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Zimbabwe: January blog roundup · Global Voices
Denford Magora

Most bloggers writing on Zimbabwe at the beginning of this new year are concerned with the economic and  social situation in the country. Others are still following the court case of the human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who was abducted and disappeared for three weeks before emerging in the hands of the police on 24 December 2008, facing charges of training bandits to topple Robert Mugabe's government.
Sokwanele's This is Zimbabwe  starts off the year with a post of an ancedote that highlights the collapse of the health, infractucture and educational systems in Zimbabwe. It tells the experiences of two specific Zimbabweans during the Christmas break.
… he saw a child standing in the middle of nowhere crying its heart out by the side of the road, trying to wave down cars. An adult sat crumpled in the dirt next to her.
When he stopped, he learned that the child was with her grandmother, and that the grandmother was very very sick. The small girl had been trying to help her Gogo to find a way to get to a clinic or hospital and they had walked through the bush for miles. When they reached the road, Gogo’s legs gave out, and she could not find the strength to stand up again and the child was too small to help her stand and keep going. All she could do was sob, and try and wave down someone who would stop and help her.
My relative helped Gogo into the car and drove her and her grandchild to the nearest hospital. He said they had a long way to go and Gogo was silent all the way, very ill and every last bit of strength drained from her just trying to reach the road. The little girl, he said, sobbed the whole way there. He said she was crying in grief and fear, but that she also kept thanking him, her gratitude that he had stopped at all was heartbreaking.
He left them at the nearest clinic in the care of doctors and nurses who probably don’t have the medicines they need to help Gogo, and I fear she will probably die. ‘Happy New Year’ to that tiny little girl? I think not.
And the post ends with a promise for 2009:
My promise is to a child I have never met: I promise before God that I will not give up, I promise to keep going. I wish this promise meant something to this child, but the truth is it doesn’t even scratch the surface of a grief she has that runs so deep it will forever define her life as an adult.
Denford Magora's Zimbabwe Blog [Discloruse: that's me] follows the arrest and trial of human rights activist Jestina Mukoko. The blog starts off the year with a post revealing that Jestina Mukoko is still not in police custody but is being still under the direct custody of the Zimbabwe secret Police, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO):
It is a lie that the case is being handled by the Law and Order section of the police. They were put in front of all this rather hastily on 22 December 2008, in order to give the whole thing a resemblance of following due process. No one at Central Police Station in Harare is privy what is really up with this case.
[…] There are CIO operatives as well as a beefed-up armed guard now permanently stationed at the prison where the abductees are being kept. They are still being questioned, which is why you are unlikely to see this court case begin in earnest for some weeks. It is not the police doing the questioning, obviously, but the CIO. “It's a national security issue,” as the minister in charge of the secret police, the CIO, told the court this week.
Guys, the real business of this Jestina Mukoko court case is being done outside the courtroom and what we see happening in the courts is simply a show. I have now come to realise this.
The blog also reports that President Robert Mugabe  is preparing to arrest Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader. It gives details of a plot to arrest the MDC leader on charges arising out of the current prosecution of Jestina Mukoko and the alleged recruitment and training of “bandits” to topple Mugabe.
Another blog coming out of Zimbabwe, Peace Love and Happiness bemoans the part-dollarisation of the Zimbabwean economy in a post addressed to the Reserve Bank Governor of that country, entitled “Gono, US Dollars Do Not Grow On Trees“. This is a revealing post that shows just how deeply the economic crisis has spread and gives an insight into how Zimbabweans are coping with record-breaking inflation now estimated to run into the trilions:
Right now ordinary Zimbabweans are faced with a situation whereby they are being paid in worthless Zimbabwean dollars and yet are expected to pay their rent, their transport, buy all their food, pay for school fees, hospital fees and medicine in US dollars. Where does the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor expect the ordinary Zimbabweans to get the US dollars from, is he aware that the US dollars do not grow on trees. Ordinary Zimbabweans were already suffering economically before this policy of using US dollars was put in place and putting it in place when most of them are paid in Zimbabwean dollars was like putting salt on a wound, adding more suffering to an already suffering people. This shows just how cruel, insensitive and indifferent Gono is to the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans. His allowing pricing of goods and services to be done in US dollars when most people are paid in Zim dollars has increased poverty, hunger and deaths in the country and made reaching one of the NEPAD millenium goals of poverty reduction very far from being possible in this country. You might be wondering why the ordinary Zimbabweans can not just use their Zim dollar salaries to buy the needed US dollars from the foreign currency dealers which can be found at every street corner in the city. The reason they can't do that is because the maximum money withdrawal from the bank, that Gono set as the limit per person, per day is not enough to buy an adequate amount of US dollars.

author: Denford Magora


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A Global Voices New Year · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Depending on your attitude toward the passing of time, 2009 is either already or only six days old. In which case the Global Voices holiday/new year presentation will strike you as either sadly belated, or, like a Christmas gift delivered long after the season, an unexpected delight.
We'd originally decided against presenting this publicly, both because it represents a mere fraction of our community, many of whom were too busy with work and holiday commitments to contribute, and because of the sombre tone of the events being reported on our pages of late.
But then we decided that the latter was in fact as good a reason for presenting it as not. So here it is: our belated, and hopefully also delightful holiday/new year presentation, complete with modest funding appeal at the end. View it full screen for the best results.
We hope you enjoy!

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Georgia Popplewell


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A Rap Tribute to Benazir Bhutto  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Über Desi posts an YouTube video of a rap tribute to Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan, by her 18 year old daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto.

author: Rezwan


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Americas: Celebrating the Visit of the Three Kings · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The holiday season continues across the Americas, even as Christmas and the New Year holiday have all passed.  In many countries in the region, the feast of “Los Reyes Magos” (The Three Kings) is an equally important festivity in many households. The day falls around the time of Epiphany and is celebrated on January 6th (or often the Sunday before), which is closely related to the 12 Days of Christmas as referred to in popular holiday stories.
Each country celebrates the holiday, sometimes with its own variations, but the day commemorates that story of the three wise men (or three kings), who visited the newborn baby Jesus in the town of Bethlehem.  Children across the region leave out grass and water for the kings’ camels, who in turn, leave behind toys and sweets for the children.  Even though the holiday is a religious one, it is falling victim to commercialization, especially targeted at Latin American immigrants, as mentioned by Erwin C of The Latin Americanist:
However, the economic crisis across the region is having an effect on this long-standing tradition. Ingrid of Vivir México [es] writes about her experience in Mexico:
Hoy que salí a la calle, al centro, temía encontrarme hordas de compradores trabajando para los Reyes Magos y su visita anual a los niños de nuestro país. Y sí, sí me encontré muchos compradores pero nada que ver con años pasados.
Según leo, este año las ventas de juguetes se redujeron de un 50 a 60% en México debido a los problemas económicos que enfrentamos día a día con la crisis mundial. Es triste, porque aunque estamos hablando de juguetes, el fin lúdico es tierno y parte de las tradiciones mexicanas. Gracias a la falta de dinero, los Reyes Magos sólo tienen capacidad de comprar juguetes pequeños, de los más baratos.
Today I went downtown, and I was afraid to run into hordes of shoppers working for the Three Kings and their annual visit to our country's children.  And yes, I did see a lot of shoppers, but nothing like previous years.
According to what I read, this year sales of toys decreased 50-60% in Mexico due to the daily economic problems because of the world crisis. It is sad, because even though we are talking about toys, it is about fun and part of Mexican traditions. Due to the lack of money, the Three Kings are only able to buy small and inexpensive toys.
This holiday often excites children with the prospect of more presents. Louis Cyphre of El Opinador Compulsivo [es] becomes a little nostalgic about his childhood in Argentina and publishes an essay about the Three Kings that he wrote when he was in the 7th grade. The mystery and magic of this holiday appeals especially to children, who continue the tradition, with a little help of parents and relatives.  However, Zenia Regalado in Cuba, regrets the time when she revealed the true identity of the gift giver [es].
A propósito de la fecha recordaba hoy el día en que maté una ilusión de mi hija cuando tenía cinco años. Ella colocó entonces yerbitas bajo su cama a la espera de un juguete que había pedido: una muñeca.
Se la compré y la coloqué a los pies de su cama. Al despertar dio un salto de alegría al verla.
Entre desorientada y confundida le dije: “No fueron los reyes magos, fue tu reina maga”.
Defender la fantasía a esa edad infantil suele ser una tendencia que más de uno asume. También como madre creo en ello, aunque quizás cometí una herejía.
On this date, I recall the day that I destroyed the illusion of my daughter, when she was 5 years-old.  She placed herbs under her bed in order to wait for the toy that she asked for: a doll.
I bought her the doll and placed it at the foot of her bed. When she awoke, she jumped with joy upon seeing the doll.
I entered (her room) disorientated and confused, and I said, “It wasn't the Three Kings, it was your Wise Queen.”
Defending a fantasy at that young age is usually something that one takes on.  Also, as a mother I believe in it, although maybe I committed a heresy.
The holiday is very important in many of the Latin American countries, whose citizens are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic or from other Christian traditions.  However, in the country of Haiti, there are differences in the way various religious and spiritual traditions celebrate the day.  Darlie writes:
Cependant, cette fête de l'Epiphanie demeure jusqu'ici très controversée en Haïti par les 3 tendances religieuses les plus en vogue du pays. (protestant, catholique et vaudouisant).
Les catholiques célèbrent l'eucharistie pour marquer cette journée, pour les vaudouisants, c'est l'occasion de prendre leur bain de chance chez les “ougan”=prêtres du vaudou tandis que les chrétiens protestants ne s'en mêlent pas car pour eux cette fête reste une histoire catholique…
S'il y a une chose sur laquelle les haïtiens se mettent d'accord sur cette fête, c'est que l'Epiphanie constitue le pont qui relie la fête nationale aux festivités carnavalesques. Oui, les haïtiens n'attendent chaque année que ce jour là pour donner le coup d'envoi au carnaval. C'est surprenant mais vrai, le carnaval haïtien commence dans 7 jours soit dimanche prochain sur le Champs-de-Mars où de nombreux groupes musicaux ambulants dits les bandes à pied se donneront rendez-vous pour faire danser des centaines de milliers de gens venus de quatre coins du pays.
However, the Epiphany still remains controversial in Haiti for the country's three most popular religions (Protestantism, Catholicism, and Voodism).
To mark this day, Catholics celebrate the Eucharist.  For the voodooists, it's a day to visit the “ougan” (voodoo priest) and take their lucky bath.  While the Protestant christians don't join in because for them, the holiday is for the Catholics…
If there is one thing about the holiday Haitians agree on, it's that the Epiphany is the bridge between Haitian Independence Day and the festivities of Carnival.  Yes, Haitians wait every year for this day to kick off Carnival.  It's surprising, but true. Haitian Carnival begins next Sunday on the Champs-de-Mars were numerous traveling music groups [buskers], called “bands on foot”, will gather to make the hundreds of thousands of people, coming from all four corners of the country, dance.

