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Mobile Phone Technology for Environmental Activism · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

Mobile phones are becoming an important tool for environmental activists around the world. Activists are developing new technological strategies in order to do things like educate consumers about the impact of purchasing decisions, monitor wildlife and polution levels, and advocate for the protection of forests.
A report from the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership published in April describes the many different ways mobile phones are used for social change around the world. It's called “Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in Mobile Use by NGOs” [PDF].
Below, I have listed the environmental initiatives highlighted by its writers, Sheila Kinkade (ShareIdea.org) and Katrin Verclas (MobileActive.org). I have also listed some new projects that have appeared since then.
Argentina
Using mobile phones, Greenpeace in Argentina were able to rally supporters and effectively pass Argentina's first federal forest protection law. The MobileActive blog wrote of their tree saving efforts earlier this month:
Mobile phones are nothing new for Greenpeace Argentina. The organization has used mobile phones multiple times to mobilize its now 350,000 person-strong mobile list to successfully lobby for important environmental legislation. One of Greenpeace's significant accomplishments was the passage of the Ley de Bosques, or Forest Law.
According to the Wireless Technology for Social Change report, GreenPeace accomplished this by building a large database containing both email addresses and mobile phone numbers of the people who signed a petition supporting the Forest Law. In addition, they sent out text message alerts during critical hearings, and before city council votes. They also coordinated demonstrations and meetings using text messages.
Ghana
In Ghana, one project has shown that mobile phones can be transformed from typical pervasive tool for communication, to a ‘super sensing’ tool for environmental data collection. This is achieved by attaching a special sensor to a mobile phone. The sensor collects scientific information on air quality or even urban traffic patterns, which can be studied later and even layered over a google map.
Corinne Ramey wrote about this initiative on the MobileActive blog in April:
In the Accra study, seven taxi drivers were provided with a dash-mounted global positioning system (GPS) device and a tube to hang from their passenger window. The tube contained a carbon monoxide sensor. Similarly, three students were each given a mobile clip sensor pack containing a GPS device, and a carbon monoxide sensor. The taxi drivers and students were asked to carry their sensors as much as possible during their normal everyday activities. Throughout the day, the sensing system automatically logged sensor data. At the end of each day, the pilot participants dropped off their sensor packs at a central location where the data was then extracted and the sensors recharged. resulted from the participatory data collection A heat-map visualization of carbon monoxide readings across Accra, Ghana rendered atop Google Earth. Colors represent individual intensity reading of carbon monoxide during a single 24-hour period across the city. Red circles are locations where actual readings were taken.
Kenya
The Wirelesss Technology for Social Change report describes the tension in  Laikipia district, Kenya, between landowners and wildlife. Farmers have been killed by wildlife, and their crops being destroyed. Elephants and other animals are being killed. A conflict prevention program that utilizes mobile phone technology, enables communication between the local community, wildlife service personnel, and land owners.
The pilot utilized ‘Push to Talk on Cellular (Phones)’ (PoC) technology, which combines the functionality of a walkie-talkie or two-way radio with a mobile phone. PoC enables communication between two individuals, or a group of people, and is particularly useful in connecting a user
group intermittently over a period of time (e.g., a working day).
South Africa
FishMS is an SMS-based service from The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative that provides the status of global fish stocks to consumers. Users text the name of a fish they are considering buying to +27 79 499 8795, and are immediately advised as to whether the fish was sustainably harvested, or whether they should think twice before buying it. The following video shows the tool in action (the short film was shot on a mobile phone – Nokia N93).
United Kingdom, United States
AirText is a system that sends an SMS message, voicemail or email containing information about pollution levels in a specific borough of London. The service is aimed at people who suffer from heart and breathing problems. Similar services exist for specific locations in the United States, including Ergo (various zip codes) and ADEQ (in Arizona).
People who would like to know how much their personal greenhouse gas emissions amount to, can download an application mobGas to their phone, that allows them to report on their daily activities, like cooking, watching television or driving.
From the Wirelesss Technology for Social Change report report:
By helping users make connections between their daily activities and greenhouse gas emissions, mobGAS hopes to encourage individuals to make lifestyle changes. The application also offers tips on how to modify activities to decrease emissions.
A similar project, highlighted by Josh Catone on Read Write Web blog  is called FuelFrog. It's an application that uses Twitter to help track fuel consumption by users:
FuelFrog is exceedingly simple, and immensely useful. After each fill up, users enter their miles traveled since the last fill, the price paid, and the amount of gasoline in gallons. Over time, FuelFrog will track and graph your fuel consumption data so you can do things like identify trends in gas prices in your area, see how fuel efficient your car is (is it time to put air in the tires, perhaps?), how much you're driving, and how much you're spending.
Global Voices Environment thank MobileActive and Shareideas for the report, and would be interested in reader's input on other examples of mobile phones being used for environmental activism.
Also see our recent post on Global Voices highlighting the use of web2.0 technologies for environmental activism

author: Juliana Rotich


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Pakistan: Musharraf and Lies · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Pakistani Spectator on Musharraf's lies and why he should be tried for treason.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pressuring China to build freedom in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Veteran Myanmar activists have set up a website, 8-8-08 for Burma, to pressure China to use its “unique leverage” on the ruling junta to help save lives and build freedom in Myanmar.

author: Mong Palatino


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Russia: Reflections in Haiku · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Moscow Through Brown Eyes reflects on Russia – in the comments and in haiku.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Resource Nationalism Checklist · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam posts a Resource Nationalism Checklist.


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Russia, Ukraine: Cruiser ‘Aurora’; Baptism of Rus · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Cyprus Convention, Cruiser ‘Aurora’ and the story of the introduction of Christianity by Prince Vladimir 1020 years ago – at De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis.


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Serbia: Tennis Players · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Baby writes about Serbian tennis players.


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Singapore blogger arrested · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Blogger Gopalan Nair was arrested by the Singapore police for insulting a a public servant, as reported by RTS.


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South Korea: Protest Marathon Against Beef Import · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

CINA blogs about the protest marathon against the importation of U.S beef. The biggest mobilization would be in June 10.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Sri Lanka: Police and Torture · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Chitrani's Weblog on a case of alleged Police torture on a 14-year-old boy to extract a confession in Sri Lanka.


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Sri Lanka: The Press and the Government · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Free Media on the Ministry of Defence in Sri Lanka attacking the free press.


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Thailand: Protesters want the Prime Minister to resign · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Soraj's Weblog comments on the mounting protest actions in Thailand today: “Watching the demonstration is like watching soap operas. Same old plots, same old endings.” Will Yaryan also blogs about the issue.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Hurricane Season  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Beat Blog has the 411 on this year's hurricane season.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Colombia: Duppies · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The silk cotton tree…is traditionally associated with duppies and jumbies, spirits who inhabit its vast, buttressed trunk, and who exact their revenge on anyone foolish enough to take an axe to the tree, or otherwise inflict damage”: Trinidadian blogger Nicholas Laughlin is a duppy for a day.


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Ukraine: Babiy Yar · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Turkish Invasion visits Babiy Yar in Kyiv and writes about its history.


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Ukraine: Saying Goodbye to School · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Last Friday, Kyiv schoolkids celebrated the end of classes this year – and posed for The Turkish Invasion.


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Algeria: Mesh Blog  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Harvard’s MESH blog is an important resource for scholars and for students of the Near and Middle East. It is nevertheless heavily biased, particularly on Levantine affairs, and its discussion of the Maghreb is grossly underdeveloped,” writes Algerian Nouri.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bahamas: Thinking About Trees · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“What is it about us and trees?  It would appear that beauty — and oxygen and serenity and shade — are not a premium in our city any more”: Nicolette Bethel beseeches her fellow Bahamians to think about living in an environmentally responsible way.


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Bahrain: Bang! · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger emoodz was involved in a car crash and tells us what happened here.


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Bahrain: Bloggers’ Meet Set  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini bloggers are gearing up for their weekly meeting, writes Yagoob.


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Bahrain: Seven Day Weddings  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Missy  posts pictures of tradition wedding dresses, and says wedding ceremonies in her family last for seven days.


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Bangladesh: Trade Deficit · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mukti on the issue of Bangladesh's trade deficit with India and China.


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Bermuda: Ban Reversed  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bermudian bloggers are abuzz about the Speaker of the House reversing his ban on questions to Ministers from an old Parliament. Vexed Bermoothes: “In doing so he lays bare the tampering being undertaken in Bermuda’s institutions to avoid transparency and accountability in our Government”; A Radical In Bermuda: “We have to do all we can to stop this government from inching ever closer to non-transparent pseudo-fascism.”


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Bhutan: An imposed democracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Freedom in Bhutan on the idea of top-down democracy.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Vaso Todorovic and Zoran Tomic · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes about detention of two alleged war criminals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


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Brazil: Taking the piss of election regulations · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Rodrigo Alvares [pt] publishes an amusing picture of a banner in support of Ivan, The Terrible for São Paulo's council. Note the mention of Orkut, YouTube and other social media tools. With heavy sarcasm, because of the latest developments of elections regulations that saw bloggers having to delete banners, the Brazilian blogger says: “I want to see the Justice fining or censoring this one”.

author: Paula Góes


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Cambodia: Alternative means of transport · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

My Cambodia News posts an article about the ways to reduce travel cost in Cambodia.


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Cambodia election preparation · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vuthnews provides an update of the preparations in Cambodia for the national elections which will be conducted next month


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Catholic aid effort for Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Catholic News reports the efforts of Catholic groups in Singapore in organizing an aid response to help Myanmar's refugees


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Cedric Kalonji on Photographing Congo · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Cedric Kalonji is a reporter for Radio Okapi and author of what is arguably Congo's most popular blog.
But in addition to his radio work and blogging, Kalonji is also a prolific photographer, and  I spent the last few days poking around his photostream on Flickr.
Kalonji uses photosets to tell stories, for example, how rapid erosion in the Binza Ozone neighborhood of Kinshasa claims more and more homes with each heavy rain:
MONUC soldiers on strike:
An interview with Senegalese musician, Ismael Lo:
And the sad story of two men arrested in Kinshasa, one for stealing a length of wire,  the other for purchasing it:
What I really liked about these photographs is that whereas international media images of Congo tend to depict disaster or  the strange and exotic,  Kalonji's photographs the ordinary, everyday of life in Africa the outside world does not often see.
So I decided to ask Kalonji about his photographs and he graciously agreed to answer my  questions, which I have translated here from French.
When and why did you decide to create a blog?
I created my blog in September 2005. At the beginning, it was for sharing my photos, my day-to-day life on the internet. I noticed that there were more and more people who were interested in my photos and so I posted more, adding a little text. Very quickly, there were hundreds of visitors, mostly Congolese in the Diaspora. That is where my motivation to continue with this blog, which now receives an average of 1000 visits a day, came from.
When did you start taking photos? What do you think a image can communicate that text cannot?
I started taking my first photos with a digital camera my mother received as a gift in 2002. I think that for reading and writing, one must first be educated, but with images it's different. You may not know how to write and yet you can take photos that can say as much as a written article. You may not know how to read but you can understand a situation exposed by an image.
What do you think of the image of Congo abroad? Do you think this image reflects the reality?
Congo is perceived as a country at war, in chaos, where everything is destroyed, where nothing works. This image is true in a sense because after 32 years of dictatorship under Mobutu and over ten years of war and 5 million dead, it is true to say that things are not going well.
At the same time, there is something that we often forget to note, which is that the Congolese are still smiling, welcoming and passionate for life, despite all of the traumas they have suffered. There is still human warmth, and I think that is a great wealth.
Why do you like to take photos of daily life, of ordinary moments?
Because I said to myself that there are certain things that people living elsewhere in the world cannot imagine, things that I live every day. My first motivation is to share these ordinary moments, to let people put themselves in the skin of a Congolese person, of someone in Kinshasa, by looking at these photos.
What role do citizen media play in your profession? (Or is there a role to play? The majority of your readers are abroad, in part due to the lack of internet access in Congo.) What role might they play in the future?
Citizen media allow us to go beyond borders and to build bridges with very meagre means that would be impossible with traditional media.  In my case, the advantage of a blog is that it allows me to express myself in a completely independent way and to be read by readers from the four corners of the world. So I have the possibility to share my life and to connect with readers from different countries with different visions and cultures. I think that for countries like Congo and Africa in general, blogs are an especially important means of communication.
To share this passion, I've trained young Congolese on a volunteer basis to allow them to understand how blogs and new media work. The youth I have trained have already created two sites, Ndule2Kin.com and rdcbel. I would love to extend these trainings to other parts of my country as well as the whole of the African continent.
Are most of the photos you take for your reporting or are they also a hobby?
For me, photography is a hobby. I am almost never apart from my camera and I take photos almost everyday. I have thousands and it is always a pleasure to look at all of them, because they remind me of precise moments.
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author: Jennifer Brea


