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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

I [give] up sometimes… when I wake up in the morning [to] the sound of bomb. I feel like… someone took my heart and returned it back to my body…. Just like the computer… if you are working and it's suddenly turned off, you might lose the file you work on but you still have the last file. Can you understand my view?
Iraqi blogger HNK, interviewed by fellow teenagers in America.
This post is dedicated to the voices from Iraq and in the next I will write of the blogodrome outside. While much of the world took pause last week to remember the victims following the crashing of aircraft into buildings in America five years ago the Iraqi Blogodrome has been reliving the hell of daily life in Iraq. And how do Iraqis feel about the 9th of September five years ago? HNK again..
I just want to ask you something. After Sept. 11 took place, what did you feel? Do you feel in pain? I feel this every day. It's only a building destroyed… five years [ago] and you still remember that pain and that suffering. Well, for me it was not one building, it was a country and it's still under the occupation. And every day 1,000 people die. Do you think I will forget this? I can't…. If I live [to] be 100-years-old, maybe I will forget my name and my country, but I will never forget the pain and suffering I am feeling right now.
Or maybe you can get a feeling of the progress of Iraq through this poem by ZZ:
On Fridays the sun shone,
like it never would on any other.
I would have called it ‘Sun Day’,
but we rested on on that day,
while the sun kissed our skins.
…
On Fridays, cars honked greetings
and people smiled back.
They flocked at markets,
and hugged and kissed,
and compared prices.
…
On Fridays we watched the evening news
and reflected.
War after war,
we expected
better days…
On Fridays today, under the sun,
they slaughter women,
and rape children.
On Fridays today, mosques turn into infernos,
and the rubber of the flip-flops burn the nostrils
of the bodies on the charred marble floors…
On Fridays now, the streets are quiet.
The silence bites at the ears of travelers,
who move in the shadows unseen,
praying to reach home whole…
On Fridays now, people drink dark coffee.
From one memorial to its neighbor,
the bitter taste becomes the custom.
On Fridays now, people fear the evening news.
War after war…,
they wonder if they have seen the worst…
yet…
The Konfused Kid posts snapshots from a week in hell. He concludes:
Life in the past week has made me confirm many deductions which I have wished to God that will not come true, From the moment I felt the harsh, cruel wind slap me like an angry mother … I am filled with an immeasurable sense of loss and hate, HATE at everyone who took up an official seat and blurted words beyond a microphone. I am positive that my faith in my country has been shattered beyond repair once and for all…
The last time I wished I could stay in Iraq was when I went to college, I met many friends who I haven't seen in months, we laughed, we cuddled, we talked girls, movies and football like the old days, and it was this that I really wanted, the way everyone should live – but even there in my enclosed atmosphere of the college, something sinister evokes the darkness, like the half-torn death sign of my four friends who were killed three months earlier, or the fact that half of our department are leaving abroad
Despair is not the order of the day for Miraj. And to say she has been through hard times is an understatement:
I left my first company which was looted to a better job which was bombed by terrorists … I spent weeks and months under 50 centigrade degrees where is no electricity , where you feel your soul is struggling to get out of your body to feel relieved , where I had to suffer watching my old father begging for air at nights. I cried again, I felt sick, I thought I lost my faith. … I was attacked in my own house by a filthy animal. I screamed, I fell ,I injured myself while running away cowardly , I cursed my life and shouted why me, I couldn’t sleep for weeks,
But, as she asks, “Has she given up?” Her answer..
No! I took another job to evolve my skills… and I am proudly one of the best qualified people to build this country once it is cleaned.
No! I still have to go out in the night to operate the generator…  I still take my father’s gun and search the house, room by room when ever I hear noise.
No! I am still here on line , writing and standing in your faces.
No! I am still holding on to my morals and values … And proud of it.
And speaking of morals, Hala_s tells the stories of those who profited from the war. Like that of a friend whose husband made more than a million dollars in less than a year..
“Sub-contracting for what?” I asked. “Imaginary projects and useless ventures, this is how they make money these days in Iraq if you have the right connections inside the Green zone.”
Hala wonders what her friends father, who dies for his beliefs in an Iraqi prison in the Eighties, would have thought. But these are small fry..
The big ones don’t even enter Iraq.
One of the ex-patriots I came across recruits Iraqis from all over the world except from inside Iraq of course to join the re-building of Iraq project.
The amount of money those people are making is beyond belief.
Isn’t it a mystery that nothing absolutely nothing effective has been achieved on the ground as yet?
And their justification for such fraud? One friend tells her “… When I put the money I’m going to make and Iraq’s interest on the scale, the money weighed much more!” She wonders:
Where would my dream fit among the reality of those people I met with?
The truth is I couldn’t spell it out. I thought I would meet a group of enthusiasts dreaming like me of making Iraq a better place, not a bunch of chameleons who change their colours whenever an opportunity arises.
All I dream of is going back to Baghdad, open a small gym; that would be for the heart.
And for the pocket, I thought a small fancy flip flops factory in a village will do!
After talking about the living we must also remember those who have died. Zappy writes an obituary to Rasool “Brooh Oobook”. He is no one famous or important, in fact the opposite. Zappy writes, “He’s a Young ignorant skinny Individual with many talents, he started as a shoeshine boy and was persistently dirty and ragged … he used to beg for either a Cigarette or a 250 Iraqi Dinar Bill (approx 10 cents) telling us “Brooh Oobook” (on your Fathers soul) give me a 250.” But all the shop keepers in the area knew who he was for his mischief and humor:
One day he told us that when he arrives to Paris, France and becomes the Ambassador there he would call us and laughs and spit on us.
… he gradually started cleaning Goldsmith shops and Cars and became picky which cars he cleaned “I prefer BMW’s because their owners are better than you stinky people” sitting crossed legs in front of us smoking our cigarettes and drinking my “Istikan” of tea.
Rasool died after someone “forgot a plastic bag” on his bus home.
And Finally…
The blogs are not all despair, and there are moments of extreme happiness. At last we can be treated to one of Sunshine's best stories. She heard a rumor that a famous Hollywood actor had mentioned her blog in an interview. It turns out it was Gary Sinise. But she could not find any reference to the interview on the Internet. So with the help of a friend, she finds his email address and sends him a letter. I'll let Sunshine describe what happened next…
In the next day I was checking my E-mails and I was shocked ,I received so many E-mails , telling me that I was mentioned in news channel MSNBC & that they said something about me, I kept searching but I couldn't find anything either ! Then I received a letter, my mom was watching TV, when I told her I received another letter she said “from whom? ” (I didn't even imagine that the letter came from the famous actor Gary Sinise), my mom said at once ” oh ,he might be him, I said “I don't know yet I will see ,” I wasn't expecting that a famous actor would answer me that quickly , when I saw the subject of the letter I shouted “OH YES HE IS ” I don't know what happened to me, I couldn't wait to read it (as you know the services are slow ) , I read it in a loud shaky voice , I was so happy , & excited , I kept shaking , & laughing , it was the best day ever , & of course couldn't sleep that night !!!
And Gary explains why the Iraqi blogs are so important. He wrote…
Hello Sunshine, So good to hear from you. Yes, I did mention your website on the radio because I think it is great what you are doing and I want people here in the United States to see what you have to say about life in Iraq today. We get a very uneven view of things because all we have is the media and they are sometimes very one sided. The media pretty much only shows us all the terrible things, the bombings and the death toll but not the everyday life of the Iraqi people. We do not know how the average Iraqi citizen feels about things there and you write very well about your life in Mosul. Just being a kid and going to school and trying to have a good life.

author: Salam Adil


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Laos: Laotian Pop Music in Japan · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Samakomlao blog posts pictures of a Laotian pop duo in concert in Japan. Laos is one of the least visited countries in Asia and only recently rest of Asia is getting interested in Lao's pop-culture and travel destinations.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Preetam Rai


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Malaysia: Pope’s Speech · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Nik Nazmi in Malaysia asks whether the speech made by pope was really an attempt at dialogue. “While, yes, the Pope has now apologised, what is glaring is the fact that when he quoted Manuel II, there was no hint of qualification and seemingly tacit approval.”


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Nepal: Or how the King blew it · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blogdai with a rather caustic note on how the King blew his opportunity in Nepal. “Kept looking for the Maoists, kept up the fight and kept marginalizing and ignoring the parties. The fickle world community would have lost interest in Nepal soon enough and would have moved onto something more “news worthy.””

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: Reacting to the Pope’s Statement · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

iFaqeer on the Pope's statement about Islam. “And in that sense, the complaints from the Muslim world have some basis; poking folks in the eye ain't the best way to make friends. Now if we had an official Caliph, he could challenge the man to a duel and we could be done with it and lots of people wouldn't have to be affected by riots and suchlike.”


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Pakistan: View of Manuel and the Pope · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Lahore takes a closer look at what the Pope actually said, and in the context of the entire speech, wonders what the Pope's intent is. “Specially after reading the last paragraph, I do not think he himself agrees with the views of Emperor Manuel Paleologos II but he was just quoting it to start a debate. I am not sure though that he used enough or right words to convey his intentions clearly and that's where I personally see the problem.”


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Panama: Music: “Culture in Panama (My Appreciation for Señor Loop)” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Writer Rob Rivera articulates why he believes “Panama is coming into its own in terms of culture, after laying dormant for many years.”

author: David Sasaki


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Philippines: Most controversial military general · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Army Major General Jovito Palparan is implicated in more than a hundred cases of human rights violations. He retired last week from active military service but the government vowed to appoint him soon to continue his anti-communist crusade.
Activists accused him of being a “butcher” but President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo praised him many times and even acknowledged his controversial tactics in defeating the ‘enemies of the state’.
Gen. Palparan neither confirmed nor denied his involvement in the notorious ‘death squads’ which claimed the lives of more than 700 political dissenters since 2001. He insists that he only ‘inspired’ the triggerman.
Piercing Pens blogs about “a problem like Palparan.”
Fullman suggests how to ‘neutralize the menace’ without resorting to violence:
“Since he’s based in remote rural areas, where the only creatures that are active at night are truly nocturnal, the only way to keep him up until the wee hours of the morning is to invite him every night to judge your ubiquitous gay beauty pageants. This is the only strategy that does not violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…If you are from Bulacan, Nueve Ecija or Pampanga, then do an act of patriotism and invite Palparan to judge your gay beauty contests. Believe me, that would, ehem, neutralize the menace.”
The Professional Heckler also has a humorous commentary on the day of Palparan’s retirement.
Hillblogger explains the consequences if Palparan is given a new job in government:
“A seat on the National Security Council is virtual immunity for Palparan; the seat ensures that he can snub summons by the legislature…he doesn’t have to answer any questions surrounding accusations of extra-judicial killings during his time as a military commander and most of all, he is vested with official powers to put down opposition to (President) Arroyo by simply branding all oppositionists ‘red’.”
Our thoughts are free writes about the real legacy of Palparan in all the areas where he was assigned: a trail of blood and child victims. Torn and Frayed in Manila provides the details of Palparan’s violent record. He also compares Palparan to other infamous individuals:
“Palparan comes from a long and undistinguished line that includes King Leopold II, Butcher of the Congo; Idi Amin, Butcher of Uganda; Ariel Sharon, Butcher of Sabra and Chatilla; and Butcher Cumberland, the victor at Culloden. And now the Philippines has its own butcher.”
Achieving happiness on how activists view Palparan:
“Yes yes yes. Palparan is a serial killer in uniform. If psychiatrists made a profile of how his brain works and how his id and ego are, they'd most likely discover that he's no different from the likes of Jack the Ripper and Hiter. Completely demented, killing calmly and coldly.”
Kalovski Itim Online probes the media spin to give Palparan a ‘soft side.’
Stop the killings website is essential to understand the human rights situation in the Philippine under the present government.
Red star images posted a picture of Palparan.

