text:
The Discussion Around the “Argentinean Country Brand” · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

A few days ago, Argentinean authorities presented the logo that will identify the “Argentina country brand”. The news created debate in many blogs. The most extensive of them took place at Blog de Viajes, a blog I've keeping for almost three years, in this entry (in spanish). In order to make it accessible to the Global Voices public, I will revise some of the most common positions in the debate. Let's see some of them:
1) The logo is horrible and doesn't represent anything.
2) The logo is too general and doesn't draw attention.
3) The logo is a good example of synthesis that some people can't appreciate.
4) The debate is not well established; we're not talking about a logo, but about a whole system of visual identity.
Note: I use “logo” to refer to what, up to now, is the development of the country brand that has been shown. If you want to refer to it as “isologo”, that's fine, but I'm not trying to simplify this issue.
Let's discuss point by point. The first point is more interesting than it seems. While it's true that you can't judge a logo from a “pretty/ugly” point of view, it's interesting, in social terms, to see that these kind of designs have many difficulties to sell outside the proffesional market. It grabs my attention, besides, that in the communicational planning of the country brand something rather basic is not taken into consideration: how will non-specialists see it? Since this development was paid for with everyone's taxes, to say “I use public funds, but I don't recognize the public's right to judge the work” sounds, at least, not too political.
The second point touches another topic. If the logo really represents what it claims to represent. That is, “dynamism, change, transformation, elegance, modernity, innovation and technology”. Besides, many people argued why do these atributes represent Argentina. Whether we like it or not, this isn't a country that stands out, at least not in the last two decades, for its technologic contributions. And better not talk about innovation. Should more realistic attributes have been chosen, or maybe is it more important to emphasize what we want to be?
The third point is related to some of the things said in point number 1. Usually, these kinds of works don't look impressive. This is a public project; if no one foresaw the public's interpretations as part of the communicational development of the project, then to ask for “appreciation of the synthesis”, even when it's fair, sounds arrogant.
Point number 4 is a reasonable claim: this is not just a logo, it's much more. That “much more”, the design of a complete visual identification system of Argentina as a brand, is something we still don't know. After almost two weeks of the logo difussion, the site marcaargentina.gov.ar hasn't revealed anything about the development of the logo. At Cabina, the project's winners, it's hard to search for anything and impossible to establish a direct link to the page that information is contained. And as an aside: isn't making a site user friendly, to surf and link, part of the design? The Cabina site has a nice Flash resource, but it's absolutely hostile to any useful use. When will we know something about the development of the Argentina country brand and, hence, be able to judge with more information? Otherwise, we'll just keep with the same issue: the logo. And there's something else: why did the official authorities decide to just preview the logo? Didn't they realize that they weren't being fair to all the work implied? Until now, most part of the reactions of what's known as the “Argentina country brand” have been quite negative -at least in the blogs- and the blame is precisely, the rush to “show something”. The logo doesn't stand for itself; to show it isolated from the rest of the branding has done more harm than benefit. Now, it would be best to show the entire development as soon as possible, and to draw conclussions, with more information, finally.
As you can see, it's not my intention to make any kind of judgement on the logo itself. I'm no specialist in audiovisual communication; and I want to assume that those who worked on it and chose it over other options know what they're doing. But a work should defend itself; as a text, it will be put under many interpretations, and won't always -I'd rather say almost never- are their creators there to explain the “correct sense”. At least for now, the text is unable to defend itself. Anyways, we expect the whole branding package to soon be released, to be able to inform about the thinking behind the logo.
Other blogs where this topic was also discussed:
Buenos Aires de Diseño (Irene Fernández, in spanish)
Entrevista a los diseñadores de la marca país (podcast, in spanish) in the blog of the Asociación de Comunicadores Visuales de Jujuy (Sergio Aramayo).
Weblog sobre weblogs, of Clarín (Mariano Amartino, in spanish)

author: Jorge Gobbi


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: A quick history · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor has posted Part Five of his “A quick history of Trinidad and Tobago”, a multi-part capsule history of the twin-island state.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Georgia Popplewell


text:
Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Canada: Watching the game · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Canada-based Barbadian blogger Jdid recounts the experience of watching the Trinidad & Tobago v. England World Cup match in a store in Toronto where everybody is transformed for the occasion into an “honorary Trini”.


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Coming home · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Club Soda and Salt responds to fellow Trinidadian blogger Seldo's post about returning home: “I’d like to raise a family there. I’d like to not have to deal with snow. The problem is, I’m not seeing that as an option, at least for a while. Maybe things will change.” He's also interested in hearing the views of “the folks who stayed,” but he might also want to listen to England-born Jeremy Taylor, who has spent “twenty-three years growing up in England, four in Africa, thirty-five in Port of Spain with a Trinidadian wife and family,” and who, apropos of yesterday's Trinidad & Tobago v. England football match, says “if ever I had a tweak of nostalgia for the old Mudder Country and its wicked colonial ways, one look at a photo of Prince Charles or Camilla, or even Mrs Queen herself, would remind me why I escaped, and turn me into a Soca Warrior.”


text:
Turkmenistan: Scorned · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Peter says that Turkmenistan's president has lost patience with foreign powers making plans for his country without consulting him and notes that this is translating into opportunities for Russian and Chinese companies.

author: Nathan Hamm


text:
Ukraine: Blue-Orange Coalition? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about the disappointing possibility of a coalition between Yushchenko's Our Ukraine and Yanukovych's Party of the Regions: “Does anyone really know anymore what he really wants or in what direction he is heading?”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Ukraine: Books, Football and Politics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine updates his virtual library of books dealing with Ukraine and writes about two depressing subjects: Ukrainian politics and football.


text:
Ukraine: Hotels · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Varske of Wu Wei writes about Kyiv's hotels: “Kiev hotels are notorious for being expensive, whether good or bad. At least now there are some international chains trying to set standards for the locals. Yesterday I rang up a small hotel recommended by a work colleague, who like it so much he didn't bother with an apartment. When I asked about the level of service, she modestly said that it was a middle quality then blurted out that there was no hot water. I had completely forgotten that that might be an issue in the summer.”


text:
Ukraine, Russia: Dreams of a Biased Person · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainian LJ user parasolya may admit to her anti-Russian bias a bit too eagerly, but all she wants is for Ukraine to be on friendly – and neutral – terms with Russia, a democratic variation of the USSR, sort of (UKR):
I've borrowed a Russia [photo] album at work, they were being distributed at one of the seminars. Published by [Russian state-owned news agency] RIA Novisti.
You are aware of my attitude toward Russia – to say that I don't like this country is to not say all of it. I am very biased against the country and its citizens.
But this album was so beautifully done that it practically made me want to go to Russia on vacation.
I know that there's nothing except these album pictures that I find attractive about Russia.
And yet, as I was looking through the album, I kept dreaming: there's no more tension between Russia and its neighbors. Russians come to Ukraine, Ukrainians go to Russia on holidays. All very polite, as in European countries. Democracy has won in our countries, everyone has decent incomes, no one is placing the blame on the neighbors. Russia sells gas to Ukraine at world prices, and it doesn't affect the Ukrainian economy because it can stand the competition. We've joined NATO all together :). No, I'm not dreaming this far.
But I do dream of being able to come to Russia and, first, not to be asked to show regstration stamp; second, not to be bothered about Crimea, teased about salo, Ukrainian girls selling their bodies on Russian roads, or gastarbeiters (Ukrainian or other), not to be told that Ukraine is a small piece of Russia and that soon “you'll crawl back to us on your knees” […].
[…] On weekends, it's possible to make a quick trip abroad, to Russia – all the way to the North, to live in a yurt, something like green tourism, or travel down the Trans-Siberian Railroad, stopping at clean little train stations where they sell souvenirs and postcards with local views. Well, and there's internet in every yurt, and one can ask a friend from Latvia or Poland what present he'd like on the way back.
A USSR of sorts. Only each one of us is in his own country, visits others, spends money, buys souvenirs, or does some business. And everything is based on Europe's democratic values.
Because photos in the album were so good, it seemed that Russia is a democratic European country.
Some Ukrainian commenters think (UKR) that parasolya‘s dreams aren't utopian at all:
molokovoz: Your dream isn't that far from reality. This is how it is, approximately.
parasolya: Where?
molokovoz: In Russia. The only actively and aggresively anti-Ukrainian Russian I met was in Mongolia -)) Maybe there's no internet in the yurts, but satellite antennas are in every tiniest village along the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
parasolya: […] Of course, face to face, we're all nice people, but as soon as we start talking politics, there we go…
[…]
I agree – I'm too biased. But I'm still living in the Russian-language media space. I admit and repent. But I can't help it yet. Maybe I'm too politically-minded myself. I have relatives in Russia as well. I try to look at the situation from a distance, but it works less and less. Even with my Russian colleague, with whom I'm on very friendly terms – as soon as we touch upon the issue of the Ukrainian-Russian relationship, it ends with “and Crimea is Russian [territory]!”
[…]
libellule_fun: There are normal Russians. But very few. But they do exist. Which means not everything has been lost yet :)
[…]
oleg_pavliv: I'd say that Moscow is overly politicised and anti-Ukrainian. I was on vacation in Karelia last year and no one claimed that “Crimea belonged to us” there.


text:
Uruguay: Music: Dani Umpi · Global Voices
David Sasaki

From Uruguay, here is a handful of songs by painter, sculptor, singer and songwriter, Dani Umpi.

author: David Sasaki


text:
Venezuela: Comparing Headlines · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Katy of Caracas Chronicles has an interesting comparison of headlines from Venezuela's state and private media regarding Peruvian President Alan Garcia's decision to not apologize to Hugo Chavez.


text:
Venezuela: Football Pundits · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Venezuela Football Pundits (Es) is an English-language World Cup weblog written from Venezuela by Daniel Duquenal and Franciso.


text:
China: Blogs for the ladies and the superstars · Global Voices
John Kennedy

