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Egypt: Filmmaker’s struggle finally pays off · Global Voices
Nermeen Edrees

Egyptian cinema-goers will finally be able to watch Ibrahim El Batout’s film Ein Shams [Ar] (Eye of the Sun) as an Egyptian movie at the end of this month – after a long drama with censorship.
El Batout, considered among the most distinguished Egyptian independent directors and filmmakers, struggled with the censor back when he first started working on his second feature film. The director decided to swim against the tide and start filming without acquiring the required permits. He explains his reasons in an interview with the Art Review Magazine as follows:
The film was made in a different way. Without the censors’ Permission. I filmed it and am asking them now to see it so that I'd screen it. They don't want this. They want you to inform them of the film from the point of just thinking about it
As demonstrated in the film’s Facebook group Ein Shams has acquired many reputable awards. They include:
Winner of The Golden Tauro Best film Award in Taormina Film Festival.
Winner of Best First Film Award in Roterdam Arab Film Festival.
Winner of Special Jury Mention in Carthage Film Festival.
Nevertheless, the censors decided to allow the film into Egypt under the condition of having it screened as a foreign film – a compromise the director objected to.
In a article posted in the film’s blog, Joseph Fahim exclaimed:
But apparently that won’t happen now. The film's trailer has already been aired on Egyptian TV channels and cinema lovers in Egypt, who are thirsty and looking forward to El Batout’s next thought provoking film, will be able to watch it in a cinema near them soon.

author: Nermeen Edrees


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Georgia: Russian youth movement provocation · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Wu Wei Thoughts from the Tao comments on news that the pro-Putin Nashi youth movement attempted to cross into Georgian territory during last week's protests in Tbilisi. The blog says that such an attempt will do nothing to help the opposition in its attempt to force the Georgian president to resign.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Global Recession: The world is talking. Are we listening? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

There is no lack of online articles about the various aspects of the global economic crisis. Many of them are written by economic experts and policymakers. What about the perspectives of ordinary bloggers? What about those who do not write in English? This global roundup of blogs gathers stories of people around the world who are struggling to survive the economic downturn. This article will highlight the views of bloggers about the recession, identify the different manifestations of the crisis in several countries, and illustrate how the deteriorating economy is affecting the global society as a whole. This post complements the five other articles of this series on the global crisis.
Crisis indicators
The recession in the United States and Europe is affecting the garments industry of Bangladesh. Many factory workers were laid-off because of reduced production.  Another industry which is suffering is the shrimp sector, the second biggest export item of Bangladesh. The economic problems of other Asian nations are also causing a problem for Bangladesh.  As the shipping business weakens in Singapore, many of its Bangladesh migrant workers are sent home. Malaysia has also decided to hire unemployed local workers first before recruiting foreigners. This is bad news for Bangladesh migrant workers whose main country of destination is Malaysia.
In Kazakhstan Alim-atenbek writes about a crisis last winter in the industrial town of Stepnogorsk where heating, electricity and water supply were cut off for nearly a week.
It is a pity to read such things about the once prosperous town. Instead of investing in reconstruction of the obsolete infrastructure, we had been building glazing skyscrapers in [the new capital of Kazakhstan] Astana, which are now standing empty. Seemingly, after the financial crisis, the infrastructure crisis is looming – and, eventually, the political one.
Kazakhstan’s currency was devalued last February. The economic impact was immediately felt by its citizens. According to blogger Katelka
We became 25% poorer. Lately the salaries of budget-paid employees and pensions were increased by 25%, and now this raise is eaten up. I have friends who get paid in KZT, but their mortgage is in dollars… Many shops change their price-lists. In large food supermarkets people were running around with trolleys and sweeping away everything: cereals-butter-pasta, informs
The collapse of the dram is also a major sign of the global economic crisis in Armenia. It has created a lot of panic in the country.
In Hong Kong the financial crisis is blamed mostly on Financial Secretary John Tsang. There are 20 Facebook roups protesting against him. The biggest group (with more than 10,000 members) is asking John Tsang to receive a HKD4000 salary per month because of his subsidy plan encouraging companies to hire university graduate with a minimum wage of HKD4000.
In Cebu province of the Philippines, the DYAB Abante Bisaya's radio program, Pulso, asked its viewers about their thoughts on the financial crisis. Here are some of their answers:
Kaniadto, mag-awto gyod ko.  Karon mag jeep na ko.  Seven rides gud ko padulong sa trabahoan.   Kay ang akong suweldo kuwang ra man.  Mahal baya ang maintenance sa awto.  Mag-awto na lang ko kon kusog kaayo ang uwan.  Gikan ni Chona sa Lapulapu City;
Ang krisis dugay na gyod nako nabatyagan kay kani-adto moingon ko nga way kuarta, akong pitaka naa pa nay tinipigan nga bag-o ug way pilo gikan sa P20 ngadto sa P1,000, pero kon moingon nga way kuwarta, aw sus as in wala gyod,.  Gikan ni Rollie sa Talisay City;
Krisis na gyod kay sa pag-abli namo sa tindahan nag-una ang utang kay sa cash.  Gikan ni Oslec;
Nakabatyag na mi sa krisis kay daghan nang bakante sa boarding houses diri sa Opon.  Gikan ni Mr. Baguio.
I noticed the crisis long ago because before when I say there's no money, my wallet still have new P20 to P1,000 bills, but now when I say there's no money, there really is nothing. From Rollie of Talisay City;
It's really crisis because when we opened the store the debts came first before the cash. From Oslec;
We already experienced the crisis because there are many vacancies in the boarding houses here in Opon. From Mr. Baguio
Struggling migrants
In a previous post, I mentioned about Brazilian migrants who are living in the streets of Japan. A video clip from a Fuji TV news report narrates the story of Sidival Furuzawa Pereira, a homeless man in Hamamatsu, Japan.
Below is a summary of the video:
Mr. Pereira spends his days checking trash heaps for aluminum cans and junk he can bring to recycling centers and exchange for money. At the beginning of the clip, he takes a full bicycle load of old appliances and exchanges them for 350 yen (about $3). Instead of using the money on himself, he saves it so he can send it to his wife and children in Brazil. As a result, Pereira eats food he finds in the garbage.
The clip ends with Pereira making a phone call to his family on January 1st. They ask him to come home, but he tells them he is determined to stay in Japan and earn money to help them.
Mako explains why he left Paraguay for Spain
En mi caso particular me vine a España porque estaba totalmente arruinado económicamente; de tener una bodega, un bar y una despensa, en pocos años terminamos en ruina, cada vez se vendia menos, la venta callejera que vendia mas barato sin pagar impuestos, el pago de alquiler, personal y las ventas cayeron a pique, y los servicios
públicos cada vez mas caros…
Claro que los extraño, extraño mi casa, mis parientes, mis perros, y extraño mucho el tomar tereré sin la menor prisa bajo el mango, como si el tiempo no existiera, extraño a mis parientes en las navidades, cumpleaños, bodas o el simple hecho de reunirnos a comer tallarin con pollo un domingo.
Of course I miss (my family), I miss my house, my relatives, my dogs, and I miss drinking tereré (herbal water) under the mango tree and having no hurry, as if time did not exist, I miss my relatives during Christmastime, birthdays, weddings or the simple act of getting together to eat chicken with noodles on a Sunday
Unemployment
Job losses continue to worsen throughout the world. The rising unemployment rate is the most familiar sign of the global recession. Even profitable companies are shedding jobs. Barbados Underground sees this trend in Barbados
There is something very strange which has started to unfold in Barbados and around the Caribbean in recent weeks. Many of our leading and PROFITABLE companies have been sending home workers.
It borders on criminal that PROFITABLE companies would cut loyal employees who would have contributed to the success of these companies.
Why would profitable companies in Barbados and in the Caribbean rush in indecent haste to dismiss employees? Over the years when the times were good would it not have been caring for those PROFITABLE companies to set aside a reserve to provide for employees in less profitable times like now?
Bloggers around the world are also providing suggestions on how to overcome unemployment. Charoenchai Chaipiboolwong, an economist blogger from Thailand believes that nurturing creativity is important for individuals seeking jobs
The best solution is not the pricing war since it will harm everyone in the market but to find the “value added” in our products. If you are just employee, then find the “value added” in your skill instead.
The only way to “add the value” is via creativity. Creativity brings differentiation from competitors
In South Korea a letter written by a father to his son who is encountering difficulty finding a job today has inspired other netizens. This letter has been linked and cited by many bloggers in the country. An excerpt of the letter:
“…원망하고 질책을 하기엔 너무 늦어 버렸다…
성공한 사람일수록 진실 되어야 후환이 없는 법이다
부디 명심 하거라—평생을 살아온 경험에서 얻은 이야기니—
경제 어려운것 열심히 노력 하면 반드시 좋아질 날이 있다
하지만 그것은 여러 사람들의 노력이듯 자신들의 몫이기도 하니까…”
As it is from efforts from many people, it is also from your own effort….”
A labor activist in Taiwan criticizes commentaries which blame unemployed individuals while ignoring the shortcomings of the social system:
台灣的失業工人之所以會獨自走向貧窮、燒炭的命運，很大部分正是因為我們長期把失業當成個別勞工的錯誤與罪過，卻錯失集體面對、思考制度結構嚴重缺損的問題。如何透過這次因權貴階級把玩資本遊戲，而讓無辜勞工承擔痛苦的大失業潮，讓大眾至少能在「失業不只是我的錯」這個共識下，思考並推動妥善處理失業創傷的制度療法，才是一個正確的理絡，絕對不該再走回高唱勞工自我調適、增值的老路上。
Dissent
In China workers who lost their jobs in state-controlled factories are organizing protest actions. In Baoding, Hebei, about 6000 workers are on strike, as their factory was sold and they would be soon laid off. They marched to Beijing to present a mass petition. This action worried others because it might heighten political instability. Blogger 阿丁 (A-Ding) commented on this attitude
有人担心工人们冲动而打砸抢，就别鸡巴瞎操心了——罢工不过是工人们为了自身权益采取的诉求方式，工人们比你们理智。几乎每一次暴力事件，都是统治者高高在上，不肯疏浚民怨、强奸公正和暴力压制的结果
Conclusion
This completes our initial series on the global economic crisis. The first post deals with the crisis in general and the discontent it is creating around the world. The second post reviews some of the bailout and stimulus plans of select countries. The third post identifies some survival tips and business opportunities related to the recession. The fourth post highlights the impact of global job losses and the situation of returning migrant workers. Countries which claim to be unaffected by the financial crisis are the focus of the fifth post.
Readers may notice that the articles in this series rarely mention recession stories in the U.S. While recognizing the serious economic challenges faced by the U.S., this series invites the public to study how the recession is shaping and reshaping societies in the world. We want our readers to appreciate how the recession in the U.S. is creating old and new problems around the globe. Many bloggers are providing alternative and insightful views on the crisis. Part of solving the problem is to encourage a global conversation on the economic crisis. This series is a contribution to jumpstart this global conversation.

author: Mong Palatino


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India: Rare Honor For A Blogger · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indian star blogger and columnist Amit Varma has been selected as one of the 50 most powerful people in India by Business Week. Amit responded with a typical witty remark: “I come between Sachin Tendulkar and Lalu Prasad Yadav, and am not quite sure how to respond to that honor. What have I done to deserve this?”

author: Rezwan


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Iran: Journalist sentenced to 8 years prison · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Calibor2000, an Iranian blogger, writes [fa] that Iranian government sentenced Roxana Saberi, American-Iranian journalist to 8 years prison in order to use her for a prisoner swap deal.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Israel: What Happens when IDF Soldiers Testimonials are Taken Out of Context · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

