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Colombia: Paramilitary Leader’s PowerPoint Presentation · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Héctor Mondragón on the failures of “Plan Colombia” and Adam Isacson on “the world's most evil PowerPoint presentation” which was used by top paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso when confessing to his past human-rights crimes two weeks ago.


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Czech Rebublic: Dechovka Music · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

NvB: Bored in Brno writes about dechovka music and posts a YouTube video of Eva and Vasek, “the most successful musical group in the [Czech] Republic from the standpoint of record sales”: “Happy listening! And remember, every Czech is not just a musician but also a dancer.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Czech Rebublic: New Arms Race? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

NvB: Bored in Brno writes that the “proposed radar stations around the Czech Republic may be a forerunner of the new silent arms race.”


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Czech Rebublic: Return of the Drawings · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Four Bees reports on the return of the drawings that were looted by the Nazis in 1939 to the family of a Brno lawyer.


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Czech Rebublic: Straznice Folk Festival · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

NvB: Bored in Brno writes about the history of the folk festival in Straznice that will be held June 21-24, 2007.


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Czech Republic: New Government · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Economist's Edward Lucas writes about the Czech Republic's new government.


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Dubai: Seebee Finds Nuns’ Behaviour Hilarious! · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Seebee at Life in Dubai is in stitches at the behaviour of a group of Greek nuns, who ran up half a million pounds in debt and then went into hiding after their wool industry failed.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Guatemala: Unearthing the Future · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Xeni Jardin, best known for her writing at BoingBoing has also been blogging her recent travels in Guatemala including a five-part series for NPR called ‘Guatemala: Unearthing the Future.’ Patrick of the Guatemalan Solidarity Network expands on Jardin's first piece titled, “Group Works to Identify Remains in Guatemala.”

author: David Sasaki


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Haiti: Pictures of Soccer Victory Celebration · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Collectif Haiti de Provence posts (Fr) a slideshow of Haitians celebrating their win in the Digicel Caribbean Soccer /Football Cup final.

author: Alice Backer


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India: Beating the Retreat · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Ultrabrown on the Beating The Retreat ceremony – the finale of Republic Day celebrations in India. “What you don’t see in the photos is the gasp when the lights come on all at once. You don’t see the security men pausing dramatically before peeling away from the running boards of their SUVs.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: In Korlai · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Trivial Matters on Korlai, with some wonderful photographs. “You would be surprised to hear that I am not in Korlai for the views or even the crisp Arabian Sea breeze. I am in Korlai, in a search for haunted forts, fallen churches and a lost Portuguese Creole soon to disappear.”


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Japan and South Korea: waves from both sides · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan blogs about the recent Japan wave from South Korea in term of tourism to Kyushu. Korean tourists, by taking the high speed jetfoils across the sea of Japan, can comfortably depart from Busan after breakfast and reach the Port of Hakata by lunchtime. The blogger believes that the emergence of a new Silent Majority from both sides can eventually bring peace in the region.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: marriage stats · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Adamu highlights some figures in the recent marriage statistics in Japan: In 1995, most internationally marrying Japanese men (35%) took Filipina brides, while a quarter of them married Chinese women. In 2005, the tables were turned, with only 30% marrying Filipinas and 35% marrying Chinese.


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Kazakhstan: Queuing for Profit · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann reports on a business so suited for post-Soviet countries that it's a wonder no one had already launched it in Kazakhstan: standing in line for cash. A new company launched by Ruslan Akkuzhin will allow people to hire someone to stand in lines for them. The person in line will then place a call to the client when near the front.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Kyrgyzstan: Reactions to the New PM · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia of neweurasia surveys opinions around the blogosphere on the new prime minister's appointment in Kyrgyzstan.


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Latin America: The Bloggies Nominees · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Liz Henry introduces the five 2007 Bloggies Award nominees for the category of “Best Latin American Weblog” including Bestiaria, the only one of the five written in Spanish.


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Malaysia: Airline Fuel Surcharge · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin is asking the Malaysian Airlines to emulate other airlnes from the region and do away with the fuel surcharge as oil prices have come down. “Now the fuel price is down to about US$50 from the highs of US$70. The jet fuel price had come down more than 26%.But the surcharge remains.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Malaysia: Upgrading to Vista · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Life in a Cube wonders if he should upgrade his computer to the latest operating system from Microsoft. The blogger offers tips to others who might be thinking of upgrading.


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Malaysia: We Are Not Liars · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lucia Lai takes offence at her prime minister using the term “lairs” to describe bloggers who write negative posts about his leadership. “anyway, what is a lie? how do you define a lie? how can you tell that we lied? what made you think we lied? when we write something not to your liking? when we unearth some ’secrets’ you are hiding?”


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Maldives struggles with Chikungunya · Global Voices
Nihan Zafar

Chikungunya, a viral fever accompanied with joint pains, is spreading throughout the Maldives. The disease was first noticed in the country in late 2006 and so far it has not been controlled.
Maldives Today accuses the government of reacting slowly to this outbreak and not taking appropriate measures to combat the disease.
The government of Maldives did not react to an outbreak of Chikungunya in Kerela state in India in October 2006. The affected areas in Kerela included Trivandrum or Thiruvananthapuram, which is the most popular Indian destination among Maldivians going there for medical treatment and vacation. Daily flights between Trivandrum and Male’ carry Indian workers and travelers and Maldivians. It may be a matter of a few days for a disease to reach the Maldives from Trivandrum. Any outbreak of a disease in that part of India should have been taken as a serious issue.
When an unusual fever started spreading in the Maldives with symptoms of Chikungunya, the government was once again slow to react.
The psychological trauma to the patients as well as the social and economic toll is heavy. There is hardly a family without a patient suffering from Chikungunya. An epidemic can affect the productivity of a country and at this moment Chikungunya and dengue is doing that to the Maldives.
Some schools have been forced to close because of the illness. Even though the disease is not generally fatal, some recent deaths in Maldives, especially among elderly, is thought to be have been caused by Chikungunya, according to a Minivan News report.
14 people have been reported dead in Hinnavaru, Lahiviyani Atoll. The presumed cause is chikungunya viral fever, which has been spreading rampantly through the Maldives since December. Sources from the island say most of the victims died within the last three weeks and are between 55 and 80 years old.
“So many people are dying, but the Health Ministry is not taking any substantial action…At present there are around 300 to 400 people affected in this island itself,” a source from Hinnavaru, who wanted to remain anonymous, said.
Some high level politicians also reportedly contracted the disease, including the finance minister. There are also rumours that the health minister, who is the brother-in-law of the president, contracted Chikungunya, but flew to Singapore for treatment. High level politicians usually travel to expensive medical facilities in countries such as Singapore while the ordinary folk have a hard time raising finance if they need to travel abroad for treatment not available in the country.
The two understaffed and ill-equipped hospitals in the capital Male’, are currently full, and are not hospitalizing any patients.
Daily paper Haveeru reports that the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives has also criticized the government for taking the disease too lightly.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has criticized the government for taking the recent outbreak of Chikungunya and other viral diseases in the country too lightly. In an interview given to Haveeru Daily, the Commission’s president, Ahmed Saleem, said that the two hospitals in Male were filled to capacity and that patients who went there for treatment weren’t able to get the hospitals’ service because of that.
Mr Saleem himself had been recently affected by Chikungunya according to Minivan News.
The government has been hit hard by the epidemic, with some senior government members contracting the fever. Finance Minister, Gasim Ibrahim and President of the Human Rights Commission, Ahmed Saleem, both fell ill, as well as scores of civil servants.
Meanwhile MaldivesHealth blog writes that there are rumours of a ‘miracle boy’ in Thulhaadhoo island in Baa Atoll of Maldives, who is possessed by a spirit, and can perform miracles such as curing Chikungunya patients.

author: Nihan Zafar


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Morocco: Too Many Policemen at Airport  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Adil, a Moroccan blogger who lives in Washington DC, US, says there was far too many policemen at the King Mohammed the Fifth Airport.
“I believe that airport is overstaffed with police. Passengers need more service oriented ppl to guide them through the arrival than a policeman with a moustache who forgot what a smile is,” he wrote.


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Morocco: War between Village Women! · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Cory Driver, an American who lives in Morocco, withnessed a hilarious war between the women of a village he was visiting.
“All the grown women.. were throwing grown-women-sized-rocks at each other. The men were mostly just standing around watching; occasionally cheering, occasionally trying to talk some sense into rock-throwers… but mostly just standing around watching. It was the weirdest, funniest, saddest thing i've seen in a long time,” he wrote.


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Nepal: A commune for the masses · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Our Dream – A Prosperous Nepal doesn't take too kindly to the Maoist vision of communes and property. “Holy cow!!! A communist ‘commune’ ? Am I in a dream? We have all the evidences from the history to prove that this system failed in almost all the places and it cannot succeed in Nepal either.”


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Nicaragua: Blogging in Granada · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Our Man in Hanoi is soon to become Our Man in Granada and starts off with two introductory posts as he prepares for the move.


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Palestine: Anti-Semites Increasing in Europe · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah  wonders why anti-Israeli sentiments are on the increase.
He quotes Haaretz saying: “…the number of anti-Semitic incidents rose significantly in Europe last year, according to a joint study released Sunday by the Jewish Agency’s Forum for the Coordination of the Struggle Against Anti-Semitism.”
He also links to a site with the names of almost 7,000 Jews who are described as self-hating and/or Israel threatening.


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Peru: Personal Vs. Erotic · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Noting the recent rise in popularity of erotic and sex blogs at the Blogs Perú directory (the three most popular blogs are Peru Macho, Naked Peruvians, and A Little Wet), Juan Arellano wonders [ES] if they should be separated into a category of their own.


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Philippines: Blogparteeh07 Images · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Drivebyshooter has posted pictures from the recent Blogparteeh07 event in Manila.


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Russia: Conversation With Litvinenko’s Widow, Part 9 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Translation of part 9 of the interview with Marina Litvinenko is posted at A Step At A Time.


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Russia: Litvinenko a Target · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

La Russophobe posts parts of a report from the Polish newspaper Dziennik on the use of Aleksandr Litvinenko's image for target practice by the FSB, and links to a video and photos.


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Russia: On Economy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Russian Dilettante comments on Masha Lipman's recent column.


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Serbia: Mladic and the EU · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River points out some legal issues that might make the transfer of Ratko Mladic to the ICTY impossible.


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South Asia: Forced marriages in the UK · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A House of Lords discussion in the UK on forced marriages covered at Pickled Politics. “Lord Lester said that on the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery, it was scandalous that we were turning a blind eye to the sexual and domestic slavery of women; he said is was fully 30 years since he called for the protection of minority women, and regretted how little had been achieved.”


