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Spain: Racism and Intolerance Advance Relentlessly · Global Voices
Ana Lucia Sa

The project of constructing a Western European identity without much space for immigrants brought a mix of laws, verbal affirmations of hate, and even blood-ridden attacks this summer of 2011.  In spring, restrictions were placed on inter-European border flexibility within the Schengen zone [es], including Denmark, and between France and Italy [es].  In July, Norway suffered a double attack from a mass murderer who strove for a renewed crusade and promulgated hatred towards Muslims and women.
This act motivated Abuy Nfubea, president of the Pan-African Federation of Black Communities in Spain, to establish a parallel between fearing the other, as much in Norway as in Spain, in an opinion piece [es] entitled “Is there really someone that is surprised by Norway's racist crimes?” [es]:
Insisto decir que nos extraña lo de Oslo es muy ofensivo, porque los que vamos en metro, nos paran para pedirnos papeles con perfilamiento racial o vivimos en Salt, Vic, Alcalá de Henares o Badalona….sabemos que no es extraño, que se veía venir y eso es lo peor DE ESTE CRIMEN ABOMINABLE.
In terms of opinions on the number of immigrants in Spain (according to official numbers amounting to 5,0526,256 in March 2011), NeoBandam recounts that [es]:
el 46 por ciento opina que es “excesivo”, el 33 por ciento, que es “elevado”, y el 17 por ciento que es “aceptable”.
In 2010 already, the Movement Against Intolerance [es], with headquarters in Madrid, warned against the links between the country's economic crisis and the increase in xenophobia.  As GuinGuinBali reports [es]:
Con la irrupción de la crisis económica es un hecho el aumento del prejuicio xenófobo y el hostigamiento a la inmigración. (…) Además, se añade la agitación y hostigamiento xenófobo que impulsan grupos organizados extremistas que alimentan la intolerancia hacia la inmigración con consignas populistas del tipo “los españoles primero” y la intolerancia religiosa en su doble vertiente de islamofobia y antisemitismo.
Racist and anti-Arabic poster found in Madrid.  Photo taken by Flickr user Daquella Manera.  Republished under the CC BY 2.0 license.
The PxC in Catalonia
We can consider the Catalonia Platform party (Plataforma Per Caralunya (PxC) [cat]), led by Josep Anglada, an example of a group that feeds this intolerance.  Recently, PxC organized a demonstration against immigration in Sant Adrià de Besòs, the urban area of Barcelona, where the city council has a state member.  The news in August regarding PxC had more than enough to report on, as their intent to protest benefits for immigrants, especially Muslims, in Catalonia.  A state member in Salt was dismissed due to her sentimental relationships with a citizen from Cameroon, and there was an inquiry of his legal status in the country.
Following the events in Norway and PxC's growing protagonism in Spain, the blog Unite Against Fascism and Racism (Unitat contra el feixisme i el racisme [cat]) exposes the ideological similarities between Norway's murderer Anders Behring Breivik and Josep Anglada, which is based on the belief that European principles are threatened by Muslims and the effects of immigration.
The conflation of immigration and Islam is evident, clearly, in point 5 of the PxC Programmatic Declaration [es].  According to this document, globalization is associated with “massive waves of illegal immigration,” which in turn, endanger the social well being and identity formation of the welcoming States.  Point 5.2 is key to understanding the message on the association of immigration with Islam [es]:
PxC no se opone a la inmigración, pero sí a la instalación de inmigrantes musulmanes en nuestro país, fenómeno que puede suponer a largo plazo una clara amenaza para nuestra cultura.
Josep Anglada's words on immigration in Spain are used as an example in blogs that criticize and denounce that the contributions of immigrants to the Spanish sociopolitical dimension have been obscured and invisibilized.  In the blog Noticias que Dejan Huella, the post “Immigration, the state of well being and xenophobia in Spain [es],” from August 10, 2011, recalls the contribution of immigration to the state of well being that Spain experienced before the current financial crisis, and criticizes the PxC's “complaints” [es]:
“Niños moros” que acaparan ayudas sanitarias y eligen colegio “mientras a nosotros nos asignan plazas lejos de casa”. “Medicamentos gratis” para inmigrantes. Comerciantes paquistaníes que “no pagan impuestos ni se les obliga a cumplir las normas”. Una nueva mezquita inexistente. Extranjeros contratados “antes que los autóctonos del pueblo”.
The recently legalized block to the passage of Romanian immigrants — that is, gypsies — sanctioned by the rest of the European Union members, brings up a question in online journal Latino Migrant: With one door closed to Romanian immigrants, will another door open for xenophobia? And PxC leader serves as an example once again [es]:
En otras ocasiones, Anglada ha pedido a las autoridades que vacunen a los rumanos gitanos para evitar la diseminación de enfermedades y ha calificado a los miembros de esta etnia como “delincuentes indeseables”.
The fight against the fear of Islamization in Spain is the motive behind the blog Eurabia.  Here, Josep Anglada's expressions are used once again to highlight and denounce the discourse on the alleged dangers that Muslim immigrants represent.  “If Muslims prefer to observe Ramadan and not work, they should leave because we do not want them here”: the title of one of the blog's posts on August 2, 2011.
In this context, it is interesting to consider what the blog Immigrants in Spain calls an “erasure operation” of  the “complaints and penalty processes of racist crimes in Spanish territory,” which is evident in the absence of public debates regarding the topic [es]:
La falta de notoriedad pública no es un mero descuido o una omisión inocente: es una forma de borrar una problemática de la agenda pública, esto es, un modo de minimizar estos problemas graves y recurrentes tanto en el contexto nacional como mundial.

author: Ana Lucia Sa


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Sudan: Sudan’s Desire to Join the East African Community a Headache · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Flight Africa notes that Khartoum’s application to join the East African Community is causing a diplomatic headache the member states: “No longer having any direct borders with any of the East African Community, the regime in Khartoum is thought to have placed their membership application to not only spite the new Republic of South Sudan but also to cause maximum diplomatic discomfort and division between the 5 present members.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Trinidad & Tobago: Eating for Independence  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“August 31st is Trinidad’s Independence Day”: TriniGourmet.com posts her menu for this year's celebrations, which she calls “a trifecta of the new, the old, and a new twist on an old favourite.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: The “Granny Quilla” Video  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Railing against the current state of emergency, a teen posts a video on YouTube; the government interprets it as racist and containing threats against the Prime Minister - Jumbie's Watch agrees, but B.C. Pires says: “The video is OBVISOULSY [sic] an attempt at comedy…doesn’t work very well…but that doesn’t mean it’s not MEANT to be funny. And we’re going to arrest this little girl. O Trinidad! Why do you make column-writing so easy on the mind and so hard on the soul?”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Thoughts on the SoE · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Outlish puts forward four reasons “why…the state of emergency should not be extended”, while KnowTnT.com sums up the first week of the SoE “from a few different angles.”


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Azerbaijan: Ramadan · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Aaron in Azerbaijan introduces its readers to Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting also known as Ramazan, and comments on a reflection on gender and faith during the period of observance of the by a local female blogger, Sensible and Sensitive, who visited a mosque for the first time in the oil-rich secular mainly Moslem republic.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangladesh: Coming Home For Eid · Global Voices
বিজয়

Eid is the biggest religious festival in the Muslim majority country Bangladesh, and a key part of the celebration is going home to celebrate with family in distant places.
During Eid, many inhabitants of the capital Dhaka go back to their hometown to spend the holidays with family. Nasirudding Hozza [bn] explains in a post titled “Coming Home For Eid”:
The majority of residents in Dhaka, who have come here for livelihood, have come from other districts. But they miss their home, where their roots are. Their home can be just in the outskirts of Dhaka or in a distant rural village. During Eid they have to get back their home near or far.
People gather at various train stations in Dhaka to leave the city to celebrate Eid with their friends and families. Image by Saad Shahriar, copyright Demotix (15/11/2010).
There are no statistics available on how many people return home during Eid. Nasiruddin Hozza mentions that the population of Dhaka is approximately 9.6 million at present. If 40% of them go home then the number can reach 3.5 million.
That means Dhaka would be half empty by then. Many people start their journey towards home long before the official Eid holidays. The citizens of Dhaka becomes happy, because the bustling megacity seems less crowded.
Facebook user Amanullah bin Mahmud's home town is Sirajganj, far away from Dhaka. He will travel by rented car the day before Eid. But for those who avail public transport, this journey can be a unhappy affair; it's virtually impossible to get tickets, and they have to pay much more.
Uzzal [bn] says in a post titled “My dreams will travel home: on broken roads”:
Queue for advance tickets at Kamalapur railway station. Image by Safin Ahmed, copyright Demotix (12/08/2011).
No tickets are available for bus train or domestic airlines. Those who with high hope queue for the whole night at the ticket counters are not sure whether they will have the last laugh. After a sleepless night enduring countless mosquito bites, if they really get a ticket, imagine how happy they could be. Only those who have gone through this ordeal will understand. But not everyone is lucky. Tickets are quickly sold out once the counters are open. Many dreamers are left stranded empty handed.
He also shared his own experience:
I had to struggle too. But the fight this year was the hardest in my life. I used to avoid the ticket counters of public transport in the recent years. I would travel by a domestic airlines to Jessore, then reach Khulna by airlines bus. Dhaka-Jessore in 35 minutes and to Khulna in 50 minutes more, that's it. This time I was in trouble. The local airlines were booked. I could not manage a ticket, but I have to get home.
Uzzal had to pay a lot extra for his ticket home. Many resorted to Facebook to help others who could not manage a ticket. For example, renowned writer Anisul Haque informed in a Facebook status [bn] that he had extra tickets for five air conditioned seats on the Dhaka- Rangpur express train.
And getting a ticket does not confirm that you can reach home. Blogger Mamu [bn] says in a post titled: “In spite of all have to get home”:
The only ship for Sadarghat-Swandeep route is out of order. There is scarcity of ships in river transport. The roads across Bangladesh are shabby (Editors note: because of heavy rains this monsoon). The traffic jams will add to the misery. The train service do not have enough engines to run extra compartments. The people will face trouble to reach home. Those who start the journey just before the Eid day, God knows whether they will be able to reach home on Eid day.
People risk over crowded passenger ships to reach home during Eid. Image by Maji, copyright Demotix (26/11/2009).
Each year there are accidents in roads and rivers and many die as a consequence. In 2009 hundreds of people died as a passenger ship was drowned in the ricer. D. M. Habib [bn] opines that the government is not doing enough:
A passenger ship with people bound for home during Eid was submerged (in 2009) due to extra load. Hundreds of people died. Each year during the time of Eid, Buses, trains and ships carry extra passengers. The government do not take any step to prevent these. The general public do not follow pre-cautions which lead to deaths. But the government cannot avoid its responsibilities. Proper investigation should be carried out to find out the people responsible for the negligence.
But every year the situation remains the same. As the travelers are greater in numbers comparing to the transports available, people have no choice to take risks to go home during Eid.
Nasirudding Hozza [bn] concludes:
Eid celebrated with family is filled with a lot of happiness because of the struggle to reach home.

