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Paraguay: Marginalized Sectors Drawing Attention to Demands · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

As the start of Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo's government approaches, many marginalized sectors of society are making their demands heard.  RESCATAR [es] writes that there are “positive social tensions”, as some groups such as the landless movements are occupying lands in order to draw attention to their demands.


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Paraguay: Mass Celebrated in Guaraní · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Guillermo Verdún of Paraguayo [es] presents photographs of a mass in Asunción, Paraguay, which was celebrated in the indigenous language of Guaraní. The service was celebrated with the participation of various choirs and orchestras.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Eduardo Avila


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Poland: Homophobia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Raf Uzar reports that the Polish president “has managed to get himself inaugurated into the infamous HRW Hall of Shame for being homophobic.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Poland: Religion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian writes about religion in Poland.


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Russia: Foreign Investment · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Two-Zero writes about Russia's foreign investment.


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Saudi Arabia: Flogging for Professor · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“A Saudi University professor is facing flogging and imprisonment for breaking the law. He was caught having a cup of coffee with a lady who was not related to him in a coffee shop. He is actually facing an eight month prison sentence and 150 lashes!” explains Saudi blogger Rasha.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Serbia: Coalition Options · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

East Ethnia writes on the coalition-building process in Serbia: “[…] the question remains whether for DS, the price of forming a coalition with SPS might not be higher than the price of spending some time in opposition.”


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Serbia: Eurovision · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgrade 2.0 writes about the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.


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Singapore Freeze · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

DK uploads a video of the Singapore Freeze.

author: Mong Palatino


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Singapore: Green campaigns · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Simple Jean thinks it is apt to launch green campaigns with so many natural disasters hitting the Asian region today.


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Soviet History: Milk Stores on Flickr · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stephan of Everybody I Love You has created a Soviet Milk Stores group on Flickr (four pictures there so far).


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Sri Lanka: Fighting Homophobia · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Lost Landscape on the immense amount of work it takes to fight homophobia in Sri Lanka.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Storm batters north Philippines · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Pine for Pine and My Journal wrote about the strong typhoon which battered north Philippines last weekend


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Trinidad & Tobago: Failed State?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jumbie's Watch links to an article in the Trinidad Guardian which makes reference to the twin island republic as one of 96 countries “in danger of becoming a failed state”, adding: “Much work is needed in 4 areas…security, health, education, and in the judicial system.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Masquerade · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“There is so much to do in Trinidad and Tobago, not just to make it a “developed” nation…but to keep it civilised, to protect what is left of its humanist traditions. And so little of the work is being done: crassness, violence, corruption and neglect are slowly but surely eating out the heart and soul of this little, once-beautiful nation”: Jeremy Taylor is looking for answers.


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Ukraine: Crimean Tatar Deportations; “Tercuman” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about the 64th anniversary of the Crimean Tatar deportations by Stalin – and about Tercuman, a newspaper launched by Ismail Gaspirali, a Crimean Tatar educator and publisher.


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Ukraine: “Great Ukrainians” Voting Fraud? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Okeksandr Demchenko writes about the alleged voting fraud in the “Great Ukrainians” TV show.


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Ukraine: Kyiv Graffiti · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Moscow Through Brown Eyes offers samplings of Kyiv graffiti – here and here.


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Ukraine: Political Ads · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A guided tour through Ukraine's current political advertisement – at Ukrainiana.


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Venezuela: Samuel Villegas and His Last Book · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Samuel Villegas, an admired Venezuelan writer, whose name is often mentioned alongside other well-known writers (such as Jesús Enrique Guédez [es], Arnaldo Acosta Bello, Ángel Acevedo and Rafael Cadenas [es]) was recently buried after several years of convalescence. A few days before his passing, he received a last homage and presented his last book, Muros del Sol (The Sun's Walls) inside the hospital while accompanied by his friends, who arranged a simple, but very moving service.
Villegas will be remembered for his poetry and other works in which he provided clever insights on culture and education in Venezuela. Nevertheless, although the media accomplished the task of spreading the news, a few blogs dedicated some lines to an author during his last days. Villegas was buried with roses in one of the poorest cemeteries of the city surrounded by a light silence.
Julia Márquez Otero from Letras en la Red [es]  says:
Samuel Villegas entrega el poemario Muros del Sol con la certeza de la faena cumplida, del verso madurado durante más de tres décadas de expresión poética. Villegas publicó su primera obra, La señal del primer hombre, en 1959 (…) Desde entonces, su escritura pulsó lo estético sin abandonar el reclamo social en libros como Príncipe caído príncipe y El loro que mentía (relatos).
Así, los 310 poemas que propone Villegas pueden ser aprehendidos como no-lugares (o espacios borrados de su condición inicial) de encuentro entre el lector y el mundo, unas veces exaltado “Entiende, ningún árbol ha crecido debajo de otro árbol. / Deja al Norte en el Norte. / Y recuerda que estás al Sur, latino, abajo”.
Samuel Villegas sonríe ante las dudas más profundas que lo atraviesan a él y a su lector, “Yo no creo en Dios, / dije, / Y Dios se rió de buena gana. / Mis ríos interiores se desbordaron inusitadamente”… Y no se detiene en la nostalgia del pasado, sino que lo recupera en una advertencia suspendida entre los versos: “nada puede ser reconstruido / sin que la palabra pérdida / apunte certeramente hacia el pasado”…
Samuel Villegas presents Muros del Sol with the certainty of an accomplished work, of mature verses that has been growing during three decades of poetic expression. Villegas published his first work La señal del primer hombre, in 1959. Ever since, his writing followed the aesthetic without leaving behind the social conscious in books and short stories such as Príncipe caído príncipe y El loro que mentía (A Fallen Prince and The Lying Parrot)
Thus, these 310 poems written by Villegas can be comprehended as non-places (or erased spaces from their original condition) for an encounter between the reader and the world, once exalted: Remember, no tree has grown under another tree / Leave the North in the North / And remember: you are at the South, Latin, below.
The poet smiles at those who doubts and attack him and that attack the reader: I don't believe in God/ I said/ And God laughed affably / My inner rivers overflowed suddenly. He doesn't stay nostalgic in the past, instead, he brings it back in suspended warnings from verse to verse: Nothing can be reconstituted / without the lost word / pointing truthfully to the past.
In CCS (Caracas) blog Iván R. Méndez comments about the new book :
En Muros del Sol, Villegas nos adentra en un universo conformado por más de 300 poemas circulares, que van y viene en torno a los tópicos que lo inquietan y que Julia Márquez logra precisar al decir que “esta obra se deja abordar a través de doce itinerarios bien definidos, en los cuales se intuye el pulso severo del lector ante las palabras que no le dan oportunidad a que las domeñe o las rechace (.Es… ) el puro goce de la palabra plasmada en el papel”.
In Muros del Sol, Villegas takes us to a universe made of more than 300 circular poems that comes and goes around restless topics. Julia Marquez goes straight to the main point when she says that “this work can be read through twelve well-defined schedules, in which the severe pulse of the reader can be felt when facing words that are not given the opportunity to be dominated or rejected. It is pure enjoyment of words on paper”
Blogger and GV author Luis Carlos Díaz gives a very interesting insight about the lack of information about Villegas:
Poca, poquísima información en internet sobre la muerte del poeta Samuel Villegas esta semana que pasó. Esperamos unos días a ver si la blogosfera literaria venezolana decía algo al respecto, pero no hubo movimiento. Tampoco ha sido registrada su estela por la vida de las letras venezolanas en la Wikipedia. Como si fuese de otra época y sus letras en tinta no hayan saltado la barda de la sociedad de la información. Cuánta formación falta de este lado. Escasea la sensibilidad para registrar lo nuestro en Internet.
Pocos días después de presentar su último libro editado, desde la cama donde convalecía, falleció el poeta a los 75 años. Y la nota de su muerte reseñada por el diario Tal Cual, donde con rosas lo despidieron.
There is little, very little information online this past week about the death of poet Samuel Villegas. We were waiting some days to see if the literary blogosphere in Venezuela would say something about it, but we found little activity.  His life has not been registered in Wikipedia. It was as if he was from another time and as if his words had not jumped into information's society. How much information is missing here? There is a lack of sensitivity to register what is ours on the Internet.
A few days after presenting his last book in bed where he was resting, the 75 year-old poet died. The note of his death can be seen in the Journal Tal Cual in which they said goodbye with roses.

author: Laura Vidal


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Angola: Blogging newspaper articles · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Koluki writes about her series, “Echoes From the Angolan Press,” which contains full transcripts of selected articles published in Angolan newspapers: “I intended this series primarily to serve those Angolans and other Portuguese-speakers outside the country who might have limited and/or irregular access to the Angolan media. However, I trust that speakers of other languages will be able to resort to the existing online translators, if so interested.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Armenia: HIV Awareness · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Armenia and Me reports and posts photographs from Sunday's annual HIV Awareness event held in Yerevan. The blog says that over 60 Red Cross youth volunteers marched through the center of the capital with candles. The event ended by creating an illuminated HIV ribbon by one of the city's most popular cinemas.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Out of Change · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Dominic in Armenia comments on how frustrating buying goods with bills in the local currency can be. In particular he recounts how even if a shop has change it will often say it doesn't to avoid having to take bills over 5,000 drams (about $16). Small change is also a problem with shops sometimes handing over boxes of matches instead of money.