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South Korea: latest development in Daechuri  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Days in Daechuri has the latest updates on the anti military base movement in Daechuri: The villagers, exhausted by several years of resistance to government threats and attacks, have in principle agreed to move out of their village. However, other Koreans continue to organize against the US base expansion.


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Sri Lanka: Life down South · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews goes to a village down south to catch glimpses of life and ask a few questions. “On the ethnic conflict, they said they didn’t want to see the country divided and that they believed the LTTE was an inhuman organization due to the acts of terrorism.


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Swahili Blogosphere: CIA’s Role in the Zanzibar Revolution, Bloggers Association, The Wretched of the Earth, and Protesting UK’s $12M Secret Payment  · Global Voices
J. Nambiza Tungaraza

Following their virtual conference last November, Tanzanian bloggers are currently discussing the details of the organization they are intending to form. A blog has been set up by the interim committe, to facilitate the process. So far, they have chosen the name for the organization, Jumuiya ya Wanablogu Tanzania (the community of Tanzanian bloggers). The current discussion is about leadership structure. There will be a single item for discussion every week. Later on, there will be an open competition to design the logo of the organization.
Zanzibar: CIA's Role in the Zanzibar Revolution, No More Miniskirts, and Sauti za Busara
Mid January is when Zanzibaris remember the 1964 revolution that ousted Sultan Jamsheed Bin Abdullah’s regime. The story of the Zanzibar revolution has either been told through the official government version or has remained shrouded in secrecy and conspiracy theories. Majid Mjengwa, a college instructor and journalist in Tanzania, posts an article  by a Tanzanian columnist Nizar Visram who is of the view that Zanzibar revolution was not a sporadic event but rather a long process which involved the majority of Zanzibaris, various political parties and foreign powers keen to marginalise leftist elements in Zanzibar politics.
To highlight the role of foreign powers, Visram digs into the London Public Records Office and the CIA archives now available to the public and refers to the 1961 British Resident governor‘s letter to his government:
Waraka huo unaonyesha wasiwasi wao kuwa uongozi wa chama cha ZNP unachukuliwa na viongozi wa mrengo wa kushoto akina Abdulrahman Babu. Mkakati ukaandaliwa ili kuimarisha uongozi wa Sheikh Ali Muhsin na kumuondoa Babu.
Visram notes that to understand factional conflicts within Zanzibar political parties it is important to revisit CIA report written at the time of the revolution:
Jambo la kimsingi huko Zanzibar ni kuzuia utawala usishikiliwe na Wakomunisti. Kwani serikali iliyopo sasa ni mchanganyiko wa wazalendo wa Kiafrika na Wakomunisti, kila upande ukiwa unavutia kwake. Wasiwasi wetu ni kuwa hawa wazalendo wanaweza wakawekwa kando.
Lengo lazima liwe kuimarisha serikali ya kizalendo ikiongozwa na Abeid Karume. Ni lazime pia juhudi zifanywe kuminya upande wa wakomunisti akina Babu na Hanga. Nyerere anaamini kuwa hawa nao ni wazalendo wa Kiafrika ambao wanaweza kutumikia nchi yao. Hoja hiyo tunaikataa.”
Hivyo kila jitihada zifanywe ili kuwashawishi Waingereza wachukue hatua imara, Marekani inaweza kuchukua hatua za kidiplomasia kwa njia za siri au kusaidia kiuchumi na kiufundi, lakini Waingereza ndio wanapaswa wawe msitari wa mbele.
Our aim should be to strengthen the nationalist government led by Abeid Karume. The communists such as Babu and [Kassim] Hanga must also be stopped. Nyerere believes that they (Babu and Hanga) are African nationalists as well. We do not believe that.
Steps should be taken to convince the British to take a firm stand, USA can either pursue covert diplomatic steps or economic and technical assistance, but the British have to take charge.
Kibunango, who mainly blogs about Zanzibar political and socio-cultural issues,  reflects on the new code of conduct passed by the ethic and development committee of Nungu village, in Zanzibar. The code bans miniskirts, prostitution and alcohol.  Nungwi villagers have recently being extremely concerned about the level of moral decadence in their midst, which Kibunango links it to the growth in the tourism sector. Nungu is a popular tourist destination. Kibunango supports the move by the villagers to protect their moral identity, but argues that a niqab is not a Zanzibari dress:
Na iwapo vazi la kizanzibari ni kama lile la kuvaa baibui na hijabu yake, basi sheria hiyo itakuwa inalenga zaidi maadili ya kidini kuliko maadili ya kizanzibari, na itakuwa sio kosa kuhoji kauli ya serikali ya kusema kuwa nchi hiyo si ya kidini. Na kwanini wananchi ambao sio wa dini fulani washurutishwe kuvaa baibui?
Ndesanjo reminds his readers that the annual music festival in Zanzibar, Sauti za Busara, will take place next month.
Tanzanian Politics: Defection and Protesting Against $12M Secret Payment
And in the mainland Tanzania, although some of the opposition parties’ cadres have recently defected to the ruling party, the opposition is down but not out. Mwandani questions defectors principles and motives. He sees the defection the same as having Tanzanian soccer players joining the Senegalese national team.
Photoblogger Issa Michuzi posts photos of a peaceful demonstration, organised by Tanzania's opposition parties in Dar Es Salaam to call for accountability and transparency. Following an investigation by UK's Serious Fraud Office into UK's biggest arms supplier BAE Systems, the opposition alleges that Tanzania's government officials not only wasted taxpayer's money but may have acted inappropriately while purchasing a radar from England.
The Wretched of the Earth in Tanzania and Kenya
Tanzanian photoblogger Maggid Mjengwa attended the World Social Forum 2007 in Kenya and visits Kibera in Nairobi, which is arguably the biggest and oldest urban slum in Africa.  Mjengwa did a wonderful job of covering the forum with his camera.
Elsewhere in the Swahili Blogosphere, a Tanzanian Film maker, Sultan Tamba, is irked by EATV‘s  television program “Uswazi” in which the presenter visits the squalid areas of Dar Es salaam showing the worst living conditions.  “Uswazi” is a Swahili slang for a lowlife lifestyle.
… Lakini kwa maana ya mtangazaji huyo anayoionyesha kwenye kipindi chake, USWAZI ni maeneo mabovu, machafu, ya Kipumbavu na hasiti kuonyesha kuwa wanaoishi kwenye mitaa hiyo ni watu tofauti, wanaoishi kwenye kisiwa kinachojitegemea kiasi kuna wakati anapokuwa kwenye mitaa hiyo akirekodi kipindi hudiriki kutamka tena kwa kurudiarudia, “Mtazamaji nina hakika katika maisha yako hujawahi kupita sehemu kama hizi!” Halafu ataisifia sana mitaa hiyo na kila anachokiona – sifa ya kejeli – kwamba hii ndiyo mitaa bora kabisa ndugu mtazamaji!” Anasema hivyo huku akijua kwamba anaongea kinyume!
Kwa ufupi nionavyo mimi, hiki ni kipindi hiki cha dharau na matusi ya rejareja dhidi ya wakazi wote wanaoishi kwenye mitaa hiyo na Watanzania kwa jumla kwa sababu asilimia 70 ya Watanzania wanaishi kwenye mazingira hayo! Hiyo ni kwa mujibu wa takwimu zilizotolewa na Waziri wa Ujenzi, Bw. John Magufuli.

author: J. Nambiza Tungaraza


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Taiwan: textbook debate · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Micheal Turton from the View from Taiwan gives us more background concerning the change of textbook content in Taiwan: This is part of a continuing wave of pro-Taiwan educational changes that began back in the 1990s with the introduction of Taiwan-focused junior high history texts. In 1997 the Ministry of Education published the Getting to Know Taiwan textbook series, which set the stage for further evolution.


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Tajikistan: Protest Against Judiciary · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alexander reports that a small protest took place in front of Tajikistan's Supreme Court to draw attention to what protesters characterized as corrupt decisions by courts on land disputes.


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UAE: Interrogation Stories at US Border Anyone? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

UAE resident SolitudDeGitana questions whether anyone knows what the amount of information you have to/should divulge during airport interrogations.
“(T)he woman over at luggage inspection started asking me a string of other questions, namely about whether I had a boyfriend where I'm living in the MIddle East. I answered her, but in retrospect, I really wish I would have asked her what business of hers that was, seeing as what she really needed to know was whether I had fruit/cheese/meat in my luggage and not about my romantic life. It's not a huge deal, but it just felt very, very odd…,” she wrote.


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UAE: Looking for Picture Purrfect Cats? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

BRN who lives in Al Ain, UAE, links to two hilarious sites about cats. They are Cats that look like Hitler and Stuff on my Cat.


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Venzuela: Translations from Spanish · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Guillermo Parra of Venepoetics has published a slew of recent translations including Eduardo Vásquez's “Postmodernity Once Again,” which proposes two distinct foundations for Chavez's so-called “21st Century Socialism.” Parra also introduces his readers to award-winning poet and novelist Alberto Barrera Tyszka whose biography of Hugo Chavez will be published in English translation later this year by Random House.


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Africa: women’s rights, Africa and China · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sociolingo's Africa blog has a post about a new book by Fahamu on Women's rights, Africa and China, “The traditional perception of African women is that they face grinding poverty and harsh cultural, traditional and social prejudices. Yet while it is true that African women are not equal to men, this is only one part of the story.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Argentina, Spain, USA: Technorati to Launch WTF? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Argentinian native and Spanish citizen Martin Varsavsky writes on his Spanish blog [ES]: “[Technorati founder, David Sifry] showed me what he is really going to do and how he is going to launch it. And I suggested a modification that he liked a lot, but that it will take a couple days. So I suppose that the service will come out on Friday. On my English blog I didn't post it (although it is easy to translate, there is a linguistic barrier between the two blogs), but here I'm going to talk about it at least a little. It's an improvement to Technorati that resembles Meneame and Wikipedia.” But before Varsavsky got to spill his secret news, Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion showed a screenshot of the new feature that, get this, was to be called “WTF” or, so they say, “Where's the Fire.” As it so happens, Steve Rubel is the senior vice president of Edelman, the world's largest independent PR firm and he is helping form a partnership between Technorati and Edelman. According to his posting, however: “I spotted this with my own two eyes and didn't get advance notice.” From Rubel's blog, the news drifted around the tech echo chamber including Michael Arrington's widely read TechCrunch. Arrington, like many, notes that the new feature, which had been live at technorati.com/wtf is no longer available, which leads Juan Luis of Technorantes to assume [ES] that the good people of Technorati are looking for a better name than WTF. Moral of the story? Pre-release leaks make for good publicity.


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Bahamas: Does the war on drugs make sense? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Larry Smith offers a useful historic overview of the history of the drug trade in a post that asks the question: can the war on drugs be won?