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China: Cruel Olympic Souvenir · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kenneth Tan from Shanghaiist puts together reports and comments on a cruel Olympic souvenir — a live fish keychain.


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China: Don’t Forget Gansu · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael from the opposite end of China urged people not to forget the earthquake relief work in Gansu area.


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China: Earthquake Lake Crisis · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhao Mu tried to show the disastrous effect of Tang Jia Shan earthquake lake on the downstream areas once the dam collapsed.


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China: Earthquake Witness from Beichuan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Qiang-shan You-ke from my1510 writes in detail what had happened in Beichuan secondary school after the earthquake. The writer lost his wife on that date and witnessed the deaths of hundreds of teachers and students. He believes that 80% of the deaths were result of human mistake [zh].


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China: The Suffering of Qiang Minority · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sunbin draws readers’ attention to the suffering of Qiang (an ethnic minority in Sichuan) in the earthquake. Initial stats shows that Qiang had lost close to 10% of its population. The government official acknowledged the need to save Qiang's culture.


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Czech Republic: No 2016 Olympics · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Prague will not host the 2016 Summer Olympics, The Czech Daily Word reports.


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Egypt: April 6 Detainees Released  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Karim al Beheiri , Kamal al Fayoumy and Tareq Tareq Amin, the Ghazl al Mahalla workers that were detained in connection with the April 6th strike was released from the Burg al Arab prison on June 1st,” writes Ibn Al Dunya from Egypt.


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Egypt: Blogger Tortured in Detention  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Karim al-Bahairy, a blogger, factory worker, and labor-rights activist from Mahalla, is alleging that he was tortured with electric shocks during his 73-day detention,” writes Elijah Zarwan from Egypt.


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Egypt: Doctors Expose Mismanagement on YouTube  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian doctors have posted videos on YouTube exposing mismanagement at a government hospital, writes Zeinobia., who reposts the shocking videos [Ar] shot during an electricity outage. Four infants died when the backup generators failed to kick in.


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Egypt: Doctors shoot video of hospital blackout emergency · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

With more frequency now, hospitals are being managed as big businesses with clients instead of health facilities with patients. Doctors who wish to honor their Hippocratic Oath have to hope that their hospital management has the same ideal of keeping the good of the patient as the highest priority. This was the case last week in the Al Matrya teaching hospital in Egypt, where 4 babies and 2 adults on life support lost their lives due to a 2 hour blackout in the early morning hours and generators failed to kick in once again.Zeinobia writes
Last week Al Matrya educational hospital had seen a tragedy on the 22nd of May 2008 when a power outage took place , yes Power 8 outage took place for two hours leading to the dramatic death of 4 babies in the neonatal intensive care.
You must know before this outage on the 22nd of May , the hospital witnessed an another outage from three weeks before for 5 minutes and you must know that the back up electric generators did not work !!
More important you must know that the administration of that hospital in Cairo that follows the ministry of health knew that. You must know that the administration of that hospital faked the time of death of those infants three hours before the outage so it would escape the legal accountability !!
During the blackout, doctors who were on duty with Dr. Akroot, known in YouTube as akroot4ever,  recorded on their cellphones their desperate attempts to save these babies’ lives. He explains in the video's description [ar] that the Hospital Administration knew that the generators weren't working since three weeks before the 2 hour blackout the lights were out for five minutes and the generators had failed to kick in, which was unusual, so when the tragedy struck at 3am on May 22nd, the life support machines had no power and this caused the deaths of the babies in the nurseries.
Following, two videos recorded by doctors during the blackout, where the sound of beeping machines, babies crying and doctor's distressed voices accompany images of these same doctors trying do to everything possible to save these babies’ lives: (1, 2, and 2[ar]):
Another video uploaded by akroot4ever shows a patient attached to a monitor that reads vital signs… the only problem is that the monitor is displaying the DEMO options where vitals are represented as standard for a healthy patient, and the patient connected to this monitor has already passed away, unnoticed by most of the staff:
Support is strong for Dr. Akroot according to Zeinobia at the Egyptian Chronicles, where the team of doctors are being hailed for their determination to save lives during the crisis and strength to come forth and expose what happened at the Al Matrya educational hospital.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Estonia: Economic Crisis? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

AnTyx dissects the Estonian economic crisis.


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Estonia: “Memories Denied” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Step At A Time writes about “Memories Denied,” a 2006 book by Estonian filmmaker and journalist Imbi Paju, about the Soviet-time “cultural genocide” waged by Moscow against Estonia.


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Guyana: Who’s The Boss?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Aiye, mummy, imagine what can happen to poor li’l countries that have role models and leaders like Big Boss Man”: Guyana-Gyal tells the story of an abuse of power and says that “some things are just too hard to understand, especially in the pre-rain, sticky heat.”


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Hungary: Hussar Traditions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Budapest Guide posts a photo report on the National Gallop and the Hussar traditions.


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Hungary: Think Tanks; Media Manipulation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about political think tanks and media manipulation in Hungary.


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Hungary: Trianon Treaty · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungarian Spectrum writes about the impact of the 1920 Trianon peace treaty between Hungary and the Allied and Associated Powers – here and here.


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Jamaica: Losing My Religion?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Here in Jamaica there are a lot of people being right about a lot of things, and spending a lot of energy making other people wrong”: Francis Wade blogs about religion in the context of Jamaican culture.


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Kazakhstan: Pictures of nature · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mikhail posts his new photos from the trips around Kazakhstan, this time focusing on the contrasts of nature of Kazakhstan.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kenya: Kenyan blogs in the media · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Collins writes about the power blogging in Kenya: “More than that i have received a request for a TV interview on one of Kenya's new popular tv business channels and i feel honored(i promise to upload the video once the interview materializes so watch this space).I recently watched the news and saw one of the bloggers going by the name Alex Kagwe of the blog “Alkags.com” being interviewed on KTN and i was pleasantly suprised.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Kenya: President who rode in a crowded bus · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kumekucha writes about Barack Obama and Kenya: “I will not pretend to even understand the Obama phenomenon. I leave that to more informed writers than myself. But for this post, I want to talk about just a few of the Kenyan things that tickle me most about an Obama presidency. In fact they tickled me considerably even as I wrote them.”


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Kyrgyzstan: Repatriants Coming · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena reports that 254 ethnic Kyrgyz received citizenship of Kyrgyzstan recently.


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Latvia: Politics Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Baltic writes on a busy Thursday at the Latvian Saeima – and posts an update on Friday.


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Malaysia: Big protest against high fuel prices · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysia's decision to cut fuel subsidies has sparked protest actions. A big rally is being planned next month. Just minishorts suggests how protests can be more effective.


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Myanmar: Comedian arrested for distributing relief goods · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A comedian was arrested for organizing relief efforts to help Myanmar's cyclone victims. Rule of Lords also tackles other cases of private aid initiatives which were blocked by the junta.


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Myanmar: Junta condemns “invented stories”  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Myanmar's state-controlled newspaper features a report castigating “self-seekers and unscrupulous elements” who sell video tapes featuring “invented stories” to foreign news agencies about the cyclone disaster.


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Nicaragua: Twittnic and the Expanding Blogosphere · Global Voices
GV Contributor

The twitter hype came to Nicaragua, and a community website soon emerged called Twittnic [es]. The website follows any twitter feed by anyone who lives or is from Nicaragua. The community was an idea of  @jorgecerda and @ajulloa. The twitter use @penalba is also helping, but on a more  “philosophical” level, and  @gandulo was the one who skinned and developed the website using WordPress. The website is currently following 38 twitters.
New logo voted on and selected by community members.
Some new and interesting twitter accounts have also been created, for example @ajulloa took the iniative to combine the RSS feeds of local newspapers and web forums in order to turn them into Twitter Feeds: @elnuevodiario, @laprensa, and @bacanalnica; but only El Nuevo Diario was able to work because the RSS feeds of La Prensa and Bacanalnica were not compatible to twitter, and nobody knows the reason.
New (or emerging) blogs
Notas de una nica [es]  (Notes from a Nica) is a blog by Yaozka Tijerino Canton. In it Yaozka writes about  real life in Managua, politics, phony cinema directors, music, and using local currency.
Ha notado que cada vez que usted va a un restaurante, a una tienda e incluso a una farmacia los precios están en dolares?. Que curioso que si nos pagan bajo la moneda nacional; es decir, en Córdobas, todo lo paguemos en dolares.
Have you noticed that everytime you go into a restaurant, a store, or even a pharmacy that the prices are expressed in dollars?  It is interesting that we are paid in the national currency, Córdobas, but we pay everything with dollars.
¿Y ahora de que vamos a hablar? [es]  (¿And what are we going to talk about?) is a blog by Naren Mayorga. It covers political matters, music from the 1980s, “freaky” subcultures, e-commerce and phising in local banks,  Paul McCartney's old songs, and firsthand reporting about the latest transport strike
Andando por las calles de managua no he visto nada fuera de lo comun, ni grandes filas de carros por algun tranque ni grandes grupos de gente esperando rutas que nunca pasan. Quizá es solo mi percepcion, pero creo que las protestas están a nivel externo de la capital. Ya ando la cámara en el carro por cualquier cosa que vea.. vamos a ver como se desenvuelve esto.
Passing through the streets of Managua, I did not see anything uncommon.  There were neither long lines of cars due to a blockade, nor large groups waiting for routes that never seems to pass. Maybe it was my perception, but I think the protests were outside the capital. I have a camera in my car just in case I see something… let's see how this plays out.

author: GV Contributor


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Pakistan: Al Qaeda claims responsibility · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

CHUP! on Al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the Danish embassy bombing in Pakistan.


