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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

As a postscript to the 1970 Gil Scot Heron poem ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised‘,
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news…
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
The revolution will be blogged.
And the Iraqi blogger are not letting us down. Today I have front line reports from the battle for Adhamiya, a salute to the Iraqi army, reports of Iraq in political crisis, a conversation between a ‘Green’ zoner and a ‘Red’ zoner, and, if you read to the end, an update on the missing kittens.
Kill us, but you won't enslave us
First, my deepest condolences go to Omar and Mohammed of Iraq The Model whose brother in law was assasinated last week:
Last week our little and peaceful family was struck by the tragic loss of one of its members in a savage criminal act of assassination. The member we lost was my sister's husband who lived with their two little children in our house.
He was a brilliant young doctor with a whole future awaiting him, the couple were the top graduates in their branch of specialty. They had to travel abroad to get their degrees and the war started while they were there but months after Saddam fallen they decided to come back to help rebuild the country and serve their people…
Grief and pain is killing me everyday as I hold my dear nephews, my sister is shocked beyond words while my parents are dead worried about the rest of us.
We are trying hard to close the wound, summon our patience and protect those still alive while we look forward to the future that we hope can bring peace for us.
But this is not a message of mourning but a message of defiance:
The terrorists and criminals are targeting all elements of life and they target anyone who wants to do something good for this country…They think by assassinating one of us they could deter us from going forward … but we will never go back and abandon our dream. We have vowed to follow the steps of our true martyrs and we will raise the new generation to continue the march, these children of today are the hope and the future.
Fayrouz adds: “My condolences to fellow Iraqi bloggers The ITM brothers for the loss of their brother-in-law by another act of cowardice carried by the criminals running the show in Iraq… Where's the new Iraqi government? When would the Iraqi politicians get their sh*t together and form a new government? Enough of the useless negotiations while the country is bleeding to death.”
I hope against all hopes that condolences will not become a regular feature of my weekly column.
If you read nothing else this week, read this:
Chikitita is missing her brother who is one of the many arrested and held without trial and she cannot even visit him because “a US soldier claimed that my ID is fake.” She writes:
I wasn't able to see my flesh and blood, who was a few kilometers away, but I felt like God has sent me a message, “You're not alone”. I came back home with one thing in mind, the Iraqi people may be bruised and battered, but they're still chivalric and good-natured through and through. Our nation won't die until this spirit is dead, and I'm sure very many politicians are looking forward to killing it.
War in the City
Bloggers are reporting what is, in effect, the breakdown of government control of Baghdad. After Riverbend reported that the Iraqi television news told residents not to trust police patrols without American backup the result was predictable. Iraq The Model explains:
Makeshift barricades that block entrances and inner streets are now a common sight all over Baghdad, and these are part of protection plans implemented by the so called ‘popular teams’ or ‘neighborhood watch teams'… They represent yet another form in which the phenomenon of militias is being rooted but people here consider it a better alternative for the poor performance of the police and other interior ministry forces. And of course we frequently hear about clashes caused in many cases by misunderstanding between locals and government forces at night
And this led to three days of partial-warfare in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Adhamiya. Zeyad was visiting his aunt and was caught in the middle.. “The district has been sealed off and no one can leave or enter the area. Electric power has been cut off for the last 48 hours, and the fighting severely damaged our street generator this morning.” Fortuately, he was safe and posted a very detailed account of the event complete with maps, photos and a list of rumours. In a nutshell:
Iraqi security forces from the Interior ministry (some believe to be accompanied by militiamen) attempted to enter Adhamiya .. around 1 am, Monday. Adhamiya residents and its dozens of watch teams responded with heavy fire and thwarted the perceived attack. The same, or another, force later attempted to enter from the other side through Omar bin Abdul Aziz Street. The attack was repelled and several vehicles were burnt. 7 to 12 residents were killed in the clash.
This was followed by several other confused battles. On Tuesday American force intervened “and returned fire at everything that moved.” By that evening “We went out for supplies; bread, petrol, cigarettes and Pepsi.” and by Wednesday things had calmed down. Zeyad adds: “The district is getting extremely difficult to navigate… The area is now one huge fortress, armed to the teeth and expecting an attack any moment now.”
Konfused Kid was also in the middle of the battles and gives an hour-by-hour report of the events in his neighbourhood. He woke with a sense of foreboding for the gathering storm:
This was bad, the room was hot, and I woke up in a pool of sweat, it was one of the few times when I felt an unbearable force of gravity pushing me to the ground and I felt that if only I could just get out of my clothes, my body, and just be free of all this terrible mess, of this inexplicable country
He calls a friend to see what is happening in the rest of the city and heard things were normal but “His talk seemed very alien to me at the moment, as if speaking from another planet, I found normalcy irrelevant, he tried to talk me up about the graduation party but I almost wanted to slam the phone in his face… it was weird because normally I didn't give a damn.” The Kid ends defiantly:
I felt a sense of wondrous, wondrous pride of the people of my area, goddamit, we are strong, word on the street that something as big as 400 Interior forces members were killed. Look at me, all sectarian and igrnoant in this post, but what can u do when hell's split asunder, u run for people who look like you…
All this while the a**holes in the g-zone play merry-go-round round the Prime Minister chair.
The Prime Minister's Chair
There is much talk about the attempts to form a new government for Iraq. Iraq the Model reports that even if the deadlock over the prime minister is broken, there are more obstacles on the horizon. In the mean time frustration…
“It has been more than 4 months since Iraqis risked their lives to elect this group of power-hungry clique and still, no government. Funny that they used to criticize Saddam for doing everything to stay in power.”
has given way to cynicism…
“Tomorrow, the nice people of the Iraqi parliament that we “Suckers” elected are going to meet for the second time… we hope that tomorrows meeting will name the President of the Republic of Iraq and his two vice presidents and … YES A bloody prime minister!!… then we will live happy ever after, the Multi National Forces in Iraq will vanish back to their coaches… Mr. Zarqawi will leave to his second target Maybe go all the way to the Islands of “Waq Waq” and declare his holy war over there against the Dodo’s, the Death Squads disappearing back to the Republic of the Sith… But of course all this is Fictional, Just wait tomorrow you’ll see…What they are going to really agree on is their compensation plan, who gets how much and how many apartments in the International Zone Building complex”
It is not all bad news…
Baghdad Treasure's neighbor is kidnapped by men dressed as police. But, after a call to the emergency services the criminals are apprehended at an army checkpoint and his neighbor is freed. He writes: “I feel that there is still some hope. Iraqi soldiers proved that they are working well. By the cooperation of the people, we will defeat all the enemies that turned our country into rubble.”
In other worlds
Neurotic Wife is embarrassed for living in the Green Zone. She talks to some people from the ‘real’ Baghdad: “One of them gave me an evil smile and said sarcastically ‘why dont you come out and see how we are living, see how the real Iraqis are surviving’ he said it with such contempt that really hurt me…I didnt know what to tell him…I said I want to go out of this place and see the real Baghdad, but Im not allowed to…He then replied again with that sarcastic voice ‘come and stay just for one day without electricity, come and stay and feel the fear we have everyday from getting killed for no reason whatsoever…’ I stared at him…and said the only thing we all say here ‘Allah Kareem’ (God is generous’ or Inshallah (God willing) things will get better…But yet I felt so lame….”
Exam time is coming and Sunshine has set out her revision plan:
I'll wake up at 7 am , have my breakfast , start studying at 7:30 , till 11 am , I'll have a rest for 30 minutes to do my eye exercises , check my E-mail , & write a quick diary post (if I’ll have electricity), 11:30 I’ll start studying again till 1:30 then have my lunch , and have a nap until 3:30. Then I must study again till 8:15, watch Dr. Phil while having my dinner, & at 9:30 I'll go to bed. This schedule will start tomorrow, and of course I'll write to you whenever I can.
When all else fails you have to laugh. Baghdad Treasure reads the news: “This morning, an article on the Sunday Times made me almost die of laughing. I am even laughing now while I am typing these lines. The article says ‘The American military is planning a ‘second liberation of Baghdad’ to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government is installed. Seriously, isn’t it funny? Enjoy it and let Iraqis enjoy the successive ‘liberations’ until Iraq becomes totally ‘liberated’. I wonder whose Statue they are going to collapse now! Maybe Hakim's new ones that replaced Saddam's.”
And finally
Raghda Iraq's cat-blogger tells us why she has not been able to post so many kitty pictures lately: “I am very sorry for letting you worry but I couldn't let you know that I am ok because we don't have an internet connection now and till we find a new internet provider I won't be able to post a new picture every day.
My final exams will start on 10\6 so I'll be very busy these days.”
Good luck for your exams!

author: Salam Adil


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Mongolia: Updates · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

As usual, Luke Distelhorst has numerous updates on the ongoing protests in Mongolia at neweurasia including the news that the country's prime minister met with the leader of the protests and a transcript of a press release calling into question many of the protesters’ complaints about Ivanhoe Mines.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nathan Hamm


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Myanmar’s natural gas  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Both China and India are keen on importing natural gas from Myanmar's huge reserves. In the past India has sympathised with Myanmar's pro-democracy elements  but recent years have seen India warming up to the ruling military government. Paresh asks if India should do a deal with Myanmar's rulers and face the anger of pro-democracy organisations.

author: Preetam Rai


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Nepal: Restoring the legislature · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

As Nepal prepares itself for some form of democracy, the King grants audience to the Chief Justice in Nepal to discuss legal matters pertaining to restore the legislature says Legal News From Nepal.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nepal: Youth and democracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya.org has a report on a gather of non-aligned youth meeting to discuss Nepal's state – “participants discussed the significant role young people can play, and resolved to form an independent youth/ student coalition that will dispatch humanitarian aid and play the role of a watch dog body.”


