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Jordan: Snowmen, Women and Babes · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The contest is heating up among Jordanian bloggers who are vying for the top place in making a snowman, erm, woman – prompting one blogger to call a truce. With the Internet slowing down across the Middle East, it was only natural for Jordan's bloggers to pour their creative juices elsewhere.
And since pictures speak volumes, I will leave you with with just that in this post.
Our first stop is with Naseem Al Tarawnah, whose friend Tina kept herself busy giving us a step-by-step guide on how to make a snowbabe. And what is a snowbabe on her own? She built a snowman to keep her company – just for good measure. Here's a snapshot of the happy couple:
Tololy from Jordan was also busy building her own snowbabe. She explains:
Why waste my time and risk catching pneumonia making a huge, beer-belly snowman?
I made the smallest, cutest snow babe instead
And here's her snowbabe and it is up to you to judge:
An American in Jordan joins the fray, with his Snowman in Repose sculpture. Here's one of the many images he has loaded showing his masterpiece:
Janmania gets her comeback with a sculpture of Snow White, who is pictured here:
And last but not least, Jad decides that the best snowman he has seen so far is this one:
Despite the frenzy and obvious fun, 7aki Fadi calls for a truce. He even begs:
For whatever is holy to you pleaaaaaaaaaaase STOP with THE SNOW POSTS.
Seriously, stop, it all looks the same, all the pictures.
EVEN the snow men look the same.
Related GV posts:
Iraq: Snow in Baghdad
Videos of Snow in Baghdad
MENA: Brrrrrr …It's Freezing
Middle East: Let it Snow ..

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Juliana Rincón: A multi-tasking blogger · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Juliana Rincón Parra was born in Peru, lived in Costa Rica and has now settled in Colombia. She has collected a BA in Drama, experience working as a bilingual copywriter, as translator, has played around with SEO, html coding, Web 2.0 and is now studying dental lab, which makes her very excited about doing teeth metal work and learning how to do metal-porcelain dental crowns and caps. She blogs in Spanish at Medeamaterial, a blog about anything Jules related.
As if it all wasn't enough, for the past two years Juliana has always found some free time to collaborate to Global Voices Online as an author and has just accepted the challenge to be the new GVO Video Editor, on the top of the regular roundup of the Colombian blogosphere. Better than trying to describe this multi-tasking author, it is only fair that we explore her new expertise and have a video of her introducing herself:
When did you start blogging and what has motivated you to blog?
I started an online journal on opendiary.com back in 1999. Then I stopped and started several times on different platforms, including  online forums until 2005, when I opened my blog Medeamaterial in blogspot. For me writing has been a lifelong way to vent, express myself and share random thoughts I have.  Later on I found that it also comes with a sense of community and I've met wonderful friends through it and discovered that there's empowerment that comes with the whole experience of writing and getting feedback on what you write.
What is Mediamaterial about? How would you introduce it to someone who can't read Spanish?
Medeamaterial is a blog about whatever is going on in my life. That's where I can post interesting links I stumble upon, pictures of my crafting endeavours, complain about my day, write about topics that matter to me or just write up my experiences when travelling. It started as a place to vent, and as something I could do at work whenever I was supposed to be “looking busy” but there wasn't anything to do. It used to be a lot more personal and anonymous, but as more people know who I am and started reading it… including my parents, boyfriend and people interested in HiperBarrio project, I had to quit on the whining, complaining and any other juicy personal tidbits and tone it down for PR reasons :)
You haven't told us about it, but we have also found out there is another blog of yours, the gastronomic Manos en La Masa. Please tell us about your hidden cooking skills and let us know your recommended Latin American dishes.
I used to blog at Manos en la Masa… but I haven't really been cooking lately, so I haven't been able to write in there. I like cooking, but I hate cooking for survival or regular meals. So if I HAVE to cook to eat… most of the time I'll just fix a sandwich or have an arepa with queso (cheese). The food I really love is Peruvian food. They have this dish, it's made out of cow's hearts on a stick and over the grill called Anticucho. Sounds disturbing, but it is the BEST thing ever. They serve it with a spicy ají sauce, and a slice of boiled potato and  a piece of corn on the cob. Hmmm. love it. I haven't had it in such a looong time.
So when in Perú, definitely try it. Try everything. Peruvian food is the best I've ever had. Colombian food is a bit bland for my taste, but there's this soup called Ajiaco made of chicken and 5 different types of potato that rocks. And for the ones going to Costa Rica, I'd recommend jumping over to the Caribbean side and having “rice and beans”, which has coconut rice and spicy chicken (or fish) on the side, with a great tasting sauce.
Would you have a most memorable blogging experience?
Can I have two instead of one? I have a professional one, which was blogging live from Pop!Tech. The whole idea that I could have the chance to travel thanks to blogging was too unreal to grasp, and then there I was, writing online, publishing, and few minutes later, getting feedback from people who don't speak English, who had been following pop!tech in Spanish through my blog.
The other one is based on many different moments and experiences, and has to do with the personal connections. I've met many good friends through blogging, blogs have seen me through falling in and out of love and blogging has also helped me keep up with friends and family who are far away.
What are the main issues affecting your blogosphere?
I guess that most bloggers still don't feel that what they write matters. That their blogs are powerful tools. In Costa Rica, the main issue was that bloggers were afraid that people would be offended by what they wrote, so they avoided any strong topics. That has changed since thanks to a few bloggers who aren't afraid of making their opinions known.
Here in Colombia I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is. There are many blogs I've never heard of, and I'm sure there are plenty I should be reading, but I've never known about them because people aren't that good about linking to other blogs or expanding conversations on theirs. Also, most people discuss national issues, but not the local ones, so sometimes great things are going on in a certain region, but bloggers don't write about them.
When did you start reporting these and other issues on Global Voices Online?
I started on February 2006. David Sasaki, then editor of Latin America, asked if he could post one of my articles, and then he wondered if I would be willing to help out writing about the Costa Rican blogosphere. I didn't need much convincing, and I've been writing ever since.
You have just taken up now a new role as video editor for Global Voices. How is it going so far and what are your expectations on the job?
On working as the video editor… it's been great! I don't know how many bloggers are paid in Colombia, but I don't think they are all that many, much less who can make a living out of it. In my case, it's just amazing to get paid for doing something I was very happy to do as a volunteer. Besides, I get to watch incredible videos from all around the world all day long.
My goal is to find as many wonderful individuals who are doing Vlogs and citizen journalism from the different parts of the world as I can, and let them know that they are doing a great job in documenting their lives and their country. So far I've started a VideoGlobalVoices channel on YouTube where I've been linking and subscribing to the citizen media videos and channels I've found, I'm still test running it to find out what other ways we can maximize its use. I hope eventually, people will start writing in to suggest their videos or their work, and we'll be able to cover even more people and more areas.
You mentioned briefly you have been involved with Hiperbarrio. Could you tell us about it, and how this project has helped some people in Medellín to reflect on or change the perception of themselves and their community?
Hiperbarrio has been growing at the same time the rest of mainstream Medellin and Colombia has been discovering blogs. I don't know if we could be talking about a change throughout Medellín, since we started with just a couple of communities, but as of January, when the work done in La Loma was shown, it seems that government officials, community members and the public in general finally caught on in what we have been attempting to do: empowering communities to tell their stories.
I think people didn't really understand what we were doing, what “blogs”, citizen media and citizen journalism were all about, and what all these concepts had to do with them. But seeing the physical examples: videos, pictures and articles, and seeing the pride these young adults had in their products, knowing they were writing about their community from within their community, I think the message finally got across, and interest in HiperBarrio has grown, and now we have people in government organizations asking for our help in diminishing this particular type of digital gap.
Talking about gap and divided, there don't seem to be many women blogging from Latin American countries. Would you say that this is true for Colombia?
I hadn't heard that particular statistic about gender ratios regarding Colombian bloggers… What I'd venture is that perhaps female Colombian bloggers are more private about their blogging, and maybe don't pinpoint to geographic locations.   I guess computers are still a luxury item here in Colombia: many people use the computers at work, and usually, if they are using computers it is because they studied something related to computer science, and that would support the gender gap idea. Now that I think about it: I do know plenty of girls who use the internet on a daily basis, but they are between 15- 21 years old and can be found on online forums, myspace and facebook.
Another concern would be that I've found that there's a perception here that someone who sits at a computer at home is considered to be “doing nothing all day”. Or they are “playing with internet”. So in an average Colombian household, boys and men are allowed more free time at home in general, watching TV, playing soccer, playing video games or using the computer, while girls and women get to do chores, laundry, prepare meals, take care of children or wash dishes.  Thus, boys would get to spend more time fiddling with internet and discovering these new tools of technology, and women wouldn't.
What would say to get women in Colombia motivated to blog more?
How to motivate women to blog more? When we opened Hiperbarrio, we got more women interested in taking the courses than men, so my guess is that just having more opportunities to take part of these courses will get women into the blogosphere. It would also have to do with access to computers, and curbing machismo. If women have to share computers at home with family members, it is usually the men who have first dibs on who gets to use it.
Juliana Ricón, taking a break from the online world and enjoying a trip to different towns east of Medellín, in Antioquia, Colombia, in a trip which is known as the ‘orient tour’

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Paula Góes


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Korea: What would you do if you encounter behavior that goes against social norms?  · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