author: Eduardo Avila


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An Egyptian Blogger’s take on Robert Fisk’s Piece · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Perwin Ali's take on Robert Fisk's piece for The Independent: The Rotten State of Egypt is too Powerless and Corrupt to Act. The Egyptian blogger wrote:
I believe [that Fisk's piece] is the latest example of how formulaic and commercialized one can get… even a highly respected source. It shows you that one can't blindly follow and/or agree with someone or something all the time. We should always question things, and definitely think for ourselves
Now, While I have nothing but respect for Robert Fisk, I can't help but feel that what he's saying here, while true, is out of context… or at the very least needs the added layer of what happens to Egypt and Egyptians outside of “Egypt's economic foundations [crumbling]” as a result of crossing its so-called allies. Why isn't he talking about the fact that Egypt will stand alone in fighting the Israelis, Americans, Brits, and the other covert cohorts, if it does indeed open the Rafah gate? And fight them on her own land, the much-coveted Sinai? Why isn't he talking about how opening the gate will give Israel a much stronger footing in Gaza when Palestinians start leaving in droves?
She also highlights another instance where Fisk goes off point saying:
It also feels more like a formulaic piece than a true evaluation of the Gaza crisis and its implications on Egypt, since everybody seems hell bent on making Egypt a star in this catastrophe, albeit a notorious one. I mean, he does a good job of stating the key negatives of the government which we all know by heart now, but why is he talking about prison rapes and negligent doctors? Where is the context of how this fits in with what's going on right now? Is this what he needs to be talking about now?
After finding out what I think of this piece, a friend asked me in great surprise if I don't believe that Egypt is corrupt and corrupt to the core. The kind of corruption that would push many youth to embrace possible death at sea just to get out of here. So I explained to her that I'm not saying it's untrue, I'm saying the opposite. It's true… very true. But it's also very out of context here.
Fisk's tally of Egypt's degrees of corruption isn't what he should be talking about here if he really wants to talk about what he clearly believes to be Egypt's lack-luster role in all of this. I think he's just using his trusted technique, pulling out his old notes filed under ‘examples of corruption in Egypt’ as a space filler for something he clearly doesn't want to look at objectively.
Concluding her post she advised Fisk:
If he had really wanted to use a constructive example he could've used something like the undeterred gas deal with Israel. Now that's much closer to home in this case, not the classic sensational stuff he used. But then again, it's not as scandalous as “…a religious facade in which the meaning of Islam has become effaced by its physical representation.” which is a sentence I'm not sure fits how exactly with the supposed abominable performance given by Egypt so far. Maybe when you read his article you can explain it to me.
Surely Fisk can do a better job at being unbiased, objective and analytical.

author: Marwa Rakha


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Argentina: A Generous Country? · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

“Is Argentina a generous country?” asks Juan Pablo Meneses of Cronicas Argentinas [es].  It is a phrase often heard about the country, and he looks at the history and use of the phrase over the years.


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Argentina: Wanting to Know About the Crisis of 2001 · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Blogger Esteban Grinberg of De Todo Un Poco [es] is currently on holiday in Chile and upon hearing that he is from neighboring Argentina, besides asking about tango and Diego Maradona, many seem to always ask about the economic and political crisis of 2001.


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Armenia: Merry Christmas · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With Christmas celebrated by Armenians on 6 January, Unzipped  sends its readers seasons greetings, but also details outstanding opposition and human rights concerns with political prisoners still in detention or on trial following the 1 March 2008 post-presidential election clashes in Yerevan. The blog also wonders whether an alternative address to the nation shouldn't be delivered to contrast with that from the president.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Australia: Locals divided over Gaza · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Australian blogs are dominated by disagreements about the situation in Gaza. The stances taken by Australian politicians have also been attacked by several bloggers.
There were 425 comments on Larvatus Prodeo’s first thread that argued that:
Any form of peaceful resolution to the conflicts in Palestine and Israel has been blocked for a long time by a range of factors – including but not limited to internal Israeli politics and the decomposition of its party system, the legacy of past atrocities, an effective economic blockade of Palestine,  the power balance in the Middle East  and the hypocritical and empty promises of the Bush administration. If there is a “peace process”, its outlines were frozen in time long ago. Unfortunately, I think it’s probably too much to hope for that there’ll be any sort of progress under the Obama administration, particularly with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
Eyeless in Gaza
So they’ve continued the discourse on a new thread, Eyeless in Gaza II. A comment on the original thread from Paul Burns (421) is typical of many people’s frustration with both sides:
I don’t agree with Hamas firing rockets at Israeli civilians. (Israel can kill as many Hamas militants as it likes, and Hamas can kill as many Israeli soldiers as it likes – that’s what happens to soldiers, and let’s face it, on both sides, whatever else they are, they’re varieties of a defence/offence force.)
What gets to me is the indiscriminate bombing of women and children, of mosques, (you’re not supposed to bomb places of worship – I know people don’t take much notice of it in modern warfare, but among other things places of worship are places of sanctuary for civilians as well as places of prayer.)
Its all very cliched, but the end result of all this is going to be that neither side wins, and we’re going to have a lot of traumatized kids, in whom the mutual hate will just live on.
There’s little point for me in debating the rights and wrongs of this – both sides are wrong, the Israelis infinitely more so because of their use of disproportionate force, and, at the risk of sounding really boring, their use of collective punishment on the Gazans as a whole.
Somehow the whole damn thing just has to stop for good.
I know the above is very simplistic, and probably doesn’t take account of the infinite permutations of Israeli and Palestinian politics, but really, surely that is what has to happen.
The Orstrahyun presented a series of photos of child victims of the bombing. He questioned the Australian government’s support for Israel’s actions:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was too busy over the weekend to explain how he feels about an Australian ally using indiscriminate terrorism  to collectively punish the Palestinian people in Gaza, for the actions of their democratically elected government. Terror attacks that have killed more than 400 people, including at least 80 children, wounding thousands more in nine days.
Australia All But Silent On Ally Terror Attacks Killing 80 Children
Harry Clarke’s self-titled blog took a very different tack:
The response of the media and mealy-mouthed politicians has been predictable.  On the one hand a section of the media, backed up by supporters of terrorism around the world, has been to attack the immorality of the Israeli attack often without mention of the past and continuing bombardment of Israel by missiles from Hamas.  This is one-eyed hypocrisy given the avowed intent of Hamas to wipe-out Israel.
Mealy-mouthed politicians (including our own Julia Gillard and the toothless UN – this  is particularly disgraceful) have participated widely in these forms of hypocrisy as well as by launching the standard response that both sides should stop the conflict, kiss and go home.
Israel launches ground attack into Gaza
This earned him the displeasure of Slim at The Dog’s Bollocks:
I’m always amazed at how polarised people’s opinions are when it comes to Israel – how generally reasoned and moderate commentators can be so single-mindedly supportive of Israel, despite the appalling anti-humanitarian conditions it imposes on the Palestinians and the numerous floutings of conditions imposed by the UN – as though Israel can do no wrong.
Why the taboo on criticising Israel?
At do not adjust your mind, Zac Spitzer also attacked local politicians as well as Barack Obama:
Obama needs to rebuke Israel (and it's use of the current Administration flawed spin), which is difficult and obviously given that Bush is almost out of the White House, unfortunate timing, but many, many lives are being lost.
Shame on Israel, I can really understand their situation, having rockets landing everyday in their towns is an outrage, unfortunately, they have overstepped the mark completely and now have lost most of their credibility with their actions in Gaza.
Kevin Rudd has been MIA on this as well, the Federal Opposition is going to have it's hand tied somewhat having Helen Coonan as the Shadow Foreign Affairs, given her seat lies in the heart of Melbourne's Jewish Community.
Israel and it's WMD Style spin on Gaza, Obama MIA
It’s interesting to note that the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Deputy PM Julia Gillard are seen as having different views on the conflict in Gaza.
So does the general populace. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protests were held over the weekend. Joni from Blogocrats attended one and took his video camera along:
Gaza Protest
The rally went past the Egyptian Consulate where chants against Mubarak were heard. So everyone realises that it is not just the Israelis that need to act – the Egyptians also need to act.
Of course, there was the (somewhat) militant fringe to the protest, but overall it was a peaceful protest – where the chants stayed polite, if passionate. The organisers tried to keep the protest to being one of respect and to be in support of the people of Gaza. I estimated that there was a couple of thousand people in attendance.
Protest for Palestine (Sydney)

author: Kevin Rennie


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Azerbaijan: New Year · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Sheki, Azerbaijan comments on the history of Baku and says that museums and concert halls are being renovated while contemporary artists are supported more and more. Seasonal exhibitions have also been well received by the public, while Joe's Trippin’ posts photos of the snow in Baku's old town.


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Bangladesh: Reactions To A New Cabinet · Global Voices
Rezwan

Awami League and the Grand Alliance, the winner of the recent Bangladesh national polls, have formed a new 32 member cabinet today. E-Bangladesh is hosting a live discussion of Bangladeshi bloggers on the reactions to the appointment of ministers.


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Central African Republic: Police to strike · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Alliance pour la democratie et le progres [Fr]: Police in Central African Republic have announced they plan to go on strike.  They are demanding the government sign a law that would raise salaries and improve work conditions for police officers.

author: Jennifer Brea


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China: Job Security Problem · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Brain Black from China Challenges blogs about the impact of global economic downturn on job security in China.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Cuba: Three Kings · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Today is Three Kings Day in Cuba – the occasion honours the Wise Men's visit to Bethlehem and suggests that the Three Kings will bestow gifts upon good children.  Havana Times.org blogs about the inherent economic disparities, saying: “The ideal solution is that the family educates based on feelings and affection, independent of their economic resources”, while in a separate post, Generation Y asks: ” I wonder when prosperity will stop being seen as counterrevolutionary…”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Dominica: Thinking Environmentally  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It is time for the environmentalist movement and its backers to understand that the battle for hearts and minds begins with the pocket and the stomach”: Dominica's Caribbean Man examines some of the challenges for environmentalists in the region.


