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The Musee Guimet affair: Part Deux · Global Voices
Rezwan

Last week we reported about the bloggers reactions on the controversies surrounding the  exhibition of the masterpieces of Ganges  in Musée Guimet of France from the collections of the Bangladesh museums.
The apprehensions of the art lovers who were protesting the unclear processes of sending the artifacts including their fear of loss, theft, replication, even accident (on the way) came true as on Dec 22, one of the 13 crates in the 2nd shipment of artifacts to Musée Guimet in Paris vanished from the tarmac of ZIA International Airport, Dhaka.
Today we bring to you latest on the issue.
Shafiur of Imperfect | world | 2008 reports:
Ah yes the bumbling and incompetent Inspector Clouseau must have been in charge of the precious bits and pieces at Zia Airport the other day when the nation’s heritage was under the care of Air France. Two priceless pieces have gone walkies. And the rest have been returned to the national museum as the powers that be finally resolved to not send the stuff to the Guimet in Paris. As I said in an earlier post, this whole thing at the Guimet lacked process even apparently the final decision to send them according to the New Nation.
And amazingly, Ayub Quadri, the education and cultural adviser to the inappropriately named “caretaker” government, is mulling resignation. I guess he is hoping Monsieur Clouseau will find the priceless Vishnu artefacts and save his skin.
Meanwhile I reckon Inspector Clouseau’s spokesman has started the damage limitation exercise at the French embassy in Dhaka. They reckon the whole thing was “highly suspicious.” Mon dieu! Yes it gets better. And they are effectively blaming those people who objected to the exhibition for the theft! This is a quote from their press release:
‘’… could also be the result of a conspiracy by a very small nexus of people to embarass France and Bangladesh.'’
Although according to the agreement the transport of the artefacts were responsibility of borrower (i.e. the French authorities) there were lapses in securities as a local news source reports:
Homebound, the shipping agent hired by France, had declared the 145 artefacts awaiting shipment to Paris as ‘general cargo’, leading to the crates being left unattended for three hours on the tarmac and the theft of two Vishnu statues.
Meanwhile grapevines (as not supported by a second source) kept appearing in the media:
A confirmed source told Weekly Blitz that the authorities of Guimet Museum is now looking into legal aspects of holding the whole batch of first consignment of artifacts sent from Bangladesh for, what Guimet says, non performance of the contractual obligation of the authorities in Dhaka in sending the second consignment of artifacts.
Further reports in a Bangla blog (Chemical Ali) quoting a museum official suggest [bn]:
“the French officials requested Bangladesh national museum officials to quote the value of the artifacts lower so that insurance value becomes lower and promised that they will carefully handle them. The Bangladeshi museum officials were also lured with the chance to visit France along with the artifacts which made them co-operate.”
Arup at Sachalayatan posts an interview which tells that the French authorities have opened the first lot of the artifacts without the presence of the accompanying Bangladeshi officials, which is the due process.
And finally everybody loses as broken pieces of the two 1500 year old relics were found in a dump yard in the outskirts of Dhaka city. Apparently the petty thieves were trying to cover up their crime and could not handle the hunt on them.
Arup writes an emotional piece addressing the French ambassador in Bangladesh in Sachalayatan titled “Désolé Monsieur Romnicianu” [bn]:
সেদিন মিডিয়া আর বাংলাদেশের প্রতিবাদী কিছু মানুষের উপরে আপনি ক্ষেপে উঠেছিলেন। কূটনৈতিক শিষ্টাচার (যা আমাকে নিকটজনেরা শত চেষ্টায় শেখাতে পারেনি) ভুলে আপনি কতোকটা ফুঁসেই উঠেছিলেন। কেন? গরীব দেশ দেখে যাচ্ছেতাই করবেন আর বলবেন, আর আমরা হজম করবো?
…
No I have not come to talk about that. Keeling down before a hated man like you, I want to say something… Please take away all the archaeological artifacts from Bangladesh as soon as possible. Please keep those which were already sent to you. We have protested a lot on the apprehension of theft. But what good it did to us? Some people of this country had stolen a 300 Year BC artifact on the notion that its a consignment of mobile phones and later broke them into pieces and dumped them. The people of this country do not deserve to protect their priceless assets. We are condemned sons and daughters of this country. So let these objects go to you, the colonialists. You can be colonialist, but can value and respect the history and tradition. Please take them away, still we will be happy to know that they are safe.
A French Blog Rue89 reports the incident in their post titled “Vishnu disparu au Bangladesh, le musée Guimet ébranlé” (Vishnu disappeared in Bangladesh, the Musée Guimet shaken ). A commenter -“Illusion (archaeologist)” aptly points out [fr]:
Si la situation a escaladé ces derniers mois, c’est aussi parce que les organisateurs n’ont pas réagi avec doigté aux remarques qui leur étaient faites, forts qu’ils étaient d’avoir le support du gouvernement bangladais (et probablement surpris qu’on puisse contester l’organisation d’une telle exposition), mais il serait faux, comme on a tenté de le faire croire, que ce mouvement est uniquement une critique exercée par des opposants au gouvernement en place à Dhaka. Parmi les opposants, il y a des archéologues, ..
Machine Translation:
And finally, knowing also retire at the right time: we are no longer the “blessed time of the settlements”, but unfortunately have bad habits die hard. Exhibitions of this kind we are happy, but we must not forget that we eat at this time of the culture that is not ours, and for which we do often than condescension. Let's hear another on the spot and accept that his vision of the world can be radically different from ours.
Since the beginning of the process French diplomatic pressure was acute on Bangladesh. The adviser (minister equivalent) of the cultural ministry had taken responsibility and resigned. Times Online reports that it had created a diplomatic rift between Bangladesh and France. The president of the Musée Guimet had expressed his opinion in “Le Monde” as “écœuré” (nauseating) and ofcourse blamed the Bangladeshi authorities keeping mum about their lack of processes.
Today's latest news is that the Bangladesh ambassador to France has died of Brain hemorrhage. Close acquaintances say he was under a tremendous pressure for this affair. France may have had lost some amount of money in this debacle but Bangladesh had to pay dearly, all in priceless objects.

author: Rezwan


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Trinidad & Tobago: Video Killed The Radio Star · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I’ve never been one for new year’s resolutions, but if there’s one goal I have for 2008 it’s to make peace with online video”: Caribbean Free Radio gets ready to roll camera.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Turkey: Armenian History · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Blogian comments on news that a new ballet based on an old Armenian tale of love and tragedy will be written and performed in Turkey. However, the Armenian blogger says that while he supports Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, he is concerned by what appears to be a major historical inaccuracy written in to promote such a goal.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Angola: What I do not want for 2008 · Global Voices
Paula Góes

ELCAlmeida [pt] is wondering about what he wants for Angola in 2008. He definitely knows what he does not wish: “What I do not want, once and for all, for Angola is what is happening in Kenya. Those who do not know to welcome the popular will, whatever it may be, better not go to the polls”.

author: Paula Góes


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Armenia: Honesty · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Shooosh at Life in Armenia says she was surprised to discover that when she lost her wallet in Yerevan it was found and turned in. Despite many bad stories about ethnic Armenians from the Diaspora being ripped off when they visit the country, she concludes that there are honest people here as well.