When you encounter people or behavior against social norms, what do you do?  If it is especially from the underage, do you feel some responsibility to do something as an adult? Would your concern be taken as as pure as you intend? A netizen on a portal site asks for opinions about his experience and he received not a few.
내 성격에 도움이 필요한 사람을 보면 그냥 못 지나친다.지하철에서 무거운짐 들고 계단올라가는 할머니 보면 달려가서 들어 줘야하고
안 도와주면 집에와서 마음이 불편해서 살수가 없다.
근데… 나는 눈에 거슬리는 것을 봐도 그냥 못 지나친다.
얼마전에 아침에 운동을 나가는데 골목에서 교복입고 담배피우는 학생 두명을 봤다. 내가 다가가는데도 빤히 처다보면서 다리꼬고 앉아서 담배를 입에 물고 있길래 담배 끄라고 했는데도 멀뚱 멀뚱…순간 열받아서 면상을 손바닥으로 몇대 갈겼다.
그리고 몇 시간 후…경찰관이 그 학생들과 함께 우리집에 와서는 나를 조사할게 있다며 지구수비대로 데려갔다.
나는 경찰서에서 조서를 썼고 결국 단순폭행죄로 법원에 넘어갔다…
벌금형이 나올꺼 같다는데….
학생들이 담배피우건 말건 그냥 지나쳤으면 아무일 없었을것을 왜 끼어들어서 벌금내고 전과자 되고..ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
근데 웃긴건..
처음에 그 학생들이 나를 경찰에 신고할때 강도로 신고했다는 것이다. 물론 조사 과정에서 아니라는게 들어나서 단순폭행죄로 낚겼지만..
전과자 되는거 정말 우습다…나도 이제는 다른 사람들처럼 남일에 끼어들지 않기로 했다.
In addition, I can’t pass what isn’t acceptable. Several days ago, I went out to working out. I saw two students smoking in school uniforms in an alley. Even though I was walking close, they just looked at me and held the cigarettess in their mouths, crossing their legs. Even though I told them to put the cigarettes out, they still looked at me. I was mad and beat their faces several times.
And several hours later… policemen came over to our house with those students and asked me to come along with them in order to investigate me. I wrote a report at the police station and my case was sent to the court for assault. It seems that I might get fines.
No matter whether students smoke, I should have passed them. But I couldn’t. Then I have to pay fines and could be a criminal. The funny thing is… when students reported me to the police at first, they said I was a robber. Of course it was proved I wasn’t during the investigation.
It’s really easy to be the criminal… I shouldn’t intervene into other people’s matters from now on.
Here are several interesting opinions.
당신이 무슨권리로 애들을 떄리나? 전과자 된거 당연하네
모 일단 폭력은 잘못된 거지만… 후우… 담배피는 학생들 머리몇번 쥐어박은걸로 전과자가 되기에는 세상이 좀 우습지 않나요? 후우…앞으로는 부모가 자식을 혼내도 전과자가 되는 세상이 올지도 모른다는 생각이 드네요.
고등학생이 담배를 어디서 구했을까요?? 그것도 불법 아닌가요???세상이 거꾸로 돌아가네요..,글쓴분처럼 사회를 생각하는 사람이 드문데..,그런 사람을 전과자로 만들다니
저도 같은 학생입니다만 길가에서 당당하게 담배피는 또래 애들보면 한심하더라구요. 나이훨씬많으신 어른의 입장에서 그런 학생보고 답답하신건 이해합니다. 버릇없이 잘못한 줄도 모르고 당당하게 쳐다보는 눈빛에 화도 나셨겠죠 하지만 떄리신 건 잘못했다고 생각합니다. 경찰에 신고하시던가 좀더 현명한 방법이 있지 않았나 싶습니다 […]
저도 담배를 피우는 아이들을 보면 그냥 지나치치못하는 사람중의 하나입니다…처음엔 말로 뭐라고하는 경우가 대부분이죠 하지만 숫자가 많거나 좀 논다하는것들은 니가 뭔데 라는 표정으로 쳐다보죠 담배도 안끄고 말이죠… 그럼 어쩔수없습니다 숨어서 담배를 피우는 아이들이면 그냥 타이르지만 대로변에서 사람들이 많이 오가는 거리에서 교복을 입은채로 담배를 피우는 아이들을 그냥 어른이 말로한다고 들을거같습니까?? 제생각엔 어른 무서운줄알아야하고 청소년이 담배를 피우는게 잘못되었다라는걸 가르켜줘야하는게 어른이라고생각합니다.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Russia: Vasily Alexanyan · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Jan. 30, Robert Amsterdam, legal defense counsel for jailed ex-head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky, announced on his blog that his client had gone on a hunger strike in protest against the treatment of Vasily Alexanyan, another jailed Yukos executive, who is said to be dying of AIDS and lymphoma cancer, but is being denied life-saving treatment.
On Feb. 2, Amsterdam blogged on why most international NGOs and human rights groups remained silent about “the murder-in-progress of Vasily Alexanyan”:
[…] Why on earth won't anybody say anything about this poor, unfortunate victim of Kremlin injustice? This is the question often put to me in recent emails and comments. Of course I have my theories which I shall outline below, but I certainly do share their outrage and disbelief.
Consider the facts: He's been unlawfully held in pre-trial detention for two years without conviction, denied urgent medical care to treat his condition (which the prosecutor illegally disclosed to the media as HIV), and he has been offered relief and medical care only in exchange for invented false testimony against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other Yukos prisoners. Not to mention that the Russian Federation has ignored three separate orders from the European Court of Human Rights regarding his medical care.
The man is on the brink of death, yet apart from a barely publicized Amnesty International note back on Jan. 18, almost no one in Europe or North America has said any thing in his defense. […]
In the Russian blogosphere, however, a campaign has been launched by LJ user rikusha to name government and law enforcement officials who are believed to be “killing” Alexanyan, in one way or another. The blogger writes (RUS):
One day, this list will definitely prove useful.
And in Moscow, some 200 people showed up at Novopushkinsky Square on Feb. 1 to support Alexanyan.
LJ user nl posted eight photos and this brief report (RUS) from the rally:
[…] Flags of the [United Civil Front], [Oborona youth movement], [National Bolshevik Party] and [Stop Chechen War anti-war movement] soared over the crowd. Slogans ranged widely from “Freedom to political prisoners!” and “FSB [Federal Security Service] is Russia's disgrace!” to “Moscow without [mayor Yuri Luzhkov]!” and “We'll teach you how to love the Constitution!”
After rallying for exactly an hour and a half, the crowd dispersed.
[8 photos]
Here is one of the conversations about Alexanyan and Khodorkovsky that took place in the comments section of nl‘s photo report:
sergracha:
And who is he?
annuak2005:
[a link to a selection of Russian-language news stories about Alexanyan]
But I still don't understand what he was being tried for.
dao_b:
He hasn't been tried. There hasn't been a trial yet. He's spent two years in pretrial detention center. They keep failing to beat a testimony against Khodorkovsky out of him.
annuak2005:
Do they need more testimony against Khodorkovsky? He's in jail already, isn't he?
herald:
Not much is left of his sentence. That's why the regime is preoccupied with securing another jail term for him.
LJ user drugoi also attended the Feb. 1 rally, and his blog entry (RUS, eight photos and a video) has received 543 comments so far. While many bloggers expressed hostility towards Alexanyan, as many seemed to be shocked by such an attitude.
Below is a rather typical exchange:
lucysd:
Out of six comments, five are hateful. The extent to which you've been brainwashed by Putin's propaganda. People laughing at the terminally ill are subhuman.
butch_ara:
People who are making their fortunes by looting natural resources are also subhuman. But if you steal, you should be prepared that sooner or later they'll bust you.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Afghanistan: Balkh, The Poorest Province  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mohammad writes about Balkh, an economically underprivileged northern province of Afghanistan, which, on the other hand, has a very rich historical and cultural legacy, being listed among Educational, Scientific and Cultural human history heritage in the United Nations.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: On Uruzgan, tribes, corruption and all else · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Péter Marton analyzes the presentation by Major General Ton van Loon of the Netherlands, former commander of ISAF RC-S, delivered at the U.S. Atlantic Council (ACUS), where he talked of many issues there that are important in the context of the insurgency in southern Afghanistan.


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Angola: Impressions on a new magazine for Afro woman · Global Voices
Paula Góes

A. Quelha [pt] shares her thoughts on the new Afro magazine, which left her disappointed: “It seems that their goal is arouse the interest of all in African culture… hummm I can't see it! Then it presents itself as being the first Portuguese magazine “for women of African origin”. But is this done by races now? I did not see even one white person in the photos…. Only blacks”.


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Angola: Looking forward to 2010 CAN now · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Eugénio Costa Almeida [pt] says good bye for the Angolan dream in the CAN but he is looking forward to the 2010 games. “We lost to Egypt by 2-1 with a magnificent goal from Manucho and two goals, especially the second, a little bit childish, granted by the pharaohs.”


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Anguilla, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago: Media & Corruption · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Corruption-free Anguilla is impressed by the Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute‘s speech at the 27th General Conference of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Armenia: On The Campaign Trail · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With a little over two weeks to go until Armenia's presidential election, my Armenia Election Monitor 2008 posts photographs and an account of one of the largest opposition rallies held during the campaign period to date. However, with the election now entering a crucial stage, all attention is on whether various opposition candidates can finally unite to challenge the government favorite.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Russian Railway Deal · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following the transfer of the Armenian railroad system to a Russian company, The Armenian Economist comments on the transaction and says that the railway is in desperate need of funding. However, the blog adds, why did it take so long to happen?


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Australia: Watching China · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Should Australia be anxious of China's increasing maritime capabilities?

author: Preetam Rai


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Azerbaijan: Cultural Destruction · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Djulfa Blog posts photographs of what it says is evidence that the destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetery in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan was orchestrated and planned.


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Bahamas: Crime Stats · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Have I misunderstood something?”: Rick Lowe at WeblogBahamas.com wonders why the police are refusing to release the country's crime statistics to the public.


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Bahrain: Publication Law · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif sheds light on Bahrain's publication law and promises by the Information Minister not to jail journalists.


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Barbados: Acknowledging Bloggers · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living in Barbados reports that the traditional media on the island seem to finally be acknowledging the impact of blogging.


