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Iran: “Stranger than Fiction” Saudi Ambassador Plot Accusations · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Accusations of an Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador in the United States has captured the front page of websites and newspapers around the world. The U.S. Department of Justice has announced charges accusing two Iranians of trying to hire who they believed was a member of a Mexican drug gang to assassinate the Saudi ambassador. Iran denies the charges. Iranian blogger opinions on this “stranger than fiction” story are diverse as ever.
Faryad 22 Khordad says [fa]:
Some in Balatarin [a popular Iranian link-sharing website] say US accusations regarding Iran, are false and just illusions. May foreign experts call these accusations illusionary because they do not have clear idea about the rulers in Iran. But we Iranians know who are governing the country, and reason and rationality have no place here… They want to show they are able to create insecurity in the USA.
Azadi o Abadi writes [fa]:
Sometimes writing is very difficult but it is the least thing we can do… the plot story has made lot of noise in media and right-wing American politicians are talking about war. There are some experts talking about this story in the media who cannot even find this country on the map. If they themselves cannot find Iran on the map, smart bombs and missiles will be able to… As a citizen in Iran, I should say war nor Iran's occupation will not benefit anybody. Not Iranians nor any one else on this world.
The blogger adds any [Iranians] who wish for Iran to get attacked are traitors.
Mosbate1000 writes [fa]:
Today is 11 September for Iran and finally USA decided to confront the Islamic Republic… When reformists were in power, they sent a message to the world that the Iranian state is a tolerated regime but when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power, it was the end of that tolerance… Sooner or later, we will witness the end of Iran's brutal and corrupted regime.
Shoorezar writes [fa]
This plot story looks more like Hollywood movies than reality… the Iranian state has repressed Iranians, organized terrorist attacks, but the elements of this plot story do not reflect reality… In the past Iran did not get involved with terrorist acts that did not have any benefits for themselves.
Arjensan writes with irony that now there should be now an advertisement in Iran: “We need some American tourists to get arrested and to confess about spying.”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: New Prime Minister Designate  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Jamaica prepares to swear in a new Prime Minister, Girl With a Purpose says: “It is expected that the government of Jamaica will call an early election this year.  This is so that they can capitalize on the upsurge in popularity of the JLP since electing a new leader-designate under age 40.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Mexico: Photo Essay on Migration in Oaxaca · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Todd Miller, from NACLA's Border Wars blog, posts a photo essay on migration in Oaxaca, where “76% of the […] population lives in poverty.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Mexico: U.S. Alleges Iranian Assassination Plot Involving Los Zetas · Global Voices
Deborah Esch

On October 11, the U.S. Department of Justice charged two men with conspiring with “factions of the Iranian government” to carry out a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S., Adel Al-Jubeir, and to bomb both the Saudi and Israeli embassies, all in Washington D.C.
Attorney General Eric Holder praised law enforcement and intelligence agencies who worked together to disrupt a plot “conceived, sponsored and directed from Iran.”
According to early reports by Al Arabiya and other news agencies,
The case, called Operation Red Coalition, began in May when an Iranian-American from Corpus Christi, Texas, approached a U.S. informant seeking the help of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, according to counter-terrorism officials.  The Iranian-American thought he was dealing with a member of the feared Zetas Mexican drug organization, according to agents quoted by ABC News….
An aide to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the U.S. allegations that the Islamic republic was involved in a plot to kill the Saudi envoy.  “This is a prefabricated scenario to turn public attention away from domestic problems within the United States”… the president's press advisor told AFP.
For a Spanish-language account of events, see Animal Político.
In the immediate aftermath of the press conference at which U.S. authorities first publicized the plot, blogsofwar.com began live-streaming tweets that responded to the provocative reports. In an apparent effort to promote coherence, the site divides the broad array of incoming tweets into three columns, headed “Iranian Plot,” “Mexican Drug Cartels” and “Saudi Arabia.” It is still livestreaming at the time of this post's writing.
A Twitter search filtered through the hashtags #Mexico #Iran likewise turns up a spectrum of responses. While early tweets for the most part conveyed the details of the alleged plot, sometimes with links to news reports, it was not long before editorializing took over. @Sarmastian, based in Tottenham, was provoked to tweet twice in rapid succession:
@Sarmastian: #US have for years been looking for an excuse to crack down on Mexican border by linking cartels with IRGC. #Iran #Mexico #MidEast
@Sarmastian: #Iran could easily get to a #Saudi target within Saudi itself via non-Iranians. The news reported stinks inside-out. #US #MidEast #Mexico
Writing from Mexico, Carlos (@alquicarlos) used quotation marks, hashtags and a direct mention to Mexican President Felipe Calderón to inflect his intervention:
Que #NarcoUSAterror “descubrió” que los Z les maquilan armas de destrucción masiva a Iran  #IRAN#MEXICO#INVASION traidor @felipecalderon
From the other side of the Rio Grande, @Lima570 from San Antonio wrote,
I hope no one is surprised that terrorist [sic] are working with Mexican drug cartel
Several netizens linked the alleged plot to the ongoing scandal over U.S. Operation “Fast and Furious”.  @JamesinSELA, for example, tweeted to a morning radio show:
@cspanwj If the mexican drug cartels are now terrorist organizations, did Holder give arms to terrorists?
In a similar vein, @TehGoldenRule posed a question that was not simply rhetorical.
@Ryan_Konky If that was an act of war what is letting 1,000s of assault weapons make their way to Mexican drug cartels?
From an unspecified location in the Twitterverse, @brownwc voiced a skepticism shared by many netizens around the globe.
Iranians hire Mexican drug cartel hit squad to assassinate Saudi ambassador. U.S. foils the plan. Can't wait for the movie. #isthisreallife?

author: Deborah Esch


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Portugal: Democracy Takes to the Streets on October 15 · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

This post is part of our special coverage page Europe in Crisis.
In Portugal, on the global action day [pt] scheduled for October 15, 2011, ‘democracy will go on to the streets’. The non-partisan, secular and peaceful protest is being arranged in the main cities of the country, calling for “participatory democracy, transparency in policy and the end of the precariousness of life”:
A actual governação assenta numa falsa democracia em que as decisões estão restritas às salas fechadas dos parlamentos, gabinetes ministeriais e instâncias internacionais. Um sistema sem qualquer tipo de controlo cidadão, refém de um modelo económico-financeiro, sem preocupações sociais ou ambientais e que fomenta as desigualdades, a pobreza e a perda de direitos à escala global. Democracia não é isto!
Democracy goes out to the streets: schedule of the demonstrations in the main Portuguese cities.
In the various manifestos [pt] that are in circulation, there is widespread discontent with the ruling neo-liberal policies and towards the measures of social cuts and privatization of public services imposed by the”troika” (International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission), to tackle the economic crisis the country is experiencing.
More specific claims have been added to the manifest by the citizens of each city where the 15 October is being organized, as in the case of collective city of Porto, which points out:
- retirem o memorando. vão embora. não queremos o governo do FMI e da troika!
– nacionalização da banca – com os planos de resgate, o estado tem pago à banca para especular
– abram as contas da dívida – queremos saber para onde foi o dinheiro
– não ao pagamento da dívida ilegítima. esta dívida não é nossa – não devemos nada, não vendemos nada, não vamos pagar nada!
– queremos ver redistribuídas radicalmente as riquezas e a política fiscal mudada, para fazer pagar mais a quem mais tem: aos banqueiros, ao capital e aos que não pagam impostos.
Dispersion in online mobilization
We are many, we are not afraid! Poster by Gui Castro Felga for October 15
Unlike what happened in the run-up to the Geração à Rasca (The ‘Scraping-By’ Generation) event on March 12, 2011, in which more than 70,000 people confirmed their attendance via a Facebook event (and hundreds of thousands took to the streets), participant numbers in advance for 15 October for each of the mobilizing cities – Angra do Heroísmo, Braga, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Lisboa, Porto and Santarém – are very low.
More than one thousand confirmations have only been exceeded in Lisbon (6,594) and Porto (1,720) [at the time this article was published]. The main Facebook page created for this purpose, has only gathered 1,437 likes.
One must wait for the October 15 to verify if these numbers represent a lack of interest in the mobilizations or if they are the result of dispersion of online presence in social networks. Meanwhile, calls for preparatory assemblies and collective creation of posters, banners and other media in various courts throughout the country have multiplied via Facebook.
A group of citizens involved in the organization of October 15 has set up a video entitled ‘Do not make excuses!’, aimed at mocking the motivations of those who decide not to go into the streets:
Mainstream media has not been giving much attention to the organization of the demonstration. News channels [pt] have reported on the government's fear that ‘the social peace will be disturbed’ as a result of the event. The organization has repudiated this possibility in a press release. Renato Teixeira from 5dias.net blog, outlined [pt] the government's statements as a “strategy of fear” to ward the “indignados” off the streets.
Tomás Vasquez, from the blog Hoje Há Conquilhas, comments [pt] a report on the demonstration of March 12 which was aired recently on one of the main Portuguese television channels:
a peça televisiva terminou assim: «A polícia teme que esta movimentação social possa provocar tumultos, os maiores desde 1975». O mundo está a ficar perigoso, os senhores do dinheiro põem e dispõem; a Europa está de rastos e quem paga a factura dos desmandos financeiros são sempre os mesmos, mas quando cidadãos querem mostrar o seu desagrado e «mijam fora do penico» ficam todos em pânico. Compreender os fenómenos sociais e políticos novos em vez de os atacar com caçadeira de canos cerrados é a melhor maneira de contribuir para uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária que cada vez se afasta mais do nosso horizonte.
To finalize, the blog Ladrões de Gado shares [pt] a reflection on collective mobilization:
Quero aprender com todas as experiências que levaram a luta pela emancipação do mundo a algum lado, por mais tenebrosa que tenha sido a derrota. Quero saber das meias vitórias e não do número de pessoas na rua das 15h às 21h de um dia qualquer. (…) É preciso que toda a gente se junte, sim, mas contra o que vivemos agora (e o que temos vivido até agora) e não só por si. (…) A quantidade de vezes que leio e oiço ‹‹eu›› e ‹‹tu›› nestas convocações para o 15 de Outubro faz-me alguma coisa confusão. Não que cada um não seja uma pessoa diferente, (…) mas o que está aqui em causa não é eu e tu, somos nós e a forma como queremos viver uns com os outros.
This post is part of our special coverage page Europe in Crisis.

