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Bahrain: No Eating, No Drinking, No Smoking – And No Work? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

In the Bahraini blogosphere this week we hear from a blogger who wants a job, and a blogger who wishes he didn’t have a job. There's also a student entering her final year, unemployed teachers, and an MP who thinks Muslims shouldn't have to work during Ramadan. One blogger reveals that there are fifteen ways to spell his name. And a ‘football widow’ tells her story!
Work ethic?
Last week we had a round-up of posts about Ramadan, some positive and some negative. This week a Bahraini MP announced that Ramadan is not a month for working. Mahmood tells us the story:
And [MP Mohammed Khalid] wants to ensure that those who do want to work during the Holy Month don’t get in the way. He will now issue a parliamentary wish backed by those guardians of Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Al-Menbar political bloc, to restrict work hours during Ramadhan to four whole hours! – but only to Muslims. Non-Muslims be damned and you should be grateful that you actually run our country for us throughout the year and in Ramadhan in particular. What do you have to complain about?
Employment ethics
Mohammed AlMaskati is also wondering about the large number of foreigners employed in Bahrain:
We have grown used to cheap labor, to pay BD40 for a live in housemaid for a month’s full work (just around $3.50 a day), the same for the worker at the cold store (local grocery store) or the shop attendant. But, how “cheap” is exactly cheap labor?
During the past 30 years the number of expatriates in Bahrain doubled 6.44 times, this surge of immigrants puts a significant pressure on the state’s resources because of the government’s support for public utilities that is in addition total international remittances that raised from 162 million Dinars in 1994 to 484 million Dinars in 2001. … 484 Million Dinars worth of remittances to outside countries, could you just imagine how much good this could do to our economy if it was just cycled around? How many businesses will strive or how many families would benefit? Can you imagine how much electricity, water and basic resources those expats and free visa workers require everyday? Could you imagine the pressure this means to our limited water and electricity networks? Our “governmentally supported” already crippled health system? Our already overloaded roads? Sewage, security, transportation and even governmentally backed food resources? … Businesses doesn’t want to pay a decent wage. Consumers don’t want expensive produce. Locals still refuse to work in the lower level of the work ladders.
Employment search
Many Bahrainis are having a hard time finding a job. Tito84 has just returned to Bahrain after finishing his degree in Britain, and has discovered that getting work is not as easy as he thought it would be:
Prior to my arrival here, I had this perception that job hunting in Bahrain at many firms is a piece of cake and not as complex as the British system of recruitment where a candidate had to go through many stages in order to fill the vacancy. In fact, this is true because many firms and entities in Bahrain only require you to attend an interview where little and simple questions are asked or may be to do a simple test that hardly tests your true knowledge.
Although he was offered some jobs, they were all with extremely low salaries:
I was thinking with such qualifications, employers would at least offer suitable positions and generous income. I was surprised how most (if not all) would not offer me any positions other than those lowly paid ones. It is not that I consider those jobs as “insignificant”, but I was thinking that people with less knowledge can handle those kind of jobs, and then what is the point of me being away for more than 5 years trying to obtain best education as possible, then come back to be offered positions which has no or little future career development?
Tito84 has some advice for jobseekers, which you can read here.
Yagoob tells us about the complicated situation for those seeking teaching jobs:
The summer period is when the mass employment occurs and job applications are given and the applicants attend exams and interviews for teaching jobs. Male Bahraini applicants were noticeably low (I know this because the recruitment department use the classrooms that are right next to my office and see them on a daily basis for 1-2 weeks).
Now some of these Bahraini applicants are unfortunately not up to scratch either with poor knowledge in their field of study (most of the applicants are graduates from the University of Bahrain) or do badly on their interview.
Naturally if you don’t do well in either your exam or interview you won’t get hired… Simple, eh?
Not in Bahrain…
Find out why here.
Still studying
Kawthar still has a year at university before she needs to worry about finding a job – she's just entering her senior year:
Stuck in the rat race
Evil Odd has a job, but is wondering about the direction of his life:
So your life is progressing well. You have a job that pays the bills, brings food to the table, and a bit left over to do nothing with. The place you're living in is fantastic and your bed is so comfortable that you feel embarrassed when you tell people you're insomniac. You speak a couple of languages, play a musical instrument, and eat fancy meals more often than others. In your bedroom cupboard, you have a couple of degrees and a professional qualification that is on its way.
Things should be fine. You should be happy. After all, you're meant to enjoy life, aren't you? You should feel content and have some sense of satisfaction, or maybe a sense of pride that you've done nothing but study and work over the past seven years of your life. But nothing about that impresses you.
It feels like nothing is fine. Your old usual social self is becoming more introverted by the day. No one is funny, interesting, or worth having a conversation with. People get on your nerves nine times out of ten, and rather than trying you have decided to completely give up on them. … And this is what you have come to. Your old multi-dimensional self is turning into a one dimensional being with no other purpose but to work, make money, and buy things. It bothers you that you have succumbed to what you despised only a few years ago. You would like to bring the old you back, but it just doesn't seem like you have enough time. The damage is already done, and this new you, is someone that you will have to deal with from now on.
Spell check
Let's turn to Yagoob – though in fact that may not be the way to spell his name:
My name has been bastardized for most of my 23 tender years and here’s a list just to give an idea:
Yaqoob
Yaqub
Yacub
Yakob
Yakoob
Yakoub
Yocoup (this was on my university ID card for three years and I still receive alumni letters from the uni under this name)
Yacup
Yacoob
Yakup
Yagoob (but this one is acceptable hence the name of this blog is ~Yagoob’s Dome~)
Yayoob
Yaboob (don’t even start!)
Yocoob
Yocoub
Phew! Even Shakespeare didn’t spell his name that many ways!
A match made in heaven?
We end this week with a sad tale from a ‘football widow‘, Seroo:
…I think I can say I understand sports.
Growing up, I never interfered with football games on TV or the strange language of baseball players between my brothers. I got it – sports are important to men and that's just the way it is. It never bothered me, I never thought of it. When I went to college, I even became an avid football supporter – I became the girl who jumped on her chair and screamed in the face of a rival team's supporter when my team won an important game. … Towards the end of my college years, I met this guy and I kinda liked him. He was pretty cool; he was smart, funny, down to earth, a bit of a geek, listened to some cool indie music. He was also a crazy sports fan and I thought that was pretty cool too. I actually thought it was important to like a guy who liked sports, because it gave him something to feel passionately about. Not so cool that he felt so passionately about my team's rival football team, but I pushed that aside. He had other good qualities in him. So I didn't think too much of it.
Soon enough, I started dating this guy. The first week of our official courting we spent watching Euro 2004. Our first summer was spent explaining the rules of the NFL and rugby. The rest of our courtship was filled with endless football games, international competitions and even lazy days watching darts. I didn't really mind, I was pretty easy going about it. I toned down my hooligan ways and let him explain things to me I pretended I didn’t know already. It was sweet.
However, then the couple got engaged, and Seroo started seeing the sports addiction in another light:
I thought I got it, I thought I understood sports. I mean, we even spent that summer watching the Ashes, remember? Wasn’t it nice? Couldn’t it have just ended there? I know that would have been asking for too much because I had to face reality: This was it, my fiancé is a sports lunatic. Fiancé has even asked that our wedding date does not clash with any major sporting events. And when I mockingly asked what game could be more important than our wedding day I should have known what would happen next: Fiancé’s silent blinking face stared at me as in his head he named all the major sporting events which he could not, under any circumstances, not even his wedding day, miss watching live.
Now that's obsession! Poor Seroo… She finishes her post with advice for other women suffering in the same way.
More from Bahrain next week…

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Barbados: “Bim” Rocks!  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Notes From The Margin discovers an ode to Barbados via a YouTube video: “Maybe someone should tell the tourist board about this one!”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Barbados: Peace Be Unto You  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cheese-on-bread! joins her fellow Barbadians in celebrating International Peace Day.


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Cambodia: Blogging from Siem Reap · Global Voices
Tharum Bun

Seam Reap, The small charming gateway town to the world famous heritage site of Angkor temples has a lot to offer – colonial and Chinese style architecture,  Apsara dance performances, the fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake. As the number of tourists flocking in to visit ancient Angkor Wat grows every year, the tourist hub is also getting more exposed to outside influences. In this city a young fellow finds himself embarking on a life journey that is both bumpy and rewarding.
Last year, Vireak began a weblog called ‘A Cambodian blog by a Khmer guy from Siem Reap!‘. In his very first post titles -‘Got away with crimes!,’ Vireak described how he encountered his old schoolmates and how he failed to recall their names. Vireak admitted that it is a crime against humanity. A confrontation happened at a wedding ceremony, a childhood friend first smiled at Vireak and told him that he has changed a lot. Vireak, however, couldn't recollect his name.
Like many young Cambodians, Vireak left his home town Siem Reap to look for better education in the largest and capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. He studied Common Engineering at Institut de Technologie du Cambodge in Phnom Penh for two years, Vireak was awarded a scholarship to continue his education in Electrical & Electronics Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
In a crowd of some hundreds of bloggers here in Cambodia, where blogging is touted as a popular activity among the young people, Vireak has his own way of express about himself and his ideas. He doesn't see himself as a blogger, though he enjoys receiving comments from his friends and readers who regularly visit the weblog.
Here is my email interview with Vireak. He talked to me about his motivations for starting his blog and what he often writes about.
Q: Why do you have a blog?
– I thought it was cool. I started out with a personal flash non-interactive site back in 2003. Back then I found flash fascinating; so I thought “let's see how far I can go”. But I lost interest in flash about a year or so later. Then I saw what I could do with WordPress, I thought of giving another go. But it's not until 2006 when I finally got the right time and frame of mind to do so. Thus Vireak.net was born.
Q: What do you usually write about?
– I'm very selective of what I'm writing. I usually write about somethings that readers especially Khmer youth can relate to, somethings that are timeless without an expiry date tagged to them, where people can still find relevant without saying “hey, this thing is old crap”. So most of things I write are non-event based. You won't get to read what am I doing or where am I going over the weekend; you're more likely be reading what I've got in my head while digging my nose.
Q: For a couple of reasons, you don't consider yourself as a blogger. But what do you see yourself in the next several years when more Cambodians find blogging as a norm in their Internet activities?
– To be honest, I don't really care whether blogging will be a norm in Cambodia or not. I don't see myself writing online for too long.
Q: Do you encourage your friends to start blogging and/or keep blogging?
– Not really. It's not like I'll make their lives happier if I ask them to come online and start blogging or keep blogging. I'm not a believer in online life. To me, the happiest form of life exists off line.
Q: You hope that, with blog, you can maintain contact with friends and to make some new ones. How many new friends have you made so far? Can you pick one story as an example?
– I got to know quite a few although never get to see any of them yet. Can't pick a story and elaborate on that…:-p
Q: Lots of people say blogging is taking off in Cambodia. Do you think so?
– In one of early post of 2007 http://www.vireak.net/2007/01/05/2007-predictions/, I made a bold prediction that blogging bubble in Cambodia will burst in 2007. Like many things that become popular, it will soon fade off. I'll stick with my prediction. I don't know. My instinct told me so.
Q: What's your thought on blogging for Cambodians?
– It's like a khmer pop music to the ears. You get to like when it first comes out. Before long it gets old.
Q: Last May you began publishing your first episode of a fictional romantic story, ‘Operation Heart Hunter’. Can you tell our readers about it?
– What it comes to story involving romance and emotions, you can't just make it gel without putting your heart into it. So it wouldn't feel right if I myself am not a character of the story. That's why. Then again, I got asked  whether the story is true…Sorry, can't tell you that.
Q: As an Arsenal fan here in Cambodia, what do you do to support the Gunners?
– Let's talk about Cesc baby
Let's talk about Van-Per-sie
Let's talk about Theo Walcott, Ade-bayor, Rosicky
Let's talk about Cesc
(to the tune of “Let's talk about Sex”)

