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Flooding Throughout Central America · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A week's worth of rain caused by hurricane Stan has caused massive flooding in Guatemala and throughout Central America. Death toll estimates are already at a conservative 1,400 in Guatemala alone, higher than that of hurricane Katrina just a few weeks ago. Last wednesday, Oscar of Guate 360 wrote:
The intense and constant rains beating down on the country for the past week, which have caused flooding and claimed the lives of at least 19, has brought president Berger to sign into effect a State of Public Calamity in the country which only requires 80 votes in the congress to be ratified.
One commenter recommended that readers fill their gas tanks as a government friend told him that gasoline stations would not be refilled after running out and that prices could soon skyrocket. Another commenter confirmed long lines at gas stations while a third stressed unity amongst Guatemalans:
It's extremely tought the situation we're experiencing together as Guatemalans … It is the hour to show our solidarity that we have as Guatemalans and that we can get through this. CONRED is doing an excellent job, but not enough. Think about it and help out.
Rob Mercatante, who splits his time between Guatemala and New York, has been collecting articles dealing with Stan's disastrous impact on the region. There is no doubt that Wednesday's mudslide in the Mayan village of Panabaj was the single deadliest consequence of the torrential rains. Hundreds of homes were swallowed in the mudslide and the town's mayor fears that 500 to 1,000 could be dead.
Today on Guate360 Alfa wrote an optimistic and uplifting post, entitled “We Must Help Each Other Out,” with a list of resources for Guatemalans – and others – to assist in the relief efforts.
Guatemala finds itself in crisis, but we will not let it throw out our dreams and annul our strength. We're a nation that has suffered and now we are beginning to rise up little by little. We won't permit that tragedies like the one currently being endured by many Guatemalans drown our hope of development. Our brothers, we need you: This is the hour to help and demonstrate and Guatemala has a big heart!
The post is followed by many comments offering solidarity, encouragement, and other ways to help out. One Guatemalan, Ale, currently residing outside of the country, left a comment encouraging other expatriates to donate through their local embassy. Alfa then responded that those outside of Guatemala can donate to the American Red Cross, specifying that their money be allocated to Guatemala or send remittances and/or money orders to the Guatemalan Red Cross.
Pueblo a Pueblo is collecting online donations via Paypal for relief efforts at Panabaj and surrounding areas of Santiago.
Mauricio Romero offers another way of helping out those affected:
I haven't seen if anyone else has started a prayer chain on the web for the victims [of hurricane Stan]. If there already is one, count me in, and if not, I propose that everyone helps out spiritually.
Jorge Cabrera writes that the Guatemalan Red Cross especially is in need of the following items: filtered water, sugar, basin grains, canned goods, coffee, soup, clothing, shoes, ponchos, candles, and basic medication – especially cold medicine. Julieta comments from Madrid that the Guatemalan embassy will open an emergency account on Monday for those who would like to donate money and/or goods from Spain.
¡Pura Vida! has a photo of volunteers searching for bodies in a Guatemalan river after a mudslide.
Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing has also been covering hurricane Stan's impact on Central America, though perhaps what is most surprising is how little coverage, overall, the tragedy has gotten both in the English-language blogosphere, but also from bloggers throughout Central America. Especially when compared to the media blitz that followed both Katrina and Rita. DesdeGuate's only mention of the flooding came in a post entitled “Earthquake in Pakistan!” and much of the Central American blogosphere continues to write casually about Shakira, Google Reader, tourism, and soccer.
Likewise, ALT1040 from Mexico City, posted briefly about Pakistan's earthquake, but gave no mention to Stan's impact on Mexico and Central America.
Mark Trew, a missionary living in El Salvador, recently wrote about the strong rains which caused several mud slides near his house and was especially damaging for those living near the Santa Ana volcano which erupted just a few days earlier. As if that were not enough, Mark then wrote on Friday:
The biggest earthquake that I have ever experienced was today. Not that big but it went on for over 10 seconds. I guessed that it was a 5 and Susana was told the same by someone else.
Tim's El Salvador Blog has done an excellent job tracking the devastation in El Salvador and offers a thorough list of organizations doing relief work in the area.
Warthog Pinacate says the rains are continuing in Costa Rica:
Rain, rain and more rain. All the the Central American countries are being hit pretty hard. For the most part its just an inconvience here in Costa Rica although several small villages have had serious damage.
Update:
Eduardo Arcos has since written a post about the flooding caused by hurricane Stan in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas with a list of all affected municipalities. Olganza has a list of storehouses established by the Mexican Red Cross to help victims in Chiapas and Vera Cruz.
If you find more information on hurricane Stan and the flooding it has caused throughout Central America, please let us know by leaving a comment.

author: David Sasaki


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From the Jordanian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Roba Al Assi

This week marks the first week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a month that evoked varied feelings among the Jordanian blogosphere, a good sign that it is indeed a melting pot of mentalities. Hala of CafeLulu says that Ramadan to her is a month where people “come closer together as people, regardless of your religious background.” Eman of Aquacool wishes everyone a blessed Ramadan but says she wishes that one day the “Muslim world will unite and start fasting all together on the same day as it’s supposed to be“.  Mozzy, meanwhile, writes a post on why he dislikes Ramadan, which results in a very interesting thread of comments. Ramadan Mubarak!
The Jordanian blogosphere is also exasperated with a second round of internet censorship in Saudi Arabia that blocked file-sharing network Flickr and blogging service provider Blogger. Camels are also making an appearance- Natasha Tynes has an article on camel jockeys and Iyas of Jameed is in disbelief over a story of bestiality.
Dealing with more local affairs, Lina of Into the Wind says that “I always enjoy reading blogs of expats in Jordan”, and Khalaf has a post on the reason behind the latest earthquake rumor while Haitham Sabbah says, “Minor earthquake, and major oil price increase” .  Naseem Tarawneh talks about Jordanian electoral system history, present and future, and Issam Smeir suggests that Jordan adopts the American political system and “to establish only two big parties, the Jordanian Democratic and Republican parties”. Firas of IHeartAmman has a very interesting post on the government's  respone to a nuclear reactor in Israel.
Roba Assi has some pictures from the last Jordanian blogger meet-up.
Amman by Sabri Hakim
On the creative scene, Tololy is playing a little game on her blog- email her any word or phrase and she will get creative with them- the first phrase being “pixie dust”.  Ahmad Humeid has a wonderful article surveying the future music landscape, and Ibrahim Owais is starting a string of posts dedicated to Middle Eastern ads as he thinks they are underrepresented online. Amin Matalqa tries to answer a question a lot of Arabs are often asking themselves- “Why are most Arabic films bad?” ,Yazan Malakha has a very creative post on blogging, and Jad Madi has created a Joite, a website aggregating Flickr feeds tagged with Jordan, Amman, Petra, Jerash, etc.
Haitham Sabbah of Sabbah's Blog published his interview about blogging in the Arab world with Italian press.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Roba Al Assi


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Pakistan: Blog Response · Global Voices
Omer Alvie

The initial news of this massive earth quake that hit the sub-continent took us all by surprise (understandably) but the resulting devastation and 18,000 + fatalities (so far) has shocked us even more. Obviously, many Pakistani bloggers responded to the news of this 7.6 EQ and I can’t list all of them for you but here’s a good mix of the initial responses from some the most interesting bloggers in Pakistan.
Spare a mouse click and help support Teeth Maestro’s efforts in raising funds for the EQ victims; Life, etc has a very personal post about the earth quake in Islamabad, Iss-tarting anew comments about the EQ and the media; Kay’s tri-photo commentary is rather accurate; Green Head posts his comments about the resulting devastation; Extiinct posts her initial reaction to hearing the news about the EQ; Mina is her usual descriptive self and posts a very interesting entry on the subject; Essjee has a very candid and sensitive response to news of the EQ; Cloudkhizzy writes about the day the earth shook; and Crow’s Nest rants about the faux pas by a local tv news anchor during the broadcast about the EQ.
Spare a few moments to say a prayer for all those people (in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) who lost their lives, their loved ones or their homes due to this earth quake.

author: Omer Alvie


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South Asia: Response of online communities to the Earthquake · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The year 2004 ended with a very solemn reminder of the absolute devastation a natural disaster could cause. The Indian Ocean Tsunami killed approximately 275,000 people, and left many more devastated.
Even hours after the tragedy, very little information was available on Main Stream Media (MSM). Some bloggers set up a blog (The Sea Eat Blog) on a free blogging site, and started collating information about the tragedy, the relief measures and the responses of the international community. At one point blogs like Chiens Sans Frontiers, started publishing uncensored text messages from those who were at the very site of the tragedy. When the blog became too unwieldy, a wiki was set up. The blog and the wiki was kept alive with numerous volunteers sitting day and night to collate and disseminate information. Efforts such as these brought the attention of MSM to bloggers and their response to a disaster. Valuable lessons were learnt, and a lot of insight was shared. Online communities responded to Hurricane Katrina in a way that was perhaps unimaginable without the technology and the medium that enabled people to collaborate over projects.
The Earthquake in South Asia has prompted a similar response. Some of the notable blogs that have been covering the Earthquake are Metroblogging Lahore, Pakistan Earthquake 2005 and South Asia Quake Help. These blogs have information on the tragedy, accessing help, donations and aid organisations. As a response to disasters, such projects have become not only alternate sources of information, but credible points of information exchange.
On another note, organisations such as the  International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have raised an appeal for donations.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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The Diwaniya of Kuwait · Global Voices
Bader

Ramadan Kareem Everyone. Kuwait during Ramadan gets quite active in terms of nights out with family and friends visiting diwaniyas and other family gatherings that makes us have no time for politics or any international matters.
So the issue about Kuwait normalizing ties with Israel has not come up in any of the diwaniyas. Even when members of parliament visit it is never mentioned, not to be polite but seems the people don't care much about the issue.
One hot topic that always comes around ever Ramadan is the shows. Such as Stallion asking what is hot, and not? Yet it seems there is a consensus that the shows are pretty much crap but the commercials are great. Q, Zaydoun and Bo Jaij are demanding a boycott of the MBC1 show Gergeegan. Which even got MadM2000 to blog again.
Ayya also shares with us her true feelings about Ramadan and how it is one of the most hypocritical months of the Islamic calendar.
We also had our 10th Kuwait Blogs meeting.

author: Bader


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Tunisia: Jailed activist sews mouth shut · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Tunisian activist Neila Charchour Hachicha reports that Mohamed Abbou, jailed for criticizing Tunisia's president in an article on the internet, has   sewed his own mouth shut in protest.

