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Mexico: Teachers Protest in Oaxaca · Global Voices
David Sasaki

While much of the country remains focused on the daily football happenings across the Atlantic, a small insurrection of protesting teachers and their sympathizers has taken to the streets of Oaxaca demanding for higher pay and the resignation of state governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.
Those protests turned violent last Wednesday prompting black and white photoblogger Juan Calavera to take to the streets and document the forced eviction of teachers and their supporters that had been occupying Oaxaca's main plaza.
La primera noticia que tuve fue por teléfono, me llamó la directora de la escuela. “La policía está desalojando a los maestros, hay helicópteros disparando y lanzando gases lacrimógenos, ya avisamos a los alumnos que hoy no va a haber clases, no salgas de tu casa, la cosa está muy fea…”
He then describes the tension in the air as he approached the plaza where helicopters were flying overhead. The eviction of the protesters began around 5 a.m., according to Calavera, but three hours later, the police were still firing tear-gas.
Las versiones corrían cada vez más insistentemente: dos maestras y un niño habían muerto en la intentona represiva. Otro compañero había perdido un ojo a causa de los golpes policiales (más tarde los maestros lo reportaban muerto). Una mujer embarazada sufrió un aborto. Oficialmente aún no se reconocen las bajas. Algunos maestros en autos y motonetas distribuían coca-cola y agua para menguar los efectos del gas que, incluso horas después de haber sido lanzado, producía efectos sobre ojos y vías respiratorias. Otros llegaban con comida. Otros más intentaban reorganizarse. “Busquen a su sección… Vamos al zócalo, ya lo recuperamos”
Mark in Mexico, the weblog of an American ex-pat running an English language school in Oaxaca, took a break from its usual sardonic, conservative commentary on American politics to focus on the protests.
About 3 1/2 weeks ago, some 5000 or so teachers from throughout the state arrived and set up camp in the zócalo in Oaxaca. The zócalo is the main square in the center of the city and is a tourist magnet, or at least it was. All of the public school teachers from throughout the state, some 70,000 of them, walked off the job leaving some 1 million kids with no school and only 6 weeks left in the school year. As the days went by, more and more teachers arrived, especially on the weekends, to augment the original 5000 or so. They pitched tents in the zócalo, set up a half dozen porta-potties, cooking installations and just generally settled into about 50 square blocks in and around the center of the city. This effectively shut down the tourist trade in Oaxaca. And believe me, tourism is all this place has got.
Last week, they blocked the entrance to the airport and shut it down for a day. This forced President Vicente Fox to threaten to send in federal troops to keep the airport open. He said later that the reason he didn't send in troops immediately to remove the teachers was that there were no troops in the area. Very strange, since there is a military installation (fort) here and one can see soldiers moving in and out of the city almost every day. Hmmm.
Augmenting his descriptions of the violent protests with powerful photographs, readers are left with a portrait of a battle between tear-gas-wielding police officers and rock-hurling protesters. In the end, it was the striking teachers who “counterattacked with some 10-15,000 bodies against the force of 3000 policemen” and retook the city square. But just what are they so fervently demanding? According to Mark, who has since written three updates with new developments:
The teachers are demanding a 100% pay raise. They are demanding that governor Ruiz step down. They are demanding money be spent in the countryside for schools where children cannot afford a pair of shoes, let alone books, utensils and uniforms. They are demanding that the schools in the countryside, many of which are tin-roofed shacks, be updated with at least the bare minimum of accomodations, like windows, blackboards, desks and chairs for the poor indian kids. And they are right. Destroying the center of Oaxaca and its tourist trade is, however, pretty stupid. From where, exactly, do they expect the money to come? On the other hand, the authorities were probably right to try to retake the city. But the government should have realized that a failure such as has occurred would be worse than no attempt at all. The teachers, however, have watched as the government of Governor Ruiz has spent, in the past year alone, some $200,000,000 USD to remodel the zócalo and many other historical sites (unfinished) in and around the city, the Guelaguetza amphitheater (unfinished) where the world famous festval is due to start, uh, next month, the main drag into the city from the north (unfinished), and a myriad of other public works projects, most unfinished and almost exclusively here in the capitol city. The teachers see little or nothing being spent in the outlying areas of the state where money is so desperately needed
Ariadsol, a new LiveJournal user and self-described Backstreet Boys fan from Oaxaca, agreed that the improvised protesters’ camp did little for the city's aesthetics:
Today in Oaxaca things were difficult specially for the city, there was some problems with the teachers of the public schools and the goverment, the teachers had been in strike for 24 days and all the students were missing classes, the goverment gave them all they could have, because some stuffs they were asking were impossible because there is no money to do that, so the goverment got tired of them and the fact that they were blocking the whole city and causing traffic and other problems because they (the teahcers) closed several streets and stoped the cars, and closed stores and everything they could like the airport, and they were living in the center of the city, they put up like a camp,and the center of the city which is one of the atracctives of the city (for tourists) was looking horrible since almost the 24days of their strike and besides they said they weren't going anywhere until the elections on july 2nd so it was also a political problem,they were also removing posts from all the presindecial candidates escept one and saying they will not aloud people to vote on the elections,
As often happens, the situation turned ALT1040 into a public town hall. On Thursday Eduardo Arcos posted an email from “marcosmh.”
Hola que tal, escribo en un momento de emergencia, vivo en la ciudad de Oaxaca. Como se habran enterado por las noticias, el desalojo de maestros plantados en las calles del centro de la ciudad el dia de hoy miércoles 14 de junio de 2006, se ha llevado a cabo de una manera totalmente violenta por parte de la fuerza publica, aunque algunos miembros a pesar de negarse a llevar a cabo esta orden, fueron obligados a llevarla a cabo , las noticias solo muestran una parte, tv azteca y televisa, así como los noticieros locales de tv (canal 9) han sido comprados por el maldito gobernador Ulises Ruiz, un gobernador déspota, sin ningún tipo de consideración, mando a sacar mediante fuerza publica a maestros, hombres, mujeres y niños, desgraciadamente ya han habido muertos por estos enfrentamientos, el gobierno oculta estos hechos, la única forma de comunicación era la radio pero esta fue callada a partir del medio dia, una sola estacion de radio ha quedado en pie, pero esta ha cedido a las 6:30 pm, el gobierno ha callado a los medios de una forma agresiva.
No tengo a quien mas escribir, confio en ustedes como medio de comunicacion en internet para que este mensaje lo hagan llegar a todo el mundo, que sepan la situacion tal cual esta pasando y no solo la version de los medios.
I don't have anyone else to write to, but I trust you guys, as a media outlet on the the internet, to help get this message out to the whole world so that they understand the situation as it is really happening and not just the media's version.
But not all of the commenters are so quick to agree. Hector Cruz of the local news agency Adnsureste.info (ES) writes:
Yo tambien soy de Oaxaca, y estoy en total desacuerdo con lo que el compañero marcosmh comenta, radio universidad es una radio cuya caracteristica principal es de apoyo a las luchas magisteriales, eso durante los 23 años que llevan los maestros haciendo sus paros, si 23 años!!!, la ciudadania de Oaxaca ya esta arta de esto, no es que se apoye la violencia generada por el gobierno, si no que la manera en que los maestros alteran la vida de Oaxaca no es la adecuada.
Nor does Carlos find much reason to sympathize with the striking teachers:
Mira, yo entiendo que haya gente que no esté de acuerdo con lo que pasó en Oaxaca y lo que ha pasado en otros lugares de la Republica Mexicana; pero muy pocas veces oímos a alguien que critique a los maestros, o a cualquier otro grupo que se pasa la ley por debajo del arco del triunfo afectando a comercios, traunseuntes, conductores, y a la sociedad en general.
Debemos recordar que estas personas son las que comienzan el problema al no sentarse a la mesa de negociaciones y se van directamente a atacar diferentes sedes del gobierno como Cámara de Senadores, Diputados y hacen desmanes por los cuales nadie les responsabiliza. Hay estan las pintas y los graffitis de los sindicatos de la UNAM y de otros nefastos alborotadores. La gente ya está harta de que le fastidien el dia con sus manifestaciones. Hay que hacer valer el estado de derecho a como de lugar.
We must remember that these people are the ones that start the problem by not sitting at the negotiation table and instead go directly to attacking the senators and deputies and commit abuses that no one holds them responsible for. There is the graffiti by the unions of the National Autonomous University of México and other unruly troubles. The people are already tired that they disrupt the day with their protests. The state of the law and of the city needs to be valued.
Commenter “Silent_hill,” however, says it is the politicians who are to blame:
Efectivamente, debe renunciar, el dice que en estado no hay dinero, pero yo me pregunto ¿Cómo es que hay dinero para las campañas?, mucha gente dice que los maestros ganan mucho y que son unos webones, webones los diputados, senadores y servidores públicos que van a calentar asientos en las cámaras y que ganan 80,000 al mes. Cuando hay maestros que sólo ganan 2,000 a la quincena, y hay que resaltar que no solo piden para ellos, sino también para los niños como son desayunos escolares, uniformes, mejores condiciones para las escuelas, no crean que las escuelas están como ahí en los estados del norte, no, aquí, la mayoría de las escuelas están en condiciones deprimentes.
Sobre el desalojo, a Ulises no le importó que hubiera niños (los hijos pequeños de las maestras), que las patearon, que les dijerón cosas horribles, no saben el daño sicológico que el “Flamante” Ulises le hizo a eso pequeños.
Ojalá y reflexionen, que esta forma de gobierno autoritaria no la podemos permitir, nosotros tenemos derecho a la libertad de expresión, a defender nuestros derechos.
With regard to the forced evictions, [Governor Ortiz] doesn't care if there were children (the small children of the teachers) that [the police officers] kicked, that they told the children horrible things. You don't know the psychological damage that the “Brilliant” Ulises has done to these small kids. Hopefully you will all reflect that this form of authoritarian government is something we cannot permit. We have the right to the freedom of speech and to defend our rights.
For more background information on the strike, Nancy Davies, writing from Oaxaca, has a good explanation of the various players involved at The Narco News Bulletin. Liza Sabater begins her post “Oaxaca is Burning” by asking, “Is this the first true grassroots insurgency of the 21st century?” Her post includes eight videos of the protests.