author: Sara Moreira


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Russia: Investigative Journalists Expose Security Services Monitoring Internet · Global Voices
Gregory Asmolov

Andrey Soldatov and Irina Borogan, famous investigative journalists, describe [ru] software and methods used  by Russian security services to monitor the Internet. Journalists argue that while Federal Security Service (FSB) can easily monitor Russian social networks (like Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki and others), it has problems with monitoring foreign platforms (like Facebook and others).

author: Gregory Asmolov


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Thai Film Archive · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

tilmanbaumgaertel writes a review of the Thai Film Archive. The museum is housed in a replica of the first sound studio in Thailand

author: Mong Palatino


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Thailand: Flood Situation on Twitter · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thais use the hashtag #ThaiFlood to monitor the flood situation in Thailand while English updates are available through the hashtag #ThaiFloodEng


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Trinidad & Tobago: Integrity Commission Chair Resigns  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gerard Best tries to connect the dots between the resignation of the Chair of Trinidad and Tobago's Integrity Commission and the Opposition Leader's rejection of an offer by former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner “on the same day that a Daily Telegraph article reported that ‘Warner…appears to be recorded telling other members of the Caribbean Football Union members they must decide whether to accept the ‘gifts’ of $40,000 (£25,000) each, and urging them to vote for Bin Hammam rather than Sepp Blatter in the Fifa presidential elections.'”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Need for Proper Tender Process  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Afra Raymond continues to blog about the tender process surrounding the proposed development of public lands at Invaders Bay: ” To proceed as things stand is to continue on a path which lacks the necessary transparency and public participation.  The quantities of money involved and the absence of those critical elements means that we would be proceeding with all the ingredients for corruption.”


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U.S. Virgin Islands: No News is Good News  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

News of St. John says that there's an upside to the island being quiet: “There are still 49 days left in H!^&*($#@ season [hurricane season] and so far St. John's doing OK.  A close call, a few brush-back pitches – but nothing bad.”


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United States: “Occupy Wall Street” Gets Stronger · Global Voices
Robert Valencia

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.
When we published our first story on “Occupy Wall Street,” about a group that was camping out on Zuccotti Park, it barely made the front pages of local newspapers.  Currently, with hundreds of thousands of followers that have joined the cause — including union leaders, intellectuals like Slavoj Zizek, and other personalities such as Michael Moore — Occupy Wall Street has captured the attention of the national and internationl media, and the protests have extended to many other cities in the United States, including Boston, Hartford, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Tampa (for a complete coverage  please check the Occupy Together website).
This movement has generated so much attention that it even came to be  a topic for discussion amongst politicians and media professionals, including Eric Alterman of the Center for American Progress, who understands the movement's  “impatience and anger,” and supports what Nobel Prize for Economics winner Joseph Stiglitz once considered “the Era of the 1%,” alluding to the 1% that holds the majority of the wealth in the United States.
Hundreds of thousands of protestors have gathered in the surrounding areas of Wall Street.  Image from  david_shankbone on flickr (CC-BY NC 2.0)
Nonetheless, others do not share this opinion: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, has launched criticisms against Occupy Wall Street, claiming that the economic crisis does not stem from Wall Street but rather the White House, and maintains that the demonstrators should blame themselves for not being millionaires and not having a job (an argumentin line with the Republican and Neoliberal  ideologies.)  As expected, his comments have awoken strong criticisms upon classifying it as an “irrational ideology.”
Bloggers like Robert W. Snyder from nj.com believe that the story of the protest deserves a better angle, since the press has focused more on the confrontations between protestors and the police.
As we saw in the sixties, a peaceful protest was defined by disproportionate coverage of a trouble-seeking minority of protesters. As is so often the case, it was the photos and headlines that were most misleading. Photographs are great for capturing action and anger, but they just can't carry the nuances best conveyed by words.
The Spectacle Blog‘s Joseph Lawler clarifies the difference between Occupy Wall Street and the ultraconservative Tea Party Movement, since some speculate that the former may become a political group.
Judging by photos of Occupy Wall Street activists, the movement, for now at least, appears to be closer to the “rebellious youth” model of protest than the “fed-up citizenry” feel of the Tea Party. We'll see where it goes from here.
Experts confirm that President Barack Obama has attempted to channel the anger and growing strength that Occupy Wall Street has built up to justify his bill on job creation.  Justin Vassallo from The Faster Times, however, believes that Occupy Wall Street has not validated the President's image in order to continue carrying out his mission:
If Obama truly has been following the Occupy Wall Street movement, he must realize a passionate and growing coalition of the American people are already mobilizing without him.
Particularly on Twitter, some have expressed their opinion with respect to Occupy Wall Street's possible political motives, such as Unedited Camera(@Uneditedcamera):
#occupywallstreet this movement is not about political parties. It’s about democratizing our lives.
Chris Spencer (@Chris_M_Spencer), on the other hand, has criticized the movement in the following way:
Definition of a crybaby: being mad at corporations because you're unemployed. @OccupyWallSt #OccupyWallStreet #OWS #futility
Similarly, curmudgeon (@Curmudgeonisto) believes that the movement is wasting its time:
#OccupyWallstreet protesters would be less “poor” if they put half their wasted effort into pursuit of Education/Training/Jobs #OWS #TCOT
OccupyWallStreetNYC (@OccupyWallStNYC) responded to the force used by local authorities:
The best response to their violence is more peace. #occupywallstreet #sep17
Jordan Hammond (@InktViek) describes Occupy Wall Street's fight with a quote from Gandhi:
#occupywallstreet “first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” –Ghandi [sic], they are now fighting us
Below we have a video with commentary from some of the participants:
This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

author: Robert Valencia


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USA: Legendary Computer Scientist Dennis Ritchie Has Died · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Computer science legend Dennis Ritchie died on October 8, 2011 in his home in New Jersey at the age of 70, leaving behind a legacy of enormous impact on global development. Ritchie was the developer of the C programming language, one of the most widely used programming languages of all time.
According to Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing on October 12, one of the first to report the news publicly was Canadian software engineer Rob Pike via Google+. Like Ritchie, he is known for his work at Bell Labs.
She wrote (quoting a C programming pun from Twitter):
One of the few public photos of Dennis Ritchie (1941-2011). Source: Wikipedia (Public Domain)
He was the designer and original developer of the C programming language, and a central figure in the development of Unix. He spent much of his career at Bell Labs. He was awarded the Turing Award in 1983, and the National Medal of Technology in 1999.
“Ritchie's influence rivals Jobs'; it's just less visible,” James Grimmelman observed on Twitter. “His pointer has been cast to void *; his process has terminated with exit code 0.”
The official blog of Taxgedo (a web application to make word clouds) used the words from Ritchie's seminal textbook “The C Programming language” to create a word cloud as a tribute, and wrote:
We lost a tech giant today. Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie, co-creator of Unix and the C programming language with Ken Thompson, has passed away at the age of 70. Ritchie has made a tremendous amount of contribution to the computer industry, directly and indirectly affecting (improving) the lives of most people in the world, whether you know it or not.
A commenter in a science and technology news forum on Overclock.net named Andygoyap even compared him to Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most important physicists and mathematicians in history.
Isaac Newton once said he stood on the shoulders of giants. Dennis Ritchie was a giant on whose shoulders people like Steve Jobs stood on.
….
You don't know him? He is the Father of C, without him Operating Systems (Windows, Apple) wouldn't be here; Games, Programs, Apps on your Apple, Android, wouldn't exist. Many say he is the Father of Computer Science, He has so many achievements…
Anyone who hasn't studied basic programming (with some version of C as their first object-oriented programming language) might find it hard to grasp the importance of such a modest and private person. Ritchie neither flaunted his achievements nor became a business icon.
Most modern computer operating systems such as GNU/Linux and Apple's Mac OS directly descend from UNIX. Computers running UNIX or GNU/Linux basically provide the infrastructure for the Internet, either as servers or routers, or platforms for running applications like Google web search.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Bhutan: Royal Wedding Gifts Country a Queen · Global Voices
Sonam Ongmo

The tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan has received a royal gift – 21 year old, Ashi Jetsun Pema, the new Queen. On 13 October, 2011, the 31 year old King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck wed and crowned her in a small private ceremony at the Punakha Dzong, a 16th century fortress.
It was a much anticipated event for the Bhutanese who were beginning to wonder when the bachelor King, known all over South Asia for his striking good looks as well his attractive personable nature, was going to marry and settle down.
The excitement of the Bhutanese came pouring out on the Twittersphere as well as on facebook and other social media outlets with people posting tributes, good wishes and pictures of the royal couple, with some even going so far as to change their profile pictures to that of the royal couple.
Tshering Tashi, a class XI student of Punakha HSS, wrote this tribute in a guest post on Rikku Dhan Subba's site:
The moment I heard the news,
I emptied my heart, and filled it with happiness,
For I could not help but feel overwhelmed,
For I could not help but feel sheer joy.
The Royal Couple Of Bhutan. Image by the Royal Media Office. Used with permission.
In the weeks leading up to the great event a massive earthquake measuring 6.9 on the richter scale on 18 September, left the country crippled with considerable damage to several ancient monasteries and about 1,200 homes.  From that day right up to about four days before the wedding, the King and his bride-to-be toured the country to assess the damage and reassure people of support.
The Royal Media Officer, Dorji Wangchuk who was in the town of Samchi Southern Bhutan accompanying the King, tweeted :
@Dorji_Wangchuk: Can't believe the royal wedding is just few days away. And we are not even in Thimphu.
Then, just two days before the wedding after about a little over 150 journalists had descended on the tiny Capital, was another tweet from him:
@Dorji_Wangchuk: Another foreign journo calld me. “Hey, there's nothin really happenin here. only 2 days 4 the royal wedding!” “Welcome 2 Bhutan” i told him.
Amongst the Bhutanese it is known that we are great at pulling off last minute preparations, even if it is for the King's wedding.
And sure enough, yet again they did. The wedding, which was live streamed by Bhutan's national television channel BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Corporation), was a spectacle to behold. For many who couldn't make it to Punakha or even Bhutan, even though the bandwidth didn't do justice to the event, it was still helpful in getting a sense of the excitement, being a part of this sacred union as well as getting treated to a rare glimpse of His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan who was responsible for ushering democratic reforms to his tiny Kingdom.
Prominent Blogger and well known photographer in Bhutan, Yeshey Dorji was glued to his screen and wrote:
Even as I write this post, I have one of my eyes on the TV screen where the proceedings of the Royal Wedding that is currently underway in Punakha are being broadcast live by the BBS. It is a beautiful event. The color, the pomp and the pageantry is simply fabulous! I am told that His Majesty had willed that the event should be a very subdued affair. When I look on the TV screen, I cannot fathom how such an event can ever be subdued – the profusion of colors, the solemnity of the occasion, the rituals, the reverberating resonance of the drums and the cymbals and the deep throated gurgling of the Dhung and the soulful musical sounds of the Jaling – they all combine to make the ceremony into something of a monumental celebration. And it should be rightly so, after all, this ceremony goes beyond the formalization of a matrimonial union of two beings. This event is the public legitimization of the appointment of the Queen of Bhutan.
For many Bhutanese these are events that are stamped in history and of memories made with family and the country. A teacher named Passang, who blogs and keeps a “Journal of an ordinary Bhutanese”, said:
How much ever I write today, it is bound to fall far short of what actually happened. Queen of Bhutan is crowned and people far beyond our country have seen the crowning glory. Just for the record, I want to post this so that someday my daughter will grow up to read this and know that she was present at the ceremony.
It seems that on such a joyous occasion some of the Refugees resettled overseas reached out to send their good wishes via comments on an article on   BNS.com  (Bhutan News Service) Some comments, however, were dripping with sarcasm. Parangkush Subedi from Philadelphia and Kashi Pokharel said:
Congratulation HM the 5th King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the Queen Jetsum Pema!
And today, the celebrations continues. As the Royal Couple made their way back to the Capital Thimphu, the highway and the streets of Thimphu were lined with young and old out to greet the King and his new Queen.
Yeatoeh Penjore, a college student, tweeted:
@Yeatoeh: I can still see people waiting to greet the King and the Queen at the end of Norzin Lam. #Bhutan
And Deki Phuntsho, a mother of two, said on Facebook :
Darkness has fallen and still, the public are lined up near the dzong waiting for the royal couple, who have been walking and greeting the public all day. They truly are our ‘people's king and queen’.

author: Sonam Ongmo


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China: Portable Toilet Adapter · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shanghaiist puts forward a design idea of a light weight, portable, easy-to-clean toilet adapter targeting the China market.

author: Oiwan Lam


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India: The Hidden Corruption · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dheera Sujan points out that grass-root struggles like Chhattisgarh's Soni Sori do not attract proper attention in India and their voices are being silenced in a hidden corruption.

author: Rezwan


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Latin America: Music Blog Loves to Discover New Songs · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The blog Amo descubrir canciones [es] (“I love to discover songs”) reviews music from around the world, with a special focus on Latin America. The blog includes specials with songs by country [es], song covers [es], and songs recommended by readers [es]. The latter category includes a post on “Songs to recommend during a conversation in an elevator” [es].


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Nepal: Media Bias On Child Trafficking  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Andrew Undershaft writes about the questionable role of some Nepali print media, which participated in a co-ordinated attack against the rescue mission, which brought 23 missing girls back to Nepal from India.


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Uganda: Heartbroken Ugandans Discuss Failure to Make a Comeback to Continental Tournament  · Global Voices
Rosebell Kagumire

Next year’s African Cup of Nations will be missing many giants in African soccer like Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa but last weekend’s deciding match between Uganda and Kenya was much harder for Ugandans to take in.
The were top of the table as they went into the final game with their neighbours Kenya and they needed a home win to seal their place, the first time they would have done so since 1978.
The expectations were high as Ugandans looked to their team The Cranes to break the 33 year jinx. Ugandans were looking to the stadium to show their nationalism and pride but the day before the match in Kampala, Uganda’s crucial striker and Scottish Premier league club Hearts player David Obua was controversially booted from the camp. Obua’s was ejected out of the national team after he refused to meet with President Museveni who had called on the team at their last training. The decision left many in disbelief.
That evening before the game Obua announced his resignation from the national team and pointed out the fact that Uganda government officials were not supportive of the game but they were only waiting for moments like these for photo opportunities. Before the President visited the Cranes camp, Uganda’s Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and the First son Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba had visited the team and pledged thousands of dollars.
For a whole week Ugandans used Twitter to share news and give morale to their team. The hashtags #UgandaCranes and #WeGo were used.  On Saturday October 8, on the eve of the anniversary of their 49th independence, many Ugandans were in tears as their dream of making a comeback to the continent’s tournament were crashed after a nil-nil draw with Kenya. Kenyans had come to Uganda with little to lose and not much to gain.
The game also had edgy political issues as the Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga was in attendance. The Kenyan fans kept on chanting Migingo, a disputed island on the border with Uganda in Lake Victoria.
Heart-broken Ugandan wearing Uganda Cranes jersey. Image courtesy of echwaluphotography.wordpress.com/.
@Maureenagena said that whoever would win would take Migingo Island:
Funny that `Whoever wins takes migingo Island` #wego #ugandacranes
Ugandans partly blamed their failure to score on the absence of Obua and the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) management. Ugandans were heartbroken and those who went to Twitter discussed the lost opportunity. @Elirri said unless Ugandan politics which acts as distraction is addressed, Uganda will not go for the continental tournament.
@joydoreenbiira said the problem internal wrangles within the national team management:
@obed247 #UgandaCranes has got internal wrangles that in one way or another were sprout by #ObuaSuspension #ItsTime2digDirt out #JustSaying
In the wake of the defeat a Facebook group called “THROW MULINDWA AND HIS GROUP OUT OF FUFA” was created calling for the resignation of the FUFA (Federation of Uganda Soccer Association) management. Members are also busy discussing the reasons why Uganda lost.
Mpiima M David said:
When you see a formerly party animal keep indoors, just know they have hanged their dancing shoes, Mulindwa has failed to deliver and we MUST get rid of him
Shawn Mubiru said that Football administrators in Uganda didn’t pay attention to the game but rather the money that politicians were giving them head of the game:
The administrators of football never thought about the game but the cash they made through abusing the process of ticketing and also the donation from individual political leaders. That is why team morale and togetherness was abused.
The focus shifted from qualification to how much each one will be getting at the end of the day. No wonder I hear one delegate was found selling tickets at the gate at 35k each!
Samuel W'Mugeni said Ugandan fans have two options:
Colleagues, the next General Assembly of FUFA comes in 2013, we therefore have two options, wait until 2013 to throw out Mulindwa and his group OR Find a SHORT CUT. Now what could that short cut be ????
Jose Irumba questioned the ejection of David Obua:
You image those goons didn't know that since 2006 Uganda Cranes has never scored a goal with out Obua on pitch.
Who bewitched them?:
Am reliably informed that the goons are organizing a press conference this afternoon during which they want to officially disband some professionals like Obua. I wonder who bewitched these clowns.

author: Rosebell Kagumire


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Uruguay: Controversy Over Former President’s Statements on War With Argentina · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Former Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said he feared a dispute between Uruguay and Argentina over a paper mill would turn into an armed conflict. “This is a strange story” as Bloggings by boz reports, “and a strange shakeup in Uruguayan politics.” Boz also asks some questions sparked by Vazquez's statements. The BBC reports that Vazquez later said his comments were “inopportune”. The former President also announced he was quitting Uruguayan politics.


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Zambia: Netizens Bay for Ex-President’s Blood · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

When Zambia’s defeated president in the September 20 elections, Rupiah Banda said in his farewell speech that he never knowingly abused state funds but simply did what was best for Zambia, what citizens did not know was that the revelations and extent of the alleged abuse would come thick and fast within the first couple of weeks of the new PF government.
The first revelation was the excess expenditure on the former ruling MMD’s flagship road rehabilitation project in cities and towns across the country as part of its extravagant campaign to have President Banda re-elected together with its parliamentary candidates.  The project overran by over K4 trillion, not a small amount even in US dollar terms at an exchange rate of about K5,000 per dollar.
One morning in the run to the elections, Zambians woke up to find graders and dump trucks busy working on the roads that had not been repaired for ages. They dismissed it as just one of those campaign gimmicks, wishing that elections were held every year so that a lot of development projects could be done annually.
When the new president announced the appointment of a new inspector general of police, he ordered him to probe the possible ilicit payment of an on-going K4 billion per month for the use of customs scanners at one border post by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) allegedly to a top government official.
Another developing scandal was the seizure of about 37 motor vehicles which were used by the MMD during its campaigns. Apparently, these vehicles were part of a consignment of over 200 vehicles brought into the country along other campaign materials for which the then ruling party allegedly did not pay import duty. The now ruling party PF challenged the imports in court but the case was thrown out by a judiciary that apparently favoured the then ruling MMD.
A newly graded road in Lusaka, which was part of former ruling part extravagant campaign. Image courtesy of Facebook user Nkweto Tembwe.
After the elections and a new government installed, the police moved in on their own to probe the source of the vehicles.
Anger began to mount among the citizens after police recovered nearly 1300 bicycles from the former finance minister in the MMD government, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane’s farm just outside Lusaka. The bicycles must have been part of thousands of others that were distributed around the country for campaigns.
Like in the tale of the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, the disclosure by President Sata that his predecessor spent K3.6 billion to buy and airlift two luxury Lexus cars into the country, drove the country into baying for his blood. Netizens, as usual, led the calls for the removal of the former president’s immunity and have him investigated and prosecuted for misconduct during his nearly three year tenure.
One netizen on Zambian Peoples Pact, a Facebook group that discusses Zambian politics, Mutheliso Phiri, disagrees with President Sata’s exposure of his predecessor:
I think it makes little sense to me if President Sata is going to come out in public condeming how his predecessor spent money on luxury. If he is really concerned about the welfare of the people he should be the first to demonstrate it by directing that Cabinet Ministers salaries should be reduced to K1,000,000 and and teachers and health workers should earn K30,000,000 each per month.
He should also ensure that the budget for the President should be lower than that allocated to education, health and agriculture.
A hote debate ensued under this post and attracted nearly 90 responses at the time of writing, Mwandu Nkonde Mwamba, responds:
this post is childish.As a President he is entitled to some luxury even royalty is but it doesnt mean he has to spend recklessly like your president.If your RB was re elected back he would have been flying half the world right now.My president is still in the country and thats part of saving….Mwilalandalanda fye (don't just talk) Let the man work.Your president failed miserably and he should pay for the crimes he committed against us
Muchiti Phiri defends President Sata’s disclosure of the former president’s deeds:
@ Phiri, we call it transparency,there is nothing wrong with Sata's action to disclose. Zambians need to know all the secrete dealings. We have no time of keeping sacred cows. 3.6 billion spent of Lexus,and all you can say is, he made a mistake coming out in Public. You must be joking mwana. There is no need of treating RB as a sacred cow,he is a THIEF who has no heart for Zambia….PERIOD.
President Banda’s speech comes back to haunt him as Derick Kachenjela explains:
WE NEVER KNOWINGLY ABUSED STATE FUNDS. WE SIMPLY DID WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS BEST FOR ZAMBIA. I HOPE THE NEXT GOVERNMENT WILL ACT LIKEWISE IN YEARS TO COME.Could this be what led our Leader behave the way he did or He knew what he was doing? yesterday was so difficult for me,could i be the one to blame as well for having voted him in 2008 thinking he was going to carry on the Mwanawasa dream or who people help me here.3.6billion Lexus,4 billion monthly payment on scanners,too numerous to mention trips in the pretext of looking for investors kanshi it was a trip for bana Junior Tandiwe to visit these Countries and have fun,Buying a limousine in 2009 and only to come and have an accident at the state house gates then fly it back for repair though,we don't even know if it came back or it was sold and money landing at Bandas farm legacy or is it the one they used to buy 2 Lexus vehicles.Hospitals no medicine,poor schools with no materials,poor infrastructure example is ministry of lands,poor roads,poverty,the list is endless where this money could have been channelled.Help me here should i as well apologise for putting a snake in the garden of Eden? Go to council offices or any Government offices and see how bad they look,Its a sorry state of affairs.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Afghanistan: Theater for Social Change · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Kayhan Irani, an award-winning writer and “artivist” from New York, blogs about her experiences in Kabul, Afghanistan training theater groups in the theory and practice of theater for social change.