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Poland: Request to Jewish Tourists · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kasia in Kazimierz asks Jewish tourists to not come to Poland “to be angry”: “Rather, come to learn about the past and perhaps about your family’s heritage. Come to learn from Poland’s diverse Jewish community, a community who really understands what it means to look after one another. Come to meet with non-Jewish Poles who really do care about restoring the memory of the Jewish community which was wiped off their map. Come to understand the true complexities of Polish-Jewish relations.”


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Poland: Warsaw and Podgórze Ghettos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian writes about the Warsaw Ghetto and the Podgórze Ghetto in Krakow


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Puerto Rico, U.S.A.: Black & White · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil the Jenius thinks that Puerto Rico stands to learn a lesson or two from the accomplishments of Barack Obama: “Of course there's racism in Puerto Rico. Of course it affects politics. But if you pretend it isn't happening, that it simply doesn't exist, then of course We're going to continue to limit Ourselves and Our future.”


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Rio Fashion Week brings recycling to the catwalk · Global Voices
Paula Góes


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Russia: The eXile Under Investigation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Policy's Passport blog reports that “The eXile, Moscow's venerable English-language alt-weekly, is under investigation by the Federal Service for Mass Media, Telecommunications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage and may be shut down.”


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Sri Lanka: Abducted · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews on the disturbing lack of information on abductions in Sri Lanka.


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D.R. of Congo: Streamline architecture in Bukavu and getting by in Kinshasa · Global Voices
Fred

Kivu Express [Fr] celebrates Bukavu's heritage of architecture from the last days of Art Deco with a series of photographs of buildings around town. They're all slightly mouldy these days, but still remind him of a time when Bukavu was declared “the most beautiful town in Africa”.
Commenting on the post, a resident of Bukavu in the 50s agrees that it was at least one of the most beautiful towns in Congo, and says the photo above gives a strong impression of what it was like back then.
Don and Marsha of Congo Chatter have a detailed post on ‘how things are sold’ in Kinshasa. Whether you're looking for a European used car, a Coke bottle full of diesel, a walking stick, a football, a 10 cent bag of drinking water, a hard-boiled egg, a bunk-bed or a full sofa suite, it's all right there on the side of the road:
Wanna buy a used car? There aren't more than 4 or 5 car dealerships in Kinshasa, and not one of these has a used car department of any consequence. Most used cars are sold off of “used car lots” along the side of the road. Here's a used car dealership alongside Mulumba Blvd. — each morning about 50 or 60 cars appear alongside the road — there are occasional lookers and buyers, and then at night all the cars get driven somewhere to be stored overnight. Almost all the used cars here come from Europe, and still have their identifying European country sticker on them — “B” for Belgium; “F” for France; “CH” for Switzerland; “D” for Denmark, etc. Someone buys them in Europe and ships them down here. The process of licensing, registering, reporting sales to the government, sales tax — no clue what happens. But the inventory always changes and cars are being sold from under the trees.
Cédric‘s [Fr] neighbour's handyman has invented the most cost-effective automatic closing gate you're likely to find anywhere.
Finally, Le Congo C'est Là [Fr] has a handy guide to identifying ‘un vrai Z’ in the Diaspora (Z for Zaireois, that is). It seems you're a real Z if, among other things:

author: Fred


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Tanzania: Tanzanian search engine · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

White African spots two new East African websites: “Bongoza is a new search engine for Tanzania. I’m intrigued by this idea of a niche search engine by country. Usually I would think that the big search engines would do an adequate job for any area, however it might be different if there’s a human helping to index uniquely Tanzanian content, especially as much of it is in Swahili.”


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Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Calabash Highlights · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Nicholas Laughlin at Antilles blog does a retrospective of the recently-concluded Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica.


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Uganda: Frustrated with Joseph Kony · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

John Boonstra blogs about peace and security in Northern Uganda: “Frustrated with notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony's persistent failure to make good on his promise to sign a peace deal, the Ugandan government, along with those of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, two of the other countries that Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has terrorized, are ready to replace pens with guns.”


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Burkina Faso: Street pharmacies · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

QuophyBlogeur [Fr] writes about the proliferation of street vendors in Burkina Faso who sell unregulated, sometimes fake or poisonous medicines.


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China: Blogger suggests temperance, accused of brown-nosing · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Cultural commentator Yu Qiuyu has written a post to his blog offering some suggestions to angry parents of children who died in the thousands of school buildings which collapsed in the earthquake, many of whom are now being forcibly prevented from both mourning and denied legal recourse by courts.
Roland Soong at ESWN has translated Yu's post in which the two main points, that these parents should temporarily put their grievances aside and that critics of the government response should be cautious of giving foreign “anti-China forces” further reasons to point fingers, instantly infuriated several outspoken bloggers, the most outspoken of which seem to be prominent Chinese media workers who have recently spent time volunteering at the front line of the earthquake relief efforts or are from Sichuan province themselves.
Seemingly feeling that they've been accused of pushing an opportunistic agenda toward greater transparency and for anti-corruption, they in return have accused Yu of brown-nosing to Party and state authorities.
Independent blogger Daynew has gone for the latter charge:
见过无耻的，没见过这么无耻的。别人拍马屁，不过是保存领导手书的小黑板，余秋雨这个超级马屁精，如同当年的汉奸一般，挤出几滴鳄鱼眼泪，对老百姓喊到，别闹了，皇军都是为你们好。
老百姓通过正常法律诉讼来惩处一些造成房屋倒塌的学校领导和承包商，有什么不对？跟反华势力有啥关系，你还挺能联想的，那我也不妨对你写这篇文章的动机联想一二。
If people go through standard legal channels to sue as punishment those school leaders and contractors who made those collapsing schools, what's wrong with that? What does that have anything to do with anti-China forces? You know you're so good at making associations that I can't help but come to one or two of my own about the motives behind your post.
余秋雨这个马屁精的稿子根本不是想写给灾民的，而是想借这个由头向上面表功，看我多能替领导分忧。
按理来说，余秋雨名也有了，利也有了，犯不上这样。不过，以余秋雨这样的马屁精，绝不甘心只当个戏剧学院的院长，估计还想混入全国政协，弄个常委副主席干干，也好跻身党和国家领导人的圈子。
Reasonably speaking, Yu Qiuyu has the fame and fortune for there to be no need to do a thing like this. However, a butt-kisser like Yu Qiuyu could never be satisfied with just being the head of a theater academy, so I bet he's thinking about how to get onto the NPPCC, deputy chairman of the standing committee or something, and from there into Party and national leader circles.
Bullog.cn blogger Wen Yunchao questions some of the sources Yu cites, and wonders what he would find if Yu were to get off his high horse:
余秋雨说：“在全国哀悼日，一位佛学大师对我说，有十几亿人护持，这些往生者全都成了菩萨，会一直佑护中国。”
他还说：“已经有好几位国际地震专家说，地震到了七点八级，理论上一切房屋都会倒塌，除非有特殊原因，而这次四川，是八级！”
“佛学大师”是谁？让这位“佛学大师”和余秋雨一起先自我了断，咱们再给他们默上一哀，看他要成为狗屁“佛学大师”还是“菩萨”。“好几位国际地震专家”又是谁？汶川县城99%的房子都有“特殊原因”？余秋雨找来这种子虚无乌的所谓大师与专家，有何说服力？想必都是他自己吧？他在青歌赛解释COM、NET与 ORG的异同时，真替他脸红。岂止佛学与地震，连网络他都想做大师。
他又说：“你们要做的是以主人的身份使这种动人的气氛保持下去，避免横生枝节。”
在天灾人祸中哀号的“你们”，什么时候成为过“主人”？什么是“动人”的气氛？我看如果余秋雨先自绝于人民，气氛会更“动人”。
And he says: “Several international seismologists have said that when an earthquake reaches magnitude 7.8, all buildings should collapse in theory unless there are special reasons.  This time, it was a magnitude 8 in Sichuan!”
Who is this “Buddhist scholar”? Let this “Buddhist scholar” and Yu Qiuyu first do off with their own egos. We'll give them their silent salute, and then we'll see if it's a stupid-ass “Buddhist master” he wants to be, or a “Buddha”. And who are these “several international seismologists”? Did 99% of the houses in Wenchuan have “special reasons”? Yu Qiuyu pulls this so-called Master and these experts out of thin air, who was this suppose to convince? Himself, I presume. Seeing him on his TV show explaining the differences between .com, .net and .org, I had to be embarrassed for him. As if Buddhism and Seismology weren't enough, he wants to be an Internet Master too.
Then he says: “you must make sure that this atmosphere continues by acting as the host and ensuring that there are no digressions.”
When did the “you” who are wailing in the midst of a natural and man-made disaster become the “hosts”? What exactly is a “touching” atmosphere? The atmosphere will be “touching” the minute Yu Qiuyu alienates himself from society.
Chengdu-based bullog.cn blogger Song Shinan posts a comment left on another Bullog blog, written as if a response letter had been sent to Yu from one of the young earthquake victims now in heaven:
余爷爷，您好！
我是一名在地震中在您的点化下刚刚成为“菩萨”的小学生。
听说您写文章让我们的父母不要再去告状了，我也是这么想的，因为老师常常教导我们要做一个遵守纪律的好孩子。
按照您的说法，告状的事应该先放在一边，先去干抗震救灾的大事，可我还有一点不明白，惩办制造豆腐渣工程的人算不算抗震救灾的一部分？检察院的叔叔阿姨们现在是不是也应该拿起镐头和铁锹去重建家园？老师说过，每个人都应该做好自己分内的事情，小学生的任务就是好好学习，那检察院的叔叔阿姨分内的事情又是什么呢？余爷爷，我还小，有些事还想不明白，您快告诉我吧！
I'm one of the primary school students who through your enlightenment just became “Buddha” in the earthquake.
I've heard you wrote a post telling our parents not to file lawsuits, and that's what I was thinking too. Because our teacher always taught us to be disciplined children.
According to what you've said, the idea of filing a lawsuit ought to be put aside for working toward the cause of earthquake relief. But there's still one thing I don't understand, wouldn't punishing those responsible for the ‘tofu dregs’ construction be part of earthquake relief? Does this mean the aunties and uncles at the Procuratorate will now grab pickaxes and shovels and rebuild our homes? Our teacher said that everyone should focus on doing a good job at their own work, and the job of primary school students is to study hard. So then what is the job of the Procuratorate aunties and uncles? Grandpa Yu, I'm just a kid, some things I still don't understand. Please tell me soon!
我听说过一个叫“克拉玛依”的地方，在那里发生过一次大火，领导们先走，孩子们留下。那件事情就是按照您的说法：拖到最后再办。我现在到了天堂，那里有克拉玛依的孩子，他们都问我，不知道大火的事情拖到最后，办了没有？
我还听说现在有好多盖房子的爷爷、叔叔们已经在帮助我们重建家园了，我不知道这里面有没有为我们学校盖房子的那些爷爷叔叔们，我想应该有，因为余爷爷说了，可以先不去追究他们，他们当然还会出现了。
那就太好了！余爷爷您太聪明了，您总是为我们小朋友着想，有他们平安无事地在那里盖房子，今后就会有更多的小朋友和我一样成为菩萨，我们就不会感到孤单了。谢谢您啦。
余爷爷，最后我想告诉您，天堂可好了，没有作业，没有补习，天天都充满了快乐和阳光。您那么大的本领，想来的话一定吹口仙气就能来的。
余爷爷，我好想您，我们所有的小朋友都等着您呐！
余爷爷，您快来吧！
I also heard that many house-builder grandpas and uncles are helping rebuild our homes. I don't know if any of them are the grandpas and uncles who built our schools, I guess there are, because like Grandpa Yu said, we don't need to go look for them now, they'll be back.
Which is great! Grandpa Yu is so smart, always looking out for us little kids. With them going on safe and sound to build those houses, soon there will be even more little kids becoming Buddha just like me. And we won't be lonely anymore, so thank you!
Grandpa Yu, one last think I want to tell you. Heaven is great. No homework, no evening tutors, everyday is full of happiness and sunshine. You're so skilled, if you wanted to come here all you'd have to do would be to whistle like a fairy and then you'd be here.
Grandpa, I miss you. All of us little kids are thinking about you!
Grandpa Yu, you come here soon!
Liberal commentator, which in China still means to some, depending who you ask, either right wing or reactionary, Wuyue Sanren writes on his Bullog blog:
余秋雨按耐不住自己吻疮舔痔的冲动，终于在某种政治正确的形象下跳出来了。还居然是他妈什么“含泪劝告灾民”。含你妈逼什么泪呢？充其量也就是鳄鱼的眼泪。我倒是觉得他含是含了，不过是跪在灾民的尸体上给某些人物口交。含了一嘴，跟他眼睛没啥关系。
之所以说跟他眼睛没啥关系，是说在这种情况下，还要求“你们要做的是以主人的身份使这种动人的气氛保持下去”，主人是干吗的？孩子死了都不能哭出来，也不能知道到底是为什么，甚至没有权利去问为什么，这是他妈的主人啊？我觉得这不是主人，这是高呼天恩浩荡的奴才。动人的气氛？动什么人？谁要这种气氛？在感动得你余秋雨大鼻涕横流的时候，这些人的痛苦是不是在你来说有一种审美价值？装逼也不是这么个装法吧。
在举世都尊重人权的时候，你要求这些灾民为了不给国家丢面子而忍气吞声，这是面子吗？这应该是最大的不要脸。只有价值观扭曲到跟央视新楼那样地步的人，才会觉得让老百姓忍气吞声是一种面子。只要不到这个程度，谁能说出比这个更不要脸的话来？
The reason I say it has nothing to do with his eyes is because of the backdrop to which he's said these things, even demanding that “you must make sure that this touching atmosphere continues by acting as the host”. Hosts? What for? Their kids are dead and they can't even cry about it, they can't even know why, and most of all, they don't even have the right to go ask why. Does that sound like a fracking host to you? They doesn't sound like a host to me, that sounds like a flunky shouting the praises of the mighty. Touching atmosphere? Touching who? Who wants this kind of atmosphere? While you're so moved, Yu Qiuyu, that your nose is running, does these people's sorrow have some sort of aesthetic value to you? You can be pretentious if you want, but this isn't the way to go about it.
At a time when human rights are respected all across the world, you ask these disaster victims to swallow their anger so as not to embarrass the nation? Is that what you call giving face? This is more like the biggest way to not give face. Only someone with values as twisted as the new CCTV tower would think making that people swallow their anger is some sort of way to give face. Could anyone say something so bald-faced unless their values were twisted to that extent?
如果说不给所谓反华势力借口，最好的方式不是把烂疮给说成艳若桃李，而是告诉别人做错了什么，以后应该怎么改正。要是以前错了，现在用更大的错误去掩盖，只能是错上加错。就是真让所谓反华势力给利用了，最多算是人家给了你一巴掌，你这么一欲盖弥彰，就有了借口让别人再给你一记耳光。这个道理真的这么难以明白么？行文到这里，我都开始强烈怀疑余秋雨这厮说这些话的目的了。按说怎么也是个大学教授，不应该这么傻逼啊？装的还是成心如此？
所以，少拿灾区老百姓的痛苦来装饰你那种政治正确的口交行为吧，不装逼会死啊？
So, stop using the disaster victims’ suffering to decorate this politically correct oral sex behavior of yours, it won't kill you to stop will it?
On a distinctly different tone, old grievances with Yu are now coming out of the closet as well. Fresh-out-of-prison political blogger and history scholar Guo Quan has put out a lengthy rant first ripping into rather detailed factual errors he's noticed in many areas of Yu's academic work, and then in response to criticisms Yu once made several years ago regarding Guo's activism toward traditional Han clothing revival, calling it fashion terrorism, among other things. Others such as humorist Wang Xiaofeng have tried to spin jokes out of the whole situation, repeated in part by at least one journalist blogger, Wang Xiaoshan, whose response was to highlight the Freudian tendencies inherent in men's morality blogging.