On March 19th, Israeli daily Ha'aretz published a report describing the alleged incidents in a closed-door meeting of Israeli soldiers at a military prep program, where they described multiple accounts of immoral orders and actions taken by the Israeli military during the recent Gaza operation ‘Cast Lead’. Their testimony runs counter to the IDF claim that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation, but falls in line with stories coming from Palestinians, describing multiple Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Danny Zamir,  the program founder, had invited combat soldiers and officers who graduated the program for a lengthy discussion of their experiences in Gaza. They spoke openly, but also with considerable frustration. The session transcript was published and quickly picked up by multiple media outlets.
Zamir: “I don't intend for us to evaluate the achievements and the diplomatic-political significance of Operation Cast Lead this evening, nor need we deal with the systemic military aspect [of it]. However, discussion is necessary because this was, all told, an exceptional war action in terms of the history of the IDF, which has set new limits for the army's ethical code and that of the State of Israel as a whole.
“This is an action that sowed massive destruction among civilians. It is not certain that it was possible do have done it differently, but ultimately we have emerged from this operation and are not facing real paralysis from the Qassams. It is very possible that we will repeat such an operation on a larger scale in the years to come, because the problem in the Gaza Strip is not simple and it is not at all certain that it has been solved. What we want this evening is to hear from the fighters.”
Amira Hass stresses the importance of these testimonials on the Democracy Now blog:
“the soldiers actually confirm what Palestinians have been telling for the past three months, and journalists who listen to Palestinians and believe Palestinians and know their work of taking affidavits and testimonies from Palestinians have done so during the last three months. This is the main importance.”
The chief army prosecutor, Brigadier General  Avichai Mendelblit, announced the criminal investigation after the accounts became public. However, on March 30th he said he would not file charges, claiming crucial components of the soldiers’ descriptions were based on hearsay.  Mendelblit was quoted as saying: “the majority of the soldiers’ descriptions were rumors, not told from personal knowledge”.
In his blog, Ori Heitner claims that mainstream media totally missed Danny Zamir's message:
Danny provides a complex message, dealing with a complex reality. The argument was tempestuous, ranging between the two poles of simplicity and extremity.
My critique for Danny is that he did not take the necessary steps to remove those who leveraged his message to slander and hurt the IDF's image – first and foremost Ha'aretz newspaper.
He continues on to publish Zamir's reaction to the Israeli uproar against his claims:
The need to investigate IDF's failures in order to preserve its spirit and ethical code cannot be considered an action “against” IDF. On the contrary, it is an action that comes from a place of responsibility and partnership with the events happening in the military, which is composed of use all.
The claims that this exposure of our soldiers actions will fuel Israel haters, is wholly improper. Those who hate Israel do not need specific descriptions such as theres. However, I have no doubt that a naiive, western civilian who is mulling over Israel's image, will see the acknowledgment and reaction to our failures as evidence to a healthy and very much alive democratic society, dealing with its difficulties.
Danny ends his essay with a final sentence: “Enough critique, enough hatred and lies. Morality is a strength – not a weakness.”
A thorough explanation written by Danny Zamir himself, was recently published in the Jerusalem Post:
It was as if the media were altogether so eager to find reason to criticize the IDF that they pounced on one discussion by nine soldiers who met after returning from the battlefield to share their experiences and subjective feelings with each other, using that one episode to draw conclusions that felt more like an indictment. Dogma replaced balance and led to a dangerous misunderstanding of the depth and complexity of Israeli reality. The individual accounts were never intended to serve as a basis for broad generalizations and summary conclusions by the media; they were published internally, intended for program graduates and their parents as a tool to be used in the process of educating and guiding the next generation.
….
THE GUIDING principle that directs IDF combat soldiers, both in their planning and conduct in combat, encompasses a balance between two needs: to defend soldiers’ lives and to minimize harm to the civilians behind whom terrorists try to hide. This is expressed in the tension between the necessity of opening fire when the soldiers’ security and battle conditions require, even when there's a danger to civilians (providing advance warning to the extent possible), and the absolute obligation to hold fire and to act with due compassion toward civilians when it appears that they have no evil intent. In addition, basic respect toward civilians’ belongings and their religious and spiritual property is part of this moral code.
…
IF IT'S possible to learn something from the real Israel – and not that which the media (including Israeli media) makes such efforts to portray – it would be from the uproar of emotions and the frank discussions that have taken place within Israeli society in the wake of the soldiers’ accounts. It is out of their commitment to the moral code that the soldiers spoke and their accounts were submitted; purity of arms requires continuous examination of our actions and intentions.
Tal highlights the fact that as a moral society, Israel must make an effort to dig even into its own dark regions:
Lately we've heard the testimonials on inappropriate actions taken by soldiers. There's no need for me to repeat the claims which include unnecessary killing of men, women and children. If this is true, it is a severe and grave issue, so severe it shakes the whole system.
But first, we need to mention that ever since the testimonies were published, we've heard claims against the validity of their source – meaning: there is a stream of rumors on the soldiers actions. Human rights organizations have called out to create an international committee which would research the claims. They have mentioned that Palestinian testimonials from their research match these Israeli soldiers’ claims.
So where is the truth? Usually the truth lies somewhere in between – and should not wait for anyone to research this for us – but we need to dive deeply into this issue.
This story can wander and disappear in a time when explosive headlines appear every week. This matter can be dealt with on an international level if we will not deal with it on a national level – and dealing nationally does NOT mean giving “discounts” or silencing soldiers. It means that the truth will come out from us and we will not need someone from the outside to come and tell us if our society is broken.
It is reasonable to assume that these testimonials, even if all true, describe the actions of specific military units who did not follow the correct interpretation of the IDF protocol – meaning: even if all are terrorists, shooting a young child
Assume that not all the army behaved in one specific way. Assume that the majority of soldiers did not commit a crime. Assume that those who did commit criminal acts, were doing so under the intensity of war (that which those of you who have never fought will find difficult to understand). But… even if 10 percent of our soldiers who took part in the operation incorrectly interpreted an order and caused excess killing, this issue will be investigated – will rise up and will be examined from soldier to soldier.
Being a moral society means digging into even our own dark regions.
In a blog essay, Herb Keinon writes about the loss of context with regards to people's reactions over the published testimonies:
Obviously, everyone abroad who wants to accuse Israel of war crimes in Gaza will jump at these stories; every anti-Israel NGO will disseminate them as further proof of our evil.
What is lacking is context.
First of all, this type of testimony is legendary in Israel – there is even a phrase to describe it: yorim ve'bochim (shoot and weep). The most famous book of this genre, Siach Lochamim, came out immediately after the Six Day War in 1967, and was translated into English a few years latter under the title The Seventh Day.
The testimonials from the Rabin preparatory course have a similar feel: soldiers talking about their war experiences – what they saw, what they heard, what they felt good about, what they didn't feel good about.
It is important to note that none of the testimony was about what the soldiers did themselves, but rather of what they heard or saw other soldiers do. It is also important that what was reported seems to fall within the realm of aberrations by individuals during war against a cruel enemy hiding behind civilians, not a systematic loss by the army of its moral compass.
The second piece of context is Danny Zamir, the head of the program, who had the soldiers‚ words transcribed and published. A story in Haaretz on Thursday said that in 1990 Zamir, then a parachute company commander in the reserves, was tried and sentenced to prison for refusing to guard a ceremony where “right-wingers” brought Torah scrolls to Joseph's tomb in Nablus.
Zamir, in an interview on Israel Radio on Thursday, said that the soldiers from Operation Cast Lead who spoke at the meeting reflected an atmosphere inside the army of “contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians.”
In his blog post  Tal Galili highlights some of the web-comments (talkbacks) that were submitted in Hebrew after the ynet article covering the IDF soldiers claims that they were given immoral orders:
- the media has spun out of control
– why is this published?
– lies!!!!!! It is appalling to read such lies. The person who said this should present himself and not hide behind a fabricated name
– when will you understand that its either us or them
– why does this need to be published in the papers???!!!
– and their target is only civilians?!
– our sons got back home. That is the most important
– these are homes which had specific intelligence and were filled with terrorists
– I've never seen a country that shoots itself in its feet like Israel
– Leave the IDF already and let us do our work!!
– IDF is the most moral army in the world
– because the story of one soldier we all believe?
– war. This was not a stroll in the park. It's war.
– where is the censorship and the media's discretion
There are numerous voices in the Hebrew blogosphere coming out against Zamir and his students’ testimonials. One of them is highlighted in this blog post:
Not only are these “testimonials” untruthful, but also show that the left (Israeli political left wing) is seeking to bash the IDF's image and take any form of evidence to create an image it has been drawing all these years – a messianic, extreme and murderous army. Zamir expresses this in his essay.
Another perspective against Zamir criticizes his hidden political leftist agenda.
The Australian Jewish News blog posted a long reaction against Danny Zamir:
Whatever the merits of his political opinions, Zamir has a history of using the military as a stage for expressing them.
Ha’aretz, too, is guilty of obfuscation in this case. The newspaper depicted its “scoop” as the revelation of an IDF cover-up, but did not provide any evidence for it.
The entire story is told in language meant to convey large number of soldiers. But the semantics are hiding a simple fact -– the vast majority of the soldiers in the transcripts did not actually testify to anything immoral.
The more Israelis study the story, the more the culprit turns out to be lax reporting on the part of Ha’aretz. The banner headlines about Israeli military brutality turn out to be third-hand testimony filtered through Danny Zamir. Long before the Zamir testimonies broke, I heard from some good friends in the paratroopers a nearly opposite story.
They described walking among booby-trapped buildings, fighting an enemy that survived only by fleeing deep into the civilian areas into which they knew the IDF troops would not follow.
If there is truth to the yet-unproven -– indeed, un-investigated -– allegations that IDF troops committed crimes in Gaza, the soldiers responsible must be tried and severely punished.
But if the testimony, which is far milder than the media circus surrounding it, turns out to be untrue, who will pay the price? The lazy Ha’aretz editors who drag an entire nation’s name through the mud on the strength of a second-hand rumour? The international media that not only didn’t fact check against Ha’aretz, but most of the time did not even tell the Ha’aretz story properly?
Whichever scenario turns out to be the truth, the testimonies have shed light in some dark places.
While writing this post, I've been trying to make sense of the multitude of perspectives around this highly disputed story. As many bloggers suggest, the truth seems to lie somewhere in-between the formal Hamas and IDF claims. Once again, we witness the implications of having fast-paced, worldwide media coverage, that can easily spin stories out of their original context; precisely how a closed door session between school colleagues turns into a world-wide news sensation. I will end the post here, but please feel free to add links and opinions to the comments section of this important story.

author: Gilad Lotan


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Korea: Is teachers’ physical punishment toward students a crime?  · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