If a Chinese-language version of something called Blogerati existed, portal website Sina.com would most likely be it. Is it a surprise that two of Sina's three top bloggers are women? At third spot is media mogul Hong Huang (洪晃), ex-wife of Farewell My Concubine director Chen Kaige and daughter of Mao Zedong's former English teacher. Second is young anti-establishment writer Han Han, recently mentioned here on Global Voices, and in first places comes actress, director, author and blogger Xu Jinglei (徐静蕾).
Given China's population, is it surprising their readership numbers are in the tens of thousands, sometimes even the hundreds of thousands? One post of Hong's from May 28 brought in 422,482 views and 2505 comments. Wondering how they do it? Here are some of their most recent posts:
擦边球
Hong Huang
34302 views/295 comments
我痛恨各种竞赛, 从小我什么都没赢过, 一听比赛我就躲, 如果有破罐破摔比赛我说不定能嬴,小时候四百米我跑了四分钟,走下来的。
所以世界杯我是不会看的, 如果我想看一群失去理智的男女画着鬼脸到处嚷嚷，我可以看恐怖片；要想看肌肉男，有东方卫视的什么”家有好男儿”(但是听说这节目里面评出来的男人都比较女,所以可能还不如看白岩松,崔永元什么的)；要想半夜不睡觉喝啤酒,我家老头随时愿意, 而且也不用四年才一次。
但是世界杯到处都是,无孔不入, 连我都知道日本人输给澳大利亚人了, 而且输挺残, 最后被人进了三个球还是几个。我发现日本人有破罐破摔精神,这跟往常我们心目中的暗自较劲的日本人还是挺不一样的, 大概他们也悟出放弃的爽了。
尽管不爱看球也不能不关心世界大事,而球就是世界大事了。有点擦边新闻分享一下, 自二零零二年以来, 性工作者可以合法在德国工作, 在几个球场周围的公寓已经都被当地著名性工作者包下,还装上望远镜, 可以浑身颤抖着,还能看球,牛吧?
日记 [2006年06月15日]
Xu Jinglei
16344/1000
终于把胶片套底和调光的事情搞定，我也可以稍微踏实点的去上海了，不然又是一件悬而未决的糟心事儿，摄影师甘露也及时的回到了北京，行了！不求人儿了！
最后一哆嗦，就是从26号开始的各个城市首映，每天都坐在飞机上，吆喝完这儿吆喝那儿——电影宣传不可避免的传统项目。然后，就这样结束了，最快的一次，超级快，自己都还没反应过来呢，前前后后7个月左右。一这么想起来还真有点失落……又要翻篇儿了……
失落什么啊，还没忙够？够了够了。休息休息。高兴高兴。
明天去上海，今天回奶奶家吃晚饭，奶奶看上去精神很不错，可以到饭桌上吃饭了，下床溜达一下总是好的，皮肤瘙痒症也好了很多，基本痊愈，看来有病还是要上医院。
这次出门时间相对较长，恐怕要带大箱子……又要收拾箱子了……·#￥%—*（）？“——+”：{{〉《？
大刀徐
8168/830 [June 17, 16:45 Beijing Time]
到上海，老弟陪我一起，其他同志们还在公司第一线奋战。
昨日单曲发布会，小同志居然被安排上台发言达5分钟之久，说什么了，我在后台一句话也没听见，声音嗡嗡的，不过时间可一点儿也不短，才发现这兄弟挺能说的，也27岁了，我怎么看他还老觉得是一小屁孩儿，脑子里反映的都是他两三岁的时候，流着鼻涕髭着毛儿扛着比自己还高的枪的样子。
中学成绩一般，转了一百多次学。毕业，高考，也不知怎么了，临场发挥有如神助，超水平考上了北工大学建筑。我爸一提起这事儿就忍不住乐：挺能蒙的啊儿子。小同志自是不爱听：您蒙一试试，那叫，水平。
在英国上研究生的时候，我和爸爸妈妈去探望他，他和女朋友给我们做饭吃，在他们宿舍共用的小厨房里。做了好多菜，是什么印象不深了，只记得一道辣子鸡，味道还真不错。我妈吃得眼泪快下来了，儿子啊，长大啦。
那时候，他在他们那个学校据说很有名。原因是举校上下只有他一个人拥有一把大菜刀，所以大家做饭要剁个鸡啊鸭啊的全是从他那里借。不但落下了好人缘还附送了外号一个：大刀徐。
大刀徐，小时候长得好看（博客上曾有照片为证），又会来事儿，格外得宠。我看他经常不顺眼，哪儿啊？！就蹦出来这么一位，从小游手好闲，我要学的他都不用学，每天就是玩儿，好吃的还都得分他一份儿。
大刀徐，长大了没有小时候好看，老实孩子一个，面善，随我妈。可我妈怎么看他都还是一美男，什么陆毅啊木村拓哉啊，都没他好看。常被我和爸爸取笑：天哪！！！您可千万别出去说去，被人笑掉大牙了……我妈不服：你们懂什么？！
昨日,本人单曲发布，大刀徐被太麦和博学叫去上台充场子，立刻有热情媒体指我要拉弟弟进“娱乐圈”，哦买嘎，我妈听了必是乐开了花：我说我儿子好看吧……
求求你们了，饶了我们全家吧……

author: John Kennedy


text:
Fed Up with Soccer Office Talk  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Oliviermr2 writes (Fr): “Thank God for the weekend! I can finally take a break from all my  “soccer specialist” co-workers who feel obligated to comment in detail on all of the previous day's 3 matches going: ‘he should have done this, he should have done that’ and blahblahblah… I like soccer just fine but I'm about fed up [with all the talk].”

author: Alice Backer


text:
Haiti: Banking in 1946  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

From Haiti, Marcel Salnave of Parlons Peu posts an article written by his father, also Marcel Salnave, in 1946 on the Haitian banking system. Excerpt (Fr): “Banks have become very demanding and ask for each loan a guaranty that surpasses the amount borrowed. Banks in Haiti … have completely suppressed our credit. So poverty has taken hold. (…) In the U.S., public opinion is worried by the 3% interest rate and the financial world has had to do its best to bring interest rates down to 2 to 2.5%. Here, it is impossible to borrow money for less than 20% despite the legal rate of 12%. (…) Our credit institutions only rarely give out loans (…). Very few business deals are made thanks to credit institutions. “


text:
New Caledonia, Francophones  and Cricket · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Over at 5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie, Sebastien who lives in New Caledonia but is originally from continental France writes (Fr)  a post that shows how little cricket resonates with most of the French-speaking world : “While the world focuses on soccer, I want to introduce you to a less well known ball sport,  which is nevertheless very popular here: cricket! This british sport is played every weekend (…) by Kanak women and was introduced in New Caledonia by British missionaries. (…) A local team even partakes in the Pacific games.”


text:
Truth and Consequences · Global Voices
Elijah Zarwan

The first thing that struck me as I passed by the Press Syndicate earlier this week to eavesdrop on a meeting of Egyptian bloggers was the Central Security trucks parked around the corner. The steel police barriers around the sidewalk and steps of the Syndicate were lightly manned by a few cops, who stood facing the doors of the Syndicate. They were there, it seemed, to keep the journalists and computer geeks from getting out. Or to send a message. I received it.
Middle-aged men with walkie-talkies (again, borrowing Issandr‘s phrase… he's got a knack), loitered across the street. These days I go to the Press Syndicate only when there's something vaguely subversive going on, so I don't know if the trucks and the men with walkie-talkies are there all the time now. That night, the image of the glowering cops manning the barriers around the Syndicate struck me as a nice illustration of the government's attitude toward freedom of expression… and it was meant to.
When I arrived, a couple hundred people were crammed into the main auditorium, watching the recent Al-Jazeera documentary about Egyptian bloggers. Posters calling for Alaa‘s release and the release of the other prisoners flanked the doors to the hall. So this was my second impression: Here were hundreds of people in an auditorium in the Press Syndicate, watching an Al-Jazeera documentary about bloggers and cheering and laughing all the way though. When I first interviewed Wael Abbas last year, he complained that the Press Syndicate wasn't giving online journalists the time of day. Now the local opposition press, Al-Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Politiken, Die Welt, and Liberation are doing “the Egyptian blogger story” and the Press Syndicate is hosting a packed event. The opposition weekly is Al-Dostour is syndicating Egyptian blog posts. How times have changed.
It's too bad it took a rash of detentions to change them. True, media interest was already percolating last summer and fall, but I had a really hard time getting any of the 300-plus reporters at the November World Summit for the Information Society in Tunis to care about Abd al-Karim Suleiman's detention for writing an offensive, but not criminal, post on his blog. Al-Jazeera interviewed Abd al-Karim after his release and followed Alaa and Malek around as they handed out flyers in Tahrir Square, then sat on the footage until Malek and Alaa were arrested. Even then, it took Wael Abbas’ lobbying to get them to air the damn thing already.
The next night, banners and placards calling for the release of the detained protesters, including the bloggers, lined the doors and the auditorium of the Lawyers’ Syndicate, where secular activists and representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and the banned Islamist Al-Amal Party met to discuss strategies for arriving at common goals. In the garden behind the Syndicate, recently released activists greeted friends they hadn't seen in more than a month. Some participated in a brief demonstration at the gate. Given the treatment Mohammed al-Sharqawi, who also blogs, received when they turned up for a May 25 protest soon after their release from prison, that took courage. And indeed, almost every speaker who took the podium mentioned Al-Sharqawi and Alaa.
The recently freed bloggers continue to campaign for change online and in the streets. Ashraf Ibrahim—detained in 2003 for emailing photographs and accounts of police violence against anti-Iraq war protesters to human rights organizations, then again on April 27, 2006, for participating in a protest in support of judicial independence and clean elections—walked out of the police station last week determined to go directly to the rally at the Lawyers’ Syndicate with Malek, who had only been released days earlier himself. Ibrahim told me over the phone that he “wanted to send a message to State Security, to tell them that they wouldn't be intimidated.” In the end, only his exhaustion kept him at home.
At a recent gathering of bloggers and activists in a downtown Cairo apartment, the activists without blogs joked with those who had them about the attention they were getting. Blogging, they laughingly agreed, now confers “brestige.”
But this new prestige may yet carry a price. There's been a lot of email traffic among the Arabic-language bloggers noting that more comments on their blogs that seem to be written by SSI agents. And in a recent comment on The Skeptic, expat Egyptian blogger forsoothsayer reported that she'd heard warnings that “the government is planning an even bigger blogger crackdown” from a public prosecutor friend of hers.
That would be a shame. Egypt has so far maintained a relatively open policy with regard to online speech. Perhaps all the publicity on bloggers, and the Al-Jazeera documentary in particular, might have raised the government's sensitivity to critical blogs.
If the government does, in fact, launch a concerted crackdown on bloggers for what they write, English-speaking readers would do best to turn to Hossam al-Hamalawy at Arabist.net for the latest information—assuming he's not arrested with the rest of them (he's already been briefly detained at an abortive protest in front of the police station where Al-Sharqawi was beaten). Big Pharaoh and Sandmonkey are watching closely as well.
For close analysis and background, particularly on the conflict between the Judges’ Club and the government over the revised law on the judiciary that touched this recent round of protests off, turn to Baheyya. Check her blog early next week for an analysis of the as-yet unpublished law, which, having won Cabinet approval, should sail through both houses of Parliament as early as next week. Expect, also, more protests when it does: The judges got a peak at the bill during their meeting with the Minister of Justice and told the press that it contains only cosmetic changes—very little that would address their demands or the demands of their supporters in the streets.