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Nigeria: Letters to your younger self · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigerian blogger Pilgrimage to Self started a trend by asking commentors to post a letter to their “younger selves”… Here she posts some of the letters from bloggers.

author: Sokari Ekine


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Peru: Votes by Region · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Peru Election 2006 has a handy graph breaking down the votes between Lima, outside of Lima, and outside the country. The votes for Lourdes Flores predictably decrease with each column.

author: David Sasaki


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Political discussions on blogs in Singapore · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

May 6th will be the polling day in Singapore's general elections this year. Tinkertailor comments on Tomorrow.sg and refers to a clarification by the authorities on the issue of  political discussions on blogs and podcasts. There is no outright ban on discussions but the sites that consistantly promote a particular political line may be asked to register and avoid such content during the elections.


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Romania: Controversial Yitzhak Rabin Statue · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Romer!can writes about a controversial statue of Yitzhak Rabin in Romania erected by “a known xenophobic, holocaust denier” Corneliu Vadim Tudor during the 2004 election campaign.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Bakhmina’s Sentence “Last Drop” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog thinks the seven-year sentence for former Yukos lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina, mother of two, is “the last drop”: “It is now painfully clear that Putin's junta has no problem imprisoning obviously innocent, essentially common people (as opposed to oligarchs) — even women, even mothers — on obviously trumped-up charges, imputing guilt by association.”


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Russia: Kalashnikov and Copyright · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Charlie Ganske of Russia Blog writes about the popularity of Kalashnikov guns and the disregard for the copyright laws in Russia.


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South Africa: Attitudes towards Chinese · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

We constantly here about Chinese investments in Africa, but Idland posts on a different aspect of China in Africa.  SA English language weekly, Public Eye has been asking readers how they feel about the Chinese and is it ok to mug an Aisan? According to the report there is much racism and resentment towards Chinese in South Africa


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South Africa: Human Rights · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

South African blogger, The Front Line writes on the struggle for freedom and human rights…”There is no middle ground when it comes to injustice, there can be no compromise, no negotiation between two parties when one of the parties is being subjugated. It's unnatural, it's inhumane.”


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Sri Lanka: Gay Pride in Colombo · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Colombo gets an opportunity to be proud. Portrait on the Gay Pride in the city – “Colombo pride is going to happen over a week beginning on the 21st of may, and the activities are going to include a film marathon, a kite festival and of course, the essence of pride celebrations : the party”


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Sri Lanka: Obscatles to development · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Janapathi lists out the obstacles and myths that hinder development in Sri Lanka.


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St. Lucia: Crime on the rise · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“The murder rate in Saint Lucia has risen again. One young man has been gun downed at about 5.30pm near the Bexon Bus Stand by what seems to be a known assailant,” writes Eliminator in an alarming account of the country's escalating crime rate and the efforts to halt it.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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

Este artículo también está disponible en español.
Bolivia lacks access to the ocean, so the country shouldn’t have any reason to fear pirates, right?  Well, they may not be the kind with a parrot on their shoulder, but another type of pirate has become a serious problem for many Bolivian filmmakers and a target of local authorities.  Shortly after a film’s premiere, one can find a bootlegged or pirated copy of the same move in the streets of any major Bolivian city.  Financial incentives to produce one of the few Bolivian movies have been undermined by these illegal sellers.
An editorial (ES) in the La Paz daily, La Razón recently announced that the Union of Cinematic Workers and the street vendors came to an agreement that would prohibit the sale of national films by the street vendors.  In addition, the vendors must wait “a little bit later” to sell international or Hollywood films, after the film premieres in one of the handful of theaters in the city of La Paz.
Gustavo Siles, who blogs at Almada de Noche (ES), does not agree with the editorial’s stance, which says that the agreement basically gives victory to the illegal vendors.  Siles thinks that the agreement will help protect the national industry and it become easier to find national movies at video clubs or sold as DVDs (ES), since they may be better protected from piracy.  In addition, he writes:
“I particularly wouldn’t purchase a movie off the street, especially one that I really would like to enjoy.  One must remember that the quality of pirated movies is often very poor.”
However, he believes the fight against piracy in Bolivia is not well-targeted.
“I do not see the rationale in maintaining the position of “fight against piracy” in a country where, frankly, buying an original DVD or VHS tapes, which one can often still find, is unattainable due to the price…One must realize that it no longer necessary go out onto the street to find pirated movies, because they are now online, with a couple of clicks and a couple of hours of downloading.  Don’t our authorities have better things to do?  A little bit of information-based culture would do them some good.”
He goes on to say to ask whether the real issue is that the vendors occupy precious sidewalk space or the lack of their payment of taxes.  For that, there are better solutions.  However, he doesn’t buy that the mega Hollywood studios are being hurt by the sale of pirated movies in Bolivia, which is such a small country.
A new blog called Bolivia Eclipse (ES), written by Briegel Busch, who describes himself as a longtime Bolivian ex-patriate, who is very interested in the current Bolivian and Latin American reality.  In addition, he is an amateur analyst and commentator, who practices social science as a hobby. One of his first posts talks about the three Bolivian cabinet members, who were seized, and what the government has called a kidnapping, in the city of Puerto Suarez (ES), which sites kilometers from the Brazilian border.  The conflict stems from the operation of a Brazilian company in the area, where important iron and magnesium ore is currently found.  The government of President Evo Morales announced that this company is operating illegally and must leave the country. Some of the population thinks that the conflict between this company and the government will slow down development in that region.  However, Busch does not agree with the tactics of the individuals who kept the government officials captive, especially in light of the recent years of conflict and social unrest.
There are other new blogs written by Bolivians.  The Bolivian blog community website Blogs Bolivia (ES) announced that the site continues to become the reference point for Bolivian blogs, including a reference in a newspaper article about blogs (ES) in La Razón.  After the article was published, there was an 100% increase in the number of visits.  A half a dozen new blogs were also added to the blogroll (ES), including a few music-related sites, such as blogs written by the bassplayer (ES) and drummer (ES) of Grillo Villegas’ new band (ES) , and a punk band called Sinobius (ES).
Journalists are also joining the ranks of the bloggers and are utilizing this technology to complement some of their other published articles.  Alfonso Gumucio and his blog Bitácora Memoriosa (ES) also writes for the BolPress (ES) online media site.  Sergio Molina Monasterios and his blog La Columna Robada (ES) has a special focus on Bolivian-Chilean relations.  His vantage point as a Bolivian journalist living in the neighbor to the west is very unique because the two countries still have not renewed full diplomatic relations.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Trinidad & Tobago: Best football fans? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Does Trinidad & Tobago's World Cup football team have the best fans? Stacy-Marie Ishmael thinks so.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Smelter news · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At the Rights Action Group T&T  blog, set up to aggregate the dialogue around a controversial aluminium smelter project in southern Trinidad, an article on the non-attendance of a the National Energy Corporation chairman at an important meeting, a discussion of the environmental impact of a smelter on a community in Australia, and an announcement of a prayer vigil scheduled for tomorrow.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Sounds of burning bush · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Caribbean Free Radio posts a short audio clip of the sound of bamboo bursting and other bush fire-related noises.


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Turkmenistan: Transport · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on Turkmenistan's efforts to increase gas exports, saying that it is unlikely it will be able to meet its contractual obligations for selling gas anytime soon.


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Ukraine, Belarus: Interview With Translator of “Voices of Chernobyl” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Languor Management links to Maud Newton's short email interview with Keith Gessen, English translator of Svetlana's Alexievich's Voices of Chernobyl, which won this year's National Book Critics Circle award for nonfiction.”


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Ukraine: Coalition Building and AIDS Project Suspension · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes and Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine both write about the treacherous world of Ukrainian politics. Dan also has this item, unrelated to the post-election coalition building and thus most likely doomed to be soon forgotten: “Bad news: The World Bank suspended a big AIDS project in Ukraine because the government hadn't managed to spend any of the money, mostly because it refused to give some to nonprofits.”


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Venezuela: “Hands Off Venezuela” in Arabic · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Hands Off Venezuela says a new Arabic version of the site has been launched.


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Volcano nears eruption · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indcoup is watching the news on the possible eruption of Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia. People living in the area are getting ready to evacuate.


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What is self-censorship? · Global Voices
Frank Dai

Many people think that in China the state media is censoring content online and offline vigorously under government order. However it's not always true since many of the censorship works are not done by the government officials but self-censored. Followed is a translation of recent blog post by Zhao Maoyu at the renowned Chinese blog “Mindmeters“, titled “Self-Castration Resulted from Self-Fear“, explaining the self-censorship policy at China Central Television, CCTV, the national and official TV media.
[In Translation]
Now all the people said the programs at Hunan TV (A provincial level TV) is much better than CCTV. The reasons behind it can be found at Wangxiaofeng's Blog. CCTV does not only produce rubbish programs but also attack its competitors with third-rated techniques. When I was home this year, my sister told me that CCTV did not attack other competitors because of fears. She did not want to tell me the real reasons.
I don't know whether anyone still remembers the “Red Horizon” soiree that is not released to the public. I think that anyone who have seen this program, as long as he did not bear extreme prejudice, should recognize that CCTV is not short of good producers and talented performance. I even dissert that the quality of this program exceeds all Hunan TV's programs. But such programs will not have a chance of getting to the public. What we saw on CCTV is only boring, lack of humor and full of philistinism. Indeed CCTV is not an institution of entertainment but of bureaucracy and politics.
All the staff at the Chinese bureaucratical institutions tend to think one thing first before they did anything else: how their bosses will consider? They were always trying to figure out the bottom line of their boss because they worried about exceeding the limit of tolerance. Moreover, the bottom line is often underestimated by these staff. To put more bluntly, they scared themselves. Let's look at an example how the people at CCTV works: If we set the tolerance rate at 10 for President Hu, the rate for the Ministry of Propaganda would be degraded to 9; 8 for the Ministry of Broadcasting and 7 or 6 for the officials at CCTV. When comes to the program producers it would be a miracle if the rate stays at 2 or 3. How can a TV program be excellent with such bottom line principles?
Also take the recently controversial TV series “Shiliang the General” for example. Even the stupids can know that this series is specially prepared for the political situation in Taiwan Strait. Some people post on BBS to vote on the “most disgusting lines” in this series, and the champion goes to this one: “One girl who would be killed by the Qing soldier soon said “”compare with the days of living with separation from the mainland China, I would rather die“.
I believed that even the President Hu and other people from the propaganda machine would not like this line. But why did the screenplay writer think that “the bosses” need such a line? I think it is the result of underestimating the bottom line of the bosses that lead to wrong conclusion. From the up to down, the fear is magnified and the bottom line is degraded to almost ground zero. The bosses just hope to forbid flirting but when it goes down to the average citizens, no options other than castration would be available.
A most recent case of self-castration and self-fear can be well illustrated in the news that the deeds done by the major websites to comply with the “Civilized Internet” policy:
QianLong: 3 suspected forums were closed down with 800 articles,  3174  pictures and 134 posts deleted.
Sina: 15 forums and 8 columns closed, totally of  134015 posts, including 71016 unhealthy posts.
Sohu:  11 pages and forums shut down. In addition it will select 10 or 20 people as Sohu's “Civilized Internet Supervisors”.
Baidu: Delete and block of illegal pictures and texts.
Zhongsou: Initiative to stop BBS searching and forum services to clean content. 20 forums are eliminated with about 10000 posts and 20000 links.