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Bahrain: The Arabic language – two for the price of one! · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Happy New Year from Bahrain! This week we have reflections on the year gone by, and plans for the one to come. A number of bloggers have complaints about the media, a new blogger describes an unusual experiment, and we end with some thoughts on the nature of Arabic.
We begin with a beautiful photo by Ammaro of Al Fateh Mosque:
Ring out the old
Ebtihal Salman has been looking at the year just passed:
وقبل الإنجراف في المزيد من 2008 لا بأس من جرد حساب للعام الماضي. أشعر بالرضا عن 2007 لولا المرارة التي جاءت بها النهاية. … أما على الصعيد الشخصي وهو الأهم فقد كانت سنة حافلة بالإنجازات. … عدت للكتابة بعد جفاف طال، ويجب أن اعترف ان المدونة كانت مفتاح أساسي. اشتريت لابت توب أخيراً ولكنه لم يكن بالروعة التي تصورتها، ومازلت أقضي الوقت الأكبر في غرفتي كما كنت أفعل أيام الكومبيوتر الثابت. أمضيت بعض الوقت في الدراسة وذكرت نفسي بمتعة التعلم وأني لم أزل أستطيع التفكير! وأضفت إلى رصيدي العلمي شهادة جديدة. سافرت إلى أماكن جديدة، وقابلت بعض الأشخاص اللطفاء، واشتقت للبحرين والبحارنة في كل مرة.
Before the erosion of any more of 2008, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take stock of the last year. I feel satisfied with 2007, except for the bitterness which came at the end. On a personal level, the most important, it was a year full of achievements. I returned to writing after a long drought, and I have to acknowledge that my blog was the key. I bought a laptop at last, but it wasn't the wondrous thing I imagined, and I still spent a lot of time in my room as I used to do with a PC.
Ring in the new
Ala Al Mulla is looking back to look forward:
طبعاً محاولة نسيان الماضي شيء إيجابي ومعزز للذات لكن مع بداية السنة قد نستذكر الماضي لغرض واحد ألا وهو معرفة ما أنجز في السنة الماضية وتقييمها ورسم خطط السنة الجديدة.
Of course an attempt to forget the past is a positive thing, and good for self-esteem, but with the beginning of the year maybe we should recall the past with one aim, to know what we achieved in the last year, and to evaluate it, and to draw up a plan for the new year.
Clever lad
Evil Odd has some advice for setting resolutions:
Before I ramble on about next year's resolutions, there are a few issues with last year's resolutions – they weren't SMART! In case you're wondering, SMART is:
Specific
Measureable
Action-oriented
Realistic
Timely
While in some cases they were good enough (i.e. pass all my exams), in other cases they sucked (i.e join the gym). What was I joining the gym for? To lose weight? or to get fit? And when was I going to join the gym? for how long? If I just joined the gym, did I accomplish this point, or did I actually need to attend the gym regularly and work out? You see – a resolution like “join the gym” is crap. I should've been more specific.
Lies, damned lies…
Mohammed AlMaskati made a resolution of his own recently, around the time of Bahrain's National Day:
I chose not to watch the program of Sawsan AlSha’er [Bahraini columnist and TV presenter] the other day; I have taken a personal oath to stay away from all national media starting the 16th of December, you really don’t expect much of local news or even proper coverage on the media throughout those couple of weeks, nothing but force feeding that Bahrain is in fact a prosperous wealthy and democratic country that hosts the best F1 races known to the humankind.
I came across a clip of the program uploaded by one of the viewers and couldn’t help but to laugh at the hypocrisy and the lies that were so bluntly pulled out at the nation by people supposedly representing ministries and individuals representing the so-called “pro-governmental views”. […] But what was aired on the program was different; all of a sudden it wasn’t funny anymore. How someone would stand out like that and lie on public TV is just way beyond me, how low can you get really?
For details of what Mohammed objected to, see here.
…and news?
Ashish Gorde isn't happy about the state of the media either– and writes about an experience he had during a recent trip to India:
My five-year old nephew made a profound statement. I was watching this news channel that will not be named because I'm in a good mood… (T)his news channel never tackles anything serious or substantive, and instead, gives importance to news events that are of tabloid-y nature. And just as I was watching one such insignificant ‘news’ (for want of a better word) and chuckling at the serious expression on the anchor's face that my nephew suddenly blurted out, ‘they show cartoons on this news channel.’ I burst out laughing at my nephew's statement because, unknowingly, the youngster managed to get to the very heart of this issue.
Ashish goes on to examine the media in India; to read his opinions, see here.
You can't give it away…
In a new blog, anothergod recounts a tale of an interesting experiment he once tried:
نفذتها عدة مرات، أن أقف أمام إحدى الإشارات، بثياب رثة حاملا بين يدي ورود أبيعها، لا من فقر ، ولكن كنت أريد أن أرى تعامل الناس معي أولا، وتعاملهم مع الورد ثانيا، وقفت أمام إشارة الخريطة سابقا، والقفول، والعدلية، وأماكن كثيرة، كنت أقف متلثما احمل الورد، أمر على السيارات، انتقي الوجوه التي أذهب إليها عارضا الوردة، وملبيا دعوات الوجوه التي تطلبني للوردة، عندما يسألني عن قيمة الوردة، أقول له هدية ، أعطيها إياه وابتسم له ، وأذهب ، رأيت أبتسامات عديدة واستغرابات أكثر، لكن ما أثارني هو ذلك المحرقي عند إشارة القفول، كان كبيرا في السن، طلب وردة، فأعطيتها إياه، ولم يسألني عن السعر، بل أخرج من جيبه عشرة دنانير وقال لي خل الباقي لك، ابتسمت، وقلت له إنها هدية، نظر إلي باستغراب، وتأمل في وجهي، كان اللثام قد سقط نوعا ما ولم التفت إليه ، أمسك بوجهي بيديه الثنتين، نزل من السيارة، وعيناه الواسعتان في وجهي، كل هذا والصمت يخيم علينا، إن له سر يريد أن يكتشفه وإن بي خوفا من أن أصل كالعادة إلى مركز الشرطة جرّاء أفكاري الجنونية، قال لي فلان؟ هنا صعقت، وقلت لا بلهجة نفي واضحة قال لي انت مو ولد حجي فلان،   هنا سكت إذا يبدو عليه أنه تعرف الي ولم أكن أعرفه، وأصر عندها على دخولي سيارته بالرغم من رفضي ، عند ذاك كانت ابواق السيارات تزمر بصورة مرتفعة عليه، قام ومضى وأوقف سيارته في مكان وأتاني مشيا يقول لي، لماذا تفعل هذا، أنت بخير، لديك كل ذلك الورث ، كل ذلك المال وتبيع ورد قلت له هدئ من روعك يا سيدي، فما أنا إلا متأمل في هؤلاء الناس، أنا لا ابيع، أنا اشتريت هذا الورد وأهديه لمن طلبه كالماء تماما
I did it several times, stopping by traffic lights wearing worn out clothes, carrying roses in my hands to sell – not because of need but because I wanted to see how people would react to me and the flowers. I stood by the traffic light near the Bahrain Map, and then in Gufool and Adliya as well as many other places. I had my face covered up, carrying the roses. I would pass by cars and select the faces I would offer the roses to, meeting the requests of the faces which asked for them. When someone would ask me about the price, I would say it was a present, and give them to him and smile at him, then go. I saw many smiles, and even more astonishment. But what annoyed me was the Muharraqi man near the Gufool traffic lights. He was an elderly man. He asked for a rose. I gave it to him. What surprised me was that he did not ask me how much it was, but took out BD10 [approx. 26 USD] from his pocket and told me to keep the rest. I smiled and told him it was a gift. He looked at me in surprise and kept staring at my face, as the mask had slipped when I wasn't paying attention. He got out of his car, and held my face in his hands, his wide eyes focused on my face. All of this was happening in silence; it was as if he had a secret he wanted to uncover, while I had fear in my heart and didn't want to end up in a police station, thanks to my crazy ideas. He then said my name. I was shocked. I strongly denied it was me, but he asked me whether I was the son of so-and-so. Here he became silent as it became obvious that he had recognised me while I didn't know him. He insisted that I get into his car, despite my refusal. At this point, the cars behind him started honking loudly. He drove ahead, parked his car and returned walking to me. He asked me why I was doing that while I was well-off and had an inheritance. He asked why I was selling roses when I had all that money. I asked him to calm down and told him that all I was doing was reflecting on people's behaviour. I wasn't selling anything. I had bought all those roses and was giving them out to those who asked for them, just like water.
Perhaps this would be a suitable point for another photo, this time from Bo_MaLiC:
Both high and low
For once I'd like to quote from my own blog, bint battuta in bahrain, as I wrote a post about the divide between the written and spoken forms of Arabic, and what influence that has on the use of the language:
From time to time I have come across claims (though I can't seem to find good references on the internet) that illiteracy in the Arab world is closely tied to Arabic being a diglossic language, i.e. that there is a marked difference between the written and various spoken forms. […] I've been discussing this subject – diglossia, literacy – with various friends recently, to get their opinions, but we didn't reach any clear conclusions. One person claimed that the use of Standard Arabic was increasing, because of satellite channels – it's the only way a programme can get an audience across the Arab world. Another told me exactly the opposite – that because of satellite TV, people are more familiar with the different dialects of Arabic and are more confident of understanding and of being understood, therefore no longer feel the need to speak a standardised form.
We'll leave you to think about that – more from Bahrain next week!

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Barbados: Political Entertainment  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Boyce Voice thinks that “the massive 20,000 people who came out to see the Democratic Labour Party’s Political Launch and Cultural Extravaganza” is “an excellent example that there can be a mix between entertainment and politics”, while the mere concept of it makes Cheese-on-bread! go hmmm…


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Botswana: Local voices offline · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Koluki on “local voices offline”: “Now We’re Talking” is part of a show on Gabz FM by top Botswana radio DJ and comedian extraordinaire Michael “Dignash” Morapedi (read about him here and here). It consists of a delightful series of pranks he plays on unaware, innocent people he manages to get on the phone…

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Budding citizen journalists learn about their neighborhoods · Global Voices
Rezwan

Originally posted on Rising Voices.
A couple weeks ago we introduced you to the participants of the Neighborhood Diaries project which trains underprivileged youth living in Kolkata’s slums to be citizen journalists.
We continue this week with highlights from their Day 4 proceedings at Bow Bazar High School. They shared stories about the landmarks they chose in a previous session.
The participants were divided into 3 groups according to the place that they had chosen as their favorite landmark – a local Punjabi hotel, the Boubazar Kali Mandir and the Shiv Mandir.
Some detailed and lively excerpts on the Landmark Boubazar Kali Mandir:
Rahul has some questions in his mind:
The sound of many bells, conch-shells so that my chest trembles from the impact. The priest is continually fanning the deities. The aarti is happening with lamps, the sound of mantras, all of it makes my heart beat faster. The light perfume of the incense brings on a light, wafting mood. The gentle wind blowing in the light perfume of flowers makes one drowsy. The darkened spirit wants to run away to seclusion, but still I continue to stand, maybe because the puja is going on. It makes me wonder to see people saying things to the earthen deities – what are they saying? To whom? And why are they saying these things? I have random thoughts about all this, still I continue to stand.
Jyotsna Das depicts the foods associated with the Puja:
After the puja, some people eat the prasad and go away, while some others stay behind. Everybody says that the deities are very alive here. Whatever you ask from the mother, you receive for sure.  The annual festival of the temple happens with a lot of fanfare. The deity is newly dressed up in sari and jewels. Everybody is fed khichuri. When you come out of the mandir, there is a grocery shop. Beside this, there is a shop selling lassi. The atmosphere is very good here.
Talking about the old Shiv Mandir, Apurbo describes the surroundings:
A crossing with 4 streets going in 4 directions. All of 24 hours you can hear office goers talking, the sound of bells from the temple, the sound of cars, the smell of fish, vegetables and spices. In front there is the big Kolkata Medical College and Hospital. Big banyan trees lining it. Opposite these is the old Shiv temple. Big buses ply on the road facing it. During childhood, when I used to board a bus with ma and come here, then everytime I could recognize that I had arrived at my neighbourhood on spotting this Shiv temple and Medical college. These identified my locality to me.
Then they discussed about journalism and blogging. They were given assignment of going to home of a fellow participant (randomly selected) to find out more information about them. They were told to take photographs and write an article on the person’s home and home life.
On the fifth day they produced their content. The perspective was that of part insider, part outsider, a balance between the knowledge of a local and the perspective of a journalist.
Some excerpts:
Surojit, about Robi’s home:
I saw the meter box immediately on entering Robi’s home. The bathroom, a staircase just beside that. I could smell food cooking. I could hear the sounds of people, children yelling. I touched the flowers on the tree there. Robi’s mother’s name is Shefali Mondol. She does household work. They are living in this house for 18 years. They are surrounded by relatives like uncles and aunties, cousin, grandfather.
How do those who live at home spend their day? Elder uncle and father do electric work, and elder aunt is an ayah at Medical College Hospital. Apart from this, more or less everyone does household work, also going out for work sometimes.
How many people at home? In their room itself, three people live, whereas in the house there are forty people in all.
What is the house made of? The house is made of cement and sand.
Click here for more interesting stories.
The assignment on day five was to get to know about the people of each participant’s para (neighborhood). For their take-home assignment, they were asked to go out in pairs and interview one neighborhood personality.
On the sixth day they shared the home assignment from the previous session:
The day’s assignment included brainstorming about Livelihoods/Industries in their para (neighborhood). They were asked to research one person about their profession. Please keep following the Neighborhood Diaries Blog for more interesting updates.


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Cape Verde: The future of politics · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Djoyamado [pt] tries to guess the future of politics on Cape Verde, among them: “Our primary and secondary schools’ children and teenagers will not know or will have great difficulty in getting the Prime Minister's name”. See in the previous post his less pessimistic predictions for the music in the country.


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China: Car Accident at Xiamen University · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

QienKuen reads the news about a military car knocking down a student in Xiamen university campus from the school BBS (zh).

