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Haiti: “We’re all eight days old” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Eight days after the disastrous 12 January earthquake that turned the world's eyes towards Haiti, with the full death-toll still unclear, relief efforts continued in Port-au-Prince and other areas. A strong early-morning aftershock on 20 January alarmed many, but did relatively little new damage. Many Haitians quickly returned their attention to matters of survival, and relief workers to getting food, water, and medical treatment to communities in need.
For some, there seemed to be a sense that the earthquake was a decisive turning-point in Haiti's history, almost a reboot. As Twitter user @yatalley (Yael Talleyrand) put it:
i'm 8 days old… haiti's 8 days old… we're all 8 days old: we got a whole future to build.
Other Haitians posting updates online expressed frustration with the way relief efforts were being run and information shared. On Twitter, @carelpedre (radio journalist Carel Pedre) asked a series of questions, “Five Ws (and one H)”:
1st W : Who is in charge in Haiti to distribute Food/water and medical supplies to us?
2nd W: What will the government do with the humanitarian aid?
3rd W: When are you going to Start distributing the aid properly?
4th W: Where can we go to get food and water?
5th W: Why after 8 days, the president did not formally and officially address to the nation?
and The H: How do you expect us to be patient when we are hungry and thirsty and we have lost everything?
He added:
I hope some journalists will ask them to the Prez or the PM  next time they'll meet them.
@Jcastera (Jean-Marc Castera) expressed similar sentiments: “Would be great if someone took charge and outlined the plan forward…” Anxiety took its toll even on those whose safety and security were not immediately at risk. “i need this to end. can't handle it no more, im going crazy,” wrote @yatalley.
Parallel to more official relief efforts, many small organisations laboured to assist the injured and the hungry. At the Livesay [Haiti] Weblog, charity worker Tara Livesay described an extraordinary (and ultimately successful) attempt to get several badly injured patients at an ad hoc medical clinic airlifted to a US Navy hospital ship:
All of a sudden out of nowhere a helicopter circled over a time or two … then swooped in. It landed right out in front of us. Two studly helicopter military guys walked over and said they could take four people. We chose the four worst. They said “We'll be back in ten minutes for more.” We could not believe what was happening. They came back … and back. Three trips to the ship for the people of Simon Pele…. It felt like justice to me.
Another charity worker, Father Marc Boisvert of Pwoje Espwa, visited the main prison in Port-au-Prince and discovered a crisis:
Two-thirds of the prison is destroyed. There are holes in the walls to the exterior and holes in the roof that the prisoners used to escape…. Immediate needs: food, clothing, first aid medical attention, personal hygiene items. The remaining prisoners are all inhumanely shut up in four cells. It is deplorable!
“There are 60 to 75 prisoners in each cell which is absolutely inhumane,” he added later. His organisation arranged to have food brought to the prison, where inmates helped with distribution.
In Jacmel, south of Port-au-Prince, charity worker Gwen Mangine — whose organisation has been working long hours to distribute supplies arriving at the town's airstrip — took a moment to reflect on the pace of their efforts:
We know it's not sustainable. We know that. We also know that we're in a critical time in the life of our community, and for whatever reason, God has given us favor everywhere we turn…. we can really be “all hands on deck” running hard for the first two weeks as we get systems and processes in place. After that time, I expect we'll be doing more shift work and resuming regular days off. We know this is an unending project we've begun.
In many areas, urgent need continued to outstrip available help. @troylivesay (charity worker Troy Livesay, based in Port-au-Prince) noted: “Seems like every area we enter has a tent/tarp/sheet city set up and badly wounded that have not received any care.” He reported that he was driving through the mountains to the border with the Dominican Republic to collect supplies. As his wife Tara later explained at the Livesay [Haiti] Weblog:
… for whatever reason the big outfits are not helping the little NGO's with supplies and such – so we've been finding stuff ourselves and we've been finding favor. It is clear that politics and things on higher levels are causing a delay in adequate response. While that is totally discouraging – we've been networking together with other tiny NGO's to find a way around being snubbed by the big relief organizations. It is degaje net around here. (Degaje is the Kreyol saying that basically means ‘make it work’ – net is the kreyol word for ‘all the way or alot’).
On his return to Port-au-Prince, Troy Livesay commented: “It was eery coming back into such a quiet city at night,” and “The UN is cntrllng and rstrctng the mvmnts of the US military…not letting them go out at night.I'm pretty sure the Marines aren't scared.”
@RAMhaiti (musician and hotelier Richard Morse) made some sharp comments about aid politics:
Aid and the dispersal of Aid IS politics.Experience says;politics never stops.Which families r getting the aid?
I've been led to believe that the Search & Rescue Operations have a US citizen priority
Don't get me wrong, I'm telling you things I've heard. Search & Rescue is still here, thats a good sign.I went out twice w/them
I'm not bitter.I'm trying 2 get a complete understanding of what's going on so i ask questions.Asking questions improves results
Meanwhile, many international media reports suggest that violence on the streets is hindering relief efforts. HaitiAnalysis.com posted an article by British broadcaster Andy Kershaw disputing this notion:
This assumption that there is a security threat has gone completely unchallenged by an army of foreign press, equally unfamiliar with Haiti and the character of the Haitians. Indeed, TV reporters particularly, having exhausted the televisual possibilities of rubble, have been talking up “security”, “unrest” and “violence” when all available evidence would indicate anything but.
@troylivesay expressed similar thoughts from on the ground: “We have seen little to no violence.It is hppng in isolated areas/incidents.Even now there is less violence/crime here than major US cities.”
And Canadian journalist Nico Jolliet — a member of a team filing reports and posting Creative Commons-licensed video footage to a website called Inside Disaster — paid a visit to a camp called Ste. Therese, in the hills above Port-au-Prince, where people whose houses were destroyed or damaged have taken refuge. “There must be about 4000 people in there,” he wrote:
The heat is unbearable under the improvised tarps and sheets tents, especially with people cooking under them.
But what surprises me is how well kept it is, considering there is no latrines, garbage disposals, or anything else…. People are friendly and good-natured, children play, women wash clothes in plastic tubs or cook what is left of their food on the coal stoves. They take care of the wounded the best they can…. Yet no help has come their way. I only saw one Haitian doctor working with the little supplies he salvaged from his house. After going through such an ordeal they seem to keep it together and hold on.
His video report, posted at YouTube, includes an interview with a woman who, while admitting that her food supplies were running low, seemed almost cheerfully determined that her family would get by somehow.
Global Voices’ Special Coverage Page on the earthquake in Haiti is here.


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Haiti: French-speaking bloggers react to the 6.2 aftershock · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

Bloggers at Espas Ayisyen and Potoprincipe describe the severe 6.2 aftershock which hit Haiti this morning. They both sense fear among not only the population but also the foreign rescuers.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Fabienne Flessel


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India: The Need For A Micropayments Infrastructure · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rajesh Jain at Emergic stresses the need for “a friction-free person-to-person micropayments capability, much like PayPal” in India. Read the series here: (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

author: Rezwan


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Indonesia: Pop music hits · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Lost Boy samples the latest pop music hits from Indonesia.

author: Mong Palatino


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Indonesia: Twitter capital of Asia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Indonesia is the Twitter capital of Asia. It ranks 6th in the world with the most number of twitter users and tweets contributed in the web


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Japan: Differing viewpoints on the US base relocation issue · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

The southern Japanese island of Okinawa, the first colony of Japan in the 19th century and the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the WW2, has become in the past months both the symbol and the object  of a diplomatic dispute between Japan and the U.S.
It began last fall when newly elected Prime Minister Hatoyama and his centre-left cabinet decided to re-examine the accord signed by the previous government and the U.S. on the relocation of the Futenma US Marine Marine Corps Air Station.
Okinawa hosts 75% of all exclusively US facilities stationed in Japan and the Futenma facility was deemed to be hazardous  during a review  in 1996 given its location in the middle of Ginowan City with it’s 88000 inhabitants.
Heiwayutaka points out:
The Futenma Air Station is in Ginowan, Okinawa. It is located in the center of the city, and its area is 24.6% of the city. It is threatening the citizen’s daily life. There are numerous military bases in the world, but nothing is like Futenma. Even in the U.S no base is in the middle of a civilian residential area. The Futenma base must be removed immediately.
The problem is whether to withdraw unconditionally or to relocate somewhere else. There are many different opinions about the Japan-US Security Treaty. But the removal is another thing from the evaluation of it.
The Futenma Base. By Flickr id: hyougushi.
The Japanese government's decision to both reconsider the pact and postpone the final decision over the base relocation sparked criticism from many in the country who fear for the future of the alliance with U.S.
Many bloggers are perplexed about the coverage of the issue by the Japanese newspapers and TVs who sound somehow alarmist.
At “The viewpoints of 101 world newspapers”, a blogger reflects [ja] on the words of a Japanese journalist at a press conference held by the American Department of State.
日本のマスコミでは、先延ばししている日本の姿勢に「アメリカが怒っている」との論調を多く見かけます。
しかし、「アメリカ国務省のホームページ」を見ると、少し違った印象を受けます。
クローリー国務次官補と各国記者たちのやりとりをテキストと映像で見ることができるのですが、その昨年１２月１５日の分。
日本人女性記者が質問し、そのやりとりが載っております。
・テキスト
・映像
映像では、１９分頃と３０分頃の２回。
特に、映像３０分頃の以下のやりとりに注目です。
日本人記者 [Japanese Journalist]：
All of us know that the roadmap is the best plan, but actually, the Government of Japan is considering the new location. So my question is …
国務次官補 [State Department Assistant Secretary]：
I understand that. And we will continue to discuss the issue with the Government of Japan.
[…]
また気になったのが、日本人記者の「All of us」との発言。
「All of us」とは、誰のことなんでしょう。
「日本人全員」と読めてしまわないでしょうか。
以上、英語が不得手な私の解釈ですので、あまりアテにはできないかもしれません。
英語が得意な方は、どのように感じましたでしょうか。
According to the deal,  Futenma base would be relocated to Camp Schwab at Henoko (in Nago City), by 2014 8,000 marines would be transferred from Okinawa to Guam and parcels of land would be transferred  back to  Okinawan owners.
Karakuchi Ojisan (lit. Uncle Scathing Criticism) wonders why Japanese people so harshly criticize the decision of the government to take time to re-evaluate the bilateral accord instead of seeing the other side of the coin.
もっとも、普天間問題が解決しないことが、日米関係に刺さったトゲになっていることは、確かでしょう。アメリカからは「オバマ大統領に鳩山は”トラスト・ミー”と言ったのに」とか「一旦取り決めた二国間合意を守らないのはケシカラン」という声も聞こえてきます。また、日本国内からも「日本外交の機軸であるべき日米同盟を傷つける」という非難さえ巻き起こっています。だが、少し騒ぎすぎではありませんかね。国際関係なんて、対立しがちの各国の利害をどうやって調整するか？　お互いの言い分を調整する過程で成り立つものですよ。
幸いオバマ新政権は外交路線を、ブッシュ時代の一国主義を改めて、関係国との協議による国際秩序づくりに変えています。「日本の言い分など聞く耳など持たない」などとは言わないでしょうよ。安保条約の傘の下でアメリカに守ってもらっている日本ではありますが、沖縄県民の苦衷を訴えることで、日本側が提示する”代替地”をアメリカが受け入れてくれれば、これに勝る解決策はないではありませんか。たとえ、コトがそう上手くゆかなくても、鳩山さんの”努力”は評価できるのでは。「緊密で対等な日米同盟関係」は、こうした努力の積み重ねで生まれるですよ。
But not a few people seem to believe that Japan, no matter who is governing now, must honor the agreements signed in the past. The most common reason would seem to be the necessity of keeping good relations with America (also in light of the Security Treaty of 1960) and the belief that Okinawa's economy depends on the American military bases, which have now become a ‘necessary evil.’
The blogger at P no Shiten (lit. P's viewpoint) bases his observations on the daily Sankei Shimbun'article [ja], according to which 90% of the people living in Henoko would agree with the replacement facility.
彼らだって、そりゃぁ米軍が来る事に大賛成というわけではないと思う。
しかし、現実には経済や補償のことも考えれば、9割の方々が『受け入れても良い』と考えてくれているのである。[…]
私たち日本人は米軍受け入れを渋々であろうと承諾してくれている名護市の方々に感謝すべきだ。
そして、鳩山政権は『自民党が決めたところはダメだ』などとナンセンスな、理由にならないこじ付けを言わず、早急に辺野古移転を決意しろ。
それが、沖縄、米国双方が理解しうる唯一の選択肢である。
Some people living in Okinawa might see the matter from a different viewpoint though, like the journalist Take [ja].
沖縄県名護市辺野古に基地は建設できません。これだけ地元が反対していたら、絶対に無理。
しかし、日本の多くの人々は、地元の反対がどれだけ根強いか、基地建設予定地周辺がどのような場所か、この基地を受け入れさせようとどのくらい税金が使われてきたか、また、この新基地建設にどれだけの税金（おそらく数千億円と聞きました）が使われることになるか、知りません（メディアは、知っていても報道しない）。
Henoko, the site presently indicated for the relocation, has been witnessing  protests against the base for years, especially from environmentalist groups. The local symbol of which is the dugong, an endangered marine mammal. The sea around Henoko area, where the new facility is to be constructed, is said to be rich in the seaweeds and sea grass that the animal feeds on. According to the local associations, the new base would mean the extinction of the dugong in the area.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: Kawaii Ambassadors · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Harvey blogs about the appointment three Kawaii ambassadors by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government expects they will increase international understanding of Japan and its people.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Japan: Tweeting Politicians · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