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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What’s going on in the African blogosphere · Global Voices
Ory Okolloh

Some snippets from the African blogosphere.
- Gatwiri takes issue with the July/August edition of Foreign Policy magazine which classifies Kenya as a failed state.   He points out that, “The source of the research material is also incredulous. They say they used software to analyse data from tens of thousands of international and local media sources. If international media houses portray Africa in a negative light (as they always do), and their stories are used as sources, then the results drawn from this research are already skewed to show countries like Kenya are “failed states”. We all know that international media houses have nothing positive to write about Africa.”
- Along the lines of negative coverage of Africa, The Keeper of Her Thoughts would like to know what exactly “the darkest part of Africa” means.  Her curiousity leads her to conduct some research on Google with the following results, I conducted a democratic google search for the phrase “Darkest part of…” as applied to various continents with the following (quite easily verifiable) results:  “Darkest Part of Asia” – 1 result.  “Darkest Part of America” – 7 results, most of which are followed by the word past as in ‘the darkest part of America’s past..’ and are in reference to the era of slavery. “Darkest Part of Europe” – 8 results, 1 used sarcastically in reference to Norway by a disgruntled American and the rest in reference to lack of sun.
“Darkest Part of Africa” -679 results, a whopping, record breaking result!
- Looking for pictures capturing daily life in the Democratic Republic of Congo?  Then check out Tangawizi.
- Chippla recently spent 3 months in Nigeria Nigeria.  His  Notes from Abuja  series of posts conveys a sense of what is going on in Abuja.   For instance, part 1 gives insight into the recently launched Abuja taxi scheme.  And part 2 highlights the ongoing power struggle within the ruling  People's Democratic Party (or People's Deceiving Party as the locals call it).
- Meanwhile, if you are in London and you are jonesing for some Nigerian food, Aderemi has compiled a list of Nigerian restaurants in London.
- Some Among Us, who is blogging from South Africa, contrasts Thabo Mbeki's views on disengagement during the struggle against apartheid with Mbeki's current view on disengagement when it comes to dealing with Mugabe.

author: Ory Okolloh


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Aruba: Weathering · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Lost In Smallness says gray clouds and thunderstorms have replaced blues skies and sunshine in Aruba.


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Bahamas: “Lesser of Two Evils” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bahamas Blog calls the upcoming elections a choice between “the current class of blatant criminals or the other party, a group of mild-mannered thieves.”


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Bangladesh: The Greenest Delta? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Even countries are brands. Rezwan blogs about Strategic Country Promotion Council which plans to appoint an agency to help brand Bangladesh.


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Bhutan: All Smiles · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nanopolitan takes note of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (G.N.H) policy, where the King decided to make his nation's priority not its G.D.P. but its G.N.H.


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Bolivia, Argentina: Fidel Castro Beats Bush for Presidency · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas links to an interesting survey by Equipos Mori and Capital y GBA, which found that 31% of Argentinians would hypothetically vote for Fidel Castro as president compared to 2% who answered George Bush. In Bolivia, 21% said Castro, 19% Hugo Chavez, and 13% George Bush.


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Bolivia: The Bolivian “Krosty” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Barrio Flores says Cruceños should feel safer now that Krosty is back off the streets.


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Brazil: Blogs as a Vehicle for Democracy · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alex de Carvalho, who organized the Brazilian delegation to the 6th annual World Forum on e-Democracy held near Paris summarizes how weblogs have influenced Brazilian politics.


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Cambodio: Solar-powered bicycle · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Cambodia Morning reports on a home-grown invention: the solar-powered bicycle, or SMART bike.

author: Luisetta Mudie


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China: Aussie dancer leaves stage · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Angry Chinese Blogger reports on how Australian dancer Wang Xuejun was kicked out of China for possession of a banned book: Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party.


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China: Heritage newsletter · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Danwei returns from the National Day holidays with a link to a newsletter on Chinese heritage, edited by Bruce Gordon Doar and Geremie R. Barmé.


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Egypt: Egyptian Opposition · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Sandmonkey says that Egyptian Opposition unites against Mubarak.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Ethiopia: Still smokin’ · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ethiopundit writes a detailed analysis of the effect of current and historical land ownership patterns on poverty in the country, and puts in a plea on behalf of a nicotine-stained inmate of a Chinese zoo.


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India: A Global Help Team · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Peter Griffin, who is a member of the The Sea Eat Blog calls to people to form a World Wide Help group. He says -
The idea is that any time there's a disaster, any member of the group can alert the a ready-made team, all of them with experience in the field, enthusiasm and goodwill, and request help to get something going.


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India, Afghanistan: Celebrating Navaratri · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

arZan has a post on Navaratri (Hindu festival) celebrations in Afghanistan.


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India: Defending Freedom of Speech · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Indian Blogosphere has been buzzing over the weekend with posts and comments surrounding a controversial educational institute. Vantage Point, a blog run by Gaurav Sabnis was sent an email by this said institute to remove any posts that questioned the claims of the institute. The original article that inspired posts on blog can be read at JAM Magazine here. One of the driving forces behind this magazine, Rashmi Bansal of Youth Curry was at the receiving end of malicious anonymous comments. Many blogs including Sambhar Mafia and Desi Pundit have been following  the developments closely.
A lot of Indian blogs have been echoing this call for support. The latest development has been that Gaurav Sabnis has quit his job with IBM. He says -
…I have resigned from IBM. The decision is entirely my own and I was not asked by IBM to resign, nor was I pressured in any manner by any executive from IBM. I took the decision in view of some really bizarre threats that were apparently made by IIPM to IBM…
In the same post he puts forward a strong case for his previous post and why he stands by what he said in his blog -
…my intention to stand by my posts, since I believe in freedom of speech. I have written nothing that can be thought of as libel. IIPM is an organiation in free India which makes some claims in its advertisements. What I did was exercise my right as a citizen, by responding to the information contained…
This isn't the first instance of Indian bloggers facing the wrath of corporate houses and big organisations, but it brings us back to the same question – In a country whose USP is the Biggest Democracy, where has the Right to Free Speech disappeared? Is it easier to bully a blogger than a magazine or a Main Stream Media publication? Does a blogger have any rights?


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Indonesia: Fuel subsidy reductions · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Nad's Notes posts a summary of the Indonesian government's plans to replace fuel subsidies with more targeted spending on health, education and low-income households. Via A. Fatih Syuhud.


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Interview with Haitham Sabbah · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

Our beloved Middle East/North Africa editor Haitham Sabbah was recently interviewed by Italian journalist Paola Caridi, who writes for news agency Lettera22. Their conversation focuses on some of the deep questions of the Middle Eastern blogosphere. Why do people blog – are reasons personal or political? Are blogs a method for avoiding media censorship? Why do so many arabic speakers blog in English? In answering this last question, Haitham discusses the key role bridge blogs have in connecting the Middle East with the rest of the world:
I believe English blogs of Arabic bloggers has different objective than those written in Arabic, and that is the reach to the west in most, and the first language of some for those who live outside the Arab world.
For decades, there were no open channels between the East and the West. Blogs was and still is a great opportunity for Arab with bilingual skills to reach other around the world. To start a process of “learning to unlearn” on the non-Arab mass, so that the old believes and values perceived about Arabs, their culture and society are corrected and/or updated, and to represent an alternative point of view than that presented by local and foreign official views. It is very essential mind opener tool.
One of the interesting characteristics of the Middle Eastern blogosphere is the wealth of bloggers like Haitham who blog explicitly to challenge perceptions of the Middle East in North American and European media. (See Mahmoud Al-Yousif's “about” page on his blog, Mahmoud's Den, for a mission statement on this subject: “Now I try to dispel the image that Muslims and Arabs suffer from – mostly by our own doing I have to say – in the rest of the world. I am no missionary and don't want to be. I run several internet websites that are geared to do just that, create a better understanding that we're not all nuts hell-bent on world destruction.”)
The whole interview is very much worth a read if you're interested in a better understanding of blogs from the Middle East.

author: Ethan Zuckerman


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Iran: Neo-Racism · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Hoder complaining about US government practice of Special Registration, and see that as Neo-Racism.


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Jordan: Comments On · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Hatem and Haitham seems to have some concerns related to switching blogs comments, on or off.


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Kenya: Strong constitution · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

KenyanPundit posts the first part of a long report on a public workshop on the country's proposed new constitution, stirring plenty of reaction in the comments section.


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Nigeria: Aid racket · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Blogs Black Looks: “Finally an “insider” blows the whistle on how the U.S. corporatocracy scammed the developing world out of trillions of $.” Read on.


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North, South Korea: Holiday saga · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The continuing saga involving Hyundai Asan Tours and the North Korean government has taken a new twist, writes AsiaPundit.


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Pakistan: Marriage and Morals · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Reality Cafe comments on Pakistan's Supreme Court's statement that ‘love marriages are damaging the nation's values’.