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DR Congo: New mass killings, weak media attention · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

While fighting in North Kivu – which displaced 250,000 people earlier this year – has been somewhat quiet of late, there are now reports of mass killings in a different part of Congo. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group, has gone on a rampage in the Haut-Uélé region in northeastern Congo, near the Sudanese border. The attacks are in response to recent military operations against the LRA bases in the surroundings of the Garamba National Park, launched in December by Ugandan, Southern Sudanese and Congolese forces.  According to the NGO Caritas, over 400 people have been killed around the towns of Faradje, Duru, Bangade, Gurba, and Doruma since the 25th of December:
The Director of Caritas Dungu-Doruma says that the Ugandan rebels attacked a Christmas Day concert in Faradje City organised by the Catholic church there. He says the rebels returned the next morning to continue their killing spree. He says approximately 150 people were killed over the two days.
At the same time, another attack was perpetrated in Duru, north of Dungu. Caritas reports 75 people killed and the Church burned down.
Caritas reports that the killing continued along the Sudan border, including in Bangadi, Doruma and Gurba. Caritas reports 48 dead in Bangadi and that in Gurba 213 people were killed. Approximately 6,500 people have found refuge in the area with the Catholic church.
Caritas also reports that children are being abducted by the LRA, who use them as child soldiers.
The MSF (Doctors without Borders) team in Dungu received the following report from the town of Faradje:
First information on the attack on Faradje, a city of 25,000 people in northeastern DRC, reached the MSF team in Dungu on the evening of Christmas Day. […] On the following morning, a nurse form Tadu, a small town 20 km south of Faradje, signaled by radio the arrival in his area of thousands of people fleeing the attack, probably around 15,000. The nurse confirmed that Faradje’s head physician and another civil servant had been killed in the attack. According to him, many seriously wounded victims were still stuck in the city’s hospital, which was left without proper equipment following looting by LRA soldiers.
The Caritas blog posted three pictures of survivors from the Christmas day killings in Faradje by Emmanuel Bofoe:
The conservation blog Baraza of the WildlifeDirect network reported an LRA attack in the headquarters of Garamba National Park on January 2nd:
Despite strong resistance by the park rangers together with elements from the Congolese Armed Forces, numerous casualties and material damages have been incurred. A first report mentions 8 people killed, including two park rangers and two wives of wardens, and 13 injured, most of them by bullets. An unconfirmed number of rebels have also been killed or wounded.
Several essential buildings of the headquarters have also been destroyed, along with many items of transport and communications equipment, and stocks of fuel and food rations.
In a different post, the Baraza blog described the situation in the area as “much worse than before”:
One person has described the outcome of this failed military offensive against the LRA as the equivalent of “stirring up a hornets nest”
Dahee Nam at Impunity Watch Africa reports that on Sunday December 4 another attack was launched in the region but no casualties occurred since the targets had fled before the rebels arrived.
Michael Kleinman of the Humanitarian Relief blog comments on the humanitarian situation in the area:
In addition, as many as 30,000 villagers have fled the area.  According to a recent IRIN article – Deadly LRA attacks prompts exodus in northeastern Congo – aid agencies are struggling to reach those in need: “The military operations and the LRA presence make it very difficult for humanitarian agencies to operate, and some areas are currently totally inaccessible to aid workers.”
Kakaluigi [Fr], an Italian missionary working in Eastern Congo, compares the media reaction to these massacres in Eastern Congo to the recent ones in Gaza in a post titled “Scandal!“:
À Gaza ( Palestine) les Israeliens viennent de massacrer 400 personnes en l'espace d'une semaine, il y'a eu manifestation à travers le monde et les mèdias de tout genre ne font que nous bombarder avec leurs images de sang et de morts.
À Dungu- Faradje (RDC) c'est en presence de la Monuc que la Rébellion Ougandaise vient d'assassiner plus de 400 personnes en l'espace d'une journée, mais silence total à travers le monde, pas une image et  même pas une journée de deuil au pays concerné.
In Dungu-Faradje (DRC), in the presence of Monuc Ugandan rebels have just assassinated over 400 people in a day, but there has been complete silence all over the world, not one image and not even a day of mourning in the affected country.
In a similar vein Hugues Serraf, blogging at La tribune du vaticinateur [Fr] of Rue 89, wonders:
Si un mort israélien vaut plusieurs morts palestiniens, combien faut-il de cadavres congolais pour un linceul gazaoui?
[…] Comment un conflit qui a déjà fait quatre millions de morts en dix ans, et tue encore plus d’un millier de civils chaque jour du fait du chaos alimentaire et sanitaire qu’il entraîne, peut-il être aussi peu couvert? Comment les 271 victimes de la LRA (hypothèse basse, rappelons-le) de ces dernières semaines ont-elles pu échapper à la vigilance de nos reporters, de nos analystes, voire de nos manifestants?
[…] How come a conflict that has already caused four million deaths in ten years, and that is still killing more than a thousand civilians every day as a result of the food and health crisis that it is causing, can receive such little coverage? How come the 271 victims of the LRA (a low estimate, let's not forget it) of the last couple of weeks could slip out of the vigilance of our reporters, analysts, even our demonstrators?
Stop the war in North Kivu, a blog written by an international aid worker in Eastern Congo, reflects on the “ignorance of African wars by Western public opinion and Western media”:
I am convinced that the thunderous silence of Western media regarding horror in African conflicts entails an enormous, and unavoidable, ethic question. If five million people die in a given place, we as human beings have the obligation to know that this has happened. It is a moral obligation. We must know, the same way that we all know that millions of Jewish men, women and children were exterminated in Germany in the Second World War. However, we don´t know that more than five million Congolese have died as a result of the war since 1998.
Citizens of an information age have a right to know about it, and victims have a right for their suffering to be told, and known.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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DR Congo: What went wrong in establishing lasting peace · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

The Mushaki Pager analyses what went wrong in establishing lasting peace in the DR Congo and why conflict persists.


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Egypt: From Egyptian Artists to Artists of the World · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Egyptian artists are lending their voices to the Palestinian cause, explaining to the rest of the world the history of the Arab-Israeli struggle from their view point.
The initiative, spearheaded by Khaled El Sawy, a famous Egyptian actor and blogger, is called “A message from Egyptian artists to all artists of the world“, and is targeted towards non-Arabs.
Om Maryam translated El Sawy's message in one of the comments on the post.
Here's the actor's message in Arabic, followed by Om Maryam's translation:
Then he proceeds with clarifying history details:
He further continues:
You have seen with your own eyes the collapsing of the ethics of the ruling classes throughout the world with signs of the crisis of global capitalism, which turned the optimism associated with the onset of a new century to global pessimism of comprehensive mess. All the ruling classes have been unmasked by their people , especially in the United States and Britain, which mixed racism and sectarianism with the murderous capitalist globalization.
to all artists of the world ..
Greetings from all of us to the “Not In Our Name” movement which was historically signed by American intellectuals and artists against Bush's repressive and bloody policies inside and outside the United States. Inspired by the same spirit, we appeal that we stand together and say to the entire peoples of the world:
Not in our name, never .. is being killed strangled Gaza for two years and then finished off now slaughtered
We have stood by our people with all of your people against Nazism , fascism and the apartheid of South Africa until all were transferred to the dustbin of history. Today we are all called upon to address the State of Israel , the Zionist movement and the dirty Imperialist alliance which links them to the same ruling classes-involved in the crisis- in a chaotic and brutal
world which is about to collapse economically , environmental and moral together.
To all artists of the world ..
Bear with us this responsibility and press on your Governments, which has long been unfair to us.Carry with us a common slogan which is:
Save Gaza now .. and Stop Israel
Let VII of January 2009-which is the Christmas of Eastern Christians – our brothers in the Arab world – to be a day of all the artists of the whole world from all religions ,in all languages and with the various ways of expression in all places available to save Gaza and bury the bloody Zionist project which is the last remnants of the depraved racist regimes.
At last, he signed off his message saying:
The initiative has been welcomed by Egyptian bloggers and readers – and 3arabawy writes about it in this post.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Egypt: Give Gaza to Egypt · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Sandmonkey justifies his reasons in a reply to Drima‘s suggested solution for the current crisis by giving Gaza to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordon.


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Egypt identifies the new face of politics · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

From Egypt, Perwin Ali came across an article mentioning Israel's first press conference on Twitter and she commented saying: “Hold the freakin’ presses! A full-fledged press conference in 140-character conversations? And not just any press conference, a global-issue press conference. You have to hand it to them, if nothing else these people are smart.”


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Egypt: Shake and Bake · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Does Israel use illegal phosphorus shells in Gaza? Do both parties should end military activities? And how about Arab countries canceling new years parties?.. Egy Diva asks.


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Egypt: US coverage of Gaza War · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

From Egypt, the Arabist writes about the New York Times and Washington Post's coverage of the Gaza War. He observes that what was reported was largely a one-sided coverage of the conflict, in which they claim that the invasion was “justified” but also highly “risky.”


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Egypt: Would Hamas come out stronger? · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

MrEgypt wrote an article in which he asks if Hamas would come out stronger, after the current bombardment of the Gaza strip. He is also discussing the recent movements against the Arab regimes in support of Gaza.


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Egyptian Bloggers Ask: WHY? · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

It seems that most posts from the Egyptian blogosphere are attempts at finding answers to the many whys and hows in their heads.
Sandmonkey asked why blame Egypt and answered:
Blame Egypt: All the cool kids are doing it
The rationale being that somehow, Egypt is not doing enough to support the palestinian cause, and is to blame for the Ghaza blockade. The rationale completely skips that 1) Egypt tends to honor it's international agreements, even if we don't like it, 2) The coordination for opening the border happens between us and the Palestinian authority, which was overthrown by a nice bloody coup exacted by Hamas, and 3) Hamas is the kind of islamist terrorist organization that we don't really wish to legitimize or support, let alone give access to a part of our country that witnessed 3 seperate terrorist attacks in the last 4 years, 2 of which targeting Israeli tourists. Also, in a great twist of irony, all of those people blaming us have a sordid history of letting down (and sometimes killing, in thousands I might add) the palestinians themselves: Jordanians with Black september, Lebanese with Sabra and Shatila, the syrians by stoking the fires and never actually doing anything to support them except getting beaten at wars, and the gulfies by being totally passive and never actually doing anything, ever. But yes, blame Egypt. We are clearly at fault here.
Sandmonkey also states here why Egypt should not be in charge of Gaza as a reaction to Drima‘s post:
1) It's not anybody's to give anyway!
2) Sure, it used to be our protectorate, until the Israelis took it over in 1967, a nice place where lefty seculars live. Now, they want to return it to us, with islamist militants running the show? Oh, thank you. Do you wanna give us blankets with chickenpox in them as well?
3) If we did end up taking over Ghaza, we will have to clean it from Hamas's presence and disarm the population, which means that we will kill and or arrest at least about 30,000 people , just in the initial sweep, and we really don;t want palestinian blood on our hands, or like anywhere near us to begin with. So, again, pass.
4) Do you really want the palestinians to enjoy the same “rights and freedoms” that Egyptians have under the blessed Mubarak regime? Really?
Egypt has always been everybody's surrogate Homeland, the place everyone can go to and make their temporary home, as the 4 million sudanese refugees (Hey drima, you wanna take them back?), the 2 million somalian refugees and the half million iraqi refugees we took in the past 5 years will tell you. But that's it. We are a stop on the way at best. We are to a homecountry for others what Tofu is to chicken. We don't give passports and we don't give rights, and honestly, the Ghazan's probably deserve better than this.
Sandmonkey lists here , here and here a few more reasons why people blame Egypt and one more time why he thinks Egypt should not get involved.
Perwin Ali also has a few more questions:
If the Hamas powers-that-be don't like Egypt so much, and have been screaming foul play since the beginning, why are they coming over for their Gaza Resolution meeting? Why of all the places in the world have they picked Egypt to meet their arch rival Fat-h (yes, the crazy irony of the Hamas- Fat-h situation isn't lost on me either)?
I really need someone to explain this… logically… to me.
As a footnote I have a couple more questions bugging me
1) If to this day Fat-h, Hamas, and the ever-forgotten Palestinian Authority (yeah, the one that supposedly rules/leads/whatever… their big tomato there (not cheese, tomato -squishy and messy), can't unite and get over their grudges and personal agendas, how do they plan on winning their war against Israel?
2) Where's Iran gone to, now that the fight has been taken to the ground and they have to either put up or shut up? What happened to all the slurs and supposed weapons that allegedly started this whole fiasco?
And as a bonus combined question (last one, I promise)… Where are all the other wagging tongues and mud slingers? Which holes did they crawl into now that it doesn't pay to talk, since the situation reeeeeeally needs actions? Who is left in the picture now? Who's picking up the proverbial pieces?… say it with me…. EGYPT!
I sooooooooo rest my case, people.
As I was saying before… “Yes I'm Egyptian, proud of it, and I will GLADLY gouge out the eyes of anyone who so much as thinks of looking funny at Egypt…أيوة فخورة اني مصرية واللي عنده مشكلة يوريني نفسه كده