A second grade student at a primary school was struck 27 times by her teacher because she gave the wrong answer to a math question. After her mother put a photo of her daughter’s bottom with bruises on the internet, parents’ associations and other netizens criticized the teacher’s behavior. In the end, the district education office gave her 3 month probation period disregarding the first decision that her qualification as a teacher was taken.
This scandal has become a hot argument on the Internet. Teachers’ whipping has traditionally been regarded as ‘sarang ui mae’ (whipping of love) – teacher’s love and careness toward his or her students. However, there are more people who don’t agree with the traditional thought anymore.
Here is a teacher’s writing. He or she argues that physical punishment is from teachers’ love toward their students. Irresponsible or lazy teachers who aren’t concerned with their students’ futures even don’t have passion to put their energy into their students. He or she also emphasizes that it shouldn’t be judged with different values.
교육 현장에서 체벌이 반드시 필요하다는 말은 하지 않겠습니다. 저 역시도 체벌을 긍정적으로 보지는 않습니다. 교육학에대해서 공부한 사람들은 알겠지만 교육에서의 육체적 체벌을 긍정적으로 본 교육학자들은 없습니다.하지만 여기서 주의해야할 부분은 외국의 예를 들어 우리나라 학교에서의 체벌을 두고 아동학대 운운하는 것은 매우 위험한 발상입니다. 서양인들이 지닌 관점을 기준으로 우리의 교육 현장을 봐서는 안되기 때문입니다. 체벌이 없는 유럽의 국가들과 미국 등  많은 선진국들의 시스템을 먼저 보면, 한국 학교와는 달리 매우 엄격한 룰을 적용하고 있습니다. 학생들의 비행이나 수업준비 태만, 지각, 과제 미제출 등 학생들이 범하게되는 잘못에 대해서 학칙을 적용해서 학생들을 처벌하는 통제 시스템을 가지고 있습니다. 올해부터 우리 나라 학교에도 적용되는 그린마일리지 시스템이 이러한 외국의 제도를 도입한 유사한 사례가 될 것입니다. 결과적으로 학생들은 유급, 휴학, 징계 등 다양한 처벌을 받게 되고, 고등학교를 졸업하지 못하는 학생들도  우리나라에 비해 현저히 높습니다. 프랑스에서는 약 30% 정도의 고등학생들이 졸업을 하지 못하고 대학 진학도 못하고, 또한 취업을 못해 거리를 배회하는 학생들로 만들고 있습니다. 이게 외국의 엄격한 규정을 적용하는 시스템에서 발생할 수 있는 문제입니다. 반면에 한국도 학생선도규정 등은 모두 있지만 이를 엄격하게 적용해서 학생을 징계처리하는 경우는 흔하지 않습니다. 고등학교 학생들이 가장 흔하게 범하는 비행중에 하나인 흡연을 예를 들어보겠습니다. 한 학생이 흡연에 적발되었습니다. 바로 징계받습니까? 학교에 따라 바로 징계를 받을 수도 있겠죠? 그럼 2번, 3번, 4번… 계속해서 흡연에 적발되었습니다. 학교규정에는 상습적인 흡연은 퇴학까지 가능하다고 되어있습니다. 하지만 퇴학당하나요? 아닙니다. 그런데 외국은 같은 규정에서 적발이 되었다면 퇴학을 받는 경우가 한국보다는 높습니다. 선생님 앞에서 욕하고 말대꾸하면서 대드는 행위…. 종종 발생합니다. 아마 웬만한 고등학교에서 1년에 약 3회 정도는 발생하지 않나 싶습니다. 비슷한 정도로 학생들이 교사지도에 불응하고 대드는 행위를 했을 때 외국에서는 가차없이 학생에게 가혹한 징계를 내립니다. 하지만 한국에서는 보통 이런식으로 지도하죠. 그 선생님에게 찾아가서 무릎꿇고 잘못했다고 용서를 빌어라. 또 그러면 그런대로 넘어가는 경우가 대부분입니다. 그런 상황에서 선생님들이 용서못한다 무조건 징계내려야 한다. 그렇게 끝까지 고집피우는 선생님은 제가 알기로는 없습니다.
우리나라의 공교육이 지닌 근본적인 훈육시스템이 외국과는 다르다고 봅니다. 또한 한국인들이 지닌 기본적인 정서 자체가 다릅니다. 일부 학부모들은 자신의 아이가 체벌을 당했다면 대놓고 전화해서 따지고 저항합니다. 하지만 아직도 대부분은 부모들은 네가 잘못해서 그런거다. 똑바로 해라 라고 하면서 속은 상하지만 아이에게 혼을 냅니다. 만약 학부모의 의식이 완전히 변해서 그 수치가 뒤바뀌는 날이 온다면 우리 나라 교육에서 체벌은 없어지겠죠. 그리고 학생들을 통제하기 위한 수단으로서 외국처럼 엄격한 학칙을 적용하겠죠.  한국 교육에서의 체벌을 인간적인 행위로 간주할 수는 없습니다. 하지만 그 체벌이 무조건적으로 없어야 하고 아동 학대다, 범죄다라고 규정한다면, 근본적으로 우리나라 교육시스템이 변하고 교사들과 학생 학부모의 의식이 모두 바뀌어야 합니다. 개인적인 생각으로 그렇게 되기를 바라지는 않습니다. 한국사람들이 지닌 가치관과 의식의 문제인데…. 무조건 외국 사람들이 지닌 대로 가는 것이 바람직하지는 않습니다.
한국사람들이 가지고 있는 행동의 기대치와 가치관이 서양인들과는 다른데… 그러한 관점에서 체벌하는 것이 아동학대다? 그러면 그사람은 한국에 살면 안됩니다. 외국에 가서 자신과 비슷한 가치관과 사고방식을 지닌 외국인들 사이에서 섞여 살아야죠. 국민들의 의식과 문화적 차이 그리고 교육적 시스템을 망각하고 무조건적으로 서양인들의 관점으로 한국교육 특히 체벌문제를 규정하는 것은 매우 위험한 발상이 아닐까요?
Values that Koreans have and westerners have are different…. physical punishment is all children harrassment? Then those people shouldn’t live in Korea. Go to other countries and live with foreigners who have similar values and thoughts. Disregarding cultural differences and education systems, acknowledging education values, especially about physical punishment, with westerners’ perspectives is very dangerous.
마지막으로 좀더 현실적인 문제로 다시 접근하면, 요즘 선생님들 아이들 무자비하게 체벌하지 않습니다. 학교 자체적으로 체벌용도로 사용할 수 있는 회초리를 규정한 학교도 많고, 매의 횟수도 정하고 있는 학교가 많습니다. 그리고 교육청에서 체벌금지 관련한 공문이 자주 내려오고 있습니다. 학생들도 이젠 예전처럼 순진하지 않아서 교사가 감정을 갖고 폭력수준으로 체벌을 하면 동영상으로 찍거나 교육청에 글 남기고, 심지어는 경찰서에 고소까지 합니다. 교사들도 물론 그런거 다 알고 있지요. 그래서 선생님들이 자신 몸 사려가면서 체벌하지 않고, 말로 벌주고 심하면 학생부에 징계요구하고 뭐 그런상황입니다. 오히려 그런 상황을 알면서 학생들이 심각한 잘못(학교 기물파손, 주 및 흡연, 학교폭력, 금품갈취 등)을 했을 때 심할 정도로 때리고, 타이르면서 가르칠 부분은 가르치려고 노력하는 사람이 더 자질있는 교사가 될 수도 있는겁니다. 때리지 않고 규정에 따라 징계하고 결과적으로 징계 이외에는 학생들에게 가르침이 전혀 없는 것은 솔직히 교사하면 안되는겁니다. 까놓고 말하면 그렇게 하면 교사도 편합니다. 자기 자식도 학교 보내는 입장에서 학생들 때리면서 맘 편하지 않습니다. 결론은 체벌 좋지는 않은데, 이를 심하게 사회 악으로 규정하는 것은 한국인들의 의식과 교육시스템을 전혀 염두하지 않은 잘못된 시각이라는 것을 말하고 싶을 뿐입니다.
Another teacher is writing against the previous one.
체벌 없이도 정상적인 수업과 지도가 가능하며 교육현장에서 쓰이는  다양한 방법의 문제행동 제제 방법이 오히려 체벌보다 더 효과가 있습니다. 문제가 되는 학생에게 맨 처음주는 가벼운 제제는 ‘Time Out’ 데 이는 수업에 집중을 하지않고 주의가 산만하거나 수업의 진행에 방해가되는 행동을 하는 아동에게 내리는 벌로서 의자를 따로 교실의 벽면이나 다른 학생들과 간격이 떨어진 곳에 두고 홀로 앉아서 수업을 참관하게 하는 벌입니다.격리되는 상황에 아이들이 수치를 느겨 문제 행동이 진정되는 효과가 있습니다. 이 타임 아웃은 그러나 한번에 5 -10분 이상  더 길게 하지 않는것을 원칙으로 하고 있습니다. 그 이후에도  같은 수업중 여전히 문제  행동이 두번 이상 나타나면 이번에는 의자를 돌려 뒤를 보이고 앉아있게 합니다. 체벌은 물론 언어적인 폭력, 심지어 선생님이 학생에게 ‘말썽꾸러기'라는 의미의 ‘naughty’ 라는 말도 사용하지 못하게 되어 있습니다.
외국에서 맨 처음 직업을 가진 유치원에서부터도  아이들을 한 인격체로 대우하며 아이들끼리도 상대방이 싫어하면 다른 친구에게 손으로 신체에 접촉하는 것도 엄하게 금합니다.상대에 대한 의사존중의 예의를 어려서부터 세뇌가 될 정도로 익히며 자라납니다. 어려서부터 공부보다는 질서교육 ,이를테면 실내에서 뛰거나 큰 소리 내지않기,반드시 자리를 뜨기전 자신이 보던 책이나 놀이기구 치우기,밖에서 놀다 들어모면 신발에 묻은 모래나 흙등을  털고 실내화로 갈아신기등을 화 한번 안내고 꾸준히 하루에도 50번도 더 넘게 조용히 그러나 엄격하게 주의주는 동료 선생님의 태도에 속으로 득도한 수도자가 아닌가하고 감탄했었습니다.하지만 오래 지나니 내 자신도 어느새 그렇게 닮아있는 것을 발견하게 되었지요.
[…]외국에서는 사소한 폭력도 거의 준 범죄처럼 엄격한 잣대로 처음부터 대처하고,학생들간의 가벼운 싸움도 반드시 부모에게 통보가 가고 학교에서 그에 대한 처벌의 수위를 결정하기 위해 담임교사,학과장,그리고 학부모가 함께한 면담회를  교감 선생님 주관 하에   일차 가지고, 그다음 결정을 위한 선생님들만의 사정회를 가집니다. 처음이거나 가벼운 경우에는 3일 ,1주,2주 등의 정학을 받거나 ,사례가 나쁜 경우는 다른 학교로의 전학이 권고됩니다. 퇴학은 학생의 장래를 위해 일반적으로 취하지 않습니다. 이상과 같은 방법으로도 교실내에서  교사와 다른 수업을 듣는 학생들에게 피해가 되는 행동이 금지되며 국민학교 교실에서조차도  꽤 엄격한 수업이 진행됩니다.[…] 교육 목적에 부합한 선생님의 언어와 태도도 가르치는 교과 내용보다 더 중요하다고 생각하며  문제 행동을 하는 교사의 태도가 알려지면 경중에 따라 교사의 자격이 박탈되기도 합니다.
More arguments. 1:
교사체벌은 이제 범죄행위로 간주되어야 합니다.
아직도 많은 분들이 교사의 체벌은 간혹 필요하다고 하는데…이러한 주장은 가장 무서운 주장입니다. 그리고 교육의 변화를거부하는 빌미를 제공하는 것이지요. 교육의 가장 중요한 지향점은 올바른 인간입니다. 그 바른 인간을 기르기 위해 체벌을 사용한다? 결국 그것은 폭력을 가르키는 것입니다. 체벌과 폭력은 구분이 되지 않을뿐더러 체벌을 하는 행위는 범죄행위로 간주되어야 합니다.
UN의 아동권리협약의 통계를 보면 학교나 가정에서 조차 법적으로 체벌이 금지된 나라는 16개국입니다.  그리고 대부분의 나라 140여개국이 학교에서 체벌이 공식적으로 혹은 법적으로 금지되어 있습니다. 다만 일본과 중국 등 아시아의 선진 주도국을 제외한 상당수 아시아 국가가 아직도 체벌을 공식 인정하고 있는데, 이들 나라는 아동학대국의 오명을  지니고 있습니다. […] “사랑의 매” 그것 역시 강자 혹은 어른의 체벌을 정당화 하기 위한 논리입니다. 사랑의 매는 세상에 없습니다. 변태가 아니라면 아픔을 느끼고 수치스럼움을 느껴야 합니다. 내가 삐뚤게 나갈때 선생님이 체벌을 하여 지금의 내가 있었다고 말하는 사람도 있던데… 그것은 교사의 보살핌과 관심때문에 지금이 있는 것이지 체벌때문은 아닌것 입니다.
이것 역시 강자의 체벌론 그리고 강자의 힘의 논리에 세뇌되어 혼동이 발생한 것이지요. 폭력은 안되지만 아이들 통제를 위하여 체벌이 필요하다는 논리 역시 끊임없이 체벌권의 정당성을 조금이나마  지키기 위한 마지막 발악입니다.  세상 어디에도 사람을 때려도 괜찮다고 하는 것은 잘못된 것입니다. 사람을 가볍게 때려도 법적인 심판을 받아야 합니다. 그것이 정의입니다. 그리고 그것이 교육입니다. 잘못했다고 교사가 학생을 때리는 것은 범죄행위로 간주되는 것이 바로 교육입니다.[…]
Many people still think that physical punishment from teachers is sometimes necessary…. it is scary. They just don’t want changes of education. The most important part of education is to let students build up upright personalities. In order to raise upright humans, we need physical punishment? In conclusion, it is just teaching violence. Physical punishment and violence are not different and both of them should be regarded as crimes.
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the UN, there are 16 countries that legally prohibit physical punishment at schools and at homes. Most 140 countries legally prohibit physical punishment at schools. Except Japan and China, most Asian countries still acknowledge physical punishment and could be regarded as countries having children harrassment.[…] “Whipping for Love” This is an excuse that the strong and adults try to justify physical punishment. There is no whipping for love in this world. If you are not a pervert, anyone feels pains and shame. There are some people who are fine now because there was whipping for love from teachers when they were disobeying at schools. You are manipulated by the powerful’s logic. Violence shouldn’t be allowed, but the saying that physical punishment in order to control children is necessary is also a pathetic atrocity in order to justify their behavior. Anywhere, beating others up is wrong. Even though you lightly beat others up, it should be judged legally. It is justice. And it is education. The fact that teachers beat students up because those students did some mistakes should be regarded as a crime. That is education.[…]
2:
[…] 체벌이 옳다는 게 아니라 대안없는 반대는 그야말론 이상론, 산속에서 혼자하는 웅변에 지나지 않습니다.
오히려 세부 시행기준있는 체벌을 규정으로 딱 정해 두는게 이상과 교육현실의 갭을 줄이는데 도움이 되지 않을까요?
3:
‘교사체벌 = 범죄행위’ 라고 말하는 이들을 보면 그 사람의 뇌 구조 및 정신 상태를 한번 검사해 보고 싶다는 생각이 든다. 만일 본인이 부모가 되었을때 자신의 자녀의 잘못된 행위를 개선하기 위한 수단으로 100% 구두로 된다고 가능한지 한번 묻고 싶다. 물론 선생이든 부모이든 자녀에게 체벌을 하는 것을 좋아하는 이는 없을 것이다. 하지만 단계적인 개선이 되지 않을 경우에는 그러한 마지막 수단이 바로 ‘체벌'이다.[…]