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Lawyers denied visit to detained blogger Hu Jia · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Here's a Facebook app waiting to happen: can you name all 51 bloggers currently doing time in Chinese prisons? Any guesses what #52's last blog post will have been about?
For house-arrested Hu Jia in Beijing, it was his firsthand news last week that Guangzhou-based Zhang Qing, wife of imprisoned lawyer Guo Feixiong, had on Dec. 26 discovered that the roughly USD 1,000 left in her bank account had disappeared. No time like the present, Hu Jia was arrested the next day in the middle of a Skype chat while his wife Zeng Jinyan was in the bathroom giving their month-old baby a bath. Ten or more police had forced their way in, disconnected all communications in the house, and left, placing 24 year-old Zeng and baby under house arrest, where they most likely still remain today.
Despite Zeng having been chosen last year as one of the world's most influential people, the couple doesn't get blogged about much in China.
Which is not to say never; blogger-historian and book critic Ran Yunfei chose Hu as one of China's ten people of 2007 in his Jan. 2 post:
如果要使我们国家有良好的变革势头，一定得有更多的中国人不懈努力。不是哪几个精英人物，振臂一呼，应者云集，就可以解决纷繁复杂的社会问题的。就像厦门问题，如果单是连岳和赵玉芬等知识分子的努力，没有厦门人民的抗议与散步，整体的议价与博弈能力都不够。但厦门人民抗议与散步，都是理智而有序的，非常值得中国所有地方的民众学习，同时厦门官方的做法，也值得许多地方政府乃至中央政府从中总结经验与教训。
官方评价他们所认可的人物，与我当然不一样。我认可的这些人物，是认可他们不懈的精神与理性的努力，是因为共同的民主自由的诉求。我选这十大人物中，据我所知，有三位如郭飞熊、陈光诚、胡佳身陷囹圄，在这新年之际，我祝福他们早日获得自由，也祝他们维权与反抗所播下的种子，在中国大地上更多的开花发芽。
我所选者，排名当然不分先后，而且单只有这十名也还不能罄尽我心目中的中国人物，但没办法，名额总得有所限制。给他们所作的评价，皆是一时急就，也未必允当，但表达我的敬意而已。希望2008年的中国人民，灾难更少，幸福更多。
Officially recognized people of the year are of course different from mine. The people I've recognized are recognized for their tireless and rational efforts efforts, recognized for our common call for democracy and freedom. Of the ten people I've chosen, as far as I know, three (Guo Feixiong, Chen Guangcheng and Hu Jia) are now in prison, and as it is the coming of the a new year, I hope that all the seeds of civil rights and resistance that they have scattered take root and blossom.
The people I've chosen are listed in no particular order, and even these ten people alone cannot make up for all the Chinese people I want to name, but what can I do, quotas have their limits. My assessment of them is temporary and impromptu at best, so not necessarily sufficient, but at the very least shows my respect. My hope for the Chinese people in 2008: less catastrophe, and more happiness.
In lieu of Ran's brief descriptions of each, links have been provided for background where available, and his choices are: Gao Yaojie, Zhou Yunpeng, Lian Yue, Wang Zhaojun, Gao Zhisheng, Guo Feixiong, Hu Jia, Chen Guangcheng, Pu Zhiqiang and Mao Yushi.
Several of them, not just those in jail, don't often get blogged about, which is not to suggest bloggers don't try. Ran even left a comment on his post showing the automated message his blog host Tianya sent him as he submitted it, warning him that it contained sensitive keywords and an administrator would be inspecting it shortly.
Following Hu's apprehension, a number of people have spoken out. Blogspot blogger Huang Yiyu writes of recent experiences in blogging about Hu in a January 2 post:
说说关于blog的事情。blogspot没人看当然很能理解（被金盾和谐了的网站么），但是新浪的访问量很奇特。
留言当然不指望了，说说阅读量。有段时间，文章的阅读量保持在10，不上不下。似乎在删掉了所有不和谐的东西后就只有1个或者没人了。光是记录我这平淡的生活，人傻丑，钱又少，没什么吸引力的，没人看也很正常。
奇特的事情在于：去年31号的文章却有17个人看过，创历史纪录的数字。这篇文章似乎没有任何实质性内容，既不能达到：很好很强大；也不能达到：很黄很暴力。按说应该没有人看的，却能出现17个阅读的，着实奇特。
由于没有留言的，当然也就无法知道是谁来看的，只好掐指算来：个人估计这17个人应该是网警之类的，由于写到了胡佳、被捕、中国，这类的关键词，故而被盯上了。我发表了帖子，几分钟之后，就像辛普森家庭一样，金盾“乌拉乌拉”地开始报警，都开始兴奋了，紧急出动啊。来了17个人之后，实在觉得既不好不强大，也不黄不暴力，就把警报给关了。所以呢，就有了这创纪录的阅读量。
Of course I have no hopes of getting comments, so I'll just mention readership rates. There was a while during which the number of views on each post was consistently 10, never more, never less. Then after I deleted all the un-harmonious posts, it seemed like there was only one, or sometimes none. When I only just made notes about my ordinary life, about how stupid or ugly I am, or how little money I have, it didn't have much appeal, and that nobody read those posts was quite common.
The strange thing is this: 17 people read my post on Dec. 31, a historically high number. There wasn't anything substantial in this post at all, so you can't say it was either well-written, nor pornographic and violent. Normally, nobody would have read it, yet it got seventeen views, very strange indeed.
As there are no comments, I of course have no idea who it was that came and read it, all I have to go by are the numbers. Personally, I think these 17 people were most likely internet police of some sort, and because I put keywords like ‘Hu Jia’, ‘arrested’, ‘China’, together, and because of that was being watched. Several minutes after I submitted the post, it must have been like being at home with the Simpsons: the Golden Shield alarm starts wailing, alerting the police, and everyone gets excited and rushes to the scene. Then the 17 people showed up, only to see it wasn't anything important, not pornographic or violent, and so the alarm got turned off. Anyway, I have a record high readership on that post.
Is a post of three lines something worth being so paranoid about? Maybe if you're blogger Guo Weidong, who in large font on his personal blog WRITES:
呼吁北京政府！
立即释放胡佳！
中国公民，扣著脚铐，迎奥运！
And on his blogspot blog:
胡佳是谁？他都做了些什么？
他是如何“煽动颠覆国家政权”的？
北京政府害怕什么？
Well-known sports journalist and Bullog International blogger Wang Xiaoshan has merely posted a picture of Hu in an post in his name, with a link to neighbor blogger and Beijing publisher Mo Zhixu‘s post, “An open China needs him”:
和胡佳没见过几面，印象较深的是，前年年他刚结束几十天的拘禁之后。当时的他，虽然历经数十天艰难的生活，却依旧显得镇定从容，神态也很健康。因为我一直在为维权绝食的朋友们的安全担忧，见到他终于放了出来，而没有受到进一步的追究，心里颇为高兴，为此还专门写过文章，认为这不能不说是一个进步。
此后就主要是电话和MSN上的联系交谈了，因为在此之后，他断断续续总是被软禁在家。即便这样，在山东临沂，或是在高律师的门口，当我和一些朋友想传达什么消息，或是打听什么信息的时候，总是第一个想起他。我的朋友彭定鼎曾去他家探望，却不得其门而入，久而久之，北京通州自由城中胡佳的家在很大程度上成为了一个新闻发布中心，我们这些自由的人，却要通过一个被软禁的人了解信息，听来匪夷所思，但也正是胡佳的价值。
From then on we mostly kept in touch over the phone or on MSN Messenger, the reason being that he was always on and off under house arrest. Even so, whether it was in Linyi in Shandong or at the door to lawyer Gao‘s home, whenever friends and I heard any news or wanted to get some out, the first person we'd think of was Hu. My friend Peng Dingding once went to his house to visit, but he couldn't even get to the door, and so it went on, with Hu's home in BoBo Freedom City in Beijing's Tongzhou district to a very large degree becoming a news distribution center. We're the free ones, and yet we have to get our information from someone under house arrest. It sounds twisted, but that's just how valuable Hu Jia is.
[…]
在一个威权社会里而有政治异议，本来就是有风险的，而执政者可以做他想做的任何事情，这也是明摆着的事情。因此，对于一般的异议人士来说，总是试图克制自己的言行，而做有坚持的持续突破——哪怕是一点点微小的突破，在我看来，胡佳的所做所为，其实并没有超越这一范围，那些经他转托而发出的讯息，不经过他，也一样封锁不住，别忘了，这是一个手机和网络的时代；而他对国保的斥骂，也不过是被非法软禁下的激愤，与非法软禁相比，究竟哪一个更恶劣呢？胡佳这一年来的所作所有，在我看来毫无任何的颠覆性可言，而只是对一些他所认为的价值的坚守。
正因如此，胡佳的行为得到了相当的好评，就在被抓前不久，他还刚获得了由记者无国界组织颁发的国际人权奖“中国奖”。普遍的推测是，胡佳的被抓是为了在奥运前消除一些不和谐的杂音，可我就不理解，一个和平和开放的盛会举行所能传达给世界的讯息，将是何等的强烈，岂是一个小小的胡佳所等抹杀和掩盖的？中国既然选择了开放，也就势必会拥抱自由，在开放与自由中就总是会出现不同的声音，别说这种声音其实是会促进一个更加开放自由的社会的发育的，就算这种声音毫无价值乃至刺耳，但它的存在本身，不就是对开放和自由最有效的辩护吗？它的存在本身，不就是“开放的中国迎奥运”的最好宣传吗？
And it's just for that reason that Hu Jia's actions are fairly well-received. Not long before he was arrested, he even received the “China prize” human rights award from Reporters Without Borders. The common speculation now is that Hu Jia was arrested in order to take out some non-harmonious noise prior to the Olympics. This, though, I don't get, how a celebration held to send a message to the world—and it stands to be a very intense message—has anything to do with tiny, little Hua Jia being locked away and covered up. Seeing as how China has opted to open up, coming to embrace freedom is inevitable, and within openness and freedom there will always be different voices. Never mind that these kinds of voices will give birth to an even more open and free society, but just say that these voices were void of value and even annoying; isn't their existence alone simply the most effective defense of openness and freedom? Isn't their existence alone simply the best propaganda for “an open China welcomes the Olympics”?
New media activist Ai Xiaoming, who runs her own gender education BBS, has written an letter of her thoughts for the new year which has been reposted by MSN Live Spaces blogger Claire YW and is entitled, “public enemy of the state, or friend of the people?”:
2008 年新年，由于胡佳被捕而蒙上阴影。朋友之间，新年快乐这个普通的问候语难以说出口。快乐什么呢？金燕和她刚满一月的小婴儿，一点消息也没有；失去了胡佳，她们怎么过？而胡佳被带走时，是否又蒙上了逮捕毒贩子的那种黑头罩，是否又给塞在车座之下呕吐几近窒息？他有没有带上治疗肝硬化的药物？更让人担心的是，他会不会遭受酷刑毒打？会不会遭遇彻夜车轮审讯，会不会带上几个月的铐子以至于在腿上留下淤青？更有甚者，会不会被电棍攻击身体，像郭飞雄君那样痛不欲生？
而所有这一切，我能想象的，金燕又怎么想？她还那么年轻，比我的孩子还小一岁。我甚至在梦中欲望着接近她的家，我看见了嗷嗷待哺的小女婴和阴森黯淡的楼梯。
幸而今天看到李劲松律师明天将去会见胡佳的消息，让我的忧虑略有缓解。比起持久见不到律师的嫌疑犯来说，胡佳的命运要算好的。
I can imagine all of these happening, but what could Jinyan be thinking? She's still so young, a year younger than my own child. Even in my dreams I see myself approaching her home, and I see her starving little daughter and the dim, eerie stairwell leading up.
Thankfully, today I saw news that the lawyer Li Jinsong will go meet with Hu Jia tomorrow, some relief for my anxiety. Compared to suspects who've long waited in vain to see a lawyer, Hu Jia's fate will be much better.
Writing of the one time Ai met Hu, at dinner following an AIDS seminar:
在那次会后，很多朋友一起吃饭，我坐在胡佳旁边。得知他也爱好摄影，我们还讨论了那种用哪种软件剪辑的问题。很久之后，我知道胡佳和金燕拍摄了一部纪录片：《自由城的囚徒》，可惜我只在别人电脑上看过一部分，没有看完。作为一个纪录片工作者，尽管只看了一部分，依然可以得出基本的判断，这是一个伟大的纪录，它纪录的是个人生活，但呈现了时代的转折。这个转折是：个人挑战国家权力。
这部影片中基本上只有两个人，是胡佳和他的妻子；其他的人，只是一些身影，我还没有看到他们的面容；估计他们也不会接受胡佳的采访。不过，胡佳和金燕的行动被他们限制。他们跟踪、监视，执行着国家机器的使命。而影片表达着，在这样的限制下，两个年轻人有时很泰然，有时也很烦。还有的时候，金燕举起标语牌表达抗议。
[…]
我现在回到文章标题上，胡佳和监控他的警察冲突持续了一年多，警察代表国家监控他，他就是不服从。胡佳就这样成了国家公敌，确切地说，是这个权力机器的公敌。在过去一年多时间，”胡佳人民广播电台”每天深更半夜在网上发些消息；这些消息，加上他直言不讳的评论意见，我相信是这些构成了他的”颠覆国家政权” 罪。
可是，如果容我说句实话，我愿意说，由于胡佳的存在，这个国家，恰恰就颠覆不了了!胡佳的努力，开启了公民新闻的积极实践，给世界一个希望的窗口：有胡佳存在，谁能说中国是一个专制国家 ,没有言论自由？宪法尊重和保障人权的承诺，从胡佳的存在就得到了突破性的体现。我不知道对胡佳来说，他是否还有言论禁忌这个概念；不管怎么说，中国媒体、网络、学界的言论自由，因为有了胡佳这样敢往火坑里跳的人，已经大大地拓展了。有了胡佳这样每天摸老虎屁股的人，学院里的自由知识分子梦里都要笑醒，还有什么话算得上更敏感的呢？
一句话，胡佳批评的现象都能改进，这个国家不仅不会被推翻，反而更要繁荣昌盛，蒸蒸日上了。
Yet, if you'll allow me to add a few words, I'm willing to say that Hu Jia's existence alone is the precise reason why this country cannot be subverted! Hu Jia's efforts have opened the door to positive and practical citizen journalism, as well as having given the world a window of hope: as long as Hu Jia exists, who is able to say that China is an authoritarian state? The constitution's promise to respect and uphold human rights had made a breakthrough, starting with Hu Jia's existence. I don't know, in Hu Jia's eyes, if such things as taboos even exist for him. Regardless, however, freedoms of speech for Chinese media, the internet and academia, because of the existence of Hu Jia, the kind of person who dared jump into the pit of fire, have already been greatly expanded. With people like Hu Jia, poking the butt of the tiger on a daily basis, the liberal intellectuals in their academies have woken up laughing from their dreams, and is there anything to be said more sensitive than that?
One line: the things which Hu Jia criticizes could all be improved. This country won't be overthrown, it just needs to thrive, keep on the up-and-up.
[…]
现在胡佳进去了，还有谁会给冻落街头的人送寒衣呢？那些哀哭无告的被冤屈者、受害者、遭受暴力袭击的人、那些常人不敢接触的政治犯、信仰犯的家人，还有谁，他们可以直接打电话倾诉哀恸？暗夜里本来有几颗蜡烛，如今，敢于闪亮的蜡烛就要给掐灭了。
从拘留、律师介入到判决，还有一段程序要走。诸位律师代理人，发不出高律师的消息、拦不住郭飞雄受酷刑、捞不出陈光诚，在胡佳颠覆国家案上，他们的作为能有多少？我本人不报乐观态度，但我知道有几个事实无法改变：
无论胡佳被判多少年，他的信念不会改变。而且，由于他卓越的、受过良好人权教育的妻子，他们所经历的一切，依然会传遍全世界。
无论辩护是否会减轻施加于胡佳的刑罚，律师努力的价值不会改变，他们的作为，将为公民的人权保护，积累重要文本和经验。
无论还将有多少人权工作者被消除声音，苦难和危机不会因此消失，却反而会更其加剧。
对于监控胡佳的专班警察来说，他们艰巨的执勤终于结束，可以换班了。然而，一年、两年、三年，或者十年、二十年，面对历史的大趋势，还会有多少公民会起而维护自己的权利，并锻炼成为人权工作者？君不见，”维权”这个词，刚开始是被权威部门作为负面词语使用的，不到两年期间，维权已经堂而皇之成为许多媒体采用的关键词，堂堂正正进入公民话语领域。人民可以改变词语，人民也在创造历史。
还有，中国政府既然在国际社会签署了联合国人权体系中最重要的公约之一：《公民权利和政治权利公约》，它有责任、有义务创造条件，在国内批准执行这一公约，它还要接受比胡佳的约束力更大的国际社会的监督。
From an arrest, to a lawyer's involvement, to a sentencing, there's still a short procedure to be followed. Legal representatives haven't been able to get out news on lawyer Gao [Zhisheng], they haven't been able keep Guo Feixiong from being tortured, or Chen Guangcheng from being sent off to labor camp, so in Hu Jia's state subversion case, how much will they be able to do? I personally am not staying optimistic, though I do know that there are a few facts that cannot change:
Regardless of how many years Hu Jia gets sentenced, his convictions will never change. Further, with his excellent wife, educated in human rights as she is, everything they go through will make its way known around the world.
Regardless of whether his defence will be able to reduce the punishment handed down to Hu Jia, the value in lawyers’ efforts will not change. Their role, defending citizens’ human rights, will gain precedent and experience.
Regardless of how many human rights workers still stand to have their voices silenced, it won't make suffering and crises disappear, instead only intensifying them.
As for the stakeout police keeping Hu Jia under surveillance, their tough duty has finally come to an end, and they can swap shifts. However, a year, two years, three or maybe ten or twenty years from now, after the tides of history have receded, how many citizens will stand up to defend their rights, and exercise those to the point where they become human rights workers? You may not have noticed at the time, but when the saying “rights defender” first came out, it was used by authorities in a negative sense; less than two years later, and rights defenders is a keyword used openly by media everywhere and has respectfully entered the realm of everyday language. People can transform words, just as much as they can create history.
Also, as the Chinese government, among international society, has signed one of the most important covenants from a United Nations human rights body, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it has the responsibility and obligation to create those conditions, and to to allow for this covenant to be carried out here in China, or else deal with international observers far more restricting than what was placed on Hu Jia.
FreeMoreNews, which provides original blogging on sensitive domestic stories, has a post today that puts the number of police stationed outside Hu and Zeng's home as of January 2 at twenty to thirty, and mentions a visit from Hu's mother the same day. She was searched and had belongings confiscated upon going it, FMN writes, saw six police officers posted inside the home, and was herself visited later that evening and told not to accept any interviews or otherwise leak any information. Little else is known at this point. Rights lawyers Li Jinsong and Li Fangping had applied to see Hu, and were denied [zh]. The post does, however, list Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan's home address:
北京通州区东果园BOBO自由城76号楼5单元542号