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Estonia: Acquittal of Bronze Soldier Activists · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Itching for Eestimaa comments on the acquittal of four activists charged for organizing the spring 2007 protests against removal of the soviet Bronze Soldier momument from central Tallinn.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Hong Kong: A Misleading Internet Poll Of Youth And Pornography · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a blog commentary (from Those were the days) criticizing a recent survey on internet, youth and pornography.


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Japan: J-CAST vs. newspapers · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Blogger smashmedia points to [ja] Japanese business news site J-CAST‘s recent negative campaign against traditional media. The blogger posts links to a J-CAST interview [ja] with freelance journalist Tetsuya Kuroyabu [黒薮哲哉], who explains that more than 20% of newspapers (so-called “oshigami”) are actually undelivered, concealing a lower-than-expected readership; the blogger also links to an interview [ja] with journalist Toshinao Sasaki [佐々木俊尚], who describes the continuing hatred of the Internet among the Japanese newspaper industry.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: The end of PingMag? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

PingMag, the Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things”, has announced that it will be “taking an extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future.” Over 300 comments from fans of the site have poured in, many describing people's sadness at seeing the end of a unique window into Japan.


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Kenya: A few recommended blogs · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Victor Ngeny at Kenya Imagine recommends a few interesting blogs writing about Kenya.


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Korea: New Year Episode on the Internet and public channels · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Waiting for New Year excites people everywhere. People gather together in a place and welcome the New Year. In Korea, every year people gather together around Bosingak Bell Tower and bring in  the New Year.
But this year seems to start with chaos.
Citizens have put the public channel in Korea, KBS is on the cutting board. KBS is being accused of fabricating its live video and audio broadcast for the New Year Eve.[EN] Their cameras avoided the big number of demonstrators who participated in and the live video was forged. Internet TV stations and netizens’ videos introduced on the Internet stand in contrast to the public channel.
Other broadcasting companies criticize KBS and ask the meaning of the public channel.[EN]
Many people are upset about this event as well.
2009년 새해를 맞이하는 순간, 보신각에 있었습니다. 물론 촛불과 함께였습니다. 수많은 사람들의 손에는 촛불과 “이명박 OUT” 등의 구호가 담긴 손팻말이 들려있었습니다. 입으로는 저마다 “언론장악 반대” 등의 구호를 힘차게 외쳤습니다. 하지만 뒤늦게 KBS 생중계를 보니 현실과 완전히 다른 가짜 세상을 창조해냈더군요.[…]
After the new media regulation was announced, people are sensitive to this event more.
국민여러분…. 우리 다시 일어나야 합니다.우리가 mbc파업에 적극 지지해야합니다.우리 모두를 위해….. 지금 현 정권이 하려하는 언론악법 막아야 합니다.언론악법은 미친소 수입 못지않게  위험한 일입니다.역사가 거꾸로 가고 있습니다.  70~ 80년 독재정권을 향해 몸부림치면 지킨 민주주의가 무너지고 있습니다. 1월 1일 kbs  보신각 영상을 볼때 삭제된 목소리들을 들어보니….. 이것이….. 왜곡된 진실이구나..하는 생각을 하게되었습니다.영화를 보면 독재정권을 하려는 무리들이 제일 먼저하는 것은 언론장악이고 진실왜곡이라는것 …. 잊지맙시다. 옛날에 영화 브이 포 벤데타 를 봤는데…우리 나라 현실과 비슷하게 보였어요…우리가 이대로 무너지면…이 영화보다 더 비참한 삶을 살게 될꺼예요.절대로 촛불 꺼지지않게 밝혀요. 자유, 민주, 정의 살려요~ 막아야합니다. 촛불을 들고 나갑시다. 국민이 없는 정부,…….. 국민을 우습게 생각하고, 무시하는 정부. 누가 대한민국의 주인인지 똑똑히 보여줍시다.
Many people recommend the Internet channel.
어제 kbs방송하는거 보셨을거라 생각 합니다. 그어디에도 시민들의 목소리,함성,모습은 없었습니다. 국민들의 눈과 귀를 막은 사건이 벌어졌습니다. 언론 악법이 통과 돼면 어재보다 더하면 더하지 이건 뭐 완젼 코미디 수준을 넘어서 정말 경악 그 자체였습니다.보신각에 나오신 일반 시민들의 90%가 독재 타도 이명박은 물러가라!!를 목터지게 외쳤습니다.
그런데 어제 kbs방송을 보십시요. 방송기술이 정말 발전하긴 했나봅니다. 사자후 tv에 가시면 진짜 방송 보실수 있을 겁니다.
But you must see what KBS showed yesterday. It seems that broadcasting skills have developed really well. If you go to Sajahoo TV, you will see the real broadcasting.
Many posts compare the two different videos.
2009년 새해 맞이 현장을 직접 볼 수 없는 상황이기에 공영방송 KBS와 인터넷방송 사자후TV를 인터넷을 통해 동시에 시청하였습니다. […]같은 지역임에도 너무도 다른 영상의 모습에 더 관심을 갖게 되었습니다.
인터넷 방송에서 보여준 폭넓은 앵글로 보았을때는 많은 분들이 촛불을 들고 피켓을 들고 깃발을 들으면서 구호를 외치고 있었습니다. 그리고 보신각 주위에 모인 시민분들을 보호(?)하기 위함인지 감시(?)하기 위함인지 모르는 경찰들이 시민의 인원보다 더 많이 배치되어 둘러 쌓여 있었습니다. […]
그러한 시민들의 분위기를 KBS생중계 방송에서는 유독 쉽게 찾아볼 수 없었습니다. 2초 정도의 스틸컷 (대략 10번 이내로 생각됨)과 100m가량 떨어진 곳에서의 전체 앵글 몇번이 현장을 보여주는 전부였고 나머지는 노래부르는 가수들과 두 진행자와 게스트들의 클로즈업 뿐이었습니다.
하지만 제 눈을…아니 제 귀를 의심하게 한 것은 가수들이 노래를 할 때에 그리고 중간중간에 삽입되던 음향효과가 너무도 현장과는 달랐던 것입니다. 실온에서 물이 얼어버리는 영하 10도의 날씨이기 때문에 많은 분들이 손을 주머니에 넣거나 장갑을 끼고 있었고 진행자의 마이크에도 섞여 들어갈정도로 구호소리가 거세게 외쳐지고 있음에도 마치 박수소리는 예술의 전당안에서의 기립 박수의 느낌이었습니다[…]
When I look at wide angles from the Internet channel, I could see that many people held candles up, pickets, and flags in their hands, and shouted catchwords. Around Bosingak, in order to protect(?) or to keep an eye on the citizens, more police than the number of the citizens surrounded them.[…]
However, this scene was not visible on KBS. Still cuts were shown for two seconds (less than 10 times) and the wide angles were distant from 100m. The rest of the video was filled with singers and TV hosts.
However, what I was shocked was the sounds of the two TVs were so different. It was below -10 degree. Therefore, many people put their hands in their pockets or wore gloves. Catchwords that the people shouted were big enough so that you audience can hear. But handclap sound that we could hear was like the standing ovation from the Art Hall.[…]

author: Hyejin Kim


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Mexico: Parking Violations · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Tome Chango Su Banana is noticing drivers in Mexico City are some of the worst violators of parking regulations and tells a story where he witnessed a man taking up 2 handicapped spots with no consideration of others.


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Nepal Entangled in Temple Row · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

New Year in Nepal is off to a bumpy start. Adding to the energy crisis, the country is now entangled in a row involving one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines -Pashupatinath.
At the heart of the dispute is the debate over whether the tradition of Indian priests conducting rituals at the main temple should continue or should Nepalese priests take over.
India-Server offers a glimpse of history behind Indian priests at Pashupatinath and the role of Nepalese monarchy:
“….breaking away from a nearly 300-year-old tradition, the deity will be ceremonially worshipped by Nepali priests instead of priests brought from neighboring India. Since 1747, the kings of Nepal began engaging priests from southern India, known for its orthodoxy as well as knowledge of Hindu rituals.
Previously, the king was the patron of the temple development trust and the queen was its chief. However, after King Gyanendra failed to seize absolute power and the consequent pro-democracy movement, a new government under Maoist leadership was formed in Nepal.”
Breaking the old tradition, now Nepalese priests have been appointed. But not everyone is happy about the decision. Protests have erupted in India and Nepal over the decision.
Singapore Star offers picture of discontent spilling out in Indian capital New Delhi:
“A number of people in the national capital staged protest at the Embassy of Nepal on Sunday to protest against the removal of the Indian priests from the famous Pashupatinath temple.
Agitated protestors shouted slogans against the Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. An effigy of Prachanda was also burnt. Protesters accused the Nepalese Government of hurting Hindu sentiments by appointing Nepalese national as priest at the ancient temple.”
The role of the Maoist lead government in the decision to replace the Indian priests is also being scrutinized.
However, United We Blog says that the role of Maoists and the issue of priests’ nationality are being blown out of proportion:
“The Maoist led government, with the direct orders from the Prime Minister, has appointed Nepali priests replacing the Indians in the largest temple of Nepal. Some people have protested the move for different reasons and they have their own vested interests. There is no need to created hue and cry over the appointment. In fact, the removal of the Indian priests and appointment of Nepali citizens was a long due. The Indian priests were literally looting the temple with the help and encouragement from former royals. There was no accountability in the temple. We were kept dark about the donations and offerings made to the temple. All that had to be changed for the betterment of the temple.”
The case has now reached Nepal’s Supreme Court:
“….the Pashupatinath Area Development Trust that manages the shrine Sunday announced it had appointed two more junior Nepali priests to assist the newly appointed two Nepali senior priests. The appointments come on the very day the trust as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and Kiranti(Gopal Kiranti, the Maoist minister for culture and state restructuring,) received a stay order from Nepal’s Supreme Court, asking them not to appoint new priests and to allow the old ones to continue till the dispute was resolved.
Kiranti said his office would reply to the Supreme Court, defending the appointments of Nepalis in the place of the Indians, a move that broke away from a nearly 300-year-old tradition.”
Maoists are on the offensive now, making their case through the press.
“Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda has assured top Indian leaders today that the Maoist led government will honour the verdict of the country's Supreme Court and allow Indian priest to “perform their duty” at the Pashupatinath Temple.”