author: John Kennedy


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Hungary: Castle of Szigetvár · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu writes about the plans of the Islamic Cultural Association of Hungary to acquire the rights to operate the Castle of Szigetvár (“occupied by the Turks after a one-month siege in 1566″), renovate it and establish a Turkish cultural and educational center there.


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Iran: Nader Ebrahimi, a famous writer passed away · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several Iranian bloggers talked about Nader Ebrahimi, a famous Iranian poet and writer, who passed away recently. Razeno has also published a photo of him.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Voices for Peace · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Watch in You Tube the first cut of a public service announcement about thirty-one Iranian Americans: who we are, what we believe in and why we're for peace.


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Iran:”Rome shouting no to Ahmadinejad” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mihanyar has published several photos of a demonstration in Rome where people protested against Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's last week visit.


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Korea: Internet Game = Gambling?  · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

While the Sea Story Scandal, gambling, hit Korea in 2006, the Internet game –Hangame – arises as a problem of virtual gambling at present.
The biggest game portal site, Hangame, is regarded as the myth of the Korean Internet due to the rapid growth.
After a TV contemporary topic program, PD Soocheop (PD Note) introduced problems of Internet games, netizens criticize the strong tendency of Internet games to gambling. They give other examples and arguments near their lives showing how dangerous Internet gambling is.
A netizen asks about the ethics of the Internet game company.
지금 현재 온라인 게임은 황금알을 낳는 거위로 불리며 전체 매출이 8조 3000억 원대를 기록할 것으로 보이는데 이것은 2007년 영화산업 전체매출은 약 3조 5000억의 2.5배에 해당한다. 이제 게임은 대한민국 문화컨텐츠의 대표주자로 떠올랐다. 이렇게 성장한 게임산업이지만, 반면에 게임이라는 특수성 때문에 마약 같은 중독에 빠진 이들이 늘어나고 있다. 지금 빅3으로 불리는 거대한 온라인 게임사이트는 넥슨, NHN, 엔씨소프트로 압축되고 있는데, 기존 엔씨소프트(리니지 서비스)의 독주에 넥슨과 NHN이 어깨를 나란히 하고 있다. NHN은 한게임을 운영하고 있으며, 이중 최고 인기있는 게임은 포커게임이며 예전이나, 지금이나 피씨방에 가보면 여기저기 포커게임을 하는 사람들은 부쩍 볼수 있다. 예전에 바다이야기라는 곳이 단속으로 즐길 공간이 없어진 사용자들이 온라인 포커사이트로 유입이 되었다고 한다. NHN 한게임에는 일명 머니장이라는 것이 존재하며 게임머니를 취득하기 위해, 현찰을 지급하고 게임머니를 산후, 이것을 게임에 즐기는 것이다. 이들은 한게임에서 게임머니는 충전하는 방식으로 월 30만원밖에 충정할 수 없기 때문에 머니상에 현찰을 지급하고 머니상 유저와 게임을 하여 일명 ‘수혈’-즉 돈을 잃어주고 버는 방식으로 돈을 충전하는 것이다. 심지어, 4억의 돈을 날리고, 집을 저당잡히고, 사채를 빌려써서 독촉장이 쌓여가며 이혼까지 한 가정을 보았다. 딸아이를 두고 있는 한 주부는 5일동안 잠도 안 자고 피씨방에서 포커를 즐긴다고 한다. 한게임은 네이버, 즉NHN이 운영하고 있으며, 네이버는 지금 대한민국 제1의 포털이다. (한게임은 현재 가입자수 3200만명, 하루 평균 방문자 300만명, 동시 접속자 수 최대 25만명을 기록하고 있다). 어제 피디수첩의 취재에는 네이버가 그런 머니장으로 인한 거래를 충분히 막을 수 있음에도 불구하고 방치하고 있다는 것… 이것은 NHN의 수익구조에 이런 한게임 포커가 일조를 하는 셈이라 볼 수 있다. (지금 현재 NHN의 수익의 26%가 한게임이다). 이로써 NHN는 도덕성, 윤리성에 치명타를 입게 되었다.[…]
A netizen explains how the internet game could turn to gambling.
어제 피디수첩을 보면서 이문제가 얼마나 심각한지를 알게 되었습니다. 최근에 아는 사촌형이 돌아가셨는데 한게임이야기를 해서 특히하다고 생각했는데… 특이한것이 아니고 한게임의 도박의 위험성이 제 주위에도 있음을 보았습니다. 그분은 40이 넘었는데 돌아가시기 몇년동안 한게임 포커에 빠져 며칠씩 게임에만 빠져있었다고 합니다. 그것이 계기가 되어 몸이 급속도로 나빠졌다고 하더군요. 돌아가신 이유는 다른데 있었지만 그 게임하면서 몸이 망가진 것이 원인이였다는 말을 주위분들에게 들었습니다. 경제적 손실도 있었다고 들었습니다.
먼저 한게임의 사행성 게임을 금지해야하는 이유를 보지요.
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2008.5월에 다음과 같은 기사가 났습니다. 경찰은 850억 원 어치의 게임머니를 거래해 45억 원을 챙긴 혐의로 불법 환전상 93명을 붙잡았습니다.
[인터뷰]
“건전해야 될 온라인 게임이 불법 환전사이트 때문에 현금 도박화되기 때문에 사회적인 폐해가 심각하고 그 피해로 학생이나 심지어 주부까지도 피해를 입는 것으로 확인…”
사용자들은 돈을 주고 산 게임머니를 수백만 원까지 내걸면서 고스톱이나 포커에 빠져들었습니다. 어린이에서 주부에 이르기까지 평균 수백만 원대 도박을 한 셈입니다. 온라인 게임에선 한 번에 배팅할 수 있는 금액을 게임머니 2,000조, 즉 300만 원으로 제한하고 있지만 여러 차례 반복한다면 사실상 배팅한도는 없는 것이나 마찬가지입니다. 경찰은 게임머니 환전사이트에서 거래되는 금액이 수천억 원에 이를 것으로 보고 지속적으로 단속하기로 했습니다.
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어제 피디수첩에서는 한게임으로 피해를 본 사람들을 이렇게 취재했다.
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취재 결과 한게임에서 벌어지는 도박판화 된 게임에 빠져 인터넷 도박중독에 빠진 사람들이 너무도 많고 피해가 심각했다. 남편이 한게임 포커에 빠져 집이 넘어가 친정으로 들어가 살 수 밖에 없는 20대 주부, 한게임 고스톱을 게임으로 시작했다가 지난 3년 간 4억을 날리고 이혼 위기에 놓인 30대 주부, 한게임에서 하루에 200만원을 따고 쉽게 돈을 벌 수 있다는 생각에 직장을 그만둔 20대 청년, 하루에 수백만원을 잃을 때마다 누군가를 죽이고 싶었다는 30대 직장인 등 인터넷 도박 중독자들의 수는 헤아리기 힘들 정도다. 이들은 도박을 한 자신들의 잘못을 인정하면서도 한게임이 사행성을 부추기는 도박장이라며 한게임의 폐쇄를 주장하기도 한다. 심지어 더 이상의 피해자를 막기 위해 한게임과 정부를 상대로 소송을 준비하는 사람들도 있다. 한게임이 인터넷 도박으로 변질되는 가장 핵심은 사이버머니 환전상이다. 한게임에서 포카와 고스톱 게임을 하다가 사이버머니를 따거나 잃을 경우 환전상들이 이를 현금화해주기 때문. 포털게임사들과 정부가 ‘포상금제도'를 내거는 등 단속의 의지를 보이고 있다. 사이버머니 환전상만 잡으면 도박화되는 것을 막을 수 있다는 것. 하지만 사이버머니 환전상들은 자신들의 잘못을 인정하면서도 보다 근본적인 책임은 한게임에 있다고 주장한다. '30초에 300만원'인 판이 벌어지는 한게임은 이미 게임이 아닌 도박이며 이런 판을 벌일 수 있는 공간을 제공한 한게임은 불법도박장인 하우스와 다를 바가 없다는 주장이다.
——————
한게임에서는 환전상의 문제이고 게임이용자들의 문제라고 하는데.[…]
I would like to show why Hangame should be prohibited.
There was a report in May in 2008. The police arrested 93 illegal money exchangers who took 4.5 billion won to trade the game money that is worth to 85 billion won.
[Interview…]
“The online game that should be wholesome gives damages to students as well as housewives because illegal money exchange sites change the online game to cash gambling…” Users buy game money with cash and indulged in games, such as Go-stop and poker, betting several million won. The users are from children to housewives and gamble with several million won. The amount of money that the users bet on the online game per time is limited to 2,000 jo, game money (in other words, 3 million won), but if you do several times, there is no limitation.
According to the report, people who are addicted to Internet gambling are a lot and the damages are serious. They showed the stories from a housewife in her 20s who had to move into her parents’ house after her husband bet their house in the Hangame poker, a housewife in the 30s who just started the Hangame Go-stop game and is sued for the divorce after she lost 400 million won for three years, a man in his 20s who quit his job after he earned 2 million won in a day at Hangame and dreams of making more money, and an employee in his 30s who threatens to kill someone every time he loses several million won at the game per day.
They recognize their mistakes and insist that Hangame encourages gambling, and therefore it should be closed. In order to prevent more damage, some people prepare to sue Hangame and government. The reason why Hangame deteriorates into Internet gambling is due to cyber money dealer. When you gain or lose cyber money while you play the poker and go-stop games, the money dealer changes it to cash. Portal game companies and government try to catch them under the compensation system if someone gives the tip about those illegal money dealers. What they insist is that if they catch those illegal dealers, the tendency toward gambling will decrease. However, according to those cyber money dealers, they recognize their own faults, but the major responsibility is from Hangame. Hangame, which has a game with 3 million won per 30 seconds, is not just a game, but gambling. By providing such a space, Hangame doesn’t have so much difference from illegal gambling places.
Hangame says the problems are caused by illegal money dears and by game users[…]
Relations with Naver and Hangame seem to lead netizens to ask more moral questions.
어제 PD수첩 보셨습니까? 내용인 즉슨  한게임의 도박성을 고발 하는 거였습니다. 여러문제의 게임이 있지만 그중 한게임을 꼭 찝어서 방송을 하더군요. 한게임은 네이버의 자회사입니다. 작년 아프카니스탄 인질사건을 계기로 시작한 네이버의 여론조작을 많은 네티즌들께서는 분노를 느끼셨을 겁니다. 대선즈음 해서는 이명박 감싸기를 실시하며 이명박이 대통령 되는데 결정적인 역할을 하는데 1등공신중 하나인 NHN 현재 국민들은 조.중.동 근절에 힘쓰고 있지만 NHN은 일부의 네티즌들이 불매운동을 펼치고 있습니다[…]
This issue mentioned a TV program and following netizens’ criticisms are also interpreted in another way to other netizens.
[…] pd 수첩에서 갑자기 nhn 죽이기 하길래 무슨이유인가 했더니. nhn에서 친정부적인 입장을 고수해서라던데. 한게임 포커랑 고스톱은 전국민이 이용하는 게임입니다. 고스톱 포커 게임 없는 게임포털 없구요. (일부나쁘게 악용하는 유저를 단속방안을 내는것이 맞는 방송인데. nhn죽이기로 나선다는거.. 이건 말이 안되죠. )[…]

