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DRC: Recent Attacks on Bemba · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog du Congolais posts an article by Freddy Lokolongo stating [Fr]: “The events of Bas-Congo and more recently attacks on the homes of ex-Vice President Bemba … with the complicity of [United Nations Mission to the Congo] MONUC, do not even begin to display the extent of the plot originated by the international community … and of which Kabila [and others] are the leaders.”


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Ecuador, Spanish: “Guglear” Officially Recognized · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Unlike most other languages, Spanish is officially regulated by a governing body. A governing body which, according to Christian Espinosa [ES], has finally accepted the inevitable: everyone's favorite investigative verb, to google. Yo gugleo, tu gugleas, we all gugleamos.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: David Sasaki


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Egypt: Venetian Ties with the Middle East · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

The Arabist explains the ties between Venice and the Middle East: “Did you know the first Koran was printed in Venice in 1537? Or that Venetians learned the art of glass-blowing from the Arab world, Syria in particular?”

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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El Salvador: Community Radio · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Radio Sumpul, like other stations in ARPAS, plays a variety of music, news and educational programs for all ages of listeners. The operation at Radio Sumpul is staffed by volunteers. One of the staff explained to me that the volunteers, most of whom are women, work at the station because they are commited to the project and because they are able to gain experience working with the technology of an actual radio station.” Learn more at Tim's El Salvador Blog.


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Grenada: Drying the Cocoa · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

t13hman posts a great shot of the cocoa-drying process in Grenada circa 1970, accompanied by a photo stream of slides taken in Puerto Rico in the 1940s.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Guyana: Every Dawg has its Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Brown Dawg finally gets his day, managing to slip in a post on Guyana Gyal‘s blog in much the same fashion that he slips into practically every cricket match “more silent than a piece of stew chicken plopsing to the ground.”


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Haiti: GEDIMEX and the Expired Food Scandal · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Commenting on a news story about GEDIMEX, a food distributor who refuses to halt its alleged sale of rotten rice, Collectif Haiti de Provence writes [Fr]: “One wonders how one can store food to its rotting while thousands starve … No investigation by authorities will uproot GEDIMEX. Favors here, resounding favors there and the story will be quickly forgotten.” The story about GEDIMEX broke amidst a general crackdown on retailers of expired food near destitute violence ridden areas of the capital by the government.

author: Alice Backer


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India: Inside the head of Chappell · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A funny (and macabre) take on Greg Chappell's personal diary at Mostly Thoughtless. “Anyway, the Bangladesh team is not very good at all. After we thrash them tomorrow, we will then play some team called Bermuda on Monday. I wonder why they have named themselves after loose shorts. They have a really fat player in their team, who grosses me out completely.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Solo across the Atlantic · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rowing solo across the atlantic, Bhavik writes “Cleaning the bilge pump and the space under the bilge board is always a bit of a treasure hunt, turning up wrappers, paper, nuts, bolts, screws, bits of plastic, hair and dropped food. Finally, storing the sea anchor away and clearing the last debris of flying fish wings and about 3 small fish that had slithered under the ropes. All in all, the deck is once looking much more civilized.”


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Israel:Canadian Jewish Community Center Bombing · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Israeli blogger Yael on Aliyah! criticizes the Canadian government for not considering the bombing of a Jewish Community Center during Passover as a hate crime, “if a church got bombed on Easter or a Mosque got bombed during Ramadan it would also be a good bet that it was a hate crime.”


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Japan: Kickboxing Geishas · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Marie Mockett from Japundit introduces a new book, Kickboxing Geishas, about contemporary Japanese women's role in changing the society.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Living on the cheap in Tokyo · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Some tips from Joe on how to live on the cheap in Tokyo.


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Japan: Oil Dream · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hisane Masaki from Ohmynews reports on the recent merge of two oil companies into Inpex Holdings to prepare for entering the global market.


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Japan: Ponyo on the Cliffs · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Adamu reports that Hayao Miyazaki's new animation, “Ponyo on the Chiffs”  is scheduled to be released in summer 2008. The production is completely hand-drawn, with no computers used whatsoever.


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Japan: surrogate mothers  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Japan’s Supreme Court recently ruled that the woman giving birth, not the woman who contributed her DNA, is to be recognized as the legal mother. Joe Jones from Japan Law blog discussed the implication of the case.


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Jordan: Perceived Anti-Semitism · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Jordanian blogger The Black Iris of Jordan points out how using the term “Jew” can feel like it is Anti-Semitic; as well as words like Judaism and Israel. “It is the strangest feeling but it’s like there is an anti-Semitic radar in my head that starts to beep wildly whenever this word approaches.”


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Kenya: two anti-Kikuyu constitutional amendments · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kumekucha reveals what he calls “two anti-Kikuyu” constitutional amendments in Kenya, “Moi and his cronies introduced the constitutional amendment requiring a president to garner at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in 5 provinces out of the total of 8 as an extra safety valve and precaution against losing the presidential elections. This amendment was clearly targeted at the feared Kikuyu vote in the opposition. The arithmetic clearly showed that a Kikuyu candidate who could get the support of the entire community was capable of getting enough votes to win the presidency. This is further evidence that Moi must have rigged both the 1992 and 1997 elections in his favor. The truth is that Matiba won in 1992 and Kibaki won in 1997.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Kenya: voting dilemma · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

My Voting Dilemma – A poem by Kenyanpoet:
This paradox of how a piece of paper
With X and ticks marks like an exam paper
To examine my literacy and disarm my prayers
Malcolm X and Nike labels
Tick no and X or cancel yes
No I don’t want yes
My answer is no
And so I will cancel


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Latvia: “Adult Playground” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia writes about Riga's mayor's proposal to build an “adult playground” for the capital's foreign visitors: “the new district will feature a multi-purpose sports facility, several night clubs, public restrooms, and a brothel.” (Update: it's an April 1 joke!)

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Malaysia: Against Opinion Space Monopoly · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Jeff Ooi in Malaysia seeks encouragement from Gandhi's non-violent movement against the British salt monopoly in India.  Jeff and a fellow Malaysian blogger are being sued by a mainstream media company. The blogger writes “Seventy-seven years on, ain't we living in a world of surging monopoly over the opinion space. Constructive criticisms are gross dissent. And that, you should only buy one version of truth that is news-slanted by the politically-cowed mainstream media dictated by the editorial mullahs?”

author: Preetam Rai


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Palestine: Religion of Peace Website · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Palestinian blog Oranges and Olives notes the hypocrisy of the website Islam the Religion of Peace: “It is supposed to be a sarcastic name, based on the origin of the word Islam. The website has the most despicable news analysis, and op-eds which should all direct you to one conclusion, that Islam is a religion that calls for murder!”


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Panama: Bocas Dolphins Under Threat, and Non-Lethal Personal Security Devices in Panama. · Global Voices
Melissa De León

#1: From The Noriegaville News, Bocas Dolphins Under Threat :
My own opinion of this project is it is simply a commercial venture using and probably abusing the natural resources of Panama. The continued use of the buzzword abundance in their proposal confirms my feeling. How do you increase abundance by removing the dolphins from the bay? I agree that dolphins are not an endangered species as I have sailed through schools of thousands off Venezuela and on the
Eastern Caribbean. However, there is not an overabundance of dolphins in Dolphin Bay.
The few dolphins there are like pets to the local population and they are very disturbed, deservedly, about their possible loss. Read the complete story…
#2: From Panama Guide, Non-Lethal Personal Security Devices in Panama :
Compared to many parts of the United States it's relatively easy to obtain a permit to legally carry a handgun in Panama. From personal experience I know that carrying a handgun for self defense is usually a bad idea, especially in a foreign country and I strongly suggest you think twice before you go that route. If you produce the weapon and draw a bead your next decision might include taking another human life. There are, however, viable alternatives. Continue reading…
#3: MsABCMom on Schools in Panama:
We were in Panama to witness the first week of the school year. As an educator here in the U.S. many of the things I observed made a great
impression on me. Here are some of those things:
Some kids may not get all of their books right away or at all. If they can't afford then, the books are available for use or for copying at the libraries. One of my cousins did this last year. Everyday after school she would go to the library to borrow her school books there. I also witnessed another means of gaining access to school books when I was there. A 13 year old boy in my aunt's neighborhood was selling “chance” numbers to earn money for his books. He was selling numbers at 10 cents a piece for a win or $2-$3 dollars. He would profit about $4 in the end. I bought two tickets from him and then later in the day when I found out why he was selling the numbers, I handed him $5 to go toward his book fund. Read more…
#4: C.J. Schexnayder from Klephblog visits Panama: The Panama Canal
As the $5.2 billion effort to expand the Panama Canal begins to gain headway, the Panama Canal Authority has started giving a peek into the scheduling of this massive project. Earlier this month, the authority – which oversees the management of
the canal – held an infoconference to provide details on the seven-year
project for companies interested in participating.
Some 600 representatives from 222 firms and 34 countries attended the three-day Panama City conference held on March 8-10 in Panama City, Panama. At the meetings the authority gave a rough timeline for the bids to be let for outside companies to take part in the project – the dredging of the ocean entrances, the dry excavation of the Pacific side lock channel and a single massive contract for both sets of locks. Read the complete post…
#5: Learn how to cook plantains the Panamanian way: Patacones  101 – Tostones (ES /EN)
If you have ever wondered how to prepare patacones, this post is for you. If you have dreamed enough about a crunchy
patacón and salivated while others prepare this tropical delicacy, this is your lucky day. We have prepared this pictorial, step by step tutorial that will make you the star of the kitchen. People will rave about you and your patacones! The best part is that patacones are delicious by themselves or as a side dish with your favorite meat, fish or chicken dish. Continue Reading…

author: Melissa De León


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Romania: Cyrillic Script · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blog Bucharest provides a link to a Romanian-language Wikipedia page written in Cyrillic script and explains this particular “language issue” a bit.


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Romania: Stray Dogs · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Blog Bucharest writes about stray dogs in Romania's capital.


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Russia: Dissident Graffiti · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Moscow Graffiti showcases two pieces of Russian “dissident street art”: the first one is “self-explanatory, unless you are a poor soul who has never heard of Bob Marley.”