author: John Kennedy


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China: Standardized Steamed Buns · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A hot topic is China these days is the news about national standard of steamed buns. Joel Martinsen from DANWEI has translated some of the discussions.


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Former Soviet Union: Diasporas · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Windows on Eurasia writes about the impact of post-Soviet diasporas.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Georgia: Calm Before The Storm? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

On the eve of tomorrow's presidential election, TOL Georgia reports that the situation is calm in the country. However, after raising many concerns about the pre-election campaign in this and another entry, the blogger asks rhetorically, is the election free and fair?


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Global Voices: A review of 2007, and big plans for 2008 · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

No one could have predicted that a post on Chinese ant farmers would become the most read story on Global Voices in 2007.
The top stories on this website were primarily those where local bloggers became important sources for the international media (and democracy activists), like protests in Myanmar, Pakistan, and the current unrest in Kenya. Or they attracted droves of readers because almost no one else reports on “faraway” regions and stories like the tropical storms in Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Honduras, and Oman.
In the past days, Global Voices authors and editors have highlighted some of the top stories in blogospheres of their different regions. See what bloggers in the Americas, the Caribbean, the Caucasus, Hong Kong, Korea,  and the Philippines felt were the most important issues in 2007 – and share in hopes for the future with Syrian, Morrocan, Arabic and  Portuguese-language bloggers.
Quantity isn't always a measure of quality, but here's a quick look at some more of the most read posts on Global Voices in 2007.
(Bankrupt ant farmers protesting in Shenyang, photo from “The Free China”)
Several top posts were originally published on our Advocacy website about online censorship and freedom of expression. The enormous popularity of posts like those on Chinese ant farmers or environmental protests in Xiamen were surely linked to the fact that local internet media and blogs were censored.
It doesn't have to ‘bleed’ to lead on Global Voices, but it seems to help. Traffic on posts about the execution of Saddam Hussein, an honor killing in Southern Kurdistan, and a neo-Nazi execution video in Russia were all high.
Sex and scandal also never fails to attract online readers (do we need a sex editor?). Among the most salacious stories in 2007, were a US hip hop artist's gyrations in Trinidad, a polygamous holy man in Indonesia, sexual expression in Hong Kong, and most recently, the infidelities of a Chinese television host.
Global Voices’ daily readership has doubled since the beginning of 2007, and quite atypically for an English-language website, China is the country we receive the most readers from after the United States.
In 2008, we expect to attract even more readers from non-English speaking countries with the help of our incredible Lingua translators who now translate Global Voices post into a dozen languages, including Arabic, Bangla, and Malagasy. They have grown to become one of the biggest volunteer translating communities on the web.
International mainstream media are asking questions about world bloggers like never before. Global Voices authors and editors are currently being interviewed and quoted on citizen media and politics almost weekly in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Our new Special Coverage pages with live feeds from hand-picked blogs have been linked to by a wide array of online media.
Finally, Global Voices regional and language editors will be reaching out to more bloggers in countries we do not currently cover, inviting them to join our network of more than 100 volunteer authors (send them an email if you think it should be you!). From October to January the number of posts by our authors write rose by 20%.
Our Rising Voices initiative has just awarded micro-grants to five new blogging projects in Jamaica, Kenya, Iran, Madagascar, and Uruguay, following the success of the first round of grantees in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, India, and Sierra Leone.
With support from Reuters, Global Voices has named an environmental editor, Juliana Rotich, and a new video editor, Juliana Rincón Parra (being named Juliana was not a requirement for the job). These two editors will be expanding our coverage on both subjects worldwide.
Global Voices will also be partnering with Reuters on a project to report on what the global blogosphere is saying about the US presidential election.
These are just some of the exciting initiatives coming out of the Global Voices community in 2008. Happy new year to all our readers, bloggers, translators, innovators, and supporters.

author: Solana Larsen


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Gyuana: Bonding at Bourda · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

After Signifyin’ Guyana blogs about a short story entitled Bourda, which “gives an engaging account of a group of men going to a cricket match at Bourda”, a female cricket fan writes in to share what the experience of attending matches at Guyana's famous cricket ground was like for women.