author: Solana Larsen


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Colombia: Palestinian Leader Mahmud Abbas Visits President Santos · Global Voices
Robert Valencia

Since the month of September, the Palestinian state has stepped up its attempts to achieve one of its most fondest wishes: to be recognised by the United Nations as a member state. The president of the Palestinian territories, Mahmud Abbas, expressed this great desire at the last UN General Assembly, and although the great majority of member states recognise Palestine as a state, countries like Israel and the United States continue to oppose their inclusion– especially when the latter has the power of veto in the Security Council.
In Latin America, the countries that don't recognise Palestine are few –including Colombia. As a result, President Abbas visited Juan Manuel Santos in Bogota to discuss relations between Palestine and Israel, which also includes The West Bank, The Gaza Strip and Eastern Jerusalem territories.
President Santos showed his continued support for the creation of a Palestinian State under the condition that these countries guarantee peace through negotiations. Abbas thanked Colombia for its interest and willingness to initiate new talks on the matter, so much that President Santos reported the results of this meeting to the Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Mahmud Abbas visited various Latin American countries, Colombia included, in search of support to consolidate Palestine's desire for recognition before the UN. Image by flickr user cvrcak1. (CC-BY NC 2.0)
The blog La Polémica [es] reaffirmed the Colombian government's opinion on the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis:
Tuvimos razón en el año 1947: se creó el Estado de Israel y el conflicto  lleva 60 años. Lo que no queremos y no nos parece, y tal vez por ser un  país que ha vivido un conflicto interno nos llega más al fondo, es que  sin un acuerdo de paz, no se debe crear un nuevo Estado.
La Silla Vacía [es] adds that Abbas’ visit to Colombia was a waste of time, according to an article from a well-known news organization, because of the close relations between President Santos and Israel.
Así lo reconoció en un artículo la cadena Al-Jazeera títulado ‘Mahmud Abbas pierde su tiempo en Colombia’ que reveló los negocios de armas entre Israel y Colombia. El artículo -escrito por Sebastián Castañeda, columnista sobre Colombia en esta cadena- cuenta cómo, desde 2006, cuando Juan Manuel Santos fue nombrado Ministro de Defensa, la relación Israel-Colombia se fortaleció.
The blog Nzazaoth [es] points out that convincing Colombia, who is an non-permanent member of the UN's Security Council at the moment, to vote in favour of Palestine is an arduous task :
La tarea en Colombia del presidente de la Autoridad Nacional Palestina (ANP), Mahmud Abbas, no parece fácil. Llegó ayer a Bogotá, en una visita privada, con el propósito de convencer al Gobierno colombiano, como miembro no permanente del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas (ONU), de respaldar el reconocimiento del Estado palestino.
On Twitter, RCN Radio (@rcnlaradio) reported on the reaction of Israeli nationals due to Abbas’ visit:
Israelíes protestan en Plaza de Bolívar por presencia de Mahmud Abbas en Colombia http://turl.co/i/peltz
Santiago Pelaez (@SantiagoPelaezH) combines all the sentiments of the aforementioned bloggers:
#SebastianCastañeda: “#MahmoudAbbas está perdiendo su tiempo en Colombia” http://ow.ly/6U5LF#Internacional#Politica#Diplomacia
Pilipe Anakaleki (@The_Whitedemon) uses humour to show that the only thing that Abbas could get out of a visit to Colombia was a visit to the historical centre of Bogotá:
Colombia ofreció mediación en conflicto entre palestinos e israelíes http://bit.ly/pMDYbG // #Hecho Abbas vino de paseo a conocer el centro.
On the other hand, a tweet from the Communist Party (@notipaco) defends Abbas’ objective on Colombian soil:
Abbas no viene a tratar de cambiar la posición de Colombia en la discusión, sino a buscar salidas para el conflicto con Israel
And Andrea Bernal (@abernalNTN24) believes that despite Abbas’ affirmation that despite Colombia's position relations with the country will not change, he isn't leaving Bogota satisfied:
No creo que Mahmud Abbas, quede muy contento con la posición de Colombia. Santos insiste en sentarse a negociar.


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Global Handwashing Day: Changing Behaviors through Song and Dance · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Logo for the Global Handwashing Day
Do you know how to properly wash your hands? Through song and dance, people from different parts of the world are teaching others the right way to wash their hands to promote health. October 15, 2011, is Global Handwashing Day, and with the slogan “Clean Hands Save Lives”, it puts the spotlight on a simple action that helps decrease child mortality due to preventable diseases.
Hip hop Grammy winners Chocquibtown from Colombia, tell children when to wash their hands and how to do it.
This group of young people in a rural community in Honduras also use Hip Hop to sing about the importance of handwashing in this video  aired on local television.
In this next BBC world trust ad for handwashing in Cambodia, a young boy who is excluded from childrens’ games  until he washes his hands asks a very important question: what if he doesn't have soap? The answer? Just use ash.
Many different organizations are promoting handwashing in different parts of the world.  In the next videos we see the Red Cross’ efforts in Haiti to promote handwashing through songs in Creole, Food for the Hungry in Mozambique shows us a handwashing station that uses a gallon plastic bottle  as a water source and shares the song Mozi's Water, which lasts as long as handwashing should. Foundations Surtigas and Promigas in Colombia have empowered children to express themselves through writing, painting, poetry and singing, with some of the children composing pieces on handwashing and singing in the traditional regional style of Vallenato.
This video from Mexico, bases itself on UNICEF's 2009 Japanese Handwashing Song and names the steps so they are easier to remember: the mountain, the guitar, the motorcycle, the snake, the butterfly and “kamehameha” show that handwashing is certainly much more than just rubbing palms together!
Beyonce's Single Ladies is used as the soundtrack to go through the 5 different steps of handwashing for health practitioners, as shown in this video and dance by Public Health students in Mexico. First removing rings, watches and bracelets, then regulating water flow, wetting hands and using enough soap, washing backs, fronts, sides and tips of fingers and then drying hands with paper towels which are used to close the faucet afterwards.
Health practitioners in Iligan City, Philippines also made their own choreographed  handwashing video to the beat of Jai Ho, from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.
Let's go wash our hands!

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Hungary: “How Many Policemen Does It Take to Arrest A Homeless Person?” · Global Voices
Marietta Le

“How Many Policemen Does It Take to Arrest a Homeless Person?” was the title of a post on October 11, 2011 [hu] on Kettős Mérce blog [Double Standard], which included a video showing eight policemen arresting a homeless man in the District VIII of Budapest.
In fact, it was Attila Kopiás, blogging under the name of KA_Steve [hu], who pretended to be homeless and, with the help of Kettős Mérce's bloggers, recorded what happened after they had called the police and reported that there was a homeless person on a bench of a District VIII square.
The issue generated a huge debate after the mayor of the district, through a referendum, had banned homeless people from public spaces in September. Bloggers followed the cases happening in District VIII and published an order [hu] prosecuting a homeless man for “sitting on the stone with some of his fellows.”
The regulation literally forbids “staying in public space as a lifestyle.” Attila Kopiás told the bloggers of Kettős Mérce in an interview that he tried not to lie to the police, so when they asked him if he stayed at a public place “as a lifestyle” he replied that “it had happened before that I slept in a public place”.
He told Kettős Mérce:
[…] I didn't have any elaborate strategy, I was simply disgusted by the fact that people are not punished for their acts but for their condition. The idea came from me feeling an urge to do something against this unfair system. In addition to this, my mind was not able to accept that in 2011, in Hungary, it can happen that one can be arrested and handcuffed for notorious sitting/lying on a bench. […] I reckoned with nobody taking care of me, and I simply wanted to see what really happens. […]
Commenting on the action, KA_Steve raised the question of what differentiates someone having a picninc at a public space from a homeless. Reflecting this, a version of ‘Picnic in May’ – originally a painting by a 19th-century Hungarian artist – started to circulate on Facebook, published originally by the Tumblr user Prolidepp.
KA_Steve called for action on his blog [hu], sharing legal ways to protest the regulation that punishes those who live on the streets, move a trash can or engage in begging.
Attila wrote this [hu] on Kettős Mérce:
[…] But I want them [the homeless] to know there are people who stand up for them. The way we all want someone to stand up for us when we are in trouble.