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Bahrain Jails Political Activists · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A court in Bahrain today sent two political activists to jail for possessing leaflets calling for a boycott of recent legislative elections, reports blogger Mahmood Al Yousif, who describes the sentence as “Disgusting. Another blow for freedom of speech in Bahrain.”


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Bahrain: Musical Differences? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Rants is trying to get his cousin appreciate some of the music which shaped his generation. “I asked him about Jimi Hendrix, and he told me he wasn’t interested. His disinterest invited me to launch into a full monologue explaining the influence Jimi Hendrix had on my life and many many other listeners over the past 4 decades,” he wrote.


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Bolivia: Advice From and For Morales · Global Voices
David Sasaki

While Bolivia Rising posts the translated text of Evo Morales speech at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Jim Shultz of The Democracy Center publishes “three messages that Morales and MAS need to hear.”


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Bolivian Bloggers Give Their Verdict · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

This time last year, Bolivia and the rest of the world was buzzing about the inauguration of President Evo Morales and the novelty of it all.  With approval ratings at sky-high levels, many wondered and were hopeful about the upcoming year.  Would he follow through with all of his campaign promises?  Since then, bloggers have remained attentive to the positive and negative changes implemented by this new government.  Many blogs have emerged as clear critics of this administration, while other have continued to steer clear of politics.
Edmundo Paz Soldán, award-winning Bolivian author, rarely writes about politics on his blog Río Fugitivo [ES].  However, he took the opportunity to discuss his tally regarding Morales’ first year and how it has proven to be quite disappointing, following this hopeful feeling.
A un año de gobierno, está claro el lider sindical sigue mandando en el Palacio Quemado, y que los profundos cambios políticos, sociales y económicos impulsados por su gobierno –nacionalización del petróleo, una nueva reforma agraria, mayor centralización del poder– se intentan imponer a través de un estilo autoritario, verticalista, que no tolera disensos ni oposición alguna. El proyecto político de Evo y el MAS es claro: crear una hegemonía de corte populista articulada en torno a lo indígena.
En su búsqueda del poder absoluto, Evo y el vicepresidente García Linera han fomentado la polarización racial y regional de una Bolivia de por sí muy fragmentada. La confrontación verbal ya ha dado paso a los balazos y a los machetazos. A un año de conducción del aparato estatal, los logros del gobierno –inclusión de sectores tradicionalmente excluidos, acuerdos energéticos beneficiosos, un clima de distensión con Chile, mayor presencia internacional— se ven oscurecidos por su tendencia natural a la intolerancia. Evo está haciendo todo lo posible para tornar una fácil victoria en una derrota. Ojalá que un posible gran líder no termine siendo recordado como el hombre que llevó a Bolivia a la guerra civil.
A year later, it is clear that the union leader still is in charge in the Burned Palace (name of the presidential palace) and that the profound political, social and economic changes pushed by his government – nationalization of petroleum, a new agrarian reform, increased centralization of power – that was attempted through an authoritarian style, vertical and that does not tolerate dissent or any form of opposition.  The political project of Evo and of MAS is clear – create a hegemony of populism articulated through the indigenous.
In his search for absolute power, Evo and his vice-president Garcia Linera have fomented the racial and regionalist polarization of a fragmented Bolivia.  The verbal confrontation have already made way to bullets and machetes.  After a year in power, the accomplishments of the government – the inclusion of groups traditionally excluded, beneficial energy agreements, goodwill towards Chile, and increased international presence – are overshadowed by its natural tendency of intolerance.  Evo is doing everything possible to make an easy victory into a defeat.  Hopefully, a great leader does not end up being remembered as the man that took Bolivia towards civil war.
Some of this use of rhetoric caught Andres Pucci’s eye, especially the use of a ten-year old boy to rally supporters.  Pucci laments, as do his readers, that the boy was used for such a publicity.  Briegel Busch of Bolivia-Eclipse [ES] gives his thoughts on the matter.
En general Morales ha pecado de soberbio, y ha menospreciado la opinión de quienes no están de acuerdo con él. Me parece que no ha podido asumir la figura de Jefe de Estado por encima de los intereses de los grupos a los que representa. Además, ha abusado del discurso agresivo en contra de la “oligarquía”, hasta hacer que la clase media se sienta amenazada.
Overall, Morales has the flaw of being arrogant and has scorned the opinion of those that are not in agreement with him.  It seems to me that he has not been able to assume the role of head of state ahead of the interests of the groups that he represents.  In addition, he has utilized the abusive rhetoric against the “oligarchy” to the extent that the middle class feels threathened.
Two English-language Bolivian bloggers that have written about politics in Bolivia for several years also provided their own take on the first year scorecard.  Miguel Buitrago of MABBlog summarizes Morales’ four-hour State of Union speech in which he alienated the opposition, which walked out in protest.  Miguel Centellas of Ciao! believes that Morales’ mouth is what gets him in the biggest bind.  He provides examples of actions and statements that have bigger repercussions that may be considered, such as allowing a close advisor, who is also wanted on terrorism charges in Peru to be a member of his inner circle.  In the end, Centellas comes to the conclusion, “Evo & his close supporters are woefully under-prepared to run a modern state,” and that, “Bolivia is at a delicate place, politically. It can't afford to have a series of PR crises on a weekly (and daily!) basis making things worse. Evo's first year has been shaky. Let's hope in 2007 he finds more competent advisors who can coach him & other key MAS figures.”
This time of year also marks the celebration of Alasitas, which is a festival that dates back to pre-colonial times in which a small idol named Ekeko is revered and is believed to possess the ability to grant material wealth and good fortune.  Stands set up in the city center of La Paz sell minature replicas of cars, educational diplomas, houses, stacks of Euros, and other goods are sold by these vendors. Vania Balderrama, a Paceña living in Santa Cruz remains nostalgic for this festival. As she writes in her blog Capsula Del Tiempo [ES] writes,
Cuando era niña (hace muuuchos años) esta Feria era lo máximo. No íbamos a las doce del medio día porque el tumulto de gente no da para que vayan los niños, pero en la nochecita, cuando mi mamá regresaba de la oficina, nos íbamos a dar la primera vuelta. Empezábamos por la sección de la comida y nos tomábamos un api(bebida caliente) con pastel (empanada de queso frita). La parte de las comidas con sus fragancias deliciosas, claro que me impresionaban los conejos apanados a los que los apilaban medio a la vista del público con cabeza y todo (brrrr ya me han dado escalofríos). Si ya habíamos cenado entonces empezábamos por el sector “masitas” donde hay todo tipo de pasteles y dulces pequeñitos, como todo en esa feria.
When I was a young girl (a loooong time ago), this festival was the best.  We didn’t go at midday because the crowds of people didn’t allow for small children to go, but we went at night, after my mother returned from the office and we went for our first visit.  We started in the food section and drank some api (hot drink) with pastel (fried empanada with cheese).  The part of the foods with its delicious aromas also amazed me to see the breaded guinea pigs that were piled up in front of the public with head and all (brrr, I just got the chills).  If we had already eaten, we would start at the section with all types of pastries and small sweets.
Joaquin Cuevas, who usually transmits his opinions on particular subjects through his drawings on his blog El Inofensivo Chico Larva [ES], decided to drop his pen this time and add his two cents.  He goes on to list reasons why Alasitas should be made into a holiday because the majority of the city would like to, but cannot attend because of work commitments.  He also acknowledges this change of pace by adding, “That’s my opinion.  I owe you a drawing on this issue.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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Botswana: Zebras4Life–Test4Life · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bots Blog.com writes about anti-Aids campaign in Botswana using soccer to attract men, Zebras4Life–Test4Life, “The Zebras4Life–Test4Life project was offically launched at a press conference at the national stadium on Monday, 22 January. The U.S. Ambassador, several footballers, the Minister of Labor and Home Affairs, Peace Corps Volunteers and other partners were on hand to explain the campaign and offer up continued support.”


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CAFTA and WiMax in Costa Rica · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Three articles stand out this week: The first describes events that are a glimpse of what we will see once the CAFTA discussions begin, the second denounces the newspapers for failing to report accurately on these same events, and the third stumbles upon a discovery of virtual private network (VPN) operations in Costa Rica even when CAFTA hasn´t passed and they are currently illegal… although a ministry is allegedly purchasing VPN services. You can follow the links to the articles to read them in their original Spanish.
“The CAFTA battle has begun” by Eduardo Mora
Last December brought on the first skirmish, when the Executive power took every single bill out of congress’ agenda so that the Commission for International Affairs could go on to have a permanent session to yield a positive outcome for the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The first round was yesterday, and CAFTA´s adversaries suffered their first defeat when three projects from the complementary agenda for the treaty were passed through a chaotic vote which happened while the Citizen Action Party (PAC) desperately attempted to break quorum. The motion to pass the three projects without due proceeding was the result of an early morning meeting by the party chiefs of the Liberation, Unity, and Libertarian parties and deputy [Guyón] Massey, a meeting which took place while the President of the Congress told deputy Salom (from PAC) that there was no party chief meeting that day for undisclosed reasons.
In addition, as soon as the motion was brought out, the Congressional President, who throughout the year has openly coordinated the session debates in Congress, changed the way he was acting and decided to strictly abide to the rules, not allowing members to speak and demanding for the vote to take place, while the PAC tried to get all their deputies out of session before the vote [to avoid quorum], which didn´t happen.
Then came the complaint speeches from one side and the other. Deputy Merino warned the deputies to remember that the streets will define if CAFTA is wanted or not, which was interpreted by the Libertarians as an incitation of violence. Deputy Sànchez from the Unity party, with earsplitting screams, demanded that the PAC´s expense account be lowered while he reminded us that, with much pride, he had voted for the highly unconstitutional Costa Rican Electricity Combo. Deputy Antillón reminded the deputies that the motion to pass the projects of the complimentary agenda did not imply an immediate approval but that it just took them out of the permanent commissions and onto special commissions for quicker transactions. The deputies for PAC and Accessibility Without Exclusion (PASE) pointed out the “new” way to apply the regulations by way of the Congressional presidency while those of Liberation, Unity and the Libertarian Movement demanded that people are expected to vote and not break quorum in Congress.
All this skirmish happened because of three projects from the complementary agenda. Just imagine how the proceedings will take place once the serious discussion of the CAFTA agreement starts.
In the meantime, those interested in following the debate, remember that the Legislative Assembly meets from Monday to Thursday at 3 pm and we can listen to the complete debates on Radio Nacional (101.5 FM)
“Costa Rica´s press: lies” by Mirando en Marcelo
Reading the papers during lunch about what happened yesterday in the Assembly, I believe that we have to congratulate one another and declare January 19th as a national holiday: Things have stopped being black and white in Costa Rica and have turned completely monochromatic. “My opinion is the only one that exists and that´s it” is the most succinct way to summarize the so called “news”.
If I had been enclosed in a bubble during the past 20 years and I hadn´t listened live [to the Legislative Assembly] on the radio thanks to Radio Nacional´s transmission and had opened the papers today for the first time, I would, at this moment, be convinced that the PAC is a troop of mad nincompoops who, along with the union leaders, have plotted a conspiracy to dismantle the Costa Rican government at all costs and bring down three emblems of Costa Rican institutions like National Liberation, Libertarian Movement, and Social Christian Unity.
There is no mention to the multiple violations of the regulations which were passed.
There is nothing regarding the so-called “cancelled” meeting of the party chiefs.
It is only casually mentioned that four party chiefs met with the Prime Minister … sorry, “Minister for Presidency,” to negotiate what was going to happen.
It is also mentioned by happenchance that, literally, from one moment to another the legislative modus operandi was changed.
In other words, history is rewritten. Can you remember when La Nacion created a “special edition” for the province of Limon, to report two different and contradictory versions of the same event? I think we are at the brink of having that happen again.
More on CAFTA this past week can be found at “In or out of CAFTA” at Mirando en Marcelo and “Expect the Unavoidable” at El Cuarto Desordenado.
“What? Did the market open already?” by menos6gmt (“6 behind GMT)
Reading about WiMax technology in the Wikipedia, I found that the American company QTel has already installed in our country, apparently more than a year a go, a data network of national coverage that they´ll be updating with WiMax technology next trimester. WiMax technology allows wireless broadband connections and, in the near future, will allow cellular telephones, mobile internet, etc, and it is expected to reduce the digital gap throughout the world, particularly in rural areas. Already Costa Rican Radiographic (RACSA), owned by the government) and the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) are working on pilot projects using this technology.
The main issue here is that QTel not only has the network installed but they are offering their services discretely, in the realm of Virtual Private Networks (VPN). VPNs are one of the three aspects in which open market was discussed in CAFTA, the other two being internet and cellphone service. Nevertheless, this business is apparently giving the service even when there are no open markets yet according to the company's documentation. Even more serious is the allegation that one of their clients is a Minister of Government, although who he is exactly is unspecified. Besides, this business manifests that because they are the only private company with a national network, they´ll have a one to two year advantage with regard to other competitors once the telecommunications market opens, which implies as well one or two years less for ICE to prepare in the face of competition.
It is also interesting that the Honduran ex-presidents Ricardo Maduro and Rafael Callejas are consultants to this company.
Many questions arise… How can a business install a national network without anyone noticing? How long have they been operating? In which frequencies are the QTel networks working? Do they have permits? When did the auction for the frequencies regarding WiMax (usually between 2.5Ghz and 5Ghz) take place? Which ministry is purchasing pirated services from a private company? Could it be ICE itself?