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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New Zealand: Dangerous waters · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cactus Kate blogs about the many dangers of swimming in the beaches of New Zealand

author: Mong Palatino


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Pakistan: Power Shortage · Global Voices
Rezwan

CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan writes about the load-shedding problem in Pakistan.


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Palestine: Communicating with Gaza · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Under normal circumstances and despite a high rate of literacy, Palestine's Internet penetration rate stands between 13 and 15 per cent (including both the West Bank and Gaza). Given the ongoing attacks on Gaza, however, Internet access has been significantly diminished.  Although there is a small number of bloggers writing directly from Gaza, many Gaza residents are instead sending text messages and making phone calls abroad in the hopes that their stories will be told.
Mohammad of KABOBfest, who is based in the West Bank, has been reporting on Gaza for several days now.  In his first post on December 29, he tells us:
I wanted to call my uncles and check up on them and their families, but for most of the day I couldn't. I was too afraid to know the state they might be in. But when I did call, I was pleasantly surprised.
My uncle Jasim told me things were much better today, there was still a fear but people had begun to recover. We've managed to absorb the shock of that initial attack, he said, and that is helping us get by today. He said the sky had been quiet for about half an hour over Khan Younis, but the warships were attacking the shore. His voice was strong, just like it was when I'd talk to him at any time before the massacre began, and told me to not worry so much. They had no power, as usual, so I told him about the ongoing demonstrations and clashes in the West Bank and the outpouring of support across the world. I told him that nobody has forgotten them, and he told me to just keep praying for them. His youngest kids were asleep, but his daughters, Haneen and Yaqeen, were still up. I told him to tell them we're all thinking about them.
Next I called my uncle Mahmoud. Yesterday, he told me he was waiting for death. The Israeli army had called him and told him they would bomb his home within a few minutes. It had left us all terrified, but today he told me it had become apparent that the Israeli army had sent that message to tens of thousands of homes. It is a sadistic and cruel tactic, designed to terrorize hundreds of thousands inside their own homes.
But his hopefulness soon disappeared.  On January 3, Mohammed reported again:
I managed to get through to my uncle Mohammad again in Gaza City. For the duration of the phone call, an explosion would be heard every 20 seconds or so. In the bitter cold of the night, terror is blanketing the people of Gaza, and Gaza City in particular. The gunfire and explosions are framed against a background of a blackened sky buzzing with invisible war planes and attack helicopters. Nobody knows what is being hit. My uncle tells me there have been explosions all around them, near and far, from all sides, but even the local radio, which so far has been excellent at reporting what happens on the ground, cannot determine what the targets are that are being hit. Nobody is sure if the airstrikes are targeting homes, buildings, mosques or previously bombed sites, therefore nobody knows if any change in tactics has occurred. In war, for civilians as much as for soldiers, there isn't much that is more terrifying than not knowing.
In a third post, he details calls with several family members across Gaza, comparing the situation on the ground from Gaza City to Khan Younis.  He describes one phone call with his uncle's wife:
I talked to Areej again. She had calmed down somewhat, but still sounded very scared. I asked her about the kids. She said the baby, Yazeed, was asleep next to her. Dina had also fallen asleep, and their mother had told Nada and Haya to go to their room, where it would be safer. I asked her if they were keeping warm with the windows always open to the wind, and she said when they sleep they wear as many layers as they can and are covered in as many blankets as possible, but during the day and evening it does get very cold. I asked about Adham, her 11 year old son. She told me he had lit two candles and laid out his toys and was trying, despite the cold and fear and shelling and death and trauma, to play. He had lego blocks and toy cars, and some toy soldiers. I didn't bother asking her what he was doing with the soldiers. I didn't want to know.
Global Voices’ own Ayesha Saldanha of Bint Battuta in Bahrain has also been posting updates from friends in Gaza.  Today's SMS update from her friend Hasan includes a telling last line:
6.30 am: “Neither the [landline] telephone nor the electricity is working. I have just got up and saw your sms. I heard very loud tanks shelling outside. Apache and the drone [too]. They might be nearer we don't know”
8.20 am: “Still not near. i hope so. If electricity keeps off like in gaza we won't be able. I am trying to call my sister or text her but in vain”
1.30 pm: “my wife asked why are you frowning. Give me anything that might give me a hope and I will smile I replyed. Today after the lists of our needs became too much. Medicine, food, cleaning material. I decided to go downtown although they struck a market in Gaza. They killed 5 and injured a group of people. As I entered the market F16 struck 2 houses very near to the market. All the people thought like me. Either the market or the mosque. I felt panic. I bought half our needs and hurried home. In my way they struck another house near my home. The tanks shelled a lot last night we were very worried”
6.30 pm: “If things got worse I'd put my [simcard] in my wife's mobile. F16 is shelling right now. and the sound of the ambulance is loud. Everyday is worse than the previous”

author: Jillian C. York


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Palestine: “In Gaza our future is almost destroyed” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

In this roundup of blogposts from Gaza we hear from a teenager who just lost her friend and is scared for her own life, about a medical worker who was killed as he went to save someone, and from a man who asserts his lack of political affiliation: “I'm not Fatah, not Hamas. I like vodka.”
Two days ago, Australian activist Sharyn Lock mentioned the death of a particular teenager:
Our local colleague Mo told us of a teenager from his youth group who died yesterday. 16-year-old Christian girl, Christine Wade'a al Turk, died of a heart attack brought on by a severe asthma attack, resulting from the stress of the ongoing strikes.
Now on Lamentations-Gaza we hear from Nour Kharma, a ninth-grade student, and friend of Christine:
Today is the eighth day of this horrible war. To me yesterday was the worst day of all. When I woke up in the morning one of my friends called, his voice was very weird and when I asked how
was he. He was like “fine, but have you got any news about some of your friends?” I was really scared, and asked him what's wrong? He told me Christine died. I was in a big shock, and till now I don't
believe it. I threw the phone and started crying. I called some of my friends to make sure, and all of them were sad about her. She has been my friend for almost four years and we used to go to school and to the YMCA together. I'm sad, afraid, and worried at the same time, because she could've been my sister. I feel very sorry for her and her family.
Her parents did the best they can do, but it wasn't enough so the result was dying. What if my parents couldn't protect me and give me the support I need…will I die too?
What I can say now is that my future is almost destroyed. An Israeli rocket hit my school this morning, and the school was destroyed completely. I really can't imagine how come they're bombing religious and educational places such as mosques, schools, and universities (etc…) […] HELP US BECAUSE WE'RE ALL HUMAN BEINGS!!
Dina Hazem posts at the group blog Moments of Gaza:
I have just got back from the hospital. I can only wish that I did not go there…i cannot describe to you what kind of scene it was: the wounded were everywhere…some are even being treated on the floor..in the corridors…it is way over capacity…and every minute another wounded comes in…and another and another…and the worst part is that most of them are children. The cries of children do not stop throughout the hospital not for one minute. And the wounds are not just any wounds…hands chopped, faces covered with blood and victims bleeding from different places. Around me were 3 mothers crying out loud at the loss of their sons and daughters…finding no one to ask for help but God and only God himself…the looks of their helpless but angry eyes…weak but traumatized faces…make me wonder what kind of life they will be living for the next days or months or
years…if they ever get to live. No one is being spared in Gaza.
Everyone and I mean everyone is a target. It is not a daily trauma. It is a trauma by the hours..and the minutes. The scene alone made me feel hopeless and desperate enough to wish to die, rather than live in constant frustration and trauma.
In his latest report, Palestinian photojournalist Sameh Habeeb says:
Note: I might stop reporting either if I die or I flee my home. Shells rain down beside my house now. Pray for me…Pray for Me….
Canadian activist Eva Bartlett describes the killing of an emergency medical worker:
A good, brave, and very funny man was killed yesterday as he loaded the body of a civilian twice-killed into an ambulance. Emergency medical workers, Arafa Hani Abd al Dayem, 35, and Alaa Ossama Sarhan, 21, had answered the call to retrieve Thaer Abed Hammad, 19, and his dead friend Ali, 19, who had been fleeing the shelling, when they were themselves hit by an Israeli tank's shell. […] A science teacher by profession, Arafa had volunteered as an emergency medic for 8 years.
He was delightful, warm, had a nice singing voice, and was not at all shy about being silly. I remember him stomping ridiculously around the now-vacated Jabaliya PRCS office (Israeli soldiers have taken over the area) saying he was hungry, very hungry, and chomping down on the bread and cheese that we had for a meal. I had the privilege of working one night with Arafa, of seeing his professionalism and his
humanity. “He wanted to die like that, helping our people,” Osama, a fellow medic told me. Not a martyr complex, so engineered by living with death, occupation, invasions, humiliation, and injustice for so
long, but a dedication to his work, to people. His killing has since been followed by those of 3 more emergency medics.
And in another post she tells
us:
S. asks me the question every Palestinian is asking: “Why are they bombing us?” He adds the bit that many add: “I'm not Fatah, not Hamas. I like vodka.”  He tells me he'll show me sometime, in the future.  “If I have a future,” he adds with a grin.
Lebanese activist Natalie Abou Shakra writes at Moments of Gaza:
I, the war expert now, discover that they are using new weaponry… yes, so…They (-Bomb!) are using another more destructive and penetrative type of shelling now… also, exceptionally deadly… and destructive (to the houses around it… so, people -(-bomb!) around the area of bombing… might fall dead to the bombing itself too…)(-Bomb! Damn it!) … so, all kinds of bombings are being used… I assure the US and the EU… and Egypt and KSA and Jordan and… and.. and.. oh, they haven't used stink bombs yet… (-Bomb!)… they already stink anyway… they stink of death and terror… Sitt Dalal told me stories of women who boiled oil and (-bomb!) water and threw them on the Zionists’ heads during previous invasions… (that is a great idea of-(bomb!)(-Bomb!) civil resistance… ) (by the way, the “Bomb!” idea is new… so, you might not see it in previous posts of mine…)(-Bomb!) (isn't this vexing… so, now you know how we feel?) I speak in an interview on(-Bomb!) on al mana-(-Bomb!-Bomb!)r….and Imad tells me that they want a report on us… I feel happy to have allowed for our message to break through screens… especially to the Arab world… (-bomb!)
Elena Qleibo works for Oxfam in Gaza, and posts at the Oxfam blog:
Fifteen minutes ago Israeli helicopters dropped leaflets saying we should move to the centre of the city as they are going to start bombing the edge. They said they don't want to create an
inconvenience. That's a joke after the bombardment we have had in the last week. They have done this before, in the north and east of Gaza, to frighten people. Nobody in my building is moving.[…] Today I saw UN trucks coming from the Karni crossing. The problem is people are terrified of going out to the distribution point because the bombardment is so erratic. Also the trucks can't reach the areas where
the fighting is. […] I've been speaking to people in the refugee camps inside Gaza where the fighting has been heaviest and they are catatonic. They're paralysed. They don't know what's happening to them
and are just sitting waiting to see what's going to happen. It's all been very sudden and because it's so massive everybody is very shocked. Children are having a lot of problems – they are crying and
wetting the bed and not sleeping.
We end with a video from RafahKid, who says:
after the bombs…video from Rafah but sorry no English subtitles but video speaks for itself. hard now to get video uploaded because of electricity. that is intentional perhaps.
The video, by YouTube user Adampal2008, is here:
The video, by the International Solidarity Movement, features children rummaging through the rubble of what was once their house – along with testimonials from children and their parents on the horrors of experiencing the Israeli air strikes.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Palestine: UN School Hit By Israeli Shells; More than 40 Killed · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

