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Iran: Cloudy sky and Tehran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kosoof, a leading Iranian photo blogger, has published an eye-catching photo: cloduy sky in Tehran. The blogger writes: my house is cloudy.


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Iran: Hard-line blogs got filtered · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The hard-line, pro-Ahmadinejad “Rajanews” website has protested against the filtering of hard-line blogs.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Opposition leader issues message for workers · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mir-Hussein Mousavi, an opposition leader, issued a message via You Tube for Iranian workers on occaison of International Worker's Day. He said Iran is suffering from a widespread political, economic and social crisis.


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Is Ghana’s first-ever Policy Fair a smart move? · Global Voices
L. Abena Annan

VP John Mahama at the Ministry of Tourism stand. On the left is the Minister for Tourism, Zita Okaikoi.
*Source: Ghana Policy Fair Facebook page
On April 19, 2010, Ghana’s Ministry of Information launched a Facebook page dubbed “Ghana Policy Fair 2010,” an event that was slated to begin on April 27th through May 1.
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC)  reported:
The Ministry of Information will from April 27 to May 1, this year mount an exhibition of government policies, projects and tourism as well as other investment potential within the territorial boundaries of Ghana.
Peace FM Online also reported:
The Vice President John Dramani Mahama has asked all people with ideas and interest in government policy to take advantage of the ongoing Ghana Policy Fair.
The week-long policy fair which is a novelty in the country and on the continent is meant to educate Ghanaians on the various policy initiatives for national development.”
Mahama was quoted in the same report as saying:
“Government also expects that this fair will contribute in no small measure to bring the entire Ghanaian public aboard government’s better Ghana agenda. It will also provide the platform for the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies to account for their stewardship as Ghanaians long for information on Government activities and we expect that it will also drive investment and public private partnership in the implementation of some of these policy programmes that will be exhibited here.
The government’s Facebook page was freshly updated each day of the event.
Felix Amegashie, a member of the page wrote in response to a statement about the event:
Kwame Pianim was really impressive. I saw Hon. Felix Owusu Agyepong at the Fair Grounds…..Very patriotic of him. I encourage all persons all over Ghana and beyond to participate.
Samuel Tettey Ocansey also responded to another statement about the event being broadcasted live on TV:
Am watching it [and] it`s good that we have this policy fair, am learning.
And Gustav Kplom Asamoah wrote:
Thumps up!!!!!!Good idea….i hope its implementation becomes beneficial to the populace.
But not everyone Ghanaian has been thrilled with this idea. Ato Kwamena Dadzie, one of Ghana’s most outspoken journalists, in an April 29 blog post entitled, “The Policy Fair: Another Trivial Pursuit” had this to say:
I was amused beyond hysteria when I heard that government was planning to organise a policy fair. I scoffed at the idea because it didn’t make sense to me. But I thought my opinion would change when the event got underway. Three days into the policy fair and I am still at a loss as to why government is wasting the taxpayers’ money on such a pointless endeavour.
I have seriously pondered over the necessity for this fair even in my loo – where, incidentally, every silly idea tends to make sense. Unfortunately, the policy fair hasn’t quite made the grade even in my small room.
We are told it’s a fair to bring government policy closer to the people. It’s novel only in the sense that Ghana is perhaps the only country on earth where government officials feel the need to put policy documents on exhibition under the same roof. Once again, it seems, we’ve scored another negative first. And government officials are grinning, flashing their gums like the policies they are supposed to be exhibiting at the fair.
He further wrote:
Many other government officials and hirelings have said all they can to justify why we need a policy fair. Yet the whole thing still doesn’t make sense to me. Even if they crack my skull and force their justifications into my medulla oblongata, the idea won’t make any more sense than it has so far.
Two reasons may account for this: either the whole idea of the fair is crass or I am a nitwit for whom very little makes sense. The latter is quite likely but I can bet my last pesewa that the former is most probable.
However you look at it, the policy fair is a bad idea that is being forcefully implemented to throw dust into our eyes and give government something to boast about. We are “engaging the citizenry for a better Ghana”, government officials and members of the ruling party will say.
It’s almost like John Kufuor basking in the adulation of a partisan crowd at a so-called ‘People’s Assembly’ and turning around to claim that he opened up governance. He was also supposed to be explaining government policy to the ‘people’, right? But what good, really, did the ‘People’s Assembly’ do for the country?
Five years from now, mark my words, we will look back and realise that the policy fair was a worse idea than the People’s Assembly.
It appears Dadzie may not be the only person to think this fair is a waste of time. His post, however, received mixed responses.
David said:
So they can't simply put all this information onto a website for anyone who is interested to go and look it up? Instead people have to take time and spend lorry fair to attend a policy fair, for some information that will only be available temporarily? What a waste of time.
Rodney said:
Prancing about hysterically and pretending that because it is the first policy fair it means anything is most amusing. We already have the Meet The Press events where various sector ministries can wax lyrical about their policies. This is just another layer of nonsense that adds nothing, really.
But Somebody wrote:
Ato, I'm wondering if the word ‘fair’ is what is making you confused. Maybe they should have used ‘policy exposition’ to make this even look more serious than ‘fair'!!!! This is clearly an opportunity for government to interface more with the populace. It's another open space for receiving feedback from the populace and for the populace to learn some things and get informed. So I basically disagree with you that it's trivial. This is not trivial. We are in the information age after all. Yes electricity issues should be solved. Yes water crisis must be solved. But it's through policies that you have such solutions fine tuned for development. I don't care if it's a novelty or a tradition. The fact is that it's a useful thing and that is good. Kuffuor's ‘People's Assembly’, even if it was only a party event was another opportunity for Ghanaians to learn more about the govt. These things are just good. And there's nothing you can do but accept. So Ato, maybe it's the coka cola (lol).
Dadzie responded by saying,
You accept. I won't.

author: L. Abena Annan


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Jamaica: New Artists · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The National Gallery of Jamaica Blog profiles new talent, here and here.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Latin America: Free Software Installation Festival 2010 · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Throughout Latin America, free software matters for many countries and people, who have chosen to use these resources for use in their public administration, as well as to find solutions for other challenges. For example in Cuba, the free software movement has helped with sustainable development. The Ecuadorian government has put forth public policies that have embraced Free Software, similar to what another regional leader in free software and free culture, Brazil.
On April 24, 2010, many promoters and users of free software in Latin American celebrated with a party called FLISOL2010, as explained by Leo:
FLISOL is the Latin American Free Software Installation Festival,  an event organized by the Latin American free software community since  2005. FLISOL takes place on the fourth Saturday of April every year. The  sixth edition of FLISOL was celebrated last weekend, on April 24, 2010. Today, FLISOL is undoubtedly the biggest FOSS event in  Latin America and maybe even the biggest single installfest on the  planet. The 2010 edition of FLISOL was organized simultaneously  in 20 countries and 250 cities all over Latin America and, for the first  time, in Europe (three local events in Spain).
Each and every celebration across the region is unique. For example, in Antigua, Guatemala, they broke a Piñata to celebrate free software, which was only one of the activities organized by Antigualug,  a group of Linux users.
Celebrating with Piñatas used with permission, no rights reserved.
The FLISOL celebrations in Caracas, Venezuela combined the activities with live music [es].
Nicaragua celebrated with communities in Estelí, Granada, and  Managua with its self-proclaimed “Installers Rock-Stars Team”.  Central American communities are  joining efforts to integrate Free software communities as you can read in the Free software users from Central America Planet.
Uruguay celebrated by installing Fedora, in Mexico the activity took place in different locations where organizers installed free software on the computers of many new users, while 8 Chilean cities hosted FLISOL2010 celebrations. Cuba also hosted simultaneous activities in different localities from Havana to Matanzas.
Flisol 2010- Caracas, Venezuela by Kamijacker under a CC NC SA license
Finally, Mozilla Colombia and OpenBSD in Medellin participated in events held in Colombia and a 3-city FLISOL marathon took place in San Cristóbal, Cúcuta, and Pamplona.
This is just a small window to show you how free software in Latin America created a  network of interconnected youth, from each and every social, political and ethnic background, collaborating and innovating together.  A  “shared platform” promoting a “shared culture”, for more information and connections you can read in the Latin American Free Software Planet [es].

author: Renata Avila


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Pakistan: Brain Drain? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Fatima Saleem at Teeth Maestro refutes the popular claim that Pakistan is suffering from brain drain.