The Twitter application Politter offers lists of tweets from the official accounts of Japanese politicians. It also has an interface for hashtags related to politics. @masamix0417 uses it instead of following the politicians on Twitter. [ja]

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Kenya: Kiswahili an optional subject · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bumni writes about the decision to make Kiswahili an optional subject in Kenya: “The subject will no longer be a compulsory paper in the Standard Eight national examinations…”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Kucku: Vietnam-based social media site · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Kucku is a Vietnam-based microblog platform that helps users to send quick messages about what they are thinking or just found out.


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Malian Bloggers on the 2010 African Cup of Nations  · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

Toujours pas sages from Bamako, Mali and elsewhere share [Fr] everything you wish to know about the Soccer African Cup of Nations on CAN 2010, a blog created for the occasion by members of French Lingua team Boukary Konate and Claire Ulrich. The blog enables you to follow the games live, via links, Twitter comments and much more.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Palestine: Christians Prevented from marking Epiphany on Jordan River · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

The corner report published an article stating that the Israeli officials prevented Christian pilgrims from performing the traditional baptism ceremony to mark Epiphany on the Jordan River.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Palestine: Floods due to dam opening  · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Philip Rizk, who blogs in Tabula Gaza, comments on the news that says Israeli opened a dam, causing the banks of the trickling river to flood the homes, fields and possessions of tens of families in the Gaza Strip.


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Philippines: Online behavior of netizens in 2009 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tonyo Cruz highlights the top online campaigns in the Philippines in 2009. He also noted the rising number of internet users in the country


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Poland: Government Approves Proposal to Create Registry of Banned Websites and Services · Global Voices
Sylwia Presley

Yesterday the Polish government accepted the proposal to create a Registry of Banned Websites and Services. We wrote about the lack of transparency surrounding the creation of this law earlier this year on Global Voices. Yesterday's decision has generated a wave of protests on-line. The leading voice on the case, Piotr Waglowski, aka Vagla, author of a blog devoted to law and Internet issues [PL], posted an article the same day, in which he explained the legal procedures the proposal still faces before it receives a final approval. At this stage, the creation of the Registry of Banned Websites and Services has been officially proposed, but still needs approval of several governing bodies. In order to position this situation on the global arena, Vagla also points his readers to similar cases of breach of human rights by governments of other countries. Finally, he mentions that prime minister can expect letters from the public on the topic.
Vagla writes [PL]:
Mr Prime Minister can expect also letters prepared as a result of co-operation of several non-governmental organisations. One of those letters points out the lack of consultation with specialists in the field, another one the need to respect the basic rights in the legislative process. What will the Prime Minister do with those letters, I have no idea. It seems to be only the beginning of “determined actions” on the government's behalf.
One of the commentators of the post, michuk, points out that this proposal has a strong chance to be approved, so protest is required:
The law will be most probably quickly passed by the chamber of deputies – so it's time to act. I have written a LETTER TO PRESIDENT of RP convincing him to veto the law.
He is linking to the letter [PL] he wrote to the President himself, posted on stopcenzurze.wikidot.com [stopcensorship.wikidot.com] website, along with signatures of the supporters (NGO activists, professors, businessmen, lawyers, politicians, editors and bloggers), who signed this version of the protest with their actual names and links to their sites. Protesters have set up a Facebook fan page named ‘Stop Censorship‘ [PL], joined so far by more than 200 fans.
Reactions to the developments appeared on blogs, Flaker.pl, in comments to mainstream media articles as well as on Facebook, where people who feel strongly about freedom of speech and free access to the internet unite in protests.
Norbertrabarbar‘s reaction [PL] on Gazeta.pl's forum reflects the general mood of the public:
One cannot gamble? Not even on foreign portals? And what, we will have a list of sites we cannot visit, like in China?
And 6 hrs to unplug the website…so companies must have 24/7 admins…
I start to be scared of this system. Soon in order to get access to Internet one will need to send in an application form…
Kylax1 points out [PL] the uselessness of the governmental proposal:
In most developed Chinese censorship even teenagers can avoid it easily. Ideas of Tusk will not stop anyone apart from accidental gamblers.
Weegee touches upon [PL] the global nature of censorship thread:
I think the problem is deeper than our stupid authorities. And the worst bit is the fact there is no one we could report to on the breach of human rights, since this behaviour is becoming a trend and standard globally, so international tribunals will not do a thing (they would not risk creating a precedent of this type).
Witchinster opposes [PL]:
Poles will not give up if Tusk introduces censorship. There is TOR, there are systems allowing people to create an underground Polish Internet. It reminds me of the situation during the Second World War, when young adventurous Poles had to fight for what was theirs. It's a pity, though, that now a Pole is fighting a Pole.
Already yesterday heads of three Polish Internet associations – the Polish IT Association, the Polish Chamber of IT and Telecommunications, and Modern Poland Foundation – sent an open letter to Prime Minister Tusk, referring to the planned Internet censorship. Document is publicly available here (in .pdf format, PL).
Blackout Europe Polska is promoting freedom of the Polish internet and is planning [PL] a demonstration for Jan. 23 in Warsaw:
Demonstration: 23.01.2010 – 12:00 – Castle Square in Warsaw. Demonstration will most probably move to the Parliament. We welcome everyone, and most of all those who care for the future of the Polish Internet.
They are currently spreading the word on their blog [PL], but also on Twitter [PL] and Facebook [PL]. The poster with info on the demonstration circulates on the web and starts appearing on blogs [PL].
Wykop (the Polish version of Digg) welcomes its readers with three links on their main page related to the issue: here [PL] (272 digs), here [PL] (315 digs) and here [PL] (280 digs). Blackout Europe's call for demonstration on Wykop [PL] alone has generated 483 digs. All of those links are followed up by comments entirely supporting the protests and expressing disagreement with the government's proposal.
Facebook users gather at the ‘Government Should Leave the Internet Alone’ fan page [PL] and are feeding links related to the issue.
Ewelina Dziubińska  sums it all up [PL] on her blog when inviting her readers to take part in the demonstration in Warsaw [PL]:
Together we can really achieve more, all we need is the desire to do so. Lack of reaction is really a sign of acceptance, so let's show that this generation will not allow manipulation and censorship.
For the next few days, if not weeks, we can expect more reactions on the topic from the Polish blogosphere.

author: Sylwia Presley


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Russia: Project Aims To Translate Popular Blogs Into Russian · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

The World Wide Web now hosts a new project that aims to make English-speaking blogosphere more accessible to Russians. Inoblogger [RUS] is a Web site that will be translating the most popular IT-related blog posts from all over the Web into Russian.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Sri Lanka: Meditate For A Peaceful Election · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sarvodaya, the largest NGO in Sri Lanka, has launched a 12 day long campaign comprising of a series of island-wide mass public events and daily meditations to ensure a peaceful presidential election.


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Thailand: Mobile internet users · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Latest data shows Thailand has 12 million mobile internet users.


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Zimbabwe: The state of Zimbabwean economy · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The state of the economy in Zimbabwe from Economic Views of Zimbabwe blog: “We closed 2009 with an average inflation rate of minus 7,7%, but from April this year it is likely that the negative numbers will start moving quickly into less comfortable positive inflation rate figures. Because of the contrast against the low index numbers reached by June 2009, it appears likely that the rate by June 2010 will reach or exceed 5%.”