author: Elijah Zarwan


text:
Turkey is Typing…. · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

So let's talk a little football shall we?  There are two Turkish blogs in English that focus on the noble game: The Round Ball in Ankara and Gulay, Galatasaray and the Dogs.  Of course they are not the only ones writing about soccer and the World Cup, Erkan's Field Diary is another blog this week that has covered that same subject.
Erkan's Field Diary posted an interesting piece about FIFA announcing a campaign to discourage racism at World Cup games, he also provides some great links about various aspects of the game, and gives a great link to a site called Bloggers Ball, which has a lot of info on blogging the World Cup.
The Round Ball in Ankara, while watching a bit on the tipsy side, has taken a very interesting poll on what their readers think which teams that were knocked out of the World Cup in the pre-qualifying rounds should be there.  As expected Turkey is running a high showing but is tied with Scotland….but I haven't voted yet, and my vote goes for Turkey all the way.
Gulay, Galatasaray and the Dogs has had a bit more of a sombre approach to her World Cup coverage, offering game by game analysis while waiting (rather humoredly) for Oz Kanka (of Round Ball in Ankara) to sober up and blog.
In other Turkish sports news, Amerikan Turk has been bicycle racing this week, and although he didn't do as well as he wished he still looks fabulous.
Lastly, several Turkish bloggers have rallied on the web to help one of their own.  A young Turkish man named Gokhan Gurcuoglu was severely injured in a car accident in February.  Due to problems with his insurance in the United States his family needed to arrange to have him sent home to his native country of Turkey to be taken care of, the Turkish community created a website and have managed to raise enough money for Gokhan's family to bring him home.  I think that this is a wonderful example of what an internet community can be capable of.
Have a great week!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


text:
China and Japan: Animation academy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ben Ng reports that A Sino-Japan animation academy was established in Beijing on 11 June (zh). According to a statistic, in year 2004, the animation industry in China made 19.5 million yuan income, the Japanese animation shared 1/5 of the market. The animation industry will be taking off in coming years (more than 10 times bigger) and the academy is a strategic move.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
China: Disable certificate · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen in Danwei translated a local news story about an encounter between a train attendant and a disable man, asking for the disable certificate for his train ticket. Even though the disable man only had one leg the attendant insisted to have the document, finally another passenger stood up and asked the attendant: “show me your human certificate!”


text:
China: Voodoo Doll online · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Earlier this year ESWN explained how voodoo doll were banned in China. Letters from China notes that netizens have moved the culture online: a click means a pin!


text:
From the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United States of America · Global Voices
Tharum Bun

In July, Somongkol Teng will leave Cambodia for the United States to pursue a master's degree in Higher Education Administration. Under the US State Department's Fulbright grant Somongkol plans to earn his graduate degree from Boston College of Massachusetts. Formerly an undergraduate of Royal University of Phnom Penh, he later became a lecturer for the  English Department within the Institute of Foreign Languages.
The 23-year-old speaks English crafted with an American accent cultivated from his first English lessons in 1993. After the 1993 UNTAC-organized national election in Cambodia, English literacy has enabled greater international job and scholarship opportunities. Only 10 percent of Cambodians who speak English are sufficiently fluent to use computers. According to estimates by the International Telecommunication Union as of 2003, only 25 in 10000 Cambodians accessed the internet.
Not many Cambodians, especially so young, have travelled to foreign countries- the outside world. Somongkol also is a happy traveller and amateur photographer.
Q: You are leaving Cambodia soon for the U.S., how do you feel now?
A: Well, I'm extremely happy and excited about the upcoming departure. It was my second time applying for Fulbright Scholarship and I've finally achieved it. I believe you can imagine how one feels when his dream is finally realized. At the same time, I am also rather nervous. This is going to be my first time away from home for such a long time. Unlike the previous exchange programs in which I took part as a contingent, this time, I will be all alone in a completely new world of unfamiliar faces and experience. For sure, I am going to miss a lot of things here. Despite all these anxieties, I still believe these two years away will enrich my knowledge and experience, and most important of all, make me a more independent person. I really can't wait for the day to come.
Q: Can you describe what have you done so far (both education and work)?
A: I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Education (TEFL) from the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL), Royal University of Phnom Penh, in 2003. Upon graduation, I was recruited to be a lecturer of English for this same institute. Last year, I was chosen as a full-time staff for the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. During my free time, I also work as an online-based translator for proz.com and Pasarawee Translation Service in Bangkok, Thailand.
Adding to these professional activities, in the past four years, I've also taken part in several international exchange programs and volunteer work. In September 2002, I was part of the Cambodian delegation for the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP), at the end of which I was chosen to present the results of the onboard SSEAYP discussion to the World Youth Meeting in Singapore. Since then, I have been a member of SSEAYP International Cambodia (SIC), an alumni association of the SSEAYP program in Cambodia. I am now its Head of Information and Webmaster. As part of SIC's activities, I, along with other members, have run several book donation and penpal projects with several schools in Phnom Penh and Kandal Province. We are seeking possibilities into getting more support and moving other charity projects further into other provinces. If you have any used books and are interested in donating to our projects, please feel free to contact us anytime via sseaypcambodia@yahoo.com. Your kind support and cooperation are highly appreciated.
Q: Following the graduate degree and time abroad, how do you see yourself?
A: Since I'll be earning a Master's in Higher Educational Administration, at the end of the studies, I aspire to produce a strong research paper that will use the skills and knowledge gained during my course to participate in Cambodia's higher education sector. I wish to continue working for the Department of Higher Education. I look forward to becoming an active advocate and policy maker in tertiary educational affairs while working with  team members in my department. I feel a strong sense of civic responsibility and hope to share what I will learn and invest myself with my homeland. Like everyone, my vision for Cambodia is as a country that is able to support itself and its people—A country free from poverty, with adequate human resources and sustained economic growth.  One way to accomplish this goal is through education. I really hope I can play a role in this process.
Q: What do you see as the future for your generation of Cambodia?
A: Having been a student, educator and youth activist myself, I've noticed tremendous changes in our young people. Our youth now are highly enthusiastic in broadening their knowledge and experience. Instead of being passive listeners waiting to be spoon-fed by their teachers, students today actively learn, discuss, research, and the like. Given the widening access to internet resources, education, mass media and opportunities to study abroad, I would say without hesitation, that positive things are happening.
Recently I've been very proud of several local high school students bringing home medals from the International Junior Science Competition in Indonesia. Our country may be poor, but our spirit, pride, enthusiasm and aspirations are never poverty-stricken.  I am told that Cambodia's future is getting brighter and everyday, more evidence of these accomplishments surrounds me. We are turning the pages from history toward modernization, progress and development.
Q: What do your usually write on your online journal/weblog? And will you continue to share with your friends and others at home?
A: I've been blogging since late 2004. Initially, my posts were mainly pictures chronicling my daily activities and trips to various places. It was then more like a travel photo blog (and it is still so, even now) than an online journal. I guess most of my blog visitors know quite well that photography is a major hobby of mine.
Only lately did I start posting some writing. I really wish to write more when time allows and if possible, make this little blog of mine a more useful place where I can share my viewpoints, experience and knowledge with others. Thanks everyone for your supports so far. I might be away from Cambodia, but I will always be here with you in cyberspace.

