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Caribbean: Farewell to a cricketing legend · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The West Indies were once the cricketing giants of the world. In the '70s and '80s they were easily the most dynamic and certainly the most feared team of its day.  Fast bowlers like Michael Holding (aka Whispering Death) made opponents shudder in the crease; a barrage of batting stars (Lloyd, Kanhai, Greenidge, Richards, Haynes and Richardson) routinely piled on the runs with seemingly effortless strokes of the bat.
But from the early '90s, West Indian dominance of the game began to decline.  There were fewer victories to celebrate, fewer exceptional demonstrations of the brilliance to which West Indian fans had become so accustomed – and when there were bright spots, they were usually courtesy of Brian Charles Lara.  Cricinfo.com summed it up in an article by Rahul Bhattacharya, entitled The Last King of Trinidad: “Lara batted with sensual beauty and gluttonous appetite. To watch him move into position was to already understand the possibilities of this game. To study his figures was to marvel the scope of his conception. He made the most runs in an over, an innings, a career. Anything anyone did he did bigger. Can you imagine someone making five hundred runs at one shot?”
For just about a decade, sports journalists have suggested  possible reasons for the Windies’ fall from grace, which has culminated in the team's poor showing (under Lara's captaincy) at the 2007 International Cricket Council World Cup being held on home turf – the Caribbean.  The tournament has seen some low points, not the least of which has been Lara's announcement of his retirement from the sport – and bloggers Caribbean-wide are talking about it.
Caribbean Free Radio put Lara's retirement in perspective by quoting from a piece she had written “at the end of 2004, a few months before Brian Lara wrested his world record back from Matthew Hayden”:
“It’s difficult. . . to recall a time when Brian Lara was not the man of the moment. Since April 1994, when he scored 375 runs in the fourth Test against England in Antigua, breaking Sir Garry Sobers’s 36-year-old record for the greatest number of runs scored in a single innings in Test cricket, he’s carried the future of West Indies cricket on his shoulders. (Less than two months later he scored 501 for Warwickshire, his English county team, the highest score in a single innings in the history of first-class cricket.)
The burden has only become heavier with time. Having entered the senior team just as West Indies cricket was beginning its long descent from the heights of greatness, he spent his early days witnessing the departure of the old guard. By the time Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose (the last remaining members of the West Indies’ legendary pace bowling attack) departed, Lara found himself the sole repository of the people’s hopes of victory.”
Young Jamaican blogger Leon Robinson asked the question:
“I wonder what's going to happen to the West Indies team. Lara was the superstar of the team, drawing crowds and cheers. But now that he's announced his retirement, and given the massive failure of the Windies, will anyone watch them play now?”
In looking back on Lara's outstanding career, The Life and Times of Michmac  worried about succession…
“He has achieved; there can be no question about that…This upcoming England tour has certainly been dealt a blow. You could say all that you want about him, but there are still thousands of people in this world who would pay any money to see him bat…Such was his hold over the game, the fans, the people. He has relinquished his dominance and the mantle must be passed…. but to whom?”
…while West Indies Cricket Blog
“felt a pang of sadness when the inevitable happened. We all knew this day was coming soon but there’s this uncomfortable feeling that this is a forced retirement, driven by the ugly things that continue to drive West Indies cricket deeper into the ground. He, like all the others before him, didn’t deserve the ridicule and abuse. And he most certainly didn’t deserve to go out like this.”
The Manicou Report has never known cricket without Lara:
“It's because of Lara that the numbers 277, 375, 400 and 501 bring me immense pride.  News of his retirement hit me like an unexpected death. Now that he has retired, I feel abandoned. It's almost like I was led into a great, big forest and left for dead. Of course through Lara I have gained a great respect for the game and an admiration for other players, but I was brought to this place by Lara and it's kind of hard trying to imagine staying here without the man.”
Blogger Dre, at Allyuh.com, posted a concise “Retirement Roundup” by linking to various media articles about Lara's decision, adding a personal touch by saying:
“Brian Charles Lara has ended his international career and thus brings to an end my personal viewing of West Indies cricket for a while…I now have to look for another passionate or brilliant West Indies cricketer to follow.”
And Jonathan Ali, in response to Lara's “Did I entertain?” question, simply answered:
“Yes, Brian, you did. Thank you.”


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Central Asia: The EU’s New Plan · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Near|Abroad discusses the European Union's new diplomacy plans for engaging Central Asia.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nathan Hamm


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China: Regulate Online Magazine? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Josie from China in Transition highlighted the report from China Business News that China’s administration of press and publication will require online magazines to obtain license from the government before publishing.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: the Dead Judge · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Beijing News reported a mysterious dead of a Judge in police station, Pingle county of Guilin city. The news story was appeared in the internet, at the Rule of Law forum at Chinacourt.org, and picked up by traditional media – via ESWN.


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Egypt: Facebook Birthday  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Facebook has given blogger Tom Gara a special 26th birthday he explains here.
“# of people who wished me happy birthday yesterday – 51
# of them who only knew it was my birthday because of facebook – 46″ he notes.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: Fight in Parliament  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A fight erupted in Egypt's Parliament about the issue of PoWs, writes  Zeinobia.


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Fiji: Calling for Fijian Recipes · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Gilbert Veisamasama, Jr is inviting readers to share their Fijian recipes on the Promoting Suva blog.

author: Preetam Rai


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Georgia: The Abkhaz Foreign Ministry · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Josh Kucera visits the foreign ministry of Abkhazia, and he finds that is not terribly big or busy — no surprise considering that Abkhazia's sovereignty is not recognized by any other state.