author: বিজয়


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Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizen Media on the Scene · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
In this second entry of the summary of the Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizenry, Violence and Blogs, we present the posts that discussed the use of the internet in this violent context. Bloggers spoke a lot about the role of the internet in today's society, and issues heavily argued upon like the existence of citizen media. Will citizen media replace traditional reporting? Does it transcend or impact the reality of society? These questions led bloggers to consider the internet as a fundamental right and a reason to strengthen and introduce ways of guaranteeing freedom of expression.
Bloggers considered the relationship between violence, citizenry and blogs not only from the perspective of the internet, but also from the media as a whole. Today information isn't a right to merely consume information, but rather citizens feel there is a need to be able to produce and share content. We could affirm that a certain tension is still lurking between ‘official’ and ‘citizen’ reporting.
Stop the bloodshed. From Flickr user otromundoesposible_com (CC BY 2.0).
Citizen reporters on the scene
A good example of the aforementioned tension is Miguel Ángel Guevara's reflection on the media coverage of violence in his post “La eterna primavera” [es] (The eternal spring) from his blog mit liv:
No comparto la idea de censurar la información, pero si creo que los  medios de comunicación deben de ejercer su labor de una forma más  responsable. ¿Cuáles son los efectos a largo plazo en un niño que sólo  escucha noticias violentas? ¿Estamos creando seres humanos violentos  desde el inicio de sus vidas? La cobertura mediática va más allá de las  líneas tradicionales de libertad de expresión, trascienden hasta la  naturaleza humana e irrumpen el tejido social. Los ciudadanos debemos de exigir una cobertura más sana, íntegra y  objetiva. Podemos hacerlo compartiendo experiencias, informando,  organizándonos para exigir a las autoridades.
Jorge Escudero Villa in his blog Óbice writes [es] about the search for truth and its importance in citizen media:
Para llegar a descubrir la verdad, en la medida en que esto sea  humanamente posible, es necesario poder discutir todos los elementos  relevantes, y hasta los irrelevantes, dejando que cualquier persona se  exprese sobre cierto tema y confrontar opiniones, es por ello que el  Blog se convierte en un instrumento valiosísimo. Es  en el contexto, narrado en supra líneas, donde se esconden historias  que no se muestran en medios de comunicación “tradicionales”, además, ni  son políticamente correctos; son en todo caso, el reflejo de una  sociedad, que pretende, con letras a veces escritas con sangre, sanar  del dolor inmenso y contínuo que sufre y que de ninguna manera debe  volverse cotidiano,
Enrique Figueroa Anaya of Asfalto Tecnicolor asks “What kind of country are we creating for the future Mexicans who will live in it?” and discusses [es] the use of blogs:
No  pretendo cambiar al mundo, ni tampoco pretendo ser un revolucionario de  sofá que por twitter y blog “alza la voz” para después regresar a la  televisión y perderse en la liga de fútbol de mi país (sí veo el fútbol  eh, tengo derecho a escaparme por un ratito del día a día). Soy sólo un ciudadano sencillo que con el día a día de sus acciones busca lograr un cambio,  un mejor sitio para los que están en mi entorno, e inclusive un momento  de reflexión que nos lleve a dar ese pequeño extra que en general  podría levantar a nuestro país. Porque si bien los grandes  revolucionarios serán siempre admirados por sus agallas y liderazgo, al  final como la historia misma, los cambios los escribimos los anónimos con nuestras pequeñas acciones.
But when we talk about citizen media we are not just talking about blogs. Ernesto Priego reminds us of this in the post  “On Hero Reports and Civic Media” [es], published in #SinLugar:
la instancia más exitosa de este proyecto ha sido precisamente el  implementado en Ciudad Juárez, y que se conoce en español como Crónicas de héroes. Mediante una campaña de difusión y de integración-compromiso público, el equipo dirigido por Yesica Guerra,  trabajando con Tec Milenio, Tec. de Monterrey campus Juárez, IADA,  Preparatoria Allende, Uniendo Esfuerzos por Juárez, ha animado a  ciudadanos a reportar casos de “heroísmo” cívico, geolocalizándolos y  visualizándolos en un mapa interactivo.
And it is precisely Yesica Guerra who from her blog at the Center for Civic Media tells us that Crónicas de héroes [es] will soon reach a new stage:
Currently, CRÓNICAS DE HÉROES is exploring new terrain, planning on  launching bi-national implementations along the U.S-Mexican border,  striving to unite sister pair cities in these regions. […] The present conflict in Mexican cities and the disparities between pair  cities along the border is a subject that cannot be ignored. However, by  only focusing and reporting on the negative happenings in those  regions, the everyday perspective of citizens is dragged down and  possible positive outcomes obstructed.
In the popular blog Vivir México, Ismael Flores informs [es] of other citizen media initiatives related to journalism and migrants:
En La Plaza —blog albergado dentro del sitio web del periódico Los Angeles Times—,  varios periodistas contribuyen con artículos de análisis y opinión […] Este es el caso de Daniel Hernández, quien en su artículo Internal migration flows below the radar in Mexico […] explora la migración interna en nuestro país a partir de una visita que realiza a la ciudad de Querétaro. […] Mexodus,   (es) un proyecto de colaboración periodística realizado entre  universidades  norteamericanas y mexicanas. En él, estudiantes de  periodismo de ambos  lados de la frontera se entregan a la labor de  documentar la migración de familias enteras desde Ciudad Juárez hacia los Estados Unidos u otros estados más seguros de México —como Querétaro.
Mariel García Montes from the blog Thought Experiment #45,730,944 reminds us of another way the public uses citizen media in the post Los “tweets” que arruinaron la fiesta [es] (The “tweets” that ruined the party):
El 15 y el 16 de septiembre de 2010, México celebró el aniversario número 200 del inicio de su guerra de independencia. […] En la primaria, cuando eres un niño mexicano, aprendes que puedes estar  orgulloso de México porque logró organizarse y luchar por la  independencia de España. Es independiente. Tú eres independiente. ¡Come!¡Celebra! […] Mientras lees esto, […] Hay un pueblo en el que la gente revisa las redes  sociales en línea para ver información sobre balaceras antes de salir  al trabajo para saber qué caminos deben ser evitados. Para estas  personas, 200 años no importan “sólo porque sí”. […] Si miras de cerca las publicaciones en línea sobre esta celebración,  puedes oír mil reflexiones que sucedían en cada minuto de la fiesta.  ¿Deberíamos estar celebrando en un año en el que la guerra contra el  narcotráfico ha alcanzado su punto más sangriento? ¿Es seguro celebrar,  ahora que sabemos que el narco está dispuesto a atacar a los civiles como una respuesta dirigida al gobierno? […] “No hay nada que celebrar”
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

author: Juan Arellano


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Brazil: Bank Account of Google Blocked Due to “Offensive” Blogs · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

The courts in the Brazilian state of Ceará blocked access to $140,000 in  the accounts of Google Brasil after the company refused to take  down a series of blogs deemed offensive toward the mayor of Várzea  Alegre, José Máximo de Carvalho, reports the blog Journalism in the Americas .

author: Sara Moreira


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Brazil: Blogging on Poetry · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

The Brazilian professor Nelson Souzza, on his blog Literatura & Linguagens (Literature and Languages) [pt], writes literary and historic analyses of lusophone poetry, with a focus on famous Portuguese and Brazilian writers and musicians.


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Brazil: Mozambique Cedes Land to Brazilian Agribusiness · Global Voices
Adriano Rangel

The government of Mozambique is ceding 6 million hectares [pt] of land to Brazilian farmers (this corresponds to two-thirds of the landmass of Portugal) to grow soy, cotton and corn in the northern provinces Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambézia. The idea is to draw on the Brazilian experience in the  Cerrado (Brazil's savanna), where since the 1960s the agricultural frontier has advanced into the interior with industrial livestock and soy plantations.
The cultivation of soy has already taken over 80% of the Brazilian cerrado. Image: Leonardo Freitas via openDemocracy on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
In Brazil, this inward push of agriculture and meat production has led to the devastation of 80% of the Cerrado, which is recognized as one the richest grasslands in the world in terms of biodiversity. The degradation of this habitat, which occupies a quarter of Brazilian land, has drained and polluted the hydrological basins of the region, considered the principal water sources of the country.
With the deal from the Mozambican government, the Brazilian agricultural frontier is now set to cross the Atlantic Ocean towards the African Savanna. For geographer Eli Alvez Penha, author of the book, “Relações Brasil-África e Geopolítica do Atlântico” (“Brazil-Africa Relations and the Geopolitics of the Atlantic”), the “ecological and cultural similarities” means there is a “good ecological match” between Brazil and the African continent.
In an interview [pt] on the website of the Federal University of Bahia Press, Penha discusses, among other things, a comment by Kenyan agricultural specialist Calistous Juma that “for each African problem, there exists a Brazilian solution.” Penha adds, “I would say, that the reverse is also true.”
Brazilian agribusiness, based on the depletion of natural resources, now hopes to export its unsustainable model of GMO seeds, soil management that leads to degradation, and land exploitation based on a failed model of agrarian reform. As early as 2006, the website Repórter Brasil [pt] pointed out the new direction for the Brazilian agricultural frontier:
A rápida degradação do solo é um exemplo [de perdas irreversíveis à região]. De acordo relatório da Conservação Internacional, o plantio tradicional da soja, como é feito no Cerrado, causa a perda de cerca de 25 toneladas de solo por hectare ao ano. Caso fossem aplicadas técnicas de conservação, como a aragem mínima, o número poderia ser reduzido a 3 toneladas por ano.
Para Rosane Bastos [bióloga integrante da Rede Cerrado], a improdutividade pode impulsionar a destruição de outros ecossistemas: “se os grandes produtores ficarem sem solo, vão subir para a Amazônia”, prevê.
The rapid degradation of soil is an example [of irreversible loss to the region]. In keeping with the report of Conservation International, the traditional planting of soy, as it is done in the Cerrado, causes the loss of nearly 25 tons of topsoil per hectare per year. If conservation agriculture techniques were employed, such as no-till farming, the number could be reduced to 3 tons per year.
According to Rosane Bastos [biologist with the Cerrado Network], depletion could cause the destruction of other ecosystems: “if the large scale producers end up without topsoil, they will head up to the Amazon,” she predicts.
The majority of the Mozambican population lives in the countryside. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 70% of inhabitants living under the poverty line. Image: The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
It is not only today that Mozambique has begun to look to agreements like these to increase agricultural productivity, as Global Voices reported in the months of January and July 2010. Already in 2009, Repórter Brasil [pt] pronounced its fears for traditional Mozambican communities:
A Constituição de Moçambique decreta que todas as terras do país são propriedade do Estado, que pode conceder autorização de uso a empresas por períodos de 50 anos. Essa concessão, no entanto, está condicionada à ausência de comunidades tradicionais no território. Pelo jeito, lá, como no Brasil, boas leis não são garantia de boas práticas.
One of the requirements of the Mozambican government to concession of land use rights is that 90% of the labor employed be Mozambican. There are small scale farmers living in at least half of the land offered by the government to Brazilians. Mozambique is one of the 49 most impoverished countries in the world, where 70% of the population lives under the poverty line, and where farmers have huge difficulties getting loans [pt] for food production.
The structure of land ownership and the acquisition of land by foreign companies in African countries was the subject of a study by the United Nations, according to a text by Fundação Verde (The Green Foundation):
O documento pontualiza que as aquisições  (de modo geral feitas na África mediante contratos de aluguel de meio século ou um século inteiro pelo que nada se paga) podem constituir um benefício ao supor investimentos estrangeiros. Também pode acarrear atração tecnológica, incremento da produtividade agrária e criação de emprego e de infra-estrutura. Mas, assim como estão sendo levados a cabo, com precárias consultas à população local, falta de transparência e sem garantir nos contratos os compromissos de investimento, emprego ou  desenvolvimento de infra-estruturas, supõe colocar em risco o modo de  vida de milhares de pequenos agricultores ou pastores, cuja existência depende da terra.
Can what some consider to be Brazilian “neocolonialism”  [pt] in Mozambique contribute to the socially just  development of this country? If, on one hand, Brazil can offer technical know-how [pt] for the cultivation of seeds on the African savana, on the other  hand the country has an unsustainable model of agribusiness to offer,  based on monoculture, environmental degradation and the concentration of  land in the hands of the few.