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Mexico: “When will the results be announced?” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

There is a good chance that election day will make for a close race in Mexico. Ana Maria Salazar tells readers when they might expect definitive results.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: David Sasaki


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Mongolia: Taylor’s Escort · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

…yuu bna? has a short update on the activities of Mongolia's peacekeepers in Sierra Leone.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Musique Africaine · Global Voices
Obi

The Global football festival that is the World Cup.  The best so far I've witnessed with a genuine feelgood atmosphere and a lot of goals.  With Ghana the strongest African contender left in the competition my interest is still deep and I wish them luck.  When an African team play you always hear the drums reverberate throughout the stadium.  Fascinating mix of cultures and goes a long way to enhance global harmony and understanding.  Better luck next time to Ivory Coast and Togo who are out of the competition.  Welcome to my African music roundup.  Joga bonita.
Yesterday dj earball of Sound Roots posted an mp3, “Take Out the Fences”, from Togolese singer/musician Yawo to inspire the Togolese football team, Les Eperviers (Sparrow Hawks).
“Up With People” veteran Yawo started his music career in his native Togo, studying flute, electric bass, and classical guitar. The title of this album might refer to his musical influences as much as the world harmony he so clearly desires. Yawo's feel-good Afropop music straddles the walls between African, pop, jazz, and reggae. Singing in a mix of English and African languages, he calls for freedom, justice, and more bodies on the dance floor.”
“Take Out the Fences” is from the album of the same name and is on general release.
Wen, a guest blogger on the excellent music blog Benn loxo du tacu, drops a post on Ghanaian Hip Life:
“Ghanaian Hip Life is a hybrid of Afro-American hip-hop and West African highlife. It is characterised by rapping over a 4/4 beat, however it differs from most traditional hip-hop with its melodic lead vocals. The rap is mostly in the local languages Twi, Fanti, Ga and Ewe, but also in the lingua franca of the Muslim minority, Hausa. The official language in Ghana is English, though due to migrant relations with the neighbouring countries French is also used. In these songs we hear a more pidginised form of English which contains old expressions from colonial times that are still used today.”
The post highlights the Hip Life group VIP and provides mp3s to the songs “Ahomka Wo Mu”, “Ni Ne Naki” and “Adoley”. Enjoy.
soul on ice blogs about the Ghanaian Hip Hop profiling the artists Wanlov and Ambassadoz:
“Ghana's music heritage is very rich with HighLife and more recently HipLife. You only have to go to a Ghanaian party to know what i'm on about. The HipLife genre is really hot with the likes of Reggie Roxstone tearing up the airwaves. More recently the hip hop scene has grown strong. Two of the heavyweights on the scene are Ambassadoz and Wanlov”
mp3s are provided for the two artists featured.  Wanlov's “In Ghana” is definitely an anthem as it mentions the black stars of Ghana scoring goals.   Hip Hop Braggadocio and appropriate.
Arafat of arafat.blogspot.com talks on a panel discussion, hosted by (Arts & Ideas), on varieties of human migration. Arafat's analyses this discussion quoting extensively from Listening to Music by Yale lecturer Craig Wright:
“The blues…were greatly influenced by the experiences of African Americans in the rural South and reflect African musical practices. In fact, almost all forms of twentieth-century American popular music — blues, ragtime, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock ‘n’ roll, funk, rap, and hip-hope — show, in one way or another, ties to African music. Most of the slaves arriving in the United States came from the western part of Sub-Saharan Africa — from the western part of the continent below the Sahara Desert. Today the countries of Sub-Saharan West Africa have names such as Senegal, Guinea, Ghana, Benin, and Ivory Coast, though in fact the boundaries of most of these nations are more or less artificial lines drawn by nineteenth-century European rulers.”
Arafat concludes his analysis and in his own words:
“The history and evolution of African song and music in America is partly an evidence of admirable human courage: of that elusive phenomenon of resistance even in the most horrible of circumstances. It becomes a story of survival in the face of the worst of injustices imposed by the powerful against the powerless.”
Nikhil P. Yerawadekar of oh word collection talks about his first tour with Akoya Afrobeat Ensemble at the Joshua Tree Music festival in California:
“We got a lot of props from the hippies at the Joshua Tree Music Festival. Hippies like that are really generous and nice and I have to say I enjoyed the time I spent in their company. But as much as I appreciated the kindness, I found myself hating on hippie taste pretty much non-stop during the festival.  They put the band up in a classy ranch house a few miles removed from the festival and we spent a lot of time there playing music, relaxing and getting nice. As a result, I only got to see four acts (I missed Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, which was probably the only show better than Akoya), and of the four, I only enjoyed the at-times gimmicky but overall very impressive solo guitarist Kaki King.”
Nikhil gives the festival a thorough review and talks on the state of music.  Good read.
Ian Russell of living with mr. flea writes about orchestra baobab of Senegal:
“Orchestra Baobab originates from Senegal, West Africa and was once the house band in a VIP club in Dakar – Club Baobab – hence the name. However, the band members are not all Senegalese, and have brought with them the flavours from their own musical roots to create a delicious blend of African traditional beats to mix with Latin rhythms popular in Dakar clubs in the early 70s. there followed a period where their style fell out of favour and they all went off to find other work but then people got tired of the new pop and so interest in baobab reignited and they all had to give up the real world to play music together – the lead guitarist, Barthélemy Attisso, was working as a successful barrister (that's english for lawyer!) in the interim so not an easy choice for some. when these guys get going they rock! I defy anyone hearing them not to want to get up and get down.”
Ian has also drawn and posted a “Portrait of the artist as african noble listening to orchestra baobab on a boom box”.  You have to see this one.  Really digging this blog.
Cold Sweat of Lock it down looks at what artists could be featured on a future compilation of African Music:
“After two great compilations on African music focussing on the nowadays vibes instead of looking back, both African Rebel and Lagos Stori Plenti were good for a very positive shout-out on this blog, we figured it's also time for Lock it Down to look ahead. So instead of reviewing an album already released, we now bring you an update of artists that should fit perfectly well on a future comp. Trust us, if these tracks were to be released on a compilation, it would be a killer.”
Cold Sweat goes on to profile the artists Fafadi, Ahlou Bi, Meta & The corner stone, Gokh-bi, As Malick and Wa Flash, all Senegalese artists.  Each profile is a short bio on the artist with a link to their myspace.com page to showcase their sound.  Yup, sounds like a solid compilation for the future.
Count Reeshard of no condition is permanent writes on the Lijadu Sisters
“There is much to love about the Lijadu Sisters, identical twins of entirely self-determined nature who sing like birds, albeit carnivorous birds with roomy lungs. The sisters raised a brood of four kids, none of whom allegedly knew which Lijadu sister, either Kehinde or Taiwo, was their respective mom. The Lijadu Sisters seemed to be well in control of their professional destiny and critical of the colonial mentality that pervaded Nigerian record companies. They also had little patience for the male chauvinism that was seemingly part of the furniture in their native Nigeria.”
Count Reeshard provides downloads of a number of their songs. Definitely worth the download for the sheer quality of their music. Enjoy.

author: Obi


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Myanmar: Why Blog? · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Mady June in Myanmar explains why she got into blogging. Myanmar and neighboring Lao have lower number of Internet users compared to other South East Asian countries. Most of the visible Myanmar bloggers live outside the country.

author: Preetam Rai


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Nepal: Women and the Revolution · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Paramendra on women and the revolution. “This is so very wrong. This is offensive. The April Revolution might not have earned the women total equality yet, but it sure earned them and everyone else the right to peaceful assembly. Why were they roughed up? Senior ministers should have come out to meet them and listen to their grievances.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: All about Arrandu · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

People and breathtaking descriptions of Arrandu in Pakistan by Shirazi - “This village is located ‘on’ the Pakistan Afghanistan boarder. Dir-Chitral Road bifurcates near village Mir Khanni and a jeep able track along Kunar River leads to Arrandu through Domail Nisar and onwards into Afghanistan.”


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Philippines: Bad Customer Experience · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Senor Enrique in Manila encounters and outsmarts a store that is ripping customers off with its refund policies.


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Slovakia: Coalition Combinations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lemuel of Deleted By Tomorrow is upset about the results of the election and discusses the most likely coalition combinations. Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros looks at the results and makes coalition forecasts as well.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Somaliland: Unitary Government · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa posts on the case for a  Unitary Government By  “Mrs. Edna Adan Ismail, Mnister Of Foreign Affairs Republic Of Somaliland”

author: Sokari Ekine


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Sudan: Increasing the gap between rich and poor · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sudanese Thinker comments on a new business development in “The Mogran of Khartoum”  which will further increase the gap between the rich and the poor…..”This crappy damn project is made with the sole purpose of enabling the corrupt Sudanese dictatorship of filling its stinking deep pockets only further.”


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Tajikistan: Social Obligations · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Elizabeth writes on mosque, pod'yezd, and social obligations in Tajikistan.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“So God is a Paraguayan, it seems,” writes Jeremy Taylor in response to Paraguay's 1-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago this evening at the World Cup, and answering a question he raised in an earlier post where he described the scenes in Trinidad: “Even the banks are closing early so that staff can get home to watch the Soca Warriors play Paraguay in Germany. . . .” Over at the Trinidad & Tobago World Cup Blog, Stacy-Marie Ishmael sends closing messages to select members of the team.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Trinidad & Tobago: Labour Day · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Attillah Springer checks out the Labour Day festivities in Trinidad on June 20, and observes that “the labour leaders seem stuck in a 1930's groove, they speak with a microwaved eloquence about reigniting the spirt of Butler but I wonder if they really know what that means.  Is that simply to speak in the same tones? Shout and make noise, not understanding that maybe the reason why those old guys shouted was because they simply didn't have good public address systems?  My concern is that we don't get caught up in fossilisation.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Rules for the dreadlocked · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Dreadlocked Trinidadian blogger CunningLinguist draws up a series of guidelines to assist others who follow, or who are considering, the dreadlocked lifestyle. Two examples: “you are expected to be a definitive source on bob marley” and “expect delays at airports”.


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Turkmenistan: Enemies of the Motherland · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Peter of neweurasia writes about accusations from the Turkmen government that implicate the French government and the OSCE in a plot to overthrow the Turkmen government.


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Ukraine: Coalition Combinations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko and Scott W. Clark of Foreign Notes are discussing possible Ukrainian parliamentary coalition combinations. LEvko also provides a flashback that shows how the partnership that seems likely now would have been impossible just a few years ago.


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Ukraine: “The Cars” With Ukrainian Voiceover; Local TV · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user didaio of Dnipropetrovsk writes about two recent viewing experiences: one good, another bad. The good one was The Cars with the long-awaited voiceover in Ukraine's national language – instead of (or in addition to) Russian; the bad one was the Ukrainian TV programming that all those who can't afford a satellite dish are doomed to watch. Below are the posts’ translation from Ukrainian.
June 16, 2006:
Gradually, Ukrainian movie theaters are beginning to show the first Hollywood film with the Ukrainian-language voiceover. Looks like the process of presenting the animation with the voiceover already done is more complicated than the process of doing the voiceover itself. There's also a Russian-language version of the cartoon. And in Dnipropetrovsk, there are a lot more Russian-language screenings than those in Ukrainian. As of today, the Ukrainian-language version is shown in just one theater, and even there, out of 6 screenings of The Cars, only two are in Ukrainian. Moreover, the cartoon has come out late. On June 15, it was shown in just two theaters, today it has appeared in one more multiplex (four viewing halls, all screenings are in Russian), and on June 17, it'll appear in two more multiplexes (the total of 5 screens, but nothing is known about the language).
Despite these problems, I highly recommend the Ukrainian-language version to everyone. Not to support the Ukrainian language, but for your enjoyment. The quality of the Ukrainian translation is a lot better than that of the Russian one. And the sound of the Ukrainian-language copy is excellent, too! And though the cartoon itself isn't anything special (it lacks dynamics) and it hasn't got much space for actors, the Ukrainian actors (Ostap Stupka, Olha Sumska) have done a great job! Funny jokes, allusions to the Ukrainian realities, and simply the feeling of something familiar – all this is present in the Ukrainian-language version of The Cars.
June 17, 2006:
[…]
For the third day in a row, I'm forced to watch national TV, mainly. Because when I came back from the Spain v Ukraine game (4:0) and turned on the satellite tuner, I saw an eloquent “No Signal” (white on the red background). It wasn't raining anymore, […] so there could only be two reasons: someone [stole] the dish or it [went down] by itself. I'm scared to climb onto the roof, and the satellite TV representative promised to visit me “after the days off.” This is why, for the third day in a row, I'm forced to watch national TV, mainly, and this “happiness” will last longer than one more day.
In addition to the broken dish, I broke down, too, after the Spain v Ukraine game (4:0). It became painful to watch football, so I'm forced to watch other shows on national TV. And in addition to this, I have a cold and am forced to watch national TV, instead of roaming the streets of my native city, using the public transportation. […]
[…]
Not long ago I had an argument with one woman from LJ, who was calling to stop watching the “zombobox” for at least one day. [My counterargument] was that TV was a very useful invention […], enabling us to obtain lots of interesting information, and it only takes to know how to use it. She was telling me that in her “life with a TV set” there used to be cases of “constant klats-ing of the remote” – which would fit a zombie but not a contemporary young woman. I responded by loudly announcing [that this woman had problems] and […] didn't know how to use such a useful invention.
For the past two days of my life, I've been a zombie. I couldn't keep myself at one channel for over 10 minutes. Klats-klats. Here's Savik Shuster talking about football: “Yes, yes, you see. He's passing the ball to him, yes? and he doesn't score, yes?” Klats-klats. Kateryna Lebedeva talking about the coalition: “Here, the negotiations are already over, while there, they still continue.” Klats-klats. Dnipropetrovsk stars “over 50″ are promoting medicines for impotence: “Medzhik staf – Magic Staff.” My cable TV provider allows me to watch almost all Ukrainian, federal Russian, some foreign and a few specialized channels of various countries. All in all, 51 channel. And there's NOTHING to watch whatsoever.
After the orange revolution, I was telling many of my friends (from various countries) ABOUT OUR TV! “It's underdeveloped technically, but it's free and that's why its potential is greater than that of the Russian TV,” I was saying naively. These conversations occurred very often, because this was one of the arguments in favor of the orange revolution, and the last time I said it was a couple of months ago. Every day, it hurt more and more to realize how unprofessional Ukrainian journalists were, how they failed to use the unique chance, but I didn't want to fully believe the objective facts. Only in the last two days have I understood how bad everything with the nation's TV.
My satellite antenna received [Russian] Gazprom-owned NTV+, which allowed me to watch more than 60 channels. I watched just a few out of those 60, though: NTV+'s own sports and movie channels, a documentary and comedy channels,  Russian Extreme channel, and sometimes Discovery and National Geographic. Needless to say, I didn't watch [Russian] First Channel, Russia Channel and NTV. Together with NTV+, Ukrainian TV didn't look so hopeless. Sometimes there were cool movies, more or less honest news, cool music. But as soon as the satellite TV has disappeared, also gone is all the diverse, interesting information that's not available from other sources.
This is why I'd like to apologize to [LJ user] trina_ka, to whom I was trying to explain the usefulness of TV. I was wrong. In reality, it's not she who's to blame for turning a cool invention into a “zombobox” – the blame is on the “high-quality national television.”
One of the comments to this post was left by an LJ user from Belarus (BEL):
oldmah: If only you could see how primitive Belarusian channels are! A site like [the Ukrainian] Telekritika is totally unimaginable [in Belarus] – because there's not even 1 percent of freedom on the screen. Compared to Belarus, you have a truly revolutionary TV.