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Getting to Know Global Voices’ Latin America Team · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Some of the very best weblogs from around Latin America hardly ever receive mention on Global Voices. That's because their authors are also contributors here and spend most of their time drawing your attention to others’ posts. Well, it's long past time to highlight their personal creativity and boundless enthusiasm for new media in Latin America.
Eduardo Ávila [Regional Editor] – Eduardo was one of Global Voices’ first contributing authors and is now taking my place as Latin America Regional Editor to lead the rest of the talented team. In fact, his dedication to Global Voices is probably a factor in why he no longer has been able to update his personal blog Barrio Flores with the frequency that long time readers will recall. These days Barrio Flores serves mostly as a window into the colorful scenery that passes Eddie during recent travels to India, Bolivia, and Chile. Along with Natasha Quiroga, Eddie is also the co-founder of the Bolivian-American Project.
Jorge Gobbi [Argentina] – Jorge's blogging is prolific if not compulsive. In fact, he blogs so much that he routinely writes a weekly roundup of what he has written and where it's published (in addition to his “lifestream“). Besides his contributions here at Global Voices, Jorge also frequently writes about his personal travels and the travel industry in both English and Spanish. His third blog Vida Vacia [ES] tends to focus on internet related topics. In the last week alone he's meditated on what's acceptable as a blog comment [ES], Delhi's urban planning crisis [ES], the clever violators of Creative Commons licenses, and how few Latin Americans are aware of the various types of beer (eg. ale, stout, pilsen), but rather focus on the brands. Jorge is also a compulsive traveler as is readily apparent on his Flickr page. His last trip was to Peru, where he met up with our (slightly shorter) Peruvian contributor Juan Arellano:
Juan Arellano [Peru] – Juan is one of our most active members on the Latin America authors’ mailing list and his charm comes across in every message. A recent and characteristic email to the group ended with “hugs for the guys … and kisses for the girls.” And, speaking of women, they are one of Juan's favorite subjects, both for his blog posts and photography. In fact, he updates his Zooomr account almost as often as he gets through a book and each day brings a new glimpse into Lima's neighborhoods, events, and, yes, women. In the last few months Juan has also been keeping a bilingual Tumblr account with fragments of fiction and everyday vignettes like this one:
Cada dos o tres días la encuentro, tomamos la misma combi y luego me siento uno o dos sitios detrás de ella, nunca a su lado. Después la contemplo maquillarse, creo que una vez me vio que la observaba a través de su espejo, no demostró inmutarse.  Hoy le cedí el asiento, no me lo agradeció. Cuando me bajo ella sigue su viaje. Nunca miro atrás.
Lastly, Juan is the project lead of Global Voices’ Spanish Lingua site, which he recently summed up in this post:
Pero fuera de este blog últimamente he estado en algo que implica leer muchos blogs extranjeros y enterarse de lo que pasa en distintos países, así como familiarizarse con usos y costumbres ajenas a las nuestras. Resulta que he estado haciendo algunas traducciones para Global Voices en Español. No soy traductor, pero algo entiendo de inglés, y como ésta labor está a cargo de voluntarios, pues añadí mi granito de arena al sitio. Y es algo que me ha gustado hacer.
Juliana Rincón [Colombia] – Born in Lima, raised in Colombia, working independently in Costa Rica, and now back in Medellín, Colombia to study orthodontics, Juliana might be one of the region's most connected bloggers. She frequently organized knitting meetups while living in San José and is now behind the upcoming inaugural blogger meetup in Medellín. And yet, despite all of her avid followers from Costa Rica, Colombia, and beyond, her weblog has a conversational tone that always makes you feel like it's just the two of you. Last week was her 26th birthday. As she described it:
Hace 26 años mi papá corrió emocionado por las calles de Miraflores comprando arreglos florales y diciéndole a cualquier persona que se le acercara : “¡son dos! ¡Son dos niñas!”, mientras levantaba sus dedos en una inconsciente señal de victoria … Los 25 me gustaron, creo que me gustarán más estos 26.
Iria Puyosa [Venezuela] – Like Eduardo, Iria was one of our first contributors, offering Global Voices readers a glimpse into Venezuela's diverse, dynamic, and always witty Spanish-speaking blogosphere. Though she hasn't been able to contribute lately, Iria's been staying plenty busy teaching university classes and frequently writing about literature, politics, and the potential of internet tools for political activism and dialogue. In the beginning of an inspiring post for media activists, she writes:
Una pregunta que me ha acompañado durante todas mis incursiones en medios (masivos, alternativos, comunitarios o ciudadanos): ¿Tiene sentido práctico un proyecto de comunicación para el desarrollo en un contexto de pobreza crítica? ¿Acaso no es más urgente atender necesidades básicas de saneamiento ambiental, recolección de basura, suministro de agua potable, cloacas, cuidado pre-natal, vacunación, medicina preventiva, nutrición, control de la delincuencia? ¿Cómo justificar invertir en radios comunitarias o en acceso a internet cuando no se pueden cubrir necesidades básicas? Sólo se justifica está inversión si entendemos que la pobreza y la exclusión no sólo tienen una dimensión económica, no sólo se miden en acceso a bienes y servicios, sino que la pobreza y la exclusión también tienen una dimensión cultural, que se mide en acceso a información y conocimiento, en capacidad para poner a circular nuevas ideas y para participar en la toma de decisiones sobre asuntos públicos.
Luis Carlos Diaz [Venezuela] – I first met Luis Carlos before I ever realized it. I had been reading Periodismo de Paz, for over a year and was looking forward to meeting the brain behind the blog at a Caracas meetup organized by Iria. I was sure that the sagacious observer of politics and society was well into his 50's and had led a long career of journalism and academia. When I met a young, easy going student just over 20, I was sure he was someone else. But Luis Carlos is much more than a talented blogger and social critic, he is also a dedicated citizen journalist as you can see in interviews and mini-documentaries he has uploaded to YouTube. He was also the lead organizer behind Elecciones 3D [ES], a citizen journalism project covering last December's presidential election. Luis Carlos is currently in Madrid, Spain for the Second International Congress on Blogs and Journalism:
Espero estar a la altura del encuentro con un relato que recoge algunas impresiones comunicacionales del pasado 3 de diciembre como fenómeno infociudadano con repercusiones en el mundo digital. Le sumé además una contextualización del panorama de medios en Venezuela, para acercarse mejor al inentendible proceso político venezolano.
Melissa de Leon [Panama] – Melissa hardly needs much of an introduction. She is the two-time, consecutive winner of the Bloggies’ Best Latin American Blog category for her famous and tasty digital journal and recipe book, Cooking Diva. Lesser known, but perhaps even more impressive, is her Spanish language blog Diablos Rojos, named after the colloquial expression for Panama's brightly painted buses. Last week she was in Chicago for the IACP's International Committee Latin American Fiesta, where she sampled one of my own favorite cocktails:
Even though I consider myself a fan and researcher of Latin American drinks, always exploring new ways how to serve them, they really caught me by surprise at this party. Guests were able to sample and prepare an array of exotic combination of mojitos, including mixes with rhubarb, pomegranate, kumquats, blood orange and basil. A total revolution of flavors!
Upon returning to Panama, she discovered an article about Panamanian blogs (titled “Those Virtual Diaries”) written by Armando Carrasco and published in the weekly La Prensa supplement, Ellas Magazine.
I have scanned the three-page article to make it available to the readers that have not been able to secure a copy locally, and for the ones outside of Panama. It is in Spanish, BUT…as I always say, how about if you start now practicing this beautiful language!
Renata Ávila [Guatemala] – Renata's contributions to Global Voices have brought us much closer to Guatemala's growing blogosphere. Her blog, Nothing is Peramanent, is in Spanish, but its title and tag line (“The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.” Salman Rushdie.) say plenty about the author. In addition to GV contributor and personal blogger, Renata is also a human rights lawyer and the project lead, along with Francisco Marroquin, of Creative Commons Guatemala and will soon be headed to Dubrovnik, Croatia for iSummit 2007. The prose on her personal blog is so poetic, subtle, and nuanced that I would only do it harm by attempting any translation, but if you understand Spanish, I wholeheartedly encourage you to add it to your list.
Rosario Lizana [Chile] – Along with Eddie and Iria, Rosario is another of our most veteran contributors. Each week she dutifully reports on the latest events, developments, and conversations in Chile's busy and rowdy blogosphere. Along with many of Global Voices’ authors, she came to India for our December Summit, but unlike the majority, she decided to stay. Make sure to check out her Flickr account for some great photos of her trip (along with her new place in Santiago). Much of her blog reflection while traveling focused not just on India, but also those who flock to the Subcontinent in search of something more. In a post titled “Ashramholic” she writes:
Hay quienes vienen a India a buscar espiritualidad, yo creo que India es una gran lección de como perder la virginidad espiritual. Y es ahí donde puedes empezar a encontrar cosas. Está todo muy confuso, mucho negocio enredado con el espíritu. El saber mirar eso y entender que este país, el segundo más poblado del mundo, debe comer todos los días, que los niños trabajan, no sólo son bonitos y que la señora que canta, no lo hace al azar, es para que le des dinero, que muchos se visten con trajes típicos para vender sus productos, que muchas casas de masajes ayurvédicos en lugares turísticos son finalmente de prostitución infantil (y que los que las usan son en su mayoría hindúes), puede ser que se encuentres algo. Algo muy bonito y muy potente.
Roy Rojas [Costa Rica] – Roy is on a comeback mission after more than a year-long absence from Global Voices. Just as Juliana moved from Costa Rica to Colombia, Roy wrote us saying he was interested in covering the Costa Rican blogosphere again. He's also making a comeback on his personal blog. Fans of South Park will be interested on his perspective of the show. From the post “Putas Gringos“:
En este video los personajes de South Park visitan Costa Rica y nuevamente siguiendo su norma racista, descriminatoria, nos muestran de muy mala forma. La verdad no es de extrañar pero deberian darse una vuelta por aqui para que vean la realidad de las cosas, una muy diferente a la que vemos aquí. South Park se ha caracterizado por hacer este tipo de programas insultando a Mexicanos, Dominicanos, Salvadoreños y ahora nos toco a nosotros. Quién será el siguiente?. Como dice HomeTown3RioS “lo que si debemos dejar claro es q siempre sale a relucir su egocentrismo y su complejo de superioridad… en este caso presentan una Costa Rica donde San José parece un tugurio… ” Lamentablemente este programa no haría gracia si no fuera así, su gracia esta en el ofender de la forma mas cruda.
Tim Muth [El Salvador] – Tim's El Salvador Blog is well known throughout the US and El Salvador (including the US embassy). But thanks to his contributions here at Global Voices, we've also been introduced to the country's Spanish-speaking blogger community. A few weeks ago Tim was back in El Salvador where he visited a community radio station in Guarjilla.
– Leon is a talented Panamanian information architect who also helps us keep our eyes out for the latest happenings in the incredibly sociable Panamanian blogosphere. Along with Juliana, he also celebrated his birthday last week and we'd like to wish him a very happy 28th. After explaining the trouble of having a bday that can fall on Good Friday, Leon writes how he celebrated:
This year, I had a blast three days before my birthday at a local bar with my coworkers and good friends. I had the opportunity to see one of my co workers playing the guitar at a tribute gig to the Rolling Stones. Some of my friends were missing that day due to other things happening around.
– Like nearly all of our contributors, Milton is involved in more than just Global Voices. He also frequently writes about education and internet technologies on his personal blog, co-found the Hispanic Bloggers Union, and is always trying to help promote the blogs of his native city, Loja. Despite all of this – and being a full time educator in New York City – Milton has been instrumental in translating Global Voices content into Spanish.
– Though Nicaragua's blogosphere is still smaller than most, Rodrigo and Mario are trying to help bring more attention to the few bloggers out there by covering their conversations here at Global Voices. In fact, the blog team has been instrumental in encouraging more dialogue and online participation in the country, where expat forums and traditional papers seem to rule the day. Their site Barriaca.com.ni is a daily look into Nicaragua and beyond. Rodrigo also administers MarcaAcme, an online cultural magazine with four of its own weblogs. One of those recent posts examined why the Anna Nicole Smith story was picked up so widely in the Latin American press:
Porque nos interesa a nosotros, los latinos, el caso de Anna Nicole Smith, una gringa que hasta donde la mayoría sabe, su mayor logro fue mostrar sus atributos por todos lados. La respuesta es obvia: Ella representa a la cenicienta que vemos en las películas de Hollywood y en las novelas. ¿Se acuerdan de Pretty Woman, con Julia Roberts? ¿Se acuerdan de Maria la del Barrio con Thalía? La historia siempre es la misma: la versión romántica de una chica que sale de la pobreza para triunfar en la vida. La diferencia entre estas historias y la de Smith es… bueno, que la de Smith es una historia de la vida real y que no tuvo un final feliz.
– Our newest contributor, Carlos, is helping Juliana cover Colombia's Bogota-based bloggers. He blogs frequently in both Spanish and English and, indeed, The Colombia Herald is one of the best examples of a “bridge blog” I've ever seen.
It's been an absolute honor to work with such talented, creative, and intelligent people. And we are all fortunate to have someone as knowledgeable and passionate about both Latin America and citizen media as Eduardo Ávila to be leading the region forward.

author: David Sasaki


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Guyana: Society Producing Murderers?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In light of this (Virginia Tech) incident and other such brutal attacks, like the one at the Kaieteur News printery last year”, The Guyana Groove thinks that “the debate at hand should not be about gun control, security measures or what could have been done different.  The necessary debate should be about the fact that modern society…is producing murderers.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Honduras: Chipping in for Gas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

What happens when a patronato (head of the homeowners community) tries to help his own community in Honduras?  He gets accused by fellow residents of pocketing the collected gas money.  A local community cannot get its road paved because the government is out of funds to pay for gas to power the machinery, so La Gringa explains how the homeowners contribute because there is no other way.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Hungary: Jewish History · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes of a need for “a more rounded and positive insight into the history” of Hungary's Jewish community.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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India: Provoked · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An Anthropologist Wannabe on the film Provoked. “Having said that however, I think the movie should be seen because it speaks very strongly about domestic violence suffered by women. And in recent years, South-Asian women in Canada, especially from the immigrant Punjabi community, have witnessed a rise in the number of domestic violence victims.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Iran:Anniversary of the Armenian Holocaust in Tehran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kamangir reports about the anniversary of the Armenian Holocaust in Tehran.We can see how Armenians remember this day in their church in Iran in several photos.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Government puts economic pressure on Iranian journals · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Tirouj says[Fa] government controls 80 percent of country's economic and it uses this advantage to push some journals to shutdown.The blogger says it is easy for Iranian government to cut advertising money to targeted journals and push them to go out of business.The blogger adds it happened to Ayandeh No (new future) journal recently.According to the blogger,it seems government prefers to use this method rather than sending security forces to close journals.