author: Tharum Bun


text:
Haiti: Telecom Wars · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Digicel billboard, Martinique. By blogger Greg at InternetRapide.com.
Jamaica-based Caribbean telecom giant Digicel has a presence in over a dozen countries in the region. Digicel officially launched operations on the Haitian market in May  to much resistance from local private telecoms Haitel and Comcel but bloggers and other web commentators seem to agree that Digicel’s presence on the Haitian market is actually a good thing for local consumers’ pockets, for their safety as well as potential job creation.
Launching a $130 million investment
Martiniquan blogger InternetRapide.com chronicled (Fr) the launch when it happened in early May:
Les offres de DIGICEL, quatrième opérateur mobile à Haïti sont commercialisées depuis ce 3 mai 2006.
Digicel a obtenu une licence d'exploitation d'un réseau GSM sur l'île depuis juin 2005; les autres opérateurs déjà présents à Haïti s'appuient sur des réseaux CDMA et TDMA (…)Ce lancement à Haïti est une étape importante dans le développement du groupe du magnat irlandais Denis O'Brien, et représente plus de 130 millions de dollars d'investissement (USD).
A Haitian creole-speaking commentator seemed enthusiastic  (Kr) about the launch in her comment on Internetrapide.com‘s blog:
digicel vous etes le meilleur. si nous bezouin couvri haiti , se pou nou ale nan tout ti coin,rive tout kote zote pa rive. mete antenne nan tout ti commune kote zote pa la, epi na we rezulta. tout moun ap vi-n jouin nou. kiles nap commencer activer boite gen anpil moun kap tann nou pou activation merci je vous aime
Jobs and Investment, Please
Another poster, Darline Joseph, who identified herself as a professional living in Haiti asked (Fr) how she could find work with the company.  Indeed, many Haitians looking for job and business opportunities are jumping on the Digicel wagon.
At the HaitiXchange.com message boards, poster Ape_man seemed excited about the job prospects for Haitians:
the good thing about this is that since Haiti speaks a language not spoken by the rest of the greater Caribbean, they will have to employ kreyol/french speaking customer service reps and technicians to assist the callers…this means real jobs for Haitians…as opposed to Cables and Wireless employees that I know who live in Jamaica and support all the Caribbean nations that the company is in being that they all speak English they can do that…in this case, Digicel will have to accomodate Haitians thus must have Haitians in their staff at least in the supporting roles…not to mention the Haitians engineers that will be employed through this deal…
Digicel Staff Launch Party, Haiti. By Pete Kaholupalan.
The Jamaica Gleaner explained how some scrambled to be part of Digicel's 200 dealer-network:
A typical Haitian dealer is Jean-Max Garoute whose business complex is located on the airport road only two minutes from Haiti's notorious Cite Soleil slum (Sun City in English). Jean-Max, whose main business is operating a gas station (and whose family business is the manufacturing of clay tiles), became a dealer simply by writing Digicel a letter, and subsequently passing an interview. Since he opened he says, “Business has been phenomenal, with customers lining up from 5:00 a.m. to buy phones.”
According to Jean-Max, “If I had more phones, I could sell 1000 a day.” The biggest seller is the cheapest phone – the Motorola C115. Jean-Max says it has been popularly named the ‘huit million’ or eight million in English to reflect the fact that the entire Haitian population wants to own one, so that they can finally communicate with their families abroad.
Under the subtitle “An Entrepreneurial Revolution in Haiti,” the Gleaner also reported on CEO Denis O'Brien's enthusiasm for the Haitian market:
At its huge VIP Haiti launch party overlooking Port au Prince on Wednesday night, Digicel's founder, billionaire entrepreneur Denis O'Brien, told the more than one thousand leading members of the Haitian business community (a significant portion of whom were now Digicel dealers) that Haiti and the Caribbean were “One of the most entrepreneurial
regions in the world and we hope that Digicel's entry into Haiti is helping to position the country as a good place to invest in business and that we will see other corporations following our example.” Asked why he had invested in ‘risky’ Haiti, Mr. O'Brien added that when he first came to Haiti two years ago, everybody was ‘buying and selling – it was like a bazaar’. But he believed the market opportunity outweighed the macroeconomic risks, and believed that with Digicel's arrival the ‘foreign investment community is waking up to the opportunity.’  Mr. O'Brien announced that due to the ‘avalanche’ of support for Digicel's GSM network, he had decided to increase his initial investment of US$130 million by another US$50 million over the next few months.
Advertising: The First Battle
Private Haitian telecoms initially reacted to Digicel’s presence in Haiti through regulatory wars having to do with advertising. Local telecom regulatory body CONATEL weighed in against DIGICEL. According to Haitian newsfeed  Radio Kiskeya  (Fr) : “The arrival of Caribbean operator Digicel triggered a counter-offensive from its Haitian competitors.” Haitel and Comcel, aided by CONATEL cried foul at a commercial pamphlet issued by Digicel that offered trade-ins of non-compatible devices, explains the feed. CONATEL criticized the pamphlets alleging the naming of competitors in advertising was not welcome in Haiti.
The controversial advertising blitz included a sponsorhip of the Haitian Federation of Soccer,  said blogger Greg at InternetRapide.com:
Depuis le mois de mars Digicel est le principal sponsor de la Fédération Haïtienne de Football. Pour un million de dollars (USD), selon les termes du partenariat, la première ligue cesse de s’appeler “championnat national de première division”  pour devenir le “Championnat  Digicel de football”.
Ex-pat missionary blogger T&T & Tribe,  was a little overwhelmed by all the advertising and  wondered whether it was not creating the illusion of a need:
“Digicel” entered the cell phone market here in Haiti. They are genius marketers. Everywhere you look there are red and white signs and banners and ads. The advertising all showed up seemingly overnight all over the city. They rented a ton of office spaces and painted the outside of each one red. They are experiencing lines that go around the block. Many of the people in line don't even know what's going on inside. We see people wearing Digicel hats and t-shirts all along the highway heading to our village.
Maybe the hype is because of their massive ad campaign, maybe it is because the other two cell phone options are a joke. Either way, they found a way to create in the mind of the consumer a NEED for new cell phone service. People in Haiti are clamoring for a device that will probably not work very well, that they've lived without up until now, and will cost more than feeding a family of four for a week.
Interconnection: The Sticking Point
Back in May blogger InternetRapide.com believed that interconnection negotiations with Haitel and Comcel would be easy:
Les négociations d'interconnexion avec TELECO, opérateur des lignes fixes et opérateur mobile détenu principalement par l'Etat Haïtien, ont été longues et difficiles, mais les parties sont parvenues à un accord Jeudi dernier. Les négociations avec les deux autres opérateurs, HAITEL et COMCEL-VOILA devraient elles aussi aboutir rapidement (même si ce dernier semble se montrer peu coopératif).
Indeed, Haitian newsfeed AlterPresse reported that CONATEL's director believed that (Fr) “interconnection would take place before the end of May 2006, emphasizing that no company could escape the interconnection requirement.”
But  a showdown is taking place between the pre-existing cell phone operators and Digicel over the issue of interconnection: talks took place on May 30 between  [local Telecom regulatory body] CONATEL and the various private mobile operators (Haitel, Comcel and newly arrived Digicel) that, according to AlterPresse, ended without an expected agreement on the issue of interconnection.
Though Haitel originally seemed more amenable to an agreement on interconnection than did Comcel, in the last three weeks, the chemistry between Haitel and Digicel seems to have evaporated and, according to AlterPresse, it is now asking that certain demands be fulfilled before it fully agrees to it. Its head, Franck Cine, stated that:
« tout ce que nous réclamons, c’est une compétition loyale et un traitement égal pour tous les opérateurs de téléphonie de la part de l’Etat Haïtien».
Interconnection tests scheduled for June 7 did not take place, reports (Fr) AlterPresse.
But, according to the Jamaica Gleaner,  Digicel CEO Denis O'Brien believes the interconnection issue may be moot:
Stating that, “he had never seen a market like it” he argued Digicel's success had been so great that soon the interconnection issue with their competition would become irrelevant as Haitians were just throwing away their other phones.
Code Wars: No to a Jamaican Code on Haitian Soil
While no resolution has yet been reached on the interconnection issue, Marcel Montaigne, the head of CONATEL, threatened on June 6 to sanction Digicel  over the alleged use of a Jamaican code on Haitian soil, according to (Fr) AlterPresse.
[Le] directeur du CONATEL (…) avait déclaré, nous citons : « Nous sommes un Etat souverain et nous ne pouvons accepter l'utilisation d'un code attribué à un autre pays autre que chez nous », fin de citation.
According to the same story, Digicel rebutted that the use of the code is neither fraudulent or competitively unfair nor does it represent a threat to international security, to billing or taxation. It explained that many other operators use codes in more than one country. It quoted Digicel:
« depuis décembre 2005, après trois années de débats, un groupe d'experts internationaux (…) a conclu que la pratique d'utiliser un MCC/MNC (identification du pays de rattachement / réseau de rattachement) dans plus d'un pays ne serait plus interdite ».
Prices Driven Down
Blog and local press commentators concur that Digicel's presence on the Haitian market has driven prices down:
Says AlterPresse:
La concurrence, provoquée sur le marché de la téléphonie mobile par le lancement en grande pompe des activités du géant régional Digicel, le 3 mai 2006, a eu très vite pour effet de forcer les autres compagnies de téléphonie mobile à revoir leur base de tarification et à offrir un certain nombre d’ « avantages » à leur clientèle.
The Jamaica Gleaner reported a differential in Digicel cell phone prices:
The phone is priced at 900 Haitian goudes (about J$1,500), and is significantly cheaper than the competition's offering at around J$2,600. This price is much cheaper than the J$6,500 it took to buy a phone before Digicel's arrival, reflecting the high degree of subsidy by Digicel of the cost of buying the phone, which it expects to recoup from the increased market penetration.
Moose's Adventures Abroad, a blog kept by an American Digicel employee, wrote:
People lined up for phones starting at 4am the night before our launch.  Line-ups were hours long at EVERY store in the country.  It is the first time affordable mobile phones have been available in Haiti.  The current provider charges:
i.  $50 USD to activate
ii.  cheapest phone = $60
iii.  You pay to make and receive calls
iv. Rates are per-minute
Our charges:
i.  $0 to activate
ii.  Three phones available for under $20
iii.  You only pay to make calls
iv. Rates are per-second
People cannot afford mobile telephony at the current rates – they can afford it now.  The number of mobile subscribers in the country could go from 3-4% to 60-80% (this is all speculation on my part).  Honestly – it is a bit of a revolution – there are no landline phone networks either so this is the first time many people in Haiti will ever have a phone!
Digicel Launch Festivities, Haiti. By Pete Kaholupalan.
The Buzz in Blogs and on the HaitiXchange.com Message Board
Says Mooses Adventures Abroad,
I know many people will argue that we are not in fact revolutionizing the country and that this is consumerism in its worst way.  I disagree for a number of reasons -
1.  the phones we market and push are the phones under $20 USD.
2.  We don't accept credit and we don't reduce the price of phones and force them to take long contracts (in the mass market) like you see in North America.  If a person wants to get an expensive phone they have to save up for it and in that case I think it is a legitimate spend.
3.  Phones are always a balance of style versus function.  In developing countries the large portion of the selection is based on price and function with style lagging behind that.
4. I have heard of a direct correlation between telecom growth and GDP growth in developing countries (not in the developed world).  I can't find anything strong that correlates it… but telecom is an enabler.  If teleco and technology improves communications improve which facilitates economic growtprovides technical support and services for progressive organizations to improve their outreach and efficiency by using online applications in new ways to meet off line goals.h over all.  Yes I realize this is very glossy, high-level and weak.
In the end I hope this is a turning point in the Haitian economy and that this investment hopefully shows a successful business model which will be a catalyst for future development and investment.
Over at the blog of Development Seed, an organization that “provides technical support and services for progressive organizations to improve their outreach and efficiency,  ” Bonnie Bogle writes:
There are just 140,000 landlines and 540,000 cell phones in the country of more than 8 million people. (…) Hopefully, that’s beginning to change. Yesterday Digicel, the largest mobile phone operator in the Caribbean, launched service in the country. It will be Haiti’s first second GSM provider and the first to offer service available throughout the country. There’s no doubt that with such a low number of mobile phone users, Haiti could be a  very large potential market. (…)
At the very least, Digicel’s entrance into Haiti will provide needed competition for Haiti’s current mobile providers, which are plagued by user complaints. Also at $130 million, it’s a huge investment for a country that notoriously lacks foreign investment. So big that Digicel says it’s “the largest corporate investment in the country from an international company.”
An improved mobile phone system, especially one that offers services like text messaging more affordably, will allow aid organizations and average Haitians to avoid some of the country’s security risks and give them better access to information. And if it’s true about a offering a reliable nationwide network, that will make communication much easier considering that many towns in Haiti are pretty hard to travel to.
At HaitiXchange.com, poster New Haiking agreed that Digicel was good news for Haiti and offered some interesting analysis of (and advice to) various Caribbean and Haitian telecoms:
This is indeed good news no matter which angle you are looking at it, it has some negatives , but Denis O'Brien is   the Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com)of cellular phones. Here is the strategy  guys,  Digicel is an Irish company based in the Caribbean , the company has numerous shell corporations in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands to make sure its windfall profits are not taxed at EU rates.The direct competition is  not really Comcel, or Haitel , it's Cable &Wirelless, the British telephone giant  that has  Vodafone as its main cometitor in Europe.Cable &Wirelless has monopolized the Caribbean telephone market for the last 30 years especially the  former and current British colonies, and that's what Denis Obrien is trying to change. Digicel could absorb Haitel easily by buying it out from its current owner Verizon-MCI as it does in other markets in the Caribbean. Verizon smartly sold their cellular operations (Verizon Dominicana)in the DR to Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire owner of America Movil  and Omnilife.So now it's going to be Digicel,Cable &Wirelless, America Movil, and Cingular fighting  to be the Pan-Caribbean cellular network, but which tehcnology  will win , GSM or CDMA.
Haiti wins anyway, there are about  5 million people who can be turn into customers in the next 5 years, that growth is incredible if the country stays stable, there are currently only 150, 000 cellular phone users in Haiti, Comcel and Haitel have to reivented themselves, Comcel  should tried to expand into the DR by making an alliance with America Movil so , Western Wirelless and Verizon-MCI should follow Denis Obrien and take a bet ,because the Irishman  said he can get  one billion dollars out the Caribbean in the next 10 years  with  about 250 million  dollars of invesments, and I am talking about net profits, not total sales.
Zoklo, another HaitiXchange.com poster, chimed in with what he learned from a friend who lives in Haiti:
A friend of mine in Haiti just told me that Digicel is making huge waves over there. One of the big contenders was Voila, which was making a big impact during carnival. They sponsored many floats and bands. I'm not sure who their aren't company is, but Digicel is giving them a run for their money.
My friend tells me that Digicel is accepting Voila trade-ins for free Digicel phones and that a lot of people who were working for Voila have quit their jobs.
See more Digicel, Haiti photos by Pete Kaholupalan.


