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Russia: Christmas Tree Decorations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Here is a holiday season story (RUS) that's got very little of the traditional holiday spirit in it. Posted by LJ user souffrante and accompanied by Valeriy Leushev's photos, it's as much about Russian bloggers’ childhood memories as it is about globalization, consumer nationalism, bad management, labor rights and the power of blogging.
Why one should buy Russian-made glass New Year tree decorations
Do you know how the real [Christmas] balls are made?
Imagine a huge factory, with huge machines puffing, spitting out identical shiny balls, then a conveyer belt with these balls moving on it, and then ultra-modern pulverizers pouring paint over the balls, and then, as they enter a special chamber, special squirts of paint are being sprayed on them from all directions, creating a complex pattern. As the balls continue on their way along the conveyer belt, they get fanned over and dry fast. And finally, at the very end of the conveyer belt, they fall down into boxes in straight rows and are sealed down by a robot, the wonder of modern technology.
And now stop thinking about silly thoughts.
Take a glass ball that was made at Yolochka [Little Fir Tree] enterprise and look at it closely, try to sense WHAT it is that you're holding in your hands. Feel the soul that the Russian women – often disabled – have poured into it, the women who have been working at the Christmas tree decorations factory for many-many years, bringing festivity into every home. These people have made this ball WITH THEIR HANDS. With their hands alone.
So do you know how the real [Christmas] balls are made?
I'll tell you. So that you don't feel like buying ugly Chinese-made plastic [mass-produced trash] anymore.
I think it would be good if you share this with your friends, and we, together, support national producer this way =)
[two photos and text omitted]
By the end of the Soviet period, the factory acquired automatic equipment, but it never got installed and, in the years of the economic decline of the 1990s, it became inoperative.
The factory drops you into the atmosphere of the first [Five-Year Plans], or perhaps even the end of the 19th century. New Year's decorations are being created in the toughest of conditions. It's hard to stand the lack of fresh air and the burning hot air of the tiny rooms where glass forms are blown – yet this is where people spend the whole day working.
Some elderly female worker even like to scare their grandkids this way: “If you don't study well, you'll end up working at Yolochka!”
The first section of the factory is the hot one. Here, 50 female glass-blowers toil in semi-darkness, noise and heat, for 6-8 thousand rubles [approx. $240-320] a month, mouthblowing decoration molds with the help of gas burners. Their workday lasts eight hours. In this time, each worker has to produce 200-250 molds, depending on the form of the future decoration.
[photo omitted]
What's difficult to achieve is the preciseness: the ball's diameter, for example, cannot deviate for more than 1-3 mm. It's impossible to work here without some special instinct. If the result is somewhat distorted, the ball is thrown away. To become a good glass-blower, one has to study for six months and then work for no less than two years.
[three photos and text omitted]
Here, all decorations are painted by the real masters. Hand-painted. Sometimes it takes a few hours to complete one ball, and sometimes the whole day, depending on the complexity of the picture. There is an extreme shortage of masters. It is not easy to learn this craft.
[three photos and text omitted]
The balls are packed and delivered to stores, where they are being pushed away from the shelves by the Chinese plastic that's being produced by millions by the soulless machines.
And these balls are handmade, practically each one of them is unique! Exclusive stuff, being sold for 100 rubles [$4] apiece. Foreigners take away bags of these balls when they come to the factory on a guided tour – in Europe such a miracle would cost [a lot more].
And we don't value them…
[…]
This post has received 467 responses. Below are some of them:
losch:
To avoid offending the Chinese, all this stuff could be hung on their mass-produced artificial fir trees.
***
nmoshina:
Thank you for the story! I'll definitely buy these decorations now!
***
winnie_the_bass:
The make boxer pants the same way. Only there are no glass-blowers there, though the rest is the same: sleepy hens dressed in green robes sit behind sewing machines that grew outdated a hundred years ago, with paint peeling off them, and work with their hands, with their hands – handmade. And the result is the same: pale, unappealing Soviet nothing that no one wants.
***
Anonymous:
Guided tours, yes. It's especially educating for the kids. These balls are sold there, too. [For practically nothing.] So strange: first you see how it is all made, then you learn how much it ends up costing. […]
***
shakheed:
My mother used to work at a Christmas tree decorations factory in the Soviet times. And until I was 7 or so, I thought that she knew Ded Moroz [Father Frost, Santa Claus] in person.
***
t0syara:
That [Christmas] balls in Russia are made manually is nothing but a sign of backwardness of our industry. Mass production of decorations shouldn't be manual. Only exclusive decorations.
***
mike_steinberg:
[…] But I doubt that many of those present here […] are ready to pay the real price for handmade goods […]. That the store/factory doesn't have the energy/brains to organize sales properly – it has nothing to do with the emotional but meaningless story. […]
***
maxxgol:
Yes, you're right – it would've been easier for them to arrange export of smaller quantities and get a lot more money for it, than force the disabled to toil for kopecks – though […] where else would a disabled person go. […] And, just like you, I'm sure no one here would buy one ball for 2,000 rubles [$80].
***
andrey_larin:
In a civilized country, people like these would be living a lot more decently.
souffrante:
Absolutely.
eldhenn
In a “civilized” country people would be living the same way. But the factory would have an owner instead who'd be buying himself a yacht every year. And we'd paying a hundred for a ball, right. A hundred euros.
[…]
yahaha:
The country's not the problem, but this one specific company is. A total lack of normal management. No desire to make production automatic and to develop it. No knowledge of how to encourage workers by means of normal salaries. The lack of a trade union that could have reason with snotty owners. Et cetera…
***
Anonymous:
Thanks you for the story. I've reconsidered the notion of a “Russian patriot.” Because here in Ukraine this expression has turned into a swearword a long time ago :( […]
***
ovalov:
Interesting advertisement for the [Christmas] balls…
souffrante:
I tried hard =P Selflessly, by the way =)
ovalov:
No, no, I'm not hinting at anything. Even if you've been paid to do it, it's still very sincere!
souffrante:
No one paid anything for this, okay… We were just working on an innovation management case at the university, using this company as an example. And we got so emotionally involved with it that we decided to help in some way.
And here is an update (RUS), posted two days later, on Dec. 15:
Yolochka‘s business will improve.
As of now, my post has been read by 81,936 people at fishki.net site alone. At copypast.ru site – 2,513 people. Plus LJ, LiveInternet and other blogs. […]
THANK YOU.
[…]

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Dostoyevsky’s Mock Execution Anniversary · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

ExecutedToday.com writes about Fyodor Dostoyevsky's mock execution of 1849.

source: news-globalvoices

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


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Saudi Arabia: Leading Blogger Arrested  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Arab Blogger's Observatory (Ar) announced the arrest of pioneer Saudi blogger Fuad Al Farhan. The site did not cite any reasons for his arrest.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Saudi Blogger Fouad Al Farhan Arrested in Jeddah  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Arabia added yet another accolade to its freedom of speech record by arresting its first blogger. Fouad Al Farhan, considered by many as being the dean of Saudi bloggers for being among the first to blog in his country using his real name, has been arrested in Jeddah. No further news is available for the reasons for his detention.
The Arab Blogger's Observatory announced the arrest as follows:
Meanwhile, Saudi bloggers were quick to react to the arrests. Mashi Sa7
Another blogger, Al Qaed (the leader) shares his thoughts on Al Farhan in this post. He writes:
Al Farhan blogs in Arabic here. Global Voices Online had previously conducted an interview with him here.


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Saudi Fatwa Against the US Dollar  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Window into Palestine comments on a new Saudi fatwa (religious edict) on the US dollar. Click here to read about it.


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Saudi: World Excited About Saudi ‘YouTubers’ · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Jeans comments on the world's fascination with the relationship of Saudis with video sharing site YouTube. “Now this fascination is not limited to Saudis as YouTube has become an international phenomenon in short time, but as with almost everything else, outsiders seem to think that our country is a piece from outer space and not a part of this world, and anything we do is worthy of attention and newspapers headlines,” he writes.


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Syria: Palestinian ‘Cycle of Violence’ · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Syrian blogger Yaman discusses the ‘cycle of violence’ in Palestine.


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Thailand: Exit Poll Results · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Real Life Thailand does not like the possible candidate favored by the latest exit poll data in Thailand.

author: Preetam Rai


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Thailand: PPP Leading · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bangkok Pundit analyzes the latest results of exit poll data and the actual election results. The PPP or People's Power Party, considered by many as the incarnation of the banned Thai Rak Thai is leading the polls.


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Zimbabwe: Currency fiasco · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kubatana blog on the Zimbabwe's currency fiasco: “So, I’m not sure what it says about the Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono’s attachment issues, that he’s not willing to let go of a few zeroes in our currency and make all of our lives a whole lot simpler by introducing some new notes as part of his Sunrise II.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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· Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about Raisa Bohatyryova, an ally of Victor Yanukovych and president Yushchenko's appointee for the position of head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.


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Antigua, U.S.A.: Copyright Rights · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Talk Antigua and Caribbean Free Radio blog about Antigua being awarded the right to violate copyright protections on goods like films and music from the United States.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Armenia: Burning Bridges · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Archuk's blog comments on recent hearings in the Armenian National Assembly on relations with Turkey and considers that focusing on potential financial reparations does more harm than good in the quest for “historical justice.” The blogger remembers that even a famous Armenian freedom fighter killed during the Karabakh conflict concluded that there is no choice but to “build bridges” with Turkey and Azerbaijan rather than continue to burn them.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Christmas Comes Early · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer says that while he can understand why international contacts and friends are wishing him Merry Xmas, he is irritated that Armenians are doing so as well. While the West celebrates Christmas on 25th December, Armenians will not do so until 6 January.


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Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica: Caribbean Christmas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Not only do we enjoy warm weather when most of the rest of the world is cold, but we also have a way of making the season festive”: Living in Barbados offers a glimpse of Christmas in the Caribbean.


