their homes, they decide to pray at the check-point.
In Eid, people seizes the chance for new beginings and fresh starts in relations.
May the next Eid we celebrate be in freedom and peace.
Tunisia:
by Mohamed Marwen Meddah
Eid El-Fitr is also called the small Eid in Tunisia, the big one being Eid El Adha.
Many traditions and practices are associated with this Eid in Tunisia, which I think is one of the most beautiful days of the year.
In the days before the Eid, all the fuss is about getting different varieties of traditional sweets, that will be served to the guests, and buying new clothes for the whole family to wear and celebrate the Eid in.
In the morning of the Eid, the Eid prayers are held in mosques all over the country, which are an amazing experience that starts with lots of supplications and chanting, that can be heard throughout the neighbourhoods, and is then followed by a sermon and prayers.
Before the Eid prayer begins Zakat al Fitr, a little charity, is distributed by every household depending on the number of it's family members.
After that, the men and kids of the family, all dressed up in their new clothes, go out and start visiting and wishing a happy eid to members of the extended family tree and friends, making it a great chance to reconnect and reunite with the family and friends.
The only downside is that they get served sweets at every house and they have to take some, which means that they end up stuffed with sweets at the end of the day.
As for the women, they stay at home to receive the guests; the men and kids of other relatives.
The closer family then gets together over lunch or dinner at the family house, or the eldest member's house. The meal in the Tunis area is in most cases either “Mloukhia” or “Madfoona”.
Children love this day because they are given gifts and money by their parents and the close family members they visit.
I personally love how this Eid brings families together and reunites them. I hope we had more days like it in the year.
Bangladesh:
by Rezwan
In Bangladesh, Eid means sharing happiness with the family, giving new clothes of all colors to all dependent members of the family and wearing them on this day. On this day special foods are prepared, the preparation of which may start several days before. The items include Semai(vermicelli), Doi Bara, Chotpoti, Biriani, Firni, Sweets and many more. This day there is an open invitation to everybody. In the morning people perform the obligatory Eid prayer mostly in mosques. There are special grounds prepared for praying en-masse and there may be a crowd of well over 100,000 in one congregation in some places.
People visit family members, neighbors and acquaintances’ houses and everybody is welcomed with food and blessings. Even the non-Muslims are welcome and included in the celebration. People embrace one another  (for the male) irrespective of status or age.  They also visit the graves of the relatives and pious Muslims. It is a religious obligation on the day to pay fitra ( a dole) to the needy at a fixed rate as a thanks giving. People also pay clothes and money as zakaat to poor so that the poor, too, may enjoy the day along with others, and may not be worried for earning their livelihood at least on the day of happiness.
It is customary to take blessings from the elderly who in return give monetary tips (Eidi).   Specially the children are more kin to collect all the tips they can accumulate and have some money to celebrate on their own, like going to theatre in bunch or having a party. The visits go on for a couple of more days till the Eid vacation is over. Some people go visit cemeteries to remember and pray for their loved ones.
Eid fairs and sports competitions are organized at many rural places. These fairs have merry-go-rounds, puppet shows, spiritual concerts and bioscopes and many handicrafts are sold. Boat race, kabadi, football and even cricket matches are organized which draw a lot of crowd. The Eid holidays last from minimum three days up to a week making all these possible.
The remarkable thing in celebrating Eid in Bangladesh is the family bonds. No matter how far one is from the family for the whole year, he/she will go back to the ancestral home and celebrate Eid with kith and kins.  E.g. Dhaka, being a mega city has a population well over 11 million. Almost 40%-50% of the population goes to their village/small town home causing a great rush in traffic (and some accidents) just before and after the Eid holidays.  But this pain is part of the happiness of celebrating together.
Egypt:
by Karim Elsahy
A typical Eid morning in Egypt goes accordingly. You wake up early, usually disgruntled, and go pray a special prayer, in my opinion the most beautiful Muslim prayer there is, and quickly overcome your discontent about waking up so early (well it is right after dusk!). This is always done with family and friends. Up until this stage, as well as the customary follow up breakfast, most Egyptians act cohesively. Divergence starts right after. The portion of the younger generation that can escape the family obligations tend to migrate towards the nearest body of water (typically the Red Sea) while those that cant escape, or those with better moral fiber according to some, spend at least the first day playing musical chairs between families houses. I’ve done both growing up and they both felt really good, in their own way ;)
The most entertaining thing to see are the college kids that start drinking immediately; drunk by 9am. After a month of prohibition what do you expect?
All in all, there is a general “happy” mood and most Egyptians can agree on one thing at this point… Thank GOD it’s over!
Jordan:
by Roba Al Assi
It's quite fascinating how culture and tradition choose to highlight a given criteria in whichever way they deem appropriate. It's as if they add the finishing touches- the red purse that makes the white dress stunning and the blue icing over the cake.
In the case of Eid, a Mulim holiday celebrated bi-annually by over a billion Muslims, the diversity in the finishing touches is amusing, especially as only 18% of Muslims live in the Arab world.
Having spent my childhood in a very globalized community, I have come to realize that these finishing touches are an essential part of my identity- in this case, a Levantine Arab, as the Levant shares the same finishing touches when it comes to such wide-scale celebrations.
Eid, to the millions of people that live in the Fertile Crescent, is the sweet smell of freshly baked date-cakes called ‘Ma'mool’, the excitement of the crisp new clothes waiting to be worn, and the aroma of Arabic coffee hovering around the house.
The Eid routine consists of spending the 3 days visiting family and friends, refered to as ‘Aa-yed’-ing, and being visited by them in return, each visit usually consisting of around 20 minutes. The first day is dedicated to the “family elders”, as well as a huge feast with the entire “tribe”.  The 2 following days are dedicated to friends, loved ones, and fun family activities.
Anyone who has been to an Arab household will be aware of an Arab's need to provide tip-top hospitality, and Eid provides the perfect excuse to pamper the hoards of guests coming to ‘Aa-yed’.
For what is probably centuries, the women of the family start to gather to mass produce gigantic amounts of ‘Ma'mool’ during the week before Eid. The dates are transformed into a sweet paste, the dough is prepared into cakes that is satiated with the paste, and then each cake it is carefully stamped with pretty patterns and powdered sugar. The ‘Ma'mool’ is then wrapped and presented to each family that comes to ‘Aa-yed’. One cannot underestimate the importance of ‘Ma'mool’, for it turns into a criterion that measure the hospitality of each family.
The other two major components of what is served during Eid is Arabic coffee and chocolate, the latter being usually passed out as the visiting family is leaving.
In the Levant, Eid is also the season for shopping. Naturally, with all the visiting being done, people need to dress up to look specially fresh, so they usually buy new clothes or set apart special clothes for Eid. Children are given money and gifts, referred to as ‘Aydeyeh’, by close relatives, and there are special charities that pass out simple gifts to children in families that cannot afford to do so.
May everyone have a blessed Eid, full of loved ones, laughter, and ‘Ma'moul’.