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Iraq: Islammemo is Back · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Ladybird reports :  “If anybody interested Islammemo  (Arabic) back to business, it is unknown yet if (Saudi national) Alhajiri released form prison or not but the team managed to comeback. The 65-year-old Alhajiri is well known among among Arab news-addicted seekers. Started Islammemo in 2001 alone with two people to assist him in a period of two years the team exceeded 200 people [editors, journalists in every Muslim country, translators..etc].”


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Iraq: The Wall Issue  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Omar tells us why the Adhamiya and other walls being erected in Iraq are becoming an issue and why they shouldn't be ignored. “First and foremost, I don’t know why “The Wall” is becoming such an issue now. Work to construct similar walls started weeks ago in the Amiriya and Ghazaliyah districts. The “news” went utterly unnoticed then. But that’s not what matters. What does matter is effectiveness versus side-effects. Neither should be neglected,” he explains.


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Israel: Keeping Faith  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jerusalem-based blogger Desert Peace spent  Israel's National Day in an Arab village in Northern Israel where he met a man who has still not lost his faith in God.
“I sat on the veranda just observing the goings on. It was not just any day, it was Israel's Independence Day… or as they called it in the village, Al Nakba… The Day of the Catastrophe. What caught my eye was a man … as he went into the local mosque to pray. A man who surely remembers his family and friends being driven from their homes on that faithful day 59 years ago. Yet, he continues to have faith,” he writes.


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Israel: The Vatican and Terrorism  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Israel-based blogger Aussie Dave  discusses what he sees as The Vatican's double standards when it comes to terrorism.


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Japan: Revision of customs and trade regulations · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japan Observer reports on plans by the Abe government to revise its rules and regulations to comply with international standards, commenting that such plans do not “much to change the structure of the Japanese economy over the long term, nor […] address the concerns of Japanese citizens about their future of the Japanese way of life”.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Toyama Kouichi calls for revolution, bloggers reflect on freedom of speech · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

“Registered voters! I am Toyama Kouichi. My countrymen! This country is an abomination!”
So began the five minute political speech of gubernatorial candidate and street musician Toyama Kouichi, aired live on Japan's public broadcaster NHK as part of a series of election broadcasts formally allotted to each contender in the Tokyo city elections earlier this month. In the now-famous speech, the 36-year-old “extreme left-wing activist”, formerly imprisoned for two years for “political crimes”, declares that he has not “a single constructive proposal” and that “there is no choice but to abandon this country”, calling on the “people of the minority” to rise up against the majority and “overthrow the government”. Within his anti-establishment tirade, Toyama also made a somewhat endearing request to “please give me a call”, an offer that some people actually took up.
Aside from causing a major stir in Japan and across the world wide web, the video sparked a serious debate on the Internet and in the Japanese blogosphere about freedom of speech and the limits of election campaign laws. While the political speech was not the first of its kind — in 1991, rock-and-roll singer and actor Uchida Yuuya told his rock and roll story in his gubernatorial campaign speech, and in 2004 Matayoshi Jesus ran for office as “the only God” — it was generally acknowledged to have been the most well-choreographed and skilfully executed.
Toyama Kouichi and his supporters (from スパイ日記)
At the same time as the various versions of his political speech, posted at YouTube, were drawing hundreds of thousands of views, at his “base of operations” in Kouenji, Tokyo, the real Toyama Kouichi was also causing a stir. An article posted at iza (translated here) described the events on election night:
８日午後８時。新宿からＪＲ中央線快速で約５分、外山氏が都知事選の「運動拠点」にし、選挙期間中は連日のように飲み会を開いていた高円寺駅南口には、すでに１００人近い若者らが集まり、テレビを前に酒盛りを始めていた。
８時５分ごろ、外山氏がスクーターに乗って登場。「俺たちの外山」コールが高円寺の夜空に響き渡った。
At five minutes past 8pm, Toyama made his appearance riding in on a scooter. Calls for “OUR TOYAMA” echoed through the night sky of Kouenji.
Although  Toyama predictably lost the elections (with a surprising 15,059 votes), this did not deter his supporters on election night:
午後８時半ごろ、石原氏の当確が出ると、支持者らは「石原慎太郎マンセー」の掛け声で乾杯し、盛り上がりは最高潮に達した。午後９時ごろには２５０人以上の聴衆が詰めかけ、高円寺駅のホームから、多くの乗降客が「一体何事？」と南口の様子を眺めていた。
Now over two weeks later, bloggers have moved on from Toyama's political speech and his election campaign to different topics. Looking back, here's a handful of views expressed on the video and on Toyama himself.
Blogger mesmer describes his reaction upon watching the video:
これ、NHKでも放送できた。できたということが言論の自由を表しているような、そんな、政見放送。
いきなり、「反管理教育云々、極左活動家、いまどき政治犯として２年投獄、云々、、、、」とのナレーション。
You tube でたっぷり見たり、インタビューを聴いたのち、外山恒一さんを、ウィキペディアで検索すると相当詳しいプロフィールが。とにかくその動きぶりが相当精力的な活動家だ。本もだいぶ出版しているらしい。高等学校教育への強烈な反発がその原点になっているようだ。
次は熊本市議選に出るらしいが、当選は元々目的ではなく、また単なる売名行為でもなく、否定するために選挙に出ているという・・・一つには、ニヒリスト的行為ともいえるが、なんだか人が集まってお祭りのようになっているのは、ニヒリストっぽくない。　とらえどころのない人だが、不思議と、理路整然とした顔立ち、理路整然とした行動を感じる人なのだ。　カリスマ、がある。
Another blogger reflected on the thinking behind the video:
外山氏は政見放送で、「この国は滅びる」「やけっぱちの一票を」って言い放ち、中指を立てるパフォーマンスをした。
その結果、この様子はネットで話題になり、YouTubeではアップと削除のイタチゴッコが繰り広げられた。また、毎夜数十名の若者が高円寺にいる外山氏のところへ行き、飲みながら話したという。
知名度はネットを中心にして一気に上がり、外山氏の名前は、どのくらいかの人が知るようになった。
外山氏の思うツボ、といった感じの都知事選だった。
As a result, the appearance [of Toyama] became a topic of conversation on the net, and a cat and mouse game unfolded in which the video was repeatedly uploaded to YouTube and then deleted. In addition, every night, several dozen young people came to Kouenji to have a drink and chat with Mr. Toyama.
Mainly from the Internet, his name recognition all at once shot up and many people came to know Mr. Toyama's name.
I got the feeling that the elections played right into his hands.
ただ、外山氏は相当計算をしてたはず。ネットで見られる外山氏の普段の映像を見ると、政見放送とは裏腹に、かなり穏やかで礼儀正しい人って印象を受ける。
本人が言うには、政見放送が編集できない利点を使っただけじゃなく、YouTubeにアップされたりブログに書かれることを見越して、そういったパフォーマンスをしたという。（もちろん公職選挙法があるから、選挙後を視野に入れてた）確かにあの政見放送は、人の興味をひかせることを考えたら、みごとなエンターテインメントだった。
彼にとって都知事選は、自由な表現の場だった。ポスターもそう。何だって自由に書くことが保障されてる。
都知事選にあったのは、メディアや都民の注目と、これ以上ないほどの「言論の自由」や「表現の自由」だった。
Mr. Toyama himself says that he anticipated not only that he could take advantage of the fact that the election broadcast would not be altered, but also that it would be uploaded to YouTube and written about in blogs, and so he did that kind of performance. (Of course, since there is a Public Office Election Law, he was thinking about after the elections). Certainly, if you think about how that election broadcast attracted people's interest, it was amazing entertainment.
For him, the gubernatorial election was a space for free expression. His posters are the same. The freedom of written expression is ensured.
The gubernatorial election was about getting the attention of the media and citizens of Tokyo; it was about “freedom of speech” and “freedom of expression”. Nothing could have been better.
Many bloggers remarked on how they came to realize again that freedom of speech exists in Japan. Blogger escalope writes:
某知事選に出馬した外山恒一の政見放送映像を観賞。
日本には言論の自由があるのだなと強く感じたよ。
素晴らしい。
中指突き立ててもモザイクかかんないからね日本は。
国家転覆なんて言葉久しぶりに聞いたよ。
しかも、知事選だっていうのにだよ。凄い。爆笑しました。日本万歳！！
The truth, however, is that the view that “in Japan there is freedom of speech” runs completely contrary to Toyama's own thinking. At his official webpage, there is in fact an FAQ which sets out his position on the question of freedom of speech very clearly:
「現在の日本にはすでに言論の自由はなく、例えばちょっとしたビラまきやデモなどで逮捕されることも珍しくありません。そういう事件がとくにここ数年もう頻繁に起きているのに、マスコミはろくに報道しません。その点、選挙に出ると、少なくとも期間中は、形式にはいろいろ細かい制約があるとはいえ、内容については何でも自由にやれます。選挙制度こそは、現在の日本に残された言論の自由の最後の砦であり、本当に云いたいことを云おうと思えば、これを利用する以外にもはや方法がないというろくでもない現実があるのです。都知事選での私の政見放送を見て、日本は自由な国だと再認識したというネットでの書き込みは目立ちましたが、まったく愚かな認識ですね。現実は逆で、この国ではもはや選挙の枠の中でしか、言論の自由は謳歌できないんです。」
Blogger Emily at [sub]cultural studies seemed to understand this message better many others when she wrote that:
Elections are terribly bland in this country, based on slanders and backwards promises. That such a candidate is so strongly spoken and, thanks to the internet, has received so much attention is quite a feat. More than anything else I think this shows the power of a vehicle like YouTube on the future of free speech should it be allowed. Extreme (and not so extreme) anti-status quo vehicles are treated notoriously by police and media outlets alike here. “free speech” indeed often has a very small zone, subject to arrest and censorship.
While much has been made of Toyama's video performance, those who dig deeper, or who have met him personally, are aware that the issue of free speech is extremely important to him. A Japanese university student recounts his experience actually meeting Toyama on campus:
４月の１日に早稲田大学戸山キャンパスで自分の入学式があったのですが、式を終えて外に出てみると大学のとあるサークルが大学批判をしていて止めさせようとする大学職員ともみ合ってました。
面白いので傍から見てると、どこから現れたかヒョコッと外山氏が現れたのです。
彼はサークルの側に立ち、大学職員に対して「言論弾圧はよせ！」と言ったのです。
すると職員は「なんだあんたは？」と言いました。
すると外山氏は「私は都知事候補だ！」といい選管支給の候補旗を見せました。
He took the club's side and said to the university officials: “Stop your supression of free speech!”
When he did this, the university officials were like: “Who are you?”
Toyama said: “I am a gubernatorial candidate!”, and showed them his banner issued by the Electoral Management Committee.
それから外山氏も含めて言い争ってると、お巡りさんが現れました。
大学側が外山氏の排除を求めると警察は「彼は都知事候補なのでそれは出来ません、彼には公職選挙法で認められた権利がありますので彼の遊説は自由です」と言い、逆に大学職員を排除しました。
外山氏や大学批判をしていた人たちが大盛り上がりなのは言うまでも無いでしょう。
When the university officials demanded that Toyama be removed, the officer said: “He is a gubernatorial candidate, so I cannot do that. According to the public office election law, he has an acknowledged right to campaign freely.” And then, instead of removing Toyama, the officer removed the university officials.
You can imagine how excited the protesting people and Toyama were.