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Bangladesh: Outsourcing sacrifice · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bangladesh Corporate Blog wonders if there is a more convenient way to take care of animal sacrifices required for religious reasons.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bangladesh: The Musée Guimet affair · Global Voices
Rezwan

From January 2008 the Musée Guimet of France is holding an exhibition of the masterpieces of Ganges from the collections of the Bangladesh museums for the first time outside of Bangladesh. From the museum catalogue:
“Bangladesh possesses an immensely important cultural heritage, this arising from the fact that the eastern half of Bengal has been one of the cultural richest regions of the Indian world; a vision far from the catastrophic one that the western world often tends to favour. The region is associated with the art of the Pala and Sena dynasties (8th – 13th century)….and goes back to the Maurya and Sunga periods (3rd – 1st century BC)….Bangladesh also harbours the oldest Buddhist monastery of the Indian world, Paharpur, which has now been listed on the UNESCO’s list of protected monuments.”
Black and Grey blog has more on the backgrounds of the archeological artifacts in question. (Image courtesy: Black and Grey)
This exhibition was scheduled to start from October, 2007 but was delayed due to a lot of drama. Bonbibi at Unheard Voices reported on the first of October, 2007:
“The conditional has crept in because the High Court has issued a two-month stay order on the travel of the 189 art pieces following a writ petition by a group of Bangladeshis. They raised concern over the legality of the contract and filed a public litigation case in the High Court that ordered to stop sending the exhibits. The litigants feared that the precious items to be sent to the Paris museum might not be returned to Bangladesh (‘The New Nation’ 27th Sept 2007).”
Unheard Voices later reported of an unholy alliance that stopped the archeological artifacts from sending:
“…a (second) case was filed before the District Court, again by ‘art lovers’ including former DGs of Archaeology etc. Interestingly, the case was filed (according to newspaper report) against the French Ambassador and others. The Court issued a show cause order, but did not stop the artifacts from going.
At this point, with no more puppets to join the dance, the DGFI’s (Military Intelligence) fist finally came out from beneath the glove. It directly intervened at the airport to stop the artifacts from going on the ground that an ‘inquiry’ is to be held.”
Unheard Voices blog also posted the protests in detail  which raised concerns over the security of the artifacts during shipping and the financial discrepancies (The total value of insurance is Euro 400,000 whereas only a major artifact is said to be worth more than Euro 800,000).
The Bangladeshi Blogosphere was divided right from the start on the issue. Rumi of In The Middle Of No Where answered the allegations of the skeptics with a question and answer style and commented if a solution is reached sooner than later then:
“The Exhibition will go ahead. And thousands of people will be able to learn about Bangladeshi art architecture and our heritage and to understand the depth and diversity of our culture – in a contrast to the negative images portrayed through the news every day.”
On 1st of December 2007 the first assignment of the archeological artifacts was flown out of Bangladesh to France rather controversially – in the middle of the night in suspicious crates  under police guards evading protesters and journalists. In order to camouflage the mission, the authorities utilised vehicles bearing ‘Save The Children Cyclone’ and ‘USAID Sidr Emergency Relief’ signs.
Renowned photo journalist Shahidul Alam did an excellent piece of investigative citizen journalism. In this post he reports with photos portraying the first consignment being sent to France. He also points to the fact that the Musée Guimet in Paris incidentally had been alleged to hold previous stolen artifacts from Bangladesh and there are similar allegations that stolen objects from China and the rest of Asia are held by the Guimet.
He recently visited the Musée Guimet in Paris but had been denied access to both the director of Guimet Jean-Francois Jarriage and the curator of the show Vincent Lefevre, for the answers to his questions.
Unheard Voices Blog has a brilliant post called “Tintin in Bengal or Musée Guimet controversy” detailing the whole episode with a lots of links to other blogs, pro-contra views, protests, collected media reports, explanations from the French embassy and the organizers and a lot of debate on this issue.
Shahidul Alam also tried to find the missing piece of the jigsaw:
“Guimet is a respected museum, and there has been natural interest in a show that should be very special. Why then such resistance from art lovers of Bangladesh? Surely art is to be appreciated?
Why on the other hand, the secrecy? The organisers should be taking credit for arranging such an event and not trying to sneak away under police protection. If there is nothing to cover up, why the covert operation?
The emotions are high. I’ve seen people weeping because something very special to them has been taken away. I have seen people angry because they feel violated. I have seen people frustrated, because they feel helpless against the power of the establishment.”
And at last the inevitable had happened. Unheard Voices Blog reports:
“At approximately 2 am on Dec 22, one of the 13 crates in the 2nd shipment of artifacts to Musée Guimet in Paris vanished from the tarmac of ZIA International Airport, Dhaka.
Crate 5 contained Statue of Visnu (terracota, black) & Bust of Visnu. High resale value on international underground art market as they are unique pieces.”
Shahidul Alam, who reported about the protests to stop the second shipment is furious:
Their fear of items being stolen, or not being returned, was considered preposterous. News of the missing crate, and the priceless statues it contained, had been suppressed, but the information leaked out. Could the guarantors please explain?
Please stay tuned for the next episode of this thriller.

author: Rezwan


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Barbados: Electoral System  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Underground discusses the island's electoral system.


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Barbados: X Marks the Season?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Who will be coming down your chimney and bringing you gifts this year? Not Santa Claus: the politicians!”: Boyce Voice wishes all Barbadians an election campaign Christmas.


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China: Ant Story · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief explains why the Yilishen ant story is a perfect China story in terms of its cultural, political and social elements.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Czech Republic: Penal Code  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word reports on the changes in the Czech penal code.


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Czech Republic: Schengen Expansion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word writes about a few subtle changes that the Schengen expansion is likely to bring about.


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Czech Republic: Vaclav Klaus Refuses to Debate · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“President Vaclav Klaus refused to meet in a televised debate with his only opponent for the 2008 elections – Jan Svejnar,” the Czech Daily Word reports.


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Estonia: Mart Laar’s “The Estonian Way” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about an Estonian politician's book on Estonian history.


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Georgia: Analysts, Oligarchs & Russians  · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

TOL Georgia comments on a recent analysis by analyst Vladimir Socor criticizing opposition presidential candidate and businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili. The blog believes that Socor is incorrect in his assessment and has overlooked serious concerns that the January presidential election in Georgia will not be free and fair.


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Georgia: Election Pressures · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

TOL Georgia reports on allegations that students are being coerced into publicly supporting the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, ahead of January's vote. According to a personal source, students are allegedly being threatened with expulsion from their colleges if they do not comply.


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Haiti: Meaning of Christmas  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Pwoje Espwa says Christmas is “less commercialized” in Haiti.


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Hungary: Firecrackers · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu reports on the Hungarian firecrackers and fireworks laws.


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Hungary: Parking · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric and Pestiside.hu write on the parking customs and habits in Budapest.


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India: No buyers for tea · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

My Himachal on a crisis that has hit tea producers in Kangra Valley – no buyers.


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Iran:”28th December a Protest day” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Azadi Barbari blog, we read that leftist students call all the international organisations and campaigns to join them on 28th December to protest against the Islamic Republic and raise their voice to free the students in Iran.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Music sites, new victims of filtering · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Alireza Shirazi says[Fa] that recently several music sites were filtered in Iran.The blogger adds it shows that filtering goes beyond political or “porn” sites.He asks what will be the next step of filtering?


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Japan: Foreign Snails Invasion · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James from Japan Probe blogs a video about giant snails from South America's invasion.


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Japan: How the Japanese spend Christmas · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan blogs a survey on how Japanese spend their Christmas.


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Japan: Witnessing Gang Fight · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Adamu witnessed a gang fight near his home.


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Kazakhstan: A Possible Kashagan Settlement · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine reports that there are signs that the Italian-led partners developing the suspended supergiant Kashagan oilfield are near a settlement with Kazakhstan.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: Almaty travelogue · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

The Schirm Project posts a travelogue entry on his trip to Almaty, the commercial capital of Kazakhstan, saying it can be compared to a cross between Reno, Washington DC, and Boston.


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Kazakhstan: Construction Crisis Gains Sharper Traits · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Zhanna Zhukova reports on recent developments surrounding one of the major construction companies of Kazakhstan.


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Kazakhstan: Kazakh-Language Blogosphere’s Hot Topics · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Askhat reviews the most commented posts in the Kazakh-language blogosphere on the example of the Kazakh-language blog of neweurasia.


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Nepal: Parallel peace process · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepali Netbook probes the peace process in Nepal.


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Russia: Putinism; Putin’s Fortune · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about “Putinism” and Putin's alleged personal wealth.


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Sri Lanka: Tsunami and Verse · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Moving Images, Moving People! writes a moving post on the anguish the Tsunami caused.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Older & Wiser?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeni suspects she might be getting old…


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Taiwan: An Ironic Human Rights Day · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

In this article, I will carry on the subject from my last article in bringing you information on human rights in Taiwan.
Top Ten News on Human Rights
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) released their picks for “Top Ten News on Human Rights in 2007″ just before the International Human Rights Day.  Due to the fact that human rights violations committed by nations are tightly connected with the level of awareness of decision makers and public servants, the TAHR released a “Survey of Candidates in the 2008 Presidential and Congressional Elections on Human Rights Issues”. We can only hope that voters will cast their vote according to the candidates’ position on human rights issues.
Government officials make sexually discriminatory comments
An official from the Ministry of Education used the words “girly” and “gay” as a derogatory attack on a political opponent. This triggered enraged reactions from gay rights activists, who held a joint media conference to condemn such behaviour. The official, however, simply brushed off their concern by saying that “‘gay’ and ‘girly’ were simply used as adjectives”. Bi angrily protested against this behaviour in his blog:
他說的可太輕易了！他可知道有學生就是因為娘，所以受盡男同學的欺負，不敢上廁所怕遭脫褲要驗明正身。他可知道，就是有男人將 gay當作取笑與羞辱的形容詞，以致於一個活生生的男同志在成長過程中，不敢面對與展現真實的自我，一旦出櫃還有遭到排擠失去工作的風險。這種成長經驗的 痛苦，豈是「gay是一個形容詞」所能帶過。
How could he have brushed it off so lightly! Does he know that some students endure bullying from other male classmates for being “girly”, and some are afraid to go to the toilet for fear of being stripped to prove their “manhood”? Does he know that it is precisely because of the derogatory use of the word “gay” that gay men find it difficult to face and to express their true selves in their adolescence, and then face the risk of being ostracised and even fired when the do come out of the closet? These painful experiences gay men endure due to the derogatory use of the word “gay” cannot be brushed off with “it's just an adjective”.
The Taiwanese Feminist Scholars Association also took the opportunity to condemn the use of Patriarchal verbal violence by a number of political figures. Together with other activist groups concerned about gender related issues, they demanded that the Ministry of Education take full responsibility for such behaviour according to the Education (gender discrimination) Act. The activist groups say that the use of discriminatory speech is a serious setback in the gender equality movement and threatens democracy.
An Ironic Human Rights Day
On 10 December, Human Rights Day, the Taiwan Human Rights Park had its opening ceremony. The park is built on the site of a former prison for political prisoners. Victims and their families were invited to the ceremony. Ironically, LeSheng activist groups who attended to protest were mercilessly expelled and arrested!
photo by  pinglhow
CoolLoud.com has detailed reports on the incident, and CivilMedia has video clips. Chen, a student who attended the event wrote about what happened in first person account:
大官們魚貫的入場，我們高喊著那些大官們的名字，渴求他們走過來聽聽我們的訴求，看看人權真實的樣貌。無奈，大官沒有來，警察、國安、刑警卻向我們包圍、靠攏。
As the officials filed in, we called out their names, hoping that they would come and listen to our stories and our requests, and to open their eyes to the real meaning of human rights. Unfortunately, none of the officials came over, but the police, national security officers and riot police came towards us and rounded us up.
Under the threatening gestures from the police (ground barriers have been cleared by this stage), we had no choice but to fall back against a wall, on which, ironically, hung the artistically crafted sign that says “Taiwan Human Rights Park”.
Grandmas and Gradpas sitting in wheelchairs under this sign. How, very, puzzling.
Picture: President Chen Shuibian chaired the opening ceremony of the Taiwan Human Rights Park this morning. Not far from the ceremony, the police were forcefully breaking up a demonstration held by citizens protesting on the LeSheng Leprosy Institute issue. President Chen simply said: “See how different we are from the Nationalist Party.” Photo by coolloud
Minorities supporting each other: new immigrants and gender minorities
Such a chaotic situation may make some people hopeless, but at each corner of society , minority groups are supporting each other! From November, Taiwan's Vietnamese newspaper BaoBonPhuong (Four Corners) united with other BBS sites run by gender minority groups began a project of synchronised reporting of human rights news, focusing on discussions regarding homosexuality, new immigrants, and other issues related to people in the minority. BaoBonPhuong is the only Vietnamese language newspaper in Taiwan. It is targeted towards immigrant workers and new immigrants. The BBS sites involved, on the other hand, are important platforms for contact and information exchange for the gay and lesbian community. The media release of the synchronized reporting project says:
樂生、蘇案…許多人權議題仍懸而未決；司法系統或警方對同志、原住民、新移民的不當作為頻傳…社會各處仍有許多無理的對待。這一次跨族群的互惠行動，希望能為人權的寒冬注入一股暖流。
LeSheng Leprosy Institute, The Case of the Three Death Penalties… many human rights issues are yet to be resolved. We often hear about the inappropriate treatment of gays and lesbians, indigenous people and new immigrants by the police…unreasonable behaviour still abounds in our society. This cross-group action benefits all involved and we hope it would add a warm touch to the winter of the human rights movement.
This article is originally written by Foolfitz, and translated into English by Yi. Both Foolfitz and Yi are translators of GV Chinese Lingua.