author: Rezwan


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Puerto Rico: Amidst protests, students speak up for themselves online · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) has been paralyzed since last week. Students, professors, and non faculty have been voicing their concerns for months regarding the impending budget cuts in the UPR. Finally, in an assembly, students voted in favor of paralyzing the UPR's main campus in Río Piedras for 48 hours as an act of protest against a $100 million budget cut and the proposed elimination of certain registration and fee waivers. But, after the University's main authorities failed to sustain negotiations with the Students Negotiating Committee, students decided to initiate an indefinite stoppage of the main campus [ES], where about 20,000 students are enrolled.
In a turn of events, the Provost Ana Guadalupe decided to close the campus. There are Police officers at every gate prohibiting the entry and exit of people. The students remain inside. Issues regarding the rights to free expression and association are being discussed in the courts. The UPR has appealed a decision that favored the students. The case is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. Since Río Piedras started the protest, at least four other units have joined [ES]. The UPR has a total of 11 campuses in the Island.
Students protest in the Río Piedras campus. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz. Originally published in Diálogo under a CC License.
The students of Río Piedras have demonstrated a high level of organization since the protests began. They have organized a series of artistic, political, and academic activities, such as concerts, workshops, and dialogues. Numerous groups of artists participated in the 12 hour concert Qué vivan los estudiantes that took place last April 28 in front of the campus. The singer René Pérez -AKA Residente-, from the duo Calle 13, presented a video with supportive messages from international artists such as Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, Andrés Calamaro, Bebe, Juanes, and Rubén Blades. A group of actors has formed a group called “The Special Force of Police Clowns” [ES] who have been performing on site.
Students throw flowers to police officers. Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz. Originally published in Diálogo under a CC License.
One of the most original activities the students have undertaken has been to start the blog Desde adentro [ES]. A complete staff of student reporters, editors and photographers are blogging about many of the political, economic, and social issues that are affecting the UPR.  They are covering the array of activities they have organized, and also doing important fact-checking of politicians’ messages and comments. The Student Press Collective has also opened a channel on YouTube. The chief editor of the blog, Aura Colón Solá, explains the blog's mission:
El derecho a la información y la libertad de prensa son básicos para el desarrollo de la educación del Pueblo y la creación de este colectivo tiene como base este objetivo. Necesitamos crear espacios de información libres de mediadores donde todos y todas tengamos un acceso directo a la información. La creación de este canal por Youtube y este blog le brinda al estudiantado en lucha una herramienta para publicar sus reclamos, informar sobre las negociaciones con la administración, denunciar prácticas lesivas y documentar todo este proceso formativo.
Paro de 48 horas desde dentro de la Universidad de Puerto Rico from Noelia González Casiano on Vimeo.
Video of the protests at the UPR by Noelia González Casiano.
Conmemorative poster of the concert "Qué vivan los estudiantes."
Students are also live steaming from within the campus through Radio Huelga. The hashtags #paroUPR, #huelgaUPR, and #radiohuelga are being used to discuss and follow the student protests on Twitter. Students of the Mayaguez (on the west coast of the Island) campus are using @luchasrum to inform about their events. UPR Law professor Erika Fontánez is blogging almost every day about the situation. The UPR's monthly newspaper Diálogo is covering the daily incidents, activities, and negotiations. Mainstream media in Puerto Rico, such as Primera Hora and El Nuevo Día,  are also publishing minute by minute accounts of the events related to the UPR's situation.

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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St. Lucia: Getting Kids to Read  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“All over the world there is mounting concern among educators and parents that kids are not showing enough interest in reading for pleasure, both in and out of school”: St. Lucia's Caribbean Book Blog thinks that “writers must stand up for the children.”


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Sudan: On post election violence · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sudan Field Researcher Maggie Fick for Enough Said looks at the political tensions underlying four races in the South: “Ballots have been cast and counted in South Sudan, but the potential for post-electoral violence still remains.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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

“Here in Trinidad our reservoirs are at record lows. This combined with severe, chronic, bush fires has meant that food prices have continued to inflate”: TriniGourmet.com blogs about the regional drought.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Election Issues  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both KnowTnT.com and Trinidad diaspora blogger Jumbie's Watch comment on “the resignation of High Court judge Herbert Volney and early retirement of Acting Senior Magistrate Ramraj Harripersad in order to run for political office in this year's General Election as potential UNC candidates.”


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Two trangender actresses assaulted in Paris · Global Voices
Anna Gueye

On April 27th, two transgender actresses and three other crew members of  the movie “Mourir comme un homme” (“Die like a man”) (fr) were assaulted in Paris 20th District (Belleville),  The Paris LGBT Center website reports (fr).

author: Anna Gueye


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USA: Rallying Cries for Immigration Reform · Global Voices
Gina Cardenas

In the United States, immigration reform activists have taken to the streets – and the internet – in order to create momentum for comprehensive changes in immigration law. A key hope is for the government to create a path to legal citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented people already living in the country. Fixing the broken immigration system is something groups on opposing sides of the political spectrum agree requires critical attention.
Arizona in the eye of the storm
This month, Arizona enacted a controversial law – S.B. 1070 – that gives police powers to demand to see immigration documents from anyone in Arizona that appears not to be American. President Obama himself called the measure “misguided” during a naturalization ceremony at the White House on the same day S.B. 1070 was signed into law on April 23.
Outcries of civil rights infringements are making the rounds in the blogs and on social networking sites. The hashtag #LegalizeAZ surfaced on Twitter for information-sharing regarding S.B. 1070 protests. Several twitter posts are also spreading the message to petition Eric Holder the U.S. Attorney General to step in and put a stop to S.B. 1070. According to the Washington Post, Holder said the federal government may be taking Arizona to court over the new law.
Citizens on social networking sites are also encouraging people to participate in widespread Arizona boycotts. Latinunionchicago uploaded a video on YouTube chronicling the boycott of Arizona’s baseball team the Diamondbacks during a game against the Chicago Cubs. Demonstrators even compared S.B. 1070 to discriminatory laws of Nazi Germany.
Others are finding moments of creativity amidst political unrest. Zitherguy read a poem titled “Goodbye Tenochitlan” on YouTube in deference to activists and artists Zack de la Rocha and Ernesto Yerena. Both have spent considerable energy defending the rights of vulnerable immigrants and indigenous Mexicans through music and art.
Challenges to the Arizona law
Supporters of S.B. 1070 argue that the federal government is taking too long to fix a broken immigration system and that national security is at stake, especially in U.S. states along the southern border area where rampant drug smuggling is an issue. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer who signed the bill into law on April 23, said the measure would help put a stop to the “murderous greed” of the drug cartels. Previous highly controversial measures to stop the flow of drug cartel related trafficking along the southern border, includes the construction of a border wall between the southern U.S. border states and Mexico. The wall has yet to be completed.
Pumas Unleashed, a blog that focuses on free speech issues, writes about the new law in Arizona, and puts forth an argument that it appears to be constitutionally invalid. Phoenix, Arizona mayor, Phil Gorman also plans to challenge the constitutional validity of the Arizona law . He believes the new law leaves the city vulnerable to expensive racial profiling lawsuits. The mayor of Flagstaff, Arizona mayor, Sara Presler, is considering joining forces with Gorman. She is concerned the additional policing responsibilities would overwhelm their cash-strapped budget. Another official concerned with the costs of the bill is Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Homeland Security Department. She has argued against S.B. 1070 because it siphons limited resources from her budget.
The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders stepped forward on April 29 to challenge S.B. 1070, filing one of two prominent lawsuits against the new law. The second lawsuit was filed by a veteran police officer from Tucson, Arizona. Additional lawsuits are planned by MALDEF, the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center.
Latina Lista writes that S.B. 1070 may have functioned as Obama’s tipping point for action.
Whatever the source, President Obama seems to have gotten the message that as long as Congress and his administration put immigration reform on the backburner, the chasm of racial tension in this country is only going to get deeper — and potentially deadly violent.
That concern to head off any further volatility, fueled by states adopting their own immigration laws, may have been the motivation for Pres. Obama to call the Senate's newest member today, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Not to chitchat but to tell him to get ready — Democrats will be moving forward with immigration reform in a month.
The March for America
Many immigrant rights groups are concerned President Obama is not following through on promises made during his presidential election campaign. On March 21 there was a rally in Washington D.C. — The March for America — on a day that healthcare reform took most of the political and media spotlight. Despite the difficulty getting their cause heard, thousands of immigrants from different parts of the world were present. Smaller rallies have followed in cities with large immigrant populations including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and Miami.
StephenNielsen18, a producer of citizen media from the D.C.-metro area, attended the rally on March 21 and interviewed a Catholic group about their concerns and hopes regarding immigration reform.
Carlos in DC, a blogger who writes about his life in the nation’s capital with an emphasis on race, community, and immigration reform, also attended the rally on March 21. He interviewed notable participants including the Civil Rights Leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Xavier Becerra, a Democrat from California’s 31st District based in Los Angeles. Carlos in DC also interviewed several grassroots organizers among them members from Dreamactivist.org who carried and displayed a Dream Quilt: a large quilt constructed of colorful patches where undocumented students inscribed their dreams for a brighter future through access to higher education.

author: Gina Cardenas


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Armenia: Ex-President’s Wild Games · Global Voices
Simon Maghakyan

Newly-revealed summer 2009 photos of ex-Soviet Armenia’s former president Robert Kocharian posing with hunted “wild game,” including a lion, in Tanzania have Armenian bloggers talking. Yet few seem surprised – a national reserve employee’s illegal boar hunting and an oligarchic donkey-lion fight were caught on tape the same year. One blogger, nonetheless, reads political overtones in the ex-president’s luxurious safari adventures.
The Armenian Observer Blog, Artur Papyan’s resourceful site, posts one of the controversial photographs with the following note:
Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharian is a big fan of  safaris. Here he is proudly posing on a killed lion. Years of observing Kocharian have taught me one thing – he never does anything without a purpose. The fact he has posed on a lion means he wanted to let everyone know he is the lion killing kind.
Coincidentally, the animal’s name is synonymous to the name of Kocharian’s bitter political rival, Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrossian. In a recent display of distaste for each other, Kocharian told an allegoric story about his African safaris, directing pro-Ter-Petrossian media to finding and publicising this very photo, which made a headline story on “Haykakan Zhamanak” today.
[…]
Ahuramazd, a pro-opposition Live Journal community member, posts four photographs without comment. But he prompts quite a discussion.
Fellow user Dabavog reacts in Armenian:
[…]
հայ ժողովրդի, հատկապես, ղեկավարության եւ բնության անհամատեղելիությունը հատուկ ուսումնասիրություն է պահանջում
Pigh, a pro-government activist, defends the former president in Russian:
Мазд,а в чем преступление? Ты мясо не кушаешь?

author: Simon Maghakyan


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Destroyed Javanese heritage sites · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Numerous relics belonging to the Javanese empire of  Majapahit are being neglected by the Indonesian government. Paidi Jolali, an autodidact photographer, historian and mountaineer photographed and catalogued these Majapahit relics which need to be preserved and restored.

author: Juke Carolina


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Importance of chile in Lao cuisine · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Rambling Spoon writes about the importance of using chile in every Lao meal.

author: Mong Palatino


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Indonesia: Pesta Blogger head · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The new event head of Pesta Blogger is female Dentist Drg. Irayani Queencyputri a.k.a Rara. Pesta Blogger is an annual gathering of Indonesian bloggers.