author: Mong Palatino


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Poland’s Pulse in the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Jordan & Maria Seidel

The 16th century  town of Kazimierz Dolny in Poland – by Gustav (Warsaw Station)
The Polish Farmer and the Dell? From bovinechips to microchips, Polish Matters reports on the largest single US investment in Poland from computer-maker Dell. The plant is slated for construction next year in Lodz and will employ 2,000 people. That's very good news for an economy already suffering from a serious brain drain pointed West.
While microchips are very small and shiny, and cowchips, well, are not, the Real Warsaw waxes on about the sizeable chips on Polish clerk shoulders. Why is it that there are more scowls than smiles in the shops? An answer:
The mainstream theory is it goes back to the communist days when shop assistants did not need to be polite. There were less goods than customers and the shop assistant was god, allocating the goods at a whim to the pour souls in the queue.
Makes sense, if you assume that being kind is counter to human nature (barring Mondays)…however, an alternative theory is forwarded by Camoloami. It follows the inverse proportion theory – the number of Polish dollars earned each month by clerks is inversely proportional to the number of scowls they don at work.
Average pole working in the shop earns the lowest rate! It's usually around 800zl to 1000zl/month !!! Would you be happy and nice to everyone working 8 hours for such money ???
Moving from Polish clerk scowls to Taliban head-towels, the Beatroot reports on the political infighting over the decision to send troops to Afghanistan next year.
…opposition parties have come out against the deployment. SLD leader Wojciech Olejniczak said Friday that Poland already had troops in Iraq and Lebanon and could not afford to “dispose of its forces with such ease. Poland is not a military power. We can’t afford this.”
Perhaps the Poles should re-consider and send troops to Italy where, according to P3, over 120 Poles have vanished:
…123 men and women…vanished over the past six years after saying they were going to Italy to work, usually as farm labourers or carers. The site also includes advice for those considering working in Italy. Among other things, they are advised to take with them enough cash for an escape.
Academic integrity is also vanishing… Enklawa Dziennnikarza laments (POL): statistics show that 10 in every 100 thesis papers submitted at Polish universities (whether it is for a final degree or just for a term grade) are at least partially plagiarised, mainly from internet resources. Is it just the “sheer laziness of the students” or maybe
blame lays with the system itself. […] Poland has a great number of students, combined with a small number of didactic cadres. Each “promotor” copes with a couple dozen papers a year, and seldom can be thorough enough. They often lack time to browse other papers written on the subject to rule out plagiarism.
That’s the Poland blogopshere update! Until next time – Do widzenia i powodzenia!

author: Jordan & Maria Seidel


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Pope, American Embassy and Others · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

This week was an extremely busy week for all Syrian bloggers, notably Political Blogs had to make a number of updates, since the political atmosphere in syria was swirling with possibilities and different analysis of the aftermath of the latest attack on the US Embassy in Damascus, and the successful defusion of the attack by Syrian ant-terrorism forces.
But before we talk about the Embassy Attack, Initiated by Fares, The Syrian Blogsphere had a new statement this week, A joint statement by a number of Syrian Blogs calling for the immediate release of all intellectuals, and political prisoners in Syria…
The updated high profile Syrian prisoners list include Mahmoud Issa, Michel Kilo, Khalil Hasan, Anwar el Bunni, Suleiman al-Shamar, Ali Abdallah, Mohammed Ali Abdallah, Kamal Labwani, Fateh Jamous, Habib Saleh and Aref Dalila.
It is easy to become complacent and resign oneself to the fact it all seems hopeless. But, at least, in honor of those few who believed that it is NOT hopeless, that this country has a better future beyond corruption and dogma.
We owe it to these prisoners of conscience and we owe it to the future of our country to keep pushing for their release.
Joshua Landis was quick to gather a roundout about the attack with his answer to “Conspiracy theorists who suggest that the attack on the Embassy was a Syrian government inspired job”…
1. Why would Syria allow a police officer to be killed and seven other Syrians to be wounded, in an unsuccessful attack?
2. To assume that the recrudescence of jihadist groups in Syria over the last two years is inspired by the regime doesn't make sense. The spread of jihadist groups throughout the region has been dramatic. Why would one assume that Syria was somehow magically spared this same phenomenon?
The “Conspiracy Theory” though, proved popular among other Syrian bloggers, Ammar Abdulhamid makes sure to tell people, “Don't Be Too Quick to Thank the Assads!”
As such, for a van to simply waltz into the neighborhood is not exactly something that will go unnoticed by security agents. Indeed, security vehicles will be dispatched within seconds of the initial sighting to intercept the hapless vehicle. So, we have a situation here where either the terrorist group involved is made up of a bunch of buffoons and nitwits who thought that they could somehow rush into the Embassy and blow it up with gas containers before anyone could stop them, or we have to conclude that the entire event was intended and set up to fail from the very get-go.
Yazan, too, feels suspicious about the whole issue, and compares it to different accidents that happened in the past, The EU Embassies burning to name one…
Everytime the Syrian TV rallies over something, there's gotta be something fishy about it…
Nothing in this 185,180 Square Kilometer of Syria happens without the stamping of the residents of Qassioun.
While, away from the political aspect of the attack, Aiman Tulaimat of Watanan, shares his personal reflections, flashbacks and analysis that are stirred by the news…
The attack on the US embassy in Damascus brought back old memories. Ten years ago I stood there inline to submit my documents to get a visa to come to the US. I know every corner of that block. But yesterday's attack made me realize, that even my memories are not safe from the attacks of extremist. It also reinforces in my mind the need to partner with Syria in the fight against extremism and the push for peace in the Middle East.
On to the next biggest controversy of this week, Pope Benedict XVI was making the news all around the Arab and Islamic world, because of certain quotations he used in his last lectures, that a lot of people saw as a new attack and insult to the religion of Islam.
The Syrian Blogsphere was quick enough to respond to that too, giving quite a few different points of views.
While Brian Anthony, An American residing and working in Syria, had this to say…
Benedict said that the concept of ‘holy war’ is contrary to God's nature, and decried Islamist violence. He also magically distanced Christianity from the problem of violence, describing his own franchise as the ‘profound encounter between faith and reason.’ Ironic, coming from the leader of what has been by far the world's bloodiest faith. Double ironic, considering that it has been the Evangelical Christian Mujahideen, led by the Commander of the Faithful George W. Bush, spurred on by references to Crusades and inspiration from on high, that have tirelessly promoted war, occupation, and violence in the name of Jesus.
Shady Zayyat feels that the whole thing is taken out of perspective and blown out of proportion…
I'm not defending the guy, but I insist that things should be considered maturely, and that people should not take a defense position. Being aware of the sensitivity of this issue, the pope twice said “I quote” before mentioning the 6 centuries old controversial commentary about Jihad, which clearly indicates that he does not nessessarily endorse this historical point of view as a whole. Still, he stated that “The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature.”
And to finish off, away from politics, and controversies, like every week Abu Fares takes us on a beautiful journey through his blog, this time it was to Arwad, the phoenician-old island infront of Tartous…
As I approach Tartous from the east, the sense of urgency reaches a higher plateau. The smell of the sea greets me with the westerly breeze. I can lick the salt off my lips but I am still ill at ease. I need to see it with my own eyes. Just as I pass that final obtrusive hill… There it is Arwad the eternal island floating regally in the endless blue.

author: Yazan Badran


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Postcards from the Congo · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

With the elections, the run-off announcement, the violent clashes between two presidential candidates, it's easy to focus only the DRC's political tempests.  However, many Congo bloggers are writing about art, culture and the more mundane ways that politics affect daily life.
Fred, who blogs at Extra Extra, writes about Misère (above), a Congolese play by Thierry Nlandu inspired by the country's experiences under Mobutu and based on Waiting for Godot.
At Ibiza, a bar popular with expats and Congolese who “can afford $3 for a tonic,” he tries to take the temperature of Kinois (Congolese who call Kinshasa home) following the recent violence:
“Conversation seems an important stress release for many who spent a few days last week stuck at home, listening to explosions, gunfire and the radio, wondering how bad things would get, and wishing they’d stocked more food and drink. It’s not every day that armed conflict arrives in your neighbourhood, after all. The ones who got the biggest frights at least get to tell the best stories.”
I find the atmosphere friendly but the upbeat veneer is a bit strained by anxiety and uncertainty. Very Grahame Greene, if you know what I mean.
Meanwhile, Kim Gjerstad writes that in the Congo, where books are hard to come by, Réveillez-vous!, the French edition of the Jevohah's Witnesses’ Watchtower – plentiful and, most importantly, free – is a popular read.  Gjerstad comes to a cynical conclusion: “Be reminded, Hell exists but it’s never too late to save yourself. The road to heavens is paved with free literature. Not bad of a deal for a country with nothing to read.”
At her Flickr photostream, Helene.rd has a photograph of a local delicacy: “In Isia, some mothers come on board to sell us “palm worms,” taking out chirping caterpillars from their large bowls. Some people who were with us love them. They are full of protein! (Fr)

author: Jennifer Brea


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Russia: Another Deportation Anniversary · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

J. Otto Pohl covers another tragic date in the history of the Russian-Germans: the 65th anniversary of the forced deportation of those living in Rostov Region.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: VP of Central Bank Killed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russia Blog reports on the recent killing of Andrei Kozlov, vice president of Central Bank: “The equivalent crime in America would be killing the Vice Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, D.C.”


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Serbia: Belgrade Military Parade and Other Celebrations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade Blog writes about a military parade recently held in Serbia's capital. Also, there's a short video showing celebrations in Belgrade following victory of the Serbian waterpolo team: “…but this is the first time we did it under the name of , so cheers for that :)”


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Serbia: Hip-Hop and Decentralization · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Estavisti reports on the Serbian hip-hop, the Anti-Belgrade Front and the ideas of Serbia's decentralization.


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Solomon Islands: Australian high commissioner asked to leave · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The South Pacific Travel Blog has the latest from Solomon Islands where the Australian high commissioner was forced to leave country after he was declared a persona non grata.