author: Adriano Rangel


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Chile: Mapuche Youth Takeover Municipal Building · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Katie Manning from Mi Voz reports that forty Mapuche teenagers have staged a takeover –toma in Spanish– in Ercilla: “Since August 19, the 11-to-17-year-olds occupied the town’s government center. They’re not giving it back, they said, until Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter hears out their grievances over the “constant police presence” and a lack of intercultural education.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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China and USA: Joe Biden’s Noodle Meal · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The United States (U.S.) Vice President Joe Biden ended his six-day official visit to China on 22 August,  2011. Most Chinese people do not know whether or not there there has been any diplomatic achievement during this trip, their attention is instead focused on the bowl of noodles Biden had in Beijing.
During Biden's visit to Beijing, the U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Locke brought him to a small noodle restaurant, and spent RMB 79 (approximately USD 12) for a 5-person meal. In addition, Biden paid the bill without asking for a receipt.
Here is a photo produced by Mingpao Daily (via Sina news) [zh] showing what he ordered:
In a country where government officials’ transportation, overseas travel and banquet expenses account for 60% of all administrative expenses, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that such  expenses are national secrets, Biden's casual meal has won ordinary Chinese people's hearts. To the extent that the Chinese propaganda department finds the news embarrassing for the Chinese authorities and is banning media outlets [zh] from discussing the noodle incident.
Let's take a look at how netizens discuss Biden's noodle meal at Sina Weibo. @artjiejie talks about the incident in a sarcastic tone:
阿特姐姐 [zh]：近来，美国人越来越猖狂地羞辱中国官员; 先是骆家辉自己背着行李带着家眷跑到中国当大使，已使那些惯于别人为其撑伞的老爷们面红耳赤了后又来了副总统拜登，跑到北京小饭馆吃炸酱面，五个人才消费79元！这不明摆着和那些非茅台不饮非鱼翅不食的中国官员作对吗？可见，中美关系紧张，责任全在美方。
Below is a selection of comments under @artjiejie's thread:
勾恩 美帝国主义亡我之心不死，公然在中国搞和平演变，输出美国的廉洁、勤政、平等、自由、亲民的价值观。必须警惕！！！！切记！(8月25日 08:52)
千里马常有 转发此微博:可见m国是在打心理战啊！看看一个个国家的命运，我们不得不思考！腐败是最大的犯罪，这是毛主席说的！犯罪多了，警察国家来了！(8月24日 19:53)
labrador李玉杰 该死的美国人，真他妈侮辱人！不腐败炫富包二奶贪污受贿欺男霸女玩多P戴劳力士抽天价烟打爹骂娘干干女儿大吃大喝嫖妓赌博移民买大房子开大奔法拉利，你个傻逼你当官干什么？(8月24日 14:37)
Another Weibo user @dghfdy reposts an imaginary caption story for the Biden's photo:
东莞会飞的鱼 [zh]：美国副总统拜登吃完炸酱面后，站起来，用两个大拇指比划着问周围的顾客：“你们中国是否可以存在两党制？” 旁边的老大爷喝了一口啤酒，沉着应答：“不可能，绝对不可能，因为我们养不起！！” （转）
Television host Wang Kang (@wgjgs) on the other hand criticizes the political show by pointing out that the whole trip is very expensive:
辽视王刚讲故事 [zh]：【拜登吃炸酱面花多钱】据透露，拜登在成都吃的炸酱面虽然十几美元，但是美国方面为他此次访华，派出了满载人员、物资、装备的两架飞机，空运来4辆专用汽车，有150多名安保人员随行。美国政客可能不会料到政治秀在中国会博得这么多的“感动”。百姓很善良，有时媒体也不免跟着天真。
However, many Weibo users do not agree with Wang. Below is a selection of comments from the discussion thread:
在地球的另一端 关键是人家还晓得作秀，我们的大佬们连作秀都懒得作。(8月29日 17:42)
Jalive忑 问题国内的官员连这么让人民天真下都做不到~而且你什么时候知道老胡的出行费用和物资了？我们情愿为一碗炸酱面而天真~也不愿天天被高物价，高房价，高医疗费用，高学费，高饮食风险等等而精明~(8月29日 17:24)
美牙_ 转发此微博:我觉得这话不客观。毕竟副总统，安保方面花钱是应该的。跟他吃多少钱的面没关系。难道他吃了79的面，就也应该坐普通飞机的经济舱来中国访问吗？我觉得民众之所以对79块钱的炸酱面那么在意，那么赞扬，是因为天朝的官员连装一下都不愿意。官员的腐败是大家有目共睹的。与其说大家为79的面感(8月29日 16:54)