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Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan: Cars as Indicators · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia writes on cars as social, political, and economic indicators in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.


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Venezuela: Rifles Pointed at Whom? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Miguel Octavio has translated a post by Ana Julia Jatar questioning Chavez’ purchase of firearms from Russia (ES).


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World Cup Cultural Treasures from the Lusosphere · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

All three Lusophone countries, Angola, Brazil and Portugal, are still in the contest for the World Cup. As anyone could guess, there is little chance of finding any relevant blogging outside of the World Cup theme in the always diverse Portuguese speaking blogosphere. As the Lusophone citizen media makes its debut covering of the most watched sports event in the world, many kinds of diversity are present in its multifaceted football chronicle.
In fact, blogs can go deeper than would have been thought, mixing in their alchemy a variable blend of national passion, cultural traits and spirited words. The Lusosphere conversations are not only discussing winners and losers but also offering some glimpses of national cultural traits. Pearls arrive even amongst disdain for football's omnipresence in this season.
A woman from Portugal says,
“If everybody knows that blog posts are supposed to be a kind of augmenting / distorting / diminishing mirror of daily life, and if I can't hear about anything else, how to escape this state of trying not to write a post about football? Even when you don't want to talk about football, you talk about it in explaining why you don't want to hear about football. I surrender. So, instantly, it feels nice to say that Ronaldinho has an incredible hairdo. And that Cristiano Ronaldo makes crying faces. I think making pouting lips doesn't raise his virility capital, but it doesn't diminish it either. A good rise in his virility capital would be a goal followed by a strip. The yellow penalty card would be inconsequential. I think I haven't started yet to write about football. João Ricardo is cool and Figo already had a better hair-do. Iran's players have good looks. Maybe Portugal wins the Cup. Maybe to use ‘maybe’ in this case makes me shamefully unpatriotic. An alternative title for this post is, ‘how to use the word football so many times without writing a line about football’.”
The Non-Post – The estrogen diaries – Portugal
In Brazil, men are so often asked by women to explain the rules that it has become sort of symbolic:
yep. but I still can't see the point of this off-side rule.
The world cup is ours!!! – Lapse – Brazil
It's pretty much interesting to follow the different colors of the debate in each of the Lusophone countries. The ‘Palancas Negras’ (Black Antelopes) have earned their first point with a goalless draw against Mexico on Friday. If Angola  overcome Iran in Leipzig on Wednesday and if Portugal beat Mexico on the same day, the Africans would reach the final 16. Just dreaming about this possibility is already a great reason for a big party.
“That's it! Our Angola is Winning!!! We were bright and almost scored in the adversary's goal! It came really close! Next week we are going to eat the ‘Aiátólákuméni'!!! Our ‘lost boundaries’ goal-keeper is superb! Now look here, han? This picture I received from my cousin! We went together and he took this photo and took me to his house. I am beautiful, am I not? Well relaxed in a cheering support mood!”
ANGOOOOOLAAA!! – Tropa de Elite – Angola
“It was an excellent result for Angola and we should recognize that, given what they've done. It was a pretty bad result for the Aztecs who had to make great efforts to score. Good luck for some, bad luck for the others. Many thanks to João Ricardo who was probably the ‘Man of the Match’.”
Mundial de Futebol, Dia 2 – Pululu – Angola
“It was a night of big emotions in Hanover. In 90 minutes, brave Angolan warriors made history in achieving the highest moment ever in the country's football. The giant distance in the rankings – 53 positions – was not enough for the Mexican team to conquer the hero João Ricardo.”
Fez-se história! – Encarnados – Portugal
In another Portuguese speaking corner of the world, in the middle of the tense East Timorese conflicts, there are still some who reach for the games in Germany in order to stay connected with some happiness and joy.
RTTL efforts to make available the World Cup games to the football's fans — who don't have cable TV access — are lovable. The director said he wanted to contribute some opportunity for diversion to the people in the hard days we live in. With the attacks at various places in the city, not all have TVs. It is not possible to recreate the party of Portugal going to the finals of the 2004 Euro Cup but I am certain that, in the good Timorese manner, those who can't will be joining those who can and everybody will follow the games attentively. Portugal, Angola  and Brazil capture the largest degree of sympathy from the Timorese, fans of Ronaldo, Deco, Figo, Pauleta, among others. Speaking for myself, today I froze all my anguishes about the present situation of my Timorese country. I have traded for the anguishes of football as I watch my Portuguese countries play. I suffer, from my balcony — which is to say, my living room's sofa — I scream, I get up, get nervous, turn the face… So to say, all those senseless things done by those infected by the ball! And I'll stop here, as I want to follow watching the game. See you tomorrow!
Mundial – Timor 2006 – Timor Leste
After a shaky start with Angola, the Portuguese seem happy with their team. The goal scored by the Brazilian born Deco paved the way to a convincing victory over Iran, guarantying qualification for the second round. As forty years has passed since the last time Portugal played a second round in a World Cup, it seems like the country can hardly contain the enthusiasm anymore.
“‘There is no hunger that doesn't end in abundance’, as the saying goes. The match between Angola and Portugal  was like after the barbeque when they play the married against the single men. Now it was time to see our team playing real competitive football. About the game, we can simply tell that it was 90 minutes of good football.”
Portugal 2 – Irão 0 –  Ruka's Place – Portugal
Just arriving from the Frankfurt of Portugal vs Iran, I was still digesting Cristiano Ronaldo and his tricks, the pleasure of seeing him running, dancing, being a delicious magic. The Germans tell me he was not efficient, played selfishly, and didn't play for the team. He wasn't efficient? EFFICIENT? If I could have, I would have spit poison along with the word, aiming for the middle of his face. It's obvious that trying to explain to a German that the score is not everything, is like trying to explain global warming to André Azeredo Alves (one of the trolls that took over some of my previous posts. I won't link him because bothers me the fact that he comes to masturbate on the sitemeter).
FDS de Bola – Contemplamento – Portugal
The French referee! Even Camões, without an eye, would do a better job in the game! French are good for berets, ridiculous mustaches, a brush at hand to paint a croissant, aside an abat-jour! Les Petit Miserables!!!
Momentos altos do Portugal x Irão – Sombras da Realidade – Portugal
Brazilians are a special kind of audience in this sport. Even winning the first two games, with no major threat to its favorite status and having been assured a place in the Cup's second round, the team is under heavy scrutiny by the 180 million would-be football coaches. The contest with Australia showed improvement from the first game with Croatia, but for some bloggers the progress was too small to be acknowledged.
“Ronaldo ‘the phenomenal one’ has managed to prove to the whole world that, ahhhm… huummmm… Well, he proved that he is really fat and playing nothing! If you can't help, please, don't fuck it up! To classify him as ‘pathetic’ may be too hard… But if you manage to find another name that fits, tell me.”
Brasil 2×2 Life – Tom, a very different being
“Now, truthfully, Brazil does not deserve to win, indeed! Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos stepped on the ball (literally) many times through the game! I don't play any football, but even I would not fall that way. They hardly will go anywhere with a team like that, not to mention the fatty phenomenal one, who can't even find the ball… Football is the biggest national passion, nobody doubts that! The people breathe football, but the best thing is that we work only til 2 pm, as the game starts at 4. I love this World Cup in Germany!!!”
Copa! – Sampafobia
“All right, we are the most likeable, the most amusing, the gladdest, and the most wanted. But this is not a beauty contest. This is the World Cup! We have to play the ball! Ok, we play the ball. In the end of the game we made the accounts and the balance is positive. But… where is the ballet? Where are those plays capable of pulling out smiles and applauses even from of the opposing audience? Ok, we are the best. If the whole world says so, we won't be the ones not believing. Do we believe? I don't know if you do. I do not.”
Brasil X Austrália –  Branco Leone: a blog with no content
“Brazilians really like to complain. We get bothered with Argentina's smashing victory over the disappointing Serbia and Montenegro team and we get bitter to see the Spanish “Fury” applying a ‘chocolate’ [big score] over a wiped out Ukraine. Maybe we are the only country in the world who gets disappointed with a victory. Yesterday, according to the journalist Pedro Bial, Australians were doubly revolted after the game: firstly because of the defeat, which was somehow expected, and second because of the dissatisfaction Brazilians showed with their team's victory. I imagine that they thought like, ‘by one million kangaroo pouches, what a strange people!'”
Copa: Fala Sério!!! – Lar dos Velhinhos
We've got to mention that, during the weekend, another event was directly influencing the Brazilian mood. One of the dearest Brazilian humorists died in Germany while covering the event for a TV network. Bussunda — aka Cláudio Besserman Vianna — meant more to Brazil than anybody would have expected, and it took some time for the whole nation to believe that the phrase ‘Bussunda morreu’ (Bussunda died) was not one more joke. Sadly, it was not.
“…apart from probably being the most well known TV comedian in the country as part of the Casseta & Planeta crew, he was also a fervent football fan. He did funny commentaries and interview breaks between matches and he wrote many articles for football newspapers, magazines and websites. And, being the heavy-weight of the group, he was the guy who had the task of playing the role of Ronaldo in their TV skits. He also was the ‘official’ impersonator of Brazil's president Lula.”
Comedian Bussunda dies at age 43 – WolrdCupBlog
“It is almost unbelievable, because Bussunda was one of those persons who transcended the human condition to become a spiritual entity — in this case, a truly national institution of humor!”
O BUSSUNDA MORREU !?!? – VOX LIBRE por Antonio Rayol
“To the competent authorities, Life and Death Department, Heaven, Highs, no address, Bitch-that-birthed-you: We are really mad with this ‘sacanagem’ [a vulgar term for treachery] with us and especially with him. Yes, the Man, the one who did Ronaldo, Lula, from ‘Casseta & Planeta’. You know who we are talking about, Bussunda. We want to know with whose authority you gentlemen take him from us this way, in a flash, offering no chance to him. The man was in Germany, covering the World Cup, happy with his life, playing a little football with the guys and, just like this, with no ceremony you come and finish it all? What the hell are you doing?”
Surita's Relief – Coió online
i bet on ronaldo as the big name in the world cup.
bussunda died.
brazil is playing badly.
argentina is the best team till now.
i am the last one in all contests.
i am in the middle of a stupid diet.
no money at all.
ain't got the student id.
shit… fuck!
funnyless joke – i am saying
It's World Cup season and this time the Internet is playing a big role in the event, as we keep reporting. As new audiences are being conquered, imaginative approaches to the game's influence in society come from unexpected fields and sources. And analysts are now plumbing the Football Fever for cultural and political insights.
Lebanovsky [a coach famous for his statistical method] was remembered by a guy called Franklin Foer in an article in the New Republic. Foer tries to find out what political regime would fit best for a country to win the World Cup. He ‘Lebanovskied’ a set of historical data and discovered things: communist regimes made up good teams — but no one ever won a World Cup. Fascism, on the other hand, played greatly in the 30's — Italy won two Cups, Germany was third in 34 Cup, and Brazil made the third also in 38 (Foer has no problem in calling Getulio Vargas’ ‘Estado Novo’ what it really was). He tries out an explanation, stating that fascism is a regime that demands extreme allegiance to the native land above all, especially when playing in the field, promoting sports and hygiene and generating a good environment for the athlete fostering, but also generating extreme fear of losing. He asks: “What player will want to disappoint a leader who can order the breaking of his legs, or the imprisonment of his grandmother?”
What's the better political regime to win the Cup? – Riverrun
“Perhaps because he is a naturalized American, ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the foreign affairs strong man in the United States from 1969 to 1977, loves the football game. In an interview with The Wall St. Journal, he tries to decipher the secrets of the most popular sport in the world to his compatriots because apparently football [with a round ball] is not a fever in the US… Kissinger is fascinated by how the game translates in the field the national character of different countries, the limitless joy of Brazil, and the determination of Germany.”
Kissinger teaches americans to watch the Cup – Global Life
The Lusophone blogosphere born of countries that give the world great football teams and players now also gives us conversations that are emblematic of cultural traits and national characteristics. Listening to the Lusophone these days, we learn not only about football but also a great deal about the world that we all share.