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Ethiopia: Audio report on violence · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Red Mosquito (in French) also has a audio report from Addis Ababa.


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Ethiopia: Violence continues · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

My Heart's in Accra reports on the ongoing violence in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.  News reports are now saying that 27 people have been killed by the police however Nazret.com, an Ethiopian news portal puts the figure at  100 plus.


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Ghana: Missing Africans · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ramblings of an African Geek wonders why African characters and references to Africa are missing from Science Fiction novels.  “So, by virtue of both the shade of my skin and where I was born I am virtually invisible to the perceived SF mainstream, which is overwhelmingly white, hetero, male and only interested in stories by and about other white hetero males. I suppose two out of three isn't bad.”


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India: Blast and after · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Death Ends Fun reflects on the recent blasts in Delhi, and why certain terrorists attacks seem to have been ignored. The post has provoked a lot of comments and responses.


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India: Funding Pakistani Jihadi Groups · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In response to the comments on his post “India funding Pakistani Jihadi groups“, Atanu Dey has a post that outlines concerns over India giving aid to Pakistan.


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India: Linux and IT.Com99 · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Atul Chitnis remembers Sanjoy Das Gupta – a man who greatly helped the Linux Community to put up a pavillion at IT.COM 99, which pushed into limelight the work of the Linux Community in Bangalore


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Iran: Ahmadinejad on Palestinian TV · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Rooznamenegar No ( which means New Journalist in Persian) says that Palestinian official TV was really indifferent to Ahmadinejad's anti Israel speech. He says Palestinian TV just reported comments from all over the world about Ahmadinejad's speech.


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Iran: National Interest · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Hanif Mazroi, Iran based journalist, says one of the most essential principles in a country's Foriegn Policy is preserving national interest. He adds, “now look at conservatives in power in Iran. One thing that they don't care is national interest.“(Persian)


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Iraq: Definitions · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Know the definition of Terrorism, Fascism, Dictator, Liberate, Politic, Crusade, Impose and Order? LadyBird sheds some light.