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Tajikistan: Avalanche kills people · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Vadim reports that an avalanche killed sixteen people on the road connecting Khujand and Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan.


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Thailand: Party Supporting Thaksin Leads Thai Elections · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The PPP or People's Power Party (Phak Palang Prachachon) is leading the tally in Thailand in the first elections after the coup in September 2006. PPP is considered by many as the reincarnation of the Thai Rak Thai party of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The party was disbanded after the coup and Thaksin who lives outside Thailand was barred from participating in the Elections but his presence was felt all over as blogger Thaizer writes
The figure of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shiniwatra still looms large on the Thai political scene despite his self-imposed exile from Thailand. In the months after the coup, Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party was banned by the courts and there has been continuing threats of legal action against Thaksin and his family who stand accused of corruption. Although Thaksin and TRT were banned, there seems little doubt to most observers that the PPP is a newly formed version of Thai Rak Thai. The PPP’s policies are the same populist policies that won Thakisn such huge support in the north and north-east of Thailand and it is these voters that have voted for the PPP.
Image from Colodio's Flickr page
Many commentators believe that is only a matter of time that Thaksin returns to Thailand and resume political activity.  The New Mandala blog are celebrating the return of democracy in Thailand.
The coup of September 2006 was a bold roll of the dice. It was based on the hope that what has been termed the “network monarchy” could displace the electoral appeal of Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup was followed by a concerted ideological campaign that sought to contrast the disinterested virtue of the king’s “sufficiency economy” with the profligate populism of Thaksin’s path to economic development.
But the gamble has not paid off. Thaksin’s proxy party, People Power, will form Thailand’s next government (unless the military wants to chance its hand on an even more reckless gamble). People Power will not command a parliamentary majority, but its electoral authority in the parliament will be considerably greater than the drafters of the post-coup constitution would have hoped. A deal with just one other minor party may be enough to achieve a workable majority.
Talking about the other major party – The Democrat Party led by Abhisit Vejjajiva, New Mandala writes in their analysis page.
The Democrat Party have only themselves to blame for their disappointing poll result. They have been given every assistance to win. Their nemesis, Thaksin, was removed by military force. Their opposition, the Thai Rak Thai Party, was dissolved. And in the campaign leading up to this election they received not-so-subtle backing from the palace and the military. But, even with all this extra-electoral support, they still seem incapable of putting together a convincing electoral performance.
Bangkok Pundit, who was running a live blog covering the elections feels that the Democrats have actually done well.
New Mandala has some analysis. It starts with “The Democrat Party have only themselves to blame for their disappointing poll result”. Actually, most polls predicted they would get around 120-130 seats so I don't think it is a disappointing poll result for them. They won less than 100 seats at the 2005 election so around the 160 amount is a good figure for them. Their problem is their coalition partners have done very badly. Actually, I would say there is greater support by the military for Puea Paendin than for the Democrats. Yet this support for Puea Paendin doesn't seem to have helped them. If the military had really supported the Democrats I wonder what that would have done for their poll numbers. The military can control or limit the information that people receive, but they can't make people vote for their candidates. The elite should take notice.
Colonel Jeru (via New Mandala) feels it was the Thai Voters who won.
Thai democracy won in this election. The Thai voters came out in droves to express their will.
The clear winners in this election: The Thai voters first, then, the People Power Party second, and, The Democrat Party third. The clear losers: the military coup makers. The Thai voters delivered a stinging slap in the generals’ faces and said in a clear message . . . we don’t need you generals telling us what is good for us.
The blogger however wants Thaksin to return and face all that awaits him.
This time Thaksin has no more excuses to chicken, he should return immediately to the applause of his hardcore supporters (and courtiers). And Thaksin should return to face all the criminal allegations against him to put closure to all questions of his innocence or guilt once and for all.
While everyone was trying to get to grips with the election figures, the bloggers had to keep going back to mainstream media or Thai government sites. Thai blogger Isriya Paireepairit suggests an internet based “Long Tail” election reporting system.
There is no sophisticated online election reporting system available. The primary source for election result is still TV and reported by centralized government body or media empire.
This project proposes an election reporting system which:
* gather data by massive volunteers, “wisdom of the crowds” aka “long tail” method via proper communication channels
* represent the election result in online visualized format, which enables more accessibility, comparability and accountability
* guarantee acceptable level of accuracy
* highly customizable for various kinds of election, can be easily reuse in different environment


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Trinidad & Tobago: Christmas Messages  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I know, its a busy time of the year. It really is. And I understand that you feel the need to share your seasonal feelings with my computer, I do”: The Christmas season has KnowProSE.com thinking about messages.


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Turkmenistan: the First Year with Turkmenbashi II · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula sums up the results of the first year of rule of Turkmenistan's second president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.


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Uzbekistan: Election Shocker · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust says that unsurprisingly Islam Karimov won the 90% turnout vote, even though it’s not been fully counted yet.


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Uzbekistan: New Book of the Former BBC Reporter · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine reviews the new book's release — Alan Johnston, the former Tashkent correspondent for the BBC, has a new book out called “Kidnapped and Other Dispatches.” His release was unharmed from four months of captivity in Gaza.


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Uzbekistan: The Plight of Labor Migrants · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan reviews a recent report released by the Rapid Response Group (RRG) for Prevention of Torture in Uzbekistan on the topic of Uzbek labor migrants.


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Afghanistan: Reconstruction Under Way · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Peter Marton tells about the developments in the Afghanistan's province of Uruzgan, and covers a Netherlands-funded project for the infrastructural project there.


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Angola: Jailed journalists still in prison · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Orlando Castro [pt] reports that Angolan journalists Armando Chikoca and José Lelo, both arrested in the past months while working in different news pieces in two different parts of the country, are still in prison. “This all happen because there still are journalists who insist on being journalists”.

author: Paula Góes


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Armenia: Aeroflot · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Now that airline ticket prices have increased in Armenia, one ethnic Armenian from the Diaspora finally journeyed back home for Christmas via Moscow on Aeroflot. Raffi K at Life in Armenia says that avoiding the terrible service on Aeroflot is best advised.


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Armenia: Campaign Politics · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With the presidential election in Armenia less than two months away, The Armenian Observer is impressed by how seriously one candidate is taking campaigning for the vote.


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Armenia: Yoga · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Patchwork posts photographs taken at a new Yoga center in Yerevan, the Armenian capital.


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Bahrain: Blogger’s Meeting Set  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini bloggers are gearing up for a meeting in honour of two bloggers who are abroad and visiting home for the holidays, according to Bint Battuta in Bahrain.


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Bahrain: Difficult National Reconciliation · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Mahmood Al Yousif sheds light on Bahrain's troubled road towards national reconciliation in this article.


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Belarus, Russia: $1.5-Billion Loan · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus writes about the possible reasons behind Russia's $1.5-billion loan to Belarus.


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Brazil: The first Christmas of a mother who has lost a son · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Carlos Eduardo Santos [pt] publishes a moving letter from a mother who has lost her son telling us about the first Christmas without him. Her 26 years old son was killed on a robbery in Recife, Brazil. She says: “Is it worth it to love this city? This state? This country? For together with this pain we have been feeling for 7 months grows the certainty of impunity”.


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Central & Eastern Europe: Populism? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Sean's Blog reviews texts on populism in Central and Eastern Europe that have appeared in the special issue of Journal of Democracy: “The irony is that this comes just as the ‘populist backlash’ seems to be waning.”


