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Trinidad & Tobago: More on Guardian vs. Blogger  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

KnowProSE.com weighs in on the battle between a Trinidad and Tobago blogger and a mainstream newspaper: “I don't necessarily agree with everything Richard writes or how he writes it – but I think that he has the right to express his opinion.  When you threaten legal action in a case like this, you're threatening not just someone who wrote something on a website. You're threatening a reader. You're threatening social media and setting a precedent that can have a nasty whiplash…”


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USA, Mexico: Astronaut José Hernández Twittering from Space · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Astronaut José Hernández is currently orbiting the Earth as part of a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station, and he is twittering while he is on the 13-day mission.
As a U.S.-born son of Mexican immigrants, Hernández spent half his life in the country of origin of his parents and the rest in the United States.  According to Mexico Reporter, he is a national hero in Mexico and his life story is an inspiration to many in both countries. Hernández is a former migrant worker, who worked in the fields alongside his parents, and now he has made his first trip into space.
Astronaut José Hernández and from Wikimedia Commons
His bilingual twitter account has been providing updates during the preparation for the launch, which was originally scheduled for August 25. Due to some mechanical difficulties, it was pushed back several days.  The false starts and the repeated preparation routine began to have a familiar feeling after awhile:
Going for a nice run. Looks like todays weather will cooperate for tonight's 1:10 a.m EDT launch! Feels like Ground Hog Day! :-)
It was during these preparations, when Hernández had a phone conversation with Mexican President Felipe Calderón.
Finally the day arrived, and the Space Shuttle launched into orbit on August 28. Once Hernández was already in space, he  provided his thoughts on his first day in space:
Settling in and realizing my dream… Micro G is great. Finished setting up the computers and ready for bed! Don’t need pillow!
For the next two weeks, Hernández will provide updates about the mission's activities and future activities:
#onorbit Finished flight day 3 & docked to the Station. Met our 6 neighbors & they seem nice! So nice we are giving one of them a ride home!
Follow his tweets for the rest of the mission at @Astro_Jose

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Eduardo Avila


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Vietnam: Blogger fired by newspaper · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogger Huy Duc, who writes under the pen name “Osin,” was fired from his job in a Saigon newspaper after Communist authorities in Vietnam complained about his writings

author: Mong Palatino


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Vietnam: Education system · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Economist Peter Nelson writes about the education system of Vietnam.


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Afghanistan: Journalist murdered  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nick Fielding reports that journalist Janullah Hashimzada, 37, was shot dead by four masked gunmen in Afghanistan in result of a targetted assassination.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: New Strategy Needed  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reflects on the statement made by the U.S. military official that there needs to be some fundamentally new thinking in Afghanistan, rather than new troops.


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Bahamas, T.C.I., U.S.A.: Google & Democracy  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Google states that it may very well hand over journalists’ IP addresses in connection with the exposure of alleged corruption in the Turks and Caicos, Bahamian blogger Nicolette Bethel comments: “Google’s action threatens the ability — indeed the possibility — for true democracy ever to exist in these, our little nations (and by extension those nations that really really need the anonymity of the internet to fight the physical oppression that they face).”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bermuda: Consistent Message · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The announcement that the expat with a cannabis conviction has been granted a work permit because of his importance to the international business community is disappointing”: Bermuda's 21 Square thinks that the move “simply does not send the right message.”


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Bhutan: World’s Youngest Democracy  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Liz Warren at Teaching in Thimphu comments on the progress of the people of the world's youngest democracy: “Bhutanese are increasingly inundated with ads telling them what to want, news telling them what to believe, and programs (usually made outside of Bhutan) explaining what’s cool, it is an opportune time to use critical thinking skills and become media literate”.

author: Rezwan


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Brazil: Can black people drive luxury cars? · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Towards the end of August the simmering debate about racism and prejudice in Brazilian society was stirred up by a case that has provoked outrage throughout the country. Januário Alves de Santana, a black man in his late thirties, was beaten by a couple of security guards as he waited for his wife and children in the car park of one of the largest international retailers in Brazil. He was accused of trying to steal his own car [pt]. The attackers clearly thought that because he was black he wouldn't be able to afford a Ford EcoSport (a model of car considered upmarket in Brazil).
Picture by Juarez Silva Jr.
Rachel Glickhouse, from Adventures of a Gringa, describes the course of events of August 7th in detail, as told by Januário. She blogs in English:
Standing outside of the car, he noticed more suspicious men approaching him. Then one–who was actually a security guard–approached him and took out a gun. He attacked Januário without identifying himself, and Januário didn't know if it was a mugger or a cop. While they struggled, passersby called for help, and Januário thought he was saved. Several security guards from Carrefour approached, and he explained that it was a misunderstanding–he was not in fact trying to steal the motorcycle nearby. The security guards grabbed him and took him inside to a small room to “work out” what had happened. “So,” they said, “you stole an EcoSport and were trying to take a motorcycle, too?”
The five security guards then proceeded to beat Januário senseless, in what the original report called “a torture session,” hitting, punching, headbutting, and pistol-whipping him, knocking out his teeth and leaving him bleeding heavily. Januário says he tried to explain that the car was his, and that his baby daughter was inside while his family was shopping. His attackers ignored him. “Shut up, n*****. If you don't shut up, I'll break every bone in your body,” one of them yelled. They laughed when he insisted it was his car. The beating lasted around twenty minutes, before the police arrived.
And she adds that “the torture wasn't over yet”, even after the arrival of the police:
One of the military policemen, by the name of Pina, didn't buy Januário's “story.” “You look like you've been in jail a couple of times. Come on, fess up, it's ok,” the police officer said. Another police officer didn't believe he was a security guard, and started quizzing him about security rules. Finally, the police went to Januário's car and confirmed it did in fact belong to him and his wife. His family was there, shocked to see him bleeding with cracked teeth, and his daughter was still asleep in the car.
The police left without offering to send an ambulance or helping him. Taken to hospital by his family, Januário was treated for shock and lacerations. He has since lost 8 kilos, has been suffering from insomnia and has not been able to return to work. Last Thursday, he underwent an operation to correct a bone fracture in his skull. The family has logged a complaint with the local police, but according to the police version, his beating was a result of “a disturbance” and “a fight between a few shoppers”. Carrefour has issued a statement expressing its regret at the misunderstanding and saying it will cooperate with the investigations [pt].
Meanwhile, Januário plans to take both the retail chain and the State of São Paulo to court, and to sell the car, which he is still paying off in R$789 [approximately $419] instalments, spread over a set of 72 instalments.
The case has had repercussions all over the country, with most people sympathizing with Januário, but this is not the first time that something like this has happened. As the Censurado [Censored, pt] blog points out [pt], many other acts of prejudice against black people have been committed by the security personnel of this same retail chain. The blogger ironically asks the readers:
Queria um conselho dos meus leitores. Se um dia eu precisar comprar, sei lá, um shampoo no Carrefour, devo levar um amigo branco junto comigo?
Maria Frô [pt] replicates the original news story by AfroPress [pt], adding a different headline that paraphrases the Brazilian bestseller “Não Somos Racistas” [We Are Not Racists] by journalist Ali Kamel. The title of her blog post is:
É, segundo Kamel, não somos racistas. Só quase assassinos.
The Pão e Rosas [pt] blog vehemently repudiated the case. It follows the same line of argument, disputing the myth that cultural melting pot Brazil is a harmonious racial democracy:
Enquanto os discursos de intelectuais, políticos burgueses e dos meios de comunicação afirmam veemente “Não somos racistas”, vem à tona um caso escandaloso de como o racismo se reproduz nas formas mais violentas e repugnantes. Todo a falácia da democracia racial cai por terra frente a casos como este – e poderíamos listar tantos outros que ganharam repercussão e depois foram esquecidos, na maioria das vezes marcados pela impunidade.
Juarez Silva Jr., from Blog do Juarez [pt], wonders if it is indeed true that discrimination against black people in Brazil is a social, not racial, problem:
quando o negro sai do seu “esteriótipo  e ‘lugar’ social ” ele “paga o preço”, afinal se ele não tivesse um carro bacana, talvez nada disso tivesse acontecido não é mesmo ???? , cansado de ter problemas por sua situação social não condizer com o “esperado” pela sociedade, a vítima já pensa em vender o “carro problemático”  […]
Deus me livre de por as rodas do meu vistoso Adventure no estacionamento dessa rede…, BOICOTE JÁ.
"Racist Carrefour", a demonstration against racism on car windows in Carrefour's car park. Photo by @berlitz on Twitpic
On the Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra [Geledés Black Woman Institute, pt] website, many people lamented this news and voiced their indignation in the comment box. For instance, Ayraon says:
Só no Brasil se acha que o racismo é velado. Velado nada! Só não vê quem não quer, ou seja, o povo brasileiro iludido por uma visão deturpada de si mesmo. “Somos mestiços!” diz um, “Não existe preto ou branco” diz outro na hora que esse preto inexistente diz sofrer racismo. Lá fora, quem conhece o Brasil, não consegue entender como esse país pode, por tanto tempo, esconder seu racismo doente. Aqui dentro, vivemos na insanidade coletiva: brancos acham que racismo não existe, que tá na cabeça dos pretos (que, segundo alguns pretos e brancos, não existem), negros dizem que o racismo brasileiro é “velado”; e muitos aceitam essa situação (alguns até dizendo nunca terem sofrido racismo, mesmo sendo alvo dele todo o dia). A história do bahiano me deixa triste , por que ela v ai se repetir, e se repetir, e se repetir sem que façamos nada. Ou iremos fazer algo?
To answer the blogger's question, the protests have begun. There was a demonstration on August 22nd, and according to Geledés a bigger protest against the retail chain will take place on September 5th.
Race is a very complex issue for countries that once were colonies of developed states and overshadowed by slavery; a lot of prejudice remains in modern society. Brazil is marked by the violent slavery of black Africans, which lasted for over 300 years and was, to a certain degree, the linchpin of the economic framework during the colonial era. Racism has always been linked to social relations in this country. Black people here today have inherited this social stigma and suffer from racism in many aspects of their daily life. But this is all food for thought, and material for another post.