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Armenia: Sirusho Eurovision Update · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped Gay Armenia says that Sirusho, the country's entry in this week's Eurovision Song Contest, is the best yet and stands a good chance of winning the international song contest. The blog also says that if she does, next year's Eurovision would be held in Yerevan and attract the attention of LGBT communities in Europe.


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Armenia/Azerbaijan: Eurovision Semi-Final Results · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Life Gets In The Way reports that as predicted by many blogs, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have made it through to the 24 May final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The blog says that the vocal range of the Azerbaijani act was amazing and their performance show-stopping. However, the blog agrees with Unzipped: Gay Armenia which says that the vocals from Armenia's entry were disappointing. Meanwhile, my The Caucasus Knot wonders how geopolitics manifested itself during voting given the effective state of war that exists between the two countries. Regardless, the countdown to Saturday's final in the international music competition continues.


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Bahamas: Thoughts on Crime   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Rick Lowe at WeblogBahamas.com laments that crime is out of control, while Craig Butler over at Bahama Pundit thinks that parliamentary hearings on crime should be broadcast on television.


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Bahrain: Khaleejis in Melbourne  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Naz, who studies in Melbourne, Australia, asks: How would you spot a Khaleeji (Arab Gulf) guy in Melbourne?


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Bangladesh: Microfinance as panacea · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Words and Bites on microfinance being offered as a panacea for all development issues.


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Barbados: Capacity for Tourism  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Tourism is the life blood of the Barbados economy. Any decisions made outside Barbados that would have a negative impact on our survival is cause for concern”: Bajan Global Report says that the recent decision by US air carriers to cut their capacity because of rising fuel prices could mean trouble for Caribbean economies that are “still relying on sun, sea and sand!”


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Book on Bosnian Americans · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Samaha writes about a book on the history of Bosnians in the United States: Bosnian Americans of Chicagoland, by Samira Puskar.


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Brunei: Public and private schools · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Local Freakonomics wonders why many Bruneians think private schools are better than public schools.


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Cameroon: House of Falling Women · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Cameroonian blogger, Rosemary Ekosso, publishes a book titled “House of Falling Women”: “House of Falling Women is the story of a young woman with quixotic ideas about improving the lot of women who finds out that that the crusader’s cloak is an uncomfortable one.”


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China: Be Humble · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In reflection upon the earthquake, Huyong said that Chinese people should learn to be more humble and fearful of the nature  in its developmental model [zh].

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Donation Guideline · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Unicorn criticized the donation guideline within collective owned work unit (or danwei). The guideline is to ensure that one cannot donate more than their superiors.


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China: Earthquake Rumors  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated an article about the spreading of earthquake rumors.


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China: Ethnically diverse forum shut down · Global Voices
John Kennedy

On May 15, Uighur Online, the main online forum serving to bridge the huge communication gap between China's Muslim population, other minority ethnic groups, and Han Chinese, was shut down.
All that remains now of Uighur Online, courtesy of archive.org
As is the norm in China, no reason is given for website closures, just an order. All that can now be found at the site or its sister site Uighur Biz are instructions on how to donate to Chinese Red Cross, and this message:
所有各民族的朋友：
大家好！我们带着非常沉重的心情通知大家，由于众所周知的原因，维吾尔在线被关闭。
感谢大家一直以来对维吾尔在线的支持、关注和帮助，更感谢所有维吾尔在线管理团队成员，论坛版主、编辑和专栏作家、专家、学者的辛勤付出。维吾尔在线建站短短两年以来，在一个多民族的管理团队的努力下，日均PV值达到百万左右，注册用户数万人。在这里我们认识和结交了许多不同民族的朋友，彼此之间的了解也更加全面和深入，维吾尔在线打通了民间的民族交流渠道，我们坚信，民间对话交流是很有意义的。
网站投稿信箱：uighurtor@126.com uighuronline@gmail.com
站务联系QQ：237505591 技术支持QQ：80870896
维吾尔在线
2008-5-15
Hello everyone! It is with extremely heavy hearts that we hereby notify you that due to those reasons that everyone knows, Uighur Online has been closed.
Thank you everyone for your constant support, care and help for Uighur Online, and even more thanks to the members of the management team, the BBS webmasters, the editors, columnists, experts and the academics who have put so much into Uighur Online. In the two short years that Uighur Online has been around and with the efforts of a multi-ethnic management team, the site receives on average around one million pageviews per day, with tens of thousands of registered users. With all the people we've come to know and friends we've made from many different ethnic groups, our understanding of each other has both broadened and deepened. Uighur Online provided grassroots communication channels between different ethnic groups, allowing for conversations and discussions which, we firmly believe, were quite meaningful.
E-mail contacts for written contributions to the site: uighurtor@126.com uighuronline@gmail.com
Uighur Online
May 15, 2008
The well-known Uighur Biz blogger on Sina.com adds that the “Harmonization Department” which “cares for” these things was responsible for the closure; one reader there speculates on the reasons for Uighur Online's closure writes:
政府出于对言论的管制而关闭维吾尔在线是非常不明智的,因为不管维吾尔在线有多少杂音,可他们毕竟代表着的,是主张开放,主张对话,主张沟通,主张学习西方的维吾尔人(哈萨克人….),维吾尔在线的关闭将是一个重大的分水岭,主张沟通对话的渠道被关闭,意味着将有更多的人选择自我封闭,拒绝对话,或者选择地下活动,内地人失去了一个直接了解维吾尔大众思想的窗口,将不得不通过那些在象牙塔里学者的研究报告了解民情.
From Baidu to Bullog to small local BBS forums, the response has been strong, but it too is being silenced. On May 19 this post already had six pages of comments; on May 20 it is somehow now down to just four pages.
What surprises many Uighur Online users is that the website was even properly licensed, the excuse most often used by authorities to shut blogs and BBS websites down. Indeed, the ‘Crowd of Spectators Out of Control’ blogger, who writes about Xinjiang culture, mentions in a post late last month a conversation s/he had with the Uighur Online webmasters, retelling the absurdities the staff there went through recently in trying to report one UO user for inflaming racial hatred within the forums, and being kicked around like a football from police department to police department in Beijing and then back to the local internet supervision office, with none of them willing to address the situation.
Not to be mistaken as a sign of authorities’ unwillingness to punish people for alleged hate speech. Uighur Online's attraction was in that it tolerated occasionally offensive and hateful opinions as valid parts of discussion; its closure, aside from being illegal, now only demonstrates the short-sightedness of those responsible. As with any influential blog or BBS forum in China, Uighur Online's administrators were already in theory forced to censor any language which might alarm authorities. Now, all talks are off.
Well-known novelist Yao Xinyong, who writes on ethnic themes, in an essay published last fall, reprinted now on Gsoms Dong‘s Sohu blog, describes Uighur Online as such:
在这个论坛参与发帖讨论的人，有来自全国各地的维吾尔族、汉族、藏族、哈萨克、回族、朝鲜族等等；所涉及的论题涵盖面相当广，文化、政治、习俗、经济、文学等一应俱全；其视野所向，既立足于新疆本土，又放眼中国乃至世界。文章或发言，大都坦诚、直率、甚至激烈，但又相当理性，大都具有增进了解，促进不同族群之间团结的用心，网站的氛围非常好。这与网站主持者所秉持的观点有直接的关系――“我们可以斥责政府的过失，批判国家的弊端，揭露民族的弱点，但在发表的言语里请尊重自己的民族和祖国，这是最起码的”。正是本着这样的方针，他们一方面充分尊重网络发言的自由性，另一方面，又不断地删除非理性、破坏民族团结的帖子，屏蔽一再发表这类言词者的帐户。

author: John Kennedy


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China: Listing Collapsed School Building · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Myscnu, a teacher discussion board, tried to put together a list of collapsed school buildings in the Sichuan earthquake. So far there are about 40 in the list.


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China: Thank You to Japanese Rescue Team · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhang Hui, from china-week, compared the attitude of Chinese and Japanese rescue team in the earthquake relief work. The blogger expressed his thankfulness to Japanese friends for bringing a new humanitarian practice to China[zh]. A recent Xinhua photos showed how Japanese rescue team mourned for the deaths when bodies were dug out from the earthquake ruins.


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Costa Rica: Lecture for Entrepreneurs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Costa Rica Valley [es] posts information about a lecture called “One Idea = One Business” to be held for potential entrepreneurs in San José.


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Cuba: Dissidents & Independence · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Child of the Revolution blogs about claims by Cuba's Ministry for Foreign Affairs that “the top US diplomat in Havana…is handing over money from Cuban exiles to some dissidents on the island”, while El Cafe Cubano adds: “Today is May 2oth, Cuba's date of Independence. Who would know from all the media accounts which have the dictatorship accusing Parmly funneling money to dissidents.”


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Cuba: Warnings from Sanchez · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense links to a post that Havana-based blogger Yoani Sanchez has written, which suggests that she may soon be arrested, saying: “Please pray for this brave woman, and for her continued safety.”


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Earthquake in Malaysia and Indonesia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

An earthquake was felt in Indonesia and Malaysia yesterday. nicster^ rants v.3 wrote: “Barely a couple of hours ago, I suddenly felt nauseous. At first, I thought that it was just a reaction from the bad tummy I’ve had all afternoon.” Read also some Twitter posts about the tremor in Sumatra.