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Caribbean: Dramatic cricketing names · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Ryan Patrick at the West Indies Cricket Blog offers up a list of his favourite “dramatic cricketing names” and invites you to submit yours.


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China: economic confidence · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Diligence has an article about certain landmarks / issues to look out for as China makes the transition from “from self-loathing acolyte to over-confident preacher.”


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China: internet addiction clinic · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

IFTF from virtual China found a video clip about the Internet addiction clinic in Beijing.


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China: Out of Libya · Global Voices
John Kennedy

It‘s [zh] since been disabled, but there was one especially eye-catching post on Tianya, one of China's most widely-read bbs forum sites last month. ‘Save us!’ it read. ‘We've been stuck in Libya for over a year and we're about to go crazy here!’
Racist attitude, seen further down, might be their biggest problem. The post was put up by Tianya staff on behalf of three Chinese men now in legal limbo in Libya's capital Tripoli. Out walking around on New Year's Day, they say they chanced upon and told their story to a documentary film maker for Chinese TV, who just happens to be friends with one Tianya's executives.
As their story goes, they went to Libya in early 2005 as part of China's no-holds-barred investment drive into Africa, part of a crew of twenty-something contracted to do installation work on a trade building. A month into the project, a fire started in the basement and burned up through all seven floors.
Most of the guys then returned to China, but the contractor Wu and three of his employees, Zheng Jianbo, Tan Pingdeng and Tan Shuibin were deemed responsible by Libyan authorities. The four spent some time in jail until their case went to court, where they were each sentenced to one year in prison. Released on bail in exchange for their passports, the three appealed, demanding to see proof of their guilt, and the case has dragged on ever since, all the way up to a Supreme Court hearing this month at which the guilty verdict was upheld. Late last year, Boss Wu disappeared and stopped answering his phone, and it was at this point that Zheng and the Tans turned to the internet, desperate for help.
We have no money, no passports, we'd already stopped welding by the time fire happened, and the Chinese embassy in Tripoli won't help us, they said. The embassy refuted that last claim in an official statement [zh], saying they had done what they could, which isn't much given that Libya is a sovereign state with its own legal system. The news was pasted around many Chinese new websites, a large number of which chose to take the workers’ side of the story for granted [zh], which several people responding online claim takes liberties with certain facts.
Here's the original Tianya post:
你们好！
救救我们吧！我们被困在利比亚已经有一年多了，我们在这里都快要疯了，我们是中国合法公民，我们是被驻利比亚中国贸易中心应邀来利比亚搞商场装修的。我们一共来的20几个人，可是一场大火把我几个搞电焊的困在这里了。
我们在这里语言不通，又没有工作，在这里真是度日如年，家人也非常的担心，我们也不知道去过驻利比亚中国大使馆多少次了，可是也没有用。我也不知道他们是怎么的，好像是不太爱理我们的事。我们是无辜的，我们在这里没有做违法的事。我们是中国合法公民。我们是2005年2月19日来利比亚的。
现在我们就更加无助了，去年我们的老板还给我们生活费，就从今年起，连他不见我们了，老是躲避我们。我们打他电话，电话老是关机。我们为此找过大使馆，我们跟使馆里的人说，我们的帮了。我们现在就想找到我们的老板，求使馆帮我们找找。可是他们说，没有办法，甚至还说叫我们以后不要来找大使馆了，还说使馆是不会给我们饭吃的，也不会给我们睡觉的地方。你说我们在这里不找大使馆还能找中国什么部门帮助呢？你能给我们指点迷津吗？求求你了，我们要想回家。
我们被困在这里的原因基本上就是这样的：我们是2005年2月19日来利比亚的，来这里搞商场的装修，可是还没有工作一个月的时间，我们的商场地下室就起火了。起火的当天，我们都不在商场里面工作，我们在外面栏杆。在起火的这三天的搞电焊的都没有搞过电焊。而地下室是怎么起火的，我们到现在还不知道是怎么回事。
Followed by a note from the person who posted it:
（红英述：这是从论坛上偶尔看到的，深表同情。大使馆的工作人员，伸出你们的援助之手吧！就算不是你们的责任和义务！帮帮同胞们吧！因为文字数量有限制。再发一个邮件）
浦项（张家港）设备公司 孙红英 2007-01-10 15:00:01  联系电话：0512-56162509
To which, on January 18, the webmaster responded:
答:驻利比亚使馆已经对此事进行了处理，具体处理情况请登陆外交部网站驻利比亚使馆信箱.
[本栏编辑] 2007-01-18 17:09:21
The Chinese embassy in Libya doesn't have a website, and all that's listed on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website is the embassy's street and e-mail address. Better than nothing, except that Libyan keyboards don't allow for Chinese character input, and the three construction workers don't speak English or Arabic (yet). The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, however, has a public comment section for matters related to Libya [zh], where the above original post can now be found, as well as this, submitted by user ‘teresany’ on January 10, 2007:
这个帖子该是真的，因为我照着文中的电话打了，跟那个郑建波讲到了话，以下是我电话中了解到的事情的大致经过，因为他的口音很重，我很多话听不太明白也不太清楚，也许跟事实还有些许出入。据他说，大火后一个礼拜，他们三个人第一次被警察带去问话，就是做个笔录，了解一下火灾的起因，问完话，他们也就自由离去。火灾后，他们20几个人都没活干了，呆在住的地方，过了50天，才到另一个商场干活，又过了一个月，他们三个又被警察带去问话，这次一直问到晚上五六点，然后就直接送入监狱，关了一个多月，在这期间，每隔两天就开一次庭，每次的问话都一样，就是都要让他们承认是他们工作失误造成起火，他们的老板，也就是中国驻利比亚贸易中心的董事长，吴懂春每次开庭都有到，据说他跟他们一起坐牢，还有一个利比亚人，而且他们的律师也是由他出钱找的当地人，不管是问话还是开庭，都有翻译在场，但是却是不同的人。他们多次请驻当地的大使馆协助帮忙，曾经跟多人打过交道，从吴主任到刘翔（都先后被调回国），现在最常打交道的叫陈平，据说都是用利比亚的法律就是这样，过阵子会好的来打发他们。他们被判了一年徒刑，大使馆的人告诉他们原先的是误判，可是最新近一次开庭仍然维持原判。他们现在只希望大使馆能够想办法让他们回国。他们现在住在老板给他们搭的工寮里，吃饭是当初讲好的每天两块钱。除了他们三个外，其他人都已回国。
要想真的帮助这三人，只有靠当地中国使馆出面，希望我们愿意顶贴的人能够每人发封email给使馆的大使，参赞，把这个帖子forward给他们，给他们施压，告诉他们这件事已经公诸于众了，告诉他们给中国在海外的公民提供保护和帮助是他们的职责所在。我想即便他们可以不在乎那些海外劳工，他们对他们自己的官位总是会在乎的。
===============================================
应该有温洲人和湖南人打电话再了解一下，毕竟他们的口音重，一般人听不明白
浦项（张家港）设备公司 孙红英 2007-01-10 15:02:19  联系电话：0512-56162509
Then:
答:驻利比亚使馆已经对此事进行了处理，具体处理情况请登陆外交部网站驻利比亚使馆信箱.
[本栏编辑] 2007-01-18 17:08:46
The Ministry of Commerce may not have wanted to hear it, but the posts kept coming. Here's a third post from the benevolent blogger, the words allegedly from one defendant himself:
我们被困在这里的原因基本上就是这样的：我们是2005年2月19日来利比亚的，来这里搞商场的装修，可是还没有工作一个月的时间，我们的商场地下室就起火了。起火的当天，我们都不在商场里面工作，我们在外面栏杆。在起火的这三天的搞电焊的都没有搞过电焊。而地下室是怎么起火的，我们到现在还不知道是怎么回事。
就是这样，我就被这里的检察院起诉，把我们的护照扣留了，为了这件事，我们几个人还被关进了利比亚的监狱。啊，这里的监狱真不是人呆的地方。里面都是黑人，他们身上的味道也真难受，就这样我们在这里面呆了一个月的时间。在这一个月的时间里我们被提审，开庭10次之多。（那个时候是2005年6 月27号，我们被抓进去的）他们这个国家不讲道理，也不讲理由。再说我们语言又不通，我们怎么申辩也没有用。再说了，他们抓我们是没有证据的。我想在我们中国这样是不行的，我们在这里没有一点人权。
现在法院硬说是我们的工作失误而引起火灾的，以此为由判我们一年的牢，我们不服，现在上诉这里的最高法院。
你能给我们想想办法吗？我们这这里求你了。
中国驻利比亚大使馆的电话是00218-021-4832914
大使馆李参赞：00218-091-2130116
办公室主任：00218-061-2130117
我的电子邮箱：tanshuibin-163.com@163.com
我们的联系电话是：00218-092-5202391
来利比亚的20几个人现在就剩下我们三个人了，今天在这里求求你们了，要帮帮我们。
谭水斌：湖南省泸溪县兴隆场镇甘田坪村长冲七组，护照号：G095718576
郑建波：浙江温州龙湾区蒲州镇下埠村，护照号：120052419
谭平等：湖南省泸溪县兴隆场镇甘田坪村长冲七组，护照号：G095718565
红英述：以上是我在论坛上偶尔看到的，深表同情，且对你们在使馆的态度深表愤怒。作为同胞就算不是义务和责任，也帮帮他们吧！
浦项（张家港）设备公司 孙红英 2007-01-10 15:05:08  联系电话：0512-56162509
Then:
答:驻利比亚使馆已经对此事进行了处理，具体处理情况请登陆外交部网站驻利比亚使馆信箱.
[本栏编辑] 2007-01-18 17:08:14
Their story was reported in mainstream Chinese media, Southern Metropolis Daily, for example, so it's no surprise that someone claiming to have been there would leave a message on the Libya section of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce website's public comment space. Not one of the construction workers, but a tenant in the building which burned, the China Trade Center.
大家为什么把大使馆想的那么坏，都是不知道情况，乱猜测，如果我没到过利比亚，不知道利比里亚中国贸易城的情况，没有得到中国驻利比亚大使馆的帮助，如果不知道温州商人吴是个什么东西，我也会这样想，事实不是这样的。
利比亚商城着火，吴采取欺骗的手法，不通知我们，把我们骗到利比亚，把我们放到一个地方，房价特高，后来知道他们吃了回扣，当我们知道着火后，整天对我们说马上就要开业，，不给我们退租金，在利比亚我最后弹尽粮绝，是大使馆帮我回国，商务处领导把他们的方便面给我们吃，我一个月没吃蔬菜，在吴的房子洗一个西红柿都不行，吴在利不务正业，整天搞男女关系，这样的人还恶人先告人，利用有人对政府的不信任，乱说。现在还欠我们的租金。
西安文苑果业公司 何选利 2007-01-15 21:53:17  联系电话：13679164880
The embassy left no reply, so He Xuanli followed up with another post three days later:
温州商人吴某应该承担一切责任,包括装修人员的工资.生活费,商户的租金.损失.而不是把人推到大使馆,找大使闹,又让人在网上散布不真实的消息,让国家的声誉受到损失,吴某不是中国人.
利比亚是一个人治国家,不是一个法治国家,吴某如果愿花钱,事情也到不了这样;吴某你在家花钱修路,用钱买光环,你把工人工资不给,商户的租金.损失不给;你一天不务正业,和那个去过法国女人乱来;你不是个男人.
你现在应该站出来,应该承担一切责任,而不是让国家替你埋单,你不是一个人.
西安文苑果业有限公司 何选利 2007-01-17 17:35:08  联系电话：13679164880
Then:
答:驻利比亚使馆已经对此事进行了处理，具体处理情况请登陆外交部网站驻利比亚使馆信箱.
[本栏编辑] 2007-01-18 17:07:35
An official response was released the next day—even an English version, which concludes:
“The Libyan court has decided to uphold guilty verdict of the 4 people after retrial now. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in Libya will continue to follow the developments of the case closely, render active to them in properly handling legal and living affairs on the basis of respecting their will.”