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Indonesia: Taxes and corruption · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

My Busy Brain from Indonesia is concerned that taxes are being used for corruption. The blogger notes that Indonesia is listed as the second most corrupt country in the world


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Indonesia: Zakat or donation to the poor · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

My Busy Brain from Indonesia blogs about Zakat, the practice of donating money to the poor. She asks why Indonesians are only ecouraged to share 2.5 percent of their earnings.


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Iran: Students protested against Ahmadinejad · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to several bloggers including  Havayetazeh 89 [fa] and news sites Iranian students protested against President Ahmadinejad's surprise presence in University of Tehran today. Watch the film here.


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Iran: Workers demonstrated in several cities · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian workers demonstrated in several cities in Iran today. Iranian blogger,Nasabonline, has published a photo from workers’ demonstration in Shiraz. According to [fa] the blogger at least 50 workers protested against firing workers and one said did not get paid for months.


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Japan and China: Travel warning · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Japanese Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning to its citizens about the death penalty in drug trafficking and urged its citizen not to break Chinese law while visiting China. (via Veggie Discourse)

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Vegetarian Festival · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Martin Frid from Kurashi blogs about the upcoming vegetarian festival in Kyoto on 2 of May.


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Kenya: Macdonald Mariga – First East African to play at the UEFA Champions League  · Global Voices
Richard Wanjohi

Wednesday night 28th April 2010, marked a histvictory for Inter Milan and their controversial manager, Jose Mourinho. But of greater joy to Eastern African football fans was the first East African player to ever make it to a UEFA Champions’ League: MacDonald Mariga.
Muchene.com reports how MacDonald Mariga made history playing in his first UEFA Champions League game when he was brought on later in the game against Chelsea:
McDonald Mariga came on and it’s like Chelsea players panicked on seeing him, coz first thing their captain John Terry did is foul him and get a yellow card for it.
According to Muchene, here is the real story:
…But back to the real story….Congrats Mariga! You can lead Inter all the way to the final.
Nigeria Best Forum Topics adds this:
The moment may have gone unnoticed in London but not in Nairobi where Mariga‘s mum was blowing a Vuvuzela as her son became the first Kenyan and the first East African to play in the Champions League.
MacDonald is raising the East African countries’ profiles:
There is also huge interest in neighbouring, and equally football-mad, Uganda because real hopes exist that a player from Africa‘s footballing eastern backwaters can spearhead a change, which one former Kenya coach – contrary to conventional wisdom – believes is possible.
Yasin Ansari, a Kenyan living in South Africa, says this in his blog:
This blog is about a Kenyan (yes another one but not just anyone) who last night walked onto the field with about 15 mins to go in the game and not only was I impressed but mighty proud that he stood his ground and played well earning him the right to play for one of the most successful coaches of our time, Jose Mourino…. McDonald Mariga is his name, playing in a number 17 jersey as a midfielder. Watch this guy, he will be remembered as one of the stars from Africa.
SportsKenya, (where this author also contributes) describes what he calls a ‘cameo appearance’ by the Kenyan star,
Kenya's & Inter Milan's MacDonald Mariga shields ball from Seydou Keita of Barcelona. Image Source:www.inter.it
The Kenyan football fan had a unique opportunity to see one of their own playing at a UEFA Champs game and though it was a cameo appearance, it was enough to turn our patriotic selves into rapturous cheer.”
In a previous post, the blog reports what was to be his debut game for Inter Milan in the Champions League,
“After creating such a buzz during the transfer window in January, our very own McDonald Mariga's about to take to the pitch, this time on a high profile game which might just launch his career into greatness…Playing for one of the continent's revered sides and playing against one of England's best hopes for a Champions League win, Mariga will come up against tried and tested pedigree at a continental level.
GhanaSoccernet, discusses Sally Muntari’s prediction of Macdonald Mariga’s future,
He is just a delight to watch. I am sometimes marvelled by his sharp instincts and ability to manoeuvre his way through defenders. He has such an incredible speed, pace and skill on the ball. If he continues to play the way he is currently doing for Milan then I can confidently say he is the next big thing to happen to the game.”
And Muntari continues to say,
Mariga is real and ready to take on the rest of the world. I don’t foresee him fading away like other young talents in time past. In the next few years, he will blossom into the biggest football act out of Africa.
Topi-talk.com, a blog by Kenya’s sports broadcaster Topi Lyambila, calls Mariga “Kenya’s beacon of hope”:
Mariga is versatile and a joy to watch, a player who moves with the fluidity of the ultimate professional. Although coming in as late substitute, for the past two games, Mariga is writing history as the first ever East African to play in the Champions League penultimate and final stages.
Yasin Ansari summarises by saying, “Thank you Mr. Mariga for giving me that feeling of being proudly Kenyan.”:
As the spectacle drew to an end and the sprinklers were switched on to encourage the Inter team to boycott their celebrations and get off the field, I watched Mr. Mariga shake hands and hug some of the legends of the game. All I can say is that I can’t wait for the 22nd when I will watch Inter Milan do what they have been trying to do for years and more importantly get a glimpse of this midfielder…Thank you Mr. Mariga for giving me that feeling of being proudly Kenyan.

author: Richard Wanjohi


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South Africa: 40,000 prostitutes for World Cup · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Brett shows how rumours and lies become fact in media saturated world: “How I have been puzzled and annoyed by the ongoing repetition in our media, that 40 000 ‘prostitutes’ are set to be trafficked into South Africa ahead of the World Cup.”


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Sub-Saharan Africa: Catching Up with Online Transparency Projects · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

The advent of multiparty democracy in much of Sub Saharan Africa during the 1990’s brought with it many developments, some of which have led to an opening for more civic participation in governance. Modeled on the basic tenets of democracy, there was a parallel growth in the number of civil society organizations calling for greater transparency and accountability from government officials. For the first time ever, citizens began to understand that they can make demands from their elected public servants. For instance, in Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, etc, people realised another measure of freedom by voting for officials into parliaments and municipal councils.
It appears, therefore, that the era of multiparty democracy has ignited the people's desire to start demanding transparency and accountability from those they elected. The transparency movement in those years utilised several platforms at the national and local levels, including the traditional media. But with the coming of and growing access to Information and Communication Technology tools, they extended their use to such tools as the Internet and mobile phones.
It is interesting to note that generally most transparency projects stem from the civil society as they traditionally assume the role of a watchdog. Some are global while others are localised. For instance Transparency International, Amnesty International, advocacy and lobbying groups have tended to be in the lead in undertaking projects that call for government’s transparency and accountability. With the new media tools on the rise, people in Sub-Saharan Africa started turning to the web 2.0 tools in the early 2000 to put pressure on their government. For instance in 2001, Kubatana.net in Zimbabwe started in a humble manner to connect non-governmental organisations using their email directory and mailing list. In 2003, Malawi's Sustainable Development Networking Project (SDNP) began as an ISP which mostly provided services to the Malawian government of Malawi, but also ran a conversational forum for civil society organisations.
The use of portals and blogs, however, did not begin to take off in Sub-Saharan Africa until mid-2005.
It should be understood that there are multiple challenges in the region facing technology for transparency projects. Among these are: poor Internet infrastructure, technophobia, high connection and connectivity costs, the lack of ICT policy in some countries, inadequate knowledge and ICT personnel. These challenges characterise most of new media situations in Sub Saharan Africa. A project called Ujima that attempts to bring transparency to the workings and spending of African governments, multinational non-governmental organizations and business enterprise in African countries says that “few African countries have freedom of information laws. Getting at this information from inside the countries can be difficult.”
The Africa i-Parliament Action Plan points out there is a lack of economic and technical resources across the continent. “Many parliaments have a weak IT department, and they do not have the capacity to design and manage the deployment of a complex parliamentary system. Most parliaments are using old systems that are the results of layers of development that are hard to maintain in isolation.”
In addition to the above, there is a lack of funding and well trained personnel to creatively keep the transparency battle afloat. Policies and government structures are changing quickly and activists need to adjust accordingly with foresight in order to introduce more transparency and accountability into the system. A visit to several websites run by civil society organizations involved in transparency, civic engagement and election issues reveals frequent lapses in updating the content of the sites, which is linked to inadequate funds and the shortage of personnel.
Transparency initiatives have borne fruit at various levels. For instance in Zimbabwe non-governmental organisations put pressure on the government to explain the use of the money that is collected at newly established toll booths.
Bev Clark of Kubatana.net explains they put an activist message in one of “the newsletters and asked where the money is going. The conditions of the roads in Bulawayo, Mutare, and Harare are very poor. We put this note in the newsletter to get people to think about and we asked the people to write Transparency International Zimbabwe to do something about it. Our membership rallied, mobilised and Transparency International Zimbabwe investigated and did something about it.” However, while a network of activists connected through a mailing list did mobilise to convince Transparency International Zimbabwe to investigate the use of the toll revenue, we have not been informed that the Zimbabwean government responded to the investigation, or if any instances of corruption were uncovered. Still, it is worth noting that the issue was made more visible through the use of networked communication. We recommend that future researchers follow up to measure the longterm efficacy of these efforts.
In South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Mozambique, activists have used blogs and web portals to communicate and campaign for fair and free elections. One would imagine that their constant publishing of information related to the elections – that would otherwise not have been made public – put pressure on political parties, candidates, and election officials to ensure credibility and transparency on voting day. Unfortunately, there are too many variables to measure in any scientific way the impact of such information portals on election credibility. We posit that to publish information about elections and electoral processes in developing democracies is better than to not publish that information, but we also recognize that such projects are limited by internet penetration, which still hovers around 5% in many Sub-Saharan African countries, though that number is now increasing rapidly.
Following the successes and recognition of early projects, more Sub-Saharan Africans are demanding information through modern technologies. Higher and increasing internet penetration along with mobile phone networks enable access to civic participation for citizens who would otherwise not have access to transparency platforms.
Traditional media companies in Africa have not shown consistency in reporting on transparency issues. Being in business, there is a tendency for most media outlets to hit and run to another story, without following up on corruption-related stories. Technology for transparency projects tend to be more focused on reform and participation in governance, which over time is likely to lead to established credibility as a force against corruption and for improved governance. With specific reference to the projects I reviewed, it seems likely that they will still be around in the next three or more years. This is because they seem to have so far established a profile of success that makes them attractive for funding. However it is the creativity of their approach that might need adjustment in order to take a multi-pronged approach to effectively achieving transparency.
For instance elected officials easily attack or hit back at civil society organisations that seem to give them a tough time. In spite of claiming to be democratic societies, some governments even enact laws that would bar greater involvement of civil society in transparency initiatives and government reform.
Namibian journalists and bloggers are trained by the African Elections Project, which aims to improve coverage and monitoring of elections in Africa to improve their credibility and accountability.
It should be pointed out that the African Elections Project and Bungeni are unique in that both use creative tools to document and support the electoral and parliamentary systems. The projects have a continent-wide approach to level the playing field for the election stakeholders – and the involvement and transparency of members of parliament – respectively.
There appears to be a fight for visibility to secure an organization's survival. NGOs are known to compete for visibility, and hence collaborative efforts are often superficial. If Tech for transparency projects are to have a reaching impact in the region, then they need to introduce themselves to well-established networks of like-minded organizations and indicate what gaps they are able to fill in the larger fight against corruption, and for transparency, accountability, and civic participation.
The reviewed projects have revealed a couple of needs in Sub Saharan Africa. These include:
Technology for transparency projects stand to benefit more Africans. However for this to be realised, it is necessary that the project leaders do more promotion of their projects, and aggressively and collectively lobby their governments to provide a safe working environment. The project leaders also need to be more creative in reaching out to illiterate people in rural areas. For funders, they should consider more funding towards personnel, operating costs, and technical training. It is often the case that funders give less attention to operating costs that would enable the project to work toward sustainability. The biggest assignment for most countries lies with their governments. Elected officials should deliberately introduce policies friendly to the implementation of technology for transparency projects, especially the publication of open government data and the passage of freedom of information laws. This includes the creation of a safe working environment for watchdog groups that demand more transparency and accountability from governments than officials themselves may be comfortable with. Such organizations at least have the basic right to advocate for the policies they believe in.