author: Hyejin Kim


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Pakistan: National Bloggers Conference Live · Global Voices
Rezwan

The First National Bloggers Conference of Pakistan took place today at 5:00pm PST at Regent Plaza in Karachi. Teeth Maestro live blogged the event.


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Peru: Recovering Memories of the Amazon · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Everybody saves keepsakes like pictures, home movies, letters, and other publications for one reason or another, mainly for personal reasons.  However, these items are often tucked away in one's attic or left without much opportunity to be shared with others.  These items can also potentially serve as historical documentation of a different time and place so that later generations can see what life was like in years past.
This is what is happening in the Peruvian Amazon region and its capital Iquitos, a place where museums are not filled with these types of materials. There are some organizations with its own institutional archives, but bureaucracy and poor management often keeps the items out of view of the general public. Some like the Theological Studies Center of the Amazon [es] (CETA for its initials in Spanish) are doing their part of maintaining a library [es] of historical documents, some of which is available online like this article about Peruvian cinema [es], but still most of this material are located in a physical building in Iquitos.  Now through the use of blogs and photo and video-sharing sites, more and more of this material is being shared with others.  Some bloggers are uncovering manuscripts for publish on blogs, and others are discovering images and videos of their towns providing a new perspective on how things have changed.
This memory of a city is much more than its mere history.  Legends [es] are a big part of this, and the characters [es] that lived in the city. Who was the most popular girl in the 1930s? What was the most well-attended party in the 1940s? Who had the most beautiful house in the era of rubber or petroleum? These are all things that everyone knew back then, but now no one remembers.
For example, the blog Crónicas de Pacarmón [es] is a collection of news and stories about sports written by Don Pablo Carmelo Montalván or better known as “Pacarmon”, who was born in 1906 in X and passed away in 1983.  Since 2005, his son Fernando has been publishing these documents on this blog to preserve some of the information and anecdotes from that era including about the inauguration of a new football stadium in 1927 [es].
Photo courtesy of Crónicas de Pacarmón and used with permission.
The author has another blog that is publishing his father's novel about his participation in the Peruvian-Colombian War called: When Country Calls [es].
Home movies from the latter part of the 20th century were not made with uploading them to the internet in mind.  However, a recent discovery by Isaac at De La Selva su Web On [es] found a pair of movies taken by a family from San Francisco, California in the mid 1980s of the town of Iquitos.  The first one can be seen below and the second part can be seen here.
The daughter, who was 10 years old at the time, decided to upload the videos. In an interview, she writes, “they are historical documents and I thought it was a good idea to share with the world.” Isaac sees these videos as a revelation and as something that can help future generations understand how much or how little things have changed:
Viendo este video me doy cuenta que es importante y debe ser cuantiosa este tipo de registros de nuestras ciudades en manos de los turistas que alguna vez nos visitaron. Todo ese patrimonio o memoria está fuera de nuestro país. Que bueno que internet nos permita repatriar esta información.
There are other blogs with information and interesting stories and old photographs of Iquitos of yesteryear. For example, Raúl Herrera Soria of Amazónico del Perú [es] writes about a train that used to travel the street of Iquitos. There is also information about the mass killing of indigenous during their labor in the rubber industry during the 1910s. Fernando Najar writes:
Décadas después se hizo el recuento de que fueron ejecutados 30 mil witotos y otros 10 mil quedarían flagelados de por vida.  Los mataban porque no extraían la cantidad de látex que exigían los administradores de los 42 campamentos caucheros de la Casa Arana y que después se convirtió en The Peruvian Amazon Co. Ltda, registrada en Londres.
Decades later there was the story of the execution of 30,000 witotos (indigenous tribe) with another 10,000 whipped. They were killed because they did not extract the quantity of latex that the administrators of the 42 Casa Arana rubber camps demanded, this later became the Peruvian Amazon Co. Ltd. registered in London.
There are also history posts by Jesuer on Viajeros [es] about the community of Punchana.
Collectively, these documents can help paint a picture of what life was like in the Amazon region and studied for generations to come.

author: Juan Arellano


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Taiwan: Promoting language diversity · Global Voices
David Reid

Taiwan is home to a range of Austronesian and Chinese languages. Taiwanese Identity discusses ways to promote Taiwan's languages.

author: David Reid


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Zimbabwe: Was the ministerial retreat necessary? · Global Voices
Eusebia Madziwa

Zimbabwe is in a transformative stage that needs a paradigm shift in the country's policies.  In realisation of that fact the Zimbabwe coalition government officials went for a Ministerial Retereat recently at Victoria Falls whose aim was for them to come up with a 100 day Action Plan for the implementation  of the Short Term Emergency Economic Recovery Programme (STERP).
The coalition government felt that the retreat at Victoria Falls was necessary for the leaders to concentrate on strategy and policy formulation in a relaxing  atmosphere devoid of disturbances.
Was the retreat a waste of public money or a necessary step in healing the nation?  A controversial political figure in Zimbabwe, Prof. Jonathan Moyo  was concerned about who was footing the bill for such an event when the govenment is unable to adequately and fairly remunerate its civil service:
How is a financially bankrupt government that is unable to adequately and fairly remunerate its civil service be as self-indulgent as to splash scarce foreign currency on itself at an expensive tourist resort such as Victoria Falls with reckless abandon?
There is something rather sinister afoot here.
To be sure, the funding of the Victoria Falls cabinet retreat this weekend has not come from or through Treasury and the same is true of the various summits and dinners that some ministers have hosted in the name of the coalition government in recent weeks.
Apparently, the funding is coming from some donors who preach transparency and accountability during the day and practice the opposite at night.
These donors that have decided to sidestep, marginalise and undermine government structures in favour of creating parallel processes, are working through some well known individuals, Jill Day and Eddie Cross, who have been active in coordinating the summits and ministerial dinners that have been hosted in the name of the government without involving it.
Tanonoka Whande writing on Zimbabwe Times in an article entitled, “Slowly getting scared of the MDC,” sarcastically likened the retreat to a Catholic priests retreat.  This is what he said about the retreat.
When Catholic priests are under pressure and need invigoration and renewal they go on a retreat. Listening to and carrying the transgressions of all the sinners can leave any priest drained and powerless.  It seems the Zimbabwe coalition government officials  are tired already and needed to seek renewal, hence the Ministerial Retreat at Victoria Falls.  Or as the Oxford dictionary says,  a retreat is “withdrawing from confrontation with enemy forces”. It is also “a withdrawal to a quiet or secluded place” or just “a period or place of seclusion for prayer and meditation”. Which one of these descriptions best fits Zanu-PF and the MDC in Victoria Falls? Was it prayer and meditation; withdrawing from confrontation with enemy forces or simply the first stop of the GNU gravy train? Less than sixty days into office, the work horses of Zimbabwe’s government of national unity are so tired that they need to go on a retreat. And they did it at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe’s most expensive tourist destination. What is wrong with the Masasa Training Centre or the Quality Inn in Harare as venues for such a meeting? A weekend retreat, they call it. What can be achieved in a weekend that they have failed to achieve in two months?
However, Gilbert Muponda thought that the retreat was a critical step in the national healing process:
The on-going Zimbabwe Ministerial retreat conference in Victoria Falls is an important step in trying to create a normal environment for Economic recovery. It is important to note that this was facilitated by the World Bank. Whilst the people are understandably angry about a gathering at a major tourist attraction area this is a gathering which forms part of the national healing process and creating a national unity of purpose sense. The politicians have to lead by example of being tolerant to each other and it is when people see such gatherings that they will believe MDC and ZANU-PF can really sit together without being forced by Mr Thabo Mbeki or Mr Ian Khama and discuss how they want to re-build their country and ensure that the Zimbabwe Economy recovers.
The Zimbabwean leaders by meeting without the presence of foreign leaders or being arm-twisted are showing that its indeed possible for Zimbabweans to develop a Zimbabwean solution to the Zimbabwean problem. The foreigners and neighbors have played their role. Now is time for Zimbabweans to engage each other and start confidence building measures which will ultimately result in a normal society and economic prosperity.

author: Eusebia Madziwa


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Armenia: Yerevan’s muncipal election · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Writing on The Caucasian Knot, Global Voices Online's Caucasus regional editor comments on next month's municipal election in Yerevan. With previous local, parliamentary and presidential elections haven been falsified since 1995, the blog says, the May vote will represent a test of Armenia's democratic credentials especially after last year's bitterly contested and violent presidential election.


