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Kuwait: Flip Your Avatar, Show Support to the Bidun!  · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.
Do you know what stateless (Bidun) means in Kuwait? It means you do not exist. You have no access to public education or health care, no chance of employment in the government sector, no certificates for marriage, divorce, birth, death and no civil identification papers, driving license, passport, and definitely no citizenship.
Many of those people have been in the country for three generation, some are the sons and daughters of martyrs – people killed during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait – yet they are not Kuwaiti and they have no papers.
Last February, after a long period of silence, the Bidun of Kuwait decided to take the streets. Although they number around 100,000 in the country, only 1,000 had the courage to go there and face police brutality, and afterwards, the disrespect and discriminatory remarks from the society and mainstream media.
The flipped avatar of Ahmad AlKhulaifi, the man who started the #EQLB hash tag in support of Bidun rights
Unfortunately, not many Bidun have previously used social media; they are more active in websites, forums, and just few of them blog, but this is not the case anymore, especially after the popularity that the Arab Spring of revolutions brought to Facebook and Twitter.
Flip your avatar!
The Bidun now are active on both Facebook and Twitter and in addition to tweeting, they came up with the simple idea to “flip your avatar upside down to remind people of our rights.” It is all expressed in the hash tag #EQLB meaning “flip”.
Ahmed Al-Khulaifi (@A7md_Alkhulaifi) is the Twitter user who came up with this idea by starting the hash tag. He wrote:
دعوه للفلورز من اجل الانسانية المشاركة بحملة اقلب علي التويتر بقلب الصوره من اليوم لثلاثة ايام البدون من سئ الى اسوأ #النصرة
Saadiah Mufarreh (@saadiahmufarreh) a poet and journalist, is one of the notable Bidun of Kuwait who has been active on Twitter. She showed support to this idea by flipping her avatar and tweeting the following:
لاأؤمن كثيرا بمثل هذه الحملات،لكني سأقلب صورتي..فقط حتى لايموت الأمل في قلوب الشباب البدون. فما أضيق العيش لولا فسحة الأمل. تفاءلوا
A young Saudi Twitter user named Fouz Abdullah (@FouzAbd) who has been active in the Saudi women driving campaign, has also tweeted in favor of the #EQLB hash tag. She also raised an important point saying that Bidun also exist in her country, Saudi Arabia:
@FouzAbd: I flipped my avatar to show support to those who don't have nationalities in Kuwait and Saudi
Kuwaiti Law student Ahmad AlHammadi (@el7ammadi) also showed support in this hash tag saying:
دعما لاخواني البدون ابناء وطني المظلومين و المحرومين من الحياة الانسانية الكريمة ساقلب صورتي
Another tweep named Dhari Mefreh (@dharimefreh) wrote his own interpretation of this hash tag saying:
الحياة مقلوبة والصورة معتدلة نقلب الصورة ربما تعتدل الحياة
Khalid Al-Rishidi (@bowaledan) tweeted some news about a planned protest this coming Friday organized by the Bidun of Kuwait and he supports it saying:
سمعت ان يوم الجمعه القادم..جمعه سلميه للبدون في ساحة الاراده..اتمنى ذالك فعلا.. فهم اولى من الاخوان السوريين
Aonther Kuwaiti Twitter user, named Bo Khalid (@iBoKhaliD), criticized the way Kuwaiti parliament members deal with the cause of the Bidun:
نوابنا عبرو القارات اعمالا لواجبهم في نصرة اخواننا في سوريا ،، الا انهم لم يكلفوا أنفسهم عناء الانتقال للجهراء نصرة لاخواننا البدون
Another nicknamed user called Abu Youssef (@abuyoussef_h) drew question marks regarding the situation of Bidun in Kuwait saying:
أستغرب! دولة تعاني من كون مواطنيها أقليه داخل أراضيها بأي منطق ترفض تجنيس أجيال كامله ولدت وتربت في أراضيها وهم لايعرفون غيرها وطن
Aziz Fahad (@azfafa) tried to describe how it feels to live like a Bidun in Kuwait:
الوقت في حياة البدون لا يتعدى كونه ليل ونهار أو صيف وشتاء أو عمر انقضى وعمر سينقضي جعلونا كالشجر اليابس في الصحراء جسد لا حياة فيه
Jamal AlEnezi (@Jenezi), another Kuwaiti who showed his support for Bidun and their struggle to get their basic human rights, wrote:
مع حق البدون الإنساني في التعليم، الزواج، العمل، العلاج وغيرها من حقوق مدنية تكفلها جميع الديانات والأعراف والمواثيق الدولية
On the other hand, some other Twitter users were not in favor of this hash tag like this Kuwaiti girl called Danah Al-Rishidi (@do0ony88) who wrote:
طلعوووووووا جناسيكم وفكوناااااا مأكو أحد بدون بسكم طمع بالديره
Another tweep named Saud Al-Amer (@BO3AZ0Z) wrote against the Bidun cause too saying:
والله لو مو تقلبون ! لو تكوكسون ماكو فايده.. فعلا في بدون مظلومين لكن الاكثريه نصابين ومزورين
This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.

author: Mona Kareem


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Peru: Residents of Puno Resume Protests · Global Voices
Isabel Guerra

Once again the inhabitants of the Puno region have taken to the streets in protests, this time against the contamination caused by the mining of minerals.
Right now, not only strikes, marches and roadblocks [es] are taking place, but also violent confrontations [es] that have left 6 people dead [es] and police vanished during an attempt by the protesters to seize the Inca Manco Cápac Airport in Juliaca [es].  (They also attempted to take over one of the Police stations in Azángaro).
Despite recent offers from the Central government to cancel the early concession of the hydro-electric project in Inambari [es], and the last minute signing of joint supreme decisions and urgent decrees [es] aimed at appeasing the highly strung attitudes of the people of Puno, the protests in Puno did not stop, but simply came to a pause.
Confrontations at the Juliaca airport. Photo: Enlace Nacional.
Social conflicts
Also, in Puno there are many social conflicts that should have been resolved for some time now, between the population and the government as well as the interests of other communities.
These conflicts include issues diverse and controversial, like the huge mine represented by international companies and promoted by the central government; small manual mining, a source of work for thousands of residents of Puno that has become a predator to the environment; and the claims of the countryside residents, who reject any kind of mining activities or extraction industry for fear of the possible contamination of the environment as perceived from their lifestyle based on agriculture.
The situation is further complicated by the local authorities who, with a few exceptions [es], adhere to the central government's propositions and don't empathise with the protests of the residents.
The crisis exploded anew on June 24 [es] (the day that Peru celebrates Campesino Day or “the day of the peasant”), when residents of the peasant communities of Azángaro took the streets of Juliaca [es] to demand that something be done to recuperate the ecosystem of the Ramis River [es], that has been seriously affected by informal mining [es].
Javier Torres Seoane [es] pens a tight summary of this recent conflict, disassociating it with the protests of the Aymara a few weeks ago:
La protesta en Juliaca era contra la contaminación del Rio Ramis, producto de la minería informal. No tenía nada que ver con la agenda de los pobladores aymaras, ni de otras provincias de Puno contra las concesiones mineras. En el 2007 se creo una comisión multisectorial para atender el tema y como de costumbre no se hizo absolutamente nada…
Yasmin Urrego [es] comments on Facebook:
Increible  :”El 70% del territorio de Puno está concesionado. Todas estas  concesiones han sido autorizadas de forma inconsulta”. Provincia de  Melgar, existen 423 concesiones; Melgar es la capital ganadera del Perú y  capital mundial de la alpaca. En Melgar se realizan 2 ferias  nacionales, 6 ferias regionales y 80 ferias locales. Eso ha hecho que la  población reaccione y proteste.
The parish priest of Juilaca and Human Rights Activist, Luis Zambrano, declared in an interview in the blog Debatik [es]:
Todos los puneños no están en contra de la minería. De hecho hay la formal y la informal. Los de la minería informal, que son varios miles, procedentes sobre todo de Juliaca, como, por ejemplo, en la Rinconada, buscan el oro incansablemente y contaminan terriblemente los ríos y, al final, el lago Titicaca . Los de la formal, aunque tienen el permiso del gobierno central, también contaminan los ríos. Quienes se oponen a la minería no lo hacen por capricho, sino por defender su vida (nuestra vida) y la de la “Pachamama”.
As such, the government has declared three days of official mourning [es], from June 25.
The issue has been well discussed on social networks, as seen for example in these tweets, which are only some among hundreds that have flooded Twitter in Peru.
Aldo Santos (@santoslado) clarifies:
Las protestas por la  contaminación de minería ilegal al #RioRamis tienen + d 12 años ¿cuántos  gobiernos pasaron y qué hicieron? #Juliaca
Rolando Alles (@allesnew) observes:
Ayer RMP [Rosa María Palacios, periodista de TV] leía carta d puneños indignados c/la protesta. Este video muestra lo contrario, mayoría sintoniza c/la protesta ow.ly/5q4VG
Carlos Andrade (@AndradePareja) comments:
En el día del campesino nace el Juliacazo con 6 muertos a la fecha, Region Puno de luto por sus caidos
Carlos Huamán Tola (@Manicoinca) asks of the presidential vacancy:
En mi opinión, creo que no hay que esperar al 28 de julio para pedirle a Alan García que entregue el mando.
Others seem to suggest the presence of the elected president Ollanta Humala in the zone, such as journalist Milagros Leiva (@MilagrosLeivaG):
@elestigmadecain De acuerdo contigo, pero también existe un líder natural en esa zona y se llama Ollanta Humala. No lo olvides…
Before these proposals, others comments, like @chilkano:
Gente q exige q Humala vaya a Puno y no dice nada de Alan y Cipriani.
Ricardo Marapi (@ricardomarapi) laments:
Una masacre como la ocurrida en Juliaca, en otro país causaría miles protestando en las calles y la salida de un presidente. Acá #aguatibia
Others on the other hand think that the government ought to be harsh, like JesusCubaValladares [es]:
Lamentablemente no puedo ser ajeno a lo que esta pasando en Puno. A ver analizando friamente: cuando carajo la gente de las provincias mas necesitadas del Perú van a dejar de joder y que entiendan de una vez que sin inversión privada no van a progresar. IGNORANTES!!!!
Although the new government will try to resolve many of these problems, no doubt that President elect Ollanta Humala will face many great social and political challenges in this region, in which he received that largest number of votes. In the words of investigative reporter Raúl Wiener [es]:
El nuevo presidente debiera leer muy claramente el  mensaje. Las provincias que también han ganado las elecciones y que han  puesto a quien consideran su presidente en Palacio de Gobierno en Lima,  ya no se van a quedar en sus lugares esperando la llegada de las  comisiones llamadas de “alto nivel” para que vengan a discutir sobre sus  problemas…