author: Marietta Le


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Peru: Paul McAuley, British Priest Defending the Amazon  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
On June 2010, British priest from the De La Salle Brothers, Paul McAuley, received a Ministry of Interior resolution [es] announcing his residence in Peru had been terminated. The priest had been threatened with this measure before, bringing about rejection and solidarity of a considerable part of the population when the problem was about to get worse. His supporters participated in marches and sit-ins to protest the measure.
Fortunately, this was just a threat: Brother Paul – as he is known in Iquitos, the city where he lives – is still in Peru. He is devoted to defending indigenous communities and the Amazonian rainforest of Loreto. He is the head of Loreto Environmental Network (Red Ambiental Loretana [es] in Spanish) since 2004. This organization aims to:
informar y educar a la población de la región Loreto  hacia una conciencia ambiental que sepa valorar los recursos naturales,  promoviendo la sostenibilidad de las comunidades rurales e indígenas.
Thanks to these environmental awareness activities, carried out in the region first and then on the Internet, McAuley and the Loreta Environmental Network have built a good reputation among institutions and people concerned about these issues, and also among those who have gained awareness as a result of its work.
However, the opposite has happened among state institutions and companies that have seen their interests affected by the work carried out by the Network; this was probably the reason behind the repeated attempts to deport McAuley. Regarding this aspect, he talks about his current status in Peru:
This expulsion odyssey Brother Paul had to live through was widely reported internationally; this video from English television is an example.
Something many do not know about McAuley is that he was devoted to founding Fe y Alegria schools in the north of Lima in his early years [es] in the country.
In this video, he talks about the Network's relationship with the Internet and his plans and activities for the future:
In the interim between the date that this interview was conducted and the date of its publication, some of the things he mentioned have already happened. For instance, the Environmental Network now has a Facebook page [es]. In addition to that, the project Maloca del Aprendizaje (“Maloca of Learning”) was finished:
This picture shows the structure of the “Maloca de Aprendizaje”, a community Huitoto-style house. The maloca is a place to meet, celebrate, socialite, and above of all, share traditional wisdom. Our new maloca already houses Good souls.
This beautiful resource is the result of the resistance and vision of Ruben Medina. Ruben founded the Asociacion Curuinsi [es] last year seeking to revalue the culture and wisdom of all indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon.
Finally, Brother Paul talks about the Amazon and its future:
He discusses this same issue in English in this video.
McAuley is not a “rebel priest”, as people who have questioned his stay in Peru have claimed. He has a concrete and informed vision regarding what is happening in the Amazonian rainforest, not just in national terms, but also internationally. It is clearly a Christian vision, but it is very different from that of other Catholic members in the country.
An example of this is a fragment from the manifesto [es] that was published due to the ‘Cristo del Pacífico’ Controversy:
Nuestro Cristo es el Cristo indignado de la Amazonia.
Nuestro Cristo es de la gente excluida, marginada, sin consulta.  Representa a ese Jesús que se parcializó con gente concreta, real y  necesitada. Nuestro Cristo no es de los poderosos. Es el Cristo de los  pobres, de los pobres de corazón que sí saben compartir entre todos
No es el Cristo de los ortodoxos (religiosos o económicos) que  ocupan los primeros lugares, compartiendo sus cocteles en palacios y  embajadas. Nuestro Cristo es de los pueblos ribereños e indígenas que  “no existen”, que no figuran en los mapas y cifras gubernamentales.
Our Christ is the outraged Christ of the Amazon.
Our Christ is the Christ of the excluded, marginalized and ignored people. He represents that Jesus who was fond of real people and people in need. Our Christ is not the Christ of the powerful people. He is the Christ of the poor, of the poor-hearted people who know how to share with each other.
He is not the Christ of the orthodox people (religious or economic orthodox) occupying high ranks, sharing their cocktails in palaces and embassies. Our Christ is of the people from the River and the “nonexistent” indigenous peoples. Those who are neither in maps nor in government figures.
Follow the Loreto Environmental Network [es] on Facebook [es] and Twitter [es] to learn more about these issues.
This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.

author: Juan Arellano


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Russia: The Future of LiveJournal’s Network Effect · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

On October 12, 2011, the Vedomosti newspaper published an article titled “A Half-Dead Journal” [ru] which analyzed the drop in LiveJournal's traffic within the last nine months. The publication provoked a heated discussion on the credibility of journalists’ work, the value of network effect, and the structure of the Russian blogosphere.
Defense of LiveJournal
Svetlana Ivannikova, head of LiveJournal Russia, Demian Kudryavtsev, the managing director of Kommersant Publishing House (one of three main shareholders of the SUP Fabrik, a company that operates LiveJournal) and blogger Anton Nossik (who worked as a ‘social media evangelist’ at SUP Fabrik in 2006-2008) claimed that Vedomosti did a bad journalistic job and misinterpreted the data.
Ivannikova presented graphs that compared the traffic structure of LiveJournal in 2009 and 2010, which showed that the drop in traffic might indeed be connected with seasonal prevalence.
Why LiveJournal is important
The debates on whether or not LiveJournal was losing its audience have been taking place since mid-2010, as more and more alternative social networks entered the Russian market. For a long time, LiveJournal has been a platform of choice for many bloggers. It was so popular among netizens that it got into the spotlight of the Russian big business.
In 2007, it was bought [ru] by the Russian businessman Alexander Mamut and minor shareholders (later Mamut sold a significant share to another ‘oligarch’ Alisher Usmanov and Usmanov-controlled Kommersant Publishing House). In August 2011, Usmanov and Mamut announced that they would sell SUP (some commenters argued that the Vedomosti article was published on purpose by a potential buyer in order to reduce the price).
The preference of LiveJournal over stand-alone blogs or blogs that didn't have friend connections as one of their core functions has been an important distinguishing feature as compared to other countries’ blogospheres. In 2011, however, the platform experienced DDoS attacks, which pushed some users to establish their presence on alternative social networking platforms, such as Google+ and Facebook.
Among other things, the Vedomosti article noted that LiveJournal's financial structure was non-transparent (as a privately-held company, SUP doesn't have an obligation to share its traffic data or financial statements) and that one of the revenue streams was covert blog ad placements, the market whose size even ad analysts cannot evaluate.
Users confused
The observers of the scandal (it also has another aspect: Kommersant and Vedomosti are two main competitors in the niche of business analysis), however, expressed confusion rather than loyalty to their once preferred platform.
Sergey Muhammedov, a popular photoblogger, wrote [ru]:
ХЗ, не верю я в эту статистику, но по ощущениям так и есть. Офигительного всплеска в сентябре после лета я не почувствовал.
Yuri Sinodov, an IT-journalist at Roem.ru, complained [ru] that the problem of LiveJournal was its non-transparent policy in disclosing data. He argued that representatives of LiveJournal could open the data to make bloggers think for themselves, if the Vedomosti article was non-professional, as they claimed. He, however, presented three independent indicators that supported the main thesis of the article: the platform's audience is declining even as the Internet audience in Russia is growing.
The value of the network effect
Sinodov's commenters also discussed the core of the ‘LiveJournal’ case – and the network effect that has been accumulated within almost a decade.
Anonymous commenter Alter Ego asked [ru] why no one was creating an analogue of LiveJournal and whether it was not the platform that was dying but the format:
[…] преданных многопишущих юзеров, составляющих активную аудиторию, сервис в общем устраивает, им главное писать и писать куда-то, потому серьезно развивать сервис или делать более технологичный аналог нет смысла, […], а волна новых людей в такой формат не придет, как его ни развивай и ни оформляй?
User Ilyin wrote [ru] that even if the accounts and files would migrate to any other platform, the real issue would be with migrating the ‘connectivity’ of users:
Путь на новые суперские платформы – это перефасовка с нарушением связности. […] Все связи – сразу оказываются под угрозой. Особенно не зафиксированные в логах, а зафиксированные в человеческих привычках. Мол: “патриотов я могу посмотреть в комментах к постам Тёмы”, “провинциальные сумасшедшие носят красный юзерпик с номером”.
***
Many platforms are much bigger than cities, even bigger than certain countries. Unlike cities, however, they're much more vulnerable to the executive decisions, some of which may lead either to growth or decline. The speed of migration of users, of course, mitigates this vulnerability. Nevertheless, the more content, habits, and relations are created by users, the more real these virtual spaces look.
The case of LiveJournal with its transfer from one investor to another, its non-transparent data, a growing number of both computer and human bots and paid advertisement, resembles the fate of MySpace, a platform that was once worth a billion dollars, but was eventually sold for $50 million and was left with a very specific niche of users.
Unlike LiveJournal, MySpace had never been an arena for political discussions and free speech in authoritarian countries. This puts the process now perceived as a decline in a new perspective and leads to the ongoing questions: 1. How long will it take Russian bloggers to re-build their connectivity if LiveJournal continues to decline? 2. If they don't, shall we witness the first successful massive disruption of political digital networks? 2. If they do, what configuration will the bloggers choose: would it be a unique platform (like LiveJournal of the past 10 years), or a preferred social network, or a hybrid of several social networks?