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Bhutan, China: Of Cyber And Border Wars · Global Voices
Sonam Ongmo

While the world’s giants wage their battles in the international arena – first India vs. China over borders, now Google Vs. China over the internet – far up in the Himalayas, tiny Bhutan (with a population of 600,000) also took on China recently, albeit with no alternative other than quiet diplomacy and tact.
On 14 January Bhutan wrapped up the 19 round of border talks with the People’s Republic of China. According to the talks the two governments will meet again to carry out a “joint field survey” of the disputed territories in the north, which comprise 4 areas amounting to a total of 874 sq km.
Image from public domain via wikipedia
A press release from the Foreign Ministry after the talks stated that both the governments will resolve the boundary issue through mutual consultation according to the basis of previous agreements  in 1988 and 1998. They will also refrain from taking any unilateral action and maintain status quo on the boundary. The press release also stated that the talks were held in a “cordial and most friendly manner.”
But the Chinese Government’s actions on Bhutan’s northern borders have hardly been ‘cordial’ or ‘most friendly’. Between 2008 and 2009 several border intrusions by Chinese soldiers deep inside Bhutanese territory were reported.
Not only that, the Chinese soldiers had also started constructing roads leading right into Bhutanese territory. It took several protests from the Bhutanese government's side and many discussions at the State level for the Chinese to stop the road constructions.
It seems like the sentiment among Bhutanese officials when it comes to China is to tread carefully with the giant. After all, Bhutan is the last country that can afford to stir its ire. The official stand, therefore, has always been to say that the discussions were “meaningful, productive,” despite what happened.
Perhaps it is for this very reason that most Bhutanese writers and bloggers have been silent on this issue, but Bhutantimes.com, a site where many Bhutanese interact – anonymously or under pseudonyms – to voice their dissent, seemed to ask some questions: “Is China really taking away Bhutan’s land silently?”
On that thread a commentator named Farmer said:
It is definitely not an easy problem because we are dealing with a powerful (and yet dictatorial) nation that has no regard for human rights or independence of other nations…. Few years ago Bhutan’s size was 46,000 sq km and now it has decreased to 38,000 sq km. So Bhutan is now the only country in the world which is shrinking…
Bronze 2000 responded:
The Chinese will soon be laying more roads inside Bhutan and set up posts. They will show new maps with the new Bhutanese areas inside China. This is what is being done for all these years. The govt. should really wake up to this issue and give priority as this issue can really threaten the sovereignty.
And Geasar added:
China has one of the worst records of human rights abuses. Despite that no country, including the USA, seems to pressurize this country into being a disciplined and humane country. With such a track record and virtual immunity from external pressure we can never rule out when Bhutan will also fall prey to this Giant.
Tamerlane, a non-Bhutanese blogger, pointed out why the Chinese were interested in claiming these border regions:
“The region at issue is important geopolitically because it is so close to India's Chicken's Neck, or Siliguri Corridor. It was created when East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and West Pakistan separated from India. Its purpose is to provide India with a narrow path to reach its faraway northeastern states. The area is also used by smugglers from Bangladesh and as a refuge for Maoist Nepalese rebels.
China has every desire to stir up instability here, as it will inevitably result in the weakening of India. Much of India's army is on the western front defending Kashmir, so China has almost free reign on the eastern front. PLA troops are entering Bhutan. Roads and bridges are being built inside Bhutan (allegedly).”
India, meanwhile, has been keeping a close tab on developments. Dr. S. Chandrasekharan, Director of South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) in New Delhi wrote about the developments at the site of the Chennai Centre for China Studies:
“There are two views in India on the border problems between Bhutan and China. One view is that Bhutan’s border problem will be settled once the border dispute between India and China is resolved. The other view is that once Bhutan is weaned away from India, the Chinese will probably be more reasonable and may be more generous.
While the first position is unlikely, there are no reasons to believe that the Chinese are going to be generous in the second case- as China is very unlikely to give up its position in the four areas of the western sector which is equally important for Bhutan’s security too.
In the near future while major clashes may not occur between the PLA and RBA, China will continue to tease and bully Bhutan and its border outpost personnel. This is the China that is supposed to rise ‘peacefully'!”
Throughout its history Bhutan had trade relations with Tibet, pre-Chinese occupation. But after 1960 Bhutan sealed all its northern borders. Today Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with China but according to the assistant minister of the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hu Zhengyue, “the two countries have been friendly neighbors since history.”
But just how friendly these neighbors are, is yet to be seen as the border issues remain unresolved and talks continue. Last year in March, when Canadian researchers uncovered a vast spy system that looted information from computers in 103 countries (including those of the Dalai Lama) Bhutan’s Foreign Ministry was also on that list.

author: Sonam Ongmo


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China: The future of mobile media · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

DANWEI has a short Q & A with Lu Gang, co-founder of Kuukie.com and OpenWeb.Asia and chief editor of Mobinode.com, on the future of mobile media.


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Democracy And Pakistan  · Global Voices
Rezwan

“Is Pakistan ready for democracy?” asks Bilal Qureshi at Pak Tea House.


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Global Screening Of Gaza War Documentary “To Shoot An Elephant” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

To Shoot An Elephant is a documentary by Spaniard Alberto Arce and Palestinian Mohammad Rujailah, filmed in Gaza during the war a year ago. To mark the first anniversary of the end of the war, the film, released under a Creative Commons licence, was shown at special screenings around the world.
Hisham, a Moroccan blogger based in France, has written about the film on his blog the Mirror:
To Shoot an Elephant is a documentary by Alberto Arce and Mohammad Rujailah. They both accompanied a group of foreigners who managed to stay embedded with the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances during the 21 days of Operation Cast Lead launched by Israel against the besieged Palestinian people of Gaza exactly one year ago. The assault started in December 27th, 2008, and lasted until January 18th, 2009. Horrific days of endless bombardments, random sniping of children, women, elderly, rescue workers – bombings of civilian areas, hospitals, ambulances, schools, mosques, UN headquarters that resulted in the killing of over 1,400 Palestinians, almost entirely civilians and the death of 13 Israelis. A global screening of the film was organized around the planet commemorating the first anniversary of the end of the assault.
The title is a reference to George Orwell’s essay during the years he was serving the British Empire as a police officer in Burma. Orwell’s witnessing of the horrors of imperial rule, the murderous absurdity that it entails, the level of human raw feelings of injustice that invariably transform into hatred, still holds to this day.
The foreign activists featured in the documentary include Italian Vittorio Arrigoni who blogs at Guerrilla Radio [It], Canadian Eva Bartlett, and Briton Ewa Jasiewicz.
Available for viewing at different places online, on YouTube it can be seen in separate parts; here is the first:
The film was also screened in Second Life, the 3D virtual world.
Hisham attended a screening of To Shoot An Elephant in Paris:
The Film is a slap in the face. People are justifiably moved by images coming from disaster-stricken areas of the world like Haiti hit by a horrific earthquake lately, but I guess the emotion is taken to a new level when the disaster is so conspicuously man-made, unjustifiable (indeed illegal), and avoidable. An overwhelming sense of anger together with feelings of injustice, helplessness and shock makes the experience even more compelling and engaging. I, for one, feared that the film would drift too much into a mere pornography of death and misery. I also was anxious to see whether the film would end up preaching for the converted. All in all it is a real, unformatted, unmanicured eye witness account about what really happens when ordinary people got bombed and collectively punished whether in Guernica, in Warsaw or in Gaza. And although, for the sake of preserving human dignity, I might have some contention about where the limits of filming agonizing people and dead bodies should lie, I still want to believe the film respected the suffering victims it happened to film.
In Jordan, Raghda Butros tweeted after seeing the film:

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Haiti: Packing List  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

An interesting packing list from Caribbean Free Radio about what she's taking to Haiti.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Haiti: Shelter Coming Both Too Slow and Too Fast · Global Voices
Marc Herman

Talk is already turning to reconstruction in Haiti. Architecture for Humanity, a “non-profit design services firm” that specializes in post-disaster reconstruction, has released some general concept notes. Writing at the firm’s website, Cameron Sinclair, an architect and the group’s founder, referenced controversies following Hurricane Katrina in the United States:
I remember vividly well-known news personalities standing on the rubble of homes in the lower ninth [New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood] proclaiming that ‘this time next year we will see families back home.’ Some well-meaning NGOs, who usually have little building experience, are even worse — ‘we'll have 25,000 Haitians back home if you donate today.’ In reality, here is what it really looks like:
Early reports on the damage pointed mostly to lax building standards in Haiti. At the Earth Institute's State of the Planet blog, the focus was on bad construction:
Much of the rubble seen in the terrible videos we are now appallingly used to is composed of chunks of cement – and just cement. This is the style so typical of poorer parts of the world. Just cement is not enough; columns and walls should be built with high quality cement, with the right amount of sand, and sewn through with steel reinforcing bars – rebar. That’s what gives them strength. Next time you look at a video or a still image of damaged buildings in Haiti, look for rebar. I haven’t seen any yet.
But Adolphe Saint-Louis, a 49 year-old quake survivor interviewed in Port au Prince by New American Media, describes something more complicated than iffy concrete. Her home was built as a series of additions, — and with rebar, she says — to keep extended family under one roof, and share building costs in the family. Making the building expandable served an important function, but proved catastrophic when the structure failed.
Maybe your child marries and they need a place to be for them and their husband. You can build just a room on the roof of your house and put a tin roof on it. Then when you have more money you can add more rooms or finish the entire floor and create a new roof for the building. That is what we did at my house. We added some rooms and a new roof to our house. There was a place for my nephew to live in the front and a large room for my daughter and her husband in the back. The way we had done it, it was so pleasant. We put many plants and flowers in pots around the side of the staircase outside because my daughter loves nature very much. She was so happy when she saw the place that we made for her. But when the earthquake came, we lost everything….The floors of the houses fell, one on top of the other.
She claimed the expansion system included re-enforcement:
In Haiti, when you want to add to your home, you build on top of the roof, which is concrete held up by pillars or strong walls on the floor below. A mason builds new walls of concrete blocks to make a room or to enclose the entire area to add a new floor to the house. Some blocks have holes to allow the air to circulate and if the mason is talented he will use the blocks to make a pretty pattern or type of decorative window. The weight-bearing blocks are always solid and they have metal rebar running through the middle to support the structure of the house. When the addition is finished, the mason will leave the rebar exposed so that another floor can be added later if it is needed.
A Canadian nutritionist living in Haiti, Ellen in Haiti, describes checking in on a friend — identified only as M — who had just bought a house built with stone rather than concrete. The older design had also failed:
This house is made of rocks filled in with mud/clay and covered with something like cement or plaster, the way they were made before concrete blocks took hold in Haiti.  The rocks in one wall all tumbled out, leaving the house uninhabitable. The family is living in their cooking lean-to, which has never had the luxury of four walls.  Their possessions are all bundled up under the thatch roof, where they will be susceptible to rain and bad weather.

author: Marc Herman


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Hong Kong: A Post-50s Professional in Support of Today’s Post-80s · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ITvoices posted a support statement to the young generation (post 80s) who protest against the abuse of public expense in the construction of the world's most expensive rail.


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Interview With Popular Indian Bloggers · Global Voices
Rezwan

Read Blogadda's interview with forty two popular Indian bloggers (Part 1, Part 2). Blogadda is the largest community of bloggers in India.