author: Diego Casaes


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China: Newly invented Han characters · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Recently the Ministry of Education of PRC has announced a list of 44 Han characters to be adjusted in their writing style. The adjustments were so insignificant and redundant that most netizens criticized the ministry of creating trouble. Even the Xinhua news described the adjustment as “plastic surgery”.
However, the Ministry of Education's announcement has inspired many to create new Han characters by themselves. And the new invention has reflected the internet culture and netizens’ frustration in China.
Egaobaike has collected three newly invented characters from different sources. The first one is pronounced as “Nan”. It is composed of two Han characters: 腦殘, meaning brain damage.
It is a commonly used term in the Internet for criticizing patriotic youths for their inability to think independently.
The second one is pronounced as “Wao” which is composed of 五毛, meaning 50 cents. It refers to the group of commentators who are paid by the government or CCP to shape public opinion in major websites and forums.
The last one is pronounced as “Diang”, which is composed of 黨中央 three words, meaning the central committee of CCP. The new word refers to the absolute political correctness that cannot be questioned.
It is quite obvious that the spoof is full of dark humor against the domination of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  In fact, some twitterers reported that the third character “Diang”, which was invented yesterday, has already been harmonized.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Cuba: National Team to Compete in Baseball World Cup · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mi Columna Deportiva [es] analyzes the roster for the Cuban national baseball team that will participate in the 2009 Baseball World Cup.  Many of the players are returning from the Olympic and World Baseball Championship teams.


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Ecuador: The Latest BarCamp Held in Santa Elena Province · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Ecuador's newest province created in 2007, Santa Elena, was the site of the third BarCamp to take place in the country in 2009. On August 29, 2009, participants from across the country arrived to the Equator Technological University – Salinas Campus [es] (UTE of its initials in Spanish) to take part in the event. These types of “un-conferences” are becoming the norm in a country where it is estimated that 20% of the total population has internet access [es], which represents about 3 million people according to the most recent census.
Photo of BarCamp Santa Elena by Calu77 and used under a Creative Commons license.
Tania Tamariz of Comunicación Corporativa y Nuevas Tecnologias [es] was pleased that the BarCamp was held in Santa Elena, a city near the sea and famous for the popular Salinas Beach, and not in the traditional larger cities like Quito and Guayaquil.  This gave the chance for a new audience to learn and share experiences about these subjects, which were especially focused on technology applied to education, business, and innovation [es]. Some of the specific topics [es] included the use of open-source educational technology, web 2.0 tools for secretaries, and a topic on “breaking myths” regarding the use of the internet in Ecuador.
José Sandoval of Dourmond's Blog traveled 12 hours from his city Loja, in order to attend the BarCampSE [es]. He is an expert on management and information technology, but his reason for visiting the Santa Elena Peninsula, was primarily to meet others, who he only knew from online interactions:
Encontrarse, físicamente, con todas las personas con las que día a día compartes por medio de la Red de Redes, le da ese toque de presencialidad necesario mediante el cual dejan de ser desconocidos de quienes sabemos mucho por sus twits, blogs, scrobblings, etc. y pasan a ser personas de carne y hueso con quienes compartimos nuestro Geekismo y pasión por temas en común.
To physically meet those people with whom you share with on a daily basis through the internet, gives one the feeling of being there, where one goes from being unknown to those who we only know through their tweets, blogs, scrobblings, etc. to become flesh and blood with whom we share our “geekism” and passion about these common themes.
Alfredo Velazco was one of the participants at the BarcampSE and he spoke about the internet penetration in Ecuador [es] He said that 23% of Ecuadorian users visit the web to check out social networks, followed by a minor percentage who navigate the web to read news, and the pursuit of educational activities. Statistics also show that most users are between 20-34 years old. The percentage of people using Facebook is concentrated in the main cities: Quito (45%) and Guayaquil (51%).
Another blogger, Pablo Rosero of Original P [es] is frustrated because the participants in the last 3 BarCamps have been, in his opinion, misusing the term web 2.0. He writes that these individuals are following the current tendency to label everything produced on the internet as web 2.0, and he explains:
2.0 no significa el WWW2 o una super evolución de la infrascructura del Internet. Fue una lenta transición en la adoptación de otros códigos para el desarrollo de sitios web, nada más. No es que está por venir, ni nunca realmente se lo sintió llegar como una transformación instantanea de toda la “red de redes” (Lease: Internet). Ya se sabe que el Internet es parcipativo, exponencial y se seguira desarrollando continuamente.
Conferences or “un-conferences” of this kind are not a surprise in Ecuador. More and more communities are continuing the trend in Latin America to organize these types of BarCamp, and as Lina María Ceballos of Pulso Social [es] notes that these events are becoming more decentralized and appearing in smaller localities.  The next BarCamp is scheduled for November 28, 2009 and will be hosted by the Technical University of Loja [es] during the city's anniversary month.

author: Milton Ramirez


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El Salvador: The Issue with Street Protests · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Street protests in El Salvador are of a concern for Chambita Hernandez of Gatos Frentudos [es], who writes that everyone has the right to free speech, but that it should not interfere with others’ right to free transit.


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Global Voices + Conversations for a Better World · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

A new blog sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called Conversations for a Better World has commissioned Global Voices bloggers to help them highlight online conversations about population and development around the world.
At least a dozen Global Voices bloggers will be sharing stories from their blogospheres about environment and climate change, youth and sexuality, motherhood, reproductive rights, and more, over the next six months on Conversations for a Better World.
Every month there is a new subject and two new bloggers will take the reins. Ayesha Saldanha (Bahrain) and Rezwan (Bangladesh) co-edited the stories in August, and they will be followed by Ndesanjo Macha (Tanzania) and Njeri Wangari (Kenya) in September.
So far, we've heard from HIV-positive bloggers in Africa and Asia, attitudes to AIDS in the Middle East, and Indian bloggers on farmers facing extreme poverty committing suicide.
This is a great opportunity for us to reach non-governmental organizations and a UN audience, and for Global Voices as whole  it is also a very welcome alternative source of income. We are cross-posting the Global Voices entries from Conversations for a Better World on a special coverage page on this website, and sending back links to all the translated versions from Lingua websites.
Conversations for a Better World is still growing and looking for more volunteer contributors. We're encouraging our own community to take part by submitting their stories, and it's easy for anyone else to register and share articles or comments too.
We still have much work to do in chipping away at barriers to development caused by ignorance or lack of awareness. By reading and speaking more openly about many of the things bloggers around the world see in their daily lives we can all help make a small difference.

author: Solana Larsen


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Jamaica: Reggae Shows Cancelled  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton suffers from the cancellation of international shows thanks to his homophobic lyrics, The Wickedest Time says: “I don't get offended by the music, mainly because its practically a cultural norm…but we have to think about the people we offend.”


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Jamaica, U.S.A., Canada: Health Care  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican diaspora blogger Pamela Mordecai examines U.S. President Obama's health care plan and says of the controversial abortion issue: “If we truly want women not to have abortions, what we must do is create a social, economic, and moral context that will encourage them to keep their babies.”


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Japan and Taiwan: Comparing the LDP and KMT · Global Voices
David Reid

The election in Japan over the weekend brought an end to more than 50 years of almost continuous rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The KMT also continuously held power in Taiwan for a similar period of time. Sponge Bear makes some comparisons between the LDP in Japan and the KMT in Taiwan.

author: David Reid


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Japan: New map of politics · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yoko Akimoto wrote a letter to Asia social movements mailing list on the implications of the landslide victory of Democratic Party in the General Election on social movement in Japan. The letter is reposted at interlocals.net.


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Kazakhstan: Chronicles of the Rights Activist’s Case · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sorge writes that discrepancies in the media reports about the criminal case against the well-known human rights activist, along with the contradictory results of the expert examinations trigger concerns of the general public in Kazkahstan.


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Kazakhstan: Problems of Balkhash Lake  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Michael Hancock reports on the current status of Balkhash Lake, a unique water reservoir in Kazakhstan, which risks repeating the destiny of the Aral Sea.


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Kazakhstan: The Nursultan Nazarbaev National Library · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Michael Hancock reports on the new grand architectural design for the Kazakhstan's new capital Astana – the favorite pet project of the country's president.


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Kazkahstan: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Past and Future · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Timur writes about the history and present condition of the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan – the largest and oldest operational space center in the world.


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Kyrgyzstan: Celebrating Independence Day · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sergey publishes a photo-post about the celebration of 18 years of independence in Kyrgyzstan, often dubbed as the «island of democracy» in Central Asia.