text:
Hong Kong: Stephen Hawking visit · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Last week Stephen Hawking visited Hong Kong, there were much discussion among local bloggers. Diumanpark criticizes Hong Kong Government did not arrange proper reception to Hawking, while if Bill Gates came, the Chief Excecutive would have rushed to the airport (zh). Miss Lee in Summer comments that the local news stressed too much on Hawking's physical disability than his contribution to science (zh).


text:
Japan: whaling · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Onemanbandwith notes that Japan has got to be disappointed because they have spent, on average, 100 Million US Dollars each in “foreign aid” to countries who voted down a proposal to allow Japan resumption of whaling in their own coastal areas in the International Whaling Commission.


text:
Afghanistan: An American Soldier · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

AfghaniDan, a US soldier in Afghanistan, talks about his experience & daily life in this country. The blogger
writes “the gardens in the governor's compound give you a good idea of how different life is for the power brokers in Afghanistan, much like anywhere else for that matter. People may be living in dirt outside, but inside the pink walls, life is good”.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Afghanistan: Militias · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Afghan Warrior discusses the Afghan government's plan to recruit tribal militias and argues that it is the wrong direction for Afghanistan.


text:
Africa: World Cup Fever · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kenyan Soccer has a World Cup report with some cool links….

author: Sokari Ekine


text:
Anguilla: Cycling success · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bob Green's Anguilla News celebrates the success of the island's cyclists at the OECS Championships athletics meet.


text:
Armenia: Dual Citizenship · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis writes about dual citizenship in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. He asks why some people want Armenian citizenship when the only major difference between that and special residency status is the right to participate in politics.


text:
Armenia: Notes from the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian carries a roundup of discussions in the Armenian blogosphere.


text:
Bangladesh: An elegy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An elegy for Bangladesh at ElectrikBlues. “for those who think i’ve declared death prematurely, be assured, we’re at war. we’ve got the guns, we’ve got the bombs, we’ve got the fighter jets (and more on the way). but we’re not sure who the enemy is, or what it is we’re fighting for.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


text:
Caribbean: BLP role in CSME · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Barbados Labour Party blog gives its political leader — and Prime Minister of Barbados — Owen Arthur a pat on the back for the role he has played in the development of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).


text:
Caribbean: Boycott Pirates of the Caribbean · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Indigenous issues blog The CAC Review calls for a boycott of the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, in a post which also recounts some of the controversy surrounding the filming of parts of the movie on location in Dominica. The post also includes a link to the trailer, which The CAC Review says “clearly shows the Caribs roasting live people on spits and holding captives to be eaten…in a stark reminder of some of the most vile imperialistic imagery produced in the early colonial era. Such images are getting a new lease on life thanks to Disney, which with the resources that rival those of a colonial power, has now dedicated itself to popularizing and internationalizing images of the Caribs as ‘cannibals’.”


text:
Cayman Islands: Expat exodus · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Cayman Bobby is concerned that the high cost of living in the Cayman Islands is driving expats like himself away, including some of his potential colleagues at the Royal Caymanian Police Service: “Something needs to change and it needs to happen quickly. Expats from all professions are leaving the island in droves and before long the basic needs of the island will suffer as a result.”


text:
Chile: Club de Lulu · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Liz Henry has a great introduction to the Chilean women behind the entertaining and informative Club de Lulu (ES). Then, a follow-up with links to the contributors’ individual blogs.


text:
China: eating cat · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

There have been much reports about the tradition of cat eating in southern China. What is new this time is that netizen has organized animal rights protest against such tradition. ESWN has a full translation of the recent development.


text:
China: interpretation of Beijing 2008 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“Beijing-2008″ is a huge painting by Liu Yi (刘溢), exhibited in New York in March.  Inside the picture, there are 5 women playing ma-joh (2008 Beijing Olympic game). One of the political interpretations by jxhill is that the 5 women are U.S (middle),  Taiwan (left near the wall), japan (backward towards the audience), Russia (upside down on right) and China (standing, outside the game) (zh).


text:
China: student riot · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translates a post about Zhengzhou University riot. At its worst, almost 10,000 people were rioting. The cause of the riot was that the school lowered the status of the university diploma and did not refund tuition fees to fourth-year students as contracted.


text:
Cuba: Remembering the dissidents · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Dr. Eloy Gonzalez, a bilingual Cuban doctor resident in Fort Worth Texas, cites a Father's Day greeting from the young daughter of an imprisoned Cuban dissident in order to remind us of the 2004 incident in which the girl, along with the “Ladies in White” (a group comprising wives and female relatives of a group of Cuban dissidents imprisoned in 2003) were attacked in front of the church in Havana where they meet regularly in peaceful protest.


text:
DRC: Child soliders in Katanga Province · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Because We're Here has some disturbing photos of captured child soliders that had been operating in Katanga Province in the DRC. “They had been robbing, raping and murdering in Katanga province for months and had displaced over 100,000 people. It had taken months and months for the Congo army to hound the Mai Mai to point where they were willing to surrender to the UN”


text:
Ecuador, Argentina: Comparing World Cup Broadcasts · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Christian Espinosa compares videos of the Ecuadorean and Argentine broadcasts of Ecuador's 3-0 win over Poland (ES), noting that the “curious comparison would have before been impossible to make without the new possibilities of sharing video over the internet.”


text:
Ecuador: World Cup Festivities · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ecuadorean blogger Cristhian Caiza Niama, writing from Germany, shows evidence that his visiting compatriots haven't stopped celebrating their team's advancement to the second round.


text:
Estonia: “A Simple Estonian Woman” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

J. Otto Pohl writes about historians and the human suffering, quotes from a collection on Estonian women, and accuses certain U.S. university professors of lying: “Here we have ‘a simple Estonian woman’ providing more truth about the experience of communism than dozens of leftist university professors in the US who sought and in some cases still seek to justify, minimize and outright deny such crimes.”


text:
Estonia: Linguistically Annoying · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonians’ “most annoying habit”: to not let the well-meaning foreigners like him practice their Estonian – by speaking the foreigners’ native tongues in reply.