author: Hyejin Kim


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Mayotte in Blue · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Mayotte, l'île au lagon [Fr] shares photos of Mayotte, in blue.


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Poland: Bilingualism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scatts writes at Polandian about raising a child in “two languages and two cultures” – Polish and English.


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Poland: Film Review · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian reviews Andrzej Jakimowski's film, Sztuczki (“Tricks”).


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Poland: “How To Have a Polish Party” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Tips on “how to have a Polish party” – at Polandian: “4. Start cooking at least six months before party is due to begin.”


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Poland: Józef Piłsudski · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Raf Uzar writes about Józef Piłsudski, “Poland’s greatest hero and perhaps greatest leader.”


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Poland: Kraków Soup Festival · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A report from the Kraków soup festival – at Polandian.


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Poland, UK: Public Drinking · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot guestblogs at Polandian about drinking in public – in Poland and the U.K.


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Poland, UK: The Sun, in Polish · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scatts writes about the Polish-language Euro 2008 edition of the British tabloid The Sun – at Polandian and at 20 east.


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Poland: Warsaw Pictures · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Warsaw pictures – at 20 East.


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Russia: Roman Abramovich Boat · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog mentions the 12th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as he writes about Roman Abramovich’s boat, which has “attracted more tourists than centuries-old cathedrals and museums.”


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Ukraine: Lviv Pictures · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pictures from Lviv – by Little Miss Moi.


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Blogger of the Week: Ljubiša Bojić · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Today's Blogger of the Week series takes us to the heart of the Balkans, where we chat with Global Voices author for Serbia Ljubiša Bojić (pronounced Lyu-bi-sha Bo-yich) about blogging, politics and citizen journalism in Serbia.
Ljubiša Bojić
Aged 24 and a graduate in journalism, Ljubiša Bojić is an enthusiast of new media:
Currently I'm writing a book about web journalism and digital marketing that I intend to publish in English. I am also in advertising, working as a creative director, mainly doing copy writing. I am interested in great stories and how to make them. It annoys me to see so so much wasted human potential.
Being so passionate about journalism and digitial media, it is not surprising to hear that he started blogging (in Serbian) quite a few years ago:
I have been blogging since 1999. NATO aggression against Serbia motivated me to blog. There was a platform called “Beograd.com”. Many individuals across the country used to inform the community about the state of alert (where the planes came from and what they bombed, etc.). This website marked the beginning of citizen journalism in Serbia. I am proud that I was part of it.
Then, in August 2006, while doing an internship in Hong Kong, Ljubiša started a blog in English to reach a broader audience and “to contribute to the understanding between Serbia and the rest of the world”. In one of his first posts, he wrote a little story about a recurring topic in his blog – corruption:
Here I am on a plane headed to Belgrade. Behind me one Serbian man and a Armenian lady start a conversation. What a better topic to kick off a chat than with corruption issues. Man tells her what he encountered when he was awaiting flight in Moscow. Apparently lady at the counter asked him for bribe when he needed a wheelchair to use it around the airport as he was recovering from a medical operation at the time. On the other side, a Chinese-looking lady tells him about police asking her for bribe in her homeland. They go on and on about corruption. What a beautiful way to connect people. I think they were slowly getting in love while we were getting closer to Belgrade.
However, because of his work and all the projects that he's involved in, Ljubiša says that lately he hasn't had as much time to blog as he used to:
My English blog is pretty messy because, currently I store links and some citations there. Originally I wanted to communicate with the world. But now, because of intensive workload, the only way I manage to keep that connection is by sharing links which inspire me.
Besides his personal blog in English he also blogs in Serbian for the official blog for the Strengths of Serbia Movement “to project a new image of the organization that will get to the citizens’ souls”. There he talks about human rights and political issues such as the following:
In my opinion, our government did great injustice against a politician who won 19% of vote at presidential elections in 2004. They marked him as a criminal, so he had to leave Serbia. His name is Bogoljub Karić, and my cause is to establish strong institutions in our society, so ruling politicians could never abuse power.
In 2006, at around the same time he started his blog in English, Ljubiša joined the Global Voices Online team as an author for Serbia and the Balkans after meeting co-founder Rebecca MacKinnon in Hong Kong:
It was sunny day and I was trying to get an interview from journalism professor for my documentary about media in Hong Kong. I talked to Ying Chan, head of Journalism and Media Studies Center at HKU. She told me about exciting thing going on around blogosphere – Global Voices Online. At that time, she was expecting arrival of a new professor to teach New Media. Guess who that was – Rebecca MacKinnon.
During his almost two years with Global Voices Ljubiša has written mostly about Serbian politics, such as Kosovo's independence or last january's presidential elections. But he has also introduced blogs from his home town (Kragujevac, in Serbia), has written about the situation of Roma people in Slovenia and the legalization of prostitution in Croatia, and has introduced many readers to the famous Bosnian pyramid and to the oldest blogger in the Balkans.
Ljubiša Bojić is also the founder of the Serbian Web Journalism School, a new media project that recently received a Rising Voices grant and that is also supported by the Serbian Journalist Association and the International University of Novi Pazar. He described in his blog what motivated him to start this project:
As the process of transition continues, the number of those who can't find job grows, here in central Serbia. This people need voice, at least. I decided to apply for Rising Voices grant in September to provide education, motivation and technology to individuals in need, so they can go online, tell their stories, establish contacts with some international organizations and maybe even get help. If nothing else, I am sure they will get moral support from communities of bloggers and news media from everywhere around the globe. They can share facts about corrupt privatization in Serbia, describe the way state treats them and talk about their human rights issues.
Another aspect of his Rising Voices project is contributing to the understanding between Serbian and Albanian youth from Serbia and Kosovo respectively:
Picture below shows Serb and Albanian youth talking how to connect and overcome difficulties that were created during centuries of hostility in southern province. I strongly believe young activist can make a difference. We need to come close, and do our best to boost economy. We would all love to live better and enter the EU. Why should we make conflicts and disagreement, when we can bond and interact.
Asked about the Serbian blogosphere, Ljubiša commented:
The Serbian blogosphere is diffused and small, because most of people hardly find time to blog something meaningful. Real hit among young generations is Facebook though. There are no real blogging stars except those public figures who post on B92 VIP. I consider limiting who can blog bad decision, so mortals use international blogging platforms, except one Serbian service (mojblog.co.yu).
He sees himself as a kind of bridge between different types of bloggers in Serbia:
One part of Serbian bloggers write about their day to day life, and there is no much politics. Others write politics exclusively. Part of them are patriotic, and the other part are oriented towards the European Union. So, our blogosphere is divided like our society. I am somewhere on the middle of this specter, so I can connect them. Ha ha ha.
And finally, we had to ask him about his most memorable blogging experience:
When the CNN said that NATO had bombed a military factory in my city (Kragujevac). That was in 1999. And that was actually a car production factory, Zastava. I blogged about the lie published by mainstream media. I think not so many people heard about it. But there was no GVO back then. I learned how media can be misused. That is how I came up with a media/political positivism theory.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Srebrenica Genocide Memorial · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports: “Members of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves organization are dissatisfied that the Bosnian Serb (RS) police will be responsible for security at a Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari, which is not under the jurisdiction of Republika Srpska.”