author: Tharum Bun


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China: Boboing · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yee introduces a Chinese version of boing boing called boboing. It's news are translated from boing boing.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Open Coal Mine · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tiger temple writes a report on the condition of an open coal mine in Shanbei (zh). The whole landscape has turned upside down because of the mining. The report is in Chinese, but there are a number of photos in the post.


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China: Oversea Students · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kaie looks at the statistic of Harvard students and finds out that Chinese is the biggest community in the University. And among the Chinese students, a majority comes from Mainland China and 60% of them are taking PhD.


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Confronting Euro-American media biases against Africa · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

The origin of humankind has been debated heavily over the years. However, there is a new twist to this development following the finding in  that suggests that  these species of homo sapiens and homo habilis may have co-existed over a 500,000 year overlap.  The earliest  fossils found in East Africa have led most scientists  to assert that  is the ancestral home of  every single human being alive today on planet Earth.
While this is news to celebrate, the Malawian blogger on africa-aphukira (African Rebirth) chronicles serious biases by Euro-American media and scholars against Africa in not crediting the recent archeological finding to a Kenyan, Fredrick Manthi, who, in fact, is Senior Research Scientist, Palaeontology  Department, National Museums of Kenya, and has a PhD in the field. The author Steven Sharra argues that Africa should be given its due credit just like Dr Manthi whose work has not been duly credited:
When the news broke out in August of this year that new archaeological research in Kenya urged huge reversals in the conventional wisdom about the theory of evolution, the chasm in the reporting between the African media and the Euro-American one was astoundingly wide. Almost all of the media in the United States and in Britain who wrote about the news attributed the finding to Maeve Leakey and other Euro-American scientists. The African newspapers, on the other hand, attributed the discovery to Kenyan palaeontologist Dr Fredrick Kyalo Manthi. One writer, writing in the Daily Nation of Kenya, pointed out the discrepancy, while everyone else just reported on the finding and its hard facts.
He continues:
The question for us now becomes how to move beyond the  cliché that describes the blatant anti-Africa biases not only in the  EuroAmerican media, but also in the entire knowledge enterprise. Africa and  Africans continue to occupy a liminal, marginal space in the Euro-American  imaginary, and the media representations of the Kenya fossils story  make that glaringly clear. What is perhaps not as easy to articulate, however,  are the effects this travesty has on the image of the continent, its people,  their histories and possible futures. The story of Dr Kyalo Manthi and the way the Euro-American media has portrayed  it is another reminder of the ongoing struggles for the re-assertion of   and Africans both on the continent and  outside. They are not struggles for their own sake; rather, they are struggles  about the truth of an entire group of people striving to tell their own stories  to a world long used to hearing tales of the hunt from the hunter’s perspective.
Traffic counter frustrates blogger
Clement Nyirenda had a rude Saturday when he discovered that he could not track the traffic to his blog just because Statcounter had had a problem. He writes:
To begin with, I have always pointed  out on this blog that I really like Statcounter. I signed up for Statcounter  in the early stages of this blog and it has become my tracker of choice. This  tracking software provides free information on 500 page views per month…..
But after a ruined day, he says had humbly confessed that they had a problem which ruined his day.
Now, I am pleased to report that the Statcounter Support team humbly confessed  that indeed they had a problem and that they were really embarrassed because of  what had happened. They further assured me that they will work on my account and  ensure that I get back all my stats. After a few hours, my two projects were  back to life with all the stats for the period when no new stats were being  displayed. I have now renewed my love for Statcounter.They handled this crisis  professionally.They were very humble and really worked to help me not to lose  any stat. I have since deleted my account from the lesser known stat provider. I  will stick to Statcounter.
The just ended budget session in Malawi approved only 1 Kwacha to the state broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). Opposition parties and some commentators had argued that the state broadcaster did not deserve any funding as it is merely a mouthpiece of the ruling party and government. This is happening at a time in Malawi when there are about eighteen radio stations and a couple of newspapers, which provide alternative views to the nation unlike the pre-multiparty days when there was only MBC.
Blogger Hastings Maloya supports the decision to give MBC only 1 Kwacha (less than a cent in any European or US currency) for a full year:
Now the people of Malawi are free to  chose which radio station to tune to. Malawians can make a judgement as to which  radio station breaks the news and which one has most entertaining and quality  programming. We are free to listen to what we like and switch off what makes no  sense. Even advertisers have the freedom to fly their adverts on radios of their  choice depending on what audience they are interested in.  The question still remain, why should Malawians contribute to MBC when the radio  is not open to the listeners’ choices? In a free society that we are Malawian  citizens should be free today to criticise their government, and offer thoughts.  This is not happening on MBC. Malawi enjoys freedom of expression and  opinion, and this can be strengthened by a fairly leveled playing field for  radio broadcasting. MBC, as it is now with the changed landscape that we are in,  does not deserve any public funding. Let it receive if the laws say so and we  should work tirelessly to re-look at those laws and see whether they are making  sense for the time that we live in.
One of the major tribes in Malawi is Tumbuka whose peoples mostly occupy Northern Malawi. The tribe comes from the Nkhamanga Kingdom which dates back to over three hundred years ago. The recent elevation of Themba la mathemba Chikulamayembe to the position of paramount chief has excited Malawi born and  blood relation of the chief, Mercy Gondwe. Though she missed the occasion, which took place at the Nkhamanga Headquarters in Rumphi, she writes:
This is extraordinary honour to the chief as well to us the Nkhamanga  people…..  This is very important and something that we the Nkhamangas have always wanted.  Am very happy about this and I think people will be move d forward and it will  make a difference to Nkhamanga. I believe as the first paramount chief,  His role will be quite challenging and he has more to do ahead of him. I wish  him all the best.
Normally a day in October is set aside each year to celebrate when the chieftainship started operating.
And this round-up should end up with another excited Malawian blogger Soyapi Mumba who now has an Apple's iPhone:
I recently had the privilege of holding and playing with  Apple's iPhone. Wow, What an experience it was! It was wonderful to play with  the device's on-screen keyboard, iTunes’ Cover Flow, shifting photo slides,  turning the little animal 90 degrees and the like. What I realised after  playing with the iPhone is that there is new paradigm of User Interfaces from  What You See is What You Get (WYSWYG) to What You See is What You Touch  (WYSWYT).

author: Victor Kaonga


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Dominica: A View To A Thrill · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living Dominica has what is possibly the best view on the island…


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Environment: Green Views from Africa · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

Can you be a fan of Top Gear, cool looking fast cars and…the environment? What blogging event is slated for October 15th this year? What happens to all the computers donated to Africa? This week the answers to these uncommonly asked questions come from several bloggers out of Africa.
Image courtesy of Greencars.za.net South Africa, where we begin with Carl Nienaber. A self described ‘car nut’ who is using his blog to explore and highlight cars that have a minimal environmental impact. His About page gives an exhaustive introduction, including the observation
The mainstream South African motoring media is still very much within the traditional “petrol head” paradigm, where the most desirable attributes of a car are typically speed and performance. When environmentally friendly automotive technologies are covered in most of South Africa’s car publications, they’re either mentioned with an underlying tone of resentment (”green” developments are perceived as taking away from the fun factor of cars) or they’re praised for their benefits in terms of consumer costs savings. Fuel efficiency, for example, is typically given positive attention not for its environmental benefits, but for its cost effectiveness.
Among his other posts is one about a September 2008 Solar Challenge Race in South Africa, which he is looking forward to and thinks that it ‘..should do a great deal to raise awareness of alternative energy in South Africa.’
From Your Group of Web AddiCT(s) blog is a reminder about October 15th this year being a Blog Action Day for the environment. You can click on the image below to participate. We at GV would love to see your posts on that day too, so do feel free to leave a comment and we will definitely check with you on October 12th to cover what you say on that day (and any day) about the environment.
From Urban Sprout, a post about the Coalition Against Nuclear Energy – CANE. Be sure to read the comments as there is a discussion about the safety of Pebble bed reactors.The post also highlights the goals of CANE, including the statement
We believe we have to oppose this unilateral decision on the part of the Cabinet to determine a radioactive future for us all. Ordinary communities need to be heard and our Constitutional rights — especially our right to an environment free of radioactive pollution – must be respected – not eroded
From Kenya enviro news blog, a thorough look at the problem of e-waste in Kenya, stating that it is a time-bomb, and set to get worse considering the fact that ‘Kenya is at the verge of an IT revolution and the mobile phone industry is currently at more than seven million active lines.’ Phil describes the escalating situation thus
The situation at home in Kenya is reaching crisis proportions, the notorious Dandora Dumpsite in Nairobi’s Eastlands area, is choking with electronic waste ranging from obsolete television sets, computers, and fridges to mobile phones and batteries – all containing highly toxic substances. Residents surrounding the area risk contracting cancer, respiratory and skin diseases due to poisonous by-products namely lead, cadmium and mercury from electronic waste. Apart from waste discarded by Kenyans, the country also received hundreds of container loads of e-waste each month from developing countries disguised as ‘donations’
He also provides links where readers can find more information about e-waste and specifically what they can do to be part of the solution.
Omar of Basawad's Safari Notes posts some short excerpts and links to stories about the plight of polar bears. He notes at the end
All animals and other living things on this Planet, rely on the environment and the habitat in which they live in; an environment and habitats which WE, humans, are supposed to be responsible of and for; but which we are systematically and surely destroying. To our own peril.
Update: Please note that Blog Action day is on October 15th and not October 12th as earlier stated, thank you.