author: Jose Murilo


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Albania: Posters & Banners · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Our Man in Tirana offers a selection of posters and banners from Albania.


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Armenia: Yerevan Photos · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis offers random photos from Yerevan, many of which are of old buildings set for demolition.


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Aruba: Viral image · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

ArubaGirl posts an image satirising the behaviour of Aruba's union leaders during the recent anti-government protests on the island. “The novel thing about it,” she says, “is that this has spread quickly through the internet. Aruba is finally reaching the 21st century.”


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Belarus: Bracing For Gas War · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

“Volkswagen” reports on preparations in Belarus for possible natural gas price increases.


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Belarus: Two Activists Awarded in Sweden · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander reports on two Belarusian human rights activists who have been awarded Swedish prizes for their work.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Photoblogging Sarajevo · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A restored building in Sarajevo – by Seesaw/Quod/Zdenka
Seesaw (aka Quod, aka Zdenka) has been blogging about the Balkans for a year and a half at Balkan-Scissors.
Here's how she came to photography:
Born in Sarajevo, spent the war in Sarajevo, live in Sarajevo. Now retired.
Bought Canon A75 in January and discovered I love to make photos.
Seesaw's Sarajevo photos can be viewed at Sarajevo Photoblog (“Photos from Sarajevo, the ones that you usually do not see.”) – and at Flickr.
Yakima_Gulag, who also blogs about the Balkans at YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett, describes Seesaw's photos in a Flickr testimonial:
Quod's pictures of Sarajevo are the best pictures of that city! They have a very lovely and restrained quality. I also enjoy that she has put old postcards from Bosnia i Hercegovina because it kind of tells you how things used to be.


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Brunei: Thai and Brunei Royals · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Our Local Style in Brunei compares two news stories relating to the royalty in two South East Asian countries – one from Thailand where the people are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the King's rune and another from Brunei where three locals are facing a charge of sedition for using images of members of the royal family in a computer generated video clip.


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Cambodia: Blogger’s Meetup · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Wanna introduces fellow Cambodian bloggers he metup with in Phnom Penh.


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China: Internet access in Tibet · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Virtual China has a guest blogger today, Kathrine Hoersted, who brings us a post looking at the young Tibetan woman with whom she lived during her graduate research in a small village in Tibet, and how despite severely limited internet access there the two have managed to keep in touch.

author: John Kennedy


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China: University students riot · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In response to backpedalling administrations and denial of access to watching World Cup games, students at two universities in China rioted this week, leaving widespread and costly damage. Translations [#061] from EastSouthWestNorth‘s Roland Soong and some perspective from OneManBandwith‘s Lonnie Hodge, looking at the conditions under which many students—and professors—end up there.


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Cuba: Donor agency head imprisoned · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Medicina Cubana links to a news story about the sudden imprisonment in Cuba of a US citizen who runs an organisation which, for several years, has been sending donated medical equipment to Cuba: “In retrospect, Schwag, 53, thinks he might have run afoul of high-ranking Cuban officials who might have helped “divert” costly anesthesiology machines he was transporting to the island from doctors at Johns Hopkins University.”


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Egypt: Rights lawyer remembered · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

As activists in Egypt continue to demand an independent judiciary Baheyya celebrates the life of the recently deceased campaigning lawyer Ahmed Nbil al Hilali.
In his lifetime, he was christened “the saint of the national movement,” the “liberties lawyer,” and “the Egyptian people’s advocate,” since he spent nearly all of his waking hours defending those accused of engaging in free expression, association, and assembly.

author: Rachel Rawlins


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France, Various Africa, Middle East: France goes easy on mercenary · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“The French again have demonstrated that crimes committed abroad in developing nations shouldn't necessarily be punished,” writes an outraged Fontaine, who reports that a French mercenary, who has also been implicated in several coups or coup attempts in other countries, has received only a five-year suspended sentence after having been found guilty for his involvement in an aborted coup in the Comoros in 1995.


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Georgia: An Armenian in Tbilisi · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Zarchka writes about Tbilisi and Georgia, remarking on the difficulties associated with trying to speak Russian there, noting the parks and scenery in the capital, and contrasting the country with Armenia.


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Haiti: Artists Promote Peace through “Sculptures for Peace”  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says AlterPresse (Fr): ” Haitian and foreign artists [including Togolese Kossi Assou] promise to work towards a culture of peace through a program, Sculptures for Peace put together jointly by Africamerica Foundation and the section on Disarmament, Demobilization and Social Reinsertion of the UN Mission in Haiti. The project, hosted by the foundation's 4th Annual forum of contemporary arts (June 15-30), seeks to involve artists as peace agents in the ongoing disarmament effort.”

author: Alice Backer


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India Changing: Calcutta to Kolkatta and much, much more… · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

India Changing.
Change. That is the theme of this post. Change has become a constant in India. We read about  changes in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, but seldom about Calcutta. Calcutta is a city that we read very little about in  the virtual world of blogs.  Arjit re-visits his old home, which is a place called South 24 Parganas and discovers that everything has changed. His old home town is now part and parcel of the sprawling metropolis called Calcutta. He writes:
South 24 Parganas metamorphosed into Calcutta, with a new pin code – 700093…
Only the bus-route is still at the same place…
Rana who lives in Singapore writes about going back home to visit his  family in Calcutta. His post is tinged with nostalgia and longing to reunite with his wife and son in Calcutta, combined with that great passion the city is famous for: football or soccer. This is what he writes:
My wife will be waiting for me at Dum Dum, now called Netaji Subhas Chandra   Bose Airport, when I land there shortly after midnight. I guess my son will also be at the airport. Dear me, he will miss one of the   World Cup soccer matches on TV if he comes to the airport.
Rana is so excited about his trip home that he has been humming to an old Cliff Richards tune called “Traveling Light.” Cliff Richards is, or should I say has a huge fan following in India. Bishwanath Ghosh talks about various kinds of Bengalis (Calcutta is the capital of W. Bengal and people from that state are called Bengalis) and about their love for food, especially fish. Bengalis love their fish, and Bishwanath alas is not very fond of fish. Here is what he writes:
Bengalis love to eat. Wait a second, they live to eat. While the rest of the   world feeds itself to survive the day, the Bengalis survive so that they can   reward themselves with food at least three times a day. Without fish, they are   like fish out of water: so a great deal of time, energy and money is spent on   procuring the fish every morning.
Bishwanath's blog posting provides the perfect segue to highlight the next collab blog. This is a food blog called You Eat What You Were. Notice the subtle pun there…there is a hint there..what happens when you leave  familiar surroundings, that is your home. Well, you  make-do with what ever is available in your new home, which might be in a new country. Read on to discover what these bloggers have to say about their experience and the what, why and how they discover new food on their plates everyday.
Talking of changes…over the past years names of cities have all had their names changed. Bombay is now Mumbai, Calcutta is now Kolkatta, Madras is now Chennai etc. People are still grappling with the changes and fall back to the old ways of referring to the city. As some wise person said years ago, or was it centuries ago: Old habits die hard. But Paresh Murudkar says that people need to change with the changing times. Here is what he says:
I am still looking for reasons why people find it difficult to adopt changed   names, specially in case of Mumbai. Chennai is now a well established name. Even   Kolkata is facing the same problem like Mumbai. Most people still say Calcutta.   I would like the readers to comment why or why not they accept these changes of   names. For those of you who find it to be unimportant, let me reiterate my   belief: Name is Everything!
From local let us cut to the international scene. Change in the UN. “The old order changeth yielding place to new and god fulfils himself in many   ways,” said an old English poet called Tennyson. (Thanks Neha for remembering the correct version of that line.) Mr. Kofi Annan will be stepping down as the UN chief shortly. And Mr. Shashi Tharoor is in the running for the post and Mr. Tharoor's nomination has created quite a bit of buzz among bloggers who write on India. Quest For The Depth has a nice summary on this topic and he discusses the chances of Mr. Tharoor landing the job.
And the biggest change perhaps has been the main stream media coverage on India. India appears to have been on the editorial calendar for many well-known publications like Time, Economist, and others. Also, June was the month that a new magazine made its entry into India: Marie Claire. Mayank Austen Singh points out an error in an article made by Time's Alex Perry. Premanth Kudva also talks about Time magazine's article and their story of his home town of Mangalore. Here is what he says: “(The author of the Time article) He keeps mentioning malls, but for the record there is only ONE mall that is now   functioning.”Read the rest of the post to discover if Premnath agrees with Time's version of his home town.
And how can any post in India end without a passing reference to the famous film Industry. For a change a film award ceremony was held outside the country. Aside: there appears to be at least one film award show every month in India. I have lost track of the various awards. But this film award function that I am talking about was held in Dubai, UAE. And this is what Gautam of Gautamjgoesplaces has to say on the IIFA function:
Went to see IIFA at the   Dubai Airport Expo and also the post party, which was at the Grand Hyatt with   the stars. Now that was some experience!…Just to make you all jealous I met Jean Claude Van Damme at the post party!!

author: Kamla Bhatt


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India: Fashion Street · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Selma on culture and fashion at Mumbai's Fashion Street. “Opposite to Mumbai's grand Azad Maidan, and along the Cross Maidan lies the fashion solution for Mumbai's poor and elite alike. Welcome to Mumbai's Fashion Street. Amid the colors, figures being quoted in the bargaining process, yelling kids, weary moms, hep aunties and trendy college kids – always full of ideas but short of money, you might bag yourself a good deal here.”


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India, US: In the 1980s · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

US for the Indian in the 1980s. Ramesh Madhavan, a veteran online writer kicks off with this amazing post on culture, food and the immigrant experience.