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Sudan: death and funeral announcement · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Death and funeral announcement is a poem written in support of the Global Day for Darfur:
Here lies eighty thousand souls
names and identities- unknown
passions and pains- unknown
feelings and fears- unknown
Origin and nationality- Western Sudan Darfur region
Now buried in a mass grave known as Darfur Crisis….

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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The president of Tanzania drumming · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

So the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, can play the African drum! He was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony of the 25th Bagamoyo Arts Festival, which took place on September 11th – 16th, 2006 in the coastal town of Bagamoyo at the Bagamoyo College of Arts.


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Uganda’s brightest artist · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

African Painters on the late Ugandan artist, Henry Lutalo Lumu, “Henry Lutalo Lumu is credited by many of Uganda's artists as being one of the country's brightest and most widely influential talents of modern Ugandan art from as early as the 1950s until his death in 1989.”


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U.N. reform: when you talk, will they listen? · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

When you talk, will this man listen?  Let's find out on Tuesday.
What is your opinion of the United Nations? What kind of impact has it had on your country and people? How should it be reformed? Who should lead it?
Global Voices is hoping to share your views in a conversation with the U.N.'s largest private donor, media mogul Ted Turner- a.k.a. “The Mouth of the South.”
HOW TO JOIN US ONLINE: On Tuesday September 19th at 4pm New York time, 20:00 GMT (please note corrected time!), Ted Turner will sit down with Reuters journalist Paul Holmes and conduct a conversation which will be webcast live online around the world. Click here to watch the webcast and read more about the event.
HOW TO SHARE YOUR QUESTIONS AND VIEWS: As you watch or listen, you can join the discussion by clicking here and participating in a live online chat. I will be in the room, along with Caribbean editor Georgia Popplewell  Alice Backer, and Kamla Bhatt. The four of us will be raising our hands aggressively to ask questions on your behalf.
HAVE MORE IMPACT BY BLOGGING: A great way to help influence the conversation is by blogging your views on the subject before the event even starts. Please tell us what questions Paul Holmes ought to be asking Ted Turner, and what  you think the conversation should focus on. When you write your blog post, please be sure to tag it with “gv-un” in Technorati and/or del.icio.us. Or share the link with us as trackback to this post, or paste it in the comments section of this post.
Here is the text of the Reuters blurb announcing the event:
As the United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York this September, Reuters invites you to glean insight into the United Nations. This Reuters Newsmaker features A Conversation with Ted Turner. Nearly a decade ago, Turner pledged to donate $1 billion through the UN Foundation for United Nations programs over a ten-year period. As that anniversary approaches, Paul Holmes, Reuters Political and General News Editor, will sit down with Turner to discuss his investment, his views of the current state of the United Nations, and what’s next for the often controversial organization. The audience will participate in the conversation through an open microphone session followed by a reception.
Note that Turner has some fairly strong criticisms of big U.S. media. He has said that if he was still running CNN, he would do some things differently and focus more on international news.
Is the legendary “Mouth of the South” as good at listening to and conversing with people from around the world as he is at broadcasting his own views?? Let's put him to the test.  It should be interesting.

author: Rebecca MacKinnon


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Venezuela: Polling the Elections and Crime · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Caracas Connect has one last summary from their recent delegation to Caracas while francisco describes the voting poll wars and Oil Wars examines Venezuela's crime problem.


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Bahamas: Challenges of nation-building · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Sir Arthur Foulkes outlines the challenges faced by the Bahamian “nation” as the country seeks an appropriate model for development.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Bahamas: Crime and collapse · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A gang-related murder leads Bahamian Adrian Gibson to wonder “How far are we now behind Jamaica and Trinidad?“


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Belarus: News Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about the new arrests of the opposition activists and about the “extreme and absolutely unacceptable” conditions, in which, according to the Belarusian government, Belarusian students live in the United States. Also, there's a translation of a Russian-language post about the regime's ominous reaction to an innocent “Smile” flash mob, and a post on rock music at Minsk's Bangalor Square.


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Belize: Iguana recipe · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Lee Vanderwalker posts a dialogue between herself and a Belizean called “Bushman” about how to catch and cook an iguana.


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Bermuda: Botanical gardens · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bermuda blogger Sean Soares makes a case against the destroying of Hamilton's botanical gardens to build a hospital.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Richard Gere in Karadzic Movie · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic writes about Richard Gere's visit to Sarajevo to film a movie about war criminal Radovan Karadzic: “The press was abuzz with speculation about whether Karadzic is caught in the movie.”


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Chile: Free birth control for teenagers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Liz Henry adds to Rosario Lizana's efforts of documenting Chilean bloggers responses to a federal program to distribute free birth control to teenagers.