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Ecuador: President Correa Criticized During European Visit · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Last week we reported that Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was received warmly in Spain and proved to have a different relationship with the King of Spain, and did not necessarily follow the lead of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, as has been reported.  Yet, Correa encountered plenty of criticism from members of the crowds for his apparent inaction on the demands of the immigrant community and for his anti-Colombia rhetoric.  One of the most notable incident was recorded on video after a meeting at the House of the Americas in Spain in the presence of 1500 people. Correa was publicly criticized by an Ecuadoran immigrant, who claimed that the president has not been paying attention to the demands of the immigrant community.  As the president was leaving, he called out to the man and said, “because of idiots like you, the entire Ecuadoran community looks bad”
This unprofessional behavior drew the criticism of the Ecuadoran media and bloggers, as well as members of the Constituent Assembly.  Dionicio Cando [es], a member of the Constituent Assembly for the Morona Santiago province refers to an article written by well know Ecuadoran journalism Carlos Vera, who asks who will incarcerate Correa for such an insult to the immigrant:
La gran mayoría del país resiste todo menos la humillación. El ecuatoriano nunca dejará de ser digno. Ya verán cómo el indigno gesto de un Primer Mandatario es el primer hito en la reversión de un totalitarismo al cual Ecuador no quiere estar sujeto. El déspota lo sabe. Por eso lo desespera “un idiota”. Terminó de caérsele la careta.
The vast majority of the country withstands anything but humiliation. The Ecuadoran will never put aside his pride. You will see how the unworthy gesture of a President is the first step towards a turn to totalitarianism of which Ecuador does not want to belong to. The despot knows it. That is why “an idiot” made him desperate. His mask just fell.
La Alharaca [es], a blog from Guayaquil writes that Correa did address the topic of immigration during visits to Madrid, Brussels and France and asked that immigration should not be criminalized.  However, the topic of Colombia also came up when a Colombian student criticized Correa's anti-Colombian stance. [es]
Alex Anazco  from Cambiemos Ecuador [es] post videos and thinks that Correa should learn lessons from Colombian Uribe, instead of calling others names.
Mientras el país presenta cada vez más índices económicos preocupantes, el Ec. Correa en lugar de alentar y buscar inversiones, cruzó el charco para gruńir, lo contrario de su homólogo Uribe, que a más de recibir propuestas de Bill Gates [tomado de El Federalista] fue a Europa por más inversiones. Pero el muchachito de presidente que tenemos, chabacano y sabroso como él solo, no se lo ocurre mejor cosa que decir ¡Por idiotas como tú! ante la inquietud de un ecuatoriano en el extranjero… que lástima. ¿Alguna constructiva sugerencia?…
While the country has increasingly troubling economic indicators, Ec. Correa,  rather than encourage and look for investments , crossed the pond grumbling; which is the opposite of his counterpart Uribe, who in addition to receiving proposals from Bill Gates [taken from http://el-federalista.blogspot.com -The Federalist], went to Europe looking for more investments. But our childish and vulgar president can't think of anything better to say than ‘Because of idiots like you!’ to the concerns of Ecuadorans abroad … what a pity. Does anyone have any constructive suggestions? …
This is just one in other issues that is affecting Correa's popularity. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has jumped ship and now is in opposition to Correa for “continuing right-wing neoliberal economic and racist social policies.”  In addition, the laptop found in the presence of Raúl Reyes, the FARC guerilla leader who was killed in the border dispute had shown ties between Correa and the group. However, Correa has said  that he's going to step down  if it is proven that his government has backed the leftist FARC.
For the video of the incident between the president and Ecuadoran immigrant see the YouTube video.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Georgia: Right to Return · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Steady State comments on the passing by the UN National Assembly of a resolution recognizing the right of Georgian refugees to return to the breakaway region of Abkhazia. However, the blog says that despite its passage there was little interest shown by UN member states, most of which either abstained or didn't attend the session. In a second post, the blog casts doubts on the Georgian president's ability to fulfill promises that those refugees will actually do so.


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Government confiscates Cambodia Daily supplement · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

deathpower reports about the government's confiscation of Cambodia Daily newspaper because of  its “Burma Daily” supplement. details are sketchy writes: “The speculation is that the government is worried that the Cambodia Daily will, if it hasn’t already, print embarrassing revelations about the Burmese government, thus causing a fast ally to lose face.”


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Honduras: Regional Summit on Climate Change · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Honduras will host a Central American summit on the effects of climate change on the region's economies and what can be done about the issue writes Honduras News.


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India: Food and migration · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An article on food and migration catches Vantage Point‘s eye and results in some fascinating insight.


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India: Women and honour · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indian Muslims Blog on honor killings – a twisted way to redeem “family honour”.


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Iran: Blogger writes book on the impact of the Internet · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Cyrus Farivar is a USA-based blogger, journalist and writer. He is currently working on a book about the impact of the internet on society. Cyrus writes about internet impact on Iran, Senegal, South Korea and Senegal. He was recently in Iran and has taken several photos of Iranian carpets, food, buildings and nature too.
Q: You visited Iran recently after many years. Was it a cultural shock? Was there any difference between what you imagined, and what you came to know about Iran in reality?
A: Iran wasn't a culture shock at all. It was pretty much what I expected, culturally. I did grow up in a half-Iranian family in California, after all. Iranians are terribly hospitable people and always want to be helpful and welcoming to family members like me who have never been to Iran.
Q: You are writing a book on the Internet and its impact on society. One fourth of your book is about Iran. Can you explain this project?
A: I am writing a book about the history and effects of the Internet in four countries around the world, including Estonia, Iran, Senegal and South Korea. It explores how the political and economic histories of these countries intersect with the arrival of the Internet in their countries. It is tentatively titled “The Internet of Elsewhere” and will be published by Rutgers University Press (USA) in late 2009.
Q: Why did you choose these four countries for your book?
A: I chose these countries because they each represent vastly different experiences when it comes to the Internet.
Senegal, because it's a Sub-Saharan African country, and yet, relative to many others in the region is politically and economically stable. It should be ripe for greater Internet penetration, and yet, it's not.
Estonia, because of the rapid changes that it has gone through since its emergence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It went from barely any communication with the outside world in 1991 to having more mobile phones than citizens today.
South Korea, because it has the largest rate of Internet penetration in the world and has the highest and cheapest bandwidth in the world. How did this happen?
Iran, for personal reasons but also because it's interesting to watch how the Internet, a disruptive technology in and of itself, intersects with the theocracy and budding democratic thinkers of the early 21st century.
Q: Have you found any commonalities in these countries?

A: I have found common elements in so far as the Internet has had a dramatic effect on the contemporary histories of each country. Even in a country like Senegal, the Internet is cheap enough to the point where even the poorest kids in Dakar can pool their money between three or four of them to share access on a machine in a cybercafe for an hour fairly regularly. Each of these countries would look different without the proliferation of the Internet.
Q: Do you think blogs have any real influence in Iranian media and society?
A: I think that blogs do have an impact on Iran, but I wonder how much of an impact they can have now when so many blogs are filtered, and the bandwidth is slowed. Sure, many Iranians know how to use proxies and other tools to get around the blocks, but the simple fact that many young Iranian thinkers and writers have had to leave since 2001, makes me wonder who are the winners and losers in this case. The answers aren't obvious.
Q: Did you meet any bloggers in Iran? What challenges are there for cyber activists?
A: I didn't meet any bloggers in Iran, but I did meet with Shahram Sharif of ITIran.com and Sina Tabesh of Wikipedia Persian. I have spoken with many bloggers by phone and by IM previously, but unfortunately have not met many of them. It's hard for cyber activists, even those who live outside Iran, to at once speak out against the government and feel safe in what they say, and how they say it.
Q: How was your personal experience surfing and using internet in Iran? Slow, filtered…?
A: I stayed with my grandmother, who, despite living in North Tehran, did not have Internet access at her apartment. During the two weeks I was there, I was only to use the Internet once, from a cyber café in the Hotel Aseman in Esfahan. I was able to make a Skype call to the US with no problem. That being said, I did access a VERY limited version of the Internet on my iPhone — oddly, the only website that I was able to access with any regularity was The New York Times.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Israel: Success at Last  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Israel, Haim Watzman celebrates the success of his son at school – after a lot of hard work and the frustrations of being different.


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Jamaica: Un-Welcome?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Montego Bay Day by Day says that one unique local restaurant would be “extremely happy to welcome you” – once you read through the fine print.


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Japan and China: Softbank and Alibaba Joint Venture · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Serkan Toto from Toykotronic blogs about the Softbank and Alibaba.com's joint venture in developing B2B web space in Japan.


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Japan: Online Sharing of Creative Work · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Serkan Toto from Asiajin introduces 7 web services targeting at creative people for sharing of their creative work.


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Kazakhstan: Rakhatgate’s Implications for Kazakhgate · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Zhanna Zhukova reviews the reports on recent statement by Rakhat Aliev — former son-in-law of the Kazakhstan president — that he allegedly would speak at the so-called Kazakhgate trial.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kenya: National Forensic Science Association · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya-Byte attended the inauguration ceremony of National Forensic Science Association of Kenya: “A most commendable effort by two dynamic ladies is bearing fruit. Lynne T. Farrah and Sophie Mukwana (both Directors of Biotech Forensics Ltd) came up with the idea of establishing a national forensic science association. We had a successful inaugural meeting on the 7th of May, 2008 in Nairobi Club.”