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Bolivia: Collective Blog from the Diaspora  · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Editor's Note: The following is a translation of a post originally published by Karen Heredia in Blogs Bolivia [es].
On August 9th, 2007 the blog Viviendo en Dos Culturas [es], (Living in Two Cultures) began.  The author of the first post was Pablo Sánchez Kohn. To date, Viviendo en Dos Culturas [es] has published 56 posts.  Within its virtual walls, we can read the following:
To live in two cultures is sometimes a choice and sometimes “an accident.” It is to feel present here and sometimes to feel present there. To live in two cultures is… I would like to invite you to share your experiences about living in two cultures.  The good, the bad, the (whatever you like).
The following bloggers contribute in this blog of bloggers:
*  Utópico
* David Rojas Elbirt
* OJO DE VIDRIO
* Laura Fähndrich
* uberedwin
* Pablo Sánchez Kohn
* José Andrés Sánchez Exeni
Woody Allen and Bolivia can be found in “Carcelona” [es]
Raúl me cuenta la historia de su hermano Arturo quien reside clandestinamente en Barcelona; dejó la carrera de Administración de Empresas y ahora trabaja en la caja de un micromercado del Poble Sec; sin embargo, como dice Raúl, su hermano está convencido de que hizo lo correcto…
Raúl tells me the story of his brother Arturo, who lives in a clandestine manner in Barcelona.  He left college and his pursuit of a Business Administration degree and now works as a cashier at a supermarket in Poble Sec.  However, says, Raúl, his brother is convinced that he did the right thing.
Bolivian restaurants and bars: Between integration and conflicts [es]
Los bares y restaurantes bolivianos se han convertido en un núcleo de integración y de muestra de nuestras virtudes, pero también corren el riesgo de convertirse en guetos o espacios donde afloran nuestros defectos y dificultades para integrarnos a la vida europea.Muchos bolivianos, españoles, asiáticos y hasta africanos han encontrado una veta preciosa en la venta de comida boliviana, de un sabor incomparable, pero también de cervezas de cualquier tipo que sirven para “ahogar las penas” y olvidar una semana de duro trajinar trabajando o buscando empleo…
The Bolivian bars and restaurants have become a center for integration and a display of our virtues.  However, they also run the risk of becoming ghettos or places where our defects and difficulty to integrate ourselves into European society.  Many Bolivians, Spanish, Asians, and even Africans have found something precious in Bolivian food, a taste without compare, as well as any type of beer that serves to “drown one's sorrows” and forget about a difficult week at work or looking for work…
The Baby the Was Born with a “Passport Underneath His Arm” [es]
Parece que Luis Ignacio Iriarte, el primer bebé nacido en toda España el 2008, ha llegado al mundo con “un pasaporte bajo el brazo”, por la buena suerte que trae a los bolivianos que no tienen ese documento.Siempre dicen que un recién nacido viene con su pan al mundo, pero en este caso, el bebé boliviano nacido en Valencia a los pocos segundos de este año, convertido en una celebridad mediática, ha traído una luz de esperanza a los compatriotas que buscan regularizarse o tener documentos…
It appears that Luis Ignacio Iriarte, the first baby born in 2008 in all of Spain, entered this world with “a passport underneath his arm,” for the good luck that this brings all the Bolivians without a passport.  They always say that newborns arrive with bread for the world, but in this case, the Bolivian baby, who was born a few seconds at the beginning of this year in Valencia, has become a celebrity. He brought a ray of hope for his fellow countrymen and women, who are looking to adjust or obtain legal papers.
Cruceño (Bolivian from Santa Cruz) directs successful radio program in the US [es]
Bolivianos, salvadoreños y peruanos buscan cada sábado su programa de radio, en el que responde las inquietudes de los inmigrantes. Vivió desde su infancia en Santa Cruz y se formó en Estados Unidos, pero se considera un camba más. Es especialista en migración…
Bolivians, Salvadorans, and Peruvians seek answers to immigration questions on his radio program each Saturday.  He lived in Santa Cruz as a child and was educated in the United States, but he considers himself just another Camba.  He is an expert in immigration issues.
Bolivian Food in Spain: A Tasty Article [es]
Tengo la creencia que no hay que intentar buscar allí donde estás lo que has dejado detrás tuyo. Poniéndolo en cristiano, no hay que intentar encontrar comida boliviana si vives en el extranjero, sólo lograrás deprimirte con platos fabricados a medias entre los productos locales y la melancolía…
I believe that one should not attempt to find there, what you left behind. In other words, one should try to find Bolivian food, if you live abroad. You'll just become depressed with dishes prepared half-heartedly among the local products and the melancholy.
A Watchful Eye on European Consulates [es]
Las actividades de algunos consulados en Europa y su verdadero servicio a la población han sido puestas en tela de juicio en las últimas semanas, en medio de una pugna política y de intereses personales. Europa tiene casi 500 mil bolivianos, pero la cantidad de Embajadas y consulados y el personal que poseen no ha sido incrementada por el Gobierno, lo que provoca protestas de los compatriotas que se extienden desde España hasta Alemania….
The activities of some European consulates and their real service to the population have been drawn into the spotlight during these past few weeks, during the recent political battles and personal interests.  Europe has nearly 500,000 Bolivians, but the amount of embassies, consulates and staff has not been increased by the government, which has raised protests by countrymen and women from Spain to Germany.
Humor Conference and the Bolivian Migration [es]
Amigos: Difundo el texto de la conferencia que brindé en la Casa de América de Barcelona el 28 de de noviembre del 2007, en el marco de las “Jornadas sobre el Humor en Iberoamérica”. Del 26 al 30 de noviembre, disertaron prestigiosos periodistas, humoristas, dibujantes, caricaturistas de España y Latinoamérica….
Friends: I pass along information about the conference being put on by the Casa de América of Barcelona on November 28, 2007 titled, “Programs about Humor in Ibero-America.”  From November 26-28, prestigious journalists, humorists, cartoonists, and illustrators from Spain and Latin America will be present.
Bolivians in New York [es]
Sean Bienvenidos a todos los compatriotas Bolivianos Residentes en la ciudad de Nueva York, y el resto del mundo… Nuestro proposito es, el de poder difundir las actividades nuestras desde la “Gran Manzana”, al resto del Planeta….
Welcome to all of our fellow compatriots, the Bolivian Residents in the city of New York and the rest of the world.  Our objective is to spread information about our activities in the “Big Apple” to the rest of the world.
The Story of a Bolivian in Barcelona [es]
Elisabet Silva, de 35 años, de origen boliviano, es una de los 40.000 extranjeros que, a través de la reagrupación familiar, llegaron a Cataluña en 2007. La mujer, que aterrizó este verano en el aeropuerto de El Prat de Llobregat, abandonó su empleo en una oficina de comercio exterior en La Paz (Bolivia) para reencontrarse con su marido, Nilo, que lleva cuatro años trabajando en Barcelona…
Bolivian Elisabet Silva is 35 years old and is one of the 40,000 foreigners that as part of family reunification, arrived in Cataluña in 2007.  The woman arrived this summer at the airport El Prat de Llobregat after leaving her job at a commercial office in La PAz.  She later was reunited with her husband, Nilo, who had been living and working in Barcelona for four years.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bolivia: Pending Items for the President · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In Bolivia, Guayarmerín Analitica [es] questions President Evo Morales’ declaration that after the school voucher for children and pensions for seniors that now the opposition can get rid of him.  She asks, “is Evo satisfied when there are so many pending items?” such as the new Constitution, inflation and autonomies.


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Bolivia: Photos and Videos of Carnaval in Oruro · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Hugo Miranda of Angel Caido [es] provides some firsthand photos and videos of the preparation for Carnaval in Oruro, of a famous marching band, and the street party the night before.


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Cambodia: Learning Japanese Culture · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cambodian student SAMBO Samphors explores Japanese tea and flower decoration culture.


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Caucasus: Political Roundup · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Marilisa Lorusso's blog posts another weekly roundup of the latest political developments in the South Caucasus. This week the blog examines the latest events in the area of relations between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia with Russia.


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Colombia: San Pedro Cemetery in Medellín · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Baúl de Letras [es] provides some reflections after a recent visit to the San Pedro Cemetery in Medellín, Colombia and that the cemetery is much more than a final resting place, but it also offers cultural programming and guided visits.


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Dominica: Trouble in Paradise?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Both Caribbean Man and Steve's Dominica are concerned about the “intellectual crisis” on the island: “Just the handling of the ‘proposed’ oil refinery has made me cringe.”


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El Salvador: Public Opinion on Mining in the Country · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Tim Muth links to a recent report regarding public opinion on mining in El Salvador, and that nearly 63% of those polled said that the country “is not an adequate territory for mining works.”


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English Blogs From Cameroon · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Cameroon was colonised by both the English and the French. The historical legacy of colonial rule is reflected in the linguistic division of the country. It is divided between the French-speaking North and the English-speaking South. Although English speakers are the minority, the Cameroonian English blogosphere is very active. Today, we are introducing some of them to you.
Dibussi Tande is one of the leading English bloggers from Cameroon. His blog, Scribbles from the Den is about his personal view on people, places, issues, and events in Cameroon, Africa, and the world. He discusses what he calls “Biyaism”:
After close to a year of subtle and not-so-subtle calls by members of the ruling CPDM for an amendment of Article 6(2) of the constitution of Cameroon which imposes presidential term limits, President Paul Biya finally took a stance on the debate last December 31. During his nationwide end-of-year address, Paul Biya backed the opponents of term limits by arguing that: “In fact, there are arguments for a revision, particularly of Article 6 which indeed imposes a limitation of the people’s will, a limitation which is out of tune with the very idea of democratic choice.”
Bakweri is a group blog focusing on Bakweri culture and society. The blog celebrated the news of a Cameroonian born new President of the University of Pittsburgh:
Dr. Jem Spectar who hails from Buea at the foot of Mt. Fako, South West Cameroon, was on Friday 28th September  installed as the 5th President of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in the United States.
Bate Besong is a special blog dedicated to the life and works of the late Bate Besong, a well known Cameroonian social critic. Kelvin Ngong Toh looks at his play, Beasts of No Nation:
Bate Besong is one of the most renown Cameroonian playwright of English expression, besides Bole Butake, Victor Epie Ngome and John Nkemngong, who is of the younger generation of Cameroonian playwrights in English. Even then, Bate Besong’s plays have not gained impetus in the eyes of critics. But examining the content and form of Beasts of no Nations, a play he published in 1990, one can rightly conclude that Bate Besong is an experimentalist playwright and a reformer.
Fonlon.org is a blog celebrating Bernard Fonlon who was described by his contemporaries as “Socrates in Cameroon”:
Twenty years ago, on 26th August 1986, Bernard Nsokika Fonlon died in Canada. He had gone there in the month of May of that year in order to receive a doctorate degree in Literature (D. Litt.) from the University of Guelph, and it was his intention to spend the 1986/1987 academic year in the United States of America, within the framework of a Fulbright programme. But the Lord, the Giver of Life, decided otherwise. Bernard died in Canada at the age of sixty-one years, and nine months and six days.
Tangwa's pages is a blog by Godfrey Tangwa, a prolific Cameroonian writer. His blog has not been updated for sometime, though. He once wrote about malaria research and ethics:
What has Ethics got to do with state-of-the-art malaria research and control efforts, let alone in Cameroon? If the word “Ethics” brings to your mind only images of churches and other places of worship, holy books and religious injunctions, priests, pastors and other preachers, all of which may seem rather far removed from science, let alone research, then this surely, is a pertinent question for you. Of course, religious people, religious discourse and religion generally are concerned with ethics or morality generally. But ethics or morality is quite distinct from religion and is or should be the concern of all human beings, be they religious or not.
Francis B. Nyamnjoh is Associate Professor and Head of Publications and Dissemination with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). One of his recent posts is about his latest novel, Souls Forgotten:
This novel is about coming of age and coming to terms in Mimboland. It is also about the fragility of life and the strength of the human spirit. The filth and screaming splendor of the city and the perplexed tranquility of the village are juxtaposed, as the tension and conviviality between tradition and modernity are lived and explored.
Jacob Nguni is a Cameroonian musician as well as a blogger. He writes about the popular African song, Sweet Mother:
Sweet Mother by Prince Nico Mbarga has been voted Africa's favourite song by BBC readers and listeners.
Chosen from a shortlist of 10, the 1976 hit celebrating motherhood won with more than 27% of the vote.
The wedding song Vuli Nadlela by the wild child of South African music, Brenda Fassie, who died earlier this year, came in second.
Mwalimu George Ngwane is a Cameroonian political and social thinker. He mostly writes about social, cultural and political issues. He recently wrote about 2007 being the year of heroism and martyrdom in Africa:
Heroism is the ability to triumph over adversity. Its kernel is fuelled by defiance and fired by a steel will.
Either as an individual or a corporate body, heroism urges the subject to go against the grain of conservative establishment. Motivated by independent assertiveness, the subject breaks free from monolithism and complacency to embrace the collective vision of his or her society. Ali Mazrui says heroes are symbols of achievements; they are ultimate victors.
Rosemary Ekosso is a Cameroonian translator and court interpreter living in the Netherlands. She writes about affecting Africans today, especially African women.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Georgia: Conflict Resolution or Reintegration? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Steady State wonders why the Georgian “Conflict Resolution Ministry” dealing with frozen conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia has changed its name to the “Reintegration Ministry.” The blog wonders if corresponding ministries in the two breakaway regions will now follow suit.