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China: Italian journalist inspires · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Earlier this month when Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhua forbid mainland news media from printing foreign news agency content not purchased directly from Xinhua itself, there was lots to be said from the blogsphere. Here [zh] is journalist-blogger X Marden's take:
新华社之声誉
Voice of Xinhua
《外国通讯社在中国境内发布新闻信息管理办法》，为业界所鄙视。本以为新华社之用心，实乃”司马昭之心，路人皆知”。不料还有网友在blog为新华社”申冤诉苦”，认为其扮演”网络警察”之职能败坏国际声誉。某中央媒体极力撇清与”未签约色鬼导演”的关系，刘同学对此不以为然：他们以为自己还有声誉可以维护么？是的，新华社还有什么声誉需要维护的么？
新华社一直都在致力于堵塞国内新闻机构与外国媒体机构的合作通路，他们去年还专程来广州与各报社”沟通”，或者恫吓称自行采集国外媒体新闻报道是违规操作，强调应该向他们购买特稿服务——可惜得很，新华社驻地记者发回的很多文章，其实都是文抄公，不论国内驻地记者还是驻外记者，概莫能外。
虽然遭遇长期的封堵与恫吓，国内媒体仍然引用或直接编译国外媒体报道不误，毕竟”制度”漏洞不少。
Despite—or perhaps partially due to—the numerous restrictions Chinese journalists have to work around, they are still very clear as to what kind of journalism they would like to be doing, and they eagerly cross the lines when given a chance. But what would Chinese journalism look like if all the censorship laws were dropped overnight? With the death of an industry hero last week and a look at several journalists’ blogs, we are given a bit of insight:
Chou Yong at MindMeters
偶像死了
My Idol Is Dead
这一次，是我的偶像死了。
9月14日晚间，76岁的奥里亚娜·法拉奇在佛罗伦萨病逝。从书架上取下《风云人物采访记》（原书名《采访历史》），这些发表于我刚刚出生年代的访谈报道，让我产生对纪录和观察本身的无法停止的好奇，也是我真正的第一本的新闻学教科书。对于她所采访的所有风云人物，她的追问——“他们在掌权时和不掌权时是怎样左右我们的命运的”，至今仍是我从业的信条之一，深深影响了我的新闻观。
我从她的提问里学习如何提问，如何做一名好记者。她的第一个问题总是那么令采访对象坐立不安——
[采访基辛格]基辛格博士，我在猜想您这几天的感受。我想知道您是否也像我们以及世界上大部分人一样感到失望。您失望吗？基辛格先生？
[采访阮文绍]总统先生，今天，在您和美国人之间与其说存在着友谊，莫如说存在着敌意，这已经不再是个秘密了。10月，您拒绝基辛格所接受的协议时采取了强硬的态度；圣诞节期间，您在接见黑格将军时采取了冷漠的态度。凡此种种都表明你们已经到了短兵相接的地步。人们纷纷在问，阮文绍是如何看待这一悲剧的。
[采访哈巴什]哈巴什大夫，你们的阵线擅长于搞恐怖主义行动。而很多这样的行动发生在欧洲。为什么你们要把不属于我们的战争强加于我们？你们的准则是什么？你们有什么权利？
[采访约旦的侯赛因]陛下，谁在约旦说话算数？在关卡，站着巴勒斯坦的游击队；在边界上，巴勒斯坦游击队在进攻；在村庄里，巴勒斯坦游击队决定一切。说他们建立了国中之国已不再是荒谬可笑的了。
[采访英迪拉·甘地]甘地夫人，我有许多问题要向您提出，有涉及您个人的，也有涉及政治性的。涉及您个人的问题我后面再提出，等我弄明白了为什么许多人害怕您，说您对人冷淡，甚至冷酷、难处后，再向您提出。
[采访班达拉奈克夫人]班达拉奈克夫人，从锡兰发生暴乱到现在已经整整4个月了，但是在很多地区斗争还在继续，整个岛上还实行宵禁。紧急状态没有要结束的迹象，除了惴惴不安外，人们都在苦恼地等待着另一场血洗。夫人，我要向您一个谁都想问您的问题：这一切怎么可能发生在一个由左派政府，甚至是一个社会主义政府支撑的国家里？
[采访海尔·塞拉西]陛下，自从我见到那些穷人追逐在您的后面，为了得到价值240里拉的一张纸币而互相撕打的情景时起，有一个问题一直使我感到不安。陛下，您在向自己的臣民施舍时有什么感觉？在他们的贫穷面前，您又有什么感觉？
Zhao Wen at MSN Spaces
法拉奇真正成为了历史
意大利女记者法拉奇因病去世享年77岁　她的提问收入《邓小平文选》
15日，曾采访过邓小平的意大利著名女记者奥琳埃娜·法拉奇在家乡佛罗伦萨的一家医院去世，享年77岁。此前几年她一直饱受癌症困扰。
每个新闻学院的学生都被要求读法拉奇的作品，研究她的采访技巧。我今天把这个消息告诉同学时，有人惊讶地说：“她现在才去世。”这绝不是在贬损她，而是因为她是一个被写进很多新闻教科书的人物，而她的作品大多有关上世纪中期的事情，这让人有一个错觉：“她已经是一个历史人物了”。而现在，她真正的成为过去的一个历史人物了。
她的感情经历真让人感叹，一个见过世间百态的“女强人”，一个让无数政坛上的男人们敬畏三分的男人，却被一个身边的男人打败，都是因为爱情。
Zhao Mu at Sohu
想成为一个好记者的人，不应该只注意法拉奇采访过多少政要，而更应该看看她面对过多少险恶，以及她是如何面对这些险恶的。
Zhang Rui at Donews
欧洲的良心死了
法拉奇死了。9月14日，意大利弗洛伦萨，一家私人诊所。法拉奇死了。76年前，法拉奇在这里诞生。
这个星球上，最优秀的记者死了。连同她的反抗和浪漫，连同她追索一生的反暴政、反独裁的努力，都死了。
法拉奇1米55，但是她说：“你曾经渴望战斗，你现在仍然斗志昂扬吗？好的，就我自己而言，一息尚存，就要战斗。”现在，法拉奇可以停止她一生的战斗了。
在我的青春时代，我读到法拉奇的《给一个未出生的孩子的信》，她说：“如果你生为一个男人，我希望你成为那种我经常梦想的男子汉：对弱者赋予同情，对傲慢者给予轻蔑；对那些爱你的人抱以宽宏大量的气度，与那些想支配你的人作殊死的斗争。最后，你会明白，那位告诉你耶稣是天父、圣灵之子的人的敌人不可能是曾经给予过他们生命的女人。”
然而，法拉奇死了。
愿你的灵魂在天国能享有和在尘世一样的骄傲，愿你的思想在天国依然保持灼人的光亮，愿你的愤怒、呐喊在天国可以变成歌颂美的吟唱。
愿你安息。
Chai Jing at Sina
今天，她死了，死于乳腺癌。
在接受完手术之后，她坚持要看一眼手术中摘除的肿瘤，大夫说，从来没有人要求看自己布满了癌细胞的血肉，她说“它是我的肌体，我想看一眼”
于是他们把它拿进来，它是一块又长又白的东西，她开始对它说话“你这个可恶的王八蛋”
她恨它.
她接着羞辱它“你不敢再回来了。你在我身体里留下孩子了吗？我要杀了你！我要杀了你！你赢不了的！”
那些医生看着这个场面，喃喃地说“哦，上帝…’
二
二战中，当美国飞机轰炸佛罗伦萨的时候，她还是个小孩子，蜷缩在一个煤箱里，因为恐惧而放声大哭，她父亲非常生气，狠狠地掴了她一耳光，说：“女孩子是不哭的。”
“生活就是严峻的历险，学得越快越好，我永远忘不了那记耳光，对我来说，它就象一个吻。”
三
22岁的时候，她已经是个明星式的记者，因为她从不认为自己只是个记者，“想想吉卜林，杰克伦敦，和海明威，他们是被新闻界借去的作家”
在伊朗裹着黑色大长巾冒险进入只允许穆斯林入内的赛帕萨拉清真寺，描写了在禁区做祈祷的教徒样子之后，不客气地用讥诮的方式批评“我以为他们在做瑞典式肌肉关节体操”。她采访皇室成员的时候，记者们要求她召开记者招待会，第二天报纸的标题是《她让皇后等待》。
但是她的编辑解雇了她，因为他要求她就某个政治集会写一篇讽刺性报道，而她坚持不能抱有偏见“首先得让我听听他会说什么，我将基于他的演说来写”
“没有必要”
“那我就不写”
两小时后，她收到解聘证明，编辑对她说“永远不要往吃饭的碗里吐口水”
“我就要吐，然后把它送给你吃饭”。
四
“你就象一个愤怒的公牛”西班牙最著名的斗牛士对她说“你的问题就象那些牛角一样对着我”
采访伊朗宗教领袖霍姆尼的时候，谈到妇女不能象男人一样上学，工作，甚至不能去海滩不能穿浴衣时，她问“顺便问一句，您怎么能穿着浴袍游泳呢？”
“这不关您的事，我们的风俗习惯与您无关，如果您不喜欢伊斯兰服装您可以不穿，因为这是为正当的年青妇女准备的”
“您真是太好了，既然您这么说了，那么我马上就把这愚蠢的中世纪破布脱下来”
她扯掉为示尊重而穿上的披风，把它扔在他的脚下。
他勃然大怒，暴跳如雷地冲出房间。
她还不肯罢休“您要去哪儿？您要去方便吗？”
然后她长坐不走，连霍姆尼的儿子企求也没用，直到霍姆尼以《可兰经》的名义发誓他第二天会再次接见她，她才同意离去。
“权力，它能使某些人意识到自己有权利去指挥别人或惩罚不服从者。我不理解权力，但我却理解那些反对，谴责，和拒绝接受权力的人，特别是那些反抗暴政的人”她说。
82年，她采访以色列的沙龙，指控他轰炸平民“我亲身经历了咱们这个时代所有的战争，包括8年的越战，所以我可以告诉您，即使在顺化或河内，我也没有见过像在贝鲁特发生的那么惨无人道的轰炸”
他抗辩说他的军队只轰炸了该市的巴勒斯坦解放组织基地。
她说“您不仅轰炸了那些地区，而且轰炸了闹市区—住宅，医院，报社，旅馆和大使馆，问问当时呆在那儿的人，问问当时呆在海军准旅店的记者”
当沙龙为是否轰炸伤及儿童而迟疑不决的时候，她拉开皮包，取出一张照片照片上是一群从一岁到五岁的儿童的尸体。
“您看，最小的孩子身上没有脚，最大的孩子失去了小胳膊，这只无主的手张开着，象在企求怜悯”
沙龙在这次采访结束时对她说“您不好对付，极难对付，但是我喜欢这次不平静的采访，因为从来没有一个人像您一样带着那么多资料来采访我，从来没一个人能像您一样只为准备一次采访而甘冒枪林弹雨”
在她采访各国元首的《风云人物采访录》里，她在前言中写了一段话
“1931年，他带我去见一些希腊抵抗运动者，我们见到的不是一座偶像，也不是一面旗帜，而是3个字母0XI，希腊文的意思是“不”。这3个字母是一些渴望自由的人在纳粹法西斯占领时期在树上写下的，30年来，这个“不”字一直保存在那里，虽然日晒雨淋也不变色，军政府的上校们曾经用石灰浆涂抹掉它。但是，像变魔术一样，雨水和阳光很快溶化了石灰，随着时间的推移，这三个字母又顽强，无视一切，和不可磨灭地重新显露出来”
五
“那时我5，6岁，站在床上，妈妈正给我穿一件粗羊毛内衣，衣服很小很紧，我的手搭在妈妈肩膀上，回头看见她的脸和泪水”她说。
她母亲说的话令她终生难忘“你绝不能做我现在做的事！你绝不能成为人母!成为人妻！成为一个无足轻重的奴隶！你一定要去工作！去工作！去旅行！去全世界！全世界！”她三十一岁出版的小说里，写到女主人公吉奥的母亲熨衬衣里的情景“她的泪珠滚落在熨斗上，在滚烫的金属上发出嗞嗞的声音…就仿佛它们本来就是水滴而不是泪水”
——–“从那天起，吉奥就发誓将来绝不熨烫衬衣，也绝不哭泣”。
她终生未婚。
“爱的锁链是自由最沉重的羁绊”她说。
六
1993年，她来到中国，在中国社科院发表演讲。人们因她曾经采访邓小平而熟悉她。
有个学习意大利语的学生站起来说“我并不是来问问题的，因为我从学会阅读起就一直读您的书，我已经知道答案了，我到这里来是为了感谢您，您教给我两件世界上最重要的事情—–勇气和自由…请您不要死，我们非常需要您”
七
今天，法拉奇死去。
“没有后代而死等于死了两次，就象无花的植物，无果的树木一样可怕，这意味着永远的死亡”，她说过。
但是她写下无数文字。
“灯亮了，我听到有声音。有人在奔跑，在绝望地高呼，但是在其他地方，成千上万的孩子正在出生，成千上万的女人将成为母亲，生命不需要你，也不需要我，你已经死了，或许我也行将死去。但这没有关系，因为生命不死”——《给未出生孩子的信》

author: John Kennedy


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China: return migrant workers to countryside · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Beijing 2008 Environmental Construction Headquarters officials annoucned on September 14 that  the government will use of a strategy of “comprehensive return to the countryside” and “strengthening of aid programs” to return migrant workers to countryside before the 2008 Olympic. China Media Project reports that the proposal was criticized by domestic media over the weekend.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: western reporters · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translates a magazine feature about western reporters working in China.


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Cuba: Raúl’s title · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Cuban news daily Granma calls Raúl Castro, “President of the Council of State”. “Probably a simple sub-editing mistake,” says Luis M. Garcia.


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Cuba: Transport conference · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Luis M. Garcia finds it ironic that Cuba, “a country with one of the worst transport systems on the planet,” has been chosen as the venue for an international transport conference.


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Czech Republic: Brno Not “Next Prague” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

NvB: Bored in Brno? recommends a post about Brno by the Four Bees blog: “While a great introduction for any visitor, the essay has some great insight into the urban character of Brno.”


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India: What the Pope was trying to do · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Falstaff summarizes the controversy around the Pope's remarks with a good deal of sarcasm thrown in. “The pope, delivering an address at his old University, decides to use a quotation from a discussion between a Byzantine emperor and a Persian scholar, on the theory, presumably, that any discussion of contemporary moral values most usefully begins by examining obscure conversations in the 14th century.”


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Iran:Music shops in trouble · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Agha Bahman, several music institutes and shops were closed in Iran. The blogger says it seems they used to sell tickets for underground rock concerts [Fa].

author: Fred Petrossian


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Lebanon: Pope, Politics, Post-War Casualties and Circumcision · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

This week Lebanese blogs discusses circumcision, the environment, the Pope's quote on Islam, Lebanese politics, post war hardships and suspicions among other things.
Let us start this weeks sampling by answering these questions: What if Google was used to settled battles … who would win?  Interested in knowing? Lazarus has graphical answers to a number of world conflicts.
What do you think about male circumcision? Maya@NYC wrote on this and other stuffs. Her post sounds like this:
Female brains work in mysterious ways. Even for a female observer. I have seen the tantrums, the jealousies, the possessiveness, the suspicion, the disregard… But male brains… not to be sexist or anything…. Men have this PC-inspired quality: shut down completely before updating the information. Tonight, an American female friend, after 3 hour of chatting and 1 glass of wine (or was it the other way around?) finally gathered the courage to ask me: so is circumcision a big thing in Lebanon?
What do you think of the environment in Lebanon? Take a look at the photo of the sad state of the Beirut River taken by Anarchorev.
Now let us look at the topic which had the most posts in the Lebanese blogosphere this week: the Pope's quotation about Islam during one of his lectures. The reaction to the Pope's quote was not just a simple attack or defense. They were in fact very diverse. They range from a call for inter-faith marriage to declaring that all religions are intrinsically intolerant.
Sietske in Beiroet makes the following call:
I myself am very much fed up with the whole religion issue, and I think my best contribution to this society has been to marry someone of a different faith. And when I think about it, all my good friends are mixed couples. We’ve got a Christian-Druze couple, a catholic-Sunni, an orthodox-Sunni, a Shia-protestant, a Shia-Sunni, to name just a few. And these are all marriages of 13 years or more. They all have kids that are oblivious to the fact whether someone is a Christian or a Druze or a Muslim. You want to do something for your country? Marry someone from the other sect.  And make it fast. Time is running out.
Abu Kais declares the impossibility for any religion to be tolerant :
I think interfaith dialogue is a waste of time. It’s sort of like Lebanon’s National Dialogue—the participants come to talk at one another, each believing that he and only he is right. And then war erupts, and nobody learns anything. I also find it tragic that some people still expect one religion to exhibit tolerance and understanding towards other religions seen as wrong and inferior. People forget that tolerance cannot be a property of religion. Anyone who describes a particular religion, be that Islam, Christianity or Judaism, as tolerant, is delusional. Anyone who tries to devise/promote a tolerant form of religion is probably wasting our time. By definition, organized religion is an invitation to intolerance towards the “other”. Period.
Prof As’ad directs his request for apology to a different source:
Should not Muslims be insisting (also at least) that their rulers apologize to them for their offensive words AND deeds?
Dr Victorino explains why Pope Benedict is wrong about Islam by posting about Saint Aquinas’ natural law and Saint McLuhan’s law of the media.
Vox   defends the Pope’s position and right to free expression.
While N10452 suggests that the Islamic leaders reactions proved the Pope right.
Mustapha has a more moderate post on the subject in which he states:
it is one thing to say that many Muslims are taking a course in their lives that is not based on reason (which I would have agreed with), but it is a completely different matter to suggest that Islam itself is at fault because it’s not based on reason, all the while implying that Christianity is better because it is. As Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a respectable Lebanese Shiite cleric puts it: “We call on the pope to carry out a scientific and fastidious reading of Islam. We do not want him to succumb to the propaganda of the enemy”
Away from this matter there are a few posts on the internal political struggle going on in Lebanon. Let us consider Jamal’s take on the prime minister for example:
At the end of the day, Fouad Siniora is just a loyal employee of Hariri Inc. (Not to use harsher descriptions thrown his way.) His failed 13+ months experiment as Prime Minister was nothing more than a lesson in the grooming process of his boss. While he was dizzy being pushed around in different directions, Boss was lounging on a Mediterranean island beach doing lines and taking notes on the Dos and Don'ts of Prime ministering. Siniora's usefulness seems to be expiring soon and while his name has been battered in many circles, his non-committal Boss is unscathed. Welcome to Feudal Leadership 101.
Charles Malik discusses in length what he sees as crisis in the Lebanese Christian community.
Lazarus outlines the necessity of a new marketing campaign for the March 14 bloc (another name for the Cedar Revolution) after observing their failures.
The issue unexploded ordnance and the post-cease fire casualties caused by them is still a topic discussed Lebanese blogs: Tears for Lebanon posts on the case of a 12 year old boy who is the first case to be taken abroad for treatment from mutilation caused by cluster bombs dropped by Israel.
Sophia also highlights this subject and other war crimes in view of the latest war between Israel and Lebanon.
Finally, this week witnessed the 24th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps (in Beirut) massacres. This subject was discussed in length by Anarchorev.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Moldova: The Matrix and Cleopatra Stratan · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova writes about Cleopatra Stratan, a 3-year-old pop star, and about the dubbing of The Matrix into Moldovan: “No, not Romanian. No, not Russian. Dubbed in Moldovan, a mix of Romanian and Russian words and phrases with the most vulgar words from both languages mixed in at every other line.”