author: John Kennedy


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China: population policy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xueyong suggested that by improving rural women's education, China can achieve a better population policy (zh).


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China: Xinjiang watch · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A blog that tells you the most updated news about Xinjiang, with daily translation of local news.


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Colombia: Same-Sex Unions · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Andres Duque of Blabbeando documents the various political paths that GLBT advocates and activists in Colombia are using to gain the rights of same-sex unions.


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Cuba: Fidel’s video · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Alejandro Armengol attempts to make sense (ES) of the reaction of Miami's Cuban exiles to the video of Cuban president Fidel Castro released yesterday.


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Cuba, Mexico, USA: Reflections on Immigration · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“In mid-January I went back to Mexico for meetings with clients and academics, as well as colleagues from IBM.  As you might imagine, the immigration debates going on in the US are being closely followed in Mexico.  The people I spoke to were generally very critical of the Mexican government because it has not done nearly enough to improve economic conditions in the country so that the poor don’t feel the need to go North in search of a livelihood for them and their families. But, they also had many questions about our actions in the US.  I was asked, for example, why, almost twenty years after the dismantling of the Berlin Wall – with all the ugliness it symbolized – here is the winning superpower of the Cold War planning to build a new, even bigger Berlin-style wall.  Such questions caused me to reflect back on immigration, and the debates it has ignited in the US.” That is the beginning of a thoughtful post by Cuban-American IBM Vice President Irving Wladawsky-Berger. It was linked to by the popular Mexico City-based blog ALT1040.


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Egypt: January Bookfair · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogger Baheya is back from the Book Fair, with three books in tow.
“I’ve plucked only three of the most prominent features this year, two worthwhile new novels and a marvellous book lifted straight from the texture of daily life,” she wrote, giving us an interesting review of the books!


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Egypt: New head for Kifaya Movement  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian opposition movement Kifaya will have a new activist at its helm after the resignation of George Ishaq, reports Arabist.
The new frontman is Dr Abdel Wahab Al Messiri.


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Egypt: The History of Nimrod  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogger Tom Gara  gives us a brief history of Nimrod and Zionism following a brief research after the funny looks he got on the metro while singing to himself.


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Ethiopia: Gaddafi won the prize · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Gaddafi won the prize for the biggest entourage – three jets and a smaller cargo – and the best outfit – blue/purple/orange wraparound shares. white and yellow robes, green Africa badge and every military medal you can think of,” writes Meskel Square in a post about the arrival of dignitaries in Addis Ababa for the 8th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union.


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Georgians: Georgians on MySpace · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Levan takes a look at Georgian musicians on MySpace.


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Haiti, France: Creole Language Catholic Mass in Marseilles · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Collectif Haiti de Provence reports (Kr) on a Creole language mass that took place last Sunday in Marseilles, France for the Haitian community there: “More than 120 people showed up in their Sunday best. Restless young men weren't very excited about the music and  hymns but they still showed up… Before people returned home, another Creole language mass was scheduled for February 18.” The mass was organized by a Haitian cultural association.


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Haiti: Pre-Carnival Festivities A Blast for All · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Due to regained security in the capital, pre-carnival festivities in Port-au-Prince have been about as well attended as carnival itself, says (Fr) HaitiXchange.  Adds the site: “Marching bands and the better known DJs were all part of the festivities. People came from everywhere: Petion Ville, Delmas, Cite Soleil, Martissant…in order to enjoy themselves. Important measures were put in place by the authorities to prevent any decline in security during the pre-carnival activities.” (See full post translation to English here.)


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Iranian Bloggers Talk About Their Prison Experience · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Many people for political reasons have been sent to prison in Iran. A few of those former prisoners shared their stories in books, through  painting or in their blogs. Some people, including bloggers and researchers, have tried to look at prisons in Iran as an outsider, who was not in jail. Let's look at some of these blogs here:
I saw the Hell
Dr.Hesam Firouzi, a human rights activist and medical doctor who has treated several political prisoners spent time behind bars for 18 days in January. He shares part of his experience[Fa] in his blog. Dr. Firouzi criticized the behaviour of medical personnel with prisoners and says if a prisoner gets a chance to visit a doctor he/she should wait another 20 days for a second visit. He says once he found himself in a 15 to 20 square metre cell with 19 to 20 other prisoners. Dr. Firouzi says in some parts of prison drugs, especially crack, can be bought easily. The blogger wrote a letter to the authorities describing his experience.
He says the prison dentist's only job is to pull prisoners’ teeth out and nothing else. The blogger adds there are very sick people without any access to necessary medical treatment. To sum up his experience, he writes: “I saw the Hell with my own eyes.”
Drug is the King
Ghomarasheghaneh, a blogger who had been in jail for his political writings, says contrary to popular belief, many prisoners get addicted to drugs in prison.   The blogger says out of 120 prisoners more than 100 are drug addicts.
He says crack price is ten times more in prison than outside[Fa], making it a real temptation for many to deal in drugs. The blogger counts a few reasons for the increasing number of addicts:
1-no psychologist
2-addicts and non addicts are together
3-no library or sport center
4-some agents bring in drugs
5-no speration between younger and older prisoners. Those under 25 years are the most vulnerable. The blogger says he has real the doubt that prison in-charge doesn't know about what is happening.
Nightmare goes on
Memarian was sent to jail with several other bloggers for political reasons and persecuted. He says I have always been an optimistic person. Regarding his investigators in prison, he says they were people who only had the apperance of human beings[Fa].The blogger adds: “When I came out of prison, I said to myself let's forget these people and not let them hurt my optimism but this experience is still stuck in my memory. I still remember the guards’ whispers and the keys turning in my cell's doors.”
Forced Confessions and Crow's Dreams
Jomhour has never been imprisoned but criticises forced confessions in Iranian jails[Fa]. Since first days of Iranian revolution many people were forced to come before TV and make statements.
To sum up the feeling of injustice, Kasra Anghaee,an Iranian poet, shares with us what it means to be in prison:
In the bewilderment of the forest
we had found a hut with white walls
but later we found out
that the hut
was the crows’ dream
and we had been lost
in the labyrinths of a melody
played by an old musician
beyond the river.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: Another Terrifying Day · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Nabil writes about yet another terrifying day in his neighbourhood.
“Me and several people ran to the roof of the house, and there was my neighbour lying on the floor with his legs got cut due to the explosion and he was severly bleeding and there was blood stains all of him.I was completely shocked, scared and terrified, I stood there and didn't know what to do.A man who was standing next to me shouted on me “come on!, grap him with me, lets take him to the hospital”, I ran to him and carried my neighbour with him,” he wrote.


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Iraq: Massacare in Najaf  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi blogger Imad Khadduri reports a massacare in Najaf, which left about 260 people dead.


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Israeli Ambassador to Egypt ‘Can’t Stand Security Measures’  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is in stitches that the Israeli Ambassador to her country has left his residence in Maadi Suburb because of the Maadi Slayer.
“Oh yes the Israeli Ambassador and his family pack their bags to stay in the Embassy in Giza area near the Zoo because of the Maadi slayer. (It) was announced that the man couldn't stand the security measures taken now in Maadi !!” she wrote.
According to Zeinobia the slayer is said to have attacked six victims so far, injuring but not killing them. I have found no reference to him in official media sources.