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Morocco: Four Perspectives on Sexual Harassment · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Sexual harassment is defined by intimidation, bullying, or coercion of a sexual nature and is, by all accounts, something that happens the world over.  Although cases of sexual harassment in Egypt have received global media attention of late, bloggers in Morocco have been assessing the situation closer to home.  The bloggers, both male and female, foreign and Moroccan, offer a variety of perspectives on the issue.
Liz, a Fulbright scholar working in Agadir, in southern Morocco, compares her experiences in the United States, Egypt, and Morocco in this excellent blog post.  Of her experiences in Morocco, she remarks:
My experiences with sexual harassment in Morocco have been 99.9% verbal. Unlike in Cairo, where I was often physically grabbed on the street, here the harassment comes mainly in the form of catcalls. It can be anything from a man whispering “Ca va?” as I pass on the street, to a glue-sniffing teenage boy in my old neighborhood shouting broken vulgarities at me, to a man following me and a friend for 15 minutes, asking us all the way if he can practice his English with us. In more escalated cases, men in cars will follow women, commanding them to get in, or will use a crowded city bus as an excuse to grope and fondle.
The blogger notes her realization that sexual harassment is about power struggle rather than sex itself, linking to another excellent post on the matter and, assessing how the paradigm relates to her country of residence, states:
How do these ideas apply to the Moroccan context? Firstly, it's hard to argue with the assertion that Arab states, Morocco included, are patriarchal. Family is perhaps the paramount social institution (often, multiple generations live together under one roof), and within the family roles and authority are clearly defined: Younger members defer to older ones, women defer to men. Women are, first and foremost, wives and mothers, roles which relegate women to the home, whereas men have freedom of mobility. This structure leads to what Kandiyoti refers to as the “patriarchal bargain”: younger women buy into a social structure that restricts and subordinates because someday, as older matriarchs, they will be able to restrict and subordinate the wives of their sons.
Bisahha is a blog written by a Dutch anthropologist living in Rabat, Morocco's coastal capital.  In a lengthy post documenting her feeling of otherness, the blog's author assesses how that otherness affects her treatment on the street as a woman:
All women receive attention on Moroccan streets, but I doubt a Moroccan woman is told in syrupy slick English that she is “very niiiiiice,” or that he “likes your size.”
Peace Corps volunteer Duncan, writing about racism in Morocco, touches on a similar theme.  He notes that foreign women who look Arab are often subject to different treatment than other foreign women:
If a woman appears Moroccan, different dress and behavior is expected of her. White female volunteers certainly receive harassment, but with my limited experience I would argue that it is of a different sort. Because of her appearance, the volunteer who (sort of) appears Moroccan was held to the standard expected of Moroccan women, exposing the double standard. Dressed conservatively by American standards, but with her hair uncovered, the volunteer received lots of vulgar sexual harassment from Moroccans – harassment that a white woman would probably not get in the same situation. Swimming in the ocean, the volunteer received vulgar invitations that a white volunteer probably would not receive in the same situation. In her site, the volunteer was assaulted in public, in plain view of several people. When asked, after the fact, why they didn’t come to her assistance, the people said, “Because she looked Moroccan.” The volunteer speaks Arabic well, making it easier to confuse her as Moroccan. She says that she sometimes intentionally makes mistakes so that people will be more likely to perceive her as American.
The discussion comes full circle in a blog post by Moroccan Abdelilah Boukili, whose blog is based on questions asked on BBC World's Have Your Say.  Asking the question, “do men need protecting from themselves?” the blogger assesses various dress codes and clothing traditions across the Arab world, noticing the emphasis on women's modesty.  He concludes:
Men should have control over themselves. They shouldn’t be controlled by instinct and fantasy. Women should dress for self-respect, not by wearing a burqa and also by not wearing clothes that reveal too much when they are sure they can be seen just as a sex object and not as persons whose personality should be respected.
Although the four bloggers quoted above offer excellent perspectives on sexual harassment in Morocco, each person's experience is unique and none of these should be taken for gospel.  Those interested in further reading on gender issues in Morocco might be interested in Fatima Sadiqi's excellent book, Women, Gender, and Language in Morocco, or in the following blogs, which regularly cover such topics: 760 Days in Morocco: the experiences of an American Muslim in Morocco and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: a blog by Moroccan-American Sarah Alaoui.

author: Jillian C. York


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Nepal: Democracy Infiltrated By The Communists · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Nepal’s democracy has been skillfully infiltrated and brutally exploited by (the) communists”, comments Nepali Perspectives


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Nepal: Taking On The Challenge Of Climate Change · Global Voices
Bhumika Ghimire

Climate change is a hot topic in Nepal now as studies show that many people in the country are facing hunger due to frequent droughts and melting glaciers are also threatening millions. The country heavily depends on tourism and agriculture to sustain its economy and climate change could seriously hurt these two sectors.
“Changing weather patterns have dramatically affected crop production in Nepal, leaving farmers unable to properly feed themselves and pushing them into debt, ” Oxfam says in a report.
Chandan Sapkota, a Junior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also thinks that the effect of climate change on Nepal's agricultural sector warrants immediate attention:
“Late monsoon will decrease agriculture production, which is the backbone of the economy and more than 70 percent of the population depend on it for living. This will also have a huge impact on economic growth rate and per capita income.”
Nepal – Island Peak (Imja Tse)- Impressive glacier icefall below peak, Image by Flickr user mckaysavage
Climate change is also having serious impacts on Nepal's pristine Himalaya mountain range and the surrounding communities. Phil Butler at Pamil Visions notes the dangers of melting glaciers in the Himalayas. Supported by satellite pictures he has posted an in depth analysis of the endangered glaciers and the rising glacial lakes to show the urgency of the situation.
“These high glacial lakes (..) have risen in some cases by as much as 45 percent. Satellite imagery reveals without a doubt, severe melting of these crucial glaciers, still further evidence that global climactic change is proceeding at an accelerated rate. Hundreds of millions of people in the region that depends on the water from these glaciers will be negatively effected in way we cannot envision or predict accurately.”
Nepal's “meltdown” has prompted many international environment organizations to look into the issue seriously, although the government in Kathmandu is still dragging its feet when it comes to serious long term planning on climate change issues.
This video from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) shows the impact of climate change on villagers and ecosystem of a mountainous village in Nepal.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in partnership with UNEP and the Asia Pacific Network has released this video to show the impact of climate change on Nepal's glaciers.
The Nepalese government's inaction aside, works of international organizations like WWF and ICIMOD are beginning to have an effect on the country's conscience. Various citizen and youth groups are being formed across the country to raise awareness about climate change.
Nepalese Youth For Climate Action is one such group. They call for stricter worldwide emission standard, encourage sustainable development by emphasizing on indigenous knowledge and industry, rally for investment on clean energy and seek more awareness in Nepal about climate change.
There are also efforts to provide training and resources to enhance the cause of climate change action by the private sector. Bhajumahesh reports that an eight day South Asian workshop (17th August -24th August 2009) was organized by PANOS South Asia-PSA to:
“build the capacity of media and other communication practitioners on climate change issues and the role of communications by applying ICTs for local content development, networking, knowledge sharing, to enable them to produce multimedia local contents on climate change communications in South Asia.”
As the country's government is sidetracked by political infighting, the Nepalese private sector and many ordinary citizens are leading the charge on climate change actions, showing the power of the people.

author: Bhumika Ghimire


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Pakistan: A Reality Show Death · Global Voices
Rezwan

The death of a reality TV show contestant in Pakistan in an accident while filming the show has generated much debate among online and offline communities. Kalsoom at CHUP discusses the reality of the reality TV.


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Peru: Taking Care of the Amazon River · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The ongoing problem of the trash contamination of the Amazon River is a concern to De la Selva Su Web On [es], who writes that the river should be taken care of, especially as it is being promoted as a Wonder of the World.


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South Africa: Free tickets to Mobile Web Africa 2009 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mike writes about free tickets for Mobile Web Africa 2009 that will take place in South Africa: “Matthew Dawes is organising Mobile Web Africa 2009 on the 13 and 14 October at the Michelangelo, and has kindly offered a range of freebies and discounts for me to promote to you, the cream of South Africa’s technology crop!”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Sri Lanka: More Talks On The Video Of Shame · Global Voices
Rezwan

Groundviews sums up the responses, positions and clarifications regarding the video evidence of extra judicial killings in Sri Lanka that surfaced recently.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Sensationalism · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Survivein’ Trinidad is appalled by the decision of a local newspaper to publish on its front page a photograph of an infant who was killed in a car crash: “It was insensitive, sensationalist and IT IS NOT JOURNALISM!!!!”


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Uzbekistan: Pilgrims to be protected against swine flu · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Kkreator reports that the authorities of Uzbekistan are planning to take preventive measures for the protection of the Muslim pilgrims (Haji) and the general population from the Type A flu.


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Uzbekistan: Trouble in Tashkent · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Pravdin reports on the controversial and unclear occurence in tashkent, when a gunfire on a Saturday evening horrified the capital of Uzbekistan.


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Argentina: Tax Dollars for Football Television Rights · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

David of Artepolítica [es] does not care about football, and does not worry that his tax dollars are being used to purchase the television rights to the Argentine football season. However, he does not buy the argument that the government will make money from the expenditure because of the poor history of state-run enterprises.


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Azerbaijan: Protest rap · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

My Frontline Club blog looks at the emergence of socially and politically conscious rap in Azerbaijan in support of democracy and freedom in the country as well for detained video blogger youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli who face trial this week in Baku.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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China: A blog on rescuing husband  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A woman's husband was arrested and sentenced to 14 days in a detention center in Beijing. Apart from trying to give him support, she sets up a blog, Beijing Haze, and writes down what she has been through in the process of finding out what has happened.