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Kiswahili blogosphere this week · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mwandani reports about the Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index (2005).  While Tanzania comes 75th, African countries such as Benin, Namibia, Mauritius, and Mali are ahead of the US (44th), which fell more than 20 places this year.
Who are the Waswahilis? Does one become a Swahili by birth, geography, or by mastering the language? Trying to answer this question, Mwandani tells us, is a new Swahili institute in Mombasa, Kenya.  The Research Institute of Swahili Studies in Eastern Africa is a joint venture between the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the National Museum of Kenya
Damija announces the results of Zanzibar presidential election where the ruling party’s candidate, Amani Abeid Karume, was re-elected.  As it happened in the 2000 election, the main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), has refused to recognize the new government citing election irregularities.  CUF presidential candidate, Seif Hamad, has promised to carry out Ukraine-style public protests.
Miruko, reflecting on the election results, says that despite losing the race, CUF has shown to be a major political force in Zanzibar and that their fight to ensure free and fair election has reduced the level of election irregularities.
Martha does not understand why the Union general election in Tanzania has been postponed.  The general election, which had been scheduled for October 30 has been postponed to December 14 following the death of Chadema vice presidential candidate Jumbe Rajabu Jumbe on October 26.  She wonders  what will happen if another candidate passes away.  She informs us that The presidential candidate for Tanzania Labour Party is very sick.
Gaphiz, who is good at finding interesting websites, points his readers to a new website, Tanzania Government Notice Board, which is set to ensure that the government operates  in an environment of transparency and accountability.
Harakati has sparked an intense debate about whether music by young people in Tanzania, commonly known as “Bongo Flava,” will ever be accepted globally.  His main argument was that unless these young artists stop copying from American musicians, they will never succeed outside of Tanzania and neighboring countries.  Commenting on his post, one reader from Finland explains why he thinks “Bongo Flava” is not goof music. He writes: There are three main pillars of music:  rhythm, melody, and harmony (and sometimes lyrics).      Bongo Flava is built only on rhythm and lyrics. And the rhythms are poorly created on keyboards…
I hope some of the artists in Tanzania will join in the conversation.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Medical School Muse at BlogMatrix · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Paul Gardenghi podcasts about customer service in Grenada.


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Mexico: Photographing Wilma’s Destruction · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Divester links to a series of pictures documenting hurricane Wilma's destruction of Mexico's resort island, Cozumel.


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Nigeria: Open Source Software in Africa · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Black Looks has an overview of the state of Open Source software in Africa, with a focus on localization of software into African languages.

author: Ethan Zuckerman


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Nigerians: hypocritics! · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigerian Times claims Nigerians are not the “happiest people in the world” as reported by Jangbalajugbu-Homeland Stories On the contrary they are ” are the most hypocritical people in the world who are very good in the Fine Arts of Pretension, Seduction, Self-Gratification and Temptation.”


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Pakistan: Owning the net · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shirazi asks a crucial question on the ownership of the internet, and gives background to the World Summit on the Information Society in November 2005.


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Panama: The Most Globalized Country in Latin America? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jorge Arango is surprised that Latin Business Chronicle named Panama “the most globalized country in Latin America.”


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Poland: Al Qaeda in Poland · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Both the beatroot and Warsaw Station comment on reports that Poland is hosting a secret CIA detention facility for Al-Qaeda suspects.


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Russia: Cheating Students · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Konstantin looks at why Russian students cheat.


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Saint Kitts: Interview with PM Douglas · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Caribbean World Radio has an audio interview with St. Kitts Prime Minister, Dr. Denzil Douglas which can be downloaded in three mp3 files.


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South Africa: Redistribution of land · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mzansi Afrika writes an open letter to South African minister Didiza concerning the post-apartheid  redistribution of agricultural land after learning that “communal farming projects at some seventy or so farms bought by the Limpopo government for R100 million under a Land Acquisition Grant Programme have collapsed due to lack of skills and funds. She would like to know why the “government  goes to all the trouble and expense of putting people back on the land, but fails to provide the crucial, basic element of training, skills transfer and funding to see these projects through to viability?”