author: Frank Dai


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Argentina: “The Yang to Steak’s Ying” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In The Argentine Metropolis describes a meal at an Argentine oxymoron: the vegan restaurant. “This was not penance for eating steak; this was a celebration of fresh ingredients, the yang to steak's ying.”


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Armenia: Being Armenian · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Anarchistian writes on the connection between one's beliefs and being accepted by other Armenians.


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Armenia: Indian Student Protests · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Nanyaar has a chronology of events around the death of an Indian student in Armenia while Onnik Krikorian has a few updates and more photos.


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Belarus: “Public Repentance” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Iryna of TOL's Belarus Blog writes about “public repentance” taking place in Belarus now: “Students, who spent 10 to 15 days in prison after being arrested on the Square or during the March 25th demonstrations, are being forced to declare publicly that their legal participation in peaceful protests against election falsifications was wrong and that they would never do anything like it again. The “repentance” is being staged in front of the entire class which, in turn, must condemn their classmates for their wrongdoings against the state.”


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Belarus: Conference on Mass Media · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Edward Lucas, the central and east European correspondent of The Economist, has been invited to an unlikely conference on “integration of Belarus into the world media landscape” in Minsk, sponsored by the Belarusian government, but he doubts he'll be granted a Belarusian visa.


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Belarus: Meaning of EU Sanctions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog considers the EU's introduction of entry bans for 30 Belarusian officials slightly more than a symbolic move: it “won’t bring about a revolution, but in situations like that it will help to provide publicity to Belarusian situation, serve as a reminder to the public — those guys are not welcome in civilized democratic countries because they fooled 10 million people.”


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Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Colombia: Crisis in the Andes · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Explaining that Venezuela has already left and that Bolivia is thinking of following, Miguel Buitrago says that most of the achievements of The Andean Community (CAN) are only observable on paper. Movimiento 13 de Abril, quotes Chavez (ES) in his announcement at the Community's recent summit in Paraguay: “CAN serves the elites and multi-nationals, but does not serve the indigenous, blacks, whites, or poor people. It doesn't serve our population and not only does it not serve them, it negatively affects them.” Professor Steven Taylor says that “Chávez may actually have a point (not something I am prone to writing) when he says that the organization is ‘fatally wounded.'” Daniel Duquenal, however, calls the decision “utter nonsense, a gesture just for the glory of Chavez, a diplomatic and economic move that will only benefit Chavez and his trading partners, but not Venezuelans who will surely hurt as hundred of thousand of jobs could be lost.” EGG Blog remembers the Venezuelan “Andean Passport,” (ES) a legacy of Chavez's former support of the community and wonders what will become of them now. Loosely related is a rare English post by Movimiento Boliviano por la Soberanía y la Integración solidaria de los pueblos arguing against an “association agreement” between the EU and CAN.


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Brazil: Workers Party Corruption · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Luís Afonso Assumpção lists his 40 “corruption nominees” from Lula da Silva's Workers Party.


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Cameroon: Brain drain · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Cameroonian blog, Scribbles from the Den asks why Cameroonian doctors are leaving the country to work in Europe.   The reasons are explained in an interview with one doctor now living in the UK.


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Caribbean: French creole language · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At the Pan Collective, Francine offers an brief treatise on the French creole language.


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Caribbean: What’s going on? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“So what else is going on, this fiercely hot Thursday?” writes JT at the Caribbean Beat Weblog. He finds West Indies, the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, and some soul-searching on the part of Caribbean heads of state.


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China: Anti-Japanese sentiment analyzed · Global Voices
John Kennedy

With a prediction of diplomatic repercussions carrying over well into 2006, AngryChineseBlogger looks at the root causes, location and total cost of damages incurred during violent anti-Japanese protests in many cities across China in early 2005.

author: John Kennedy


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China: Hu Jintao heckled · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Richard and readers at The Peking Duck add to the discussion on Chinese president Hu Jintao's heckler at the White House yesterday:
“I admire this woman's courage though I don't in any way admire her organization. I don't see anything wrong with the way she was handled, though there's something definitely wrong with the screening process that let her get so close to Hu in the first place. To applaud her as a hero seems a bit much to me,” writes Richard.


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China: Hu’s heckler footage · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Chinese media guru Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei links to Youtube footage of Chinese president Hu Jintao being heckled at the White House late last week.
“Are you nuts man?,” asks one reader. “You are going to get blocked.”


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China: Hu’s heckling approved? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Was Chinese president Hu Jintao set up for face loss in his visit to the United States this week? The EastSouthWestNorth blogger posts photos and translates an analysis which recounts Hu's stop at the White House yesterday and suggests why that might be so:
“During the speech, there was a female protestor.  She was able to yell aloud for two minutes and fifteen seconds without any special agent stopping her.  This was a rare occurrence.  When the police came to take her away, they did not depart through the rear (where there is a passageway for the special agents).  Instead, she was taken away in front of the entire assembly against White House and Secret Services regulations.  These two aspects showed that the Americans may have deliberately planned this to tell the world that there is freedom of speech in America and to remind Hu Jintao about his problems inside China.”


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China: Missing persons unbloggable · Global Voices
John Kennedy

With screenshots and a statement from Microsoft, the Asiapundit blogger counters the assumption of some that the MSN Spaces blog of illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao‘s sister Nina has been blocked:
“There was an outage of the service for those who were using China Telecom's ISP service – but there was no outage for users of CMC and other ISPs. Further, the problem with China Telecom has now been resolved. The above screen shot was taken minutes ago in Shanghai without a proxy.”
“Hao Wu is still imprisoned without charge ,” he continues. “Tomorrow, he will have been detained for a full two months.”


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China: Taiwanese foods unmentionable · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Friend Gram at Holidarity shows us how the One China policy affects even food reviews in mainland China's English-language media.


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DRC: sexual violence · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Congo Watch has a report on the ongoing sexual violence in the DRC  – some horrific stories.


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DRC: UDPS Protest on Monday April 24, 2006 · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege announces (FR) a peaceful protest to take place Monday, April 24, 2006 in Kinshasa. The  Belgium-based opposition party blog explains that UDPS is “determined to receive a favorable response to its memoranda to UN Secretary General Koffi Annan dated November 5, 2005 and March 22 of this year.”   UDPS calls for the relevant authorities to guarantee the security of protesters.

author: Alice Backer


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DRC: UDPS Reiterates Political Muscle · Global Voices
Alice Backer

In a post titled “UDPS is Congolese Political Gold”, UDPS Liege writes (FR) “we are the depositaries of democracy in our country. […] UDPS has not agreed to any alliances with the political parties that use our name. […] The real UDPS is preparing for a final assault on June 30 to fight those who have hijacked power in our country: CIAT [International Committee in Support of the Transition], CEI [Electoral Council], MONUC, Government and Parliament.”


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Ethiopia: bomb blasts · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Weblog Ethiopia reports on yet another bomb blast, this time in the border region of Jijiga, Gedo.   He wonders what the government has to gain (if they are responsble for the bomb) from this action. “Nobody wins from instability in Ethiopia, not even some in the opposition who are calling for a new round of civil unrest (from the safety of Washington, D.C.) knowing full well what will happen”


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Guyana: Imaginary roads · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Nicholas Laughlin posts the seventh instalment of Imaginary Roads, a series of writings on Guyana.


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Haiti: In the news · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Alice Backer rounds up Haiti-related news stories that have caught her attention lately.