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China and Japan: New era for Sino-Japanese dynamic? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Angry Chinese Blogger looks into the implications of Japan's election and the shifting of ruling party on the future Sino-Japanese dynamic.


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China: Shanghai “black girl” abused by racist netizens · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated a forum post full of abusive and racist comments against Lou Jing, whose is the offspring of an extra-marital relation between her mother and a black American.


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Colombia: The Extraordinary UNASUR Meeting in Bariloche · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

On Friday, August 28, 2009, an extraordinary meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) was held in Bariloche, Argentina, primarily to discuss the use of 7 Colombian military bases by United States military personnel. The issue had prompted criticism from Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia, and raised concerns in the other South American countries.
Fearing he would be cornered by his colleagues, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe managed for the meeting to be broadcast live on television. People from all over South America followed the event, and Colombians were not an exception. Those working in offices without television sets, but with internet access could watch the summit through several websites streaming the meeting, which lasted more than 6 hours (it was scheduled for 3).
Colombian twitterers followed and commented on the event, using the hashtag #unasur, as did their counterparts from other countries. As the event was going on, Uribe defended the military deal with the US while the other presidents debated it, the local twittosphere expressed their views, took positions, and made jokes as if they were watching a football match.
El Chiflamicas @elchiflamicas:
temas para #unasur el regreso de nubeluz. grántico, palmani, zum!
Jorge Ruiz @chandaxi:
¡MUY MADRE URIBE! Declare la guerra ya hdp y si es el caso vamos hasta por ese pedregal mal llamado malvinas, las falklands son Colombianas!
Miguel Olaya @juglardelzipa:
«imperio terrorista». ¡uribe y la revolución de las categorías políticas!
El Político @yosoyelpolitico:
Colombia es mi patria libre, democratica, soberana y pasional – yo tambien los soy y Unasur quiere privarnos y privarme de eso.
Andrea @ludovia:
me enferma Uribe, me enferma Chávez, me enferma Correa y están en el mismo salón!!! arrrg #unasur #masoquismo
Dustin Martínez @DuXtin:
Cuando dijeron que iba a hablar el presidente de Perú, por un momento imaginé que iba a ver a Fujimori.
Manolo Paez @ManoloPaez:
Hoy soy colombiano y peruano! Suramericano no!
Juan David Escobar @ElReticente:
En RCN, en el “banner” dicen en Ultima hora: “Colombia no aceptara verificación de #Unasur”. Los benditos traductores del sentir
nacional.
Daniel Villegas @Villegasrest:
Chavez, Correa y Ortega son el diablo, cada uno tiene 6 letras en el apellido, son el “666”. #Unasur
Manuel Gomez @manuelj:
Correa esta diciendo cosas muy interesantes, lastima que el colombiano promedio va a ignorar todo lo que diga por el odio que le tiene.
Lanark @donAlvar:
jajaja “yo respondo por mi periodo de gobierno” pues por eso, huevón, para siempre #unasur
Miguel Olaya @juglardelzipa:
«los nazis usaban brazalete. lafar usa brazalente. entonces lafar son nazis», dijo uribe en #unasur.
Carlos Correa Cano @kloscorrea:
¿Y será que con tanto tratado EEUU- Colombia a los colombianos nos van a empezar a tratar con dignidad en los aeropuertos gringos?
@Aldobello
¿cúal es la herramienta de medición de cultivos ilícitos que existe ahora en Colombia pero no en el 2002?…. pues Google maps!!! #unasur
Andrea @ludovia:
no entiendo, no hay intervencionismo bueno ni malo pero ¿chávez no se puede meter y estados unidos sí? ¿me perdí? #unasur
Die Goth @DieGoth74:
#freemediave Documento secreto de #Chavez contra #Uribe en #Unasur fue robado en operación comando de temibles cuarteles de Wikipedia
AsmodeoCastigado @Asmodeo_:
ESte pisco es un chiste total: RT @aabenedetti: El Presidente Uribe como siempre muy bien en UNASUR
Túrin @Turint:
Lula da clases de completa sensatez, me dan ganas de ser brasilero… bueno, tambien cuando juega la seleccion
Sebastián Restrepo @SebasRestrepo:
Hubieran puesto a leer a Bachelet, eso lo lee en 20 segundos.
@simonwilchesc
A qué horas se abren las líneas para que votemos en #unasur ????
Carlos Santamaría B. @Flakster:
#UNASUR fue TOCONUR (TOdos CONtra URibe), pero ni así pudieron….. Ja ja
Pablou @p4bl1t0:
hoy mas de uno aprendio que Surinam es un pais de suramerica xD #Unasur
Lina Artunduaga @LinaArtunduaga:
Que partida de nerdos somos, trinando 7 horas de una cumbre aburridísima!
When Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke at the meeting, several twitterers wrote racist comments, ridiculing his accent, the way he was talking or the fact he is an indigenous. @lncognito compiles [es] some of these tweets.
On the blogosphere, president Uribe's former press secretary Ricardo Galán tries to summarize the meeting [es]:
Journalist Jaime Restrepo agrees [es] with Galán that it was a victory for Uribe and a defeat for Chávez. He also complains about the uselessness of the UNASUR:
[S]i las decisiones de Unasur no son vinculantes, una de las quejas que presentó Alan García, los documentos pueden decir muchas cosas que, después de los encuentros, se convierten en letra muerta. Es más: mientras Chávez sea dictador, las decisiones de Unasur no serán vinculantes, pues al sátrapa no le interesa que el mundo conozca la verdadera naturaleza criminal de su régimen.
Finally, Marsares declares [es] Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the “winner” of the summit, and recognizes the Colombian diplomacy's “success” at neutering a “Chavista trap”, but claims that Uribe is still an obstacle for South American integration:
Es claro que la intervención de Lula los aterrizó, al punto que vieron lo que no habían querido ver antes. Que decisiones tomadas al calor de las emociones no sólo perjudican a los vecinos, sino también al propio país, pues Sudamérica es una red de vasos comunicantes, donde todos dependemos de todos. Así que la tarea a seguir, según lo predicado por Lula, es recomponer las maltrechas relaciones si es que se quiere, en un futuro que UNASUR sea una realidad y no un club en el que prime el diálogo de sordos.

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


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Costa Rica: TEDx Event Planned for March 2010 · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Fusil de Chispas [es] writes about the planned TEDx event for Costa Rica scheduled for March 19, 2010.


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East Timor: The land was freed, but who owns it? · Global Voices
Janet Gunter