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Japan: Update on the Kokaryo Case · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Mutantfrog Travelogue has posted a detailed update on the Kokaryo Chinese students dormitory in Kyoto, the subject of a longtime battle between Taiwan/The Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the longest running lawsuit in Japan. Mutantfrog reports that “While the outcome of the case was exactly what the PRC wanted for diplomatic reasons, it was still not technically a complete success in terms of the primary substance of the lawsuit.”


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Jordan: Kuwait Planning $5bn Health City in Jordan  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Naseem Al Tarawneh is excited that Kuwait is building a $5 billion medical city in Jordan. “This is a project I’d like to see implemented in Jordan, especially compared to the other stuff going on. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Jordan’s medical industry, went from 6.1 Million JDs in 2002 all the way up to 23 Million JDs in 2006. It is the fourth biggest industry investment wise,” he explains.


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Kenya: first Kenyan video game? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Swamp Cottage asks if The Adventures of Nyangi is the first Kenyan video game.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Kuwait: Gender Roles in 1001 Nights · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwaiti blogger Kuwaiti Femme shares with us an academic paper on The Interpretation of Gender Roles In a Thousand and One Nights. ‘I picked “A Thousand and One Nights,” … I'd never really looked at the stories before… and I'm sorry I hadn't sooner… They are just so absorbing… I had a really hard time focusing on my thesis when I did my research… I just got so sucked into the “thousands” tales :)’ she explains.


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Malaysia: Photographer Attacked by Rowdy Youth · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Photographer Paul Choo describes how he and his companion were attacked by youth workers of a political party in Ijok.The blogger was invited by one of the candidates contesting the elections.


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Nepal: April Revolution, a year after. · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kathmandu Speaks reflects on the April Revolution a year after. “Here it is about Madhesi representation and the unfinished revolution. There is an element of truth in all the allegations about the fires that raged here in January: royalist meddling, a ‘foreign hand’, forces of Hindu fundamentalism, disgruntled, disaffected members of society disturbing the democratisation process, the government’s inability to maintain law and order. But none of these explanations gets to the heart of the problem.”


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Nepal: Law and Order · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blogdai spells out Nepal's last option – establishing law and order. “We have NO effective form of government. We have murderous Maoists on the verge of ascending to the highest seats of power; we have big brother India sitting back and supporting it all with their deliberate inaction; and we have a clueless world community that couldn't care less about understanding the complexities of Nepal's situation–choosing instead to rely on an inattentive Western media for the one sound-bite that will command a sea of short attention spans long enough for them to draw over-simplified conclusions.”


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Palestine: Who is Azmi Bishara? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah sheds light on Palestinian-Israeli Azmi Bishara  – the Head of the National Democratic Assembly political party in Israel, a Christian Palestinian and a citizen of Israel who USED to represents Israel’s Palestinian minority in the Knesset until few days ago.


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Peru: Machu Picchu, One of the 7 Wonders of the World? · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Choloblog [ES] is drawn into the debate whether Peru's prized tourist attraction, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, should be voted as one of the 7 Wonders of the World. A website was created to draw upon votes from all across the globe to determine which manmade structures would be anointed this special status.  Choloblog includes an essay by Luis Millones that argues that Peru should resist the urge so as to protect its patrimony from an influx of tourists.


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Poland: A View on VT Tragedy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Polish view on the Virginia Tech tragedy – at Warsaw Station: “Minutes after the tragedy on Monday, Polish news programs were running headlines like: “W Ameryce można kupić broń w supermarkecie” Translation: “In America one can buy a gun in a supermarket” Everyone else sees it. Why don't we?”


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Poland: Bigotry, Not Homophobia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about Krakow's gays and their opponents: “So not Campaign Against Homophobia – it should be Campaign Against Bigots.” (36 comments to this post so far.)


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Qatar: The 3rd AlJazeera International Documentary Film Festival · Global Voices
Mohamed Nanabhay

AlJazeera Talk are live blogging the the 3rd AlJazeera International Documentary Film Festival that is being held at the Doha Sheraton. The four-day film fesival (which is free and open to the public) is showcasing  nearly 100 films from across the world. According to qatari you'll find films in Arabic, Spanish, Urdu, French, Hindi, Russian, Balkar, Bosnian, Gernman, Kurdish, Polish, Kashmiri, Chinese, Indonesian, Farsi, Mandarin, Italian, Bengali and Creole.

author: Mohamed Nanabhay


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Romania: Eurovision · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blog Bucharest writes about the approaching Eurovision Song Contest and how Romanians take it a bit too seriously.


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Romania: Politics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Two blogs comment on the situation in Romania. Transatlantic Politics: “Four months after Romanian accession, it is clear that not even the post-accession monitoring mechanisms imposed by Brussels and the threat of safeguard clauses are real means of pressure for the Romanian politicians.” Romerican: “I often sense a deep hopelessness among the Romanian people who generally perceive the political process as something done by others in a unreachable place.”


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Russia: Media Freedom · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam writes about (lack of) media freedom in Russia.


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Russia: Space Explorers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude writes about Russian humans and dogs in space.


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Second Life Brings Its Second Life to Brazil  · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