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Isabel Guerra


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Syria: The Revolution and the Economy · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
On Friday 24 June, 2011, Syria marked the 100th day since the start of the country's protest movement. Protests every Friday have become almost a ritual.
But there's another side to the story. For 100 days the country's economy has been frozen. Commerce has halted to a standstill and the coming tourist season does not look good. In addition to that, thousands of frightened Syrians have been changing their savings from Syrian pounds to US dollars or Euros, putting an enormous pressure on the Syrian pound.
Syrian pounds. Image by Flickr user shellfish (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
In fact for a period of 48 hours in the beginning of April, the pound lost almost 10 per cent of its value, sparking fears of an eminent meltdown.
Meltdown threat?
The Syrian Central Bank has been successful so far in keeping the currency from dangerous devaluation. But with the new measures announced by the president in hist first speech in March; raising salaries, and raising the state's oil subsidies, and without any significant tax income, many have been pondering the possibility that the country might go bankrupt.
Many in the opposition are even working hard towards that goal. Their argument is that an economic meltdown will deal a fatal blow to the regime, and will make everybody turn against him. Others, however, are very skeptical of that scenario. Syrian blogger, nuffsilence, argues such:
To be honest, I'm not so sure how an economical collapse will help anything. If the regime is strong enough to survive the protests, then it may also weather  another crisis. A fall of the regime isn't a sure result were the market to crumble and fall. We shouldn't forget that Mugabe and Saddam survived both and more. Mugabe, especially, had seen to it that his country's economy was beyond repair, and yet, it didn't inflict much damage on his power grip.
Syrian economist, and frequent guest-blogger at Prof. Joshua Landis’ Syria Comment, Ehsani, tried to answer these questions about the future of the Syrian economy:
Is bringing down the economy and bankrupting the country a realistic danger?
And as for the Lira. Is there a way to manipulate the currency from outside the country? Is it technically possible to put pressure on the Lira from governments outside?
On the main economic challenges, he says:
Syria’s economic challenge is twofold:
Some of the commenters however had a more optimistic view of the crisis; Why Discuss says, in his reply to Ehsani:
This is the best time to buy SP! I’ll do that now. It gives 9% in the bank, while the Euro is eroding.
Just a thought
Contrary to the western countries, Syria never lived beyond its means. Except for the a few westernized Syrians, usually Syrians are frugal and they are not into the vicious circle of consumerism.
The next few years in Syria won’t be worse than Greece or Spain and Portugal, don’t you think?
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

author: Yazan Badran


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Tanzania: BarCampa Dar 2011 is here · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

BarCamp Dar 2011 is here: “We have watched vibrant tech events take place elsewhere in East Africa and wondered when it would happen in Tanzania. The wait is over and we’ve finally got our act together.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Tanzania: Dar Sketches Is Now Available · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A new book by Sarah Markes, Dar Sketches: street level dar – drawings and writings, is now available in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. It will soon be available in other bookshops.


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Tanzania: Tanzania 2011 Scorecard · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dar Es Salaam signwriters at Kigamboni Market have put together the concise overview of Tanzania in 2011. See their work here.


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Afghanistan: Instability on the Borders · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust analyzes the continuous tensions on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and direct fighting between the two country's militaries, and says the situation is aggravating.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Argentina: Buenos Aires ‘Cartoneros’ · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Simon Kofoed, In his blog argen-times, writes about ‘cartoneros': “The tens of thousands of  cartoneros, perhaps best translated as cardboard people, make their  living by extracting recyclable materials from the city’s rubbish.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Argentina: River Plate Football Club Relegated to Second Division · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

River Plate, one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in Argentina and in the world, founded on May 25, 1901, has suffered one of its worse defeats in national football. On June 26 it tied with Belgrano Athletic Club in a match where its membership of the first division of Argentine football was decided.
Before a packed stadium of sympathizers and fanatics, the 1-1 tie wasn't sufficient for River Plate (also known as “the millionaires”) since it had to score two goals to be able to maintain its continuity [es] in the category. The first goal scored five minutes into the start of the match was not enough.
Worldwide, Argentine football is known for one of its classic matches, as is Boca Juniors v. River Plate. But with this result, until River Plate returns to first division, fans will not be able to enjoy the Argentine classic.
River Plate Monumental stadium. Photo: Maximiliano Neira (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
The reactions were swift. On Twitter, with the hashtag #sebuscaclasico (in search of a classic), among jokes [es] and disillusionment [es] the search has begun for a new Argentine classic.
Other popular hashtags have been #pavone (referring to Mariano Pavone, striker for River that scored a goal and missed a penalty kick), #olave (referring to Juan Carlos Olave, goalie for Belgrano that contained Pavone's penalty), #riber (changing the ‘v’ of River for ‘b’, the category to which it descended) and #burroandres (the successor of Paul the Octopus of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa).
Twitter user @ivanapar writes:
Es increíble lo que significa el fútbol para los argentinos. Increíble. #SeBuscaClásico
Meanwhile Fernando G. Toledo (@fernandogtoledo) warns:
#Boca Aprendamos de lo que pasa en la vereda de enfrente para evitar una caída similar #RiBer#sebuscaclasico
Also on Facebook, on the River Plate [es] page, Dario Maidana writes [es]:
naci de river y voy a morir siendo de river en las buenas y en la malas te amo mas que nunca River Plate
But the reactions were not only happening in Argentina. In Peru, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and other countries related hashtags became local Trending Topics and Adios River‘ (Goodbye River) became a global Trending Topic as Adam Kosnác (@scoooty27) reports from Canada:
AdiosRiver trending worldwide. Well, I always preferred Boca, so i'm fine.
Sports journalist Michael Hortin (@michaelhortin), from Lincolnshire, England says:
Adios River Plate. Argentina's biggest club relegated for 1st time in 110 years
Minutes before the end of the match, serious incidents happened in River Plate's Monumental stadium, which was protected by more than 2,500 police officers. These incidents will also go down in the history of football. Up until now, it is estimated that more than 40 people were injured. The newspaper  Infobae [es] relates part of what occurred:
Los incidentes comenzaron en el estadio, sobre el final del partido. Con el pitazo de Pezzotta, los fanáticos desataron su ira, rompieron vidrios del club y arrojaron piedras al césped. Luego, en la calle, los hinchas “millonarios” incendiaron basura y se enfrentaron a la policía
Piedras, palazos, y objetos contundentes. Todo se resume en una palabra: bronca. El desconcierto por el descenso se apoderó de los hinchas de River que explotaron y rompieron todo lo que encontraban a su alrededor. Los otros, los más sensatos, se quedaron lamentando su suerte en El Monumental, con el llanto como la única vía para liberar su desolación.
The incidents started in the stadium near the end of the match. With Pezzotta's whistle, the fanatics unleashed their anger, they broke the windows of the club and threw stones towards the field. Then, in the street, the “millionaires” fans lit trash on fire and clashed with the police.
Rocks, shovels, and blunt objects. It boils down to one word: anger. The confusion by the defeat overpowered the River fans that exploded and broke everything they could find in their immediate vicinity. The others, the more sensible ones, stayed at El Monumental, with tears as the only way to relieve their distress.
Argentine football will be left without one of its top teams in the next tournament, but above all, the country will be without one of its classics. To date, there were three, now only two teams that have never fallen in category: Boca Juniors and Independiente de Avellaneda. Will River Plate return to first division?

author: Laura Schneider


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Azerbaijan: A military show of strength or rhetoric for domestic consumption? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Etiraz comments on this weekend's annual Army day in Azerbaijan, questioning its country's massive expenditure on military hardware. With a defense budget at least equal to, or reportedly greater than, Armenia's entire state expenditure, the Azerbaijani blog says that the conflict with its neighbor over the disputed territory is more about retaining power and surpressing internal dissent.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Bakhtiyar Hajiyev Video Campaign · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Supporters of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, the Harvard graduate, parliamentary candidate, Facebook activist and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience recently sentenced to two years in prison on what human rights groups consider to be politically motivated charges, have launched a video campaign calling for his release. Details of how to participate in the online action can be found on the Bakhtiyar Hajiyev support site.


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Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Racist Comments?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbadian bloggers are all over a WikiLeaks cable in which St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is “quoted extensively”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bermuda: Position on Same-Sex Unions · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Politics.bm looks at “some interesting scenarios [that] could play out…[if] Bermuda Immigration faces the question of a non-Bermudian worker coming to the island with a same sex spouse.”


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China: The politics of hydroelectricity · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sinologistical Violoncellist has a guest post by Kristiana Henderson of Pacific Lutheran University which addresses the politics of hydroelectricity projects in Tibet by looking into the history of conflicts between indigenous Sami community with the Norwegian government since 1850s.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: The significant of singing “red songs” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jottings from the Granite Studio has a guest post written by YaJun on the political implications of “singing red song campaign”.


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Cuba: Hunger Striker to Leave Island  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense reports that hunger striker Jorge Cervantes Garcia has ended his protest and “will be allowed to leave Cuba once he has recovered from the physical effects of his protest.”


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Cuba: Women in the Cuban Blogosphere · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Yasmín S. Portales has been posting her research [es] on women's voices in the Cuban blogosphere.

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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East Timor: Timorese on Twitter · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Edward Rees creates a list of twitter users in East Timor

author: Mong Palatino


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East Timor: UN agencies directed to use Tetum language · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

To enhance its national identity, East Timor's Council of Ministers has directed all international agencies working in the country, including UN institutions, to use the Tetum language in their transactions with the government.


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Egypt: Commemorating the Struggle Against Systematic Torture · Global Voices
Lilian Wagdy

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.
As the world marked the International Day against Torture that falls on June 26, eyes were on Egypt where the struggle against citizen abuse has been particularly significant.
Over the past three decades, the regime of ousted president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak had effectively unleashed the security apparatuses – the police, state security and the intelligence service – granting them almost absolute powers to coerce citizens into submission. Not only were these apparatuses responsible for systematically torturing political dissidents and ordinary citizens on an almost daily basis, they also handled “terrorists” sent from the United States and Europe to be tortured for information under the notorious programmes of extraordinary rendition.
With a culture of “impunity’ prevailing during this era, most of these torture cases went unchecked, but not unnoticed. Several NGOs and human right organizations took it upon themselves to document and spread the word about these cases so they would not slip into oblivion.
One particular front in the fight against citizen abuse by the security apparatuses in Egypt is the Nadeem Center for Psychological Management & Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, which organized an anti-torture conference held at the Press Syndicate to mark the International Day against Torture and examine the widespread phenomenon before and after the Egyptian Revolution.
The conference, presided by Dr Aida Seif El Dawla of El Nadeem Center and journalist Mohamed Abdel Qodos provided slideshows about the history of torture in Egypt, video and live testimonies of torture victims, in addition to a brief theatrical performance about the abuses of the military police following the revolution.
It was noted that mainstream media was largely absent from the event but activists did not hold back in expressing their views about police brutality. Here are some reactions from Twitter:
Facebook pages calling for fresh protests in Egypt
@Heba El Kayal: Stories of current reality in Egypt of rampant police torture killing me. Makes me wonder if its ever going to be “fixable” #endtorture
@Nora Shalaby: Shahira talking about the systematic #torture endured by civilians at the hands of the Egyptian army #endtorture
@Leil Zahra Mortada: Families of detainees speaking now at #endtorture conference. Heartbreaking yet extremely rebellious. Those amazing women! #antitorture
@Andreas Fares: I kinda find it disturbing that we're joking around on Twitter and there's an #endtorture thing going around and also no media to cover it!
Whether torture is still systematic in Egypt remains to be seen, but the cases of torture that have surfaced during the last couple of months, whether torture committed at the hands of the police or the military, prompting Egyptians to call for a return to Tahrir Square to continue what they see as an “unfinished Revolution”.
The Facebook page behind the movement is entitled The Friday of Accountability and Open Sit ins on July 8 = The End. The location is Tahrir Square and “all of Egypt's squares.”  And the aim of the call for fresh protests is:
Stay tuned for more coverage from Egypt.
This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

author: Lilian Wagdy


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Guatemala: What can you eat with one dollar? · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In Central American Politics, Mike posts a video where Francisco Fion of the World Food Program explains that about half of the population of Guatemala lives in poverty with 7 quetzales a day –about 1 US dollar. How much food can you buy with 7 quetzales? Watch the video to find out.