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Iran: Former deputy in jail! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Ahmad Shirzad, Mr.Akbar Mousavi Khoiniha, former deputy of Parliament, is the only one who is not released from prison after 12 June demonstration. The blogger says Khoiniha was his colleague in Parliament and he was very active to discover underground and non declared prisons running out of reformist  government's control (Persian).

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: UN Human Rights Council · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Azadeh 7 says that Mr. Saeed Mortazavi, General Prosecutor of Tehran, will be present in UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The blogger adds more than 100 newspapers & magazines were shut down in Iran because of Mortazavi's order (Persian)!


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Iraq: “Brilliant” new blog! · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

At Iraq Blog Count a group of contributors keep a tally of, yes, you've guessed it, blogs in Iraq. The latest addition, Baghdad Chronicle, gets a rave review:
Woah, I don't know how this one slipped through IBC's collective radar. Miraj has been blogging since January and the blog description is simply “The detailed daily events of a Baghdadi woman”. But no, it's more than that, much more than that. Its touching, personal, gripping, exciting. Her writing style keeps you on the edge of your seat. In a word brilliant.


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Japan: Motorbikes, scooters banned · Global Voices
John Kennedy

When Rising Sun blogger GaijinBiker walked out onto the streets of Tokyo this morning, the first thing he noticed was the missing motorcycles and scooters, as described in his post ‘A law meant to be broken.’


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Japan: Smoking minors penalized · Global Voices
John Kennedy

“No Smooking,” says a misspelt sign posted by JP at Japundit, preceded by a post telling of a mother in Japan charged for neglecting the law which makes her two sons’ smoking illegal.


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Kazakhstan: Kazakh Blogosphere Roundup · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila rounds up the Kazakhstani blogosphere at neweurasia.


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Kenya: The future is not what it used to be · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In a lengthy post, Rombo muses on her own relative career success and the lack of employment opportunities for Kenyan university graduates, including some of her former classmates. “What happens to all the people for whom the future is not what it used to be?” she asks. “Where do they go from here?”


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Kurdistance: · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Normally I try to find a reoccurring theme for my weeklies, however this week turned out to be a bit of a Kurdish hodge-podge.
Sami from Iraqi Thoughts writes some ranting tidbits about Saddam, Al Zarqawi and his new outlook for the future:
I think that I am chaning in the sense I used to believe that everything was going to be solved not knowing how lazy people can be. I wish to write this to the people who still read this,, I am back and better than before, im excited and to be honest I have a lot of projects on the go, including a possible return to kurdistan somewhere in the not too distant future with an eye on a high job since I am related after all to some of the ‘agents and spies’ that call themself the Iraqi government.
the-kurdistani posted an article that he had tried to get published in his school paper but wasn't accepted, in it he details a political debate that he had with a fellow student who was Turkish (while I disagree with his use of the “Hitler card” in his analysis- my comments on this were once a subject of serious debate on the Kurdish forums- I feel that reading his viewpoints on it are quite informative):
While listening to him, I was preparing some questions to ask him, this way I would see his approach to democracy and human rights clearly. Then I asked, “What do you think of Hitler’s atrocities against humanity, but the Jews in particular?”, “well, that is a totally different topic.” he replied. I made my statement clearer by “well but he was trying to get rid of the Jews, and the ones who he thought were inferior to Great Aryan Race (blonde, tall, and blue-eyed ones, though he was not like that himself), including Gypsies, Homosexuals and even the Polish. His aim was to create a great empire that would “last a thousand years” as he said to is followers. Do you see that he tried to create a cultural unity, too, by destroying and killing anything, or anybody that was different from the form he wanted it to be? So, is that not almost the same thing with what you have just said about “cultural unity”?” he did not have a concrete answer for this, and I asked another question, “what if the people, with all minorities including the Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and many others say that we don’t want to be Turkified? What if they say, ok we are citizens of the Republic of Turkey but we are what we are with our identity, it could be the Kurds or any other minority, what are you going to do in that case?” He thought for some time, but did not answer.
You may or may not remember some of the fine work that Save Roj TV has done in the past, they have been continuing their coverage of their saga to stay operating in face of opposition from the Turkish government.  The newest escalation is that Kurdish mayors have not only been questioned by the authorities for talking to RojTV, but some of them have been indicted on charges of  aiding Kurdish rebels.
Rasti has written an excellent commentary in response to Ralph Peter's latest article in the Armed Forces Journal advocating the re-drawing of borders in the Middle East along blood/ethnic/tribal lines.  Peter blamed the current unrest in the region to ‘bad borders’- while Rasti has lots of more cogent words, I just have to post my favorite section for you:
Hell, yes, every Kurd would rush to join an independent Kurdistan, if they could. Independent Greater Kurdistan is the Holy Grail of Kurdish life, meaning self-rule, right to life, mother-language education, and not having to carry around an AK-47 any more. It means having the opportunity to solve your own problems without the constant, violent meddling of the neighbors.
Notice what Ralph says about the world's democracies and media ignoring the Kurdish issue, something he characterizes as “a human-rights sin of omission.” It is this fact that makes me question the whole idea of what these democracies stand for and what good they really are. Do these democracies really believe in democracy, or do they only believe in democracy for themselves? Do they believe in democracies for others but discount the possibility for the Middle East in general and Kurds in particular?
Rasti also writes in response to a new book entitled “The PKK, Kurds, and the EU” by Onder Aytac and Emre Uslu.  Her comment:”How selective memory can be when you spend most of your time barking at the moon.”
And to end on a lighter note, both Roj Bash and Hiwa Hopes have written about the mysterious appearance of Kurdish flags at the World Cup.
Have a great week!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Malawi: The Atcheya of software · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Soyapi Mumba seems to have his tongue firmly in his cheek as he riffs off Thierry Henry's nickname (“Atcheya” or chairperson) and compares the soon-to-retire Bill Gates with Dr Bakili Muluzi, former President of Malawi.


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Malaysia: Continue the Reforms · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Former Malaysian prime-minister Mahathir is  criticising the policies of the current prime minister Badawi (also known as Pak Lah). Nik Nazmi in Malaysia talks about continuing the reforms and forging consensus among Malaysians. He says “Going back entirely to the Dr. M model however is economically unsustainable, and will be a step back politically”


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Mongolia: MP S. Oyun Interview · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst inteviewed a member of Mongolia's parliament who says that the country needs a clear vision for reform.


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North Korea: Holocaust-style camps · Global Voices
John Kennedy

As North Korea prepares to test-fire an inter-continental ballistic missile—”The US and Japan have warned the North Koreans not to test-fire their ICBM; but the lunatics in charge of the failed Stalinist state, led by the Hitlerian tyrant Kim Jong-il, have insisted on their right to fire away.”—China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter draws some attention to what he writes amounts to North Korea's own holocaust: “For several years, the world has known about the North Korean concentration camps—called ‘control zones'—housing some 200,000 men, women and children at any given time. At least 20 percent of the prisoners die from torture or arbitrary killing each year. Atrocities reminiscent of Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps are commonplace, including public executions, baby killings, gruesome medical experiments—and gas chambers. Prisoners are starved, beaten and worked to death. Sometimes, entire families are gassed at once while researchers take notes.”


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Philippines: Get Happy, Get Babies · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Dr. Emer at parallel universes blog is asking Filipino couple who are having a hard time having children to relax. The blogger is pointing to a news article that claims that relaxing and lowering stress helps.  The bloggers also talks about the high fertility rate in the Philippines. A comment on the post suggests “getting pregnant is not the only way to have children. there are already enough children existing. i guess instead of trying IVF, people should also be encouraged to warm up to the idea of adoption”


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Poland: Terrorism Risks · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

the beatroot discusses the risks of terrorism in Poland.


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Russia: Books On Muslims In Russia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory examines English-language literature available on the subject of Muslims in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union.


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Russia: Causes of Death Statistics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Poster of Ruminations on Russia cites Russians’ causes of death statistics from 1980 to 2004: “Delighted to see that less people are dying of “accidental alcohol poisoning” – that would be drinking themselves to death to you and I.”


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Russia: Comparing the Chechen War to Iraq · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory analyzes whether the war in Iraq can be compared to the war in Chechnya: “And I’m sure American politicians and policy makers would be delighted to have the problems Putin has in Chechnya. But as the current moment shows both Iraq and Chechnya are worlds apart. Still, a comparison between the two wars is attractive and possibly instructive.”


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Russia: Mandelstam and Tyutchev Translations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog translates Russian poetry: Osip Mandelstam's Lamarck and Fyodor Tyutchev's Insomnia.


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Russia: Marilyn Monroe Moles Ad · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Konstantin Dlutskiy of Russian Marketing Blog posts an ad of a Russian “Clinic of Aesthetical Medicine” that uses Marilyn Monroe – and her moles – as its model.


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Russia: Vacation Destinations, Home & Abroad · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog writes about the myth of the hordes of Russians vacationing abroad, and about Sochi, “the only opportunity to enjoy the “Riviera” for many Russian businessmen and officials who either do not have enough time to go abroad or cannot leave Russia, because they will be arrested for financial crimes.”


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Singapore: Bollywood Dancing · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Pari at Daisyinthesdust blog is talking about her Bollywood dancing experience. “Thoughts of performing the kinds of dance moves I see in Bollywood movies threatened to leave me in hysterics. I like the style as it is carefree and leaves a lot to self-expression rather than precision. Trouble is that my dance is as expressive as gravel.”


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Singapore: New Mobile Language · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Tinkertailer goes to a trade show and discoveres a new mobile phone language developed by an Israeli company.


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South Africa: SABC blacklist · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Politics.za notes that there have been reports of “further self censorship” within the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and that a list of those no longer welcome to appear on SABC's current affairs and news shows has been drawn up by SABC's Head of News.


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Sri Lanka: Tamils and the Mainstream · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indi.ca on peace in Sri Lanka and why it involves being inclusive about Tamil culture and people. “If you want a United Sri Lanka then you want to live with Tamil people. It means that you want them as neighbors, co-workers and friends. It means that you want to see their language and hear their music and eat their food and do all the fun and annoying things that come with living together. It means that they deserve the same security, rights and common decency as any fellow citizen.” The commentspace is thriving with discussion.


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Sri Lanka, UK: Culture and Bridges · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

London, Lanka and Drums on the Sri Lankan festivities in London. “Trafalgar Square was buzzing when we arrived at about midday. The band was starting to soundcheck, the usual stuff with a bloke counting into all the different microphones, the drummer doing a bit, the singer poncing around on stage trying to look natural and pretending he is unaware of the people watching him from the crowd.”