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Peru: Metallica Rocked in Lima · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón

Back on October 23rd, 2009, Metallica, the popular heavy-metal rock band, announced its Latin American tour [es], which would start in Lima with a concert that was held on January 19th, 2010. The Metallica euphoria started almost immediately.
Photo of the Metallica concert in Lima by Juliux and used under a Creative Commons license.
Within hours after the announcement, the blog Héroe del Día [es] (Hero of the Day) highlighted the news and all the related excitement in a post titled Metallica viene al Perú [es]:
Metallica es mi banda favorita de metal […]. Por años ,,,,, (si, años!) he venido escuchando sus temas, silbando contenta sus canciones, gritando furiosa al ritmo de sus akordes, latiendo a mil entre sus letras y los besos de mi ex, o tambien escuchandolos con alguna lagrima alguna vez… Smplemente me encantan! Asi. sin mas explicacion! […] Y hoy, hoy […] hoy! me llego un mensaje de texto y un mail, de un par de mis mejores amigos, que me decian la gran noticia. […] Y, si, era cierto! Voy a poder tener la dicha de escucharlos en vivo! En vivo! si! Metallica estará en Lima el martes 19 de enero del 2010 y yo estaré también en Lima el martes 19 de enero del 2010… !! Empieza la cuenta regresiva !!
The blog Bloody Ashes [es] provided diagrams with the zones [es] of the stadium where the concert will be held at San Marcos University, as well as the prices of the tickets, according to their locations.
Some weeks after the announcement, on Sunday November 15th, the ticket sales started. A lot of Peruvian fans woke up very early [es] and stood in lines for hours in order to get a ticket. Reportedly, 2,000 tickets [es] were sold in an hour.
While the fans of the band were delighted, there were others who were not that excited about the news. Carlos Quiroz of the blog Peruanista [es] writes that Metallica in Peru promotes the oppressive cultures of racist abuse and materialistic indifference. The post expresses disapproval of the concert, the band Metallica, heavy metal in general, and even adds some politics:
La llegada a Perú de Metallica -grupo que hace música ‘rock metal pesado’- es parcialmente producto de una política cultural promovida por el mismo gobierno peruano. Como resultado de leyes de exoneración de impuestos, unos treinta grupos extranjeros de rock metalero han llegado a Lima solamente en 2009, la mayoría de ellos desde Estados Unidos y Europa. […] El rock metalero puede tener mucho sentido para sus seguidores, pero para otros es solamente un género de bullas y gritos, secuencias de golpes repetitivos, con composiciones elaboradas de cuerdas. […] Una gran parte de la música de Metallica y sobretodo sus líricas, son de abuso, de brutalidad, de perversión, de muerte, de racismo. No es casualidad que casi todos los seguidores del rock metalero son blancos, ni que estos sean o hayan sido adictos a drogas ilegales, vicios, vidas caóticas sin esperanza. […] Hay limeños que están delirando de entusiasmo por que Metallica llega a Lima. Claro que ellos tienen la libertad de escuchar la música que quieran y usar su dinero como les dé la gana. […] Ojalá al menos que esa noche esos 50 mil peruanos pidan en sus cantos metaleros, por justicia, futuro y buen vivir para el país. Acaso eso pudiera pasar.
The arrival to Peru of Metallica -a group that makes ‘heavy metal rock’ music- is partially a product of cultural politics promoted by the Peruvian government itself. As a result of taxes exempt regulations, about thirty foreign rock groups have come to Lima in 2009 alone, most of them from United States and Europe. […] Heavy metal rock may be full of meaning for its followers, but to others it's just a genre full of noise and yelling, repetitive beat sequences, with chord sequences. […] A large part of Metallica's music, and above all its lyrics, is about abuse, brutality, perversion, death, racism. It's not a coincidence that almost all metal rock followers are white, or that they are or have been addicted to illegal drugs, vices, or lead hopeless, chaotic lives. […] Some Lima residents are delirious with the enthusiasm that Metallica is coming to Lima. Of course they are free to listen to any music they want and to use their money as they wish. […] Hopefully, at least on that night, those 50 thousand Peruvian call in their metal chants for justice, future and well being for the country. Maybe that could happen. […]
The reactions to this post contain both opinions for and against what Quiroz writes, like Luna, who comments:
Metalica es basura parte de la colonizacion mental y de la alienación. Aparte fue ese grupo los que contribuyeron a que se cerrase el acceso gratuito a Napster una via democratica de obtener música online. Esa congresista aprista es apoyada y celebrada por los medios locales quienes alaban su “aporte” a la supremacia de la cultura criolla.
On the other hand, Fabio notes:
Wow, y yo que pensaba que los únicos que atacaban el rock (y todas sus variatnes) eran los cristianos fundamentalistas ultraconsevadores de EE.UU. ¡Resulta que ahora también soy racista por asistir a conciertos de los malvados grupos extranjeros!
And the day finally came. The much eagerly awaited concert was held [es] on Tuesday January 19th, 2010. The blog Metallica en Lima, hosted by Lima newspaper El Comercio, posted a brief post about the event. At the time of publication there are 129 comments.
Augusto Rubio of the blog Marea Cultural [es] calls the band's performance “historic”, while Isabel Guerra of Living in Peru [es] notes the economic success of the event, with 3.7 million dollars in gross profits.
Next up for rock fans: the Guns N’ Roses concert coming in February 2010 [es].

author: Gabriela García Calderón


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Russia: Gamer, Cat And Intellectual Are Most Popular Memes On RuNet  · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

“Hero of the Runet” prize is awarded this year to the following Internet memes of Russian Internet: computer games reviewer Ilya Maddison, cute Cat Manul and Russian flamboyant intellectual Anatoly Vasserman.


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Russia: Regional Officials Urged To Go Online · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Russian regional officials may lose their jobs if they don't start blogging soon, Russian daily “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” reported [RUS]. Allegedly, the Kremlin is disappointed with  declining influence of traditional media in regions and it calls for government officials to adopt a new form of public life online.

author: Vadim Isakov


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South Africa: The Polygamist President – “Doing a ‘Zuma’” · Global Voices
Muhammad Karim