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The Riots in Addis: Bloggers and Citizen Journalists report · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Addis Ababa has been gripped by violence the past three days as heavily armed police and troops have responded to rock-throwing protesters with gunfire. Over thirty deaths have been reported. Bloggers and citizen journalists have been keeping the world posted on events within Addis and their larger importance.
The protests concern May's parliamentary polls, which opposition supporters assert were rigged by Meles Zenawi's ruling party. On Monday, a group of taxi drivers were arrested and stripped of their taxi licenses after protesting the polls. This, combined with the detention of top opposition officials on charges of treason, has apparently inspired street protests by supporters of the CUD (the leading opposition party.) Police and military reaction to these protests was swift and violent – doctors at Black Lion Hospital report that most victims were shot in the chest, and eyewitnesses accuse police and troops of firing indiscriminately.
Nazret, an aggregator of news and blogs from Ethiopia, has opened a special section for eyewitness reports from Addis – they're checking IP addresses to confirm that posts are coming from computers in Ethiopia. Some excerpts from the Nazret reports:
Mimi writes:
I was shopping in Merckato with my friend, all of a sudden I heard people screaming and runing around me. I was in a state of panic for a while and my friend started to pull me towards her. Then we started running as fast as we can with live bullets fling past us, with the confusion I lost my friend. Now I don't know where she is, all I can do is pray for her and every one in Ethiopia. This government is refusing to give us our freedom, they shot us like mad dogs, I am in tears as I wright this. GOD help us and pray for us
Massa suggests that the weapons being used are heavy ones, not semi-automatic rifles (Kalashnikovs):
My dear freinds I couldn't identify what king of weapons are shoooting at Ferensay legasion but I'm shure it is not clashinkove. the voice of the weapon is very heavy. I have seen dead bodies at long distance but the soldiers wouldn't allow to get close to the fighting place…
Netsanet offers this report shortly after noon yesterday in Addis:
The Situation in Addis is as follows: 1. No News papers At all 2. Every young group is arrested 3.Gun fires heard everywhehere in Addis to shot people coming out to streets demanding the release of innocent political leaders 4.Most shops are closed 5. Everybody asking the release of innocent political leaders 6. People are waiting instructions from CUD substitutes to take more actions Netsanet.
As the violence has continued, the comments thread turned to a debate between CUD and EPRD (the ruling party) supporters. But eyewitness reports continue to come in today.  “yasteseryal” reports:
The clash continued for a third day in Addis, around Mexico Area. It's only learned that they killed one person. As he (Victim) was trying not to get in to their car, one of the force shot him in his chest.
And yesterday midnight, forces were intruding homes. They took and throw to jail more than 2000 teenagers and early twenties guys from their home. In some part of the city, they just checked ‘Kebele’ ID-Card.
As today is Muslim's Eid Mubarak, the people seem to calm down not to disturb the Muslim community. However, the tense is getting higher and there is no transportation service nor any market opened.
Many of the most moving photos coming from Addis are shot by Andrew Heavens, a freelance photographer (currently shooting for Reuters), who regularly blogs at Meskel Square. It's understandable that he hasn't had time to write about the events of the past two days yet, though his blog will be one to watch as things cool down a bit. Nazret has posted a collection of photos of the protest, shot by Heavens and others in Addis. Andrew's Flickr photos give a good overview not just of the riots, but of life in Addis in general.
Un ferengi à Addis, a French-language blog subtitled “Le blog d'une expat ou la chronique déplaisante d'une dictature ordinaire” (“the blog of an expat, or the unpleasant journal of an ordinary dictatorship”) offers a great deal of context for the violence and opposition leaders’ arrests (all in French.) She returned this morning to Addis, and has a moving post about the aftermath of the violence:
Ce matin vers 8h30, toute trace du carnage était nettoyée. Enfin, la carcasse d'un bus carbonisé n'avait pas encore été enlevé de la ring road (le périph adissois) et deux voitures brûlaient encore. On pouvait deviner des traces d'incendie, de pneus brûlés çà et là, vagues vestiges d'une violence volatilisée.
Ce n'est qu'une impression bien sûr. Les taxis ne roulent pas, les boutiques sont fermées, les bérêts rouges armés jusqu'aux dents patrouillent et achèvent leur boulot de fossoyeur, quelques policiers fédéraux sont nonchalamment assis sur les pelouses de Bole Road, principale avenue d'Addis.
(Rough translation) As of 8:30 this morning, almost all traces of the carnage were removed. The shell of a burned bus had not been removed from the ring road and two cars still burned. One could see traces of fire, tires flaring here and there, vague vestiges of volitile violence.
It is only one impression, of course. The taxis do not run, the shops are closed, the red bérêts – armed to the teeth – patrol and do the job of gravedigger. Some federal police officers nonchalantly sat on the lawns of Bole Road, the principal avenue of Addis.
Sokari's earlier post on the riots has generated a number of comments, largely critical of the Meles government and international lack of interest in the events in Addis. Selam writes, “How the wes claim to have a democracy while waching inocent people gundown in Ethiopia and elseware. actualy the west, specialy the US and UK are the main supporter of tyrant, muderer meles chenawee. They shuld take equal responsibility for the inosent blood speeled in Addis Ababa and elswher in ethiopia.”


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Turkmenistan: Turkmen Disney · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

turkmenistan.neweurasia.net reports that despite great obstacles, modern Turkmen cinema culture is surviving.


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Zimbabwe: evicted rebuild homes · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwean blog, The Bearded Man, has four reports including  – the break up of MDC could aid Mugabe in creating a one party state; the evicted poor are slowly attempting to rebuild their homes. “So what if the people of Zimbabwe, displaced by Operation Murambatsvina are attempting to rebuild their lives in the same area? I don't see the government doing anything to help them… do you?”


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Zimbabwe: First lady indiscretions · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwean Pundit has a “light relief” report from Zimbabwe.  “Deposed first bodyguard accuses first lady of infidelity”.   The bodyguard, Winston Changara, claims he was removed to stop the President from finding out about his wife's affairs with other men.


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Argentina: Neverending Anti-Bush Posts · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Robert Wrighton and Jeff Barry have samples of anti-Bush posters and graffiti. Barry also reflects on a Maradona-led protest against Bush and its embrace of Castro. Doug, who lived in Mar del Plata where the summit is being held, doesn't know whether he should laugh or cry [ES]. Fernando Cassia shows off some humorous photoshopped postcards of Bush's visit to the seaside town. And, Yes, I Do Take it Personally shows Bush what he's in for.


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Bangladesh: East and the West · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Tazzy at Sunshine doesn't quite like the overwhelming generalizations made in West about Islamic customs. She defends Ramadan, and points out that people in Bangladesh have similar perceptions towards the customs in the West.