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Bahrain: Who’s Calling? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bahraini blogger Hussein Nasser explains why an Arabic-interfaced phone needs to be told if a caller is male or female.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Bolivia: Piecing Together the Life of an Accused Terrorist · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bolivian police shot and killed three foreign nationals, as well as wounding and arresting two others, in a hotel in the city of Santa Cruz. What is not entirely clear is the connection between the men, who national authorities say were a part of a terrorist cell that had been planning to kill many members of government, including President Evo Morales, as well as others from the opposition. One man, in particular, has emerged as the ringleader of the group, Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, a Bolivian-Hungarian citizen with a long history.  The media, as well as bloggers, have been trying to piece together his background in order to draw conclusions.
Miguel Centellas of Pronto* summarizes a bit of Rózsa-Flores’ path demonstrating many different facets of his life following different ideologies:
He fled Bolivia after Banzer’s military coup. He then fought in the Balkan civil wars (on the Croatian side, where he supposedly led an international brigade); he even made a film about his experience (wtf?). He was vice president of a Muslim association in Hungary; but was previously an active member in Opus Dei.
(…)
So basically, as La Razón points out, he was a “fanatic for everything.” A leftist in his youth (his father had been active against the Barrientos military regime), he then became an ardent Catholic in Opus Dei, then fought for Croatia against the Serbs, then abandoned Marxism (though he still admires Che), then converted to Islam, then returned to Bolivia, and may have ties to the right-wing UJC, though he still edited a Hungarian Muslim online news site. I think that about covers it.
In addition, Miguel Esquirol of El Forastero [es] writes that these revelations make determining his motives even more difficult:
Al final es posible sospechar cómo sus intereses se alinean y trazar una línea ideológica que si bien debatible une su participación en guerras de independencia europeas, en movimientos armados en Croacia, en discursos nacionalistas de los Blacanes, con su relación con movimientos de la autonomía cruceñista y su final brusco y violento. Las razones que lo habían traído a Bolivia, la compañía con quien lo encontraron y los planes que tenían pensados aun son un misterio.
Al final sólo podemos concluir que se trata de un extraño y contradictorio personaje del que espero en algún momento conozcamos más, sobretodo que se devele la verdad de lo ocurrido en Bolivia y de sus últimos días antes de encontrarse su final.
In the end, it is possible to suspect how his interests align and trace an ideological line that is still debatable uniting his participation in independence wars in Europe, armed movements in Croatia, nationalist rhetoric in the Balkans, with his relationship with autonomy movements from Santa Cruz, and his violent and sudden end. His reasons for coming to Bolivia, the company with which he was found and his plans are still a mystery.
In the end, we can conclude that this involves a strange and contradictory character and that I hope we get to know better, and above all that the truth of what happened in Bolivia and his final days before his death comes out.
Much of these connections, as well as speculation, were pieced together based on the discovery of Rózsa-Flores’ blog [hu/es/en] called “Sic semper tyrannis” and often translated to “Death to Tyrants.” As mentioned by Blogs Bolivia [es], the blog is mostly written in Hungarian, but includes some interviews in Spanish [es] as well as English.  He also opened other blogs called David Versus Goliath [hu] about the conflict in Gaza and another blog Mi Patria Natal [es] that collects photos of his birth country Bolivia.
The life of Rózsa-Flores was made into a movie, which starred Rózsa-Flores as himself, called “Chico” and details his participation in the war in Croatia. The trailer is below:
On his YouTube channel's profile he wrote a description of himself:
The international war correspondent-turned-platoon-l eader in the defense of a mixed-population village in Croatia…Presently, Eduardo works as a multi-lingual freelance journalist, columnist, TV commentator, film actor and editor of literary monthly KAPU, in Budapest, Hungary. He has a loving dog named Tito, a book-stuffed country-side house with a well-equipped kitchen . . .
Finally, he also maintained a Facebook profile (private).
The contradictory nature of Rózsa-Flores’ beliefs makes this case even harder to comprehend. It is quite easy to jump to conclusions and make connections based on assumptions.  Willy Andres writes [es] that “the supposed terrorism in Bolivia is very complicated and makes one think. I don't think it is neither prudent nor intelligent get ahead of ourselves and draw conclusions, but there are things that raise big questions.”
However, the fact that both members of the governing party, as well as some leaders of the opposition were reportedly on the hit list makes wondering whether they were working for some group or on their own. In addition, the causes that he supported with badges on his blog makes it difficult to generalize about where he stood politically.  More news is expected in the near future to help paint a better picture of this mysterious man and his companions.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bolivia: Raising Ticket Prices on Transportation During the Holidays · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

During Easter Week, drivers of public mini-buses to the Bolivian Altiplano raise ticket prices much to the helplessness of residents that have no other choice than to pay in order to reach their destination writes Edgar Yana Lisme of Nuestra Cultura Primero [es].


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China: Our right to be spared from fear · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Blogger Lan Xiaohuan （兰小欢）, in his post ‘Bitter Smile’, reflects on how a nation permeated with fear has muzzled people's voice. Lamenting that the cost to claim the rights of a citizen is getting higher today, he also lampooned the infusing fear that crushes people's courage and love, concluding that Chinese have never really stood up without fear.
He starts with an anecdote of his childhood:
我小的时候非常胆小。记得五六岁那会儿，有一次姐姐放学回来给我讲了个她听到的鬼故事，非常恐怖。我吓得整晚上都睡不着，一直抱着父亲。他要睡过去，我就叫醒他，让他抱着我。第二天，被折腾了一夜的父亲怒斥我姐：“你看看，你都把他吓成什么样了？！以后再敢这样我就揍你！”
今天收到一封孩子的来信，信中写道：“我最近有件很担心的事情，请您帮帮忙。之前，我在百度BLOG上面发表有关学潮的文章被删除了，之后账号也被锁定。还有在学校校园网屡屡使用翻墙软件看国内禁止浏览的信息。那么，我会不会已经被当成黑名单记录在案了？这些事情会不会影响我出国？我早就计划出国啦…. 希望您能帮我解答下，谢谢啦。”
看完之后我大笑，然后回信用几乎是谐谑的口气安慰了他。但紧接着便有些心酸，想起了我父亲责骂我姐的话：“你看看，你都把他吓成什么样了？！”
制造恐惧并不一定需要暴力，只要处处加大行为的成本就够了，甚至都不用真的加大成本，只要展示一下行为的成本有随时被加大的可能便够了。….看看那些这些日子被请去喝茶的人们的故事，看看那些公民调查者们最近在四川的遭遇，看看这些人心里的担忧，便知道了。
成本弄得那么重，瘦弱的肩膀实在是担不动啊。
如果只是匿名上网牢骚几句都被噤声，即便远渡重洋都还要为自己的“错误言论”惴惴不安，只是说几句话都要心头挣扎半天，又如何能抱怨面对恶徒的拳头和匕首时，人们不见义勇为呢？更别说我们还曾经真的把最容易站立的青春用坦克履带压成了扁平。
49 年的时候，有人说：“中国人民从此站起来了。”可从那以后，每隔一段时间，我们都要重新站起来一回。香港回归，站；卫星上天，站；奥运开幕，又站。外国人有时候不解：“你们不是早就站起来了么？怎么还反复站了又站，有完没完啊？”看到这样的误解我就很愤怒：“妈的，平时都爬着，怎么还不让人动不动站起来伸伸懒腰啦？我们对自己人忍气吞声，自然就要对你们外国人扬眉吐气，否则不他妈憋死啦！”
是啊，我们自己都要爬着活，又如何敢腆颜教育下一代“勇气”和“爱”呢？我们能做的，不过是在他们小时候讲讲勇气和爱的童话，然后在他们长大了真正要展示勇气和爱的时候，大喝一声：“快！趴下！”
也许下次回国的时候，我该去拜会一下那具广场上从未谋面的尸体，调侃着说：“你看看，你都把他吓成什么样了？”

author: Bob Chen


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Ghana: Tips for new visitors · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

After receiving a few emails asking how much it costs to travel and live in Ghana, Gayle has started a series of tips designed for new visitors, beginning with costs.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Iran: 19 year old blogger was released · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Amir Kabir News site says [fa] that Ali Reza Firouzi, 19 year old blogger and student activist was released from jail in Iran.Read more here.


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Iran: Ahmadinejad says jailed blogger must have right of defense · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to[fa] the Iranian media President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian jailed blogger and Roxana Saberi, an American-Iranian journalist who was sentenced to 8 years of prison, must have right of defense.


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Japan: The SHADO Collective · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Photoreporter Noriyuki Aida (会田法行) presents the SHA-DO Collective (写道・写真家集団).
The group comprising Aida-san and other four photographers based in Tokyo — the Japanese Yasuhiro Ogawa, the Greek Androniki Christodoulou, the Spanish David Coll Blanco and the German Eric Rechsteiner — intends to provide “five specific photographic approaches focusing mainly on Japan and other Asian countries”.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Kenya: Wangari Maathai on the Environment and African Leadership · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

On the blog Safari Notes, Omar Basawad writes some pertinent qoutes from a profile of Prof. Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Prize winning environmentalist.

author: Juliana Rotich


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Kuwait: Election rhetoric, arrests and the whole shebang · Global Voices
Amer Al-Hilal

Greetings fellow global bloggers and readers! My name is Amer Al-Hilal and I am the new ‘Global Voices’ co-author covering Kuwait; a vibrant, highly passionate and astute blogging community, one that has throughout the years  encompassed all sorts of interests and events, from consumer-oriented services and products to politically charged calls for protecting freedom of speech, culminating with and leading the ‘Orange’ 5 for Kuwait movement, which has led to the government redistricting five political constituencies instead of 25.
Ever since the dissolution of Parliament and the announcement of the Kuwaiti elections (to be held May 16) bloggers have been in overdrive posting about the ongoing drama and the cynicism concerning our upcoming elections (our third in four years). Let me kick off my introductory post with some election-related coverage:
Blogger Mako Amal (There is no hope), in a post titled Oh Minister of Interior: The Awazim Tribe and Hadas Have Raped the Law, asks the Minister of Interior why he hasn’t acted yet to uphold the law banning consultative elections featuring the Awazim tribe – proof of which is in the following You Tube video posted by Mako Amal:
In other election-related news, Hilaliya reports on the arrest of Municipality Council and Parliamentary candidate Khalifa Al-Khorafi by the State Security for criticizing the ruling family, and elaborates:
“Additionally, there are reports that Badah Al-Hajeri, ‘Scope TV’ s anchor has also been summoned for questioning. Islamist MP Daifallah Bu Ramiah is still under house arrest at the State Security apparatus for insulting the Defense Minister and Acting Prime Minister stating he ‘wasn't fit to be Prime Minister’.”
Meanwhile, Here There And Everywhere’s Intlxpatr praises the role of the current US ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones in her post “Kuwait Will Work It Out”:
“No one can accuse Jones of being a weenie. The woman is lion. And you get the feeling she loves what she is doing, and that she is truly connected with issues and activities in Kuwait.”
Moving on to other matters, Anafilibini in her post entitled “120 KD For A Filipino Professional Nurse?” criticizes the low salary requirements offered to a Filipino nurse to come work in a Kuwait hospital:
“Com'on Kuwait, if you want grade A, qualified medical professional you gotta PAY UP! Our company tea boy get paid more than that and more – I heard that doctors all over this country is going on strike because of low wages and I have a friend who's wife gave birth but had to endure 5 operations due to one botched job after another.”
Kuwait Advertiser writes about his ‘Trip to Bahrain’, saying:
“We flew out to Bahrain last week Thursday, first time with Jazeera Air. Not bad at all… My friend Hamad from Saudi told me not to miss out on ice-cream from the Marble Slab Creamery… found it in Seef Mall. We rented a car, pretty cheap and drove around the island. One of the places that amazed me was the man-made islands that the built and then do developments on the islands. Really beautiful places.”
In a post entitled ‘Missing POWS’ blogger TeachTheMasses School Days highlights a little known humanitarian tragedy involving Kuwait POWs and other nationals missing from the Iraq occupation of Kuwait:
“Imagine the heartache if you are still waiting for news of a loved one after 19 years. Imagine the 19 year olds in Kuwait and elsewhere who never got to meet their father because he was one of the Iraqi ‘disappeared’. This needs to be concluded once and for all.”
Some Contrast posts an interesting tidbit about the probability of the ailing national carrier Kuwait Airways:
“Might be just a rumor circulating on emails, but Kuwait Airways are thinking of re-designing their look for their aircrafts. the one I liked is option #3”
Blogger Twenty Three criticizes CNN anchor Jack Cafferty due to his  previous views on ‘radical Islam’ and his current view that obese passengers should pay for two seats on a plane.
“So instead of asking the question Cafferty ‘should obese people pay for two seats’ – how about ‘should airlines make bigger seats and stop being greedy gold-diggers’ ……. kind of like schools here in Kuwait, fill as many seats as possible regardless of whether children have room to walk around their classrooms..”
Our last stop is with Don Veto, who highlights Kuwait pictures taken in 1961 by Verity Cridland, who explains that the photographs were taken by her mother as ‘color slides,’:
“In 1961 cameras were hardly airtight and these pictures had a lot of dust on them. This was on the actual film rather than just dust from old age! They also had a scratch on each slide caused by sand and grit inside the camera.