At approximately 6:00 p.m. (GMT+2), Al Jazeera English reported that a UN school was hit when two tank shells exploded outside of the school.  The school, located in Jabaliya, had been set up days ago as a shelter for Gaza residents who had lost or evacuated their homes.  According to Al Jazeera English, more than 40 people were killed.  On Al Jazeera English‘s television station (accessible globally via Livestation.com), it was reported that the IDF had been given GPS coordinates to all UN schools.
The Philistine reported quickly on the incident:
Medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30.
The attack occurred about 10 yards (meters) outside the school in northern Gaza. It was the second deadly Israeli attack to strike a UN school in the past few hours.
Hospital director Bassam Abu Warda confirmed the 30 deaths from the second airstrike.
In both cases, the schools had been used as shelters for people displaced by Israel’s offensive
A top U.N. humanitarian official has condemned the violence and demanded an investigation.
Israel isn’t commenting.
Syria News Wire also reported quickly, stating:
40 people have now died after Israel’s bombing of a UN school in Gaza. 400 Palestinians were being given shelter there by the UN.
Twitter user dominiccampbell, from London, reacted strongly to the news as well:
Finnish Twitter user haloefekti expresses shock at the lack of outcry:


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Philippines: Lessons from the ’80s · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Indolent Indio from the Philippines looks back to the '80s for lessons on surviving the present economic slowdown.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Philippines: New Year Flash Floods · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Flash floods brought the festive mood of the New Year to an early close for the thousands of displaced families in different areas in the Philippines.
Over the weekend, residents of the southern Philippine cities of Cagayan de Oro, Gingoog, and Iligan in Northern Mindanao woke up to high waters invading their homes and neighborhoods. Heavy rains precipitated the massive floods in the low-lying areas in the three affected cities.
The heavy winds and cold weather developed into a tropical depression and was named “Auring,” the first storm to enter the country in 2009. At least 30,000 individuals were affected. More than 30 houses were swept away by the rampaging waters as creeks and rivers overflowed. A child was killed while 7 were reported missing. Floods also led to the evacuation of residents in some areas of Negros Oriental, Bohol and Samar in the Visayas and Zamboanga del Norte in Western Mindanao.
Rescue and relief operations are ongoing in the aftermath of the floods. Meanwhile, bloggers have been active in covering the natural catastrophe:
Titus Velez shares photos and his recollection of the flood:
When we woke up. The water has risen and the current was so strong. It also took some time for some people to decide to evacuate. They waited until they saw 7 houses floating in the river. Trees have been uprooted even several Bamboo clumps. We saw 7 cows and a mother and daughter clinging to there dear life on a banana trunk. The mother and daughter were rescued downstream.
Yanix's didn't expect anything out of the ordinary:
It all started last Friday where there is a strange weather condition occur in our city. Winds blew very hard and a night of heavy rain. I thought it was just a ordinary phenomenon during this kind of season. But then, early this morning, we heard radio reports about flash flood…
Times Like These was also surprised:
I haven't heard about the flood here in Cagayan de Oro until I saw a lot of people standing near Marcos bridge yesterday. I thought there was an accident but when I looked down the bridge I saw a lot of houses that were all filled with water.
Little Singkit adds:
My family and i has been staying here in Cagayan for almost 11 years now, and after those long years we have learned to love this place. Nice environment, peaceful community, and as far as i can remember, this place has rarely experience major calamities.
Day to Day Miracles, who lives beside the Cagayan de Oro river, narrates how their family escaped the rising water, got stranded, and survived safely to return home.
My Hubby woke up before 7 am since he literally felt someone pat his back. No one else was there and we believe that God has awaken him. When my hubby woke up, he heard a tip tapping of the water. He looked up at the ceiling and thought that maybe the water is dripping from the ceiling but it wasn't. Then he opened the door, he saw that the river water has already overflowed. So, he woke me up and indeed the water was already ankle deep. It was such a scary sight! We hurriedly woke up my Mom while Hubby texted our sister who lives within the compound.
My Mom and I took all our important documents and valuables and didn't have time to take any clothes with us. We had to get out of the area as soon as possible since we can't predict the rising of river. And by the time we walked to my sister's house, the water was already knee deep and worse, the current was a bit strong. All the kids and I went up our ‘multicab’ while the guys took some time to get some other important things from the house. And by the time, everyone was ready, the water was already on the waist level. Our transport only ran a few meters and then as expected, it stopped. So, we didn't have any other choice but to walk to higher grounds. So, even it was drizzling, we carried our kids and walked barefooted to higher grounds. Only my Mom, my sis B. and her kids walked with me. While my Hubby and our bro-in-law pastor waited for my other Sis M. to get ready with her baby and kid.
Everything was so surreal. It was like a dream. I looked back to the house and I saw that the water has indeed rose up. We walked and left all practically all our belongings. We didn't care of all those material things anymore because at that time, we could see that the water is rising just so fast and we just wanted our kids to be safe.
VS8SHOP recounts his father's rescue of the stranded Caballeros family:
He and my brother drove down to see the situation, but when they reached the area, they could not see anything but water. Good thing that my father went around looking for a way to see more, and truth be told, he saw a hopeless case since the post at the gates of the compound still had live electricity. Thankfully, with Auntie Vicky's call to Cepalco, we had another “brown out”…ahehehe, just making you readers laugh a bit, since this post may be a very serious one. So anyway, after the electricity went dead, people are then able to cross in the chin-deep waters…my father, according to another cousin swam towards the house where the Caballeros were safely evacuated, temporarily though…
It all reminds Action Speaks Louder than BLOGS of a past flood experience:
It's been almost 2 decades since I experienced a flash floods on our old home in Barangay Carmen but after that flood in 1989 caused by typhoon Ruping, our family decided to transfer in Barangay Kauswagan around 1992. We decided to transfer because it is not easy being hit by a flash floods. The trauma, tension, fear and inconvenience are some of the feelings you can experience. Being trapped inside your house surrounded by flood waters makes you feel so scared that it might be the end of your life…
Fritzi Gironella links to photos and videos posted at Facebook (viewable only by those with Facebook accounts). Jungle Jil, an expatriate living In Cagayan De Oro, also posts photos. Still more photos can be found at Cagayandeoro.info.
The flood's destructive consequences makes Lalaine's World think of applying for a home insurance.
Blogging Beauty still finds something positive from the event:
As a Christian, calamaties like flood are still blessings in disguise. It is very evident when people started to share and extend help to one another. The out-pouring blessing that the affected families were immediately provided. Thank God for the safety and the blessings!
Cagayan de Oro Floods


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Russia-Georgia: Overcoming war by wine? · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Paul Goble of WindowonEurasia discusses how Georgian wine producers are seeking to get Russia's ban on Georgian wine import lifted.


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Russia-Ukraine: Variables of gas war · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Streetwise Professor analyzes a few factors of significance for the ongoing gas war between Russia and Ukraine, whereas Leopolis presents some views from Kiev.


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South Africa: Is poligamy compatible with democracy? · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Opalo's Weblog comments on Jacob Zuma‘s intention to take on a third wife: “We have seen (with deep embarrassment) the sorry affair that is the life of the King of Swaziland. Let not the same become of the leader of a democratic, and supposedly modern, republic like South Africa”.


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Sri Lanka: Attack on Sirasa TV · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dare To Be Different terms the attack on the Sirasa TV premises at Pannipitiya, Sri Lanka as “the nastiest ever attack on the media freedom in Sri Lanka”. The blog says: “The motives were apparent. Somebody badly wants to silence Sirasa TV.” Lakbima blog, like some other Sri Lankan blogs, thinks that Sirasa TV promotes terrorism and hints that it might be an insider job.

author: Rezwan


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Crime Stats  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Abeni breathes a sigh of relief that 2008's homicide rate was lower than the previous year's, but says: “While am happy that the numbers saw a decrease I still wonder if this happened because of measures aimed to reduce crime or is it just the lull before the storm.”


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Syria: Largest U.S. Embassy in Baghdad · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Maysaloon, a Syrian blogger commenting [ar] on recent news writes: “Oh Arabs!!!! The largest U.S. embassy in the world is opened today in Baghdad and people of Palestine and Iraq are being killed and their sanctity violated before our eyes. Where are the Arabs? Where are the weapons and the resistance? Our countries are being taken by western countries in front of us, but we run behind the dance, and fun. Arabs, shame on you.”


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The Role of Internet and Mobile in Israel’s Gaza Strip Bombing · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indian blogger Gaurav Mishra analyzes the role of Internet and cellphones in Israel’s Gaza strip attacks.