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Who Could Have Known The Libyans Hate Gaddafi? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.
Zhang Zhaozhong is like a Chinese Thomas Friedman: he's a celebrity professor with the PLA National Defense University, rear admiral in the PLA navy and a frequent commentator on military affairs for CCTV and other media, with many admiring fans and a reputation for adjusting his military conflict outcome predictions after the opposite turns out to be the case.
Zhang Zhaozhong
When the United States invaded Iraq in early 2003, Zhang took to the media circuit with the confident assertion that the invading forces would remain locked in a battle of attrition for years. In one interview with CCTV, Zhang said that the people of Iraq had the Hussein family's back, and the country's army was well-equipped to fend off the four countries which took part in the initial invasion phase; Baghdad fell the following day and pictures of Saddam Hussein were burnt in the streets.
With the uprising in Libya, a certified “old friend of the Chinese people”, still a major focus in Chinese news (one BBS thread tracking the situation in the country has gathered well over 5,000 pages of comments since it was set up in late May) Zhang, too, was back in the spotlight this month after an interview in early August, again with CCTV. This time, netizens are  wondering how someone so high-ranking could be so wrong. The answer: he's just doing his job.
卡扎菲已经坚持了5个月，我认为再坚持到明年这时候也不成问题。
Or as Xin Haiguang, a columnist for different media, put it on Weibo [zh]:
著名军事理论家张召忠少将在电视上话音未落，卡扎菲就垮了台，当年伊战时也是如此…一般人弄个预言错误也没啥，但老张身份不同，他这种级别的国家军事智囊估计中国没多少，老这种水平，一旦影响高层决策，国家损失不是一点半点啊。
Zhang Zhaozhong
Reader comments:
千山万岳 他得存在就是为了迷惑对手，看来他的工作很成功(8月25日 15:22)
徐启胜 哈哈，我记得03年的时候，他说美军攻陷巴格达也没事。 伊拉克军民会坚持巷战，坚持很久。谁知道，第二天政府垮台，老百姓强政府财产。这哥们的话，听听而已，不知道他是真不懂还是和谐发言。(8月25日 15:23)
郑老师说 幕僚是不允许上电视的。。。(8月25日 15:25)
Hugo羽軍 你听到的，和他给决策层分析的，根本不是一回事(8月25日 15:55)
韩砫1 他就是个军队王勇平，其实他不傻，而是为了生活装傻。(8月25日 19:44)
老湿和尚6世 好吧,张将军已经在电视上活跃好多年了,谁能预测一下,他还能再活跃几年? (8月25日 20:06)
春霁秋髓 我认为张将军再活跃到明年这个时候不是问题(8月25日 20:20)
- He only exists to confuse the enemy, and apparently he's quite successful at it.
- Hah, I remember in 2003 when he said it wasn't a problem that the Americans had captured Baghdad, that the Iraqi soldiers would be able to persist in street warfare for quite some time. Who knew that the government would collapse the following day and that the people would make off with all that government property. You can listen to what this guy has to say, but I can't tell if he just doesn't get it or if he's toeing the harmonious line.
- Party policy advisors aren't allowed to go on TV…
- What you hear and the analysis he gives to policymakers, aren't the same thing.
- He's like the military version of Wang Yongping: he's not stupid, he just acts stupid for a living.
- Okay, so the old admiral has been appearing on TV for years now, anyone want to guess how much longer he'll be able to hold on?
- I don't think it'll be a problem for rear admiral Zhang to stay through to this time next year.
Zhang Zhaozhong
利反对派斋月结束前攻入首都可能性较低，说不定卡扎菲的寿命比萨科齐和奥巴马还长
CCTV later called Zhang back to get his response to the widespread criticism of his misdiagnosis of the situation in Libya, to which in part he said:
我感触最深的，导致我预测不准的关键是：我被利比亚人民欺骗了．现在来看，我是被利比亚人民打败了——利比亚人民简直都是表演艺术家，明明在心里头对卡扎菲恨得要死，却非要在镜头前面表现出对卡扎菲的坚决拥护，这个表演水平太高了，这个对我是个教训。
Zhang has not found a receptive audience on Weibo [zh], where comments are nearly unanimous in mocking him:
韩都衣舍_Andrew秦 独裁者是不的人心的，表演无处不在 (8月26日 21:57)
科学自由剑 他如果去朝鲜，也会被朝鲜人民欺骗吗？我在一个视频中看到，朝鲜人民谈到伟大的金将军的时候，那真是感激感动的流泪啊。(8月26日 22:00)
哈皮小木头 不知道中国人民演技如何？(8月26日 22:06)
熊信之 建议授予张召忠同志人民艺术家称号！(8月26日 22:08)
卢山同学 哈哈，想不想看看中国人民的表演？(8月26日 22:11)
i南昌 您才是奥斯卡影帝！~(8月26日 22:12)
刘步尘 要说利比亚人民会表演，也不只在你一个人跟前表演，我们也看到了。为什么大家都能看得清楚，唯独将军看不清楚，就因为这身将军服吗？(8月26日 22:19)
- Dictators don't win the hearts and minds of people, all there is is just acting.
- If he were to go to North Korea, would he be fooled by the North Korean people, too? I once saw a video online of North Korean people talking about the Great General Kim, and they were truly moved to tears!
- Well now I just wonder how well the Chinese people are at acting.
- I recommend that comrade Zhang Zhaozhong be awarded the title of Actor of the People!
- Hah, does he want to see how well the Chinese people can act?
- Give this guy an Oscar!
- Regarding the acting ability of the Libyan people, they don't just perform when they're in front of you. We see it too. Why is it that what everyone can see so clearly is only difficult to grasp for generals in the military? Just because they're wearing a uniform?
杨吉平8829 张将军也有阴沟里翻船的时候！不过张将军可能也有苦衷，毕竟他代表的是中国官方或者是军方的态度，不可能自己在媒体上乱讲，对吧？(8月26日 22:23)
79元外交稳赚不赔 这就是中国目前所谓专家的现状，从来没有一句真话，连我们上中学的侄女都知道卡扎菲独裁腐败肯定这次会完事，这个专家白吃。
喂嘿  影射我兲朝?(8月27日 18:59)
观澜听雨声 西方国家民众的感受难道都是错的？不要把思维定位在与西方的对立上。独裁者是罪有应得，如果我们对独裁者抱有同情心，其实就是对被压迫的人民的伤害。被骗之说只是对其漠视人民脱责。(8月27日 19:41)
漫步自游 哪个独裁专制的国家人民不是这样，他们不是表演，他们是在求生存！斯大林是这样、毛文革是这样、金在肏是这样、萨达姆是这样、胡……(8月27日 19:54)
- Army generals sometimes fall flat on their faces, too! Although, Rear Admiral Zhang might not want to talk about his failures, because he does after represent the official stance of Chinese officials and the military. There's no way they'd let him go say whatever he likes on TV, is there?
- Such is the state of China's so-called experts nowadays, not a word of truth comes out of their mouths. Even our kids in high school now know that the corrupt dictator Gaddafi is done in for. This expert is an idiot.
- Maybe he was actually alluding to China?
- Are we supposed to believe that the people in Western countries are totally mistaken about the situation? It's time to stop thinking about things from the view opposite whatever it is people in the West think. Dictators deserve what they get. Any sympathy we show a dictator is just harm done on the people being oppressed. As for saying that he was lied to, that's just him trying to avoid taking responsibility for all the people laughing at him now.
- This is just how people are under any dictator. They're not acting, they're just trying to survive! It was like that under Stalin and under Mao during the Cultural Revolution. It's like that in fucking North Korea, just as it was under Saddam, even now under Hu…….
一宁爸爸 其实中国人民表演水平更高(8月27日 20:09)
原来8921 判断的依据就是人民的表现吗？(8月27日 20:38)
勤奋的屋檐伟岸 中国也有十多亿人在等着机会表演呢(8月27日 21:13)
清欢的围脖儿 他辞职不？(8月27日 23:11)
一粒米的距离 希望他对中国的未来预测准一些。。。(8月28日 08:26)
- Actually, the Chinese people are far better actors than the Libyans.
- He wouldn't happen to be basing his judgments on the way we act, would he?
- Come on, China has over a billion people of its own just waiting for a chance to start acting.
- Has he resigned yet?
Amid all the discussion now underway online of the plight of China's dear old friend Gaddafi and the country's future relationship with Libya, a lot has focused on the fact that opposition leaders in Libya were quite vocal this past week in saying that nations which recognize – yet in China's case, oppose – their authority will be rewarded with contracts for oil production and other projects involved in rebuilding the country, even singling China out. China may have been a big winner in post-Saddam Iraq, but so far all it seems to have done is send one humanitarian aid package to countries now taking in Libyan refugees.
At the Phoenix News blog portal, international relations and legal scholar and college instructor Kai Shengli wrote last week [zh] that China now finds itself stuck between a rock and its support for the losing side:
最后一个教训是关于中国的。如果从大国博弈的角度来看，中国是几个大国当中唯一的输家。法美英主导的北约一直在对卡扎菲政权发动空中打击，而俄国也早已转变态度，要求卡扎菲下台并对其进行制裁，中国是唯一一个没有明确站在胜利者一方的大国。对于其中的原因，可能既有战略判断上的失误，也有对于支持民主进程所可能引发国内不良后果的担心。不论哪种原因，对于成为胜利者的反对派来说，它心中是有一本帐的。新利比亚政权固然不会有过于突出的疏远中国的举动，特别是经济重建方面可能还有需要依赖于中国的地方。但在政治方面，新政权肯定会对诸大国区别对待，中国将为自己的战略判断与选择失误吞下苦果。这是中国外交应该吸取的深刻教训。利比亚不是一个孤例，此前有苏丹，此后可能还有其他的国家。如何摆脱国内意识形态因素的束缚，体现出更大的战略前瞻性与提前布局的能力，是对未来中国外交的一大考验。
The final lesson [from the war in Libya] relates to China. Looking this from the perspective of competition between the major powers, China is the only loser among them. NATO, led by France, the United States and Britain, has been carrying out attacks on Gaddafi's regime all throughout this, and Russia changed its stance quite early on, calling for Gaddafi to step down and for sanctions against the country. China is the only major power which hasn't yet said definitively that it stands on the side of the winners in Libya. As for why that is, one possible explanation is a lapse in strategic judgment.
Another is that it worries what the domestic consequences might be if it were seen to be in support of a democratic process. Regardless of the reason, however, now that the opposition in Libya are winning the fight, they see that a there's a price that needs to be paid. The new regime in Libya won't take any direct action against far-off China as a result, particularly when it considers that it might still need China's help in economic rebuilding of the country. Politically, however, the new regime will unquestionably treat each major power differently, and China will have to suffer as a result of its strategic moves and erroneous decisions.
This is the key lesson which Chinese diplomats ought to learn from this. Libya also is not an isolated example; there was Sudan before this and there could well be other countries in the future. How it can free itself from the bindings of domestic political ideology and demonstrate a broader and more forward-looking strategy as well as preemptive capability is the major challenge for the future of Chinese diplomacy.
This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

author: John Kennedy


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Cuba: Las Damas & the Archbishop  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense says that the fact that the leader of The Ladies in White has had to approach Havana's cardinal “to intercede…to halt the summerlong repression of the Damas and their allies…reveals everything there is wrong with the prelate.”


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Cuba: Sixth Sunday vs. Women  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“This Sunday August 28th was the 6th consecutive Sunday in which dozens of dissidents -mainly women- have been violently attacked by the regime’s forces.  And, each passing day,  the methods of repression are more ‘sophisticated’”: Pedazos de La Isla explains.


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India: Acid Survivor Denied Access To Mumbai College · Global Voices
Rezwan

Shirin Juwaley, an acid attack survivor, writes in her blog that she was recently denied entry to a Mumbai college.  Dheera Sujan writes an open letter to the principal who didn’t want her students to see Shirin's face and get scared of marriages.

author: Rezwan


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India: Reaction To The Kashmir Mass Graves · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dilip D'Souza at Death Ends Fun reacts to the news that more than 2,000 bullet-riddled bodies were found in mass graves in Kashmir.


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Iran: Rogue SSL certificate and Iranian dissidents · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Internet users and dissidents in Iran are believed to be at particular risk from the rogue SSL certificate, which is used to digitally “sign” HTTPS connections to any google.com site and was issued by a Dutch company called DigiNotar on 10 July. Read more here.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Collaborative Documentary for Independence  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Next year both Jamaica and I turn 50″: Labrish blogs about “a fabulous idea to celebrate Jamaica's independence.”


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Japan: A Revealing Blog by a Fukushima Robot Operator · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Blogger Erico Guizzo at IEEE Spectrum's robotics blog  reported that “an anonymous worker at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has written dozens of blog posts describing the ups and downs of his experience as one of the lead robot operators at the crippled facility.” The blog was called “Say Whatever I Want, Do Whatever I Want” (Iitai Hohdai, Yaritai Hohdai 言いたい放題、やりたい放題) and after it became popular among the netizens it was eventually deleted.
Guizzo managed to make a copy of it and translated some of the posts.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Latin America: Remembering the Missing on the International Day of the Disappeared · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

August 30 is the International Day of the Disappeared; The Latin Americanist blogs about current cases of disappearances in Mexico and Argentina.


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Malaysia: Emergency App Alerts Police · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The State of Selangor in Malaysia has launched an emergency app called ‘MyDistress’ which alerts police with a push of a button on mobile phones

author: Mong Palatino


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Malaysia: Generation 709 Calls for Political Reforms · Global Voices
Jerrenn Lam

Following the Bersih rally on the 9 July, 2011, a group of young Malaysians have now come forward to continue calling for free and fair elections, calling themselves ‘Generation 709’.
The Convener of Generation 709, Lee Khai Loon, wrote in Malaysia Today that:
709 is the collective memory of people of all races united in making history in Malaysia. Generation 709 is a platform of youth concerned with politics, civil rights and good governance. We have converged after the historic walk of Jul 9, for a common goal: building our democracy.
We are an independent, principled, critical platform. We do not belong to any political organisation, do not have any financial resources, but have only a heart for the idealism. We believe that democracy does not fall from the sky, that it takes a journey of many steps to materialise. As the generation of social change, we have the responsibility and duty to be at the forefront.
We believe in the power from the united youth of all races, which will empower even more youth to participate in social works and defend their rights. It will bring a new perspective to the rakyat, to struggle together for a democratic Malaysia.
He also wrote that they have three objectives:
(1) Solidarity and support for all political detainees from Bersih 2.0 Rally and victims of police brutality, including calling for immediate release of six social leaders detained under Emergency Ordinance;
(2) Encourage more young people to join the democratic reform, civil liberties and good governance through holding peaceful assembly, press conference, forum and innovative activities;
(3) Reach out to more young people with information through active use of social media.
Geronimo, writing from America, feels the change that is happening:
This generation has never seen unity until 709. In the years to come, this generation will look back and tell its children that this is how it went down. This is what gave us hope, determination and strength.
Never in our lives have we ever seen a Malaysia like this before. What does it take to finally put the ghost of May 13 (1969) to rest forever? The answer lies in the events of the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally. This generation is not afraid anymore. This generation looks forward to a future of unity and strength.
Bryan Khoo, who participated in the rally, feels the same way:
I never regret for joining this rally as I am convinced that Malaysia is still a very good place for me and my future generation. I strongly believe Malaysia is still a lovely country and hope that more friends can stand up together to create a better future for our next generation.
The group has been very active on social media, with their latest effort being ‘Kempen Balik Bersih Kampung’ (Back to Hometown Cleaning Up Campaign), an outreach program to rural areas urging Malaysians to go back to their hometowns to spread the word of the call to have more democracy and justice in the country. Among their claims are that Malaysia needs a two-party system, the judiciary needs to be reformed and that young Malaysians who are eligible to vote should register themselves quickly in order to have a say in politics.
On Facebook, they have already garnered more than 3000 Likes, although on Twitter that number is only almost 300.
Following that, a group of Malaysians living in America have also created a Generation 709 there, calling themselves ‘Generation 709 in the United States’.
Xandeloras also posted photos and videos of the Bersih rally.

author: Jerrenn Lam


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Nepal: Live Tweeting Miss Nepal Contest · Global Voices
Rezwan

As the 17th edition of of Miss Nepal 2011 beauty pageant took place in Kathmandu this afternoon, many Nepali Tweeps resorted to the hashtag #MissNepal2011  to live tweet the event, informs Aakar Post.