author: Juliana Rotich


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Guatemala: Views On Indigenous People  · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Much of the Guatemalan population descends from indigenous origins, in whole or part.  Only a small minority comes from a different racial origin. That's why the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People released on September 13 is so relevant for the country.  However, of higher concern is the expressions and views of “indigenous” and racism from Guatemalan bloggers.
Lucia Escobar republished part of her newspaper artcle on her blog Luchas Libres y Mas [ES] and points out:
Aunque el papel todo lo aguanta y del dicho al hecho hay un gran trecho, celebro la Declaración sobre derechos de pueblos indígenas parida recientemente por Doña Naciones Unidas. ¿Cuántos años tardaron los estados para ver a los pueblos indígenas del mundo y reconocer que no son atrasados, ni salvajes sino sólo diferentes? ¿Cuánto tiempo más pasará para que respete esa diferencia? ¿Y cuánto para valorar el enorme aporte en justicia, ciencia, arte, ecología, espiritualidad, medicina que desde hace cientos de años y hasta el día de hoy empapa con sabiduría milenaria el planeta?
Even though you can write anything on paper, however from words to action there is a great distance, I celebrate the UN Declaration of rights of indigenous people, released recently by Lady United Nations. How long did it take for the nations to see the indigenous peoples of the World and recognize that they are not underdeveloped or savages, only different? How long it will take to respect the differences? And how many years will it take to value the enormous contributions on justice, science, art, ecology, spirituality,  and medicine over the past hundred  years that they gave, and up until now they provide millenarian wisdom to the planet?
Racism and indigenous peoples rights have been discussed recently on Guatemalan blogs, especially the 7th place finish of Rigoberta Menchu, the only indigenous presidential candidate. As Carpe Diem [ES] pointed out in Preguntas que hay que hacer:
En Uspantán, Quiché, la tierra de Rigoberta Menchú, sólo 268 de 9655 votos válidos fueron para la Premio Nobel de a Paz y dirigente indigenista. ¿Será que allá son racistas?
In Uspantán, Quiché, the land where Rigoberta Menchu was born, only 268 de 9655 of the votes were for the Nobel Peace Prize winner and indigenous leader. ¿Are they racist for that fact?
On the other hand, for some bloggers, it is positive to have indigenous candidates, Jorge Cabrera discussed the results on his blog [ES]:
Esto puede parecer negativo pero a mi criterio es incluso bueno, por años ha habido gente que en Menchú han ido a descargar en voz baja con críticas, rumores y chistes de salón sus sentimientos hacia el indígena y con estas elecciones han aprovechado para decirlo un poco mas alto …. Muestras de estos comentarios pueden encontrar muchas en internet
This may seem to be negative but in my opinion it is good, for years there have been people that expressed via Menchu, with a hushed voice, critiques, rumors, and jokes regarding their real feelings and perceptions towards indigenous people, and with the elections they took advantage and said things louder … You can see samples of such comments on the internet.
Some blame racism, other gender issues and a modest campaign for Menchu's results, but the “issue” is the assumption that only because someone is from a certain ethnic origin, then one has to vote for a candidate of the same racial group. Is that perception racist?
On his blog guatemalalahistoria [ES], the author said:
En Guatemala hay racismo y hay discriminación racial para el indio, pero no hay lucha de razas, ni discriminación racial para los indivudios de raza nativa que ya no son indios. La discriminación racial, entre nosotros, es un fenómeno ideológico, de súper estructura, que responde a la lucha de clases y opera solamente en función de ella.
There are racism and racial discrimination against the indigenous in Guatemala, but there are not confrontation between racial groups, or racial discrimination for those natives who are not indios- The racial discrimination is an ideological phenomenon, of a suprerstructure, that corresponds to the confrontation between economic groups and works according to it.
Racism and social classes, in a divided society is a subject frequently discussed on blogs. One sample comes from the blog Antología del Desengaño [ES] on his post Guatemala de clase:
Guatemala todavía es un país clasista. Se manejan muchos estereotipos caducos y prejuicios absurdos. Claro que en este país, se debe encajar dentro de un molde para pertenecer a él. De allí que se crea que todas las personas que estén tatuadas sean delincuentes. O que los canchitos son más inteligentes que cualquiera.
Guatemala is still a classist country. Here you can find several invalid stereotypes and absurd prejudices. It is clear that in this country you must fit into a mold in order to belong to it. From such molds, people believe that anyone with a tattoo is a criminal. Or that people with blond hair are smarter than anyone else.
In contrast with votes divided by regions, and opinions divided on ethnic issues, these days the divided is for once united.  They are voting for one candidate, not for the next President, but for the next Latin American Idol.
Many bloggers write about it with enthusiasm and all the media are taking advantage of it. The fans are using their own blog CARLOS PEÑA FANS [ES] to support him, as they said about the site
1er. Blog (hecho en Guatemala) del artista Guatemalteco que está haciendo la diferencia en latinoamérica con su voz y su talento.
First blog made in Guatemala of a Guatemalan artist, who is making the difference in Latin America with his voice and talent.
This boy has received the attention and sympathy of all sectors, rich, poor, indigenous, non-indigenous, leftists. It is also becasue of the attention of the media, the space provided by the printed press, on TV, on the radio, by private investors, and companies. The case is presented to show that the media in Guatemala can demonstrate to all sectors of society that even when there are huge differences and scars from the past, they can agree in some point, even when is just a TV contest.

author: Renata Avila


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Honduras: Hondutel-Chimirri Controversy · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

La Gringa provides two thorough background information posts on the Hondutel-Chimirri controversy in Honduras.

author: Eduardo Avila


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India: “Hostile areas” and blogs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Social Blog points to a blog written by Mona El Farra on the situation in Gaza.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Pursuing a PhD · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

nanopolitan on getting more students in India to pursue their PhDs.


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Jamaica: Extravagant Books?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican Geoffrey Philp wonders whether V.S Naipaul was right about book-buying in the Caribbean being considered “an extravagance” and asks his readers to weigh in on the subject.


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Jamaica: Moving House · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Montego Bay Day By Day posts a photographic account of the moving of a “chattel house” in Jamaica.


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Japan: Axe Murder, School Days and a Nice Boat · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

In a bizarre twist of events that is sure to confuse all but the most persistent observer, the shocking story of a 16-year-old girl who killed her father with an axe, believed to be motivated by her interest in manga and anime [Ja], triggered TV networks to cancel airing of the final episode of School Days, a popular anime based on a game of the same name. In place of the anime, which it is speculated must have been a very bloody finale, broadcasters aired a series of slow, meandering shots of castles, mountains, and… (drum-roll please) a nice, nice boat [Ja]. A meme was thus born that has spread like wildfire across bulletin boards [Ja] and blogs [Ja], sparked various creative offshoots, and even inspired conspiracy theories.
To untangle this last sequence of events requires a bit of background. A post at new akiba dot com gives a quick rundown of the events:
テレビ神奈川(tvk)でl9月18日に放送を予定されていた「スクールデイズ」最終回が放送されずに、代わりに30分間風景映像が流れることになった。その風景映像の中ではボートが映っていた。
そのときに２ちゃんねるではみんなの怒りが爆発していた。それとは対照的に、海外のアニメファンがそのボートのキャプチャ画像に「Nice boat」とのクールはコメントを寄せる。そのことが起源となって「Nice boat」との言葉が生まれた。
その詳細な経緯については「きなこ餅コミック」やはてなダイアリーのキーワード解説記事に掲載されている。「きなこ餅コミック」では「Nice boat」のコラ画像も見られる。また、はてなダイアリーの方では「Nice boat」のアスキーアートが見られる。
ニコニコ動画の映像では、そのボートが出てくる4分30秒辺りで「Nice boat」のコメントだらけになる。
Blogger Minaide! Hazukashi gives a bit more information about Nico Nico Douga, the site where everything started:
For anyone that hasn’t been there, Nico Nico Doga is basically Youtube meets Mystery Science Theater 3000. Youtube has a comment system where people can post well, comments after each video. What makes Nico Nico Doga different is that the comments are linked to a time in the video, and as you watch the video, the comments pop up on the screen. For the School Days replacement, the comments like “What is this, Eva #25?”, “lolololololol”, and of course “nice boat” would scroll across the screen at appropriate times.
While some fans were drawing ASCII art of nice boats on 2-channel, however, many meanwhile questioned the logic of canceling the show. One blogger wrote:
まぁ、なんとも凄惨な事件ですが、そろそろメディアは凶悪事件とサブカルチャーを安易に結びつけるのは止めて欲しいですね。
自分はこの『ひぐらしの〜』はゲームもアニメも観た事の無い門外漢ですが、それでも斧ではなくナタだって事くらいは知ってますし、仮に斧だったとしても、それは犯行の間接的要因でしかなく、直接的な殺意には結びつかないでしょ。
Another blogger made a slightly different argument:
今回の事件については未だ詳細が明らかになっていないが、百歩譲って、仮に虚構の作品を模倣して犯罪が起きたとしよう。しかし、それで自粛しないといけないなら、そもそも犯罪事件の報道をする時点で、影響を考え自粛するべきではないだろうか。
なぜなら虚構の作品だけでなく、事実の報道も模倣されうるからだ。殺人事件だけでなく例えば、「ピッキング」だとか「俺俺詐欺」なども、模倣犯を産む恐れがあるはずだ。しかしおそらく、それに対しては、「自己責任」だとか「報道の自由」がある、と言うだろう。だとすれば、「報道の自由」は「表現の自由」*1なのだから、ニュースは自粛しないがアニメの方は自粛する*2というのは、偏っているだろう。
I ask this because it is not only works of fiction that are emulated, but also the reporting of facts.  It is not only murder cases either, but also cases of “lock picking” and “it's me! fraud” [*] that have the potential to spawn copycat crime. I guess, in response to this, they would say that there is “self-responsibility” and “freedom of the press”. But if you make this argument, then since “freedom of the press” is “freedom of expression”, it seems to me biased that news does not have to practice self-censorship but that anime does.
[“it's me” fraud: type of telephone fraud common in Japan]
要するに、ニュースなどに比べればアニメの歴史は浅く、元々は子供向けのメディアで、サブカルチャーの位置付けだから、社会的に肩身が狭いという話*3だろう。それはまあ分かる。しかし、さんざん叩かれて引っ込めるのではなく、その事前に空気を読んで引っ込めておくというのは、敗北ですらない逃走ではないだろうか。