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Palestinian Bloggers Blog for a Purpose! · Global Voices
Shaden Abdulrahman

Living under occupation Palestinian bloggers might be small in number but definitely big in mission and purpose. If you were Palestinian, fortunate enough to have Internet access and run a blog chances are every other entry is about the Palestinian-Israeli daily conflict.
Palestine Blogs will never forget innocent 12-year-old child Mohammed Al-Dura who was killed heartlessly by the Israeli militants. Falastine talks about how Israel continues to twist facts and invest international lies as usual. Fawaz Turki also remembers the heart-rending intensity of the broadcasted incident and says that according to the latest figures put out by the United Nations Childrens’ agency, UNICEF, 542 Palestinian children have been killed over the last five years.
On a happier occasion, Laila – a Palestinian blogger from Gaza- and her son, Yousuf have finally met with husband and father after a long tiring journey to the US. Laila says her flight was like staying at a 5-star hotel compared to Rafah Crossing. Laila has yet to recover from the difficulties she encountered, she adds: “Every now and then I hear a helicopter, innocuously monitoring traffic, and I duck for cover. I am still jittery and on edge”
umkahlil-Palestinian blogger who resides in Germany- talks about the non-violent regular Friday demonstration in Bilin which was not reported by the western press and during which seventeen Israeli activists were detained. Slingshots VS teargas canisters, who's the winner?
In Bqaa Refugee Camp a school playground was sliced in 2 by the Israeli apartheid wall. Rafah Pundits said the new city to be built between Rafah and Khan Yunis will include some 3,000 housing units potentially making up much of the housing stock lost over the past four years and will be funded by the UAE.
Israeli Watch talks about PFLP Leadership Moving From Syria to Gaza and how Israelies are running scared!

author: Shaden Abdulrahman


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Sudan: Not getting better · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sleepless in Sudan, picking up on the “tragi-comic” tale of African Union hostages who were soon joined by their rescue party, reflects that things aren't getting better in the troubled region of Darfur, but shares a hilarious tale of “creative problem-solving” at a displaced persons’ camp.


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Uganda: Arrest warrants scupper talks · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Uganda-CAN picks up on comments by top Ugandan peace negotiator Betty Bigombe, who says that the issuing of arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leaders by the International Criminal Court has scuppered the latest round of peace negotiations.


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Zimbabwe: Gogo’s journey  · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sokwanele tells the story of a Zimbabwean grandmother, “Gogo”, and her attempt to get home in the face of growing fuel shortages across the country.


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Argentina: The Argentine Elections and “Clientelismo” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

GoodAirs offers some analysis on Argentina's upcoming October 23rd congressional elections.


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Armenia: Asbestos Everywhere · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

After discovering that his roof is asbestos, Ara of Martuni or Bust!!! reports on the prevalence of asbestos in Armenian homes and the costs of replacing it.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Pop and Politics · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia reports on the use of pop music as an instrument of politics in Armenia.


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Armenia: Transit Point · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Martuni or Bust!!! reports on Armenia's role as a transit point for the sex trade.


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Armenia: Yerevan Disco Scene in Review · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Life in Armenia and Blogrel review the Yerevan discotheque scene.


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Azerbaijan: Weekly Election Report · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

azerbaijan.neweurasia.net reports on the week in Azeri election news.


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Bangladesh: The poor and the political · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan translates a post that originally appeared on the LiveJournal Bangladeshi community. The post is a heartfelt post about the common person and the big politics.


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China: Lu Banglie beating · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

AsiaPundit defends his fellow hack Benjamin Joffe-Walt, saying the Guardian correspondent isn't reponsible for the beating of Hubei lawmaker Lu Banglie in the southern Chinese village of Taishi. But he also reports some of the angrier comments in the blogosphere and among other foreign journalists that are circulating about his conduct in the aborted reporting trip.


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China: Xinhua unveiled · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Simon World picks up on a new report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) about the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, which it says is one of the world's largest official propaganda machines.


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East Africa: AIDS orphans miss school · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Government neglect of millions of children affected by HIV/AIDS is fueling school drop-out across East and Southern Africa, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.


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Egypt: Khufu · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Ritzy is excited about the news of sending a new robot in to the great pyramid of Khufu (a.k.a Cheops) to reveal what is behind the mystery shafts. She says, maybe there is a chance that there is another burial chamber. Maybe Khufu's mummy is still in the pyramid.


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Hurricane Stan Update from Oscar Mota · Global Voices
David Sasaki

I just got done instant messaging with Oscar Mota who has been covering hurricane Stan's destruction on Guatemala at DesdeGuate.com from his home in Guatemala City. What follows are translated excerpts from our conversation:
OM: I haven't personally been affected, but already there are millions out there who are … and look at the approaching weather. One of our biggest problems is that we're already a poor country and so many victims have very few resources. 3.5 million victims! They say that so far there have been 600 deaths, but unofficially it's more like 1,800 to 2,000, but the government still won't say it. And the financial damages are big – already one billion dollars.
GV: What's even worse is that it's happening to a country which is already so poor.
OM: Exactly, our poorest citizens which barely had anything to begin with have lost it all. If you could only see the images on TV.
GV: I've seen some photographs of what happened in Panabaj … it's horrible.
OM: Exactly, the whole town disappeared from the map. And it's one of the nicest tourist attractions in all of Guatemala. “The loveliest lake of the world,” they say, Atitlán. There are still areas of the country where emergency crews haven't been able to reach for the past four or five days because the highways are blocked. And they can't get there by plane because of the weather. The people are there without water and without food. Yesterday, the defense minister planned to send out 30 helicopter flights with food, but because of the weather, they only sent one. Just imagine!
GV: I've been amazed by just how little coverage hurricane Stan has gotten in the U.S. media compared to the weeks of obsession which followed Katrina.
OM Here's something related. In Spain there is a free newspaper called 20minutos. Check this out, today, covering the front page was a photo of a videogame! So someone sent the director of the paper, who has a blog, a letter complaining about the coverage, and he replied with the following:
[She] is right … in today's portal there should have been more coverage of Pakistan's earthquake, Guatemala's mudslides, and Morocco's exportation of Sub-Saharan Africans
GV: How have Guatemalan bloggers responded to the tragedy?
OM: Slowly, in my case. I'm about to publish something right now. Guate360 has been posting information and photographs and its homepage was modified with a special navigation bar on top.
GV: Thank you Oscar. Stay safe.
Meanwhile, other links documenting the damage done in Central America:


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India: Water.. Water · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on Deepa Mehta's movie – Water being released after delays.


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Indonesia: Bombing theory deconstructed · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Paras Indonesia posts a long essay deconstructing prevailing views of Bali as the “natural” location for Islamist suicide bombers to attack Western tourists in their reactions against the forces of imperialism. Kemal Taruc writes: “Many people may choose their preferred explanation as long as they can have peace in their mind.”


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Iranian Bloggers are Writing about Cinema · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian films have been prize winners in festivals for several years. Thanks to movie directors such as Kiarostami, Panahi, Majidi,…Iranian can be proud of their cinema. Each year a few Iranian movies find their way to theatres in the West. Some Iranian directors and cinema students are blogging and share their creations, ideas, favourite movies and political opinion with us.
Some of bloggers have chosen very attractive names which remind us cinema's magic world. New Wave (link in Farsi) is one of these blogs. New Wave introduces new movies such as Night Watch and gives a detailed explanation about Hotel Rwanda. Cinemaye Azad (link in Farsi) (Free Cinema) is another blog which reports about Iranian cinema in exile. Blogger has published Alamezadeh's(link in Farsi), a famous Iranian director, interview. LongShot (link in Farsi) is another blogger which publishes scripts (or pieces of a script).
An Iranian movie director who was persecuted before and after revolution is Alamezadeh. This Nederlands based director who has created both fiction and documentary is blogging. His blog provides first hand information about his creations, writings, political ideas and trips. He really created a blog about art and literature. His final work is about Mosadegh.
Iranian bloggers write and create beyond politics, petitions and political prisoners. Art is well present in Iranian blog city.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: Privatization in Iraq · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Baghdad Dweller says that extreme right-wing trying aggressively to spread a myth that privatization is the ultimate solution to the Third-World countries economic problems, the same myth is also adopted by less-educated natives of these countries while the truth is upside down.


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Jordan: Mini Films around Jordan · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

nasimjo says that The Jordanian Royal Film Committee started to have shows outside Amman. He hopes to attend Jerash's show in order to report the reaction of the attendants.


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Liberia: Presidential elections · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Liberians vote for a new president, and Chippla says that “an election in West Africa should be a thing of joy.” Who could have imagined this only two years ago when the dictator Charles Taylor was still in power, he muses.


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Malaysia: Quake debate · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Jeff Ooi rounds up, from a Malaysian perspective, the relief effort in the wake of the South Asian earthquake.


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Myanmar (Burma): Flash presentation · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Burma Underground recommends a flash/photo show entitled Burma: Grace Under Pressure.


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Nepal: Media Blues · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya.org has a post on the Media Control Ordinance passed by the King in Nepal. The post says -
…new ordinance bans any media company from owning more than two types of media and appears to be directed at Kantipur which has been severely critical of King Gyanendra's…


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Pakistan: Leaving politics out of it · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Ahmed Bilal is very angry about politicians trying to gain mileage out of the Earthquake by blaming the government instead of focusing on the real issues.


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Philippines: How many bloggers? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Yuga takes issue with a recent estimate from the Blog Herald that there are around 75,000 bloggers in the Philippines, promising to come up with some more credible numbers.


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Poland: On to Round Two · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot reports on Poland's presidential election which will be going on to a second round.


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Poland: PolBlogcast on Presidential Election · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The latest blogcast at PolBlog hooks up with the beatroot to discuss the first round of the Polish presidential election..


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Poland: The Also-rans · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot profiles also-rans from Poland's presidential race.


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Puerto Rico: Buying on Credit · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Gil C. Schmidt says Puerto Ricans are “enslaving” themselves by buying too many goods on credit.


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Puerto Rico: “Death of a Nationalist, Birth of a Martyr” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Aníbal Freytes has two excellent ruminations on FBI's killing of Puerto Rican criminal and independence activist, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos.


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Russia: Eurasianism · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann discusses Eurasianism as Russian foreign policy.


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Russia: Ordinary Detergent · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

While comparative advertisement is illegal in Russia, using a generic product name featured in a competitor's advertising is not. Konstantin Dlutskiy reports on how this led to the birth of Ordinary Detergent.