When Indonesia left East Timor, with one of the most devastating scorched earth campaigns of modern times in September 1999, it also left the country with land conflicts accumulated over two colonial occupations.
East Timor, a territory only 3/4 the size of El Salvador, has a relatively disperse rural population and Dili, the capital, is the only major urban area. There are very few large landholdings in Timor, with the exception of the colonial-era coffee plantations in the central mountain districts. (It is worth remembering here that coffee is estimated to make up an estimated 80% of the productive non-oil economy.)
Ermera, coffee growing region. Photo by Sugu
The policy of the UN, and the first governments of independent Timor, was to attempt to build up other crucial institutions before touching the issue of land rights, which all were aware was quite controversial.
Pedro Xavier, the Timorese official who presided over Land Registration the UN Transitional Administration's Land and Property Unit provided background in a paper presented to the East Timor Conference on Sustainable Development in 2001
Much proof of land ownership (sertifikat [Indonesian]/alvara [Portuguese]) was destroyed along with property and possessions in 1975 and 1999. At present, proof of cultivating the land and statements from the community are available though they may be contested.
Regulation No. 1/1999 gave UNTAET the mandate to administer all movable and immovable assets in East Timor. […] On the 25th of October 2000, the UNTAET Cabinet decided […] Land rights would only be decided conclusively after independence.
While land conflicts continued unabated, the first independent government of East Timor did not pass any land law. Bits and pieces were added by way of decree laws, but nothing addressing the structural issues. Donor nations, especially the US, pushed for a law, arguing that it would be hard to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) without a framework for land ownership. USAID began sponsoring a Land Law Project in 2003. Ben Moxham wrote in Zmag in 2005
[The US] is funding a number of studies on FDI promotion, agribusiness development, a finance sector framework, and developing a land law regime friendly to the private sector. My unnamed diplomatic source sees this last policy as Timor's only option to attract investors. “The government has tons of land, about two thirds of the country,” he proclaims, “some of which of course is tied up in Adat [traditional title]. This is one incentive they can offer. They can give out land for FDI.”
But there was an important, unresolved social aspect to urban land rights, as International Crisis Group wrote in its 2008 report “Timor Leste's Displacement Crisis”
Timor badly needs new land laws, a land register, a system for issuing titles, and mediation and dispute-resolution mechanisms. […] These problems underlie many displacements – people took advantage of the 2006 chaos to chase neighbours out of disputed properties – and risk undermining long-term stability and economic growth. Draft land laws exist, but successive governments have considered them too controversial. They need to be passed but, important as it is, land law reform will take time and alternative ways are needed to house IDPs whose houses are the subject of ownership disputes.
USAID continued to fund work on land, and in 2007 the “Ita Nia Rai” Program was launched, which would include the drafting of a Land Law and two pilot land registry campaigns in Liquiça and Manatuto districts. Before the draft Law was  finished, work began on the land registry campaign. Warren Wright wrote recently in the East Timor Law and Justice Bulletin, an online publication,
The question that arises is why should the government proceed in such an exercise before there is legal clarity about the status of the 40000 odd land rights (over most of the most valuable land in East Timor) created during the Indonesian occupation, or about the abolition of the Portuguese land rights created during the colonial period, or, even, indeed, about the status of land rights that exist over most of the national territory by virtue of local customary law.
In June, the Government of East Timor presented a Land Law, stating it would allow two months of public consultation on the draft. Under Timor's NGO Forum, a fairly dormant “Rede ba Rai” (Land Network) was reactivated in 2008 in anticipation of the draft Land Law. The Land Network sent a letter to Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato in June calling for at least five months of consultations, with simple language documents explaining the Law.
Rice Paddies in Maliana District. Photo by SReyes.
Civil society's challenge has been to create intelligible versions of a highly technical legal language which discusses two legal regimes: Indonesian hak milik, and Portuguese propriedade perfeita, as well dealing with land with no title.
During the months of July and August, the Land Network has followed the consultation process in the districts, making strong criticisms of their length and content. It called a recent consultation in Manufahi “a charade”:
The date of the Manufahi consultation moved several times and fell on the same day as a large NGO organized meeting. Many people therefore couldn't participate in the Land Law meeting.[…]
“Although we are happy to see more discussion on land issues, the Same meeting raised few constructive comments on how to improve the law,” said Inês Martins of the Land Network.
“This is because people have only 61 minutes to speak, they haven't seen and don't understand the law, and the meeting is organized at the last minute. Also, because the Minister alone replies to all questions or comments on the law she often provides information that is misleading or wrong.”
The Ministry of Justice responded last month to concerns in Aileu district about the Law by saying that once the “consultation” period is over, they are planning a public education campaign about the law down to the local level.
Questions remain about key aspects of the law: who will sit on the bodies vested with power to decide land conflicts, the future of now-squatted coffee plantations, and the question of “community lands”. Pedro from Haburas Foundation recently asked in a Land Network press release
“There are important questions to be discussed – Who will get compensation, and how much? Who will be in a position to make key political decisions about land allocation? Why has the state been given strong rights over community lands? Who receives the money from projects run on community land? Who will help vulnerable people to claim their land rights?”
The question of land ownership in East Timor complicated by deeply-held cosmological beliefs about land, life and death. For most Timorese, the landscape is also populated by powerful spirits who are called rai na'in, literally meaning owners of the land.
Village in the Mountain of Maliana – Timor-Leste. Photo by SReyes.
Writes blogger “Mau Lear” (Manuel Carlos D'Oliveira) in TIMOR, lendas, prosas e narrativas [Pt]
As montanhas e as planícies de Timor estão cheias de seres invisíveis para a maioria dos mortais, e esses entes influenciam definitivamente a vida dos Timorenses […] Esses seres invisíveis que tem o nome de Rai Na’in, são os espíritos donos da terra que tanto se encontram nas árvores seculares que povoam a ilha, como em animais ou pedras e são respeitados e muitas vezes adorados pelo povo simples e ainda animista.
Former Peace Corps volunteer Michael Jones shares an anecdote from 2003 in Manatuto district, where he explains that Rai Na'in dictated that a fence simply could not be constructed near his house
The family said Tiu [Uncle] was the expert on the Rai Nains (spirit owners of the land), and that he would know what was allowed and what wasn't. Sra. Lina's husband, Domingo, had explained to me once that a man had cut his heel while working on the fence behind the house once and later become quite ill, near-to death. The counsel of elders said it was a holy spot [lulik], that the large stones jutting out along the ridge dividing the living area from the lower rice paddy were actually a spirit path, along which the spirits walked when descending from the hills to the beach and back. The fence must be taken down, after which, the ill man would recover. It seemed to have unfolded this way.
Tiu had a much more complete story. He said that at one time, an elder had become ill and the cause was that the fence angered the Rai Nain. So they took the fence down and the man recovered. They built the fence back up, and other people became ill. So they took the fence down and the people recovered. They did this three times, until finally resolving that no one should build a fence or carryout any activity on this land, ever. I asked about the land adjoining the house, between the house and the kitchen area, away from these impressive stones, figuring this would not be on the spirit path. “Lulik hotu!” exclaimed Tiu. He would have none of it and made as if to leave at the very thought of trying to delineate the lulik area.
Writer Pedro Rosa Mendes recently wrote in a beautiful online essay “Shadows, Dreams, Shapes: The Lulik Reality” [En]
Reality, including politics and its codes, does not exist outside of the lulik. The Timorese inhabit a magical realism that is as palpable and evident as it is invisible or fantastic for us.
The Land Law refers to “community land” and states that “local communities participate” in resource management and conflict resolution, which seems an allusion to Timorese customary law. Many would like the Land Law to more formally contemplate what is known as Tara Bandu.
Haburas Foundation's Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho explained to Grist Magazine after winning the Goldman Prize in 2004
Tara Bandu is an East Timor tradition, a customary law that we recognize as traditional ecological wisdom. It involves a kind of agreement within a community to protect a special area for a period of time. During the occupation this practice was prohibited, so we are trying to revive it, to remind people about it.
But the language of the Law does not provide strong guarantees over community lands, stating merely that the state will “protect” these areas. And given the global scenario of increased pressure on productive land, many in Timor have raised concerns about foreign ownership of land. One precedent,  an MOU between the Ministry of Agriculture and an Indonesian firm which surfaced in 2008 promising 100,000ha, raised alarm and continues to linger in people's minds.
Lafahek Rai Maran created a joke advertisement after the MOU, that says bidding for all of East Timor will start at US $200 million [Tet], but with some clever negotiation, the price could be halved.
The issue of the Land Law will mostly likely be one of the most hotly debated and potentially most protested in the last half of 2009 in East Timor.
This post is the fourth of a series to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the popular referendum in East Timor, which led to the territory's internationally recognized independence. In the first post we highlighted the support of the international community for the freedom of East Timor. In the second, we interviewed Abe Barreto Soares who is one of the organizers of the celebration events for solidarity taking place in East Timor in August and September 2009. The third post amplifies Timorese bloggers’ celebrations while questioning the current versus the past state of the Nation. Next, we will write on the crimes committed during “Black September” in 1999 and the controversy over the Timorese leadership's decision to not seek justice.

author: Janet Gunter


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Global Voices seeks co-director for Translation community · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices (GV) is seeking to hire a part-time co-director for Lingua, our translation community:
THE JOB: The Lingua co-director will oversee the running of the Global Voices translation community in collaboration with the existing co-director. Duties will include the following:
- planning strategy for the translation community
– participating in discussions on the community mailing lists and Global Voices general mailing list
– conducting meetings with translation community editors and translators
– keeping track of overall workflow and output of translation sites
– overseeing the creation of new translation sites and orienting new translation site editors
– managing translation community budget
– acting as liaison between the GV translation community and other GV sections, including the the GV core team
As Global Voices is a virtual organization, the co-director will not be expected to relocate. However, he or she needs regular access to high-speed internet connectivity. Start date: as soon as possible.
Our ideal candidate will:
- have a combination of relevant expertise in online media and translation. Some management experience is also desirable
– have the ability to work independently, in an unstructured work environment, and to work with a virtual community
– be computer literate. Programming knowledge not required but strong familiarity with the use of online social media tools (blogging platforms, aggregators) is important
– speak and write English fluently, and be highly proficient in at least one other language; polyglot speakers highly desirable!
Interested candidates please send your CV and a Letter of Interest explaining why you'd be a good candidate for the job to: editor AT globalvoicesonline DOT org

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Guyana: Lessons Learnt · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana-Gyal learns a few life lessons.


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India: Ban On Headscarf In Dakshina Kannada · Global Voices
Rezwan

Hasnain reports that a ban on Headscarves for students is in effect in some colleges of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India.


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India: The Young And Fair International Actresses In Bollywood · Global Voices
Rezwan

Santosh at Über Desi finds that almost all foreign actresses recently introduced in Bollywood movies are young fair skinned attractive females. The blogger opines that: “an unhealthy obsession with skin color is not a new phenomenon to Indian society, a deep rooted post-colonial hangover, that seems to manifest itself in weird acts like smearing bleach on our skin to attain the ultimate nirvana of having ‘fair skin’.”


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Jamaica: The Beauty Battle  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Although Long Bench is not a fan of beauty pageants, she finds “some of the criticisms about this year’s selection rather disingenuous and void of basic historical perspective.  To suggest that a light-skinned woman is not authentically Jamaican – ie. is a foreigner – and therefore should not even be in competition with or selected over a dark-skinned (more authentic?) Jamaican woman makes absolutely no sense.”


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Jordan: Making Lists  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Do you make lists to determine the direction of your life? Tololy, from Jordan, shares her experience with making lists in this post.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Jordan: Maktoob’s Rise  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian site Jazarah discusses the development of Arabic site Maktoob in this post. “Yahoo! and Maktoob officially announced the acquisition of maktoob.com, the largest Arabic website, by the international giant Yahoo! in a multi million deal, the financial figures weren’t announced but expectations suggest the deal worth more than $100 million,” announces the blogger.


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Jordan: Support Palestinians · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Jordan Ali Dahmash argues for supporting Palestinians by urging Arabs to travel to Jerusalem.


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Jordan: Why was he let off the hook?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The woman in Malaysia who was to be caned for drinking beer will now wait until after Ramadan for her punishment,” writes Kinzi, who lives in Jordan, and asks: “What I really don’t get is why her husband was let off the hook, and is not facing similar punishment.”