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Kyoto Islamic Festival Excludes Non-Islamic Foreigners · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Debito blogs a letter from Ali Rustom, a British national of some Middle Eastern descent, who explained the arrangement of Kyoto Islamic Festival, which excluded non Islamic foreigners from joining.


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Japan: Personality Types By Region · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Japan is divided into 47 regions, and local Japanese believes that each region has some distinctive personality traits. Ed Jacob has listed out some regional personality types in Quirky Japan.


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Japan: Tokyo’s Urban Ruins · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Roy Berman at Mutant Frog Travelogue has posted a series of fascinating pictures of soon-to-be-demolished buildings in the backstreets of Shinbashi, Tokyo. Objects photographed include pots and pans, children's toy guns, and a note left behind with the lyrics (in English) to the song “I could have danced all night”.


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Lebanon: Assassination Foreseen · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“‘Something big will happen after Ramadan.’ ‘People will start fighting outside of Beirut.’ And the most popular one: ‘Someone will get killed during the presidential elections.’ [snip] Well, it seems that the Lebanese were right to think ‘the situation’ would heat up at the end of September,”  wrote Melissa about how the Lebanese foresaw something as terrible as the latest assassination happening.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lebanon: Calling for the boycott of a book · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Arch.Memory at Lebanese Blogger Forum is calling for the boycott of the bestselling book “1000 Places To See Before You Die” because it has a “gaping omission that is simply shameful and unacceptable. It lists no sites worth seeing in Lebanon, a country that contains 6 of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites; by comparison, for instance, the list includes 10 sites in Israel, a country that contains 6 World Heritage Sites as well (counting the one in Jerusalem as being in Israel, which is disputed still).” This call is echoed by some other bloggers too.


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Lebanon: Explosions Depressing · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“It’s really gotten to a point where there isn’t much more that can go wrong. I’ve honestly lost count on how many politicians have gotten assassinated in the past couple of years and its depressing and sickening,” writes Lebanese blogger Mark.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Nepal: Kidney Racket · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Deepak's Diary on the human organ trading racket in Nepal.


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Nepal: Students and Minority Groups · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blogdai reflects on the current mood in Nepal – and brings some good and bad news.


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Russia: Media and Blogs on Zubkov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scraps of Moscow posts a comprehensive review of blog and media coverage of Russia's new prime minister Victor Zubkov.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: More on Ingushetia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff links to his own translation of a piece on the situation in Ingushetia.


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Russia: The Pulse of the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scraps of Moscow tries the Pulse of the Blogosphere, a new feature of the Russian Yandex portal and writes about some of the findings – here and here: “Consider this – the Russian blogosphere has consistently mentioned “porno” and “pornography” fewer times than it has mentioned Putin for most of the Putin era.”


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Sri Lanka: Information Security · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Voice Of South on creating awareness in the Government about information security.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival Exhibition  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The bookmann reviews an exhibition of various elements of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, currently on display at BRIC'S Rotuda Gallery in Brooklyn, New York.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Flower Power  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Now is Wow recalls her days of giving flowers to complete strangers…


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Ukraine: Campaign Ads · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Petro of Petro's Jotter surveys Kyiv's election campaign ads.


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Ukraine: Radiation Reconnaissance Mission · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn visits the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone again, on the first Radiation Reconnaissance Mission, and writes about it, and also posts lots of photos.


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Ukraine: Serhiy Kalinovskyi’s Escape · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about Serhiy Kalinovskiy, “a member of Kyiv's ‘gilded youth'” and a reckless driver, who killed his girlfriend and a police officer, and then escaped from a private hospital: “Much has been made of stripping criminal immunity from VR deputies recently, but everyone knows that in reality, if you've got enough money and the right connections you have it already – you are truly above the law.”


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Ukraine: Surviving Kyiv Roads · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Petro of Petro's Jotter offers tips on how to survive on Kyiv's roads: “… drive a big car with air bags, stay out of the left lane when there is an opposing traffic lane and no guard rail, and don't drive fast.”


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Ukraine: Troubles Ahead; Kivalov Interview · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about political troubles that may await Ukraine following the Sept. 30 parliamentary election. Also, LEvko translates an interview with former head of the Central Election Commission, Serhiy Kivalov, whose “literary skills seem to exceed the numeracy skills that he demonstrated in 2004.”


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Afghanistan: The Not-So-Obvious Problems · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

One of the pervading myths about Afghanistan under Western occupation is that the northern part of the country — once controlled by the Northern Alliance — is peaceful, settled, and developing. To see this in more detail, Afghanistanica takes us to Taloqan, the capital of Takhar Province, which borders Tajikistan:
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting just published an article on the “peace” in a recent article subtitled “For residents of the northern province of Takhar, there are worse things than the Taliban.” Apparently, the things that are worse than the Taliban are their local armed commanders and their elected representative.
He goes on to quote a news story about how the local governor, Piram Qul, who was elected and enjoys good relations with Kabul, abducts the wives of dissidents,  and occasionally murders and rapes their children. It is all a holdover from the local militias and warlords who once ruled the area as a part of the Northern Alliance. When confronted, Qul claimed he was only going after the Taliban and their organizers. Afghanistanica responds:
That’s right, Piram Qul is a brave Mujahid fighting against the Taliban and their local sympathizers, who, inexplicably, are ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks…
I remember a story about some low-rent village mullah who supposedly started his rise to power by killing a local commander who was fond of raping the locals. He started some sort of group. What was it called? Oh yeah, I remember. It was called the “Taliban.”
Indeed, the real Taliban doesn't seem to care much for the North, seeing as to how Taloqan was the closest it ever came to full domination of the country. The corruption on display in the north, however, is a problem throughout the countryFurther south, in the east between Kabul and Pakistan, the Taliban remains as pervasive as ever, and they rely on this corruption to get things done:
So Al-Jazeera embeds a reporter with the 50 Talibs who roam around Kapisa (yup, Kapisa), buy guns from the National Police, and feel the love from the locals…
So the locals warmly greet 50 armed men? To be honest, if 50 well-armed soldiers walked up to my house I would greet them warmly as well, whatever their affiliation. NATO troops now understand this very well. I have heard numerous soldiers remark about the smiling villagers who are probably cooperating with the Taliban. And then there are the times where villagers “warmly greet” the Taliban and then gladly tell Captain America all about where the Talibs are hiding.
These village folks have both the hospitality and deception down to a fine art. It’s a survival tactic that has surely served them well for the last few hundred years or so.
However, pointing out these sorts of problems got Governor Murad fired.  Corruption and ethnic favoritism is a serious problem, however: Fahim Khairy claims the Afghan Mellat, a powerful Pashtun nationalist party run by Finance Minister Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, is on nothing less than a mission of ethnic cleansing:
Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady, who heads the Afghan Mellat and current Finance Minister of Afghanistan, has been in a position to influence the Karzai administration in general as well as Karzai himself to take an increasingly blatant and adamant ethno-racist shift toward the ethnic domination of Afghanistan by the Pashtun people…
Though originally designated to highlight a specific range of Pashtuns, the idea of the Afghan Mellat has, over time, developed into a dangerous, over-encompassing ideal, a socio-political phenomenon that extends beyond an organized entity and no longer limited by the structural definitions of a political party. This Afghan Mellat mentality that is prevalent among Pashtuns defines their atrocious ideals and promotes their perceptions on the socio-political status of Afghanistan which has essentially proven to be hypocritical, diabolic, immoral, destructive as well as violent as depicted by its history.
Those are strong words. I'm frankly not in any position to mediate an ethnic dispute like this, but the frustration Khairy feels is certainly widespread, and spreading. This frustration isn't limited to Afghans; Westerners as well have become frustrated both with how slow and stilting the progress, and even with how support seems to be drying up at home. A police adviser on tour somewhere in the countryside (he cannot say where, as his operation is ongoing), related the following anecdote:
I've sat in Shuras as the village elders pled their case, insisting that they hadn't seen any Taliban in months, only to have a citizen on the outer reaches of the circle stand up and throw the “bullshit flag,” recounting a recent event. That changed the song… it became, “What are we to do? They will kill us if we tell you anything about them.” Lying is an art form in Afghanistan. At times it seems as if everyone is lying about at least some part of what they are telling you.  Even the estimates of enemy strength are basically lies…
There is a lot of work to do, and some of my counterparts on another PMT gave their lives recently while doing it.  The entire team.  When you are out there all alone and things go bad, they have a tendency to go horribly bad… there is still a war here.   I think that we are winning the war, but we haven't won it yet.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a growing movement to further draw down the piddling force in  Afghanistan. Peter Marton reports that there is actually doubt that the UK's withdrawal from Iraq was a good move:
In The Times Online Iain Duncan Smith (former Tory leader) has come up with an article telling readers: “Don't leave Iraq: Quit Afghanistan instead.” I have an instinctive answer to suggestions like that, but I actually kind of like that when someone takes up the challenge to try and, using rational arguments, convince me, as well as people in general, of something that seems wrong, in the sense of countering whatever is claimed to be self-evident at a point in time, and I admire those who then point to arguments I never would have thought of… to say that “It is strange that, at the moment General Petraeus is demonstrating that the surge in US forces is yielding results in Baghdad and beyond, the British seem to quit the field. It sends all the wrong signals to the insurgents and Iran,” well… I never knew Britain was fighting al-Qaida in Southern Iraq.
Meanwhile, over in Canada, there is a fierce debate raging over whether or not their troops—which have picked up an out-sized proportion of the fighting near Kandahar—should stay of leave. Peter highlights one of the warlords who has allied himself with the Canadian forces, but may lose out big time should domestic political concerns force the Canadians to pull out. As he put it:
it might be difficult to get people to decisively ally with you if your support to them hinges on by-elections in a small town they'll only have a chance to see in person if they persuade you to evacuate them and the surviving part of their family once you decide to leave their homeland behind.
Ouch. But the U.S. doesn't have its head on straight either: whether it's starving the already-shortchanged troops of the men they need or finally waking up to the shortfalls caused by the Iraq war, merican doesn't seem any more reliable than the Europeans at this point. Which is too bad, as Afghanistan really does deserve a chance to succeed and thrive apart from the petty criminals that, for the time being at least, serve only to drag it back to the stone age it is so desperately trying to escape.