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China: Scrap the death penalty? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Was it New Jersey's undoing of the 1976 reinstatement of capital punishment earlier this month, or the United Nations General Assembly's call for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty a few days later that launched prominent Chinese bloggers into their own debate on the subject?
NetEase has gotten nearly 3,000 comments to its piece on the latter move against state executions, and at blog provider Cat898, one unnamed editor wrote the following on a page recently set up to follow the topic:
废除死刑？
废除死刑是世界的大趋势，也是人类走向文明的一种标志。目前世界上已经有100多个国家废除了死刑，即使未废除死刑的国家，执行死刑的数量也有了大幅度减少。在中国，虽然死刑被视为是一种实现正义的必要手段，但在中国传统中，执行死刑并不是一件好事，死刑数量的多寡也被视为国泰民安的象征，如中国历史上的 “贞观之治”时期，一年执行死刑的数量常不过几十例。目前，中国是世界上执行死刑人数最多的国家，每年中国执行死刑的数量超过了世界其它国家的总和，这不仅说明中国还很落后，也说明中国距“盛世”的距离还很远。为了切实减少死刑，中国近年来也进行了一些改革，如最高人民法院收回了死刑复核权，大幅度增加了死缓的适用量。死缓的大量适用减少了死刑实际执行的数量，但也出现了一些按当前刑法应当判处死刑却没有判处死刑的案例。在限制死刑的背景下，死刑案成了少数无良法官名利双收的渠道，进一步统一死刑审判、核准标准，加强监督，势在必然。值得注意的是，近些年来一直有人提出要废除经济类犯罪，特别是贪污贿赂犯罪的死刑，以其作为废除死刑的先声。这不仅招致民众的普遍反对，也使废除死刑成了一场闹剧。实际上，同杀人等暴力性犯罪相比，贪污贿赂犯罪的犯罪性质更为严重，其足以颠覆国家，危害民族。例如今年被处以极刑的前国家食品药品监督管理局局长郑筱萸，其在位期间广受贿赂，致使假药流行，受害者竟遍及全球，其行为危害了全人类，如果这种犯罪先赦免了死刑，显然是荒谬的。废除死刑应当循序渐进，在逐步减少死刑数量的同时，仍应当保持对性质严重犯罪、特别是贪污贿赂犯罪的死刑，唯有这样，减少死刑，直至废除死刑才有实现的可能。
This doesn't just illustrate how backwards China still is, but it also shows how far China remains from “prosperous” times. China has made several reforms in recent years toward realistically reducing the number of executions, like the People's Supreme Court reclaiming right of review for all death sentences, and the large increase in stays of execution. The large numbers of stays of execution have reduced the number of death sentences actually carried out, but has also given rise to cases to which the death penalty ought to have been given out but wasn't. In the context of controls over the death penalty, executions have become a channel for both fame and profit for a minority number of bad judges, and consistency in the passing down of death sentences, higher standards for approval and stronger supervision are imperative.
What's worthy of note is that over recent years there have been people calling for an end to the death penalty for economic crimes, particularly corruption and acceptance of bribes, and these have been the voices at the forefront in calling for abolition of the death penalty. This hasn't only led to widespread opposition from the public, but has also turned abolition of the death penalty into a farce. In reality, in comparison to murder and other violent crimes, corruption, bribery and crimes of economic nature are much more serious, to the point of subverting the state and harming the people.
The former head of the State Food and Drug Administration Zheng Xiaoyu, for example, who was executed this year, and who during his tenure widely accepted bribes and led to pervasiveness of fake medicines, with victims from all around the world, behavior that was harmful to all of humanity; for a crime like this were to be given pardon of execution would obviously be foolish. Abolition of the death penalty ought to be done gradually and in steps, so that at the same time that numbers of executions go down, the death penalty remains for crimes of serious nature, especially corruption and bribery. Only as such can executions be lessened to the point at which abolishing the death penalty becomes possible.
Over on Sina.com, Voice of China blogger Wang Huiyao writes in a post from this weekend, since deleted:
联大昨天通过全球暂缓死刑议案，希望最终可以废除死刑。有104个国家支持暂缓死刑、54国反对、29国弃权。此前，联大第三次委员会以99票赞成、52 票反对、33票弃权的结果通过决议，呼唤暂停使用死刑，并希望将来彻底废除死刑。中国的投票情况不得而知，但此前已有声明，对联大第三委员表示“遗憾”。
这一新闻必定引发意料之中的争论。于是有人说，中国不具备废除死刑的国情，有人强烈抗议居然“要给坏人以人道？”言辞之激烈，大家上网一看就分晓了。
This news surely enough gave rise to the expected debates. Some have said that China lacks the right social conditions for the death penalty to be abolished, and others went as far as to protest strongly, “should we treat villains with humanity?” The online discussion is so intense that netizens are divided on first glance.
[…]
“杀人偿命，欠债还钱，”“以命抵命”“以牙还牙”这是自古延续至今的说法，仿佛成了天经地义的逻辑。但是古老且普遍的说法并不代表真理性的道德制高点。纵观整个人类刑罚的发展史，各国的刑罚都是由苛酷到轻缓，由残酷到人道，这与人类文明的发展是相适应的。就死刑而言，仅它的执行方法就变得越来越文明。而且各国都是越来越少的适用死刑。从中国古老的惨无人道的车裂、凌迟、斩头示众到满清十大酷刑，从西方焚体于广场、绞刑到十字架刑罚，都极其野蛮和残忍。然而，随着人类文明的现代化进程，要么彻底废除死刑，要么即便是处以死刑这样极刑给犯人进行注射性安乐死等等方法也在不断推广。也就是说死刑的废除是世界的潮流。目前，目前世界上已经有三分之二以上的国家和地区在法律上或者在实质上废除了死刑，保留死刑的国家中又有很多国家只对极少的几种犯罪。
我不太清楚，为什么在国内有些人在讨论什么问题的时候经常会把问题最终归于某某事情“不符合中国国情”？且不说科学发展、民主法制、自由平等这样的人类普适价值观，就是一个死刑的存废问题也能被人引伸到“不符合中国国情”？！所有落后的价值观在过去的时代都会被看作是不符合当时当地的情况。在全球化的今天，这种标志人类文明进步的价值观，随着时间的推移，终将会被人类承认为主流价值。
今天我们讨论这样的问题，从某种角度说，保留死刑就是对生命价值严重漠视的一种继续。
把一个活生生的人给处死，是对人的生命权的一种剥夺。而生命权是一个人与生俱来就拥有的权利。不管采用什么方式对人处死，都是一种不文明而野蛮的行径。提倡死刑，也许就是对原始和野蛮的一种认同，漠视了宝贵生命，不在乎野蛮的合法存在，这与时代的进步是相背的。
Where I'm not clear is why now in China, when some people enter discussions, will they so often end it with “incompatible with the conditions in China”? If you disregard scientific progress, democracy, the legal system, freedom and equality and other such universal values of humanity, can you really allot something like debate over keeping the death penalty to “conditions”?! All the backwards values of the past eras were all seen as fitting of the situation at the place and time. In our globalized today, this value, which both serves as an indicator of human civilization's progress and changes with time, stands to finally be seen my humanity as a mainstream value.
The problem we're discussing today, preserving the death penalty, from one aspect, is a kind of continuation of serious disregard for the value of human life.
To put a living person to death is to deprive a person of the right to live. The right to live is a right a person is born with. Regardless of what method is used to put execute a person, it's an uncivilized and barbaric act. Advocating for the death penalty is like a kind of confirmation of the primitive and barbaric, it completely disregards how precious life is, indifferent to barbarity's legal existence, and runs against the progress of the times[…]
Wang finishes off by adding that when the European Union abolished the death penalty, it saw no rise in crime rates, and concludes from this that the possibility of the death penalty serves as no deterrent for serious crime at all and to say so is but a superstition.
On December 23, MSN Live Spaces blogger Su Liming reposted prominent theocon thinker and preacher-blogger Wang Yi's 29-point list, ‘How to recognize an authoritarian system’ from earlier this year; point 12 mentions the death penalty:
12
专制国家用死刑来论证合法性，民主国家用赦免来体现合法性。越专制的国家，死刑越多。根据下面三个论衡标准，本条分值5－10分：
一、越专制的国家，越缺乏赦免制度。50年内没有赦免过一个刑事犯的，可称为极权国家。20年内没有赦免过一个犯人的，可称为后极权主义国家。
二、宣判死刑，和执行死刑之间的间隔，拖得越长的国家越民主。等得越短的越专制。1周至半年以内执行死刑的，属于转型国家。1周以内执行的，基本上还处在专制时代。反人类的萨达姆从判决到执行，耽误了4天。杀人犯邱兴华，上午9：41分读完判决书，10：10枪决完毕，误工不超过半小时，堪称专制主义的一次急性发作。
三、只有专制国家，倾向于用杀人保护财产。财产犯罪上适用死刑越多的国家，就越专制。如根据中国的刑法，你敢杀大熊猫，政府就敢杀你。
1. The more authoritarian a nation is, the more it will lack a pardoning system. If within a fifty year time-frame not one criminal is given pardon, the term post-totalitarian state may be used.
2. The longer the duration between the passing of a death sentence and its execution, the more democratic a country is. The less amount of time that passes, the more authoritarian. A state which carries out the execution within a week to one year is a transitioning nation. A state which carries out the execution within one week remains essentially within the authoritarian era. For the anti-humanity Saddam Hussein, from sentencing to execution there was a delay of four days. For murderer Qiu Xinghua, the verdict was read out at 9:41 am, and by 10:10 his execution was complete, a loss of less than 30 minutes of working time, an acute example of authoritarianism.
3. Only in an authoritarian country is there a trend of resorting to murder in the protection of property. The more that the death penalty is applied to property crimes, the more authoritarian a country is. If, based on China's criminal law, you were to kill a panda bear, the government would then kill you.
Most read out of all these has got to be veteran sports writer Li Chengpeng‘s post from Dec. 20, ‘More important than canceling “the death penalty” is canceling arbitrary sentencing of “the death penalty”‘ which wonders why some livestock in China get treated better in death than its criminals; as of evening Dec. 25, the post had received over 650 comments and nearly 75000 reads:
中国已在联合国表态坚决反对取消死刑，在参与到“中国到底该不该废除死刑”的讨论前，我恰恰在虚心学习河南实行“文明屠宰”的细则，这就让我很混乱：我们一方面人道主义地对待猪，另一方面又不那么人道主义地对待人。到底是猪金贵，还是人金贵？
同样的混乱还出现在东莞和河南的对比上，东莞的政府连猪都不准养了，因为它们太污染环境太浪费资源，但在民间口碑中有点被妖魔化的河南，却又要给临死的猪营造良好的运输、装卸、圈养的条件，比如卸猪台坡度小于等于20度是为了不让猪往下跳时有受伤的可能，双通道是以让猪能够看到同伴所以减少孤独和恐惧，甚至必须在电昏15秒内放血免得猪苏醒后再杀就很残忍……在对待“猪”和“人”的问题上，中国的省份太不统一，就像麻将打法风格不统一，这是不是南北差异？
应该向河南的猪们表示祝贺，它们提前抵达了一些宗教的境界：死亡过程是一个壮丽的艺术。但我在社会纪实片里看到的那些犯人并没有河南猪的待遇，至少，没有给他们提供宽敞的双通道及温柔的塑料拍，也没有15秒钟就得弄死的痛快死法，我小时候经常看到临刑犯人执行前都得插着纸标反剪着手游街，就是为了增加他们的恐惧感，而现在不准对临死前的猪增加恐惧感了，不仅这很不文明，而且受惊的猪会分泌出一种液体让肌肉变白，肉就软绵绵的不好吃了。
哦，发现善待猪的某一理由其实还是为了人的口感更好。虚伪其实也挺可爱。
无论如何这是进步，去年中国各大城市争吵是不是要实行“狗道主义”，今年又实行了“猪道主义”，现在，终于轮到人了，极其热烈的鼓掌。
Yup, turns out the reason for treating pigs better is actually so people enjoy their food more. The hypocrisy sure is pretty cute.
其实，关于“死刑到底符不符合人道主义”我想得并不是很清楚，我很矛盾，一方面我反对废除死刑，因为“借债还钱，杀人偿命”是天经地义的事，如果一个人杀了另外的人却可以不接受死刑，那么马加爵同学就会很高兴，或者一个贪官贪了两个亿却只是被判了死缓，那么他的子女他的二奶就很高兴，他不一会儿死缓就变成无期，再不一会儿无期就变成20年，然后15年，然后仅过了5年我们就可以在太平洋一个叫“塔西堤”的美丽小岛上看到他正在钓热带鱼玩。
这就很让没杀人也没贪污的良民很烦闷，这就会让马同学和贪官几何倍数增加。
而且这次废除死刑的倡议是欧洲人提出的，欧洲人特别是那些富得流油的北欧人很多想法挺不靠谱，终身监禁对他们确实比死亡更恐怖，因为他们再也看不到外边那些花花草草了也享受不到高福利更晒不到太阳了，这就叫“生不如死”；可以我们的国情，要是不杀那些罪犯而只是把他们终身监禁起来，肯定乐坏了，“哥们杀人本来只是为了混口饭吃，现在国家给我长期饭票了，值，能不能借把刀来我出去再干一票，把下辈子吃饭的问题一并解决了”，刑法就成了《福利法》，监狱就成了福利院，而且中国人口本来过多，这样一来就会难免给地球增加更多负担。
And this round of calling for the abolition of the death penalty was put out by Europeans. Europeans, especially those northern Europeans who ooze wealth like it were oil, a lot of their ideas really just don't fly. Life in prison has got to be a lot more frightening a thought for them than death, because they'd never see their flowers or their grass again, nor would they be able to enjoy their welfare, or ever go sit in the sun again. This is called ‘death is better than life’. But with the way things are here in China, if you don't kill those criminals but only lock them away for life, they'd still be really happy with that, like “I only killed the guy cuz I needed something to eat, and now the state's giving me meal tickets for life, sweet, give me the knife back and I'll go kill another guy, get meal tickets for the next life too.” Then criminal law becomes “welfare law”, and the jails become “the welfare house”. China's population is high enough as it is; if things were to go on like this, it would just put further burden on the world.
但我说过我在这个事情上很矛盾，我又赞成废除死刑，一方面是因为河南的猪们都可以享受到人道主义而中国的人却不能，这太不公平；另一方面是因为我实在怀疑那些贪官和马同学会因为死刑的存在而止步，也就是说想杀人的终归要杀人，不敢杀人的浑身背刀也下不了手，真正动了杀机的人在行动前不会去研究刑法中的条款，死刑并不可以阻止犯罪，就像取消死刑也不能取消犯罪一样。
我真的很矛盾，我正好听说了一个故事，一个人在河南因盗窃案被抓住后，交待出他在十年前还在河北强奸并杀死了一个女人，河南警方就打电话给河北警方，河北警方说“不会啊，那个强奸并杀死女人的姓蒋的罪犯早几年已被我们枪决了”，其实十年前那个蒋姓青年只是骑自行车偶尔经过事发现场，但因为有群众举报他曾经过那儿，所以在警方严厉审问下他终于招了“犯罪”事实，宣判死刑那天他年老的妈妈一下子就倒在法庭晕死过去，这是一个冤案。还有一个故事是：一个中年人的家附近挖出一具女尸，而他的妻子正好失踪了，他被怀疑杀妻而且判了死缓，正当要执行时，他那“死去”的妻子回来了，原来他妻子失忆了，嫁到山东并生儿育女了，有一天，妻子突然恢复记忆，决定回家看看。
美国还有死刑，但听说他们一年才有四十多人被判死刑，印度也是人口大国，死刑人数也只有三十多个。
重复一遍，最重要的不是取消死刑，而是取消随意判处死刑，我们连对待猪的死刑时都那么文明，对待人类的死刑时是不是也可以文明一些,即使不能给嫌疑人提供小于或不大于20度的坡板,也不能颠倒黑白,把不该死的人弄死,却让该死的人跑到塔西堤钓热带鱼去了。
Again, the most important isn't to see capital punishment canceled, but to cancel seeing the death penalty passed down at will. We're so civilized about giving pigs the death penalty, so why not be a little more civilized when giving it to human beings. Even if we can't give suspects 20 degree ramps, neither can we flip right and wrong and be putting people who shouldn't die to death, or letting those who should run off to Tahiti just to go fishing.