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North Korea Plans to Buy Military Jets from Russia? · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

GI Korea from ROK Drop blog commented on latest allegations that North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il's recent visit to Russia was to buy new fighter jets.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Philippines: Family of Slain Journalist Launches Signature Campaign  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The family of slain journalist and environmentalist Dr. Gerry Ortega has launched a one million signature campaign in the internet to protest the recommendation of the government panel to exonerate the main suspects who were implicated in the crime.


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Philippines: Human Rights Documentation Project · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Testigo is an online human rights documentation system that seeks to monitor and gather human rights related information in the Philippines.


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Russia: Bloggers React to the Storming of Tripoli · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.
The end of the summer is not usually a busy period in the Russian blogosphere, but netizens are actively engaging in discussing recent events in Libya. Compared to April 2011, when Global Voices first analyzed Russian reactions on the conflict, opinions seem to be more polarised now; bloggers had divided into two distinctive groups of supporters and opponents of Colonel Gaddafi.
The liberal and nationalist sectors have been supporting the rebels, wheras communists and ‘impertsy’ (mainstream imperial-patriotic bloggers) support Gaddafi and have accused NATO of breaching the United Nations resolution.
Frequency of keywords "Libya" (blue) and "Qaddafi" (green) in the Russian blogosphere. Source: Yandex.Pulse
Imperial-patriots and communists stick to the “Western conspiracy” discourse. As Marina Litvinovich has noted previously, sympathy towards Gaddafi is widespread among many ‘patriotic’ and communist bloggers. A number, as well as some quite elderly activists, held a meeting in front of the Libyan Embassy in Moscow, demonstrating support towards Gaddafi. Photo reports from the event were made by zyalt [ru] and dervishrv [ru].
Qaddafi supporters in Moscow. Photo by Ilya Varlamov
Nikolay Starikov, one of the most popular online propagandists, wrote [ru]:
Что происходит в Ливии? После безуспешных попыток свергнуть законную власть руками «ливийских власовцев», после попыток сломить Каддафи бомбардировками, Третий Рейх, то есть простите, «демократические» страны выложили свой последний козырь. Массовый десант своего спецназа в столицу Ливии. Который прикрывается авиацией НАТО, а также враньем и  сценическими постановками «свободных СМИ».
And concluded, predicting Russia might be among the next targets of NATO, by rephrasing Russian Tsar Alexander III:
У России есть только три союзника: ее армия, флот и органы госбезопасности. Все остальные при первой возможности на нас ополчатся.
This view was opposed by Russian nationalist Vadim Bulatov [ru]:
1) Армия, включая элитную бригаду «охраны» Каддафи, до последнего воевать не стала. […]
2) Массы народа воевать на улицы не вышли. Скорее всего, понимая бессмысленность этой войны в блокированном от воды, пищи и прочего мегаполисе. Степень идеологического противостояния ливийского народа колониальной войне под своим руководством Каддафи вообще переоценил. Значит, антиколониальная риторика сейчас не работает как сильная идеология. Идеологическая война под антиколониальными лозунгами не эффективна. […]
Aside from regular divisions of support and oppositions, some bloggers provided quite interesting observations of the situation in and around Tripoli.
brainw45h noted [ru] an irony of fate that Gaddafi and his ideals are being brought to life by his opponents:
[…] смотрю я на то, что происходит в Ливии уже полгода и понимаю – идеалы молодого полковника Каддафи, грезившего арабским анархизмом, наконец воплотились в жизнь.(Вот серьезно, именно таким мне и представляется анархизм.) По иронии судьбы и к большому несчастью для Каддафи они воплотились при его жизни и во время его правления.
Oleg Kozyrev concluded [ru]:
Главный урок истории с Ливией – диктаторы и век Интернета несовместимы. Поначалу сломаются диктаторы малых стран, а потом и больших. Один за одним, неумолимо.
И только чрезвычайная бедность (Африка) или полное отсутствие Интернета (Северная Корея) на какое-то время могут каким-то диктаторам продлить существование. Но, думаю, 21-й век все же их последний век.
The main lesson of the Libyan story is – dictators and the age of the Internet are incompatible. At first, dictators of the small countries give up, then the dictators of the big countries break up. One by one, implacably.
And only extreme poverty (Africa) or a complete absence of the Internet (North Korea) can, at least for some time, give dictators a chance to prolong their existence. But, I think, the 21st century will be their last century.
This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Content Analysis of Party Manifestos · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

LJ-user schegloff analyses [ru] party manifestos of the Russian parties using Wordle word clouds. “Opposition can be identified by the word “must,” patriots by the word “Russia,” ruling party by the word “Unity,” concludes the blogger, speaking of the word frequency in each document.


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Senegal: Grants for Pilgrimage to Mecca and Rome · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Mamadou Sarr on assirou.net  reveals [fr] how much money Senegal provides for pilgrimages: “The Senegalese government subsidizes the pilgrimage to Mecca to the tune of 1 billion 350 million CFA Francs [around 2.8 million USD] on years when no Christian pilgrimage to Rome is organised, and 1 billion CFA [around 2.1 million USD], on years like the current one, when both pilgrimages occur. The administration grants 350 million CFA Francs [around 746,000 USD] to the Christian pilgrimage every two years.”

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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South Korea: Anger Erupted over Video of Afro-American Man Assaulting Elderly Couple · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

A video of an African American man mocking, cursing and assaulting a defenseless elderly Korean couple was spread online, prompting public anger. Police is investigating the case and it is believed that he took violent action after misunderstanding a Korean sentence which simply meant “You should sit over here” as the N-word.


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South Korea: Journalist Taking Pictures of Women Without Consent · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korean photo journalists are infamous for their disregard for individual's portrait rights. One citizen journalist from the Wiki Tree site posted photos [ko] of three foreign women in their bathing suits which a journalist took without their consent.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Missed Opportunity re: Teen Video?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Another blogger weighs in on the Granny Quila video: “Yes this girl did a pile…having said that, it would have been a perfect opportunity to show the compassionate side of the State of Emergency, and used as an chance to reach out to disaffected youth.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Saving a Life  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Tattoo puts out a moral test because of recent events that allegedly led to the current state of emergency.


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Vietnam: Children Factory Workers Rescued · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Street Kids in Vietnam narrated how their group was able to assist 8 children working in garment factories in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.


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Vietnam Puppetry Theatre · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Ma, Water, and Puppets is a blog that celebrates Vietnam Puppetry Theatre


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Vietnam War Photos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Flickr user manhhai uploads a collection of Vietnam War photos from 1963-1975.