The much heralded launching of the first Second Life national community happened this Monday, April 23, and Brazilians are getting ready to their outposts in a custom tropicalized virtual environment. The novelty is attracting the attention of users as  Linden Labs makes its first attempt to scale and customize the environment to host non-English speaking cultures — and markets. The initiative is the result of the partnership with the local Kaizen Games, which has been announced as a Second Life Global Provider and part of the SL Grid. Bloggers are reporting.
Parece que finalmente a espera acabou. Não há mais notícias sobre prorrogação ou novos avisos de atraso. O Second Life Brasil vai mesmo ser inaugurado, oficialmente, nesta segunda-feira (23/04) com a abertura ao público da maioria de suas 23 ilhas temáticas, ambientadas nas grandes capitais brasileiras. No entanto, a Ilha KGBR03, considerada uma ilha de ‘instrução’, já se encontra aberta para visitação pública, contando com diversos residentes veteranos contratados para auxiliar os novos residentes brasileiros a interagirem no metaverso.
Second Life Brasil estréia finalmente nesta segunda-feira – Mundo Linden
Na data, entra no ar a tão esperada ilha desenvolvida pela Kaizen que terá reproduções de monumentos brasileiros e toda a horda de lojas e serviços virtuais que motivaram o atraso da estréia da rede – haja reunião de negócios, segundo Maurílio Shintati, presidente da Kaizen. O segredo é grande: nem desenvolvedores do meio tiveram acesso ao lugar, que adianta o responsável de marketing do SL Brasil, virá totalmente compatível com moeda nacional
ganhe Linden Dollars na web, receba em Reais na vida real finalmente, o Second Life Brasil – Chá Quente
Second Life. Está mesmo ficando impossível ignorar esse fenômeno. Mesmo para aqueles que não simpatizam com o software. Revistas, sites, blogs e até mesmo em palestras de marketing, o que se houve é: “Second Life é maravilhoso e representa uma nova tendência em redes sociais. Trata-se de uma nova oportunidade de Marketing”… Já houve até palestra da Petrobrás sobre tecnologia e meio ambiente. Mas tudo bem. E nós, brasileiros? Como estamos reagindo a esse fenômeno? Ler sobre o que acontece lá dentro, realmente da uma perspectiva muito boa de Second Life. Faz você pensar: ‘Caraca, mas como isso é possível? Preciso fazer parte nessa maravilha, desse mundo’.
‘Segunda Vida’ para os Brasileiros! - iGeração
One thing that is apparent in the buzz around the inauguration of Brazilian Second Life is its strong connections with big advertisement agencies dealing with advanced marketing strategies. It's obvious that the fuel behind the audacious enterprise is coming from the notion that Brazilians are hooked on social networking, as proved by the Orkut phenomenon and by the number of local avatars already swarming the ‘foreign’ digital islands. Inside SL's virtual environment, publicity campaigns are being designed to foster a direct conversation with customers, offering the opportunity for them to participate in processes that used to be far from user's view, such as product design. As a result, the SL wave in Brazil is presenting plenty of room for many marketing blogs to surf on, even generating some specialized ones dealing with avatar and object scripts, and all Second Life related issues.
Brazil era el país número 7 en febrero. Durante marzo, añadió 87,053 residentes, un incremento de 55.6% en un sólo mes y pasando así a sexto lugar. Se entiende ahora la razón de que Linden Lab esté apoyando fuertemente el crecimiento de esta comunidad, en particular con la creación de Second Life Brasil.
El Estado de Latinoamérica en SL, Marzo 2007 – aenea's Second Life
As empresas aproveitam o momento ‘virtual’ para apresentar os pacotes publicitários do site, que pode receber diferenciados tipos de ações ‘in-world’, como promoções, samplings, eventos, comerciais em vídeo, outdoors, tutoriais e também pelas ferramentas tradicionais, como banners na página de entrada. Os pacotes variam de R$ 30 mil a R$ 100 mil por mês durante os primeiros seis meses, com contratos anuais.
Second Life Brasil apresenta pacotes publicitários – Você muito bem informado
O veículo motorizado da Sundown começa a circular na próxima semana no Second Life. A moto terá duas rodas na frente e uma atrás, além de uma cobertura para viabilizar o funcionamento do ar-condicionado. “Os clientes virtuais poderão opinar sobre a novidade, incluir sugestões de acessórios e fazer test-drive, além de se cadastrar para encomendar a nova moto que poderá fazer parte da linha de produtos Sundown Motos nos próximos anos”, afirmou Rogério Scialo, diretor comercial e de marketing da Sundown. A campanha dará espaço para os habitantes de Second Life, chamados de avatares, sugerirem nomes para o modelo. Após a avaliação dos resultados, a empresa partirá para a criação da motocicleta para o mundo real.
Sundown mostra foto da moto com ar-condicionado – 2Life
Morar, decorar e experimentar virtualmente um apartamento em três dimensões. Esta é a proposta da Incorporadora Rossi, que acaba de fazer sua primeira incursão no Second Life, a mais recente febre da internet… “A intenção é amplificar a experiência do comprador do imóvel de alto padrão. No Second Life, as possibilidades de demonstração são muito maiores“, afirma em comunicado à imprensa o vice-presidente de tecnologia e projetos da AgênciaClick, Abel Reis. “Ao comprar um imóvel na vida real, o cliente receberá também um imóvel virtual no Second Life, juntamente com um inventário de móveis para fazer testes de decoração e de layout do apartamento. E, ao clicar nos móveis, o cliente terá acesso ao site da loja Etna para obter informações ou até comprá-los”, explica no mesmo comunicado o gerente de marketing institucional da Rossi, Rafael Rossi.
Second Life Brasil entra oficialmente no ar e oferece espaço publicitário e promocional – Arnaldo Rabelo
Já pensou em participar de uma festa virtual? Pois isso já é possível. Para comemorar 20 anos no Brasil, a Intel do Brasil vai promover no próximo dia 24 de abril uma festa via Second Life. A multinacional está divulgando pela web os convites. A comemoração começa às 20h00 e a entrada é livre para residentes do Second Life. Executivos da Intel vão estar presentes ao evento com avatares personalizados.
Intel faz festa no Second Life – Liberdade Digital
Boa Noite, como o negocio aqui é script, convido voces a conhecerem o Blog Mundo Linden, novidades do Sl, dicas de como construir, customizar avatares, recomendo e muito uma visita ao blog. Quanto a mim e scripts, informo que estou trabalhando em um guia brasileiro de programação em SL, e pretendo disponibilizar, conforme vou terminando os capitulos. Este inicio de trabalho ( pegue aqui ) esta tumultuado, confesso que detesto escrever, tento fugir de uma linguagem excessivamente formal, sou pessimo em diagramação, enfim, espero que vcs abaixem o pdf e comentem muito, mandem e-mail, incentivando ou criticando meu trabalho, so assim eu terei noção se estou conseguindo ser um pouco util a vcs.
Guia Brasileiro de Script – Second Life Brasil
Apart from the usual marketing crowds, other groups are preparing themselves to take over Second Life virtual islands. While planning his coming visit to Brazil, the Pope Benedict XVI expressed concerns that the biggest Catholic country — with more than 155 million followers — is yearly losing 1% of its clientele to other faiths, and called for renewed aproaches to the issue. This may be a good reason why a Catholic group is planning a bold move in the newly built virtual ether.
A comunidade e o sistema católico de comunicação Canção Nova está para lançar o segundo maior empreendimento brasileiro no Second Life. É a primeira iniciativa do mundo cristão, em larga escala, no universo virtual da Linden Lab. Já está em adiantado estágio de desenvolvimento a construção da ‘Ilha Canção Nova’, um conglomerado de 25 ilhas, que se tornarão o maior centro cristão brasileiro (e mundial) de convivência, relacionamento, eventos e negócios do Second Life. O projeto já estava em execução, discretamente, há cerca de três meses. Uma equipe de 15 pessoas cuida dos diversos aspectos da ilha, como terraplanagem, infra-estrutura, programação, desenvolvimento multimídia, além das gestões comerciais e administrativas do local.
Rede católica Canção Nova prepara mega empreendimento com 25 ilhas – Mundo Linden
A palavra-chave no ambiente SL é relacionamento. Relacionar-se implica em conhecer, estreitar contatos, compartilhar. O relacionamento baseado no diálogo é o principal caminho para sustentar uma relação duradoura. E as pessoas querem ser ouvidas, querem dar sua opinião, querem compartilhar experiências e testemunhos, querem ter um canal de comunicação direto. E no Second Life isso é possível! A importância da Canção Nova, neste novo meio de comunicação, é proporcionar um canal de relacionamento entre pessoas que buscam uma vida com sentido, meta principal de todos os nossos esforços. A Canção Nova encara esse novo desafio: adentrar em lugares e atingir um público que ela ainda não chegou. Pessoas que, por alguma razão, ainda não foram atingidas, diretamente, pelos nossos meios de comunicação já existentes.
O Blog Second Life – Blog Canção Nova no Second Life
A idéia é simples e genial: um misto de jogo e site de relacionamento, no qual circulam bonequinhos “avatares” – da tradição hindu, que significa “encarnação” – que vão costruindo um mundo próprio com ambientes próprios, moeda própria – “o linden dólar” – … enfim, um novo mundo! … Aí está o resumo do Second Life: ilusão com pouco custo! Abstrair-se da realidade e desenvolver o chamado “pensamento mágico” é característica humana, sem a qual seria impossível viver, porém o Second Life importa dois elementos interessates e perigosos: a auto-suficiência do poder ilimitado e a fantasia sem custo real. Na vida real o limite imposto é extremamente salutar e sua ausência é o que provoca de sociopatas a megalomaníacos. Na vida real o custo embutido em relacionamentos e no consumo de bens e serviços é justamente o que permite a convivência saudável e dolorosa com frustrações e decepções que alicerçam o caráter e a ética. É uma proposta perfeitinha, mas ordinária.
Perfeitinha mas ordinária – Tempo com Deus
As expected, almost every hype in the Brazilian blogosphere attracts its correspondent counter-hype, and with Second Life it would not be different. The issues about SL ecological sustainability (‘avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians‘), along with information about arbitrary behavior from the vitual universe ‘Gods’ — Linden Labs’ sys admins — generated some interesting reactions.
Universo virtual é um software-como-serviço totalmente controlado por uma empresa privada que faz o que bem entende com seus habitantes. Ainda por cima, gasta tanta energia por avatar quanto o Brasil por habitante… Ditaduras normalmente promovem quem não as incomoda e de quebra servem de meio ou apoio a seus propósitos. E perseguem implacavelmente quem as questiona, como os habitantes de Second Life que têm sofrido restrições nos seus direitos básicos (como o de expressão livre). Tal é o caso de Prokofy Neva, que foi banido do blog oficial do Second Life depois de ter sofrido outras restrições, em função de suas críticas aos donos e governantes e a habitantes que puxam vocês-sabem-o-que dos mesmos… Temos que prestar mais atenção no que está acontecendo em lugares como Second Life. Porque o que acontece por lá pode vir a rolar, em escala muito maior, num pedaço do mundo real bem próximo do nosso par login/senha. Esta ameaça, claro, é uma grande oportunidade para que nos organizemos para criar nossos próprios (mundos, movidos a) software-como-serviço, abertos e verdadeiramente democráticos.
Second life: ditadura e desastre ambiental – Mundo Net
Polêmica no Second Life. Cada vez mais, o SL começa a se parecer com o mundo real. Onde a sede de lucro começa a superar as barreiras do aceitável. Cartéis começam a se firmar e a detonar a concorrência. Muitos usuários se sentiram prejudicados com o potencial monopólio do câmbio exercido pela parceria IG-Kaizen. Já começam a surgir grupos extremistas dentro do jogo contra as grandes corporações. Os impopulares griefers. Com suas armas hackers. Gerando lags inimagináveis. Como bombas atômicas no mundo real. Empresas já começam a contratar serviços de segurança virtual. Gerando novos negócios dentro do SL.
Segura a mãe que o pai tá doido! Nova novela México-Peru – Meta Bronca
Bem, a ‘festa’ da Intel dentro do SL segue o estilo de outros eventos, com avatares de ‘personalidades’ como a Analy, do Big Brother e a atriz Daniela Suzuki. Avatares que passarem por lá poderão ganhar brindes da Intel com a logomarca da empresa, que darão velocidade 40% na capacidade de vôo dos avatares. Mas perdoem o meu quase desdém diante da novidade. Acho que já passei do saturado quanto a eventos dentro do Second Life e que só servem como happening, ação de marketing na veia, sem grandes valores adicionais. Escrevam aí: daqui a pouco vai ter festa de socialite acontecendo dentro SL e cantado em prosa e verso como se fosse a coisa mais original do mundo. E vocês, estimados leitores. Concordam ou sou só eu que acordei azedo numa Segundona com chuva?
E o Second Life segue no hype, sem sinal de cansaço – Reporteralex
It will take some time for regular Brazilians to find out what SL really is. One thing will be an obstacle to its success, for sure: you can't travel much longer and farther in  the existing virtual universe without having to pay for it, and Brazilians are very fond of the gratuity of the web. But the contagion is spreading.
Second Life agora também no Brasil, mas para infelicidade geral da nação 100grana ele será pago.
Second Life Brasil: Você está preparado para uma outra vida? – 100grana.com
Sem a barreira do idioma e da negociação em dólares, a presença brasileira no Second Life deve crescer significativamente. Atualmente, o Brasil já conta com cerca de 200 mil residentes – uma das maiores comunidades do metaverso – e as projeções apontam para 2 milhões de usuários até fevereiro de 2008.
Second Life Brasil disponibiliza pacotes publicitários – 2life