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Korea: Kim Jong-Il’s “kitsch” taste in art? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ask a Korean! questions the bias interpretation made by Wall Street Journal on Kim Jong-Il's “kitsch” taste in art.


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Puerto Rico: Saving the Parrots  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands blogs about the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Program, which is “an effort to conserve, protect, and manage the wild and captive populations of this endemic parrot in order to downlist the species from endangered to threatened.”


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South Korea: 3 bills regarding native English teachers · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Matt from Gusts of popular feeling discusses the three bills submitted by Democratic Party representative in the national assembly. The bills require foreign English teachers to have criminal record and health and drug checks before being hired at public or private schools.


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Sri Lanka: A Journalist Sentenced For 20 Years · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sepia Mutiny reports that Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who has written articles critical of the Sri Lankan government for a magazine, has been sentenced for 20 years hard labor. Groundviews calls the sentencing of Tissainayagam a travesty of justice.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Irresponsibility or Truth? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The debate over the decision of a local daily to publish a photo of a dead baby on its cover rages on – Trinidad and Tobago News Blog re-publishes the paper's response to the firestorm of criticism, while kid5rivers says: “The decision to run with it was the Editor's – within whose purview such decisions rightly belong…for too long the MSM has been sanitizing news for public consumption.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: “Police an’ Tief” · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Many made promises, empty from the start. No one really wants to touch this topic. They will talk, and tell you how brave, how talented, how important. But they stay away from this issue”: Adele Todd tackles “crime in Trinidad and Tobago from four perspectives” during five days of performance art.


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Bahamas: The Play’s The Thing · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Ward Minnis continues his series of posts on Bahamian art, saying: “If you want to be a professional creative writer in the Bahamas you are going to have to be some kind of playwright. It really is that simple.”


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Bangladesh: Ditch Suits To Save Power · Global Voices
Rezwan

Supriyo Chaudhuri at Sunday Posts comments on the recent directive of Bangladesh government to the officials to ditch suits and wear half-sleeve dresses to save power: “I think many of them will freeze to death if they are using A/Cs the way they do and not wearing suits. So, I guess this will mean A/Cs being used more reasonably, and I am sure this will save power for the country and do some good for the environment.”


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Bangladesh: Exporting Internet Bandwidth · Global Voices
Rezwan

Duncan Chowdhury is irked by a report published in a local Bangladeshi newspaper that the Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company is planning to export internet bandwidth to Nepal and Bhutan. “This could be done only after our optimum utilization of our required bandwidth,” the blogger opines.


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Commonwealth suspends Fiji  · Global Voices
Michael Hartsell

The Commonwealth of Nations has suspended Fiji from the 53-nation body for failing to hold elections by October 2010.
While Fiji technically has been suspended from the group of former British colonies since its December 2006 coup, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group made the disbandment full on September 1. This is the second time Fiji has been fully suspended by the group. Only Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe have previously been removed by the Commonwealth.
While the move was hardly a surprise, it most likely will drive  a deeper wedge between Fiji’s military backed government and the international community. In May, the regional group Pacific Islands Forum suspended Fiji from participation in its body for the failure to hold elections. Shortly afterwards, the European Union cancelled its 24 million Euro sugar subsidy to the country.
To Fiji this most recent suspension means the country will be excluded from Commonwealth sporting events. Also, Fiji’s government will be barred from attending in Commonwealth intergovernmental activities, meetings and, perhaps most importantly, receiving technical assistance.
Frank Bainimarama in December 2006 ousted the government of Laisenia Qarase, whom the military leader claimed ruled for the benefit of indigenous Fijians at the expense of ethnic Indians, the country’s largest minority group, making up nearly 40 percent of the population. It was Fiji's fourth military coup since 1987.
The so-called Indo-Fijians are descendants of indentured workers brought to the Pacific Island nation to work in sugar plantations by British colonial rulers roughly one hundred years ago.
A large proportion of Indo-Fijians have subsequently been kicked off the land their families once farmed. While the community as a whole has excelled in the economic sector, tens of thousands of Indo-Fijians have left Fiji for other countries.
In April Bainimarama and his government was provided with a five-year mandate after the country’s president abrogated the 1997 constitution. He was responding to a court decision claiming Bainimarama’s coup was illegal, forcing the Prime Minister to step down and requiring the president to appoint a caretaker government to bring Fiji to elections. However, the president maintained Fiji’s constitution did not provide him with that power.
Since then, Bainimarama said his government will begin work on a new constitution in 2012 to take the country to elections in 2014. The Prime Minister has said he will write a new electoral law, scraping the country’s method of providing different voter roles for people of different ethnicities. He also maintains he will spend the next three years rebuilding Fiji’s infrastructure and propping up its economy, which has been hit hard by the global economic crisis and the after-effects of political instability.
Let's get to the bloggers. Writing a few days before the suspension, Loyal Fijian argues that life in Fiji will go on outside the umbrella of the Commonwealth.
Fiji is is set to be suspended from the Commonwealth.
While this statement Will surely be used by the Anti-IG forces to depict the IG in a bad light, life will go on as normal.
The Commonwealth is nothing more than a Club of former British colonies with no real purpose or power.
In fact, what is the sense of reminding ourselves of the dark chapter when we were subjugated by a foreign power?
In this day and age, do we need a Commonwealth?
Loyal Fijian does not think so. We are a sovereign nation and have no need for the relics of history.We are a republic!
The Commonwealth can do as it pleases.
Fiji: The Way It Was, Is and Can Be finds little solace in the Commonwealth's decision.
One can, of course, see where the Forum and Commonwealth are coming from. They had to react to what they saw as an illegitimate regime imposed by the military. The pity is they could not also see that the regime that was deposed was far from democratic, even though it had the support of most ethnic Fijians. And that the only way to break the cycle of coups, and establish a just and more genuine democracy, was to remove race as the inflammatory accelerant from Fiji politics once and for all. The party leaders, Qarase and Chaudhry, the Commonwealth insist Bainimarama include in dialogue do not want this. Race-based parties and electorates guarantee their re-election. That's why their recent letter to Bainimarama copied the Commonwealth's insistence on inclusive dialogue with no conditions and no determined outcomes, and why the Government will always resist this sort of dialogue with politicians like this.
The situation is anomalous but the irony is not hard to see. Read it slowly. Two democratic, non-racist institutions oppose a military regime —–and so unwittingly continue to extend support for undemocratic, racist politicians—– and so undermine the wobbly efforts of the military regime (sic!) —- to impose democratic, non-racist political procedures.
However, a comment from Alterego takes the blog's writer, Crosbie Walsh, to task for his alleged support of the Bainimarama regime:
I'm as opposed as you are to undemocratic, racist politicians; problem is they're a product of the population that elects them. As are the good ones: every country has it's fair share of both.
At least pre-Bainimarama the upright citizens of Fiji could publicly voice their opinions, campaign on issues of importance, petition their representatives, vote bad leaders out, and take bad law to court.
So how exactly is the current situation an improvement?
No Right Turn, another blog from New Zealand, wonders why it took the Commonwealth so long to suspend Fiji.
Almost three years after Bainimarama's coup, Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth. It took them long enough. The net effect will be that the Fijian regime doesn't get invited to parties any more – including, if they care, the Commonwealth games – but that seems entirely appropriate for an unelected dictatorship.
Given the entrenched anti-democratic attitudes of Fiji's dictator, this is unlikely to change his mind. But it does send a message internationally that coups and dictators are unacceptable to the community of nations, and that democratic countries will not associate themselves with them.
At Raw Fiji News, lartinidaveta says the UN must continue the pressure on the regime and send Fiji’s peacekeepers home.
If the Commonwealth would really want to hit Baini and his supporters where it hurt most then they should veto for the discontinuation of RFMF at all UN Peacekeeping duties. That is Baini lifeblood thats keeping him in power. All Fijian Security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan should be terminated immediately and have them replaced by other Pacific Islanders Peace keepers that had being trained by RAMSI. There should be concerted effort by all global and regional gatekeepers in order to eradicate this type of political problem from the Pacific for good. What ever happen in Fiji can aslo happen in PNG and these are destabilizing factors for regional peace.
Along with news of the suspension, the International Federation of Journalists have called for Australians and others to boycott Fiji. This is in response to the Public Emergency Rules that have been in place since the abrogation of the constitution that give the government the power to place censors in news bureaus throughout Fiji.
At the Soli Vakasama blog, Fiji ex tourist wonders how regular people will accept the suspension.
It will be interesting tonight to see its reaction to the suspension from the Commonwealth. Surely the athletes and rugby players who will miss out on the Commonwealth games next year must be spewing.
Let’s hope they air their disquiet.
The UN must now suspend Fijian soldiers from all peacekeeping; it is immoral not to do so.
It was a great call by the journalists to ask tourists to not visit Fiji. It is not the workers who would lose money but the junta through taxes.

author: Michael Hartsell


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Cuba: Filtering Connections  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Yoani Sanchez ruminates on the many changes September brings, including this surprise: “Since last Friday it is impossible to [connect] to Voces Cubanas from the Island. They have applied to it the same slow filter they use to block the connection to desdecuba.com for users in Cuba with very slow speed Internet connections.”  Meanwhile, diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense refers to this post to make the point that “Sanchez shows that she is one of the leading architects of what a free Cuba might look like.”