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Japan: winter purification rituals  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Weber in Japundit blogs about the winter purification-through-freezing-water rituals in Japan.


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Kazakhstan: German Relations · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann reports on the meeting between the leaders of Kazakhstan and Germany during which Germany offered support for Kazakhstan's bid to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.


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Kazakhstan: James Giffen · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila translates a post on James Giffen, an American businessman facing trial in the United States for bribing Kazakhstan's president, something he says that he did with the knowledge of the US government. The case has been used by opposition politicians in Kazakhstan against the president.


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Kurdistance: The Kirkuk Referendum · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

While the Kirkuk Referendum isn't expected to take place until December 2007, it is creating waves within Kurdistan, Iraq and their neighbors. Why the flurry of activity now? The Iraq Study Report recommended that the referendum be delayed, citing the the area as a “powderkeg”. The Republic of Turkey wants the referendum delayed, and even the Iraqi government is considering the same. This panics Kurdish officials in the region.
Kirkuk is interesting in itself. For one, it is rich, hosting a lucrative oil supply. Secondly, the area is mixed ethnically: Kurds and Turkmen. While the Turkmen population used to be higher (and more concentrated) evolving demographics show Kurds as the new majority. The referendum would have Kirkuk classify itself as wanting to be a part of Iraq major or part of the semi-independent Northern Iraq Kurdistan.
Regional players are very important in this conflict. Turkey is opposed to Kirkuk being part of the semi-independent Kurdistan, stating that they are only looking out for their Turkmen brethren. More potently, Kirkuk – being formally a part of the semi-independent Kurdistan – could possibly lead to an independent Kurdistan. This threatens Turkey in respect to control its Kurdish population and Kurdish rebel violence stemming from the PKK. Additionally, an independent Kurdistan would threaten to destabilize Iraq, Iran, Syria and well as Turkey. As you can see, there is a lot riding on this referendum.
How do the Turkmen feel about this?  As From Holland to Kurdistan reports:
In the last KRG Parliament session about Kerkuk, a Turkmen MP made a speech in Parliament. It showed the participation of Turkmen in the Kurdish region. This was shown on the Kurdish channel Kurdistan TV.
He said: “I will say this in Turkish so Turks understand this, we are Turkmen and not Turks”. He also said Turkey is doing more damage to the Turkmeni people than any good.
Also a Turkmen politician asked Turkey to stop interfering with their business, he said why is Turkey talking about Turkmeni rights after we got those rights and not when Saddam was oppressing us?”
Additionally the Iraq Solidarity Campaign reports that the Turkmen are wary of the Turks. For a more Turkish views on the Turkmen case of Kirkuk see here. In any event, the Turks are actively involved in Kirkuk as Kurdish Aspect illustrates:
Last week Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Iraq and said “Turkey will not sit idle if the Iraqi Kurds have control over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.” That brought strong criticism by a Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) spokesman who said “we have heard for some time meaningless statements by some Turkish officials with their implied threats and we want to remind them that the Ottoman Empire had fallen a long time ago and Iraq is not part of Turkey,” told Voice of Iraq.
In my opinion, all these threats and warnings, in addition to wanting to destabilize Kurdish achievements in Iraq, Erdogan is trying to please the chauvinist nationalist and the military power to secure the presidential post in Turkey. The threats and changes in Erdogan’s views from the beginning of his term until now are directly tied to the upcoming election in Turkey.
No matter, what happens in Iraq with regards to article 140 it is up to the Iraqi people to decide on the future of Kirkuk and not Mr. Gul, Mr. Erdogan or the Turkish State.
Iraqi Kurdistan criticizes the findings of the Iraq Study Group:
(this) report is ignoring the fact that the Iraqi constitution has adopted federalism and the people of Iraq want clearly only weak central control from Baghdad. It is outrageous that this unfortunate report is obliging to Turkey, the very country which let America down at the time of need, by calling to postpone the article 140 of Iraqi permanent constitution which paves the way for a just solution for the issue of Kirkuk and other ethnicly cleansed cities of Iraqi Kurdistan. To alienate the Kurds, the only real fiends of America in Iraq, will bring Iraq definitely into civil war and paves the way for disintegration of Iraq, for no Kurdish leader, regardless of their degree of friendship to America, will dare to abandon the issue of Kirkuk.
Mr Baker and Mr Hamilton and their study group totally ignored the Kurdish factor in Iraq and taken them for granted. All the miserable wars of saddam started from his policies of Arabization and maltreatment of Kurdish citizens, and the Kurds will not allow any central government to persecute them again, and will certainly resist any foreign intervention, especially Turkish one, in Iraqi Kurdistan affairs.
Hiwakan calls for an end to Turkish involvement:
We are ready to do [a lot] in UK at least in the event of any intervention, pressure and worse from Turkey to convince the UK government to back the TRUE right of the Kurds all around the world and specifically in Kirkuk where we fought the coalition forces against Saddam when the Turks didn't even allow them to use their land and were against the war on Saddam!
I am sure almost all European countries have enought southern Kurdistan Kurds together with their northen Kurdistani Kurds who are happy to express their opinion in different forms to force the governments to put pressure on Turkey to mind its own 20M Kurds and remind them again that Ottoman reign in OVER! That was your golden era and its most loyal nation was the Kurds… we HOPEFULLY have learned our lesson!
Lets see, who will win the battle for Kirkuk… in other words Kurdish Independence War!
Rasti warns about the consequences of Turkey intervening to the level they have threatened (occupation of Northern Iraq):
The best outcome of such an occupation would be the unification of the Kurdish people across all borders and the ensuing slaughter of Mehmetciks, but practically speaking, I don't believe we are at the point of such a scheme being put into place. The US wants to maintain control of the energy resources of Iraq, including those of South Kurdistan, Mûsil, and Kerkuk. The US knows that if the Ankara regime occupies, it will not leave, thus jeopardizing the control over South Kurdistan's energy resources. A Turkish occupation would most likely cause Iran to react in order to rebalance the regional power, possibly leading to a seizure–even if a soft one–of Southern Iraq and its energy resources. At the top domain level, we could be sure to see more regional involvement by the SCO, since Iran has observer status in that organization, causing problems for both Turkey and the US as they hope to consolidate their own power in the Central Asian republics.
This will not be the end of discussion on the Kirkuk referendum (and definitely not the end of GV posts on the subject). What we are witnessing is the beginning of a potentially explosive situation, or at least a case-study in political geography.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Lesotho: institutionalizing development consulting · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Idland writes about “institutionalization of development consulting”:
You know you've been institutionalized into development consulting when your only concern about your deliverable is how it will look on the bookshelf where you know it will spend 100% of its life.


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Madagascar: Ministers in the New Government · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Madagascar Croissance posts (Fr) a list of the ministers that make up the new government.


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Malawi: remembering Mangaliso Jere · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Hacktivate writes about the Malawian blogger who passed away recently, Mangaliso Jere, “Mangaliso Jere, author of Mangaliso’s World passed away last week. He was probably the most prolific Malawian blogger in the world, and he is being mourned and missed by many. Apparently Mangaliso died from internal bleeding after having a straightforward operation at a hospital in Mzuzu.”


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Mayotte: Who Lives There? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reunion Passion usually blogs on her homeland but recently she focused on nearby Indian Ocean French overseas department Mayotte (Fr): “Many cultures cohabitate in Mayotte, the first, of Comorian origin, constitutes 60% of the population, the second is Malagasy  and is heavily influenced by the first and finally the French and Western influences the first two increasingly.” The blogger posts an original slideshow of the featured island.


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Myanmar: Inle Lake · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bangkok Dazed takes us to Inle Lake, one of Myanmar's popular tourist destination. Inle Lake is a large fresh water lake in Shan state.


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Nepal: Madhesh Is Burning  · Global Voices
Paramendra

Madhesh is the southern plains of Nepal where half of the country lives. Madhesi are the people of Nepal, roughly half of the country. The Madhesi have been discriminated against for centuries. Now they are in a revolt that feels like the second part of the world shaking April Revolution.
For over a week now, the Madhesh has been in the limelight. It has been shut down. Daily curfews have been imposed in all the major towns of the Madhesh. This phase of the struggle was launched by the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF). For years the MJF was a small outfit. It has seen a rapid rise of popularity through this peaceful movement, and seems to be on its way to becoming a political party.
Nepali bloggers have been reporting on it depending on if they are Pahadi, the Nepali from the hills, or Madhesi. Pahadi bloggers seem to be expressing their bias and might be underreporting some aspects. This becomes even more interesting given that the government propaganda declares that this is not a social justice movement but rather an instigation of the royalists and the Hindu supremacists.
Madhesi – United We Stand has posts on various aspects of the movement. From a post titled Madhesi Murmurings.
If Madhesh was part of Nepal, then why Madheshis have not been given any chance to prove their patriotism in Nepali Army, the most patriotic institution of the country? As noted by a former Nepalese PM, Madheshis were not suited for army because Madheshis are not healthy and fit. If this argument stands true, Madhesh (said to be rice bowl) are facing “hidden hunger” (intakes of nutrition deficit diet) and need nutrition and health care from Nepal Government.
Global mainstream media also so far has stayed away from the movement. The MSM was all over the April Revolution. It was on TV in New York City, it was on the front page of the New York Times for days. However, Global MSM seems to buy into the image that Nepal is only hills and mountains, or it would be paying much more attention right now.
DFN aspires to be more a political tool than a blog. (The blog is also now accessed from a new domain name: Madhesi.net). DFN asks a crucial question which hopes to explore the attitude of the Pahadis, and if the Madhesi movement is somewhat like the movement for democracy in April 2006.
United We Blog also covers the issue. Some excellent photographs of the protests, giving a rare glimpse into the turmoil that Madesh finds itself in. A very intense discussion in the comments space for this post, as people discuss the curfew imposed in the area.
Mero Sansar, (in Nepali) covers the issue from what maybe construed as a slightly biased position. Parivartan Nepal has a post that sums up the situation.
The primary thrust of the Madhesi movement is simple to understand. They want to get rid of the past political arrangements based on the principles and practices of internal colonization. Now, they want Madhesi autonomous governance mechanism, federal system and proportional representation including in the election of the constituent assembly. Simply, they are asking for equitable power sharing.
Counterpoint takes a look at neighbouring India to make a point about federalism.
This comparsion clearly shows that federalism would be viable only when it is based on notions of democracy and equal opportunity. Today, we can see many north Indians working in South India and many south Indians working in North India. With autonomy, people have their own identity and this has put a stop to unnecessary wranglings over one’s political rights.
Ajay Dhakal expresses concern, as does Blogger Nepal. Counterpoint has an article by a student leader Gagan Thapa on the issue. (All these are links to blogs in Nepali.)