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Helping Russian Orphans · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On March 19, a group of wonderful, kind people from Moscow took presents acquired on donations from ordinary Muscovites to an orphanage in Ivanovo, home to 122 children (o to 4 years old), most of whom have various disabilities.
The effort – one of the many – was coordinated online by LJ user murashki; LJ users onepamop and drugoi were taking pictures.
onepamop wrote this at the end of his photo entry (RUS):
[…] The orphanage, of course, doesn't make you feel like you're on holiday, but this one leaves you with a feeling that resembles certainty. Everything around us was so solid, trustworthy. The rooms were clean, the children were asleep in clean beds, they had enough toys, and in short, their everyday lives were more or less stable. As for the rest of it, it's clear right away that the children are loved and taken care of here. You know, I'd establish an award specifically for people like the chief doctor in Ivanovo. A homeland service award. And I wouldn't spare precious stones and gold for it. So that everyone saw and bowed down to this person. But – such people refuse to wear medals…
And this is how drugoi concluded his photo post (RUS):
Thanks a lot to all who helped collect stuff for the Orphanage, thanks to murashki (on the photo, with children) for organizing the campaign and our trip there. Be assured – the children there are growing up in the atmosphere of love, compassion and warmth.
***
LJ user murashki has recently posted some really inspiring and informative recommendations (RUS, illustrated) to those who would like to help Russian orphans but aren't sure how:
how to help orphanages…..???????
it's no different from doing other things…
you have to “switch on your brains”…….
and be self-reliant
those who want to help but think that their participation with 100 rubles [$3.6] will be very insignificant are deeply mistaken
[…]
Medicines, clothes, diapers, furniture and other costly things are, of course, very important. But if you buy some trifle, a toy, a nice pencil, a pencil case, a doll's bag, soap bubbles, a hair holder, children's bracelets, beautiful stickers and other small things – believe me – kids would find it very, very nice. These trifles are totally normal for children with a home, but for those from an orphanage they're a luxury.
Just start looking in the stores. Keep buying a little – and then you'll find there're enough gifts to be taken to the children.
[…]
There isn't just one orphanage, there are many and there are a few groups in each. So you shouldn't be afraid to buy several things that are the same.
In Ashan [Moscow shopping mall], for example, they sell charming toy bags for girls for 25 rubles [$0.91], red chests to store makeup with pictures on them for 25 rubles. Buy one chest like this, buy a bracelet and hair holders (16 rubles [$0.58]), or a kids’ brooch, and a necklace, and put it into the chest. It'll be a wonderful present for some girl.
It's more complicated with boys, but not much more complicated. Stickers with cars. Pencil cases, pencils, badges.
It's very important for a child to have some trifle – not something that he has to share with others, but his own. Even though in orphanages children still share all toys with each other.
In Rybinsk, for example, 5-year-old children kept running up to me one after another to show me their personal photo albums, given to them by visitors: here we are walking with our teacher, and here we are with the guests, and here are the two of us. The simplest albums cost 30-40 rubles [$1.09-$1.45]. I was taking pictures, too, and then I sent their photos to them for such personal albums.
[…]
Use your imagination, friends – children will appreciate this.
Of course, the ideal thing to do for them wouldn't be buying material presents but holding a party. That's a lot more difficult, though.
Here are the first comments to this post (RUS):
aromanta: It's not hard to buy – but how and where to deliver it?
vorona24: Here's our site, for example: www.dobrodel.ru
You buy something, then write us, and we send someone to you and they take it away – this is ONE way.
Here's ANOTHER: you write us that you want to join us on one of our trips, that you've bought something and would like to deliver it personally. A trip is announced, you join either as a passenger or in your own car ))
That's how easy it is ))
In Moscow, by the way, there's a large number of groups that help orphanages. there are groups and there are funds.
aromanta: thank you!


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Hungary: Opposition Lost · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu reports on how the opposition is taking its defeat in the general elections.


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India: Firefox bus · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kalyan finds a bus painted with the logo of Firefox (the browser) in Karnataka.


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India: Reviewing books · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

There's an ongoing debate in the Indian Blogosphere about doing book reviews. Amardeep collates various opinions on the issue and presents his own take on the case.


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Iran: Ahmadinejad & Propaganda · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mikhak (Persian), an Iran based blogger & journalist, writes that Ahmadinejad does not act as President of all Iranians. He just continues his radical propaganda and counts on his followers. He adds  that Ahmadinejad acts as a candidate for presidential election rather than a President for the whole country.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Marley philosophy · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Geoffrey Philp views Bob Marley through the lens of philosophies ranging from Joseph Campbell's to Caroline Myss’.


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Kazakhstan: Iran Policy · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann reports on Kazakhstan's Iran policy.


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Kenya: Anglican Church in Africa · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan blog, The Shipwright Returns writes that the center of the Anglican Church is now in the global south…“If the new Christendom had a world capital based on the location of its believers, it would be somewhere south of the Sahara.”


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Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela: Poll Numbers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

It's Friday and Boz has his now infamous poll numbers from across Latin America including a now tighter race in Mexico.


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Mexico, Spain: WordPress.es and Ferca · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As they occasionally do, a web2.0 war of words has broken out. When Eduardo Arcos typed in the domain wordpress.es he was redirected (ES) to the weblog of the Ferca Network (ES), a Spanish web company run by David Carrero. Walter of HTML Life defends David (ES) saying that he has good intentions, but Arcos follows up saying the best gesture would be offer the domain to the open source WordPress community (ES) instead of using it for a proprietary company.


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Moldova: Corrupt Police and Gang Crime · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jessica of Life in Moldova writes about gang crime and the corrupt police in a small town in Moldova.


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Mongolia: Cleaning the Capital · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst reports that Ulaanbaatar's governor's office is finally cleaning up the capital for Mongolia's 800th anniversary.


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Nepal Revolution: Showdown · Global Voices
Paramendra

Over a million people have come out into the streets today, over 15 have been killed, hundreds upon hundreds have been injured,  many seriously, by the police, thousands have been arrested, and the king is still nowhere close to seeing the light. He still refuses to see that a constituent assembly can be the only meeting point between him and the seven party alliance.
Democracy For Nepal has long called to sidestep the king and go straight for an interim constitution and a revolutionary parliament.
The one person team of Mero Sansar has some great on ground coverage, but it is in Nepali. But it also has video clips, and photos. This blog might be the one place online with a ton of video clips from the streets although recently Nepal has hit the world headlines, and all major global names in news have been covering Nepal rather extensively.
United We Blog has some of the best reporting. The founder of the blog, Dinesh Wagle, is to arrive in New York City later today. He has been on a month long tour arranged by the US State Department.
Samudaya is more than a website, it is also a network of young activists, several of them in Nepal. One example: Non aligned youth/students express solidarity to freedom. The site also has a great collection of photos from the revolution.

author: Paramendra


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Nepal: Update from the streets · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

SerendipityYouCity provides an update on the situation in Nepal by publishing a mail from a director of a boarding school -“It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and curfew has started again in Kathmandu until 8 o’clock this evening. We just finished a round of picking up as many street kids as we can and getting them into shelters.”


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Nigeria: BBC’s news of the day · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Shirts reports on a day of  news reports by the BBC on  Nigerian. From the Niger Delta militants bombing, to debt repayment and finally a review of one of London's most well known Nigerian resturants “Obalende Suya”


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Nigeria: herbal medicines · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Naijablog posts on the increased use of herbal medicines (Chinese and indigenous) in Nigeria where several companies have started to acquire licensing for their products.


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Oil subsidies in Malaysia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

At Volume of Interactions blogger Aizudding is asking the Malaysian government to reconsider its promise of keeping oil prices subsidised for the consumer until the end of the year. The blogger says that the money spent in keeping the oil prices from going up is better spent in developing alternatives that would ease the dependence on oil.


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Peru: Miss Peru Universe 2006 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

With just 5% of uncounted votes remaining Un Lobo en Peru takes a brief break from the election madness to describe the blooper-filled pageant which sends Fiorella Viñas to the Miss Universe contest as Peru's representative.


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Poland: Communist Jokes · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

According to one Russian historian, about 200,000 people were sent to camps for telling jokes in Stalin's time. The beatroot doesn't find Communist jokes funny: according to him, “the jokes were the serious antidote to the very funny horror of reality.”


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Poland: GM Crops · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes that Polish conservatives have joined forces with liberals to fight against GM crops.


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Quotas in Brazilian Universities: The Online Debate · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