author: Victor Kaonga


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The Balkans: Online Hit Song Highlights the Diaspora State of Mind · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

In April, the biggest internet-related music sensation for the people from former Yugoslavia and especially the related diaspora has been the song “Kuća, poso” (Eng. “Home, work”) by the “star of Canada and America” Ekrem Jevrić Gospoda, originally from the Plav-Gusinje region of Montenegro.
Here I live in the City of New York
I live and work, but only work
Home, work
Home, work
Work, home
This is what I know
I know nothing
And where can I know
Oh New York, may darkness kill you
Because you let a woman rule
You contain a whole lotta dogs
A whole lotta concrete
And battalions of women march the streets
But New York become a city of light
Get rid of all the women that work
They lost the children, the greatest treasure
Hey New York, you great city
The official version of the video reached over 1.8 million views on YouTube within a month of its release, with a total of over 2.3 million views together with various duplicate versions and remixes.
In comparison, the official video for the global hit single about New York City, “Empire state of mind”, by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, has generated 39 million views within the 6 months since its release – 7 million per month on average.
Facebook and Twitter users from all ex-Yugoslav countries, including Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia spread the link, turning the song title into a meme. The phrase in the song title is an ordinary colloquialism designating the never-ending routine of daily grind during a life devoid of meaning. Sarajevo group Zabranjeno Pušenje (“No Smoking!” in English) used it in its 1999 song “Pos'o, kuća, birtija” (Eng. “Work, home, pub”) about a gray, wasted life after a lost love.
One could object that the song has misogynist overtones, but it also expresses the existentialist angst felt by nostalgic immigrants or guest workers unaware of Camus or Socrates. During his first concert, the author says that he wrote the song to explain to his people about stuff that the Americans cannot understand.
The unique interpretation style and appearance have incited various types of reactions, from praises to insults, such as comparisons with the howling of the White Fang in a comment to the official video, to labeling him as “The Balkans Borat” in a copy of a video report [CRO] from a live concert in Queens.
There Mr. Jevrić performed as supporting act to lascivious Bosnian turbo-folk star Selma Bajrami.  YouTube user MegaMotika said in a comment to this video:
The man is truly a star: not everybody can get 1.5 million views in 15 days. He became popular, and the fact that everyone laughs is another issue. The man is a showman.
This newly acquired fame has provided tangible benefits: that video also documents the receipt of a honorarium in cash. It does not contain a direct statement by the singer – allegedly, he asked for $1000 for an interview. Gospoda’s nickname means “gentry.”

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Transparency Projects in Central and Eastern Europe · Global Voices
Sylwia Presley

Central and Eastern Europe is rich in examples of citizen participation projects related to governmental transparency, most of which work in partnership with major institutions that provide financial and methodological support like Open Society Institute, MySociety and Transparency International. Many also work with local organizations and media. I have talked to people involved in such projects in Poland and in Hungary, but they also mentioned innovative work coming from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, like KohoVolit.eu. Before we look more closely at example projects from the area let me share my overall insights with you after having studied a few major transparency projects in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The actual type of transparency projects in each country depends on the profiles of people involved in the  initial action, their relationship with the government, as well as on the nature of citizen participation in the country. All of those projects acknowledge the need to disclose information related to governance in an smoothly presented, easily digestible way.  Whether it is with the support of many volunteers, or with a smaller core group of dedicated activists, they all invest a lot of time in their projects and yet still struggle in procuring precise government information, which should be made publicly available.  Most of them flag issues regarding governmental accountability. In many cases, their cooperation with mainstream media seems to play an important role in their ability to put pressure of MP’s and other public officials. Some transparency projects also aim to address the frequently passive attitude of citizens in the region regarding corruption, which as mentioned in a chat with  Kepmutatas in Hungary, originates from lack of understanding of existing official procedures for citizens to flag government misconduct. It quickly becomes apparent that in Central and Eastern Europe raising awareness among citizens about transparency and the methods to fight corruption is just as important as putting pressure on government representatives to become more transparent about their actions and expenses.
From Check Republic and Slovakia we have seen a conversation with KohoVolit.eu, a project of two dedicated people who spend their time raising awareness about representatives from parliaments in both countries, as well as representatives from the European Parliament. As mentioned in the interview, main challenges are related to a lack of citizen participation in politics, and the lack of structured, official information from the parliament websites.
Slovakia hosts another interesting transparency project, the Fair Play Alliance, where politicians are asked to actively participate in the project and if they fail to do so, are faced with related media coverage at the most sensitive them time leading up to elections. Again, it reveals the strategy of combining research and open data with mainstream media partnerships to put pressure on politicians to be more transparent and more accountable during their time in office.
In Hungary, the project Kepmutatas.hu is responding to the challenge of poorly presented public information by building a visually friendly tool to estimate unreported campaign expenses by major political parties on a simple graph with links to additional details. Despite media support and a clear call to action, there is still a lack of political will to reform campaign finance laws. Political parties are not required to disclose their campaign spending so volunteers and project coordinators work to calculate estimated sums. The project is promoted via traditional media, but also social media channels like Facebook.
In Poland  there are a few projects worth mentioning. Sejmometr.pl is a portal that feeds official information about currently introduced laws and the legislators involved in their creation. It also offers legal advice, encourages bloggers to co-operate on stories, and request more data from the parliament website administrators. Stowarzyszenie Art. 61 (the name refers to article 61 of Polish Constitution, which declares access to public, governance-related information public) is the organization behind a few transparency projects in the country. Their Kandydaci2009 initiative is the second edition (following a similar version in 2005) of a portal to help citizens to choose representatives to European Parliament by presenting profiles and platforms of the candidates, as well as reports on no-cooperative representatives. Its twin project, Mam Prawo Wiedzieć (‘I have the right to know‘) is a similar compass of candidates to Polish parliament with a dedicated to “Citizen’s Guide” that offers concise explanations of laws related citizen's rights regarding transparency and accountability. Watchdog.pl is an NGO working closely with other organizations to educate, advocate and support developments in the area of transparency and accountability.  Their website is a good knowledge pool of campaigns, issues and solutions.  All  three Polish organizations use a strong network of like minded people to promote their work offline, as well as through social media channels.
Participants of the Watchdog: Working Out Credibility workshop that took place in late March in Warsaw.
When reading case studies from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as during conversations with Polish and Hungarian activists I could not help but realize another challenge: co-operation at the regional level. We see Fair Play Alliance sharing their tools abroad, we hear about Kepmutatas.hu staying in touch with Czech campaigners but the information flow between those teams seems to be limited. I personally see great potential in transparency and social media events in the region. Social Innovation Camp in Bratislava provided many NGO’s with an occasion to share knowledge and skills. The fifth annual Confidence Conference, which is planned for the end of May in Warsaw, brings together specialists from different organizations and sectors to share skills and network. Wikimania, planned for July in Gdansk, aims to bring professionals from the entire region, which can give opportunities to network as well. And last but not least, Watchdog aims to end the summer season with a barcamp-style event dedicated strictly to transparency. I hope that the Technology for Transparency Network will push for more co-operation across geographic and language barriers to encourage the sharing of skills and ideas.

author: Sylwia Presley


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Video: One Day on Earth on 10/10/10 · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

A modern day time capsule is going to be made on October 10th, 2010 as people from all over the planet record videos during that day of things that are important to them for the One Day on Earth project. Anyone can participate and footage collected on October 10th  will be used for a 120 minute documentary.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Burkina Faso: Mariah Bissongo Wins the Golden Saxophone Award · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Jazzman Mariah Bissongo was awarded with the Golden Saxophone at the 18th Jazz festival of Ouagadougou (fr). Wedson and Naki Zerbo finished second and third, in that order.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Egypt: A Strike for Minimum Wages · Global Voices
Mohamed ElGohary