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Haiti: BBBC Benefits in Question  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

An interesting post on Bill Clinton's housing initiative, Building Back Better Communities (BBBC), which “seeks to construct housing projects across the nation of Haiti”, but upon closer examination, “seems as though the initiative won't live up to its name and in fact will build worse communities than even before the earthquake of January 12, 2010.”


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Honduras: Dam Project on UNESCO World Heritage in Danger Site Gets Little English Media Attention · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

RAJ, in Honduras Culture and Politics, says English language media have given little attention to the construction of a dam in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, “a project of the current Honduran administration, acting against the protests of the indigenous peoples of eastern Honduras, who have not been  consulted as they should have been under the UN Declaration of the  Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO 169, both international agreements  signed by previous Honduran governments.”


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India: Mumbai In Monochrome · Global Voices
Rezwan

Harini Calamur at POV provides us the opportunity to see glimpses of Mumbai city in monochrome.

author: Rezwan


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Indonesia’s 24 world records · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Truly Indonesia lists 24 world records held by Indonesia. For example, it has 3 of the 6 largest island in the world and it is currently the largest Muslim country in the world


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Introducing Brunei’s Most Popular Blogger · Global Voices
Zul-Fadly

When Brunei social blogger RanoAdidas celebrated his eight year anniversary last month, it was an event which was well-covered by the mainstream media. It's an indication not only of his popularity as a blogger but also his success in promoting social media in Brunei.
The Brunei Times recognizes the popularity of the blogger whose blog traffic is an average of 5,000 to 6,000 hits per day and 20,000 to 25,000 hits per month
Ranoadidas has over 6 thousand followers on twitter (@ranoadidas) and his facebook fan page is less than 200 clicks away from 8 thousand likes.
Last month, Brunei's celebrity blogger, hosted his 8th year anniversary in style. He rented out one of the halls at the International Convention Centre and had booths set up for clients and sponsors to partake in the event.
Ranoadidas with young fans
The four day event was launched on Thursday 26 May, 2011, and was packed with performances and contests. Everyday Mr. Rano was giving away vouchers and gifts and balloons for kids and adults alike.
Ranoadidas balloons
A special hash tag was created on twitter #ran8adidas and featured a photo contest for Instagram and MyTubo.
Local blogger, emmagoodegg or known on twitter as @emmagoodegg, who is a weekly columnist at local newspaper The Brunei Times, paid tribute to Rano's success by doing a feature on him,
When we think Bruneian Blogger, we think Ranoadidas. And you'd be lying to yourself if you thought otherwise.
Another local Blogger, Nonnie King or known as @kisich on twitter, blogged about one of the highlighted events, The Food Eating Contest, hosted by two local food outlets, @kapowburger and @kitarojapanese.
Live streaming of the event was also possible with the help of the guys from @CornerGeeks who helped set up live video feed via UStream.
Ranoadidas has proven that blogging is not only a potential source of income but a viable platform to influence public media as well. He faced many struggles in the past 8 years but he didn't lose his belief about the power of blogging to become an important social empowerment tool in Brunei.
Aside from covering various events sponsored by private and public institutions, he also gets involved in charity whenever he can. He recently partnered with another celebrity blogger Reeda Malik of anakbrunei.com.bn and raised money for a charity event hosted by HSBC.
Earlier this year the two of them were also invited to attend the first ASEAN Bloggers conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Indeed, Ranoadidas’ success is an inspiration to many bloggers in Brunei.

author: Zul-Fadly


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Jamaica: Call for End to Anti-Gay Violence  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Labrish remembers the life and work of her cousin, who was murdered on account of “his outspoken efforts to bring about an end to homophobia in Jamaica”, saying: “It is beyond time that the appalling homophobia that is a blight on certain parts of Jamaican society come to an end.”


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Macedonia: New Parliament Assembles, Cements Election Victory for “Big Fish” · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

This post is part of our special coverage Macedonia Protests 2011.
The newly-elected Macedonian Parliament held its initial session on Saturday June 25, 2011. The composition of this Assembly indicates the culmination of the trend for centralization of power among a decreasing number of political actors, promising “more of the same” kind of politicking from the last few years.
Macedonia's population is about 2 million people, who are represented by 123 members of parliament (MPs). The number of seats in the Parliament does not result from a straight proportion based on the popular vote. As Global Voices has explained before, the electorate is divided across nine electoral constituencies, and some votes count more than others. After counting of votes, the seats get distributed according to D'Hondt method.
On Monday, June 27, on the third day since the new Parliament was formed, its website has not informed about its constitution yet. In fact, the latest news is 2 months old.
The results of the June 5 elections were confirmed by the international community: the incumbent parties VMRO-DPMNE and DUI won the most votes, the former in “the ethnic-Macedonians-and-others block,” the latter in “the ethnic Albanian block.” They are slated to form the Government again.
It turned out that out of 18 political parties/coalitions that participated in the elections, only 5 have entered the Parliament:
Zharko Trajanoski wrote [mk] about “the biggest losers”:
These five parties have won over 90,000 votes and in reality should “weigh” ten deputies. If we had one electoral constituency [instead of nine], VMRO-NP would have won 3 MPs, New Democracy – 2 MPs, OM – 1 MP, LDP – 1 MP also, and Dignity would have nearly missed winning a seat. Therefore, around 106,000 votes went blank,  for parties that are not represented in the Parliament. The big fish won eat the smaller fry, and won at least 11-12 MPs more than they were due. I say “at least” because the National Democratic Rebirth got 2, even though its “weight” in votes is 3 MPs.
All these “losers” could have been winners if they had made their own coalition or entered the existing coalitions. Macedonian electoral model, for the smaller parties, promotes the slogan “Enter a Coalition or Disappear!”
As announced via Global Voices, the people demanding justice and an end to police brutality greeted the old-new MPs with a protest that embraced the Parliament.
This post is part of our special coverage Macedonia Protests 2011.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Malaysia: Burmese women groups speak out · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Various Burmese women groups working in Malaysia issued a joint statement calling for stronger protection for Burmese women refugees in the region.


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Mauritania: Ending Slavery in Mauritania · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Beyond abolition: Ending Slavery in Mauritania: “Slaves in Mauritania do not have a legal right to own property, let alone have a surname. Nor do they have a right to custody of their children. The 2007 law criminalizing the ownership of slaves was received with resistance and scoffing. The director of the Mauritanian government‘s Human Right Commission, Bamariam Koita even defended the fact that as of yet, no one had been prosecuted under the law.”


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Nigeria: MTN Nigeria, Stop! · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Christoper Akor asks MTN Nigeria to stop extortion: “For some time now, I have been receiving various unsolicited text messages (SMS) from MTN Nigeria urging me to play some games in which I may win fantastic prizes or subscribe to some products or services it or its clients offer.”


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Puerto Rico: A Picture a Day · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Blogger Maite Ramos has been posting a picture a day on her blog Elucubraciones de Amaranta [es] as part her participation in two different photo contests.


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Puerto Rico: Angelamaría Dávila Reads Her Poetry · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Youtube user atavarez honors the memory of Puerto Rican poet Angelamaría Dávila [es] with a video in which the poet reads some of her very intense writings.


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Russia: Actors Accuse Yuri Lyubimov, Taganka’s Lead Director, of Greed and Lack of Respect · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

LJ-user tanjakaverzina brings up [ru] the dialogue of Yuri Lyubimov, Russian theater director who had recently declared he quits Taganka theater, with the actors. The actors claim [ru] the  reason of the conflict is Lyubimov's greed and authoritarianism. Stas Sadalskiy, famous blogger and actor, comments [ru]: “the actors took this step after a dozen of peaceful attempts to solve the issue.”

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Deciphering Covert “Bath Salt” Drug Advertisements · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

LJ-user re3 writes [ru] about covert drug graffiti (e.g. “Aromatic salt – call center 24 hours”). Graffiti look like regular guerrilla ads air sprayed on the building walls. They, however, advertise fast delivery of the so called “Bath Salt” drug. The blogger claims whole Urals region is filled with such ads, some of which, might be seen even in centers of the major cities.


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South Africa: On Being White and Feeling Ashamed · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

On being white and feeling ashamed in South Africa: “Should white people in South Africa feel ashamed about being white and about the fact that we benefited in the past because of our white skins and continue to benefit from our whiteness – even if we were born after the end of apartheid?”


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South Korea: Labor Workers Fight Against Police and Corporation · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Hanjin Heavy Industries have violently clamped down its union protest. Twitterer @pmtsjc posted photos of how company-hired gang cut rope to drag down workers protesting on crane top. The clash, which ignited over unfair mass lay-offs, has continued for over a month now.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Spain: Manuel Castells at #AcampadaBCN · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Ivan Chaar-López posts the videos of sociologist and communications scholar Manuel Castells [es] speech on “Communications, Power and Democracy” which he offered during his visit to activists in Barcelona, Spain.


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Sri Lanka: Candle Light Vigil For Tamil War Victims · Global Voices
Rezwan

D.B.S. Jeyaraj writes about a candle light vigil at the Marina beach in the Indian city of Chennai on June 26th to commemorate the Sri Lankan Tamil war victims.


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Sri Lanka: China Investing In Land · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca is concerned that Chinese investors are being allowed to reclaim and own 500 acres of Sri Lankan land from sea paying $700 million to the Sri Lankan government.