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Brazil: Reporting the city · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The Blog da Cidade [City Blog] project is a initiative designed to provide a collaborative platform for propagation of useful information to residents and visitors of several Brazilian cities. Each city will have a blog maintained by an open group of collaborators. Would you want to participate? Please contact us”, invites Luthiano Vasconcelos.


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Bulgaria: Women’s Rights · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kyle Grady of What's Going Down? writes an open letter to the editors of Lifestyle.bg and author Tihomir Dimitrov, prompting a heated discussion on Bulgaria, feminism, women's rights and other issues (41 comments so far).


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China: 2008 with Hu Jia…the other one · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Soundsandfury, a Taiwanese writer and blogger, tells us the irony when he saw the advertisement poster about Olympics in the subway of Beijing(zh). The poster with a slogan saying “2008 with Hu Jia” is featured with a China Gold Medal sportsman whose name is the same with the human right and environmental activist, Hu Jia, who was put into jail for 3.5 years also because of 2008 Beijing Olympics.

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Czech Republic: “Stolen Kosovo” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Byzantine Blog provides links to “Stolen Kosovo,” a Czech documentary by Vaclav Dvorak.


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Ecuador: Inflation Lower Without Social Programs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Inflation in Ecuador would be lower without many of the social programs offered by the government writes Danny Ayala Hinojosa of El Federalista [es].

author: Eduardo Avila


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Ecuador: Presidential Visit to Loja · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

INKer [es] writes about and post photos of the recent visit by Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa to the province of Loja.  Correa visited the local television station Ecotel and was warmly received.


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Egypt: More Female Genital Mutilation Please  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Marwa Rakha, from Egypt, writes about an MP whose three young daughters have protested in favour of female genital mutilation in this post.


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Europe: Prometheism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander writes about Prometheism and post-Soviet geopolitics.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Indonesia: Puzzling media coverage · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Pelopor.nl thinks the media coverage on Indonesia today is “more often than not is not clarifying but rather puzzling.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Iran: Green Activists in Movement and Photos · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Green blogs are a valuable source for understanding Iran's nature and environment, its problems and challenges. Green bloggers actively take part in campaigns to protect nature and animals. They publish articles, stories, and photos, and they organize conferences and demonstrations. In this post, we look at green activism in Iran through the eyes of bloggers in last year.
Here are some photos of artistic environmental activity to protest against the destruction of nature and hunting of animals.
Art and Environment
Mojgan Jamshidi has published [fa] several photos from a recent art festival in the northern city Noshahr. The photos were taken by Ahmad Nadalyan and Raheleh Zomorodnya:
or hunting them:
Protest
Hamnahad has published  [fa] the photos of demonstrators who protested against the presence of an Italian circus in Tehran last January. They carried the photos of several animals in chains with slogans such as “Love us in freedom not in chains” or “Born in captivity has no desire to live.”
Warning
in his blog, Mohammad Darvish has written about [fa] a conference about the construction of big dams, the consequences and alternatives. He was one of the speakers too.
Jamshidi shows [fa] the negative impact of one dam in Iran, where the Urumiyeh lake in the north west has become a salt lake and animals have perished.
Action
Grey Wolf shows  [fa] people planting trees together for a better future.


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Japan: Bloggers on Akihabara knife rampage · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

A knife attack in Tokyo's Akihabara area, according to news reports carried out by 25-year-old suspect Tomohiro Kato, has taken the lives of at least seven people and left many more injured. The suspect apparently crashed a two-ton rented truck into pedestrians on an intersection close to Akihabara station, and then began attacking onlookers.
The incident happened on the anniversary of a similar crime in Japan's past. Seven years ago on the same day, Mamoru Takuma went on a rampage at Ikeda elementary school in Osaka and killed seven children.
For a list of articles, information, and photos on the stabbing, see Akibablog [ja]. The forums are naturally full of comments [ja], and at ICHINOHE Blog [ja] there is a rundown of Twitter coverage of the incident. Blogger kawataso posted lots of photos [ja] and gave a run-down of their experience of what happened:
今日僕は高崎から戻ってきてそのままアキバに来ていました。まだ11時でホコ天も始まっていなかったのでとりあえずリナカフェに入ってスライドをつくったりいろいろやっていました。
で、作業に集中していてまわりがざわつくまで気づかなかったのですが、開店中なのになぜか店のシャッターが降りていました。
何があったのかなーと思ってたらなんか通り魔がでたとか、亡くなった人がいるとか、まだ犯人がつかまっていないからシャッターをおろしたんだとかそういう話が店内でささやかれていました。
[…]
しばらくして犯人は捕まったという速報が入ってきて、その時点ではまだ別のメディアではそういう情報がなく錯綜しているようだったのでもうしばらく見守って、いくつかのメディアで犯人逮捕の報が流れたことで、とりあえず店内はすこし落ち着いた空気になりました。
店のシャッターはしまったままですが、とりあえず大丈夫だろうといったん荷物をまとめてカメラを持って店を出ました。リナカフェが面している通りの店は基本的にいつも通り開店していましたが、大通り側にも入り口があるソフマップは念のためシャッターを下ろしているようでした。
そのまま大通りへ出ると予想通りの人だかりと、予想外の救急車、パトカーたちがいました。
現場はドンピシャで交差点の真ん中らしく、完全に交差点は封鎖されていました。
それから、もちろん警察関係、救急関係者はたくさんいたのですが、それ以上に印象的だったのは路面に散らばった靴やいろいろな持ち物でした。
Blogger zun00340 was at the scene, and  describes what happened:
今日、秋葉原で通り魔事件がありましたね。
本当に痛ましい事件でびっくりしましたが、実は、事件発生時、偶然近くにいました。
[…]
事件発生時、駅に向かって歩いていたところだったので、きちんと目撃はしていませんが、最初は何かがぶつかるような車の大きな音がしました。
交通事故？と振り返ったところ、その直後に、奇声と叫び声が聞こえてきて、
「ヤバそうだから、早く行こう！」
という相方の判断は、正しかったんだなぁと今となっては思います。
現場周辺では、いろいろな情報が錯綜していて、逃げる人、集まってくる野次馬（これが大部分）などでもう大パニック状態でした。
小さなお子さんを連れた人たちは、集まってくる野次馬たちの存在の方が危険だったかもしれません。
もの凄い勢いで、人を押しのけながら現場に向かっていましたから。
「サリンが撒かれたらしい」
「通り魔が出た」
「爆弾テロ？」
様々なデマや憶測が流れていましたが、状況がしっかりわからない状態は本当に恐ろしかったです。
Blogger yonekami, who was at the spot when the stabbings happened, writes:
丁度そのとき俺らはその脇道にある店の中にいました。
店に出た時、かなりの血が広がってました。
警官が取り押さえる際に容疑者から刺された血痕だと思われます。
あと数分早く出ていたら・・なんてことを考えるとものすごく恐ろしいです。
人生何が起こるか本当にわからないですね。
Blogger yoro was also nearby, and explains:
事件の起きた時間、わたしとカミサンと三男の３人で秋葉原にいて、ヨドバシか池袋へ車で移動するところでした。そのため、事件の現場は目撃もしていませんし、現場からはちょっと離れた場所にいました。が、以前から良く行く場所であり、ほんのわずかな違いと言うか、偶然で難を逃れたような気もします。
Blogger yodogawa, who arrived at the spot shortly after the incident occurred, describes the scene:
例の事件が１２３５時にあったそうで、
１３００時に私は現場にいました。
交通事故かとも思いましたが、それにしては被害者が多いし、
警察も多い、
おまけに数人が心臓マッサージを受けていて、
救急救命士が殺気だっていました。（仕事中にころに似たヤバイ雰囲気は何度か味わっているのでそんな感じでした）
通常の事故（と言うのも悪いですが）と明らかに違い、『とんでもない事が起きた、多分テロか通り魔的な何かだろうな』
と考えて場所を後にして家に帰りました。

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Popularity of Q&A services · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Results of a survey by NetRatings Japan, Inc. [ja] released on May 23rd and posted at japan.internet.com [ja] revealed some surprising trends [ja] among Japanese Internet users. Among other things, the survey found that while the amount of time that people spend on the Internet is going up, the number of page views is flat, contrary to what many expected.
The survey also found that popularity of Q&A services, particularly Yahoo!'s Chiebukuro  (知恵袋) service started in 2004, have skyrocketed in recent years. From a total of 1.72 million page views on Chiebukuro  in 2006, the figure increased to 12.62 million page views by March, 2008. (Other popular Japanese Q&A services [ja] include OKWave [ja], goo's “oshiete!” [ja], and Hatena Question [ja].) The study pointed out that while the reach of Yahoo! Chiekibukuro [ja] was 25.7% in Japan, the reach of the comparable “Yahoo! Answers” service in the U.S. is only 9.4%. Wikipedia also has a higher reach at 37.8% in Japan, compared to 24.5% in the U.S. (A different study, translated at What Japan Thinks, indicated that Japanese trust Q&A sites almost as much as they trust Wikipedia.)
In a post entitled “Japanese like Wikipedia and FAQ”, blogger lattice remarks on the differences between Japanese and American Internet users:
日本人はアメリカ人と違って、人前でオープンに議論するということが苦手である。「人には聞けない事をこっそり調べる」という欲求にネットは合っているのかもしれない。ネットのＦＡＱが流行るのもそうしたこともあるのかもしれない。身近の人間には訊きずらいが、ネットで匿名だと訊きやすいので初心者ＦＡＱなども大いに賑わう。ネット上の「教えて君」である。これも自分では積極的に調べようとしない、安易にネットで訊けばいいという、やはり思考停止の反映の１つにも思える。それに対してYahoo!知恵袋のように丁寧に答えてくれる人もいるが、思考停止を指摘するのが「ググレカス」であろう。
しかし何かネットで調べようとするとき「Google先生に訊いてみよう」とばかりキーワードを入れると出てくるのがYahooで」と言われているようなものだからである。それがネットだからといえばそうではあるのだが。
In other results, the survey also confirmed the incredible popularity of Japanese tarento on the Internet. The blog [ja] of actor Kamiji Ysuke in particular was reported to have around one million visitors, with a single entry drawing between ten and fifteen thousand comments over a span of just a few hours. So numerous are the comments on tarento blogs that some have even speculated [ja] the comment-writers may not be human [ja].
Thanks to Taku Nakajima and Yu Yamamoto for suggesting and researching this topic.


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Latvia: Newspaper in the “Internet Age” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Latvian Abroad fears that one Latvian paper – Diena – may not “survive in the Internet age.”


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Lithuania: Dual Citizenship · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A discussion of Lithuania's plans to make dual citizenship legal – at Lituanica.


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Lithuania: “The Magnificent Town of Vilnius” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Viola in Vilnius links to and writes about a TV ad for the next year's Capital of Culture – The Magnificent Town of Vilnius. Photos and video on the process of creating the ad – in PetPunk‘s Flickr set.