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Senegal: Migrants deported  · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Looks reports on the expulsion by Spanish authorities of a number of Senegalese migrant workers to Morocco. The move, which she says is illegal, has put the men at risk of further hardship and brutality. “The migrants are now trapped and cornered like hunted animals between the Moroccan desert and the Spanish enclaves of Cueta and Melilla on the coast,” she writes.


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Slovenia: Parliament TV · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Glory of Carniola says that should Slovenia end up with a television station broadcasting live from parliament, there should be plenty of opportunities for entertainment.


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South Africa: Bad night in Jo’burg · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

commentary.co.za posts an anonymous report about the incompetence of the Johannesburg police when answering an emergency call in which a child was at risk from a knife-wielding drunk, sparking debate and some recognition in the comments section.


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South Asian earthquake blogging highlights · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

As our South Asia editor Neha Viswanathan wrote yesterday, the Sea Eat bloggers who brought you up-to-date infromation about victims, relief efforts, and donation opportunities for the 2004 Tsunami are doing the same thing for the South Asian Earthquake with the South Asia Quake Help blog.
They're doing a fabulous job updating the news. They also have some useful links for things you can do to help:
Anand points to a list of organizations accepting donations for quake victims courtesy of Network for Good and Yahoo!
Dina has more links to organizations accepting donations. She also points to a peoplefinder site run by the Red Cross, for people seeking information about their missing loved ones.
Angelo tells us an organization called the Citizens Foundation will soon be documenting its relief efforts on its website. He also points to an appeal for volunteer doctors.
There is much, much more on the blog, and more is appearing all the time.


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South Korea: Wild chicken English teachers · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Japundit reports on a move by the South Korean authorities to crack down on foreigners teaching English in the country with no qualifications, or with fake diplomas.


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Sub-Saharan Africa: Ubuntu Linux · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Emeka Okafor, of Timbuktu Chronicles, reports on the launch of a Linux operating system by the Ubuntu community, which believes that “software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.”


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Sudan: Genocide Intervention Fund · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The Passion of the Present calls on bloggers around the world to link to the Genocide Intervention Fund to help victims of violence in Darfur, reminding us that 2.5 million displaced people remain too frightened to go home, 3.5 million are in need of food, with the security situation sliding into chaos.


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Uganda: Milton Obote dies · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Star Journal writes of former Ugandan dictator Milton Obote, who died recently in South Africa, that his regime was “barely less thuggish than Amin's, but Obote was somewhat erudite and well-spoken so many outsiders never thought he could be as brutal as the bufoonish Amin.”


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United Arab Emirates: Transportation Prices · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Emirates Economist says that Dubai and Sharjah taxis have raised fares. Not surprising given the 35% increase in petrol prices.


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Bangladesh: Images and Tourism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

More on tourism in Bangladesh. Imtiaz hates the fact that the Bangaldesh tourism website doesn't work.


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Brazil: Photoblog Exhibit in NYC · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Brazilian photoblogger Tatiana Cardeal announces she will be showing 10 photographs at MediaNoche.


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China: Blogspot unblocked · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Danwei reports that Chinese Web users now have access to Blogspot blogs and the Google cache, but suspects the move is a result of more efficient blocking using “forbidden” keywords.


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China: Taishi village backlash · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

ESWN translates reaction from the Chinese-language blogosphere, notably from mainland Chinese journalist Michael Anti, on the reporting by Guardian reporter Benjamin Joffe-Walt of the attack on Hubei lawmaker Lu Banglie in Taishi village earlier this week.


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China:Blogspot no longer blocked · Global Voices
Frank Dai

Blogspot, the blog hosting service held by Google, was said to be removed from banning list of Chinese internet flitering system. (Via Keso; Here is an English translation by Danwei) . It has been blocked for almost 3 years in mainland China. In addition, Google Cache, the service to  arhchive web page is also back to normal again. However many bloggers and internet users still reported that this move may not be nationwide and  in some area both of the services are still unavailable without using proxy.

author: Frank Dai


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Colombia: At the Scene of a Car Bomb · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Harry Hutton maintains his patent sarcasm even when a nearby car bomb, aimed at a senator, explodes. Hutton has also posted photos.


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Colombia: Repressing Dissent · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Colom Buenazo is upset with president Uribe's government after yesterday's violence between police and protesters in Santa Rosa. The post has generated passionate discussion.


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Colombia: What Makes a Colombian · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Logtar gives his analysis in both English and Spanish to the supposed defining list of what makes a Colombian.


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Cuba: Hotel in Havana to Offer Wi-Fi · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Havana Journal says the Panorama Hotel in Havana will start offering free Wi-Fi internet access to customers this month.


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Ecuador: Sudoku Arrives to Ecuador · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Ochoa heralds the arrival of Sudoku, a Japanese type of puzzle which has taken the world by storm, to Ecuador's largest daily paper El Universo. Ochoa admits his addiction with ease and says he has downloaded the game to his cellphone.


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Egypt: Bloggers Speaking out · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Ritzy says that journalists are like men: they raise you to the skies and then suddenly they take you down. Read her commentary on the recent article of Cairo Magazine, which was dedicated to describe part of the most active Egyptian blogsphere.


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Indonesia: Just around the Riverbend · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Nad's Notes speculates on the Ulysses Awards for Reportage, wondering why so many contenders are writing about war and other horrors, and tipping the blog Baghdad Burning as a likely winner.


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Iran: Annoying Propaganda · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Brooding Persian says that if we look closely at some of the blogs or the many news outlets covering Iran (and to some extent the broader Middle East), it is either you are a bunch of zombies/ terrorists/ automatons wanting to wage Jihad, or destroy and ruin [what’s left of the] Western civilization, or you are millions of highly talented, intelligent, educated saints who can do no wrong and are simply being deprived of an easy, opulent lifestyle by a bloodthirsty, irrational regime.


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Iraq: New Constitution, Yes or No? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

As the vote on Iraqi new constitution is coming close (2 days left), ChristianIraq, Hassan of An Average Iraqi and Omar of Iraq The Model, all give us an update on the last minute situation and preparation for the vote.


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Iraq: Zawahri Letter · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Issandr El Amrani, The Sandmonkey and Sabbah; all discussed the intercepted Letter of Al Qaeda, which was released yesterday.


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Israel: Yom Kippur · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

On the eve of the Jewish day of Atonement – Yom Kippur, we wish our Jewish readers a g'mar chatima tova and an easy fast.
BTW, I just realized that ‘Yom Kippur‘ is very similar to our Arabic words ‘Yom Kapper‘, both of which means the “Great Day.”
Day after day, I believe that “we have more in common than you think“.


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Kenya: Constitutional referendum · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Kenyan Pundit posts more notes from a recent open forum on the country's forthcoming constitutional referendum.


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Malaysia: Sniffer dogs in KL · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Jeff Ooi reports that police with sniffer dogs made an appearance at a commuter station on the Putraline of the capital's light rail system. Commenters to the post say this was a security exercise.


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Nepal: LGBT charter · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

International Nepal Solidarity Network has the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) charter of Nepal on its blog.


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Pakistan: Donations · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Donation seekers everywhere. Habitual Procrastination on the guilt and the pressure to donate after the tragedy of the Earthquake.


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South Korea: U.S. troops to leave? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Marmot's Hole notes growing momentum for the idea of a pullout of U.S. troops from South Korea, expecting the reality to follow sooner rather than later.


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Sri Lanka: Less Dictatorial · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lanka Citizen ponders on the question of the “less dictatorial” in the context of the elections in Sri Lanka.


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Sri Lanka: Politician’s New Clothes · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

There are politicans, and there are photo-ops. indi.ca takes a shot at a candidate whose campaign seems to centre around his clothes!


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Sudan: Camps overwhelmed · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“There are so many people fleeing from the new attacks on villages that all we can do is scramble to keep up with registrations and emergency distributions for the new arrivals,” writes an exhausted Sleepless in Sudan in a hastily penned post from her Darfur internally displaced persons (IDP) camp. “People are coming to the camps, particularly the bigger ones clustered around state capitals, in droves.”


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Syria: Suicide of a Symbol · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

One of the most talked about topic of the day in the Arab blogsphere was the early breaking news of the suicide of Syria’s Interior Minister, Ghazi Kanaan. The news hit many blogs from around the Arab world. Starting with Syria, then Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and many more here, here, here , here and here.


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Tanzania: Election trip · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Arjen Westra takes a trip around Tanzania ahead of elections on Oct. 30, listening to men talk politics and drink coffee in some of the country's political hotspots.