author: John Kennedy


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Christmas in Qatar  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Qatar, Peaceful Muslima shares her experiences with Christmas in the Arab Gulf state.


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Dubai: Sex Slaves Exist  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Esra'a says slavery isn't a thing of the past and that sex slaves exist in our modern day and age. She also posts related videos which expose the sex trade in Dubai.


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Egypt: Rama Yade · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

It's not Rama Yade's – the current French State Secretary in charge of foreign affairs and human rights – political views what made the Egyptian blogger Eastern Bird write the following post (Ar). In fact, she inspired him to write about a totally different subject which you can read about here.
He writes:
بالصدفة وخلال تصفحي لعدد من المواقع على الشبكة ، عثرت على هذه الصورة لوزيرة حقوق الإنسان في الحكومة الفرنسية راما ياد
وبعيدا عن أية إعتبارت سياسية في مقدمتها رفضي لفرنسا ساركوزي وكل ما يأتي منها ، إلا أنني أخذت أتأمل في ملامح هذه الوزيرة الجميلة بحق
وأدركت بعد فترة حقيقة تغيب عنا كثير
وهي أن الجمال لا شكل له ولا عرق ولا لون
وأننا وللأسف الشديد حصرنا مفهوم الجمال في مفهوم عنصري يختذل هذه الكلمة في الشعر الأشقر والعيون الزرقاء أو الخضراء
لعلها عقدة الخواجة التي لازالت تعيش داخلنا او لعله نظرتنا الدونية لكل ما هو أسمر
لكن المؤكد أن راما ياد لا يكمن جمالها في ملامحها فقط وإنما في قدرتها كسيدة سمراء على تخطي كافة العقبات التي تضعها العنصرية (وما أدراك ما العنصرية في بلد كفرنسا)
والوصول إلى منصب كهذا
تحياتي لك أيتها الوزيرة الجميلة ولكل الجميلات مثلك في هذا العالم
I was surfing the web, when I found by coincidence this photo of the minister of Human Rights in the French government, Rama Yade.
Away from any political considerations, and mainly my stance against Sarkozy's France and whatever comes from there, I kept looking at this really beautiful minister.
I then realized a fact that we usually miss.
It is that beauty has no face, race, or colour.
Unfortunately we limited ourselves to a racist view of beauty, which limits it to blond, and blue or green eyed babes.
Maybe it's because of our admiration to anything that comes from the west, and considering everything black inferior.
But for sure, Rama Yade's beauty is not just because of her look, but also because of her ability as a black woman to cross all obstacles made by racism and reach a position like this.
My greetings to you – pretty minister – and all the pretty ones like you in this world.

author: Tarek Amr


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Europe: Good-Bye to More Borders · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Novala, Europa says good-bye to border-crossings as more countries join the Schengen zone.


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Georgia: Opinion Polls · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With the presidential election in Georgia two weeks away, Social Science in the Caucasus, looks at the reliability of opinion polls in the country. The blog says that opinion polls from every side are confusing the electorate and there is an urgent need for transparency.


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Georgia: Shakira in Tbilisi · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

After finding myself without the Internet at home for three days, I feel gutted that I missed out on Shakira's free concert two days ago in Tbilisi, Georgia. Writing on my Oneworld Multimedia blog, had I known I would have considered visiting Armenia's neighbor to the north for the concert.


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Georgia: Sycophantic Poetry · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Writing on his blog, This is Tbilisi Calling, the BBC's Matthew Collin recounts following Georgian president's motorcade around the country as part of his campaign for re-election in January's vote. The journalist and blogger reproduces a poem written especially for Mikhail Saakashvili by one elderly voter discovered en route.


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Iraq: No Islamic Blogs · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Anyone complaining about rising Islamist influence in Iraq hasn't seen Iraqi blogs, where the hell are the Islamic blogs?” asks Konfused Kid from Iraq.


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Iraq: Special Athletes Train in Syria  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraq's disabled athletes are getting ready for taking part in international tournaments from their training base in Syria, reports Alive in Baghdad.


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Iraq: Xmas for Forgiveness · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Christmas brings with it a message for forgiveness in Iraq, writes IraqPundit in this post.


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Jordan: Laws for Unmarried Mothers · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

What happens when an unmarried woman gives birth? Lina from Jordan investigates.


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Jordan: The Right to Exist  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Hareega airs his views on the right to exist in this post.


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Kazakhstan: Crisis Has Gone? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arseny provides excepts from the interview to Bloomberg, given by Kazakhstan’s top banker, saying the country has got rid of the crisis.


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Kazakhstan: Debates over Latinization of Kazakh Language  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Kazakhstan intends to switch the state language to the Latin script. It was announced that the transition will take 12-15 years. As adam_kesher writes, the plan stirred many disputes and arguments – in particular, Russia and a part of Kazakhstan’s Russian-speaking population considers switching to Latin is an adverse move against them. However, the blogger is more favorable towards the prospect:
“It may allow for simplification of Kazakh grammar, reduce the number of letters, as well as ease up digitization of the language, making it more readable throughout the world, giving an educational raise within the country – providing that Russian language retains its status”.
But he points out two concerns: Firstly, the government’s calculation is very underestimated, obviously not taking into account scientific research, monitoring, control and translation of Kazakh and world literature classics into new Kazakh. Secondly – for some reason – the most unsuccessful Uzbek model was chosen for the transition.
The reaction of blogosphere was very intense and heated. The view from abroad Kazakhstan is mostly positive:
Dave, a student of Turkish, says he is looking forward to latinization as a tool to breakdown linguistic barriers throughout the world. A-Guest opines that latinization is the same as switching to Cyrillic many years ago – both have political or economic reasons, having less relation to linguistic advantage or disadvantage. At the same time he says latinization is the only hope to keep distance from Russian influence.
Ataman_Rakin says Russian influence is critical in Kazakhstan – over a third of Kazakhstan's population are ethnic Russian, and many more Kazakhs are assimilated into russianness, while many urban Kazakhs have de facto Russian as their mother tongue. He also supports the idea, suggesting that latinization of the Kazakh could benefit/strengthen the Kazakh identity and the Kazakhs as a nation in general.
But the opinions inside the country are very skeptical:
Adam, keeping in mind his concerns, suspects that the plan is deliberately sabotaged either in order to steal the money, or to discredit the idea, or the sum of all listed above. Aslili warns that it’s no good playing games with the language: “People can learn anything, but blunt copying of models can be dangerous”. Cheerful-Husky thinks that change of graphics is a crime against the nation’s history – although before introduction of Cyrillic in 1940, the Kazakhs had Latin script. Pacifisttt is adverse, saying that latinization can be a vain time and money spending, plus mess –all due to sublimation of the national inferiority complex.
Aitazhi is more concerned not with the political or other reasoning for this step, but with the overall situation in Kazakhstan’s science and education: “Kazakh-style “lingua-globalization” will aggravate the problems around education, literature, translations and terminology. Who will be doing it, if we are still having such poorly written textbooks and dictionaries?” M-kaa agrees: “It’s not a priority today. It’s bad time for jingoism or globalism – there are lot’s of much more important tasks. Just look at insane textbooks that are published now in Kazakhstan”.
Izumcheg disagrees: “I want it Latin. Users of mobile communicators are not able to use Kazakh, because there is no space for 42 letters! You say – it’s wrong time, and the money will be stolen. But when the time will come? When the money will be safe? This time may never come – and the Kazakhs will remain on the roadside of technological progress”. He also made a wise conclusion to the discussion:
“Everyone who is interested – write about it. In blogs, in newspapers, in university theses. Each of us represents a voice, an opinion – the decision is being made here, near us. The officials read Internet and newspapers. What is really necessary – is showing interest and expressing opinions. Then there will be more chances that the process will go in the right direction”.
Amazingly, a couple of days after this discussion took place in the blogosphere, a news item arrived from Turkey, where president Nursultan Nazarbayev was on the official visit. Adam jokingly reacts on the report: “Mr. President has, probably, carefully studied the Kazakhstani bloggers’ views, and announced that he suggests not to hurry with latinization of language”.