Does anybody else notice how much the protagonists in the South African government with the name ‘Zuma’ seem to constantly take headlines, above many others?  Well, I would say that the positions they occupy have a major part to play.
The President of South Africa has decided, once again, to marry.  The number is up to 5 this time with recent news saying he's engaged to his sixth.  The man moves fast, and works fast too… he is now up to 18 children and with a new wife I think we can expect more.
Here's what South African bloggers say…
Glasspearl.co.za questions the acceptability of the entire affair and comments on Zuma's previous misdemeanours:
As we are all aware of now, President Jacob Zuma married his fifth wife last week.
I’ve been reading an article in the You magazine of 14 January which claims that 74% of South Africans found the practice of polygamy unacceptable.
The article also states the majority of those disapproving of the custom are women of the same culture.
Here’s what I don’t understand…
If an adult woman wants to marry a man who is already married and the wife/s agree, what is the problem?
We all have choices and although it would NEVER be my choice, I can accept that another woman might choose differently.
Where I grew up on the Cape Flats, we knew of two different Muslim families where the dad had two wives. They were all kept apart and didn’t live together.
A few years ago a Muslim friend’s husband asked her whether he could take another wife. She said no, but he went ahead anyway.
She moved out and divorced him.
Jacob Zuma’s newest wife is 37 years old and is a financial manager at a Durban cellphone company. She likely has the means to take care of herself and chose this life of polygamy.
Now if he married an underage girl handed over against her will, it’s a whole other story.
But as long as the adult woman has a say in the matter, it’r none of my business.
I have much more of a problem when a man like Zuma have all those women and still has sex with a woman who did not consent.
Pessimist Incarnate simply posts a picture and a caption…
Terrorbyte gives us a breakdown of what went down at the Zuma Wedding…
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has married his fifth wife (Technically third) , in a spectacular Zulu ceremony attended by his other wives.
Some 2,000 guests saw the 67-year-old marry Thobeka Madiba, 36. The ceremony had been postponed from last year because of his political commitments.
Under Zulu tradition, Mr Zuma’s two current wives had to approve the wedding and attend the ceremony. This ceremony is the last traditional event before a wedding and is done after ilobolo (dowry) has been paid to the bride’s family.
Monday’s ceremony was  Mr Zuma’s fifth wedding – he married his first wife Sizakele Khumalo-Zuma in 1973 and Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma two years ago.
He is also divorced from Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Mr Zuma’s home in Nkandla, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, was a hive of activity in the run-up to the ceremony.
Large tents were erected to accommodate guests, some of whom arrived in a number of buses on Monday.
Several cows, sheep and goats were slaughtered for the wedding feast.
Locals including Mr Zuma were dressed in traditional Zulu attire – mostly made from animal skin.
And hundreds of people were there to witness the traditional wedding, which though initially dubbed a private affair, was later opened to the villagers. They mingled with businesspeople, politicians and celebrities dressed in the latest fashions.
Zuma and his bride were resplendent in traditional garb. He wore his Zulu attire, while the newbride  looked bright in her equally impressive outfit.
Madiba wore colourful Zulu traditional attire of black (isidwaba) with a red hat and danced for a few minutes before the groom, his family and community members.
While his bride performed the Xhosa dance, Zuma sat quietly and smiled. Later he also performed a traditional dance.
He was accompanied by warriors while Madiba came surrounded by maidens from abaThembu clan. The clan was led by Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla, who is an inkosi.
Earlier the couple were declared husband and wife after an elder had asked Madiba if she would join the Zuma family. She agreed, and was pronounced Zuma’s wife, joining Sizakele Khumalo, the first wife he married in 1973, and Nompumelelo Ntuli, who became his wife in 2007.
The couple and their guests were treated to a feast of traditional entertainment amid tight security. For three hours, Xhosa and Zulu traditional dancers entertained those gathered. Celebrations were scheduled to continue late into the night….
Zuma was previously married to former home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, whom he divorced in 1998, and Kate Mantsho-Zuma, who committed suicide in 2000.
… some very interesting insight there into the political and social construct of the Zuma clan.
My Rosebank sobers us up with an HIV point of view…
We live in a country with the world's highest HIV deaths. Let's state it even more simply: South Africa is the country with the world's largest number of people dying from a sexually transmitted disease. Thereare approximately 950 AIDS-realted deaths each day in South Africa [as opposed to 50 murders a day]. In TV advertising people are asked to stick to one partner. One of the ways AIDS is transmitted is by having multiple partners. Polygamy is institutionalised multiple partnering. Nice going Mr. President.
as well as these random clippings from News24.com which give some context and further insight…
Durban – The leader of the Christian Democratic Party has described President Jacob Zuma's traditional wedding on Monday as a “giant step back into the dark ages”.
Zuma's wedding “to a woman he is reported to have already fathered three children with, and the alarming return to ancestral worship is a giant step back into the dark ages,” said CDP leader Reverend Theunis Botha.
It was the same ancestral traditions that had plagued Africa in the past and that had kept it [Africa] in superstition and poverty, and not colonialism as some people believed, he claimed.
Zuma is the father of 18 children.
He is also engaged to Gloria Bongi Ngema from Durban. Her family presented umbondo (gifts) to the Zuma family at the end of December.
Umbondo is the last Zulu traditional ceremony before the wedding. It was done after ilobolo had been paid.
It was not known when Zuma would tie the knot with Ngema.
However, apart from all the criticism, someone finally gave the man a congratulations… SA Rocks gives us this…
Not bad Mr Prez. I must say you have scruples. Not only can you run a country but you can manage 5 wives and families, I am impressed. Good job.
I’ll join the nation in welcoming another “first lady” to the country: Tobeka Madiba.
So all in all, congrats to President Zuma.
Terrorbyte further enlightens us with this tidbit about the actual wedding night of President Zuma…
A huge bed has been delivered to President Jacob Zuma’s compound at Nkandla, in northern KwaZulu-Natal ahead of his wedding to his fifth wife.
The Real Jenty gives her view of the President's recent actions, it speaks for itself…
I read an article in the Saturday Star yesterday about Jacob Zuma’s many wives.  I don’t know what rock I’ve been living under, because I knew that he had more than one wife, but as sure as heck didn’t know he had that many!!  I found this article in the Mercury tonight that explains them all, and I see that there’s an article in the Sunday Times today about the same topic too!
And not only does he have 4 wives currently (he divorced one, and one committed suicide)… but he has 18 children from them and other woman.  The youngest of which is 7 months old!!
I also didn’t realise that the wife that he married last year was 34 at the time… that’s almost the same age as me.  And the mother of the 7mth old is about the same age (according to another article I found).
Now, I get that polygamy is quite acceptable in Zulu culture, and in fact that’s not what bothers me about this whole thing.  As far as I’m concerned he can have 10 wives, I don’t really care.  But dude… he’s not exactly a spring chicken at 67… what’s the deal with marrying more young wives… he’s apparently going to marry the other woman who he’s had children with.   Maybe he’s only marrying them so that they’re legal and can be supported by the government?
But that’s besides my point… he’s old… why does he feel the need to have so many young wives… some of them are about 30 years younger than him… and what’s the deal with him wanting to procreate at his age! Isn’t 18 kids enough?!  After all, the taxpayers are going to have to support them all!
From now on, I’m going to look at him in a new light… and it’s not a flattering one… he’s a dirty old man in my eyes.
And to end off with a confusing rendition about the inspiration President Zuma has instilled in one particular blogger, Kolobe gives us his rant about how his “polygamist dreams have been dashed!”
Ok so everyone is aware that I secretly admirer Jacob Zuma in his quest as a polygamists, in the African culture the first wife must permit the husband to marry other wives otherwise the it would be illegal marriages, so how can I convince my monogamous wife to agree to polygamy I still wonder, in fact those that are aware of the Zuma debacle is that the second Nompumelelo and third wive Thobeka are not in peace with each other, but all the wives are blessed to have Ma khumalo the eldest of the wives for support, in fact the second wife is angry and bitter of the third wive, this of course was evident on the latter’s day of the weeding when Nompumelelo was absent, it was only makhumalo who gave her blessings as the first wife. Traditionally before lobola negotiations takes place the uncles would consult the first wives for her blessing.
Believe me Zuma had a reason to take other wives and using the weakness in the first wife Ma khumalo, he managed to convince her to agree to polygamy, And the one obvious reason that comes to mind is the fact that Getrude khumalo the first wife seems to be having a problem conceiving and obviously raising children for Jacob Zuma, to date they don’t have any children. Perhaps this is the reason that Msholozi used against her and hence she can agree to this kind of marital arrangements.
Good, having studied the Zuma scenario, I had then decided to create a point of weakness so that I can have a reason against Mrs Kolobe to twist her hands in agreeing to my requests, I thought out a good plan and from Monday it was my implementation date, on  Monday after work I took her by surprise when she walked from work by acting like a bull , she found me naked already and we had good sex, while she was trying to clean the house I demanded attention and off we went for another shagging session, as if that was not enough I requested another session around 11 in evening and obviously feeling tired she refused. Good the plan was coming as planned.
On Tuesday I was late at work obviously of back pains and all, shame man the Comrade seems to be losing his mojo I guess, Tuesday I repeated the same, and when she pulled the am tired plug out, then I knew it was my opportunity to attack, I jumped out of bed and switched on the lights and demanded a meeting immediately, fine she said and there we where,
You remember in 2002 when we you could not do your house chores we found a nanny for us? Then she looked at me and said yes ,so now it seems that you cannot cope with my sexual demands cause your work is exhausting you, don’t you think that it is better if we get an assistant to assist you in my demands, goodness me, there she was furious and tempers flying all nasty stuff and quoting the bible and all, it was nasty.
Fine I pulled the verses about Abram and Sarah looking that other chick that Abram shagged to produce that dude Ishmael, yaa but I was told if I wanted that I should go out of the house and find another place, in short I cannot become a polygamist, but at least I tried.
and here's some Twitter feedback on the topic which even hints at the term being coined ‘Doing a Zuma'… meaning ofcourse, polygamy.
@DevillaCruelle While Zuma is courting wife-to-be no. 6, Obama is sending 12000 troups to render aid in Haiti. Priorities, priorities….
@MonsieurPolk @mathoto_m Somebody is trying to get married! let me talk to my wife about doing a Zuma. Home cooking & great movies whats not to love?
@PrinsesLV This is where our tax money goes: Zuma's wife wearing a LOUIS VUITTON headscarf…… Ek meen rerig! http://tweetphoto.com/8643407
@Sliloza RT @DJFreshSA: RT @euphonik: Mr. President Jacob Zuma you are truly on to something! Why cheat on your wife when you can just take another?
The President's polygamist tendencies raises important questions for South Africa… the relevance of traditional culture in a modern era, the permissibility of polygamy by law and what this would mean for traditional vs. modern interpretations of culture in South African society… and probably a lot more.  At least its educational.

author: Muhammad Karim


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Sri Lanka: Tamils And Democracy · Global Voices
Rezwan

Lankanyyz at Musings from Toronto explains the reason for the claim that the Tamils in Sri Lanka don't have a voice: “the Tamil population don't have a strong political presence to represent them democratically.”

author: Rezwan


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Trinidad & Tobago: Butter Bread  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“In one of Port of Spain’s wealthiest neighbourhoods…the older, tastefully-designed homes can no longer be admired because they cannot be perceived: their garden walls are now higher than their eaves; and topped with razor wire: pass your butter bread over such a wall and it comes out the other side as a sandwich loaf”: B.C. Pires does a quick anthropological study of Trinidad.


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Trinidad & Tobago: By George!  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Aisha at MEP Caribbean Publishers puts two rival Trinidadian doubles vendors to the taste test.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Emergency SMS · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Further to Taran Rampersad‘s call for Trinidad and Tobago to get an emergency SMS number, he finds out a local communications provider has plans to implement one: “Kudos if they get it up before a national disaster. Well, other than continued parliamentary disaster…”


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Ukraine: Citizen Media and Political Forecasting · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Some of the online conversations about this year's Ukrainian presidential candidates appear to be somewhat lacking in substance. This, in part, can be explained by the fact that the most popular of these politicians have been around for quite a while and there isn't much left to discuss about them. There's also certain voter fatigue, as well as the fact that some voters seem to be guided by their ideas of physical attractiveness rather than more practical considerations when choosing the head of their state. As one blogger – LJ user grebeniuk – noted in an earlier GV translation,
[…] Political advisers, marketing and advertising specialists don't even have to bother! Comb your candidate, do the makeup, and go ahead! It's funny and sad :) […]
Over-simplification isn't always a bad thing, though. Moscow-based LJ user limikon, for example, has managed to gain some curious insight by focusing on something that the top 5 presidential candidates (as well as the candidate who came in seventh) shared on the CVs: their past ties to ex-president Leonid Kuchma. He stripped the candidates of their names, which must have seemed redundant in this context, and shared his insight (RUS):
It's quite amusing to read the results of the Ukrainian election
#1 – Kuchma's premier;
#2 – Kuchma's vice-premier;
#3 – Kuchma's vice-premier, head of the [National Bank of Ukraine];
#4 – Kuchma's acting head of the [National Bank];
#5 – Kuchma's premier;
#7 – head of Kuchma's [Presidential Administration]
The mighty old man has laid eggs into Ukrainian politics that will last for the next 20 years. […]
Despite such familiarity and other discouraging factors, there was no lack of interest in the outcome of the election, and, as a result, the blogosphere was overflowing with political forecasting attempts on the eve of the Jan. 17 vote.
Below are some of the actual results of the first round of the election (more about the vote, its winners and runners-up is here):
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 35.32% (8,686,751 votes)
#2 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 25.05% (6,159,829 votes)
#3 – Serhiy Tihipko – 13.06% (3,211,257 votes)
#4 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk – 6.96% (1,711,749 votes)
#5 – Victor Yushchenko – 5.41% (1,341,539 votes)
And here are a few summaries of the polls and forecasts that appeared on Ukrainian and Russian blogs.
LJ user vaxo (Ukrainian journalist Vakhtang Kipiani) surveyed 301 bloggers (UKR), 22 of whom (7.89%) did not plan to vote in this election at all. The poll's results are below:
#1 – Victor Yushchenko – 35.48% (99 votes)
#2 – Serhiy Tihipko – 14.7% (41 votes)
#3 – Oleh Tyahnybok – 9.68% (27 votes)
#4 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 5.73% (16 votes)
#5 – Victor Yanukovych – 2.51% (7 votes)
LJ user kermanich (Ukrainian journalist Andrey Manchuk) was not pleased with the results of this poll and wrote this (RUS) about the Ukrainian blogosphere and the society in general:
[…] Reading the results of such an impromptu voting on [Kipiani's blog], it seems as if Ukrainian bloggers live not just in some other country, but altogether on a different planet.
[…]
Such an indecent gap between the opinion of the people and the opinion of the “patriotic blogosphere,” represented by a thin social stratum of office intelligentsia, shows how hopelessly removed these folks are from the people. […]
At least two more polls conducted by Ukrainian bloggers had Victor Yushchenko as their winner.
At chomusyk LJ community (“Ask Me: All that you wanted to ask about”), 495 people responded (UKR), 57 (11.5%) of them did not support any of the candidates and 83 (16.8%) did not plan to go to the polling station at all. Here's the rest the vote breakdown (UKR):
#1 – Victor Yushchenko – 27.5% (136 votes)
#2 – Anatoliy Hrytsenko – 15.4% (76 votes)
#3 – Serhiy Tihipko – 9.9% (49 votes)
#4 – Oleh Tyahnybok – 6.9% (34 votes)
#5 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 6.3% (31 votes)
#6 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk – 1.8% (9 votes)
#7 – Victor Yanukovych – 1.2% (6 votes)
At LJ user ledilid‘s blog, 188 people turned up for a vote (UKR):
#1 – Victor Yushchenko – 43.1% (81 votes)
#2 – Oleh Tyahnybok – 20.2% (38 votes)
#3 – Anatoliy Hrytsenko – 10.6% (20 votes)
#4 – Serhiy Tihipko – 7.4% (14 votes)
#5 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 5.9% (11 votes)
#6 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk – 5.3% (10 votes)
#7 – Victor Yanukovych – 1.1% (2 votes)
A poll (RUS) at LJ user sunlike77‘s blog, which surveyed 479 bloggers, produced comparatively realistic results:
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 34.7% (166 votes)
#2 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 30.7% (147 votes)
And the forecasts by 126 bloggers who took part in LJ user kotyhoroshko‘s The People's Prognosis project (UKR), produced a pretty good reflection of the actual results as well:
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 29.27%
#2 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 21.56%
#3 – Serhiy Tihipko – 9.48%
A Twitter poll (RUS) set up by Odesa-based Twitter user #netocrat drew 335 votes and had the following vote breakdown:
#1 – Serhiy Tihipko – 34% (114 votes)
#2 – Victor Yushchenko – 19% (65 votes)
#3 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 14% (47 votes)
#4 – Anatoliy Hrytsenko – 10% (33 votes)
#5 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk – 7% (24 votes)
#6 – Oleh Tyahnybok – 6% (21 votes)
#7 – Victor Yanukovych – 6% (19 votes)
One of Russia's most popular bloggers, LJ user drugoi, introduced his Ukrainian election survey (RUS) with a photo of three activists of the Ukrainian women's group FEMEN, who were urging voters at a Kyiv polling station not to sell their votes (their slogan (RUS): “Don't be a whore! Don't sell your vote!“). As of now, 3,931 bloggers have cast their votes (RUS) – and the voting seems to keep going:
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 17% (670 votes)
#2 – Serhiy Tihipko – 16.8% (662 votes)
#3 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 13.8% (541 votes)
Another popular Russian blogger, LJ user tema, had 13,842 bloggers respond to his election-related survey (RUS), which seemed like the least serious in tone and presentation, but which nevertheless managed to place the first three contenders in the right order:
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 19.9% (2,758 votes)
#2 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 15.7% (2,175 votes)
#3 – Serhiy Tihipko – 12.2% (1,685 votes)
LJ user yashin (Russian opposition activist Ilya Yashin, whose blog carries the following tagline: “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido“/”The people united will never be defeated” – one of the slogans of the 2004 post-election protests in Ukraine) hosted a political prognosis contest (RUS), and below is the average outcome of the bets submitted by 168 bloggers:
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 31.4%
#2 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 24.7%
#3 – Serhiy Tihipko – 9.48%
U.S.-based LJ user kireev (Aleksandr Kireev, founder of the bilingual Electoral Geography website), conducted a political forecasting competition (RUS) as well, in which 99 bloggers took part – and he even issued two awards: one for the best forecast and one for the worst.
The best forecast award went to LJ user tulskiy (Russian political analyst Mikhail Tulskiy), whose guess was very close to the actual results:
#1 – Victor Yanukovych – 34.5%
#2 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 23%
#3 – Serhiy Tihipko – 15.5%
The worst forecast award – an optimist's pink glasses – went to LJ user tanya_ogf, who made the following projections:
#1 – Yulia Tymoshenko – 23.4%
#2 – Victor Yushchenko – 20.7%
#3 – Victor Yanukovych – 19.4%