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Cuba, U.S.A.: Sanctions & Human Rights · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Along the Malecon and Repeating Islands both refer to an Amnesty International report which calls for the lifting of US sanctions against Cuba.


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Ecuador: Sharing the Knowledge on BlogDay · Global Voices
Carlos Suasnavas

For the past 4 years, Blog Day has been celebrated on August 31. Ever since the Israeli blogger Nir Ofir gathered bloggers in 2005 and realized that the date 3108 resembled the word Blog, blogospheres around the world have been commemorating the date by collecting 5 blog recommendations, as a way to encourage unity and spread the word about blogs.
Poster for BlogDay in Ecuador 2009
This year in Ecuador, a group of blogging entrepreneurs, led by María Cristina Martínez of the blog Ciudad @ City [es], started the “Virtual Gathering of Bloggers.”  The free event was held in Santo Domingo de los Colorados, where the conference speakers were retransmitted in the form of a virtual BarCamp, and one could virtually participate from anywhere in the country by following the live stream featured on the website or on various social networking sites. The presentations included podcasting, microblogging, and social networks.
Martínez explains that the event attempted to unite the bloggers in order to create a large collective for fellowship [es]:
Este proyecto (sin fines de lucro) tiene como objetivo generar un espacio de encuentro virtual para bloggers en ocasión del día Internacional del blog; donde se discutan, expongan, compartan – interactivamente – temas en torno a la blogósfera y la Web Social, y aportar de esta manera en algo a su desarrollo integral y evolución; así como a la alfabetización digital de los internautas hispanohablantes.
The event took place over two days on August 30-31, and included the participation from special invited guests and speakers from Mexico, Spain, and Argentina.  In order to promote the event, the Día del Blog [es] site was created, which included forums, free electronic books, and technical assistance for experienced bloggers, but also for those that wanted to open their own blogs. The Twitter account @diadelblog [es] was also used to help others follow along with the event.
The group of bloggers, who helped coordinate the event, know that having a blog also means being able to teach others and share their knowledge, which is something that attendee Nati Wolf of the blog La Chica de la Luna [es] states:
Quienes tenemos un blog sabrán lo grato que es tener uno, pero también sabrán que se debe tener mucha perseverancia y ganas de compartir para poder mantener un blog.
These types of initiatives help ensure that the internet and the world of web 2.0 stop being for only a few privileged, and that was one of the goals of the event's organizers.

author: Carlos Suasnavas


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Guyana: Wisdom  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana has a different perspective on Guyana-Gyal‘s “words of wisdom”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Japan: Happy birthday, Doraemon! · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Only for today (September 3rd) google.co.jp's logo is dedicated to Doraemon (ドラえもん), one the most popular Japanese characters. According to  Slashdot [ja], the blue and white cat will be born on this day in 2112.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: How to make a business book · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Mrs. Yumiko Oshiba (干場弓子), President Director of Discover [ja], describes [ja] how is the workflow like in a publish company specialized in business books.
Five seem to be the most decisive phases: 1) finding an author and/or a project, 2) deciding how to structure the book and writing coaching, 3) draft check and coming up with a good title, 4) designing the cover of the book, 5) proofreading. Publicity, marketing and a good promotional campaign are also fundamental to the process.


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China: PetroChina’s “Group Purchase Gate” created an online stir  · Global Voices
Robert Woo

Some employees of PetroChina, the state-owned oil giant and the current no. 2 on the FT 500 List, are going to be allowed to ‘group purchase’ eight apartment buildings near Beijing’s CBD at only about thirty per cent of the actual price.
PetroChina is a state-owned monopoly, along with its sister company Sinopec. Because they are state-owned, they often enjoy preferential government policies and because they are monopolies, they are always able to manipulate the market to their own advantage. Thus they enjoy the best of both worlds.
Recently, almost all the major news stories about them have been negative in tone. They include the corruption case of Sinopec’s former chief, a new pricing mechanism which helped PetroChina to make staggering profits during global economic recession and a revamp of Sinopec’s office building that included a 12 million RMB (1,750,000 USD) chandelier.(Sinopec claimed that the chandelier ‘only’ cost 229,000 USD, which merely served to stir yet another round of ridicule.)
The current ‘Group Purchase-Gate’ scandal especially touched on the nerves of China’s urban middle-class and lower middle-classes. Many of them have recently become car-owners and so fairness in gas pricing system naturally becomes one of their concerns. Moreover, tens of millions of these people, many of whom young people, also feel victimized by the soaring housing prices in the recent years in all the major cities of China.
The market price of the apartments that PetroChina's employees are going to purchase is 23,000 RMB per square meters, a price that most Chinese citizens, even those living in the urban areas, can not afford. However, for PetroChina employees, the price is only 8,000 RMB per square meter. This huge difference creates profound suspicion in people's minds, especially when PetroChina already enjoys such a privileged position. It may not have exploited its position in this instance, but huge suspicion of abuse of power is sure to result. For instance, many people immediately suspect that PetroChina has arranged an under-the-table or even illegal deal to compensate the developer for the lower price.
A netizen summed it up in this way:
毫无疑问,其中存在以权谋私问题.仗着垄断地位,以国家给予的权力来交换谋求个人的私利.让国家蒙受某种损失,让人民为其买单.严重破坏了社会的安定,这样拉大贫富差距的社会是没法团结的.
A degree of envy is also prevalent among many people.
大树下面好乘凉！草民是无望啦！
此生争当中石油人.
On the Aug 26, a PetroChina official announced that it had not paid a single penny towards this group purchase, which seemed to suggest that no public funding was used as in many people's minds, ‘state-owned’ equates with ‘public’.  The official admitted that PetroChina had helped to make the arrangements but the contracts would be signed by individual employees. In addition, the negotiation process for this deal was begun in 2005 when housing prices were still low and this was the major reason that PetroChina employees were able to enjoy such a huge discount.
However, as many bloggers and netizens have pointed out, such a response fails to dispel the suspicion. For why else can a real estate developer appear to be so stupid, or, in PetroChina’s terms, so generous?
On the other hand, people like real estate blogger Niu Dao expressed the opposite opinion:
中石油尽管也是一个垄断性行业，员工的收入和福利应该是不错的，但是，哪一位即使干了十年的普通员工，能够站出来说：我买得起现在的房子。既然买不起，作为公司用团购的方式，为职工谋福利有什么错呢？
PetroChina may not be wrong in this instance, but the rumors and envy still abound. The giant cannot get away with its original sin. What the current controversy has revealed is the urgent need to reassess the role and the rights of state-owned enterprises. What is even more urgent, as with Chinese government as a whole, is that comprehensive and transparent systems need to be established and implemented, so that trust can be rebuilt and unnecessary suspicion can be effectively neutralized.