author: Jose Murilo


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Sri Lanka: An unlikely Cricket Fan · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The World Cup makes an otherwise indifferent person a cricket fan. “I was surprised by my own enthusiasm because honestly I still don't care much for the sport. It being the World Cup it was only natural that I rooted for the home team. I can't exactly point out how it started but I'm sure it's a combination of being away from home where cricket season is almost like a communal pilgrimage of such devotion and eagerness and purely infectious zeal, that need of wanting to stay connected to home that's so faraway, the memories of watching long cricket matches (which I spent most of my time dissing just to piss people off) with family I have now lost like my grandma the biggest supporter of the Sri Lankan team and just that general feeling of home sweet home really.”


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Syria: Human Rights Lawyer in Jail · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Syria Comment blogger Joshua Landis reports that Anwar al-Bunni, Syria's leading human rights activist and lawyer, was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday – for spreading false information.


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Taiwan: Taiwan needs US-TW FTA? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Turton translates part of the article from Taipei Times which argued that Taiwan needs an Free trade Agreement (FTA) with the US.


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Tamil Blogs: Agriculture, Street Threatre and Children · Global Voices
Mathy Kandasamy

187 countries observed ‘Earth Day’ on April 22nd. This month we have a new blogger in Tamil blogosphere whose blog is titled ‘iyarkai vivasaayam‘ or ‘Ecological agriculture’. In this blog Samsari talks about path-breaking, successful farmers, their techniques and issues related to farming in Tamil Nadu(TN), India.
He introduces us to the ‘Farmer Numero Uno’ in Tamil Nadu, India. Anthonysami of Puliyangudi, Thiruneveli District, Tamil Nadu has researched quite extensively about water usage in farming sugarcane. Anthonysami grows lemons in 60 acres and sugarcane in another 60 acres. According to him, farmers in TN use around 20,000 – 22,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram sugar. However Anthonysami uses around 1,500-1,800 litres of water to produce the same amount.
Anthonysami uses drip irrigation and uses specific ways of plowing the land and plants sugar-cane interspersed with rows of legumes known for their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. He uses only organic fertilizers. Anthonysami's methods encourage earthworms and other useful organisms, thus cooling down the soil's temperature, which in turn requires far less water than the norm.
Samsari has encouraged interested people to visit Anthonysami and has also provided his email id, in case anybody wants to wish him well. xavierukr@yahoo.com.
In another post, Samsari talks about another farmer who could be the guiding light for everybody else. Bernard Clark, from Belgium moved to India and lived in Arvinda Ashram in Auroville, Pondicherry. While living there, Bernard Clark was given a 3 acre plot and was asked if he could turn it into a wooded area. The plot was a hardened red-earth soil full of rocks and which looked as if even 3 months of non-stop rain would not quench it's thirst.  Bernard Clark accepted the challenge and has turned that plot into a veritable paradise within five years.
He chose quick growing trees which would not require much water to survive. And the trees he chose shed a lot of leaves. These leaves fertilize the soil and encourage the growth of organisms essential to make the soil rich. Bernard Clark now grows Banana, four different kinds of Okra, Bitter-gourd, Tomato, Chillies, Squash, Papaya and even Pine-apple along with herbs. Bernard Clark's advice was to first make small holes, where rainwater could gather. And to deposit anything that could decompose.
From here let's travel a short distance and watch street theater courtesy of Azhiyuran in Tirunelveli, TN, India. Azhiyuran saw two plays performed by Pralayan and his ‘Chennai Street Theatre’ troupe. Azhiyuran says that the second play titled ‘payanam’ or journey talks about the villagers migrating to the cities in search of livelihood. On one hand, because of urbanisation new jobs are created in the cities and on the other hand educated ‘Dalits’ need to move to the cities to escape the clutches of caste-based atrocities. The play is about villagers forced to migrate to the cities – the problems they face in the city, the inhumane treatment by the authorities – namely the police and politicians. The second play started around 12.30 and ran till 2.20 am. According to Azhiyuran the whole crowd stood there spellbound. The street theater troupe did not use any mike and the songs they sang really captured the audience's attention.
Azhiyuran says that nothing can touch people's heart like Street Theatre. When an art-form discusses and dissects the problems a person faces, in front of his own door, the impact is very high. In street theatre the audience are not just an audience, they are participants too. The distance between the character in street theater and the audience is practically nil. The plea, ‘isn't there anybody who could talk about my life, my politics, my greatness, my shame’ is the question in millions of peoples’ minds. And street theater could be the answer to that according to Azhiyuran.
The first play performed by the Street Theater talks about school children and the school curriculum that does not seem to encourage learning. Learning by rote is the general method. And how inquisitive minds suffer is shown quite effectively. The 50 minute play is based on a work of fiction titled ‘Ayisha’ by Ira.Natarajan.
If children were the theme of a play enacted by a street theater troupe in the southern tip of India, then another sad current issue is the topic of a play to be performed in Nithari. Only, this is no fiction. The play would be enacted by the very same children of Nithari. There are around 50 children in Nithari and some of them practically duped death. This play would be about the things they experienced. About the unvarnished truth, where some of their playmates never returned. The children will be involved in writing, directing and acting out a few scenes on their own. Mangai from New Delhi, India, visited Nithari recently and watched the play. She talks about the enthusiasm shown by the children to bring out the play, their performances – especially the last scene which has no dialogues. She also ponders how these children must have been affected, to stage such a play, the very same children who only a few months ago were playing cricket and flying kites.

author: Mathy Kandasamy


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Tanzania: blog about Swahili film in the US · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A blog about a Swahili film, Bongoland II: “This weekend we conducted screen tests for JUMA. The process went well and we were very impressed by the brave souls who dared to take on the challenge. We also want to thank those who made sacrifices to be at the event and forgo the enjoyment of a rare warm day in Minneapolis. Among the candidates we looked at, we know for sure that we finally have our “JUMA”…stay tuned!”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Reading the Signs · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Thebookmann is amused and somewhat intrigued by “two eloquently painted wall signs” in Trinidad.


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Ukraine: Chernobyl · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn takes photographer Michael Forster Rothbart along on a trip to the Chernobyl-affected areas and posts an account that's both informative and poignant, and comes just days before the 21st anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl Catastrophe: “I felt very sad walking around, looking at the crumbling walls, thinking of everything that people lost after Chornobyl. Not just their material possessions, but their homes, their communities, their relationships with neighbors, their classmates, their pets, their gardens, the night sky over their backyards, the parks, the sense of belonging somewhere.”


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Zimbabwe: police brutality against activists · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Police brutality against members of Zimbwabean women's civic movement, WOZA:
“By 7pm on Tuesday, all 56 members arrested on Monday at the Kuwadzana ZESA sit-in had been assualted in police custody and forced to pay admission of guilt fines to ‘buy’ their freedom. Lawyers served police with orders to allow them access to their clients. This order was mostly ignored as the beatings continued.”


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African Journalists on Franco-African Relations · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

African journalists working in France are calling on the two remaining French presidential candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, to begin a new chapter in Franco-African relations (Fr), according to the blog of the Alliance for Democratic Progress.  “We have to reconsider everything, make a fresh start, a sort of “big bang,” so that France stops treating us like children.  Africa must be a partner.” (Fr)

author: Jennifer Brea


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Arabeyes: Palestinian Jordanian Anyone? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Hareega is furious  that people avoid discussing racism in his society. He is particularly angry about the discrimination Jordanians of Palestinian origin go through in a country he claims they have helped build and project to the level it is today.
Hareega calls on people to be more realistic when discussing this situation of racial prejudice in Jordan.
He then cites examples of how Jordanians of Palestinian origin are treated in his country.
Jordan's rich history, argues Hareega, is based in tribalism but it's future is only possible by recognising the impact Palestinians have had on it.
Young people, says Hareega, are in particular prone to calling Palestinians names and questioning their loyalty when they raise issues of public concern.
Some of the blame, he adds, could be because of Palestinians who refuse to blend into Jordanian society and prefer to live apart from it.
Hareega's last words are:


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Armenia: Yericyan Boycott · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Nazarian calls for a boycott of the Yericyan stores in Yerevan over their use of a promotional floral arrangement at Tsitsernakaberd, a memorial for the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.


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Bahrain: Noaimi Site Up  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A site completely dedicated to a giant of a Bahraini, Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Noaimi, the Godfather of the National Action Democratic Society has been launched containing a section to register your “get well” messages to this Bahraini personality as well as sections detailing his biodata and a collection of articles he has written, writes Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif.


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Bermuda: Harbour Nights Accident · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermuda's Harbour Nights celebrations got off to a sad start.  Politics.bm reports.