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Syria: Black Comedy of the Revolution · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
Black comedy is one of the ways one deals with traumatic events. The recent events in Syria, while bloody and depressing to many people, have also brought about an explosion of blogs, Facebook pages and articles that try to satirize the events, and point out the absurdities in the official narrative – sometimes in very unorthodox ways.
One of the most popular and talked about of such attempts is the “The Chinese Revolution” Facebook group. The group tries to mirror the events in Syria, and satirize them as if they're happening in China. Through photos, videos and status updates, it mixes real-life Chinese individuals, officials and the names of places with Syrian ones that are made to look, and sound Chinese.
Banner for the satire Facebook group, "The Chinese Revolution"
One of their latest status updates mocks the government tours conducted for foreign media to show off the latest mass graves allegedly perpetrated by the armed gangs [Ar].
دامت دياركم عامرة بالمناسبات…..
May your lands be always filled with great occasions.
The page's popularity encouraged several spin-off pages based on it, satirizing the different Facebook groups that represent the different antagonists in the revolution, including CHANA (purportedly, the Chinese official news agency, based on Syria's SANA) and the Chinese Electronic Army, which satirizes the pro-regime group, the Syrian Electronic Army.
Another satire blog that has become very popular is Syrian Hashish. Written by a blogger who identifies himself as “a Syrian guy born and bred in Damascus, and now is doing his masters, looking for a job, and smoking marijuana in the decadent lands of the West.” His posts attempt to discuss and analyze serious topics related to the revolution, but with a colloquial language and in a mostly sarcastic tone.
In one of his recent posts, he addresses the president after his latest speech.
Al-Mundassah, (The Lurking Blog), which references in its name what the pro-government news agencies call the protestors, is another blog with a heavy reliance on light satire. Since the beginning of the protests, the website emerged as one of the largest group blogs and archives dedicated to the revolution. It mostly publishes reader contributions, both serious and satirical. This post satirizes the state of the so-called national dialogue in the country, before and after the revolution.
و يستمر الحوار..
And the dialogue continues…
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.


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Tanzania: North Mara Mine Victims Not Forgotten · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Activists in Canada remember North Mara mine victims: “Approximately 70 people gathered today [June 4, 2011] at a commemoration held for the seven individuals killed in Tanzania at African Barrick Gold’s North Mara Mine.”


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Thailand: ‘Vote No’ Campaign · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thais will troop to the polls next week and although the opposition is leading in some surveys, there is still no certainty of any group clinching a landslide victory. Unusually, the election ballot has a ‘no’ option provided to voters.
A campaign movement has been orchestrated to encourage citizens to vote on election day, but ‘Vote No’. The main group behind the ‘Vote No’ movement is the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) or the Yellow Shirts, who organized mass rallies a few years ago against the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. They are former allies of current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva who is now pitted against Yingluck Shinawatra, the younger sister of Thaksin.
PAD believes the people must reject the corrupt electoral system which they think is dominated by power hungry politicians. Instead, they want political and electoral reforms to be instituted first.
Bangkok Pundit explains the motives of PAD:
The ‘vote no’ option is part of the People’s Alliance for Democracy view that the current political system in Thailand is corrupt and needs to be cleansed of dirty things and this includes Thailand being shut off/closed down for 3-5 years (understand this means a 3-5 year period of some national government).
The ‘Vote No’ posters feature animals dressed as politicians to convince the voters that voting is useless since the choices are all ‘wild beasts.’ Catherine translates the meaning of the election posters:
In the Vote NO! political campaign the animals are dressed in men’s business suits. Some suits are black but others are printed in notable bright blues and reds. The tiger, monitor lizard, and crocodile (in bright blue) apparently represents the Democrat Party (พรรคประชาธิปัตย์, Phak Prachathipat). The crocodile (in red) represents the Red Shirts (พรรคเพื่อไทย, Pheu Thai Party).
Each of the animals used in the campaign have a place in Thai thinking.
Buffalo: Slow and stupid.
Tiger: Lazy, gets something for nothing.
Dog: Makes noise and fights.
Monitor lizard: Very bad person.
Crocodile: Troublemaker.
Monkey: Deceives and cheats.
The posters have been declared illegal by election authorities. I-nomad writes:
Both parties are against the politics of both current pm Abhisit and former pm Thaksin. A previous campaign in the beginning of June, where animal heads were used as well, was ruled to be illegal. The official reason was that the billboards were too large and were displayed in an unproportionally high quantity.
The Isaan Record observes a ‘Vote No’ gathering in northern Thailand:
“I vote no because [current candidates] only want money and power,” said Jakhawan Agachat, 51, while she handed out information pamphlets.
Brathuan Broongkamma, on the other hand, voiced disapproval of politicians’ behavior. “We’ve noticed politicians act as animals in the parliament. They’re impolite, just like animals,”
Tony Hedges writes that voting ‘no’ is a waste of time:
Don’t be tempted to vote “no”. I am sure that the option is there in the hope that disaffected Redshirts vote no, somehow sleighting the government. Voting no is a waste of time. It doesn’t matter. If you make the effort to vote, vote for a political party.
FACT – Freedom Against Censorship Thailand sees the ‘no’ vote as a form of passive resistance:
Voting is compulsory in Thailand, not voting is subject to criminal penalties. The Yellowshirt PAD is encouraging citizens not to vote. However, I see this as ‘passive resistance’ rather than genuine civil disobedience. With this strategy, we run the certainty that another bunch of greedy, little know-nothings will get themselves elected.
In short, voting in the July elections gives me no sense of comfort or justice. Much as in the USA, and Zimbabwe, there is no change which means there still is no hope. If we vote, the greedy, little know-nothings win; they win if we don’t vote, too.
If you vote, write in a protest vote, vote for yourself or your favourite buffalo or favourite monkey, spoil the ballot. If enough voters had the courage to protest at the polls, govt might consider itself warned. That is what only nonviolent civil disobedience can accomplish, putting power back into the hands of the people.
Some Twitter reactions from Bangkok:
@itteong: RT @smithsensei: Is voting no a smart thing to do? Voting no risks your least favorite candidate becoming elected. Better to vote for the LEAST WORST.
@bkkbrain: @_Willowtree_ actually, if it was my country, i would have done the same… the whole “no vote” campaign is insulting to the people
Some pundits warn that a 20 percent ‘no’ result would affect the political stability of Thailand since some forces might interpret it as loss of confidence of the people on the legitimate institutions of the country.
To counter the ‘Vote No’ campaign, there is also a conscious effort from some parties reminding the people to vote ‘yes.’
‘Vote Yes’ sticker from the Twitpic page of @sweatyinbkk


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Thailand: Election predictions · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Bangkok Pundit reviews Thailand election predictions and maintains that the opposition party still has an edge over the administration coalition


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Thailand: #hiogat election hashtag · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

What does #hiogat means in the current Thailand election campaign? It refers to the protest placard raised during a speech of the Prime Minister which reads “He is only good at talking.” The message quickly became a key election message by the opposition.


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Thailand: Social media games and tourism · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thailand's tourism authorities have developed two social media game applications to promote Thai culture. The games can be played on Facebook too.


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Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Buju’s Prison  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Buju Banton was the one who helped us figure it out. He danced between social commentary and slackness. He transformed himself into a thoughtful prophet”: Attilah Springer says it's “a nightmare when you wake up to realise that the one to offer a place for escape is in prison too.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Progress for Gay Rights  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

gspott says that the President's assention to the Data Protection Act is “of great significance to gay, lesbian and bisexual communities in Trinidad & Tobago” as it “provides heightened protections for ‘sensitive personal information’, which is defined to include one’s ‘sexual orientation or sexual life’.”


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Video: Celebrating the Solstice · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Lanterns, dances, flowers and bonfires were some of the elements used in celebrations all over the world  in observance of the Summer and Winter Solstices.
Let's tour around the world to check out the different celebrations: Solstice at Stonehenge, Feast of Saint John's bonfires in Spain, Inti Raymi in Peru, we tripantu in Chile and Kupala Day in Russia or Midsummer's night in Poland.
Solstice dawn over Stonehenge, UK. Image by Flickr user Taro Taylor (CCBY).
At Stonehenge in England, the crowds met around the stone circle to receive the longest day of the year under a cover of clouds, uncertainly cheering since it was very hard to tell when the sun made its appearance. As a3HeadedMonkey, who uploaded this video humorously dubbed: “Good ol’ British summer at its finest.”
In Coruña, Spain, bonfires, drinking and parades marked the Bonfires of Saint John's festivities. It is traditional for teens and children to jump over the bonfires an allotted number of times for good luck:  sadly, this year's celebrations were marred by the death of two people, one of which died when he tripped while trying to jump over one of the biggest bonfires, perishing in the middle of the fire to unsuccessful attempts to rescue him by onlookers.
http://youtu.be/pC4avU3W5bU
In front of the temple of Sacsayhuaman in Cuzco, Peru every year they recreate the traditional Inti Raymi celebration which marks the beginning of the Incan new year. The last Inti Raymi celebrated by the Incas took place in 1535 after which the Catholic Church and the Spanish Conquest put a stop to it, until 1944, when  it was brought back following the descriptions of the historian Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
YouTube user gzoraca has recorded many videos of cultural dances and events in Cuzco which can be seen on his channel, including the following two of this year's Inti Raymi showing the entrance of the Inca and then the entrance of the Colla, his spouse:
We Tripantu [es] is a Mapuche indian celebration to recognize the start of a new year at the Winter Solstice. The next video shows school children in Chile dancing in a celebration of this indigenous festivity:
In the town of Maloyaroslavets in Russia they celebrate Ivan Kupala day, and in this midsummer festivity.  tradition is kept alive with girls wearing flowers in their hair, community bonfires and dancing:
And last, but not least, a record-breaking celebration in Poland, where thousands of paper lanterns were lit and released to float in the night sky. The magical videos speak for themselves (via Neatorama):
Did you celebrate the solstice? Please tell us how in the comments!

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Zimbabwe: Choosing the Lesser Devil · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Thandi argues that an assessment of the range of political parties in Zimbabwe shows that Zimbabweans just have to choose the lesser devil: “It’s mediocre politicians all around, positing ludicrous policies whilst they happily take part in scandalous shenanigans…Question is, whose political thrust will be easiest to endure?”