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Kyrgyzstan: The new parliament · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

GenderStan looks at the newly elected parliament of Kyrgyzstan, paying specific attention to equipment and gender representation.


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Latvia, Estonia: Schengen · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia celebrated the Schengen expansion at what used to be a Latvian-Estonian border post.


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Latvia, Estonia: Valka and Valga · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Valka is in Latvia, Valga – in Estonia. Until 1920, they used to be one town, Walk. “The Latvian side faces a back door of an Estonian supermarket.” But, as All About Latvia reports, “town officials from both sides plan to take [the metal fence] down altogether to allow pedestrians to cross the border freely when both countries join the common visa space.”


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Lithuania: Religion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lituanica cites the results of a survey on religious views of the Lithuanians.


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Palestine: Christmas and the Occupation · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Mohammad from Kabobfest  sheds light on Christmas in a Holy Land under occupation.


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Russia: “(Chimerical) Stability” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Streetwise Professor criticizes Time Magazine's coverage of Putin's Russia: “The touting of the (chimerical) stability of Russia under Putin is another example of the superficiality that passes for incisive journalism.”


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Russia: Frozen Gas, No Diesel on Sakhalin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert discovers that no gas station in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is selling gas “before lunchtime” – because it is frozen until then.


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The Baltics: “Borderlands (V)” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

There's something to grieve and much to celebrate when the Baltic states join the Schengen, writes Marginalia.


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Ukraine: Yanukovych Privatizes State Residence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana translates a video in which Victor Yanukovych is threatening to sue a journalist for questions on murky privatization deal.


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Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko and Coal Miners · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yulia Tymoshenko returned as Ukraine's prime minister on Dec. 18.
Five days later, she was in Donetsk region, visiting the site of Ukraine's worst coal mining accident, the troubled Zasyadko mine.
Taras of Ukrainiana wrote this about the politics of the trip:
[…] One of the major events I missed while being out of town was Tymoshenko’s peace voyage to Donbas. In a move highly reminiscent of the maiden voyage she had pulled on the eve of the Dec. 26, 2004 rerun, weeks before being catapulted to her first PM term, she started her second PM term on a soft, conciliatory note.
With a stronger personal support and a stronger opposition — both in and outside of the Orange Coalition — she faces a reality very much different from the euphoric landscape of the early 2005. The Orange Revolution is now history, but another presidential election is just a dream away. And there she is, ready to make that dream come true, ready to make history. So, the first thing she does as PM — her suitcase full of presidential ambitions — is beard the lion in his own den. […]
While in Donetsk, Tymoshenko was quoted as saying this (RUS), among other things:
We'll be working on it and will make it so that in our country both young people and children would want to become coal miners.
Here are some reader reactions (RUS) to this statement, selected from the comments section on Korrespondent.net‘s news item linked to above:
are:
I'll only believe in this when the President's daughter puts on a helmet and drags herself into a coal mine.
***
Guest:
It's simple: she'll make other professions so unappealing that children would rather hope to become coal miners than anything else.
***
Communist:
But this is exactly how it used to be in that great country that you destroyed! In the Soviet Union, children did dream about becoming coal miners, and their work was honorable and safe! Do you remember ever reading about coal mine accidents in Soviet newspapers?! No, because there weren't any!
***
Anna:
Our children are dreaming of being coal miners. Because in our town of Snezhnoye the mines have been shut and now there is no way to make any money at all. We are surviving on bread and water, and it'd be nice to leave, but where to?
***
Peter Pan:
Communist: “Do you remember ever reading about coal mine accidents in Soviet newspapers?! No, because there weren't any!”
Are you so sure? And Orwell's “1984” and “Animal Farm” didn't exist, either, right?
It was all there. In special depositories. As for points of view that were different from the “leading and guiding one” – you could only hear those on short-wave radio through the wailing of the jamming stations. As Napoleon (not a psycho!) used to say in a well-known joke, “If I had controlled the Soviet press, the world wouldn't have learned about my defeat in the Battle of Waterloo!”
***
Benya na Laden dyshit 2 Communist:
You better remember football broadcasts from Donetsk. The tracks around the field were packed with wheelchairs.
Then they banned these wheelchairs, too.
As for the accidents, no one was reporting on them in the USSR – well, perhaps they did once, when the plane carrying Tashkent “Pakhtokor” [football team] crashed. They had to somehow explain to the people where the old players disappeared and why the backup team members were playing instead.
They didn't report a word on what happened to the Komsomolets submarine, nor did they report on the nuclear accident in the Urals – while it was way worse there than in Chernobyl.
So much for you Communist USSR government.
***
Ъ:
Kids are going to dream of playing for “Shakhtar” [“Coal Miner,” a Donetsk football club]. That's for sure.
***
On a different note, the Soviet-time Napoleon joke cited in a comment above seems to have regained its popularity lately. Dmitri Minaev of De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis ran into it at a Russian history forum and posted a translation at his blog:
November 7, the anniversary of the October Revolution. The military parade at the Red Square in Moscow. Napoleon and Murat are among the invited VIPs: ambassadors, chairmen of the communist parties and so on. Napoleon reads “Pravda” newspaper and Murat observes the parade in excitement.
Murat: “Your Excellence, look at these brave soldiers! If we had a battallion of such soldiers, we could have won the battle of Waterloo!” Napoleon keeps reading Pravda. The Kantermirov tank division enters the Red Square.
Murat: “Your Excellence, look at these tanks! If we had one of them, we could have won the battle of Waterloo!” Napoleon keeps reading Pravda. The mobile tactical missiles slowly enter the scene.
Murat: “Your Excellence, look at these missiles! If we had just one of them, we could have won the battle of Waterloo!”
Napoleon raises his eyes, watches Murat sadly and finally utters: “Mon cher, if we had a newspaper like Pravda, the world would have never known that we had lost at Waterloo…”


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Afghanistan: Tribal Law · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mohammad Fahim Khairy reports on a shocking case — resident of Paktia province of southern Afghanistan shaved his wife’s head, cut it her nose and ears by a knife and burn her down with boiled water in the first day of Eid.


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Armenia: Corrupt Politics · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Martuni or Bust reminds it readers that the former judge now turned radical opposition activist as the February 2008 presidential election in Armenia draws closer has a few skeletons in his own closet. In particular, the blog quotes an interview conducted with this author on concerns that the judge in question handed down light sentences to those guilty of the trafficking of women and children from Armenia to the United Arab Emirates.


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Bolivia: Commercial Activity at Christmas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Alberto Medrano of El Alto Noticias [es] writes about holiday traditions and commercial activity in El Alto, Bolivia.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Brazil: Open Source Living · Global Voices
Paula Góes

“In less than five days, a personal list of “open source” software has become a huge archive that everyone must bookmark”. Antonio Granado [pt] reports on the Open Source Living an archive of Open Source software, applications and references for a zero-cost,


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Chile: Apology for Transantiago · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos offered up an apology for the controversial public transport system Transantiago that has received plenty of criticism.  Notas Al Margen [es] provides thoughts on this apology.


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China: Bird Nest National Stadium Recycling · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Olympic national stadium, ‘Bird nest’, has some leftover construction material to be recycled. Wangxiaofeng gives a list of suggestions for the recycling plan: ashtray, toilet bowl and bra (zh).


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China: Outraged Students Crushing Car · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sohu forum posted a witness report on a mass incident at Nankai University at Christmas Eve: A car crashed with a bicycle in the university campus, the car owner demanded compensation and threaten the students by implying that she had ‘background’. Her brother came beat up a student. Students around were outraged and crushed the car and turned it upside down (zh).


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Costa Rica: Christmas Reflections · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Costa Rican blogger Julia Ardón provides a reflection on “why she likes Christmas [es]“.


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Guatemala: Christmas Eve · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo explains how Guatemalans spend Christmas Eve or “Noche Buena”.


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Hong Kong: Learning From the F Word · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The blog “Learning from the F Word” has won the most educational blog in the 2007 Chinese blog award.


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India: Photographs from abroad · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Glimpses of life abroad in the 70s (or so) at Sepia Mutiny. Beautiful photographs.


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Iran:”A Weak Government” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Digital Klashinkov,Iran based blogger and journalist, says[Fa] that Ahmadinejad's government is a weak one and is in trouble for its economic policy. The blogger adds, recently, for the first time, Iranian president accepted economic problems exist in country.


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Kazakhstan: Dangerous Places · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Marat posts some analysis on where it is more dangerous to live in our country in the cities or in the rural areas of Kazakhstan.


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Mexico: The Year in Review in Monterrey · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

What happened in Monterrey, Mexico during 2007?  Ocho Cuartos [es] provides a look back.


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Nepal: On Democracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bahas on the current political scenario – commenting on consensus and democracy.


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Pakistan: Churches in Pakistan · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan wishes its readers on Christmas, and links to one of their old posts with photographs of churches in Pakistan.


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Peru: The Disappearance of Aymara Language? · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Utero de Marita [es] discusses a statement made by director of the National Culture Institute, who predicted that the indigenous language Aymara will disappear in the next seven years in Peru.


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Poland: Ecology, Coal Mines, Iraq · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Gdansk comments on the coverage of Poland's ecology, coal mines and involvement in Iraq.


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Poland: Organ Donation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about Polish boxing and kickboxing champion who donated one of his kidneys to his sick baby daughter: “The case has highlighted the lack of donors in Poland, though the country has one of the lowest family refusal rates in the EU – where relatives block the removal of organs after death.”


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Poland: Simon Mol · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes again about Simon Mol, a “Cameroonian ‘refugee’, poet and human rights activist” charged with infecting 12 Polish women with HIV. (Many of the 213 comments to this post do not seem to have much to do with the subject.)


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Poland: “Troll” Sues Wikipedia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot reports: “Arnold Buzdygan […] – sometime wannabe presidential candidate, and a regular on usernet sites in Poland – went to court in Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, last week, to sue Wikpedia Polska for deformation of character. […] Buzdygan claims that his fiancée’s mother refused to let the marriage go ahead because of an entry on the Polish version of Wikipedia, which, in the ‘controversies’ section, calls him ‘a troll’ for his vulgar interjections on blogs and forums.”