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Cambodia: Crocodile Attacks · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Details are Sketchy says that one of the new year prediction of Cambodian royal astronomer is coming true. As predicted by the astronomer, there is a surge in the numbers of crocodile attacks in Cambodia.


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China: IPR is not a Real issue · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Andrew has written a good analysis of the Intellectual Property Rights negotiation between U.S and China. The conflict is not so real as IP theft hurts Beijing's state-run media machine and control over internet media: Washington is pushing Beijing into reluctantly doing something it probably wanted to do anyway.


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China: Not to Buy Apartment Campaign Ended · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zou Tao, a Shenzhen citizen who has launched the “Not to Buy Apartment Campaign”, has sold his property in Shenzhen, returned to his homeland in Hunan and become a peasant. Although many were looking forward for a relaunch of the campaign, Zhang hua however commented that such campaign wouldn't help in regulating the property market (zh).


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China: Olympic Politics and Protests at the Roof of the World · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Granite Studio brought into focus Beijing's plan to include the summit of Mt. Everest as a stop for the Olympic torch. Some Tibetan activists staged a protest at the roof of the world in response to such move.


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China: Seventeen Hates · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI has translated Liu Qi's article in Southern Weekly about seventeen practices that he hates most in China.


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China: Spiderman in Beijing Street? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Whether pirated copies of Spiderman III DVD are sold in Beijing Street or just empty boxes? Reuters and Sony have different versions of the story. So Chinese pirates have actually beaten anyone else in selling empty boxes claiming to be Spidey III, thus doing a masterful job of pranking foreign news organizations — Imagethief commented.


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Conference on France’s Support of African Dictatorship · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Le Pangolin has been posting video from a conference called “From ‘françafrique’ to ‘Mafiafrique'” which looks at France's post-colonial support of African dictators.


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Costa Rica: Free-Trade Agreement Poll · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Cristian Cambronero posts the current polling numbers in his blog Fusil De Chispas [ES] on how Costa Ricans would vote in the upcoming referendum on the proposed Free-Trade Agreement.  In two of the polls, between 47-49% would vote in favor of the trade pact.  The results elicited a number of responses arguing how accurate polls really are, including one commenter who wrote, “one learns how to read them for what they are: indicators of something, not necessarily true reality.”


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DRC: Opposition Ends Boycott of Parliament · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

The Congo's largest opposition party, allied to Jean-Pierre Bemba, President Kabila's main rival in the last presidential election, has ended its boycott of the Congolese parliament.  UDPS Liege lays out the main issues that led to the boycott and their demands: security garanties, real freedom of expression, and a permanent seat for their party.


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Ethiopia: students at Addis Ababa University go on strike · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethio-Zagol writes about crisis at Addis Ababa University: “The student protest at Addis Ababa University is in its second day today after it was ignited yesterday by some students at Arat Kilo campus. The Students said they started chanting anti-university administration slogans when they learnt that the body of dead student was abused by the Menelik hospital autopsy department. The student passed away three days ago. His friends suspected that he was poisoned.”


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Hong Kong: Queen’s Pier Last Night · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Plastichk has written a citizen report on the last night of Queen's Pier and criticised the government's refusal to preserve the pier in situ (zh). The Pier is a colonial symbol during the British rule in Hong Kong. There is a on-going citizen campaign to preserve the pier.


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India: Folding Up · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Munjal Shah, the CEO of Riya explains the decision to close their Bangalore office. “The costs of having two offices, which are twelve time zones apart, is significant.  People in both offices frequently had conference calls at 10pm and midnight every night (as a result the office in the US didn’t get started until noon sometimes or people rolled in tired). “


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India: Meeting a Star · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sheetal Goel meets a superstar and is rather smitten. “For those who don't know me, here's something you need to know. Shah Rukh Khan was my first love, at the age of 13. And without gushing too much about him and my love for him, suffice to say I'd been praying for the last decade or so that I should get a chance to meet him in person for once in my life.”


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India: Politics and Technology · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

Blogging about IT and technology is common topic for many Indian bloggers. The technology sector is the engine that is pulling the great Indian train forward in fits and starts and it seems that there be a change in the engine crew. President  Kalam's tenure as the President is coming to an end and there is the usual buzz about who will be the next president of India. Dr. Kalam is not interested in a second term according to various media reports. There appears to be some sort of an agreement that another technologist/scientist is needed to pull this great Indian train forward among a certain section of the Indian population. Who is this candidate? Mr. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, India's most successful IT and services company.
Prof. TT Ram Mohan writes in The Big Picture that Mr. Narayana Murthy's chances might be low going by the results of a latest poll. He writes:
“The urban middle class wants a non-politician like Narayana Murthy to be Prez. The politicians think otherwise. So the chances of Murthy or any other non-politician getting the job are low.”
Mr. Murthy and the success of his company has inspired many young Indians to dream and think big about technology. Sixteen year old Yuvi is a blogger, who is clearly inspired by the technology revolution in India. When he is not at school he is busy coding, mucking around with his digital camera and blogging about it. Here is a link to his post about Photocommuting and he hints that he is working on a project that is under wraps, or in stealth mode as they often like to label it in Silicon Valley.
Forget blogging, what abut Skype?  Kumar's post on Skype is a great reminder of how quickly  new technologies are being adopted by people around the world. In his post How Skype Captured India, he writes:
“That is when it hit me: how Skype has entered the life of so many Indians.
So here we are again, using a product because it's free, useful (actually, vital, to some), and untouched by politicians. But not really sure of who the providers are, and privacy issues. So I did some research on these issues.”
And, what Kumar discover? This age old adage that you have heard repeated many times, right place at the right time.”Skype had better timing. And marketing. And has captured India.”
Thumbnail picture courtesy Esthr.

author: Kamla Bhatt


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India: Women and Engineering Institutes · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

nanopolitan about the possible inherent bias against women in the Joint Entrance Examination to some of the premier engineering institutes in India. “Finally, since when have we started allowing our public institutions to hide behind the society moral shortcomings? If the society is screwed up, I would argue that our publicly funded institutions — prestigious premier ones, in particular– should do everything to counteract the social ills. Perversely, the JEE seems to be accentuating the corrosive effects of society's immoral treatment of some of its members.”


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Iraq: More on Hamas Iraq  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Abu Aardvark, aka Marc Lynch, links to an article by “Mohamed Abu Roman, one of the smartest Jordanian writers on Islamist issues, (who) turns his attention today to Hamas Iraq.   Like me, Abu Roman places the appearance of Hamas Iraq directly within the context of the growing intellectual and political divide within the Sunni insurgency between al-Qaeda on the one hand, and groups such as the Islamic Army of Iraq on the other.”


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Iraq: New Security Plan  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Khaled Jarrar launches a new real security plan for Iraq.


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Japan: Abe apologizes to US media, not Asian people · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

On the apologies made by Abe in an interview last weekend with Newsweek, Amaki Naoto, a former Japanese diplomat who resigned protesting Japan's involvement in the U.S. attack on Iraq, comments that in apologizing about the Comfort Women issue Abe was “putting aside his political belief” in order simply to satisfy American media so that his visit to the US would go smoothly [Ja,En].

author: Hanako Tokita


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Japan: Analysis of election results · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Matt Dioguardi at Japan in amber has posted commentary, tabulated data, and study notes on Japan's recent by-elections and local elections. Matt writes: “the DPJ strategy in Okinawa seemed confused, switching midway. First they focused on local union issues, then switched to national issues.”


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Japan: Cellphone-operated Remote Control Home System · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Edo introduced the latest cellphone-operated remote control home system developed by NTT-Neomeit: To control devices, users access a web page via cellphone and select the desired operations. The commands are then sent via the web to a wireless router in the home, which relays signals to an infrared transmitter and remote control power switches.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Chinese-Japanese Rapper Nycca  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James from Japan Probe introduced a trilingual Rapper Nycca. The post is linked to a youtube video of the singer's self intro and rap in three languages: Japanese, Cantonese and Putonghua.


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Japan: Pre-election protest party · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Amamiya Karin writes in Magazine 9 [Ja] about protest parties held in Koenji last weekend organized by Suginami Ward Assembly candidate Matsumoto Hajime. Although Matsumoto finally lost the election, the party was a great success, featuring live music, dancing, and plenty of stage-diving. Matsumoto, one of the youngest contenders, pushed hard in his election platform for the rights of the poor and the unemployed.


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Latvia: Roma Resources · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Romantic posts a link to the collection of resources on Latvia's Roma.


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Lebanon: Youth Kidnapped · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese blogger Abu Kais updates us on the situation with two kidnapped Lebanese youth here. “The chances of finding Ziad Qabalan (25) and Ziad Ghandour (12) alive seem to be slim. Rumours claim their bodies were already found, and that the authorities are delaying the announcement. Officials spent Wednesday denying rumours, condemning and calling for the immediate release of the two kidnapped young men,” he writes.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Lucien Millard Interview · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Roots and Culture presents an interview with Lucien Millard.  Millard, who hails from Martinique, says “music is my backbone, the air I breathe, my reason for living.” (Fr)


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Niger: Teacher Strike, Violent Student Protests · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

In Niger, violent protests by students (Fr) continued at the University of Niamey.  The students are demanding (En) striking primary and secondary school teachers return to work. Nigerien civil society has meanwhile announced its support for the students‘ “fight for the improvement of their living and working conditions” (Fr)


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Pakistan: Roadmap to Peace · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

At The Pakistani Spectator, an Indian living in Doha talks of the roadmap to peace. “In my conversations with both Pakistani and Indian taxi drivers is that both Indians and Pakistanis are fed wrong ideas about the others by their respective governments, My interactions with Pakistanis from Peshawar or Lahore or Karachi have nothings but a happy experience. Its always the Indian taxi Drivers that I've had to haggle for prices, Pakistani drivers never demanded but always politely said “Jo aapko marzi ho de dena”.”