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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South Korea: Occupy Wall Street Planned in Seoul · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Young people and activists will occupy the streets  of Seoul on October 15 to protest financial inequality. Joining the  “Occupy Wall Street” movement from the United States, South Korean citizen media Wiki Tree released a slideshow [ko] regarding the planned protest.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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South Korea: Photos from Occupy Wall Street Protest in Seoul · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has landed in the South Korean capital, Seoul. Despite heavy rain, lightening and thunder, and a sudden drop in temperature, about 300 people came together for the Occupy Seoul protest on October 15, 2011. They first gathered at outside the Financial  Supervisory Service on Yeoido, Seoul's financial core and later marched on to other places in downtown Seoul.
The twittersphere lit up with tweets and photos sent by young people and activists protesting financial inequality. Some photos were also posted [ko] on Wiki Tree, South Korea's online citizen news site.
Min Gyeong-chul (@mgc0909) tweeted several photos of the protest. In the picture below, his caption [ko] reads, “We are in front of headquarters of the Financial  Supervisory Service. There is heavy downpour and lightening, but we, the 99% resist the financial exploitation of the 1%. ‘Occupy Yeouido in Seoul!'”.
This is another photo he took from Yeiodo:
Posted by Twitter user @mgc0909
The photo below is from a sit-in protest by victims of Busan Savings Bank's failures. There were strong allegations that this scandal-ridden savings bank has used slush funds to lobby government officials and lawmakers to cover up their irregularities.
Posted by Twitter user @mgc0909
Huh Jae-yeon (@welovehani), a journalist and very influential tweeter in South Korea, posted a photo of a citizen wearing a ‘V for Vendetta’ mask. His caption reads, ‘A citizen came to occupy those greedy financial corporations in Yeoido.’
Posted by Twitter user @welovehani
The Police tried to block the protest in the downtown Seoul area. Twitter user @Bwolf96 tweeted [ko]:
역시 월가시위도 불법이라며 저지시키려한다 전세계인이하는데 왜 우리는 못하지
Unsurprisingly, conservative South Korean media harshly accused the protest of being a devious, politically manipulated action. Oh Jun-gyu (@ojkpop) tweeted [ko] against this claim:
월가시위는 순수한데 오늘 서울점령은 불순하다는 보수언론의 망발! 월가시위는 부자증세,공정사회화 등을 요구하는 “정치적” 시위다. 그리고 옳다. 서울시위도 옳을 것.
However, some young people strongly criticized the Occupy Seoul protest, arguing that Occupy Wall Street in the U.S. and Occupy Seoul are like apples and oranges [ko]. Some went even further and leveled downright insults. Oh mi-mi (@Mimi_nuna) tweeted [ko]:
월가 시위하는 것들! 평소에 반미 반미 외치면서 미국이 뭐만 하면 무조건 따라하다가 이젠 시위까지 따라하냐? 그러니 너네가 어디가서 대접도 못받는거야. 좀비들아!
Several responded more rationally, explaining that although the protest itself is meaningful, not many attendees really grasp its concept. Rhee Woong (@Rhee0403) tweeted [ko]:
한국서 월가시위를 지지한다는 사람들조차 그들의 의제를 제대로 파악하지 못하고 있습니다.자본주의에 대한 좌파들의 저항이라는 식으로  스스로 몰아가는데,이건 그런수준이 아니라 민중과 기득권 간의 거대한 싸움입니다.죽느냐 사느냐의 문제인것이죠
Activists groups say that there is another Occupy Seoul protest planned for October 21, 2011.
This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.


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Australian Documentary about Japanese Yakuza · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Jake Adelstein comments on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 2010 documentary, “Yakuza”. The video is now available for viewing on YouTube.

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Azerbaijan: Culinary blogging · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Scary Azeri posts an interview with fellow Azerbaijani blogger Feride Sadikhova Buyuran best known for her blog on national cuisine, AZ Cookbook.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangladesh: Protest Against Beheading Of 8 Bangladeshis In Saudi Arabia · Global Voices
Rezwan

Photoblogger Monirul Alam posts pictures of a symbolic protest in Bangladesh mocking the execution scene of the beheading of 8 Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia as punishment.


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Bolivia: A Judicial Election Without Campaigning · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Sunday, October 16 is Election Day across Bolivia. However, this election is quite different from past elections. Noticeable are the lack of posters, painted walls, and public rallies that are typical of Bolivian elections. Candidates have been prohibited from public campaigning, and had to rely on limited media interviews and spots recorded by the Plurinational Electoral Organ [es].
What is also different for this election is that it will not determine a President, members of Congress, or local Mayors. For the first time in Bolivia, as well as in Latin America, voters will choose 56 judges and magistrates for the Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, Council of the Judiciary, and Agrarian/Environmental Tribunal.
These elections have been guaranteed by the new Constitution with the idea to eliminate the direct naming of judges by the political party that holds majority in Congress, as had previously been the practice. Even though there was a process to allow for objections to certain candidates that could not prove affiliation to a political party, many citizens believe that the ruling party Movement Towards Socialism (MAS for its initials in Spanish) will end up benefiting from the results.
Some of those sentiments come from a statement from Bolivian President Evo Morales in August 2011 at an event in Tolata, who said “I am sure, brothers and sisters, that in these Judicial Elections we'll win with 60 to 70 percent and with 90 to 100 percent in the peasant communities. [es]” There have been some reports of irregularities in the selection process [es], as well as the question of the impartiality of Supreme Electoral Tribunal President, Wilfredo Ovando, who was discovered to have strong ties to the MAS party from his recent campaigning during the re-election of Morales.
Twitter user Gastón (@gastulas) is skeptical about the candidates’ independence and tweets [es]:
“googleen” el nombre de cualquier candidato en las #judiciales2011 y verán su “imparcialidad”. Vergüenza y asco! #YoVotoNulo
However, the general sentiment is that it was very difficult to know the candidates because of the lack of campaign information. Journalist and blogger Andrés Gómez Vela categorizes the various types of voters that could turn out. For example, in his blog Rimay Pampa [es], he characterizes the “legal vote” by those well-informed citizens:
…aquellas que siguieron las fugaces entrevistas a los 116 candidatos y candidatas y se documentaron sobre los antecedentes y méritos de sus preferidos. En otras palabras, los que decidieron soberanamente su voto (¿habrá al menos uno?).
He also notes that there will also be voters that decide based on political party, who have been told for whom to vote. Gómez also refers to votes by those who have no clue for whom to vote because of not knowing the candidates, and will do so by intuition. There have been those that have come out against the elections and will mark the ballot in protest of the government's attempt to build a highway through the TIPNIS, which is called the “environment vote,” as well as the “protest” and “opposition” vote. Finally he characterizes the “conscious” vote and describes it by:
Es la ciudadanía que se precia de ser reflexiva y leer la política desde la realidad. Unos apoyaron el proceso sin ambages, otros con reparos, otros con cálculo y otros con visión histórica. Algunos están arrepentidos y otros decepcionados y otros desorientados. Alistan su marcador negro o rojo para escribir: Fuera, basta, adiós o alguna leyenda contra Evo. Su voto será nulo para el Órgano Electoral, pero, válido para la sociedad.
While it has been prohibited to campaign for individual candidates, it has been unclear whether the opposition leaders’ campaign for a No or Null Vote is allowed. Nevertheless, it has been a position held by many Twitter users, who have been announcing that they plan to vote Null. Social science researcher Roberto Laserna (@roblaser) tweeted:
Conozco a todos los candidatos #Judiciales2011: se prestaron a esta grosera manipulación y eso los define. Son indignos de mi voto. Nulo!
Finally, there has been some documents floating around the internet, as Miguel Buitrago of the blog MABB notes, that indicates the different options how one must mark the ballot in order for it to be considered null. Some may include writing the word TIPNIS in reference to the controversial highway project through an indigenous territory and national park supported by the government, while others have considered writing “Fuera Quinteros” (Out, Quinteros), in reference to the Bolivian football National Team that recently had a poor showing in World Cup 2014 Qualifying matches. Twitter user (@ch0ben) recently wrote [es]:
Nunca he reflexionado tanto sobre la manera más efectiva de anular una papeleta electoral… Es lo que nos toca en estas circunstancias.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Food Around the World on Blog Action Day 2011 · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Every year since 2007, Blog Action Day has united bloggers from around the world in talking about one global issue. Collectively, the thousands of bloggers participating have an audience of millions. And this year on October 16, 2011 they talked about food. See live updates on who is posting here.
Blog Action Day coincided with World Food Day, and many chose to discuss the rise in food prices and global hunger. Here on Global Voices, Juliana Rincón has posted citizen videos on hunger from different countries.
Other Global Voices authors have participated in their own blogs too.
Mexico
Andrea Arzaba from Mexico chose to share some photos from a local food market in Coyoacán, Mexico City on her blog One Lucky Life — reminding her readers that Mexican cuisine was declared an “Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO last year.
Coyoacán food market, Mexico City by Andrea Arzaba
Madagascar
Radifera Ranaivoson Maminirina of Global Voices in Malagasy chose to write about “an incredible food product” from Madagascar that is consumed all around the world, even by astronauts in Space.
I chose to talk about one special Malagasy product, 100% natural, but can compete with medicines and pharmaceuticals produced by devceloped countries.
It's called Spirulina, and it's an edible seaweed, used in many food supplements. Read more about the virtues of Spirulina in Malagasy or in English (thanks to Candy for translating).
Macedonia
Global Voices author Filip Stojanovski in Macedonia is keeping an eye on Macedonian blogs that have signed up to participate in Blog Action Day. He has also shared photos on his blog Razvigor :-) from Bunjakovec food market in Skopje, Macedonia (see also in Macedonian).
Fish for sale at Bunjakovec food market in Skopje, Macedonia. Photo by Filip Stojanovski
Germany
Global Voices in German editor, Katrin Zinoun writes about how food brings people from different cultures together in her blog, dialogtexte.
… it is of no importance, whether the strangers who share a meal belong to different religions or political camps or are even enemies in war. One thing they always have in common: they have to eat. And eating together is connecting people.
So, enjoy your meal! At best with a stranger.
Did you blog about food too?
Depending on your time zone, it's not too late to join Blog Action Day with a post of your own. Feel free to share your links in the comments if you'd like us to take a look.
This year's Blog Action Day is organized by The Voice Project which connects bloggers with important political events through NGO partners. Follow #BAD11 on Twitter!


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Greece: “Hunger is coming” Blog Action Day 2011 · Global Voices
Asteris Masouras

On Blog Action Day 2011, themed this year around food to coincide with World Food Day, veteran Greek blogger Rodia writes [el] about the dangers of continuous austerity imposed on Greece: “We are in a state of siege, and food […] will soon be scarce in my country. It's already happening to families poorer than mine.”

author: Asteris Masouras


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Hungary: War on the Homeless in Budapest · Global Voices
Marietta Le

The Wayward Hungarian, a new English-language Tumblr blog, writes about the recent initiative by a Hungarian activist, who has “hacked” the regulation targeting the homeless living in Budapest's District VIII. The regulation imposes a fine of “up to 250 dollars if one is conducting ‘lifestyle-like’ behavior in public, but the municipality may now also fine the same amount if one stores items in public areas that may be accessories to the selfsame ‘lifestyle-like’ behavior. Items such as blankets for instance. This means that people can be fined for unsettlingly vague things like ‘sitting on a rock’ and ‘having a blanket’.”