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Macedonia: Blogging Jovan Koteski’s Poetry · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Filip Stojanovski of Razvigor :-) links to a blog dedicated to the Macedonian poet Jovan Koteski, maintained by his daughter.


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Macedonia, Greece: An HRW Report · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Say: Macedonia links to a report by the Human Rights Watch on the Macedonians of Greece.


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Malaysia: Oil price hikes · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Sikmanding reports that all over Malaysia the hot topic of discussion is still the fuel price increase and its dreaded effects.


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Moldova, Russia: Gagauzia and Transnistria · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia is wondering whether Gagauzia could “replace Transdniestria as Moscow’s lever of choice in Moldova.”


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Peru: Relationship Between Food and Sex · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The blog Choledad Privadad [es] analyzes the relationship between food and sex in Peruvian society.


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Philippines: Blogging for good governance · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The governor in the home province of the Philippine president has set-up a blog to promote good governance in the country.


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Poland, Afghanistan: Remembering Andy Skrzypkowiak · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

From the Frontline reports that during his trip to Afghanistan, Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski “unveiled a plaque in honour of his friend, Andy Skrzypkowiak, a British war correspondent who was killed in 1987.”


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Press freedom in Singapore and Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

ICT for Peacebuilding compares media freedom (or the lack of it) in Singapore and Sri Lanka


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Russia: eXile on Nemtsov’s Analysis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog links to his piece in eXile – “Nemtsov’s White Paper: Bombshell or Dud?” In the comments, readers discuss, among other things, eXile and the problems the paper's facing now.


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Russia: “I Blog” in Russian · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian Blog explains how to say “I blog” and other related things in Russian.


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Russia: Mapping Immigrants · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes that “Russian nationalists [are] now mapping location of immigrants in major cities.”


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Russia: “Nationalist Face” of “Democracy” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes on how “Russian ‘democracy’ displays its nationalist face in Paris.”


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Slovenia: Biking to Work · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Filomena films part of her bike ride to work in Ljubljana.


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Soviet History: Caucasus Books, Maps · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A few photos of the old Russian-language books and maps, “which might be of interest to Caucasophiles” – at Scraps of Moscow.


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Taiwan: Different Presidents, different media treatment · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Tim Maddog compares the difference of how TVBS, probably the most influencial cable news channel in Taiwan, treats different presidents.


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Thailand: Government is self-destructing · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Connecting the dots believes the Thailand's government is self-destructing and that members of the ruling party are “a bunch of recycled corrupt politicians.”


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Ukraine: Politics Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Updates on the worsening of the political situation in Ukraine – at Foreign Notes and Ukrainiana.


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Ukraine: The Language Issue · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about “the language issue” in Ukraine: “Russian as a Turkish dialect of Old Ukrainian vs. Ukrainian as a Polish dialect of Old Russian represent the two opposite poles in the oft-unprofessional debate among ultra-nationalists.”


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Vietnamese wedding · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vietnamese Wedding Style gives tips for those who are invited to attend a Vietnamese Wedding.


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Jordan: Dead Sea Minerals  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Amid all the Chinese made merchandise, 7aki Fadi, a Jordanian who lives in Canada, finds Dead Sea minerals and mud masks made in her country.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Afghanistan: Afghan Women’s Organisation · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

SunLeaf tells about the Toronto-based, Afghan Women’s Organisation, led by a committed and renowned social activist, Adeena Niazi, working both for thousands of Afghan communities across Greater Toronto Area and several others inside Afghanistan.


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Afghanistan: Aid Industry and the Widening Government-NGO Competition · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

SunLeaf is analyzing the aid industry in Afghanistan, the prospects of funneling of significant portion of aid through the Afghan government and the looming NGO-government discord.


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Bangladesh: Trade Deficit · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mukti on the issue of Bangladesh's trade deficit with India and China.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Bermuda: Women & Children First · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Crushing Fools says that the recent murder of 14-year old Bermudian student Rhiana Moore represents “a visible threat against women and children.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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BlogCamp Delhi – Enlightening and entertaining! · Global Voices
Amit Gupta

24th May 2008 was sort of a remarkable day in the blogging circle in New Delhi and National Capital Region as Indian Blog and New Media Society, in collaboration with its local partners Delhi Blog and New Media Society, organised Delhi's first BlogCamp. Months of planning and organising didn't go into this as is the case usually in such camps, rather it was put together with several weeks of hardwork. Microsoft Corp. readily sponsored the venue and all the soda, coffee etc. that campers could drink at their New Delhi premises while IBNMS itself sponsored the food!
Some campers showed up right on the time at 09:30AM and readily volunteered to man the registrations desk giving name badges and DBNMS sponsored stationary to the campers. Since Microsoft had provided their spacious training lab as one of the rooms, it was decided that the sessions will be done in that only and should it happen that more sessions were listed than time allowed then a conference room would be used to run parallel sessions.
It started a bit late around 10AM, with Ajay Jain, President of IBNMS, giving an introduction of the society to the present bloggers and blog enthusiasts and explaining to them the commandments on which society has been formed and what it intends to do for the bloggers and blogging community. After this brief intro, BlogCamp Delhi officially kicked off with me taking the first session on Blogging Beyond English. In the presentation I explained how blogging exists beyond the borders of English language by taking up examples of Hindi blogging. And I further showed and explained in brief details how one can easily write in Hindi for the web and how readers wouldn't have any font related problems which have haunted writers and readers alike in past when it came to websites in languages other than English, all thanks to unicode.
The second session was a presentation by Ajay Jain explaining the “4Ps of Marketing Your Blog” where he, a professional blogger and freelance writer, gave quick practical and easy to follow tips along with explanations on how one can market and advertise their blog effectively and reap profits from it as well. It was not about Search Engine Optimization but about simple ways of good old marketing, making one's blog visible to others. It was quite a good session with people listening attentively and asking questions after the presentation to which they found satisfactory replies.
After that session on practical information about marketing a blog came the next session from Abhishek Kant on Corporate Blogging Strategy. Kant, a communications manager with Microsoft India, presented thoughts on how corporate blogging can be effective and beneficial, both for the corporates and the clients. Citing their own experience from Microsoft's blogs, he shared the lessons they have learned and from which others can learn as well without having to go through the cycle. If knowledge is power then people from an array of various companies certainly gained quite a lot of power for their respective companies.
The clock ticked on and lunch was announced as Kant's presentation ended. The discussions amongst the campers continued even during lunch. People put time to good use and inter-mingled, taking up or participating in different discussions going on in small groups around the lounge or playing Xbox games as Microsoft had also set up an Xbox kiosk on which anyone could play. I also tried it out and my first time on an Xbox was quite good!! :D While people were involved in micro-discussions ranging on different topics, some mainstream media journalists, both from some reputed national dailies and national TV news channels, caught up with Abhishek Kant, Ajay Jain and Ashish Chopra, Director(Communications & PR) of IBNMS. It was nice to see that mainstream media in India is definitely taking notice and interest in blogs and acknowledging the power of blogs! :)
After lunch I gave another session but this time on Photo Blogging, explaining to campers how it can be beneficial if one is looking to gain something out of it and how it can easily be done. No sooner had I finished, I was kinda bombarded with various questions. The benefits of an unconference are that its very unlike a formal conference, everyone is a participant and they feel more at ease than in a formal conference. So it was very heartening to see that several campers came forward to answer those questions and pure knowledge was harvested in those discussions and this is what its all about – sharing with and learning from each other. :)
Next session was “Monetizing a blog effectively” on which Mohit Maheshwari, MD of new Indian online ad network TonicTag, gave a presentation giving facts and figures about how online advertising industry works and how bloggers can effectively monetize their blogs and how those who are already monetizing can enhance their earnings. One of the main points of his presentation was that when it comes to generating traffic to one's blog, which eventually decides on the kind of money that blog can make, its not a level playing field so not everyone gets the same kind of attention and hence not the same kind of love from advertisers.
Then there were other sessions after that like on Open Access – What it is and why it is required for scholarly community? by Sukhdev Singh, Micro-blogging: Life, and everything else… in 140 characters by Abhishek Baxi, Basic SEO Tips for Bloggers by Mayank.
One notable thing was that it was very much unlike other such camps that I've attended. All campers were participating in sessions peacefully and attentively, asking questions at the right times and all this without any hubbub or noise! Some campers who came in late peeked inside the lab doors and then almost returned as they thought some sort of official training session is going on, they couldn't believe that its a BlogCamp going on since the usual din was absent from it!! ;) Another noticeable thing was that hardly any campers left the room to skip any of the sessions as usually happens in BarCamps and BlogCamps etc. where campers get bored or something and go outside to skip some sessions; attendance was just about 100% for all the sessions! :)
What did the campers say afterwards? From what I heard, there were lots of nice things said and quite a good amount of positive feedback, campers enjoyed it and didn't feel their day went waste! Indeed, hindi blogger Jagdish Bhatia reckoned that the BlogCamp Delhi was enlightening. He came in late and hence missed first two sessions, but attended almost all of the others. In his own words:
मोहित महेश्वरी की ब्लॉग्स से कमाई पर प्रस्तुति How to monetize a blog effectively? How to enhance earnings from a Blog? से भारतीय संदर्भों में ब्लॉग्स से कमाई पर कुछ जानने की उम्मीद थी। मोहित ने आंकड़ों के साथ बताया की जिस गति से ऑनलाईन विज्ञापनों के लिये विज्ञापन दाता अपना बजट बढ़ा रहे हैं उस गति से इंटरनेट पर कांटेंट नहीं बढ़ रहा है। इसका अधिक से अधिक फायदा ब्लॉगर्स को मिलेगा।
Translated into English it means:
I was expecting to gain some knowledge from Mohit Maheshwari's presentation “How to monetize a blog effectively? How to enhance earnings from a Blog?” in context of Indian blogs. Mohit presented facts and figures and told us that the content on internet is not increasing at the same rate as the online advertising budgets of advertisers, so bloggers stand to gain from this.
With his experience of BlogCamp Delhi, he also has posted some photos which he clicked at the camp and ends his blog post with a remark that it was quite an interesting and enlightening experience for him. :)
Hindi Blog links courtesy: Narad

author: Amit Gupta


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China: Earthquake Migration · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhao mu interview specialists about the resettlement of earthquake victims [zh]. As the whole Wenchuan region becomes an active earthquake zone, relief work would include a huge migration plan.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Olympic Pandas now in Beijing · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Sina.com blogger EastIsRed66, who appears to be an employee of the Wolong Nature Reserve in Wenchuan, Sichuan, the hardest-hit area in last month's earthquake, has recently started a blog and has been posting photos of the eight Olympic Pandas who once lived there.
These eight pandas are Beijing residents now, she writes, after having been flown there to their new home at the Beijing Zoo following the earthquake.
In a separate post from late last month, the blogger has put up pictures of the pandas taken during the earthquake, where they can be seen huddling together in fear. Two others, she notes, ran off during the earthquake.


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China: Olympic Visa Policy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fon from China Herald comments on the recent change in visa policy due to the Beijing Olympic.


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China: Reconstruction · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

TECN posted Qian Li qun's speech on earthquake reflection, which stressed that earthquake reconstruction work should incorporate the reconstruction of the Chinese society in term of the development of humanitarianism, civil society, social reform, etc [zh].