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Nepal: What does the Monarch want? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Is the Monarch in Nepal campaigning for himself? What is the role of the political parties to ensure that the ideals of democracy are upheld? Democracy for Nepal says “The eight parties still have the option to do away with the monarchy right away through a political decision. And they should exercise that option should they see signs the monarch is going activist again.”


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Pakistan: Dear Pope · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

iFaqeer requests the Pope to please stop feeding the bears. “What he's done is a gift to the people who'd like Muslims to follow their extremist, fanatic attitude. And as I was saying here in the last few days whether he did it out of naivete, ill-advisedness (“stupidity” seems inappropriate for such a respected person), or malice, I know not.”


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Pakistan: Toy Village · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shirazi profiles the Toy Village in Pakistan. “Thatta Ghulamka Dhiroka – The Toy Village – is the name of the village in Punjab, about which a lot has been written, about its unique and special concept, -Thatta Kedona is the name under which the handicraft products of the village and institutions connected to it within and outside the country are marketed.”


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Panama: Web Design Companies 101 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Panamanian web designer and information architect, Leon Kadoch has published the first release of his essay “Management Mistakes : Web Design Companies 101.”


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Slovenia, Croatia: Border Disputes · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael Manske of The Glory of Carniola is guest-blogging at A Fistful of Euros about border disputes between Slovenia and Croatia.


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South Asia: The Pope and Academia · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Chapati Mystery on the controversy and the difference between the last pope and the current one. “The central irony of this controversy is that the thesis of Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization treats the futility of spreading faith through violence. Indeed, the quote that most infuriates some Muslims is introduced very casually”


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Sports, Health and Politics in West Africa · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

We begin this week's blog round-up with sports. The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana blogs about the selection of a new coach for Ghana's senior national football team, amongst other issues: As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra:: Regulation? What Telephone Regulation?; CAN 2008 is Here…Almost; More Ghana Rain
The week opened with a lot of speculation on who would be the next coach of Ghana, after they survived an “ordeal” of a nine-man-committee. Would it be Claude Le Roy, former coach of DRC; Cecil Jones
Attuquayefio, or the elusive Troussier? It turned out that Troussier would fail to turn up, citing family problems. This would be the second time he would do a non-show since 2004, prompting speculation by some sports journalists on CITI97.3FM, and elsewhere that he was probably expecting to be handed the job on a silver platter.
Yesterday, the speculation was rife almost everywhere that Le Roy would get the job. Regrettably Sir Cecil Jones was being tipped by some as the second-place man, which is both odd and not, considering
he’s a Ghanaian national, but also remembering that after Doya’s “success” in taking the Ghana Black Stars to Germany for FIFA2006, maybe a foreign coach might just bode well for the team…and the country.
Now to health, we go to Cameroon, where Scribbles from the Den gives a snapshot of the health system in Cameroon with a scary and very sad story in ‘Save My Wife’ [A Snapshot of Cameroon's Health System]
Prudence Lemokouno was lying motionless on a bed in the bleak hospital here, her stomach swelled with a fetus that had just died, her eyes occasionally flickering with fright but mostly dull and empty.
Dr. Pascal Pipi, the lone doctor in the public hospital, said she had a few more hours to live, and then she would join the half-million women a year who die around the world in pregnancy and childbirth.
Her husband, Alain Awona, was beside himself. “Save my wife,” he pleaded. “My baby is dead. Save my wife.”
The last paragraphs are even scarier.
Her husband cried with joy, but begged us not to leave. “If you go,” he warned, “Prudence will die.”
We waited, and six hours passed. The hospital began shaking down Prudence’s family for more money before the surgery could begin. The husband had nothing, so we chipped in.
Then when everything seemed to be ready, Dr. Pipi simply vanished. “Oh, he’s gone home,” a nurse explained. “He’ll operate tomorrow.”
We cajoled, pleaded and threatened, but the hospital staff was unmoved. “What if Prudence dies in the night?” I asked.
The nurse shrugged and said: “That would be God’s will.”
Under the Acacias blogs about Malaria and World Bank Aid in “News affecting Africa“
* Malaria.
DDT has been approved by the World Health Organisation for malaria control. It was previously banned because of concerns over environmental and health risks. However, as I argued here, the potential benefits of careful use of DDT as an effective insecticide against mosquitos seem to far outweigh the evidence for potential dangers.
* World Bank Aid
The UK is witholding $50m of contributions to the World Bank in protest at harmful conditions attached to aid for poor countries. According to the BBC, “Oxfam and other campaigners such as Christian Aid say the World Bank's current policies often leave people in developing countries worse off than before.”
* Sudan
The BBC reports that more than 200,000 people have died in Sudan's Darfur conflict. Sudan recently rejected a UN resolution authorising a 20,000-strong force for Darfur, saying it is an attack on its sovereignty.
Gambian blog, Home of the mandinmories, is not happy with Sudan's President visit to The Gambia: Run down of events
Why is Yahya Jammeh inviting a monster who is perpetrating the rape and murder of hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur. He is also asking the African Union troops stationed there to protect helpless women and children to leave so that his evil Janjaweed could finally complete the genocide they started a few years ago. This picture illustrates the evil that Bashir is unleashing on the people of Darfur: How can Yahya break bread with such an evil man? To borrow a phrase from Keith Olberman: Have you no shame sir?

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Thailand: Coup News Blackout? · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Metroblogging Bangkok blogs as the coup unfolds. He says CNN, BBC and all the international cable news channels have gone down and writes: “now just a matter of getting the Internet down…. I'll see you guys when Thailand becomes civilized again…”
Kwanzoku has screenshots from the TV news until: “Now we’ve lost ALL satellite television- not even the bad movie channels!  And I was watching The Object of My Affection… How inconsiderate!”


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Thailand: First day of the coup · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

Rumors of a coup had been circulating in Bangkok for weeks, and foreigners like me had been ‘warned’ to be careful, don’t stay out late, move in groups, keep updated with news reports, watch the cable TV.
So when it happened last night (Tuesday, Sept 19), I was hardly surprise. Nevertheless, I was excited. I have never experienced a coup before and I wanted to be in the thick of things.
When I heard about the coup, it was already past 10pm, and I had just returned to my apartment after dinner. I tried to get a taxi to where the action is: the government house.  But no taxi seem to want to ferry me there.
So begins a spirited account of the day's activities by blogger Susan Loone in Bangkok, the latest in a series of entries on the unfolding coup in Thailand.

author: Rachel Rawlins


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Thailand: Live-blogging the Coup · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

With what appears to be a military coup unfolding in Bangkok, Bangkok Pundit is live blogging the confusion. Gnarly Kitty also gives running commentary as the news unfolds, and fears the impending loss of Internet and mobile access… which means the live-blogging may not last for long.


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Thailand: Liveblogging the coup · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

At least two blogs have been set up solely to cover the unfolding military coup in Thailand – a group blog 19sep which is in English and revolution.blogrevo which is in Thai.
Video copies of coup-related announcements are appearing on YouTube. Below is the first televised announcement of the take-over by the military.
There's also a capture of the televised announcement of the “first and second orders of the Democratic Reform Coucil”, a previously unknow organisation and the name used by the military who have taken control of Bangkok.
A search on the photo-sharing website flickr on the keyword “coup” brings up nearly 100 pictures from Thailand posted within the last 24 hours from pictures of the army in position round the streets of Bangkok…
…to visual evidence of the blocking of foreign cable TV channels
The bulletin board 2Bangkok.com has a regularly-updated page devoted to the current coup events High tension in Thailand but the most recent post  warns that internet connections are becoming very slow.


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Thailand: Living thru a Coup · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

Stuart G, an expat living in Bangkok, worries that the military might start fighting itself. But meanwhile he says “there is no fighting going on now. I am safe, my refrigerator is stocked, and I am not in danger.”
Cowboy Caleb also has a running account of events from a resident's perspective.