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Russia, France: “Marcho Dorilya” (sic) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Some Chechen opponents of Ramzan Kadyrov are also opposed to a French “mobile festival of artists, performers, jugglers, musicians and others that is scheduled to travel from Paris to the Chechen capital Grozny during the months of April and May.” To learn why, read this post at A Step At A Time.


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Russia, Poland: Auschwitz Dispute · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Rossijskaja Federazija reports that the Polish management of the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum closed the Russian part of the exposition on the prisoners because of a dispute over the victims’ citizenship.


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Saudi Arabia: Phone Stalkers · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Saudi blogger Nzingha's Soapbox tells the story of dealing with a potential stalker: “Now that freaked me out, it sounds like he is calling from his car and he is asking me if I'm alone. I hung up called security let them know if this guy shows up to have him detained until police arrive.”


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Somaliland: sign of order and normalcy · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A sign of order and normalcy in Hargeysa, the capital of the Republic of Somaliland.


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Sri Lanka: Cricket’s Appeal · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indi.ca on the appeal of cricket. “I’ve watched whole games, but it’s hard to stay up till 3 am on a work day. However, the game courses through multiple mediums – the web (CricInfo), the security guard’s radio, casual phone conversations with friends, and the cheers of the people next door. I was replacing my car battery last night and you could reliably tell the score from the noise the neighbors were making. And that is the appeal of cricket, to me, that it is a profoundly social sport, and a modern sport in terms of media.”


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Sri Lanka: The gripping game · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Chaar~Max on the extremely exciting game of cricket – SL vs Eng. “Not letting down his captain Dilo held his nerves to bring down the target to 3 runs in the last ball, and when some thought there might be a Draw in the cards the bugger manages to bowl a “You miss, I hit” ball under pressure!”


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Swahili Blogosphere: Blogging against Freedom of Information Bill, African unity, and How many other dictators are out there? · Global Voices
J. Nambiza Tungaraza

The extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community leaders in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania is over, but the debate over the Zimbabwe's government's crackdown on opposition still lingers on. As usual, when Zimbabwe's political crisis dominates news headlines so do the opposing views of the situation.
What do Swahili bloggers and their readers have to say about Zimbabwe?, Photoblogger Muhidin Issa Michuzi posts photos of the Southern Africa leaders as they arrive in Dar Es Salaam for the summit.  Mugabe's photo leads to a heated debate about Mugabe's tactics of suppressing the oppostion, his portrayal in the media and Zimbabwe's land redistribution program.
One reader condemns Mugabe's dictatorial tactics:
Hata mie nakuunga mkono kuwa Mugabe anachemsha kwa kumdunda Morgan Tsvangarai na wapinzani wengine. Inaonekana anaendesha ubabe na kutoa “news” kwa mataifa ya magharibi.
Swala la Mashamba-ni haki kuyagawana kwa walio wengi sio kuwaachia walowezi wachache. Tatizo linakuja kama unachukua mashamba na kugawia watu ambao hujawatayarisha kuyatumia kikamilifu. Tunaambiwa kuwa sasa hivi Zimbabwe kuna njaa sana kutokana na hili zoezi-sijui kama ni kweli au ni propaganda za BBC na vyombo vya habari vya magharibi.
Mie siungi mkono viongozi kukaa sana madarakani-nchi yeyote duniani. Naipongeza Tanzania kwa kuweka katiba inayolinda kipindi ambacho mtu anaweza kuwa raisi (miaka kumi inatosha!). Huyu Mugabe amekaa mno bwana-halafu amezeeka. Mbona mwenzie Mandela alikaa kidogo akaachia ngazi?? Ukomavu wa kisiasa lazima uandamane na kung'atuka kutoka madarakani katika muda muafaka.
Other readers question the mainstream media overwhelming focus on Zimbabwe compared to other African crises:
Juzi bagamoyo watanzania wamenyang'anywa mashamba yao na serikali, na mpaka polisi wa ghasia FFU wakaletwa kuzuia ghasia, jee BBC na CNN wameonyesha?
Still on Zimbabwe Maggid Mjengwa posts an article, “Magwiji wa Demokrasia au chui” (Leaders of democracy or leopards in sheep's clothing?), by a Tanzanian political analyst, Nizar Visram, while Jeff Msangi  questions the definition of a dictator and wonders if Robert Mugabe is the only one:
Hivi Mugabe ni dikteta? Mbona kachaguliwa kwa kupitia sanduku la kura?  Mambo yanayoendelea nchini Zimbabwe hayapendezi hata kidogo.Lakini swali kubwa ni je yanatendeka Zimbabwe peke yake? Chaguzi zinazosemekana kutokuwa huru zinatokea Zimbabwe peke yake? Kwani hatukumbuki jinsi George Bush alivyoingia madarakani? Makamu wa raisi wa Bill Clinton, Al Gore siku hizi akijitambulisha anasema “I am Al Gore,I used to be the next president of the United States”, unadhani anatania? …  Ni nchi ngapi duniani zinazokandamiza upinzani kwa kutumia nguvu za dola za kila aina? Hivi ni nchi ngapi duniani zinazokandamiza uhuru wa kujielezea?
A comment in his blog suggests that Zimbabwe's government is not a dictatorship and argues that political crisis in Zanzibar is even worse:
Mugabe ana mapungufu fulani katika jinsi anavyotatua matatizo ya sasa nchini Zimbabwe,hata hivyo hayuko karibu kabisa na udikteta.tatizo lilopo duniani ni kwamba katika ngazi ya kimataifa kuna anarchy na mataifa fulani yanatumia mwanya huu kujinyakulia mamlaka ya kuamua mambo katika ngazi ya kimataifa.hapo ndio uwaita wale wanaofanya maamuzi kinyume na matakwa majina mbalimbali ya ajabu ajabu ili tu kuvuta hisia za watu waungane nao katika kuwashinikiza juu masuala mbalimbali.ninashangazwa sana jinsi viongozi wa upinzani zimbabwe wanavyolichukulia swala zima!mataifa ya magharibi hayapiganii haki bali maslahi yao, ingekuwa wanapigania haki wangeweza kuona kuwa tatizo la kisiasa zanzibar ni kubwa zaidi ya ghasia za zimbabwe, nani amewahi kuzungumzia zanzibar kwenye vikao vya kimataifa? wanaishia kutoa tamko tu kuwa hawakuridhishwa na jinsi uchaguzi ulivyofanyika!
Reflection on African unity on the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome
As the European Union commemorates its 50th anniversary, Simon Kitururu reflects on African unity. He encourages Africans not to give up on that dream:
Wakati wa Ulaya(EU) wanasherehekea miaka 50 tokea Triti ya Rome kupigwa sahihi, mimi nashindwa kujizui kuwakumbuka akina Kwame Nkurumah ambao nao tokea mbali waliwaza na kujaribu kuunganisha bara la Afrika. Waulaya imepita miaka hamsini angalibado wanajenga himaya yao. Tukikumbuka hawa ndio waliokuwa na ambao wamechangia sana kutugawa Waafrika mpaka leo hii bado wanajenga muungano wao. Hivyo naamini kabisa inawezekana kuwa Afrika pamoja nayote yatukabiliyo ni jambo zuri tu tumefanikiwa angalau kulitunza wazo la muungano wetu. Mimi naamini sisi tunahitaji sana kuungana hata kama si kwa staili ya hawa wa Ulaya. Tunahitaji kuungana ili kusaidiana kuokoa vizazi vyetu vya watu weusi vijavyo kunyanyasika hapa duniani.
Freedom of Information Bill: Muzzling the press?
The proposed Freedom of Information Bill 2007 in Tanzania has received constant criticism from media stakeholders. The bill, among other things, classifies all cabinet papers and information as secret state documents. Ramadhan Msangi raises the question, which is in every media stakeholder's mind: Will the Tanzania parliament pass the draft Freedom of Information bill as it is or will it take into consideration the alternative draft bill prepared by the media stakeholders?
According to Msangi, who has consistently scrutinised the government's draft bill since early January, the bill, if endorsed as it is, will undermine press freedom and deny the public the right to get information. He pinpoints some of the provisions hostile to the freedom of information:
‘Muswada unampa Waziri mamlaka ya kuchagua sura au vifungu ambavyo anataka vitumike kwa wakati fulani; Kipengele cha usiri katika muswada huu kinavunja kanuni za utawala bora kuruhusu serikali na taasisi zake kutotoa habari bila vikwazo, mfano shughuli za baraza la mawaziri na michakato ya utungaji sera; Muswada unampa Waziri mamlaka ya kuzuia habari kwa kisingizio cha kuathiri maslahi ya umma, ulinzi na usalama wa taifa bila kuweka bayana mambo hayo; Unazuia habari muhimu za maendeleo ya jamii, sanjari Na zile za utawala mbovu na ulaji wa fedha za wananchi kinyume na makusudo ya wanaotozwa kodi; Utaratibu unaotamkwa hapa haumsaidii, kumhakikishia Na kumlinda mwananchi wa kawaida katika kupata taarifa; Muswada huu haumjali mwananchi wa kawaida kama mdau na sehemu muhimu ya habari; Muswada huu unakataza kuandikwa kwa habari zozote zenye kuhusiana na biashara za kimataifa.’
This is all from Swahili blogosphere. Kwaheri.

author: J. Nambiza Tungaraza


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Syria: Kurdish Unrest · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Kurdish blog From Holland to Kurdistan reports of unrest in the Kurdish region of Syria: “Ciwan Mohammed (25) was killed in a fight in the Assyrian district of Derek by an Assyrian on the 1th of April. Two Kurdish boys were severely wounded and brought to the hospital in Qamishlo. 30.000 Kurds attended the funeral today of the murdered victim and demonstrated against the Syrian government.”


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Thailand blocks access to YouTube · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Yesterday, 4th April, 2007, Thailand’s military-appointed government has blocked access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube after its owners, Google Inc, declined to take down a clip ridiculing the country's revered monarch: King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
“When they decide to withdraw the clip, we will withdraw the ban,” said ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Turkey: Istanbul Tattooed · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Metroblogging Istanbul has now started a Flickr account to document the graffiti art of Istanbul “some of them are great works of art, out of reach of the general public because they are hidden in remote locations in the city”.