author: Joshua Foust


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Environment: The UN Conference on Climate Change · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

Global Voices is one of the blogs invited to attend the United Nations High Level Event on Climate Change in New York, Monday September 24th.
I am honored to be representing GV at the conference, and will be attending the sessions.
– Thematic Plenary I – Adaptation – From Vulnerability to Resilience 10am – 1pm
– “Global Voices on climate Change” 1:15pm – 2:45pm – Hosted by Kenya, Indonesia, Poland and Denmark.
– Thematic Plenary Afternoon – Adaptation.
The rationale behind attending these particular sessions is that, earlier this year, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report that mentioned that climate change will likely have a ‘graver effect’ on Africa. I am hoping the session gives us some more information about adaptation initiatives that can help Africa deal with climate change.
The other sessions going on are listed here. Boing Boing will also be live blogging the event. The site ‘Live from the UN’ will contain links to all the posts about the event and you can also watch the sessions online at the UN website.


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Iraq: Repugnant Black Water · Global Voices
Salam Adil

So says Imad Khadduri.
This post marks the beginning of, hopefully, more frequent and shorter posts around specific subjects that affect Iraqi bloggers. My choice of topic today is the banning of the private security firm Blackwater for killing at least eight Iraqi civilians while driving American diplomats through the streets of Baghdad.
Free Iraq provides a the essential background information to the whole debate on private security firms in Iraq. Imad publishes a translation of an eyewitness account, the law that gave such security firms, basically, a license to kill, links to current articles and his previous posts on the behaviour of private security companies. And his opinion on Blackwater? “war profiteering criminals” he says.
Baghdad Treasure was less diplomatic with his choice of words, “You can’t imagine how happy I am to read the mercenary murderers of Blackwater USA are going to be kicked out of the country,” he writes. And he speaks from firsthand experience:
Watching Blackwater’s mercenary actions in Iraq, I grew not only angry but disgusted with their actions that never respect any human being they come across. When they race in the streets of Baghdad, they behave like beasts even in the calmest areas, terrifying people with their SUVs and machine guns and firing without restraint at anyone.
Baghdad Treasure sees companies like Blackwater as part of the problem facing American troops in Iraq because,
Some people there link these criminals to the US army and to the US itself. That’s how sentiments against American troops themselves increased. Of course, I differentiate who’s who, but there are uneducated people who think that these mercenaries are basically the same as any soldier or marine who “came to kill, take oil, and then leave.”
Raed sees signs that the US State Department is trying to find ways to keep Blackwater in Iraq despite clear orders from the Iraqi government to leave. He calls for people to write emails to the the Department of State and to Blackwater's media relations. He writes:
Mercenaries who go around killing civilians without any accountability are being paid with billions of U.S. tax-payer dollars. It is time to get all private contractors out of Iraq, but let's start by bringing Blackwater first.
Zappy reminds us of Blackwater's mission statement which is, I quote:
To support national and international security policies that protect those who are defenseless and provide a free voice for all with a dedication to providing ethical, efficient, and effective turnkey solutions that positively impact the lives of those still caught in desperate times.
He recalls a story of a drunken Blackwater guy who shot an Iraqi security guard for no apparent reason and was only sent back to America without any punishment. He concludes:
Blackwater has done more damage in Iraq than Al Qaeda would ever dream of an American company would do.
Good Job Blackwater! Continue your Vision … your doin’ a hell'ava Job!
From my reading of the news there seems little to explain why the Iraqi government acted only now and so decisively, which is a stark contrast to their usual silence on such matters. I have reported too many times in the past stories from bloggers who have lost or nearly lost relatives to similar incidents involving American soldiers.
As this video from Alive in Baghdad shows, public anger in parts of Baghdad over killings of civilians by American troops have boiled over into large demonstrations without a peep of protest from the Iraqi government:
[display_podcast]
A possible explanation comes from Al-Ghad which reports:
The deal between the Bush-linked “Hunt Oil Company” and the Kurdish Regional Government has uncovered a major crisis between the Maliki Government and the US, according to well-informed sources. …
It … means that the US has decided to by-pass the Iraqi Central Government, ignoring the constitution and even encroaching on disputed major oilfields outside the Kurdish Region. Because of this, the Iraqi Government finds itself forced to take symbolic and unusual measures to express its anger. This seems already reflected in its vocal reaction to the Blackwater massacre in Baghdad, in contrast to the usual official silence with regards the daily attacks and bombing of civilian targets.
Like Greenspan says, maybe, at the end, it is all about oil.

author: Salam Adil


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Israel: Bin Laden’s Son Divorce · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israellycool reports the split between Jane Felix-Browne, the 51-year-old, six-times-married grandmother who fell in love with the 27-year-old son of Osama bin Laden.


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Israel: Treasure on the Street · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israeli blogger Yael discovers a treasure on her way home. Click on the link to learn more.


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Japan: Abe Double in Hospital? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger Kikko passes on the rumor [Ja] that the Abe Shinzo currently in hospital is not the real Japanese prime minister but a double, and that the real PM is at taking it easy at a hot springs in Mongolia. From this (joke) rumor, she turns to the issue of how it is that, while the rich and famous like Abe Shinzo and (sumo wrestler and former Yokozuna) Asashoryu can go off to Mongolia to recuperate, for most people in Japan (Kikko included) this is financially impossible.


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Japan: Impatient patients · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

In recent years, harsh criticisms have been focused at hospitals and healthcare workers about the quality of medical care. An example of the target of criticisms was a doctor conducting transplants using diseased kidneys in Ehime. And most recently, a pregnant woman, who lived just a few minutes away from a hospital, miscarried after a three-hour ambulance ride during which eight hosptials rejected to admit her.
On the other hand, cases in which doctors and healthcare workers are harrased by their patients have also been increasing. A survey [Ja] shows that at university hospitals acrross the country, there were at least 430 cases in which doctors and nurses were physically harrased and about 990 cases in they were verbally abused by patients and their families last year.  A story on this issue which lists detailed descriptions of some of the actual cases can be found in an article at The Daily Yomiuri.
Here is what some doctors and healthcare workers had to say.
In response to a question asking for opinions about verbal abuse against mendical staff, a doctor-in-training writes at a BBS:
たとえこちらに非がなくとも裁判になると多大な労力を負いますし、モチベーションも下がります。私は来年から専門科にすすみます。選択肢のひとつとして産科もありましたが、この逆風がふきあれる状況下でとても進む気になれず他の科に決めました。マスコミ・裁判官は自分たちの報道・判決が産科・小児科医療を崩壊させていっていると認識していただきたいです。
Another doctor-in-training writes:
今の時代、医者は奴隷だ。ボランティア精神だけで成り立っている。仕事はキツく、労働基準法など適用されない。患者からの要求は高くなり、訴訟のリスクも高い。マスコミからは叩かれ、給料はどんどん引き下げられ、一般のサラリーマン並みだ。医者をサービス業と勘違いしてて一々クレームをつけてくるバカな患者も多い。情熱だけで仕事しろ？バカなこと言うな。情熱だけで仕事してる奴なんて世の中にどんだけいるよ？仕事ってのはまずは家族や自分の生活のためにやるもんだ。大事なものを守るための金が第一にあってのもんだろ。
A medical social worker gives their thoughts about the situation, pointing out to the government's ignorance as well as patients’ misunderstandings.
ここ最近思うこと。
医療ってサービス業のように言われてる。
患者さん達がよりよく治療・療養してもらえるように心掛けるようにしてる。
そしてそうしなければいけないと思ってる。
でもね、、、、
と言いたくなることが多すぎる。
But…
There are so many things I want to say.
医療費がかかりすぎてるーーー！！と診療報酬の引き下げばかりに精をだす政府。
ねぇ、そんな値段でちゃんと治療ができると思うの？と言いたくなる。
現に今の医療・福祉は正当な報酬が支払われているとは言えない。
（誤解してるかもしれませんが、医療福祉スタッフの報酬は驚くほど安いのです・・・Drもしかり）
救急センターを夜間診療所を間違ったような利用もいくらアナウンスしても減りません。
救急処置をしているスタッフに「今から食事してくるから、おまえら待ってろよ」等とおっしゃいます。
今にも命を失いそうな人が運ばれてきても、「俺の方が先に来ただろう」とクレームをおっしゃいます。
夜中に自分が意図した専門医がいないと「患者”様”をなんだと思ってる」とおっしゃいます。
そして「高い医療費払ってるんだ」と権利ばかりを主張されます。
でもね、、、その中にホテルみたくサービス料は含まれていないんだよと言いたいのです。
そしてどれだけその診療報酬が安くできあがっているのかを知って欲しいのです。
Even when someone who is dying arrives, they say: “I came before that person,” and complain.
And they claim only their rights, saying: “I am paying a high medical cost”
But I want to say that, unlike a hotel service, service charges are not included [in the fees].
I also want people to know how cheap the medical treatment fees are.
今現在、病院は政府の思惑と患者さん達の思惑の狭間に埋もれてます。
結局の所、安かろうよかろうはできないと思うのです。
１高くても良いから良いケアを受けたい
２ケアの質が落ちても良いから医療費抑制をしたい
どちらかを選ぶしかないように思うのです。
アナタなら、どちらを選びますか？
Today, hospitals are caught between the government's intentions and patients’ intentions.
In any case, I think “the cheaper the better” is not possible to achieve.
1 get better treatment even if it costs more
2 supress the medical cost even though the quality of medical care decreases
I think you have to choose either way.
Which would you choose?