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Angola: The City Evolves and the “Icons” Vanish · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

“Some people claim that the city should evolve, others say that Luanda should not keep the traces of colonialism”, writes Menina de Angola, while regretting the demolition of “one more icon” of the capital city, the building Cuca.

author: Sara Moreira


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Armenia: Animal Activists Demand End to Stray Dog Killings · Global Voices
Liana Aghajanian

In the last few days animal activists are making unprecedented use of social media in the South Caucasus by demanding that the inhumane killing of stray dogs end by flooding Yerevan mayor Karen Karapetyan's Facebook page with requests and appeals.
Activists have even created an event entitled “Complaint to the Mayor About Dog Killings,” which more than 800 people are virtually attending, continuously leaving messages on Karapetyan's wall in the hope that their cyberactivism will bring about change.
“On the recommendation of the Mayor, the slaughter of dogs has begun in the city,” the event says. “There hasn't been a slaughter this big before. They have developed new technology to capture dogs.”
Having been in office only since December 2010, Karapetyan's popularity is declining among animal lovers as one commenter notes.
Some comments suggest activists are ready and willing to help the city alleviate the problem in a humane way.
A photo of the killing and collecting of street dogs posted on mayor Karen Karapetyan's wall
The activity on the mayor's page is not just limited to Armenia's residents.
With no shelter system or citywide spay and neuter initiatives, street dogs in Yerevan roam the small city in search of food and shelter, eventually procreating. “Save the Animals,” an independent shelter started by musician and activist Nune Mehrabyan after the killings began in 1999, holds around 200 dogs and operates on donations, which are scant.
We desire to live in a civilized country, where even vulnerable, helpless animals shall not be exposed to murder. We appeal to you to support our organization for the sake of helping our little friends
The government contracts out a company called “Unigraph X” to deal with street dogs, notes their website.
Since 2006 the company has been declared as the winner of  competitions announced by the State Procurement Agency and has  implemented the sterilization of wandering animals in the administrative  territory of Yerevan
However, activists claim the company kills dogs instead, as Traces of Life notes [am]:
Նկատե՞լ եք արդյոք,որ փողոցում շների քանակը չի պակասում,իսկ պետական բյուջեից “Յունիգրաֆ-X” կազմակերպությանը տրամադրվող գումարը կորում է անհետ
[…]
Այնտեղ դրված են հատուկ հոսանքալարեր`շներին վնասազերծելու,կարճ ասած էլեկտրաշոկի ենթարկելու համարլ։Նույն մեթոդներով Յունիգրաֆ կազմակերպությունը որսում է շներին։
Մենք ջունգլիներում ենք երևի ապրում,որ այսքան շուն քնեցվել,սատկացվել ու ստերջացվել է,բայց երկրում դեռ այսքան թափառող շուն կա։Չե՞ք հասկանում այդ գումարները կրկին ու կրկին ուր են գնում։Բավ է թու՛յլ տանք,որ մեզ հիմարացնեն,ես հոգնել եմ դրանից։
Մարդի՛կ,շներն էլ են ապրել ուզում։Պե՞տք է անպայման ձեր և ձեր երեխաների հետ էլ այդպես վարվեն
Have you noticed that the number of street dogs isn't decreasing, yet the money from the state budget that's provided for the organization “Unigraph-X” goes missing.
[…]
Special electrical chords are used in one part of the city, Unigraph uses the same methods to hunt dogs.
Maybe we live in the jungle, that we're killing so many dogs, but there are still so many that remain on the streets.  We still don't understand again and again where that money goes. But we let them make us look like fools, and I'm tired of it.
People, dogs want to live. They should act this way with yours and your children too.
The activists are in the process of collecting signatures against the killing of street dogs, but are also facing some opposition on Karapetyan's page with comments that reflect the cultural stigma still attached to street animals in Armenia.

author: Liana Aghajanian


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Azerbaijan: Photojournalist detained, deported · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

whatwaswritten, the blog of Global Voices author Leyla Najafli, translates a story from RFE's Azeri service reporting that Diana Markosyan, a photojournalist from Bloomberg, was detained at Baku airport earlier today. The American-Russian dual citizen of Armenian origin attempted to enter Azerbaijan without a visa as CIS citizens can. However, her request for press accreditation had been rejected and Bloomberg told to replace before traveling to the country due to what the authorities claimed was the inability to guarantee her safety. Armenia and Azerbaijan still remain locked in a bitter conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh and citizens of both can not enter the other without National Security Service approval. This sometimes extends in both countries  to foreign citizens of Armenian and Azerbaijani origin, but the situation is considered to be especially bad in Azerbaijan despite some high level Armenian visits in recent years.


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Barbados: Cricket Needs Managing  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press publishes the opinion of a reader who cannot rationalise that a psychologist has been hired to advise members of the West Indies cricket team, saying: “It’s about management, the mix and coaching.  Management needs the shrink – the men need managing.”


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Bermuda: Fiscal Mismanagement · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Vexed Bermoothes is appalled at the country's debt.


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Brazil: Despite Protests, Government Insists on Belo Monte Dam · Global Voices
João Miguel Lima

This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
There are recent developments in the controversy regarding Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant and its dams. The world's third largest in energy capacity is to be built in heart of the Amazon, in  Brazilian state of Pará. On June 1, 2011 Ibama‘s  (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources)  current president, the lawyer Curt Trennepohl, did what his predecessors had  refused: he approved Belo Monte's license for construction [pt].
Especially since 2008,  when former Minister of Environment Marina Silva resigned, federal  environmental bodies offered resistance to granting the project a full license of construction. The project has been opposed by indigenous populations [pt] and environmental organizations throughout the country.  Nevertheless, these movements haven't been enough to convince the  Brazilian government to change its mind about the plant. Belo Monte is  expected to be completed by 2015, with a planned capacity of generating 11,000 MW [pt] of power to supply 26 million citizens.
"Dilma: Respect the peoples of Xingu, STOP Belo Monte"
The Federal Public Ministry of Pará has advocated against the project. Following the resignation of the past president of Ibama, it officially issued a  recommendation for Ibama's newly appointed leadership to reject the dam's license of  construction.
Not even the appeal issued in early April [pt] by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) of the  Organization of American States (OAS) was able to achieve any kind of  influence. With the appeal, the OAS responded supportively to a complaint  filed by indigenous and environmental advocacy groups, granting a  precautionary measure for the local communities. The government answered  with a press release which considered IACHR's [pt] demands “precipitated and unjustifiable”. The Brazilian Senate rejected the organization's decision [pt] and approved, on June 11, a vote of censorship to the OAS [pt].
Journalist and blogger Leonardo Sakamoto considered the government's response, released in the end of May, as “childish”. He analyzed it ironically [pt]:
Mesmo que ele não quisesse mudar uma pedrinha no planejamento da hidrelétrica, poderia ter respondido de forma amena, enrolando a história, passando a imagem de democrata preocupado com as minorias e de respeitoso às demandas de organismos internacionais, enquanto faria o seu trabalho de rolo-compressor nos bastidores.
Stop Belo Monte: on the web and on the street
Facebook users changed their profile pictures to portray Xingu indigenous peoples
In early June, a peculiar movement took place on Facebook. A number of users changed their profile pictures to portray photos of indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Although one could not specify how many followed the trend, the number of supporters grew as days went by, showing this message:
Troque a foto do seu perfil pela foto de um índio do Xingu.
E vamos parar Belo Monte. Compartilhe.
Essa é a nossa tribo. Somos todos índios!
On the afternoon of May 20, members of the indigenous communities of the  Xingu River Basin were in São Paulo, where they demonstrated against Belo  Monte in front of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP).
On May 26, an image of chief kayapó [pt] Raoni crying was published on the internet. According to the image caption, the chief had burst into tears because president Dilma had approved the license for Belo Monte. Many netizens shared  this information, which was later revealed as false. Blogger Robson de  Souza exposed the rumor [pt] on his blog two days later. He challenged the information (as the  license was to be evaluated by Ibama, not by the president), corrected  that the photo was taken in 2002, during the funeral of Raoni's indigenous friend Orlando Villas-Bôas and added:
Não sou defensor de Belo Monte, muito pelo contrário. Sou totalmente contra a construção daquela usina, que poderá inundar mais de 500km² de floresta e, de quebra, prejudicar muitos indígenas. Mas também sou contra a divulgação de boatos. Se é para impedir Belo Monte de ser construída, que seja com a verdade, não com mentiras.
The public was informed of the license for construction on  June 1. Two days later, June 3, citizens against the project protested  in Salvador, denouncing the environmental impact the dam will force upon  neighboring populations:
PROTEST AGAINST BELO MONTE by Lucas Tanajura on Vimeo.
National protests were called for June 5 and 19 in the cities of Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Campo Grande and São Paulo, as reported by the website Xingu Vivo [pt]. On the agenda, besides the rejection of Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, protesters also criticized another relevant issue: the approval of the controversial new Forestry Code in the Chamber of Deputies. With faces painted to resemble the Xingu indigenous peoples, protesters played drums all along the march and spread critical messages on posters and banners.
The following photographs belong to Guima San's Flickr account:
Protest against Belo Monte in São Paulo, on June 5. Posters say: "Xingu, forgive me!", "Wind power!" and "For the animal rights!". Photo by Flickr user Guima-san, shared under Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Protest in São Paulo, on June 5. Posters read: "Don't support this crime!!!" and "Out of here, Beautiful Monster" (Belo Monstro, playing with Belo Monte). Photo by Flickr user Guima-san, shared under Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Protest in São Paulo, on June 5. The banner reads "Free Xingu". Photo by Flickr user Guima-san, shared under Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Critics of the project promise more mobilizations. On June 16, advocacy  groups working with the Xingu River Basin communities, in Pará state  of the Amazon forest, once again appealed to the international level. They filed a petition with complaints against [pt] human rights perpetrated by the Brazilian government, as it did  not conduct proper consultation of local peoples and for ignoring the  cautionary measure issued the by the InterAmerican organization in April.  Brazil may be brought before the OAS InterAmerican Court of Human Rights for judgment.
Meanwhile, families in poorer areas of Altamira likely to be flooded by Belo Monte dam have begun to search for abandoned properties [pt] to occupy on the town's outskirts, and there are already reports of police resorting to force [pt] against the occupations.
A group of Brazilians produced a short documentary film about the hydroelectric plant's impact, entitled Belo Monte: Announcement of a War. The video is an independent production released on the web one month ago, and the creators are looking for help to continue the project via crowdfunding:
BELO MONTE, ANNOUNCEMENT OF A WAR from André Vilela D'Elia on Vimeo.
“The struggle for one place becomes the struggle for all our places”, reminds Lou Gold on his blog while describing “Belo Monte, as an emblematic struggle of choices that have global consequences, flags our future.”
This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
This post was proofread by Lou Gold.

author: João Miguel Lima


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Cape Verde: A Story of Accessibility · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Daivarela, on his blog, tells [pt] the story of how a capeverdean journalist, Maria Zinha, has successfully received a diploma in Cinema and Audiovisual, despite the accessibility barriers she constantly faces in the island of Mindelo to do her job, where “stairs are the main difficulty”.


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China: Canadian expat’s reaction to the real-name registration for train ticket · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lost Laowai posts a video showing how a Canadian expat lost his temper when the train ticket office demanded him to show his passport when buying a train ticket.


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China: Leaked directives for Taiwanese Internet commentators · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Digital Times translated a leaked directive for Internet commentators to channel online public opinion in Taiwan.


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Cuba: Methodist Pastor Replaced  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“When Cuba is free, those who accommodated, appeased and apologized for the Castro regime to preserve their own standing will not be absolved”: Uncommon Sense blogs about the actions of Cuba's Methodist Bishop, who reportedly replaced one of the church's pastors, allegedly “because of his good relations with Cuban dissidents.”


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Dominican Republic: The Ubiquity of Violence · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Blogger Luijo comments [es] on how violence and crime have become a daily reality in Dominican Republic.