author: Amer Al-Hilal


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Morocco: On “Jewish Morocco” · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Morocco has a long relationship with Judaism; during the spread of the Roman empire, a number of Jews settled in what is modern-day Morocco.  Over time, relations between Morocco's majority Muslim population and its small Jewish population have ranged from very good to heavily strained.  Following the creation of the state of Israel, the vast majority of Morocco's Jews emigrated (approximately 15% of Israeli Jews are in fact of Moroccan descent), however, approximately 7,000 Jews reside in Morocco today.  Moroccans are often quick to point out that the king's top adviser, André Azoulay, is Jewish.
There is very little about Moroccan Jews on the Internet, as Moroccan blogger Ibn Kafka recently pointed out.  In a post on “Jewish Morocco,” he said:
Celui qui cherche des infos sur le net sur le judaïsme marocain devient vite frustré: entre la débauche de liens et la qualité disparate de l’information, la frustration est souvent au rendez-vous. Jusqu’ici, l’excellent site de Rick Gold – Visiting Jewish Morocco – constitue un point de départ incontournable, et on pourrait y rajouter le forum communautaire Dafina, désordonné, foisonnant mais inégal. On pourrait rajouter à cette liste deux musées – celui du judaïsme marocain de Casablanca, et celui du Centre de la culture judéo-marocaine à Bruxelles. Sans compter les sites excentriques – comme celui consacré à la restauration de la synagogue Attias d’Essaouira.
The blogger then introduces us to the latest blog on the scene, Jewish Morocco, written by American Chris Silver.  Silver, who is exploring Jewish sites across the country, has written about towns which have perhaps never been mentioned in the blogoma (Moroccan blogosphere).  In one recent post, he writes about meeting Moroccan Jews in Oujda:
Spent last night with my wonderful hosts and had another delicious meal. The oldest of the women sat down next to me before dinner and wanted to hear all about world Jewry. She wanted to know how many Jews were still in Syria, Lebanon, everywhere. She asked me about the Jews of Ethiopia and I was shocked that she even knew to ask. She asked about Iran and I told her that there were many more Jews there than in Morocco. They were all shocked and started asking if they covered their faces like all Iranian women. It was very comical.
I learned more about these women throughout our meal. One had been to Israel before but for some reason has decided to stay here in Morocco. I told them that my mother had thanked them for being so warm to me and that got them really excited. We ended our meal and they asked me to take about 4 pounds of truffles back with me to some mutual friends in Casa. I of course obliged and have now added truffles stuffed in matzah boxes to my previously light load.
Bet El Synagogue, Casablanca, Morocco
Silver has also noticed the dearth of Jewish Moroccan sites online.  In one post, he writes:
Google Earth and Wikimapia have become two very interesting resources for discovering Jewish Morocco. Both applications allow users to identify points on an often very clear map. So for example, an aerial view of Rabat will identify the mellah and a synagogue (“cinaguogue juif” south of the mellah and in a cluster of 3 marked areas) amongst many other sites. The information is user generated and usually by individuals on the ground.
It is quite clear that both bloggers are doing their part to bring this lesser-known population to the Internet.  Ibn Kafka, however, shares one regret:
…qu’il n’y ait pas de voix de l’intérieur non-institutionnelle – par exemple un blog d’un Marocain juif vivant au Maroc, éclairant de l’intérieur la culture, l’histoire, la spiritualité et le présent de cette partie essentielle du peuple marocain et de son histoire.
Photo Credit: dlisbona

author: Jillian C. York


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Palestine: Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Old City Under Threat · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Activist Marcy Newman writes about spending time in Jerusalem's Old City with a Palestinian family whose home is partly occupied by an extremist Jewish organisation called Ataret Cohanim.


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Zimbabwe: The canonisation of St. Dambudzo · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Eshuneutics writes about the Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera: I begin to wonder about the imminent canonisation of St Dambudzo. A lot of criticism and adulation focus on the radical, the enfant terrible, the creative terrorist.


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Afghanistan: Political Machinations · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

While Afghanistan's so-called “rape law” has garnered a lot of Western press, there is a lot of domestic debate over it as well. The women's marches have been covered admirably by mainstream media, but there are sectarian issues to consider as well.
Registan.net already highlighted some of those problems—namely, that the law restricting women's rights is targeted at a religious minority, the Shia—but the problem is serious enough, according to Hazaristan Times, to warrant a high level conference with Hazara Members of Parliament. The Hazara are the most numerous Shia minority in Afghanistan. Their comments were directed at Sheikh Asif Mohsini Kandhari, a cleric they accuse of having ties to Iran:
A group of Hazara MPs criticizing Sheikh Asif Mohsini Kandhari , said the Family Law can and must be amended. Addressing a press conference in Kabul on Friday, some Hazara MPs  said a Mullah can not decided on how should a law be.
That isn't the only issue facing Afghanistan's political scene, however. As the August elections approach, there is rampant speculation on who might pose a realistic challenge to President Hamid Karzai. The consensus amongst American analysts seems to be that the opposition is too fractured to pose a threat to Karzai's reelection, but Jengnameh argues this is by design: the West has, he argues, chosen a Pashtun-centric model.
Since 2001, Karzai and the Pashtun ethno-nationalists surrounding him, have used labels like “radical”, “extremist” or “warlord”, to exclude non-Pashtuns from government…
That is why news of a possible alliance between Hizb-e Wahdat and Junbish-e Milli is so significant: it might represent a large enough bloc to out-vote Karzai's mostly Pashtun supporters.
In a press conference in Kabul on Saturday, 18 leaders of both the parties said they would announce their joint support for any candidate by the next week. Head of the Hizb e Wahdat, Haji Muhammad Muhaqiq told “based on broad mutual understanding and cooperation, both the parties have decided to go all along.” Neither of the parties will have presidential candidate from their own party members, but would jointly support any candidate. It may be mentioned, leader of Junbish, General Dostum is in Turkey since last couple of months. He is said to be in self-exile.
To relate to the above, Wahdat is a mostly Shia Hazara party, and during the civil war was a mujahideen group resisting both the Soviets and later the Taliban.
The political issues facing Afghanistan look poised to intensify as the election draws near: even government officials, who before were hesitant to question American policies, have begun publicly voicing their discontent with the new plans to “fix” the military campaign. How this might play itself on the national and local stage is unclear. But it is a safe bet that the arguments will become increasingly impassioned as August 20th draws near.