author: Hanako Tokita


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Japan: Nuclear Power and Discrimination · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

An English translation of an interview with Koide Hiroaki, a researcher and long-time anti-nuclear power activist, has been posted at gyaku. Mr. Koide talks about how he joined the movement against nuclear power in Japan 40 years ago, the contrast between the dream of nuclear power and the reality, and the connections between nuclear power and discrimination.


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Korea: Blood Type and Personality · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Researchers at Yonsei University’s graduate school announced that they just finished a research program on how personalities differ by blood type. Based on 50 research projects on the patterns of blood types by domestic and foreign scholars, they added scores if some reports show the same contents with generally known knowledge (or prejudice) in popular culture and they subtracted scores if others show the opposite contents.
Skillyou summarized it.
…논문에는 아주 경악할 만한 결과가 있습니다…바로…저주받은 B형이죠…사람들사이에는 B형이 성격 안좋다고 널리 알려져있습니다. 논문으로 쐐기를 박는군요.ㅎㅎ;
혈액형	내향성	논리성	안정성	리더쉽	사려성
A	14	10	10	-4	2
B	-6	-7	-7	-1	-3
O	-15	1	6	3	0
AB	5	-4	3	-7	0
A형은 내성적이지만 논리적으로 안정적이며 생각이 깊다…오…좋군요. O형은 외향적이고 안정적이며 리더쉽이 강하다! 지도자 타입이군요. AB형은 튀지않는 무난한 성격이군요.
B형을 봅시다. 내향성 -6, 논리성-7, 안정성 -7, 리더쉽-1, 사려성-3…
비논리적이고 불안정하며 리더쉽이 부족하고 생각이 짧다….ㅜㅜ
Not a few netizens like pk46 have criticized the obsession with this prejudice.
혈액형별로 성격을 분류하는 것은
한국과 일본에서만 유행하는 미신같은 겁니다.
그리고 재미삼아 얘기하는 거라면 모르지만
사람을 위축시키고 잘못 판단케 한다면 문제가 있지요.
실제로 서양사람들은 자기 혈액형을 모르는 경우가
대부분이고 입사서류 등 인적기록엔 아예 혈액형을
써 넣는 칸이 없습니다. 그리고 한국사람들이 혈액형으로
성격을 판단하는 것을 보면 신기해 합니다.
혈액형에 따라 성격이 결정된다는 가설에는 어떤 근거도
제시되지 못했습니다. 서양 학자들에게 물어보면
“그런 게 있나요? 라는 반응을 보일 겁니다.
Dcinside even assumes that the theory might be taken as wisdom in the future, even though he doesn’t believe it.
내가 만난 여자들 중 한 80%는 정말 혈액형 별로 성격이 구분된다고 믿는 것 같더라.물론 나는 당연히 개구라라고 생각하고 아직까지 혈액형에 관해서 찌라시 및 여성잡지를 본적도 없지만 5%정도의 확률로 내가 틀렸을 수도 있다고 생각한다….레이디경향이나 여성중앙 한권을 땅에 묻어놓고 수천년후에 누군가가 우연히 발굴하게 되면
“고대인의 지혜” 라면서 숭상하는 무리들이 생겨나고 나중엔 동의보감 수준의 권위를
인정받게 되는것도 가능하지 않을까?
There are even personal characteristics by your blood type and by which order you are born among your siblings. Here is the example of the first sibling’s personality by each blood type.
* 혈액형 & 형제.자매만 알면 성격이 보인다 *
A형_ 공상파 로맨티스트
예민한 성격의 당신은 작은 일에도 상처받기 쉽고, 필요 이상으로 민감한 반응을 보이는등 마음
대로 생각하고 해석하여 오해를 사기도 한다. 그러나 본심을 숨기고 상대를 배려하고 주변을 잘
살피므로 친절한 사람으로 보인다.
로맨틱한 분위기를 좋아하고, 현실을 잊고 공상의 세계에 빠지기도 하며, 의외로 완고한 완벽주의
자이기도 하다.
B형_ 인생을 즐기는, 꿈꾸는 낙천주의자
인생을 즐기기 위해서 산다는 낙천주의자. 실패도 웃어넘길 수 있는 사람이다.
로맨티스트이기도 한 당신은 현실과 약간 동떨어진 생각을 하기도 한다. 그러나 자유로운 생
활이 지나치면 생각지 않던 적을 만들 수도 있다. 또 될 때로 되라는 식의 성격은 고쳐야 한다.
너무 빨리 포기하는 것은 아닌지, 다시 한 번 생각해볼 것.
O형_리더십이 넘치는 자신감
행동력이 있는 당신은 리더십이 강한, 밝은 성격의 자신만만한 사람. 친절한 성격이라 곤란한
처지에 있는 사람을 그냥 지나치지 못한다. 인생을 드라마틱하게 연출하고 싶어 하기 때문에
주위에서는 다소 부담스러워하기도 한다. 평범함 속에 행복이 있다는 것을 잊지 말도록.
프라이드가 높고 타인에게 간섭받는 것을 싫어하기 때문에 자기 마음대로 살고 싶어 하지만
작은 일에 너무 신경 쓰지 않도록 주의하자.지나친 자신감은 나중에 독이 되기도 한다.
실패했을 때 자신감 때문에 심한 슬럼프에 빠질 수 있으니 조금은 여유를 두고, 나도 실패할
수 있다는 것을 염두에 두자.
AB형_끈기와 집중력으로 무슨 일이라도 해내는 사람
끈기와 집중력이 강해서 한번 정한 일은 끝까지 해내는 타입.
공동 작업이나 팀플레이로 해야 하는 과제가 주어졌을 때 재빨리 자신이 해야 할 일을 찾아 실
행에 옮기기 때문에 일이 순조롭게 풀리도록 뒷받침해주는 스타일이다. 정치나 환경 문제에 관심
이 많고 교양이 풍부하여 자신보다 다소 떨어지는 사람을 바보로 만들거나 그에게 고압적인 태도
를 보이기도 한다.
사람을 얕보는 것은 금물. 남의 가치관이나 살아가는 방식을 수용하여 존중하는 것이 중요한 교양
덕목 중 하나라는 것을 기억하자.
Blood Type A, the dreaming romantic
Sensitive person. You’re easy to be hurt from even a small matter and you are unnecessarily sensitive. You think in your way, interpret, and misunderstand. But hiding your own thought, you look like a nice person considering others and take care of your surroundings. You like the romantic mood, forget reality, and are indulged in fantastic world. Unexpectedly, you are a stubborn perfectionist…
Blood Type B, enjoyable optimist
Optimist who enjoys life. You can even laugh facing your failure. Having a romantic tendency, you sometimes have thoughts distant from reality. But if you enjoy liberal life way too much, you might make enemies unexpectedly. You should change your easy-to-give-up personality.
You should think over whether you give up way too fast…
Blood Type O, leadership filled with confidence
You have a bright personality and lead others well. Your kind personality doesn’t let you leave people in trouble. You want to make your life dramatic, so people around you might not be so comfortable. Don’t forget there is happiness in ordinary life. You are proud of yourself and don’t like other people’s interruption. You would like to live in your own way, but over-confidence might return to you as a poison. When you fail you will feel in a slump due to your confidence. Take it easy and don’t forget even you might fail.
Blood Type AB, consistency with your patience and concentration.
With your strong patience and concentration, you can do anything. You can back up to let work go smoothly and easily when you are involved with projects with others. Being interested in politics and environment, you are full of intelligence. You make others who don’t know as much as you do look foolish and show an authoritative attitude. Don’t look down on others. Remember you should respect others’ values and the ways they live.
There are more personalities by blood type and what order you’re born among your siblings in this blog.
Others comment “Please do this just for fun, not be like crazy religious believers” and “it’s like witch hunting for blood type B.” Do you believe this theory?
There is even a video clip showing how each blood type fights differently.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Morocco: Blogger honored in mainstream publication · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Prolific Moroccan blogger Larbi (fr) was recently honored as one of “100 who move Morocco” in TelQuel magazine, writes the blogger himself.