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Ukraine: A War in the Comments · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light had to close the comment section on this post about the current events in Ukraine, after minor virtual fighting broke out between a bunch of readers.


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Ukraine: Constitutional Court · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Abdymok.net and Foreign Notes write about the politics of awaiting the Constitutional Court's decision and other political matters: “Luckily most Ukrainians are equipped with efficient bull-s**t filters and are going about their daily business as usual,” writes LEvko.


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Ukraine: Crisis Analysis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Crisis has become the hallmark of Ukrainian politics since last year's March parliamentary elections,” writes Vilhelm Konnander and explains what the reasons and the perspectives are.


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Ukraine: Non-Violent Crisis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn shares her impressions of living “in the midst of our own little political mess in Ukraine”: “I had a chuckle when a friend of mine working in Afghanistan IM’d me on Monday to check if I am OK. I had to chuckle at the irony. The worst thing that seems to have happened so far is that all the shops around here are completely sold out of everything. These are Ukrainians, I told her, generally pretty nice people. Except for in stores, or the post office, or in any kind of service job.”


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Zimbabwe: another Dambudzo Marechera?  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Poet Tinashe Mushakavanhu has been compared to Dambudzo Marechera. eshuneutics disagrees: The gaps are more to do with a poet learning a visual syntax whereas the breaks in Marechera are a psychological terrain that has to be crossed with a struggle, with effort, with full engagement by the reader. I find Mushakavanhu’s poetry to be interesting, but to draw comparisons with Marechera is misguided: the obvious comparisons—beyond the fact that both have connections with Zimbabwe—are really quite spurious and detrimental to a developing poetic talent.


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Chile: Bachelet, Transantiago and student protests · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Michelle Bachelet has had a difficult time since she was inaugurated as Chile’s first female president just over a year ago. She has endured corruption scandals in her own leftist coalition, student protests expressing angry dissatisfaction with the education system, and now, the collapse of Santiago’s costly new transportation system. This big project was started during the Ricardo Lagos presidency, known for its large investment into transportation infrastructure.
“The severely ailing transportation reform in the capital city of Santiago called Transantiago has begun to generate its political costs,” writes Tomás Dinges who includes a number of links to comparisons between Transantiago and Bogotá’s Transmilenio, which served as a model for the project.
Transantiago is kicking her ass, and unfortunately it wasn’t even a problem of her design. This new system is based on Colombia’s TransMilenio and was designed over a period of five years under the administration of Ricardo Lagos. It is now cultivating bad moods, lack of confidence and frustration by the people outside the government, while creating instability within her government. The idea that she is a president of the people, the head of a “gobierno ciudadano,” which can have a real effect on people’s “hogares,” or homes, as she refers to in speeches, is coming under severe and dangerous questioning reflected in polled popularity levels tracking steadily downwards, a five point drop since early March (51-46) with an increase of people unhappy with her administration (36 – 41).
Since Transantiago first opened, a lot of commentary has poured forth. Plataforma Urbana [ES] wrote a critique about the government’s latest announcement of improved operation of Transantiago and summarizes the emotions of the citizens reacting to it:
A nadie le sorprendieron las medidas anunciadas para corregir el caótico estado en que se encuentra operando, pero muchos echamos de menos el cómo se arreglaran los problemas a largo plazo, sobre todo en lo que concierne a la operación del plan a través de los años. A casi 2 meses de su implementación, qué es lo que nos deparará Transantiago y qué tanto hay que esperar de las medidas anunciadas.
Habiéndose nivelado el servicio en general -la gente ya está acostumbrada al nuevo sistema- es ahora donde aparecen los problemas estructurales dentro del sistema, aquellos que no se solucionan con más buses ni con renegociación de contratos. Si bien el aumento de buses permitirá contar con una mayor capacidad -y por ende, poder subirse a los buses repletos-, el gran problema es cómo controlar las frecuencias y ajustar los recorridos y micros a la demanda real de pasajeros. Esto porque obviamente el diseño debe ser ajustado en función de la variación dinámica de la demanda conforme a la ciudad crece y genera nuevos viajes.
Having the general service leveled out – the people are now used to the new system – is now when the structural problems appear inside the system; the ones that aren’t solved by re-negotiating contracts or adding more buses. Even though more buses will allow for a greater capacity and permit people to actually enter board the crowded buses, the major problem is how to control the frequency and adjust number of buses to the real demand of passengers. Obviously the design has to be adjusted to the changing demand and in accordance with the growth of the city as it requires new routes.
The government announced that to repair the operation they will need US $34 million. And a local newspaper, published an article revealing that the government spent US $12 million to research the impact of the project before the operation. So, what happened with the studies? Were they well made? Why do we now have a new budget to repair the mistakes of the system?
All of these issues are focused on the capital, Santiago, where Transantiago operates. But what about the rest of the country?.  Chile.com has an article [ES] that reviews reactions from other regions that shouldered some of the expenses:
La parlamentaria por la  Sexta Región agregó que “cuando Santiago tiene problemas el ministro no los tiene para abrir las manos, pero cuando es en regiones no vemos lo mismo. Necesitamos recursos para agua potable, caminos, educación, defensas fluviales; no podemos permitir que se saquen de los que ya están asignados para solucionar los problemas del Transantiago.
Yesterday, the students poured into the streets of the capital to protest against Transantiago. Duna [ES] writes that 228 people where detained, and almost 71% of those detainees are under 18. One of the Student Federation’s University blog (ES) corresponding to the Universidad de Chile (ES),  claims than more than 1,500 people attended the rally. They also write that many were not sure where to meet or march. They seemingly admit that the protest was poorly organized and without a real sense of what they were doing.
Students are becoming accustomed to protesting just about everything and some citizens, like kurotashio [ES] have observed the consequences.
Era posible también ver el descontento de muchos comerciantes, los cuales echaban más de algún improperio a los estudiantes por causar un estado de desalojo de muchas personas, las cuales acostumbradas a sus puestos laborales deben ser corridas para que no tengan problemas por abc motivos… A pesar de ello, por la avenida principal (Alameda) circulaban buses como si nada pasara, la gente caminando, aunque temerosa, pero como si la lluvia que emanaba del carro policial fuera lo más común del mundo.
The Chilean people have a history of protest, but since Michelle Bachelet was elected president, difficult issues which started in the previous administration, have ended in near social collapse.
The student protests against the education system began last year and, since then, every time they have a chance – like last week –  they protest. The Government is working hard on the educational issue. Bachelet created the Advisory Board for Educational Quality last June, which seeks to develop an improved Chilean education system. One of the major brains behind Chile’s educational system, José Joaquin Brunner [ES] has several documents on his blog [ES] that explain the vision and objectives they are working on.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Afghanistan: French Following Suit? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Safrang says that France has little choice but to make some kind of bargain to secure the release of two French aid workers and three of their Afghan colleagues who were kidnapped by the Taliban and that such a deal will make such kidnappings more likely.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Africa: exploiting Africa’s beauty and pain · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

waxspell  considers movies such as Hotel Rwanda and The Last King of Scotland a form of exploitation: It is a dismay to see how these money hungry opportunists take advantage of our painful history and make it their gain! How dare we celebrate such insensitivity without questioning it? Can we (Africa and all those who condemn such) do something to prevent folks form demeaning history.


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Africa: the rise of the African aggregator · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethan Zuckerman writes about the rise of the African aggregator: “Questions about ranking aside, one of the reasons aggregators are so popular is that the African blogosphere continues to grow, adding new voices and perspectives every day.”


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Albania: Old Buildings · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Tirana and his readers discuss the old, miserably-looking old buildings in Albania's capital.


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Armenia: Pre-election Games · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian interviews Tamar Palandjian, proprietress of ArmYouth Blog and one of the organizers of a recent even that encouraged youth to discuss and become engaged in Armenia's coming parliamentary election.


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Bahrain: Coming Home · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Bahrain's Silly Bahraini Girl talks about what she can expect when she goes back home to Bahrain on holiday: “I will be able to eat without having to worry who cooked the food or who will wash the bloody dishes; go out without having to worry whether there is fuel in the car…”


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Barbados: Cricket Obiutuary  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press reprints excerpts from Mike Selvey's “obituary” for Caribbean cricket: “If I shut my eyes, I can still sense the spirit…that existed here before the International Cricket Council got hold of it, ran it out of town, then sanitised it out of existence.”


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Belarus: Freedom Underwear · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about freedom underwear.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Sevdah Music Re-Connects · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mirza Basic of London Sevdah finds a long-lost classmate – and “first love” – thanks to his London Sevdah music project.


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Bulgaria, Libya: Celebrities for Tripoli Six · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Bianca Jagger and George Michael “join a list of celebrities moved by the double tragedy: the children infected with HIV, and [Bulgarian and Palestinian] health professionals unfairly imprisoned and sentenced to death” in Libya, Declan Butler reports.


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Central Asia: Climate Change · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Bonnie Boyd reports on how climate change affects Central Asia.


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Central Asia: Interview with a Scholar · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia interviews well known American Central Asia scholar Martha Brill Olcott.


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China: Comment on Nail House · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hegelchong translates parts of a comment written by XiaoWu on the Nail House report: Imagining the victim as a heroine of human rights is only a wishful thinking of ordinary people. … …


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China: Though I am Gone · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yunnan Film Festival was suspended because of the nomination of documentary “Though I am Gone” (我虽死去). Danwei contacted the organizers of the festival: they said they did not yet know when they would be able to reschedule it. However, the entire film is on youtube now.


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Czech Republic: Protest Against Missiles · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Swobodin v Brne writes about and posts pictures from the Czech the rallies against the U.S. missile base.


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DRC: Local Elections Pushed Back to 2008 · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liège is disappointed [Fr] that local elections in the DRC have been postponed to 2008. The blog regrets that they did not take place before presidential ones as was apparently discussed in international community negotiations in South Africa.


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DRC: March in Manchester Against Kabila · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Rénouveau Congolais posts [Fr] pictures of a diaspora march that took place in Manchester, U.K. March 28  against recently elected DRC president Joseph Kabila.