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Thailand: Thaksin victim of Southern Unrest? · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Blowing In the Wind says that Thaksin may be the first Thai Prime Minister to fall partly because of the unrest in Southern Thailand.

author: Preetam Rai


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Translating Claroline into Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní · Global Voices
Patrick Hall

Editor's Note: It has already been mentioned several times on Global Voices that the world's first Quechua, Guaraní, or Aymara native speaker to blog has yet to arrive. There are several obvious reasons including lack of broadband penetration into the Andes, high cost of internet access, and the absence of blogging tools and documentation available in each language. Whereas English and Spanish-language bloggers have numerous resources available explaining how to effectively make one's voice heard in cyberspace, that reference material and support simply do not exist in Latin American indigenous languages.
One blogger hoping to help change that, however, is Spaniard David de Ugarte. In a recent post he described an effort underway to translate Claroline – an open source e-learning platform – into Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní. Patrick Hall has translated de Ugarte's original post below.
The principles of the Ubuntu manifesto state that “software should be available free of charge, [and] software tools should be usable by people in their mother tongue…”
Accordingly we would like to translate Claroline, the most widely used, free platform for web-based learning and distance education in Latin America,  to Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní.
Here at the Biblioteca de las Indias Electrónicas we're putting out a call: we're looking for three volunteers for each of these languages who speak and write the language correctly to translate the localization file for the platform.
To encourage participation in the project, together with our friends at Sin Género de Dudas, we have opened a fund with 900 euros, of which each translator will receive a minimum of 100 euros for their work. Of course we wish it were more, so you're invited to donate to the fund with Paypal at the campaign page.
We're hoping to present the first results in Montevideo during the Iberoamerican Summit, which for the first time is focusing on the recognition and promotion of all these languages.
It goes without saying that it's a modest effort: to translate the software and put the translation into the public domain so that it can be used by anyone and incorporated into the official, free distribution of Claroline.  But we think it can also serve as the seed for something much bigger.  To say the least it serves as an example of collaboration between advocates of free software on both sides of the Atlantic, and one based on a recognition of the uniqueness and linguistic diversity of America.
It's from this point of view and with these values that we're announcing the campaign and we invite you to spread the word through your blogs.
http://www.lasindias.org/claroline.php
http://meneame.net/story/software-libre-quechua-aymara-guarani
[More debate at menéame [ES]]
Update: In an update post [ES], David de Ugarte writes that the effort has already collected over 1,093.85 € to pay translators. “The other great news,” according to de Ugarte, “is that we already have a Quechua translator, Noemí Vizcardo. Noemí isn't just an author of one of the most well-known blogs in Quechua … [she] is one of the two official translators of the Peruvian Congress and also a professor of Quechua with more than 34 years of experience.”
The team is still looking for translators in Aymara and Guaraní, however. If you feel moved to help this project alone, a single donation of 50€ before November 1 will, in turn, equal a $200€ donation using PledgeBank.
More information [ES] is also available on the Chilean citizen journalism site El Morrocotudo.

author: Patrick Hall


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Trinidad & Tobago: Dear Jack Warner… · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor writes a letter to Trinidadian FIFA Vice President Jack Warner: “What a horrendous time they've been giving you in recent years, Jack. There was that hearing earlier this year into an alleged conflict of interest in the alleged sale of World Cup tickets, and now this alleged affair about the supposed resale of tickets and the allegedly huge profits allegedly accruing to you and your alleged relatives. What cheek, Jack, thus to sully your reputation.“


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Africa: Reactions to Pope’s remarks  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A speech by Pope Benedict XVI in Germany last week has received mixed reactions in the African blogosphere. The speech has generally provoked outrage in the Muslim world.  The Pope  quoted Byzantine Emperor Manuel II saying,
“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Kenyan Entrepreneur writes in defense of Islam and reminds us of violence against the African people by the West during the colonial period:
Islam is not a violent religion. Individuals have used Islam to pursue their own violent agenda's. The same thing has happened with christianity. The Europeans used Christianity to colonize Africa. They stole our land, killed us and turned us into indentured servants, all in the name of “Jesus”. If you don't believe me, just ask Cholomdeley how his “ancestors” acquired all that land in Laikipia. [Note: Laikipia is a district in Central Kenya]
Naijaman wonders why the remarks by the Pope have become such an important agenda for the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf:
The president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf has gone to the UN to request a ban on the “defamation of Islam”! Next the president of India will be calling for a ban on the “defamation of hinduism”! How sad that the quotes of the pope in far away Germany has become the most important “agenda” on the mind of the President of Pakistan, an illegitimate coup plotter who should be more worried about the pervasive poverty, illiteracy and joblessness in his country. Here is a man presiding over a country that presently harbours arguably the most wanted terrorist of all time, here is a man who presides over a nation that is fast becoming a top exporter of “home-grown terrorists”, here is a man who should be more worried of the growing insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan thnaks to the Taleban, yet here is a man who is more worried about those who “defame Islam”.
In another post, Naijaman sees the violence that has resulted from Pope's remarks as a clear indication that terrorism is not a reaction to injustices in places such as Palestine:
Now they have simply revealed what we knew all along, that terrorism was not really about “palestinian injustice and deepseated wounds” but about a covert attempt to conquer the world for Islam!
It is easy to cite “injustice” as excuses for attacks against the west but how true is this? Are these really altruistic motives? The recent threat from al-qaeda to conquer Rome and hoist the flag of Islam over Europe is clear sign that the fight is not really about Palestine, injustice or US policy but about a crusade to conquer the world for Islam. Why is France under threat? What excuse have the terrorists to attack Rome, Italy, Germany and other European nations? Was India a participant in the palestinian injustice? What about Java and Spain? Did they also partake in bombing Lebanon?
Christians do not need to apologize for preaching against any religion that does not accept Jesus as their savior, Orikinla shares his views on the matter in Nigerian Times:
I am a Christian from a very strong Roman Catholic background in Nigeria and I have lived and worked for Muslims and sat with Imams to discuss their Koran and our Holy Bible.
As Christians we must not have apologies or regrets whenever we preach against an evil or any religion that does not accept our Saviour Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Islam is antiChrist.
Pope Benedict XVI does not owe any Muslim or Muslims any apology and you cannot threaten and intimidate him to apologize or regret his statement against the evils of Islam.
Realities 2006 writes briefly about the effect of Pope’s remarks:
65 years old Nun named Sister Leonella, whose birth name was Rosa Sgorbati and had lived and worked in Kenya and Somalia for the last 38 years had been gunned down.
Sister Leonella was shot in the back four times by two men armed with pistols, and
The shootings occurred at noon yesterday at the Austrian-run S.O.S. hospital for women and children in volatile northern Mogadishu.
The possibility of violence against non-Muslims in Northern Nigeria because of Pope's remarks worries Emeka. He fears for his friends safety:
The main reaction I have is that of fear! Fear for my friends leaving in northern Nigeria because I know that in situations like this, whenever there is turmoil related to religion, it boils down violently to Nigeria. History will prove my point; In February 2000, at the time of the introduction of the Sharia system of legislature in some northern states in Nigeria, the violence that erupted claimed hundreds of lives. Similar incidents was recorded at intervals in subsequent years especially in April, 2003 during/after the Iraq war. The worst of them was in February this year, at the height of the cartoon controversy about the prophet Mohammad published by a Danish newspaper. Some Islamic militias felt that the best way to correct such cartoons was to kill innocent Nigerians.
The Pope receives free advice from three bloggers. While Ainashe advices the Pope to build bridges between religions:
In his new role as the “Pope” for the Catholics, Joseph Ratzinger should be building bridges between religious believers; he should not be igniting controversies in an already volatile world with lots of irrational religious hostilities.
Naijaman advices the Pope to use Latin next time!:
My advice to the Pope next time you want to say something nasty about muslims say it in Latin, that way they won't understand.
Naijablog posts a cartoon saying,“Your Holiness, next time ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus Do’?”


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Bahamas: Reforming broadcasting · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“The country's entire broadcasting policy needs to be re-evaluated and reformed to fit our modern context,” says Sir Arthur Foulkes in a post outlining the history of television broadcasting in the Bahamas.


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Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago: At Carifesta · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bahamian Nicolette Bethel posts her first report from the Carifesta XI arts festival in Trinidad and Tobago.


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Bangladesh: What happened in Thailand · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat looks at the coup in Thailand and highlights an important question about what lessons could be drawn in terms of Bangladesh's future. “Thailand resembles Bangladesh in many ways. The last military coup in Thailand, in 1991, was extremely unpopular and was overthrown by violent opposition in the streets.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: The Y chromosome · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“He didn't say “I put others needs before my own, I sacrifice my happiness for my loved ones.” or “I give value to my emotions, I feel my partners grief” or “I acknowledge God as mother, I nurture Her creation,” says Barbados's BIM in a tongue-in-cheek rant about partriarchy.


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China: 1980s’ attitude towards sex · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shanghaiist puts up a video stream from Tudou, which exploring how people born in the 1980s feel about sex.


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China and Korea: History wars · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mutant frog writes an elaborated summary on the history wars between China and Korea for the Asian history carnival.


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China: Baidu and google · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

One man bandwidth compares the business of Baidu and Google search engine in China and predicted that Google would flounder based on the ancient Chinese pronciple of Guanxi.


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China: cancer report · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

One Man band width reports on the condition of breast cancer patients in China. Breast cancer is becoming the biggest killer for Chinese women, even resources have been allocated for campaign, nothing much has been changed: “they do not want to alarm women in the late stages of a disease as many cannot afford the treatment they might need. And the truth is: many women commit suicide to save their families from bankruptcy.”


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Eastern Europe: Video documents homophobia on the rise · Global Voices
Sameer Padania

The latest twist in the long-running saga of anti-gay violence and state oppression took place yesterday in Moscow, as an appeals court upheld the earlier lower court ruling to ban Moscow's Gay Pride March in May 2006.  The gay rights activists who brought the case will now attempt to challenge the rulling in the European Court of Human Rights, and they say they expect to win.
As GVO's Eastern and Central Europe Editor Veronica Khokhlova reported in May 2006, Moscow's Mayor, Yuri Luzhov, banned the Moscow Gay Pride march from taking place.  The religious leaders of Moscow met – on the one issue they could agree – to back his decision and called for violence against anyone who tried to march – a call that was unfortunately heeded.  The video below – apparently uploaded to YouTube from a Russian anarchist site – doesn't directly show the violence that took place, but does give a very immediate sense of the atmosphere in Moscow that day, and of who was involved:
Just as sites like YouTube can be used as a dissemination tool for less savoury content, they can also be used as a tool for solidarity and support, and potentially as evidence.  In the case of anti-gay violence, users have tried to upload their own footage (as with the videos in this post), and, where first-hand footage is not available, they have uploaded clips from their local TV news (here's a clip from Serbian TV's coverage of the 2001 Gay Pride in Belgrade).
And that solidarity and support may well be needed.  Human Rights First, a US-based organisation, released a report earlier this year citing an increase both in rhetoric and in hate-crimes of a homophobic or racist nature in Russia (PDF) over the past year.  But it's not just Russia where this is a trend.  Since the accession of 8 Eastern European countries to the EU in May 2004, the spotlight has come to rest increasingly on the rise in official, or state, homophobia across Eastern Europe.
The most high-profile manifestation of this is how governments handle Gay Pride marches – which are now held all over the world – in which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT organisations march to commemorate LGBT rights, and to celebrate LGBT pride.
You might remember accounts of Latvia's Riga Pride in July.  Here's a reminder from Latvian blogger and journalist Juris Kaza:
Now, Veronica, Aleks of AllAboutLatvia.com and this eyewitness give compelling, horrifying reports, alongside the photographic evidence, but seeing the footage above and here brings home the kind of opposition that campaigners for gay rights face.  The anti-gay pressure group No Pride involved in the Riga protests received both tacit and open support from politicians and religious leaders, and in such a climate, if its modus operandi is taken up as quickly as its logo by groups in other Eastern European countries, the prospects of further violent confrontation are high.
The role of religious groups in reinforcing the climate of intolerance is often pivotal.  The pastor who officiated at the Riga church service picketed by No Pride was “excommunicated” by the Latvian Evangelical Church's hierarchy.  In recent weeks, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia has even gone beyond Russia's borders to condemn Jerusalem's planned gay pride – postponed again, now from Rosh Hashanah this Thursday, to November 10th – as a “scandalous blasphemy”.
Political populism isn't just confined to attacking or banning Pride marches.  One Latvian political party is reported to have prepare draft amendments to legislation, making it illegal to publish article featuring gays or lesbians talking about their lives or gay rights.  Although the proposed legislation was rejected (it contravenes Latvian and international law), that it was proposed at all shows that there is populist ground to be won through demonstrating official homophobia.
That's certainly the case in Poland, where twin brothers, President Lech and Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, of the ruling Law and Justice party, head a coalition that includes the League of Polish Families, a right-wing party with a history of anti-semitism and homophobia.  One of the vice-presidents of the league, Wojciech Wierzejski said, in advance of Warsaw Pride 06, “if the deviants will start demonstrating, they need to be bashed with a thick club”, leading to official condemnation from the European Parliament, and a row that has rumbled on even till now – with Lech Kaczynski telling Associated Press on Monday, in New York for the UN's General Assembly, that his views on gays had been misunderstood.
Eastern Europe seems to be the most prominent battleground at the moment, with a religious, conservative political climate, little history of a public gay culture, and pressure coming from the EC to respect gay rights.
Nonetheless, the majority of countries worldwide remain deeply resistant to advances in gay rights, or even actively hostile.  Here are just a few recent examples: Cameroon, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda, USA, Zanzibar