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Video: Drug legalization and life post-prohibition · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

legalize by Ricardo Martins
There are groups of people advocating for the legalization of drugs, but what would that actually mean? From Hungary to Colombia, from youth to teachers, from cops and clergy, individuals and groups are taking to citizen media to put forth their arguments regarding this potentially controversial subject.
In Hungary, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union has a broad spectrum of subjects they tackle, and one of them is the legalization of drugs. They've produced in the past year more than 70 short films, and in their words:
2009 has been a busy year of video advocacy work. The vast majority of our films dealt with drug policy issues, within the framework of the European Drug policy Initiative (EDPI) program. We filmed in Vienna at the protest organized by HCLU against the global drug war in front of the UN building, investigated the issue of drug tourism in Dutch border towns, introduced the upcoming heroin program in Denmark, showed the history and failure of strict Swedish prohibitionist drug policies and campaigned for the introduction of a needle exchange program in Stockholm. We successfully helped Russian NGOs who turned to the Global Fund after the Russian government denied the funding of needle exchange, and promoted the successful harm reduction programs that Kyrgyzystan introduced to stop the HIV epidemic.
Following, a video where the HCLU interviews leaders in drug policy reform at the New Mexico International Drug Policy Reform Conference of 2009, discussing about the future of drug control and what would be the implications of dropping prohibition laws:
In Colombia, last May saw the marihuana legalization march in the city, in also the nationwide event to keep the personal dose legal.  Prolific Video Blogger Juan David Escobar was at both, and brings us some pictures of the “personal dose of personality” event in Medellin as well as the march for the legalization of marihuana.
He writes:
In Colombia, one of the most important drug production country, and of course a symbol for nearly four decades of war, consumption, violence caused by marijuana, cocaine and heroin trafficking. On March 26 was a call in the main cities and their public places, for people that inhabit this corner of South America, to meet for taking a picture, where all can show and take our personality dose, like a way of individual expression for freedom in a country that offers little liberties.
In Mexico, high-school students in Morelos get the opportunity to debate about the legalization of drugs in a classroom setting in this 6 part series (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6) of the debate by anivdelain. Following is the conclusion, where the moderator wraps up by saying that if the legalization law is passed, that it is up to each individual to inform themselves on whether they will use drugs or not and to make sure they use it for “good”.
LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, states on their website that they are against prohibition because it just doesn't work: in spite of incarcerations, strict laws and money spent on the fight against drugs, they are currently cheaper, easier to get and more potent. In the following video, cops join clergy in an unlikely pairing discussing the war on drugs, where they talk about the role of clergy in the fight against drugs, by giving drug users counselling and helping them by giving them hope, instead of taking it away by imprisoning them:
Is your country's law system considering the depenalization or legalization on drugs? What is the citizen's perspective on this and what is your personal opinion? Will continued criminalization of drug users help stop trafficking and drug use, or is there another way out?

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Armenia/Azerbaijan: From Home to Home · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor interviews journalist Seda Muradyan on her documentary film, From Home to Home, for the Frontline Club blog. The film tells of how Armenians and Azerbaijanis in two villages made an extraordinary deal as the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh flared up.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Demonstrations in London and Paris for imprisoned video blogging youth activists · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

On the same day that an appeal court hearing for imprisoned blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli was adjourned, but this time at the request of the defense, supporters of the two men protested outside the Embassies of Azerbaijan in London and Paris. The demonstration in France was jointly arranged with Reporters Without Borders while social media guru Dan McQuillan was at the London demo.
Paris demonstration © Ehsan Meliki, used with the permission of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli Support Committee
The Presidency of the European Union, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have condemned the verdict. Amnesty International has declared both men to be prisoners of conscience.
Background to the case can be found in Global Voices Online's Caucasus 2009 Blog Review and on Threatened Voices.


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Best photos from Morocco · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

After spending 15 months in Morocco, American blogger, Ibn Ibn Battuta decided to publish a series of the best photos he took there. He started with “Rural Scenes” and “People“.


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China：Google’s announcement to clarify rumors brings in more speculations · Global Voices
Bob Chen

What’s going on with Google? Millions of Chinese netizens are wondering.
On Google China’s Blackboard, a Chinese-language blog run by Google.cn, a post titled ‘clear the air of rumors’ stated:
过去几天里，我们看到有很多关于谷歌中国以及谷歌员工的不真实的传言，一 些报道称我们已经关闭了在中国的办公室，还有一些报道称我们在中国的员工已经接到通知将于近期离职。这些都是不真实的。目前，谷歌中国的员工同过去一样在 办公室正常工作，讨论产品开发，与客户进行沟通。尽管谷歌总部管理层近期宣布他们将会在未来的几个星期与中国政府就一些事宜进行商讨，谷歌中国的员工们仍 在一如既往地努力向我们的用户和合作伙伴提供最好的产品和服务，用户和合作伙伴对谷歌是非常重要的
In the past few days we have heard many rumors about Google China and its local employees. Some reported that we have shut down the offices in China and some claimed our Chinese staff would lose their jobs in the near future. These rumors are not true! Chinese employees of Google.cn are, as usual, working in the office, discussing product development and talking with our clients. Although management in Google HQ announced their decision to discuss some issues with the Chinese government,  Chinese employees are working hard as always to provide the best service and products to our clients and partners, who are crucial to Google.cn.    Jan 19
Last week, Google in its official blog announced its surprising decision to stop censoring the content on its Chinese website, a move interpreted by many as a threat to quit the China market if necessary. It triggered mass reaction from Chinese netizens who mostly supported the action.
However the matter is more complicated than people thought. Rumors about Google’s real intent soon spread across the internet. Different interpretations and perspectives on its possible exit were floated and the controversy has not yet ceased.
Spy inside
It was reported that Google is investigating its employees on suspicion of hacking from inside. As an article in Reuters suggests:
Local media, citing unnamed sources, reported that some Google China employees were denied access to internal networks after January 13, while some staff were sent on leave and others transferred to different offices in Google's Asia Pacific operations.
Let’s look at the original version in Chinese which is widely cited and circulated on the internet.
Google总部在声明退出中国之后，立刻取消了所有中国工程师访问Google代码服务器的权限。
他们都是在上班后发现服务器的home目录进不去了。事先根本没有通知。
如果Google是有预谋的撤离，为什么要采取这种手段？他完全可以让员工继续工作，做一些善后工作。为什么Google突然那么不信任中国这边的团队？
唯一的原因就是，Google内部的技术人员中被安插了党的特务（就在Google上海办公处）事实真相就是，这个人在受到党的派遣，应聘Google成功之后，就把Gmail的关键代码down下来然后上交给了组织。而这个组织破解gmail系统的目的就是为了获取“人权团体”的邮件，这些在Google官方的声明都有
这样一来会暴露gmail系统的所有漏洞，而且Google官方不能承认这个事情，否则他在国际上的声誉会大受影响。特工这次的窃密行动，使Google有面临全面破产的危险（Google官方博客也说了，牵涉到知识产权的问题），说白了，再在中国呆下去，可能要威胁到整个公司的生存，所以才如此仓促的把中国部门的一切工作全部停掉
The post furthermore claimed that there were three spies, all of whom were Party operatives. However, quite a few responses to the post ridicule this as simply a sensational speculation.
A rational decision
In boxun.com, a journalist summarized the troubles entangled Google since its entry into China.
2006年2月 牌照门
2006年11月 辞职门
2007年2月 地图门
2007年4月 词库门
2007年5月 抄袭门
2007年6月 报告门
2007年7月 流氓软件门
2007年8月 恶搞门
2007年10月 税务门
2008年3月 抄袭门2.0
2008年3月 漏税门
2008年6月 捐款门
2008年6月 泄密门
2008年11月 广告门
2009年1月 低俗门
2009年4月 低俗门2.0
2009年6月 涉黄门
2009年10月 版权门
2009年12月 涉黄门2.0
Partial translation:
试想，有哪一个跨国公司架得住如此频繁的折腾？据统计Google在中国的收入大概是其全球总收入的1%，即使退出中国市场也不影响Google的整体业绩，损失不大，丢脸的是中共独裁政府。
Blogger Yemingzhu suggests Google takes the chance to quit China as a pretext for its business failure.
另一种说法是谷歌退出中国，采取这样高调的方式是为了掩饰其在中国的商业失败，从数据上讲，谷歌在中国是属于典型的叫好不叫座，赢得美誉度，没有得到实惠，还投入巨大的成本，从商业上讲，对股东要有交代，退出不是不可以解释。
Google is currently the second largest search engine in mainland China and has about 30% of market share to Baidu’s 60%.
Ma Yun(马云）, the well-known president of Alibaba.com, an e-commerce website, criticized Google:
他说，谷歌在美国的成功是一种创业者精神的成功，是一种永不放弃的精神的成功。而进入中国市场后，则变成了以为可以用钱去改变市场，忽略了过去用脚踏实地、用梦想去改变别人的精神。
He also called Yahoo’s support of Google a rash decision.
Political conspiracy
Gaoren thought Google’s exit has political motivation, possibly backed by the U.S government.
Google是在中国政府的网络监察制度更严格的时候进入中国市场，希望在中国市场分得一羹。在中国政府的网络监察制度越 来越宽松的情况下退出市场，但站出来高调批评网络监察制度，这本身就是滑稽的，也是站不住脚的。至少表明Google和其声明中的道德是格格不入的。 Google只不过是利用政治作为撤出中国市场的遁词。
按照Google自己的高调标准，Google本身是一个高举道德大旗的魔鬼。2008年印度22岁的IT专业人士 Rahul　Krishnakumar　Vaid因为在Orkut网站写下“我恨索尼娅甘地（I　hate　Sonia　Gandhi）”而遭逮捕。 Orkut是Google在印度的一个社交网络网站。Google立即向印度警方提供了Vaid的Gmail电子邮件信息。
2010年1月7号，国务卿希拉里.克林顿（Hillary　Clinton）在国务院请吃饭。这是一场小规模的晚宴，规 模虽小，来客却都是通讯科技界的重量级人物。客人名单上有谷歌首席执行官埃里克.施密特（Eric　Schmidt）、Twitter联合创始人杰克.多 尔西（Jack　Dorsey）、微软首席研究与战略官克瑞格.蒙迪（Craig　Mundie），以及Mobile　Accord总裁James　 Eberhard，　Cisco的行销总裁Susan　Bostron，纽约大学教授Clay　Shirky，　Personal个人民主组织创始人 Andrew　Rasiej等。这是美国国务院利用信息技术来推进美国外交目标的努力的一部分。
没过几天，在2010年的1月12日Google就跳出来。Google是否在为美国政府的政治目的服务呢？大家拭目以待。如果Google成为美国政府的政治打手，那中国政府对其政治约束是完全必要和合理的。