author: Joshua Foust


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Americas: 5th Summit Reactions · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The much-hyped Fifth Summit of the Americas is now over, culminating with the Hemispheric leaders’ adoption of the Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain – albeit with one signatory – the Prime Minister of host country Trinidad and Tobago, who purportedly signed on behalf of all participating leaders.  This signaled to many a clear lack of unanimity on the final declaration, hardly surprising given the differing agendas of the 34 participating nations.  Bloggers were quick to post their impressions of the three-day engagement.
ON LATIN AMERICA
Guyana Providence Stadium thought “the event was well organized”, while Barbadian Cheese-on-bread! noted that:
Already President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega Saveedra is tearing some holes in US foreign policy; Obama will have a lot of work to do to win over the leaders in this part of the region.
Compatriot Bajan Dream Diary was pleased to see that the U.S. President kept his cool despite a “no gloves, no holds barred” offensive by Latin American leaders:
Sardonically thanking President Ortega for not blaming him for things that happened “when I was four years old”, Barack Obama took the floor as third speaker in his capacity of President of the United States. Stating his seriousness on “launching a new chapter” in hemispheric relations, he cautioned that issues and progress could be stymied if states dwelled on stale arguments. In so doing, he dismissed the bulk of Presidents de Kirchner’s and Ortega’s speeches, stating that he came to the Summit not to debate the past, but to debate the future. President Obama said that he promised a new partnership, with no senior or junior partner, working together for shared prosperity.
ON CUBA
Cuba was also top on the agenda – not only for the delegates, but for bloggers.  Bajan Dream Diary continued:
On Cuba, President Obama said that he sought a “new beginning”, stating that there was now a long journey that needed to be travelled to undo the mistrust. Referencing this week’s earlier removal of some restrictions on Cuba, Obama says that he is prepared to have his administration liaise with Cuba on a range of issues from free speech to drugs and human rights.
Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense agreed that “President Barack Obama is right on two counts: American policy over the past 50 years has not brought about a free Cuba”:
Under Obama, the goal of American policy stays the same, and that is welcome. Nothing Obama has said or done on Cuba so far should make anyone that he is about to abandon the cause of Cuban freedom.
Hopefully, his different tactics will bring a different result.
26th Parallel, however, would have preferred to see from the U.S. President “a little more Cowboy W and a little less Obama Cool in front of leaders such as Lula and Bachelet and Ortega and Chavez who don't seem to understand the whole Cuban dissident concept”:
He could have mentioned people such as Oscar Elias Biscet and Antunez by name. He could have related their tragic stories for the world to understand…of course, that would have knocked Mr. Obama's precious halo off in the eyes of many of the Summit attendees. In the light of who the real leaders are, however, that wouldn't have been such a bad thing.  Obama has the world's attention and a big stage in which to profess his views. Too bad he didn't take advantage of this to advocate for real freedom-fighters.
Ninety miles away…in another country said that “the overall tenor of the [President Obama's] speech really left a metallic taste in mine”:
I confess that for the first time in my life I have felt shame for my country to see my President groveling before such as Hugo Chavez, and Daniel Ortega and the like. Perhaps if he had not just sat through a 50 minute diatribe by this last before this address, it would not have been quite as bad. I doubt it.
To be fair, he did remind these countries of their own responsibilities. And, yes, our behavior toward the lower part of our hemisphere has been less than stellar. Yet nothing we have done equals what these countries have done to themselves, to what the very men in that room, as well as the elephant in the living room, are presently engaged in doing to their countries. To see the President of the United States, equating the United States, Costa Rica, and others to such as Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia is not only specious but shameful.
Circles Robinson, writing for Havana Times, noted the significance of the fact that:
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez took advantage of the Americas Summit in Trinidad and Tobago to give Obama a copy of Galeano’s book: ‘The Open Veins of Latin America’ as a way of summing up the history of European colonization and later US dominance of the continent.
The Americas Summit in Port of Spain is providing a forum for the US president to hear a chorus of Latin American and Caribbean leaders encouraging him to change the course of history by ending the half-century US blockade on Cuba and mending relations with the Caribbean island.
Along the Malecon took a more in-depth look at the Obama/Chavez encounter:
Approaching Obama was a shrewd, calculated move. Chavez comes across as someone who is willing to make peace, to settle any differences with the United States. That's a good thing.
But Chavez and Obama have certain irreconcilable differences: Chavez is bent on turning Venezuela into a socialist state. Obama is not a socialist, no matter how many times Fox News and Rush Limbaugh repeat that line.
Chavez has his own political motives. I don't pretend to know what they are, but my guess is that they have as much or more to do with Cuba than they do Venezuela.  When Chavez shakes Obama's hand, he may be sending a message of reconciliation from Cuba, and perhaps from Fidel Castro himself.
Cuban diaspora bloggers were not the only ones who weighed in on the performance of their leaders.  Vexed Bermoothes, from Bermuda, thought that despite the fact that “the main subject of discussion at the Fifth Summit of the Americas was Cuba, Cuba, Cuba.  And maybe a little bit on tax havens”, the Bermudian Premier would have done well to mention “the breathtaking allegations of corruption and mismanagement in TCI [Turks and Caicos Islands]”:
It’s worrying that the Premier would attend such a high profile event, and this is all he has to offer.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Bloggers from the host country, however, were by far the most vociferous about the event.  Many posted their thoughts on the Summit Twitter Channel and followed developments on Facebook.  Trinidad and Tobago News Blog continued to post its daily roundup of mainstream media stories, while journalist Raffique Shah, writing for the blog, said:
What I found distasteful about the media pre-Summit hype was the focus on Chavez and US President Barack Obama at the expense of other leaders.
Brazil’s Lula de Silva is, for me, maybe the most important president attending the Summit. Besides the reality that his country is poised to become a global economic powerhouse in the near future, it is home to what has been described as ‘the lungs of Earth’, the Amazon forest.
Speaking of mainstream media, Media Watch featured two posts with comments from viewers about the disappointing quality of local Summit coverage.
Trin could not help but notice the difference between local politics and Obama's “change we can believe in“:
What do trinis hope Obama's visit to Trinidad will accomplish? I'd be thrilled if Obama's commitment to serving the people of his country, his intelligence, his ideas about sustainable development and his sense of justice would rub off on our own power-grubbing Prime Minister and his pack of fools.
I don’t know how everyday people will benefit from Obama meeting Manning but as the leader of the free world I really hope Obama’s influence will inspire the next leader of our country to step up and bring us the change we so badly need.
The Undisputed Truth published a series of posts which focused on his impressions from day to day, some of which included the following “highlights”:
DAY ONE
As expected, the entire Summit was overshadowed by the media’s bloodthirsty wish for a ‘showdown’ between Obama and Chavez.
‘Good’ things coming out of the Summit :
* Trinidad and Tobago didn’t thoroughly embarrass itself
* Hugh Chavez and Barack Obama are now homeboys
* With the CIA, Secret Service, FBI, multiple zones and lockdowns, the people of Port-of-Spain are probably the safest they will ever be in their entire lives.
DAY TWO
* Most of the Latin American leaders looked like a bunch of teenage girls at a Jonas Brothers’ concert as they surrounded Obama for photo-ops
* President of Bolivia Evo Morales came out guns blazing this morning and called his own press conference where he criticized Cuba’s exclusion from the Summit, talked about human rights, criticized Barack Obama and U.S policies.
* Dennis Mc Comie, national Secretariat spokesman made a total ass out of himself by asking at the Bolivian president’s press conference (in the middle of his fire and brimstone speech about real issues) his opinion about…the cultural show at the opening ceremony for the Summit.
* Caribbean leaders talked about helping Haiti, the poorest country of the Western hemisphere.
Wow, some action.
DAY THREE
US$300 million later : smiles, handshakes, photo ops, laughs and nothing.
* The latest update is that some countries will ‘adopt’ the declaration but not ‘endorse’ it. In other words, we don’t even have confirmation that the leader’s even really agree and commit to the airy-fairy, practically insignificant ‘accomplishments’ of the Summit…adopt basically means saying ‘ok cool’ without committing to it. I’m quite sure that could have been done over the phone or on the way to the bathroom without hosting a summit.
* PM Patrick Manning got dissed by a foreign reporter who questioned whether it was Hugo Chavez who was in charge of the planning for the Summit. Apparently access to the actual meetings among leaders, other than Chavez/Obama photo-ops were extremely limited. Manning responded quoting the Bible, saying basically the Summit is better off without ‘public scrutiny’. Last time I checked, the Summit is supposed to, at least academically, ultimately benefit the public. How then can it be better off without having the media free access?
* PM Manning again was asked by a Barbadian reporter how he intends to answer critics like myself who think the Summit is too costly. Manning responded saying that no cost is too much as the  Summit will be beneficial for investment, and that ‘the World’s eyes are on Trinidad’. Manning is therefore officially stating that its ok to spend as much money as possible for aesthetic upgrades for the country to appear to look good ‘in the world’s eyes.’
The anti-climax of the Summit (the adoption – rather than endorsement – of the declaration) soon had local bloggers resorting to humour: as they say in Trinidad and Tobago, “if yuh doh laugh, you'll cry”.  The Secret Blog of Patrick “Patos” Manning (a fake blog of the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister) proclaimed that the decision to host the Summit was “all about the booty”:
Been hearing rumours that unpatriotic types out there are saying that the only reason I’ve dragged this country into hosting a multi-million dollar Summit is to boost my ego. It’s true that my ego isn’t complaining, but these naysayers may be interested to know that the real reason I decided to throw this shindig is actually the gifts I’ll be receiving from the 33 other heads of government attending the meeting.
The anonymous blogger was also very active on Twitter.
Over in Barbados, Trinidad-born B.C. Pires shared his thoughts on “President Obama’s live press conference from the…roof deck at the Trinidad Hilton”, while This Beach Called Life posted another fictitious entry into the diary of President Obama:
The Hyatt looked like a hotel and with all the talk on the blogs about tall buildings I was disappointed. I mentioned this to Mr. Manning who seemed offended at first but then offered me a bowl of corn soup. I refused since I couldn’t easily identify all the floating objects and security protocol requires The President identify all food objects.
PM PM was shaky at the start of his speech but seemed to get his stride after he offered Mr. Morales a bowl of corn soup, probably the same bowl I turned down. I am beginning to suspect he threw this summit just to serve corn soup. PM PM referred to me as ‘my kind’ and I nearly fainted when he said it. I didn’t know if he meant black, smart, charismatic, handsome or soup-shy. Maybe he meant all. I am beginning to wonder how ‘his kind’ ever got elected.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Azerbaijan: Corruption in the education sector · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Thoughts on the Road updates its readers on the case of Parviz Azimov who was recently expelled from his university. The blog says that if administrators and professors had hoped Azimov would now remain quiet about corruption in the education sector in Azerbaijan, they were very much mistaken.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahamas: The Economics of Culture  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It is not foreign investment that economists and development agencies are suggesting is the engine of economic development in the 21st century; it’s culture”: Nicolette Bethel thinks that the Bahamian government's apparent postponement of the Caribbean Festival of Arts is “a terrible idea”.


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Bangladesh: The Power Of One String · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bengali folk Music has survived many centuries and Ektara, the single-stringed musical instrument had a significant role to play. More at The Mango Diaries.

author: Rezwan


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Bhutan: Don’t Ban Nano! · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dipika, a Bhutanese journalist who blogs at On The Job, criticizes the recent debate in Bhutan on whether the $2500 car Tata Nano should be banned.


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Cambodia: “Finest pepper in the world” · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Kampot province in Cambodia is known for producing the “finest pepper in the world”

author: Mong Palatino


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China: Gangster in the Government · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Chinageeks translated an article written by Yang Licai (via Ai Weiwei) about his experience in various local town while collecting names of the earthquake school kid victims.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Colombia: Transfer of US Military Base from Ecuador · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The US military base currently located in Manta, Ecuador is being transferred to Colombia. “This is a violation of national sovereignty with the aim to maintain a certain level of privileged relationship with the government of the United States,” writes Colombia Hoy [es].


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Georgia: War speculation · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Lingeliens Ludicrous Legends comments on speculation from the media and some blogs that a new military conflict between Georgia and Russia might break out.


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Global crisis affects Cambodian migrant workers  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Due to the global economic crisis, South Korea has reduced the number of migrant workers it will accept this year. This is bad news for Cambodia's migrant workers. Many Cambodians are working and planning to work in South Korea.


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Global Health: Twitter Face-Off To Fight Malaria · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