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

Watching a World Cup in person can be such a memorable experience.  Even if one’s country is not one of the two competitors, it can still prove to be awe-inspiring.  Jean-Paul Calbimonte aka jpcik!, is a Bolivian living in Switzerland.  Recently on his blog South Side of the Sky [ES], he chronicled his visit to Gelsenkirchen to see a match between Ecuador and Poland on the opening day of the tournament, courtesy of a surprise ticket.
Upon my return from watching a Steve McQueen film, you know those in which he sends many to their demise, coming away without a scratch.  I arrived home and checked my email.  There was a message from FIFA World Cup 2006, “Come to Gelsenkirchen, the day after tomorrow, we have a ticket waiting for you.”  It appeared that someone had purchased an advance ticket, but returned it for some reason.  They must have decided to pass it along to those on the waiting list.  One of those was me.  I didn’t even think twice, as all of my weekend commitments were unilaterally cancelled and I began preparations for my emergency trip.  I reserved a seat on the 9 hour train ride, with my backpack on my shoulder and we’re off to the World Cup.
Upon his arrival to the city, he encountered a festive atmosphere.  He ran across many fans who were without a ticket and whose only hope was a ticket scalper.
After four hours of waiting around, the Ticket Center opened and half of the Polish fans came away disappointed. “Sorry, no tickets for sale, Ausverkauft!” However, the city organized a giant “Fan Fest” with beer, sausage and giant screens to show the games.  Luckily, for me, I am not turned away.  “What is your name?”  Perfect, we have a ticket for you.  Wonderful.  With ticket in hand, I am now free to enjoy a bit of the city of Gelsenkirchen.  Obviously there are no hotels available in all of Germany, so I must wander around all day.  In the streets, there are thousands of food stands and even more drink stands.  Tables are set up in the streets and the Polish celebrating as if it was there home, singing and chanting POLSKA POLSKA.
The scene around the stadium is festive, although the routine and security slow things up.
The number of Ecuadorans have increased.  Alex Aguinaga is here, but this time as a only a spectator.  It appears that the entire world surrounds the stadium, almost like two armies laying siege to a castle bombarding the other with chants. The FIFA guards and volunteers appear a bit nervous, as it is the first day of the World Cup.  They try to control the crowds as best as they can.  Once the spectators arrive, they are searched and their names are verified with their passports.  Backpacks are opened, spectators are frisked and video cameras are barred from being brought in.  After an hour of such a tedious task, they appear to become more permissive.  The Germans also get tire, at least a little bit.
In the end, the match finished in a victory for Ecuador.  Even though the winning country bears some resemblance to Bolivia, an Andean country with a smallish population and short histories in the World Cup, jpcik! adopts a stance reflecting his current country of residence.
Using the Swiss principle of neutrality, I celebrate high-quality football and today I salute the Ecuadorans.  This World Cup has all of the makings of a great tournament.  Cheers and have a good World Cup.
Read the entire entry here [ES]. Hat tip to Blogs de Bolivia for the original link to the entry.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Vietnam: Street Food · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blogger Vietnamese God takes refuge in a Saigon street side eatery to escape the rain and ends up trying Grilled beef rolled in La Lot leaves.


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World: Mothers and blogs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mommy blogs, and women in the blogosphere discussed at the Morph blog.


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Zimbabwe: New episode of news podcast · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Zimbabwe News Update has released a new podcast. Among the topics covered in this episode are “Mugabe Buys Luxury Vehicle For Army Officers” and “Chinese Planes Grounded As AirZim Cancels London Flight”.


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Afghanistan: Karzai & Problems · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Once Upon a Place talks about the difficulties that the Afghan President is facing. The blogger says Karzai has long been between a rock and a hard place. He has to be seen clearing out the corruption and taking a hard line with extremists at the same time as keeping his American backers happy, and it’s not working. His popularity is in a fragile state; his coalition parliament filled with known warlords.


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Africa: French monopoly capital · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Watch France points to a story on French monopolies ” the real economic masters in French-speaking Africa.”


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Africa: Inequality of Business · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Africa Unchained points to an article on the Inequality of Business….“The fact is that gross inequality is generally bad news for both the wealthy and the poor and everyone in between. The question though is whether you can a perfectly equal society.”


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Alaa Is Free · Global Voices
Elijah Zarwan

Award-winning Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Seif al-Islam Abd al-Fattah walked out of Omraniya police station late this afternoon after spending 46 days in detention for attending a May 7 protest. I spoke with him soon after his release and he sounded fine—exhausted after a terrible night in the police station jail, but happy to be free and heading home. Manal and Alaa are Manalaa again.
“Joy is as infectious as sorrow,” the great Egyptian intellectual Taha Hussein wrote in 1929, “and among Egyptians nothing catches so quickly.” A tense hour today bore out the truth of that observation. Rumors suggesting that plainclothes police were beating Alaa and forcing him to remain standing for prolonged periods without sleep spread quickly over SMS touched off a flurry of activity over email and the Egyptian blogosphere. Manal must have spent some frantic minutes fielding calls from concerned friends and reporters. Alaa, she told me, was being held in terrible, crowded conditions with run-of-the-mill hoodlums in Omraniya police station. But his cellmates and the crowded, filthy conditions—not the police—were apparently the proximate cause of his suffering.
Then, minutes later, news came over SMS that Alaa was free.
Hossam al-Hamalawy‘s post summed up the mood:
he’s out… yes, finally out!!!! hohohohohoh!! MABROUK YA SHABAB! MABROUK YA TENNIN YA BAMBY! [Congratulations, guys! Congratulations, you pink dragon!]
He’s in great spirits. I asked him, “Shall we meet up soon?” He answered quickly, “Of course, next demo!” followed by a long laughter…
And Sandmonkey's agonized post, updated several times over the space of that confused hour, conveyed some of the afternoon's drama.
Perhaps because many of Egypt's Arabic-language bloggers were marching on the police station to demand Alaa's immediate release, the English-language Egyptian blogs carried the news first. The Arabic-language bloggers will join in soon. This time, they'll be joined by a familiar, funny, incisive voice even Torah prison couldn't silence.

author: Elijah Zarwan


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Argentina: 30 Days with Borges: Day 30,   “El Sur” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeff Barry finishes his “30 Days with Borges” series with an informed review of “El Sur,” which happens to also be Barry's URL.

author: David Sasaki


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Argentina: A Day Without Internet · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mariano Amartino (ES) and “La Propaladora” describe a day without internet in Buenos Aires as Fibertel, the capital's main high bandwidth internet service provider, stopped functioning for eight hours.


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Armenia: Garni & Geghard · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Jeremy in Armenia writes about visits to Garni and Geghard, the former of which is a magnificent pre-Christian temple.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Aruba: Blaming Dutch · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

ArubaGirl is baffled as to why the alleged difficulty of the Dutch language is being blamed for  poor exam results among Aruba's school leavers.


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Bahamas: Education consensus · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Larry Smith outlines the problems plaguing the Bahamian education system and assesses the quality of some of the proposed solutions.


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Belize: Becoming Belizean · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Karen, who's applying for Belizean residency, shares information about the residency requirements in her latest post.


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Bermuda: Advice for Renee Webb · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Pleased that Bermuda House of Assembly backbencher Renée Webb will attempt once again to introduce a bill outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the Limey outlines the conditions that would give the bill a greater chance of success.


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Best Blog in China, Win 10K RMB · Global Voices
Ching Chiao

ChinaMoon offers 10K RMB and is putting together a Best Blog in China award. Check it out!

author: Ching Chiao


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Burundi: Titantic Express Massace · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Agathon Rwasa reports on a new book “Titantic Express” on the massacre of a bus full of people in Burundi who were murdered by Hutu extremist rebel group the FNL (a faction linked to those responsible for the Rwandan genocide)


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Chilean citizens’ initiatives · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Crime is on the increase. Citizens are tired. A victim of an armed robbery that occur two weeks ago in the capitol has started a social movement against the crime. In his first post (ES) , he puts forward a manifesto: “ My duty is not to legislate, I m not a parliament, to judge, I’m not a magistrate, to prosecute a criminal, I’m not a policeman, to look after the public, because I don’t work for the government”. He continues with a invitation to a peaceful demonstration(ES).  He's had 561 comments on the post, most of them from people telling their own personal experience with crime and supporting his initiative.
Bloggers all over Chile have reacted to this concern. Consensus mauvicm (ES) describes the story of a woman who has been the victim of armed robbery 40 times in her house and who now sleeps with a gun. “Almost 50% of petty criminals spend less than a day in jail”.
Referring to the same issue, Cococita (ES) posts that
Incredible but true, in a country like Chile there exists something called the revolving door of justice, which means that judges release the most dangerous criminals who have been arrested, back into circulation for them to reoffend, again and again.
Patricio (ES) has analysed the first 100 days in power for President Michelle Bachelet. He touches on taxes, the bad manage of the students’ strike, and about crime he writes
Justice only acts in favor of the criminals (“innocent until proven guilty”, shouldn't this be in the other way around, in the case of the accused?).
Lately, several citizens’ initiatives have been emerging – the student strikes, a horn protest against the high price of petrol and a campaign to extend the tube schedule. Celicia (ES) writes about these cases in her blog. She remarks in her post “I don’t remember in the last years of the left wing government having so many citizens’ initiatives”.