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Gyuana, Trinidad & Tobago: In Mourning · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Lifespan of a Chennette is still in shock over the Lusignan tragedy, but says: “The people of Guyana haven’t given into this unfathomable move on the part of vicious, inhuman criminals.”


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Haiti: Dying of Hunger · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dying in Haiti links to an article by Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre, saying: “Seems like the story regarding Haitians eating mud pies in Cite Soleil has bothered many people around the world.”


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India: Goons and Politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

India Daily on Raj Thackeray – a politician who seems to send goons out to resolve all issues.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Kids, poverty and education · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Weight of Silence on getting disadvantaged kids in India to read.


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Indonesia: Alternative History post 1965 · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger and commentators at Indonesia Matters partake in an alternative history exercise where they are trying to forecast what would have happened if the communists succeeded in taking over Indonesia in 1965.


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Iran:Marjan Satrapri, the author of Perseopolis on Colbert Report! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Omid Memarian says that while some of the Iranian, and Iranian-Americans criticize Marjan Satrapi for presenting a black and white image of the Iranian society and give warmongers an excuse to do whatever they want to do with Iran, she says that she has tried to humanize the Iranian people in her movie.Omid has published a film about Marjan's interview in Colbert Report.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Stoning sentence for two sisters · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Normblog,two Iranian sisters convicted of adultery face being stoned to death after the supreme court upheld the death sentences against them.The two sisters were found guilty of adultery.Read more here .


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Iraq: Stares and Reactions  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Neurotic Iraqi Wife wonders why she gets stares from men and her reactions to those looks.


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Iraq: The Idiots have finally made Saddam’s wish come true · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Or so says Baghdad Connect read on to find out why. But the main story is a double bomb blast shattering the perceived lull in violence in Iraq, bloggers put a human face on the impact of such explosions. And reactions to a report that one million Iraqis have died since 2003.
Here are two pictures of the grilled fish ( simich mazgouf), dad is a professional fisherman, he knows how to grill a fish in a robust way. My aunt and uncle's widow were invited to our house yesterday, so dad bought this delicious fish and cooked it out in our front yard…enjoy watching!!!
If you read no other posts this week read these
While the bomb attacks in Baghdad receive wide publicity, mainly because of their political significance, one must not forget that Iraq's second city, Mosul, is undergoing even worse troubles. Much of which is barely glossed over in the world media. Baghdad Dentist gives a first hand account of the aftermath of one huge explosion that he witnessed first hand. He writes:
it was a DISASTER. even the word disaster doesnt describe the crime happened there. as if a nuclear bomb were thrown there.the trees were 100metre away. the bricks of the buildings were everywhere.the power cables were in pieces allover the place. i couldnt distinguish the houses from each other and from the shops. a cyclon is less less destructive. i stood astonished there. i havent seen like this only when the b52 aircraft bombed one of the buildings during war in baghdad. without any exaggeration 20 houses were severly ruined up and nearly 35 affected. who was that monster who did it? he is the evil himself.
And Baghdad Connect interviews an Iraqi professor who gives an interesting perspective on the design of the new Iraqi flag:
the Idiots (MPs) have finally helped Saddam’s wish come true, when they approved a tentative Iraqi flag with missing three stars that bears solely the wording of ‘God Greatest’!
For nearly a decade Saddam’s intention was to drop the three stars … and keep ‘God Greatest’ alone. The move was to portray himself as a heaven’s gate protector for the rest of the Arab countries from any foreign aggressors like Iran.
It snowed for the second time this season in my city, and this time was better and thicker than the first time on Jan 12th. I was lucky enough to take some pictures with my friends … while we were taking pictures a US convoy included 4 vehicles were on the road, two of the US soldiers stepped out of the vehicle, one of them carried a disposable camera, he looked at me and asked if its ok to take a picture with him…
Those guys were surprised about the snow we had. Oh well when I see snow it is as if am seeing peace around me.
Bombs in Baghdad
We have all heard of how 100 people died in a double bombing in Baghdad pet markets last week that was attributed to the work of Al-Qaeda. Iraqi bloggers fill in the background about the area and people affected.
Leilaa Fadil, who works for one of the international media offices in Baghdad reported how life went on after the event:
When the bodies were gone people covered the remains of flesh on the road with pieces of cloth. …  Dead birds and animals were gathered up and put into a dumpster. Cleaners swept away the pools of blood, shop owners began to repair their shops once again and life went on.
Neurotic Wife wakes up to the news and is angry. And shouts at the people who spend their time disputing the numbers killed in this war:
we still have worthless people still disputing the Lancet report, asking whether its a true study? No its actually a fake one, done in really weird circumstances, they tell the world. No dont believe this report they argue. This report is all lies!!! If this report is all lies, then all those millions of Iraqis that got martyred and are still getting martyred everyday are but film characters in a sci fi movie, right? … The majority of today’s victims were kids. Real kids!!!Kids whose parents wanted to take advantage of the weekend to entertain them. Entertain them instead of keeping them locked up between the walls of their cold, dark, lonely homes. But no, entertainment in Iraq is wishful thinking. For even the thought of it is a sin by itself.
She also points to ominous signs of more violence to come:
just as I was chatting with HUBBY, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, a large explosion took place very close to him. It was so close that even I heard it over the speakers. I guess its official now that the 6 month standoff of al Mahdi militia is over.
Iraq Pundit uses the bombing as an example to berate American politicians who call for a quick withdrawal from Iraq. He writes:
Guess it's easier for the politicians to apologize later. You know, the way Bill Clinton apologized for sitting back and watching the killings in Rwanda while he was in the White House.
Most of us can understand on some level why terrorists don't have a conscience. They're murderers. Any sense of what's right and wrong would prevent them from doing their jobs. Please don't tell me to vote for the presidential candidates who look the other way in order to do their jobs.
Alaa gives some background to the area and the people there:
This particular place has been attacked several times before and still it happens. It is heartbreaking really. The people who frequent these traditional and very lovable places are usually amongst the poorest and are mostly young animal loving hobbyists.
He reproaches the Arab media for ignoring this atrocity or blaming others and goes as far as criticising America for allowing its allies to finance groups that openly support Al-Qaeda. Alaa writes:
Perhaps it is this weak-kneed American attitude that has contributed to the aggravation of the terrorist phenomenon.
Talking about weak-kneed attitudes, Baghdad Connect picks up on George Bush's recent trip to Saudi Arabia where he was photographed posing with a sword. In a sketch Baghdad Connect alleges Bush is associating with symbols linked to Al-Qaeda and their brand of religion and how it makes such groups look like they have official American support. While the truth of this is disputable, one can only wonder at how little the American president and his advisors understand about the symbolism of such actions.
One million dead and counting?
A recent survey published an estimate that more than one million Iraqis have died following the 2003 war. Raed Jarrar gives a political reaction:
More than one million Iraqis have died … at the same time, bush is revealing his plans to leave permanent military bases in Iraq…
One million Iraqis have been killed because of the US occupation, but US interventionists from both the “right” and “left” are still giving excuses to stay in Iraq.
Oh lord, protect Iraq from the U.S. “right” imperialists who want to stay in Iraq to kill the bad guys, and protect Iraq from the U.S. “left” imperialists who want to stay in Iraq to save Iraqis from themselves.
And Layla Anwar gives an emotional response:
Add to that the 1.5 million during 13 years of sanctions and add to that an unknown number of missing persons and add to that 4.5 million in exile or displaced and add to that all those who were tortured, raped, maimed, and crippled by your liberation.
Bravo Americans, you won the jackpot. You won over 2.5 million Iraqi corpses. And you may share the 4.5 million in exile or displaced as as bonus. … You invaded and occupied under the name of Democracy and Freedom, so that makes you nothing but a collective bunch of maniacal psychopaths, a group of revolting sick perverts, a disgusting affront to anything called human, an insult to the world.
And finally:
Marshmallow26 explains the importance of the mobile Internet in her life:
I don't even know who said this adage: the world is a small village, but it is %1000 true, we were shocked when the Internet technology invaded our world, life, work and houses but we never thought that there would be another source; mobiles or cellular phones which I call the teeny-weeny genius invention will give every one of us the feeling of mastering the world by one touch!! What a lovely feeling… I did buy a card and a SIM card and boom I had internet via my phone, well now this type is making me more sluggish than the first, why? You know that the weather is getting really frosty and I can't resist the heat and the softness I have in my bed, I decided to check my emails and my blog besides your blogs while am in my bed and my head is under my pillow!! What a lovely feeling. I wouldn't imagine that I can travel around the world while am in bed, ahh so relaxing…am thinking of taking my cell phone with me to the bathroom next time, ha-ha.

author: Salam Adil


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Kazakhstan: Bill Clinton, Nazarbayev and Uranium · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports on the business ethics and political scandal involving U.S. ex-president Clinton, Kazakh government and a canadian financier – at the same time a personal friend of Clinton. The issue was first got public coverage in the New York Times, and now spreads wider.