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Blog Carnival: Mexico – Is Mexican Society Violent by Nature?  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
In this third part of the summary for our Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizenry, Violence and Blogs, we showcase posts that reflect on whether Mexican society is violent by nature.
Violence is a phenomenon with multiple manifestations –from armed clashes to verbal abuse– that are influenced by culture. But who establishes the variables that measure if violence has become a ‘natural’ part of society? Perhaps we should look at the fact that people seem to no longer be surprised or astonished with news about one murder, but they do react when they hear about the murder of hundreds. On the other hand, there seems to be a “fascination” with violent characters; a sort of game that legitimizes violence in a context in which people no longer trust the government.
In this summary we also include the posts investigating or showing the influence of violence on different expressions of popular Mexican contemporary art.
Build peace with justice. By Flickr user Indira.cornelio user. Used with permission.
Is Mexican society violent by nature?
There is much talk about Mexico being a violent country. Juan Ramon Anaya, from the blog deutschlango, seems to agree with this at some extent: he titled his post “Mexico, an armed movement every 100 years” [es].
Cada vez que leo sobre los asesinatos resultado de la cruzada contra el narco emprendida por nuestro Felipe “corazón de” Calderón, no puedo quitarme de la cabeza la tesis de que todo fue un error y que simplemente se le salió de las manos, y que ahora estamos pagando todos los mexicanos, incluso sus allegados (recordemos el “accidente” de Muriño, secretario de Gobernación). Quizás sea el destino que llevamos en nuestra historia pues cada siglo se desata un movimiento armado : la independencia de 1810, la revolución de 1910 y ahora la lucha de Calderon de 2010.
Ariel Martinez Flores, from the blog Amblalluna, focues [es] on another aspect of Mexican society that is causing violence: corruption.
Hubo un candidato a la presidencia de la República que acuñó la frase “La solución somos todos”, pero el mexicano común, el hombre de la calle decía jocoso e ingenioso: la corrupción somos todos” y esa generalización del fenómeno, fue el terreno fértil para el crecimiento de los grandes corporativos de la producción y distribución de drogas que a la sombra de la corrupción y la consecuente impunidad, crecieron y crecieron protegidos por funcionarios de todos los rangos y áreas del estado, hasta que llegó un momento en que ése estado se encontró en grave peligro de perder el control del país y no tuvo más alternativa que tratar de frenar a sus socios que amenazaban con quedarse con todo el negocio.
Rosalia Guerrero, from the blog Enluranada also refers [es] to this issue, looking at day to day occurrences like piracy and crime:
Yo no sé ustedes, pero yo no quiero financiar a la delincuencia, por que la piratería hoy en día es una industria grande en la cual los que están detrás de no son los vendedores que nos reciben los 10 pesos por el disco sino la delincuencia organizada, que ocupara ese dinero no sólo para más discos sino para armas, balas y generación de narcóticos. Este es el punto de reflexión de esta columna, ¿Quieres financiar a los delincuentes? Por lo tanto ¿Hasta cuando seguiremos justificando nuestras acciones incorrectas?
Ian Keller, from the blog Tlacotzontli, does not agree with the idea that Mexico is inherently violent. He affirms [es] that the past cannot be judged using the current standard, and that violence is not about nationalities.
este es un problema de la humanidad quitando diferencias de credo, de nacionalidad, de sexo o preferencias y para muestra vale solo un botón. ¿Recuerdan el ataque en Noruega, un país llamado del primer mundo, habitado por la gente más civilizada? Un fulano con problemas mentales severos se gestó en ese país a pesar de sus más altos valores sociales. Creo yo que la única forma de erradicar esta violencia es educar con valores a nuestros hijos, […] hablo de aquellos que nos hacen ser temerosos de Dios, de ese temor que inculca el respeto y obliga a hacer lo correcto por convicción propia; de hacer el bien y evitar el mal; de amar a los demás y tratarlos como nos gustarían que nos trataran. El mundo será diferente si en verdad trabajamos en depurar toda esa maldad que vemos en las noticias, en las películas, y en las novelas mexicanas.
May 8th, I march for peace. By Indira Cornelio, used with permission.
Art, literature and music
Enrique Figueroa Anaya, from the blog Asfalto Tecnicolor, published a short story for the Carnival called “La Pasarela“[es]. It is about women affected by violence, sometimes in an indirect way.
On the subject of creative writing, Ernesto Priego published a post [es] in #SinLugar about poetry and violence, where he comments on the impact that violence has had in his writing process, and states:
México sufre diferentes tipos de violencia, que van de los más “sutiles” o transparentes y por lo tanto no siempre notados (por ideológicos, expresados en prácticas y actitudes culturales, usos de lenguaje, etc.) a lo más directos (feminicidio permanente, la guerra contra los drogas, crimen e inseguridad urbanas, etc.).
Art allow people to denounce or talk about violent events they have experienced. Art is also a form of resistance. Jorge Tellez talks about this in “Words of Violence” [es] in #Sinlugar, where he mentions some initiatives that intend to portray reality through poetry and photography:
En México se dice que “ya estamos hasta la madre” de casi todo lo que importuna. Estamos hasta la madre de la contaminación, de los baches, del tráfico, de la selección, de la política, de la corrupción, […] Un claro ejemplo de esto es la campaña Alguien tenía que decirlo, cuyo propósito es el de documentar fotográficamente irregularidades que los habitantes de la ciudad de México viven diariamente, mediante la denominación de cada problema antecedido por la palabra “pinche”: Pinche bache, pinche tráfico, […] pinche violencia. […] Sí, de acuerdo: pinches drogas, pinche narcotráfico, […] pero ninguna de estas palabras supera el valor denotativo de nuestra indignación. Por eso iniciativas como la de 100 mil poetas por el cambio aparecen este 2011 para darle un nuevo valor a la palabra y devolverle la connotación perdida.
Enrique Figueroa also shared images in two posts for the Carnival. The first one is called “Interferencia” (Interference), with a picture by Alejandro Briseño showing crosses in memory of murdered women contrasted with political propaganda. The second post, called “Silencio incómodo” [es] (Uncomfortable silence) shows a picture by Jorge Alberto Mendoza, and Enrique explains why he chose this title:
(esta) imagen se me hizo representativa de lo que se vive en muchos sitios de México. La llamé ‘Silencio incómodo’ porque no se me ocurre otra forma para expresar lo que sentimos cuando vemos, escuchamos o leemos, sobre algún suceso violento que estremece a nuestro país.
Ernesto Priego also talks about the worldwide presence of the subject of Mexican violence in comics, and ironically about “The silence of the [Mexican] comic” [es].
Como lector de cómics, defenderé siempre el potencial del medio para contar todo tipo de historias, pero como mexicano me preocupa que hasta ahora sea sólo la visión foránea y primermundista la que determine los discursos sobre la violencia mexicana. […] Los franceses obtienen becas para publicar un hermoso libro sobre Juárez, pero los mexicanos de Juárez quieren publicar en Estados Unidos y hacer películas y vender figuras de acción. […] La excepción que conozco al gran vacío narrativo en forma de cómic sobre la violencia en México es el trabajo de Édgar Clément.
On the subject of music, Enrique Figueroa chose [es] several songs by Los Tigres del Norte, a Mexican band that tends to include a lot of social content in their lyrics. Enrique tells us that he chose this music because,
la música que acompaña a los mexicanos expulsados, aquellos que como bien dicen los Tigres del Norte, “mientras los ricos se van para el extranjero para esconder su dinero y por Europa pasear, los mexicanos que venimos de mojados casi todo se lo enviamos a los que quedan allá”.
Enrique also talks about cinema. In his post “Los Invisibles” (The Invisible) [es] he links to a recently awarded documentary about Mexican migration with the same name.
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.


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Cambodia’s Sand Pirates · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Residents in a Cambodian province complain against the negative impact of sand dredging in their area. Tons of sand from Cambodia are allegedly shipped to Singapore which are used to build beach resorts.


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China: 77-year-old female kneels down, naked, in front of courthouse to protest land grab · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ministry of Tofu translates a human rights protest story from Canyu.org [zh], with a video showing a 77-year-old female kneels down, naked, in front of the Shanghai courthouse to protest against illegal land grab.


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China: Real Name Registration Requirement Coming For Weibo? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Bbishop from Digicha blogs about the rumor that the Chinese authorities would demand Weibo (Micro-blog) and other social media users to use real name in registration.


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Colombia: Art NGOs Receive Threat from Paramilitary Group · Global Voices
Lully

The blog El salmon [es] reports [es] that on August 23, 12 Art NGOs received death threats from the paramilitary group “Black Eagles“. The threat indicated they were to leave the capital, Bogotá, in less than 8 days. The blog includes a statement written [es] by Edwin Almed Domínguez, Member of the Cultural Foundation Sùmmum Draco, one of the affected organizations.

author: Lully


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Costa Rica: Bloggers on Anti-Tobacco Law · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Blogger ‘El Chamuko’ from El infierno en Costa Rica [es] and María Luisa Ávila [es] comment on the anti-tobacco law that is up for debate in Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly. ‘El Chamuko’ discusses cigarette smuggling, while María Luisa argues that “the smoking ban can not be permissive”.


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Egypt: Using Twitter to Help a Cairo Community · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.
After seeing the huge impact of social media on the Egyptian revolution, Egyptian blogger and Twitter user, Mahmoud Salem (@SandMonkey) decided to collaborate with a local non-profit organisation to help them raise funds using the power of Twitter to offer basic services in an impoverished neighborhood of Cairo.
Ezbet Khairalla is one of the largest unplanned communities in Egypt, with a population close to 650,000 inhabitants. It is a sprawling area of about 12 square kilometres on a rocky plateau that lies in the southern part of Cairo. Although Ezbet Khairalla is located within the boundaries of Cairo, most basic services are missing; not only sewage and garbage collection, but also inadequate education, poor health and social services. Hence the densely populated area is considered fertile soil for crime and social unrest.
Tweeps visited a kindergarten in Ezbet Khairallah, Cairo. Photo by @pakinamamer (July 30, 2011)
Snapshot of Ezbet Khairallah street by @pakinamamer on Yfrog
To help improve the quality of life in Ezbet Khairalla, Khair Wa Baraka (Peace and Plenty), an organisation founded in 2004, started working on educational, health and environmental programs, especially after their research showed that the most important issue in the community was dealing with both solid and liquid waster (sewage). They also provide medical caravans and pilot educational centres.
With the support of people on Twitter, Peace and Plenty and raised EGP 2 million Egyptian pounds (over $330,000 US dollars as well as awareness for the community. Salem called his initiative “tweetback” (@tweetbackevent), and it relied on the social capital of 20 of power-Twitter users who collectively have around a quarter of a million followers. They each raised money from donors in exchange for giving contributing companies PR among their followers. They also created a buzz about the initiative and helped explain to people how they can help.
Tweeting from the Tweetback event. Photo by Rania Helmy, a co-organiser.
Peace and Plenty held a fundraising event on July 26, 2011 at the Marriott hotel in Cairo,  where they announced that EGP 1,349,000 ($226,600) had already been raised.
The twitter users who were attending also tweeted about each of the donors and how much they donated, whether it was a beverage company, a mobile operator, or even donors who refused to reveal their identities. They also created a short-number for people to call to donate EGP 3 ($0.50), and again Twitter was used to spread the info.
The Tweetback organizers believe that this is only an initial step, and as Salem wrote in his blog, “More of these initiatives will only happen if you show support for this very first one, which by virtue of the timing, and novelty, is in desperate need for your sponsorship.” Peace and Plenty called Ezbet Khairalla, a prototype of an “unplanned community” in need of development. Perhaps we will soon see more initiatives to help develop other unplanned communities too.
This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.

author: Tarek Amr


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Global Voices Partners with UNFPA on 7 Billion Actions · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

In 2011 the world's population will exceed 7 billion people. To mark this milestone, Global Voices has been commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to write a series of posts that celebrate how one person or group can still make a difference in a world of 7 billion people. The stories, by Global Voices authors in different countries, will form part of a global campaign called 7 Billion Actions. Every story will also be translated by Lingua into the UN languages French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic.
The challenges of keeping the world's people alive and healthy are many.
Nearly all of the population growth taking place (97 out of every 100 people) is happening in less developed countries, where people are already vulnerable and at risk from weather disasters, water and food insecurity. In wealthier countries, people are concerned about low fertility, and ageing populations. And across the world, the gaps between rich and poor are growing.
Young and old in Sri Lanka by Michael Foley on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)
Global Voices covers the challenges of global development year round (see our special coverage on the Millenium Development Goals) but with this series we're looking forward to trying something a little different. We'll be celebrating the positive initiatives of individuals and organizations with short portraits that could inspire action elsewhere. Women's rights, education, sustainable urban and environmental development, are all issues that require urgent solutions, and clearly citizens themselves need to be a part of them.
Our authors for this series are based in Malawi, Egypt, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Brazil, and many more countries. Between them, they speak more than a dozen languages. Through their writing and translating we hope to introduce you to many new people, ideas and stories you won't hear about elsewhere!
Visit 7 Billion Actions to engage with the campaign.
Here's a slideshow by the UNFPA about the population challenges ahead.

author: Solana Larsen


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International Blog Day in Latin America · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Several bloggers in Latin America are sharing their thoughts on blogging during this year's Blog Day, like Juan Edgardo Lezcano [es] from Paraguay and Julio Córdoba [es] from Costa Rica. Furthermore, UNIMERCentroamerica posted a video interview [es] with Costa Rican blogger Cristian Cambronero from Fusil de Chispas [es].