text:
Estonia: Presidential Candidates · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's potential presidential candidates.


text:
Ethiopia: Business of exploitation & corruption · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Weblog Ethiopia points to an interesting story in “Indian Ocean Newsletter” which discusses the relationship between a Lebanese businessman, Preem Holdings in Sweden, an Ethiopian-Saudi magnate, a French lawyer and the business/companies they are involved with.


text:
Ethiopia: Ethnicity and politics · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ethiopundit  discusses  the issue of ethnicity and politics in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tigray) “Tribal politics of the type practiced by ANYONE in Ethiopia is meant to be divisive and to exacerbate and create resentment and indeed rewrite history to serve the will to power of a few.”


text:
Football & Presidential Election · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iran was defeated 2-0 by Portugal in World Cup and lost any hope to go to the next round. Iranian bloggers have shared their thoughts, feelings and photos about this game.
Watching the  game with the iron men
Arash Ashoorinia, a leading photoblogger, watched the game with Hossein Rezazadeh (the man in red),  the current world record holder, and Kourosh Bagheri, former 94 kg weightlifting champion of the world. The photo blogger has captured  an exceptional moment :
The blogger has not been surprised by Iran's defeat. He say ” we were supposed to be defeated by Portugal, weren't we”?
We are not professionals!
Deltang writes that our football problems are structural. The blogger says our football is old and sick and it needs structural changing. Deltang says our players are not really professional. The blogger considers we are far from a professional football which is based on mathematic calculations (Persian).
The blogger says:
“Now players are doing shopping in Frankfurt market and they have fun. They will be criticized for one or two months and then everything become as usual for them.”
Where are Iranian  supporters?
Man dar ghorbat says   Germany cameras do not show Iranian supporters even in Iran-Mexico game. Then the blogger asks if is not that a kind of boycotting!
Matroud writes that according to the statistics in a magazine, among all football supporters in World Cup, Iranians are the number one clients of prostitutes in Germany (Persian).
Football is not the only competition bloggers talk about. Several of Iranian bloggers remembered presidential election anniversary when Mr. Ahmadinejad celebrated his victory.
Why reformist candidate failed?
Hanif Mazroi talks about his activities during presidential election for Dr.Mostafa Moin, failed reformist candidate. He also o explains why the reformist candidate lost the election. The blogger says Moin’s campaigners did not pay attention to religious people. Among 22 million who voted for Khatami, we can count many religious people. No attention to people in villages who participate in elections. The blogger adds :
“Most energy was consumed to convince the people who boycotted election to change their decision. The others were forgotten. Some people who were  working  for Moin's election, did not believe in him and even during election did not vote for him.”
Hanif says he does not regret to participate in this  election …He came to know somebody (Moin) who is an honest man and beyond the tricky world of politics.
From yesterday to tomorrow
Ertefa dard writes that in Iranian history there has never been a continuous democratic process or governments. The blogger says thanks to the democratic slogans K hatami came to power. According to the blogger
The poor thought with democratic reformists there would be more wealth distribution & less corruption. The rich considered democratic system for their life & capital…. reformists failed to accomplish their projects and create a law based society. Ertefa dard adds the ethnic social class and even generational gaps in Iranian society make every political prediction difficult and complex.
He adds Rafsanjani wanted economic expansion without political opening and Khatami focused on the political opening without paying attention to economic expansion.
Maryam Shabani  defends her idea for boycotting election and says voting for reformists were useless. The blogger adds when political reformism door got closed reformism in society will emerge (Persian).
Why Ahmadinejad?
Berkley forum, a collective blog, has published an email from one of its readers about Mr.Ahmadinejad's election:
“By voting for Ahmadinejad They  (people) are not embracing fascism – but just voting for someone who promises them a better life. If one listens to Ahmadinejad regularly, he won’t hear much about wiping Israel off the map. But in every occasion he will hear about building gyms for women and the youth, employment opportunities, new schools and hospitals, roads, and such. Many know that such promises won’t come true – but at least they are made and provide a glimpse of hope for the future. “
In a Cleric's Notes we read people voted for Ahmadinejad because he had promised to neutralise inflation, solve their major problems and fought economic corruption. People voted to find a solution for their problems but they did not follow a specific political tendency (Persian).


text:
Ghana: Win · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Aderemi's Notebook celebrates Ghana's win over the Czech Republic  All  Africa is waiting and hoping


text:
Guyana: Life without a compooter · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Like a piranha without teeth…nah, worse, like a donkey without a bray, that was how I been feeling without this compooter,” writes Guyana-Gyal in her account of the temporarily un-wired life.


text:
Haiti: Women prisoners · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Archivex Haiti publishes a list of women imprisoned in Haiti compiled by the Haiti Information Project. According to the post, “the vast majority of the women prisoners on this list have never seen a judge in violation of the Haitian Constitution. Most consider themselves political prisoners and were arrested by the Haitian police and/or the United Nations forces after they went to their neighborhoods in search of their fathers, brothers, husbands and boyfriends.”


text:
Hungary: Bloggers on Taxation Changes · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Henrik of Hungarian Accent writes on the reaction of the Hungarian blogosphere to the government's attempts to balance the budget. The prime ministers blog is also reviewed.


text:
Hungary: Smoking Ban · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about smoking in Hungary: “Countless people smoking whilst travelling down the metro escalaters. Security staff and policemen smoking in the Westend Shopping Plaza. Doctors openly smoking in the Baleseti Intezet hospital. Staff smoking in the Ujpest Thermal bathes. People lightening up inside Ferihegy airport.”


text:
India: Living with HIV · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lives in Focus had a videolog of an interview with Raj, a person living with HIV. “Raj is among the approximately five to ten percent of the global HIV+ population that was infected through contaminated blood five years ago. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in 2003 that nearly seven percent of AIDS patients who have reported their condition to the National AIDS Program in India acquired the virus after a transfusion of blood or blood-related products like plasma.”


text:
India: Sports and Indian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In a series of posts on the Indian blogosphere, Desi Pundit features a post on sports and Indian Blogs.


text:
Iran: Ahmadinejad is Coaching!  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Do you want to see how Iranian President coaches Iranian national football team? Webgardian has put a link to President Ahmadinejad's meeting with football players on TV. Subtitles are in English.


text:
Iran: Handmade Indusrty Exposition · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Hezar o yek rozaneh has published several photos from Tehran's Handmade Industry exposition. We can see women in local cloth and  handmade decorative products.


text:
Iran: No Dance Please! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Hamad, who calls himself a Moslem reporter, says Iranian President refused to attend a dance performance after official meeting in Shanghai. The blogger admires President's decision and adds the dancers did not wear what we can call cloth (Persian)! Hamad has published two photos of dancers to show how much President's decision was right not to attend this performance!


text:
Jamaica: Dealing with the police · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Francis Wade overcomes some hesitation and writes about a few recent encounters he's had with the Jamaican police, and the things he learned about himself in the process.


text:
Jamaica: Why I read · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

With characteristic eloquence, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp explains why he reads.


text:
Kazakhstan: The Week in Review · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila of neweurasia rounds up the week on their Russian language  Kazakhstan blog in English.


text:
Kenya: KBW · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

After a year of blogging, Girl in the Meadow tells us the KBW blogs she reads and why…


text:
Kenya: Music  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

More great musical reports and links and photos from Steve Ntwiga Mugiri


text:
Kenya:  Take care of yourself · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Cock & Bull Stories publises a piece entitled “One Man's Worth” about a man that feels so bad he decides to take his own life only to realise at the last moment that “True, no one seemed to care much for him, but how could he expect anyone to care for him if he did not care for himself? Now, supposing he started taking care of himself?”


text:
Latin America: The Week in Review · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Erwin Cifuentes has a useful recap of the last week in Latin America. Similarly, Boz shares his weekend reading list.


text:
Mexico: “Football 1, Presidential Campaign 0” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As many had predicted, Mexico Votes 2006 reports that the July presidential election has taken a back seat to the World Cup. Ana Maria Salazar Slack, however, is an informative exception to the rule.


text:
Mongolia: Omnogovi · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst has photos of a recent trip to Omnogovi, Mongolia, where he went to help install equipment for a radio station.


text:
Morocco: Abolition of death penalty in Morocco · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

In Morocco, abolition of the death penalty is backed by NGOs such as the Association of Moroccan Bars, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, the Moroccan Organisation of Human Rights, the Moroccan Forum of Truth and Justice, Amnesty Morocco, and the Moroccan Observatory of Prisons. The NGOs formed a national coalition for the abolition of the capital punishment. It is to be hoped that Morocco will soon join those countries who have turned their back on such a barbaric penalty, Samir said.

author: Haitham Sabbah


text:
Nepal: The Inside Stories · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

In Nepal, Inside Stories are the flavour of the month. “One interesting fallout of the summit between the de facto leaders of the “old” and “new” Nepalese states is the rapidity with which the inside stories can now be expected. And, boldly enough, Maoist supremo Prachanda has led the way.”


text:
Nigeria: Arts review · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigerian blogger Molara Wood posts  a series of reviews on theatre and literature in Nigeria and the Diaspora


text:
Nigeria: High price of fashion · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Pilgrimage to Self criticises the high price of fashion in Nigeria


text:
Nigeria: Leadership  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigeria What's New comments that Nigeria is not working and will not work until the “rotten core is cut out”……….The Nigeria Leadership Initiative aims to create a global network of credible and very accomplished community-spirited Nigerian leaders” and their list of “fellows” is impressive, but this is simply elitist.”


text:
Nigeria: Race in Britain 2006 · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Badagry Lagos, writes on being Black and female in the UK…” I just think that white people were born with this stupid privilege that they walk around with throughout their lives; I, on the other hand, have to work 5 times as hard, to get the same thing as the average white person, and I have to deal with the crap that they deal out too?! I'm seriously pissed off. Am I right to be?”  YES


text:
Nigeria: White privilege · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ijebuman's diary posts on White Privilege referring “As a white person you will never ever understand what it feels like to be one of us, so please until you can walk in my skin you don't know shit…“


text:
Panama: Photos from San Blas · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Melissa de Leon has posted photos of the Kuna people from the autonomous Panamanian region of Kuna Yala (wikipedia), more commonly referred to as San Blas.