There is an important public conversation going on in Brazil. Affirmative action quota policies are being implemented in some Brazilian universities*. The debate will heat up in the coming weeks as Congress considers a new law (law project nº 3627/2004) that would establish a system of reserving places for public school students — particularly blacks and indigenous people. The new law will establish and regulate affirmative action as an official government policy.
Had this situation happened a decade ago, the debate would be restricted to the universities and to congress. We would have had to count on the good will of mainstream media to give the issue the deserved visibility. Today, with the help of online forums, group lists, and mainly blogs, the debate has greater participation and media democracy is growing broader and deeper. The open network of interested people takes charge of expanding the reach of the quotas debate, generating new and diverse players, manifesting new and effective policy and adding perspectives that would not have been on the radar before.
The proposal sent to congress by the government requires the federal universities and technical schools to reserve 50% of the places for students who attended high schools in the public system. From this percentage, afro-descendants and indigenous people will have its places reserved in proportion to the respective population rates from the last census (1991) in each state.
The Brazilian online community has been debating the issue for some time, and the arguments present details and nuances that go beyond simplistic, polarized positions. At this moment, the new law under consideration in congress, primarily regarding the public school students in general, has introduced an augmented focus on social quotas over racial ones. What could be seen as simple percentages in the text of a law turns out to be a more nuanced change of the public policy. And this tests the capacity of the open network in keeping the interested players updated and ready to participate.
Here are samples of Brazilian voices debating quotas on the web:
People who can afford high quality classes will always pay for it anyhow. It's also a more efficient way of making the money circulate in society: the ones who can, will pay for it. I won't talk about social issues. But in a sense, I see some kind of masqueraded vengeance, something subconscious in the mind of the people who supports quotas. Something like: “you had oppressed us for 506 years, and now we will pay back”. Taking from the rich to give to the poor? This is unfair, mainly because many students in public universities are not rich people. Other point to be considered is the quotas of the quotas. Beyond reserving half the places to public schools attendants, part of it will be restricted to afro-descendants and indians. INDIANS?!
“Quotas: privilege and reality” – blog Segredos de Fátima
The argument that investing in public basic education would be a better solution than the adoption of quotas at the university is cynical, not to say dumb. The truth is that 30, 40 years ago, the public schools were the best, and few black people had access to it. And even today, the best public schools like Cefet, Pedro II and others, are almost only attended by white people. So, it is quite the contrary: we would have to establish quotas also in the other levels of public schools and not only universities.
“Who is afraid of the colour of the quotas?” – blog Grito Sufocado
The quotas campaign to facilitate the public schools students in public universities is a campain that offers a populist, hypocritical and demagogic solution to calm down the citizens who are justifiedly angry with the educational problem in our country. We will fail to do the revolutionary reform urgently needed in our basic and medium public schools. We will instead adopt an emergency measure that will postpone the problem to the future and manage to please the voters now.
“Quotas” – blog The right to be wrong
The debate, many times, occurs as an exchange in the comments section of the blog, like this one below, which answers the post above:
In a country of excluded and apolitical people… where the majority live at the margins of the society, where citizenship is a strange word… Is it in this country that you suggest that a simple leveraging of the basic and medium public schools will do?… while the rich continue to take advantage of public universities?… Maybe the quotas system is the only way of solving at least part of the problem… maybe this way, the excluded will politizate themselves and get strong, and maybe then fight for the needed improvement…
Comment by ‘Ego Freak‘ in the post Cotas – blog The right to be wrong
Exercising a kind of amplification, many frequently visited blogs function like resonance boxes to well-written articles about the issue, which are published in sites of many kinds and also in the mainstrem media. Those posts** always bring links, and in many cases, the whole article, which presents more elaborated arguments — always backing the blogger's opinion.
The debate about quotas is a debate about Brazil. The discussion is about two different projects to fight racism: one that strengths the ‘racial’ identities and, ultimately, kills ‘pardos’, ‘caboclos’ and ‘morenos’ (Brazilian mestizo classifications) etc.; and the other which takes the anti-racism position, focusing on diminishing the gap between classes and on the continuous fight against the negative symbolic representation attributed to people of darker skin. These two projects are also different national projects. One envisions a nation divided by racial / ethnic differences — a nation of communities. The other believes in the possibility of building a common rights citizenship — independent of ‘race’, ethnicity, genre, sexual orientation, etc. — protecting the right of each person to follow his own way of life in a nation of individuals. Finally, we say that we can't fight racism with a policy that affirms race. When the state make laws upon the concept, it ‘founds’ the notion of race, creating the very same thing it wants to destroy. We deserve a better solution to the big problems we face today.
Peter Fry and Yvonne Maggie about quotas in universities – Simon's Blog
In relation to the ethnic issue, it is absolutely necessary that the Brazilian republican society recognizes the discrimination that happened since the country's foundation, and proposes effective solutions to solve this debt. Nevertheless, solutions restricted to the access to universities, without being extended to other institutions and / or spaces of the society in order to create real opportunity for formation of a new elite, and ensure the participation of this contingent in the decision process of the Brazilian society, seems like a populist incoherence, or like a demagogic simplification. What justifies that quotas won't be used in other public contests, for governmental jobs for example? And for teaching posts at the public university? Why are the other republican powers excluded from the quota policies? How to explain the absence of racial quotas in the composition of the judiciary? And the members of congress, the ones that should represent the Brazilian society profile?
Gustavo Balduino's article , linked in O Olho Dínamo
Another interesting way in which blogs activate the dynamic around the issue is by the reporting of events, speeches and debate panels that occur throughout the country (and also the absence of needed debate), revealing the regional perspectives that the topic evokes.
What differentiates good from bad decisions… are the different perceptions about the present scenery (and the motivations that shape that view), upon which decisions are made, and also the varying capacity in capturing its antecedents. Around these points, on the panel “The ethnic-racial quotas system” that happened yesterday at UFRGS, we saw the prevalence of the defenders of the quotas regime. In line with Onir Araújo, I am against the government proposal which reserve sub-quotas to blacks and indians from the main 50% quota to public school attendants. I am in favor of a system of direct quotas to blacks and mestizos.
“Racial quotas and the scandalized democracy” – blog O Olho Dínamo
The ‘Rede Globo’ (biggest Brazilian tv broadcast network), in its news show ‘Jornal Nacional’ (the highest audience throughout the country) , criticized the project that establishes quotas in Brazilian universities for public school students, and also to blacks and indians: the ‘civically impaired’. The anchor announced that the broad debate that such issue deserves was not happening and the hurry to approve the law was an irresponsable and populist move from the government. As a disastrous dialectic partisan, the ‘Jornal Nacional’ interviewed two persons: an antropologist, against the quotas, and a representative from the PSB of the Espirito Santo state — who was for the first time appearing in national network — also against the quotas. Where is the debate? If Globo is really interested in a broad debate about quotas with the society, including politicians and members of the academy, why can't it just happen? Why the debate has never occurred at a level, for example, of replacing the idiocy of the Big Brother show in the Brazilian living room?
Part of the article by Lelê Teles, in “One note debate” – blog Cyrano disse
Yes, debate is surely happening online. It is lively, and in real time. And it is introducing a very civil way of entering the heat of political discourse. The flow of posts coming and going is drawing new participants, and originating new forms of political discourse. Bloggers are not afraid of having opinions, and even changing them, as we can see in this post by ‘Liberal, Libertarian, Libertine‘:
I was against quotas. However, after six months of intense reading, I am reverting the opinion I had before. From now on, I go along with quotas. Basically what changed my mind was the following perception: the damaging effects of slavery continue to affect the descendants of its direct victims. I agree that quota policies create a series of other operational problems, which are described in my original post, and also in this one. To intervene in a merit system that works, is like introducing a new species in a complex ecosystem: you never know exactly what will happen. Basically, we are creating a new injustice to repare an old one. It always ends up in shit. But, once we decided the filosofical question, there is really no option. The operational problems will have to be solved afterwards, maybe tentatively and with error. By now, can anyone tell me WHY the afrodescendants do NOT deserve reparation from slavery?
“In favour of quotas” – Liberal, Libertário, Libertino
We will be following-up the evolution of the topic. The available links in this post are already a good route for anyone interested in being updated, and the invitation to participate is almost undeniable.
(**) This post was inspired by “O debate online sobre cotas raciais” by Fabio Malini

author: Jose Murilo


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Russia: Demographic Situation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile writes about the demographic situation in Russia.


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Russia: NGOs Under Attack, Anti-Fascist Killed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory reports on one day's news out of Russia's capital: “Soldiers’ Mothers, HIV/AIDS NGOs Under Attack & Anti-Fascist Murdered in Moscow.”


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Singapore-Malaysia relations spoof video · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Singapore blogger Lancerlord links to a short video made by Malaysian students that pokes fun at some Singapore-Malaysia issues.


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South Africa: politi’king · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

South African blog,  AfriCAN HOUSEIT reports on more political manoverings in Cape Town which will ultimately impact negatively  on the lives of ordinary citizens in area of service provision..”.Read the names and stories of those affected by lack of service delivery on this blog from housing riots and peacefull demonstrations, fraud and corruption, shack fires sewage and electricity – all those things that affect the human habitat in Cape Town;”


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Sri Lanka: Army suspected for deaths · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

transcurrents.com on “The Sri Lankan army is suspected by residents of Puthur in Jaffna of being responsible for the deaths of five Tamil civilians from the area.”


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Sri Lanka: Identity and Nationality · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

London, Lanka and Drums on identity as being born to Sri Lankan parents but being brought up in the UK.


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Vietnam hosts Bill Gates · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bill Gates is visiting Vietnam. Sadgopan, an IT industry veteran, finds lots of excitement in Vietnam for this. He finds strong pro-US sentiment among the people. The blogger also shares some thoughts on Vietnam as a offshore service location.


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Zimbabwe: returning land to white farmers · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwean Blogger, The Bearded Man reports that the government plans to take back land from some 2000 black farmers who have failed to farm and hand the land back to the white farmers...”In a major policy reversal and the clearest admission yet by the Harare government that its controversial land redistribution programme failed, Mutasa said that the government had asked the white-member Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) to submit names of applicants to receive land repossessed from blacks.”


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Zimbabwe: Street talk · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwe blog Enough is Enough publishes an interview with a Harare citizen on life in Zimbabwe two days after the recent independence day.


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Caribbean: Billionaires Investing in Local Telecoms · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Last week  Irish  billionaire Dennis O'Brien announced his company Digicel was purchasing  the Caribbean arm of Bouygues Telecom . This week Mexican billionnaire Carlos Slim announces he is  purchasing three Caribbean and Latin-American subsidiaries of Verizon, an American telecom, writes (FR) InternetRapide.com.  The  Verizon subsidiaries  to be purchased by Slim's Telmex and America Movil are located in the DR, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.


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China: Hu’s heckler has done this before · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Roland Soong of ESWN digs up a website indicating that Wang Wenyi, the FLG practitioner who heckled Hu Jintao at the White House on Thursday, has a heckling history: a 2001 photo shows her confronting then-President Jiang Zemin in Malta.
Roland also translates results of a Hong Kong Oriental Daily newspaper poll about the heckling incident. 33% said the U.S. government deliberately set it up; 62% said “USA is not a trustworthy partner.”