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Nigeria: The Brain Behind the Nigerian Blog Awards  · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

The Nigerian Blog Awards is an annual event that rewards creative Nigerian bloggers. For the past two years, the winners of the Nigerian Blog Awards were determined by popular vote. This will be different in 2012, to reflect the shift to recognizing excellence in blogging.
This year, we sought and successfully unmasked the face behind the awards. Good Nigerian Girl has been the brain behind the Nigeria Blog Awards since 2010.
Nwachukwu Egbunike (NE): Tell us a bit about yourself. Who is Good Naija Girl?
Good Naija Girl (GNG): Good Naija Girl is a 32 year old, Canada-based Nigerian blogger. I was born in the USA, lived in Nigeria between the ages of 3 and 6, moved to Canada when I was 6 years old, and I’ve lived in Canada ever since. I am the oldest of four children, born to fantastic parents who I mention regularly on my blog.
I’ve been blogging for almost nine years under various nicknames and on many sites. I began blogging as Good Naija Girl (or GNG) in 2008 in response to a desire to reach out to others who, like me, are biologically Nigerian, but often feel more North American (or European, etc.) due to where they were raised. Immigrant parents try to make sure that they provide their children with a good awareness of their culture and heritage to balance what their kids will learn from the society they live in, and I wanted to connect with people like me who might not have had the experience of living in Nigeria for long (or at all), but who want to interact with those who have, and who want to connect more fully with their culture.
I am passionate about blogging, self-improvement, and learning graphic and web design. I’m an inspiration junkie who suffers from having too many projects on the go that I often leave some on the back burner for far too long. I have an embarrassing addiction to candy, I am a terrible procrastinator who gets easily frustrated, and I have a hard time parking a car in a straight line. I am unmarried and I hope that will change soon.
NE: How did you get involved in the Nigerian Blog Awards (NBA)?
GNG:  After I joined the Nigerian blogging community in 2008, I became aware of initiatives that blogger Taurean Minx had put into place earlier, such as Blogsville Gist and the 2006 Blogger Awards, initiatives that brought Nigerian bloggers together. Then blogger Madame Sting organised the 2009 Naija Bloggers’ Award, another great initiative. After those awards finished, Madame Sting indicated that she would not be free to organize the 2010 Awards. I decided to take on the project, renamed it the Nigerian Blog Awards, and obtained a domain name to match.
NE: How long has NBA been on?
GNG:  The Nigerian Blog Awards have been operating under that name for two years now.
NE: The team of NBA seem to be faceless? Any particular reason?
GNG:   To be honest the NBAs doesn’t have an established team behind them. I am responsible for the Awards and I have been lucky to have people volunteer their services for specific tasks. This year for example, bloggers Otondo, Seye Kuyinu, and Sugabelly designed the banners and badges and another blogger AliceO contributed the most popular blog entry this season, and she helped with some of the publicity of the Awards on twitter. A dear friend, Vesna, wrote the code to program the nomination and voting systems that were used in the 2011 Awards.
NE: There seems to be a shift from “Popularity Contest” to “Excellence in Blogging?” Why?
GNG:  The NBAs were originally set up to bring the (seemingly small) Nigerian blogging community together and to allow bloggers and readers to interact. Over the last year we have had hundreds of bloggers ask to be added to the list of Nigerian bloggers on our site (currently over 950 blogs are listed on our website), and new Nigerian bloggers are being added every day. The community of Nigerian bloggers is large and quite diverse, and turning the Awards into recognition of excellence in blogging will give us a chance to better highlight the best of all these blogs out there. There seems to be a feeling in the blogging community that blogs should be recognized for producing quality content, and the 2011 Awards made it clear more than ever that change was needed in that regard. It has really been a very natural evolution for the Awards.
NE: How do you intend to ensure objectivity in picking the panel members for the 2011 NBA bearing in mind that people will apply and you will also hand pick people who you “think would perform the role of panel member appropriately”?
GNG:  This is a great question. Maintaining objectivity is one of the most important parts of the NBAs and each year changes are made to improve things in that regard. No system is perfect and I am confident that those who are selected as panel members will perform their duty with integrity. If you have good people who are willing to follow the rules, that helps a lot. The criteria for being a panel member has not yet been fully fleshed out, but I hope that by using both volunteers and people handpicked for their expertise in the category they will be involved in evaluating, we’ll have a good mix of panel members. The general public will also still play a role in the determination of nominees and in the voting process, so it won’t be exclusively the decision of the panel.
We won’t please everyone but the goal each year is to improve upon the previous year.
NE: Have you received any criticism or suggestions to the new method you have proposed for the awards?
GNG:  There has been some criticism, which is fair since the specifics of the new method have not been fleshed out. Some people were afraid the public input of the Awards would be taken away entirely, and I think some are waiting for the details of the process to be announced before sharing their thoughts. We have also received some suggestions about how the panel should be constituted and how the process could work, and we have actively solicited suggestions too.
NE: What in your opinion has been the impact of the NBA on the Nigeria blogosphere?
GNG:  The NBAs have provided new bloggers with a place to showcase their blog and a way of connecting with other bloggers (by providing a list of blogs they can visit and comment on). Some new bloggers have said, upon requesting to be listed on our site, that the Nigerian Blog Awards gives them something to strive toward. Non-bloggers use our website to find new blogs to add to their online reading collection and some have been inspired to start blogging as a result of discovering the community of Nigerian bloggers. The NBAs have helped grow the blogosphere and also helped connect bloggers who may not have otherwise met.
NE: Any plans or hopes for the future – as regards the NBA?
GNG: I have many plans or hopes for the future of the Awards. The big goal is to have a live event one day, and to be able to give out tangible prizes to winning bloggers. I’d like to increase sponsorship too, to make these ideas possible. It is also important to continue building the community that the Awards have started, and encourage bloggers to meet and interact offline.
NE: Last words…
GNG: I’d like to thank you, Nwachukwu Egbunike, for patiently waiting for me to be able to sit down and answer these questions. I’d also like to thank Global Voices for their interest in spreading the word about the Nigerian Blog Awards−your support is much appreciated!

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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North Korean Airline Uses Facebook · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Marc Perton wrote about North Korean Airline ‘Koryo’ and its use of social media in the Consumerist blog.


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Russia: Chamber of Accounts’ Leak Exposes Significant Financial Violations · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Anti-corruption blogger ipasserby had analyzed [ru] over 100 classified documents of the Russian Chamber of Accounts that had accidentally leaked to the Web in July 2011. According to the blogger, Chamber of Accounts knowingly concealed serious significant violations worth of millions of dollars.


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Russia: Why We Are Leaving Our Country Behind · Global Voices
Dmitry Davidov

Recent months have seen a new spin on the topic of emigration that seems to be ever-present in the Russian online space. Several powerful blog posts written by people from different social groups have become a platform for expressing one's take on the present and future of the country and people's place in it.
The issue of massive Russian emigration is more than a century old. In the past, several waves of emigration deprived the country of millions of qualified workers, scientists and writers. Emigration from Russia has never stopped since then. Even with the improving economic situation in recent years, a good number of Russians still dream about leaving the country.
Stamped passport. Image by Flickr user Sem Paradeiro (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Russian newspaper Novaya gazeta reported [ru] that in a recent poll, 22 percent of adults (mainly businessmen and students) had expressed their willingness to leave Russia for good. The newspaper also cited an “official number” of 1.3 million scientists and engineers who left the country in “recent years.”
“Russia is evil”
“Russia is evil in its pure unalloyed form,” began the blog post of well-known Russian author and now emigrant Yuri Nesternko who got political asylum in the United States. Written at the end of 2010, Nesterenko's now famous article [ru] called “Exodus” struck close to the hearts of many Russian bloggers.
Having quickly become a must-read for pro- and anti-emigration factions alike, Nesterenko's post is a cry of frustration of someone who tried to live in Russia but could never bear its realities.
Nesterenko places significant importance on the Russian mentality and argues that it prevented, prevents and will prevent the country from becoming prosperous.
Nesterenko criticized his fellow Russians for historically producing corrupt rulers: “they did not come from Mars,” he wrote, calling Russia and its population hopeless. He dismissed any arguments supporting Russian patriotism and called for massive emigration:
Россия – это не то, ЧТО следует спасать, а то, ОТ ЧЕГО следует спасать. Спасать всех, кого можно спасти, начиная с самих себя. Таким образом,  эмиграция является единственным разумным выходом. Хватит уже гробить  свои жизни на то, чтобы стать удобрением для российской грязи, на  которой все равно не вырастет ничего, кроме чертополоха.
To support his argument that nothing good will even happen to Russia, Nesterenko wrote about the indifference of Russians toward the relative freedom that the country currently enjoys:
Доступ к интернету имеет не менее трети россиян […]. И как они этот доступ  используют? Заполняют политизированные форумы своей ненавистью к Западу,  Грузии, Украине, “демшизе”, ну и “жидам”, само собой […], ностальгией  по Совку и славословиями Сталину. Западные радиостанции никто не глушит –  но кто их слушает? Ведь по ним вещают “враги, которые всегда против  России”[…].
“I know only one thing,” Nesterenko concluded, “I will not come back to Russia. And I am happy that now for me it is not only ‘our country’ […] but even not ‘this country.’ Now and forever it is ‘that country.'”
Reasons to emigrate
Blogger Viktoria described herself as a “young woman of 25 years who wants to leave this country.” She wrote a post “Nine reasons I am leaving Russia” [ru] that received 9,000 “Likes” on Facebook, 8,000 reads on popular Russian social network Vkontakte.ru, 1,400 re-tweets on Twitter and more than 2,000 comments.
As the title promises, Victoria outlined things that had made her leave Russia: weak security, mediocre healthcare, poor education, lack of professionalism, high prices for property, widespread corruption, low quality of things produced in Russia, disrespect toward rights and liberties of people and – the most important factor for Viktoria – the mentality of “disrespect toward other people and intolerance bordering on fascism.”
Представьте себе на секунду, что вот так случилось и всё правительство,  все чиновники трагически погибли в один день. Что будет через неделю,  через месяц? Будут те же самые рожи и на тех же самых местах. Почему?  Потому что люди не меняются, потому что по каким-то не вполне понятным  мне причинам у нас такие люди.
“You can say that I need to fight for my happiness, fight for my bright future,” Victoria wrote. “Sorry, friends, I am not a warrior, I am a shy system administrator. I don't want a bright future, I want a stable present.”
You shall not leave
During the wave of discussion of emigration on the Russian Internet, blogger armyan-capitan wrote a skeptical post [ru] on why many people would never emigrate. The main reason, armyan-capitan writes, is mentality:
Не смешите. Ваши дедушки по 10 лет ждали, когда их  арестовывать придут и не дернулись уехать даже в соседний город. А  когда их везли на Колыму, ждали амнистию и собирали шелуху у лагерной  помойки. И это не «быдло», офицеры, чиновники, интеллегенция… Быдлом  стали их внуки. Жирные менты, офисная шваль, путинская гвардия  спиногрызов. Никуда вы не уедете. И не потому что у вас денежек нету.
The blogger continues with other two reasons why people who want to emigrate never do: difficulties in obtaining immigration status and an inability to adapt to new cultures:
Вам не выжить там, где правит закон, а не ваше любимое БАБЛО. Вам это не понять. Уже на генетическом уровне. Вам не выжить с вашей вселенской злостью среди нормальных людей. Они вас  не поймут и не примут. Вы это почувствуете сразу, как приедете жить, а  не в отель пожрать включенного халявного пива.
The enormous popularity of those blog posts on the Russian Internet shows how many people cannot stay indifferent toward this topic. It is also a good indicator of how many netizens are dissatisfied with current situation in Russia.
Popular Russian polling service Levada-Center reported [ru] that fewer and fewer Russians think that their country is moving in the right direction. The number of citizens who approve of the job of the government has also been steadily declining.
Mentality may be an easy target to blame for many problems in the country and emigration may seem like a fast solution to many young people. But admitting “mentality causes” of Russian reality may also be a small step toward changing the centuries of silent obedience in the face of oppressive kings and corrupt governments.

author: Dmitry Davidov


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Bahamas: Bethel on Theatre  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

From the backseat interviews blogger Nicolette Bethel about theatre in the Bahamas.