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Libya: The Novelty of Blogging  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Libyan blogger Highlander writes: “Once upon a time I was a prolific blogger, but I found myself to have drastically cut down in the last twelve months or so. I am not sure what it is exactly. A mild disillusion, a little weariness perhaps or has the novelty passed.”


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Libya: Tree of Shade · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

In 1996, Khadija Teri took seeds of a Florida tree to her new home in Libya. “I planted two of them in my garden and they overhang in the street in front of my house offering the only respite from the harsh north African sun on my block. People fight to park their cars in the cool shade, oftentimes I am left with my car in the sun,” she explains.


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Malaysia: Mahathir quits ruling party · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad has resigned from the ruling party. Tumpang sekole asks: Will Mahathir's move spark off the possibility of a snap election?


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Masdar: A Carbon Neutral City Planned in Jordan · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

Arab Environment Watch posts on news about Masdar, saying “This is exciting news emerging from the planners of Masdar city, the first zero carbon city in the world.”

author: Juliana Rotich


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Myanmar: Report from Yangon · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

New Mandala received a report from a correspondent based in Yangon, Myanmar. An excerpt of the account: “The stories from the night of the cyclone that the villagers shared with me were gruesome. I was told how streets were turned into rivers through torrential rainfall and storm surges of over 10 feet…It is not only devastating that many lost all their property, but long term income generating opportunities have been drastically interrupted or altogether destroyed.”


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Myanmar: Situation in Laputta · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

ko-htike received an email from a friend who had seen the situation in Laputta, Myanmar: “More than ten thousands victims are staying, sleeping on the wet ground under the miserable roofs in the camps of the monasteries and pagodas; and some victims are staying outside in the rain. They have no proper toilets and enough water for drinking and cleaning up. Clinics have no enough medicine for patients. Only the hospital is full with the patients and it can't accept next new patients because of lack of medicine and free beds.”


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Myanmar: Through the eyes of a mission worker · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Obnoxious 5xmom uploads an email of a mission worker in Myanmar: “It is a sad sight. Nature unleashed an orgy of death and mayhem, wounding an already suffering population. Yesterday, with tears in their eyes, women explained how the waves snatched their babes from their bosoms. A mighty tidal wave ensured that tears stayed on as the children embraced watery graves.”


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New Research Programme for Sustainable Decision-making · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

The Inspired Economy blog writes of a new research program being launched. “It aims to support the world’s decision-makers in their promotion of sustainability and at ensuring that their decision-making will rest on scientific foundations leading to – real change.”


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Paraguay: First Actions for Lugo · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Edgar Ruiz Diaz of Las Preguntas de Venerando [es] provides his thoughts on the first steps that Paraguayan President-elect Fernando Lugo should take upon taking office, such as lowering his own salary, as well as of senators and deputies.


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Russia: British Fans and UEFA Cup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user yashin posts LJ user marie_automne‘s pictures of the British football fans arriving in Moscow for the Champions League final. Pictures of Moscow posts a photo report from the “idol worship” in Moscow's Red Square, where the UEFA Cup is being displayed next to Lenin's Tomb.


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Russia: Documentary on Politkovskaya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog writes about a new documentary “on the life, work, and death of Anna Politkovskaya.”


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Russia, Lithuania: Knight News Challenge Winners · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Oleksandr Demchenko writes about the Russian and Lithuanian winners of the Knight News Challenge 2008.


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Russia: Migrant Labor Quotas Exhausted · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes that Russian companies need more foreign workers than the number allowed by the current quotas.


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Russia: Oleg Kozlovsky Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Political activist Oleg Kozlovsky blogs about his release from jail: “I look a little worse for wear because I refused to eat while in prison as a way of protesting against the obviously illegal nature of my arrest and trial.” LJ user ivansim reported (RUS) that Kozlovsky was hospitalized shortly after his release; LJ user antimil added (RUS) that he was later moved to intensive care unit. A comment (RUS) from ivansim: “No, no one had been beating him [in jail]. And, according to his mother, nothing terrible has happened, things are more or less okay…”


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Russia: Semion Chelyuskin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about Semion Chelyuskin, a Russian explorer who reached the northernmost point of mainland Eurasia in 1742.


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Slovenia: Referendum on Regions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Slovenian parliament yesterday passed a motion to hold a referendum on establishing regions in Slovenia,” Sleeping With Pengovsky reports.


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South Africa: Is xenophobic South Africa ready for 2010? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bomseh, a Kenya blogger in South Africa, asks, “Is xenophobic South Africa ready for 2010?”: “It is therefore with much shock and disbelief that I watched unfolding events on the news last night about the recent wave of xenophobic attacks in Johannesburg and neighbouring towns within the province of Gauteng. The hate crimes, similar to what we experienced in Kenya not long ago is reportedly spreading like bushfire and as at the moment, slightly less than 100 foreigners have been killed, hundreds more injured in the fracas and many more displaced.”


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South Korea: Links to Kwangju Uprising · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Matt puts up very informative links to essays and studies on Kwangju Uprising.


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South Korea: Teachers as Part-time Cops · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

CINA comments on the South Korean government education authority's move in mobilizing 800 teachers to disperse student protesters in the anti-U.S beef rally.


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Sudan: Sami al-Hajj Released, Khartoum Attacked · Global Voices
SudaneseDrima

This round-up highlights the two most talked about recent topics in the Sudanese blogosphere.
Let's get started with the release of the Sudanese al-Jazeera journalist Sami al-Hajj from Guantanamo Bay where he was held for six years without trial.
Eman was evidently happy:
إنتو حاسيـــن بالأنا حاسة بيهه؟؟
هل إنتو مبسوطيــــن زيي كدة؟؟؟
She asks “can you feel what I'm feeling?? Are you as happy as I am??”
Drima had this to say about the matter:
I’ve held a very simple position on this matter. Give the man a fair trial, and if he’s found guilty, lock him up behind bars for as long as possible. If he is found innocent, release him as soon as possible. That’s it. Full stop. Is that too much to ask?
Amjad blogged about Sami's release but then removed his post for a vague reason stated below:
I just want to point out that the post of Sami Al-Hajj's interview which I posted 2 nights ago is now removed. The post took another path other than the one it was opened for, and hence I thought it would be best to close it to avoid that path it was not opened for.
We believe that Sami Al-Hajj was released on humanitarian  basis and we should all just hope that the entire world lives in peace regardless of race, religion or politics.
Thanks. :)
Daana, just like Eman, was also happy after hearing the news of the release:
Sami al Hajj is free….after 6 years in Guantanamo Bay
I haven't been this happy in a while
And now, let's move on to the news about the attacks on Khartoum, Sudan's capital. Drima blogged a thorough coverage of what happened:
The Darfurian rebel group Justice and Equality Movement mounted a bold attack on Khartoum less than two days ago but was stopped at the outskirts of the city by the Sudanese Armed Forces. It was a big battle involving helicopters and significant aerial bombardment.
… There are very mixed and heated Sudanese sentiments over this daring move with some (mainly the Southern Sudanese and some Darfurians) staunchly supporting it and others against it.
As for me, I strongly condemn the attack. The United States and the UN have condemned it too. I’m glad they’ve made it clear they won’t accept this kind of behavior. It undermines all efforts aimed at implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and finding a political solution for Darfur.
Andrew Heavens, a freelance writer based in Khartoum made a nice list of the possible reasons behind the attack:
Kizzie demanded that the government steps down!
The rebels are in the capital. Yes, innocent civilians are going to die and destroying the capital is not going to help the crises in Darfur in anyway, but it was going to happen…sooner or later.
What to do?
We need a transitional government right now, Bashir needs to STEP DOWN!
Hand over the power to a transitional government for the next year, until the 2009 elections.
If the government doesn't take this seriously and implement the darfur peace agreement, the whole country is going to collapse.
If the concerned international community cares about Sudan, they should pressure the government to step down.
She also posted the following pictures of the aftermath of the attack:
Meanwhile, JohnAkec published a long post about peace in South Sudan.

author: SudaneseDrima


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Tanzania: Review of Bongoland II · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Star Tribune review a Swahili movie, Bongoland II: “The beauty of “Bongoland II” arises in its misleading simplicity. Although it could be said that the film tracks Juma's adaptation, it uses larger issues to highlight the ways in which Juma is not – and may never be – fully readjusted. From family secrets to workplace drama, reconnecting with friends to waiting for his girlfriend, it becomes clear that Juma might not fully reclaim who he once was.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Crash and Burn?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

This Beach Called Life is worried about the direction Trinidad & Tobago is taking: “I am certain the economy will soon crash.  I am basing my economic prediction, not on a feeling, but on newspaper commentaries, comments by the Governor of the Central Bank and the imbecilic looks on the faces of those in the Ministry of Finance.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Emergency 101 · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A fatal road accident along Trinidad's North Coast leads KnowProSE.com to comment: “Emergency medicine infrastructure and preventative measures are not a priority, it seems. It seems a victim of economic triage…does the Government of Trinidad and Tobago value the lives of citizens and visitors, much less the quality of life?”