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Bolivia: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada Speaks and is Summoned · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Barrio Flores describes ex-president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada's speech in Washington D.C., where he was served with legal papers “by U.S. citizens acting on behalf of Bolivian human rights organizations.”


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Brazil: Gay Kiss Controversy Continued · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In the midst of a controversy over whether or not a kiss between two men would be aired on the popular Brazilian soap, America, Made in Brazil says MTV Brasil “jumped ahead and featured the first televised lesbian kiss.”


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Chad: Rebels grouping · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

On Wednesday Black Star Journal wondered about why   President Idriss Déby of Chad had decided to dissolve  his presidential guard and what this would lead to. .  Today, Coalition for Darfur reports that “the self-proclaimed head of a group of army deserters in Chad said on Thursday he had the military and political means to topple President Idriss Deby and said his men were ready to fight until the leader left power”


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Chile: New Citizen Journalism Site · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Leo Prieto describes the genesis [ES] of El Morrocotudo [ES], a participatory news site from Arica, Chile modeled after Bayosphere and OhmyNews.


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Chile, Peru: Avoiding the Escalation of Conflict · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeanette Jalil links to an article about a maritime border conflict between Chile and Peru while Fernando Flores has reposted Juan Arellano's excellent introduction to Peruvian blogs into Spanish as a way to encourage communication over conflict.


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China: Resident Classification Change · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

East Asia Watch discusses changes to China's half-century old hukou household registration system, which tagged urban migrants from the provinces as “rural residents” and denied them privileges available to those born in the cities.


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Colombia: “The Demobilization ‘Time Bomb’” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Plan Colombia and Beyond explains the significance of Hernando Cadavid's murder by “demobilized” ex-paramilitaries.


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Egypt: Day of Love · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Mark the 4th of November in your calendar as The Egyptian Day of Love. Zeinobia reminds Egyptians that when the Journalist, Mustafa Amin, wrote the idea in Akhbar Newspaper he didn't mean it for the lovers but for all the people, men and women, adults and children to love each other again as humans.


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Ethiopia: eyewitness reports · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

EthioIndex forum has eyewitness reports of brutality by the Ethiopian state forces


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Ethiopia: violence continues · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

More sickening violence in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa – EthioExodus “A homeless pregnant woman was running for shelter from flying bullets…literally dragging her may be 3yrs old boy as the unfortunate, who have nowhere to hide in, so week to keep up, fell behind and got hit by a machine gun fire from an armored vehicle so powerful that…the next minute… a hard to even describe scene of butchered woman…a separated fetus and a crying boy in bloodbath….”


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Harare Diary · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Harare Diary reports on the continued negative affects of Mugabe's Operation Murambatsvina.
“So many small income-generating activities remain brutally suppressed. Homes still lay broken. So-called “proper” housing promised by the government is nowhere in sight. And still these malicious politicians continue to hound poor people who are just trying to get by but who don’t happen to support the ruling party”


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India, Pakistan: A difficult Eid · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A very poignant and touching poem that explores the joys of Eid, and evokes images of the Earthquake victims for whom the Eid this year will be very hard and difficult at Caferati.


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Iraq: Arab Media · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Alaa shed some light on the situation of the Arab Media, who are playing an important and direct role, especially in influencing the peoples and events in the region including those most directly involved, namely in Iraq.


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Israel: Italian Rally · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Rebecca points to the Italians rally for Israel in response to the Iranian President's words. While on the same subject, umkalil wonders, perhaps they're celebrating the clinical death of thirteen year old Ismail Khatieb, shot through the head and heart by one of Israel's Occupation Forces?


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Jordan: Living Standards · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Khalaf believes that government should work to achieve the best achievable standards of living for the most number of people without significantly damaging the social and physical environment of the country.


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Justice for Abdolkarim · Global Voices
Mostafa Hussein