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Uruguay: Summer Activities · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Chino of Tan Conectados [es] writes about the start of the tourism campaign in Uruguay called Uruguay a Toda Costa (Uruguay at all costs), which will provide summer activities to visitors and residents of 9 cities.

author: Eduardo Avila


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“All whaling vessels please proceed to waters of East Timor” · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Photo by Fat Old Sod at the Xanana Republic Gazzete, used with permission.
The title of this article is a quote from Twitter user @BILL_ROMANOS on December the 31st celebrating a discovery made by Australian and East Timorese researchers whose recent study made overwhelming findings concerning sub aquatic life: the biggest concentration ever reported of whales and dolphins, among other cetaceans, was found 50 km (30 miles) off the coast of East Timor.
With this, East Timor, as a young country with a troubled history, now has a fresh breath of hope for its promising eco-tourism industry. Once again, the strategic Wetar-Ombai strait shows its value. Although it is most famous for being a route for “US nuclear and Australian navy submarines travelling through the Indonesian islands“, this time the strait that separates the Pacific from the Eurasian plates is recognized as “a major migratory route for marine wildlife moving between the Pacific and Indian oceans“.
Cathal Foster (PT) writes about it:
A expedição, que foi o primeiro grande estudo de cetáceos em Timor-Leste, veio confirmar aquilo que os biólogos marinhos apenas suspeitavam: as águas profundas dos estreitos de Wetar e Ombai, ao largo de Timor – que podem ter até três mil metros de profundidade -, são uma importante rota migratória e corredor para a vida marinha, ligando os oceanos Pacífico e Índico.
This discovery is grabbing the attention of several digital citizens who have begun linking their blogs or tweets to mainstream news:
The amazing diversity of species, that choose the waters off East Timor's coast as a favourite “hotspot”, is occasionally mentioned by bloggers. Fat Old Sod, at the beginning of November 2008, posted some “Mega Fauna” pictures he took from an aircraft trip over Timorese waters:
Mega Fauna basically means anything bigger than, and including, turtles. (…) We saw at least 6 species of whales, easily over 4000 dolphins, manta rays in formation, BIG hammerhead sharks cruising on the surface and we just stopped counting the turtles once we got to Com and beyond because there were too many.
Photo by Fat Old Sod at the Xanana Republic Gazzete, used with permission.
An anonymous comment on the post titled Whale and dolphins hotspot found in East Timor (PT) states:
Mais um grande ponto para a futura indústria do turismo em Timor.
Bem regulamentado poderá ser mais uma grande fonte de rendimento para o país.
Levi Novey, however, is concerned:
It highlights the need for greater protection of biodiverse ocean areas like these from unregulated fishing – a challenge given East Timor’s desire to develop their fishing industry.
The fishing regulations appear to be an issue for the preservation of the fauna found, as they are commonly ignored, giving space for illegal fishing to occur in those waters. Fat Old Sod caught fishers red handed with his camera:
We also got pictures of some illegal fishing boats from Indonesia which we have handed on to the appropriate authorities with times, name of vessel, location etc.
Edy, a Timorese citizen, commented on the discovery, raising some interesting points on the conditions those waters offer to marine life:
(…) the marine environment in that area in (sic) certainly more secure, cleaner, and quieter for those mammals to gather even perhaps can be used as their marine habitat to reproduce and expand. Giving the fact that in that maritime area there is less fishing activity in industrial scale and it’s not considered strategically good enough for commercial ship’s and military navals passage hence almost inexistence in that area any noise that can be prejudicial for whales and other species. Therefore it’s a hotspot for those marine animals to live in abundance. Any habitat of other species when given time, space, less disturbances from human greedy commercial and military activities will certainly find its own way to live, survive, reproduce and expand in greater numbers to the benefit of all living things in this planet we call Earth.
Back in his post Whale Of A Time, Fat Old Sod says how lucky he felt to be asked to fly over the spot, take pictures and be witness to such a special thing:
I knew we had great marine life here but I never knew it was so prolific. The two scientists I was with told me that it was an absolutely exceptional survey. And when a scientist starts to use long adjectives you know you've seen something special!!
Photo by Fat Old Sod at the Xanana Republic Gazzete, used with permission.
For more breathtaking pictures of marine life in East Timor, check these web addresses:

author: Sara Moreira


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Africa needs God? · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Rombo of What an African woman thinks criticises a recent article by Mathew Parris for The Times UK titled “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God“. And she wonders: “why does everybody assume that no African had ever climbed the mountain before the adventurous foreigner came along and did it, and taught him how? (For porter’s sake, of course.) Who’s to say, definitively and conclusively? So the lion hasn't published his memoirs, is that ample basis on which to conclude that the hunter was always the victor?”


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Azerbaijan: Bayramlıq · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Sheki, Azerbaijan introduces its readers to the local custom of Bayramlıq when an engaged girl is presented with gifts during the holiday season. According to the tradition, the family of her future husband brings gifts and sweets and the blog posts photographs of some of them.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangla Blogs: Praying For Peace In Gaza · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

“What's happening in Gaza is impossible to tolerate,” writes blogger Aprio, encapsulating in those few words the Bangla blogosphere's sentiments towards what most of them see as ‘Israeli aggression against Palestinian civilians’. Rakib says that the current situation in Gaza is a ‘terrible humanitarian crisis’ .
Ahmed Munir writes:
ফিলিস্তিন জাতিকে ধ্বংস করতে বদ্ধ পরিকর ইসরাইল এবার আঘাত হেনেছে গাজা উপত্যকায়। স্ব-দেশে পরবাসীতে পরিণত হওয়া ফিলিস্তিনী জনগণ অসহায়ের মত গত সাতদিনের টানা ইসরাইলি হামলায় তাদের শত শত স্বদেশীর মৃত্যু প্রত্যক্ষ করছে…তথাকথিত হামাস দমনের নামে ফিলিস্তিনি জনগণের বিরুদ্ধে জাতিগত শুদ্ধি অভিযান চালিয়ে যাচ্ছে ইসরাইল। বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে অসম ও সবচেয়ে নৃশংস এই যুদ্ধ।
Farukh Wasif feels that this is a carefully planned program launched by Israel to rid the Gaza strip of Palestinians. He writes:
এবারের হামলার উদ্দেশ্য শুধু হামাস বা ফিলিস্তিনি প্রতিরোধ-আন্দোলন নয়, বরং গোটা ফিলিস্তিনিদের মনোবল এমনভাবে ভেঙে ফেলা যাতে তারা হাঁটু গেড়ে বসে প্রাণভিক্ষা চায়। তাদের সম্পদ ও সাংস্কৃতিক কেন্দ্রগুলোর সর্বোচ্চ ধ্বংস ঘটিয়ে, তাদের দৈনন্দিন জীবনযাত্রাকে অসহনীয় করে তুলে তাদের গণহারে দেশত্যাগে বাধ্য করাই আসল ল্ক্ষ্য। তার জন্যই ফিলিস্তিনীদের শহর-গ্রাম অবরুদ্ধ করে তাদের বিদ্যালয়, হাসপাতাল ও কর্মস্থল অকেজো করা হয় ।
What then is the role of the Hamas in the ongoing conflict? Is any amount of blame for the current situation to be laid at their door? Some of the bloggers, while not actively supporting the Hamas’ philosophy or ideals, express empathy towards their ‘rebellion against oppression’. Aprio says :
আমি হামাসের সমর্থক নই কিন্ত আমি মনে করি ‘রোগ’ টি হামাস নয়, হামাস তার সিম্পটম মাত্র… যে কোন জাতিকে দীর্ঘদিন অবরুদ্ধ করে রাখলে, সামরিক নিয়ন্ত্রণ এবং মৃত্যুভয়ে সন্ত্রস্ত রাখলে সেখানে কোন না কোন ‘হামাসের’ জন্ম হবেই।
Ahmed Munir cannot but feel the irony in Israel's role of the ‘aggressor’. He writes :
পরিহাসের বিষয় হচ্ছে ইসরাইল ইতিহাস ভুলে গেছে। নিজেদের উপর দ্বিতীয় মহাযুদ্ধের সময় নাৎসি হলোকাস্টের স্মৃতি তো তাদের ভুলবার কথা নয়। গণহত্যার মাধ্যমে যে কোনও জনগোষ্ঠীকে ধ্বংস করা যায় না, আজকের শক্তিশালী ইসরাইল রাষ্ট্রই তো তার প্রমাণ। সুতরাং ইতিহাস বলে ফিলিস্তিনিরা এমন মৃত্যুর প্রত্যাঘাত দেবেই। এ মৃত্যুর প্রতিধ্বনি শোনা যাবে গোটা মধ্যপ্রাচ্য এমন কী পৃথিবীব্যাপী। এখন যেটা প্রথমত প্রয়োজন তা হলো শান্তি, কেবলমাত্র শান্তি।
There is also a simmering upset among a section of the bloggers who feel that Bush and his Israel appeasement policy is finally responsible for the continuation of this crisis in Gaza. Sawkat Ali writes :
স্বয়ং ইসরাইলে এ হামলা বন্ধ করার জন্য রাস্তায় হাজার হাজার মানুষ বিক্ষোভ করছে। তারপরও আমেরিকা এ হামলাকে বৈধতা দেযার চেষ্টা করছে। ওসামা-বুশ সব একই পথের পথিক।
Blogger Satyanneshi too has the following scathing comment on the role of the US in this crisis. He writes:
‘বিশ্ব বিবেকের কন্ঠস্বর’ বিশ্বঈশ্বর আমেরিকা বলছে এ গণহত্যা জায়েজ। অথচ মানবতার বিরুদ্ধে অপরাধের ধূয়া তুলে এই ঈশ্বরই সাদ্দামের ইরাক দখল করে নিয়েছে।
Ahmed Munir too feels that it is the US which is keeping this conflict alive. He feels that America's future response to the Gaza conflict will make clear to the world if the Obama government is indeed sincere about resolving the conflicts in the Middle East. He says:
নতুন মার্কিন প্রশাসন যুদ্ধবাজ বুশ প্রশাসনের চেয়ে কতটা ভিন্ন সময়ই সেটা বলে দেবে। ইরাক কিংবা ফিলিস্তিনের দিকে নতুন দৃষ্টিতে তাকাতে না পারলে ওবামার পরিবর্তনের বুলি কথার কথাই থেকে যাবে।
Bloggers like Aprio are calling for people to unite and stand by the Gaza victims. Others like Trivuz have also launched a protest group on Facebook . Trivuz is also urging people to show their support for the Gaza victims by boycotting Israeli products and brands.

author: Aparna Ray


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Bhutan: Violence Against Women  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Freedom in Bhutan discusses the growing menace of sexual abuses against women in Bhutan and the laws in place for such abuses.


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Bolivia: Nationwide Referendum on Use of International Reserves · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Bolivian government is proposing a nationwide referendum to determine whether the international reserves valued at 7.7 billion dollars will be used to invest in the industralization of the hydrocarbons. Carlos Gustavio Machicado of Guccio's [es] believes that this is a terrible idea, and the decision should be left to the experts.


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China: Due to a fire, 4 officials found living in a luxury hotel every day. · Global Voices
Bob Chen

A fire burned down a hotel in a small town in An Hui province, 1 dead, 3 seriously injured when jumping down. It grabs the attention of blogsphere, however, not because it being thought as a tragedy, but that the 4 are all local officials long living there. It’s questioned whether that is a waste of public money for their living in the luxury hotel every day.

author: Bob Chen


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China: Parents chocked their daughter to give room for boys · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Chinese blogger Yang-zhizhu (杨支柱） sighed for the tragedy that a pair of parents choked their daughter so that they can have a boy under the cap of birth control in China, railing against the policy as forcing people to abandon “excessive” girls. In Chinese tradition, boys are much weighed over girls.