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The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Elections scheduled for December 4th are far from certain of taking place.  What has been for certain over the past week in La Paz and El Alto has been the scarcity of liquid gas used for cooking.  MABB displays some pictures of long lines of Paceños and their justifiable frustration.  Alexey believes that some irregular transactions involving the gas canisters, aka “contrabando hormiga” (ant smuggling) may be taking place along the porous Bolivian-Peruvian border near the town of Desaguadero.
Even without a guarantee of elections, politics still continue to be discussed on Bolivian blogs. Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas comments on an unusual poll that found that both Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, if on the ballot in Bolivia, would draw in considerable support. Miguel Centellas wonders whether the political party, Unidad Nacional would not be better off with its Vice-Presidential candidate Dr. Carlos Dabdoub as their Presidential candidate due to his high popularity in Santa Cruz.  Daniel Bustillos, after a long absence, announced his return to blogging at his site Kaiki.  Meanwhile, Javier urges the creation of a webpage to collect signatures of Bolivians abroad demanding the right to vote for those living outside of the country.
Nick at Open Veins profiles the journey of one brother's search for justice in the death of his brother during the crisis of October 2003.
On a less serious note, Andrew Glazer found himself in the middle of a crowd of teenyboppers hoping to get a glimpse of their hero, Floricienta, in a Santa Cruz hotel.  Meanwhile in La Paz, a popular and successful music festival featuring such groups like Molotov and Attaque 77 was deemed the best festival of Marcelita's life.
In a very personal entry, Wendell reflected on the very real possibility of adopting a Bolivian child, which ended up not happening leaving him wondering what could have been.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Travels in the Kurdish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

For Iraqis, October 15th is the big day… the day of Iraqi Constitution Referendum. The vote is a simple yes or no in favor of the Iraqi Constitution. All Iraqis are eligible to vote, even former dictator Sadaam Hussein. The Kurdish people of Iraq are abuzz with these events. Sami from Iraqi Thoughts takes a look at the new constitution through  A Sunni Iraqi eye's, and finds justification in opposing it, but also finds that through his own Kurdish viewpoint that he must vote for it. Hiwa from Hiwa's Hopes questions his own vote on the referendum:
I dont know what to say,
I voted in the elections, I am not sure if I did the right thing? do you think my successors won't accuse us of being coward enough to ask for our full self-determination?
Ultimately, Hiwa adopts a wait and see attitude about the referendum, which seems to be a common view on the subject.
Moving north in Kurdistan, Delal from The Kurdistan Bloggers Union addresses some of the major news items about the Kurds within the borders of Turkey and Syria; most notably the closure of Kurdish Language schools in Turkey. Incidently, if you are looking for an introduction to the Kurdish language, the group blog Learn Kurdish is an excellent starting point.
And then moving in the Eastern regions of Kurdistan, Medya from Medya Daily discusses the  pressures of blogging in a country that is unreceptive to alternative points of view. He feels that sometimes blogging is opening himself up to threats from others, be it the students in his university classroom to the Iranian government itself. We hope that he continues to blog and stays safe.
A new blog dedicated to Eastern Kurdistan was begun recently entitled Land of the Sun: Kurdistan. While currently it is just getting off the ground, this should be a great blog to keep an eye out for.
There is a subseries of pro-Kurdish blogs that are in French (with occasional English postings). The authors are not Kurdish themselves but have either lived or worked in or with Kurdish regions and Kurdish people. If you are able to read French, I do recommend that you visit them, as they provide an objective and supportive viewpoint of the Kurdish people. They are Incoherent Thoughts from the Librarian at the Kurdish Institute of Paris, OFK a travel-log of the Kurdistan region,  Bienvenue à Van which chronicles the Van region of Turkey/Northern Kurdistan, and  Chroniques de Beyoglu from a French man currently working in Turkey.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Venezeula, Argentina: Talks of a Nuclear Reactor · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jorge Arena has the lowdown on rumors that Chavez is looking to buy a nuclear reactor from Argentina.


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Zimbabwe: Just say no · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sokwanele blogs about a petition entitled “No Shaking Hands With Mugabe” to be presented to Britain's Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street Wednesday, urging Tony Blair to bring up the problems in Zimbabwe at the United Nations Security Council.


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Zimbabwe: Senate debate · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Senior pro-democracy political adviser Eddie Cross writes on The Zimbabwean Pundit about the debate now ensuing among the Movement for Democratic Change about whether to fight elections to an upper house they never agreed with in the first place.


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Argentina: Anti-Bush Bombings · Global Voices
David Sasaki

GoodAirs sums up last Thursday's bombings by the groups Comando Antiimperialista Comandante Che Guevara and Coronel Dorrego at six scattered American symbols a day after Bush's attendance at the Summit of the Americas was confirmed. Expat Argentina has more on the protests which could be awaiting George W. Bush.


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Bangladesh: Celebrating Hindu Festivals · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

moodlogic on Durga Puja celebrations in Bangladesh. The pos says
I followed dad to some of the Mandaps. He is trying to build confidence among the Hindu community of Sherpur that Jamaat respects the rights of all communities as it is enshrined in the religion of Islam.


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Bangladesh: Doing Well · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

For a while, the Bangladesh apparel sector seemed to be under threat, but it might surface after all, says Unheard Voices.


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Bolivia: Taking the Presidency By Force · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Miguel Centallas writes that “Felipe Quispe (aka “Mallku”) of the indigenous MIP (Pachakutik Indigenous Movement) has declared that if he doesn't win the election, he'll take the presidency by force.”


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Cambodia: Football crazy · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

ThaRum writes about the growing popularity of European football (soccer) in East Asia, including Cambodia, saying that names like Beckham and Owen are big brand names as well as players.


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China: Taishi update · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

ESWN once more rounds up commentary in the China-related blogosphere to recent events in Taishi village, Guangdong province, especially the Guardian‘s report on the beating of Lu Banglie. And Sun Bin flags a report (in Chinese) that is being posted on feedback and comments forms around the Web, giving a very different view of official campaigns to remove village leaders across the country.


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Colombia: BogoWiki · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alejandro Forero Cuervo and Blue Elephant have been hard at work making BogoWiki, a collaborative, online guide to the city of Bogotá. There is also a space for making denouncements and recommendations related to local businesses and government.


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Costa Rica: “Wi-Fi as a Basic Right” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

J.D. Clarke, citing San Francisco mayor, Gavin Newsom, says free access to internet should be a basic right for all citizens [ES]. Some commenters say that, in Costa Rica, procuring basic needs should come before technology, but JD responds, “I understand your argument, but you could say the same thing about even education: why have public universities if basic needs aren't being met?”


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Cuba, Bahamas: Hemmingway Film to be Made in Cuba · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bahamas Blog has the dirt on the new film which will star Anthony Hopkins as Ernest Hemingway and be shot in Cuba. Factoid: Papa Hemingway won a fishing tournament in the Bahamas back in 1935.


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El Salvador: Turning Aid into Political Propoganda · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim's El Salvador Blog translates a blog post from Hunnapuh – Comentarios about the partisanship which has seeped into El Salvador's relief efforts following Hurricane Stan.


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First Arab Gay/Lesbian Magazine Published · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Sabbah says that a Lebanese NGO has published Barra; the first quarterly Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersexed and Queer magazine in the Arab world. A subject that's been a taboo in the Arab world for ever.


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Georgia: A Caucasus Woodstock? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia reports on the possibility of a Caucasus Woodstock to be staged in Georgia near its borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan including bands from all three countries.


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India: Election Strategy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Recursive Hypocrisy has an interesting political strategy to use student agitation (albeit go back on the political promises) in the Chennai elections.


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India: The IIPM Controversy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Desi Pundit carries a complete update of the IIPM controversy. The Main Stream Media has started covering the issue.


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Indonesia: Bali sentence reduced · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

BaliBlog reports on the reduction to 15 from 20 years of the jail term handed down by a Denpasar court to Australian national Schapelle Corby, convicted of smuggling marijuana into the holiday island earlier this year.


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Indonesia: Corruption charges · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Jakartass says the suspension from duty of Indonesian Chief Justice Bagir Manan “could well be an event of cataclysmic importance in the burgeoning democracy of Indonesia”. Meanwhile, Indonesia Today reports on the sentencing of businessman and politician Adiwarsita Adinegoro to six years’ imprisonment  for Rp100 billion (U.S.$10 million) worth of graft.


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Introduction to Peruvian Blogs · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

La versión original de este artículo está disponible en español.
To write about even our little Peruvian blogosphere, just like any other blogosphere, is an attempt practically destined for failure if it intends to give a complete picture of the patterns and initiatives which make it up. Even just defining “blogosphere” is complicated: is there really any way to capture everyone's presence and can you call it a unified community? In our case, there are those who are active participants in the movement, but live outside the country as well as the contrary: bloggers that live in Peru, but don't wish to participate in any way.
But, since we must start somewhere, I'll do so with the bloggers of BlogsPerú, which functions as an information outlet and community portal. I'll use my limited knowledge of what gets discussed to relate briefly, and only in part, about the Peruvian blogosphere. Let's start with some history.
In 2004, following the initiative of one particular Peruvian blogger, HD, there was the Peruvian Blog Directory. In the same year, as a result of meetups, coordinations, and the bond of a group of bloggers, BlogsPerú was launched officially on July 28th, our Independence Day. 127 bloggers filled the database in the portal's infancy and now, 15 months later, we have 1,178 blogs inscribed. The growth has been good and we hope it's maintained with, at least, the same pace.
But it's not just about the numbers. We've also had fine moments to remember like blogger meetups, the selection of the best blogs of 2004, the event “Summer Adventures,” and our blog festivals. As well as, most recently, the Blog Conference, which took place in Trujillo. All of these events have been characterized by the bloggers’ enthusiastic participation and, in some form, have helped create a sense of community.
And so, in this year and few months, many things have taken place, weblogs and webloggers have surged, some have (or have not) found the spotlight as well as disappeared. Some have changed, mutated, and metamorphosed while others remain unaltered, but there has never been a boring moment. Maybe Peru's bloggers aren't the most brilliant, cohesive, nor controversial, but our manner conforms to a reflection of what our country is, and this definitely, only we can accomplish ourselves.
I think that there's no better way to speak of blogs than reading them and so I invite you to take a look at some Peruvian blogs. The following is an arbitrary  selection according to my own tastes, but, to be sure, it isn't meant to be a list of the best weblogs. Rather, it's a sample that can be considered representative of each category according to a foolhardy attempt to find order amongst the weblogs listed in BlogsPerú.
The first Peruvian blogs had a completely technological focus and they remain amongst the most popular. In the categories technology and internet, we find X-Flash, which is not just limited to copying and pasting news from other blogs, but also posts original material and furthermore, is a person always willing to collaborate with whoever asks about technical problems. From another point of view, TIC para el Desarrollo (TIC for Development) is an excellent initiative that deserves more coverage.
Another much visited category consists of blogs focused on politics, in which there are some dedicated to damage the reputation of each and every politician as well as those who try to take a more reflective position. Perú Político and Ingenuo País are two examples of this type of blog taken at random.
The weblogs of journalists, on the other hand, are a glimpse into the possibilities of the medium of blogging combined with a profession already accustomed to working in other media and is where – it seems to me – there has been a real continuous improvement. From a veteran journalist to a student of journalism, this is one area where we should stay alert.
Blogs of varied themes, or “miscellaneous,” are also gaining with time. Amongst them are Slayer, already practically legendary, and a couple new ones like Out of Geek and Física3, which coincidentally are both written from outside of Peru; Japan and Spain respectively. I'll also mention Cajón de juguetes (Box of Toys) and Idioteca for their unique style.
Regarding literature, and especially criticism, we have two blogs that are representative: Moleskine with reviews and news about books and writers and Libros, which has crtiques of recently edited books. In terms of creating literature, a special case is Claudia who has an excellent blog of stories and now has a personal blog as well. Something similar happened with the blogger known as Murcielagato who changed from one blog to another. And it would be difficult to not mention Poderosas Palabras (Powerful Words) and Crónicas Marcianas (Martian Chronicles), blogs which adhere to the murky subcategories of journalism mentioned above.
Amongst those that make up the section of Art and Culture we have Ciencia (Science), with related themes and written in both English and Spanish and Factotum In “varied themes” we have Taquiones and the unique Habla Quechua written in Spanish and the Peruvian indigenous language of Quechua.
In Cinecinema, we have Cinencuentro , with what is being shown in the distinct movie lovers’ circuit in Lima. In comedy there is La Nuez, a blog with prolific amounts of information and samples of Peruvian artists’ works as well as foreigners’. In music there is El Autobús, with commentary about the local rock scene and Circomper, the weblog of the group, Circulo de Composición.
There are other categories like Marketing, where you'll find  Mi Café and Maskus. Ecology with EcoPerú. Travel con ExplorandoPerú. As well as other various categories that would be too tedious to list.
Finally, the category, “personal blogs”, is where you'll find an immense variety of of weblogs, but those that seem to have the greatest followings are Kat, a prolific and at times a disturbing blogger, Claudia, who often explores the absurd, Vir with a poetic outlook on the surroundings, and Sludgeman with his black humor and disconcerting logic. The last two personal blogs I'll mention are both very popular, but also both very unreserved in respect to their content: Medication, in which Cyan, a homosexual in Lima, recounts his adventures and Beba Newman, who is reportedly an 18-year-old girl.
But not everything is guided by the ego; blogs based outside of the capitol, Lima have begun to have a certain protagonism or emphasis in their content, among them Cajué, from the jungle-filled city of Tarapoto, shows that it's not just Lima where creative initiatives are born and, speaking of initiatives, Fredy is an enthusiastic blogger from Trujillo that has much to contribute to the Peruvian blogosphere.
After taking this tour, we're left looking at the future with optimism. There are several projects in action, collaborative blogs in formation, new blogs from veteran bloggers, and new bloggers that keep adding to our blogosphere, which like I said, might not be the “best,” but respresents our country on the global web.