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Romania: Dracula · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csíkszereda Musings re-reads Bram Stoker's ‘Dracula’ and writes about his surprising ethnic origins as well as Romania's flourishing Dracula-centered tourism industry.


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Saudi Arabia: Free Fouad Update · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

The leading Saudi blogger, Fouad Alfarhan, who has been arrested in Jeddah on December 10, 2007 for exercising his freedom of speech on his popular blog alfarhan.org has sent a letter few days before his arrest to his friends:
I was told that there is an official order from a high-ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior to investigate me. They will pick me up anytime in the next 2 weeks.
The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running a online campaign promoting their issue. All what I did is wrote some pieces and put side banners and asked other bloggers to do the same.
he asked me to comply with him and sign an apology. I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that. An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is liar when they accused those guys to be supporting terrorism?
To expect the worst which is to be jailed for 3 days till we write good feedback about you and let u go
there may be no jial and only apologizing letter. But, if it’s more than three days, it should be out. I don’t want to be forgotten in jail.
According to his wife with whom we talked, Fouad's arrest was directly linked to his blogging activities. He may remain in custody for a one-month investigation period. After that his family will be allowed to visit him and be informed about his case and the possible charges that might be brought against him. Fouad is apparently being held, without charge or trial, at the Ministry of Interior's security service  (al-Mabahith al-‘Amma) headquarter in Jeddah.  He has been arrested at his office in Jeddah and had been led to his home where police confiscated his laptop computer.
This is not the first time that Fouad has run into trouble with Saudi authorities. Last year, Fouad was questioned by plainclothes police and was forced to shut down his blog. After a hiatus of few months, Fouad decided to continue blogging.
Several bloggers and activists are organizing an online Free Fouad campaign at freefouad.com  to call attention to Fouad. As so far, a support group created on Facebook for Fouad has gathered 295  members.
In a statement issued on December 24, 2007, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned the “unjustified detention” of blogger Fouad Alfarhan and urged the Saudi authorities to reveal the reason of arresting him. “When the Saudi authorities arrest a young man writing maturely and is against terrorism and calls for reformation, it is a serious indicator for how far are the fanatic and those opposing freedom of expression and reformation are taking over in Saudi Arabia,” the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Mr. Gamal said.

author: sami ben gharbia


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Slovenia: Janez Drnovšek’s Legacy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about the political legacy of Slovenia's ex-president Janez Drnovšek.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Sri Lanka: Being Tami · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews on the experience of being Tamil in Sri Lanka.


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Tajikistan: Students not allowed to drive cars · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Vadim's post is about the Tajikistan president's order to strictly punish – right up to expulsion from the schools – students that are driving cars in the country.


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The First Six Months of Rising Voices · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As we all get ready to enter 2008, Rising Voices celebrates its first six months of existence. Thanks to the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Rising Voices has been able to distribute microgrants to five citizen media outreach projects based in Bangladesh, India, Sierra Leone, Bolivia, and Colombia. Collectively those five projects have trained over 100 new citizen journalists from communities that previously never entered the online global conversation.
It is worth getting to know each new blogger not just as a source of under-reported foreign news, but also as a neighbor and friend in our rapidly shrinking world. Get to know Carmen, a lover of poetry and literature, from the hillside working class neighborhood of La Loma in Medellín, Colombia. Discover the story of Suso – La Loma's local recyclables collector. Meet Cristina Quisbert who now blogs almost every day from the world's highest major city, El Alto, Bolivia.
Or head to Dhaka, Bangladesh where the Nari Jibon center is training young women like Sifat Binte Qaiyum and Ayesha Parveen how to document their personal and community stories with online media.
Just southwest of Bangladesh we find the Neighbourhood Diaries project taking place in Kolkata, India. Though the ten participants in the neighbourhood of Bow Bazaar have yet to start writing on their own blogs, project leader Sahar Romani has introduced us to each one. Take 16-year-old Surojit Mitra, for example:
Surojit is a student at Bow Bazaar Highschool. During his free time he loves to coreograph dances and listen to music. He is known for his laughter and his coreography in Sanlaap programmes. One thing that no one knows about him is that, once he failed an exam.
In a later post we learn that Surojit's favorite landmark of Bow Bazaar is the Punjabi Hotel. Here's his description:
As soon as you reach the Punjabi Hotel, what you hear first is the sound of conversations and the din of people who are going in. A light wind brings the smell of various food items to my nose. You can see shoe shops, the vegetables in the market being bought and sold. The touch of food items from the hotel and the fuchka. It is a very old hotel. Earlier it was renowned, everyone knew of it. Besides, the proprietor of the place was a friend of my mother’s.
Finally, make sure to head to the Think Build Change Salone in Freetown, Sierra Leone. After a vicious, decade-long civil war made Sierra Leone the least developed country in the world, a group of motivated young interns – such as Noah Dauda and Daniella Wilson – are documenting their efforts to rebuild the country. Make sure to check out Noah Dauda's photographs of microfinance traders and Emmanuel Joseph's experience producing a documentary in the eastern provinces of Kenema, Kailahun and Kono.
Looking Ahead
As you can see, in just six months, each project has made amazing progress in training new groups of bloggers in underrepresented communities. A sense of purpose and community has developed within each group.
In just a few days we'll announce the latest round of microgrant winners. Five new projects will join our current community of outreach trainers and the momentum and good will they've established. In the coming months we'll focus more on encouraging interaction between all 10 projects and highlighting the similarities the share.
We hope that you'll follow along.

author: David Sasaki


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Ukraine: Hotels · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Our Man in Gdansk suspects there's a difference between Kyiv hotels and those outside Ukraine's capital.


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Afghanistan: Osama wants EU to stop helping the U.S. · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sanjar reports on the news article, which says that Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan.


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Africa: Dealing with AIDS in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Looks discusses the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa: “But I was quickly disappointed by the article, even if it spoke some truths that I would agree with. Shunning promiscuity is one of those. But the author also says things like, “since the condom is about safe sex and safe sinning,” it cannot be Jesus’ approach. Now, I don’t know if it would be Jesus’ approach — my worry lies in the fact that the author thinks condoms are for sinning.”


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Arab Bloggers Alarmed by Al Farhan’s Arrest · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Reactions continue to reverberate across the Arab blogosphere following the arrest of Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan, whose charges still remain unknown.
The leading blogger, who is among the first in the country to have a blog carrying his real name, was earlier this year harassed by authorities and forced to stop blogging. Bloggers from across the region continue to rally for his freedom or at least understand the charges being leveled against him. It is understood that Al Farhan is being detained for his blog-related activism.
Saudi Arabia:
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, a Saudi-American blogger and journalist, who is also based in Jeddah, speculates about why Al Farhan may be in prison and calls more reforms in the Kingdom. He explains:
The latest arrest comes after he visited one of nine Saudi reformists who were arrested on Feb. 10, 2007, and are still being held at a secret police detention facility in north Jeddah after refusing to sign undertakings that they would cease their calls for political reform. Fuad wrote about his visit on his blog.
I just hope that Fuad will be released soon and allowed to blog again. The wave of greater accountability, more transparency and allowing the citizenry of Saudi Arabia a higher voice in how our country is run is the ongoing legacy of King Abdullah's reformist agenda. I hope that this will be allowed to continue. Arresting reformists and bloggers does not help the cause of reform in the Kingdom, and just serves to bring us back to those dreaded old days when everyone was too afraid to say in public what they really felt. I and many other Saudis like me had thought that those days were long gone. I hope we're right.
Fellow blogger Saudi Jeans also hopes Al Farhan would be released soon. He notes:
I hope that Fouad would be released soon to come back to his family and friends. This country needs more people like him, people who love their country and want to see it thrive and advance.
Bahrain:
From Bahrain, Mahmood Al Yousif tells Al Farhan he is not alone, assuring him of support. He writes:
If the reason for his arrest is due to his writing, then this is obviously a gross violation of an individual’s basic human right to freedom of expression. I call on the Saudi authorities to respect their role in the world and immediately release Fouad Al-Farhan and call on them to guarantee his safety throughout his detention.
Hang in there Fouad, you have a lot of friends with you. I applaud your determination to speak your mind for the better of our community.
Egypt:
Many Egyptian bloggers also called for Al Farhan‘s release.  Among them was blogger Bella, who laments the condition of Arabs, who speak their minds. She writes:
A blog has also been set up by activists to rally for his support here.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Armenia: Come on-a My House for New Year · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Armenian Food reminds its readers of the 1951 hit by Rosemary Clooney, aunt of actor George Clooney, Come On-a My House. Written by two ethnic Armenians, one of which was American-Armenian writer William Saroyan, the blog says the song typifies the lavish tables that will be center stage for Armenian families expecting endless visits from relatives and friends this New Year and in the days that follow.


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Bahamas: Theatre and Democracy · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Nicolette Bethel agrees with artistic director Oskar Eustis that “The same emotion that is required for theatre to work is the emotion that is required for democracy to work — the idea we need to care about each other’s experience.”


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Barbados: Campaign Financing  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Underground blogs about political campaign financing.


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Barbados: Jordan Passes On · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cheese-on-bread! acknowledges the passing of Barbadian visual artist and costume designer Winston Jordan.


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Bolivia: Christmas as a Child · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Ruben Hilari of Lenguas y Comunicacion [es] recalls his childhood at Christmastime and the current scenes of children asking for coins.


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Brazil: 18,000 liters of amonia and latex leak in Acre · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Altino Machado [pt] reports on a environmental disaster in Xapuri, Acre-Brazil, when 18,000 liters of ammonia and latex leaked into the environment after a tank in a condom factory collapsed. “The accident happened on Saturday, 22, the 19th anniversary of  trade union leader and environmentalist Chico Mendes’ murder”.


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Brazil: An end of year reminder about slavery · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Leonardo Sakamoto [pt] has a reminder for this final days of 2007: slavery still happens in Brazil. He points out that: “Its economic nature differs from the slavery of classical and modern eras, from the colony and empire days. But the inhumane treatment of restricting freedom and the process of “thingification” of human beings are similar features to the previous times”.