During the wave of protests, sit-ins and demonstrations demanding better living life conditions by a wide spectrum of people who work in Egypt, a court ruling was issued to force the Egyptian government to set a minimum living wage for both private and public sector workers. This decision, which is numbered 21606, requires the Prime Minister to implement the measure or be sent to prison for failing to conform with a court ruling.
The Egyptian Center for for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) held the legal proceedings in this case representing Nagui Rashad, an Egyptian worker, acting on articles from the Egyptian constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Arab Charter on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
On 2 May, Cairo was set to witness a nationwide workers’ strike to demand an increase in the national minimum wage. A group of activists made a website/blog to promote the strike and cover it, as well as collect all social media material into one place, called http://21606.info. . This refers to the court ruling number. The site managers used Twitter for organizing and promoting the event.
Mohamed Gaber, an Egyptian blogger and graphic designer, designed a poster including information about the court ruling:
Malek, an Egyptian activist and blogger, invited volunteers to give workers technical and security training:
@MaLek: تدريب امنى وتقني, للنشطاء والعمال بالمركز المصري الرابعه عصرا, وذلك استعداد للإعتصام http://21606.info/node/29 #2maystrike
Ahmed Fares, another blogger, describes the importance of the strike:
@alFaris: خطوة عشان من حقنا حياة حرة كريمة #2maystrike
Abdel Qader Nada, the General Secretary of the Independent Union of Real Estate Tax Authority Employees, is one of many workers who joined Twitter to be able to cover the strike live.
A video entitled A little Justice goes a long way – Our Right to A Minimum Living Wage in Egypt, was also made by the activists behind the strike website explaining the idea behind the strike:
One of the new trends in the political/activism arena is that Egyptians, celebrities (actors, TV hosts, etc) and others, are also doing video promos promoting the strike. This Vimeo channel has many video contributions supporting the strike.
Khaled Abo ElNaga, an Egyptian actor, appears in this video voicing his support:
To follow the strike updates and news, check out the website and the Twitter hashtag #2MayStrike.

author: Mohamed ElGohary


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Honduras: 7 Journalists Killed and Others Threatened · Global Voices
Luis Carlos Diaz

Following the June 28, 2009 coup d'etat and the November 2009 elections that gave the presidency to Porfirio Lobo, Honduras continues in a complicated situation for freedom of expression. In the past 40 days, 7 journalists have been murdered, including the latest case, when Georgino Orellana was killed when he was leaving the offices of his television station on April 21.
Twitterer Jairo Libreros (@jairolibreros) wrote:
Homicidio de periodista hondureño Georgino Orellana evidencia proceso de ascenso de nuevas élites políticas, nada nuevo en América Latina.
Honduran Twitterer Eduardo Coto (@eduardocotohrn) knew the victim personally and wrote this shortly after his death:
:( triste, perdí un amigo, Georgino Orellana un excelente periodista, amigo y padre. Basta ya al asesinato de Periodista en Honduras.
The next day following Orellana's murder, Alejandra Quiroz (@thepurplebug) a journalism student commented on how the traditional media provided sensationalist coverage of the journalist's body, without going in-depth about the causes of the crimes:
Verguenza me da estudiar periodismo encontrar fotografias de Georgino Orellana en La Tribuna y La Prensa!!! ¿Y el respeto!?
Up until the end of April the following journalists had been murdered: Nicolás Asfura (42 years-old), television reporter Joseph Hernández (26), television news correspondent of the program “Abriendo Brecha” David Mesa (51), Nahum Palacios (34), who had asked for protective measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the threats he received from the military after the coup, the journalist Bayardo Mairena (52) and his assistant Manuel Juárez (54) from Excelsior Radio, radio commentator Luis Chévez Hernández (23), and Georgino Orellana (48).
In addition, on April 23, there were various social collectives who called for answers for the disappearance of Oscar Flores, an activist who had marched in all of the protests against the coup that removed former President Mel Zelaya. Flores carried a sign that counted the days of “resistance” and days after the denouncement, he appeared alive showing signs of torture after his disappearance.
Juan Carlos Rivera of the blog Mirada de Halcón [es] re-published a post from Reporters Without Borders, which states that this year Honduras has been classified as the most dangerous country for members of the media. In addition to denouncing the murders, they denounced the death threats against journalists that led to 3 journalists leaving the country in exile.
For activist Juan Almendárez, the murders are of journalists that were against the coup, and have been silenced so that the country's powerful preserve the status quo after the government of Roberto Micheletti. His writes the following text “Why Murder the Word? [es]”
Cuando el discurso oral o textual del pueblo amenaza a la oligarquía, fiel servidora del coloniaje del poder mundial; los dirigentes y simpatizantes populares son perseguidos, torturados y asesinados.
El periódico voselsoberano fue objeto de obstrucción por el bloqueo cibernético. El control de la comunicación, lo mismo que todas las entidades estratégicas de energía eléctrica térmica y acuosa; están bajo el control de los jerarcas militares que participaron en el golpe.
When the oral or textual rhetoric of the people threatens the oligarchy, the faithful servant of the colonial world power; leaders and sympathizers are persecuted, tortured and murdered.
The online newspaper voselsoberano was the target of cyber-blockade. The control of communication, like all strategic entities of thermal and water energy; are under control of the military leaders who participated in the coup.
Its website still remains down at the moment.
The threats have not stopped and members of Radio Progress, a station in the city of San Pedro Sula, have received phone calls and messages that attempt to intimidate their communication work. The station was known for remaining on the air during the military repression and document many of the accusations of Human Rights violations that have yet to be investigated. The station belongs to the Honduran Jesuits and other Latin American religious orders that have joined together in protest and sent a letter to the Lobo government.
EXIGIMOS al régimen de Porfirio Lobo Sosa, y a los cuerpos represivos del Estado que únicamente responden a los intereses de la oligarquía; que cesen la persecución, hostigamiento, amenazas a muerte y asesinatos a periodistas y a miembros de la Resistencia Popular a nivel regional y nacional, en total irrespeto a la libertad de expresión y a la vida, y prueba de ello es la muerte violenta de periodistas.
The station's director, Father Ismael Moreno, SJ, better known as Father Melo, has also received death threats [es] for providing protection to Irma Melissa, a girl who denounced that she was a victim of rape by the Honduran police during a protest. The blog of Sic Semanal – Centro Gumilla republished the statement [es] by the Jesuits in Honduras calling on investigations on the threats against Father Melo.
President Lobo announced that he has asked for international help to investigate the crimes. Nevertheless, many feel that the state security forces are heavily involved in these threats against those who spoke out against the coup and against those that continue to call for Zelaya to return to the presidency. In the meantime, many in the Honduran media still feel that restrictions have been placed on their work and that this information is not being reported in the international press.

author: Luis Carlos Diaz


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Japan: Infinite lines have a reason for being · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Be it for a cup of delicious ramen, a new model video game console, a donut of a popular foreign chain of sweet shops or the latest book by a bestselling novelist, some Japanese people are ready to queue! For hours if need be in front of the shop to get what they want, whether it be a chilly rainy day in winter or a 40°C hot day of summer.
Especially, new openings are tempting. When a new shop opens, it’s like opening a treasure chest where whoever first arrives, can lay hands on the desired object before the others and at a special price.
A  line in front of a takoyaki shop. By Flickr id: idua_japan
Kuropurin tells how she initiated her daughter into the habit, queuing in line for over 4 hours to get the bicycle of her dreams.
でも、少しでも娘に愛着を持たせるために買うのに、一緒に並びに行かせました。
10時開店で、何時に並ぶか悩んだけど前日に実物をお店に見に行ったとき、その日は6時くらいにならんだらしいと聞いたのでまあ、6時に起きて準備して行こうと決めました。
The shop opened at 10 and I went to the store on the day before to find out what time we should arrive. I heard that a long line started to form from 6am, so we decided to wake up at 6 the next day.
当日、6時に目覚ましをして、なんとか起きて娘と着替えて出発。
途中のコンビニで朝食を調達して自転車屋さんにすぐ到着。うちからは車で5分。
お店に着くと、何人かもう並んでるけど自転車が限定10台、欲しい色が５台なのでその枠には入れそうでした。
[…]
それから、ひたすら待ちました。途中で一度整理券が配られたのに、その場を離れたら権利がなくなるとかで結局ならんでなくちゃいけなくて。
何のための整理券なの～って、お店の人に聞こえるようにつぶやいてしまいました。
開店前に、今は義務になっていた防犯登録の書類を書いて１０時過ぎに順番にお支払い。やっと自転車を受け取ることができました。
Nobody likes queuing, but it's one of those “can’t be helped!” things where the end justifies the means.
Guru guru queued in the rain to get a ticket to see a show by Takarazuka [en], an extremely popular musical theatre troupe composed entirely of women).
並ぶのきらいなのに、並んでもうた
たぶん、外の気温、10度以下だったと思うし、雨も降ってたけど、1時間20分前くらいから並んでしまった
42枚だけ発売される当日券目的で、一昨日、観たのに、また…並んでしまった。
貴重な休日だというのに…
ディズニーランドとか、ドーナツ屋とか、行列の出来るレストランとか、そんなものも、付き合いでやむを得ない場合以外は極力避けてるのに、並んじゃったよ～～～
A long line in front of Suehirotei comedy teathre. By Flickr id: K.Suzuki
Queuing at pachinko  [en] parlours is said [ja] to be particularly advantageous. Arriving first gives you the opportunity  to choose the machine you think is more likely to give you a win on that day. In addition, when a brand new pachinko parlour opens, the ‘chukkers’ are looser and the settings of the machines are more ‘generous’.
However, what’s the feeling of shopkeepers who see queues forming?
A sweet shop owner says  he was pleasantly surprised when some children queued to buy his cakes.
開店前に小学生が3人、当店の前でたむろってる。
まぁ気にせず開店準備を。せっせ、せっせと。
はい、準備完了！と同時に
『60個ください。』へっ？
・・・ごめんな～、
おっちゃん待ちやったんか～。なんとうれしい。[…]
うちのベビーカステラ目当てで来てくれたんやなぁ～。
ケチで有名なおっちゃんやけどオマケしてしもた。
せやからおっちゃんが死ぬまで常連様でおってね。
なんちゃって！

author: Scilla Alecci


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Lebanon: Bloggers covering elections · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“Now here we are, not quite a year later [after the parliamentary elections], and bloggers are getting ministerial permission to cover the vote and dispatching roving teams with Flip cams and mobile phones,” writes  Jessica about how citizen media coverage of the elections has changed over a year between the parliamentary elections and the currently held municipal elections.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lebanon: Lebloggers Organization · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“The Lebloggers Organization (Lebanese Bloggers) is the first organized body of bloggers and e-activists in Lebanon. Lebloggers brings together e-activists from diverse backgrounds all around Lebanon within an organized channel/coalition that will be active both online/offline.” The Lebloggers are now covering the Lebanese Municipal Elections.