text:
Peru: Music: Los Saicos · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fernando Casale has posted five songs by Peruvian 60's rock band and punk forerunners, “Los Saicos.”


text:
Polish Blogosphere Roundup · Global Voices
Jordan & Maria Seidel

With almost 20,000 names (and counting) added to a digital petition against a restrictive DRM (Digital Rights Management) bill in the Polish legislature, Poland IP news and resources reports that:
Under the heavy critique of the public opinion the Ministry of Culture withdrew some most criticized provisions (inter alia changes to the penal code) but the situation is still unclear – there is no official version of the text.
A small, provisional victory for ‘clicktivists’ and yet according to Poland IP, it's demonstrable proof that a critical mass in Poland sees the internet as a legitimate means of expressing and organizing public dissent.
But that's not all… Internet activism, or clicktivism, comes in a variety of forms this month. Combining the PC mouse and camera, Fotosia, clicks together a compelling photo display of a much blogged about (see the beatroot, boo, and P3) recent Equality Parade in Warsaw. Starting with perhaps the protagonists (‘heroes‘?) of the parade, on to the antagonists (the bad folks – they even wear black!), and ending with a display of faceless state power (a perspective reflecting the photographer's own ambivalance to the state?), Photosia captures the parade.
And not to rain on anyone's Polish parade…but the World Cup is well underway and the Polish football team is probably already home (ahead of  many fans I reckon). Polska＊ポーランド＊Poland  provides some interesting photos of the Poland- Germany match (0-1), televised in the center of Warsaw. P3 adds some heart-wrenching match afterthoughts; while the beatroot identifies a scapegoat (or legitimate solution?) to Poland's last-minute loss. In the comments section, anonymous defends the Polish coach:
“… Janas should be fired but some arguments of his are valid.. anyway please note that IT IS NOT THE ERA OF coaches teaching players how to play. All players do play in their respective leagues aroung Europe or at home and in 3 weeks Janas had with them not much could be changed.”
Continuing the search for a scapegoat, this time in the field of crime prevention, the beatroot outlines a controversial thesis put forward by Freakonomists, Steven Levitt and Dubner. The suggestion made in the post, that re-legalizing abortion would reduce the crime rate in Poland, was not necessarily the beatroot's but it did spark a lively debate in the comments section.
That’s the Poland blogopshere update! Until next time – Do widzenia y po widzenia!

author: Jordan & Maria Seidel


text:
Qatar: More Arab News Stream · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Backed by government financing, Germany's public international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, is preparing to beam as much as 24 hours daily of news programming in Arabic this autumn. France's yet-to-be-named CNN-style channel is in development for a year-end opening, along with a Web site in Arabic and later in 2007 an Arabic television version.
The state-owned Russia Today has similar plans for a Web site and Arabic television along with a $40 million budget, while the U.S.-based news giant CNN is holding back for now, preferring to watch the development of its Arabic Web site, which currently attracts more than 300,000 unique visitors monthly, Karim report.


text:
Serbia: 16.06.06, G(elsenkirchen), G(ermany)–>0:6 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Viktor of Belgrade Blog posts pictures of Serbian fans watching the game against Argentina and writes that they “should have read the signs” to prepare themselves for the disastrous defeat: “But it all started so nicely… we first we beat such quality names in qualifications as Bosnia and Herzegovina, then the country splits but we still go under the same name of Serbia and Montenegro, i think without any Montenegrins in the team, listening to national anthem of a country called Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, under the flag of Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, when we really are Serbia. Makes you wonder though – if we manage to get to the World Cup under so strange circumstances, do we really have to go OUT of the World Cup with a bang? Maybe it was unavoidable. But then again – it was 1.0.0, elsenkirchen, ermany – we should have read the signs really.”


text:
Serbia: Wedding, Part 2 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Meaghan of American For Hire posts part two of her report from a Serbian wedding: “That's right, we were there to buy the bride. While this was once a serious transaction, it's now done very much in the spirit of tradition and good fun. The negotiations were heated, with much waving around of money and arguing, and at one point the groom's brother pretended to walk away, saying ‘She's too expensive. Let's go’.”


text:
Singapore: Blogger being investigated for anti-Christian cartoons · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cemgen has a post on a Singapore bloggers, who is being investigated by the authorities for posting anti-Christian cartoon on his blog. The blogger claims that he posted the cartoons to provoke a fundamentalist. “If he wanted to put the supposed narrow-minded intolerant “fundy” in his place, he could have just emailed him privately the alleged anti-Christian cartoons instead so that the dispute remained private and not public.”

author: Preetam Rai


text:
Slovakia: Sunday’s Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lemuel of Deleted by Tomorrow posts the final part of his series on the “the good, the bad, the ugly” of the Slovak politics, and also writes about being bored and depressed by the Sunday election: “when an ex-minister and an MP candidate for one of the minor parties killed himself in a car-vs-train accident yesterday, my gut reaction was ‘Oh, really!? And election-wise this will help him how exactly!?'”


text:
South Africa: Remembering Soweto · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

afrika-aphukira remembers Soweto 30 years on through a moving poem to the youth of South Africa


text:
South Korea: France VS Korea in World Cup · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Even though the France VS South Korea Match is considered a boring one, there are still 60 plus comments in dissidentdave's match description post in the Marmot's hole.  One of the comments goes like this: Dave, I’m korean as well and I admitted i think at least twice in different comment sections. oh well, too bad for the french. you are right, if it happened to koreans, i media/fanbased riot would have broken loose.


text:
Syria: So what about the Golan? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Rime Allaf sadly writes; it is necessary today to remind the world – including the Syrian people – of this fact, as in the last six years, somehow, the issue of the Golan Heights has been wiped off the international agenda, being overtaken by Syria's interference in Lebanon (now itself dubbed an occupation by mainstream media) and ridiculous questions of Syrian “seriousness” about peace.


text:
This Week In Palestinian Blogs:  Fire Dancing · Global Voices
Naseem Tarawnah

The shelling of a Gaza beach  few days ago which resulted in several deaths, continues to be a priority story for Palestinian bloggers this week; specifically the unresolved issue of responsibility.
While Kabobfest takes a look at the findings, Moi from My Occupation thinks this may be another Israeli cover-up but wouldn’t be surprised if those responsible get away with it. Amal Amireh quotes a Times article detailing an admission by the Israeli army that their initial report was “flawed”.
Meanwhile, Umkhalil looks at the international media’s approach to the story and the spin that ensued.
“Predictably the US media fails to recognize the deaths of Palestinian children as the report that the IOF didn't do it from the folks who wreaked havoc in “the land without a people for a people without a land” headlines google news and yahoo main pages.”
Dalia is shocked at all the recent internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah, reprimanding both parties in a post where she says with frustration:
“…and who ends up winning? NO ONE!!! The people here are hungry PA employees have not received their salaries in 4 months, the economy is going down the drain and Fatah and Hamas are fighting with each other”
Laila El-Haddad is in Connecticut continuing her speaking tour but is still finding it:
“…difficult to really talk about anything in light of the ongoing tragedies back home…Gaza is on the brink of implosion, and I'm not sure how much more it can take.”
In other news, Palestinian children continue to be harassed on their way to school. “What if it were Palestinians harassing Israeli children on their way to school?”, asks Haitham Sabbah.
Elsewhere, President Abbas has apparently been taking fashion tips from blogger Al-Falasteenyia, who donned a similar graduation gown only a month earlier.  While in another interesting post she explores the scientific nature of “Zionist claims that Palestine is exclusively Jewish and that Jews are biologically connected to the land.”
Katie Miranda of Postcards From Palestine tried to break the menacing tension of Hebron that she often describes on her blog, by putting on a little poi performance complete with fire chains in the company of an enthusiastic neighbourhood audience.
Lucy Widaad (aka Palestinian Princess) is living it up in NYC where “fun” takes on a whole new meaning.
“In Palestine, we are depressed, we have the occupation and dealing with so many issues we can't even think about fun but I think its also normal Arabic mentality to be conservative in nature.”
Meanwhile, Naseem at The Black Iris of Jordan talks about the socio-political messages a simple t-shirt can deliver when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Will at Kabobfest has a review of Mohammed Alatar’s film “The Iron Wall” that documents his experiences with checkpoints, settlements and walls.
“In one of the most gripping scenes, it shows Palestinian farmers reacting as Israelis cut down their olive trees to make way for the wall. One of the farmers jumps on the fallen trees and cries “my olives, my father!” as soldiers subdue him.”
Turab (soil or earth in Arabic) is an ensemble of seven musicians living in Palestine. Iman takes a look at their first album “Hada Leil”; a collection of original songs based on lyrics by contemporary Palestinian poets.
Last but not least, Osaid Rasheed looks at the negative affects that restrictions of movement have had on the health parameters of Palestinians, especially with the draining of funds from the international community due to the election of Hamas.

author: Naseem Tarawnah


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: All about T&T · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy  Taylor publishes a Table of Contents with links to his very substantial series of articles on Trinidad & Tobago.

author: Georgia Popplewell


text:
United Arab Emirates: Dubai power outage · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Dubai has power outage, and one of the reasons given was exceeding the allotted supply. Seabee wonders: “People exceeding their allotted supply? Maybe I'm the only one who didn't know that there's an ‘allotted supply’. Or is it a language problem in the reporting?“


text:
Albania: Corruption · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man in Tirana cites the results of a survey on corruption in Albania and realizes that healthcare is “the most corrupt public service insitution in the country.”


text:
Albania: Notes on Driving · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Traveller One of Stepping Stones shares her notes on the “Albanian Rules of the Road”: “Seatbelts. Only for babies. No wait. Albanian babies and children never wear seatbelts, so why should you, a full grown adult. In fact, why do manufacturer's even bother to put them in cars destined for Albania?”