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Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Telling Stories  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Trinidadian-born filmmaker Frances-Ann Solomon's A Winter Tale opens in local theatres, Jamaican blogger Geoffrey Philp quotes a particularly poignant review: “A storyteller is a shape-shifter who uses every tool, every image, every sense to draw you in, capture your imagination.”


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UAE: Adorable Old Colleague · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kinan Jarjous, who lives in the UAE, writes about an elderly colleague with him in his office and says: “She's soooooooooooooo adoooooorablllllllllleeeeeeeeeee I want to gobble her all up!”


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UAE: Homemade Food from Damascus  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Syrian blogger Kinan, who lives in the UAE, got urgent home made food supplies from his grandmother – sent to him all the way from Damascus.


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Uganda: Being gay in Uganda · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Being gay in Uganda is like banging your head against the wall: “Can you imagine how hard it is realizing that you are gay, growing up and realizing that your sexual orientation is different in such a society, where ‘officially’ sex is a taboo subject, demonized. And on television and radios, and in school and rallies that is what you hear? Knowing that you are gay, yet the very ‘thought’ of sex is being condemned as evil? That is, sexual thoughts are sinful thoughts, the very expression is more evil.”


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Ukraine: Ad Campaign of Civil Activists of Kyiv · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana dissects the ad campaign of one more party running in the May 25 Kyiv mayoral election.


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Videos: Creativity in facing the water crisis · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

With two very recent natural disasters in mind: the cyclone in Myanmar and the Earthquake in Sichuan, China, the topic of getting pure and drinkable water to needy populations has come back into the conversation.  Following, several videos which propose different solutions to supply clean water or at least make it easier for people to have a healthful liquid to drink.
These solutions have the bases covered: well digging and water for maintaining health and hygiene after emergencies, a  PlayPump and a  Q-Drum roll-able water container to transport the liquid: from underneath the ground and from far away and A Bio-Sand filter and purification bicycle to help make this water they transport, clean and safe for drinking and use.
First, from South Sudan, a Video Journal which speaks about the challenges faced by the Water for Sudan project in order to build and maintain wells in rural areas of this impoverished area and how it doesn't really matter how hard it is to get started and running, because in the end, it is worth every effort.
Then, from Pakistan, Action Against Hunger decided to help the communities who had lost absolutely everything to slowly regain their confidence in a better future by including clean water in their plans. The following video from Dogooder.tv:A few projects which make it easy for people to transport water from one area to the next. First, the Q drum which is a rolling bottle that can be led by a rope. Second, a play pump which pumps water from the underground watershet to a water tank up high while children play and  prototype bicycle that purifies water as it is ridden.
The prototype water purification/transportation bicycle can be seen on minute 1:00.
In the areas of purification we can see the Bio-Sand filter in action, also from Action Against Hunger:
Another similar clay pot filtration product is being promoted by Potters for Peace, who train local artisans to make clay pots which can be used to filter water. Complete instructions to make the pots and filters can be found here. The following video is of Ron Rivera's presentation in Design for the other 90 percent symposium:

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Zimbabwe: The plight of Zimbabweans in South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Xenophobic attacks in South Africa are felt in Zimbabwe: “The xenophobic attacks against migrant workers in South Africa is having its inevitable knock on impact on people here in Zimbabwe too.”


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Afghanistan: A Case of the Judiciary · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

SunLeaf tells story of a Journalist student convicted of insulting Islam (the punishment for this crime is death), which vividly reflects the state of the Judiciary in Afghanistan.


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Africa: Powering mobile payments in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mobile Africa reports about a mobile payment system empowering rural communities in Africa: “Leading mobile payments provider Mi-Pay has signed a contract with an East African operator to deliver a mobile money ecosystem to its subscribers in rural communities. Mi-Pay’s technology and expertise will enable subscribers to benefit from international remittance services, as well as support a network of agents to support domestic payments via mobile.”


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Armenia: Human Rights Activist Attacked · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia reports that a local human rights activist was verbally and physically assaulted in Yerevan today as well as shot at with a gas pistol. The assault was reportedly carried out by the former leader of a pro-establishment party who accused the activist of being a “CIA agent who defends the interests of gays.”


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Armenia/Azerbaijan: Eurovision Success · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

After yesterday's success enjoyed by the Armenian and Azerbaijani entries in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Unzipped posts a photograph of Armenia's Sirusho celebrating. In the comments section of the post both myself and the blogger agree that the reason we like the photograph is that “she looks lovely” and that there are “Armenian and Azeri flags next to each other, celebrating success, no fighting, only smiling…” With the conflict between the two countries over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh unresolved, such scenes are rare to say the least, and are perhaps testimony to the underlying purpose of the international song contest.


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Azerbaijan: Eurovision Debut · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Long Aye-lander in Glasgow comments on the first semi-final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The blog pays special attention to Azerbaijan's debut entry and says that with “a guy in huge angel wings, gyrating girls in leather dresses and ear-splitting falsetto” there's no point in supporting the British entry in the international song contest. “There's no way they can top this,” the blog concludes.


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Bahamas, U.S.A.: Agriculture & Politics · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Larry Smith at Bahama Pundit weighs in on this and that, saying that “Food self-sufficiency for the Bahamas is an illusion” and that “The American presidential election is…the most interesting presidential race in memory.”


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Bahrain: Class of 2008  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Naz, who studies in Melbourne, Australia, celebrates the graduation of her sister and friends from a university in New York, US.


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Bangladesh: On dowry · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bangladesh From Our View on the demands for dowry and how it affects everyday life.


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Bermuda: A Taxing Situation · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Vexed Bermoothes says that one of the defining features of democracy is the incentive of taxpayers to turn out a government that does not perform: “And herein lies a major challenge for Bermuda: our largest taxpayers cannot vote.  You see, our Government is propped up by the massive taxes and fees paid by international business.”


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China and Hong Kong: Interviewing Earthquake Reporter · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ling Nan from inmediahk.net, interviewed a Hong Kong reporter in Sichuan earthquake center about issues that hadn't been reported in Hong Kong mainstream media [zh]. The reporter also criticized the way official Chinese media handle the news.


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China: Letter to Earthquake Child Victim · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

1KG.org launched an action to collect letters and deliver them to Sichuan earthquake child Victims [zh]. The organizer hope that the letter senders would continue to communicate with the children and give them love and care.


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China: Mourning for Earthquake at Tiananmen · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

hk1183 posted photos of Sichuan earthquake mourning at Tiananmen square on 19 of May, Beijing.


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China: One Angle Earthquake Story · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Barokoliebe is troubled by the single angle earthquake story told by mainstream media [zh].


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China: Volunteer Force · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A hug number of volunteers rushed to Sichuan to help the earthquake victim. Zhai Minglei is one of them, he pointed out that civic force, even though they don't have legal status due to government policy, has contributed a lot in the relief work [zh], but the CCTV camera only focus on government official.


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Croatia: Feral Tribune’s Editor Wins Award · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

From the Frontline writes that Drago Hedl, editor and journalist with the Croatian political weekly Feral Tribune, has won the Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism Award for 2008. (GV's Sinisa Boljanovic wrote about Feral Tribune last year.)


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Estonia: Arnold Meri’s Trial · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about the trial of Arnold Meri: “On Voice of America he's an ‘ex-officer.’ On Russia Today he's a ‘war hero.’ And on the BBC, he's a ‘Soviet war figure’.”


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Georgia: Election Observation · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

On the occasion of today's parliamentary election in Georgia, Social Science in the Caucasus calls for an overhaul of how international election observation missions work in the country. While new technologies have emerged in the election process, the blog says that international observers are often poorly trained and need external evaluation.


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Guatemala: Local Handicrafts · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Guate 360 [es] takes a look at local handicrafts in Guatemala and the people behind the creation of these works.

author: Eduardo Avila


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India: Is Google really evil? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

profy on why Google wasn't quite evil when their cooperation with the Indian Police resulted in the arrest of a man accused of posting obscene content on Orkut.


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Iraq: Are the Refugees Returning Home?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Alive in Baghdad  updates us on the conditions of Iraqi refugees in Syria in this video post. Are the refugees returning to Iraq? Click on the link to find out.


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Kenya: My experience with M-Pesa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Digzer writes about his experience with M-Pesa, a service that allows people to send money using mobile phones: “For all the simplicity using Safaricom’s M-Pesa is meant to provide, I’ve had a rather hard time at it. I’ve always noticed long queues at various M-pesa agent points and so thought that I’d be better off giving it a wide berth. However, yesterday I needed to send money and therefore decided to give it a shot. Besides, all their adverts made it sound like the best thing since sliced bread.”


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Kenya: The battle for mobile phone market · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ka-Investor blogs about “mobile wars” in Kenya: “The stage for a bruising battle for control of the local mobile phone market is now set and the main target is the safaricom’s near monopoly 9.2 million subscribers (although some of them are absentee subscribers). Other battle frontiers are the cash transfer business, internet service provision and even the intra network call charges.”


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Kuwait: Sad for Hadeel  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwait blogger Rawan mourns the death of Saudi blogger Hadeel - and writes [Ar]: “I don't know why I cried a lot over a person I never knew. Why did I tell my mother and brother and a lot more people about her? Why I did not sleep and continued crying that night?”


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Kyrgyzstan: Talas Tripping · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Azamat posts some pictures from his trip to Talas, a town in the east of Kyrgyzstan, featuring the mausoleum of Manas (the epic hero), new nomads and traffic accidents.