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India: A Tribute To Jagjit Singh · Global Voices
Rezwan

Parvinder Singh pays a tribute to the Indian Ghazal music legend Jagjit Singh and shares how his music crossed borders and faiths.


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Japan: Campaign to increase inbound tourism · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

In response to the ministry of tourism's plan to invite 10,000 foreigners to Japan, Danny Choo asks what your travel plans would be. The campaign's aim is to create buzz by leveraging social media to attract tourists to Japan.


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Nepal: Poor Traffic Safety Laws · Global Voices
Rezwan

Nepali Blogger points out that poor traffic safety laws were the cause of the recent accident of a passenger bus in Nepal which cost 41 lives.


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Poland: Election Results Signal Imminent Generation Shift · Global Voices
Kasia Odrozek

No Budapest in Warsaw
On October 9, 2011, the results of Poland's parliamentiary election seemed to be a relief to many and a surprise to everybody. The current Prime Minister (PM) Donald Tusk has become the first Polish prime minister since 1989 to be elected to a consecutive term, but the real dark horse of the election is the anticlerical and libertarian Janusz Palikot, whose party has gained 10 percent of the votes.
With 39 percent of the votes, the centre-right Civic Platform won over the biggest opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice, which took 30 percent of the votes. Its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski commented on the election outcome, saying that “the day will come when Warsaw will be like Budapest,” referring to [pl] the current Hungarian conservative PM Victor Orban.
Donald Tusk is the first Polish leader to be re-elected in a consecutive term. Photo by Flickr user PlatformaRP (CC BY-ND 2.0)
One election, two winners
The biggest surprise, however, was the result of the party “Ruch Palikota” (“Palikot's Movement”), which became the third power in the parliament, even though it was registered only four months ago by a philisophy graduate and entrepreneur Janusz Palikot. In his time as a member of the Civic Platform, Palikot was branded as a political clown and provocateur. His eccentric ways once showed during the infamous press conference, at which he waved a toy gun and a vibrator [pl] in order to draw attention to the case of a young woman who had been sexually abused at a police station. Another time, he brought a bleeding pig's head [pl] to a TV show, calling it a “mafia gift.”
Now, just a few years later, Palikot is not afraid to campaign for sensitive subjects, such as a secular state, civil unions for gay men and lesbians, legalisation of abortion and a more liberal drug policy. With this programme [pdf, pl], he has won the hearts of many young people across the country, especially those who felt that their demands weren't represented by any other party on the political scene.
Twitter user @szwalowski  commented [pl] on October 9:
The voice of Palikot is an expression of the same emotions that make people in Madrid or Tel Aviv go to the streets #wyborcza | Not really #wybory [election]
The same day another Twitter user @pawelbielecki tried to find [pl] the reason for Palikot's succes somewhere else:
Was it a good PR or maybe the voters’ disgust with the Polish political scene that translated into such a good result for Palikot's Movement #wybory
Mateusz Drulis wrote [pl] on the Movement's Facebook wall:
I hope that I will live till these beautiful times when politicians understand that it's no longer about ignoring just one man, Janusz Palikot, but also 1.5 million young Poles who support him and his postulates.
A billboard from the press kit on the movement
Young people consider Palikot much more honest than other politicians and feel attracted to his anticlerical courage. A phrase by a TV journalist about the Generation JPII (Pope John Paul II) facing the Generation JP (Janusz Palikot) seemed to hit the point [pl].
Palikot’s party has also won [pl] in the primary election organized among high school students. Nearly 36 percent of the future voters were in favour of his party. Dave Schiemann commented [pl] on it on the Facebook wall of Palikot’s movement on October 14:
I saw this coming. At a certain age, people already have their opinions formed and they won't change it. In addition, they are not that open for other things as young people are. Palikot's Movement is the party of the future, these 10% of support is just a beginning! Or at least I hope so :)
Blogger Nocri considers [pl] Palikot’s success as a sign of a clear need for change in the Polish society:
He became a new and interesting figure on the Polish political scene. The last election proved that there was a need for changes in the political system that has been manipulating us for 20 years already. He [Palikot] became a symbol of embarassment but also of courageous decisions. He became a symbol among young people – it's him who has won most of the votes among the electorate that all the parties were fighting for.
On Twitter on Oct. 9, @pawel_meteo noted [pl] that Palikot's success was a result of a populist game, comparing the politician and his postulate to legalize marijuana to another populist from the past, Andrzej Lepper.
Civil rights activists move into Parliament
Thanks to Palikot's success, the first transsexual MP Anna Grodzka will enter the parliament, as well the first openly homosexual politician Robert Biedron and a feminist activist Wanda Nowicka [pl]. Just before the election day, the future MP Anna Grodzka stressed [pl] on her blog how much the campaign has changed her life:
During this campaign and during last years I've received so much good from people, I've received so much help and support from many friends that I haven't experienced in all my life. We fight together for a modern and just Poland. For Poland of different but equal people, for our good place on earth.
Tomasz Terlikowski, a Polish conservative journalist and a Catholic activist, reacted on his portal in a post [pl] titled “We go to war”:
[…] The Poles have made the third political power in Poland […] a man whose only merits are shameless attacks against the church, and his people include a guy who calls himself a woman, a woman who made a career on preaching about killing children and a man whose only merit is that he likes other men.
Whatever one may say about Poland's new politial reality, one thing is certain – the election has revealed a profound change that the Polish society has undergone in the past years. A change that all the parties except for Palikot's Movement have ignored. Will Palikot fight for the postulates that have brought him this impressive approval from the young Poles – or will he dissapoint his voters?
Tomek Alfik Frontczak expressed [pl] his hope with a happy post on the Movement's Facebook wall on October 10:
Thank you, Janusz! It's super great! Poland finally has a chance for a modern country, I sincerely thank you. I hope you won't dissapoint these Poles who supported your movement. I don't find words to describe our happiness. Take care and good luck!!!

author: Kasia Odrozek


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Russia: Soccer Team Qualifies for Euro 2012 – “On To Ukraine and Poland!!!” · Global Voices
Donna Welles

Russia officially qualified for Euro 2012 when they finished at the top of their group with a 6-0 win over Andorra on October 11, 2011. The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship is referred to by some as ‘Polkraine 2012′ since it will be held in both Poland and Ukraine.
Citizen media has captured the popular perception of the qualifying round as well as efforts made toward ensuring the proper facilitation of the tournament. Maxxrus1977 posted a Promo for Euro 2012 on a Kiev Dinamo blog, which gets across the intensity and exhilaration the European continent experiences through international soccer tournaments (click here to view).
UEFA Euro 2012 mascots – Slavek and Slavko. Photo by Roger Gorączniak (CC BY 3.0)
World Cup Blog described the rules of the tournament as well as the schedules of the matches in Group B, Russia's group, in a post from July 3, 2010:
Group B for Euro 2012 qualifying will be contested between the following teams: Russia, Slovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia, and Andorra, with the group winner qualifying automatically and the second place finisher entering the playoff round unless they are the highest ranked second placed finisher, which also qualifies automatically.
After this year's September 6 match, when Russia tied Ireland 0-0,World Cup Blog provided this analysis:
Anyway, Russia had a frustrating time in Moscow as they were held to a 0-0 draw by the Republic of Ireland. Russia dominated the game but simply could not find the break through. Shay Given was the strong point while Ireland had no attacks and were almost completely on the back foot. The result keeps Russia in first place ahead of Ireland, Armenia, and Slovakia.
Russian fans commented on the analysis given on the Ireland match on the Russian-language news portal, Football Russia:
seens72: Жаль что не забили… Столько ОПАСНЫХ ситуаций и НЕТ голов! Но игра мне понравилась)
Ruslan: Удачи России в следующих матчах !!! Русские выйдут с первого места !!! Россия вперед на Украину и Польшу !!! )
After the October 7 match between Russia and Slovakia, World Cup Blog had this to say:
All Russian fans now know that their team almost have one foot in the finals. After defeating Slovakia 1-0 through Alan Dzagoev’s long range goal, Russia are now in first place with 20 points and a draw at home to Andorra will confirm a ticket to Poland and Ukraine. In what was a nervous buildup, Russia started very strongly and dominated most of the match. Slovakia found it difficult to find a footing but did have a few sporadic attacks forcing critical saves from Malafeev.
And, as expected, comments made on Football Russia's analysis of this match were more enthusiastic as the article focused on the 71st minute when Russia was finally able to capitalize on a scoring opportunity.
Rusik: Че несете “че на евро нам делать ” ? Выигрывать ! Россия чемпион )))
Edik: Самый сок будет когда в евро на финал попадем и выграем хотя бы со счетом 1:0 это будет что то))))))
Finally, going in to the match against Andorra, World Cup Blog wrote:
Four years ago, Russia faced Andorra in their final Euro 2008 qualifier under very nervous circumstances. Russia had to win and hope Croatia defeat England at Wembley the same day. Well thats what happened. Russia barely defeated Andorra 1-0 while a dramatic game saw Croatia defeat England 3-2. This time Russia sit at the top of Group B needing only a draw to qualify. Only Ireland can surpass Russia if Andorra pull off a major upset on Tuesday. Aside from that, Russia’s task is very direct and clear cut.
Russia not only went on to defeat Andorra, they dominated the match as they kept possession of the ball for a tournament high 72.8% of the match, as OptaIvan reported on Twitter:
72.8% – Сборная России показала наивысший процент владения мячом в квалификации Евро-2012 в первом матче против Андорры. Превосходство.
OptaIvan also cited other interesting statistics regarding Russia's performance in the Euro 2012 Qualifying round.
@malafeev16 is the Twitter account belonging to a Russian goalkeeper out of St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Malafeev:
С момента появления сборной России (лето'92) ей удалось выйти в финальную часть 6 из 10 крупных турниров (2 ЧМ, 4 ЧЕ). Достижение.
***
With regard to the facilitation of the tournament, some Ukrainians and Poles have expressed uncertainty as to whether the benefits outweigh the costs of construction and the disturbance in everyday life. Many stadiums must be rebuilt, there are issues of travel legalities between countries, and all if it must be paid for. The Twitter account “Euro-2012 in Ukraine” announces, among other things, the progress that the construction efforts are making:
Варшавський стадіон відкриють через три місяці після здачі в експлуатацію bit.ly/oYmNjR
Damon on Kiev Dinamo Blog in a post entitled “Do we really need the Euro?” expressed a very honest wonderment as to whether or not Ukraine would benefit in the long term from taking on the responsibility of hosting such an event. At the very least it seems to be a valid question:
Когда только объявили, что Евро-2012 пройдет у нас, я был в восхищении! Наверное, как и все. Прошло время. И я как-то начал задумываться, а что, собственно, это Евро даст народу Украины, – нам с Вами? Вот подумайте, – ну что, кроме зрелища? А теперь тоже подумайте, кто на этом заработает прежде всего. Я не то, что против евро, но как-то, с учетем нашего убожества, это кажется пиром во время чумы. Ну, если я не прав, то разубедите.

author: Donna Welles


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Saudi Arabia Blocks Blogging Platform tumblr  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Social media researcher Helmi Noman tweets: “#Saudi Arabia blocks blogging platform tumblr.com”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Sri Lanka: Vehicle Ownership Has Doubled In Eight Years · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indi.ca reports that “from 2002-2010, the Sri Lankan vehicle population has more than doubled”.