author: Sameer Padania


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Egypt: Egypt’s fourth faith · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

What is Egypt's fourth faith? Zeinobia talks about the faith that both, Egyptian Muslims and Christians refuse to exist.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Ethiopia: new book from a jailed politician · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethiopian Paradox informs us about a new book written by the jailed mayor of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dr. Berhanu Nega, “As or When the Dawn of Freedom Breaks”:
“It makes compelling reading when the author is in jail and his pen, head, heart and spirit- together and in unison defy the will of the jailors and his own physical limitations walled in a small prison room. The spirit with which it is written is rich and generous in calling all those in the struggle not to employ feelings of hatred and motives of vengeance and other destructive impulses in their struggles to bring about irreversible and sustainable change with the core engine of freedom and democracy.”


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Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights in Ethiopia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

In a post titled “Liberal Democracy in Action,” Ethiopia Pundit writes:
“Also … EthioMedia reports that “The phones ring off the hook” at House Speaker's Office.” Ethiopian-Americans are exercising their democratic rights in support of Ethiopians who can not. The calls are to House Speaker Dennis Hastert with the aim of allowing a vote on HR5680 also known as The Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006.”


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Hong Kong: internet censorship · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An alert posted by Mister Bijou on PCCW (biggest telecom in HK and ISP netvigator) decision to filter out a website called ntscmp.
ESWN picks up the story and urges Hong Kong blogger to test the filtering.


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Hungary: Critical Mass Bike Ride Cancelled · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes that this year's Critical Mass bike ride has been cancelled in Budapest because of the riots: “Understandably, the organisers have now decided it prudent not to have thousands of cyclists on the streets stretching police resources at the present time; I guess they were also wary about their demo being hijacked for political reasons.”


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Hungary: Mid-Week Briefing · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu posts a Mid-Week Briefing: “As thing currently stand, we are going to treat the whole “Uprising '06” for what we think it is: a colorful little street carnival staged for the benefit of bored right-wing nudniks, self-important politicians (including some as or more dishonest than our current BSing PM), and self-interested media types. Show us a few bodies or leveled buildings (or a few hundred burned-out cars) and we might change our minds. But until then, it's on to other news.”


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Hungary: PM’s Lies and Riots in Budapest · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Several weeks after the general election in April, Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said this at a closed meeting with members of his parliamentary faction:
I almost died when I had to pretend for one and a half years as if we were governing. Instead we lied in the morning, we lied in the evening. I am through with this. We either do it and then you've got your man, or you pick someone else.
A tape with Gyurcsany's speech – which contains a fair amount of obscenities – was leaked to the media this past Sunday; excerpts were broadcast on state radio; Gyurcsany, a blogger-politician, posted the Hungarian-language transcript on his blog.
On Monday night, thousands of demonstrators gathered by the parliament to demand Gyurcsany's resignation; the non-violent rally turned into a riot when some of them later moved to the state TV (MTV) building and broke through police lines.
Henrik of Hungarian Accent explains why the protesters chose to storm the TV building:
[…] this is an iconic factor dating back to the revolutions of 1956. Ironically enough, even the state TV used this factor a few months ago in its marketing campaign: “If there would be a revolution which TV station would You want to take over?”. I’m sure this was not the answer they were hoping to get.
Henrik also sums up some of the Hungarian bloggers’ reactions (links in Hungarian):
En1 writes that if the Prime Minister were a responsible leader, he would step forward and announce his resignation, because for this matter he is the only responsible.
Korbely’s opinion is that these violent mob actions should not be confused with a revolution. Instead these are illegitimate actions for any cause and are much similar to a violent soccer-fan-war than a revolution.
[…]
There are opinions about the media coverage also, especially about an opposition-party-close news TV called HirTV.
Kond is worried about freedom of press. Because HirTV has been banned from the covering. Especially as CNN and BBC has also used their previous coverage about the siege, so they should be treated with respect in protection of freedom of press.
On the other side Bakura writes that the siege coverage of HirTV was in his opinion disgusting as the coverage were cheering for the mob.
Henrik himself hopes for a quick and peaceful resolution of the conflict:
Not long after I started this blog I wrote that it is not easy to chose topics which could be really interesting to an outsider about Hungary. These past weeks have proven me wrong. And I think I’m not very happy about it.
[…]
Still as I write these lines according to news there are more people on the streets and police forces are on a much higher readiness state. God help us to get over this crises soon, without any further extension of violence.
Though in Budapest, Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar watched the events unfold on TV – just as Henrik did:
[…] From what I could see, the first initial outburst of violence was one blond-haired individual walking directly up to the police lines and clobbering the riot shields with a piece of wood. Again, for some unknown reason, the police didn't just give him a quick kick in the unmentionables and drag him off to the cop shop, but stood back and took his abuse. Stones and rocks then started flying and the more “respectable” (and the HIR TV reporter) protesters started to move away from the front of the building.
At this stage, if I'd been a genuine blogger, I'd have hopped in the first available taxi and started blogging realtime at the square. But my armchair, HIR TV and another glass of Jamesons were more appealing, sorry!
[…]
The main core of rioters last night did not look like the normal right-wing Hungarian political activist (middle-aged, respectable, middle-class, long twirly moustache), more like people who'd taken a night off from bashing heads for Fradi, for a different kind of recreational hooliganism.
The police regrouped and at about 12.15 there were signs of other police reinforcements being brought into the square and things once again seemed to calm down…so I went to er…bed. And missed the eventual invasion of MTV at 1.30am. […]
For the prime minister, Paul has a recommendation:
Gyurcsany to date (and to my knowledge) has not apologised for lying during the last government. If he is serious about dragging the socialists and Hungarian politics into a new era of integrity and honesty, that's the least he can do.
Budapest-based Pestiside.hu had a regular contributor on the scene, who later posted this “assessment of how the various participants performed, on a one-to-ten scale”:
Pathetic in their “defense” of MTV headquarters. Never looked confident or organised and failed to take advantage of their superior firepower. Looked particularly woeful when 150 of them abandoned a water truck and its crew to the rioters. Clearly better training and discipline is in order. Recovered some dignity by eventually clearing the rioters out of the MTV headquarters, but by that time everybody had gone to bed. Poorly equipped, their riot gear only protects them up to their knees, which prompted rioters to throw rocks at their feet.
[…]
The surprise package of the night. The speaker of Parliament stayed at her post until the wee hours, and gave the best quote: “This is not the same country this morning as two days ago.” Positioned herself as the only person remotely capable of stepping in should Gyurcsány quit.
Behaved as rioters should. Ripped up cobblestones to throw at cops, burnt cars and park furniture, committed gratuitous acts of graffiti and other vandalism. Took the fight to the opposition, refusing to be intimidated by water cannon and tear gas. Moved in for the kill when they sensed doubt in the police ranks. As a result, achieved their objective of taking the MTV building, but not of reading their demands on the air à la 1956. Score would be higher were it not for their fashion sense; the Lonsdale gym gear, Fradi shirts and Greater Hungary flags are all a dead giveaway of their extremism.
The author of My Little English Blog, currently in Scotland, knows the neighborhood where the rioting took place very well:
No liveblogging as I'm back in Scotland. In fairness I'm glad. I live next to the MTV (Hungarian Television) Building. My mum says she's fine.
[…]
Why the telly building???
Do people really think there's a chance to repeat 1956? Are we oppressed to such a degree that we have to run around destroying? […]
Non-Hungarian bloggers are also chiming in.
Russell Mitchell of Publius Pundit sums up the events, analyzes the causes, makes guesses and provides links to updates:
[…] this is NOT a “Color Revolution, Round Two,” although the Hungarians are perfectly justified in being roundly furious at being lied to about tax cuts, again, in order to secure election. (The Hungarians are simply crushed by the tax burden, which continues to chase social programs, which then serve to divide and conquer the population based on what goes to whom.) […]
Eric Gordy of East Ethnia states the obvious: the Hungarian prime minister is a liar. Seesaw of Sarajevo Photoblog responds:
Honestly I do not understand why all this fuss – they are all liars, Gyurscany only said what most politicians try to hide although they are doing it all the time. Don't tell me you believe them here or there?!? Strange coincidence, 50 years after 1956 uprising, and then the reason were Russian tanks on the streets of Budapest. Pity, it seems Hungary is having problems with economy, like all former communist countries.
Four Bees suggests another possible reason for the riots:
[…] It's actually a Hungarian Tourist Board promotion to get people to go to Budapest for the 50th anniversary of 1956, because nothing else of interest has happened in Budapest in the last 50 years. […]
Finally, Ilya Yashin, leader of the youth wing of the Yabloko Party, is blogging directly from Budapest (RUS):
[…] It should be noted that there were quite a few young Hungarian fascists and skinheads in the city last night. One of them told me that the Communist government should have been taught a lesson a long time ago, especially since it's headed by a Jew. On the other hand, last night's pogroms will probably scare away the moderate supporters of the right-wind opposition. For example, a cab driver who was taking me to the hotel said that he hoped for an orange revolution in Hungary, similar to the Ukrainian one, but he wouldn't wish to be next to the radicals. […]
Back home in Russia, some people seem to be overwhelmed by the various coups and riots taking place around the world. Here's the latest post from Yashin (RUS):
A phone call to my cell.
- Ilya? Hi, are you still in Bangkok?
– ??? I'm in Budapest, that's Hungary…
– Oh, we are sorry, we've mixed it all up… The thing is, there's a military coup taking place in Bangkok now, too.
…Well, I've arrived in the city center. I'm on my way to the parliament building, where an opposition rally is to begin soon. There's significantly more police now than yesterday, but there are also many people with flags moving to the center.