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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Cooking Pleasures · Global Voices
Melissa De León

#1: From Caracas, Venezuela: Blog de Zulmy
I have just discovered her blog, but it seems to me that she is and will be one of the most active food bloggers from her country! Good for you Zulmy :)
Have you heard of Cocoa Tea? An infusion made with the skin of the cocoa bean…yet another use for this marvelous fruit.
El Puesto de Delmiro: Ajíes Dulces y Ajos is an enticing, eye opening tour through the "Mercadito El Cafetal" in Caracas. Two times a week you would find there all kind of veggies, fruits, fresh meats, and cheeses, AND live herbs for your herb garden such as basil.
El Puesto de Susi, productos muy frescos casi desde Alemania! According to Zulmy, Colonia Tovar is a small touristic City sixty kilometers from Caracas, in the mountains, at 2,000 meters of elevation. It is a dream place, and its houses have the traditional German architecture, and the people, proud of their origins, have the unmistakable German gene. Their ancestors arrived in Venezuela around 1843.  That's the place where all the fruits and vegetables from Susi's booth come from two times a week, fresh and beautiful as ever.
#2: From Argentina, Pomelo Pleasures
Easter Photo Recap and Tales from Corrientes, Argentina
We dined on pollo a la parrilla (BBQ chicken) with nutmeg and lemon, egg wrapped in crocodile meat (yes, I ate it, it was good, white meat like chicken but slightly tangier, crocodile isn´t something you find on everyday restaurant menu, even in Argentina), garlic stewed potatoes, marble cake with orange glaze downed with several large glasses of Mendoza wine and champagne. Not bad for a ´non-Easter´dinner, hmm?
Argentina is very well known for their parrilla (bbq) cooking, though this is most definately a beef country, chicken cooked this way is sublime. The nutmeg and lemon give the chicken just a hint of freshness and the whole bird came out tender; the kind of meal you can only do justice by stuffing yourself silly, and then lying down for an extra, extra, long siesta (Santiago's father, as I found out, snores with quite a roar).
Head over to her blog and admire the photos and read the rest of the story, you won't regret it!
#3: From España, Cocinalia
Sao Mai is vacationing in Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands…and she is having a great time! She  shares a traditional recipe to prepare Mojo Rojo Canario. It is prepared with a fiery local dry chili. I would not dare to mention the name of the chili here because my editor will get mad at me. But, you are invited to visit her blog and find it out by yourself :)
#4:  From Guadalajara , Mexico: CesArts
Chef Cesar Reynoso Robles is a talented young man, so proud of his origins and the bounty, the land shares with him, and consequently he offers through his original creations. It just takes a moment to get the message; visit his blog now and you will see what I mean! By the way, this is the only food blog from Mexico -per se- I have found so far. IF you know of any other similar I have missed, please send me an e-mail or post a message at the bottom of this post.
If you haven't noticed by now, I sometimes get carried away by the -food blog emotion-, what means that I ALMOST forgot to mention about Cesart's graphically tasty post on "Mercado Libertad" in Guadalajara. Learn about all the fruits, vegetables, tasty authentic Mexican meals, and the unique array of nature's colors you would find there. It makes my heart nostalgic, because to tell you the truth…I loved every minute of the time I spent shopping in the markets in Mexico when I lived there. It seems so far away, but…when I see pictures like these…My heart beats faster and I could even inhale the marvelous fragrance that has found its home in my heart. Gracias Cesar por compartir tus anecdotas y fotos tan preciosas con nosotros!
#5: Soy Wake Up Call: it is linked to heart disease and infertility!
Despite the overwhelming evidence, the problem is only going to get worse. Right now, it’s estimated that 60 percent of the refined foods on store shelves and foods sold in fast-food restaurants have some kind of harmful soy protein in them.
The reality is that soybeans, which were long considered inedible unless fermented, should be outlawed for human and animal consumption. The only animals that eat soy are domesticated house pets and domesticated humans because . But you should be ashamed of yourself for eating vegetablized female hormone and for forcing it on your pets. You’re setting them up for cancer, heart disease, arthritis, thyroid dysfunction, allergies, malnutrition, sexual abnormalities, and diabetes. And furthermore, you are setting  up for the same diseases. Read the complete post!
#6: How bout this: Carrot Muffins with a Cream Cheese Filling? This is the perfect, majestic and most delicious post to conclude today's food blog report….Take a look now :)
I am drooling right now, but I can not help it. They are just luscious and the best part is that The delicious life includes a step by step recipe, WITH photos to illustrate this recipe. Oh—are you still there??? What are you waiting for? You will enjoy this one, so get cooking!
See you soon :)

author: Melissa De León


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Haiti: Sixth Anniversary of Jean Dominique’s Assassination · Global Voices
Alice Backer

To commemorate the 6th anniversary of slain Haitian journalist Jean Dominique's death,  blogger AyitiCherieConnexion talks (FR)  about his life,  his death and Jonathan Demme's The Agronomist.  The blogger also treats us to a slideshow of the human rights activist in action.


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St-Maarten: Video Montage of Juliana Airport · Global Voices
Alice Backer

InternetRapide.com  (FR) posts a video montage of planes taking flight from Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten.


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A Burmese Joke · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cambodia blog uncovers the reason why people in Myanmar go overseas when they need a dentist.


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African women this week.  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Congratulations to Kenyan women bloggers who have won Kenya Unlimited Kaybee awards 2006.  Mshairi for best poetry blog; Gussaurus for best new blog and most interactive blog;  Mama's Junkyard for best design;  Au Lait for blogger one would most like to meet; and Kenyan Pundit for best political blog.
Nigerian blogger, Adefunke on adefunke discusses  her love of food from the east of the country,
My love for eastern dishes has made me learn to cook them, so far I can make ogbonna and egusi. I am told my cooking would not be mistaken for an easterners though, too much pepper. This is a family problem originating from my paternal grand-father. I have also secured the recipe for banga which i must cook before going to school. Also fish pepper soup.
and her temporary  inability to enjoy the food ” the food is smelling to you”. We've all been there!
Weichegud!ET Politics  celebrates Easter in Ethiopia.
Pilgrimage to Self has a great idea for a book meme:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal/blog along with these instructions.
DON'T search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you
What an African Woman Wants travels outside Africa to the Middle East and reads “Noor Al Hussein’s memoirs” which sets off  thoughts around the Middle East as portrayed by the news media.
Often when I’m reading, listening to or watching news from the Middle East, I have an uneasy sense that I’m not looking at the real thing but having to peer into someone else’s eyes to see what they see, that is, what they choose to look at. As a Kenyan, an African who has been on the receiving of such scrutiny, it’s hard to shake off the feeling that what I see is not all there is to see…..I considered the opportunity to look through Noor al Hussein’s eyes into the Middle East a significant step forward.
Afro Blog posts on Somalia “ Somalia's Drought: ‘Children Are Dying, Everything is Dying
Nubian Soul writes on various scenarios  involving with Naija men (Nigerian)  and their respective outcomes.
scenario 3
You are introduced to the guy by a mutual friend. He barely looks at you, says hey but is completely dismissive of you, if you ask a question he either snaps at you or acts as if it's the simplest thing in the world and you are an idiot for not knowing the answer.
outcome
a) 2 weeks later you get a call, the guy has tracked your number down and is calling you at 1 in the am, on a week night for no good reason.
b) You bump into him again at another place, turns out you are really good friends with one of his friends, you hug and kiss his friend and then bounce. the next week your friend calls you and says the guy asked for your number.
Afromusing blogs on Earth Day 2006. Solar energy, beyond the cell phone and why Tanzania is serious about the environment.
My Thots voices her fury at a recent advert supporting a third term for Obasanjo in Nigeria daily newspaper “This Day”
I am getting more and more infuriated with Obasanjo (click here to see what he looks like) and his unrepentant sycophants who refuse to open their eyes, ears and minds, but are only interested in their bellies (May God do unto them as they do to the common Nigerian!).
Afrofeminista writes on the proposed Sexual Assult Bill that will be debated in Kenya this week.   She raises a number of issues around the lobbbying of the bill such as why is it necessary to lobby for a bill that protects women from sexual violence.
So that, for me any MP who does not support this Bill is themselves either a rapist or potential rapist! And i think campaigns in support of this Bill, should put this out there! No more pussyfooting! These men and women (some) who are simply incapable of seeing beyond their orange and yellow political colors to vote correctly on matters of national importance, which is what this Bill is all about, should be shamed and put out to dry
She is also outraged that  some have used the fact that the bill will cover the rape of boys and men as a way of trying to persuding male citizens to support the bill.
Everytime this statement is made, I want to gag! Yes gag! Not because I condone the rape of boys and men, but because the underlying message in this statement is, ‘please support the Bill because it also protects our most valued citizens – you, our boys and men’ . Yes that is the message supporters of this Bill, unwittingly are sending out! We are saying that, society has little or no obligation to protect women and girls who by virtue of the status accorded to them in their communities because of their gender, are easy targets of sexual violence. We are saying that, the agenda to protect women and girls from sexual violence can only be considered if we are willing to once again show how it affects those members of society who seem to be valued more that others?
See also her post “Still Slogging” for more on this.


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Culture zone to dampen nightlife in Phnom Penh · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Alvin Lim in Cambodia links to a forum where people are discussing closure of bars around Wat Phnom. The Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh gets its name from this religious place.  The city authorities plan to build a culture zone around the wat and want the businesses in the area to relocate.


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Media from the Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace Conference · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Audio and video notes from the event are online at the conference blog. The conference was held in the Philippines from April 19 to 20th and was attended by prominent bloggers and activists from across Asia.