author: Rosario Lizana


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China: Revolution’s victims’ stories blogged, not forgotten (2/4) · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Chinese blogger-journalist Ran Yunfei (冉云飞) has spent a large part of his life researching the stories of those painted, purged and persecuted as right wing elements during China's Cultural Revolution; unable to have the stories published in any official media, he's turned to his own well-known blog. Early last month Ran gave a talk in a Chengdu teahouse—hotspots for grassroots discussions in pre-Communist China—the transcript of which he then posted on his blog in four installments. Here is the second:
需要说明的是，演讲中有一部分涉及对故乡重庆文化建设的评价，我什么场合都是这样说的。重庆现在高楼频起，但没有多少文化，不加强文化建设（不是中共所谓的精神文明，不是增加GDP的恶性乱搞），不会得到人们真正的尊敬。后来看到重庆的右派接二连三地联名上书，要求中共赔偿他们的损失，重庆人的血性令我尊敬。
我可以这样讲，一九四九年六月份好象是六月二十五日《人民日报》发的陈垣先生这封“致胡适先生的公开信”的意义，是非常巨大的。很多人只是把他当成陈垣先生个人向共产党输诚，向共产党缴械投降，向共产党示好的一个方式。而我的解读是不一样的，它是用陈垣先生来进行一种变相的号召，是一种潜在的威胁。就是告诉你们，陈垣先生这样的史学大师都在致胡适先生的公开信，都在说我共产党好，你那些小爬虫就更应该明白事理，不要以为自己不得了，要明白识时务者为俊杰。甚至言外之意是，你剩下的这些人要做抵抗，那只不过是徒劳无益的抵抗而已。所以说这个现象具有很多意义，主要就是一个标志性的意义。说白了，它就是“不谓言之不预也”的一种暗示，一种潜在威胁。就是说不要说我们共产党没有告诉你，你们自己脑壳方，脑壳不灵动，就怪不得我们了。所以在五0年，大批的知识分子都积极得完全像变了个人，比如说费孝通先生就响应得非常之快。而费孝通你们知道在四九年以前，是一个很出名的社会学家，很出名的自由主义知识分子，他当时批评国民党也是很猛烈的。我手上有费孝通的《论大学》写大学的改造，要如何适应新政权，那真是判若两人，这是五0年初的事。而在五O年还有哪些人写自己的思想改变呢，当然都是些在国民党时代尚存风骨的知识分子，如陈垣、费孝通、冯友兰，潘光旦，还有李景汉等。而陈垣来参加西南土改团，他是西南土改团的团长，到大邑县来参加土改，沙河先生在大邑县见过他，而且他回去也写了赞美土改方面的文章。关于知识分子参加土改的一系列资料我收了不少。
我的意思是说实际上通过第一波的土改，就已经把大批的知识分子的尿都吓出来了。也许有少部分的身体比较好，可能还夹得紧，但是最后在一九五七年就全部被抖出来了。可以这样说，知识分子在一九五七年全部缴械投降，再也没有这种人了，连梁漱溟从五三年顶毛泽东开始，最后也沉默了。而梁漱溟是算很牛的了。最近出了本书叫《这个世界还会好吗？》，是梁漱溟和美国艾恺教授做的谈话录。梁的学问其实一般，他和毛泽东同年。早年的时候他的学问基础其实并不高，他连中国的国学典籍，就是那些经典他都没读过，他都不能背。所以我觉得梁漱溟先生的学术贡献并不高。但是梁先生在二十世纪贡献了一个做人的品格，这一点我觉得可以让大多数的知识分子汗颜。这个人顶毛泽东，这个人顶很多东西，这个人在批林批孔时也顶批林批孔。他一点也不象他的学生冯友兰，虽然冯友兰先生也值得同情，值得谅解，但是与梁先生这样的知识分子相比较，在人格上确实是要低一截。当我读了梁先生这本书时，我写了篇文章在我的博客上。梁先生有张著名的照片，那张著名的照片就是“眼睛里面充满着鄙视，嘴巴是扁起的”，那张照片我最喜欢。刚好这张照片就是他这本书封面的照片。所以我就写了篇文章叫《在一个专制国家敢长成这样是不容易的》。你仔细想，象梁漱溟这种道行，在二十世纪五十年代过后，有几个人有这样的道行？眼睛里面充满鄙视，嘴角边上露出的是不屈服。所以我的标题要这样说，在一个专制国家敢长成这样是不容易的。你还别说，要发表意见，只要你长得一副不合时宜的样子，你也就是罪过。你还长得出一副鄙夷的样子，你更是罪过。你长得一副不屑的样子，你是错上加错。所以事实上在五七年，一些知识分子仅剩的这一点提意见的勇气都没有了。
当时共产党对知识分子的改造是胡萝卜加大棒，胡萝卜就是给你一点好处，同时也罚戒一些人，就是给一些人树立标杆，告诉一些人，如果你不听话，就是这样搞你。另一方面也给一些知识分子一些实际的好处，只要你跟着我说，我就给你胡萝卜。这个策略从四九到五七年，这个胡萝卜加大棒在土改、三反、五反、肃反中都是反复应用的。我可以这样说，好多的右派，他们的父母，都是在三反、五反当中被整死了的。流沙河先生的父亲就是这样被整死了的。是被中共所枪杀了的。所以很多知识分子的父亲被枪杀之后心里肯定是痛苦的，而且这种痛苦是叫椎心刺骨，莫此为甚啦。我与沙河先生相交大概有二十年了，从来没听到他谈过这件事，你可以想见他的内心隐痛之深。我与他是很多话都可以谈的，但他不主动谈这个我决不去谈。我知道这里面有非常隐秘和隐痛的东西。在三反五反的时候，在打地主恶霸的时候，在清理所谓土匪的时候，共产党采取的手段就是早期先整肃国民党。第一是整肃国民党的军队，第二是整肃地主恶霸，还有三反、五反，公私合营，整工商业者，接着就来整以言论著称的知识分子。这一点你仔细看，它是非常有步骤的，先整军事，后整经济，然后再整知识分子，它是这样一步一步来的，决不是一时突然兴起。他的第一个五年计划，或是第二个五年计划，第一个五年计划是公私和营、私营资本主义的改造，还有抗美援朝和肃匪反霸也好，包括清理国民党的潜伏特务也好，就在这个五七年以前都搞得差不多了。五六年刚好又遇到一个匈牙利事件，还包括斯大林的去世和赫鲁晓夫的报告，这是国际形势。加上第一阶段共产党在军事上，政治上、经济上都已经稳妥地统治了这个政权。但是还有很多知识公子还夹得比较紧，最后剩的尿没有抖完，好，在五七年他就采取一个方式，把你们这些人勾引出来，这就是所谓著名的阳谋论。
那么这个阳谋是什么时候开始的呢，现在所有的书都语焉不详，包括朱正先生、叶永烈先生，胡平先生等著的书都是语焉不详的。有的说是五六月份开始的，我现在也不能确定是多久开始的，但我现在手上有的资料最早的一篇批评右派的文章，（我也不能说我这个就是最早的）是谢春庭写的《斥孙海波反历史科学与反马克思列宁主义的谬论》（开封师范学院学报第一期）。因为我不知道这个师范学院的学报是单月刊还是双月刊，我查了这个资料它又没标。如果是单月刊，那就是一月份，如果是双月刊，那就是二月份，如果是季刊的话，那就是三月份。我们就把它当季刊来看，也是从三月份就开始了。就是说已经形成文字的批评了。而四月份的就很多了，有史学家白寿彝写的文章叫《历史资料的伪装》（北京师范大学社科版第二期）；还有柳春藩的《揭穿李鸿哲反马克思主义的罪恶手法》（《史学集刊》第二期）还有叫聂守志的《驳斥右派分子金安泰的反动史观》（史学集刊）第二期）。大家都知道三四月份只是在号召大家敞开说，而从这里可以看出三四月份是不是就完全是敞开说呢？从我收到的资料来看，虽然还不能确定反右的具体时间，但可以知道至少在三四月份就有反右的文章出来了。那么在五月份就更不用说了，就更加多了，在我刚才拿来的这本资料中都有详细记载，朋友们可以在网上查到。五月份中有一篇是一个叫小雅的人写的《关于“特殊材料制成的”——和章乃器先生商榷》（新闻日报）。你看在这个时候毛泽东还在强调要大家一定要敞开说，欢迎知识分子提意见，有什么说什么。但在这种情况下已经有些报纸不大遵守毛泽东的纪律，提前就把他的阳谋公开了。这是很好耍的一件事情，从这个事情上面你就可以看到他实际上是漏洞百出，他实际上是想掩盖自己搞知识分子的想法。想到以后才来进行公开，其实在这个时候就已经公开了。
六月初，尤其是六月八日以前，在六月八号有篇著名文章嘛，就是《人民日报》的一篇文章叫《这是为什么？》，今天来的萧赛先生也写了本《为什么？》还有听说海外有个网站也叫“这是为什么？”这个网站我没看到过，可能也是涉及到右派研究。如果你研究人民日报这篇社论，那是疑问呢还是设问呢还是自问自答呢？它这个标题“这是为什么？”我告诉你它的心里面是很明白的，完全明白。他根本不需要你去给他解释，他之所以要问这是为什么，是因为他心里面完全明白。他是站在制高点上来看待这个问题，他不需要你们的回答，他要人民日报来回答。当然人民日报的回答也是毛泽东的回答，他认为他这样的回答才是正确的。他提出的这道题不需要学生，因为他这不是一道考试题，因为他有一个非常唯一的不用置疑的霸道的答案，他是已然知道的。他问个为什么，只是表明一个更加强硬的态度。他知道你聪明不过他，这样的标题在后来包括文革和许多地方用了很多。就是从这道考题以后反右就真正拉开序幕了。这就是我谈的第三点，反右的思想背景。
第四，反右的几个过程，我认为六月八号是反右的一个分水岭。在人民日报发表《这是为什么》反右文章之前，是个酝酿过程，是个引蛇出洞的过程。但在这之前有些报纸已经在急不可耐开始批判右派了。他们搞得很快，政治嗅觉也很敏锐。毛泽东这个引蛇出洞的方式，在我们今天研究它的时候，也觉得毛有些漏洞是没有堵住的，看起来步调并不那么一致。由此你可以感觉到毛搞的这个确实是个典型的阳谋，是个典型的自问自答。他怎样叫你提问，叫你向他发难，这确实只是作个姿态。所以说这是一个分水岭。第二个阶段根据我手上的资料来看，可以说五七年整个一年都是反右的一年。事实上我可以这样讲，这个批评右派的言论，我甚至于有个这样的想法，批评右派的言论、书籍，报刊、杂志、资料，那怕是内部印的（我收的右派资料我把印数，开本，页码等都标注了的）。很多人会认为标这些没用，但我说冉云飞有时头脑也有些奇怪。我开玩笑说过把这些批评右派的各种资料包括小报和图画、连环画这些拿出来，还有批评右派的小说，这些我都收集得有。可以算出批评右派共用了多少吨纸。你会觉得很好耍，你会觉得我的思路很奇怪，但你以后会得出一个基本结论。整个反右运动从五七年开始到五九年大规模的运动他在开始收尾了。这期间大概用了多少吨纸来批评右派，这是算得出来的。由印数，由开本是算得出来用了多少吨纸来整肃知识分子。就这个话题用来做博士论文也是可以的。因为你的思路是非常奇特，你看，共产党用了N吨纸来整肃右派。这会比你说的很多话都会叫人记得清楚，对不对？我今天只是提供给大家一些思路，大家都可以去做，这是很有意思的一件事情。
上面说的第二个阶段就是五七的六月八号到五九年12月底差不多就收尾了。最凶的就是一九五七和一九五八这两年。批评得非常之狠，五七年下半年几乎每天的报纸都有，人民日报，光明日报，新华日报还有大公报、文汇报、和各地报刊，这些报纸都是连篇累牍地登载反右文章，可以达到这种程度。而在各种学术期刊上，也是非常积极非常强烈地批判右派分子。我手上收有中医药界批判右派分子，史学界批判右派分子，文学界批判右派分子，商业界批判右派分子，街道办批判右派分子，劳改农场批判右派分子，佛教界批评右派分子的各种资料。关于佛教界批评右派分子我有第一手资料，有成都佛教协诸多和尚的检讨书、认罪书、爱国公约、挑战书、大字报等，有成都市大慈寺、文殊院、石经寺、昭觉寺、宝光寺、草堂寺。。。。这些寺庙的资料。我一共收了几十上百斤，里面就有不少关于右派的东西，我这里面罗列了一部分，因为还没有整理完毕。你可以看我的博客上我写了些佛教界的右派分子。这些右派分子写的保证书，检讨书。这些和尚在里面说他要种四百斤跃进南瓜，他一个月要汇报多少次革命思想，他在最后的落款是右派分子XXX，我在博客上录有出来。从这里你可以想见共产党只要想做一个事情他是无孔不入的，没有一个地方是清静的。连所谓的佛门圣地，佛教界都没有躲得过，其中的女尼姑一样没有摆脱，一样地要弄来学习。在都江堰道观里的道士一样也要改造。所以可以这样说，普天之下，无有遗漏。
这场运动的广度和深度都是你难以想象的，那时涉及到很多学生很多年轻人，说学生不划右派，但那时张新泉先生才十几岁吧，那时可能同他差不多的贺星寒、周克芹、袁永庆他们都被划成学生右派。现在全国最年轻的右派还不清楚，但我掌握到的资料是十五岁，也就是十五岁被打成右派。最大的我没有统计，估计也有六七十岁的老顽固，当然这是在共产党的眼中。我想如果能把这些统计出来，比如说它涉及的面，涉及的年龄，涉及的职业，涉及的各种言论，他被处理的各种方式。比如说流沙河文革前是被发配到凤凰山农场养猪；然后到我们现在住家的地方大慈寺路的种菜地守菜；其中还有两年单位对他不错，让他去守那堆带有毒素的旧书堆，也就是守文联的资料室和图书馆，这反而成就了他，让他读了很多古书。而曾伯炎就是在马边的劳改农场。说到劳改农场最著名的就是杨显惠先生写的《夹边沟纪事》，但事实上这样的劳改农场到处都有，并不只有夹边沟。在劳改农场里也有著名的高尔泰先生，曾伯炎先生，也还有很多很不著名的人士。从这些方面我们可以看到他管制的力量、他涉及的面，他整肃的时间都是非常长的。
而反右的第三个阶段就是五九到八O年，这之间虽然没有大规模的整肃，但是右派分子的中间有些被摘了帽，但是摘了帽也还是一种管制，只是摘了帽要好听一些，行动相对自由一点，生活上相对得到了一些补助。对这种摘帽右派依然没有得到真正自由，依然会受到怀疑。因为摘帽右派只是改变了一下名称，就说是你这顶帽子虽然没有戴起，但并不表示这帽子就不在，是放在那里的。哪一天不高兴了想给你戴上就要给你戴上。你看共产党的提法真是有些名堂，他失业不说失业，只是说下岗，但这些下岗的人可能一辈子都没有上岗的机会了。他对你还要管制，但说是摘帽右派，我给你摘帽是看到你还有点听话，有点恭顺，如果你哪天不听话了我就要重新给你戴起。这就象唐僧对孙悟空一样，随时给你戴上个紧箍咒。在一九五九到一九八O国内对右派有摘帽和不摘帽两种处理，中间还有一些最大的右派分子被整肃。比如象章乃器在六二年三月到四月还认为右派是错划，他向当届政协提出申诉。六三年民建中央通过《关于开除章乃器会籍的决定》。
五九到八O期间，在香港和港台出了一些关于研究右派资料的书，包括一些右派的回忆录。有很多右派摘帽以后获得了到港台探亲的机会，有些定居了就不回来了，去探亲的好多也不回来了。这些人在海外就回忆了自己当右派的生涯。这些资料大陆是没有的，但是我很幸运，我收集资料的功夫也是很厉害的，这些书我手上都有。比如说一九六六年香港自联出版社1966。12月初版的《鸣放回忆》（展望丛刊八），其中有这样的篇章，叫《岭南鸣放喜剧多》，《汕头市的定额鸣放》《华南工学院鸣放杂记》《广州工商界万人争鸣记》《广东省、市民主党派人士鸣放追记》《广州市水力发电设计院鸣放记》《俄语学生向国务院请愿》《中央林业科学研究所的鸣放》《陕西师范学院的鸣放运动》《记少数民族同学的鸣放》《昆明市的鸣放运动》《我戴着帽子写回忆》，就是这些文章。这些文章的价值是不可怀疑的。这些人都是从右派的境地九死一生地逃出去了。但在文革的时候早期的右派又被拖出来了，在文革中照样批判你，而且把你当年打成右派的东西全部搞出来。你看在1971年三月西藏自治区革委会、西藏军区革命大批判小组就出了个内部资料，叫《高举毛泽东思想的伟大红旗 彻底批判极右分子范明的反革命罪行》，所以从这里你可以看出，虽然大规模的批判没有了，这些零星的批判还是相当多的。我在这里也就不详细讲述了。
第四的部分就是从一九八O年到现在，七九年以后开始给右派平反了，象流沙河先生都是七九年平的反，八O年开始大规模的平反到现在。那么现在是一个什么样的情况呢，确实大多数的右派都平反了。平反后的处理有几种，第一是你等到一个平反证，我听说是有，我手上有一个证书。第二是有些人得到了一些工资补助，但这种补肋相对他们的损失来说相差岂止是十万八千里。但他们子女受到的伤害，还有家庭受到的伤害，还有社会受到的伤害，对不对？这都是无法统计出来的。我可以这样说，从一九八O年以后的右派研究，还基本上没有起步，海外的右派研究我不是太清楚，与文革相比，海外的右派研究肯定要弱得多。海外的文革我们都知道有很多人在研究，比如说王友琴、宋永毅等，这些很著名的研究，包括国内徐友渔先生的研究。还有些当年的红卫兵，包括造反司令头头的回忆录。比如重庆工人造反派李木森的一个回忆录，现已被北京一个内部杂志叫《往事》的公布出来了。公布的这个回忆录非常好，我读到了一小节，这个回忆录是重庆的文史研究者何蜀整理的。
关于重庆这个城市，前几天我在写我的二月读书录当中说，我现在被划归于重庆的乡下。但是对重庆要作为我的故乡我都不大认同，我经常只说我是四川人。第一我对万恶的三峡工程深恶痛绝，而因为这个工程划出去的重庆，这样的行政区划我不承认，我很厌烦它；第二一般人说重庆人很耿直，很野道，我认为这也没有什么了不起，我说冉云飞比你们还耿直还要野道，冉云飞都没有觉得自己有好了不起。我曾经说过一座城市它应该有文化，要有文化底蕴，要有文化氛围。我曾经开玩笑一样地讲过，你重庆不要说连沙河先生这样的作家你出不来，就是连冉云飞这样的青年作家你也出不来嘛。我虽然是重庆人，但如果不到成都来，就没今天这样的文化熏陶，所以我说我是重庆人的性情，重庆人的脾气，而我的底气是成都人的文化底气。我这样说不是表明重庆没有文化的资料，没有可研究的东西。就是民国时候的重庆，我到现在为止也没有看到有什么象样的研究。陪都时候的重庆，书店、出版机构、学者、大学如此众多，本来是为重庆的文化打下了深厚的基础，但是重庆有什么象样的研究，没有。再加上码头气息比较重，闯码头的人就知道横冲直撞，一天都比较浮躁，不容易坐下来搞研究。
所以我转回来还是说我们做研究的还是要从基础知识搞起。可以这样说，右派研究就象重庆人对重庆研究一样，是黄瓜还没有起蒂蒂，与文革研究相比，要孱弱得多。所以我希望将来大家都更加关注。因为光是知识分子搞还不够。从四九年以后这些苦难的财富如土改、知识分子被整肃，三反五反、胡风事件、右派的反动言论，民歌运动，还有大炼钢铁、五九到六一年的大灾难大饥荒等是相当多的。就象最近出的“四川当代史实要录”，其中廖伯康（前省委副书记）公布了很多资料，四川死难的人很多。前不久著名的历史文化地理学者人口学家曹树基先生写了篇文章叫“一九五九到一九六二四川的人口研究”，在关天茶舍查得到。大家都应去看一下，自己是四川人，首先要去热爱四川，要去研究四川曾受过的灾难，你才可以更加研究中国的灾难。同样的，首先研究四川的右派，再扩而研究全国的右派。我说了整个右派的研究我们要做铺路石的工作。这一点谢泳先生说得很好，要做一些基础的工作，要给研究者提供了便宜，给他们作出判断提供很多材数料。我们不仅自己在研究当中要作出很多评价，我们更重要的是要做出比较完备的资料收集，我希望我做的这个《右派资料知见录》得到大家的帮助和关心，最后谢谢大家！（鼓掌）