author: Paramendra


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Peru: Racism at the Beach · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

They say that to work is no offence, that there is no job that one should be ashamed of. It sounds logical, but not everyone seems to think that way. Many Peruvians, some think too many, leave their motherland to look for a better job opportunity abroad, where they often end up working jobs that not even in their worse nightmares had they done here. Perhaps the fact that no one they know is witness to their suffering lessens the embarrassment and loss of self-esteem that comes from working a job below someone's abilities. But it is not necessary to leave the country to work in discriminatory and marginalized conditions.
In Lima and the nearby beach resorts it is summer. Many years ago, up until the Sixties, the fashionable beaches were those of Miraflores, Barranco and Chorrillos as well as the more distant beaches of Ancón. Today, for what has already been a good number of summers, the hotspot beaches are to the south. Among the great many beaches along the coast to the south of the capital, the favorite of wealthy Limeans is called “Asia,” and is often pronounced in English by those who spend their summers there. This resort has been made famous for offering the very best to its exclusive clientele. In fact, the beach has transformed into a small city with all the offerings of modernity and globalization, out of sight from the town that also used to spend the summer there.
But recently, Asia has also become well-known for its discriminatory and marginalizing treatment towards the “domestic employees” or “household employees” as they are generally called among the families who employ them. These workers, for example, are effectively prohibited from entering the beach during the day. Only after 6 p.m. are they allowed to enter these areas. Obviously many consider this unjust and that it boils down to an undeniable issue of racism.
Therefore, The Office Against Racism of the National Coordinator of Human rights, composed of diverse institutions and individuals, have formed a weblog to publicize an operation called “Audacious Employee” in which a group of people dressed like maids peacefully enter one of the off-limit beaches during the day and bathe in them. More information is available in this post: Questions and answers about Operation Audacious Employee. The mentioned operation successfully took place last Sunday, complete with videos and photos. There was also repercussion from the operation in the press.
As it could not be any other way, several bloggers echoed the subject and posted about the operation both before and after it happened:
La Perra de mi Vecina… ladra mucho – Operativo “Empleada Audaz”
Diseño Perú – Cartel a propósito del operativo “Empleada Audaz”
Zonadenoticias – Un operativo audaz
Luna antagonica: Entre cables, sueños, cemento y piel – Operativo empleada audaz contra gamonalismo reload Versión 2007 3.14
Peruanista – Video: Trabajadora del Hogar
Pospost – “Empleada audaz” cambió rostro a playas de Asia y Una observación fraterna sobre el tema de Asia
El blog del morsa – empleada audaz. historia tras bambalinas
El Sitio de Kinua – Kinua's Site – Video: Operativo Empleada audaz
Des-ubicadas – Empleada Audaz fue un exito!!!
Mi otro blog – Empleada Audaz
Desde el Tercer Piso – Empleada audaz
El Útero de Marita – Vídeo del Operativo Empleada Audaz
Pueblo Vruto – Operativo PATRÓN AUDAZ
Gran Combo Club – Derecha vruta
But this is not the only protest that has occurred recently in Lima. Another took place in Lima's Plaza de Armas against the president's plan to restore capital punishment for certain crimes. Posts about the protest include: “Only Death can enter the [Presidential] Palace? [ES]“, “Only Death could enter the Palace [ES]” and “Protest against Death: Latest Reflections [ES].” Regarding bloggers and other details, Gran Combo Club posted “Successful Protest in the Plaza de Armas” and “Successful Protest in the Plaza de Armas (2).”
Well, as you can see, the year seems to have begun with a lot of citizens here in Lima organizing protests using online resources here in Lima. Gabriel Rodriguez of Peru Design, is the photographer of the image that accompanies this post.
Translated from Spanish by David Sasaki

author: Juan Arellano


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Philippines: Taho Seller · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Senor Enrique in Manila introduces us to Jun, a Taho seller. Taho is a popular sweet snack in Philippines and it is made with bean curd, liquefied raw sugar and tapioca balls.


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Poland: Anti-Missile System · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot argues that “the critics of the decision of placing a US anti-missile system in Poland are being as paranoid as the US government.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Poland: Clothing for the Pope vs G-Strings · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A small Polish town is divided: is it a sin to make sexy underwear for a company that used to make ceremonial clothing for Pope John Paul II? The beatroot has more on it.


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Poland: LOT Airline · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“LOT's passenger numbers have risen by less than 2 percent last year at the time when millions of Poles are traveling to work in Irland and Britain.” Polish Matters writes about plans to revive the ailing airline.


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Poland: PM With a Broken Arm · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes: “[The Polish president's twin brother] breaks arm after falling on ice. Does that make him a lame duck Prime Minister?” A commenter responds: “He's a right wing duck, so breaking he left wing is part of his project, surly?” And another one: “Populism and regionalism, only requires one arm.” And one more: “One of the tabloids has a computer-animated reproduction of the whole tragic incident for readers too dumb to understand the complexities of slipping on ice.”


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Poland: Politics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“This is not a deeply unpopular government at all. It’s supporters appear to quite like it,” writes Warsaw Station in a lengthy post (followed by a lengthy discussion).


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Poland: Sex Scandal and Cronyism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Traveling Life writes about Poland's ongoing sex scandal and about yet another case of cronyism: “I know that each political appointee has an army of advisers to make sure he doesn't screw up too much. But at some point we have to ask when the sheer incompetence of political appointees will hurt these companies beyond short-term repair. The nationalistic Kaczynski twins are hurting the national champions they are trying to promote. This is how we run Duck Republic, Inc.”


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Poland: The Soviets’ Nuclear Arsenal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about the “now unclassified documents which show that Poland was nothing more than a buffer to the West for the Soviets and one that they could afford to make into a nuclear desert!”


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Russia: Amber · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude writes about the sorry state of the Baltic ecology and about the amber mines of Kaliningrad.


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Russia: Conversation With Litvinenko’s Widow, Part 10 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Part 10 of the conversation with Aleksandr Litvinenko's widow is translated and posted at A Step At A Time.


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South Korea: alternative fashion show · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jamie from interlocals.net reports on an interesting alternative fashion show in Seoul: The clothes were made and modeled by the women who made them as well as by a number of prominent figures from Korean civil society. The participants from civil society included labour union activists from the largest and most militant trade union, the KCTU; ministers of labour, justice, and gender equality; members from each of the major political parties; popular entertainers from both the social movements and from the conventional pop music industry.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Drive-bys arrive · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Abeni regrets to report that drive-by shootings have arrived in St. Vincent.


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Sudan: Muslims and Darfur · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to Sudanese Thinker, Muslims do not pay attention to Darfur because of three reasons.


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Syria May Abolish Capital Punishment · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Syrian blogger Mustafa Hamido reports that Syria may abolish capital punishment.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Tanzania: snoozing thinkers · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Tanzania In Focus blogs about Tanzania's snoozing “thinkers”: I don't want to sound like a genius, but I once blogged on the fact that ours is a snoozing government. I only didn't realize that some day, I will come to witness literal snoozing.


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Trinidad & Tobago: A nation unravels · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“How do you take back a country that at independence failed to take real responsibility for itself, whose fabric has been slowly unravelling ever since, and which now equates modernisation with a frantic rush towards industrialisation and “developed country status by 2020″?” asks Jeremy Taylor of his country, Trinidad and Tobago.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Festivals and all that jazz · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Laura at the Caribbean Beat blog is interested to see what the impact of the three-year old — and inaptly named — Tobago Jazz Festival will be on the region's other music festivals.


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Uzbekistan: Handling Succession · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts examines how Uzbekistan will handle succession. President Islam Karimov is 70 and currently in the “bonus time” of his final term. With elections on the horizon, Uzbekistan may have a new leader soon.


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Africa: TradeNet to revolutionize agriculture · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethan Zuckerman writes about a new project in West Africa, TradeNet, “TradeNet is designed to take advantage of the boom in mobile phones on the African continent, a boom that’s put mobile phones in the hands of 10% of Africans… an amazing growth over the number of people connected via wired telephony. TradeNet is designed to be an open marketplace for buyers and sellers of agricultural products throughout West Africa. The reason for this is simple: most farmers sell their goods to wholesalers located near to them.”


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Arabisc: Action from Dubai and Kuwait’s Shopping Malls · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The whole world is a stage and it is more so at Dubai‘s City Centre, which is considered one of the largest malls in the Gulf.
Bahraini blogger Mohammed Al Mubarak sums up his recent visit to the mall, where he literally sees the world pass by.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti blogger Bo Sale7 gives us a sneak preview of some of the girls who frequent a Kuwaiti mall.. thinking they are models on a catwalk! Here he goes into some of the details Al Mubarak wasn't too keen to provide us with.
The Gulf is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.


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Argentina: Mostruo! Allows Album to be Downloaded · Global Voices
David Sasaki

If you're patient and a fan of Latin American indie rock, then I highly recommend downloading the new album from Mostruo!, titled “Grosso.” Available for download here and if the good samaritan likes what she hears, purchases can be made here.

author: David Sasaki


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Bangladesh: Bangla Wikpedia · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Bangla Wikipedia is growing leaps and bounds. Drishtipat on helping the Bangla wiki grow. “Over the last year, we have taken initiatives to draw more contributors to Bangla wikipedia. In December, volunteers of Bangla Wikipedia visited various Mughal-era monuments of Old Dhaka and took more than 300 pictures, all of which were released under a free license … these photos are completely free and open for all to use, without any restrictions of copyrights. “

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: Cell phone videos · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press raises the issue of the proliferation of pornographic cell phone videos featuring underage students and sparks of a lively comment thread.


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Barbados: Treasures of our heritage · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Prompted by the news that the childhood home of Barbadian cricketing legend Sir Frank Worrell is to be restored, Titalyo writes about the lamentable state of other buildings of “historical interest” in Barbados, and wonders “how much substance there is behind the Prime Minister’s recent pledge to “restore the houses of the country’s leaders” and “the treasures of our heritage”.”


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“Belarus” and “Minsk” – the Bands · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about two Western bands named after… well, after Belarus and its capital, Minsk.


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Belarus: Film on March 2006 Protests · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a new film about the post-election protests in Minsk in March 2006.


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China and Japan: The Truth about Nanjing · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Alexpappas from Japundit blogs about the history debate over the new Japanese movie “The Truth about Nanjing”.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: banning pig · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In order to avoid offending China’s 21 million member Muslim population, the propaganda department in China is considering banning pig from Year of the Pig TV advertisements – More form Onemanbandwidth.


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China: child labour photo essay · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Nanfang daily have a short child labour photo essay(zh), the boys started working at factories when they were 15.