author: Jillian C. York


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Morocco: Morocco Welcomes New Prime Minister · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Following the September 7 elections, Moroccan King Mohammed VI appointed a new prime minister, Abbas el-Fassi, to replace Driss Jettou, who had served in that position since 2002.  El-Fassi, who may be best known for a failed business operation involving an Emirati cruise ship (which left many hopeless young men vying for jobs and lead a few to commit suicide), is a member of the winning Istiqlal (Independence) party.
A Moro in America gives a bit of background information:
Abbas al-Fassi is more known for the infamous Annajat fictious employment contract than for any achievement in his previous governmental appointments. Few years ago, He was in charge of managing a large contract with an Emirati Cruise ship, where more than 34000 young Moroccans applied and paid more than 1000 Dirhams for medical tests and miscellaneous fees before the company vanished from the face of the earth. Several disillusioned young men committed suicide and Abbas al-Fassi refused to resign or even apologize for the failing operation. Since then, he has been constantly under the mercy of independent press criticism.
Ange Bleu (fr) broke the news, saying:
Le souverain marocain a fait son choix et ouuuiii, le nouveau 1er ministre marocain n'est autre que le fameux ABBAS ELFASSI.
Ghasbouba is perplexed by the choice:
Abbas El Fassi prime minister as part of the puzzle unfolds. what is next?  His resignation for example. What does Si Larbi think now?
The two year old post referenced by Ghasbouba and originally published by Larbi (fr) is drawing new comments.  This one (fr/ar) was posted today:
c'est un vrai scandale ce qui se passe nomme un feneant comme premier ministre ca ne peut se passer qu'au maroc jdoudna lwala l'ont dit madomta fi lmaghrib fala tastaghrib je voulait juste dire un truc c'est que cette nomination veut simplement dire au monde qu'au maroc il y a une democratie mais le probleme c'est qu'avant de se soucier de l'international il faudra convaincre la nation qui n'a plus confiance en rien et surtout les jeunes qui ont jeter les eponges plus personnes ne s'en foue et c'est la chose la plus grave qui peut arrive a ce pays 30% qui ont vote c'est grave lah ykoun bhad lblad ou khlass personnelement j ai du mal a imaginer les 5 annnees a venire
At least one person was happy about the appointment, however.  Ibn Kafka (fr) explains his reasoning in his blog:
Here is a news that I must be the only Moroccan – apart from the family circle of the interested one – to welcome him with joy, for reasons which I already explained…
Read Ibn Kafka's blog to find out why he's the only one excited.


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Morocco: Opinion on the Jena 6 · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Blogger Laila Lalami shares her opinion on the ongoing Jena 6 case in the United States.


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Syria: What’s on the Palate? · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Perhaps because it's Ramadan, or because talking about the news is difficult, this week Syrian bloggers are focused on food.  From the best recipes to those that make no sense at all, here's a roundup of this week's posts.
Abufares shares a favorite recipe:
Happy Ramadan to all!
It certainly is food time and I'm going to take you by the hand and help you prepare the best Tartoussi Samke Harra in existence. Samke Harra, literally means Hot Fish (hot as in hot & spicy) is a Middle Eastern dish prepared with subtle or major variations from Lattakia, Syria to Tyre, Lebanon. Well this is as far as my knowledge extends. If it is prepared by our Turkish neighbors up north or by our Palestinian brethrens to the south I am not aware of it. My favorite two varieties are the Tartoussi (Syrian) and the Tripolitan (Lebanese).
Be sure to check out Abufares‘ blog to learn how to make the delicacy.
Jar of Juice also shares a recipe:
Yesterday I tried out making Ravioli with Alfredo sauce and chicken. And it was totally awesome!
The recipe is apparently so appetizing that the blogger received this comment:
Yummy! Sounds delicious!
You are bad! You shouldn't post such things in Ramadan. I want that so bad now even though I am not fasting!
Mosaics, in discussing the intricacies of Syrian English, shares this anecdote:
Damascene restaurants, even little tiny ones with two plastic tables on a street corner, also oblige foreign visitors to Syria with a custom-made translation of their dishes; frankly, it’s cute. Annoying, but somehow cute. It becomes unacceptable when the more expensive ones do it. My mother was once looking at a dessert menu, wondering what “Grape” meant: was it the fresh fruit alone, or some concoction built around grapes? No no, answers the waiter: “It’s grape. Grape with sugar, grape with chocolate, grape Suzette, grape with whatever you like.” It took a while, but she finally understood it was a crepe. You see, neither English nor French are her first language, and I’m sure the waiter in question would never believe she speaks both fluently, since she had to ask what a grape was.
Maysaloon, on the other hand, discusses why he gave up pork:
Though religion is a factor, it is actually not the biggest. The main reason like I said before is that it is simply not part of my culture, the vast majority of Arabs and in fact most people in the Middle East and North Africa, do not have pork as part of their cuisine, the animal is considered to be filthy and unedible. Is this irrational? Why? Certainly there are societies where grasshoppers, lizards and dogs are eaten without the slightest concern. Why, I would ask, do these same people who disagree with me not consider eating dog liver sandwiches or lizard? They too are edible and this revulsion is largely irrational, or is it? Pork doesn't taste too bad, but I choose not to eat it now as a conscious decision based on my cultural and religous identity and moral values I have, not just because I was raised this way anymore.
Finally Ihsan Attar, from My Thoughts & Notes
 gives us all a lesson on finding hummus abroad:
Simply, go to any supermarket…look for anything that has a photo of a camel and/or a bedouin in the desert….and you just found your meal!
P.S.: Hummus is NOT even a part of the Arabian cuisin! It's a Syrian/Lebanese food and those two countries are not identified by such tradmarkes!!
Photo Credit: Ihsan Attar


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Uzbekistan: A nation’s great loss · Global Voices
Tolkun

On September 7, 2007, a sunny Friday morning, Tashkent and the whole country were struck with the sad news – Mark Weil was killed. Mark Weil was the legendary artistic director of the famed Ilkhom Theatre that was founded in 1976 by Weil himself. Weil was reportedly killed by two unknown people in black, who waited for him next to his house and hit him on the head and stabbed him. The main topic discussed in Uzbek blogosphere during the past weeks was mainly about the death of this legendary person.
One of the first to report on Weil's death was Kamolanavo (RUS), who expressed her deep grief on the loss of Mark Weil. As expected, the post immediately got many comments, where all readers sympathized with the whole nation of Uzbekistan about the loss of its great son. Sherig178 wrote:
This is a tragedy on a national scale. It is hard to believe that this could happen in Tashkent. This is our great loss.
Sherig178 writes in his own blog (RUS) a very sympathetic post devoted to Mark Weil. He writes that “whoever did this [murder], the government must find them and bring them to an open trial and severely punish them.”
The government MUST do this. They killed a part of our soul, of our memory, and of our Tashkent. The government MUST punish them, and put a monument to the person [Weil], who greatly contributed to our development, to the development of our motherland. He was a patriot, therefore he didn’t leave the country [like others]. He loved Tashkent. Weil was the best of our society, therefore, facing up to Weil, giving dues to the great Master, the government will make [constructive] steps towards us – its nation.
Hot discussion concerning this issue took place on Registan.net too, after Nathan’s post about it (ENG) . The comments speculated about the three possible reasons for Weil’s murder: a) political – Weil’s murder has to do with upcoming elections and his refusal to support the president’s daughter, b) Weil was murdered for expressing progressive ideas in his theater (e.g. some homoerotic content of the repertoire), c) it was an anti-Semitic attack, as Weil was a Jew.
Rowan Wagner also deeply sympathized about “a great loss of a nation.” (ENG) In his blog, Rowan shares with readers his personal experience with Mark Weil, whom he calls “a great man, playwright, innovator and just fun guy.” Rowan is dreadfully sorrowful, because of such an end to Weil’s life.
And [Weil died] not from a nice comfortable heart attack, or some freak accident, but [was] beaten to death. To me this foreshadows a rising evil in Tashkent which until recently was place of calm, for Mark was loved by all in Tashkent, – always the faithful son and though in his art played at the fringes of politics and uncomfortable subjects often through humor and the medium of the play, never was threatening in any political, business, social or cultural sense.
Meanwhile, our own CXW discusses the lack of attention given to the murder by official Uzbek media, and that speculation about the background of the crime is rife.
Speculation surrounding Weil’s death will most likely continue for some time, not least because of reports of newspapers being ordered not to print any material.
The other issues discussed in the Uzbek blogosphere were mainly concerning the socio-economic life of people in Uzbekistan. Jamiyat writes about the recent rise of prices in Uzbek market and talks about the possible result of it among citizen. Jamiyat gives very interesting examples of local governments hiding this fact from the president’s apparatus and international organizations (ENG).
What one can observe now is that businessmen are forced to sell their goods for a lower price than the market dictates. That is, if the president visits the city of Margilan, for example, all sales-people are forced to sell their products for almost half of their original cost. An old Soviet way of hiding the reality, which was widely used starting from the 1980s… This tactics was also used during the two days’ Annual Meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan in 2003. A group of economists were taken to the local markets to show that the real prices are very low and affordable by the population. What the Uzbek officials would not realize, though, was that the respectable organization, such as the EBRD makes its reports about a country far in advance. They were not blind either and saw all the people fighting their way through the police cordons in order to be able to buy foodstuffs for an unbelievably low prices. After the experts left the market, police even had to use force to disperse people.
Jamiyat also writes about the hackers attack to the embassies of Asian countries (ENG) that opened passwords to 100 email accounts 37 of which belonged to Uzbek embassies and consulates around the world.
The blog Civil Society in Uzbekistan writes about the water and visa problems between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (RUS) , posting an interview with the Uzbek ambassador in Tajikistan. The water problem is a great issue at the moment between these two countries. The problem was fueled by Tajik plans to build several hydroelectric stations on rivers that flow to Uzbekistan where they are used mainly to irrigate cotton fields. However, the ambassador says in the interview:
Taking my chance, I want to disappoint those who like to politicize this problem, and those who want to put these two brother nations at odds. There was not any enmity and insolvable contradictions.