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Ecuador’s Growing Problem with Organized Crime · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Bloggings by Boz, explains that “Ecuador is experiencing more violent and organized crime because of an increase in drug trafficking”, and points out: “The most recent surveys I saw in Ecuador showed that crime is becoming a political liability for President Correa.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Egypt: Sawiris and the Niqabi Minnie Mouse · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.
Egyptian Christian business tycoon, and recent politician, Naguib Sawiris, posted a cartoon on his Twitter account showing Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie Mouse in Niqab, and commented on it saying: “Micky and Minnie after…”
He received lots of comments later from people who didn't accept what they see as mockery of the Islamic religion.
@shaimaahijazi: Naguib Sawiris, you don't deserve that I waste my precious holy time to reply for your non-sense!
Other users added that besides it being offending, it's not a smart move from a politician as he will loose people's respect and support.
@alan_1254: This isn't smart, and quiet offending. I don't like that. You're losing a lot of people's respect
Some weren't really sure if it was offensive or not.
@Canuckpharaoh: Tweeps are furious about the pic that #Sawiris just shared. What do you think #Egypt, funny or offensive?
Lamia Moussa, on the other hand, saw people's reaction as some sort of double standard.
@LamiaMoussa: Don't you see the hypocrisy? Claiming you're all for freedom & tolerance (and aba7a [profanity]), while you attack MB [Muslim Brotherhood], Salafis & Sawiris?
Dina and Abou Eita added that we have to differentiate when such kind of jokes come from ordinary people, and when they come from public figures, especially when they are making fun of other people's beliefs.
@DinaNasser: You're accusing him cuz he's @NaguibSawiris bs lw kan wa7d tany el2al kda kan 3ady!!El pic di muslims 7atoha aktr mn christians
@Abou_Eita: @nadaskandar @NaguibSawiris Dr. Nada. We all saw it before. But coming from Mr. Sawiris himself -a public figure- mas2ala Tania [different issue]
Egyptian blogger Traveller Within compared the reactions of today's Muslims to the incident, to that of Prophet Muhammad towards similar incidents centuries ago.
A non-believer would put trash on Prophet Muhammad's doorstep every morning; the Prophet would just push it aside and go on his way.
One morning, there was no trash to be found; after inquiry, the Prophet was informed that the man was gravely ill..
So he went to visit him and wish him a speedy recovery.
This is how the Salaf – the early Muslims – would behave when they were insulted. Those early Muslims would be ashamed of today's “Salafis”, who claim to be following in the early Muslims’ footsteps
Sawiris was forced later on to apologize, and he removed the cartoon:
@NaguibSawiris: I apologise for any who don't take this as a joke , I just thought it was a funny picture no disrespect meant! Assef!! (Sorry)
This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

author: Tarek Amr


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El Salvador: Food Security, a Historical and Ongoing Struggle · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Voices From El Salvador has posted a two part post on “El Salvador's ongoing struggle with food security.” Part 1 provides a historical background, as well a review of current challenges; Part 2 looks at how climate change is affecting food security.


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Haiti: Helping to Stop Human Trafficking  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Stanley Lucas blogs about how the effects of 2010's earthquake have affected Haiti's “significant child trafficking problem” and offers a few suggestions to “guide government officials and organizations working on anti-trafficking initiatives.”


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Hijablogging: “Hijab Undecided” · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

The topics discussed and debated in the “hijablogosphere” are always wide-ranging, but a succession of recent blog posts delve into one particularly tricky topic: what happens when a woman decides to take off her hijab.
First, a post in late May from Egyptian blogger Nadia Elawady caused a stir in the blogosphere and collected hundreds of comments.  In the post, Nadia tells us about her “dirty little secret”:
I experimented last week. I took off my hijab – the headscarf many Muslim women wear to cover their hair.
I have been wearing a headscarf when I leave the privacy of my home for 25 years, since I was 17. That’s a long long time in human years.
I took my hijab off during a recent trip to Europe. I wanted to know what it would feel like. I wanted to know how people’s perceptions of me would change and how my perception of myself would change.
Woman in desert near Sharm el Sheik, Egypt. Image by Flickr user DavidDennisPhotos.com (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Nadia goes on to tell readers about why she made her decision and how it felt, describing in succinct prose the process that led her to it.  She concludes:
I’m back home in Cairo, wearing my hijab. I don’t feel regret for having experimented. And I don’t currently feel like I want to permanently take off my hijab. There are a few reasons I feel that way. I don’t expect people’s reactions to me taking off the hijab in Egypt – people I know – to be positive or supportive or we-could-care-less. There would be lots of drama involved and I don’t know that I’m up for that. There’s also a part of me that still feels that the hijab might be obligatory. Maybe God really does want me to cover up from head to toe. I still need to figure that one out.
More recently, Fatma Emam also in Cairo, wrote about her recent to remove her hijab permanently.  In discussing how she came to such a decision, Fatma explains:
I felt I was imprisoned in a narrow vision, which saw the world, power relations,  modesty and women agency is a very parochial way, I felt that I need to read other visions, by that time I never thought my theoretical beliefs will lead to me to any  personal decisions,  it was for me a theoretical battle to prove that there are diversity in the Islamic paradigm .
Shani Pathan understands their feelings better than most.  In a post entitled “Hijab Undecided: Keep it On… Take it Off… Keep it On…” she explains how she put on then removed hijab after just a month.  Shani then discusses what she sees as disconnect between the act of wearing hijab and the broader concept of modesty:
Before even considering wearing a Hijab think twice about it, although it’s obligatory to dress modestly and also a sunnah of the Prophet SAW. Can you really represent the Hijab correctly? Will you be able to change your ways and wear it for the right reasons.
There’s no point in wearing the Hijab just to cover your head if you can’t behave like a modest woman. I may not represent the whole religious side of things correctly but what I do know is I can walk proudly on the road being modest as well as not tarnishing the value of the Hijab.

author: Jillian C. York


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India: Unique ID System To Verify Twitter And Facebook Accounts · Global Voices
Rezwan

Anupam Saxena at Media Nama informs that Aadhar, the Unique ID Authority of India will keep API calls to its databases free and it can be used to verify online user accounts like Twitter and Facebook accounts among other things.


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Iran: Greens, Democratization and the Aging Demon · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Two years after the protest movement erupted in Iran, the Internet plays not only a vital role for circulating information, but also in stimulating internal democratization within opposition movements through checks and balances.
It appears that the biggest demon facing dissenters in Iran is not filtering, but aging and a lack of creativity.
Sensitivity to online reactions
There are numerous examples of opposition leaders being challenged and confronted via the Internet, and then offering corrections or revisions to their public positions.
A few weeks before the 2009 Iranian election, former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, appealed for national reconciliation before an audience of the Iran-Iraq War veterans. He invited citizens and the Supreme Leader to forgive each other, and this provoked a strong reaction on the Internet, from both friends and foes.
Immediately, a Facebook page was launched with the ironic title “Public apology from the Leader [Ayatollah Khomeini]” and a wave of criticism against Khatami’s declaration flooded the page.
He eventually met demands to revise his statement on the occasion of the election in June. He retracted his reconciliation bid and instead urged for people's rights to be recognized.
These types of retreats are not uncommon among reformists.
In a June 2010, television interview about the Green Movement’s positions on Israel and Palestine, influential reformist cleric, Mohsen Kadivar, implied that protesters supported the regime's stance on Gaza and Lebanon, stating that the protesters had chanted both “Gaza and Lebanon!” and “Sacrifice my life for Iran!”
A wave of online videos challenged that notion by showing that the protesters had actually said the opposite: “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I sacrifice my life only for Iran!” Kadivar responded to claims he was lying, by quickly retreating from his position saying that of course, some youth chanted such slogans; but that he does not approve of them.
“Neither Gaza nor Lebanon” eventually found an echo among Syrian protesters, who chanted “Neither Iran nor Hezbollah” in a similar way.
Aging demons
The bitter reality is that while the protest movement used social networking and citizen media in a significant way in 2009 during the hot days of protest, at present, Iranian cyber activists are simply recycling the same virtual environment without any innovation.
For the past few years, Iranian cyber activists have used Western sites such as Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, and other blogging tools with enthusiasm and intelligence. They have also created their own platforms such as Balatarin, which is reminiscent of Digg, and Gooya, which predates blogging and was born as a kind of political yellow pages, expanding into news gathering and political discussions.
What have we invented or imitated successfully since the 2009 days of protest that has attracted the gaze of the world and the media? Nothing.
I think that not only does our Internet interaction repeat itself, but the whole movement has lost the creativity of its early days on the Internet. Looking at the past few days’ tips on the net is like revisiting 2009: Write slogans on bank notes; chant ‘Allaho Akbar’ on the rooftops.
One of the reasons for this could be the mass arrest of many of Iranian activists during the last two years.
The brain drain
Another problem is that the cyber world is a kind of fragmented planet that needs a kind of glue to put the cyber-activists and the geeks back together. The glue can be real or virtual, but should be done by Iranians for Iranians.
Fairytale?  Maybe. But hope can go beyond our boundaries. It is why Greens remember the second anniversary despite all the pain.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Kazakhstan: A journalist strips naked for the truth · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Tomyris reviews the blogosphere's reactions to the new project of Guljan Yergaliyeva, prominent opposition journalist and hard-hitting critic of the authorities, as she is stripping in a promo video on YouTube.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: HIV-positive prisoners demanding respect · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Avicenna reports that a group of HIV-positive prisoners from High Security Prison in Kazakhstan are complaining about discriminatively poor food provision and medical care.


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Kyrgyzstan: Political news website banned · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Abulfazal reports that the Kyrgyz parliament passed a bill that bans the Ferghana Information Agency’s web site (better known as Ferghana.ru) in Kyrgyzstan for “subjective coverage of the June 2010 clashes” in Southern Kyrgyzstan.


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Kyrgyzstan: Shoring Up the Southern Border · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Christya Riedel writes that the number of deadly cross border shootings has escalated on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, making Kyrgyzstan reinforce its southern borders in order to improve security.


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Lebanon: Bloggers Fight Negative ‘Looks Like Beirut’ Jibe · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