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Kazakhstan: WordPress is now available in Kazakh · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Askhat says that Kazakh-language bloggers have taken the challenge to translate WordPress into Kazakh, including everything inside the platform, not just the external appearance


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Kenya: Tribal hatred claims its first online casualty · Global Voices
Rebecca Wanjiku

When conflicts erupted in Kenya after the elections, many fingers pointed at the newspapers and radio as the sources of hatred and fanning the fires of tribal hatred that have been lit over time. None focussed much on blogs and online forums. But it has proved that even online forums have  been breeding grounds for war mongers.
Mashada forum, Kenya's first online chat room was forced to close after discussions got out of control. White Africa reports about his shock:
As you may already know, I’ve been having quite a problem regulating Mashada.com, despite having recently hired people to moderate the forums. It is starting to become a reflection of what is going on on the ground in Kenya. I’d hate for it to hinder our current efforts since I’m directly connected to it, therefore I’m having to shut down the forums until further notice. Facilitating civil discussions and debates has become virtually impossible.
White African further notes that:
The post-election violence in Kenya is horrible. Most of the people who use Mashada are part of the Kenyan diaspora based in the US and Europe, but also a healthy amount from Kenya. So, the vast majority of people using it are seeing and hearing about the atrocities happening to their friends and family and are rightfully upset.
The situation has been so bad that some comments have had to be deleted by the moderators. Kenyan Pundits gives an example:
I’ve deleted a comment made by someone about the hate speech on Mashada, not because I disagree with the concerns raised but because I know the links included would have been bait for guys to respond with their own hateful comments.
I have recently had a conversation with David about the kinds of inciteful and hateful speech that people are putting up on Mashada, and what he was doing about it – beyond my disgust with what people are putting up there… I was/am concerned that it would undermine the wonderful work that he is doing with Ushahidi. David says he’s swamped and the moderators are burning out fast. He tried to shut down the website for a week, but that didn’t help. He is considering paying moderators, but is also welcoming ideas from others (any willing to help him with moderating).
During the times of heightened animosity, bloggers virtually took sides. Recently, Kumekucha wrote “the truth about the Kikuyus” and noted:
There cannot be and should not be any attempt to negotiate an obvious violation and abuse of office. Doing so will only further worsen an already deeply troubling situation. None of the so called high profile mediators currently in Kenya, voted in the general election of 27th December 2007, and their presence is of no value whatsoever to the masses who voted for the “de facto” President of Kenya Raila Amolo Odinga and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The continued presence of these impostors on Kenyan soil and their empty attempts at purported mediation,only serves to further infuriate and insult the overwhelming majority that voted for Raila Odinga and ODM.
On the other hand, Kenyan enterprenuer writes about Raila as an evil man hell bent on capturing power:
This idea by Raila that Kibaki is trying to kill his way to a majority in parliament is crazy and it is where Raila’s evil treachery comes into play.  He is using these deaths to score political points and to spur continued violence (he knows these deaths are not connected to Kibaki!!).
Look at his speech right after Were’s death:
**Raila’s Hyperbole: “An emotional Raila eulogised the slain MP, saying his life and blood would not go in vain.
Siasa duni offers to demonstrate how President Kibaki stole the election and draws a parallel between Kibaki and the Bush administration:
The events also have deeply unsettled the Bush administration, which has relied on Kenya as an ally in the war on terror and a bulwark of stability in East Africa. Official results gave Kibaki an edge of 231,728 votes, or 2 percent, out of about 10 million cast. Initial results of an exit poll by the U.S.-funded International Republican Institute found that Raila Odinga had won by an 8 percent margin. Election officials allowed five accredited Kenyan observers into the tallying centre only in the final phase of vote-counting, and three of them shared their accounts: all said that the gravest cheating occurred in that room, where commissioners—all appointed by Kibaki— compiled returns before announcing them to the public.

author: Rebecca Wanjiku


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Kyrgyzstan: Gazprom targets Kyrgyzgaz? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

CXW considers the plausibility of sensationalistic headlines about the alleged intentions of the Russian giant monopoly Gazprom to enter energy market in Kyrgyzstan.


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Mexico: Candelaria Day and Tamales · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Candelaria Day is a tradition in Mexico, where the statues of baby Jesus are dressed up in religious garb, and Chilanga Banda [es] notes that some choose to go a different route and even place miniature soccer jerseys on the baby Jesus.  In addition, tamales are a big part of this celebration, and the blog provides a delicious recipe for those that want to try cooking at home.


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Nepal: Housewives and Women · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

My DiGi Home remembers speaking about her mother as a homemaker, and the idea of a housewife.


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Nepal: Kite Runner · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kathmandu Speaks on watching Kite Runner – the film


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Nepal: Working abroad · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Deepak's Diary on the vulnerability of immigrants from Nepal.


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New Zealand: Migration Record · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Kiwiblog points to the latest migration statistics and finds that record number of New Zealanders are moving to Australia.


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Russia: Ethnic Russian Mufti · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia reports that Muslims in North Ossetia have chosen a converted ethnic Russian as their mufti.


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Russia: “Medvedev, Liberal?” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Streetwise Professor insists that Dmitri Medvedev isn't liberal.


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Russia: Presidential Candidates · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light discusses Russia's four presidential candidates.


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Russia: Stalingrad Battle · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Windows to Russia! writes about the 65th anniversary of the Stalingrad Battle.


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Russia: “Un-Election” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes on the March 2 “un-election”: “Western journalists might dismiss Russia’s election as a caricature of democracy, but the fact remains that the Kremlin is taking it seriously. So seriously that it appears everything has been done to prevent any surprises.”


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Senegal: Akon makes no sense · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Leo Africanus writes about Senegale-American musician: “Akon, the Senegalese-American musician, who styles himself as a ‘global’ political force of sorts, makes no sense in an interview in the March issue of the hip hop music and culture magazine, The Source”


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Singapore: Changi Airport · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cambodian blogger Mongkol is happy waiting at Singapore's airport.


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Slovenia: Real Estate · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Filomena writes about Slovenia's real estate and other business issues – here, here, here and here.


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South Africa: Experiencing Durban · Global Voices
hj barraza

American doctoral student, Martha Webber, blogs about her experience in South Africa: “Bypassing the braai (the very popular Afrikaans barbecue), I finally got to try some of the Indian food I had heard so much about before arriving in Durban.  The city and its surrounding areas has a population of at about one million Indians in large part because of a massive influx of Indians as indentured laborers in the mid-19th century.”

author: hj barraza


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: PM Facing Rape Charge · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On hearing news that the Prime Minister is being accused of rape, Abeni says: “I am sick and tired of St. Vincent and the Grenadines making waves for all the wrong reasons.”


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Thailand: Free Email Services and Official Use · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bangkok Bugle agrees with Thai government's order to its officials to stop using free email services for official use.


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The Balkans: Clinton’s Legacy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes about Bill Clinton's legacy in the Balkans.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival Results · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Beat Blog posts a comprehensive roundup of results from Trinidad and Tobago's major Carnival competitions.


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Turkmenistan: Students Abroad Fear to Tell the Truth · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Maciula writes about problems with the Turkmen special services faced by Turkmen students abroad. The post also describes why they are afraid of telling the truth about human rights abuses in Turkmenistan and the political situation in their country.


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Vietnam: Celebrate Tet · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vietworld Kitchen has some suggestions for the readers on how to celebrate Tet – the Vietnamese new year


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Armenia: Blog Top Ten · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Now that a local radio station is interested in blogging, Global Voices Author Artur Papyan recently asked one of Armenia's most experienced bloggers, Kornelij, to compile a list of his top ten Armenian blogs. As The Armenian Observer, Papyan posts the albeit subjective assessment of blogs in Armenian, Russian and English on one of his own.


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Antigua & Barbuda: 2020 Cricket · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dumani, a ten-year-old Antiguan boy, is live blogging the Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament in Antigua.


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Armenia: Decisive Rally · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on this coming Saturday's pre-election campaign rally by former president and candidate for the 19 February presidential vote, Levon Ter-Petrossian. The blogger says it is being billed as a “decisive” and expects the opposition to finally unite.


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Armenia: Pop & Politics · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

BBC and Moscow Times journalist Matthew Collin reports on the use of local pop singers to campaign in support of the governmental favorite, prime minister Serge Sargsyan, ahead of the 19 February presidential election in Armenia. This is Tbilisi Calling says that while the authorities might be utilizing the stars for their campaign, the opposition at least has what Collin calls a “feisty little ringtone available for download” and a “Warhol-style portrait” on his campaign web site.