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Bangladesh: Overcrowded Trains · Global Voices
Rezwan

Photojournalist Monirul Alam posts an amazing picture and a video of people traveling home in overcrowded trains to celebrate eid festival in Bangladesh.


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Blog Carnival: Mexico – The United States and Violence in Mexico · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
In this fourth installment of the summary for our Blog Carnival: Mexico – Citizenry, Violence and Blogs we present the participants who wrote about the relationship between the United States (U.S.) and Mexico on issues of violence.
The U.S sets a worldwide standard and its actions affect people all over the world. On the issue of violence, many associate the events of September 11, 2001, with a change in the way countries fight against drug trafficking and deal with matters of public security. Although confronting the perpetrators of violence was always a priority, after September 11 the discussion and the actions around persecuting these individuals became more frequent.
Regarding the relationship between Mexico and the U.S, it is also worth remembering that they share a border and that only one other country besides Mexico is as geographically close to the American way of life.
Migrants are also fed up; by Flickr user Brenmorado (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
The United States and violence in Mexico
Just as there is much talk about Mexican migrants who go to the U.S. in search of opportunities and to escape violence, the U.S. also goes to Mexico, but to make war. This is what Jeanne M Dorado of  Lapuff analyzes and questions:
No. I’m intrigued at how since the death of OBL the US has now turned  its beady eye to their neighbors south of the Rio Grande. What really  needs to stop is this senseless Mexican violence that is now an everyday  occurrence thanks to the latest war in vogue, Drugs. As global Gestapo,  concerned with protecting the virtues of gentle folk, how does the US  plan on stopping this frenemy? […] The “War on Drugs” has a nice ring to it and feels like a morally  correct battle to wage. It also jives with all of the other “wars” the  US is currently occupied with, so the pill is easier to swallow. But who is it exactly that we’re fighting against?  And why are all these random Mexicans dying?
The presence of the U.S in Mexico it no only physical. Katitza Rodríguez from the Electronic Frontier Foundation analyzes the U.S. government's plans to permanently monitor public data on the Internet, plans that were unveiled by Mexican newspaper El Milenio:
The document, obtained by El Milenio through a U.S. Freedom of  Information Act request, discloses how OPC’s National Operations Center  (NOC) plans to initiate systematic monitoring of publicly available  online data including “information posted by individual account users”  on social media. […] The NOC report […] reveals that NOC’s  team of data miners are gathering, storing, analyzing, and sharing  “de-identified” online information. The sources of information are  “members of the public…first responders, press, volunteers, and  others” who provide online publicly available information. To collect  the information, the NOC monitors search terms such as “United Nations”,  “law enforcement”, “anthrax”, “Mexico”, “Calderon”, “Colombia”,  “marijuana”, “drug war”, “illegal immigrants”, “Yemen”, “pirates”,  “tsunami”, “earthquake”, “airport”, “body scanner”, “hacker”, “DDOS”,  “cybersecurity”, “2600” and “social media”.
Yalí Noriega Curtis, from Reflexiones de una RIta, also blogs about the role of the United States in the so called ‘War on Drugs’. Besides analyzing possible solutions to this conflict and the role citizens could play, she adds:
A final consideration is to remember the interests of the United States  of America, our neighbor to the north. The USA is one of the largest  markets for Mexican and other South American drug dealers, which of  course promotes the production and transportation of drugs across this  country. This is compounded with the trade in firearms flowing from the  USA into Mexico, supplying the drug cartels with all the weapons they  need to continue the fight against the federal government as well as  with each other. No long term solution to the conflict currently  unfolding in Mexico will be complete without addressing these two  issues. Unfortunately, they do not seem to be a priority at all in the  American cabinet.
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

author: Juan Arellano


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Ramazan and Bajram in Sarajevo · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sarah Correia of Café Turco writes about the month of Ramadan (Ramazan) and Eid ul-Fitr (Bajram) in Sarajevo.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Cambodia: Tourists Return to Preah Vihear   · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vutha Tim visited Preah Vihear again and learned that tourists are starting to return to the historic temple which is being claimed by Thailand and Cambodia. But he also reported that the promised UNESCO aid to restore the damaged temple has not yet arrived. The temple was closed to the public because Thai and Cambodian soldiers have exchanged deadly fires near the temple.


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Chile: Mapuche Youth in Ercilla Reach Agreement with Regional Government · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Indigenous News reports that, “On Wedenesday, August 31st, the Mapuche youth who had been peacefully occupying the municipal government building in Ercilla signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with regional government officials. The MOU provided for increased Indigenous scholarships, an intercultural school and for continued dialogue on ending the militarization of the region.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Cuba: Distorted Voices  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Pedazos de La Isla says that the Cuban government “has applied another form of censorship – manipulating voices coming out of cell phones”, a move “attributed to the fact that members of the resistance have been using their phones and Twitter messages to report and record many public protests which have been occurring throughout the island.”


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Dominica: Decriminalising Marijuana · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The obsession with ganja is almost consuming. In a country where there are so many more serious issues like abuse of women, child molestation, incest and petty crime, it doesn't seem to fit”: Caribbean Man makes a case for legalisation.


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Ethiopia: The Internet Service Provider Which Does Not Use Internet · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethio Telecom provides Internet service but it does not use the Internet: “The only media Ethio telecom use internet is via its webpage, which is down most of the time and actually doesn’t have any vital content in it. It never gets updated regularly too. The telecom never owns a twitter, Facebook page, a blog, forum, technology showroom, online support, networked customer service and not even standard traditional media strategies.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Ethiopia: Tsegay’s Historical Plays Published · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Four historical plays of the acclaimed playwright and poet Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin are now available in a book form: “Poet, dramatist, translator, anthropologist, activist and social critic, Tsegaye is regarded by many as a major figure in Ethiopian letters.”


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Global Voices Podcast 3: Ripple Effects of the Arab Uprisings · Global Voices
Jamillah Knowles

Hello World!
In this edition of the Global Voices Podcast you can hear about the ripple effect of the Arab uprisings, find out what it is to be a digital mentor, and talk through some of the ideas that make up a good code of ethics.
First, a reminder of what happened earlier this year. Tunisia saw a revolution and Egyptian protesters overthrew their dictatorship too.
Global Voices Podcast 3: Ripple Effects of the Arab Uprisings by globalvoices
Sounds from Egypt
One of our authors, Maria Grabowski was in Cairo recently to get a perspective on how people are feeling after months of upheaval. Maria recorded the moving testimony of one protester in Egypt, and she also visited a protest outside the Syrian embassy where people showed support for the protest movement in Syria.
It’s one example of how protest movements cross borders. But how far does does the effect of this movement spread. As this year sees the Arab Spring, has the rest of the continent seen an African Spring?
Africa Rising?
Ndesanjo Macha is our editor for Sub Saharan Africa, he’s from Tanzania and based in Zambia. We talked about how the North African protests may have inspired protests and opposition in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Though the themes differ, the resistance appears to have been an inspiration in other parts of the African continent. I spoke with one of our authors, Steve Sharra from Malawi. Though Malawi is not seeing upheaval in the same way, there are repercussions that show a strong connection to the events of the Arab Spring.
Exploring communications in Africa as a theme in the podcast this month, it was apparent that the penetration of digital tools and online access in African countries has grown, but that there is still a lot of work to do.
But there’s good news too!
Global Voices Mentors
Ten of our seasoned Global Voices bloggers and 11 activists are working together virtually as part of a new initiative developed by Global Voices and Activista, the youth network of the international development organization, ActionAid.
I caught up with one of our mentors, Nwachukwu Ebunike in Nigeria who is working with a young Nigerian activist and blogger David Habba. According to Nwachukwu, mentoring is not just about setting a good example and sharing technical skills, it is also about ensuring that the next generation surpasses us in excellence online, and in taking personal inspiration from younger voices.
A code of ethics for citizen journalists
Now, as citizen journalism grows and becomes ever more sophisticated, is it neccesary for authors to abide by a code of ethics? Afef Abrougui is a Global Voices author from Tunisia, and she brought a set of ethics into discussion on our internal mailing list recently. Rezwan is our South Asia Editor, based in Bangladesh. He matched some of Afef's points with a link to a code of ethics from a bloggers group in Nepal.
I asked them both to join me in a discussion about ethical codes online and if they are required or even possible on a global scale.
Thanks for listening!
That’s all for this edition of the Global Voices podcast, but we’ll be back with more for you to listen to soon. Please feel free to leave us a comment or suggestion for next time.
Music credits
In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. If you want to find out more about these artists here are the links for you.
Thanks to Orb Gettarr for the atmospheric Return of the Atlanteans Lemurian Candidate, to Mark Cotton for his Spiritualized Homage, to Superbus feat. NS for Fujjad! Most of the music was found via OpSound.Org, The Free Music Archive or direct from the artists. Thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together.
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author: Jamillah Knowles


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India: Tablet PCs For The Members Of Parliament · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ugich Konitari reacts to the news that members of the Indian Parliament will be provided with $1000 each to buy Tablet Pcs for office use.

author: Rezwan


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India: The State Of The Iron And Steel Industry  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ankit Jain at Youth Ki Awaaz writes about the present scenario and the future prospects of the iron and steel industry in India.