We've all heard it before. Perhaps at the glance of an untidy bedroom, or even on a television sitcom, the ‘looks like Beirut’ jibe has widely become a common phrase to denote a chaotic mess.
Once dubbed the ‘Paris of the Middle East’, Beirut received its warzone reputation as a result of the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War that effectively turned the city to rubble.
Two decades later, and despite the complete restoration of downtown Beirut, the phrase still persists in certain international corners, to the frustration of some Lebanese and Beirutis.
Cafes in downtown Beirut. Photo credit: Wikipedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Thus, a Twitter and blogger stir was caused last week when a headline in Australia's The Age newspaper invoked the infamous phrase.
Titled “Suburban street like ‘downtown Beirut’ after shooting, firebombing”, the article refers to a criminal shooting allegedly involving Lebanese Australian gangs. The ‘downtown Beirut’ reference was quoted by a witness and local resident, and sensationally deployed by The Age as the story's headline.
The headline raised the ire of several on Twitter:
@LebAgg: There are no longer shootings & bombings in #Beirut, @LebanonNewsURS shows the real DT Beirut :) http://bit.ly/j5W3kN
@khaladk: Suburban #street like ‘downtown #Beirut’ after #shooting, #firebombing: http://t.co/0cr5ghR Welcome to #Melbourne! #WTF #Lebanon
@matthewteller: @justimage @antissa Headlines & standfirsts notoriously prone to be disconnected from articles. Happens all time. This egregious example.
@justimage: @matthewteller @antissa true but do editors always add misleading quotes to headlines? it's more offensive given Au's massive Leb population
It also caught the attention of Lebanese blogger and Beirut resident Jad Aoun, who has taken it upon himself to track global media negatively referencing the ‘looks like Beirut’ phrase.
As a means to correct the false and outdated association of Beirut with war, Aoun launched the Look Like Beirut Awards, whereby a certificate is posted to the individual who has used the phrase.
Aoun has kept count of the amount of ‘looks like Beirut’ jibes he has encountered:
Have a look through the archive and see for yourself how many people compare Beirut to destruction.  Over 120 recent uses since January 2009, and still counting!
There was no chance The Age's use of the phrase was going to be missed by Aoun, who awarded a Looks Like Beirut certificate to both the witness – only known as Andrew – and the journalist behind the story, Paul Millar:
So since Andrew has no last name and there are no further details on him, I will be sending him his Looks Like Beirut certificate via the journalist Paul Millar. I’ll also be including an additional  certificate for Paul in recognition for that spectacular title for his  article.
Aoun went on to post an email exchange he had with The Age journalist Paul Millar regarding the derogatory reference to Beirut.
Dear Paul,
Thank you for shedding light on what “downtown Beirut” looks like – we Lebanese bloggers have found your latest article very fascinating. So much so that I’ve decided to (snail) mail youa “Looks Like Beirut” Certificate for your hard-work and dedication in keeping the out-dated cliche  “looks like Beirut” alive. I understand that the phrase was used by  Andrew Anonymous but the fact that you had to title your report with it  speaks magnitudes to your dedication to the phrase.
I would appreciate it if you can also pass on Andrew’s  certificate to him as well since he decided to remain in the shadows. In  the event you are interested to see what downtown Beirut currently  looks like, I have some photos available on my blog.
You should receive both certificates by mail soon.
Hi, as I said to your friend, reporters do not put headlines on stories. Hope this clarifies your misunderstanding.
Social media campaigns have previously proven effective in changing one's perception. Aoun's efforts to educate those unaware of Beirut's transformation has won the applause of the Lebanese blogger community tired of the war-like connotations. Aoun remains prepared to send as many Look Like Beirut certificates as necessary. Paul Millar should be receiving his in the coming days.

author: Antoun Issa


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Libya: Photographs from Rich, Vibrant and Historic Times · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.
British-Libyan surgeon and humanitarian who writes under the pen name Amal Al-Leebi went nostalgic and published some old pictures from previous visits to Libya on his Twitter account, @libyansrevolt, to show the Libya he remembers.
@libyansrevolt: Just looking back at some old #Libya pics from previous visits…
Marcus Aurelius arch by night in Tripoli old city. Photo by @libyansrevolt.
He began with photographs of the coastal city of Tripoli – photos showing the city markets where vegetable vendors are located by roadsides, brass workers in the alleys or “Zangas” of the old city, and even those who sell ostrich eggs.
In addition, he shares other photos which show the historic features of the city, such as the Ottoman castle Al-Saraaya Al-Hamra (the Red Castle) which is located Tripoli old city, and hosts a national museum of Roman architecture, mosaics and sculptures.
Other photos showed Gaddafi's slogan and banners all over the city, Martyrs Square, which Gaddafi changed its name later to Green Square.
Ousban, a famous Libyan dish similar to spicy haggis. Photo by @libyansrevolt.
He then goes to Leptis Magna, which was a prominent city of the Roman Empire, and its ruins are located in Al Khums, 130 km east of Tripoli, on the coast where the Wadi Lebda meets the sea. He took many photos of the ruins there:
The Colosseum of Leptis Magna Libda, a common landmark in many Mediterranean cities. Photo by @libyansrevolt.
Leptis Magna is one of UNESCO World Heritage sites, and this is what made Amal recommend anyone to pay it a visit if they ever travel to Libya, and he also added: “If any of this place is damaged whoever is responsible should pay”.
Antique Mosque – Dates back to the year 668 AD. Photo by @libyansrevolt.
He then added photos of his uncle's farm, the Libyan desert with its sand dunes, palm trees, dams and thousands of years old clay cities.
GaberOun oasis in the middle of the Libyan desert. The water is saltier than the Dead Sea! You just float! Photo by @libyansrevolt.
Qasr Elhaj, an ancient grain granary from the inside in Jebel Nafusa. Photo by @libyansrevolt.
Finally, he was also taken by a local to a mountain where he photographed an ancient cave art that dates back to 5,000 ~ 10,000BC. He added that there are many of cave paintings from ancient times, especially in Acacus mountains, however, unfortunately, some have been damaged with graffiti.
This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.


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Michael Sandel in China · Global Voices
Andy Yee

On the afternoon of 18 May, 2011, a session of an undergraduate course “Critical Thinking and Moral Reasoning” took  place at Tsinghua University, one of China’s elite universities. The  session featured Professor Michael Sandel from Harvard University, who  led a heated discussion with Chinese students on the principles of morality, virtue and justice.
The  course is offered by Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management  (SEM). It is modelled on Sandel’s course “Justice” at Harvard, one of  the most highly attended in Harvard’s history. In the past two decades,  over 15,000 students have attended the course to explore questions of  justice, morality, democracy and citizenship. It is the first Harvard  course to be made available online for students through the Harvard  Extension School. An abridged 12-episode series is also available on the  Justice with Michael Sandel website, with an accompanying book Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, a New York Times bestseller.
Michael Sandel at TED 2010. Image by Flickr user redmaxwell (CC BY-NC 2.0).
In fact, Sandel is finding a huge audience not only in the West, but also in Asia. As Thomas Friedman reported in The New York Times,  Sandel is a ‘rock star’ in China, Japan and South Korea. Millions have  watched his lectures online and bought his books. Tickets for his  lectures are highly sought after. Dean Qian Yingyi of Tsinghua’s SEM  explained that Sandel’s method of teaching justice is “both refreshing  and relevant in the context of China,” because “the philosophic thinking  among the Chinese is mostly instrumentalist and materialistic,” and  also because of “the contemporary obsession on economic development in  China.”
On the occassion of Sandel’s visit to China, Dai Zhiyong, editor of the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolitan Weekend, together with Liu Yu from Tsinghua University and Zhou Lian from the People’s University of China, conducted an interview with Sandel. They have covered topics as vast as virtue, ethics,  citizenship, freedom, Confucianism and markets. These topics have been  covered in depth by Sandel’s writings, but how do they relate to  contemporary China? Below are translated exerpts from the interview.
The debate on ‘universal values’
刘 瑜:您可能已经听说,在中国,现在有一个关  于“普适价值”的激烈争论。支持这个概念的人主张在中国引入更多自由和民主的因素,但反对这个概念的人认为它是西方文化霸权主义的外衣,那么,您怎么看待  这个问题?您觉得存在超越文化和国家的“普适价值”吗?比如,在您看来,存在普遍的人权吗?
桑 德尔:因为你刚才说到这场辩论的政治意义重  大,所以我们应该首先弄清楚“普适价值”这个词的精确含义是什么。我想说两点,或者说存在两个问题,一个是哲学上的“普适主义”和“相对主义”。正义和道   德是否仅仅意味着某时某地碰巧流行的习俗?对这个问题,我的回答是:不是,正义和道德不仅仅是恰好在某时某处盛行的习俗。在这个意义上,我不是一个相对主  义者。
但在“普适价值”的辩论中有另外一个问题,那就是,我们如何找到超越特定时空的正义和道德原则?对这个问题,可以有不同的回答。有史以来,很多哲学家都在辩论如何找到超越“习俗”的正义和道德原则。
我觉得,如果把价值的普适性假定为把某一个地区的政治系统,强加给其他国家,那是一个错误,而且这个错误会引起人们对“普适价值”这个基本概念的反感。如果这种情况发生,那将是一个损失。
Rousseau and Tocqueville: two republicanisms
周濂:您在书中提到两种共和主义,一种是卢梭式的,一种是托克维尔式的。
桑 德尔:对,我倾向于托克维尔式的,因为卢梭 式的共和主义存在向单一“主权意志”靠近的风险,而那正是我们之前谈到的危险。我之所以偏好托克维尔,是因为他一方面强调自治和分享,另一方面也强调公民 德性和品格的培养,而且他强调社群的丰富与多样。这是我对托克维尔的共和主义的理解。很多自由主义者反对对公民德性和品格的培养,因为他们认为这妨碍了个 体选择自己偏好的德性和品格。这是为什么我坚持区分两种自由主义。
我 想补充一点,在我与自由主义者的这场辩论 中,一个关键的分歧就是培养公民德性和品格的重要性。我认为对于一个好的社会,这是必不可少的。在一个多元的社会里,公民教育、共同善非常重要,而很多自 由主义者对此持怀疑和警觉的态度。这是西方自由主义内部的一场辩论。我个人倾向于反对那种“过度的个人主义”意义上的自由主义,而同情那种强调公民德性和 共同善的观念传统。但我不希望自己的观念被用来为单一的、排他的“主权意志”辩护,这与我的多元主义观念是不相符的。
Debating Liberalism: East vs West
刘瑜:我想提一个与之相关的问题。刚才您谈到自由主义与共和主义的区分。在您的书中,您则强调了自由主义、功利主义、社群主义等不同的正义观念。因为您强调它们的不同之处,那么,我想问的是,在这些不同之外,它们是否存在相同之处?它们是否都假定了一定的底线自由?
桑 德尔:它们都关切一定的自由,但它们对自由 的看法不同。最大的不同在于,有人将自由理解为纯粹的个人选择,而有人则将自由理解为最大程度地促进人们实现自己的潜能。后者是共和主义的、托克维尔的、 亚里斯多德的传统,在他们看来,我们的自由并不仅仅是在市场中进行选择的自由；只有当我们能够参与到那种帮助我们实现潜能的公共生活时,我们才是自由的。 这是我所支持的自由观。自由放任主义者和功利主义者则强调“选择的自由”,我称之为“消费者式的自由”,而这种自由观在我看来,忽略了我们作为人类去追求 实现潜能的能力。
刘 瑜:我提这个问题的原因是,在西方社会,今 天你们的辩论是相对技术化的,比如,“平权行动”法案是否合理?“福利国家”的尺度何在?你们不再辩论人们是否应该拥有基本的言论自由。但在另一些国家, 人们对这种基本自由的价值还存在争议。在这个前提下,找到不同正义理论的相通之处可能就比强调它们的不同更重要了。
桑 德尔:我知道你的意思,我同意同一个辩论在 不同的国家可能有不同的内涵。在我们的国家被视为根本对立的辩论,在另一个国家可能会被视为同一个立场里的小分歧而已。从远处看别国的政治和哲学辩论,经 常会有这种感受。我觉得能在另一个背景下———比如在中国———和你们这样的学者或者中国学生讨论我的理论,是件非常有趣的事情。也许我的理论对于理解思 考中国有点小小的帮助,但是显然,通过了解你们的辩论框架,我能学到的比能教导的要多。这是一个学习的过程。
Aristotle and Confucius: a comparison
周濂:四年前,我在清华听过一个您的讲座。在那个讲座中,您提到了儒家文化中的“亲亲相隐”观念。在您看来,在今天的中国,儒家传统能够有什么样的功能?儒家传统在中国会有像亚里斯多德传统在西方那样的生命力吗?
桑 德尔:我希望我能够对儒家传统所知更多,但  我并不了解,所以我不够格回答这个问题。不过,据我所知,儒家传统有关于“德性政治”的丰富洞见。我的书是在西方的亚里斯多德传统中倡导德性伦理,我不能   判断现代中国需要什么样的德性,但我的确认为,西方社会中复兴亚里斯多德德性伦理的努力,和中国社会中某些学者企图复兴儒家德性伦理的努力,两者之间有种   有趣的关联。对他们的相似和不同之处,我很有兴趣进一步了解。为实现这一点,途径之一就是研究西方亚里斯多德传统的学者和研究儒家传统的学者一起阅读彼此  的一些理论经典,共同讨论,相互学习。
The market and ethics
周濂:1998年,你在一次演讲中讨论了“钱不能买到什么”这个问题以及市场的局限性。您可能已经注意到,中国现在是一个高度商业化的社会,您对这种状况有什么建议吗?
桑 德尔:我的建议和我对美国社会的建议一样,  因为美国也是一个高度商业化和市场化的社会。我的看法是,市场对于组织生产、制造繁荣是一个宝贵的工具,在中国,过去几十年市场也非常有效地促进了社会繁   荣,但市场不是生活的全部,因为存在着“市场价值”将“非市场价值”挤出我们的视野的危险,这些“非市场价值”包括正义、公正、平等、社区感以及人与人之   间的相互责任感。美国存在这种危险,欧洲有些人也担心这种危险,在中国,当我得知市场的势头时,我也有同样的担忧。所以我的建议是,市场是促进繁荣、组织  创造性生产的工具,而且是宝贵的工具,但它不是目的,一些更重要的、道德的目标不应该被遗失或者遗忘。事实上我现在正在写的书,书名就叫《钱不能买到什  么:市场的道德局限》。