text:
Albania: Restaurants Torn Down · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man in Tirana writes about and posts pictures of the demolition of a number of local restaurants in downtown Tirana: “All the premises that were destroyed consisted of extensions that had been built onto existing structures. Presumably, these businesses never had permission to build these extensions, though there are many other buildings of the same kind that remain untouched.”


text:
Albania: Uighur Ex-Prisoners · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man in Tirana provides an update on the fate of the five Uighurs, who were moved to Albania from Guantanamo, but are unlikely to settle there.


text:
Armenia: Saving Forests · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia reports on efforts to save Armenia's forests.

author: Nathan Hamm


text:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s Birthday in Detention · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

As Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi spends yet another birthday in detention,  online users are marking her birthday.  Dr. Tyza at Burma Digest says
We are celebrating you birthday all over the world. We, the citizens of the world. We, free citizens of the free world. We who love you. And we who want to use our liberty to promote yours and your people’s. We are celebrating your 61st birthday, Aunty Suu.
Although we are celebrating your birthday, we cannot be really happy because we know that you may not even know that we are doing it for you, as you are kept under total incommunicado detention without any contact to the outside world.
The Blogger at Noblesse Oblige urges us to remember Aung San Suu Kyi's sacrifice
For the most remarkable part of this sad tale is that Suu Kyi refuses to leave her prison until Burma is free again. The junta would be happy to have her gone, and has offered her personal freedom if she will go into exile, but like Joan of Arc, Suu Kyi knows that there are things bigger than herself; things like freedom and democracy.
In time the junta hopes people will forget about Aung San Suu Kyi, and forget about freedom and democracy. That is a thing that will never happen. So think of Suu Kyi on her birthday, and wish her well.
In a related news, P2P foundation has reposted an announcement talking about the launch of Mizimma.tv
“Mizzima.tv, a gateway to footage, documentaries and hard news programmes on Burma-related issues. Our top story today is “Salute to The Lady” in honour of Burma’s democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who spends her 61st birthday today under house arrest in Rangoon.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS


text:
Bahrain: Bahrain terror cell? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Silly Bahraini Girl comment on the new book, which just published links the so-called Bahrain terror cell to a plot to attack New York's subways with poison gas.


text:
Bangladesh: Children in the developing world · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mash at Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying reflects on the recent illness of his little daughter and illness in the developing world – “It takes only commitment and some resources from the developed world. The $10 billion we spend every month in Iraq could instead change the face of this world in a hurry if used for improved sanitation and access to rehydration therapy in the Third World.”


text:
Belarus: Library Opening Security Measures · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ivan Lenin of Rush-Mush translates a note most likely posted by president Lukashenko's security on the eve of his appearance to take part in the opening of a new library.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Cambodia: Teacher’s Strike  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha in Cambodia reports that the government is not allowing the teachers demanding higher pay to hold a protest strike. Commenting a government officials callous statement on the teacher's salaries, Vutha writes “What he said about raising the high salary is what is unbelievable. It meant that government have no its reall willings to improve teachers’ living standard. “


text:
Cameroon: Lagging in Science · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Scribbles from the den comments that Cameroon is one of the world's World’s Scientifically Lagging Countries – Alongside Chad and Fiji…..”Caught up with daily survival, people in these societies do not necessarily see the value in building [Science & Technology] capacity because the payoffs are not generally immediate.”


text:
Caribbean: New Amerinidian articles · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At the Amerinidian issues blog The CAC Review, Maximilian C. Forte announces the publication of six new articles in  KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology.


text:
Colombia: Troubling Statistics · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson reviews a recent and troubling report evaluating official “programs to demobilize and reintegrate former combatants, especially ex-paramilitaries.”

author: David Sasaki


text:
Czech Republic: Museum of Communism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova writes about his adventure in Prague – a visit to the Museum of Communism: “However, I do sense that the Czech Republic and Slovakia have moved on rapidly since 1989, unlike Moldova. Why have they moved on while Moldova has stayed behind?”


text:
East Timor: Back Underwater · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at  Timor-Leste's Underwater Wonderland is back diving after a month of chaos that disrupted day to day life and tourism.


text:
Echoes from the Tunisian blogosphere · Global Voices
Mohamed Marwen Meddah

The most talked about topic in the Tunisian blogosphere this past week is obviously the Tunisian team's dissapointing performance at the World Cup in Germany after their draw with Saudi Arabia.
Some feedback in French from: Tunisian star, Adib, Anis, Nawarat, Assouma.
On a more serious note, Tarek writes about how Tunisia is aiming to largely cut down unemployment from now to 2016, and he throws in a number of suggestions like going further down the internationalization and privatisation path as well as reforming the university system and work laws. (FR)
As for Swifty, he asks what a country is? and what it is that creates an attachment between a person and a country, enough to make it part of his identity. Is it birth in a certain country, life in it at a certain stage of life or the people surrounding the person? (FR)
Felsfa writes about the morning greeting in Tunisian “Sbah El Khir”, which he explains as much more than just a simple “good morning”, it means may your morning be good in each and every way: moral, material, internal, external, news-wise, business-wise, …etc.
He goes on to state how people no longer bother to greet each other like that anymore in Tunisia these days, and how he thinks Tunisia is changing to the worse, starting from its mornings. (FR)
On the lighter side, Heliodore writes about his discovery of a Tunisian website TunisArts that offers downloads of Tunisian movies, series, theatre plays, music, and more. (FR)
And Zaratoustra publishes the program of this year's Tabarka music festivals, including the famous Tabarka Jazz Festival. (FR)
Adib, the Tunisian vet blogger, writes about “Operation Monique 2”, that is being held by his clinic in cooperation with Mme Monique Busain from June 17th to 23rd, to develop and preserve the species in the Kelibia region. (FR)

author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah


text:
Egypt: Alaa Released, Finally · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Good News!
Alaa's wife, Manal, reports that her husband was finally released. He will be back home tomorrow morning or maximum by Thursday.
Congratulations Alaa!


text:
Egypt: Mary Western · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Freedom for Egyptians explains why Egyptian females should marry a Western not an Egyptian guy.


text:
El Salvador: “Defending the ILEA” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim Muth says that the controversy surrounding the “International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) which will use US personnel to provide training of police, judges and prosecutors from around Latin America” is not a simple matter.


text:
Ghana: Football fever · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ramblings of an African Geek gets on with his Ghana fever as all of Africa rejoices at their latest win.


text:
Ghana: How to make headphones · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Gadget shows how to make a pair of headphones from scratch – via the Takoradi Institute in Ghana


text:
Hong Kong: woman’s sense of security · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Florence in Over the Rainbow asks in her post what were you (woman) doing when you were 25/26? and what would you be doing when you were 46? how can woman cultivate a sense of security by themselves? (zh)


text:
Immigration Checks in French Hospitals · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Senegalese blogger Semett posts (Fr) a Medecins du Monde petition protesting  the new French policy of conducting immigration checks in hospitals. Excerpt from the petition (Fr): “The right to care is inscribed in the preamble to the French constitution. It is a fundamental human right. It must never be used for any means other than health preservation.”

author: Alice Backer


text:
Indonesia: Australia-Indonesia Relation · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Fabian Foo at Macam-Macam blog is asking if Australia is appeasing Indonesia.


text:
Iran: New Cops · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

View from Iran says there are a lot of different kinds of police in Iran. The blogger writes we had heard about Iran’s new motorcycle cops: a band of tough-looking, clean shaven guys riding serious motorcycles.


text:
Jamaica: Anti-gay groups · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Francis Wade notes the arrival of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship and the National Church Alliance, the first organised anti-gay groups in Jamaica, and quotes a Jamaica Observer article which states that the groups have proposed that the phrase “free and democratic society” be replaced in the country's Charter of Rights with “and in keeping with the aspirations and norms of the Jamaican people”.


text:
Kenya: People made homeless · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Squatter City points to a report from Kenya where thousands have been made homeless after being evicted.


text:
Kenya: Soccer Chain · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

White African points to “the soccer's longest video chain” which is part of a soccer social network


text:
Lebanon:  Lebanon Denies Approving Gay Group · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

QArab report that the Lebanon's acting Interior Minister denied charges by conservative Muslim clerics that the government had approved a gay rights group as well as nudist beaches at two resorts.


text:
Lesotho: Why Africa is so poor · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sotho has an excellent post on “Why Africa is so Poor“……………..”Africa is waking up, however, and I hope it does so in my lifetime. The present state of affairs has lasted long enough. It is time to swing things around. I urge you to visit Timbuktu Chronicles if you want to see just how Africa is waking up.”


text:
Macau: Faster than a speeding bullet · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Simon World reminds us that the world's fastest growing economy is in little Macau.  Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 18.8 percent in real terms in the first quarter of this year, as compared with the same period of 2005, official figures showed.


text:
Malaysia: Going Rubber Tapping · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ktemoc takes a break from serious commentary on his blog and remembers a rubber tapping experience from his younger days. “Unc assigned me to a young lady instead of a man that I expected. She would call for me at 4-ish. “But Unc, don’t they tap in the morning?” He laughed and replied that it was 4-ish in the early morning, and not late afternoon as I had initially thought. 4 a.m? Gulp, what had I gotten myself into?”


text:
Martinique: Joseph Zobel, Author of Sugar Cane Alley, Dies · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog de [Moi] announces (Fr): “Martiniquan writer Joseph Zobel, author of the novel Rue Cases-Negres [a.k.a Sugar Cane Alley or Black Shack Alley  in English] (brought to the big screen by Euzhan Palcy), passed away Saturday (June 17) at the age of 91 (…) in the Gard where he had retired over 30 years ago. His career had taken him from Martinique to France then to Senegal where he worked for 20 years.” France-based Togolese blogger Kangni Alem bids him farewell (Fr) as well. Both bloggers post pictures.