This past week Twitter became the newest weapon in the fight against malaria when American actor Ashton Kutcher challenged news network CNN to a race to get a million Twitter followers. The winner of the much-publicized competition vowed to donate mosquito bed nets in time for World Malaria Day on April 25.
Kutcher narrowly beat CNN's breaking-news feed late last Thursday night, becoming the first Twitter user to have 1 million people signed up to follow his tweets. If he won, Kutcher had promised to donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to the non-profit organization Malaria No More to help protect families in Africa from malaria. Kutcher began tweeting about malaria earlier this month, before the competition with CNN, to raise awareness about the disease.
Malaria is a deadly disease that is passed between people by certain types of mosquitoes. It infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than 1 million. Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria. The disease's biggest impact is felt in sub-Saharan Africa, but malaria also afflicts Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. Malaria is preventable and treatable, though, with tools such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor spraying of insecticides, and anti-malarial drugs.
Many bloggers are praising Kutcher's publicity stunt for raising awareness about the issue. For example, the Malaria Policy Center thanks Kutcher, while a post on The Singapore Enquirer calls Kutcher's victory a win-win situation:
“Although at first glance one will find this whole thing really absurd, it seems that the first person who reached the 1 million goal will donate a significant amount in the fight against malaria in Africa…
…So looks like everyone is in win-win-win situation here. Twitter gets free publicity. Money to fight malaria in Africa. And James Cox [the previous owner of CNN's breaking-news Twitter account] laughs all the way to the bank. But this only happens in America, the American dream still there for some lucky chap.”
A post on the blog A Mexican View adds that Latin American businesses can learn a lot from Kutcher's antics:
“In Latin America business can't grasp yet that it is possible to generate loyalty to a brand using social networks…I don't think they should take this as a fad, but they should start to build a presence for their brand, and I hope business in Latin America can understand that, studying the best way to use Social Media for their benefit, they can built a connection with their consumers, as Ashton and other Hollywood stars are doing.”
However, others criticize Kutcher's moves, saying it undermines the whole point of Twitter. A post on A Pinoy Blog About Nothing tears apart Kutcher's victory speech and says this to the actor:
“What you did succeed in doing is placing the focus on the wrong aspect of Twitter. Now every celeb would think ‘hey I’m more popular than Ashton, I could totally go beyond 1M.’ You’ll be lying if you say you’ll be reading each and every post from your 1M followers — just not physically possible. Twitter’s value to me has always been the information shared from each contact. What you did succeed in doing is putting old media Hollywood thinking into Twitter, ie the bigger the audience you have, the better.”
Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda, blogging from Malawi on Clement Nyirenda’s blog world, says that the Twitter competition is more about Kutcher's ego than about malaria.
“I, for one, am completely against Kutcher’s motive. Why should I follow him on twitter for him to release the nets to folks who are suffering in Africa? This guy wants to use Africa for his own fame. By the way, I knew him only today because of this news. And I am sure so many people are getting to know him for the very first time even as I write. If he happens to attract 1,000,000 followers ahead of CNN and the rest, he will go down in the records as the first Twitter user to achieve it.  He will end up making much more than the money than the amount that he will spend on the 10, 000 nets. If he really has a heart for Africa, he should send the 10,000 mosquito nets to Africa without preconditions.”
A post on Project Diaspora agrees with Nyirenda, adding that celebrity stunts promoting unsustainable solutions are not actually helping the people of Africa:
“Sure bed nets keep you from being bitten, but what are we supposed to do when we are not under the nets? But our lives could be that much richer is we're earning a living as workers in the non-existent African anti-malarial industry. We could have been growing artemisia and pyrethrum or working at a bed net factory; feeding my family with the proceeds, but alas, I can’t. Ashton Kutcher was feeling unloved and wanted to run a little popularity contest, and we get to be the  victims.
Wouldn’t it be better to invest money into indigenous companies that can make the nets, therefore maintaining a sustainable business selling bed nets? Or investing in the agricultural sector so farmers are more able to meet demand for crops like Artemesia annua and pyrethrum, easily-grown botanical ingredients in anti-malarial drugs?”
But a post on The Content Police says that despite the wide range of opinions on Kutcher's stunt, what he did was worth it in the end:
“It’s hard to escape the buzz about Ashton Kutcher beating CNN in the ‘Twitter Race.’ Opinions abound on the subject:
1) I DON’T CARE!!!
2) Power to the People!
3) Twitter has turned into a popularity contest
4) Twitter is now officially – heaven forbid – MAINSTREAM
5) This is Changing the Face of Media
6) Twitter is dead (meaning either it has caused its own demise or for the more dramatic among us: ‘you are dead to me, Twitter, sob, sob, dead to me’)…
…The cynical among us will call Kutcher’s promise to buy 10,000 anti-mosquito nets for Africa a marketing ploy, a cheap trick, etc., to get his Twitter followers to a million. Is Kutcher just looking for more publicity? Or is he really trying to show the power of the people on social media sites? In the end, does all that matter? Not to me. For me, it was always all about the anti-mosquito nets. If even one life could be saved, it was all worth it. And 10,000 malaria nets will surely save many lives.”
CNN will be matching Kutcher by donating 10,000 mosquito bed nets for World Malaria Day. Jumping on the bandwagon are also Oprah Winfrey, who said she would donate 20,000 mosquito bed nets to charity, and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.
Photo of Prevent Malaria by eürodäna on Flickr.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Haiti: Election or Selection?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands reports that Haiti's Senate elections this past weekend were “marred today by sporadic violence, forcing authorities to cancel polling in parts of the country”. Pwoje Espwa notes: “Fanmi Lavalas (ex-President Jean Bertrand Aristide's political party) will not be in the race due to not being able to satisfy all eligibility requirements”, while Haitianalysis.com wonders if the whole exercise was “Election or Selection”.


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India: Importance Of Mother Tongue · Global Voices
Rezwan

Manasa Pamaraju at Desicritics states that many of the 22 official languages of India are losing the race to English or other dominant languages. The blogger comments: “what pains me is that that today’s generation doesn’t even know how to pronounce the language right. I have met scores of parents who say it very proudly that their children cannot speak their mother tongue.”


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India: Shoddy Election Reporting · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shivam Vij at Kafila blog blasts the Indian mainstream media for their manipulative election reporting using stereotypes and presumptions.


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Indian Elections 2009: Villains And Votes · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

If elections are to be described as a process to elect better leaders for the country, the ongoing elections in India are of a very different variety.
A number of convicted felons, gang members with long criminal history and leaders accused of violent crime (murder, attempted murder, armed robbery) – villains in every sense are going to the people asking for their vote.
Abdullah Khan, says “this nexus of politicians and criminals is bane for great Indian democracy.” He provides a list of criminals turned politicians, most of whom hail from troubled states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
“In UP only, BSP’s candidates with an alleged criminal past are Dhananjay Singh (Jaunpur), Aruna Kumar Shukla ‘Anna’ (Unnao), D P Yadav (Badaun), Kadir Rana (Muzaffarnagar) Rakesh Pandey (Ambedkar Nagar), Rizwan Zahir (Shravasti) etc.
Among the Samajwadi Party’s candidates are Brij Bhushan Singh from Gonda, Rakesh Sachhan from Fatehpur, O P Gupta from Dhaurhara, Mitra Sen Yadav from Faizabad, history-sheeter Mukhtar Ansari (Varanasi) and Bal Kumar (brother of robber Daduwa) from Mirzapur. Seema Parihar, a former robber, is also contesting from Mirzapur on Udit Raj’s Indian Justice Party ticket.
In Maharashtra, gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the North Central Mumbaiparliamentary constituency. In West Bengal, ‘bahubali’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary is in the fray from Berhampore on Congress party’s ticket. In Bihar, JD(U) has given Lok Sabha ticket to Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna (a criminal-turned-politician). Lok JanShakti Party has also given ticket to alleged criminal, Rama Singh, an accused in many criminal cases, from Ara.”
The list of criminals turned politicians is long, and the political parties are accused of encouraging and accepting the felons. Avinash Narula says that getting rid of criminal politicians is not an easy task because of the “cooperation” between them and the power circle. He says that the ‘Lead India” campaign launched by Times of India to ask citizines not to vote for criminals will not succeed because:
“Most of the politicians will not be convicted because of a number of reason. There is a nexus between politicians, cops and criminals. On top of this the courts take years to decide on a case which allows the criminals to keep on contesting elections and winning based on goondagiri (highhandedness).
So do you think Lead India Campaign against criminals in politics will have any effect? I don’t think so.
First, getting criminals out of politics is not in the agenda or manifesto of any major political party. Forget, forget about removing criminals from politics, they are not even talking about doing anything about corruption.
Second, we need to change the law but again we cannot do this without the politicians.
Third, we need to expedite the legal process which also we cannot do.”
In city of Varanasi, holy city for Hindus, election battle sure looks like a movie script. A person accused for murder (who just happens to be a Muslim) is pitted against a party veteran who is known as a Hindu hardliner. BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi will be battling against Mukhtar Ansari, who was accused for murder and is currently in a jail. Ansari is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.
Citizens are sounding alarm on muddied political environment not only through blogs but also through videos. At YouTube, there are a number of videos urging citizens not to accept criminals as election candidates.
In this video, No criminals, youngsters ask fellow citizens not to vote for criminals. It also has some parts in Hindi, where people ask political parties not field criminals. More interesting are the slides which list charges against some candidates.
This video titled No criminals Hindi, has a similar message.

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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Iran: Diplomats walk out at Ahmadinejad’s speech · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today made headlines once more, when he referred to Israel as a “racist state” during a address at United Nations conference on racism in Geneva, Switzerland. Delegates from several European nations walked out of the conference in protest at Ahmadinejad's remark.
Jomhour has published the following video showing the diplomats’ departure:
Commentators have drawn parallels between this incident and the speech the Iranian president gave at Columbia University in New York in 2007.
Ghommar says Iranians have once again been humiliated in front of the world community their president. He writes [fa]:
رئیس‌جمهوری که در کشورش هر روزه شاهد نقض گسترده‌ی حقوق‌بشر هستیم …زنان از کوچک‌ترین حقوق انسانی که لباس پوشیدن است محروم هستند و در زندان‌های آن پر از زندانبان عقیدتی و سیاسی است..، خیلی خنده‌دار و تلخ است که در سازمان ملل از نژادپرستی و نقض حقوق‌بشر در کشورهای دیگر حرفی بزند
Zarehbin says  [fa] the scene where different delegates left the conference shows how much we are hated in the world. “What a poor nation we are that this bum [Ahmadinejad] is our president…while a regime repressed Bahai's and others in Iran how can support Palestanians’ rights.”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jackie Chan: Chinese need control · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“I'm mot sure if it's good to have freedom or not, I'm really confused now. If there is too much freedom, like the way Hong Kong is today, it is very chaotic; Taiwan is also chaotic. I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled.” – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong and Hollywood's action movie star, spoke at a panel on “Tapping into Asia's Creative Industry potential” in Hainan, a southern province in China n 18 April 2009. (more from wtop)
China Law Blog considers Jackie Chan a racist for making such comment:
The title sums up my initial reaction to the news of Jackie Chan dissing the Chinese people by essentially saying they are too messed up to ever be able to handle democracy. I was going to write a blog post criticizing Chan for his comments and noting how the same thing has been said about other countries that are now democracies (the United States, Japan,
West Germany, Italy, Spain and South Korea immediately come to mind). Then I decided I am not the right person to write such a post, so I didn't.
When compared with western media's reports, it seems that local people are less surprised by the news, as Joanna replied in the comment section of China Law Blog:
What Chan said is something I was told thousands of times since I was born, but the unusual point this time is that he is a celebrity and he is from Hongkong –the freest area in China, but also the most colonial area in Chinese history (Maybe that's why it sounds somewhat racist to western ears).
He said: “I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we are not being controlled, we'll just do what we want.”
Yes, people should be controlled (by what?to what extent?), or they'll just do what they want — but the government should be controlled also, or it'll just do what it wants too. How sad is that only the former half can be told, and can be said.
Btw, this part of Chan's speech wasn't reported by mainland China's media. He was again reported as a patriot, telling the young people to love China and to be proud of chinese culture, not the foreign countries’. The power just doesn't like anyone talking about anything related to politics.
In Hong Kong, many people are disapointed, Uncle Ray  said that Jackie Chan is heartless to talk like that:
今天讀報看到一篇關於四川地震的文章。當中提到中國政府到今天還未對有多少學生死亡有正式說法。一些父母自己去追查真相，卻被人關的關，鎖的鎖，恐嚇的恐嚇。文人劉曉波在去年發表了一些對國家期望和改革的言論，在沒審訊的情況下被政府二話不說的拿下，一直扣留下來沒說甚麼時候會釋放。異見人士胡佳因發表了兩篇文章，便被法院裁定為”顛覆國家政權”罪判監3年。還有無數在國內因遇上不公的事去上訪，又或維權人士，都一一被關進監牢。我想問問成龍，這些人是否都做錯了事，所以需要被政府”管一下”呢？
Those were the days wonders what's so chaotic about Hong Kong?
他說香港的「亂」，究竟，亂在那兒？亂在港人為悍衛自己民主、自由權益發聲？亂在港人為弱勢社群上街？亂在社民連在議會中用粗口罵對北京唯命是從的狗官？
把「自由」和「亂」拉上關係，這是怎樣的邏輯？今天香港，或許不是所謂人也認同要有民主普選，但包括左派在內，也不敢說香港不應有自由：由殖民地年代始，香港人也是沒有多少民主，但仍有法治、仍有自由，縱使民主發展步伐，港人未必有同一立場，但從未有港人反對，香港人應該有更多、更大的自由！正如，沒有人會說香港不應堅持法治一樣！
Diumanpark, a blogger from Hong Kong, has a different interpretation of Jackie Chan's talk. If Chinese need control, who should be controlling? and who should be under control? He mocks at Jackie Chan's logic:
所以，成龍大哥話中實有深意，只是遭無知的傳媒誤解。「中國人需要管」，意思至少有兩個，其一，就是由中國人用制度去管中國人，即全中國立即推行民主普選，嚴格推行法治，開放言論自由，由輿輪和傳媒加入去管中國人；其二，就是成龍大哥原來跟不少香港人一樣，懷念殖民地，希望中國成為殖民地，中國人還是由諸如美國、英國甚至日本等先進國家管一管，才能站起來。