The events of the 21st of October did not end in complete peace. A new alarming, yet not directly related, development took place. This time shaking the Egyptian bloggosphere more strongly than ever, as it affected one of its own. For the first time an Egyptian blogger has been detained by security forces.
By Egyptian law, freedom of speech is not a right when it comes to blasphemy of religions. And this is what Abdolkarim did a day after the events of Alexandria. He wrote a very harsh post that attacked Islam, he also published his writing at Civic Dialogue. On his blog,  the post attracted many disapproving and angry comments.
The Azhar student has usually been very outspoken against Islam and this was not his first post with such opinions.
Yesterday, Malek, Mohammed and Haitham went to meet his family. Abdolkarim, has his photo, email, phone number and address publicly displayed on his blog.  They mention that his family appears to be nonchalant about what happened and are expecting him to be out in few days. Yet they are not exactly sure where he might be at the moment and are reluctant to take any action. His brother thinks that he might have been tipped off by one of the  local fundamentalists because of a post he wrote about one of their leaders and not because of the last post he made.
Abdolkarim, lives in the same neighborhood the violent riots of the 21st of October took place. He has troubled relations with some local Islamic fundamentals in his neighbourhood.  One of those fundamentals might have a hand in the riots. They printed out what he writes and distributed it to enrage people against him.
In an email sent on the day of his detainment he  wrote to Milad, in response to a survey about Egyptian bloggers that he doesn't mind his name being mentioned in it. He says that although what he writes is considered very sensitive by many. Freedom of expression is in jeopardy if religion is going to be considered a red line.  He says in the email that he was once attacked by some thugs as a reaction to what he writes and publishes. Almost everyone in the blogosphere do not support his opinions at all. Yet, a lot stand against his detention by security forces.
Malek says (Arabic) that such acts weaken the images of Islam. As a civilised debate would  reconstruct all his invalid opinions. Other believe in his right for a free trial. While some see that this is totally against freedom of speech. However, the comments of some anonymous posters and non-bloggers consider his detention a right thing and that the security forces did a good job. Accusing the bloggers who started the campaign, that they are trying to blindly copy Western democracy.
Ibn abdel aziz warns (Arabic) that the security forces might be dividing the blogosphere, when they take away someone outspoken against Islam, Muslims would cheer. If they detain a radical Muslim; secularists and Christians would cheer. One by one they would divide bloggers.
Baheyya wonders if:
“It remains to be seen whether he has been “preventively detained” for the usual 15-day chunks and whether he will be formally charged by State Security Prosecution. The first few days (sometimes weeks) of a detention are always the murkiest, with Amn al-Dawla deliberately keeping everyone in the dark to instill fear and confusion. The causes of Karim's detention thus remain entirely unclear. Did neighborhood toughs instigate the police to arrest him? Are security agents punishing Abdel Karim for his writings? Why did his family appear to be unconcerned with locating his whereabouts?”
Alaa warns that people detained by security forces face very little chance to be tried fairly, and that he might be tortured. Alaa also switched his Egyptian blogaggregator to aggregate posts  about Abdolkarim only.
Abdolkarim, regardless of his opinions, has the right for a fair trial.
The Commitee to Protect Bloggers is also following the news.
technorati: abdolkarim

author: Mostafa Hussein


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Kenya: Constituion debate · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan blogger, Mentalacrobatics wonders about the ongoing debate in the Kenyan blogosphere and beyond on the forthcoming referendum on Kenya's constitution. “With this referendum I get a sense of déjà vu. We've seen it all before. Two camps apparently at each others throats, a clear decision to make Yes or No, scandals in this camp, the papers misrepresenting that camp, tribal loyalty/stupidity, we are constantly told that he destiny of our country lies in our hands, to above all make sure we vote.”


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Latin America: Polling Without a Clue · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Anarchogeek explains his frustration with public opinion polls in Latin America, focusing on opinion polls of Evo Morales in Bolivia.


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Libya: Libyan Internet Journalist Sentenced to Prison · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

A Libyan court has sentenced, Abd al-Raziq al-Mansuri, an Internet journalist to one-and-a-half years in prison after he published articles critical of the government, Sabbah writes. The sentence is an apparent attempt by the government to silence free speech and dissenting views.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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London:  Top 5 hiphop · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigerian blogger in London, Obifromsouthlondon TGIF and asks “Who is your top five, dead or alive” hip-hop/rap (forgive me but whats the difference?) artists that is.  Accompanied by an “interesting” series of photos.


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Malaysia: Falling Grades · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

The University of Malaya's precipitous fall in the World University rankings has caused much comment in the Malaysian blogosphere, from Education Malaysia to opposition leader Lim Kit Siang's blog.


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Nepal: Lawyers to Nepal · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Legal News From Nepal has a post on The National Lawyers Guild (America) sending a fact-finding mission to Nepal.


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New development models · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan Pundit has some more links llustrating alternative ways to address poverty and development issues.


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SA: Jacob Zuma · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

South Africa reports that French arms company, Thales, maybe joining former deputy President, Jacob Zuma in the dock. “This is a potential setback for Zuma, as it will make evidence against him easier to place before the court. Given the diplomatic ramifications, it also underscores the Scorpions’ determination to bring the strongest possible case against him”.