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Iraq: Highlights of 2007  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Attawie, who lives in Dubai, shares with us the highlights of 2007.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Israel: Gilad Shalit for prisoners with blood on their hands · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

Gilad Shalit is an Israeli soldier who was captured in a cross border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June 2006, and has been held hostage by the Hamas ever since. There have been numerous diplomatic efforts to negotiate an exchange between Israel and the Hamas: hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Gilad's release. Israel has been stating that no prisoner with blood on their hands shall be released, a condition that Israel will not breach. A ministerial committee has suggested changing the definition to cover only those who personally killed Israelis, and not the terrorists who masterminded the attacks. The change in definition is meant to provide Israel with more flexibility for releasing senior terrorists in exchange for the kidnapped IDF soldier. The committee met this week, spurred up controversies and concluded with no result. Israeli political entities stated that the main instigator for the current conversation on the modification of the criterion results from a recent Hamas presentation of a new solution to the Shalit case – an exchange of 450 prisoners instead of the 1000 previously requested.
Journalist Daniel Bloch writes in his blog:
I am not envious of the person who decides on the prisoner exchange deal for Gilad Shalit. I would not want to take the prime minister's place… Are we placing numerous people in future danger by saving one?
It must be clear to our leaders that we must seek every possibility for diplomacy, even if the other side is considered inappropriate or unsuitable for negotiations. The only question we should worry about is whether the other side can fulfill its commitment.
Abba Eban‘s well known quote states that “the Arabs did not miss out any opportunity to miss out on all the opportunities“. While this saying holds truth, it also relates to us. Ever since 1967 we have missed out on many opportunities. Are we continuing in our disregard today?
Through the smoke screen of denial, I feel that this time Israel is not missing out on a chance to negotiate with the Hamas, not even an indirectly… If the negotiations exist, I praise them. It is true that with cease fire agreements there is high risk, but it is preferable to take the risk of negotiation over that of the battlefield.
Pinhas Inbari describes the different facets emerging from a possible deal between Hamas and Israel, in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs blog:
Israel is willing to release a massive amount of prisoners, including Barghouti, and is beginning to blur the criterion for releasing prisoners with blood on their hands as a gesture to Abu Mazen.
The Hamas is in an unclear situation, proving its rule in Gaza and becoming stronger with each passing day. On the other hand, Hamas understands it needs to provide its supporters with some comfort, especially seeing the suffering of the Palestinian people. For this reason, Hamas is willing to accept Barghouti's release and to deal with him after he is free. Without the severe state of the Palestinian people, Hamas would object to the release of Barghouti.
Bottom line – there seems to be a common point of intersection between the desires of Hamas, Israel and Egypt. Abu Mazen's does not play a significant role as he will not be able to object a deal which will include Barghouti's release. However, it is too early to know if this intersection of desires will be enough for closing a deal.
While various Israeli bloggers have been presenting their wishes for Gilad Shalit's safety and hopes for his return, Eldad, an IDF solder, writes about his distrust towards the government and the way it is dealing with the abduction case in his blog:
The direct result from the Gilad Shalit incident is that as a fighter in the IDF I do not feel secure.
I have no sense of trust for the system that is supposed to protect its soldiers for any price, not ruling out killing your fellow soldier when that is the only way to prevent their abduction. Is there a guarantor? if I find myself taken by the Hamas will any of the high level officers in this country even bat an eyelid?

author: Gilad Lotan


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Jamaica: False Prophets  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It seems prophecies are the order of the day this year! Some foresee an increase in crime here in Jamaica, while others see a much brighter future…”: Stunner's Afflictions is “very skeptical of these so-called self proclaimed prophets”.


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Japan: Outlawing illegally-reproduced content · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Andreas at Chosaq writes about moves in Japan to outlaw illegally-reproduced content.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Rice Cooker Test · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James from Japan Probe blogs a local test on the relation between rice cooker and the taste of rice.


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Jordan: Expensive Food  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Jordan, Khalaf discusses taxes and the increasing prices of food.


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Kazakhstan: Forgotten Famine · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Josh Foust reviews a book and a news report, which both cover Stalin’s collectivization and subsequent famine that killed nearly 2 million Kazakhs—about half the country’s population at the time.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kenya: A blog for peace · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Harry Karanja sets up a blog for peace in Kenya: “This is a blog about restoring peace, harmony and unity in Kenya during these times of unrest.”


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Kuwait: Parking Problems · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Parking problems? Fonzy, who lives in Kuwait, shares his story with a colleague in the bank he works for over a parking spot.


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Kyrgyzstan: Ancient Civilization Alleged Under Lake · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Almaz reports that an ancient Helenic civilization has been found under the Kyrgyz lake of Issyk-Kul. It is alleged that it dates back to 25 centuries ago.


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Lebanon: Under the Weather · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

In Lebanon, blogger Sophia is under the weather.


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Libya: Top Blogs · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Highlander, from Libya, celebrates her country's top blogs in this post.


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Malaysia: Sorry For The Wrong Reason · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lancerlord says Malaysian minister who resigned recently after a sex video scandal is sorry for the wrong reason.

author: Preetam Rai


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Morocco: Celebrating the New Year, Part 2 · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

In my last post, I looked at Moroccan bloggers’ wishes for 2008.   Here is another look at the blogoma's hopes and dreams for the new year.
Everything Morocco wishes a Happy New Year while sharing a bit of insight into how to keep warm in Fez:
Happy New Year! It was a sunny last day of 2007 in Morocco. There is music in the street tonight and all is well in this part of the world.
It's cold in Fez tonight, too, but nowhere near as frigid as those January eves in the northeastern U. S. Still, it's cold enough that it requires a bit of strategy to stay comfortable – especially when half of the roof over your head is an open sky-well. I have a retractable awning that keeps out most of the cold while still allowing the interior of the house to ‘breathe’, so it isn't as bad as winters past. But, heating is very expensive here because the houses are not built to be energy efficient in that respect and the building material of the house cannot be warmed up anyway.
Connie in Morocco also had a chilly start to the new year:
A NEW YEAR, AND WHAT a way to start it. Woke up in the middle of night to discover no electricity. There has been no (cold) running water since yesterday afternoon. (I've learned to store up water for times like this)
Ghasbouba chose to ring in the new year with an illustration rather than words
Braveheart does the Maghreb starts off with a positive message for readers:
I wish a year full of adventure and discovery for all my lovely readers.
Even though I don’t believe that time is linear, I think the calendar new year affords the opportunity to reevaluate. I do believe that regret and guilt can not only make your life unhappy, but actually shorten it. If we live every day with a sense of the possible, I think we can ‘repair’ the yesterdays. Regret nothing, for even if it was a ‘bad’ decision, it brought you to where you are today. We learn something from each turn in the road don’t we, and how can we regret that? If you are not where you want to be today, start toward your goal – there is always enough time because it is the journey where we learn, not the destination. Anything is possible because if you change your mind, you change matter – that is a scientific truth. What you think is what you are.
In another post, the blogger shares lovely photos of kasbah streets following Eid al-Adha:
Maryam of My Marrakesh shares some photos and a positive message:
Wishing you all a 2008 that is lived at risk because you decide to pursue your dreams, rather than just dreaming them….
Finally, xoussef shares his wishes for the new year:
2007 finally comes to its end. An insipid year leaving me a lot of regrets.
Many resolutions i know i won't keep, many hopes to keep alive.
Happy new year to everyone :)

author: Jillian C. York


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Mozambique: Indigence and neglect · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Toix [pt] comments on a picture he has published: “I confess that I had never come across such a degree of indigence and neglect.”


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Mozambique: Let us exist please · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Carlos Serra [pt], whose Diário de um sociólogo blog won the 2007 BOBs in Portuguese language, is not happy with the way the the press portrays the Lusosphere, mentioning blogs from Portugal and Brazil only. “I repeat again a  call that I have already made to Mozambican bloggers: subscribe to BOBs2008, let us exist internationally in the blogosphere”.


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Nagorno Karabakh: Ultimatum · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Blogian reacts harshly to news that the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, has issued an ultimatum to ethnic Armenians living in the breakaway and self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh — submit once again to Azerbaijani authority or leave.


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Oman: New Year’s Resolutions  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Oman's Blue Chi shares his new year's resolutions in this post.


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Pakistan: On Borders · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within on the sudden discoveries of a shared bond across the Indo-Pakistan border.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: The other issues · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bhutto's death isn't the only crisis in Pakistan. All Things Pakistan on the other urgent issues that need attention – power, water, natural gas and flour crises.


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Palestine: New Year’s Surprise · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian Leila Al Haddad had a new year's surprise. Click here to read all about it.


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Palestine: Peace is the Solution · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Rebellious Arab Girl, a Palestinian living in Canada, says the only solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is peace.


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Poland: NASA’s Rival? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about Poland's plans to set up “a Polish rival to NASA.”


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Russia: Internet Use in the Regions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Windows on Eurasia writes on the internet use in Russia's regions.


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Russia: Yukos Shareholders’ Lawsuit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light reports on a $100-billion lawsuit against Russia filed by Yukos shareholders.


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Serbia: War Over Kosovo? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Filomena considers whether unrest in Serbia may be likely over Kosovo.


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Singapore: Bathing Birds · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Do birds take a water bath only when the weather is hot? asks YC at the Bird Ecology Study Group blog in Singapore.


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Sri Lanka: A 1000 days of Kottu · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

One of the most popular Sri Lankan blog aggregator – Kottu.org turns roughly 1000 days old. Some interesting perspectives on blogging and communities at Cerno.


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Sri Lanka: Army and the LTTE · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

DefenceNet on the army overrunning an LTTE bunker line amidst heavy resistance. There is a discussion in the comments space on how credible this information may be.


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Sri Lanka: Peace in Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Found In Ceylon“ on the latest news on peace in Sri Lanka – “Sri Lanka’s government–specifically, its prime minister and cabinet–voted to withdraw from its 2002 cease-fire agreement with the LTTE. ”


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Tajikistan: Festivities Banned · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Vadim reports that the mayor of Dushanbe has put a ban on celebration of New Year holiday and Independence Day on the main square of the capital.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Wish List  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I want the administrators and politicians to stop playing games with the public good…to remember that ‘minister’ is not a synonym for ‘Lord’ but for ‘servant’, and ‘representative’ means that you're not sitting in the House looking into your own interests”: Keith in Trinidad puts forward his wish list for 2008 and beyond…


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Turkmenistan: Caspian Gas Pipeline Deliberations · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula analyzes the prospects of the Caspian Coastal Gas Pipeline, trying to understand whether it's a Russia’s real geopolitical and economic success or a mere propaganda.


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Uganda: Fuel hunt · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kampala.ver reports from Uganda: “Compared to Kenyans who are dying in their hundreds, the price Ugandans are paying for a rigged election in their neighbouring country is rather low: USh 8,000 for a litre of petrol.”


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Ukraine: Another Major Reprivatization? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about a company that's likely to be “the only major reprivatization that will take place this time around” – in Yulia Tymoshenko's second term as PM, that is.


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Ukraine: Lutsk Pictures · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Olechko posts panoramic pictures of snow-covered Lutsk.


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Ukraine: Opinion Poll on New Government · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Readers of a Ukrainian daily make guesses on how long Tymoshenko's government will last this time, Foreign Notes reports.


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Ukraine: Soviet-Era Savings – $200? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about the evolution of Yulia Tymoshenko's campaign promise to refund Soviet-era savings: “So, if my parents had 6,000 rubles on deposit in the mid 80s, which could buy a Zhiguli, all they get is $200, a free haircut, and that's it? And you call that fair? And what about those coal miners and industry workers who had up to 20,000 rubles on deposit?”