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Comparison of military strength of Israel and the Palestinians  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Baithak posts an extensive comparison of military strength of Israel and the Palestinians.


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Dominica: Protecting the Children  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It is by keeping channels of communication open that we can rescue lives from being damaged before they can even bloom”: Blogging from Dominica, Caribbean Man tackles the issue of incest.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Egypt: Bloggers on the Fence · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Sitting on the fence requires objectivity, tolerance, and integrity. Mona Eltahawy chose to sit on the fence and Amr Gharbeia asks people to choose a solution.
In her post: “On Fence Toughtest Stance in Mideast“, Mona Eltahawy stated that:
it’s too easy to take sides in the Middle East conflict. Few other parts of the world inspire such passion or leave such little room for doubt. For many, choosing sides is just an afterthought to their birthright: If you’re an Arab, go join the Free Palestine demonstrations; and if you’re Jewish, go join the Save Israel marches.
Don’t forget, you can always throw God into the mix. Lay claim to your holy sites and you’ll have religiously sanctioned wrath to fuel your rage.
Then she asks:
what’s the point of choosing sides when both sides are losing? The real challenge when it comes to the Middle East is to sit on the fence and to understand that as with most chapters of this interminable conflict, civilians pay the most expensive price.
The best unbiased advice she could give is:
From that perch up there on the fence, keep your eyes firmly on Israeli and Palestinian civilians and ask about the responsibility of leaders to their people.
The civilians of Gaza are victims of both Hamas and Israel.
The former have been more concerned with firing ineffectual rockets at southern Israel where they targeted the very group of people they are now accusing Israel of hurting the most in Gaza — civilians.
Israel has launched a punishing bombardment and invasion of Gaza that will be used as the latest proof that it is the neighbourhood bully. Its actions are bound to turn Hamas into the very heroes they don’t deserve to be and possibly unleash a new wave of unconscionable suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
And all for what?
And she warns:
For those of us from the region, the easiest thing might be to follow our birthright to bias but the hardest thing is to scream “Enough” at a time when both sides seem bent on mutual destruction and when to criticize your side ensures accusations of being a sellout.
Finally she insists on:
staying on that fence and being a sellout for peace.
Stay on that fence with me and scream and yell for a ceasefire.
Enough violence.
Amr Gharbeia created a poll on his blog asking voters to choose one of nine options to end the conflict and the results showed that the majority of people just want peace and democracy:

author: Marwa Rakha


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Ethiopia as seen by an Argentinian adoptive mother · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Alicia Grinberg of Road to Ethiopia – Camino a Etiopía describes her personal experience of traveling to Ethiopia as an Argentianian adopting mother.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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Ethiopia: Poor maintenance of historical buildings · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

A few days ago Arefe of Addis Journal posted a picture of a historical building in Addis Ababa from the 1920s, and has now posted one of another building from the same period complaining about the poor maintenance of such building. He says: “…there is a booming of buildings which most of them seem to be copies of Western style. New buildings of glass and granite are sprouting here and there on the Addis skyline. But when it comes to preserving the cultural treasures of the city, the concerned officials have been slow to act”.


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Guatemala: A New Way to Prevent Car Thefts? · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Car thefts have increased in Guatemala and now stands at a rate of 35 per day.  Luis Figueroa of Carpe Diem [es] snaps a photo and wonders whether it is the new strategy to prevent the crime.


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Guatemala: Free Wi-Fi Available in Antigua’s Main Plaza · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Rudy Girón of Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo tests the free wi-fi now available in the main plaza of Antigua.


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Guyana: Dreaming  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“At a time when some are calling for Caribbean countries to reject race-based politics, and for the removal of uncaring, destructive governments, it might be just the read that inspires, or helps galvanize action”: Signifyin’ Guyana is re-reading Derek Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain.


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India, Pakistan: Proofs on Mumbai Attacks  · Global Voices
Rezwan

India produced a dossier of evidence on the Mumbai terror attacks to Pakistan, which termed it as “insufficient”. The New Horizon takes a closer look at the evidences.


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India’s own Enron · Global Voices
Rezwan

Today India was shocked by the confession of the outgoing CEO of the IT giant Satyam that an Enron style  huge accounting fraud took place in the company.  India Political Blog has details.


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Iran: Students Protest in Shiraz · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Rooz-Khabar blog, an iran based blog, has published a couple of photos from a student protest demonstration in Shiraz. They ask government to release four detained students.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Dirty Dancing  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A Jamaican judge and women's rights activist condemns popular dance moves as being a bad influence children, prompting Jamaica Salt to ask: “What practically can be done?  It’s only a dance after all isn’t it?”


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Jamaica: Take My Word For It  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Kadene Porter at Abeng News Magazine is less than impressed with the Jamaica Gleaner‘s New Year tradition of “publishing an exhaustive list of ‘prophetic’ utterances pronounced as the ‘Word of the Lord’.”


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Bruneian blogger amuses readers with daily doses of humour · Global Voices
Senor Pablo

Kurapak and his crew during  a local radio interview
Kurapak literally means ‘speak’ in Bruneian Malay.  Mr. Kurapak amuses his 3,000 daily readers with his daily doses of humour appealing to Bruneian readers. Some of these stories are old local jokes that has been shared by his dad many years ago but Kurapak has made a twist to these stories, making them appealing to the current young generation.
A talented website designer who started blogging per chance when he set up his father's blog, finally decided to set up his own blog based on jokes and humour. Although the jokes may be universal, Kurapak made them palatable to the Brunei audiences by using words and phrases that Bruneian readers can relate to.. such as ‘maniss’ which means .. that is sweet! Or ‘buleeh’ which means.. sure can do!
A reader described Kurapak's blog as a Bruneian blog in Brunei language that we all can love and laugh at. Rano Iskandar,founder of Ranoadidas.com , Brunei's Number 1 Social News describes Kurapak's blog as:
A good mixture of English and Malay language. I think there are not 	many blogs that are written in Malay. His posts are hilarious at times 	and I don’t know where he find his sources. Good work! This friend of mine 	also runs Brukiosk but Kurapak is the in-thing now. It’s probably the best layout/design among the nominees and he’s very talented as well!!
AnaBanana, Graphic Design, Lim Kok Wing University  College of Creative Technology , Cyberjaya:
I have to admit that Kurapak is an excellent blog. I am not a big fan of blogs but Kurapak certainly caught my attention. Its not like any other blogs that I've come across. It is very entertaining and 	certainly has a very good sense of humour. Very, very funny! Excellent 	work, Alin! You deserve all the winning votes.
Azlan AKA Mr.JetLag, an observer and blog reader:
Kurapak and the author of the blog must be congratulated and 	celebrated. It is one of the few blogs  that I have encountered which 	has captured the hearts and minds of its readers, including mine…it's 	very ticklish and addictive. The jokes are cunningly improvised and 	reflects the “naughtiness” (in every sense of the word..a positive one 	that is) of the author himself. Without this blog the world will be 	dull and boring. The punchlines are excellent and brilliantly 	executed. It certainly brightens your day. I am certainly a proud reader of this 	hilarious blog. You have my support. Your sense of humour is unrivaled. Keep it up! Long Live Kurapak!!
Random Clicker:
its so damn funny!. It is basically a collection of random silly funny stories about random things…..Reading this blog takes me back to the days when i was a kid.
Spiritual Garden impression of Mr. Kurapak
Spiritual Garden, one of the nominees for Best  Brunei Blog 2008,
he only blog that which makes me scratch my head because of my poor Malay. A very popular blog loves by public when a stress-free moment is needed.
Alin was my ex-classmate back in the ITB days for only 3 months. He was already a very funny and chirpy person that made us laughed like orang gila ( a crazy guy). Kudos to his creativity in story telling to perk up those jokes that we might have heard it hundreds of time.
He brings sexy funny back.
All his posts are spontaneous, being written as he goes along. His style of slang language familiar with the Bruneian readers made his jokes fresh and easy to relate to the readers. It does not matter if the grammar to his posts are inaccurate.  Talking to him, he stated that:
all i know is becakap with my own way, my own slang, just be my self saja, thats why masa awal-awal me takut nada orang terima bahasa yang me gunakan, tambah-tambah lagi both my english n malay are broken. apanya orang tua-tua? speaking kapal yow!
Is he funny in person? Kurapak does not claim himself to be funny but friends see him rather animated like cartoon. One of his favourite posts is Asmara pohon Piasau which literally means love at the coconut tree.
Haji Osman, 57 tahun baru saja 2 tahun pincin dari  jabatan kerajaan and masa ani begiat mejual piasau since ia tedapat dusun piasau turun temurun dari datok moyangnya. So routinenya hari-hari, as you know macam biasalah, manjat piasau di dusunnya atu yang behampiran rumahnya. *macam tida kali ah ia manjat, spiderman pun minta ampun*
Iatah ada this satu patang, cuaca cerah-cerah mandung, ia ke dusunnya kan manjat ngambil piasau yang kan di delivernya isuk. Sudahnya memanjat sampai keatas, tangah-tangahnya bepayuk ke puhun atu, ada berita gumbira. Liatnya di bawah pukuk atu ada couple buipren girlpren beasmara, so ia pun meliat free show dari atas pokok. So iski lah ia tapi inda ia bunyi-bunyi sal takut ia kanapatan skodeng dari atas.*kalau me pun diam-diam tu*.
Tick tock tick tock, habis selasai babak asmara, iatah yang girlpren orang atu becakap arah boiprennya atu sambil kana dangarkan olih Hj Osman yang masih bepayuk kepuhun.
Girlpren : Baby, macam menyasal jua me tadi atu, takut me karang me pregnant wah. sapa tah kan betanggung jawap?
Boipren : Ishh.. you ani ih.. tadi you jua yang mau, jangan tah beuri wah, tani serahkan saja arah yang diatas.
belungsur Haji Osman, dari atas pukuk ke bawah ala ala bomba emergency and tarus di taingnya boipren that girl.
Hj Osman : Hoiii manisss, kau nyaman-nyaman di bawah, aku ko suruh betanggung jawap!!
Boipren & Girlpren dalam hati : M.P.B.(mun paham biskal ih salah mun paham bisai)
No wonder Mr. Kurapak is the overall winner for best blog in Simpur Blogging Nation Blog Award 2008.

author: Senor Pablo


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Latvia: People, politicians, and guardians · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Baltic publishes the latest Latvian opinion polls, showing how people consider politics under the threat of international financial guardianship.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Nigeria: Atypical motorcycle helmet · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Jidesalu Photos posted a picture of an atypical motorcycle helmet seen in Lagos, where the use of helmets came in to force from New Year's day.


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Nigeria: No tolerance for same sex relationships · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Ebekuo of Icheoku wonders if Nigeria is becoming more intolerant towards same sex relationships, after Ruth Simon and Clementina Jerome, two police-women serving with the Nigerian police force in Sokoto State were recently dismissed from the police for allegedly engaging in “lesbianism or somewhat lesbian acts of affection”.