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Lebanon: National dialogue in Doha · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

Lebanese parliamentarians, ministers, and opposing political leaders are currently holding talks in Doha, Qatar. This national dialogue came at the end of violent clashes between opposition and pro–government groups two weeks ago. The talks are taking place since Saturday in an attempt to reach an agreement on the national unity government, the election law and to finally elect a consensus president. Following are some bloggers reactions on the dialogue.
There is a general sarcastic tone in most blog posts when describing the talks. This reflects the general mood in the country.
Kodder notes the change in the mood by making an observation of the change in the status of Facebook users from aggressive animosity to a general wish that the leaders who went to Doha do not return:
Something weird is going in Lebanon…
As most of you Facebook users know that the fastest way to know the general feeling of Lebanese population is having a quick glance at their status;
A few days ago, the status were aggressive, each taking a side, insulting the others with the nastiest words (animals, traitors, barbarians etc.), people created groups to insult the others, friends were separating and sort of becoming enemies…
Today? The same Lebanese that were taking sides and not budging, united in one thought: Hope the plane that has the “leaders” on crash/go to hell/burn/ explode etc.
Are the people waking up? or what? or maybe they were taking sides because of peer pressure? (yeah stupid idea, I know…or maybe not)
Tantalus makes an analogy between the dialogue’s attempt to save Lebanon and the “1001 Arabian Nights” in which Shahrazad, representing Lebanon, saves herself from being beheaded by Shahrayar, representing the world, by telling him a story every night:
This whole farce called “National Unity Dialogue” taking place in Qatar just reminds me of the 1,001 Arabian Nights.
Tradition has it that the evil king Shahrayar would take a virgin to be his wife every night. The next day, he would send her to be beheaded. That's until he met Shahrazad.
To keep herself from getting beheaded, Shahrazad tricks the king into listening to her story. Every night she would recite part of the story, make up characters, and invent intricate plots, twists and turns, until the king fell asleep. The next day, he wouldn't send her to her death because he wants to hear the rest of the story.
In that way, Shahrazad saved her life by…talking. Dialogue!
In the case of the National Unity Blabber, your beloved Lebanon is Shahrazad, who is trying to save her hide by talking and talking and talking nonstop; making up stories, picking fights, having civil wars and whatnot.
The Arabs and the rest of the world are Shahrayar, the one who just wants the story to be over in order to kill Sharazad and get on with it.
Needless to say it's not a coincidence that the 1,001 Arabian Nights is a Persian tradition.
In the Middle of the East mentions the protest by NGO groups who demonstrated, asking the leaders not to return if they don’t agree in addition to an anecdote that there was a 20 minute electricity failure in Doha as the Lebanese leaders arrived – a first in Doha, but common in Lebanon:
So the whole lot of bickering militia leaders has now been flown to Doha to continue their unending stubbornness in a different environment, leaving on two separate planes of course: the opposition on a regular scheduled flight, M14 on an ‘executive jet’‘ (noblesse oblige). At Beirut’s freshly reopened international airport, an organization of handicapped civil war veterans and other NGO’s waved them out with signs saying: ‘If you don’t agree, don’t come back!’ – probably the best and most concise representation of current national opinion across the board. One of the many Lebanese who have been forced to move to the GCC countries to make a living writes to Angry Arab: ‘Well i’ve been residing in Doha-Qatar for the past one and half years and all has been going nice, smooth and tidy. Hahaha, until those lebanese ‘leaders’ of ours came to Doha for their meeting. I tell you, for the first time in AAAAAAGES, Doha experiences a 20 minutes electricity failure!!! The day they arrive, the power shuts down! How weird for us Lebanese in here to feel the ‘darkness’ again, man…”‘
Beirut Report points out to the hatred that Lebanese people have for their leaders because of the failure of the Lebanese political system:
As Lebanese politicians try to make peace in Qatar this weekend–or at least say they are trying to make peace–average citizens are fuming. They are utterly fed up with the performance of their so-called leaders over the past 3 years, which have seen a long list of assassinations and terrorist attacks that remain unsolved to this day, as well as two devastating wars that have wrecked the country for two consecutive summers. In the photo above (courtesy LA Times blog) some of the survivors of previous wars ask the leaders not to come back if they don't work out an agreement. But privately, many Lebanese say they wish the politicians never come back. In fact, those I have spoken to say they hope something terrible happens to all of them, either during their meeting in Doha or on the way back. The hatred people in this country have for their leaders is a sign of the failure of the Lebanese political system. In the 60 years since it was established, little progress has been made on the country's social and economic problems, and by and large, those participating in the system share the same last names as those who founded it.
Jeha’s Nail makes the point of differentiating between “talks” and “dialogue” among other things:
There has been much talk about talk in the news lately, and our insignificant little slice of the Middle East has been the center of much of it, even some ominous talk and “interesting” moves…
Yet for all the useless attention we’re getting, most are missing this little truth;
There’s talk, and then there’s dialogue
The two are not necessarily the same. Such a distinction evades otherwise smart politician. He should take heed from those “leaders” of ours, now in Qatar to continue talking past one another as they had been talking forever. Their talks serve no function other than provide underpaid journalists with a much needed excuse to window shop in Qatar. Yes, Beirut would be more fun, but the yellow rose of downtown has yet to unpack her UNHCR tent.
All this talk about talk misunderstands the real dynamics of the conversation between the United States and the Persians. Before mouthing off about engagement, those “realists” need to consider the persons they are engaging.
Lebanese Political Journal analyses the arguments between the pro–government and the opposition:
The call for dialogue immediately, beginning tomorrow, puts the opposition in an advantageous position. The pro-government factions need to meet, strategize, and come up with a solution to face the opposition's demands. The opposition does not negotiate genuinely, and constantly changes their demands. Their only interest is placing obstacles in the path of the pro-government factions.
Supposedly, the opposition will receive its veto-wielding 1/3 of the cabinet, and will be able to block any decision the government takes. The 14 March Coalition will agree to this because it believes that the government created in Doha, Qatar will only be temporary, before 14 March claims a massive victory in the next parliamentary elections Their goal is to placate the opposition, but not allow the opposition to take power and undue all of the 14 March initiatives that came into existence since the creation of the government in 2005.
Allegedly, Future Movement leader Saad Hariri only cares about the Justice Ministry. The 14 March factions no longer care about the ministries of Interior and Defense. The forces under the command of these ministries, which are currently headed by members of the 14 March Coalition, refused to protect Beirut and protect the government they are sworn to serve.
Marxist from Lebanon asks and answers why Qatar is the venue and sponsor of the dialogue:
After all this shooting, and all this surging hatred; however, this round table is in Doha. It is ironic all of this bloodshed occurred and now a new bad case of amnesia will be imposed on the Lebanese Society and we will see a new re-writing of history, a la 1984 doze, if they pull it through.
Now why Qatar? Qatar, of all the Arab countries has the best interesting ties with all coalitions. For starters, if you focus on the Qatari media, everyday you read the Prince, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, sends to a country a letter congratulating the country for having “unique relationships” with Qatar. Qatar politically has strong ties with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, it has the largest military base for the US army in the Arab World (except for Iraq). They welcomed Israel's Levni and already had an open excellent relationship with Israel for the past decade. They also are on excellent relations equally with Hamas and Fatah. Qatar and the Syrians never had frictions before, and mind you, the Prince's “congratulating relationships with global leaders” has covered Assad. Qatar also has almost 20% of its population composed from Iranian Labor, and not to forget that some powerful business clans with Iranian origins (such as Ali Bin Ali Clan).
Beirut Spring also explains Qatar uniqueness in bringing together opposing sides and asks whether it will be able to do that for the Lebanese groups:
Qatar, a tiny state with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, raised many eyebrows by managing to simultaneously host Aljazeera (an Arabist, sometimes demagogical pan Arab TV station), the largest American Military Air base in the region and conferences which invite Israeli officials like Tsipi Livni to Doha to address Arab leaders.
It seems Qatar has a unique ability to have things both ways. It has managed to have a good relationship with both Syria and Saudi Arabia (a relationship that has thawed considerably of late), it gets along with both Hezbollah and Israel, it hosts both Ahmedinejad and Bin Laden, and it pleases both the American military elite and the much vaunted anti-American “Arab street”
Today will mark the start of the ultimate trial for Qatar: Will it be able to use its skills to fudge a deal between the two most irreconcilable of foes, the Lebanese majority and its opposition?

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lebanon: Psycological traumas  · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

“Many Lebanese, myself included, argue that this technically short conflict did far more psychological damage than the 34 day 2006 war. Civil wars are much harder psychologically than wars with ‘the other’,” concludes Charles Malik, who wrote anecdotes of the psychological effect of the conflicts in Lebanon.


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Macedonia: Greek Pacifists’ Visit · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Anastas Vangeli posted his impressions of the anti-nationalistic and anti-militaristic Greek-Macedonian Dialogue which took place last Saturday – in Macedonian and English. The participants were branded as traitors in the Greek media, and the Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church put an anathema on them in his Sunday sermon.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Mexico: Announcement of the Launch of ALAS · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mexico Reporter [es] posts a video of the press conference held in Mexico City with singer Shakira and the announcement ofthe launching of ALAS, an initiative aimed at helping child development.