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US Virgin Islands: Bird Count · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The 108th Christmas Bird Count is being held in St. John this weekend: News of St. John says it remains to be seen how much of an impact real estate development and global warming have had on bird populations.


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Uzbekistan: Karimov Commits Election Fraud · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust says that the election in Uzbekistan was fraudulent, because incumbet Islam Karimov won a solid 88% of the vote due to multiple voting.


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A documentary on blogs and journalism · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Fabio Malini [pt] recommends a documentary by Alvaro Liuzzi [es] who “has made an effort to interview a number of bloggers – Argentine, Spanish, Chilean etc – for his documentary about blogging and journalism, published in video on the site Vimeo. They are 12 in-depth interviews, made with a Canon Powershot A 550″.


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Afghanistan: Counter-corruption experience · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bipasha Ray says there is an interesting report from Integrity Watch Afghanistan on Afghan experience of corruption finds that while Afghans tend to have higher patience with petty corruption.


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Afghanistan: Timberlords and the Deforestation  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Afghanistanica focuses on a problem that has received very little attention is environmental issues. Pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, health issues, lack of clean water, overgrazing and deforestation are usually put forward as the most pressing of these issues.


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Algeria: Obama and Muslims  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Nouri the Moor, from Algeria, discusses the impact of Barack Obama's candidacy on Muslim-American relations in this post.


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Angola: A very tiny blogosphere · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Manoel Vieira [pt] reflects on the small Angolan blogosphere's size and the lack of Internet access. “In a land where the  comandants’ tethers, every now and then, act in the firm idea of formatting the thoughts of those who should be otherwise free, quick access to the Internet is another constraint”.


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Bangladesh: Cyclone Sidr relief efforts.  · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh mid November, and although most of the media attention has waned, the efforts to aid the victims still continue. Vlogger Shawn from the Uncultured project has shot several videos of  his experience of moving to Dhaka, Bangladesh to do his part in helping end poverty.
Bangladesh is the 7th most populous country in the world, with a population which mostly make under $2 USD a day. On the Uncultured Project, Shawn explores these and other issues in Bangladesh.
In this Uncultured Project video, Cyclone Sidr Disaster – Helping Kids with Save the Children he shows footage of the disaster areas and the shelters where hundreds of kids are gathered, some of them orphaned for the second time. Shawn bought blankets with his own money, and gave them to the orphans being taken care of in these temporary shelters maintained by Save the Children.
Some of the other videos on the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr are the Al Jazeera English report on what the fishermen´s lives are like after the storm: they can´t fish due to lack of boats and nets, and they don´t have any money to repair or buy them because they are unable to make a living. Another one is the following video by ArKoDiP which is a request for people to send aid into Bangladesh as a way to help people get back on their feet.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Barbados: The Issue of Agriculture  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

In Barbados’ upcoming elections, “one of the major differences unfolding between the two parties is its agriculture policy” – but Barbados Underground wonders if people really care about the issue.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Barbados: The True Caribbean · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Every place in the Caribbean is exactly what it is, no more and no less, flaws and all”: Gallimaufry takes issue with the utopian perception of the region, appealing to travelers to “see it as a place in its own right, and not just a tourist destination”.


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Burundi: New campaign website · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Agathon Raswa on a new campaign website: “New Gatumba campaign website + new online petition calling for justice for the victims and survivors of Gatumba”


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China 2007: Online · Global Voices
Bob Chen

You sit in front of the computer, stare at the screen and hastily type in your ideas, the buzzing modern connecting you to a community called the Internet. In 2006, “You” were the Time’s person of the year.
In China, “you” are called a netizen, one of about 0.162 billion people that dramatically affected the Chinese society in 2007 and deserved the title conferred. In 2007, the internet performed as a platform on which people fulfilled what they might not be able to fully enjoy in the reality — the freedom of speech, the public participation and the pursuit of justice. In China, the internet was a copy, an extension of the real world. To know about the former, you might know about the latter.
(Coverage of mainland China only)
South China tiger
—- True Lies
Google entries by “South China tiger event”: 10,100,000
Key word:       Authenticity 真
On 12th, Oct, Zhou Zhenglong, a Shaanxi farmer, shot pictures of a South China tiger that was thought to be extinct and was then called a hero. Two months later, however, he was very likely to be, along with the Shaanxi（陕西）Ministry of Forestry, the biggest liars in 2007. Who turned them down were millions of netizens that got to the bottom of the matter.
There were professional photographers that scanned every pixel of the photos to doubt their authenticity; there was a botanic expert from China Academy of Science who, based on the plant around the tiger, put forward his questions. There was even a netizen that managed to fumble out an age-old picture that was recognized as the original copy by which Zhou made a fake, flat tiger on a plastic board. Also not absent were skeptics that analyzed the financial gain got by the Ministry of Forestry once the existence of the tiger got proved. In the age of credit-lost, the amazing number of netizens took finding out the truth as their responsibility, venting their indignation towards liars while Zhou and the Ministry have hitherto withstood the billows of inquiry. The speechless tiger staring from behind the thicket has marked the 2007 of China.
(See also in GVO and EastSouthWestNorth)
Xiamen PX
— Taking Back Our Town, Assembly!
Google entries by “Xiamen; PX”: 610,000
Key word:     Poison 毒
Who could be the people of 2007? Southern People Weekly gave an answer: Xiamen (厦门) citizens.
When their legal rights got ignored, when their health and life were put under danger, when they confronted the conflict between GDP and environment, Xiamen citizens refused to remain silent and bravely stood out, by a peaceful manner, reaching what they deserved.
Though the PX project could bring a $100 rise on GDP every year, the poisonous material might endanger Xiamen since it would border on the residential area, only 16 km away. Zhao Yufen, a scientist in Xiamen University, was aware of the harm and collaborated with 104 members of CPPCC to put forward a proposal in National Political Consultative Conference, while it was later voted down. Though under news control and information block, the Xiamen citizens still circulated a cell phone message among a million people to summon a struggle for a clean hometown.
On 1st, June, thousands of Xiamen citizens came to the street and “had a walk”. They yelled out the slogan “serve people”, and had no conflict, no violence during the demonstration. The government now as well showed tolerance. Finally, an unprecedented interaction between the authority and the public was conducted, during which the public opinions were consulted via the internet and hearing. The procrastination of the project told the temporary victory of people. Xiamen citizens pioneered the communication between the folk and the official, but no one should forget how this was gained: persistence, courage, and reason.
(See also inGVO)
The “bullest” nail household ever
— I Am Legend
Google entries by “bullest; nail household”: 1,760,000
Key word:    Persistence 挺
(Nail household refer to the residents who refuse to move from their houses and resist developers or government.)
Chongqing(重庆).  An isolated earth platform stood upright in the pit of a building site. On the platform was a lonely  house, unyielding and erected — in the eyes of many Chinese it has become a symbol, a totem. It represented a bullheaded fight against the overbearing power, a clear statement that the private ownership could not, and should not be trampled.
In March, 2007, the new Real Right Law was passed. Soon after this, a picture appeared on hundreds of websites. In it, the two-story house remained the last building of the deep pit. The mass media caught the hot news and soon found the owners were a couple that refused to move because the compensation was thought to be too low in comparison with the regional price. Moreover, the owners’ opinion had never been consulted before the developers came to dismantle their houses. They alleged: no compromise without representation.
The internet paid the incidence a continuous concern, during which a hot debate going. The couple insisted the land was sold to the developer for commercial use, with nothing related to the so-called public interest. Most netizens sided with them. Nail households all over the country came to Chonqing to support the couple. It was like a sitcom which millions of people collectively acted. On 22nd, March, the scheduled demolishment approved by the local court didn’t come. The male owner flaunted the national flag to show his determination on staying with his home.
Finally, the couple got a satisfactory compensation and agreed to move in April. In the uproar of bulldozers, a legend ended. The incidence performed as a torch-bearing case of the new law, also a collective harvest of so many netizens, who sat before computers staring at the event, or went in-person to the site to support the weak.
Wind may come in, Rain may come in, but the King may not.
(See also inDanwei)
Mystery on the “most spiteful stepmother ever”
—The Wrong Man
Google entries by “spiteful; stepmother”: 145,000
Key word:      Grief 冤
When we can’t be real citizens that enjoy the rights we deserve, we refer ourselves to the internet and become netizens. We seek justice and efficiency in this unreal world, while all we did are for a better reality. But the nature of internet can’t guarantee how much we get is true, and whether we are good people, or just a mob that loses discretion.
On 15th, July, Jiangxi TV broadcasted a program that featured a poor girl, who kept vomiting blood, black and blue all over the body. The interviewed doctor concluded the girl must have been tortured. At the end of the program the girl timidly said her stepmother had hit her.
The most spiteful stepmother then ran into the public sight. Furious netizens circulated the video clip and the girl’s picture, condemning the cruelty of that stepmother. When donating for the girl, people also launched “flesh search engine”, an activity that relied on the large number of people to search out information, far more powerful than simply Google or Baidu. Soon the stepmother Ms. Chen was ransacked out. Waves of scolding and threat were poured onto Ms. Chen. She was called the most evil woman in China even though she kneeled down to the journalists crying that she had never beat her daughter.
But after the careful investigation, the police found no clue of abuse and the official report showed the girl got hurt because of a slip, and it was her disease on cruor that made the wounds more terrible. More investigations indicated millions of people might have been hoaxed by the TV station and a few netizens that tried to catch eyeballs.
Up till now the real story was still unknown. But many netizens had apologized to Ms. Chen. When the manipulated goodness evolved into the online violence, people had to reconsider whether the internet without regulation could really bring in a better world. And a more serious problem might be whether Chinese people are able to carry out self-government, and how to.
Lust, Caution
—Forbidden Lust
Google entries by “Lust, caution; cutout”: 3,160,000
Key word:     Cut 删
You can see caution, but cannot see lust on mainland China because over 7 minutes of sexual scenes in this film by Oscar Best Director Ang Lee were cut out. But there are always methods to slip through the cordon. Hundreds of people organized tourist groups to Hong Kong to have a watch of the complete version. Moreover, a video clip of the cutout, stealthily shot in a Hong Kong theatre, was uploaded by several netizens to video-share websites and soon gained thousands of clicks and wide circulation, a fact that disabled the ban of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Later, whether Lust, Caution exculpated the traitors again came to under the debate. This controversial movie turned to be the NO.1 entertainment topic on the strength of the internet.
QQ vs. Coral add-on
—The Departed
Google entries by “coral; arrested”: 71,700
Key word:      Betrayal 叛
Tencent QQ is a Chinese IM software that has the largest number of users in the world (over 0.2 billion). The Coral is its welcomed add-on which was able to block advertisements and show friends’ IP. But the developer of the Coral, a computer teacher Mr. Chen, was arrested in August, 2007 because Tencent sued him of infringing QQ’s copyright and gaining wrongful benefit from his product. According to Tencent, its profit on advertisement was plundered by the Coral, which revised the QQ and replaced the advertisement of Tencent with its own ones.
But on the internet, netizens divided into two groups. One of them agreed with Tencent, while the other has more supporters that thought the Coral expanded the population of QQ clients, and Tencent knew, and even connived Chen to develop his product from the very beginning. In their eyes, suing the Coral was a betrayal of an old partner. Now the case is still under trial.
(See also in the Wall Street Journal)
The generous yet insidious ATM
— What have I done to deserve this?
Google entries by “Xu Ting”: 275,000
Key word:     Unfortunate 郁
Last year, Xu Ting, 24-year-old, would never predict an ATM could change his life. On 21st, April, 2006, when he took out cash from an ATM in Guangzhou, he found every time he took 1000 RMB only 1 RMB would be deducted in his card. Thus along with a friend, he took out money for 17 times of totally 175 thousands RMB ($23000) and then escaped. One year later, he was captured and got life imprisonment in the 1st trial. The imputation was “theft of financial agency”.
The sentence triggered reactions of netizens that complained a miss of ATM ruined a young man who just lapsed due to a temporary greed. They also questioned whether an ATM could be defined as a “financial agency” and whether taking money, “allowed” by the machine, should be called theft. Furthermore, they grumbled even an official that embezzled far more money wouldn’t suffer such a serious penalty. They asked: “why is the law so strict with the people while so tolerant of the bad officials?”
Experts, common people and mass media together engaged to a hot discussion. Every article on law was researched and much legal knowledge was broadcasted. People resorted on law and reason to discuss on the topic, the folk voices sounded in a practical and peaceful way. People expected to see a change on the sentence in the coming 2nd trial.
(See also in the CRIENGLISH)
The System and online empire
— 1984
Google entries by “Zhengtu; Southern”: 473,000
Key word: High-handed 霸
An article by Cao Yunwu (曹筠武) in Southern Weekly (2007-12-20)  revealed the dark side of a Chinese online game Zhengtu (征途) from the point of view of a common gamer. It depicted how the game came to be a copy of the reality that money spoke, power dominated and why the game makers could gain amazing profit from the greed of people. The article reflected the real society, pointing out a high-handed “system” controlled everything.
Of course, it would not be a favor of the boss of Zhengtu, Shi Yuzhu, who not long ago had sponsored an activity exactly on the Southern Weekly. Therefore people soon found the article disappear on the online version of the magazine. People realized it was the wealthy company that persuaded the magazine and used money and power to erase the negative news related to it. It was thought to be so ridiculous that the “system” depicted in the article was so soon confronted in the reality, a fact that depressed many netizens and caused them to desperately condemn the game company.
When the mass media were not only obsequious to the authority, but were also prostrated to money, the independence and objectivity of journalism seemed to be so remote from us.
(See also in Billsdue)
*More events will be featured in China 2007: Society. And if you have any suggestion of other events that you think can mark the China 2007, please feel free to comment.