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Mexico: Attack of Caravan en Route to San Juan Copala · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Mex Files blog writes about the attack of a caravan carrying supplies to the community of San Juan Copala in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, in which at least one Mexican and one foreign observer were killed. YouTube user Guerreradelavida also has a audio/photo essay in memory of those killed [es].

author: Eduardo Avila


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Panama: Lucy Cristina Chau Wins Central American Literature Prize · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Panamanian writer Lucy Cristina Chau was recently awarded with the Rogelio Sinán Central American Prize for Literature, notes the blog Literatura Panameña Hoy [es].


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Russia: The Little Blue Buckets Pedestrian Protest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Little Blue Buckets pedestrian mock protest against the often illegal use of blue flashing lights (migalki) and the resulting reckless driving by state officials took place in Moscow on May 2; about half a dozen participants ended up getting detained by the police. Photos, video and comments (RUS) – at Snob.ru; a video report (RUS) – by LJ user nelenru. (Background on the migalki situation – at A Good Treaty (ENG); links to items (RUS) on the earlier anti-migalki initiative – here.)

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Top 10 Anglophone Blogs – Two Rankings · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Top 10 Anglophone Russia blogs – according to La Russophobe and according to Sublime Oblivion.


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Tech for Transparency in Sub-Saharan Africa · Global Voices
Rebekah Heacock

Map via Transparency International.  A score of 0 (darkest blue) indicates high corruption; a score of 10 (lightest blue) indicates low corruption.
With the exception of Botswana, Mauritius and Cape Verde, none of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa fall above the midway point of the 2009 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures how citizens perceive the level of government corruption.  In its profile on the region (PDF), the organization writes that corruption can “undermin[e] political stability and well as the governments’ capacity to provide effective basic services….  In such a context, corruption levels can mean the difference between life and death.”
Civil society throughout the continent has been pushing for greater public sector transparency, and some governments are beginning to respond.  Ghana's Ministry of Information recently announced the “Ghana Policy Fair 2010,” a showcase of government projects and policies open to public comment.  In Cape Verde, the Núclea Operacional da Sociedade de Informação (NOSI), or Operational Nucleus of the Information Society, makes information on the government's financial activities accessible to citizens while allowing them to apply for a variety of civil services — birth and marriage certificates, for example — online.  The Portal do Governo da República de Angola, performs similar services in Angola.
Civil society has also begun to move its transparency and accountability efforts online.  These efforts are supported by a growing tech community in sub-Saharan Africa, though a widespread lack of access to information and communications technology (ICT) and a consequent lack of understanding of and interest in these tools constitute a significant challenge to their success.
Despite low rates of Internet and mobile phone penetration compared to the rest of the world, sub-Saharan Africa is home to a vibrant community of entrepreneurs, web companies and software developers who are responsible for mobile social networking applications, local blog aggregators and much more.  Technology incubators like Appfrica Labs in Kampala and iHub in Nairobi are fostering new developments in this space.
ICT4D
Much of the attention on ICT in Africa has been focused on the use of these tools for economic development, or ICT4D.  Mobile banking, which brings financial services to rural and extremely poor customers who lack access to traditional banks, is rapidly spreading throughout the continent.  One of the better known examples is Kenya's M-PESA, which in just three years has grown from serving 50,000 customers to serving nearly 6.5 million.  Question Box, a mobile phone-based tool developed with support from the Grameen Foundation, allows Ugandans to call or message operators who have access to a database full of information on health, agriculture and education — it's a little like Google for people without Internet access.  Mobile phones are also being used to help rural health workers diagnose minor illnesses and counsel HIV/AIDS patients.
Ushahidi
It has become nearly impossible to discuss citizen technology efforts in Africa without mentioning Ushahidi, the crowdsourced reporting tool first developed to track post-election violence in Kenya in 2007.  Ushahidi has sparked a wave of election monitoring projects that utilize the tool, both in Africa and in other regions.  Sudan Vote Monitor, which tracked the country's presidential elections in April, is one example.   The crowdsourced reporting tool has also been deployed in Togo, and a project is being planned in time for the 2011 elections in Liberia.  In addition to election-related projects, Ushahidi has also been deployed to track medical supply shortages in eastern Africa, xenophobic attacks in South Africa, and conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Though Africa's tech community is growing, popular lack of access to ICT is still a major obstacle to the use of technology for government accountability projects.  In all but a few African countries, less than ten percent of the population has Internet access.  Mobile phones — some with data services, but most with only simple texting abilities — have fared much better, with penetration rates reaching around 30 percent continent-wide.
Map via Online Africa.
This lack of access affects governments as well, which can often be less familiar with emerging technologies than their citizens.  The Ghana Policy Fair mentioned above has its own Facebook page, indicating the government's desire to reach out through ICT, but some Ghanaians wish an even greater effort had been made to put information online.  One blogger wrote:
So they can't simply put all this information onto a website for anyone who is interested to go and look it up? Instead people have to take time and spend lorry fair to attend a policy fair, for some information that will only be available temporarily? What a waste of time.
The lack of government capacity to effectively use ICT is one of the factors that prompted the founders of the Kenyan Budget Tracking Tool to work with various ministries to put budgetary data online in a way that would be useful for citizens.  Philip Thigo, one of the project's co-founders, says the government was more or less willing to make its data accessible — and in fact was attempting to put information online — but that the ministries lacked the necessary technical skills to make their databases easily navigable by average Kenyans.  In addition to building a searchable web site, the Budget Tracking Tool also developed a script to handle simple SMS queries, so that anyone with a mobile phone can text in and find out how much money has been allocated for various projects in their area.  The system currently gets between 4000 and 4500 queries per month.
Also in Kenya, the founders of community mapping project Map Kibera are attempting to combat low access to technology by moving part of their project offline so they can get community members who are not able to use the Internet involved.  They have decided to print paper copies of the maps they've generated online and hand them out to the community, hoping to spark a discussion.  “Paper's cool, so we are going to print posters, several hundred at least, and distribute those to every school, every church, every clinic, every sort of public institution in Kibera so that people can see for themselves what's collected and start to have a particular interest on there which would suggest where this is going,” says co-founder Mikel Maron.
In some countries, access is also threatened by governments wary of citizens using new communications tools.  According to an OpenNet Initiative report on Internet filtering in the region, while many governments are actively attempting to increase ICT penetration, some are blocking online content or monitoring citizens’ Internet use.  The Sudanese government recently blocked election monitoring site Sudan Vote Monitor and YouTube during the country's presidential elections.  In a number of countries, including Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, Internet service providers and Internet cafés are required to hand over data on customers’ online activities to the government if asked.  This kind of government intervention may discourage those who might otherwise engage in transparency efforts online.
Resistance may also come from citizens who do not see value in new technologies.  Goretti Amuriat, the ICT Program Manager for the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), says that when the organization was initially surveying women to see how best to develop ICT initiatives, many women in rural communities were uninterested in using technology, preferring to focus their time and energy on more widely available and accessible tools.  Earlier this year, reports on an e-governance program in Southern Sudan revealed that a lack of enthusiasm for technology on the part of government officials led to the program's failure.
Philip Thigo of the Budget Tracking Tool cautions against spending too much time working on neat ICT tools that don't sufficiently engage the community: “I think a thing about technology is uptake. If there's no need then you'll just have a tool that will be wowed, wowed, and then just go dead.”  To make sure Kenyans would use the tool, Philip and his partner asked citizens and civil society organizations what they needed the most, then developed the tool to meet those needs.
Despite these challenges, tech for transparency projects in Africa are making an impact.  Map Kibera is building partnership with local organizations focused on water, health, education and safety to use mapping technology to monitor the provision of basic services.  Also in Kenya, data mining made possible by the Budget Tracking Tool uncovered a major corruption scandal at the Ministry of Water that led to the firing of a number of public officials involved.  WOUGNET has held the Ugandan government accountable to women, successfully working to insert gender-sensitive language into the country's national ICT and development policies.  And during this month's presidential elections, Sudan Vote Monitor received hundreds of reports, despite having their site blocked in the country for several days.
One of the most important elements of these projects’ success is the involvement of the communities in which they operate.  All four have built partnerships with local organizations and consulted civil society groups.  WOUGNET regularly conducts surveys of its members, shaping its own initiatives and its advocacy programs in response.  Sudan Vote Monitor works with a large network of civil society organizations throughout Sudan.  The founders of the Budget Tracking Tool spent time traveling throughout the country asking citizens what kinds of information would be useful to them before returning to Nairobi to develop the technical aspects of the project.
Another key aspect of many of these projects is their willingness to incorporate multiple forms of communication, using the Internet and mobile phones where possible but also extending their outreach to community meetings, radio and printed materials when necessary.  WOUGNET circulates a print version of its e-mail newsletter for women who are not able to get online,  Map Kibera has reached out to community members via radio.
Aid transparency
One area the Technology for Transparency Network has not yet spent much time on is the issue of aid transparency.  A substantial amount of donor money pours into sub-Saharan Africa each year — approximately $50 billion, in fact — but the effects are difficult to discern, and a growing number of academics and activists are calling for a halt to the flow.  Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo has called foreign aid “an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster,” and Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda delivered a talk at TEDGlobal 2007 in which he argued that aid is preventing Africa from developing.  Several aid transparency initiatives are using technology to open aid data to the public, including the International Aid Transparency Initiative, Aid Info, and the Ujima Project, which focuses specifically on Africa.  There may be room for greater partnership between these types of organizations and country-specific projects like Kenya's Budget Tracking Tool that would help track aid flows from the international level all the way down to local project implementation.
Greater adoption by local populations
The tech for transparency community in sub-Saharan Africa is currently driven by a few strong visionaries, most of whom have outside support.  While they have been able to encourage greater government accountability in some cases, their projects are still often underutilized.  In his review of the second round of Technology for Transparency Network case studies, David Sasaki writes that the Budget Tracking Tool presents Kenyan budgetary data online, “where users can leave comments about the progress, impact, and efficiency of the projects. (So far, few have.)”  Sudan Vote Monitor received a considerable amount of attention from both the international media and the Sudanese government during April's elections, but only a few hundred reports (an estimated 16 million people were registered to vote).  A large part of this lack of adoption is the technical difficulties noted above, but in many African countries transparency activists must work hard to convince citizens that pushing for government accountability is more important than other development issues.  Mikel Maron says of Kibera: “It's very much a day to day place, people are concerned with getting dinner tonight, and when you're working on a project which requires a long term individual commitment without immediate rewards, well that's understandably counter to the usual way of thinking.”  As both technology and economic development spread in Africa, this may change, but for now, it is still something transparency activists must consider.
Keep an eye on the tech community
Many of Africa's tech for transparency projects so far have grown out of the tech side of things.  Building technological skills in Africa is good in many ways: it helps the economy, fosters innovation, and ensures that when the need for an election monitoring project or the idea to track a country's budget arises, there is a substantial group of developers who can support the project.  If stronger connections between existing civil society groups and talented techies can be built, I believe we'll see more widespread use of technology to advocate for better governance.