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Mexico: Number of Speakers of Náhuatl Decreasing · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Náhuatl is the indigenous language most spoken in Mexico.  Vivir México [es] writes that the number of speakers of this language is decreasing due to the migration to other areas and the need to be integrated into a new society.


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Philippines in mourning over death of legendary labor leader · Global Voices
Tonyo Cruz

The death of veteran labor leader, street parliamentarian and legislator Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran at 11:48 am Tuesday due to massive head injuries saddened and shocked many Filipinos. He was 75.
Beltran was a worker up to his very end:
His death delivers the strong message that he's a worker; he belongs to the working class. He did not betray his class to the end.
Imagine a man of his stature and at his age climbing the roof of his leaky house to protect his family and grandchildren from the elements. He's really a member of the working class.
The blogger My Life…  agrees:
the cause of his death…as silly as it may seem, is because he is fixing the roof of his house.  a 75 year old man…not to mention a congressman…doing household chores…just shows much on how he lives (lived) his life..
when his house was featured…i was overwhelmed on how simple his life is…ordinary…yet so special to many…
The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May First Movement) honored Beltran and republished a profile story about him in the trade union center's website.
Here is a list of his bills, resolutions and committee memberships in the House of Representatives.
His office as Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) partylist representative attempted to summarize his log public record through a statement issued after Beltran's death.
His colleagues from Bayan Muna (People First) also paid tribute:
Ka Bel's death is an irreparable loss not only to the working class movement but to every Filipino yearning for genuine social change. He was a tower of a man, a pillar of strength for the progressive people's movement. His name has become synonymous to the militant labor movement.
Beltran's death is being met by an outpouring of grief from across the political spectrum: from the Palace whose current occupant Beltran staunchly criticized, and from fellow legislators and activists he worked with. Tributes continue to pour in from compatriots and friends abroad, and from journalists, the communists, a Filipino-American musical group, and more.
The mourning reaches various parts of the blogosphere as well.
like a rolling store was at the hospital when Beltran died and shared what he saw when wife Osang said goodbye to her husband:
Ka Bel was brought to room 311 where people gathered to grieve over the loss of a man who just fought his last battle.
Ka Osang, the wife of Ka Bel, embraced him. She was grieving and anguished but there was no bitterness. There was no “Bakit mo kami iniwan?!” (Why did you leave us?!)  that we often hear in the untimely passing of loved ones.
Instead of bitterness, a grieving Ka Osang hugged Ka Bel’s body and thanked him for all the good that he has done. “Salamat sa iyong pagtataguyod sa ating mga anak. Salamat sa lahat ng mga kabutihang iyong ginawa….” (Thank you for bringing up our children. Thank you for all the good things you have done…).
I could barely control my tears. Theirs was a love for the ages. They have been together for decades, married for more than 50 years.
The Marocharim Experiment remembers the one and only time he met Beltran, and said:
For everything that a politically-minded and politically-aware person will say about Crispin Beltran, I think we can agree on one thing: he is a man of principle. Some will whine, moan, and bitch out on a pat with a truncheon or a half-hour in jail. Not someone like Ka Bel, who has seen it all, went through it all, and still had his ideals intact at the end of it all.
Andrea's Corner also remembers a visit to Beltran during his 15-month incarceration from 2006-2007:
Ka Bel was never pretentious. One time while I visited him at the Heart Center (where he was detained for many months), he shared how he and his family acquired their new home in Bulacan. “Naku, pinangutang ko pa yon.” He went on to tell me of his little garden and how it gave him and Ka Osang, his wife, some peace. All the while, the home he was describing seemed like a mansion because it gave him so much joy. Then he goes, “mahal din yon a, mahigit P100,000.”
And this was a congressman talking. Something hit me in the heart . My goodness! Here I was complaining at times, yet I was far more blessed than this congressman. I felt so rich that day.
Pedestrian Observer wrote about the simple way this congressman lived:
Despite the opportunity to enrich himself owing to his position and privilege he has been a true blooded worker never losing touch of who and what he represents. He could have easily and conveniently change his way of life with the stature of a congressman but preferred to live the life of a modest worker with gargantuan responsibility that comes with his position.
Winding the Path of Law used elegant Filipino language in paying homage, calling him a “dakilang mamamayan” or great citizen, and “dakilang lider” or great leader.
Meanwhile, doon po sa amin, sa bayan ni juan reposted several videos of Beltran's relatives and colleagues.
The Daily PCIJ declared that the “working class loses a defender in ‘Ka Bel’” and recounted his life's work and achievements as labor leader, street parliamentarian and legislator.
Uniffors called Beltran “a hero”:
Beltran is a true “anakpawis.” A former labor leader who was elected to Congress as a party list representative, Beltran never strayed from his mission to uplift the less fortunate among us. He made his Batasan colleagues uncomfortable with his honesty, humility and disdain for the trappings of power. He was detained for over a year by the Arroyo regime on trumped-up charges because he refused to compromise his principles and sell-out his constituents.
Ditto for pine for pine. For Talim ng Araw,  Beltran was a “Worker. Statesman. Martyr.”
Another blogger, This Women's Views, paid tribute to Beltran, writing:
There will be no other Ka Bel but may his spirit lives on in every Filipino whose heart and soul is to serve this country without counting the cost.
the not so secret world of vikiki published a quotation from and a matching photo of Beltran:
If helping the poor is a crime, and fighting for freedom is rebellion, then I plead guilty as charged
A blogger at FilipinoVoices.com also wrote that:
There are many things about the man, his actions, and his decision making, that I was very much in disagreement with. But, this I can say, with great clarity, Crispin Beltran was a charismatic leader who believed that his actions were for the good of our nation.
Philippine Current Events hopes that “what ever he is fighting for the Philippines will not stop”.
A terrible loss, concluded Albert's Travel and Photo Blog.
Finally, Achieving Happiness remembers 12 years of working for, with and under Beltran, and whose words perhaps capture the common sentiments of most activists on this sad day:
I worked with and for Ka Bel for more than a decade. I became one of his staff when he was still the chairman of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) back in 1995; and when he was elected to his first term as a party-list representative of Bayan Muna in 2001, I joined his office first as his media officer, and eventually as his chief of staff. This was a post I maintained when he got elected to his second and third term under Anakpawis until I moved to the NDFP-Nominated Section in the Joint Monitoring Commitee late in 2007. That’s a total of 12 years! I’m now 32, and I am proud to say that my most formative years as a writer, as an activist have been shaped and influenced by the likes of Ka Bel. Twelve years, and every day of it was a great honor to serve such a sincere, humble and highly-intelligent and deeply committed servant of the people.
I have to admit that this day is a day that I’ve long feared would come. Ka Bel wasn’t young, and he had diabetes and hypertension, and the last two years had been so stressful for him because of his unjust and illegal incarceration on trumped-up charges of rebellion. I feared that the day would come when I wouldn’t hear his voice anymore in the rallies or in the plenary hall of the House of Representatives. When I wouldn’t hear his laugh or see his smile and have him grasp my hand tightly in his as he asks how I’m doing. When the Philippine labor movement would lose its staunchest, most fearless leader.
Well, that day has arrived, and no matter how I’ve prepared myself for it mentally, emotionally it’s still quite, quite difficult to bear.

author: Tonyo Cruz


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Nepal: Violence and Immigrants · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kathmandu Speaks on the violence against “outsiders” in South Africa, and similar waves of protest against immigrants in other parts of the world.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: Resistance poetry · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Himal Magazine on the rich tradition of dissident literature in Pakistan.


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Poland: Photoblogs · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian reviews Polish photoblogs.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Champions League Final · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam's Blog and Two-Zero – on the Champions League final in Moscow.


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Russia: Circassians · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about Circassians’ “100-year-long resistance to Russia’s southward advance.”


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Russia, Latvia: Young Russia vs Edvīns Šņore · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Latvian Abroad writes about Young Russia's protest against The Soviet Story, a documentary by a young Latvian director Edvīns Šņore.