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Taiwan: Occupy 101, merely a translation of Occupy Wall Street ? · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Yesterday(Oct. 15), more than 300 “occupiers” gathered at the 1st floor of Taipei 101, the landmark of capitalism in Taiwan[photo] to protest against the financial industry and biased governmental policy. Sun Qiong-li(孫窮理) of Coolloud.org pointed out[zh] that for Taiwan, our first enemy should be imperialism from US, and the event itself needs to be filled with more actions and discourses.

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Whose Language? The Royal Spanish Academy and Copyright · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Can a language used by millions of people be copyrighted and be the property of an entity or institution? Is its appropriation by third parties legally permissible or ethical?
These questions have recently been circulating online following the announcement that the Royal Spanish Academy, RAE, and Grupo Planeta sent Uruguayan journalist Ricardo Soca to remove content from his website, elcastellano.org, that was considered their exclusive property, such as links to the RAE webpage.  According to excerpts from the RAE document [es] that Soca uploaded to the internet:
queríamos informarle que dicha Institución es el único y legítimo propietario de la marca RAE y de la información contenida en la Web www.rae.es, por lo que queda expresamente restringido el uso de de los mismos.
The document continues:
Con el propósito de evitar prácticas desleales así como de proteger los legítimos derechos de propiedad industrial e intelectual de la RAE, queda prohibida la introducción de enlaces que faciliten el acceso directo a cualquiera de los contenidos de los sitios web de la RAE, salvo en el caso de que se utilicen los procedimientos que la RAE implemente para ello, bien sea por medio de botones integrables en el navegador o de otro tipo de recursos de software.
The document is the typical “cease and desist” used by lawyers in defense of property rights. The request can seem reasonable, as it does not refer to the use of language but rather the resources and content owned by the RAE; however, the case has its difficulties. The affected journalist, Ricardo Soca, thought [es] says that an institution like the RAE should not be guided by profit:
Pero la RAE retacea el fruto de su trabajo por razones comerciales: su diccionario no ofrece en la web todos los servicios de su versión comercial en disco, el Nuevo Tesoro Lexicográfico de la Lengua Española no ofrece en la red los mismos servicios que su versión de pago en DVD, y no permite la divulgación de sus trabajos fuera de su página web por razones comerciales.
Soca adds:
En efecto, es sorprendente que una compañía poderosa como el Grupo Planeta pueda presentarse en nombre de la Real Academia, presionando para impedir la divulgación en la internet de obras en cuya elaboración han participado las veintidós academias, como es el caso del Diccionario de la lengua española y pretende imponer las leyes del reino a los países hispanohablantes.
The association between the RAE and Grupo Planeta can seem strange, but Periodismo Humano's Juan Luis Sánchez clarifies [es]:
La Academia es una corporación pública financiada al 50% por las grandes empresas españolas […] a través de la Fundación pro RAE, precisamente creada en 1993 para ‘canalizar la ayuda’ de la sociedad civil. El presidente de honor de la Fundación pro RAE es el Rey de España.
He also informs of other consequences from this action on behalf of the RAE:
Esta estrategia […] ha provocado indirectamente el cierre de otra página relacionada con la RAE. Esta vez se trataba de una “versión mejorada” para consultar del Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas elaborada por Franz Mayrhofer, un hispanista colaborador del Instituto Cervantes (aquí su ficha profesional) en California.
Additionally, Sánchez mentions the case of Gabriel Rodríguez from Dirae.es [es], and explains that this search engine directs users to the RAE through a link. Nevertheless, citing and linking is not accepted under the Academy's copyright policy either.
En defensa de Dirae, su autor explica que “hace exactamente lo mismo que buscadores como Google”.  Es decir, “busca en los contenidos de los sitios, muestra un extracto  del texto coincidente y enlaza a la página”. De hecho, si usamos Google  podemos hallar resultados muy parecidos de “tela”. ”Con  la diferencia”, dice Gabriel Rodríguez, “de que Dirae no tiene  publicidad y no genera lucro alguno, al contrario que Google o Bing.  Pero claro, la carcajada que produciría una amenaza de Planeta a Google  se escucharía en todo Mountain View”.
After giving these examples of enriching uses of information that the RAE expects to “privatize” in some way, Sánchez concludes:
mientras que la web del diccionario de la RAE es tosca y poco usable, alternativas sin ánimo de lucro como las de Franz Mayrhofer o Gabriel Rodríguez ofrecen, por un lado, una experiencia más agradable y, por otro, servicios que directamente la RAE no desarrolla.
¿Debería la RAE permitir el uso sin ánimo de lucro de sus bases de datos, sus definiciones, sus normas? ¿Debería permitirlo incluso con fines comerciales? Todo este asunto sería un debate sobre la propiedad intelectual de lo público, parecido al que suscitan las políticas de transparencia, si no fuera porque el ecosistema de la Academia no es meramente institucional.
while the RAE dictionary webpage is rough and barely usable, non-profit alternatives like those of Franz Mayhrofer or Gabriel Rodríguez offer, on one hand, a more satisfying experience, and on the other, services that the RAE does not directly develop.
Should the RAE allow the non-profit use of their databases, definitions, and regulations? Should it permit it even with commercial purposes? All of this would the subject of a debate on public intellectual property, which the transparency policies seem to have given rise to, if it weren't for the fact that the Academy's ecosystem is not merely institutional.
Criticisms and reactions in the blogosphere
The Soca case has put these types of practices up for debate. In times when schools of thought like #opendata (open data [es]) are permeating public institutions little by little in the name of more transparency, the RAE seems to encompass views of the past. Nonetheless, this is a consequence of the liberalization, or perhaps mercantilization “in extremis,” of the state and its resource,s and Grupo Planeta is simply defending its contribution (and more importantly, its investment) in the RAE. As such, many express [es] that the RAE should be privatized entirely or return to being entirely public, with diverse consequences in each case.
Ebaste, from the Crónicas desde el Molino blog, states a series of criticisms of the RAE and says [es] that the institution has lost its way and is going through a serious identity crisis. With respect to the copyright of the Academy's works, he says:
Muchos de estos trabajos, especialmente los diccionarios, han sido desarrollados a lo largo de 300 años por muchas personas de un modo desinteresado o pagado por todos. No es aceptable que ahora se le apliquen restricciones de derechos de autor en beneficio de grupos editoriales privados.
In Alt1040, Geraldine Suárez writes about linking, something that the RAE is prohibiting when it comes to their content, and demonstrates [es] her opinion on copyright:
En defensa de la RAE solo me gustaría señalar que no es una obligación adaptarse a la sociedad de la información, aunque es deseable, especialmente en el ámbito académico. Claro, sí la RAE solo esta interesada en el lucro y no en la difusión, podemos esperar que siga estancada en el siglo pasado, apropiándose del dominio público y además, reclamando que es de su propiedad™.
Jorge Fondebrider, from the Buenos Aires Literary Translator's Club blog (Club de Traductores Literarios de Buenos Aires), tries to see the whole picture and is of the opinion that RAE's actions are just the tip of the iceberg. He bases his opinion on RAE's advertised [es] webpage, financed by Telefónica, and quotes blog Addenda et Corrigenda [es] to say [es]:
“Desengañémonos –concluyen en Addenda et Corrigenda– : todos ellos, y no nosotros, son los amos de la lengua y la cultura en español.” […] La noticia del atropello a Ricardo Soca no circuló en los diarios, […] En el ámbito privado, salvo unos pocos amigos españoles conscientes de la gravedad de los hechos, la mayoría de quienes estaban al corriente se mostraron indignados en primera instancia, pero al saber que en el trasfondo hay una política económica y geoestratégica del Estado español que tiene la lengua como eje central (política de la que come toda empresa española relacionada con la lengua, a no olvidarlo) muchos fueron archivando la cuestión. Y así están las cosas.
“Let's face the facts — they conclude in Addenda et Corrigenda — : all of them, and not us, are the owners of language and culture in Spanish.” […] The news of Ricardo Soca's outrage did not circulate in the papers, […] In the private atmosphere, except for a few Spanish friends conscious of the gravity of the events, the majority of those that were up to date proved indignant at first, but upon learning that in the background there is an economic and geostrategic policy on behalf of the Spanish state that has language as a central axis (a policy that every Spanish company related to language follows, not to forget it), many began forgetting the question. And that is how things are.
The question, then, is what can be expected of Spain and what are the Latin American governments and associations going to do with this concealed privatization of a language, which is everyone's heritage.
Nonetheless, people have not given up, and have created a blog titled RAE: Public Domain (Because language belongs to everyone) [es], which in its “About Us” [es] indicates:
Convertir el patrimonio de todos en un monopolio es una aberración y un abuso. Por eso, exigimos que la información recopilada y gestionada por la RAE – recordamos, con dinero público – pase al Dominio Público de forma inmediata.
There is also an online petition directed at the RAE, “Language belongs to everyone, not only corporations.” [es]
Finally, the post “Everything about my RAE®. The long line on the Ricardo Soca issue“[es], from the aforementioned blog Addenda et Corrigenda [es], compiles the most relevant and revealing information about the topic. Related hashtags to follow on Twitter are #RAEcensura #RAEdominiopublico #defineRAE #RAE.