author: Juan Arellano


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Myanmar (Burma): Internet censorship · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“It probably comes as no surprise that as far as Internet censorship goes, the Burmese junta is one of the most restrictive in the world,” writes Burma Underground, citing a recent report by the Harvard-backed Open Net Initiative.


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Naija Blogosphere · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Chippla's Weblog – Liberia Votes
“The Liberian election may not be headline news in the mainstream media but it is very significant not just for West Africa but the world at large. Who could have imagined this happening just two years ago when the warlord and tyrant, Charles Taylor was at the helm of affairs”.
Naija Jams - Reviewing Naija reggae star, Ras Kimono.
“Currently based in the United States, Ras Kimono, together with his Massive Dread Band continue to perform his unique naija-inspired take on reggae, that is quite unlike the many other unique flavors of Nigerian Reggae”.
Nigerian Times – Muses on the failure of Nigeria's not so great “Super Eagles”
“The failure of the Super Eagles of Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006 has become a controversial issue among millions of soccer loving people in Nigeria and the rest of the World. Nigeria and fellow African soccer superpowers like Cameroon and Senegal failed to qualify where even such a lowly rated country like Togo qualified! And guess what? The national coach of Togo is a Nigerian! The former captain of the Super Eagles, the Boss himself Stephen Keshi.”
Big Up to  the qualifiers , Togo, Ghana, Tunisia AND especially Ivory Coast and Angola At last some real footballers playing the game not the bunch of over fed, over paid unmotivated bunch playing in the top half of the European leagues.  Super Eages – what a sorry bunch you are!
Trae Days - Nigeria's Online image at 45
Trae is sick of Nigerian's abroad complaining about the Motherland
” But what’s really annoying is when I see Nigerians raised here but now based abroad talking some dirty stuff about Naija like they were never here or like Naija is the worst place to be in. It really gets me sick”.
Dusky Thoughts – I'm Back!
DT is back from Nigeria's boot camp – NYSC, not for the faint hearted.
” From 4.30 – 7.30, exercise and drills. Then we were released for breakfast to continue again from 9.00 – 12.30. In the afternoon we had lectures and then more drill in the evenings. The only time we had for socializing was the last hour before light out, which was at 10.00pm”.
“Damn! They were riding us like slaves. Which would have been okay with me, had it not been the lack of toilet thing. Don’t even ask how I managed. It always required extensive plotting and planning. Heck, you had to plot and plan everything. At some point I had to plot and plan how to hide away from the soldiers. I got caught, but it was worth the try. I even got sent to the guardroom (as punishment) spent six good hours there too! It was a welcome change because in all my life I’ve never broken any rule before”.
Tags: Nigeria Blogs Naija Blogging

author: Sokari Ekine


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Nepal: King And Comrades · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya.org has a post on “Maoists Create Governments While King Is Accused of Negligence“. Watch out for the comments section for an interesting discussion.


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Nepal: Lost In Translation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The importance of reaching out to a global audience, inadequate translations and the “Importance of English in Nepali Literature” at United We Blog!


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Nigeria: Poem for R.S. Thomas · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Molara Wood posts a poem written for Welsh poet R.S. Thomas by  Nigerian poet Tade Ipadeola.


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Poland: Public Works Flurry · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

PolBlog has a video report on a flurry of public works in Warsaw.


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Qatar: Religious Rights · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Friends of Aljazeera posts that the Arab Committee for the Defense of Journalists, received a large number of complaints from journalists and technicians working in Aljazeera TV station , saying that the Saudi Embassy in Doha-Qatar has been refusing to give them any kind of transit or entry visas , including entry visas for pilgrimage ; Haj and Umrah.
Despite embassy officials’ denial, the complaints confirm that the Saudi Embassy instructed all Haj and Umrah travel agencies not to accept any applications for a Saudi visa from Aljazeera TV employees .


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Saudi: Flickr’s Back · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Ibrahim Owais of Ocean Creep just reported that flickr.com is back to work in Saudi Arabia, after they blocked it for nearly 2 weeks.


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Sub-Saharan Africa: 100-dollar laptop · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Oscar H. Blayton is intrigued by the MIT Media Laboratory's $100 laptop initiative, but worries that the One Laptop Per Child initiative could get bogged down in red tape, as it plans to distribute computers via government-backed aid programs.


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Sub-Saharan Africa: On Anti-Globalization  · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Emeka Okafor, on Africa Unchained,  flags a commentary which rails against common complaints made by anti-globalization campaigners.


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Thailand: Vegetarian festival · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Thai-Blogs posts a long essay with photos on the religious and cultural significance of the Thai vegetarian festival to the kingdom's Chinese community.


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The Saudi Blogosphere: Post-blockage Hyperactivity · Global Voices
Ahmed Al-Omran

Happy Ramadhan, everyone. Welcome to this week's Saudi blogosphere roundup. The big news in the Saudi blogosphere this week was the blockage of Blogger.com.
When she saw Blogger blocked, Noura started filling the unblocking form right away, however, she thought that ISU won't unblock it (Arabic). “I tried them several time before, and I know their strategy. Whenever they find a website that attracts the Saudi society's attention, they block it,” she wrote. Mashi Sah called what happened (Arabic) a “scandal,”  and Riyadhawi called KACST “the city of darkness.” (Arabic)
Dotsson, a new comer to the Saudi blogosphere, has taken a tour to highlight the reaction of several bloggers to the blockage, using his special sarcastic style.
Roba posts about the violence against women. “There is a war against women and children in the world!” she said. One of the examples she mentions is the case of Rania Al-Baz. And while June says she is taking Rania's side, even she does not know why, Nour is taking the other side, and thinks that Rania is “making the most of her five minutes of fame.”
Abduh discusses the benefits of electronic books (Arabic) in education. Farooha posts some pictures from downtown Riyadh. “It was the raw and crude Riyadh; Riyadh as it is,” she said. Deema tells us about her first meeting with her cousin's wife, who was, for her surprise, Japanese. Nzingha has a long good post about compound living in Saudi Arabia. She also takes the time to teach us some food receipts for Ramadhan. Bored by all the above? You can try some of Mochness techniques to fight boredom.

author: Ahmed Al-Omran


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Uganda: Malaria outreach · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Uganda-CAN reports that malaria outreach programs will be extended to northern Uganda, especially internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the strife-torn region.


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Ukraine: Anti-Corruption vs. Normalcy · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Orange Ukraine discusses the conflict between pro-stability and anti-corruption rhetoric between the Yushchenko and Tymoshenko camps.


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Uzbekistan: Fuel Shortages · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Olesya reports on gasoline shortages in Uzbekistan that have cause half kilometer lines and doubling of prices.


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Zimbabwe: Back from the dead · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Sokwanele tells the story of “Themba”, a Zimbabwean man whose beating at the hands of a group of youths nearly killed him–but didn't.


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Armenia: Fashion · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Blogrel comments on young women's fashion in Armenia. Is there a correlation between skirt length and economic success?


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Bangladesh, Bhutan: Gross National Happiness · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kazi finds the idea of Gross National Happiness (G.N.H) in Bhutan quite interesting.