author: Rebekah Heacock


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The State of Citizen Media in Madagascar · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

It has been an eventful for the citizen media scene in Madagascar. The blogosphere in Madagascar has been growing slowly but steadily the past decade, slightly struggling  to find its voice until the 2009 political crisis. The sudden precipitation of events that provoked  high demand for frequent updates provided a unique set up for the budding blogosphere to assert  their potential, despite the evident challenges.
The past events have been thoroughly documented so let us focus on the consequence of the crisis on citizen journalists and conversely the impact of citizen media on the evolution of the crisis.
Bloggers’ readership:
(Bar camp on reporting in times of crisis in Antananarivo. Photo credit: Ariniaina )
Although Madagascar is now  theoretically  connected to the high bandwidth fibre optic cables EASSy and LION, most  of the country still have limited access to internet both because of lack of infrastructure and high costs of broadband internet (only 1.5% of the population used internet in 2009). Therefore, internet won't be able to fulfill the role of democratizing information/communication until access is available to more Malagasies. Still, it is undeniable that the use of online media tools has dramatically increased among urban citizens, specifically   during the 2009 political crisis. Bloggers from many parts of the country ( Antananarivo, Toamasina and Mahajanga) have volunteered the statistics of their blogs since 2008 to evaluate the evolution of readership. The timeline of the number of readers can be seen below:
(Stats of 4 personal blogs in Madagascar from 2008-10 (blogs written in Malagasy (VO), French (MH, TD) and English (MM))
As shown on the charts, even though readership varies significantly between blogs, trends have been strikingly similar even though the blogs were written in different languages.  Two traffic peaks can be seen around February-April 2009 when the coup occurred, followed by a sudden decrease that is probably related to uncertainty over potential consequences of writing blog posts. Readership came back when the legitimacy of the regime was questioned by the international community when the Malagasy government was shunned from speaking at the UN General Assembly.  It must also be noted that writing during the height of the crisis took a toll on many bloggers who may have fatigued from the toll of trying to  inform frequently.
Support from the News Media:
A critical development for the evolution of  blogs in Madagascar  were the recognition and support by international news media through mention and links:
BBC, CNN, Global Post, France 24, IRIN News, Le Monde,  The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
The accrued interest fostered emulation amongst bloggers but also reiterated to them the need for their contributions.
Impact of Facebook:
While users in the western world ponder deactivating facebook accounts over privacy concerns, Malagasy citizens have joined massively, from 1,100 in 2007 to almost 9,000 users today. Six Malagasy political parties have now joined facebook because they recognized the platform as an important mean to reach constituents, a satirical Facebook page, MDRM ( aplay on word on a political party and LOL in French) was set up  making fun of the sudden adoption of facebook by politicians. The discussion on facebook for Malagasies seems to be facilitated  because of the perceived authenticity of your interlocutor.
Impact on the political and social crisis :
(Protester Razily arrested by armed forces in late March 2009: photo credit: Radotiana)
As mentioned earlier, citizen media fulfilled two needs during the crisis: 1) demand for rapid information and frequent updates from different locations and 2) facilitating  distribution of information by being decentralized and rapid translation in many languages. Their  impact has been the most saliant on two issues:
Human Rights aspect:
More than a hundred people were direct casualties of this ongoing crisis. There were many reports of torture and arbitrary arrests as well. The initial signal that such events were occurring were made possible because of
personal blogs and text messages platform like Ushahidi.  Consequently, local human rights monitoring programmes (fr) were launched in Madagascar,  Amnesty International investigated and published an extensive report in February 2010.  The  International Community also denounced the violations.
Brief media censorship  was a major component of the violations. Blogs became an alternative for news until some were shut down as well.   These attacks on the media  were reported on the Comittee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ), Reporter sans Frontieres and Global Voices Advocacy.  As a result, a  media consortium over the role of journalists during political crisis was created and a code of  communication is being established.
Environmental aspect:
The reporting of the rosewood illegal trafficking (worth several million of US dollars) and ensuing pillage of Madagascar National Park is a good indicator of the potential of citizen media to produce change.
Reports, photographs and interactive maps (Google Maps) of the  rosewood logging and deforestation  were conducted by conservation organizations (Wild Madagscar,  Global Witness and EIA)  and were further amplified and translated by citizen journalists. The  online petition to get international companies to stop participating in the trafficking gathered about to 580,000  signatures.  The US Senate  passed a bill banning  all rosewood products from Madagascar and finally the Malagasy Government finally produces a bill that stop further export of rosewood. Whether the ban is actually implemented is very much still in doubt.
Real Impact assessment:
Just like in the Rosewood case, the final verdict on the real impact of citizen media  is still  up in the air. As discussed previously,  citizen media often provided the initial hint that some events were worth looking into. By illustrating various abuses during the crisis, citizen media were able to keep political leaders in check with respect to extending signs of budding authoritarism. Coupled with the need to reassure the international community over the legitimacy of their leadership, the administration was mindful of portraying an image of a regime neglecting basic human rights.
However, citizen media activities are often performed as an aside to their day-to-day work by individuals, which prevents bloggers from conducting in depth investigative works, especially in time of crisis. Therefore, a collaborations with professional news media or advocacy organisations is the optimal way for citizen media to provide a meaningful impact.
Another concern for  many Malagasy bloggers was the direction that online communication/discourse were taking.  Is  the level of information overload and sometimes polarized discourse that are permeating the online  developed world desirable for a still maturing digital community? Many bloggers have expressed being weary of the excessively politicized turn of the Malagasy web, wishing that the focus be turned back on developing the country, regardless of the composition of the current administration.
Citizen media is evidently  at a crossroad in Madagascar; bloggers are seeing the potentials for development but also the pitfalls of the ever-increasing world of rapid information.  The good news is that they realize that they can  play an active role in shaping both the online and offline world. The hope is that the increased level of civic engagement will not go to waste because of the neverending crisis.
===========================
This article is part of the presentation at the Global Voices Summit on citizen media rising session.
Grateful appreciation to the following bloggers for contributing thoughts to this report:
- Ariniaina, Andrydago, Avylavitra, Fijery, Jentilisa, Radotiana, Madafan, Mada initiatives, Malagasy Miray, R1lita, and Reflexiums.


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Algeria: What is going on in Hassi Messaoud?  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Diáspora saharaui (at Courrier International) wonders why the town of Hassi Messaoud, known for its oil refinery and for being usually safe, has been plagued with a wave of violence against working women (fr). A blog that details the history of abuse against women in the city has been created (fr).