author: Tolkun


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Who Owns the African Blogosphere? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The second Digital Citizen Indaba took place on September 9, 2007 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Discussions during the Indaba centered on issues of blogging, cyber-activism, language and identity. The first Indaba, which took place last year, provoked a heated debate about the racial composition of participants.
Who owns the African blogosphere?
During this year’s Indaba, Daudi Were of Mental Acrobatics and the co-founder of the Kenyan blogging community, KenyaUnlimited, carried on the debate by asking, “Who owns the African blogosphere?” He made his case by telling a funny and an illustrative story of how colonialists took land from Africans thinking that it belonged to no one:
Colonialists would often turn up at an African community and ask, “Who does that land belong to?” pointing to the vast fields around the village. Many times the reply from the villagers would be, “It does not belong to anyone.” The colonialists would then promptly set about fencing and craving up the land amongst themselves, which would enrage the Africans, which, in turn, would confuse the colonialists as, after all, they had been told that this land did not belong to anyone.
These exchanges highlight the differences in the cultures involved and the different understandings of what initially looks like a very simple situation. When the Africans tell the colonialists that this land does not belong to anybody, the colonialists would take that to mean that the land is unoccupied. “It does not belong to anyone” is taken to mean it is ownerless. That was a misunderstanding of what they had been told.
But who did the land belonged to? Daudi continues:
For when the African said, “This land does not belong to anyone”, what they mean is this land does not belong to any single person or family. This land is the property of the community under the stewardship of those who currently occupy it. The Elesi of Odogbolu, a Nigerian chief, told the West African land commission in 1912, that he “conceived that land belongs to a vast family of which many are dead, few are living and countless yet unborn”. In other words, “this land does not belong to anyone” meant this land belongs to everyone. It is occupied by us, but we do not own it, we are merely the current stewards holding it for future generations.
His conclusion:
In my opinion the internet is a space through which discussion takes place and blogs are the tool through which we utilise that space for discussion. In other words this space we have carved on the internet is our land and bloggers are the occupiers of that land. Like our ancestors I believe that this land does not belong to any of us, it belongs to all of us.
Best stories remain untold
When it comes to issues of identity and representation, blogs have provided a space for groups and individuals who have always been marginalized by the mainstream media:
For example those who feel unrepresented in the main stream media can use this space to get their message across. Those who feel left out of the national conversation can use this space to get their message across. Ndesanjo in his keynote address emphasised this highlighting that several Africans who happen to be gay had used this space to express themselves through blogs, several Africans who happen to be white or of Asian origin had used this space to express themselves through their blogs.
However, as pointed out by Ansbert Ngurumo, a Swahili blogger from Tanzania, rural stories remain untold:
Africa’s best stories remain untold, because journalists and bloggers have concentrated in urban areas and neglected rural areas, said Tanzanian journalist Ansbert Ngurumo.
Ngurumo called for African bloggers to develop more local content and to “villagize” the Internet:
In developing local content, Ngurumo argued Africans have to develop the civic will to blog more because “it does not take political will to start and maintain a blog”. Ngurumo told the Indaba that Africa has to “villagize” the internet and make sure that people in the rural areas blog, podcast and tell their stories to the world.
On why he blogs in Swahili:
Speaking about lack of a critical mass of African languages on the internet, Ngurumo said he chose to blog in Swahili because that is the language he knows best and is spoken by about 100 million people in east, central and parts of southern Africa.
“Why would I want to blog in English yet 100 million Africans communicate in Swahili?” asked
From rock paintings to Mental Acrobatics
During the keynote relationship between social media and African cultural practices and values was highlighted:
In his speech “From rock paintings to mental acrobatics”, Ndesanjo Macha kicked off the 2007 Digital Citizen Indaba in Grahamstown on Sunday saying that Africa already had social media before the emergence of the digital age. Africa has a strong tradition of collective storytelling, of taking thoughts and ideas and putting them in a public space. In prehistoric times, Africans used rock paintings to bring their thoughts into the public space. In essence, rock painters were the bloggers of their time; rocks were their blogs.
David Kezio-Musoke of Highway Africa wrote:
To him it [blogging] is simply an art of story-telling. Rock painters were bloggers of that time. The only difference he said is the technologies the two distinct worlds used.
Words of advice for cyber-activists and journalists
Brenda Burrel of Kubatana warned activists to check their metadata and made the case for spam as a useful tool for activism:
But today an activist who once worked there believes there's sometimes no alternative but to use spam in order to get the message out – especially to cellphones.
The person is Brenda Burrell, who now runs the award-winning Zimbabwean civil society site Kubutana.
She made the case for spam at the DCI, but also warned that today’s ease of publishing poses real dangers for cyberactivists.
The risk lurks in the metadata of documents and images hastily posted online.
An example is the anonymous testimony of a victim of state violence, where the author’s identity, or the computer used, unintentionally shows up when the document's properties are inspected.
Despite her country’s difficulties, Burrell concluded with a famous quote: “If it were not for hope, the heart would break.”
Nigerian blogger and journalist Remmy Nweke talked about ways in which journalists can benefit from blogging:
Journalists can benefit from blogging. This is according to a senior Reporter in a daily newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, Remmy Nweke.  He has been speaking at the Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) on Blogging held at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
Nweke says now journalists can put their local stories online for international audiences. He says putting  stories online for public comment and scrutiny has made him a credible global journalist. One other benefit is archiving of news material.Nweke points out that online archived stories can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Nweke emphasised that blogging is now a tool that journalist should use for their development.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Brazil: Atlantic forest may recover · Global Voices
Paula Góes

A research by the French Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement (IRD) and the University of São Paulo suggests that “despite being reduced to just 8 percent of its original extent due to agriculture and urban expansion, the Atlantic forest may be capable of recovery. In other words, the Atlantic forest may be more resilient to change than previously believed”. See full report.

author: Paula Góes


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Brazil: Google Bombing the Senate · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The president of Brazil's Senate, Renan Calheiros, has been recently absolved over accusations of graft in a 40-to-35 secret ballot vote in the Senate House. The accusation against Calheiros was that he had personal expenses paid by a construction firm in exchange of political favors. He was discharged in a session carried out behind closed doors even after the Senate Ethics Commission concluded its investigation accusing him of unethical behavior and recommending his impeachment.
Feeling outraged as Calheiros got away, many bloggers around the country started to Google bomb the Senate and in less than 24 hours they achieved what they wanted: the Senate's website is the first result served up by Google (Brazil and US) when the search words are “vergonha nacional”, that is to say “national shame” in Portuguese. The webpage appears straight away when “I am feeling Lucky” is hit.
It all started with this post, by Rodrigo Stulzer from Empirical Empire [pt], in which he has now gathered nearly hundred comments and trackbacks:
“Faça o link: Vergonha Nacional. Não demora nem cinco minutos”
“Make the link: National Shame. It doesn't take more than five minutes”
Just by cyber-coincidence, in another part of the country Bender Blog [pt] came up with the same idea:
Ao invés de sair por aí postando que o Senado é a vergonha nacional sugiro fazer algo diferente:
VERGONHA NACIONAL
Quanto mais gente lincar estes termos da forma que eu fiz, mais rapidamente o Google mostrará para o mundo que o senado brasileiro é a vergonha nacional. E então, alguém a fim de colaborar?
Instead of going around posting that the Senate is the national shame, I'd suggest you to do something different:
NATIONAL SHAME
The more people link to these words like I've done, the quicker Google will show the world that the Brazilian Senate is the national shame. So, is anybody up for helping?
Many people were very keen to help and even quicker to respond. Rodrigo Stulzer [pt] celebrates the achievement:
“A blogosfera acabou de mostrar a sua união! Em menos de 24 horas de campanha conseguimos colocar o site do senado federal como sendo a primeira resposta quando procurado o termo Vergonha Nacional, no google. Se quiser experimente você mesmo clicando aqui. Parabéns a todos os cidadãos que defendem o seu país!”
“The blogophere has shown its strength! In less than 24 hours of campaigning, we managed to make the national senate's website the first result when the term National Shame is searched on  Google. If you want to try it yourself, click here. Congratulations to every citizen who stands up for their country!”
After the success of the protest, Bianca B from Não Pertube [pt] thinks that cyber-activism is the way to go. She says:
“Acredito que iniciativas como essa se utilizando sa internet – coisa que usamos e conhecemos muito bem – só tende a ser cada vez melhor sucedida, e cada vez melhor planejada e com efeitos cada vez melhores”
“I believe that initiatives making use of the Internet – something that we use and know well – like this one are only going to succeed more and more, be better planned every time and achieve better results each time”
Marcio Merlone from Merlone’s Binary Log [pt] believes these protests can be the embryo of bigger changes. He hopes that:
“Ações isoladas como um Google Bombing não farão qualquer mudança em nada, porém em conjunto, as ações isoladas formam as sementes de modificações maiores amanhã. Os resultados sim serão motivo de orgulho, não estas ações”
“Isolated acts like a Google Bombing will not change anything, but  isolated acts together make up the seeds of tomorrow's bigger changes. Their results will indeed be a reason for pride, not the actions themselves”
Other bloggers have found different ways of protesting. In Blog do Cobra [pt] there is a list of senators’ e-mails, in case netcitizens feel like dropping them a line. Burajiru [pt] is promoting a sweepstake to find out who the senators not telling the truth are in this case: there were only 35 votes against Calheiro's discharge, but so far 46 senators have claimed to have voted so. Blogger 30 & Alguns [pt] has made available a list of all related pieces of news and posts on the Internet.  And many bloggers have published a little video anagram made by Paim Comunicação for the Bienal B, the Contemporary Art Show in Porto Alegre, in which the word senator becomes dishonor:
The first successful Brazilian Google bomb redirected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva‘s biography to searches for “despota cachaceiro” (boozer tyrant). On an international level, everyone must have come across George Bush's CV when typing “miserable failure” or just “failure”. Since then, Google has announced that they now have “an algorithm that minimizes the impact of many Googlebombs”.


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Lebanon: Language Differentiating Islamic Movements · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Bech raises this question among others: “Is there something that differentiates Islamic movements from other movements?“
And he answers, tentatively: “The difference is in the language used as representative of a different ‘form’ of consciousness (culture, etc.) shaped by different institutions and power relations in place.”


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Lebanon: Politically Apathetic · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

I am politically apathetic.I prefer this to being engaged in a political party whose leaders will deceive me, double-cross their ideals and sell their martyrs to the highest bidder…
declares Joumana Mattar Moukarzel in reaction to the unstable political situation in the country.