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China: Tibet Talk · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maryannodonnell blogs about how communication breaks down when talking about Tibet.


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China: Why School Crumbled? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hu Yong said that the Chinese government should answer to the question why schools were crumbled in the earthquake zone. The blogger insisted that if the truth was buried, China would have no future [zh].


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Cuba: Media Morph?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from Havana, Circles Robinson says that “Cuba’s journalists are gearing up for a major congress on July 3-5 that could reshape what Cubans see on TV screens, in newspapers and on the radio, as well as the way the island reaches out to the world.”


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Egypt: Favourite Songs from the 90s  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian Triple M shares videos of his favourite songs from the 90s in this post.


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El Salvador: Blogger Ernesto Rivas Hospitalized · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Hunnapuh [es] draws attention to a posting by blogger Ernesto Rivas Gallont, who apologized to readers of Conversations with Neto Rivas [es] for his absence due to a hospialization due to cardio-vascular problems.  He writes, “Even though I have my laptop at the hospital, I don't think that it will be possible to actively blog.  As soon as the doctors give me authorization, I will be back with you all.”


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Hong Kong: 100 Blog Posts on June 4 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sidekick puts together 100 blog posts for commemorating the 19 year anniversary of June 4 Massacre [zh].


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India: Bullying bloggers, stealing content, and threats! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

As bloggers, we're a vulnerable lot. Regardless of anonymity, pseudonyms and the like, threats can still make us review how important a blog is. The case of Inji Pennu and Kerals.com is taking the blogosphere by storm. In what comes across as sheer bullying and intimidation, Kerals.com, a website that targets people from Kerala and Malayali speakers has taken to harassing a blogger. The blogger, Inji Pennu, who blogs at Ginger and Mango appears to have politely requested Kerals.com to remove content that they stole from her. She then posted their responses, and the email exchange has provoked a strong reaction from readers of her blog. While content-theft from blogs is not really new, the sheer tactics and threats of violence from the content-stealing website has ruffled quite a few feathers.
Then starts the threats, abuse and even fake legal notices. They started ordering bloggers to take down their respective posts criticizing them. What craziness to order bloggers like that. What happened to freedom of speech?…..
Mr. Shiv Kumar then threatens physical harm to me for speaking up. He says in his next email that he would do unpredictable stuff to people like me.
Hindi Blog Reporter writes
In  latest post at her blog she gives an account of the threatening mails she is receiving from this group which claims to be an old player in cyber industry. Inji after a short research finds out that apart from running porn sites this group is also in the business of donating the orphanages nice diversification.
It also appears that Kerals.com has stolen content from other blogs with giving credit, or acknowledging the fact that they did not create the content. Jayarajan's Blog writes
I express my strong protest against Kerals.com for copying contents from malayalam blogs(Also see this). Besides this, their support team has threatened and abused fellow blogggers who complained of this disgusting act (here,  here and here). And as if that is not enough, they have indulged in cyberstalking.
Thulasi digs deeper and writes
Recently I've noted copyright infringments by Mazhathully.com. They have copied my photographs from this blog withour prior approval, written permission or proper attribution. Moreover they have placed watermarks of Kerals.com on those pictures. Then I went to search for details of these two websites and found both are primarly owned by a single company named Anashwara Company PVT LTD. I was shocked to find that the one who copied my photo, and watermarked it with his name and company's logo was none other than CEO of Kerals.com.
Saptavarnangal rounds up the controversy, with a timeline of the issues as they unfolded and writes about the other websites maintained by the same group.
As we all know by now, the contents from various Malayalam blogs were lifted to fill the Malayalam portal section of kerals.com. This was first reported by Saji and there are a lot of posts which clearly mentions the extend of plagiarism done by kerals.com. Another site http://www.mazhathully.com/ has lifted the photos from the photoblog of Thulasi and Kumar.( I had sent a greeting to Kumar which uses one of Kumar's photo published in his blog, he saw that and informed me that he has written to Kerals.com to remove his photos from their web site.) Kerals.com and mazhathully.com belongs to ( GoDaddy.com check) one ‘Anashwara Group of Company PVT LTD’ which many say is using fake addresses in US as well as in JK, India. When I checked now, http://www.mazhathully.com/ site is in a suspended state.
the breeze also mentions that that a representative from Kerals.com appears to have dragged Inji Pennu's name out and created a fake website.


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India: Child Sexual Abuse · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Into Madness reads a book on child sexual abuse and writes on the sheer scale of abuse of children in India.


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India: Walking around · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

India Travel Blog does a series of articles on walks in India.


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Iran: Judicial Investigator Publically Accuses Ayatollahs of Corruption · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

A member of Iran's Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, Abbas Palizdar, created a scandal this month by accusing several top clerics and influential members of the Islamic Republic of corruption in a speech a Booali University in Hamadan.
He offered details of many illegal business deals and criminal offences, and accused several of Iran's leading political figures, including influential Ayatollahs, such as former president and chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Interim Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran, Emami Kashani, and the head of the Imam Reza Shrine Foundation, Ayatollah Vaez Tabbasi, of illegally accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars.
Several Iranian bloggers published parts of his speech and shared their opinions on this exceptional event in the Islamic Republic. After the controversial speech, the university's Islamic Society of Students was allegedly shut down.
The Mano Shoma blog recounts [fa] that Abbas Palizdar named several “corrupt influential personalities” in Hamadan:
Ayatollah Emami Kashani came and said he wants to register an institution for handicapped people because he has a handicapped child, and he wants his own child be in this institution. Then he came back and said he needs financial support for this institute, and he wants a stone mine in the Fars province. It is the best mine in the world. Then he came and said that mine is not enough, and he took another one in Zanjan. At present he has four different mines supporting his institute for disabled people.
There were many more examples. Palizar described how Ayatollah Yazdi, the former head of the Judiciary was allowed to purchase the Dena Tyre factory in order to support a new law faculty for women in Qom. The factory was valued at 600 million dollars, but he was allowed to acquire it for only 10 million dollars. The cleric then said he could only pay 20 per cent in cash, and  proceeded to sell the factory on the Iranian stock market at a massive profit.
Azarmehr links to a video of Abbas Palizdar delivering the speech on the Internet Archive and translates the key points to English:
During the question time, Palizdar is asked why he has not talked about the corruption by the Rafsnjani clan, is it because he fears the power of Rafsanjanis? Palizar replies that there is so much abuse of power by Rafsnajanis that he would need an entire meeting dedicated to this subject…
According to Palizdar, Ayatollah Rafsanjani has major financial interests in an oil company in Canada, and also the touristic island, Kish. He also said there is video evidence of Rafsanjani's son, Mehdi, sexually exploiting his female employees.
Dilemma of the Islamic Republic
Abdollah Shabazi an Islamist historian says [fa] that “owners of the revolution”, according to the definition of the Islamic Republic leadership, face a dilemma between either:
… the status quo, continuing the present situation and making Iran a second Pakistan, or renewing the Islamic Republic. There is no third option. The choice is either to accept institutionalised corruption, or fight against it to realise the goals of late Ayathollah  Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution.
Why now?
Mahameh Khobim wonders [fa] about the timing of such a surprising revelation. Why? And why now? The blogger speculates that a group of the conservative right must be targeted to be disappeared.
Hassan Agha draws parallels [fa] between what is going on in Iran now and at the end of the Shah's regime: inflation, unemployment and these kinds of political revelations.
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Iran: Top clerics were accused of corruption · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several Iranian bloggers including Rso reported [fa] that Abbas Palizdar, a judicial investigator accused senior ayatollahs and officials of corruption. It happened for the first time in Islamic Republic history.


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Japan: Kite Festival  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Harvey from Japan Newbie wrote a photo essay about the Hamamatsu Kite Fesitval.


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Jordan: Am I Ugly?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Amman, Jordan, The Arab Observer asks: Do you think I am ugly?


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Jordan: Ray’s Kuffayeh · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Jordanian blogger Mental Mayhem writes here  about Rachael Ray's Dunkin Donuts Controversy, and how the Kuffeyeh is an Arabic tradition and that her grandfather and uncle used to put it on while they have nothing to do with the Palestinian Jihad or any similar organizations.

author: Tarek Amr


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Jordan: Stupid Ideas  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Qwaider [Ar] ridicules some ideas by Arab inventors, which he says are “stupid.”


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Kazakhstan: Astana to be Renamed Nursultan? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports on a proposal by a Kazakhstan Parliament deputy to rename the capital city to Nursultan in honor of the President, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The latter eventually said he is against such renaming.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: New symbols of Astana · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog reports that Astana, the Kazakhstan's young capital city, has got a new flag and seal, designed by the President to fit more for the fast-growing capital of “a modern nation”.


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Kazakhstan: Pictures of Nature  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mikhail posts his new photos from the trips around Kazakhstan, focusing on the contrasts of nature of Kazakhstan.


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Kuwait: Japanese Bug Fights  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Is there a game show the Japanese haven’t invented yet?? Japanese Bug Fights is a site with videos of bugs of different species battling out in a small glass arena,” writes Lebanese blogger Mark, who lives in Kuwait.


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Kuwait: Wrong Information on the Poor  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwaiti blogger Frankom [Ar] questions the source of information of an Arabic news site which reported that half of Kuwait's 1 million-strong population lives below the poverty line.


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Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyz President Met Russian Colleague · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena writes about some results of the meeting of Russian president Dmitriy Medvedev and Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiev during the informal summit in Saint-Petersburg.


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Kyrgyzstan: Life of Afghan Kyrgyzes · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena tells some facts about life of Afghan Kyrgyzes in Pamir Mountains.


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Lebanon: Half cluster cleared · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“Almost half of the areas in southern Lebanon contaminated with cluster bombs dropped by Israel in 2006 have been cleared, a UN official said on Wednesday,” reports Sursock.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lebanon: “Lebanonisms: a quick retrospective” · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The four phases of modern history of Lebanon by Bech. “This needs to be thought over more clearly, but it seems to me that “Lebanese” history could be read as divided into four phases,” explains the blogger.


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Lebanon: Nepotism · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Tantalus blasts the nepotism practised in the formation of the Lebanese cabinet of ministers.


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Lebanon: Suleiman and Hizbulla’s Weapons  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Lebanon, AK comments on a decision by new Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to postpone discussing Hizbullah's weapons until further notice.


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Mexico: citizen complaint over land expropiation in Copala · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

In Copala [en], a town south of Acapulco in the province of Guerrero in Mexico, comes this video denouncing the alleged expropriation of lands belonging to Isabel Pisa and Fabiola Abarca by the Municipal President, Gonzalo Gallardo García, member of the Green Ecological Party [es]. The plan was to build a biopark for crocodile reproduction in the area, but Isabel Pisa, single mother of four, shows some pictures that seem to imply that what was built on this location was for recreational purposes: a restaurant and a pool. Following, the video uploaded on YouTube by Denuncia Copala, and subtitled on Overstream. I had trouble understanding what Ms. Isabel said around the one minute 23 second mark: if anyone has suggestions or corrections, please add them to the comments and I will update the subtitles.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Nepal: Traditions and Girls · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With the collapse of the Monarchy, some traditions come under the scanner in Nepal. Wagle Street Journal on the tradition of Kumaris, where young girls are worshiped as goddesses and sometimes live in isolation.


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Pakistan: Food and Water · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan on the threats posed by an acute food and water shortage in the country.