author: Bob Chen


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Egypt: Severe criticism for the human rights situation  · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Alaa Kamal discusses [Ar] the upcoming Human Rights Watch (HRW) annual report, that will be published over the next days. He says that the Arab countries received the biggest share of criticism. Also, the report clearly focused on  the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt.


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Haiti: “1+1=3” · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Days seem [waaay] longer, yet this Week went by sooo fast. earthquake has 1+1 =3.
This comment by @olidups (Olivier Dupoux) on Twitter summarises how many Haitians must feel, more than ten days after the 12 January earthquake that devastated the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas. With rescue efforts winding down (even as two more survivors were pulled from the rubble yesterday), “tent cities” being built to house thousands of now-homeless Haitians, and large-scale relief efforts underway, some are beginning to think about what the near future holds in store, how long reconstruction efforts will take, and what they will look like. Others seem concerned that official announcements from the authorities and media reports don't always add up with the situation they observe on the ground.
@troylivesay (charity worker Troy Livesay), who previously wondered whether the UN was restricting the movements of US security forces, noted on 21 January that “The Marines are patrolling the streets…their curfew must have been extended.” He added:
Just passed an ambulance from the State of Qatar.The gang's all here.I hope some of these others bypass the bureacracy unlike the US and UN.
The next morning, he posted a brief eyewitness account of relief efforts:
Seeing truckloads of food and relief supplies distributing around the city and mobs trying to get at them…UN is providing security.
The people aren't dangerous – they are desperate. They fear that there won't be enough, because there never has been enough in the past.
Large crowds around all airport entries/exits-I asked a local why and was told ‘you have to look to see where the manna is falling.’
Livesay also posted photos from one of Port-au-Prince's “tent cities” at his Flickr account. One shot showed men plugging in their mobile phones at a rigged-up charging station.
On the night of 21 January, @RAMhaiti (musician Richard Morse, who also runs the Hotel Oloffson) described a walk through the centre of Port-au-Prince:
Took a walk to Champ Mars tonight,saw the tents,the people,the masses upon masses.one house down another house fine.no rhyme or reason
Palace no more,Culture fine,Finance cracked,DGI(taxes)in a heap.Justice?A heap.More and more people heading to the parks.Foot traffic.
The Palace of Justice,in a heap.Is that a metaphor?American troops guarding the back of the palace which has no back walls.My 3rd occupation
He emphasised:
The Haitian people were so polite as I walked around town w/my daughter.One group of people was yelling over money but all in all,peaceful
As a well-known public figure in Haiti, issuing a prolific stream of information and commentary on Twitter since the earthquake, Morse has been quoted frequently in the international press. The travel website WorldHum has published an interview with Morse dating back to 2008, in which he says:
“When journalists stay here, I try and influence the journalists. I didn’t used to. What would happen is journalists would write stories and they’d leave,” he said. “And if the story had no bearing on reality, it would have a big impact on my life. I figured it was best if the journalist had a better idea of what was going on so I would try and lead them in the direction of what’s going on.”
True to form, Morse (often in reply to Twitter queries) has made some pointed comments about Haitian politics and the administration of relief efforts:
Which country is now officially heading the UN operation in Haiti? Is it still Brazil or has the US taken over??
WE needed new leadership in Haiti and perhaps the earthquake has obliged us.The collateral damage, a bit over the top..
The Haitian Gov./The UN/The Elite Private Sector formed a Gang whose legitimacy was addressed by the Earthquake.Collateral damage ovr th top
I'm hearing from witnesses that people cheered when the palace went down.That, in and of itself, is a very strong statement
He also wondered how long Haiti would retain the world's attention:
I've met journalists from many countries around the world in the last week. The real question;how long will this “be a story”?
US-based Haitian blogger Wadner Pierre was more explicitly critical of the foreign media:
I am overwhelmed, frustrated and even angered by what some journalists have written about Haiti since the 12 January earthquake and I cannot believe some of the images I have seen on news channels such as CNN and MSNBC. It's true that some journalists are doing their very best to give a real picture of the situation on the ground in Haiti….
But the mainstream media, especially in the United States, has focused the attention of their audiences on the fact that Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and concentrated on the efforts of the US, the richest country in the Americas, to mobilise disaster relief services.
Pierre also criticised Haitian president René Préval:
No one, it seems, is quite sure what he is doing. Some people think he is negotiating the country away to the United States. And others don't think that Préval has ever been the one leading the country; rather, they argue that he has always been a puppet of the international community.
Havana Times posted an open letter from a Guatemalan filmmaker who was in Jacmel at the time of the earthquake, disputing some of the images that have appeared in international TV coverage:
The media choose the most shocking scenes, the most morbid and most sensational ones, and then they repeat them again and again, gradually creating a completely distorted image of reality.
Troy Livesay's wife Tara, who blogs at The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog, also expressed frustration with some foreign press:
I am glad the media has given Haiti some attention and hopefully that makes people CARE and want to GIVE and ACT – but the ones that never leave the airport and report from the tarmac are just in the way and taking up valuable space and adding to the chaos. Plus, I am hearing the story is no longer getting much attention – that it has dropped to the bottom of the news cast – which is sad, because the story has only just begun.
And Chantal Laurent of The Haitian Blogger was troubled to hear a representative of the World Food Programme say that food distribution in Port-au-Prince had been scaled back because of “the lack of security”. She remarked: “folks on the ground are reporting that they have not witnessed any undue cause for concern over security issues”.
Meanwhile, others continued to concentrate on the ongoing challenge of getting food, water, and medical care to vast numbers of injured or displaced Haitians. The charity group Pwoje Espwa, based in Les Cayes, reported on its blog that a hundred orphaned children were arriving from Léogâne, and appealed for donations. Gwen Mangine, a charity worker with the Joy in Hope organisation, based in Jacmel, gave an update on relief operations there:
Over the past 6 days, we’ve accruued a good supply of food and water…. Yesterday we rented a house in an out of town location with a large wall around it and hired security guards. We began moving all of our supplies over to this house yesterday and will today begin the process of getting this out, distributed largely through local churches + organizations.
She also described a touching moment:
I am upstairs in my house right now…. Downstairs the radio is blaring (because what kind of Haitian household would you be without a blaring radio) and our kids and staff are all singing along to Ayiti Cheri [a well-known patriotic song].
For this small moment, life feels normal again.
And on Thursday night, @tbijou (Thierry Bijou) voiced a practical dilemma many Haitians face every evening, with aftershocks continuing and many standing buildings unstable: “11h18. indoor or outdoor what will it be for tonight?”
Global Voices’ Special Coverage Page on the earthquake in Haiti is here.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Haiti: Teens’ perspectives on the earthquake · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