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Ethiopian bloggers turn undercover court reporters · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

Ethiopia's bloggers turned undercover court reporters over the past weeks, giving daily commentary on a controversial trial of more than 100 opposition politicians, campaigners and journalists.
Leading opposition figures were arrested and charged with attempted genocide, treason and a range of other serious offences in the months following the country's last general elections in 2005.
The trial has stretched on for more than a year, with numerous adjournments and breaks and statements from scores of witnesses. Mainstream journalists have concentrated on covering the main developments in the proceedings – the arraignments, the bail hearings and the major legal statements.
But the resulting gaps in the reporting have been filled by some of Ethiopia's most prolific and politicised bloggers who managed to secure seats in the court.
Seminawork led the way over the past few weeks with a string of posts marking every twist and turn and delay in the case. His entries came thick and fast. Court adjourned for tomorrow, was followed by Postponed again, followed by Breaking news:court ruled defendants to defend their case followed by Death sentence beckons our heroes.
The last post read:
The court in charge of the treason and genocide trial of kinijit [the main opposition coalition] leaders, civil society members and independent journalists has today ruled that all council members of kinijit including Hailu Shawel, Berhanu Nega and Birtukan Mideksa should defend their case in the treason charge.
The court ruled that the council’s decision has a direct cause and effect relationship with the June 8 and November one disturbances. It also ruled that the prosecutor has produced sufficient evidence to prove that they have committed treason.
The leaders have previously decided not to defend the case. If they stick to their previous decision, it means they will be sentenced for committing treason soon. The crime of treason carries a death sentence or severe imprisonment in Ethiopian law.
The Other Side described the drama of the moment  when the legal decision was made in The Ruling:
With his last word—before it was even clear that he had finished his sentence–Judge Adil turned abruptly and rushed out the back exit, with the other two following closely.
It was obvious that no one, least of all the defendants, expected such an outcome. The family members received the news with a mixture of anger, fatigue and sadness. “Ayzuachehu! Ayzuachehu!” [Courage! Courage!] rang out from both sides of the room as the prisoners, with their unwavering courage, tried to reassure their loved ones and encourage them to be strong. Court resumes tommorrow.
The government has accused the opposition politicians of trying to overthrow the state by provoking two periods of violent civil unrest in the country. More than 200 people died  in June and November 2005 when anti-government protesters who claimed the elections were rigged clashed with armed police and soldiers on the streets of the capital Addis Ababa and other cities. Opposition supporters – including almost all of Ethiopia's political bloggers – have dismissed the charges and described the prolonged trial as a political farce.
Carpe Diem Ethiopia spoke for many anti-government bloggers in his post An Ethiop Office Rant
Ethiopian democracy continues to be on a standstill: Predictably, the treason and attempted genocide trials have met repeated courtroom delays and the unwillingness (and/or inability) of High Court judges to proceed with deliberations on the underlying alleged offenses signals continued governmental repression. The 2006 U.S. Country Report on Human Rights Practices recounts a laundry list of abuses
Elsewhere in the Ethiopian blogosphere, several writers focused on the story of an Ethiopian woman called Kamilat Mehdi who had acid thrown in her face by a stalker. Meskel Square told the story in Ethiopia acid victim shows many women are at risk. Seminawork's new offshoot community blog Ethio-Zagol Post Diaries described a vigil held outside the woman's hospital in In the shadow of Kamilat's vigil. Weblog Ethiopia expressed his/her anger in Evils of man. The Concoction was so moved that she launched a whole new blog focusing on violence against women called  VAW – Do Something!.
Things We Should Have Written Down came up with the most moving post of the fortnight when he described coming across a crash in An Accident:
All five of us were laughing when our car rounded the corner and we saw the truck lying on its side in the middle of the road. The smell of gasoline filled my nostrils and the back of my throat. There were a handful of people standing beside the truck and one man sitting in the grass with his head in his hands. We stopped, and I saw an arm sticking out of the now-vertical passenger cab. Someone whispered, “This just happened.”

author: Andrew Heavens


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Georgia, Azerbaijan: A Border Runs Through It · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Steady State discusses the dispute between Georgia and Azerbaijan over which country owns a an important monastery through which the two countries’ border runs.


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Holy Week in Guatemala: Antichrist Not Welcome · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Guatemala, as a former Spanish colony, has a heritage that includes not only Catholicism, but also the many Spanish traditions involved with it, including its most sacred expressions and traditions during holy week, or “Semana Santa.”
Blogger Victor Arriaza has a topical blog which covers all of the Catholic traditions in Guatemala with daily updates in “Cuaresma y Semana Santa in Guatemala” where you can see his pictures and El blog del Cucurucho.
In Antigua Guatemala the city is celebrating its “World famous Holy week” with religious displays and bright colors, as you can see at Antigua Daily Photo, which also goes into some of the week's traditions. You can find out what a “cucurucho” is, or why guatemalan “carpets” are so important.
The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day's procession.
Religion in Guatemala is mostly conservative. Though Catholicism and, to a lesser degree, Protestantism are both practiced, other expressions of spirituality tend not to be accepted. The former Pope, Jean Paul II, visited the country three times. Most of Guatemala's public holidays commemorate Catholic festivities and the church still has influence in all kinds of official matters.
But alternative religions and sects are growing. Guatemala is a country of contrasts. Now we have a few so-called “antichrist sects”. One of them, “Creciendo en Gracia” appeared last week in the headlines of many blog posts. The leader of the sect, José Luis de Jesus Miranda, also known as “Papi” planned to come to visit Guatemala and promote his doctrine. He has called himself “The antichrist.” The announcement of his visit, predictably, gave everyone something to write about.
Say something! [ES] wrote that his visit was planned for the second week of April, even when in El Salvador and Honduras, his entry was denied. “Papi viene a Guatemala [ES]” (“Papi is coming to Guatemala”) was the title of his post, and he only linked to AP News. What was remarkable, however, was the comment thread, which had heated pronouncements either in favor or against his visit.
Comunicando [ES] adds:
Esta noticia es para comenzar a generar reacciones y abrir la discusión del tema. Aquí en Guatemala han comenzado a ganar seguidores. Al menos unos 100 dicen estar de su lado. Se distinguen por el tatuaje del 666 o de la SSS. Dicen estar libres de pecado.
Ana writes:
Hasta el momento, las autoridades guatemaltecas no han dicho esta boca es mía, pero no sería raro que en un arranque de religiosidad similar a la de sus homólogos vecinos vetara al anticristo su ingreso al país.
Blogger Voces de Guatemala [ES] added:
“En Guatemala, La Semana Santa es al igual que en estos países una larga semana llena de fe y cristiandad, sin embargo, muchas personas optan por convertir esta semana en una “Semana Zángana”, aprovechando a ir a todos lados en busca de los excesos de bebida alcohólica, droga y sexo”.
What is important to bear in mind is that Guatemalan Constitution respects Freedom of Religion. Legally it is a secular state and must respect the right to religious freedom expressed in the International Covenant of Civic and Political Rights.

author: Renata Avila


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Hong Kong: Save RTHK · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The evaluation committee on public broadcast recently suggested to form a new Public Broadcast Service body in  Hong Kong rather than reforming the present Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Lee Yui-Wah starts a blog for saving this media institute which has been critical towards Hong Kong government policy (even though it is a governmental organization).


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India and its various avatars · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

India: there are many facets to the country, and in this post we present a slice of how India is perceived by different people. Each writer is looking at India from a different angle and sees a different avatar of the country. Some look at India from a comparative perspective and as the next big emerging market, while others look at rural India, an agrarian India that is struggling to keep pace, and then there are IT folks who look at India differently, this is India with its strong IT and technology hub.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis of 2Point6Billion.com is a blog about India and China, the two fastest growing economies in the world. In this post titled Comparing Governments Approach to FDI Devonshire-Ellis compares the two countries strategy to Foreign Direct Investment and writes:
Yes, both governments are on the right track and will continue to move ahead. These are significant developing countries and they will forge the way the next century looks and behaves. The US needs to adapt it’s economy, while the Brits need to get out of their shorts and into grown-up trousers when dealing with such markets.,
While Devonshire-Ellis talks about the new India and the future of India, Mr. Venkatesh looks at the agrarian crisis and wonders if there is a grand design to keep the farmers poor in India.
MR Venkatesh of Indian Agrarian Crisis writes about the lack of food productivity in India and also makes that inevitable comparison to China. Why has the food capita not increased? And, why are farmers still poor in India?  Mr. Vekatesh elaborates:
The net per capita food availability in India in 1971 was 394 gm per day. This was just after the onset of Green Revolution in India. Exactly 30 years later, in 2001, the net per capita of foodgrain availability was 396 gm per day: a princely rise of 2 gm! In effect, for over 30 years our farm growth has barely kept pace with our population growth.
And why are farmers poor? He explains:
If farmers were to succeed, it would mean the failure of our politicians and the brand of politics practiced in this country since 1947 by the Left and the Right.
And that explains why the government is keen on a failed farm sector: the idea is to merely keep it on a life support system, allow it neither to die nor to bloom. And that ensures that India remains poor, while its politicians are rich.
Sujai, an entrepreneur and a blogger in Bangalore writes about Barcamp3 recently held in Bangalore and shares his observations of what needs to be done in India from and IT and technical perspective. Again, there is that comparison to China when he writes:
We don’t sit down solving the barriers and then go about doing it. We just do it and in the process hope the barriers go down. We are already late according to me (and Savita and few others). While Indians celebrate the fact that we are going to be the services hub the way China is now the manufacturing, thereby implicitly shrugging off the responsibility to foster other industries, China is already transforming itself into a global product making player.
Sujai also makes a telling point about the nature of the job that are left incomplete in India and wonders how this endemic problem can be resolved. He writes:
Not finishing up the job to its absolute completion is something like a disease that is all pervading. Half done, incomplete and shoddy jobs are seen everywhere. I call this the last-meter problem. We don’t go all the way; we seem to run out of gas during that last meter.
And, Steve Erat, who works for Adobe in the US captured an interesting video clip of his commute in Bangalore and presents a different perspective of India. Steve writes:
This is my first visit to India and Bangalore, and although I didn't warm up to the unfamiliarity of the local culture at first, its definitely growing on me. The people here are very polite and friendly, much more so than New England I think. I had been warned of the food here and to eat at American food chains, but my Indian colleagues have helped introduce me to local dishes and I'm really enjoying them now.
What or where is the real India? I guess it depends upon your perception.

author: Kamla Bhatt


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Iran: Lost in Libya · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Iranian blogger The Adventures of Mr. Behi tells us how he navigated his way home in the Libyan desert by using the moon.