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Selections from the Caribbean blogosphere · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Divali in Trinidad” by Taran Rampersad
A few selections from this week's conversation in the Anglophone Caribbean blogosphere:
Bahamas
Expat Wolfgang has his tongue firmly in his cheek when he declares that his is not a Bahamian blog. The bloggers at Bahama Pundit have plenty to say this week, with Larry Smith reviewing a book on pre-Columbian languages and offering a useful overview of the Bahamian blogsphere, Sir Arthur Foulkes reminding Bahamanians not to be complacent about civil rights and Nicolette Bethel   calling for a different approach to tourism. And Lynn Sweeting finds problematic the absence of women's rights from the current discussions around national heroes.
Barbados
Two reactions to the October 26 march staged in Barbados by the group Lifeline Expedition, in which descendants of slave owners donned chains in an effort to apologize for slavery: Jdid calls the event  “a travesty, a mockery, a despicable imitation which trivializes a serious part of our history” while Titilayo  is relieved it's all over and happy that Barbados is continuing to forge alliances with African nations.
Belize
Andy Hunt reports on the progress of the Belize Jungle Dome project..
Bermuda
The Limey wonders whether the creation of a National Drugs Control Ministry is a good idea, and suggests that hunting–of realtors!–would be a useful addition to the island's tourism offerings. And an “Open Mike” post about the national cricket team's removal from field during the recent tour of Namibia sparks a stream of lively comments.
Cayman Islands
Odd Blog talks about “light pollution” in the Cayman Islands.
Dominica
Billy posts a short report on the 27th anniversary independence celebrations in Dominica.
Grenada
YingYang engages in some eye-rolling at the notion that the region's banana growers are surprised that the recent WTO ruling didn't go in their favour.
Guyana
Voice of Guyana Radio reveals on its blog that during the month of October, listeners from 52 countries tuned in. Guyana-Gyal writes a song about being addicted to blogging and uses the local vernacular to talk about the two religious holidays–Diwali and Eid-Ul-Fitr–celebrated in Guyana this week and their significance.
Haiti
Spanish-language blogger Baturrico presents a recipe for the traditional Haitian dish, soup joumou.
Jamaica
Dancehall Blog highlights an article in the Jamaica Times which says that Rastafarians are still discriminated against in Jamaica, particularly in the corporate sector, and reminds us that there was lewdness in music before the arrival of modern dancehall. Michelle McDonald is outraged at the shooting in Kingston of two young priests who worked with the poor and people with HIV/AIDS. Missie at Jamaica Culture & People tells us how to fry plantains and offers a photo of a traditional thatch-roofed hut along with a short commentary. In an October 31 post, Stunner summarises some of the unfortunate events which took place over the space of a 24-hour period in Jamaica.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Abeni reports on the current election campaign, noting the use of catchy theme songs and the recruiting of local and regional performers by both parties.
Trinidad & Tobago
Nicholas Laughlin continues his analysis of the response to the October 14 “Death March” by asking “What's wrong with being middle class?”–a question which is also of interest to Jonathan Ali, though first he'd like the term “middle-class” defined. Taran Rampersad muses on the value of sharing photographs. Richard Bolai posts a few photos of Diwali lights in Trinidad. CaribPundit's weekly “Trawling the Islands” post highlights Antigua's forging of closer ties with Cameroon, St. Kitts's expectations of of MTV's Caribbean channel,  corporal punishment in Bermuda, the Grenada prime minister's trip to Libya, the increase in price of airfare between Trinidad and Tobago and more. Free Trinidad is disappointed with the new political leader of the country's main oppostion party . Hassan Voyeau notes the arrival of the Islamic Broadcast Network on the Trinidad and Tobago airwaves. Richard Jobity applauds the BBC's continuing experiments with podcasting  and rants about Trinidad and Tobago's failure to prepare for the end of the natural gas boom, signaling Dominica and St. Lucia as good examples to follow, and posts today about the brewing dispute between two telecoms companies.
Podcasts
Caribbean Free Radio launched its sister vidcast, Caribbean Free Video.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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South Korea: Hog Heaven · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Gusts of Popular Feeling chronicles the occasional invasion of Seoul by wild boar.


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South Korea, Taiwan: Arms and the Man · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

“Will I need to buy a gun when I get to the United States?” The Asia Pages tries to assuage the fears of Korean students headed for American universities.  Meanwhile, a Taiwanese gun dealer likens the U.S. to a firearms “candy shop.”


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Sri Lanka: Rumble in the ranks · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on the conflict situation in Eastern Sri Lanka – given the that the LTTE, which has been battling against a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers called the TMVP (Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal) for the last year and half.


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Sri Lanka: Sarvodaya launches US Website · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka lauches a new website in the US.  Sarvodaya is one of the largest and most established NGOs in Sri Lanka and is involved in the Tsunami Relief Operations.


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Thailand: Between the Lines · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Tom Vanvanij picks apart the Bangkok Post‘s coverage of recent elections results which saw the opposition pick up a few seats in the Thai parliament.