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Russia: Ethnically Motivated Violence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Racially and ethnically motivated violence seems to be on the rise in Russia. Some of the most publicized cases that took place in April alone include an attack on a TV journalist of Azeri origin on a subway train in the center of Moscow; an attack on the culture minister of Kabardino-Balkaria that occurred as he was picking up his daughter from a dance class, also in Moscow; the St. Petersburg murder of Lamzar Samba, 28, a communications student from Senegal. Finally, around 6 PM yesterday, a 17-year-old Armenian was stabbed to death at Pushkinskaya subway station in the center of Moscow, by a young man who appeared to be a skinhead.
(UPDATE, 4/24: It has just been reported that the Armenian, Vagan Abramyants, was killed by his friend, Denis Kulagin, born in 1989. Allegedly, they had a fight about a girl they both liked. Kulagin always carried a knife with him. There were no skinheads in this case: the victim's and the attacker's friends – all of them fans of  Lokomotiv, one of Moscow's football teams – made up the story to help Kulagin avoid punishment. Abramyants was an only son in an Armenian family that moved to Moscow in the late 1980s, to escape anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku, Azerbaijan.)
(UPDATE #2, 4/26: According to investigation officials, Abramyants and Kulagin had commmon friends – among Lokomotiv and Spartak fans – but didn't know each other. Abramyants said something rude to Zhanna Nefedova, Kulagin's 15-year-old girlfriend, and Kulagin stabbed and killed him. Video cameras installed at the station didn't record the killing, nor are there any records of skinheads getting off a Vyhino-bound train. Kulagin's mother says her son's interrogation lasted four hours and there was no lawyer present. Then the interrogators invited her into the room and announced Kulagin's choices: either he admits to killing Abramyants out of jealousy and gets a minimal sentence, or he faces 15 years in jail for ethnically motivated murder. Kulagin's mother told her son to choose the former, but he later retracted his confession. The Abramyants family lawyer insists on the skinhead version: they spent some time walking around the station before picking their victim; Abramyants was stabbed in the heart, which may mean the attacker wasn't an amateur; Abramyants was a nice, hardworking boy from a good family, not some violent football fan; two more guys were wounded, which possibly means there were several attackers.)
Below is the translation of a relevant post and comments to it (RUS) at another_kashin, the LiveJournal of Oleg Kashin, a Russian journalist:
Today
Itar-Tass Agency reports that a young man resembling a skinhead attacked an Armenia native and stabbed him many times with a knife near the Pushkinskaya metro station. The man died of injuries on the spot. After the attack, the bandit went down into the subway. The search for the criminal has begun.
It has been reported that the attacker was 18-20 years old, his head was shaved, and he was wearing a black jacket and black cargo pants. According to the law enforcement officials, the criminal is very dangerous.
I was at Pushkinskaya on my way out into the city at the time the corpse was lying there. Indeed, a kavkazets [a Caucasus native] and somewhat too cut up. Small fences were placed around him, inside the fenced off area two Slavic women sat, and across the central hall cops were holding hands and solemnly looking around, like they do at [Lenin's] Mausoleum. To pass the cops, one had to go up toward the Gorkovskaya pass, and then go down the adjacent staircase. This is what I did. Turned around to look at others. People are walking, talking, smiling, then look at the Armenian, and their jaws drop.
I told the cab driver about it. The cab driver laughs – well, our dear skinheads again, great.
What follows a little bit later is an attempt to discuss the term kavkazets:
[…]
sumlenny: “kavkazets” is one of the most stupid terms for a commentary like this. The victim was an Armenian. Any average Azeri (also a “kavkazets”, according to your classification) will be cheering his death more than some Russian fascists.
[…]
object: Any [Azeri], aha. Any.
sumlenny: ok, lets say “many [Azeris].” Do you remember how during a joint NATO training an Azeri officer “lost patience” and killed his Armenian fellow-trainee with an axe?
In any case, the goal of my comment wasn't to insult Azeris. I was drawing attention to the fact that there is no such entity as “kavkaztsy”. Only for a journalist sitting in his ivory tower do the look the same, just like the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans do. But a Chinese would be very offended if you call him a Japanese.
object: For those who killed this poor Armenian, such an entity does exist, I think. After all, they don't ask for the passport [to learn the victim's ethnic origin] before attacking.
And here are some more reactions:
krumhilda: A nightmare… I'm more shocked by the people's reaction than by the corpses. Though that's monstrous, too.
lukyanich: Armenians love us [Russia], the only ones in the Caucasus, all the more a pity, a skinhead has bumped off  a Christian. Perhaps time to bump the skinheads off, eh?
ac_diver: very likely that this will start happening soon… i heard today that (in Petrozavodsk, I guess) in a fight between “kavkaztsy” and skinheads, they did kill one skin… There's one question in this situation – who will these “kavkaztsy” consider as belonging to the entity called the “Russians”?
rusliner: Violence begets violence. Do you need that?
sumlenny: what you've said is nonsense. Violence can as successfully – and sometimes even more successfully – be brought on by the lack of resistance to violence.
rusliner: I'm not calling to ignoring violence! But to respond with violence is only possible when ALL THE OTHER means have been exhausted. Otherwise, I won't see any difference between the sides.


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Thai street art · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Diacritic links to a Thailand Street Art flickr pool. His favourite piece features Thai prime minister Thaksin who resigned recently.


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The Lebanese Bloggers last week: Remembering The War, Plus Some Kisses · Global Voices
Mustapha

April 13 marked the day of remembrance of the Lebanese Civil War. Lebanese Bloggers have pitched in to give their personal accounts of that terrible war. But before reading their takes, we must remember that the Lebanese have learned to kiss and make up. Just ask Jamal who wrote a whole post about the art of kissing in Lebanon. Now back to the war and the bloggers’ accounts.
Delirious writes on The Lebanese Blogger Forum:
When I think about the war, I feel as though it was always there, lurking in the shadows hand in hand with death and destruction. I was born to the lullaby of shells falling everywhere, and raised according to a simple Pavlovian principle: the moment your parents tell you to run to the shelter, even if it's in the middle of the night, you run, no questions asked
Jamal From Jamal’s Propaganda Site gives us various tidbits from his experience of the war:
I remember my parents not being able to go to my school because they feared for their lifes. My school was 10 minutes from home yet people there were of a different…. species, Nope,….. race, nah, ……. nationality, definitely not ……. religion, not necessarily, …….Sect , that's what it was.
Kais in Beirut To The Beltway gives us an account of the most terrible event he didn’t see:
Growing up I saw many horrors. But it was one that I didn’t see that stuck in my mind. When one day in 1982 we decided nowhere in Lebanon was safe anymore, we took a taxi to Damascus with the intention to fly to Paris. This was early August and “Christians” and “Druze” were massacring each other in the mountains. Our smoky taxi took us up and down the narrow and frightening Karameh road and passed through a ravaged Christian village. My father ordered me not to look, so I hid my head in my mother’s lap but I could hear the awfulness of what they saw: Mutilated corpses dug up from graveyards were put on display on rooftops, declaring to the world their guilt of being Christian in Lebanon.
Omega80 from The Blog of The Free Patriotic Movement offers further anecdotes:
I saw my mother crying at home one day, and my father trying to console her. The next day my father, sister, and I dropped her off at the airport, only then getting an explanation from my father on the way home that she had to go to Lebanon for a few days because my uncle was sick and she needed to help take care of him. It was only years later that I found out he had been kidnapped by a certain militia whose head is now currently in the Lebanese government
The Lebanese are bent on forgetting the bad old days and are trying to make a difference. Fortunately, it seems they haven’t lost their resilience: After giving up writing about politics for a while, Doha, from The Lebanese Bloggers has decided that she will continue to write to be able to make a difference to the life of her 20-year old brother, Abboudi.

author: Mustapha


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AddisFerengi returns as Ethiopia’s blogosphere explodes · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

AddisFerengi, one of Ethiopia's most controversial bloggers, was back in business this week with a load of back-dated posts, after temporarily shutting herself down and leaving the country amid claims of threats and warnings over her safety.
The French citizen and now former resident of Addis Ababa told her whole story to Ethiopian Politics, which published the resulting interview as one of the country's first podcasts (MP3 – 18mins 16 secs).
The interview was greeted by stalwart blogger Ethiopundit in The Adventures of Addis Ferengi & the Desperate Dance for Donors:
She states at one point that before her expulsion she was the only free voice in the country. She is right. Think about it – not only has the government totally taken over or banned all Ethiopian free press it has jailed journalists and charged them with crimes punishable by death…
Except for Anna Gomez [the head of the European Union's monitoring mission at last year's Ethiopian elections who was critical of the current government], this blogger is the first ferenji [foreigner] to so GET and so articulate what this government is all about. Actually … let us qualify that statement … we think thousands of ferenjis living and passing through do GET it all very well but a host of political & personal interests, very low expectations and professional complicity with the government keep them quiet.
Weichegud ET Politics joined in with How, um, NOT to silence the ET Blogverse, noticing one silver lining around the dark cloud over AddisFerengi's departure:
Most of us have been frustrated by the lack of Ethiopian bloggers from Ethiopia, and all of a sudden the Ethiopian government deports/orders to leave/makes thuggish gestures towards ‘Addis Ferenjie’, an anonymous European blogger in Addis Abeba, and whachu got? A veritable home grown ET blogging outbreak.
At the beginning of the year, Satisify My Soul (Ego) was the sole native ‘abesha’ regularly having his say from the home country.
Then the floodgates opened. Urael was the newest arrival on the shared platform offered by Nazret.com.
In Roadblocks, s/he gave an  eyewitness account of worrying disruptions to the build-up to this weekend's celebration of Ethiopian Orthodox Easter:
There was a huge traffic-jam on the ring road near the Imperial hotel round-about Wednesday evening. New federali tactics were the cause. Addis Ababa has become one step further to a police state. Every car approaching the Imperial hotel round-about was stopped, I had to step out. They did a body check on me while two others searched my car. No questions were asked. Because of this exercise traffic between Bole airport up until the Imperial hotel came to a standstill.
Thursday evening the same procedure in the middle of Kasanchis. Traffic police smiling a bit about the jam and Federali checking cars at random. I don't know if at other places the same things happened. The roadblock near Kaliti is still in function a friend told me.
Seminawork appeared in late March with a handful of well-placed political sources. In Muluneh on hunger strike, he published a scan of a letter, apparently smuggled out of prison from one of the jailed opposition politicians.
Adebabay turned up at around the same time with a mix of contentious spiritual and state politics.
CoffeeChilliSun is an Addis Ababan who first came on to the online scene in January. She fought her way through a bad cold to give her own blood-and-guts account of the build up to the Easter feast in Oh Chicken!:
in the run up to the good-humoured (…) butchering of sheep, chicken, goat and cattle one of the most pressing issue here in Ethiopia is: To eat or not to eat chicken? News on State Media is that so long as you cook all poultry products thoroughly you should not fear Avian Flu, however, not many have the economic power to spend another 40ETB on fuelwood to fizz up in our thin air. People are concerned about the contamination from the blood and other fluids to open cuts obtained during butchering. Plus of course there is the Ethiopian belief about the vapours and nasty smells that arise from the environment, including dead chicken, that could give you the flu. Meanwhile the price of sheep has gone up to 500 to 800ETB, Cattle have gone up to 3000 to 4200ETB.
Putting all the newcomers to one side, the prize for blog post of the fortnight was shared by two established names,  the first an American in Ethiopia, the second an Ethiopian in America.
Things We Should Have Written Down described a rare drive out of Addis Ababa in Fleas before flowers:
We chugged and bumped our way west, out of Addis, towards the flower farm. The streets became less crowded and fields of green emerged as we careened around hairpin turns. It was only my second time outside the polluted capital city in seven months. I rolled down the window and closed my eyes. Then a massive truck roared past us at 80 mph, spewing stones and exhaust. Alongside the one-lane highway was a demolished truck, one of many signs of accidents we would see on our drive. That the entire cab of the vehicle was crushed did not seem to deter the truck that had passed us from continuing to speed; the driver was just then rounding a bend at a breakneck pace, leaving no room for oncoming traffic.
Weichegud ET Politics remembered her grandfather in You think this is progress:
There were two things my grandfather used to find intolerable whenever he visited us in the US : people who ate and walked in public; and Ethiopians of the Orthodox faith who didn’t go to church. He had to be physically restrained on his last visit to DC after seeing an Ethiopian youngster sporting a Lalibela T-shirt and walking down U Street  eating pizza… and talking on a cell phone.
“You people think this is progress,” my sisters told me he hissed. “This is backwardness.”
Sounds about right.
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author: Andrew Heavens