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Brazil: International Speak Portuñol Day · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Yesterday was International Speak Portuñol Day. Portuñol is a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish much like Spanglish combines English and Spanish.

author: David Sasaki


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China: Ground control to Major Yang · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Yeohaeng Ilgi is in Beijing, watching endless media coverage of the launch of the Shenzhou VI spacecraft in a spooky re-run of 1950s space fever.


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China: Trust no-one · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

ESWN shares his philosophy of blogging, China reporting and critical thinking, saying that no-one gets a monopoly on the ‘truth’, whatever their credentials, especially where this ‘thing’ called China is concerned.


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Echoes from the Tunisian blogosphere · Global Voices
Mohamed Marwen Meddah

The beginning of this week marked a big buzz in the Tunisian blogosphere about Tunisia's national soccer team qualifying to the World Cup next year after a 2-2 draw with Morocco.
Marouen writes about the ReachOut initiative that the British Council has launched. This initiative encourages and enables open discussion between young people from Arab countries and the United Kingdom about issues raised by the United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
A number of the contributors will be selected to continue discussions face-to-face in Tunis and video conference with a group from the UK at Café Informatique International as part of the WSIS.
Zizou from Djerba wonders why Tunisia doesn't join the European Union (in French). He thinks we have many things in common with the new countries joining the EU; geographically, demographically, historically, economically and linguistically.
Sami writes (in French) about how he doesn't fast in Ramadan, and wonders why people don't respect his choice just like he respects theirs by not eating in public. He talks about how Ramadan is more of a tradition now than a religious practice, and the proof is that people don't pray and only fast, even though praying is more important than fasting.
In another post he wonders (in French) what would happen if people link between him and his online persona and how it would affect his life and his relationship with the people he knows.
K-Pax writes about his first impressions and how he's getting his life together in Montreal, Canada, after his immigration there. (in French)
Nostradamus is happy to find a website about Ramadan in Tunisia, featuring recipes, prayer times, tv programs and everything a Tunisian needs in Ramadan (inFrench).
TuniZika, the Tunisian musical podcast, release their third episode with music from El Tunisiano, Khaled Nemlaghi, Neshez and Watykan.
Keitaro writes about the great concert by US group “The three ladies of blues” that he attended at the municipal theatre of Tunis (in French).

author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah


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From the Caribbean Blogosphere · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Some snippets from this week's conversations in the anglophone Caribbean blogosphere:
Aruba
Lost in Smallness is resigned to the inevitable rise in gas prices after the recent parliamentary election.
Bahamas
in search of 42 complains about defective traffic lights, and Bahamas Blog posts some photos of Tropical Storm Rita's effects on the territory.
Barbados
gallimaufry was looking forward to seeing Canadian sci-fi writer Nalo Hopkinson (daughter of Guyanese writer Slade Hopkinson) at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies on October 12, an event Hopkinson herself blogged about last week.
Belize
Belize Blog – Only in Belize! is intrigued by the massive posters heralding the upcoming race for Mayor of Belize City, and Escribbler reports on a local football tournament.
Bermuda
A Limey in Bermuda reports on his recent chat with the mayor of St. George's about Bermuda's ailing tourist industry, making this unexpected observation about the effect of cruise ships on the marine environment: “Seagrass beds, which help prevent coastal erosion and provide a habitat for local marine life such as turtles and snappers, are already in decline. One of the things currently helping to fertilise them, however, is the sewage from the cruise ships. Lose the ships and the seagrass beds by Fort St. Catherine might be adversely affected.”
Dominica
seeds of a madness flower looks forward to the 9th World Creole Music Festival, which kicks off in Roseau, Domnica's capital, on October 28 and makes a few predictions about the opening night performance by Jamaican dancehall star Sizzla.
Guyana
Living Guyana reports on problems with the new renovation at the Cheddi Jagan International airport.
Jamaica
The Angry Dog's Kennel is irritated at the double-standard in censorship which caused references to guns and marijuana to be bleeped from the music video for Damian “Junior Gong” Marley's “Welcome to Jamrock” and Random Stories from a Kingston Girl talks about National Heroes Day and some of Jamaica's other public holidays. owensoft.net posts photos of Emancipation Park in Kingston, Jamaica's capital and Scratchie's World waxes patriotic about the country's national airline.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
And Still I Rise wonders whether to vote in the upcoming general election.
Trinidad and Tobago
Nicholas Laughlin files another of his “Guyana project” posts, this time about Guyana's long-awaited 2002 census report, which has just been released. “Most striking to me,” notes Nicholas, “Guyana's Amerindians are now 9.2% of the population, up from 6.5% in 1991–which may reflect improvements in health care, nutrition etc.” He comments as well on the timing of the census's release, observing that it was released “ten months ahead of what everyone expects will be a nasty general election, in a country where the two major political parties depend on ethnic voting, it's revealed that the ruling party's base is shrinking.” CaribPundit questions the wisdom of Haiti's refusal to allow individuals with dual-citizenship to contest the November election. And Small Island Girl posts a euphoric footnote about the Trinidad & Tobago football team's win over Mexico, which takes the country into fourth place in the FIFA World Cup regional rankings and two matches away from qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
US Virgin Islands
“Why has it been so quiet on the VI side of the Atlantic?” asks the USVI's News of St John, pondering the relative mildness of this year's hurricane season in the Caribbean. News of St John quotes Colorado State University forecaster William Gray's contention that “African dust blew across the ocean in August and September and that helped prevent storms because it dried out the mid-level atmosphere.” He also announces the Quelbe Traveling Exhibit and Colloquium 2005, which centers around the Virgin Islands’ traditional quelbe music form and blogs about the 20 percent increase in taxi fares on the island.
West Indies Cricket
The West Indies Cricket Blog kept its usual close watch over the English-speaking Caribbean's sporting obsession, observing that while tickets for the 2007 cricket World Cup go on sale next April, “it’s not going to be as simple as walking up to a ticket booth to make a purchase”. WI Cricket Blog also points to a controversial inclusion on the revamped Cricket World Cup 2007 board and one response to Antigua-based Texan billionaire Allen Stanford's sponsorship of the Stanford 20/20 tournament.
Podcasts
In the podosphere, the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society released its fourth podcast, which features reports on Software Freedom Day activities in Trinidad and Tobago and FLOS Caribbean, “a non-profit entity dedicated to the promotion, use and development of Free, Libré and Open Source software in the Caribbean.” Also in Trinidad, Caribbean Free Radio takes a look back at its own short history in its 34th episode. The latest edition of the Medical School Muse podcast (RSS feed), which is hosted by an American attending medical school in Grenada, takes on the subject of Grenadian customer service. And a new podcast out of Aruba called The Crijojo Funk Show features news and local music.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Hungary: Internet Hungary 2005 · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Hungarian Accent points to the Internet Hungary 2005 conference blog and translates a few posts.


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Hungary: Interview with Fraser Allen · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Pestiside interviews Fraser Allen, editor of Budapest Times, an English language newspaper in Hungary, and managing director of Budapest-Zeitung Kft, the publisher of the country's leading German language newspaper, Budapester Zeitung.


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Hungary: Soft Serv Defense · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Despite years of criticism from NATO for failing to meet its defense commitments, Hungary's Army has found room in its budget for soft serve ice cream machines for its fighter pilots reports Pestiside.hu.


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India: The Train Fare · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sometimes, corruption can sink lower than our worst expectations. Dilip on an experience sitting in a public sector bank..

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Indonesia: International Muslims · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Jakartass writes about being a Westerner who converted to Islam to marry his wife, and posts an e-mail he received about a charity drive at Ramadan from the Jakarta International Moslem Society.


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Indonesia: Why blog? · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Must be something in the blogowaters. A. Fatih Syuhud, an Indonesian student based in India, is also moved to share his blogger's philosophy.


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Libya: Blogsphere Aggregator Wanted · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Highlander of From the Rock is asking for hints to create an aggregator for the growing Libyan blogsphere.


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Mongolia: Missionaries pt. 2 · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa discusses missionary activities in Mongolia.


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Morocco: Migrants suffer in Morocco · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Saad of The World from Rabat quotes an eyewitness who reports the sufferance of migrants in Morocco. On the other hand, Human Rights Watch News Releases, (Middle East and Northern Africa), says that deportations to Morocco put migrants at risk and says that violence against Migrants in Ceuta and Melilla Requires Independent Investigation


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Nepal: Municipal Elections · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Legal News from Nepal reports that the Election Commission in Nepal is inviting political parties for registration for the forth-coming municipal elections.


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Pakistan: Consumerism and Ramadan · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Ramadan has taken on new hues. pakistani perspective on consumerism and the days of fasting.


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Pakistan: Earthquake Update · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Lahore has an update on the rescue and relief efforts in Islamabad.


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Palestine: Wall Kills Human Values · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

umkahlil quoting Saed Banoura who reports: ‘Wall Kills Human Values’ is the new slogan which the weekly procession against the Separation Wall in Bil’in village, west of Ramallah, carried on Friday following midday prayers. The procession took off after the Friday prayers and headed towards the construction site of the Separation Wall. “We want the world to know that this wall kills our trees, kills our land, and livelihood”, a resident said, “This wall kills love, peace, and humanity”. Another resident, carrying a Palestinian flag, said that this wall kills the Palestinian state, and Jerusalem.


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Poland: A Sinking Ship · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot reports that a political stumble is costing one candidate big in the runoff race for the Polish presidency.


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Poland: Grandpa-Gate · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot reports on the continuing saga of grandpa-gate in the Polish presidential race.


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Russia: Nalchik Roundup · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

siberianlight.net rounds up news about the violence in Nalchik.


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Russia: Perceived Rudeness · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Russian Blog discusses the perceived rudeness of Russians.


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Russia: Subway Survival · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Veronica Khokhlova writes about bad behavior and picking up bad behavior on the Moscow subway.


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Russia: TV’s Waning Influence · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Scraps of Moscow translates an article arguing that television's ability to influence Russian public opinion is on the decline.