Although the coverage of the aftermath of the 7.3 earthquake which has left Haiti's capital partly devastated, has been massive, one group of Haitian bloggers has been overlooked – teenagers.  Here is a look at what young people have to say about this catastrophe, which foreshadows a new era in their lives.
You might not wanna know what happened to me. You might only be interested to what happened to you aunt or your grandpa that are in haiti and that you can’t reach by phone. I can’t blame you for that, though you can’t blame me for wanting to write all this, since there’s no one else but my blog that can sit and listen to it.
These are the first words of female blogger Krizkadiak in her January 15th post entitled “From 16 year old eyes” and they reveal her need to speak, to be heard and to have her pain acknowledged. This echoes a post by Frantz Duval [Fr] published by Espas Ayisien, entitled “On oublie que les enfants aussi ont mal” (We are oblivious that children suffer too), in which testimonies of Haitian teenagers are compiled.
Both posts inform us about the first signs of the massive earthquake.  In the words of Krizkadiak:
We felt the ground shaking, but we didn’t pay attention, because none of us had experienced that before, so we continued walking. but then it started shaking a lot more and we could hear the PE teacher screaming for us to lay on the ground.
This experience is echoed by 15 year-old Nathalie quoted in Espas Ayisien‘s post [Fr]:
Nous étions en cours de danse chez Joëlle Donatien Belot, dans la salle du bas quand nous avons ressentis une forte vibration. Personne ne s'en est inquiété. […] Le temps pour nous de sortir, il y a une nouvelle secousse.
Both girls’ testimonies highlight the lack of preparedness for an earthquake of this magnitude, but they also share a common theme, which is the need to connect with family – especially their fathers. Krizkadiak says:
Then everyone got up and ran to go get their phones and try to call their parents… I tried to call my dad; the only thing i could hear was the « beep beep » it does when it’s busy. and disconnected.. i got extremely worried about him. worried.
While Nathalie adds [Fr]:
J'ai arrêté d'avoir peur quand mon père est venu me chercher.
Words of wisdom are shared by these teenagers who acknowledge that they have been lucky. Here is Nathalie's statement [Fr]:
Aujourd'hui, quand je pense à tout cela, à mon école, l’ Institution du Sacré-Coeur qui s'est effondrée, je me dis que nous avons eu de la chance.
In the same post, after witnessing scenes of horror on her way back home, she continues:
I saw my school fall in front of me.
I saw people running covered in dust, hearing that their houses fell… sometimes with people in them.
I saw a refugee camp, as they are on tv… people praying, people alive but not really…
I saw a baby half dead, covered in bandaids…
I saw almost 150 people in three little tents… and thousands on the ground outside.
I saw a friend at the cemetery burying his little cousin.
I saw the oldest and prettiest houses of jacmel reduced to nothing.
I saw pickup truck filled with corpses…
I saw my teacher walking to the cemetery behind the car where his wife’s dead body was…
I saw kids from my school, people i KNOW, at the refugee camp….
Krizkadiak concludes:
When we got back to the beach, my neighbor’s hotel had huge crack all over it, the sea was still not at it’s place, my house didnt have much damage, there were broken bottles and glasses on the floor, but nothing very important…
However, these testimonies cannot hide the fact that other teenagers have also been affected by the earthquake. In Espas Ayisien‘s post, we learn about 16 year-old Fanorah who did not experience the tremors herself, but saw her life turning into a nightmare on the following day [Fr]:
[…] je ne comprenais rien à cette affaire de tremblement de terre car Pétion-Ville et le haut de Delmas ne sont pas très affectés. Tout au plus, cela avait provoqué un grand embouteillage et gâché ma soirée, raconte-t-elle.
L'horreur, elle ne la découvre que 24 heures plus tard, quand le décompte des morts commence. Sa marraine, et trois de ses amies sont mortes et aussi plein de gens qu'elle connaisse. « Je ne comprends pas, je ne comprends toujours pas ce qui s'est passé », répond-t-elle à chaque fois qu'on lui pose une question sur le tremblement de terre du 12 janvier.
She only discovered the horror of the situation, the next day, when the casualty toll begins. Her godmother, three of her friends and many people she knew, died. “I don't understand it, I still don't understand what happened” is her answer every time she is asked a question concerning Jan. 12th earthquake.
In her following post entitled “it’s not a dream… face it: it’s real“, Krizkadiak explains how this horrible event has altered their perspective about everyday teenaged concerns, which now seem so superficial:
… it’s good cause then you realize, none of all these stupidities everyone here wants, really mattered. partying never mattered, fancy clothes, making a big deal about how your hair is done, huge & expensive armored cars, summers at the beach in Miami, having a beautiful body, nice hair… you realize all this was BULLSHIT; that all this was going nowhere, a big nasty pile of POINTLESS time-wasting crap! Now you have to open up your eyes and face reality with all it’s details and find a way to compress years of growing up into these 35 seconds, that changed everything
She also talks about cherishing family and the gift of being alive:
You can’t think the same way you used to, you’re not allowed to have the same priorities as you did before… Now you know what really counts in life… loving your brother more than anything, having the people you care about close to you… or simply being alive, being able to eat, sleep,… nothing else.
These awareness and sensiblity make new fears and doubts even more tangible for a 16 year-old:
to have doubts on how tomorrow’s gonna be, to feel the ground shaking at anytime (the shaking even woke you up once.), to hear about dead people everyday,… banks that are closed, schools also… This is driving you crazy right?! You’re becoming paranoïd, you can’t go in the dark alone, you cry for no reasons.
[…]
The more time passes, the more i have to deal with the fact that this reality won’t go away… yup. it’s not a dream
Comments on Krizkadiak's posts show the great impact her testimonies have had on readers outside of Haiti, in countries like Italy, Ghana and the Caribbean, to name a few. Here are some of the most telling:
34 GreyOne
janvier 18, 2010 à 3:45
Your words are important. You are a voice for many who cannot speak at present.
The things you have seen and endured are more than most will ever have to know.
Let it give you strength , let your strength give comfort and voice to your fellow citizens.
Thank you for helping us to understand what has happened, as if it were our sister telling us about it.
37 Michele (Italy)
janvier 18, 2010 à 6:26
You go on this way.
You Speak. You Tell. You Make the History.
You Reconstruct. You Keep on living.
Ciao Yael
44 Kate
janvier 22, 2010 à 7:10
Your words say it all so much more eloquently than all the journalists in all the world have tried for over a week to say it.
Bless you and your family, Yael. My prayers are with you and with Haiti.
If you want to know more about the Haitian people's day-to-day reality through 16 year-old eyes, you can also follow blogger Krizkadiak  on Twitter @yatalley.
Global Voices’ Special Coverage Page on the earthquake in Haiti is here.

author: Fabienne Flessel


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Haiti: Un Geste Pour Haiti Cherie · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer comments on the recording of a song by French-Armenian crooner Charles Aznavour and other French singers. The blog notes that Aznavour also recorded a song in the aftermath of the devastating 1988 Armenian earthquake.


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Jordan: Give to Haiti · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Naseem, author of The Black Iris, urges his readers or anyone who may stumble on his blog to give to Haiti if they haven’t done so already.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Jordan: TV channel logos · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Read this interesting review by Roba about logos for popular and reputable Arab TV satellite channels.


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Russia: Famous Police Video Blogger Arrested  · Global Voices
Vadim Isakov

Ex-police officer Aleksey Dymovsky has been arrested on Jan. 23 on fraud charges. Dymovsky became a Russian Internet sensation when he released an online video address publicly accusing several high-ranked Russian police officers in corruption.


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Saudi Arabia: Moving closer to child marriage ban · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Crossroads Arabia speculates that the Saudi government seems to be moving closer to a ban on marriages of women under the age of 18.


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Afghanistan: Drowning in corruption · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

The Afghans had to pay out $2.5 billion in bribes over the past 12 months – equivalent to 23 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP, writes Nick Fielding citing “Corruption in Afghanistan” report, published by the UN.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: Ex-Taliban official releases book · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Peter Marton reviews the book “My life with the Taliban” by Abdul Salam Zaeef, former Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan and the Afghan Emirate’s face to the world in 2000-2001.


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Afghanistan: Insurgents attack Kabul capitalism · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Julia Mahlejd writes about a complex attack on the market area near the Afghan Ministry of Justice, presidential palace and Serena Hotel in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.


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Chile: Piñera’s Victory Raises Questions About Pinochet’s Influence · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

On January 17, 2010 Sebastián Piñera was elected Chile's next president, following twenty years of a left-leaning government that symbolized the transition to democracy after Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. Spanish-speaking bloggers and online newspapers have commented on the relationship between the president-elect and the deceased dictator; many of these observations arose from the public support showed to Pinochet after Piñera’s victory.
A Piñera voter shows his support for dictator Augusto Pinochet. Photo taken by Darcy Vergara, Flickr user darcy_vergara, and used under a Creative Commons license
Commenting on the Pinochet followers the day of the final vote, Luis Ramirez [es] wrote on his blog:
Sí, ya es un hecho: Los Piñeristas Pinochetistas están entre nosotros.
Pictures like the one above and videos like the one below that show Chileans yelling “General Pinochet, this victory is for you” and “Chi Chi Chi le le le, long live Chile and Pinochet” have been passed around the internet to the bewilderment of some, and the indifference of others who say that this is nothing new in the country.
Video by REMP81:
Regarding these chants and signs, the online newspaper La Alternativa [es] explains that:
El hecho causó estupor en varios adherentes del propio empresario, así como también en medios internacionales, incluso aquellos ligados a la derecha, quienes consideran al fallecido dictador en un nivel similar a Hitler Mussolini o Francisco Franco. La noche del domingo 17 de enero será recordada como el momento en que muchos aduladores del gobierno militar “salieron del closet” y expresaron públicamente que la retórica del emprendimiento, el futuro, la reconciliación y la esperanza, no eran más que vacías frases de campaña para “enchular” a una derecha.
In a blog called “Cuestiónatelo Todo [es]” (“Question everything”) the author rejects what many have expressed about the positive state of Chilean democracy, and says that Piñera’s victory is actually a step backward for democracy in Chile:
Su triunfo representa una resurrección del pinochetismo […] Pinochet nunca murio realmente, y el triunfo de Piñera solo significa la consecuencia natural de una transición que nunca fue tal cosa, sino simplemente la continuación de lo mismo con rostros aparentemente mas amables.

El triunfo del partido de Piñera es un paso atras en el avance hacia la democracia chilena,
Man trying to take down Piñera electoral sign during Victor Jara's funeral, who was killed during the Pinochet dictatorship. Photo taken by Flickr user Amable Odiable and used under a Creative Commons license
However, others see the outcome of this election as a sign that Chileans have put Pinochet and his dictatorship behind them, and that the left, who will become the opposition on March 11, will have to look for new ways to gain support from voters. Peruvian blogger Alejandro Lostaunau Neira [es] writes:
Esta situación ha  brindado la oportunidad para que los partidos que apoyaron la candidatura del exitoso empresario se  desprendan de una vez por todas del fantasma de Augusto Pinochet. […] Sólo este triunfo sobre la Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia puede desligar el fantasma del amado y odiado militar, fallecido en diciembre de 2006.[…] La centro izquierda siempre tenía ventaja porque una manera de bajarse al contrincante era recordar los momentos de oscuridad de la dictadura. Ahora todo eso ya no será posible porque el pueblo chileno ha legitimado a los hasta ahora opositores.
Luis Mendez, a Chilean who runs the blog Adictos 2.0 [es] sees Piñera’s victory as an end to 37 years of division between the Chilean people on the issue of Pinochet. He ends his post with encouraging words for Piñera, and he calls for a future where Chileans will finally turn the page on the military coup and the Pinochet dictatorship:
Ojala que por el bien de todos, a Sebastian Piñera le vaya bien, ya que de una vez queremos que los que paso el 11 de septiembre de 1973 quede en la historia de Chile y no siga siendo presente, ya que las nuevas generaciones queremos un viva Chile presente y futuro!!
The fact that Piñera tried so hard to disassociate himself from Pinochet during the campaign speaks positively of the majority of Chileans who see the dictatorship as a grim part of their history. As reported from an interview in the Mexican newspaper Informador, when the then-candidate Piñera was asked about the influence of the dictator in the elections, he answered, “Pinochet is part of the past. We want to construct a future of national unity, of greater prosperity and greater justice for everyone.”

author: Silvia Viñas