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The Nigerian blogosphere this week · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Gbenga Sesan and Edward of  Jangbalajugbu Homeland Stores had a car accident on their way to Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy in Ile-Ife from Lagos. The car went off the road and somersaulted a few times so I think they are lucky to be walking or even alive for that matter – so glad you are all safe.
Timbuktu Chronicles praises the work of Bunker Roy who established the Barefoot College in 1972 with the “conviction that solutions to rural problems lie within the community”.  Bunker Roy's presentation at the recent Pop!Tech conference in the US
reinforced one's faith in the power of the individual, as Mahatma Ghandi himself
said “You must be the change you want to see in the world”
Musings of a Naijaman remembers missing Nigerian student, Olamide Adeyooye who sadly was found murdered in Mississippi.
Her friends had mounted a massive internet awareness raising effort to help find her, especially in the face of the alleged US media obsession with "blonde and blue eyed victims" and it's really sad it ended this way……….Of all the messages people posted on various sites I really liked this one-No one can hurt her now!
Chippla's Weblog suggests that rather than spend huge sums of money developing anti-malarial drugs funds should be used to find ways of "eliminating the female anopheles mosquito which happens to carry the microorganism that causes malaria.  One solution would be to return to the use of DDT(Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) which was banned in some countries  in the 1970s as an "organic pollutant".  He suggests that
“The potential dangers of DDT to the environment need to be weighed against the catastrophic problems which result from malaria”
Africa Unchained reports on a new film, The Bitter Aftertaste, that denounces  fair trade.   The filmmakers, WorldWrite,  hope it will
“challenge the belief that fair trade is a panacea for poverty in the developing world. It claims that western consumers have been duped into thinking that fair trade is an effective poverty-alleviation tool, when in fact it does nothing to address the root causes of poverty.”
Naijablog and Nigerian Times both remind us that the 10th of November marks the 10th anniversary of the extra-judicial execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni eight.

author: Sokari Ekine


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The Poetic Side of the Cambodian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Beth Kanter

Poem  in Cambodian language by Seserak
Several Cambodian bloggers have been sharing their poetry online.   The poem above, entitled Autumn in English, is by Seserak, a Cambodian college student studying in Japan and probably experiencing quite a different fall than in his homeland.    The poem is translated into English in the comments.
Tharum posted a poem entitled, Life Reading and is about the importance of reading.    Tharum's poem was inspired by a gift of a poetry book from another Cambodian blogger, Jinja who blogs about the local arts and literary scene.
KhmerOverseas ,  a Cambodian living in Texas, often writes about the poetry he is reading by Cambodian poets, some published in online journals.  His packing list for his next trip back to Cambodia, includes requests for poetry books from friends and relatives.
Those who aren't writing poems or about poems on their blogs can certainly find a wide variety of Cambodian poetry readings offline,  including Swedish/Cambodian poetry.


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The Upcoming Chinese Blogger Conference · Global Voices
Frank Dai

The Chinese Blogger Conference would be held from Nov.5 to 6. Chinese Bloggers are very enthusiastic at the first-ever meeting with their online friends. Many of them are already in Shanghai, where the conference located. They would discuss a wide range of issues such as Blog, Podcast and RSS etc. Also our director of GVO, Rebecca MacKinnon would be also on this occasion, moderating a panel called “Blogging Across Borders ”.
Yining had some photos and a post about a pre-meeting of some bloggers who had just arrived Shanghai. Aether had some photos of the conference building maps of the location.
For people who are interested in Chinese Blogosphere but unable to reach the scene, the conference provided many online approaches:
Live Video: Powered by Sehaha
IRC Chat: irc://irc.freenode.net/#socialbrain (For IRC tutorial here)
Skype: Special Conference Room
Google Group: CnBloggerCon Group
Further information:
Schedule
Introduction to some Speakers and Panelist
Invited Bloggers
Local Weather
Welcome to the 1st Chinese Blogger Conference!

author: Frank Dai


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Venezuela: Divided Opposition Movment · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Francisco of Caracas Chronicles translates a column by Ibéyise Pacheco about a recent division in Venezuela's opposition between those who want to participate in December's election and those who want to abstain.

author: David Sasaki


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Venezuela: Looking to the Future · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tomas Sancio looks ahead to the 2008 elections while Jorge Arena (very sarcastically) recommends that Chavez heads the United Nations.


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Algeria: Violence in France · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Algerian blogger, Nouri bin Khalid, writes about the riots in Clichy-Sous-Bois, a suburb of France, which have been going on for almost nine nights now, having been sparked by the death of two teenagers who were electrocuted as they fled from police. Nouri says that no wonder that these riots are taking place. Integration has failed. Racism is still obvious and not rampant within French society, even Nouri as a visitor could see this in the rigidly segregated neighborhoods, the air of tension when one of North African descent enters an art gallery or café, the scornful looks at “modestly” dressed women by the white Frenchmen and women.


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Armenia: Supplementing Incomes · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Martuni or Bust!!! reports on how Armenian government workers at the lowest levels supplement their incomes.


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Azerbaijan: Election Roundups · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia and Oneworld Multimedia round up news about this weekend't election in Azerbaijan.


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Azerbaijan: Restaurant Reviews · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

As a service to all the foreigners in town for this weekend's election, Carpetblogger reviews some Baku restaurants.


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Campaign to Free Moroccan Hostages · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Rayhane says (in Arabic) that in solidarity with the two Moroccan embassy employees kidnapped last month in Iraq, the Moroccan blogsphere started a new blog that follows up on latest news and coordination campaigns to free the hostages (in Arabic and French).


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China: Blogger Conference Day1 · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

China's first ever bloggers conference has successfully finished day 1. Blogger Angelo Embuldeniya has taken all the live IRC English-language notes and screen grabs from the live Chinese videocast and put them on a special blog. (It will soon be on a wordpress blog here.)

author: Rebecca MacKinnon