author: Bob Chen


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Dominica, USA: The Turnout in Iowa · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living Dominica says the Iowa caucuses remind her of Dominica “where everyone is passionate about politics.”


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D.R. of Congo: Conference on peace, security and development · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Extra Extra writes about a conference on peace in D.R. of Congo: “News from eastern Congo is mixed. A conference on ‘peace, security and development’ is to be held in Goma from January 6th. It’s better to talk than fight, but Congolese commentators are sceptical…”


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Georgia: Presidential Election Poll · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Asking Tough Questions in Tough Places, the blog of a former National Democratic Institute (NDI) Country Director says that the latest poll commissioned by Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili looks credible. However, she says that while a Saakashvili victory looks likely after today's vote, he should be doing better.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Guatemala: 2008 Off to a Rough Start · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Javier Aroche writes that in Guatemala, 2008 has already produced a cold wave, strong winds, electricity blackouts, and now a 5.4 grade earthquake [es].

author: Eduardo Avila


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Honduras: Foreign Minister Resigns After Drunken Altercation · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve shows the video of the former Honduran foreign minister Milton Jimenez, who resigned after participating in a drunken altercation with police.


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Iran:”Blaming USA and Israel for everything” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Jomhour ,Iran based blogger,says[Fa] some fundamentalists in Islamic world consider USA and Israel are responsible for what happens in their societies.The blogger is surprised to learn that some in Egypt consider USA-Israel, are even responsible for the homosexuality in their societies.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Freedom for two women activists · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Barabary has published several photos of Jelveh Javaheri and Maryam Hosseinkhah,two women activists,after their freedom.


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Iran:Interview with a famous writer · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sepideh Saremi has published in Parsarts an interview with Shahrnush Parispour,a famous Iranian writer.


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Iran:Nuclear, Ahmadinejad and New Year · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Nikahang Kosar,blogger and a leading cartoonist, has published a cartoon about new year and Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Santa Claus.


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Jamaica: Big Up! · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Francis Wade analyses the Jamaican custom of “bigging up”.


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Japan: The other side of the chasm · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

From the perspective of global communication, one may say that the world today is divided into two groups: those who are connected to the Internet and those who are not. While the small but growing minority who are connected participate in an increasingly active and complex global net culture, the unconnected majority does not.
The “chasm” between these two worlds was the topic of a post last week by blogger essa at the Uncategorizable Blog. Essa asks: How does the world of Internet users look to someone who is not connected? In a post called “The other side of the chasm” (キャズムの向こう側), the following explanation is proposed:
グールドという人の本だったと思うけど、地球を代表する生命は、いかなる意味でも人類ではなくバクテリアだという話が書いてあった。個体数でも生息範囲でも種の豊富さでも、どういう基準で代表を選んでも、人類はおろか多細胞生物を選ぶことはできないという話だった。
しかし、単細胞生物には多細胞生物を認識することはできない。単細胞生物が多細胞生物を見ても、見えてくるのは、おそらく、ひとつひとつの細胞だけだ。「細胞の中身は多少違うけど、俺たちと同じ細胞には違いない」と思うだろう。単細胞生物には細胞同士の相互作用は見えず、細胞の中身の違いしか、自分たちと我々の違いを認識できないだろう。
犬のしつけの本を読むと必ず「飼い主が犬の上位にあるように犬に認識させなさい」と書いてある。犬には、群れの中での上下関係に基いて行動する本能があって、甘やかされて自分が上位であると思わされてしまうと、リーダーとして行動する本能が働き出す。そうすると、状況に対する群れの行動を全部自分が判断しなくてはいけないと思う。しかしもちろん、人間社会の中で適切な行動を導ける本能は無いので、犬は混乱してしまい、吠えたり噛みついたりすることになるそうだ。
一緒に住む限り、犬には人間と犬の違いがわからず、匂いと上下関係しか認識できないのだろう。
池田清彦さんが、生命の進化は古いシステムが新しいシステムに変化することではなく、古いシステムを残したまま、その上に別のレベルで新しいシステムが構築されることだと言っていた。
だから、全ての人がキャズムを超えるのではなく、キャズムを超えてむこう側で新しい秩序を構成しその一部となる人と、そういうものと無縁のまま生きる人に分かれるのではないだろうか。
キャズムのこちら側の人から見ると、むこう側の人も同じ新陳代謝をする同じ人類に見えるし、同じ社会の一員で同じものを食べて同じ乗り物に乗り同じお金を使い同じ政治システムに支配されている。だから、どこをどう見ても同じ人間である。
でも、キャズムを渡った人には、全く新しい別のレベルの秩序が見えていて、彼らはそこで生きている。
人類全体に対するネットの普及率がある閾値を超えると、全ての人にキャズムを渡ってもらおうと無理しなくても、アーリーアダプターだけで相当な人数になり、そこに充分な複雑さが生まれ生態系が回るようになる。
その世界を認識できる人とできない人は、それぞれ別の世界に住むようになるかもしれない。


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Japan: Top 50 blogs · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Serkan at Tokyotronic translates a list of Japan's 50 top blogs (according to Technorati) into English.


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Jordan: Nature Pays the Price · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Nature is paying the cost for increased fuel prices in Jordan, says blogger Ahmad Al Ghashmary.


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Kazakhstan: Kazakhs Push for Central Asian Alliance, Deny Ambitions · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Adam Kesher tells about the reborn idea of Central Asian Alliance, and names some serious problems it faces.


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Kenya: Coalition government is the solution · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Whispering Inn Kenyan crisis: “Hence, the only plausible solution that would immediately end the violence and set us on a path that will ultimately see the right person lead our country for the next five years: a coalition government of National Unity.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Korea: Education proposals by the next President · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