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Peru: Wolfy Passes Away · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Alejandro of the Peru Food blog breaks the tragic news that blogger and “lover of Peru” Wolfgang “Wolfy” Becker died of a heart attack in Lima on April 20.  Becker maintained the blog Un Lobo en Peru (A Wolf in Peru) and also started the site Living in Peru.  The two of them had discussed collaborating on Becker's new site Journal Peru, where he posted his last entry on the day he passed on.


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Qatar: Seven Wonders · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Hamlet, who is based in Qatar, blogs about the seven wonders of his host country. Among the wonders are: ‘Wonder No. 2, “It is all about connections (wasta)” Got all the right credentials, relevant experience, proper education…etc, but you don’t know the right people, then you are in the wrong place and you better forget about getting that deserved position. The Arabs invented the word “wasta” for that very common practice.’


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Russia: Kasparov’s Foreign Funding · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As the Kremlin begins looking for Gary Kasparov's foreign sponsors, Sean's Russia Blog reports that a reporter for an expat paper in Moscow may have already completed the job.


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Russia: Media Freedom · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

There're 32 comments to Sean Guillory's post on a Russian radio station that seems to have become “exactly” like Fox News in the U.S.


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Russia: Pieces by Illarionov and Gevorkyan · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

La Russophobe posts two translations: pieces by Andrei Illarionov and Natalya Gevorkyan.


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Russia: The Problem With Archives · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about multiple problems that scholars face when dealing with the Russian archives.


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Sketches of Contradictions, Complexities, and Beauty of Life in Uganda · Global Voices
Joshua Goldstein

Here are some sketches that detail the contradictions, complexities and beauty of daily life in Uganda.
In Apac, two women go in search of vegetarian food:
Thus it began: the most epic search for food I have ever experienced. We didn’t ask for much: beans, rice, maybe chapatti — something simple and easy, common Ugandan staple food. Our quest took us all over town, onto two bicycles and to six different restaurants, all of which were staffed by women who told us the exact same thing:
Smoked meat.  Fresh meat.  No beans.  No rice.  No chapatti.”
It was an anti-vegetarian conspiracy, developed and manned by a gang of sisters who ran Apac’s food distribution behind the backs of the LC5. An entire city — a district seat, no less — and no beans to be found. Rebecca and I sat in our hotel room for a minute, wondering what we would do.
In Kampala, Glenna Gordon explains the contradictions that exist at Cafe Pap, the swankest coffee shop in town:
I sat with Ali, a stranger to me, at our dirty Café Pap table because it had the only open spot at a smoking table at the crowded cafe. Pap, which sits just below Kampala's Parliament and just above the main thoroughfare, is Uganda's version of Starbucks, only with even more mediocre food and an even more stratified social milieu. Mbu, this is Uganda, where the average family lives on less than a dollar a day, and a cappuccino at Café Pap costs two days’ income. There are 28 million people in Uganda, 1.2 million in Kampala, and about 20 people at Café Pap at any given lunch hour.
In Gulu, Moses Odokonyero writes about Congo's forgotten women, who were taken from their homes and brought to Uganda with the Ugandan Army's 4th Division:
I met little Lwize Paalwa three years ago in the dilapidated hospital of the Ugandan Army's 4th Division in Gulu, northern Uganda. The seven year old had the monumental task of taking care of her HIV-positive mother, Mamisha, who was near death. “Mummy wants to eat eggs, but there are no eggs. Mummy wants to eat meat, but there is no meat. All we have is beans and posho (ed. corn meal),” she told me.
On Nsazi Island on Lake Victoria, Basawad describes the island's natural and human changes:
Nsazi Island and many other islands on the Lake, are magnets for Uganda's unemployed. Nsazi village is a very good reflection of what the Lake's islands have become. ‘The village is a collection of mud and woven-branch huts separated by muddy lanes, with a few houses built of wooden plank and even fewer sitting on concrete foundations.’ The Lake's water is used for drinking and cleaning, without sanitation. There are now about 2,000 people on Nsazi; as recently as 1998, there were only about 600 people there. Many, think of islands on Lake Victoria as a tourist paradise, some are. But islands, like Nsazi are now over crowded, very poorly served with social and physical infrastructures and are only contributing more to the rapid destruction of Lake Victoria and its resources. The Nile Perch has devoured hundreds of native fish species in the Lake. But it's humans, now, who are rapidly destroying Lake Victoria.
In Arua, Pernille shows us a woman selling matoke (medium-sized green bananas), tomatoes and a hen:
To me this is northern Uganda in one photo; a woman dressed in a mix of kufa ulay and vitenge, on the way to Arua market with green matoke and a kawera with tomatoes from her shamba, a hen and the purse for small change.

author: Joshua Goldstein


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South Korea: U.S-Korea FTA on Copyright · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Some details and discussions about the U.S-Korea Free Trade Agreement on Coyright at interlocals.net.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: The Art of Letter Writing · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Posting from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Abeni wonders if letter writing has become a lost art.


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Syrian Independence Day and Elections · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

This past week marked one of the warmest and most popular days of the year for Syrians – The National Independence day.
On April 17th, 1946, the last of the French mandate troops left Syrian soil, and Syria was announced an independent Syrian Arab Republic. Shukri al-Quwatly, President of Syria at the time [and propably the closest political figure to the hearts of Syrians all through Syria's modern history] handled the celebrations.
It is a very warm and happy memory for Syrians, because it is one of the few things left of that era, the 40s and 50s of Syrian politics. Syria was one of the few countries in the Middle East that prided itself with democracy, a parliament, and a real political diversity. The Syrian parliament introduced the first communist to be elected to a parliament in any Arab country, Khaled Bekdash, also known as the father of Arab Communism. Along with many other political currents, Muslim Brotherhood, Baathists, Communists, National Bloc, Nasserites… It's a scene the people in Syria have missed for the past 4 decades. It reminds them of figures like Quwatly, like Khaled al-Azem, Hashim al-Atassi, the men of independence.
I couldn't find a better way to say this than what Ayman said…
Once upon a time in Syria,
… real men competed for Parliament seats.
Happy Independence Day.
The quote refers to another event that was taking place in Syria this weekend. The parliamentary elections.
Few Syrians were expecting anything from the elections, which might explain the low turnout of voting [some areas reported turnout of less than 2% of eligible voters]. The voters were set to chose their representatives for the 250 seats parliament [also called People's Congress]. The NPF [National Progressive Front] is a coalition between leftist and socialist parties lead by the Baath party. The NPF is given two thirds of the seats by the constitution, which leaves the independents with 83 seats.
Some of the opposition had called to boycott the elections on the basis that there is little to chose from in the first place.
Let's see what some bloggers had to say about the elections.
Abu Kareem of Levantine Dreamhouse said…
In the end, the Baath party and its National Progressive Front allies gained three seats of the 250 seat Majlis el Shaab (People's Congress) at the expense of three from the independents who are down to 80 representatives. The whole electoral process was so opaque that you couldn't even get an accurate accounting of the basic numbers. Different news reports, all quoting official sources, put the number of candidates for the 250 seat Majlis al Shaab (People's Congress) at anywhere between 900 and 2500 (or was it 10,000?). I have yet to see real numbers about the turnout of eligible voters. A report of Hassakeh suggested a turnout of 1.5% on the first day of elections. The government admitted to dismally low turnout numbers but blamed it on the opposition's call for a boycott. Additionally, there were reports of many irregularities including the addition of shadow lists of Baath-approved independent candidates and of Baath activists going door to door to force people to fill and cast their ballots.
Syrian Economy doesn't understand the opposition's decision to boycott the elections.
I will never be able to comprehend or justify the call by the opposition to boycott the elections. So the elections are rigged and only the specific people can win. Is this really a reason to not vote. When a Syrian does not vote, he/she is essentially accepting whatever comes his or her way and, in a way, is sanctioning the results. A much better position would be to participate and let the authorities change the count in favor of their candidates; at least this way, the opposition can argue that they indeed won the election but the corrupt government changed the results. When you don't even vote, you lose the ability to argue that you could win.
Philip I has a very interesting analysis about this elections.
The new official game is all about pretending to be democratic and saturating the atmosphere with election hype and American-style fanfare (complete with cheap, over-sized poster and banner advertising) and whipping up public interest in a sterile non-event. It is all about creating a world of make-believe and engaging the public and local and foreign media in a preposterous game of charade. Everyone knows Syria is not a democracy and as long as the Baath Party and the Assad clan are around probably never will be. So, the regime dictates that we must all pretend to be democratic and act as though we were!
Bassam, gives us a first hand description about how he voted.
I entered the “voting secret room” and wrote down a couple of names, put the ballot in the envelope, removed the protecting strip and sealed the envelope. As I come out I handed the enveloped to the officers who scolded me for sealing the envelope!!! Bad practice number two. So what do they want to do? Check the names I wrote?? Make sure I didn’t write some insults, or scratched the names of the untouchables? They didn’t make a fuss about it and I took my card back.
On a more recent update, yesterday, a Criminal Court met a five year prison sentence against Human Rights activist Anwar al-Bunni. The verdict startled a lot of people for its harshness and timing – just after the elections.
NGOs and Human Rights organizations started to organize campaigns to respond to this decision. Fares was the the first one to respond to this from the Syrian blogspehere.
Syria celebrated its conclusion of its national democratic elections which it called “the democratic wedding”, 2% voting turnout in some areas, by throwing the prominent lawyer and human right activist Anwar Bunni (imprisoned with Michel Kilo last year) a five year jail sentence!!!!!! and 2000 $ fine. That was because the judge claimed he tried to spread false news !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello Modern Justice and welcome to Hell in Syria.

author: Yazan Badran


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Taiwan: Youtube Censors anti WTO Protest Video · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Blasts found out (zh) that Youtube has categorized an anti-WTO protest documentary as not suitable for viewers under 18: “This video may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community. To view this video, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up.”
The video cannot be streamed as a result. Google video, after reviewing the video, has rejected to allow it online.