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Czech Republic: Coins and “Pragocentrism” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Jesse of Bored in Brno writes about the Czech coins and some obvious “Pragocentrism” they reflect.


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Czech Republic: Football Commentator Translated · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Douglas Arellanes translates famous comments of a famous Czech sports commentator: “But he has his own library of similes that would give the US newsman Dan Rather a run for his money.”


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Czech Republic: Karel Gott’s Museum · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

My Czech Republic Blog writes about the country's legendary singer, Karel Gott, considered by some the “Sinatra of the East,” and his own new museum, Gottland, which opens this month.


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Ethiopia: Tigray · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mehedeya provides a brief   historical piece on Ethiopia and its relationship with Tigray


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Female Suicide in China · Global Voices
Ching Chiao

The Peking Duck blogs about high female suicide attempt in China.
They may not bind their feet anymore, but many women, especially in the countryside, still endure what amounts to nothing less than torture.


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Guyana: Roger Khan web site · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Living Guyana wonders who might be behind the newly established web site of jailed businessman Roger Khan, who was apprehended in a recent drug bust in Suriname.


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Hungary: George W. Bush Visit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu reports on George W. Bush's visit to Budapest: unprecedented security measures, a phone bomb scare at the U.S. embassy, an anti-Bush rally and the gay festival.


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Hungary: New Foreign Minister and Human Rights · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about Kinga Goncz, Hungary's new foreign minister, and her disappointing new views: “Yet in the corrupt world of realpolitik that she now operates in, all previous principles and beliefs have been thrown out the window in the interest of political and economic expediency. Sod what public opinion might think about the country's priorities, she and her colleagues should be doing their very best to influence and enlighten the population of Hungary as to why universal human rights are so important.”


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India: Army and the Women · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The army appears to suggest that women are not necessary or invited. One blogger thinks that is the right line to take. Annie responds to the controversy by suggesting why women are no less.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Least Polite. Most Rude? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A Reader's Digest survey suggets that Mumbai maybe the least polite of a list of cities. Some reactions from the Indian blogosphere.


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Indonesia: Kyoto Protocol and Indonesia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Yosef Ardi at Indonesia Today Blog writes that Kyoto Protocol guidelines are helping create jobs in Indonesia with investment in bio-fuel and ethanol production.

author: Preetam Rai


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Iran: Tragedy for refugees · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Payvandkadeh, a 37 years old Iranian hanged himself in Denmark after his demand to become refugee was rejected for the second time (Persian).


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Joint War-Fighting…to assure peace and stability? · Global Voices
Ching Chiao

Valiant Shield 2006…..More than 40 members from different countries all over the world to include China, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, Republic of Korea and Russia are observing this exercise exhibiting U.S. capabilities and interoperability while working together as a joint force… the exercise enhances joint war-fighting proficiency and allows the joint task force commander to respond to regional contingencies in the Asia-Pacific region to assure peace and stability. Wulf from Atlas Blogged tries to imagine if the US did this (show everything) in the 1945, 65, 85, 95. Also see more photos posted by Bubblehead.


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Kenya: Business & Investment · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Bankelele  posts  his weekly business and investment report from Kenya

author: Sokari Ekine


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Martinique: Coming Out Advice · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog de [Moi] encourages (Fr) local lesbians to accept their sexuality: “Know that being homosexual doesn't rime (no longer rimes?) with being unhappy (…) If one day (…) “they ” find out, they'll gossip one, two (three???) months then less and less, then from time to time and then finally you'll be “like furniture” to them (sorry fame cannot last)! (…) It's not dirty. You're not sick. You just have a different sexuality.”


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Mexico: Teen Engineer Takes Home Three Awards · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Juan Carreón proudly lists the three awards won by 16-year-old María Estela Godínez Andrade at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ES). The Guanajuato native is designing a reading and writing interface for blind computer users.


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Nepal: Reforming Organisations · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Democracy for Nepal writes on reforming Nepali organisations in the US and on what the specific reforms are to would vastly improve the organisations.


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Nigeria: UK travel advisory · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Just Thots by a Naijaman reports that Nigerian has issued it's first warning to Nigerians travelling to the UK ….”The Nigerian government says citizens must beware of “miscreants” who employ a “great variety of tricks” to dispossess people of their property.”


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Pakistan: Wind turbines in Germany · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan writes about wind energy generation in Germany and explores the benefits.


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Paraguay: Ycuá Bolaños Tragedy · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Posthegemony describes a visit to the site of the Ycuá Bolaños tragedy in Asunción “in which over 400 people died when the supermarket owner ordered the doors locked so that shoppers wouldn't rob the store of its produce en route to escaping with their lives.”


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Peace March from Seoul to Daechuri · Global Voices
Ching Chiao

Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Military Base in South Korea, will soon begin the expansion project to build new houses, gyms. This project will “destroy the farming communities of Daechuri, Doduri, and others”. Days in Daechuri blog about local protest activities and is organizing a Peace March on Early July.


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Peru: America’s oldest city · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Can you name America's oldest city? Wolfy Becker has the answer and explains why Peru's tourist industry is depending on it.


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Peru: Microsoft Office in Quechua · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Peruvian blogger Pierina, who blogs at Markefilm (ES) has published her first article in the newspaper El Comercio, which describes Microsoft's upcoming support of Quechua (ES) in the next edition of Office.


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Poland: Offended Blog Reader · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot responds to a commenter's request to take down a post he perceives as offensive: “I mean… can you honestly imagine writing to a web site asking them to remove something that you find offensive? I would be doing nothing else 24/7!”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Polynesia: Sand Samples · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Blog a Sables posts (Fr) photos of the sands of famous French polynesian beaches, including a shot of the sand on Marlon Brando's beach in Tetiaroa. The palette is impressive and ranges from charcoal (Papeete) to snow (Matira).


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Somalia: Union of Islamic Courts · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa comments on the Union of Islamic Courts – the Islamic group that recently took control of Mogadishu in Somalia –


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South Africa: SABC censorship · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Politics Za reports on possible “self censorship within the SABC” (South African Broadcasting Corporation)


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Sri Lanka: Law and Order · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Azrael's world on law and order in Sri Lanka – “The situation in Sri Lanka makes it obvious that the situation in terms of law and order in Sri Lanka leaves a lot to be desired but that’s not the government’s fault. It’s ours and ours alone.”


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Sudan: Aid being cut off due to infighting  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sudan Watch points to an AP report which details infighting between rebel factions in Sudan and which is causing hundreds of thousands of people to be cut off from aid.


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The Balkans: Comment on Srebrenica · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog responds to an anonymous commenter's “attempt to justify Srebrenica massacre.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: 48 hours after · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“There's a sense of unfinished business around Trinidad and Tobago today,” says Jeremy Taylor, summing up the atmosphere in the country 48 hours after the Trinidad & Tobago team failed to qualify for the second round of the World Cup.

author: Georgia Popplewell