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Iraq: Covering the Al- Jazeera Conference · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Iraqi blogger Dahr Jamail gives us a slideshow presentation about the recent 3rd Annual Al Jazeera Conference in Doha, Qatar.


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Israel: Animal Domestic Abuse · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Stefanella's Drive Thru shows us strange footage of animal kingdom domestic violence at an Israeli zoo.


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Kazakhstan: Building Laureates · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Kazakhstan's president has determined that Kazakhstan needs Nobel laureates, reports Ben Paarmann, who notes that though initiatives to improve science funding will be good for Kazakhstan, the kind of science Kazakhstan needs is not the type that wins Nobel prizes.


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Kazakhstan: Laghman · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

News from the Caravan takes readers on another culinary adventure, making the popular Central Asian dish laghman.


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Lithuania: Beggar Woman · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Wu Wei writes about a famously eccentric Vilnius beggar woman.


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Malaysia: Blogger’s Alliance · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

A Whole New World writes that several bloggers in Malaysia came together to discuss the formation of an alliance. The bloggers are facing increasing criticism from the mainstream media and some politicians.


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Morocco: Mistaken Identity · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

PeaceCorp blogger 32n5w describes being mistaken for a Somali in Morocco.


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Palestine: Internet Marriages · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Rebellious Arab Girl deals with the frustration of her mother wanting to find her a husband….on the internet.


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Philippines: Blog Award Winners · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Mukamo Philippines lists the winners of recently concluded 2007 Philippine Blog Award winners. The awards included categories such as Best Home and Living Blog, Best Socio-Political Blog, Best Podcast, Best Travelblog and Family blog among others.


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Poland: A Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Some of the subjects recently covered by the beatroot: Aleksander Kwasniewski‘s back (34 comments; Traveling Life has a post on the tape scandal involving Poland's ex-president); Poland's “Bono-like behaviour” (24 comments); “fast-track saintification” of Pope John Paul II that 61 percent of the Poles support (79 comments); and – “should Warsaw send Moscow its street cleaning bill?” (32 comments).


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Puerto Rico: Education a D-Student · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil the Jenius compares Puerto Rico's education system with a D-grade student who “can choose to become better…the basic choice that needs to be made, is not about curriculum, or educational theory or de-unionization: It's about totally separating politics from education.”


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Russia: Anna Politkovskaya’s Diaries · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Economist's Edward Lucas reviews the recently published diaries of Anna Politkovskaya: “Ms Politkovskaya's biggest struggle was with indifference, not censorship.”


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Good Friday  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Some thoughts on Good Friday from Abeni.


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Syria: Parlimentary Elections · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Syrian blogger Tajreed talks about the changes in people with the upcoming parliamentary elections: “And last thing I want to talk about are the prospects of change  I notice that there is an interest in the parliamentary elections this year and while I haven't voted in previous elections I see a good number of people are getting their electoral cards and looking forward to casting their votes on the day of the elections and the ministry of interior is doing a good job in my opinion in educating people and giving them information about the elections”


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Thailand: Youtube blocked Again · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Lost Boy has details on the latest block on YouTube in Thailand.


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The adventures of Phatry Derek Pan in Cambodia · Global Voices
Tharum Bun

Now settling in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, without close relatives to accompany him, where unlike his Seattle home there is no local McDonald’s, Phatry Derek Pan adapts to a new pace of life. Slim and charming Phatry speaks fluent English and holds an American passport. Wearing a T-shirt and Khor Chev, (long pants popular among Cambodian farmers), and speaking broken Khmer, the 27-year-old does not look foreign to Khmer people, and he doesn’t see himself as a foreigner amongst Khmer. Phatry is an extrovert young man. He makes friends easily and gets to know people from every walk of life. To finance his three-year stay in Cambodia, the home country of his parents, he earns a living through his story-telling talents, mainly writing. In the United States, some of his friends and people he encountered nicknamed him ‘Mr. Khmer-connection,’ because he is famous as an American skilled at Khmer communications.
In 1979, at the largest Cambodian/Thai border refugee camp, Kao I Dang, Phatry was born to a well-to-do family, where he spent his early years before his family migrated to the United State via Philippines to escape from a prolonged nightmare. Phatry, at age 4, was raised, educated, and acquainted with American children as well as other Khmer refugee families growing up in a small town named Kelso before moving to Seattle, Washington, when he was 18. There, he learned Khmer from older neighbors, but couldn’t catch up easily. His father, once a businessman in agricultural productions, thought his young son rather learn English than Khmer. When he was a teenager his curiosity grew tremendously for his parents’ native country, which his father seldom spoke about. In college, he began to learn the Khmer language, traditions, and history, in particular. Studying Cambodia as an American student, was probably the most fascinating thing for him, says Phatry. His family held one thing in common with other Cambodian-Americans: Cambodia is their history; the U.S. is their future.
In which Phatry journeys home
It took the Cambodian-born American two and a half decades before visiting his parents’ home for the first time. Phatry believes his three-year residency in Cambodia will enable a first-hand understanding regarding his immediate ancestry rooted in a land known for its contradictory and tumultuous history of cultural glory and ethnic peacefulness until most recently, Pol Pot's violent genocidal chapter scarred and still shadows present-day Cambodians.
“I have waited for more than 25 years,” said Phatry, “Today, I will set foot for the first time on the soil of my parent's home province of Battambong.”  In response to family, friends, and former girlfriends in the States, he claims that “…life in Cambodia has blessed me with the opportunity to travel more— to see the beauty and darkness that fills every corner of my country.”  Staying in Cambodia by himself, even at his age, concerns Phatry's parents because he is the youngest son in the family of seven children. Not only is this his first time venturing into a foreign, post-war country— additionally, he has no living local relatives to ask for support, especially in emergency.
There was a time when his mother reminded him that “at night, locals will rob you because you're a foreigner.” But, in his reply to these worries, he says (in his online journal), “Yes, much of Cambodia is “lawless” but lawlessness, in my view, implies “anarchism.” Surely, not here in good ol’ Phnom Penh. You can piss outside and you won't get whipped like Singaporeans or ticketed for indecent exposure like in the land of Uncle Sam.
When offering Khmer concern and advice, Phatry's mother is not alone. Commonly, local conversations include “don't talk to any girls there. Most of them are prostitutes and their only intent is to get you drunk so they can steal your money!”
‘Who am I?’
In his second trip to Siem Reap, gateway to ancient temples and the nation’s rich history, the young fellow is more than fascinated by century-old temples. “This second trip will not serve as my last to Angkor. Surely, I hope to visit again in the coming months. What I look forward most on my third trip is visiting a small temple that bears my name. Really, no joke. If my name is unique as it is, it was a pleasant surprise to make the discovery on the map. I wonder what the history behind Prasat [temple] Patri is. Does anyone know?” wrote Phatry. It may take him longer than three years to establish his very own identity.
In Kampong Speu province, Phatry standing with schoolchildren and university students, where the group of youth delivered books and pencils to the rural kids
Traditionalism in a trendy society
On one of several return trips from Cambodia, Phatry’s mother gave him a photo of a young, beautiful, Khmer woman, who lives in his mother’s home town Battambang. His mother, like most other Cambodian parents, still believes in a traditionally arranged marriage. For many decades, this ancient cultural norm has survived through generations and its practice continues with a large percentage of international Khmer business families, in spite of their living so far from home. He, however, like most contemporary educated youth, did not entirely accept his mother’s proposal. As a compromise, he promised to find a future daughter-in-law for his mother from Cambodia, but on his own. Although his mother was reluctant to accept this decision, she, too, is influenced by global modernity and 20 years’ living in American society. In Cambodia even today, archaic tradition still often supersedes personal evolution, or contemporary social thoughts and beliefs. Khmer parents use economic dependence to enforce control over their children. Only educationally or financially liberated Southeast Asians can hope to escape parentally arranged marriages.
A revolution of self-destruction
When the Communist Khmer Rouge attempted to transform Cambodia into a purely agrarian society, or the largest rice field worldwide, the country was ironically re-named Democratic Kâmpuchéa (DK) to reflect a non-existent democratic regime. More than 2 million Khmer were tortured and enslaved at gunpoint. Many died from executions, sickness and starvation.  Others were starved, beaten, raped, and separated from family members to labor 12 hours daily in the countryside, often aimlessly digging roads and ditches to nowhere, occassionally, their own graves.  Unlike Hitler's Germany during 1939-1945, no organized concentration camps were equipped with gas chambers and mass ovens to erase the evidence of “ethnic cleansing” in Cambodia. Cambodia's genocide has been the only time in history when people actually killed millions of their same native kinsmen. There were no Jews to hate and discriminate against, but Cambodia’s largest native religion, Buddhism, was forbidden and replaced with mandatory adherence to the laws and dictum of an invisible, all-powerful, non-existent entity, named “Angkar.”  Hundreds of thousands Cambodians fled to safety across borders into neighboring Thailand; while some survived in overcrowded, ill-equipped U.N. refugee camps, later to be re-settled globally, thousands were also executed at their border arrival, and some still (elderly and children alike who risked their lives staggering toward the dream of freedom in Thailand, under the cover of nightly darkness, in silence, for weeks) were hurled to their deaths at gunpoint off the Thai mountaintop cliffs. Others still, were forcibly returned to land occupied by Khmer Rouge soldiers to discover an alternate fate.
A bridge from America to Cambodia
The Khmer Rouge's genocide, not yet one generation old, created a river of tears with personal, economical, and cultural impact surpassing the magnitude of Mekong. The ripple-effect of unhealed war trauma still invisibly breeds within each new generation. During Phatry's wandering in Cambodia he will record what he recovers about the past and current social order and social disorder. On a charity trip to Prey Veng province, like all other days, Phatry jotted down thoughts and observations when a group of university students delivered books and pencils to rural schoolchildren. As Phatry's foundational perspective regarding his homeland evolves, he will return to the United States to pursue a four-year Juris Doctor program. A prolific writer, Phatry hopes his three-years’ experiential work, will become the masterpiece that opens a magical window inviting younger generations of Khmer-Americans to understand Cambodia as their home country, rather than a tourist destination where they can enjoy cheap beer at nightclubs during school vacation.
Upon his JD graduation, Phatry plans to live in Cambodia permanently. He envisions himself architecturing long-term relationships between Khmer and Khmer-American. The war-torn nation's economy presently depends heavily on international aid, adding to its native agricultural industry, manufacturing and garment industries, and most recently; its new tourism industry. The country’s long term sustainability and growth will be vastly dependent upon its population, a generation of young Khmer, for human resources. This generational “human resource” engine could fuel more options for local and international commercial growth, especially if the same war-torn generation of overseas-born Khmer can connect. Together, though geographically diverse, Khmer youth could build educational and corporate resources, re-affirm cultural connections, and create unknown opportunities where none now exist. Perhaps in time, they could even mend one small seam, of the smallest broken heart torn apart a generation ago— thereby opening a floodgate of intergenerational healing.