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Brunei: Prayers for Bhutto · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Maurina in Brunei urges readers to “recite the Al Fatihah for someone who, despite everything, was one of the world’s strongest women of our time, Benazir Bhutto.”

author: Preetam Rai


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West Africa: The four Cameroonian historical myths · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

This week's blog round-up starts on a literary note, with Voice in the Desert‘s review of The Door of No Return – a book targetted at children:
Congratulations to Sarah Mussi for her triumph in the Children's category of the 2007 Glen Dimplex Awards.
I read The Door of No Return earlier this year and really enjoyed it.
The surge of children's books set in Africa recently has been extraordinary. Was it really only last August that Amanda Craig commented in her Times column that it had been a long time since a children's author dared to write about Africa? That column elicited THIS BEAUT LETTER from my dear Mum (at a time when she was also going into Waterstones and carefully adjusting copies of ‘Sophie and the Albino Camel’ to make them more prominent – not that I've ever done that, of course!).
From Burkina Faso, we now switch gears and move onto bi-lingual Cameroon as Dibussi Tande of Scribbles From The Den goes down the memory lane to blog about: “Four Myths About the Unification of British and French Cameroons“:
Anglophone nationalist leaders and scholars, in turn, have quickly recognised the importance of rediscovering Anglophone history as an invaluable political resource in combating the regime and raising the consciousness of the Anglophone population. They have therefore attempted to bring back Anglophone identity into the historical space, strongly contesting some of the myths created by the regime and organic scholars. We have only room here for a few examples.
Although each myth is discussed extensively on the said blog post, for the sake of brevity, only the core points would be listed below:
Myth # 1: “Cameroon has always been one and no more”
Myth # 2: Reunification was warm-heartedly and freely embraced by both parties
Myth # 3: The constitution of a reunified Cameroon was agreed upon in Foumban in 1961
Myth # 4: The 1972 Unitary State was the outcome of a massive vote by Cameroonian people.
Cameroonian blogger, Rosemary Ekosso of Enanga's Pov shares the opinion of an article in the Proletarian : Africans need true independence not imperialist ‘charity’:
I found a 2005 article that reflects much of what I have been saying on this blog about Africa's relationship with the West.
As I have said before, what galls me is the hypocrisy that permeates everything the Western world, or at least its governments, would like us to believe about ourselves. The article that follows is reproduced with the kind permission of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). It  reflects the socio-economic and political views of its author, and while I do not consider myself to be a  socialist or communist, I was struck by the careful research that produced it. It shows what people can do when they start thinknig for themselves. I was particularly interested in the following statement, which is attributed to John Pilger:
“At present, for every $1 of ‘aid’ to Africa, $3 are taken out by western banks, institutions and governments – and that does not account for the repatriated profit of transnational corporations.”
Still on African issues, Imnakoya of Grandiose Parlor has this to ask: “AFRICOM: Where does Nigeria stand?“:
The bone of contention here is a statement attributed to Nigeria's President Musa Yar'Adua after a meeting with President George Bush where the former was reported to have announced that:
“We have discussed on security issues, security within Nigeria, the Niger Delta, the Gulf of Guinea and peace and security on the African continent. We shall partner AFRICOM to assist not only Nigeria but also the African continent to actualise its peace and security initiatives. It is an initiative to have standby forces in each of the regional economic groupings in Africa.” – Via VOA, December 13, 2007..
Imnakoya has this to say about the issue:
In what can be considered the first major international media event for YarA’dua, not only did he present himself as a green-eared president going by his “I will never forget this moment….” ’star-struck statement’ – not sure if YarA’dua was simply at awe of the magnificence of the White House or swept off his feet at meeting the ‘notorious’ George Bush – whatever the reasons may be, YarA’dua came across, embarrassingly, as a media relations mediocre. His statement on AFRICOM – which now deserves some white-washing – is an indication of how lax our foreign affairs department is. Shouldn’t the department have assessed the likely post-meeting scenarios and prepared accordingly – prepping the poor YarA’dua on what and what not to say, and how to say what he ought to say, even before he left Abuja for Washington?

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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China: Green Game for Children? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jason Li from Virtual Chinawonders if virtual green game is a solution to the violent virtual game?


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China: Tiger Abuse · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Derek Sandhaus from Shanghaiist blogs about more tiger abuse cases in China.


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China: Top 10 Chinese Internet News 2007 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kuan feng lists his picks for top 10 Chinese Internet News in 2007 (zh): Shanxi brick kilns, Xiamen PX netizen report, netizen arrested for spreading news on Jinan flooding condition, Chongqing Nail house report, Fake photo of Huanan Tiger, the exposure of Shi Jing's nude photo, exposure of hacker industry, arrest of the author of Coral QQ, Alibaba and Juren entered Hong Kong and U.S stock market and Tom.com withdrawn from the stock market.


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China: ZT Online · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translates an article from Southern Weekly which described in detail a gamer's online game experience.


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China:Seething Eve on Nankai Campus · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Though it is not the first time for a crash between pass-by vehicles and students riding bicycles, in the campus of Nankai University, such a significant accident is unprecedented. Hundreds of restless students, 20 police cars, and a broken, battered Buick sedan marked the seething Christmas Eve of this prominent school.
On the night of 24th, December, a female student unheedingly scratched a non-campus Buick sedan when riding past the Student Activity Center. According to some witnesses, the car, in which sat 2 adults and 2 girls, suddenly turned right and therefore got the scrape, which was about 15cm long. The female driver in a black coat immediately got off and grasped the student, on a demand for apology and compensation. She presumptuously abused the student before calling the police, and the controversy continued till the arrival of the police. During the course, even with the presence of the police, the driver still cursed the student “if my kids were college students like you I’d better throw them away”, and cried “you want a punch-war? Who fears who?” She furthermore threatened “I’ll show my ID card that overawes you!” which later triggered strong indignation against her smug manner of boasting her power.
A group of angry students then circled the car. Exactly at the moment, the male owner of the car slipped away and was later back with several other men who then caught a male student that spoke for the rider and punched him. The daughter of the driver as well got hurt during the chaos. Soon the several offenders caught a chance to run away. The police failed to stop them, a miss that later came to be a trigger, but instead tried to send the beaten student into a police car. More students halted the police and managed to take the student back, who was soon sent to the hospital by am ambulance.
It was now 10 pm. Many school guards were dispatched to pacify the situation while receiving no effect, because thousands of students flooded to the scene after the self-study hour, and all were questioning why the police would let the offender escape. The students howled to require the police to explain their neglecting, and moreover, that a school governor should come out. However, no official had ever come and the police just stood idly by. The neglected students could no longer hold their anger and the long-existed grief against the overbearing drivers. The temper burst out.
The passengers and the driver were removed out of the car. Then furious students stroke the car, smashed the windshield and then even collectively turned over the Buick. Meanwhile no police dared to come up and some teachers who tried to calm the students were pushed out of the circle. The car was damaged to be a bulk of iron.
The time approached to 12 pm. The frightened driver had now remained silent. Not until then did the two headmasters come. One of them spoke through a microphone 3 promises to the students.
1.	Students won’t be punished.
2.	Improve the traffic condition on the campus.
3.	Punish the offenders.
It was 2 pm. Swarms of students still gathered and started singing their school songs. The incident was commented by many alumni a chance for the school to regain their mettle. It was later circulated on many websites, though the related posts were soon filtrated.
However, several famous comments were preserved. They will be translated and put on here tomorrow. You can see Chinese posts about the incident here (many original posts have benn blocked). The news above is written according to these posts. Pictures are from FlyingMonkey.
It was not the first time for a traffic conflict between bicycles and vehicles. According to students there, it was always the students involved finally apologized to the drivers and paid the bill, though the crashes happened on the campus. The accumulated anger undoubtedly fueled the 12.24 incidence.
A post from the net forum Skyline (Tianya天涯) said (the original post got filtrated):
这些开着鸟车发着鸟财的人们，如果想让社会尊重你们，你们也应该学会尊重别人。这个社会允许你们先富起来，允许你们占有比别人多的社会资源，但没有给你们更
大的道德豁免权，你们也没有比我们这些骑着自行车的学生更高的权利。你忘了，在这
个后革命时代，当我们被物质和利益消磨得只能在你们面前唯唯诺诺的时候，你们好像
忘了一些久远戒律的提醒：哪里有压迫，哪里就有反抗。
Those who drive the damn cars and earn bonanza wrongfully should first respect others before you demand others to respect you. The society allows you to get rich more quickly and take up more resources but has never allowed you to be exempt from moral obligation. You don’t deserve more than us students that ride bicycles. You shouldn’t have forgotten, in this post-revolutionary age, when we people worn out by the material interest only have the right to be obsequious to you guys, this rule remains: where there is oppression, there is resistance.
有人说，为什么不好好说话，为什么要打打杀杀？为什么不可以谈判，为什么不好
好提出一个方案？学生们不是不会谈判，他们很多人就是学这个的。学生们不是不会文
雅，他们已经克制得够多了。可是看看那个骂骂咧咧的车主，那个纠集流氓的司机（他
还是酒后驾车），那些唯唯诺诺的警察。
所以，为什么要打打杀杀？很简单，因为没人给你面子！！
Someone questioned why students didn’t sit down and talk but had to resort to violence. The students are not unable to talk and many of them learn how to talk in school. Also, they are not unable to be polite; they have tolerated so much. But please look at the spiteful car owner, the driver that called rogues to beat the students, and those weak-kneed police. So, why did they have to employ violence? Because no one would really care about their rights without doing so!
Another post that appeared on the Nankai campus website soon after the incidence while got blocked later commented:
津F9556，一辆别克车，被砸了！！学生不再沉默！这是出于愤怒的咆哮！
2007年12月24日，南开园发生了一件历史性的事件，无论别人如何将她定位，我为身为
一个南开人而感到自豪！为校友的勇气永远感到骄傲！
Jing-F9556, a Buick car was battered! Students refused to keep silent！This is a growl out of rage!
On 24th, December, 2007, a historic incidence happened on Nankai campus. No matter how others would define it, I am proud of being a student of Nankai University. I am proud of my schoolmates’ courage!
诚然，中国现在实用主义风行。其实，美国人的哲学是什么？就是实用主义！可美国的
大学呢？中美之间的教育差异，难道仅仅体现在量化的科研成果上吗？学校得不到应有
社会地位！如果说像南开这样的学校都得不到，不知道在中国，还有几所学校可以的得
到，如果有很多学校的得到，天津，你是否就需要反省？
Indeed, today pragmatism prevailed in China. However, America adopts pragmatism as well while the universities there never did so (worship the power). Is the margin on education quality between China and America simply lying on the quantitative results of scientific researches? It lies on that schools here get no social status they deserve! How many schools can get what they deserve even if a school like Nankai University could not? If only did Nankai fail on this, should you Tianjing City reexamine yourself?
学生在自己的校园里被打？！荒唐！可笑！可耻！
你们太低估南开学生力量了，数百名学生面对数十辆警车，敢于站在警车前面，绝不让
他们一个学生带走！我为你们自豪！为书生气浓郁的南开园里依然能培养出这么多血气
十足、又有理有据有节的学生感到自豪！
Students got punched on their campus? So ridiculous and shameful! You have underestimated our power! Hundreds of students dared to stand in front of the police cars and halted the police from taking a single student. I am proud of you! I am proud that the bookish campus can cultivate so many students with courage and reason!

author: Bob Chen


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Colombia: Kidnapped Victims To Be Possibly Released · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Reports out of Colombia state that the a few kidnapped victims are set to be released by the FARC. Constanza Vieira of Heavy Metal Colombia [es] writes about this news.