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China: myspace localization · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lyn Jeffery from virtual china translates an opinion piece by blogger Guo Yanjing on Myspace's strategy in China:  “If Myspace wants to succeed, it shouldn't act like an outsider” (zh).


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Cuba: Dissident update · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Whether Fidel Castro is dead or only partially dead, the last six months have shown that the dictatorship he created is fully capable carrying on his repressive ways,” writes Marc Masferrer in the introduction to a post reporting on the situation of a few key Cuban dissidents and political prisoners.


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Cuba: Fidel’s Miami farewell party · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Val Prieto answers those who believe that the party being planned by Miami's Cuban community to celebrate Fidel Castro's death is in bad taste: “Im going to pop open “la botellita”, wave my flags, honk my car horn, scream at the top of my lungs, dance in the streets, hug my neighbors…the whole fidel castro is f*****g dead enchilada. The following morning, I will, undoubtedly have the worst and best hangover Ive ever had in my life.“


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Guyana: Music video kudos · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

MediaCritic is impressed with two of the latest music videos produced in Guyana, and offers some tips to low-budget videomakers.


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Haiti: Turning emigration into a positive · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bryan Schaaf at Haiti Innovation asks how emigration can be turned to Haiti's benefit.


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India: Abused and Abuser · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The wannabe Indian punkster has strong words for people who blamed the abused. “Because I don’t know if your thoughts stem from incomprehension or resolute denial, but it’s about time that you wrapped your mind around the idea that maybe, just maybe in an abusive relationship the abusers are the one to blame.


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India: MSM and the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shivam Vij writes on the MSM and Blogosphere, and why the MSM needs to look closer at blogs instead of dismissing them as trash. “What is perhaps most fascinating about the Indian blogosphere is the great presence here of right-wing voices – far greater than is to be found in the mainstream English media. Many bloggers, for instance, have long insisted that the India-Pakistan peace process ought to be scrapped, as Pakistan has not given up the use of terrorism as a state policy.”


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Indonesia: Jihad is a Sin · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesia Matters highlights quotes by a cleric from Central Sulavesi who feels that Jihad as mentioned in Quranic context is no longer relevent today.

author: Preetam Rai


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Iran: Danes Against Bush · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Ad Blog Arabia points to an advertisement which appeared in an Iranian paper, which says that Iran has the right to procure nuclear energy while the US has no right to bomb it. “This is an interesting advertisement published in the Tehran Times newspaper on behalf of a group called Danes for World Peace. AdPunch reveals that they’re actually a Danish street art group, Surrend,” writes Zeid Nasser.


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Japan: Okinawa  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan blogs about the history and identity of Okinawan in relation to Japan.


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Jordan: Car Exemption Rumours · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Khalaf is wondering what it takes to get old cars off the roads. This follows newspaper reports on how people with old dilapidated vehicles are holding on to their cars, in the hope that the government will offer them a customs exemption in exchange for taking the cars off the road.


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Jordan: Petra Among Seven New Wonders of the World  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Batir Wardam says Petra is still in the race to be included among the seven new wonders of the world.


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Kabobfest: World Bank with Holes in his Socks · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Who ever thought that the socks safely tucked away in the boots of oppression would be so holey?” asks Will at Kabobfest.
“Do you think leading neo-condrathal Paul Wolfowitz was sending Muslims a message by wearing such shoddy socking at the Turkish mosque? Or are his socks manufactured poorly because they are made in the sweatshops that proliferated thanks to the free market globalization the World Bank pushes?” he adds.


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Kazakhstan: A Long Way to Go · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Irene crunches the numbers and points out that even if every single person in Kazakhstan blogged, there would still be far more Chinese bloggers. She looks at possible reasons why Kazakhstan's blogging community is as small as it is.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Korea: Anarchism · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Matts at Gust of popular feelings has a very interesting post about the history of Korean Anarchist movement.


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Lebanon: Violence, Paris 3 and Cluster Bombs · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The past week was a violent week for Lebanon. Fighting broke out around one of the universities in Beirut between pro and anti government students. This was two days after a general strike, accompanied by riots, that was staged by the opposition. On the same day of the strike, the government, represented by the prime minister and other ministers, was taking part in an international conference to aid Lebanon in Paris (Paris 3 Conference). As a result there were many posts discussing these topics in the Lebanese Blogosphere. Most of which can not be mentioned here because of lack of space and time. I have chosen a representative sample, especially those that have not been mentioned before in a summary. In addition to the topics mentioned, there are posts on the issue of the Israeli cluster bombs leftovers from last year's July war that are still causing casualties.
Posts about the violence:
The Arabist summarizes a lecture/analysis about the situation and the fears that the violence may escalate into a civil war:
Khoury and Traboulsi said that it is not in Hezbullah’s interest to start a civil war, and that Hezbullah knows this; but the movement it started–which has been using the exact same methods as last year’s “cedar revolution” to topple the government–has now painted itself into a corner, and Hezbullah’s allies (Syria and the party of Christian General Michel Aoun) may be pushing for a war because they have virtually nothing to lose from it.
Dmitri Marine writes on the Blogger News Network about the same topic and does not see an imminent violent escalation of the situation:
There is a significant segment of the Lebanese population that dislikes the way the current government is handling the country. And instead of doing things un-democratically, through terror, the disenchanted are taking peaceful means to voice their concerns and demands. No one can doubt that Hezbollah, a key player in the protests, is capable of acts of terror (and ones of magnitude). After all, it was Hezbollah that seriously challenged the reputation of the IDF this summer. However, Hezbollah has not been violent.
Badger at Arab Links translates (from Arabic) an editorial from a local newspaper that explains why the events in Lebanon last week were an early implementation of the new strategy that Secretary Rice seems to be implementing in the Middle East.
Joseph Samaha comments on where Lebanon fits in Condoleeza Rice's new “realignment” strategy, outlined in a WaPo column by David Ignatius yesterday. There are the “moderates” on one side and the extremists on the other, but in the middle are the Iraqis, Palestinians and Lebanese, democracies that need to be helped and supported by the (non-democratic) “moderates” to resist the “extremists”, but these target administrations are also required to take aggressive actions themselves in order to earn this support.
Body on the Line writes about her daily experiences during these crisis while Nostalgic Story Teller  writes a lengthy sarcastic post (Ar) about the events.
Abu Kais expresses his pain upon seeing the volatility of the situation in Lebanon but explains his attachment to his country:
Political commentaries feel useless now. As far as I am concerned, the country is living a low intensity war. Some might look at this as a necessary evil, a balance of terror to redress matters. Others will view it as a catastrophe, a regional war played out on Lebanese soil. Whatever it is, the pain is too deep, and much is at stake for many of us with attachments to that country. Lebanon may be the graveyard of our hopes and ambitions, but for all its faults, it's where our dreams take us at night. No one likes to see the kingdom of their dreams destroyed.
Does the situation in Iraq have anything to do with what is happening in Lebanon? Liminal seems to think so:
What did everybody expect when the Iraq war was instigated? For the conflict to just stay within its borders? While the Lebanese situation is a long-time in the making, nobody can tell me that the sectarian strife in Iraq has not spread to Lebanon. Iraq became the new Lebanon of the 70s on the grandest scale, while the new Lebanon is preparing to become the old Lebanon again.
Charles Malik warns of the uncontrollable situation especially when it comes to sectarian anger which no one has power over.
Posts about Paris 3:
Sophia sees and discusses the economic dimension of the political crisis:
It is plainly obvious that lending to the Sanyura government is foreign political interference disguised under the banner of economic reforms and aid. Because, in the present climate of political instability in Lebanon, no reasonable investor would lend money to such an embattled government if it wasn't for political gain. The end result will be to take the country and its inhabitants as hostages to foreign investors, later justifying a more active military foreign interference to support the already embattled government.
Abu Ali at Ms Levantine discusses the economic implication of the international aid conference for Lebanon:
I don’t like the Paris-3 manifesto because, among other major flaws, it is not pro-poor. It does not try to address the causes of poverty, but only to mitigate some of its ill effects, and very inadequately so. It tries to give itself a social conscience by using fashionable terminology such as “social safety nets” but it avoids details about the means of implementation, which would undermine its other reforms. The plan does not depart from the banking, commissions and tourism-of-a-special-kind creed, which heralds another tragic cycle of deruralization, impoverishment, migration and immigration. And, while there are some lonely voices pointing at these obvious flaws, no one is offering any convincing alternative. … For the poor of Lebanon, this may prove to be the real tragedy.
Posts about Cluster Bombs:
Richard Silverstein writes in Tikun Olam about the issue of the cluster bombs that were used by the IDF last summer during the bombing of Lebanon and which are still causing casualties till this day:
Those of you who remember my coverage of the Lebanon war will remember the stories about the IDF's virtual carpet bombing of southern Lebanon with cluster bombs. I called them the “gift that keeps on giving” because of the numerous civilian casualties caused during and after the war by the duds which never exploded on impact. The Times reports that 30 Lebanese have died, mostly children, and 180 have been injured since the war ended. Last summer, Israeli journalists and analysts speculated that such offensive use in civilian areas violated a U.S. agreement Israel pledged to adhere to banning their use in such circumstances.
Well, quel surprise! The U.S. is just now, six months after the fact, getting around to saying: “Well, heck it looks like the IDF kinda did a bad thing there maybe:”
Tears for Lebanon also has a post on the issue of the cluster bombs.
That’s all for this week, see you next week.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Libya: Muslims in the UK Make Headlines..Again · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Anglolibyan says Muslims in the UK are making the headlines again. “Again British Muslims make headline news locally and internationally, yesterday the police arrested 9 young British Muslims in Birmingham, who the police allege were trying to kidnap a Muslim British soldier who is in the UK on leave, the plot is to kidnap him then behead him while being filmed then post the video on the Internet,” he writes.


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Madagascar: High Speed Internet is Here · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Harinjaka had this to say about high speed internet in Madagascar (Fr): “The information technology market is exploding in Madagascar …IT Companies hire a lot here … because high speed internet is now available all over the country. 2006 was marked by the quest for high speed internet. Websurfers of the capital are getting to know this product. The deployment of this technology in rural areas will be the big challenge for 2007.”

author: Alice Backer


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“Made in Madagascar” Labels in the USA · Global Voices
Alice Backer

At group blog Malagasy Miray, US-based contributor Malagasy aty California explains (Fr): “When I go shopping, it is generally to cope with homesickness. So I … look scrupulously for tags that say ‘Made in Madagascar’. When I lived in Cincinatti, I looked for those in vein.. [But .in California] ‘Made in Madagascar’ products do exist and are found mostly on textiles and food. So I buy my clothes at Old Navy … I choose ice cream made with Malagasy vanilla … And to me that is my way of being close to those who spend hours and hours behind machines  in the free zones of Tanjombato, Ivato or elsewhere.”