author: Tharum Bun


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The UK-Iran Maritime Crisis Comes To an End · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

On Wednesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the release of 15 detained British sailors in a gesture meant to “show the Islamic affection of the Iranian people.” During a news conference, he declared that although Iran had every right to try the Britons on charges of trespassing in Iranian territorial waters, it would forgive and release them.
At the same time that British soldiers arrived home on Thursday and said they were ill-treated in Iran, SkyNews broadcasted the captain in charge of the 15 marines detained in Iran admitting that they were gathering intelligence on Iran.
What did we finally get?
Akbar Montakhabi  [Fa] asks what Iran got at the end of the story? He says that Iran asked the UK government to present excuses to Iran before releasing the sailors but the British government refused.
When British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a 48 hour ultimatum to Iran, the sailors were released. The blogger asks what it means that Ahmadinejad's government retreats from its positions? The same administration has criticized the previous Khatami and Rafsanjani administrations for retreating from Western governments.
The blogger also says that during Ahmadinejad’s news conference some independent journalists who used to criticize the Iranian government were not allowed to ask questions. This all happened at the beginning of a year in which the government called for national unity.
Who won, who lost?
Marayma Shabani  [Fa] says, “Mr. President you lost. You liberated them after UK Prime Minister Tony Blair gave you a 48 hour ultimatum. What did we get? You liberated 15 sailors and only got back one Iranian diplomat. The political initiative was at the hands of British politicians not us.”
Pasokhgoo [Fa] writes that, according to the Iranian Constitution, it is Leader of Isamic Republic Ayatholah Khamenei who can pardon criminals and the accused, but President Ahmadinejad did not mention his name.
The blogger adds that Iran showed both its power and grace by arresting and liberating the sailors. According to Pasokhgoo there was a group of radical students that wanted to organize protest demonstrations around airport where the sailors’ airplane took off, but fortunately they changed their mind.
Hoder says there are several lessons to be learned from this recent event. Iran, he argues, is a winner in the recent standoff, as it ultimately was when the U.S. removed its most threatening neighbouring regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. The blogger adds that Iran's establishment is more united than everyone thinks. Painting the Revolutionary Guard as a Mafia or a government inside a government is a strategic mistake.
Rebel Radio, on the other hand, says:
the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] is not a rogue element in the Islamic Republic, it IS the Islamic Republic. Through its foundations it controls an estimated 40% of Iran's economy. The IRGC is the main mechanism for implementing Iran's foreign policy, and takes direct orders from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatholah. Khamenei. They are the main power center in Iran, no doubt about it.
A lesson for the nuclear crisis?
Shirzad [Fa] contends that the crisis of UK sailors and the negotiation that followed can serve as a guide for nuclear negotiation. The blogger says the negotiations were fast and the results were concrete. He adds that, perhaps, many observers do not understand that authorities in Iran look at very short term results such as how they manage the Iranian economy.
The blogger says it is possible that, with regard to the nuclear energy crisis, we can arrive at a similar outcome. The authorities get some concrete results (real interests) and can turn it into propaganda. He adds that, as an Iranian, he is very happy the crisis has ended in a pacifist way and that it is not important who is labeled the winner.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Trinidad & Tobago: Good Friday Bobolees  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Good Friday tradition of beating bobolees (effigies of Judcas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Christ) has inspired a call by Rights Action Group T&T for the dedication of community bobolees to any of the traitors “who've sold out our country for thirty pieces of aluminum.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Panday in Full Political Flight  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Stephen Kangal at Trinidad and Tobago News Blog thinks that Basdeo Panday is making a mockery of Parliament with his “current tantrums of wanting to serve his constituents of Couva North”.


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Turkey: Batman and Robin · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Start the morning off light with the Turkish version of Batman and Robin given to us by the Turkish blog The Thinking Blog.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Uganda: I’d rather clean toilets in Uganda · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Once Upon Ish writes about odd jobs immigrants do in the Diaspora and the need to openly talk about AIDS: “For those of you who don't know, kyeyo refers to the odd jobs which immigrants from developing nations (legal and otherwise) do for a living in developed countries. You know, supermarket clerks and janitors and security guards and chefs. If this is you, you've made it in a country that has things like labour laws and minimmum wage and lots of escalators and you're happy, more power to you.”


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Ukraine: Bloggers’ Comments · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Bloggers on the situation in Ukraine: “Political Tourists” – by Leopolis, “Ukraine Dispair” – by The Cranky RPCV, “Disillusion and Dissolution” – by Harvard International Review.


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Ukraine: Polissya Travel · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn shares stories from her work-related small-town and rural travel in Ukraine's Ivankivsky and Polissky districts: “We saw storks everywhere. Their huge nests sit on top of electricity posts, water towers, lamp posts, and other tall structures. Storks are considered good luck, and disturbing one of their nests is an unthinkable act. It doesn’t matter how much their nest might interfere with or even damage a structure, if a pair of storks decide to nest somewhere, it’s their spot now.”


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Bahrain: Polygamy as a national duty · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

We start this week with politics, or rather politicians, and the comments of one particular politician that have riled some of Bahrain's bloggers. An Islamist representative urged Bahraini men (some say in jest) to take four wives (three Bahraini and one foreign) to reduce the number of spinsters in the country, and encouraged his colleagues in the Council of Representatives to set an example. Mahmood wondered if the man meant to include his sole female colleague with this recommendation, but thought probably not. And he commented:
Thank you sir. Now go back to your cave. And take with you all of those morons who voted for you as well.
Soul Search also had something to say on the subject:
Women don't need men like you to live a dignified life, women are more resilient, more determined, more empowered to live an independent way of life, and don't need cavemen like you to marry them.
Go back to Riffa (his constituency) and see the misery that people there live in, the sewers are overflowing, the roads have huge craters in them, many houses are ready to collapse on the people living there, parking is a nightmare, the smell is unbearable, and the list can go on forever.
Redha Askander, also known as Concerned Citizen X, draws attention to another issue he feels Council of Representatives should be discussing rather than polygamy, viz. the current shortage of health professionals. It appears that 1000 staff will shortly be hired from the Philippines, ‘to boost services’, while Bahraini nurses will be sent to the Philippines for training. Redha says:
Lets get one thing straight, I agree that the health Care employees in the Philippines are better trained, not only because of the up to date education system but for the very fact that their population is around 72 million (1998 figures) and as such each and every Doctor / Nurse continuously get exposed to hundreds of different ailments and diseases leading them to become experts just by the sheer fact of being repeatedly exposed to the many diseases and ailments. … If we are going to send our nurses (must be Bahraini of course, of course) to get trained in Philippines, shouldn't we just pay their Government for the educational services and ‘on the job training’ which they will be providing rather than offering them the vacant positions which should go to the Bahrainis being trained or the new students that graduate each year.
While many are looking for work in Bahrain, Silly Bahraini Girl, currently residing in Canada, is looking forward to visiting home because then she won't have to lift a finger:
I will be able to eat without having to worry who cooked the food or who will wash the bloody dishes; go out without having to worry whether there is fuel in the car or whether it is clean or there is air in the tires or water in where ever water should go.. erm.. the wipers and that jug near the engine; I will have a clean house without having to vacuum and dust and sweep; I will be able to go out as I please without having to worry about whether I will freeze to death or not; I will not have to wear layers of clothes and I will be able to get as tanned as I want; I will have friends and family to talk to and won't have to go cooo coo coooo on a quiet morning to check whether my voice box still works; I will be able to get really angry in person instead of ranting and raving behind a screen; I will have a housemaid and a houseboy; I will not worry …
Finally, Mohammed AlMaskati is perturbed by what he feels is the hypocrisy of a dance that is in vogue:
It is one (with some folkloric origins to it of some sort) performed by two or more women as shown on the video with a background music of nothing more than continuous hits on drums with the lead singer chanting “Diqny.. Diqny” (which loosely translates to “Hit me, Hit me”), it is usually accompanied by what I can only describe as a weird outlandish belly dancing technique that relies on shaking the (behind) in a unique way.
The thing that I find very strange is the fact that most of those “dancers” that do this for a living, actually come out with a Burqa on, dancing exotically with other women (sometimes even in front of a male audience).
Now bear in mind that the dance comes from the very same society that takes Hijab and Abaya as a traditional/religious/honorable required dress. It comes from the very same society that encourages segregation between the sexes, and forbids premarital relationships and such. But still (and I’m speaking for my own personal experience) from what I see, is actually widely accepting such dances with sexual acts (be it this “Diqny” or even the traditional Egyptian belly dancing) within weddings or private parties, and encourages them.
Nevertheless, Mohammed doesn't object to the dance per se:
You see; I’m fine with models, I’m fine with pit babes, hooter waitresses, playboy dolls, those out there who do it for the money have made a conscious choice to do so whatever motivates them is obviously no more different than whatever motivates professional pole-dancers or exotic dancers.
What I have a problem with is the duality, what I have a problem with is the mentality, the fact that they are led to believe that if they look and move like a Pussycat Doll, or a dancer on one of those rap hit songs they will be sexy. Not understanding that they will be perceived as sexy, which is different than the confidence that comes from knowing who you are sexually.
He concludes:
The Diqny dance might seem innocuous to most people. To me, it’s just another way that our culture has distracted us from contemplation of one’s self, so that it can lure us with quick fixes and immediate gratification, even if it was in a disgusting and kinky way.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Cambodia: North Korean Restaurant · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cambodia Calling reviews the food and environment offered by a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia. The blogger also ponders over the life of the North Korean women who work at the restaurant and offers a hint on the connection between North Korea and Cambodia