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Algérie Télécom: The only choice? · Global Voices
Katharine Ganly

“if there is someone who cannot stop complaining about Algérie Télécom it is me, so it is time for me to share my complaints with you,” opens 19-year old Algerian blogger Houda in her post Algérie Telecom, le bon choix.
The privatisation of Algérie Télécom (AT),- the main operator of Internet services and fixed and mobile telephone services,- was called off in 2008, at the same time as second operator, Lacom, exited the market after three years of operations, citing regulatory barriers that made it impossible to compete with Algerie Telecom, leaving AT with a virtual monopoly over Algeria's internet services.
AT is notorious amongst bloggers for its poor service[FR]. The frequent losses of service have been the topic of much complaint over the years, spurring complaints amongst bloggers and even a set of YouTube videos expressing the exasperation with AT's service[FR].
Houda continues:
Le premier truc qui vous attire dans un spot pour AT que ce soit à la T.V ou bien sur les bannières accrochées et que vous lisez 100 fois chaque fois que vous êtes chez AT pour payez la facture et que vous attendez derrière une interminable file d’attente c’est leur slogan mensonger et qui me fout une rage indescriptible « LE BON CHOIX »
Non serieux, c’est ça le slogan « le bon choix »?
A mock-up of AT's banner, with "The only choice" replacing the original advertisment's "The right choice"
Houda continues:
revenons sur la définition du mot choix :
choix: Ensemble de choses, d’éléments, etc., parmi lesquels on peut choisir (source: larousse.fr)
Je crains justement que l’ensemble de choses n’est pas là! on ne choisit pas Algérie Telecom mais c’est une condamnation, le crime? être algérien
AT n’a rien d’un bon choix, en faite c’est un mauvais choix qu’on est tous obligés de faire mais ça n’a rien d’étonnant car en Algérie on suit un système binaire, du O ou du 1
Houda lists the other areas where her choice is limited:
Le 0 représente des entreprises qui n’existent pas (et n’existeront probablement jamais); comme une industrie mécanique qui nous fait des voitures algérienne (ohh oui je me rappelle si bien de cette promesse), ou l’existence d’une base de livres comme « amazon » ou « ebay ou encore un «  »mcdo » ou un « ikea » bon assez parlé des bits prenants la valeur ‘0′
UN SEUL fournisseur d’accès à internet, UNE SEULE chaîne de télé, UN SEUL moyen de payement, UN SEUL divertissement pour les jeunes (internet)..
Houda‘s frustration spills over into other aspects of her life:
bref, on devrait faire avec, on devrait accepter la situations, et accepter que les jeunes préfèrent traverser la mer et courir les dangers plutôt que de ne RIEN faire, accepter que notre connexion sera médiocre jusqu’à la fin des temps, accepter qu’il n’y aura qu’une seule chaine de télévision qui diffuse des programmes débiles (comme el fhama ou haj lakhder), accepter que l’information du journal de 8 soit mensongère, accepter qu’on vivra de tabous et de parlotes sociales inutiles et signes de sous développement, accepter qu’on mangera du couscous chaque Vendredi….
Despite all the her frustrations, which are shared by many other bloggers, Houda finishes on a positive note:
Malgré tout, je suis quelqu’un qui croit énormément en son pays et est pour que les choses puissent s’améliorer un beau jour et que j’y contribue !
As one commenter, ButterflyOfFire, who has detailed his frustrations with AT and has a YouTube channel [FR] which features videos commenting on technology in Algeria states:
Il faudrait bien qu’un jour le changement vienne.

author: Katharine Ganly


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An Egyptian lynched in Lebanon · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Mohamed Mossallam has been lynched by the people of the Lebanese village Katramaya. Mossallam is an Egyptian citizen living in Lebanon, who has been accused of murdering an elderly couple and their two grandchildren, aged seven and nine. He was also suspected of raping a 15-year-old girl in the same village.
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia wrote about the incident, and the available videos and photographs of the lynching on the internet.
She said:
Some bloggers believe that Mossallam deserved it, since he was a criminal, while others say he was just a suspect. Zeinobia continued to wonder if the people of Katramaya did this because of the lack of trust in their judicial system:
Tamer Mowafy, on the other hand, tried to find excuses for the angry Lebanese villagers. He wrote:
The current tension between the Egyptian regime and the Lebanese militia Hizbullah, dragged some people here and there to accuse such tension to be the reason behind the Ketermaya incident. Yet Tamer Mowafy doesn't think they are related:
He then wonders how a village, whose citizens are mainly Christians and Sunnis, could be driven by the tension between Egypt and the Shia party:
Sara – a Lebanese citizen – commented on Zeinobia's post, expressing her disagreement to the angry mob's villagers way of taking revenge:
And finally Sosso commented on Nawara Negm's post [Ar] about the same incident, stating that this incident has nothing to do with Egypt or Lebanon. We have to see it from a different angle, and angle that only sees humans regardless of their nationalities. She said:

author: Tarek Amr


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Bahamas: Entitled · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In the days of my parents and grandparents…there was never any expectation on their part of someone else or a government to supply their needs”: Weblog Bahamas‘ Sidney Sweeting calls this the “Age of Entitlement”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Barbados, Haiti: U.S. Oil Spill · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press and HAITI, Land of Freedom blog about the explosion of the bp oil rig which “is spewing 5000 barrels of oil a day into the already-not-pristine waters of the Caribbean.”


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Two Multimedia Projects · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CAFÉ TURCO highlights two Bosnia-related multimedia projects – The Betrayal of Srebrenica: a Commemoration, and DaytonExpress.


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China: Advice for international T.V news network · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Will from imagethief gave some advice for the newly launched English-language television channel.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: No school killings in the news · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kai Pan explains why the government doesn’t want school killings in the news.


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Guyana: Articulate Voice · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana blogs about Guyanese writer Grace Nichols and her poetic tongue, saying that in her work, she “continues to produce articulate speakers who tell the stories of women’s lives…”


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Hong Kong: 5 District Referendum Movement · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In order to advocate the implementation of universal suffrage and abolition of functional constituencies in Hong Kong, the Civic Party (CP) and the League of Social Democrats (LSD) launched the 5 district referendum movement through the resignation of 5 legislators in 5 election districts. Candidates from the 2 parties will run in the by-election and invite Hong Kong people to vote for genuine democratic reform. The election date has been set on May 16.
As the China Government openly criticized the 5 district referendum movement a violation of Basic Law, instead of encouraging citizens to execute their rights, SAR government officials stressed that the 5 district referendum would divide the society and for the first time, the government's TV election advertisement does not urge citizen to cast the vote.
The pro-establishment and pro-China party (DAB) and Liberal Party (LP) boycotted the election and criticized it a waste of tax payers’ money. On the other hand, the pan-democrats split up on the referendum movement: Democratic Party (DP) along with a number of independent pan-dem legislators refused to join in, believing that they can strike for a better reform package through talks. They established the Alliance for Universal Suffrage to communicate with the government and pro-establishment parties but there isn't any space for negotiation so far. The government still refuses to draw a roadmap towards genuine universal suffrage.
The recent Government proposal on 2012 political reforms have not reduced the proportion of Functional Constituencies in the Legislative Council. The reform package adds ten seats in the 2012 legislature, of which 5 seats are from district direct election and the other five seats will be elected by District Council members through “proportional representation”, which implies that the pro-establishment party DAB (Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong) will get a majority of the 5 seats as they are more resourceful in community work.
In order to create a voting opportunity, a number of University Student Unions form a 2012 Universal Suffrage Alliance and back up 5 student candidates to participate in the by-election. The alliance believes that social injustice in the city comes from the collusion between the political and economic privileged groups and the Functional Constituencies is the result of such political corruption. Their declaration, distributed via facebook and various websites states that:
不平等的政治制度，實質上就是維護著大財團和政府官僚的勾結。事實上，功能組別不斷在議會裡阻礙著利民政策通過──而這些利民政策，根本不違反挑戰現時社會整體發展方向，只為了在資源、財富分配極度不均的情況下，為勞苦大眾討回一點公道而已。這些利民政策包括立法最低工資、公平競爭法、回購領匯、屏風樓、監管私樓物業交易……而近日關於最低工資的討論，便可見一斑。
The student alliance then proposes a series of reform in areas such as taxation and education and stresses the inter connection between people's livelihood and democratic reform.
To encourage more people to vote on 16 of May, Civic Party produces a video juxtaposing the personal history of an old man with the political history of Hong Kong. The video has been widely circulated online and below is a translation of the script:
我叫葉國華，今年已經六十幾歲，年紀大了，開始遺忘很多事情。但耳邊依然徘徊著八九年的春天，太太彌留之際留下的叮嚀。要看著孩子成家立室。要看到回歸的煙花盛放。要睇到千禧年的日出。當日她的數個願望，大多數已經實現。轉睇間廿多年過去了，香港的變化看似很多，又似是很少。再不見在街遊玩的小孩，只剩下為供樓捱更抵夜的父母。以前跟太太約會的地方，很多已拆掉，悄悄地消失。換上冷冰冰的商場大廈。不少志同道合的老朋友，已經走了。當年躺在病床的她，曾經很有信心地說，不出二十年，香港人一定見到真民主。我笑她的率直，更笑她的保守，今天打開報紙，很可惜，看到的仍然是荒謬，代表少數人的議員，壓倒七百萬普羅大眾的聲音，在這個開放的社會，竟然有人自鳴得意地說：八百人選出來的特首有廣泛代表性。
1990年頒布基本法，承諾特首以及立法會最終由普選產生
1997年四百人小圈子選舉產生的董建華就任特首
2004年人大釋法否決0708雙普選
2007年曾蔭權承諾在普選問題上玩鋪勁
2009年政府翻訂政改方案普選步伐停滯不前
2010年功能組別至今未取消
但我從來無懷疑過，亦無放棄過，因為在我身邊的香港人，仍然肯為民主發聲，仍然有很多辦法。太太曾經說過，無人可以肯定未來，更加無人可以否定未來。只要聽到群眾的聲音，相信手中的一票，我知道成功就在眼前。五。
一六投民主一票。盡快實現真普選，廢除功能組別。
Vote for democracy in May 16. Abolition of the Functional Constituencies for genuine democracy.
As a result of the boycott from pro-establishment, the referendum movement does not have much mainstream media coverage and informations on election forum are mainly distributed via Facebook. There are various groups on Facebook for collecting campaign informations and posters:
HK5Vote channel: a collection of video materials on the campaign
Referendum for democracy: a collection of media reports and material about the movement
May 16 voting handbook: to mobilize people to vote on May 16


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India: Video as an Alternative to Literacy  · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The Deccan Development Society take their experiences in Hyderabad, India to explain why video or radio training could represent an alternative to literacy when measuring development.


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Jamaica: Red · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The term ‘red'…has had a long and dishonorable reputation in the Americas”: Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp seeks to change this through a poem in which “the speaker…turns away from the extremes of racial conflict and embraces his ‘red'ness.”


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Japan：Blogging about illness · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

High school student Piiko blogs [ja] about her illness (cerebrospinal fluid hypovolemia) and how she deals with symptoms such as chronic headache in her daily life.


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Japan: Another language school banruptcy · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

The Eikaiwa Review blog covers the situation with GEOS,
yet another language school in Japan to go bankrupt.

author: Tomomi Sasaki