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Saudi Arabia: Imagine Being a Woman · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Farah continues her war for woman's rights in Saudi. She translated an Arabic article by a Saudi female columnists Badria Al Bisher, titled “Imagine Being a Woman..”. She dedicate this article (the English translation) to what she calls a Bedouin, male-pride antics.


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South Africa: AIDS quackery · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

commentary.co.za reports on revelations that a couple of AIDS patients apparently thriving on a patent medicine issued by the “Rath foundation”, were in fact taking anti-retroviral medication all the time.


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Sri Lanka: Election Time · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Commenting on the Presidential Election, LG Journal says
Thirteen candidates filed nominations last Friday for the November 17 presidential election in Sri Lanka. While the number of candidates is a record, the political choices are strictly limited.


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Sub-Saharan Africa: Roll out the barrel · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Timbuktu Chronicles profiles a low-tech innovation that could help many poor families who lack easy access to clean water–the Hippo Roller.


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Sudan: Spotlight on Darfur 2 · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Coalition for Darfur calls on bloggers around the world to contribute simple posts, detailed essays, briefings or constructive criticism of nation-states, groups and individuals involved to Catez Stevens’ Spotlight on Darfur 2.


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Syria: Bashar on CNN · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

If you missed President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday morning comprehensive speech to the US CNN TV station. The following is the full story of the interview.


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Trinidad and Tobago: Yet Another Bomb Blast · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Caribbean Free Radio has the very latest on yet another bomb blast in Port of Spain.


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Uganda: Court issues warrants · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the alleged perpetrators of atrocities in Uganda, Human Rights Watch reports, calling on governments to help bring about the prompt arrest and transfer of these individuals to the court.


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Uganda, Nigeria: Birthday reflections · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Looks takes the opportunity of Uganda's 43rd anniversary (and Nigeria's 45th) to reflect on how little progress has been made in the area of human rights.


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United Arab Emirates: Inflation · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Keefieboy from Adventures in Dubai writes that the UAE is suffering from serious inflation these days, and it has just been announced that fees for several Government services will be increased soon.


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Vietnam: Foreign-backed J-programs · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Vietnam Journalism notes the rapid proliferation in recent years of journalism training programs backed by foreign institutions, but laments that “a number of participants of these courses just go to classes to… nod their heads. They leave behind immediately what they have just been taught,” the article says.


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Zimbabwe: MDC controversy · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Zimpundit has more on the current debate with Zimbabwe opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change over whether or not to contest the forthcoming senate elections. “I think this might be the end of the MDC as we currently know it,” he writes.


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From the Jordanian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Roba Al Assi

The Jordanian blogsphere sends its condolences and is praying for the victims and the families of victims of the devastating earthquake that occurred in Pakistan.
Jordanian blogging portal Jordan Planet is now also covering the blogs of expatriates living in Jordan, one of who is Dr. Marcy Newman, who in her last post writes about her experience crossing the borders of Israel and into Palestine. Another expatriate blogger, Schiavoni blogs about her surprise about Ramadan, “I guess I didn't really believe that a culture where 15 minutes means an hour, people would really be strict enough to refrain from eating, drinking or smoking anything.”
As for the usual serving of blogs, the Jordanian cultural front is singing this week. Jad Madi reports on the Jerash chariots, saying that they make Jerash the only place in the world where Roman army, gladiators and chariot racing performances can be experienced in a genuine Roman setting. How fascinating! Nasim Tamimi, on the other hand, is happy that the Royal Film Commission is now screening movies outside of the Jordanian capital of Amman, and Roba Assi has pictures of the first Andy Warhol exhibition taking place in Amman this month, along with the works of burgeoning Jordanian artist Hala Awad.
Stateside, Natasha Tynes, meanwhile reports about a “unique musical outing… enthralling us with their compositions that mesh jazz elements with Arabic melodies” in a live performance by Arabic band Shusmo, who performed in downtown DC, and she also wonders where Jordanian movies are in the Arab Film Festival taking place in the same city.
“Artwork by Jordanian artist Hala Awad” by Roba
On a more local facet, Mira Shnoudi is protesting about how interior designers in Jordan don't have their own organization, and Ahmad Humeid has a post about the billboard that vanished, saying , “Has anyone here heard of freedom of expression?”
Khalaf continues the talk about Ramadan from last week with a very interesting post pondering the question, “How conservative is too conservative?”  Isam Bayazidi says he is not surprised about the recent headlines saying that Jordanian diesel is against Jordanian standards for diesel, and Naseem Tarawneh writes saying, “the next big conflict is not about land or oil, it’s going to be water, or lack thereof.” Meanwhile, Natasha Tynes is outraged at the fact that latest honor killing case resulted in no more than six months in prison for the 26-year-old shepherd, a sentence which Haitham Sabbah also see as a pass to kill although no Islamic rule justify this light sentence. Haitham Sabbah also wonders if lawmakers will raise shields to protect bloggers, and he posts about the first Arabic homosexual magazine, Barra.

author: Roba Al Assi


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Steppin’ into the Turkish Blogosphere · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Last week's roundup of the Turkish Blogs was well received in the Turkish Blogosphere, even spawning a Turkish translation of the post on the website Blog Kardesligi.  Not only was there a translation on Blog Kardesligi but a  comment on the Global Voices project (in Turkish) as well.  Other Turkish sites that mentioned the Global Voices post were  Metrobloggling: Istanbul and  Ignore Me if You Can.  Plus, I have received many notes of thanks about the posts as well.  I am very flattered and I hope that I can do justice to the Turkish Blogs now and in the future.
So, let's get down to business…. Item one: Another wonderful food orientated website called  Portakal Agaci (Orange Tree), while it is in Turkish, it is a wonderful website with pictures to die for!
Onto issues of Turkey's Entrance into formal negoiations with the European Union, which we dealt with in last week's installment.  The blog  Mavi Boncuk, which focuses on posting articles and information relating to Turkey, its present and its past, recently posted an article about Turkey's talks with the European Union.   The article questions the motives of now wanting to join the European Union, and questions the effectiveness of joining a political entity that is getting as large as it is.  Since, I can not paraphase as eloquently as the article itself, here is a snippit:
This putative transnational behemoth is the natural consequence of the series of decisions, taken for the most lofty of motives, that culminated in this week's final pressing of the red button on Turkey. And therefore it is this monster-sized EU that we need to start thinking about and planning for. Becoming almost as large as the USAIf we now wonder how on earth to manage a union with almost as many states as the USA without the trappings of a federal superstate, then this is a question that we should have asked a long time ago. But it is surely naïve and simplistic to imagine that a union of 40 countries, the majority of them lying east of the old Iron Curtain, can simply become a version of the old western EU15 writ large. For better or worse that union, comfy and coherent, is gone forever.
Another issue facing the EU and Turkey is the issue of the bird flu, which tops the EU Agenda for this week.  Metin from Talk Turkey posts about the bird flu and it's recent discovery in 2 villages in Turkey, leading to the birds being destroyed.  He postulates that while the news is still relatively new, that we are sure to hear more about this in the future as the pandemic progresses.  Yildiz, from the self-titled blog Yildiz (Turkish) writes about the hysteria over the bird flu and it's recent discovery in Turkey and Romania. What I find endearing about this particular post is the tongue-in-cheek photo posted alongside of it of three white baby ducks.
For next week, I plan to cover some of the many Turkish poetry blogs, as poetry is a long held traditional art in Turkey; and we will cover the news/events as well and hopefully some podcasting!


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Indonesian blogs: Top blogs, taxpayer, reshuffling and acquisitions · Global Voices
Enda Nasution

Top 100 Indonesian blogs
Indonesian blogosphere buzzing yesterday when Priyadi release his list of top 100 Indonesian blogs. Sorted by how many blogs/pages links to your blog, Priyadi showed 100 most popular Indonesian blogs from 460 blogs that he compiled.
The list is not perfect but it's a start. He estimated there are 10,000 Indonesian blogs on Internet and planning to make a more comprehensive list based on larger Indonesian blogs database
Other Indonesian bloggers followed with their version of the list shortly, sorted by other methods.
Increase the number of Indonesian taxpayer
Love letters from Indonesian Directorate General of Taxation are hot. Many Indonesian, somewhat rather confused, received this “love letters”, a notification of Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), or NPWP in Bahasa Indonesia, while have no idea what to do about it due to the lack of information on this matter.
Apparently this is a part of effort to reach a target to increase the number of Indonesian taxpayer from 2 million people to 10 million by 31st October.
Yes, with 240 millions population, it is rather surprising only less than 1% of us are paying tax. Therefore, the government has every rights to try to increase tax paying citizens, and many Indonesian are more than willing to pay if only that the staff of Directorate General of Taxation was not notoriously known to often pocketed the tax money themselves.
Hopefully, this effort to increase tax paying citizens has a positive consequences where more Indonesian will pay more intention and demand more government accountability.
Cabinet reshuffling, acquisitions and Google Inc.
Yosef Ardi at Indonesia Today has a round up (in English) of situation confronted by Indonesian political parties regarding cabinet reshuffling, demand voiced by many public element due to disappointment of economic ministries under President SBY administration.
He also named 2005 as the Malaysia's year of acquisitions with so many Malaysian companies acquired Indonesian companies, just like 2004 and 2003 was for Singapore albeit with totally different reaction and sentiment from Indonesian.
And as noted by Jalan Sutera, a columnist over at Bloomberg posed an interesting question, “Would You Rather Own Google or Indonesia?” citing the fact that in April, Google Inc. surpassed Indonesia’s entire stock market in value.
As I said, interesting hypothetical question, but in the real world the first thing that come to mind is the phrase dotcom bubble. The savvy long term investor will choose Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, an archipelago of some 18,000 islands with rich natural resources –including oil — (even tough currently kind of mismanaged) that make the world’s powerful nations salivate over the 7 years old Internet search engine.
And yes, the article suggested the same thing in the end.

author: Enda Nasution