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China: Inner-city toxics plant protested · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In November last year, construction began on a chemical plant in Haicang district, located on Xiamen island in the capital of Southwestern China's Fujian province, slated to produce the solvent toluene, terephthalic acid, benzene and, for example, an expected annual output of 800,000 tons of the toxic para-xylene which, according to its Wikipedia entry:
“…affects the brain. High levels from exposure for short periods (14 days or less) or long periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance. Exposure of people to high levels of xylene for short periods can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat; difficulty in breathing; problems with the lungs; delayed reaction time; memory difficulties; stomach discomfort; and possibly changes in the liver and kidneys. It can cause unconsciousness and even death at very high levels (see inhalants).”
The plant had originally been placed seven kilometers away from the city center and given a buffer zone, but due to continued expansion is now just 1.5 kilometers from the nearest residential zone, 4 kilometers from the nearest school and 7 kilometers from the downtown core, not to mention having been built within a state-protected natural zone home to rare marine species. The issue was raised at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing this spring via a motion put forth by Chinese Academy of Engineering member Zhao Yufen, former president of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics University Shen Shituan, as well professor in the Chemistry department at Xiamen University and Chinese Academy of Sciences member Tian Zhongqun, calling for the plant to cease operations and relocate. Following this, Zhu Xingxiang, Director-General of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), expressed his agreement with the proposal, but declared SEPA unable to take actions to implement it as the original project had been approved and invested in by the National Development and Reform Commission.
Nearly all the information above has come from a steady series of blog posts Southern Metropolis Daily columnist Lian Yue has written for his Lian Yue's Eight Continent blog beginning last month, from ‘Environmental protection officials who can't protect the environment,’ [zh] to ‘What are the people of Xiamen supposed to do!,’ [zh] in which he mentions that information regarding the plant is being surpressed, presumably in local media, with the post making the following suggestions:
1、首先，你不要怕，议论全国政协的头号提案不是罪，你不会被抓的。
2、如果你有BLOG，上论坛，请转载这篇新闻：《厦门百亿化工项目安危争议》；转载国内合法发行的报纸上的新闻也不是罪，你不会被抓的。
3、如果还是害怕，就在近期之内多跟你的朋友、家人、同事议论这件事——他们说不定全不知情。
4、如果你还是怕，那就告诉最好的朋友及家人。
5、如果你不怕，还应该告诉漳州、泉州的朋友，他们一样处于危险之中。
6、说清楚下面几句话就可以了：
7、这是105位全国政协委员反对的化工项目，他们中包括了最权威的专家。
8、PX项目至少应该离城市一百公里才安全。
9、厦门人至今被剥夺了PX项目的知情权，这反证了它是违反民意的。
10、它将使厦门经济倒退，物业贬值、游客减少；而且厦门人还将由此落下软弱与愚蠢的名声。
11、你得癌症的可能性大大提高了。
12、不需要你有太勇敢的举动，只要你让你身边的人都知道这件事以后，厦门之死你就没有责任了。
..and his recommendation [zh] of ‘Haicang, My Home‘, the Sina.com blog set up by residents of Haicang district last month, particularly the March 29 post copied back from a bbs forum, ‘The cries of residents of Xiamen city, Fujian province——please save our rights to live!‘ [zh]:
每次打电话到110以及12369环保投诉电话，得到的答案是他们马上派人去看工厂生产是否正常。还有人员解释说他们已经测试过这此企业，大部份达到国家排放标准，有部份企业微微超标，已有在整改。还说是企业就会污染，一点点是很正常的。可居民是没有任何污染数据的，甚至海沧区成立3年来连个空气监近控点也没有，厦门市每天都有预报空气质量，可唯一落下的就是海沧区。我们要的是新鲜空气啊。这种能让人从睡梦中呛醒的味道能说对人体无害吗？何况7月份福建省环保局联合厦门市环保局有对海沧进行三天的空气质量监测，结果是硫化氢及臭气浓度等多项指标都超过了国家标准。（报告在市、区环保局）
我们也做过努力，三年前就非常多的声音反映到市政府，在厦门各个论坛上抱怨，可换来的是当地政府为了厦门市的形象及海沧房地产的健康发展竟然和网站沟通，把所有关于厦门污染的贴子全隐藏了。隐藏后改善本来是极其妥善的办法，但几年过去了污染没有改善，反倒连本带利的愈加严重。人们群众的声音总是有限的。地方政府重GDP而轻环境保护是子孙们的悲哀啊！
我们用事实说话。请中央救救咱们吧、救救我们来之不易的劳动成果、能守着累了倦了可以靠它来栖身的家！
A search through Google Images for the words “Haicang” and “pollution” “could not be displayed” past the fourth page of a full set of results, which show nothing of the plant, the usual condition when Google is used to search for sensitive keywords, and a similar search using Chinese search engine Baidu brought back only two photos—one of which no longer exists, and the other, a map of downtown Xiamen—attached to what appears to have once been “a mass petition for the victims of air pollution in Haicang” (海沧受害者大签名—-空气污染). In this photo, Haicang is the large residential area in the upper-right and the factory in question is in the upper-left:
Similar is this image, posted at the Haicang residents’ blog along with the text and link to an undated submission, with a response, to the Fujian Environmental Protection Bureau complaints website:

author: John Kennedy


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Iran: Diplomatic Lessons Learned · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Hossein Derakhshan gives us a list of 10 things that recent diplomacy in Iran has taught the world about their country: “1 Islamic Republic of Iran, when genuinely engaged, is negotiable, unlike what neo-conservatives try to make us believe. 2 Iran is a whole different country now than it was 28 years ago when they captured the American embassy…”


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Iran: Report Card on Releasing Hostages · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

S'can-Iranic gives out a report card to the players in the recent release of 15 British sailors captured by Iran: “I think the overall handling of the issue by the British government gets a C+. They could have approached the whole issue as they did during the past few days, when it all started two weeks ago…”


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Iran: The Fine Tailor of a Suit · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Bazar Dispatch talks about the textile industry of Iran in response to comments on the well-tailored suits given to the 15 British sailors released from Iran.


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Iran:Gifts for British sailors · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

View from Iran talks about the gifts that UK sailors received before leaving Iran. The blogger writes the strangest part yet (at least for me) is the parting gifts. Who provides released foreign captives with parting gifts? They got pistachios too: not too shabby a parting gift at all! Imagine, 5 years in Guantanamo and then you get a little party bag filled with Starbucks coupons and Gap t-shirts. “A mememto of your stay with us.”


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Iran:International Robocup in Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kamangir informs us the second International Robocup of Iran started on Thursday 5th of April. The participants of the two-day event are 361 teams, 17 of which are from other countries. You can watch pictures here.


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Iran:Police violence in a pop concert  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Gamron [Fa], police attacked young people in Reza Sadegi‘s concert in Bandar Abbas a few days ago. The blogger says police warned them when young girls started to dance and even moved their headscarves.Garmon says nobody listened to this warning and they were attacked by police.


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Iran:Sean Penn writes an open letter to Bush · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Forever Under Construction has published Sean Penn‘s open letter about Iran and Iraq to Bush and White House. We read Iran is a great country. A great country. Does it have its haters? You bet. Just like the United States has its haters.


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Iraq: Moving Arabs out of Kirkuk? · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Zeinobia from the Egyptian Chronicles is disturbed at news that Arabs will be moved out of the Kurdish city of Kirkuk in Iraq: “Day and night you blame Iran , but what about the Kurds !!?? with my all respect I don't like this ethnic plan as it will tear Iraq in to parts”.


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Iraq: Quiet in Baghdad, Noisy Everwhere Else · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Iraq the Model reports that all has been quiet in Baghdad lately…but the same cannot be said for the rest of the country.


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Israel: Erasing the Holocaust? · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Life of Rubin classifies the news as “terrifying” when learning that some UK schools are refusing to teach about the Holocaust in order not to offend Muslims.


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Lebanon: Bombings in Saida · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Bahraini blogger bint battuta shares with us the news about a friend and her family being bombed by an Israeli warship off the coast of Saida.


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Malaysia: Blogger’s United Gathering · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Mavericksym posts a link to an invitation for all Malaysian bloggers to attend the Bloggers United Malaysia Gathering.  The blogger is asking the organizers of the meet to invite  several politicians who are critical of bloggers and blogging.  “Will the B.U.M. committee invite Shahziman and Pak Zam? Howsy should sent an official invitation to Pak Lah, who is our Prime Minister of Malaysia, to grace the occasion and provide us with ostensible authorized recognition.”


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Malaysia: Conflict in Marriage · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

sembangNtalk is asking couple of questions from her readers. Do all couple argue? and Is argument in marriage unhealthy?


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Nigeria: where are RSS feeds for Nigerian news media? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nigerian mainstream media has not embraced RSS to deliver content online: It remains a mystery why the majority of the Nigerian mainstream news media with significant real estates on the Internet have not taken steps to overhaul their various domains to reflect one of the most basic Internet trends of the new world – making their subscriptions available via RSS feeds (RSS: Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary).

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Palestine: Zionism on the DailyKos · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Blogging for Palestine DesertPeace reported about an incident on the DailyKos when cartoonist Ben Heine posted images that were negative towards Zionism.


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Syria: Readdressing Sexual Harassment · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Decentering Damascus gives an interesting wrap-up to an earlier post of her on sexual harassment, comments on her blog were enlightening.