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India: Bandra Fair · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bandra Fair in full swing and colour at Ultrabrown and Trivial Matters.


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Iran: Media, Religion and 11 September · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Webgardian we read Mohammad Ali Abtahi's, former vice president and blogger, article on religion, media and 11 September. Abtahi says after September 11, most media have functioned to strengthen the points of difference or violent identity-forming aspects.


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Iran:Another magazine was banned · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Pourostad, monthly magazine, Psychology of Society was closed down by authorities [Fa].


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Israel: Israel’s Political Future · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The number one most important priority for those who want to improve Israel's defense and Israel's public diplomacy/Israel's image abroad has to be internal reforms. It has to be fixing Israel's political system and the dysfunctional Israeli society. Anything else is just a bandaid, amechad said.


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Jamaica: How to succeed in politics · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jamaica and the World offers four techniques sure to guarantee success in Jamaican politics.


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Jamaica: Ooh, Jamaica · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Geoffrey Philp recounts his encounter with various stereotypical ideas about Jamaicans on another Caribbean island, and asks the question: “what are we doing now to promote well-rounded images of Jamaica and the Caribbean.”


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Morocco: Restoration workers in Fez · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The famous Decapant ladies (paint-strippers) are now available to help reveal the true beauty of your house in Fez. Read more from Samir at The View From Fez.


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Russia: Svetlana Bakhmina’s Appeal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time writes about Svetlana Bakhmina's appeal “to have her sentence deferred for nine years, until her youngest child reaches the age of 14.” Bakhmina used to be a YUKOS lawyer and was sentenced to six and a half years of imprisonment in a labour camp.


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South Korea: Textbook revision · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sewing from Marmot's Hole gives us more background about the South Korea textbook revision. This time it is not about intepretation of history, but about changing traditional gender roles, implicit endorsement of single-child families, and unhealthy focus on the myth of a homogeneous Korean “race”.


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Sri Lanka: Apollo Hospital and Business · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Pradheep's Blog laments the takeover of an Apollo Hospital in Sri Lanka, implying that the hospital would lose its USP and the negative impact it could have in terms of an investor friendly business environment. “Needless to say this will have a negative impact on the confidence that investors have in Sri Lanka since no one will want to set up a business here and then want to see their business being swallowed up by another.”


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Sri Lanka: Blog Con for Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Deane's Dimension reflects on the BlogCamp held in India recently and if the blogging community in Sri Lanka is big enough for such an event.


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Sri Lanka: Free and Open Software · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nirmal Jayasinghe on why Free and Open Software is important for Sri Lanka.


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Ted Turner on the U.N.: Spoke but didn’t listen · Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon

On Tuesday afternoon in New York, Georgia Popplewell, Alice Backer, Kamla Bhatt and I did our best to ask questions on behalf of the world's blogosphere at the Reuters “Newsmaker” conversation with Ted Turner, who gave $1 billion to set up the U.N. Foundation ten years ago.
The bloggers participating in the conversation – on their own blogs as well as live in the IRC chat – were generally disillusioned and skeptical about the U.N.'s ability to solve the world's problems. Many were concerned that Turner is wasting his money on needless bureaucracy and a dysfunctional organization whose governance structure is an increasingly illegitimate Cold-War era holdover.  But Turner was adamant that his money is well spent.
It's worth noting that when Reuters host Paul Holmes said we would take questions from bloggers, Turner rolled his eyes.
Is the Mouth of the South more interested in talking than listening?
How interested is he, really, in listening to the voices of people who are on the receiving end of the U.N. projects and missions he helps to fund – and in taking their criticisms seriously?
In the IRC chat, Neha Viswanathan asked Turner who he represents: “Where does he gather his agenda from? Who does he identify with – America or the third world?” Turner responded that he represents “humanity.” There was much applause. But does he really listen when many members of that “humanity” want to tell him what they think of his efforts?
Our impression from this one encounter was that that Turner isn't really a listener.  He wants CNN to report more international news, but if the voices of the people he aims to help are not sufficiently grateful, he did not seem inclined to adjust his views or plans.
Before the event began, Global Voices’  new Sub-Saharan Africa editor Ndesanjo Macha set the tone with lyrics from the Fela Kuti song, “Beasts of No Nation,” in a post titled Dis-United United Nations. Ndesanjo writes: “Will they listen? Perhaps as they did in Rwanda! And now in Darfur. And many more other places. You know what I mean.”
Iraqi blogger Salam Adil wrote a post titled: “UN – What's the point? A message to Ted.”
There is no point to to UN except for the Security Council – all the other bodies are either toothless or can be replaced. If this can't be made effective all the rest may as well be disbanded. One does not need to look to far into the history of the Security Council to see that the main obstacle is America. All other parties rarely use their veto. Unless America can be brought under some control by the UN there is no point to this whole discussion.
But, you see, America needs the UN, and the world needs the UN. It was only the UN that was able to extract Israel from the quagmire they created for themselves in Lebanon and its only the UN that is acting as a reality check against American madness towards Iran. It was America ignoring the UN that created the disaster that was Iraq – and it will be the UN that will be used as part of the solution. Without it we are really talking about World War 3.
So here is the problem Ted, your money has bought you a billion dollar soap box now what are you going to do with it? Kofi's almost out of a job and is going around telling the truth about the mess that the UN is in so he can get some good work on the after-dinner circuit. But where are you going with all this? Are your dollars just going to make a large lump in the landfill of failed initiatives or do you want to make a difference?
Salam also points to Thought Riot's essay on the U.N. here.
Turner did not seem interested in entertaining the idea that his money might be more usefully spent in other ways, or that he may just be putting yet another band-aid over a broken institution.
He insisted that the U.N. has done good in Haiti,  despite Alice Backer's concerns that many Hatians are not happy with the performance of U.N. peacekeeping and election monitoring there.
Several people, like Oiwan Lam in Hong Kong, are concerned the U.N. isn't doing enough to protect human rights – especially when they are threatened by governments and corporations. We weren't able to get a clear answer from him on that. Though he did say that he thinks the U.S. was wrong not to stand for election in the new Human Rights Council while China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia all gained seats.
On the positive side, many appreciated his willingness to speak his views honestly, such as his declaration that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was among the dumbest things the U.S. has ever done. Whether or not you agree with him, there is no question of where he stands on any issue. Which as bloggers we all found refreshing, given that many major international donors and media moguls are less than upfront about their agendas.
Some more questions from the IRC chat that, unfortunately didn't get answered, mainly due to time concerns:
lIHd: I'm wondering if he has any reservations about donating to the UN given the massive inneficiency of prjects like the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda?
or wouldn't he like to donate to an organisation that is more proactive and could do something like prevent the genocide in the Sudan rather then spend lots of money producing periodic reports on a situations, then will spend about a billion (i think that's what the cost of the ICTR will run) making a statement retrospectively
or how he feels about America implimenting treaties like the Internation covenant on civil an political rights but picking and choosing what parts they will import into us law, leaving out key aspects that other countries ahve accepted.
Allen: Mr. Turner, what are your thoughts on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (USA, Russia, Great Britain, France and China) being the largest arms dealers in the world. Do you think it helps or hampers maintaining peace and security among nations?
Guest610: Here's a question: If the UN did decide to reject your donation, what other organization or cause might have received $1 bln
Also click here for more questions asked via the Reuters website.


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Thailand: Coup Update · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Picture from HelloonEarth2006
It was a holiday today in Thailand after the military ousted Prime Minister Thaksin's government last night while he was away in in New York.  There are no reports of violence and people are venturing out in the streets.
Stickman has pictures from Bangkok this morning and describes the situation on the ground
The atmosphere was not really what I had expected.  While tanks and armed soldiers are never the most comforting sight, they seemed to be relaxed, and no-one seemed to be too tense.  For sure, it did not seem like they were on high alert or anything like that.  Soldiers wandered around casually, chatting to each other, and many had the famous Thai grin from ear to ear.
The coup seem to be enjoying the support of Thai people
A lot of the soldiers were given flowers by the onlookers, many also offered cold drinks.  Without exception, everyone seemed to be in favour of the coup.  Many people wore yellow, showing support for The King and all of the soldiers wore a yellow ribbon, not only on their person, but on their guns.  All military vehicles and tanks also had a yellow ribbon – signifying their loyalty to The King.
There are more pictures at 2Bangkok.com)
The blogger at 19Sep (a blog created to document the coup) tries to comfort people who have friends/relatives visiting Thailand and people who were planning to visit the Kingdom and are now thinking of cancelling the trip
I want to state cleary that there is no Gun Fire or any violence until now and doesn't tend to be too. Live seems to be as usual, anyone can walk around the street, some companies still open. So you don't have to worry about safety for your friends or relatives, Thai or non-Thai, who currently are in all part of the country. They may be exited but they all are still fine.
Update:   Thai blogger Gnarlykitty writes that the blog 19Sep is now dead.
Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is now in charge of the internet. You are now all forbidden to post political comments on public forums. Future of Thai bloggers however is still unknown.
The blog is offline outside Thailand too. So it might be the author halting the blog and not censorship. Other blogs from Thailand are still online.
Update2: The blog is online now.
Adam's Gecko also  writes about the people's mood
Today had been declared as a bank / civil service holiday, but everything else appears to be open as usual. It's just a regular morning in my part of the Big Mango, and people around here seem to be in a good mood. I think there is a lot of relief that the regime change took place last night without any shooting, and today is really a new day for the country.
The blogger is also reporting on the appointment of an interim prime minister
The Bank of Thailand Governor, MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, is on his way back from the IMF/World Bank meeting in Singapore, and has apparently accepted the position of interim Prime Minister. Note: “MR” is not for “mister” but is an abbreviated honourific title indicating his degree of relatedness to the royal family.
Cowboy Caleb, a Singapore resident currently in Thailand is posting a running commentary of the situation on his blog has an update where Mr. Devakula has denied the appointment.
Steve commenting on Thai blogger Lynn's post on the coup is looking the complex political situation facing the coup leader Gen. Sonthi.
The General can either hold elections or delay elections. If he holds elections, he will loose domestically. If he delays elections, he will lose internationally. The Thai Right is in a strong position here. If the General delays elections, they can demand elections and thereby gain international credibility. If the General holds elections, they can either boycott the elections if they think they will loose or participate in the elections if they think they will win. The precedent for annulling the results of an election that the party of opposition boycotts has already been set by the Thai Left, so the Left will have a difficult time deflecting a boycott by the Right.