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Blog Outreach in Madagascar – From Forumists to Bloggers · Global Voices
Rezwan

Originally posted on Rising Voices.
FOKO Blog Club is the outreach arm of FOKO, a project committed to the development of Madagascar. From the FOKO website:
FOKO was born a few days after TED Global conference: “Africa the next Chapter”, when TED Fellow Andriankoto and his fellow bloggers Mialy, Lova, and Joan decided to push further their cyber-activism by banking on their talents with the FOKO project to contribute ideas that will support Madagascar’s development.
Rather than the Malagasy people and culture, it is most often the biodiversity and famous lemurs of Madagascar which take the international spotlight. FOKO wants to shift the focus to the Malagasy people and make them a crucial factor in their unique and threatened environment. Their goal is to focus on one village (Kelilalina) in the Southeastern region of Madagascar, with one of their goals being to help save their forests.
Foko has many diversified projects and one of them is the Foko Blog Club, which started last August to teach blogging skills to young people in Madagascar. In a society where elders are given preference, people are not used to listening to the younger generation, although they represent 75% of the population. Foko wants to encourage more Malagasy youngsters to share their stories and integrate blogging into their educational and professional development. FOKO also hosted the Best of Malagasy Blogs competition contest in November 2007 and organizes monthly blogger meetups. Meet the club team members here.
Malagasy internet users are predominantly users of different online forums where they raise their voices fairly independently but while being comfortably supported by the online community.  Serasera is a popular Malagasy-language discussion forum based in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar with over 400 active members. FOKO Blog club with the help of the Rising Voices Micro grant will outreach to this active community of internet forumists and teach them how to participate in the global community of blogs, podcasts, and online video and thus enabling them to engage in the global conversation.
In their project proposal submitted to Rising Voices, they emphasized:
Twice a month, we will have sessions with a group of forumists. They are actually very internet savvy but for lack of connectivity (costly, slow and subject to electricity outage) they are not blogging and think the Internet is reduced to chat forums. Most of the forums are held in Madagascar, we want to expand outside of the Malagasy forum world and reach out worldwide.
FOKO's projects goals are:
On January 26, the Foko Blog Club arranged their first workshop of the year (4 of its kind) in the cyber cafe Teknet in Antananarivo to introduce blogging to the participants. In the FOKO project blog on Rising Voices Joan Razafimaharo shares the challenges in achieving their goal:
The idea of publishing ideas on one’s own and taking a personal position on each post could have understandably scared some of them. Our team did their best to make them feel at ease and showed them the basics of blogging in each session.
“Pro” Malagasy bloggers also showed up to help out with logistics and at the same time other overseas-based bloggers connected on the chatroom and offered support and tips.
And soon all were witnessing the results:
It took only one hour for the first posts to start showing up. FOKO members had not even yet mentioned Citizen Journalism and the Rising Voices tutorials translated into French  (and soon in Malagasy) that spontaneously all the blogs showed they had caught on the spirit of what it means to rise ones’ voices :
13 year-old FCandy very wisely posts about the latest news from her Ambohimanarina popular neighborhood.
Hard working Sasa tells us funny stories about people she meets everyday on her way home .
Stunningly Avylavitra showcases pictures of the impact of last week’s FAME cyclone which did many destructions in town …
Some issues were raised : Blanche07 explained how difficult it was to find Internet connection, Pakysse wanted to learn how to embed sounds and videos into posts, and 10-year-old Miora Stéphanie needed more time. Many more bloggers-to-be were waiting for their turn in the hallway.”
Read all the details on Rising Voices and bookmark the page (or rss feed) to receive more updates in the future. Check the sidebar of their project blog for links to the participants’ blogs, member feeds, tutorials, albums, chatrooms etc.
The FOKO facebook group already has 200+ members and the initiative was recently featured in Blog Her .
FOKO is soon expanding to Madagascar's second biggest town, Tamatave. It will now host two blogging sessions per month instead of one and more friends from the Namana Serasera group will attend the workshops to facilitate. We will be following this unique project and see how it brings about changes.

author: Rezwan


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Brazil: Blogging helps the police to mobilize and protest · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Lieutenant Melquisedec Nascimento, a blogger since April 2007, reports [pt] that his house was visited by four officials from the Police Internal Affairs Department, a special force that investigates crimes committed by police officers. According to him, this visit followed Saturday's order from Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral that the blogger be arrested immediately. Cláudio Humberto [pt]  broke the news a few hours after the warrant:
O governador Sérgio Cabral (PMDB-RJ) determinou na tarde deste sábado que a Corregedoria interna da PM ouvisse e prendesse o presidente da Assosiação dos Miltares Auxiliares e Especialistas (Amae), tenente Melquisedec Nascimento, que em seu blog Militar Legal mostrou fotos do governador com chapéu e nariz de Pinóquio. O tenente não foi encontrado. O advogado dele e da Amae diz que a medida é “absurda, arbitrária e antidemocrática, pois meu cliente preside uma entidade de classe, com direito à liberdade de expressão de seus associados garantida pela Constituição”.
Governor Sergio Cabral (PMDB-RJ party) established this Saturday afternoon that the Police Internal Affairs Department heard and arrested the chairman of the Auxiliary and Experts Military Association (Amae), Lt. Melquisedec Nascimento, who has showed pictures of the Governor with Pinocchio's hat and nose in his blog, Militar Legal [pt]. The lieutenant was not found. His and the Amae's lawyer says that the measure is “absurd, arbitrary and undemocratic because my client chairs a trade union, with the right to freedom of expression of its members guaranteed by the Constitution.”
According to Lt. Nascimento, who is still free and blogging, Cabral was greatly irritated by a photo composition and a video posted on the Militar Legal blog, in which the governor is depicted as Pinocchio. After the arrest warrant, many other bloggers have published the same picture out of solidarity. Others went even further, from Pinocchio to Hitler. Cláudia [pt] is one of the many bloggers who protested, publishing another montage using Sérgio Cabral's picture:
Uma coisa eu tenho certeza, o nosso governador nunca mais terá os votos dos policiais militare (de verdade) e de suas famílias, contudo isso não deve abalar em nada as suas próximas campanhas, são só 110.000 votos, contando só com mulher e filhos, se for contar com a familia toda do policial militar o numero de votos passa de 200.000. Infelizmente esse é o modo que nosso “fiher” achou certo de fazer em seu primeiro mandato como ditad…governador. Parabéns senhor, nunca o esqueceremos! Hae Sérgio Hitler Cabral!!!!!
One thing I am sure about, our governor will never have the votes of the military police (honestly) and their families, but this should not in any way undermine their next campaign, as there are just 110,000 votes if we count wives and children only, if we are to count the police officers’ whole families too, the number of votes is increased to over 200,000. Unfortunately this is the way that our “furher” thought it was appropriate for his first term as dictat… governor. Congratulations sir, we will never forget you! Hae Sérgio Hitler Cabral!!!!!
A cross was placed in Copacabana Beach for every police officer dead within the last five years,  on February 1st: all together there are 586. Photo by Thiago Velloso
In one of the world's most violent cities, a newly recruited police officer earns $500.00 a month and after a 30 year career they will end up with a monthly salary of $3500.00, according to Lt. Nascimento. The demand is for a starting salary of $ 1500.00 and better working conditions to conduct a seriously dangerous job: the confrontations with drug dealers and gangs claim around 10 lives a month among police officers, and officials complain that there is a lack of adequate facilities to carry out the work safely.
In a post called Rio de Janeiro is mourning, colonel Paulo Ricardo Paúl [pt] pays homage to the latest of their side's victims, a young cadet killed this Sunday while going home at the end of his carnival shift. According to two colleagues who managed to escape, the murders knew they were from the police force and were after their guns, but as they were just cadets, they didn't have yet the right to carry any:
O Rio de Janeiro perdeu mais um herói social, um jovem idealista que tinha escolhido ser um herói na defesa da sociedade fluminense. Um jovem que sonhava servir e proteger o cidadão. Uma vida ceifada pela covarde violência urbana que se multiplica pela nossa cidade.
Rio de Janeiro has lost another social hero, a young idealist who had chosen to be a hero in the defense of the fluminense  [from Rio de Janeiro] society. A youngster who had dreamed to serve and protect the public. A life claimed by the cowardly urban violence which multiplies itself around our city.
On the other hand, the force faces strong criticism from human rights groups for indiscriminate killings in the slums. Last year alone, a record 1,260 civilians died in clashes with police in the state, according to the Rio de Janeiro State Institute of Public Safety. On the Wednesday ahead of Carnival, at least six alleged drug traffickers were killed in crack downs on gangs as the police swept through two slums.
There is an ongoing crisis in the force over pay and working conditions, which has been intensified in the days leading up to Carnival. A little more than  50 officers resigned and 11 have been fired from positions of trust in Rio de Janeiro's military police force in the last weeks, including another blogger, Major Wanderby Braga de Medeiros [pt]. Their commander, Col. Ubiratan Angelo, was dismissed by the state governor Sergio Cabral for allowing a protest over pay. These controversial sackings were justified, according to the state government, because the military police service comes under the same rules as the army. Unlike their civilian counterparts, military officers have no rights to join a union or to go on strikes. But now they can blog.
And more and more police officers, from all ranks and states in Brazil, are discovering this. They use blogs to spread information about future meetings and to quickly mobilize protests, to make their claims known to the greater public, to comment on reports by the mass media, to produce their own independent journalism. Alexandre de Souza [pt] quotes the Secretary of Public Security, José Mariano Beltrame, who according to the blogger has said “We will not accept that they make claims in such a tone, using websites and blogs”. Souza asks other police bloggers not bring the tone down, even in the face of retaliation from their superiors:
Blogs são ferramentas pessoais, acessíveis, de baixo custo, sem intermediários, apoiadas em uma mídia instantânea e de alcance global. Entende agora porque temos tanto poder? E se hoje a informação é o poder, nunca ele esteve tão próximo de cada um de nós, livre e democraticamente. Não vamos, agora, abrir mão disso. Continuemos nesse tom. E se injustiças forem cometidas, aumentemos o tom!
Blogs are personal, accessible, low cost tools, with no intermediaries, which rely on a instantaneous media with a global reach. Do you now understand why we have so much power? And if nowadays information is power, this has never been as close to each one of us, freely and democratically. We will not give it up now. Let us continue using this tone. And if injustices are committed, we'll increase the tone!
The banner reads: “586 dead police officers – for less than R$ 30 a day”. The daily rates for a police officer in Rio de Janeiro is $17 a day. Photo by Thiago Velloso


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Brazil: Impressions on Rio Carnival · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Rachel Glickhouse elects Carnival in Rio one of the 1000 things you should do before you die. “Never in my 23 years of existence have I seen anything like it, and never have I experienced so much pure, unmitigated joy.” Check out the whole post, her photos and videos.


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China: Comparing Chinese and Western Culture · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Designer Yang Liu used simple graphic to compare Chinese and Western Culture. Onemanbandwidth captured some of the comparisons.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Illegal to View Pornography? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In responding to the popstar sex scandal, Liu Xiaoyuan pointed out that in mainland China, according to the Police regulation on Internet in announced in 1997, viewing pornography can be illegal in China (zh). The blogger stated that morality issue can't be handed by the state and shouldn't be punished.