author: Robert Woo


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Philippines: Living with HIV · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogs are increasingly being used in the Philippines to narrate the personal struggles of young Filipinos who tested positive with HIV. This promotes conversation among young people and it helps spread awareness about the reality of HIV/AIDS in the country.
If a person is not yet ready to tell others about his/her condition, setting up an anonymous blog may help. This is what Positibo007 did
I am creating this blog for you my dear friends. You will read this blog when the right time comes, but as of now, I am not ready to tell you that I have “it”
from the start, it is painful to tell a story of what happened to me…I am opening this account on the second day that I have ‘it’.
I dont want you to worry. Im ok, im in perfect health and im still living a normal life.
Life after PUSIT felt hurt when his loved ones were unable to accept the truth about him
The fact that I came out to be positive was easy for me to stomach. It's a truth. But what's hard for me to stomach is when I see people who're really special to me, unable to accept the whole fact about me.
I needed his answer. I needed to hear his voice. I wanted to know if he was going to stay with me or he was going to get on with his life
Back in the Closet introduces himself in this way
Yes, I'm gay. I probably was since the day I was born. On my 21st birthday, I sort of had my debut. I came out to my parents. A little drama from mom, and some indifference from dad. An above-average coming out. Almost perfect.
Now, 9 years later, two weeks before my 30th birthday, I found out… I'M HIV POSITIVE.
And so my story begins… I'm BACK IN THE CLOSET.
His latest CD4 count increased by nine points:
As someone currently living with HIV, it’s standard that I get my cd4 count measured every six months.
My cd4 was 493. Up nine points. Hmm. I had mixed feelings. Nine points? Nine measly points? Compared to 156 in the six-month period prior to this one? Hmm. Not something instantly impressive.
But considering this six-month period involved some failed attempts at affection, fallouts with friends, leaving the comfort zone of my old job, delving into a new profession, wrestling with the longer daily commute, a grave ARV overdose mistake, and so many other possibly distressing situations… suddenly, nine points up doesn’t sound so bad. At least it didn’t go down, right? So there. I’m happy.
Charlie wrote Manila Gay Guy about his struggle with HIV:
It’s been over a year since I’ve learned about my condition and I’m still trying to live a normal life. My perspective of life drastically changed from being the optimistic type to being paranoid and pessimistic at all times. I used to hang out with friends and socialize before but I gave up on life and now “a living dead” is how I picture myself. I ceased to engage in any relationship for fear of rejection and criticism because of my condition.
Charlie’s letter elicited many responses. Here is an advice from James
Charlie, im an HIV positive, when i first knew about it, we had the same feeling, i thought my world’s going to stop and im going to live a life waiting for my death to come. but i realize that there is more to life than thinking about this disease. We will die sooner if we keep on thinking about this disease. So let us just take our meds religiously, and monitor our CD4 counts. healthy living is our most priority. Take care charlie
Another response from Art:
Having HIV is no longer a death sentence. I know it is hard for you to be in this situation. Seek out counseling, find an HIV support group, keep yourself busy! I know it’s hard but you don’t have to wallow in self pity. You just need the medication and the right kind of disposition. Live life to its fullest
After learning that he is HIV-positive, Dr. El Roi vowed to promote Christian Living as an effective tool for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness throughout the world
For the next two months after that terrible medical result, I have felt like I am a dead-man walking because I opted to continue working and live my life normally as if nothing happened. After that grieving moment to God and accepted the fact that I am sick and I'll be dead in 12-18 years, I realized that I need to be responsible for the consequences of my actions.
Now it had given me so much time to contemplate on things and eventually decided to turn over a new leaf and make that big change in my life……to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pinoy HIV Plus shares a story on how she confessed her condition to her sister
I was thinking at that time that maybe this is the sign for me to open up my situation to my “family”. So I told her. At first she wasn't really taking me seriously, but I told her that it's true and then started the story behind why I knew I had the virus. She was very supportive, I asked her to call my other sisters and so that I could tell them and they were also very supportive. Of course, there's the worry about how I was doing here now that I have this, or if Im feeling ok. I told them that nothing has changed in me, except for my lifestyle. On their part, they told me that nothing has changed, I am still their sister that they knew, that they love so much and that they're always there whenever the time comes for me to go….drama!
I Have HIV was confined at a government hospital center for two weeks to receive treatment together with other HIV patients
I told my parent's about it and we decided to tell my 5th sibling about my condition he cried when he found out about it and eventually accepted it. I told my business associates that I will be on vacation for 2 weeks so that they will not ask any more questions about my whereabouts.
When we arrived my doctor facilitated my admission and told me to prepare. She introduced me to my batchmates who will also undergo ARV medication. I was snobbish on my first day. I was only talking to my brother. I don't eat the food ration. I always asked my brother to buy our food in the restaurant.
Eventually 2 weeks is kinda long and I became close with the other patients there btw, most of the patients there are also gay. Me and my other batchmates who was starting to take ARV are getting closer day by day.
His new goal in life is
to help others with the same disease and to educate other people about the effects of the new ticking time bomb which we call HIV/ AIDS. The government just don't have time to look into it because we have a lot of problems but I think HIV is getting worst every second and every minute of the day.
The Chronicles of E underscores the importance of promoting awareness about HIV
When I became positive, I thought that it was the end of me. I was scared because I thought I was dying soon—and all the meds! I know it costs a lot to have HIV… I don't have the resources for it! And no, I cannot and will not tell my folks about it! Not yet! It was only after a few days that I found out there were NGO's and hospitals that helped people living with HIV.
Now, I ask, why just now? Why wasn't I was aware of this, pre-HIV? Do I need to be positive first before I can know all this information? Now, it got me to thinking about awareness.
Kablog! confirms that there is still stigma associated with HIV in the Philippines
I’ve said it enough times. I’ve felt it enough times. I’ve worried about it enough times. I think it’s safe to say that everyone does acknowledge that there is stigma that surrounds HIV in the Philippines.
Hell, just going to get tested, or even thinking of getting tested, you might not have realized you’ve experienced the stigma as well. What will they think of me?, Will they judge me?, Will they think I’m gay?, Will they think I’m promiscuous? and so on. It’s sad that you have to worry about things like that, rather than just acknowledge the importance of knowing one’s HIV status.
But I’ve come to realize that the stigma experienced by those living with HIV is not the same for each and everyone. Some have it bad, some have it worse. These variances along the stigma scale can stem from the smallest things, and certainly HIV being regarded as a gay disease is just one of those things.
According to health authorities, the number of HIV Ab Seropositive Cases in the Philippines has been increasing over the past years
From January 1984 to July 2009, there were 4,021 HIV Ab seropositive cases reported, of which 3,204 (80%) were asymptomatic and 817 (20%) were AIDS cases. Ages ranged from 1-72 years (median 32 years). The age groups with the most number of cases were: 25-29 years (22%), 30-34 years (20%), 35-39 years (16%). Seventy-two percent (2,873) were males.

author: Mong Palatino


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Sri Lanka: Kumbi Kathawa · Global Voices
Rezwan

Electra posts a review of the Kumbi Kathawa, a dance production depicting a story of a family, which was recently staged by the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Foundation at the Bishop’s College Auditorium in Colombo.

author: Rezwan


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Suriname: On “Someni Tongo” · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I think art is exactly and only about this: the need to create and express what is uniquely inside you, and to do so because you have no choice”: Chandra van Binnendijk, guest blogging at Paramaribo SPAN, shares her impressions of  Dutch artist Arnold Schalks's Someni Tongo project, “which examined Suriname's cultural and linguistic diversity through a live performance of a celebrated poem.”


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Syria: Blogger Calls for a Campaign Against Masturbation · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

Fadl, a Syrian blogger, takes advantage of the Muslim holy month Ramadan to call for a campaign against masturbation[ar].

author: Anas Qtiesh


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U.S. Virgin Islands: Monitoring Erika · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bloggers in the U.S. Virgin Islands are keeping their eye on Tropical Storm Erika.


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USA: Deportations Feared as New School Year Begins  · Global Voices
Hoa Quach

A proposed bill that would resolve the legal status of approximately 65,000 undocumented students in the United States is still in limbo as another school year begins this month.
The DREAM Act, an eight-year-old bill that was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in March 2009, would create the opportunity for “good” students who arrived in the United States as children to obtain conditional legal residency.
As politicians deliberate, students across the country are seeing their education goals disrupted as threats of deportation arise. Some, are seeking support to get their deportations delayed until their fate would be determined by the new law.
“I qualify for the DREAM Act”
Jorge-Alonso Chehade recently graduated from the University of Washington with a business degree. Unlike the thousands of fresh college graduates who are busy seeking employment though, Alonso is protesting for his right to remain in the U.S.
Alsonso was born in Peru and brought to the U.S. by his parents eight years ago at the age of 14. A couple of months before graduating, Alonso found himself in a difficult situation.
In an email sent via the Dreamactivist.org network to supporters, Alonso explains:
“On March 14, 2009, I and a friend went to visit some friends at Western Washington University and rather than driving back home late at night we decided to stay at our friends’ place. The next morning, not being familiar with the area we took a wrong turn on the highway and ended up near the Canadian Border. I was stopped by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities and when it was discovered that I was undocumented.”
Alonso is scheduled to be deported to Peru on September 25. His flight is on September 17. With the help of other young immigrant-rights activists, he has started campaign to ask Americans for support. There is an online petition, a Facebook group, and a push to call the Department of Homeland Security.
In this video, Alonso describes his situation and why he believes people should support him.
There are other videos on YouTube in the same channel, including this video highlighting his achievements:
Another dream on hold
As described on Global Voices last month, Herta Llusho, a 19-year-old college student born in Albania, was facing deportation on August 19, but eventually had her deportation date deferred thanks to a similar campaign led by the Dream activists.
She has been given until November 9, and is using the time to encourage more Americans to support her.
On Take Part, education blogger Melanie Smollin wrote in support of Herta:
“Herta and her family still need your help. She was given an order of supervision, and told to appear at her local DHS office with her mother on November 9th, which means she isn’t out of the woods just yet. She can still be detained at any time.
Deporting this educated, talented, and ambitious young woman who is committed to becoming a productive citizen and serving her community would be an utterly senseless act, and would cause more harm than good.”
DREAM Act Day of Action: September 23
With the knowledge that thousands of undocumented students could be affected by deportation — the United We Dream Network is asking supporters to join forces on September 23 and declare a Back to School Dream Act Day of Action.
The group hopes to promote the DREAM Act legislation with rallies across the country on college campuses.
Buoyed by the success of a previous Dream Act Graduation Day on June 23, where 500 people made their way to Washington DC, they say they are confident another nationwide event will be successful:
“This time, we are going back to school to let Congress know we are part of the communities they represent.

author: Hoa Quach


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Video: Perspectives on International Social Entrepreneurs · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

GSBI students
From the GSBI, the Global Social Benefit Incubator and The Next Billion Blog comes a series of video interviews of social entrepreneurs from all over the globe who are meeting in what editor Francisco Noguera calls a 2-week in residence boot camp that closes the Global Social Benefit Incubator.
But what is the GSBI? This is how they explain:
The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI™) is the signature program of Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology and Society (CSTS).  It works with social entrepreneurs to empower them and their organizations and to overcome barriers to scale and impact.  Since 2003, 87 award-winning social enterprises have attended this program and become part of a growing network of path finding alumni for creating a more just and sustainable world.
The first person interviewed was Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu who runs Smallholder Farm Rural Radio in Nigeria, providing poor farmers in rural and isolated communities with a rural radio full of information on sustainable agriculture and development in local languages. What is great is that they use radio and Internet to provide the information and is a profitable enterprise.
Yugandhar Mandavkar from India's Grass Roots Action for Social Participation organization was also interviewed, and spoke about the vertical draft energy efficient wood stoves which save women in India from having to collect large amounts of firewood for cooking fires:
Manoj Sinha is also from India, but he has a different take on affordable energy for rural communities. Husk Power Systems provides pay-per-use energy to communities by providing energy from rice husks. According to GSBI, “HPS systems eliminate over 190 tons of CO2 emissions annually per village by replacing kerosene, diesel, and methane output with renewable sources”. The video, here:

author: Juliana Rincón Parra