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Ukraine: News Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A long-awaited roundup of Ukrainian political news from Orange Ukraine.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Unblock Dailymotion campaign · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

Following the ban imposed by the Tunisian authorities on the popular video sharing site Dailymotion,  Tunisian bloggers and activists have launched the “Unblock Dailymotion campaign”, on April 6th, 2007, in order to highlight the unfair ban and to draw the public attention to the aggressive censorship prevailing in the country.


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“What’s Going On in Ukraine?” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user dibrov_s (Sergei Dibrov of Odesa, Ukraine) explains how the current crisis in Ukraine came to be and why he thinks the new election (and then some more) is absolutely necessary. This lengthy post (RUS) has received 366 comments so far and made it into the top 30 at Yandex Blogs portal:
[…]
Friends, what's happened was supposed to happen sooner or later: a bomb placed underneath the Verkhovna Rada [the Parliament] during the Orange Revolution has exploded.
At that time, on December 8, 2004, two laws were adopted by a package vote. One was about introducing changes to electoral law. The other was about introducing changes to the Constitution.
In other words, a deal was made: we're giving you the relatively fair election, without mass falsification that the Supreme Court discovered, and you're giving us the changes to the Constitution (“political reform”), which would deprive the newly-elected President of power and pass it on together with the paliament as a pay-off to political parties.
All in all, the political reform consists of two elements:
- the transfer of the Cabinet of Ministers (and the whole executive branch) under parliamentary control;
– MPs elected only by the party lists.
Political reform became a king's present to our, excuse me for the term, political parties. Excuse me for using this term because the word “politician” in our country is a synonym of the word “businessman,” and what we call “parties” are indeed lobby groups and business projects. And there's only one way into politics for all those eager to enter it: through the party's cashier's office. The thickness of the wallet, not some moral qualities or political convictions, play a decisive role during the casting of potential MPs. According to the media, an electable place on the biggest parties’ lists now costs up to tens of millions of dollars. People were looking for cheaper options and this sometimes led to funny episodes: often, the candidates’ lists included those who espoused views radically different from the views of “their” party or bloc. But no one cared about it: money doesn't smell.
The results of the spring 2006 election reflected the players’ positions more or less correctly: the three parties that supported Yushchenko's candidacy for the president's post won with insignificant advantage. Such a situation guaranteed certain stability and the lack of cardinal changes to the direction the country was moving in: to overcome the president's veto or to introduce changes to the Constitution is possible only when there is a consensus between all the major political forces of the country.
But because of the corrupted way of forming party lists, many MPs turned out to be political businessmen for whom the MP's mandates were nothing but investment projects worth many millions. Not contrained by the party discipline, political convictions and the imperative mandate, they quickly began to “solve their own problems” – which had little to do with their campaign promises and the programs of political forces they represented. This has led to the second wave of corruption, this time inside parliament. MPs elected on party lists began moving between factions. Not a single one of such moves was motivated ideologically, but there were always behind-the-scenes comments on how much every one of these “acquisitions” cost the parliamentary majority.
According to the logic of the political reform and the Constitution, it is impossible for an MP elected on a party list to move to another faction. After all, the voters voted not for some specific personalities, but for the pre-election program, and the MPs should either work for this program's fulfillment or resign. This is why, according to the Constitution, an MP who announces his departure from the faction automatically loses the mandate, and his place is taken by the person following him on the party list. But they found a loophole: MPs were not leaving their factions, but instead were simply [joining the ruling coalition – and were being accepted] – even though, according to the Constitution, coalition is formed not by individual MPs, but exclusively by parliamentary factions.
Obviously, such a way of forming the coalition is illegal. The Constitutional Court could have ended this situation by interpreting the corresponding segment of the [Constitution]. And while it was at it, the Constitutional Court could have cancelled all of the political reform, which, as I've already said, was adopted in violation of the Constitution. And this is why the parliament spent a year and a half blocking the [Court's] work by not swearing in the judges and not appointing them [in accordance with the quota system]. Now, after the president has applied some pressure and the judges have been appointed, [the Court] sort of began to work again, but in the eight months it has not passed a single verdict. And it looks like it's not going to.
Last summer, Yushchenko chose to ignore the fact that the parliamentary majority had been formed unlawfully. But [things grew much worse] when bribing of MPs [to get them to defect] became widespread. Representatives of the Party of the Regions did not try to conceal their plan for the nearest future: to buy as many MPs as was needed to achieve the constitutional majority – 2/3 of [PMs]. If their plan had been implemented, it would have allowed the political force that had received 32 percent of the votes to run the country on its own – and even introduce changes into the Constitution. […]
Without a doubt, parliamentary corruption threatens the president, too. If the coalition buys enough votes to reach the needed 300 [MPs], Yushchenko will lose what remains of his influence. Moreover, his post might be eliminated altogether, as something not needed. Under these circumstances, the president “suddenly” remembered about the fact that the coalition had been formed with some violations and decided to use his constitutional right to declare the early election and disband the parliament because the ruling coalition had not been formed within one month granted by the Constitution.
Now, on to what I think about the events.
My position is very simple. Everything that's taking place is the result of the unlawful political reform. […]
[…]
By the way, the coalition is currently planning the so-called “second stage of the political reform,” which would transfer all local power to the local councils and would turn the councils of all levels into a total [house of ill repute] similar to what Verkhovna Rada is.
As for the current situation: Rada has to be disbanded. […] It's impossible to live in a country where there are no doubts about the highest legislative organ's corruptedness. […] Let them have reelection three or four more times, and then maybe it'll become so unprofitable to invest into the “MP mandate” project that it will no longer interest the serious [thuggish] guys.
Sometimes you hear: “to announce the reelection is usurping power.” It's ridiculous. The power in the country belongs not to the President, not to the Cabinet of Ministers, not even to the Verkhovna Rada. All power in Ukraine belongs to the Ukrainian people. And to set a date for the reelection isn't usurping but returning the power to its lawful owner. The power that some were trying to usurp by the shameless bribing of MPs who had not received a single individual vote.
The last question. Friends are wondering about what's going on on Khreshchatyk and whether there'll be “Maidan-2.” Here's my answer:
In 2004, people who gathered at Maidan were protesting against falsification of the election results. They were demanding a re-vote, to avoid having their votes bought or stolen shamelessly.
In 2007, people who are at Maidan are protesting against holding the popular election. That is, these people have come out to the square because they don't want to go to the polls.
Here's the difference, with all the implications.
One more thing. It's obvious that serious political forces aren't afraid of the election. There'll be no parliament without them – and they know it well. Mainly, it's the political marginals of the bloody hues who are making all the noise – Communists and Socialists. Both forces may remain outside parliament. Communist – due to natural causes, because of the unstoppable shrinking of their traditional elecrorate. And Socialists because in this whole brothel of a parliament they played the most corrupted violin and were selling out wholesale. And those who voted for them a year ago remember this very well, so their chances of getting back into the parliament are minuscule.
And this is good.
[…]


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Africa: social change through technology · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

White African on social change through technology in Africa: “Kabissa has applied for $500k worth of funding for their new Kabissa 2.0 project with NetSquared. They are talking big ideas. They want to use their knowledge of web-based technology tools to train and help grassroots African organizations grow community, build awareness and facilitate massive change through local tech ambassadors.”


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Egypt: The NYT Discovers Muslim Fashion · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

The Arabist comments on an article by the New York Times in which the “trials” of being fashionable and a Muslim woman are illustrated:” Ever since I read this New York Times article a few days back about the identitarian fashion issues of Muslim American women I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what bothers me about it. It’s not just the article’s utter naiveté (the New York Times discovers that Muslim women–even veiled ones–care about fashion!) or the trite dichotomies it sets up.”


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Eritrea:Eritrea bans FGM · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Akin is happy to hear that FGM is banned in Eritrea: “Learning that Eritrea has banned the practice of Female Genital Mutilation or Circumcision (FGM or FGC) is definitely great news and to be celebrated.
It marks a beginning of what should be a wave of the civilising of customs, traditions and religious practices that cause undue physical harm without any particular health benefit apart from a modicum of social acceptance.”


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Guadeloupe: New Solar Energy Installation in Le Moule · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Guadeloupe Attitude posts [Fr] a picture of a solar installation in the town of Le Moule that should help lower carbon dioxyde emission into the island's environment. The blogger explains that the installation was inaugurated March 30th and joins a wider project encompassing 2000 square meters of solar panels in the town. The solar energy project delivers electricity to 6 schools, the local library and three municipal buildings.

author: Alice Backer


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Iran:The revival of alternative Persian music · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Project 300 no other genre has seen a bigger growth than hip-hop, with virtually hundreds of new rappers sprouting both inside Iran and out. Recently the addition of a few female artists has broken the trend in this largely male-dominated playing field.


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Israel: Easter in Jerusalem · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Israelity offers Easter wishes and covers the celebrations in Jerusalem.


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Israel: Gaza Predictions · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Based off of recent statements from Abbas, Aliyah advises: “Palestinians should also hold onto their hats –and find some basements to hide out in –because I’d wager that the gun battles and assassination attempts going on in Gaza without cease already between Fatah and Hamas, clan against clan, will also likely heat up in the coming weeks.”


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Israel: Knesset Predictions · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Israeli blog Shiloh Musings muses on the predictions given by MK Dr. Arye Eldad, MD, an Israeli Knesset Member: “In Israel, the wars come when they're not expected, and, with the exception of Ehud Barak, rotten governments stick to their seats longer than anybody in their right mind would want or predict.”


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Jordan: Reconnecting in Amman · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

The Black Iris recounts the strange etiquette of homecoming…and the odd conversations required: “So no, I don’t feel obligated to “get together” or to “call you”. I don’t want to “catch up”. I don’t want a sit down where people try and gather as much info about your life so they can either compare their life’s situation to yours or gossip about you behind your back; probably both.”


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Kenya: US wants Kibaki to remain in power · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya Democracy Project on America's interest in Kenya's presidential elections:
Why on earth would the Americans want Kibaki back in office?
Well, because like Moi, he is the devil they know and his government seems to have no qualms whatsoever in doing the bidding for US geo-political interests not just in Kenya but in the eastern Africa, Horn, Indian Ocean and Middle-Eastern region.