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China: Storm in the way home · Global Voices
Bob Chen

It’s just a 20-hour travel, but I have lost contact with my 3 kids for 3 days! The train must have been stranded in somewhere unknown, in the wild far from any station. The only cell-phone text message they sent yesterday told that they were out of money, the train short of food and hot water. Anyone could help me!?
A worried mother posted an aid-seeking message on Tianya.com 8 days ago, asking for information regarding her three children who set out for home before the snowstorm by rail. Their whereabouts, along with that of the train, had lost. This kind of posts flooded on the many net forums these days, while most replies, despite compassionate greetings, could deliver no help, as during the most serious snowstorm China met in as long as 50 years, there were over 40 thousand passengers were stranded along the Beijing-Guangzhou railway at the peak, hard to contact.
Because of the continuous sleet and freezing rain, the power lines in Hunan province were overwhelmed by the frozen rain, and under the unusual weight, a lot of power pylons were toppled by the ice.
Collapsed power line, ice covered.
The power failure bogged down most of the trains, which were led by electric locomotive, along the Beijing-Guangzhou line, and further paralyzed all but the entire north-south railway artery. To make the matter worse, it ran into the busiest traffic season in China, the Chinese New Year, when millions of people that had worked hard for the whole year were looking forward to a reunion at hometown. They, most of them migrant workers, would usually jostle and bustle in the carriages as crowded as sardine cans to go home. But this year the travel was far more hard.
Caption:ice-covered Hunan, my poor girlfriend was trapped in a train for 41 hours
Many train passengers didn’t know the situation until they found themselves motionless in the wild for many hours. A netizen recorded his terrible experience.
We set out on 27th. There were about 2 times as many passengers as allowed (very usual as most passengers buy stand tickets to save money. —translator). In the evening we arrived in Hunan and the progress was punctuated by stoppages, some of which lasted 4 to 5 hours. The whole Hunan was covered by the ice, like a huge sugar-glazed-haw (a kind of snack). The sleet, chilly and thick, kept falling. The carriages were crowded. We tried not to drink much because to go the toilet we had spend 10 minutes to hustle through people…… There were as if people under the feet, and people above the head.
The smell stink as if hundreds of men exhaling to you without brushing their teeth.
The situation continued till the next night. The food carts were not seen anymore and we had nothing more to eat. The water tank dried too and soon the heating stopped. Complaints turned into vituperations. Somebody smashed the window to jump out. People came to be so testy that a casual controversy would turn to be a fight. Outside the window it was wholly dark. The cold rain persisted. No one knew where we were.
The train was like a prison. Everybody were impulsed to flee out of it……
There used to be 130 trains going like this, waiting on the track. The airproof carriages and the shortage of supply would drive passengers to the merge of insanity.
Chinanews reported that in a 128-seat carriage over 200 travelers were crushed in. During the 30-hour delay in an unfrequented small station, a man yelled to the trainmen that he was being pursued and killed. Another man reported people around tried to hocus him.
A train police said they had to spend half an hour to go through simply one carriage, because there was hardly a space to set the foot on. Meanwhile, they had to sooth the nervous passengers and stop those trying to break the windows and jump out. To all the people on train, it was quite an uneasy challenge.
They finally arrived after be trapped for 68 hours.
On the icy road, more than 20 thousand vehicles used to be trapped.
The waiting drove people to desperation, especially when a 12-hour travel was prolonged to be over two days, as in many cases. Those stranded on the way dreamed of warm home and a greeting from the anxious families. But those still stayed in the railway station, on the contrary, would spend everything to board on a train. Affected by the paralyzed railway, over half a million passengers were congested in the railway hub of Guangzhou, a southern metropolis.
Crowded, crazy; gigantic flow of noise and hordes of confused people. Even this can’t tell how the hell on earth has been.
Guangzhou Station
A passenger recorded what he went through in the station:
I walked out of the D2 exit, and could not help but marveled at the place I saw. Such a packed crowd, so noisy, people crying, shouting, smiling, voices were everywhere. Endless heads in front of me, all black heads.
I felt a flood-like power behind me and was helplessly pushed forward, staggering. I had to walk aside, and then found a girl had fallen down ahead, with a bag on the back, hardly climbing up. An imploration glistened in her eyes, face flushed, as if going to cry out hard: “don’t jostle, you step on me!” The weak voice was so faint among the seas of crowd.
Saving trampled passengers
Another netizen told his terrible experience:
Even though I don’t close my eyes, I could clearly see the scenes I witnessed last night at the Guangzhou station. Screaming, people falling down, people crying, people waiting, and the tread, broken, scattered luggage packs.
Thousands of people piled up at the east side of the square. I was clamped among the crowd. Some beside me took pains to make out a little space for the metal pails on which they could rest. A covey of military police organized a flesh wall. Police then stood still to form a laneway through it. They called the sitting people to stand up. If the crowd surged up, they might have no chance to do so.
11 pm. People surged forward. Some ahead shouted that some was pushed down. But no one listened to that, people marching on. An elder tripped over before me, and I took a chance to pull him up, while all he took with him had been rolled to under the stream, including a big pan. A kid tripped over too and I again pulled him up. Shouting such as “Some got stepped” and “stop” never ceased. But of course, no one stopped. To those who had waited for a few days, a stop was impossible.
I was dragged forward for about ten meters before I found myself out of the crowd. A woman was crying hard that her kid was not out. 3 to 4 people were also crying in hysterics, calling for the names of their families. The luggage scattered around and some were trampled to be a mess.
According to a report, one passenger was trampled to death. Singly on 31st, January, more than 100 passengers fell in faint due to hunger, cold and congestion.
Guards holding waves of crowd
Expecting to go home, many migrant workers would cancel the rented houses by the end of the year, which means they had to take the station plaza as a shelter during the several days’ suspending. Bone-chilling drizzle trembled them; shortage of food stirred their stomachs; extreme crowd jam choked them. At chilly night, they cuddled up under the pedestrian bridge, some lucky men going to the temporary shelter set by the government. But these were not the reasons of giving up the hope to go home.
sleeping in a temporary shelter
Faint passenger was being delivered out by a hand-to-hand relay.
Accordingly, the food price around the station was going up. 30 RMB for each set of fast food. 5 RMB per bottle of water. There were so many people concentrating, and so hard to find somewhere to relieve oneself. Someone made it at where they waited. The sanitation was so bad.
Mr. Sheng, along with his 2 colleagues, prepared straw mats and quilts, sleeping under a bridge near the station for 4 days, awaiting the train. Ms. Sun, a migrant worker, 36, had been waiting with her 8-year-old daughter inside the railing and barriers overnight. An apple and a piece of bread were all that they had. They, as well as most passengers, dared not to go out of the plaza once getting in, because they feared that they wouldn’t be so lucky to jostle back. Because of the limited space, most people had to stand on feet, and the only way to comfort the sleepy eyes was to nap for a while upon a shoulder of a stranger nearby. source
Therefore, the waiting was a challenge, both physical and mental. The temporary medical post was super busy on taking care of both passengers and station staffs, including police and volunteers.
Tired soldiers. They can only have 4 hours’ sleep every day.
These days, the whole city was mobilized. A great many police, guards, military police and even soldiers were mustered to control the powerful flood of crowd. They organized flesh walls to hold out waves of anxious people, keeping the order. A mass donation has been launched to help those stranded at the station, and many volunteer workers were dispatched to the front line.
Guangzhou, and the southern region, was trying its best to comfort the migrant workers, who have been contributed so much to the prosperity of the coastal cities.
Premier Wen Jiabao was inspecting the station. He flied around the country to bring people comfort.
It was a national disaster. But even the most staggering  statistical number (the billions of loss, millions of affected people) could not tell how deeply a heart of going home was ravaged. But who could deny, on the other hand, that the unbelievable snowstorm reunioned the whole country again, the entire society fighting together because we share the same dream of going home？
Pictures from sina.com, 163.com, Southern Metropolis Daily, Xinkuai, Tianya