Since Lee Myung Bak was elected as the next president of the Republic of Korea, an interesting wave seen on the internet is the rapid increase in netizens’ activities against Lee Myung Bak. They make anti-Lee Myung Bak campaigns based on policies he will focus on for the next government. For example, a netizen made an anti-Lee Myung Bak page at one of the most famous portal sites, Daum, on the date when Lee Myung Bak was elected, and 9,330 netizens joined the page and 4,000 netizens visit the page every day.
A newspaper article points out that even though anti-Lee activities are not so serious now, they can be more serious after his inauguration. Kang Joon Hui who made the page said in an interview with a newspaper, “besides morality, his policies, such as contruction of a grand canal, privatization plan for medical insurance, and establishment of 100 independent private high schools, won’t enliven the economy for common people.”
In particular, his education policy has been the main target of criticism. On the second of this month, the Ministry of Education announced that they will give up the current college examination system and support the new government’s approach. The MOE will convey the authority to select potential students to colleges and the authority to establish independent private high schools to district education offices. Regarding detailed education policies that Lee Myung Bak emphasizes, netizens respond actively.
Most netizens like Milln are worried about the gap based on wealth growing with the establishment of independent private high schools.
[…]머.. 얼마전에도 쓴거 같고 다들 알고 있듯이 현재 대한민국의 특목고는 사실상 전문입시기관(…..)의 역할을 충실히 하고 있습니다. 여기에 자사고 100개던가 300개 던가 만든다고 하는데, 글케되면 그 인원만으로도 인서울 상위권 대학 입시정원을 넘어 설 겁니다. 그럼 아무래도 자사고는 예비학벌(?)이 될 가능성이 대단히 높겠지요. […]
Shrimp Eyes is also one of the netizens who expects a spread in education classes based on wealth.
[…] 3불정책에 대한 여론조사 입니다. 기여입학제 30%찬성ㄷㄷㄷ
본고사 제도….. 찬성표가 더 높은것도 정말 무섭고;;;;
고교등급제 또한 찬성여론이 이렇게  많다는게 놀라웠습니다
기여입학제… 우리나라 잘사는 집안이  30%나 된다는것이었나요?;;;
본고사제도는 그야말고  사교육시장의 끝을 바라보게  되는거 아닌지 생각해봅니다.
그리고 고교등급제 폐지는 진짜;;; 아직도 학력으로 차별하는 사회에서 중학교때부터 공부 공부 하는 세상을 만들고 싶어하시는군요 자사고 100개나 만든다는데 솔직히 고교등급제가 무슨 소용이 있을런지 이것또한 의문이네요 애초에 특목고나 자립형 사립고가 이렇게 많고 많이 만든 나라라서 등급을 매기는건 넌센스 아닙니까? 등급제가 부활하는날엔 중학생부터 너의 인생을 결정하라는 말인데 세상 참 기분좋게 살기 힘들꺼 같습니다 본격 차별의 시대…교복으로 귀족과 평민을 가르는 시대가 탄생될꺼라 생각되네요 …
Nix puts up a post arguing that ‘100 independent private high schools will increase the succession of wealth’; his post was hit 44,013 times and, gained 797 recommendations and 608 comments.
과학고는 80%가 서울대•연세대•KAIST 진학. 외고의 서울소재 10위권 대학과 KAIST, 포스텍, 해외유학을 합하면 외고의 진학률은 91%[…]
자사고 100개를 설립하면 한 학교당 300명만 잡아도 3만명의 학생이 나오는데 이는 특목고와 일부 학교를 합하면 서울대 상위권의 전체 입학생수를 웃도는 수치이다. 다시 말하면 특정학교를 가지 않으면 상위권 대학을 입학하는것은 사실상 힘들다는 애기이다. 벌써부터 학원가에는 자사고에 대한 기대감이 있는것이 사실이며 또한 현재의 교육과정으로는 과외나 학원을 다니지 않고 학교수업과 본인의 노력만으로는 한계점이 있다. 그러면 부의 세습화는 가속될것이고 이로인해 양극화 문제도 더 심해질것은 자명한 일이다.
If 100 independent private high schools will be established, at least 30,000 students will be from these schools in terms of calculating 300 students of each school. This means that, combining special purpose high schools and some other schools, it’s already the number of the top university school students. In other words, if you don’t go to specific schools, it will be impossible to go to top universities in reality. Private institutes are already excited about the establishment of independent private schools. It is true that there are limitations to studying alone without help of private tutors or institutes. Therefore, the succession of wealth will accelerate and polarization will be more serious.
Kimpo Guy directly complains about the negative effects of the private schools.
현재 자립형 사립고등학교 학비 (등록금,기숙사비,급식비…)
– 강원도 민족사관고등학교 : 16,218,575원
– 전주 상산고등학교 : 10,138,100원
– 부산 해운대고등학교 : 10,540,810원
위 금액은 현재 존재하고 있는 자립형 사립고등학교 중 대표적인 학교의 학비입니다. 고등학교 학비가 천만원대라는 사실에 놀라셨죠? 위 금액은 고등학교 3년동안의 학비가 아닙니다. 바로, 1년 학비입니다. 잘 아시겠지만, 학비는 가장 기본적이고 그외 많은 비용이 고등학교 시절에 필요합니다?
서민이라면… 가난하다면… 아니 중산층도 아무리 공부를 잘해도 비싼학비 때문에 절대로 다니지 못하는곳이 자립형사립고등학교입니다.이명박은 교육경쟁력을 높이기 위해 자립형 사립고등학교 100개를 개교 한다지만,
교육경쟁력이라는 표현은 절대 틀린 표현입니다.자립형 사립고등학교는 부자들만을 위한 귀족학교 입니다.
가난하면, 자립형사립고등학교를 가지못해 그보다 수준낮은 교육환경을 제공받아 출생계층의 대물림, 가난의 대물림이 되고  마는것입니다.100개나 생긴다면 이제 부자들은 왠만하면 갈 수 있게 되는것이나 마찬가지입니다. 이제 부자들은 서민들과 따로 공부를 할 수 있게됩니다. 자립형사립고등학교를 가기위해 중학생때분터 심각한 사교육 바람이 강남부터 시작할것입니다.
우리의 미래 아들,딸, 손자,손녀들에게 고등학교때부터 가난의 박탈감을 안겨드리겠습니까? 우리 모두 뒷짐지고 있을때가 아닙니다…
If you are poor, you can’t go to independent private high schools and will face a low education environment. It will be the succession of the class that you’re born into and the succession of poverty. If there will be 100 schools, rich people can go there easily and they don’t have to study with common people. In order to go to independent private high schools, there will be serious waves of private education from middle schools in Kangnam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangnam-gun.
Will you give the deprivation of poverty to our future, sons, daughters, grandsons, and grand-daughters? We can’t just fold our hands behind our back….
Newcat is also one of the netizens who is concerned about new the education system. With three thoughts, he points the problem of capitalism out, criticizes the problem of current university education, and doubts the real intentions of the next president’s side toward education policies.
꼭지1: 교육이 문제가 아니다
[…]예컨대, 과도한 사교육비 부담의 문제는 교육의 문제가 아니다. 사교육비가 늘어나는 이유는 단 1 점이라도 더 많은 점수를 따기 위한 것이고 이는 대학 입시에서 유리한 고지를 점령하기 위함이며 좋은 대학을 가려는 이유는 더 좋은 직장을 확보할 가능성을 높이기 위한 것이며 더 좋은 직장이란 결국 똥폼 잡으면서 일하고 돈푼깨나 챙길 수 있는 직장을 말한다. 결국 이 모든 연쇄 고리의 끝에는 출세라는 세속적 열망이 자리 잡고 있고 이 활화산 같이 불타오르는 세속적 열망을 고용없는 성장과 냉혹한 자본주의라는 듀오가 풀무질을 해대고 있다. 게다가 이 비참한 연쇄 고리의 가장 결정적인 변곡점은 대학 입시에 있으며 그 장면에서 어디를 들어가느냐가 그 사람 인생의 많은 부분을 결정짓는 현 세태에서는 무슨 교육 정책을 쓰더라도 현재의 광풍을 없앨 수 없다[…]
꼭지2: 대학이 문제다
대통령직 인수위측 말로 대학 입시를 대학 측에 맡긴댄다. 으히히히. 이 얘기 듣고 웃겨서 죽는 줄 알았다. 인수위 있는 사람들은 어디 해외에서 살고 계시다가 오신 분들인가? 혹시 쟁쟁한 해외 유학파들이라 국내 대학 사정을 모를 수는 있다. 찬찬히 생각을 해보자.
이런 유머가 있다. 어떤 사람이 병원을 찾아왔다. 그리고 의사에게 하소연 하길 “저는 소화가 안됩니다. 밥을 먹으면 밥이 그대로 나오고 사과를 먹으면 사과가 그대로 나옵니다.” 그러자 의사가 하는 말 “똥을 먹어보세요. 똥을 제대로 누게 될 겁니다.”
우리 대학의 실상을 이것 보다 잘 보여주는 유머가 있을까? 1등 하던 학생은 1등 대학에 가고 1등 직장에 들어간다. 100 등하던 학생은 100등에 맞는 대학에 가고 100 등 직장에 들어간다. 모든 라면을 너구리로 변신시키는 해리포터의 마법을 기대하지는 않더라도 대학이 정말로 제대로 하고 있다면 가끔 역전도 일어나고 해야 되는 거 아닌가? 아주 아주 예외적인 경우를 빼고는 그런 경우가 없다. 그 얘기는? 대학은 아무것도 안하고 있다.
대학을 가보라. 강의 시간? 고등학교 수업시간의 연장이다. 대부분의 학생들은 자리를 채울 뿐 수업을 듣지 않는다. 그들의 미래는 대학의 교육에 있는 것이 아니라 토익 성적에 있기 때문이다. 대학 도서관은 그저 고시생/취업준비생들을 위한 무료 독서실이 된 지 오래다….
There is a funny story. A sick person went to see a doctor and said, “I can’t digest. If I eat rice, rice comes out of my body. If I eat an apple, the apple comes out of my body.” So doctor recommended, “Try to eat shit. Then shit will come out of your body.”
It would be the very humor to show the current situation of our colleges. The first ranking student goes to the first tanking college and first ranking company. The 100th ranking student goes to a college and company fitting for his ranking. Even though we don’t expect Harry Porter’s magic that swiched ramen to a raccoon, if colleges are normal, sometimes there should be reversions. Except a very very rare case, there is no case like that. That means? Universities don’t do anything.
Go check colleges. Lectures? It is the extension of high school classes. Most students just get their seats, but don’t listen to classes. Their future is not based on college education, but TOEIC scores. The fuction of college libraries has changed for students who are preparing jobs and government examinations long time ago….
꼭지3: 혹시 정말로 교육으로 경제를 살리자는 건 아니겠지?
인수위에서 흘러나오는 얘기를 듣는 순간 내 머리를 제일 처음 스쳐간 생각은 이것이다. “다 때려치고 학원 채려야 겠다.” 자사고/특목고를 마구 늘이고 대학이 본고사를 전면에 내세운다면 학부모들의 반응은 당연히 “사교육에 더 때려부어야 겠구만” 이고 이는 학원 사업의 대호황으로 이어질 전망이다. 앗 그렇다면…. 혹시….학원 산업을 일으키고 대학을 교육산업화 해서 경제만 살려 놓으면 그만이라는 생각인가?

author: Hyejin Kim


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Mozambique: A letter to Barack Obama · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Carlos Serra [pt], from Mozambique, writes a letter to senator Barack Obama, in which he pleads with him to help Kenya: “Well, your father was born there, therefore Senator, you are one of us, you are African, you are Kenyan. Senator: Get in a plane and go to Nairobi to talk with those agitated companions. They need you. And by doing so you would give an extraordinary example with important repercusions for the future of the world”. There are both an English and a Portuguese versions of the letter.

author: Paula Góes


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Mozambique: A war in the blogosphere? · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Reflectindo sobre Moçambique [pt] wonders if there is a war between blog clans in Mozambique. Here are a few of the questions he poses: “A war in the Mozambican blogosphere? And if that is the case, what is the reason for it and what is their objective? Are blogs a nuisance to certain people or a group? Which or what? In which ways do blogs bother them? In short, who feel threatened by the development of blogs in Mozambique?”.


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Mozambique: Six simple questions on Africa · Global Voices
Paula Góes

An interesting debate is going on in a Moçambique para Todos [pt] post, with readers trying to provide answers to 6 questions posed by Manuel de Araujo [pt] about the situation in Africa, one of which is: “If a stable democracy as Kenya's may “disappear” in a matter of minutes, what can we say about coutries like ours, that have deep wounds caused by more than 26 years of a war?”


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Namibia: Namibia cricket online · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Namibia Cricket Board is online, via NamForum blog: “Another Namibian sports site found while searching through the web is the website of the Namibia Cricket Board, bringing you news from the cricket fields around the country.”


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Qatar: Bhutto’s Death Coverage a Hit · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Abdurahman Warsame, who is based in Qatar, reports that “Aljazeera English's report on the death of Benazir Bhutto's death received more than half a million views in just 2-3 days.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Blogging About Books  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Nicholas Laughlin blogs about the books that have impressed him this year, Sharon Millar reviews one that's on his list, saying: “Having talked so much about the Diaspora in the last six months, it's ironic that a book written out of the Spanish Antilles is the one that would rush past all the cliches and get it right all around.”


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Turkmenistan: Turkmen Women · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula shortly shares his impressions about the Turkmen women, noting their delicate beauty and reminding that in order to receive an official consent to marry a Turkmen girl, a foreigner must pay a fee of 50 thousand dollars.


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Armenia: Christmas · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

While all attention is focused on Georgia after its early presidential election was held yesterday, The Armenian Patchwork reminds its readers that today is also Armenian Christmas and posts some photographs.


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Brazil: Protect your freedom of speech · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Jorge Serrão [pt] has a long Sunday post on freedom of speech. “The Brazilian society must not accept that press and citizens are silenced, censured or corrupted. Some politically odious people, who have not the least respect for democratic principles, once again move in the underworld of archaic and authoritarian institutions with the criminal intention of assassinating the freedom of information and speech in Brazil. Will you, reader, be colluding with such a crime?”