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Armenia: Corruption & The Grassroots · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis reports on blatant government corruption in Armenia and comments that the best way for Armenian citizens to combat it is to organize themselves politically rather than waiting for an opposition leader to appear and lead them.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Indian Student Protests · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

LoonyMoony, Nessuna, and Onnik Krikorian all have updates on the Indian student protests in Armenia at Oneworld Multimedia. Nanyaar, an Indian student in Armenia, also has an update at his blog, The Instant Me.


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Armenia: Stolen Tunes · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Der Hova writes about the frustration of being involved with creating a great song in Armenia only to have it stolen and made into a hit by someone else.


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Bangladesh Blog Buzz: · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shuvo Bangla Nobobarsho (Happy Bengali New Year) to everyone. Let us take a look into what the Bangladeshi blogs are saying lately.
* Celebration: The 3rd world view writes about “Pahela Baishakh”, the Bengali New Year which was celebrated with much enthusiasm involving  a record crowd on the April 14, 2006 in Bangladesh.
* Culture: Shapps posts his thoughts about the verdict of a British court against a Bangladeshi woman who was convicted for shaking her child violently to cure it from ‘evil spirits’.
* Cricket: Bangladeshis are crazy about cricket. They were all cheering when Bangladesh put the world champion Australia on back foot in a recent test but did lose the game eventually. Mezba writes how some Bangladeshis resorted to superstition to bring luck to their favor.
* Economy:  Shafiur discusses the political economy of investment in Bangladesh highlighting the case of Niko.
* Podcast: Joe at Bongo Vongo posts readings of English translations of two short stories of Rabindranath Tagore as podcasts: – ‘The Hungry Stones’ & ‘The Victory’.
* Painting: Kazi Rubaiat Imam posts a link to an interview with Hashem Khan, Master artist of Bangladesh, who happens to be his teen idol.
* Identity: Nashat gives her thoughts on the clash of religion and identity.
* Education: Deshcalling writes an essay on the plagiarism in Bangladesh Universities.
* Election: Ahmede Husein takes a critical look at the electoral system of Bangladesh which is plagued by the use of black money and muscle power.
Electric blues urges the youth of Bangladesh to force a change by choosing the right leaders in the coming election.
Shafiur posts some questions and answers on why the recent  pre-election violences in Dhaka are causing much chaos in Bangladesh.
* Politics: The Bangladeshi blogosphere erupted with reactions when journalist blogger Tasneem Khalil revealed that the Bangladesh government has spent a lot to 3 US PR lobbyists to improve its image and a recent report on Bangladesh in the TIME magazine was the fruit of that effort.
* Human rights: Mash criticizes the strategy of war against terror. Citing the recent police brutality on journalists during Australia-Bangladesh cricket match, he comments that as long as Governments in the third world continue to terrorize their citizens the environment that creates violence will not cease.
* Language: Adda posts an eye opener- ‘half of the world's 6000 languages are in danger of disappearing in just a few generations‘, while discussing on the Mother Language Day.
* Entertainment: Razib Rashedin reviews the movie ‘Khela Ghor (Dolls house)’ and rates it as one of the best Bangla movie he has seen in recent days.
* Life and Spirituality:  Whether the subject is mysticism, spirituality, meditation, yoga, sufism or prayer, Sadiq discusses all in his blog ‘Inspirations and Creative Thoughts’.

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: Plagiarism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Deshcalling on how plagiarism in Bangladesh seems to be prevalent – “When plagiarism becomes rife as it has in Bangladesh  educational institutions it devalues the degrees or diplomas awarded by those institutions and also undermines the intellectual potential of the country.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: We want biotech · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados is trying to attract biotech firms, but Barbados Free Press thinks they should find a more efficient way of spreading the word than through PR newswire services.


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Bloglogue: US Dollars & Democracy in Iran! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Bloglogue’s first issue was about Iran in Media and several bloggers & non bloggers from different countries took part in discussion.
Second issue is about a very hot issue: US 75 million dollars help to promote democracy in Iran.
Five bloggers including two Americans, one Finnish and two Iranians joined this discussion. We are delighted to have one of Shah’s Minister’s contributions, a leading intellectual and non blogger, from Belgium.
We can see people are really divided on this issue and have different approaches to US help to promote democracy. It is very interesting that most contributors have referred frequently to recent US interventions in Iraq, Eastern Europe to support their arguments about US budget to promote democracy in Iran.
1-Useless & Counter Productive: No to an Iranian Ahmad Chalabi!
Dr.Houshang Nahavandi, former Minister of the Shah, leading writer, prestigious French Academy’s prize winner believes that creating a few new radios labelled made in USA not only won’t weakened Islamic Republic but can straighten it. He says US has a lot of information but this information does not help to understand Iranian society. He adds US gets her information from Iranian who got educated in US and working in American governmental institutions. They say to Americans what they want to hear. He concludes Iran does not need Ahmad Chalabi to change! We can read in Persian his interview in Washington Prism.
2-Very Useful: Propaganda against Propaganda
The Spirit of Man a Canada based Iranian blogger considers this help vital to promote freedom & democracy in Iran. In his words:
“Iranian people are under constant media brainwashing of a religious regime which is trying to impose its own version of story on the people. Indeed, like I have always said, EDUCATION is one of the major factors to liberate Iran from the rule of tyranny and fortunately VOA TV & Radio Farda services provide this to the ordinary Iranians in a fair manner…. They seem to forget that it was the US support and pressure which helped Ukraine and Georgia to become democratic. And they should remember that no one can talk on behalf of the majority of Iranians. Most Iranians wish to see the clerical establishment to be gone completely and replace that with a democratic and freely elected type of government, be it the constitutional monarchy or a secular republic.”
Ahoo, a US based Iranian, is another blogger who has a positive approach to this project. She writes:
“A lot of people in Iran wrongly hold U.S responsible for the revolution. In general a lot of Iranians hold America responsible for what ever goes wrong in Iran! America should spend this money on propaganda. And it better be a strong propaganda. It takes a lot of work to neutralize what Tehran’s regime has done in the past 27 year.”
3- Maybe Positive Maybe Not: Planning Matters
Mary Jones, a US blogger based in Morocco and founder of Demologue, says:
“Although I do not believe that the $75 million requested by Secretary Rice to support Iranian dissidents will be effective in speeding the arrival of liberal democracy in Iran, I do agree with the principle behind the funding…..It is my opinion that this method of spreading democracy is ineffective. I cannot think of an instance where American support clearly led to the democratization of a country. In the cases of Russia (which is slipping back into authoritarianism) and Ukraine, American support was only effective because there was a strong native structure pushing for democracy. Thus, I support the idea of giving money directly to credible local activist groups, because I believe that local activists, rather than foreign NGO's, are the most effective force for democracy in any given country.”
Sampsa, a blogger from Finland, shares his opinion with us:
“In the past, US has had little success in propaganda war. People in Afghanistan and Iraq feel that their intelligence is being insulted with news they know is not correct.”
Christian Alexander an American blogger thinks: 1- contrary to Ahoo ( who shared her idea in second section) most Iranians are not anti American; 2- contrary to Spirit of Man he thinks history has shown disadvantages of this kind of help; 3-Positively he thinks that free media can be helpful. Blogger writes:
“I think that what is especially important in the case of Iran is the historical role the U.S. has played and how its interactions with the Iranian political system has been used by successive generations of policy makers. For the last several decades the common political war-cry has been one of staunch opposition to imperialism and foreign dominance. Increasingly, it seems that the Islamic regime use of this tactic as a justification for oppression has become worn out. However, misappropriated aid could re-legitimate this accusation and re-invigorate an anti-American form of nationalist sentiment in the population. On a positive note, I think that one can certainly look towards the increase in access to media sources as having a positive effect on the political situation in Iran. Scholars have already noted the liberalizing influence satellite television and Internet access has had, despite attempts by the government to ban or censor both. It seems that the development of media access therefore would be a good use of money.“
As we saw different contributors have different readings of history and events. Most consider money can be helpful to support democracy in Iran but according to previous experiences they are not optimistic the way that US government will handle that. Read More


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Bolivia: Bloggers Radio Show · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Blogs de Bolivia announces (ES) that blogger Sebastian (ES), his wife Anne (ES), and Sergio Mier have launched a weekly radio show on FM 92.3 Santa Cruz, which will cover happenings in the Bolivian blogosphere each Monday night from 8 to 9.

author: David Sasaki


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Brazil: Islam · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Comings Communiqué, a weblog by a Christian missionary, is dismayed by the rise of Islam in Brazil.