author: Bob Chen


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Colombia: United in a March Against the FARC · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Today there is one main topic on practically all the Colombian blogs: For the first time in Colombia's history, an initiative which began on the internet managed to become a massive, worldwide event in just one month. The February 4th demonstration against the FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) , began as an
idea on a FaceBook group “A Million Voices Against the FARC” and then it snowballed into a worldwide event with marches in 133 different cities around the world.
The Christian Science Monitor has an overview in English about how this came to happen and how it developed in the past few weeks. equinoXio, a blogger-run online magazine has kept updates on the march with information from all around the world [es].
Bloggers do not all agree on the march, nor on the idea of joining it. Some, like La Gente Normal [es]  have conspiracy theories about how it developed:
Una marcha que empezó en el Facebook, un sistema que ha sido adoptado por el 1 % de la población Colombiana ( a lo sumo) , se “tomó” de improviso la conciencia nacional , apoyada de forma espontánea por todos los medios, todos los sistemas de comunicación y dió la vuelta al mundo en menos de un mes ( UN MES¡¡¡) Ni para montar un congreso o un seminario se demora uno tan poco tiempo, cómo para poner a caminar a media Colombia, hacer una estrategia de campaña, imprimirla y ponerla en todos los Eucoles de la ciudad ( cuantos millones y quien paga por todo eso) lo inició un ingeniero de sistemas ( el solito) y ahora tiene el respaldo de todas las embajadas, grupos y personas, a mi me huele a gato encerrado.
A march which began in Facebook, a system which has been adopted by 1% of the Colombian population (at most), unexpectedly “took over” the national conscience, supported spontaneously by all the media, every communication system and went around the world in less than a month (A MONTH!!!) Not even setting up a convention or a seminar takes this little time, much less to get half of Colombia to walk, have a campaign strategy, print it out and paste it on every Eucoles [bus stop advertising monoliths] in the city (how many millions did it cost and who pays for all this) it was started by a system engineer (all by himself) and now has the backing of all the embassies, groups and people, this smells fishy to me.
Others, like Felipe Campuzano from Newbeatle [es] didn't go on the march, but not out of support for las FARC. He writes about staying home, feeling this march wouldn't really help, and then mentions a conversation had with his brother, when they came up with the perfect solution for the guerrilla problem: getting all of the guerrilla members inside a stadium and pulling a Pinochet on them.
Esteban Alarcón Ceballos in Life is the Best type of Sarcasm wonders about the reasons why people go out into the march, if they are all truly for the same team, if they have thought about what it means, or if they just wanted to join in the fun. He then analyzes how many factions had to turn the march into something to suit their own needs.
Me parece increíble que a estas alturas de la vida se esté tratando de politizar un movimiento tan puramente cívico como es este, que no es mas que la expresión de un pueblo, y es inaceptable que se quiera distorsionar por campañas y hasta se quiera mostrar como una farsa de los medios para apoyar el paramilitarismo…
I think it is unbelievable that at this time of the game they are trying to politicize a movement that is just a civic movement, nothing but an expression by the people, and it is unacceptable that they wish to distort it to suit their campaigns and that they even want to show it as if it were a farce set up by the media to support the paramilitary groups…
Mauricio Duque Arrubla [es] coined the term “the perfect protest”, referring to the way many people wanted to mold the  march to their needs, as if to make it into the perfect demonstration worthy of their presence, a protest made-to-order. He had mentioned that perhaps it would be better to just pick a common enemy, a simple thing we can all agree on and start from there, and how he belatedly discovered on the demonstration's website that it was what the February 4th demonstration was all about.
Patton from The Country of the Sacred Heart [es] begins by admitting he was wrong about his predictions that people would be polarized and people would start fighting to defend their perspective, unable to agree on such a simple matter.
Mis razones para participar de la marcha son una combinación de las que escribieron bluelephant , Luis Trejos, Víctor Solano y stultaviro para participar (y otro). Me gustaría que los que se opusieron a la misma leyeran los argumentos en esos 5 posts, así les de naúseas. Esto no es de blancos y negros: la consigna de la marcha era clara: NO mas FARC, no mas mentiras, no mas muertes, no mas secuestros. Excusas chimbas son las que sacaron los que se negaron a asistir alegando conspiraciones del gobierno, de la oposición y de los extraterrestres sobre los verdaderos mensajes u orígenes. Yo lo veo clarito en la página: son cuatro cositas básicas. El resto es gadejo.
My reasons to participate in the demonstration were a combination of those written by  bluelephant , Luis Trejos, Víctor Solano and stultaviro  (and another). I would like for all those who opposed the march to read the arguments on these 5 posts, even if it causes nausea. This isn't about whites and blacks: the meaning of the march was clear: NO more FARC, no more lies, no more deaths, no more kidnappings. Lame excuses are the ones pulled out by those who refused to join by claiming conspiracies by the government, the oposition and by the aliens regarding the real messages or origins. I see it quite clear on their site: four small basic things. Anything else is “gadejo”. [ganas de joder, or the need to make issues of non-issues]
DianaCats [es] reported about the metro public transportation system's collapse due to the large numbers of people who went to the march.
El Metro pasó lleno y entramos a presión; alguien dijo que parecía un tren de Tokio en invierno, porque había hasta gente empujando desde afuera para que pudieran cerrar las puertas; también nos enteramos de que en la estación Industriales fue tanta la cantidad de gente haciendo fila con tiquete que se les salió de las manos y tuvieron que dar paso libre a todos. Finalmente llegamos a la estación de Berrío, como sardinas enlatadas.
The metro was completely full when it arrived and we got in by pure pressure; someone said it seemed like a Tokyo train in winter, because we even had people pushing from the outside just so that the doors could close; we also found out that at Industriales station, the number of people standing in line with a ticket became so unmanageable that they had to just let everyone in for free. We finally reached Berrío station, like canned sardines.
Jorge Montoya wrote:
In the news i see a woman asked for her motivation to attend the march: “Have you been a direct victim of the FARC?”. And she responds: “Yes, because I am Colombian”.
That is solidarity. I remain with that phrase that as much has moved to me and that it calls to us to not being indifferent: In my family there are 3,200 kidnapped.
Photobloggers also did a thorough job. Raul Harper has pictures, Patton has others of Bogotá, Datalove from Bogotá as well, Apeláez took some which included a skinhead faction in the demonstration, Tomás Botero Vargas took pictures at the Caracas, Venezuela march,  Cinealoido has pictures of the different props people took on the Medellín march,   Mariacecita took pictures of the march in the city of Cali, and there are hundreds of pictures more, just on flickr.
There are also plenty of videos uploaded on YouTube of the anti FARC demonstrations all over the globe.
picture by Mariacecita, used under Creative Common´s License.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Costa Rica: Violent Murder Rate Increases · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Rod Hughes of Costa Rica Blogs writes about gruesome murders that took place in southern part of the country and that these types of crimes have rapidly increased since 2005.


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Dominica: Carnival Photos · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Steve's Dominica and Dominica Weekly post photos of the island's Carnival Monday celebrations.


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East Africa: Stay away from falling coconuts · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Pernille writes about the dangers of falling coconuts in East Africa:  “In East Africa people do die in relatively significant numbers each year from falling coconuts hitting them on the head. Coconuts can weigh up to four kilos and may fall 25 meters with an impact velocity of 80 km/h – resulting in a force greater than a tonne.”


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Football Comes Home to Ghana  · Global Voices
Emmanuel.K. Bensah

For the past three weeks, soccer has come home—literally—and Ghanaians of all walks of life have not been immune to the excitement and ecstasy it has generated throughout the country. Did you have to be told that bloggers were also excited? Hardly!
Let’s begin with Ghana Barbz, who, though not an ardent fan of football, decided to welcome readers of her blog to the three-week tournament:
Welcome to Ghana football. The Ghana Black Stars are Ghana's football team. And yesterday was the opening game of the African Cup of Nations, which Ghana is proudly hosting. In our brand new Ohene Djan Sports stadium in Accra, the Ghana Black Stars took on the Syli Nationals of Guinea. And with a last minute (really, absolutely last minute) goal by Sulley Muntari, won the opening game with a score of 2 to 1.
She confesses elsewhere that she is “not such a big fan of soccer”, but
How could you not love a country that loves it[s] national team so much?
She talks a bit about the opening game of CAN2008, which saw the hosts – Ghana – playing their West African neighbours of Guinea. She, however, was far from impressed with the quality of the game:
anyway, for most of the game, I found it fairly boring. The whole first half, Ghana attempted to score and missed a number of times, thanks to a great Guinea goal keeper. Finally, Ghana scored, and the whole stadium went wild. And not only the whole stadium, but the whole country! There was yelling and cheering and car honking that went on and on for about 10 minutes after the first goal. It stopped only when Guinea scored the equalizer.
Criticisms by her family of the Black Stars over their apparent lethargy towards the game nothwithstanding, it was going to be fairly impossible to avoid the noise emanating from Ghanaians as Ghana scored the winning goal in the 90th minute:
I mean, even if you didn't own a television or have a radio handy, you would absolutely know exactly what was happening in the game, the collective cheering or booing or even sighing was impossible not to hear.
The jubilation was nothing short of awe inspiring. And that was only the first game.
The first game—indeed! Abocco—of Ghana Conscious—was a tad disappointed by the Ghana-Guinea game, but was emphatic about what it meant to Ghana:
After seeing my favorite Black Stars agonisingly hit the goal post three times in the opening game of CAN 2008 and remain deadlocked with Guinea, I began wondering if this victory was to be. We finally scored and then the Syli Nationale replied almost immediately. Just when I was about to give up, Sulley Muntari produced a moment of magic two minutes to time and scored the winner. Ghana's biggest newspaper, the Daily Graphic, said sometimes one is tempted to believe that God is a Ghanaian. Apparently, God was on our side, and Esther Smith would agree with her song ‘Yesu wo m'afa’. No matter how many heartbreaking missed chances we suffered, we would win in the end.
Abocco, however, took the celebrations to another level, by wondering whether it was possible to extrapolate Ghanaians’ attitude and devotion to the success of the Black Stars to their own private attitudinal change. His post is yet-another-reminder of how excessively-attached to religion Ghanaians are:
Ghanaians need to follow this Black Stars example. If a single game can drive us to change church fashion for a day, we need to embrace more important things like attitudinal change, discipline and patriotism. Churches should declare Ghana days, where we'll pray for God's mercy on oil, gold, cocoa and timber prices and ask God to touch the hearts of those who are embezzling our money. We should pray that God makes sure that our taxes and tithes are used in our best interest. We have seen the result of hardwork backed by support of onlooking citizens and loved ones. The same people who had fasted and prayed for the victory took to the streets upon affirmation of the victory to celebrate and praise the Most High God.
Finally, Maximus writes an open letter to the late Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, about the ongoing CAN.
He starts off providing a history of the CAN:
The 26th African Cup of Nations begins in your homeland on Sunday and is the source of my excitement. Allow me to be late to congratulate you on your shepherding Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations triumphs in 1963 and 1965.
The point he makes goes to underscore—no pun intended— his sentiments about where the first President was going with his vision of sports, and the inspiration he had for the country’s football team:
You are really great, all the tournaments that Ghana took part in your tenure as president resulted in glory and more glory
That MTN is the headline sponsor of the Cup of Nations is no news for observers of the soccer fiesta. What is little-known is how other mobile operators in the country have sought to capitalize on it, prompting speculation in quarters of the media of so-called “ambush marketing”:
Osagyefo, there is nothing like opportunity. Every company and their competition has fine-tuned its marketing campaigns to suit soccer-crazy fans. According to Tigo, every sport has some football genes as per their “Be a true fan” campaign. The new celebration for goals is a shiver. Kwame, abi you can shiver like ripples in a river, it goes like “Brrrrrrrrrrrr”. Football is connecting us all like OneTouch and Ghanaians are hoping the Black Stars onetouch all their opponents on the way to victory. You know that bicycle kick that is affectionately called Milo? Nestle is hoping Ghana nestles the ambition of raising their game to championship heights. Guinness is still celebrating greatness. Zenith Bank even has a special account for the Black Stars because you can bank on them as winners. There is no stopping you Black Stars, GO! You gotta love MTN, they may very well be emptying their competition with their marketing.
He also makes a point about how MTN has gone overboard with its advertising:
Many street lights are adorned with our colours and flags are flying and beautifying our short skylines. Osagyefo, we are selling Ghana and selling out Ghana too. There are probably more MTN (Cup of Nations) flags than there are Ghanaian flags. How did that happen? Everywhere you go, MTN. MTN, everywhere you go. Go Black Stars go. Go Ghana go. Go everywhere, MTN is there. We love corporate Ghana, we love the billboards, the beautification.
These developments nothwithstanding, what is clear is that Ghanaians are comprehensively behind the Black Stars. Maximus’s exhortation to the late Kwame Nkrumah, whom he affectionately refers to as “Osagyefo”, only buttresses the point:
Even in the absence of the inspirational tornado, the Black Stars are expected to shine and shine bright. Osagyefo, be with us, pray for us, send us some luck and fight for us. You owe it to us, we continue to make you famous. Even our official song borrows from you, “Osee, osee, Black Stars ei, forward ever”

author: Emmanuel.K. Bensah