author: Andy Yee


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North Korea’s Fragility in the Face of the Rainy Season  · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Open Radio for North Korea, a Seoul-based radio station founded and runs by North Korean defectors, reported that North Korean citizens have been mobilized to bolster constructions as rainy season begins. Poorly constructed embankments and dams often flooded during heavy downpour.


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Puerto Rico: Fortuño Campaign vs. Al Jazeera Documentary · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Technology and news blog Qiibo [es] launches an interesting debate [es] by comparing a video of governor Luis Fortuño's 2012 campaign and Al Jazeera's Fault Lines documentary “Puerto Rico: The Fiscal Experiment.”

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Russia: ‘Nerds On Yachts’ Photo Session · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Talented photoblogger Tanya Zommer publishes [ru] another photo session with ‘nerds,’ this time with Mediterranean scenery.


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Russia: New Research Shows Almost No Gender Difference in Web Search Patterns · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

‘Search activity of men and women is almost the same,’ says [ru] the new research of web search behavior by Yandex. Women search online a little more, add to search queries colors and locations. Men tend to use Latin script twice more often than women. Men search mostly about IT and technology, while women are more interested in relations, kids, and job opportunities.


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Russia/Moldova: Eduard Bagirov, Internet Hooligan, Arrested in Moldova · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Bloggers discuss [ru] the 30-day arrest [ru] of Eduard Bagirov [ru], writer and a blogger close to pro-Kremlin propagandists, in Moldova. Oleg Kozyrev says [ru], Bagirov's arrest is connected with his activity as a commentator on Moldova unrest in 2009. Kommersant, however, provides [ru] the official Moldovan version – Bagirov (known for his aggressive style of writing (often with physical threats to other bloggers)) is charged with the organization of post-election protests in Chisinau.


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Senegal: Power Shortages in Dakar Lead to More Riots · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Website politicosn.com has provided real time coverage [fr] of the protests against power shortages in Dakar, Senegal, on June 28, 2011: “Ongoing demonstrations have flared up in Senegal capital, public buildings have been stormed by youth protesting against power shortages. This situation has forced authorities to call upon the army, security forces being unable to cope with the unrest.”

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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South Korea: Typhoon Opening Doors to Nature’s Revenge · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

A typhoon hit South Korea on June 25 and 26, 2011, bringing heavy downpours and gusts and signalling the start of the rainy season. At least nine people were killed and a bridge and a levee collapsed. Moreover, a leakage was reported on a landfill where livestock was buried during the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
The rainy season is from late June to early July in Korea and about two more typhoons are expected to pass the Korean peninsula. Though typhoon ‘Meari’ of June 26 has managed to disrupt few places, people have voiced concerns that this typhoon is merely a premonition of unfolding disasters in a country where several hundred landfills are perched near a river and rivers are unstable due to the government's river project.
Environmental damage
The mass killing of livestock to slow down the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) started in December 2010. A quarter of the country's cattle and numerous pigs and ducks were killed and some dumped alive, creating several hundred landfills as a result.
From the start, more than a few experts have predicted that toxic elements from the landfill may leak during the monsoon season. Indeed on June 24, landfill leachate was flooded during the torrential downpour. South Korea's progressive newspaper, Hangyoreh reported [ko] that it could contaminate nearby groundwater. Twitterer @oooiooii who heads a vegetarian community tweeted [ko]:
장맛비에 ‘구제역 침출수’ 샜다 http://durl.me/b3jzg 염려하던 일이 드디어 현실로 나타나는구나
TV writer @borabay criticized [ko] the government for not taking actual measures.
구제역 매몰지 ‘비상’ 곳곳 무방비상태. – 예견은 했으면서도 요행을 바란 것. ‘견디겠지 뭐.’ […]
Yoon Gun (@theyoongun) tweeted [ko]
구제역..생명을 우습게 다룬 댓가..그리고 저주..장마가 오니.. bit.ly/mAsIZz
To many, the image of dead animals flooding from the landfill reminds them of a zombie movie. Jun Young-hwan (@junyounghwan) tweeted [ko]:
[…]공포영화 시나리오 하나 떠올랐다 구제역으로 죽은 돼지와 소들이 장마때 갑자기 땅속에서 나와 사람들을 잡아먹기 시작하는 영화 무능력한 정부와 사람들의 갈등을 양념으로 풍자와 유머가 있으면 나름 먹힐지도?
River revenge
Collapse of one monumental bridge during the typhoon has sparked accusations about the government's ‘Four Major River Project‘. The Four Major Rivers Project which proclaims itself a multi-purpose green growth project on four major rivers is now highly unpopular among the Korean public for both financial and environmental reasons. A total of 22.2 trillion won  (near USD 17.3 billion) is officially earmarked for the project and the re-channeling or straigthening of rivers and streams has drawn intense criticism.
Image of Hoguk Bridge Collapse, By Green Korea United. Creative Commons License
The Hoguk Bridge collapsed on June 25. The bridge was the last defense line on the  Nakdong River during the Korean War. The fact that this symbol of national defense collapsed on June 25, the exact date the Korean War broke out, panicked people.
Local residents and South Korean Twitterers blamed the government for pushing the river project despite concerns and the project's excessive dredging work. According to a local report, excessive dredging on one side may have weakened the base of the bridge and heightened water pressure.
Many stressed that this incident is a man-made disaster since the the bridge had endured stronger typhoons and intense monsoons over several decades.
A poet Jun Nam-jin (@jinmadang) tweeted [ko]:
제 기억으로 교각이 붕괴된 곳은  <소>가 있어 수심이 깊은 곳입니다. 반대편엔 퇴적이 이루어지던 곳이죠. 소가 있는  부분은 물이 불어나면 유속이  빨라지죠. 그런 곳을 보강하지 않았으니 4대강사업이 얼마나 졸속으로 이루어지고 있는지 알 수 있네요.
While most Twitterers blamed the river project, some people took a more careful approach. JC Kwon (@ryu7566) who claims himself to be neither right nor left leaning, tweeted [ko]:
[…]KBS 뉴스에 의하면 4대강 공사업체가 다리의 기초를 깊게 팠다는군요.  근거있는  논리로 대처 해야지 감정적인 대응은 보기 좋지않네요[…]
A similar incident took place in a levee of the same river. Sang-ju reservoir's main levee which was left partly broken has severely collapsed on June 26. Opposition Democratic party member and active blogger Kim Jin-ae (@space) tweeted [ko] on the scene of the breakdown:
낙동강 상주보 본제방이 빙벽처럼 무너지고있습니다. . 너무 무섭습니다!  http://twitpic.com/5h2gc7
The seasonal downpour started in South Korea on June 28 after the typhoon moved to North Korea on June 27. Net users expressed concern over the safety of the impoverished North Korean people and how would they weather devastating rains and strong winds.


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Spain: Police Violence Against Peaceful Demonstrators in Barcelona · Global Voices
Pauline Ratzé

Friday, May 27, 7 pm had not yet arrived when the police raided Catalunya Square in the center of Barcelona where  the camp of “outraged” of 15 May were located. The hundreds of protesters in attendance refused to leave and the situation escalated. Many calls were made through social networks and access to the Square was quickly blocked by a growing crowd who supported the people who slept there.  Photo and video evidence of the brutalities quickly surfaced.

author: Pauline Ratzé


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Suriname: On Art  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

SRANANART'S BLOG considers the work of Marcel Pinas to start a discussion about what constitutes art.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Tajikistan: A BBC journalist arrested · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Tomyris says that Urinboy Usmonov, longtime local journalist for BBC Central Asian Service, was arrested in Tajikistan for suspicion membership in the Islamic Movement Hizb ut-Tahrir.


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Turkmenistan: The Tower of Media and Totalitarianism · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Emerson writes that a 137 million euro television tower – both state-of-the-art and hypocritical – is set to be inaugurated in October in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. neweurasia’s Emerson reports.


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Uruguay: In Cerro Chato Citizens Protest in Favor and Against the Aratirí Mining Project · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Citizens of Cerro Chato in central Uruguay are divided: over the weekend manifestations took place both in favor and against the Aratirí mining project. The blog Aire Libre [es] posts photos and audio of the protests.


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Uzbekistan: U-17 football team to go to World Cup · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mansurhon reports that Uzbekistan's Under-17 football team gets to the play-off level of the FIFA World Cup Mexico 2011, beating USA and Czech Republic.


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Video: Love Story, Short Film, Cellphone · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The winner of the Nokia Shorts 2011 film competition, Splitscreen: A Love Story was shot using a mobile phone with HD capabilities. In it we follow two parallel lives through 3 different countries: USA, France and England until they finally meet.


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Azerbaijan: Freedom of Eurovision, including for Armenians · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on news from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that it expects Azerbaijan to allow all accredited individuals and ticket holders for next year's Eurovision Song Contest in Baku unfettered entry into the country with firm guarantees for their security. The blog notes that yesterday, for example, a foreign journalist of Armenian descent was refused entry into the oil-rich former Soviet republic almost certainly because of her ethnic origin and the still unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bhutan: Are Reality Shows Real? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sogyel Tobgyel wonders whether reality shows in Bhutanese media are real.

author: Rezwan


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Cuba: Train Accident Injures 79 · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Babalu links to a story about a train crash that has injured nearly 80 people in Cuba, commenting: “The decaying infrastructure and transportation system in Cuba…continues to take a deadly toll on the Cuban people.”