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Saudi Arabia: Dhahran Under Siege  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Arabia hosted the Gulf Cooperation Council's Summit in its Eastern province, bringing the leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE under one roof – and holding the residents of Dhahran and Dammam hostage for the duration of their meeting as all the main highways leading to and from the city
were shut.
Saudi blogger Ibrahim [Ar] broke the story early yesterday saying:
الظهران في هذه اللحظات تحت الحصار
غلقت أبوابها في وجه أهاليها وزوارها
الأبناء في المدارس عالقين
الأباء خلف الجدران متلهفين لإحتضان أبنائهم
أنوار الشرطه في كل الأنحاء
يا الله ماذا ألم بنا؟؟
اللهم الطف بنا
Dhahran is now completely shut off and no one is able to get to it. Its gates are shut on its residents and visitors. Our children are stuck in their schools. Parents are standing behind the walls, eager to hug their children. The lights of police cars are everywhere. Oh my God! What has happened to us? May Allah have mercy on us.
Hours later, a much more relaxed Ibrahim explains what had happened:
طلع الموضوع ومافيه مسكرين الطرقات علشان الملك ورؤساء مجلس التعاون الخليجي جايين
طيب ما تقولون كذا من أول؟ خرعتونا يا جماعة الخير :???:
شوفو اللي صار ..
الحفل يبداء الساعه 4
تم اغلاق الطرقات من الساعه 12 ظهراً
طبعاً أي كبري او منفذ في منطقة الظهران تم اغلاقه … حتى اللي مايؤدي الى أرامكو
تم اغلاق الطرقات حتى الساعه السابعه يمكن
والعالم تدور في مكانها وكل الطرقات مسكره
يعني باختصار .. حسيت باللي يحسون فيه اهل غزه ..كان الله في عونهم
المشكله مو في اللي زارونا
المشكله في المسؤليين في ادارة المرور
واللي انا بديت اشك انهم من اهل الشرقيه … لأنهم مايعرفون يدبرون عمرهم
وش بيصير يعني لو انك قفلت طريق الظهران من أوله من جهة طريق الجبيل
قفلته قبل لا يمر الموكب بربع ساعه … يالله خلنا نقول ساعه
وبعد مايمر الموكب بربع ساعه تفتح كل الطرقات
وبعدها قفل الطريق قبل لا يطلعون من حفلهم بربع ساعه وخلاص
هذا في حال انه كان قصدهم تفادي الازدحام المروري
لكن اللي شفته امس ماكان علشان هالسبب ..
لأنهم مقفلين كل المنطقه بقطر 15 كيلو تقريباً
من طريق ابو حدريه الى كبري القاعده الجويه
يعني أهالي المنطقه الشرقيه اللي يرحبون في الضيوف ( زي ما تقول اللوح الإعلانيه )
حتى سيارات الضيوف ماشافوها
What has happened is that they closed the roads for the GCC kings and leaders who are coming. Fine, why didn't you tell us this was happening from the beginning? You really scared us. See what happened. The meeting begins at 4pm. They closed all the roads from noon. All the exits and flyovers to Dhahran were of course shut, even those leading to (Saudi oil company) Aramco and remained shut until about 7pm. People were driving around in circles and all the roads were closed. In short, I felt what the people of Gaza feel, may Allah be of help to them. The problem wasn't because of our visitors. The problem was with the officials at the Traffic Directorate, who I don't think belong to the area, because they don't seem to be able to think. What would have happened if they had closed the Dhahran road in the direction of Jubeil for a quarter of an hour – let's even say an hour – before the convoys pass and then again closed it for a quarter of an hour before the meeting was over? They would have done this if their reason was to overcome traffic congestion but what I saw yesterday wasn't because of traffic… because they had cordoned off the entire region covering a 15km diameter – from Abu Hadriya Road to the flyover next to the air force base. This means that the people of the Eastern province, who are expected to welcome guests, did not even get to see their guest's cars.
The blogger adds:
أنا عن نفسي بديت أمل و أكره هالمناسبات .. لأنه مامنها فايده إلا للحراميه لأنهم بينبسطون .. كل الدوريات والشرطه مع الاحتفال ومخلين الديره تحترق
لا الشعب بيشوفون الملك عبدالله … وبتتسكر عليهم كل الطرقات
I personally am starting to get fed up of and hate such occasions .. because they are useless to everyone except the thieves – who become happy with the knowledge that all the policemen are busy with the ceremony – leaving the entire country at risk. The people too won't get a chance to meet their king, and all the roads will be closed on them.
Ibrahim too shares the following suggestion to oil giant Saudi Aramco, which is celebrating its centennial this year:
وأنا أقترح على أرامكو في المناسبه الجايه وبمناسبة مرور 100 سنه .. انها تسوي الاحتفالات في شيبه (الربع الخالي(
فيها مطار وفيها كل شئ .. ولا راح يحتاجون انهم يقفلون طرق ولا شئ
وماراح يتغير شئ … راح يكون الحفل موجود والضيوف موجودين وماراح يكون فيه شعب
يعني جميع الأمور موجوده…. يعني ماتحسون بالحفل الا تسوون زحمه للعالم؟
I suggest to Aramco to hold a ceremony at the Empty Quarter desert  to mark its centennial. There is an airport there and it is well equipped with everything. They won't have to close the roads or do anything and nothing will change at all – the party will be there, the guests will be there and the public won't be there. This means that all that they want will be there. We won't feel there is a party and you will not mess up people's lives.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Serbia: Belgrade Cab Drivers; Eurovision · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Inno & Irja Blog – on Belgrade's cab drivers and the Eurovision Song Contest.


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Serbia: More on Eurovision · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anegdote comments on Eurovision: “But gay in the original sense of the word: happy, cheerful, was Bosnian song, which gets all my regards for not being a yet another stupid once-upon-a-time-turbo-folk-now-ethno-pop cry for euthanasia.”


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Serbia: “The Other Serbia” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Gray Falcon writes on “the Other Serbia.”


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Slovenia: The Diaspora vs Croatia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about the Slovenian Diaspora: “You see, people of Slovenia and Croatia lived in peace throughout history. We may say bad things about each other, but in the end Slovenes like Croatian seaside and music and Croats like Slovene mountains and shops. And both hate each other’s roads. It’s only when people who are stuck in 1945 and have a 19th century mindset (i.e. land is power) start stirring the pot, that all hell breaks loose.”


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South Africa: Bloggers, let’s do something · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mike calls on South African bloggers to do something about the violent attacks against foreigners: “It’s on that note that I’d like to encourage you, my fellow bloggers and business people, to join me in doing something about it. We know we have the collective influence to make a big noise about very little, but can we prove that we can also make a difference for good? We can start small and if this has legs, I’ll take it up the next level with big media and NGO’s nationwide.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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South Africa: The African Leadership Academy · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ladybrille writes about the African Leadership Academy: “Founded by four dynamic individuals: Fred Swaniker, Chris Bradford, Peter Mombaur and Acha Leke, the ALA is an organization committed to developing the next generation of African leaders. The Academy, located in the outskirts of Johannesburg in South Africa, boast a world class co-educational secondary [high school] boarding school.”


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South Africa: What can bloggers do about the Xenophobia crisis? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Stii suggests what South African bloggers can do about the xenophobia crisis in South Africa: “My idea is to have like a trust fund, NGO or something to which bloggers/technology people can contribute to financially. I’m more than willing giving money to any organization, but it would be nice to do it collectively as an organization I believe in, like this blogosphere I belong to. I do know that this is a fairly touchy subject and might well be a shitload of work, but I’d like something like this to happen!”


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Southeast Asia: Coping with the rice and food crisis · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Food prices continue to rise in the world market. People are concerned about the soaring cost of rice, which is the staple food in the Southeast Asian region and in many parts of the world. Governments are now re-examining their food and agricultural policies in order to prevent consumer panic and social unrest.
One of the earlier proposals was to create an OPEC-style group or a rice cartel in the region: Organization of Rice Exporting Countries or OREC. This idea has been dropped already. The Philippine government was alarmed over this plan. Filipino blogger, Philippines Without Borders, explains why the plan is counterproductive:
“Those countries on the Mekong like Thailand and Vietnam just cannot store rice forever. Unlike oil, rice deteriorates in just a few months of storage in the warehouse. And the Thais and the Vietnamese could eat only so much rice. In fact, forming Orec is counterproductive for these rice exporters. When they hoard their own rice, local prices decline, thus hurting their own farmers. If they want to benefit from the current situation, it’s in their best interest to sell rice and not hoard it.”
Many are still worried over the economic impact of the strong cyclone which hit Myanmar early this month. Rice prices had quadrupled inside Myanmar and hunger is expected to worsen. Golden Colour Revolution writes:
“The Irrawaddy division is agriculturally the most essential division for Burmese people and it produced one third of the rice production for 57 millions people. After the typhoon Nagris, the whole delta area’s rice production lands are flooded with salt water. Farmers can’t grow rice on salted land and there are no farmers left to produce rice for the country and the most important agricultural sector of the country has been destroyed. In the beginning of every June of the year, Burmese farmers usually prepare to grow their paddy plants in the farming area of the country to feed 57 million mouths. But this year, the rice production will drastically decline because of the typhoon.”
Governments are advising their constituents to reduce consumption of rice. A Malaysian blogger responds by insisting that anti-corruption efforts should be the focus of politicians:
“Now, we are facing food crisis we were told eat less rice. Fine, we can go for bread, however the price of flour also hiked. The price of noodle also hiked. What else we can eat? When the price of petrol hiked, we were told to change our live style. What else? Should we sit down and think, where the tax money goes? Should it be spent like this? Please, work hard on anti-corruption. My heart is heavy now, really heavy. I can imagine how hard my family members struggling for living. What should we do? Sit down and wait? Please, wake up. Work hard on anti-corruption.”
The Daily Brunei Resources reviews the food self-sufficiency plan of Brunei. Cafe Salemba proposes an overhaul of Indonesia’s agricultural policies:
“So when we come up using public resources to develop the agriculture revitalization program, are we speaking the same language for large scale commercial agriculture? Are we ready to give up the idyllic view of a small plot land owner peasantry for a large scale industry and see a transformation from myriad small peasant landowners class to become waged farmers working in a handful large scale agroindustrial companies?”
Youthful Insight enumerates the measures which can benefit Indonesian farmers:
“Indonesia’s agricultural industry is rife with asymmetric information. Rice distributors, wholesalers, and exporters, usually city folk with access to urban market prices and world market price data, have always seemed to have the upper hand over the rice farmers, rural folk who do not enjoy the same access to information. As a result, farmers suffer from a weaker bargaining position, causing them to undersell their rice almost every time. Government institutions need to step up and take the responsibility of insuring informational symmetry. If necessary, government officials from the Ministry of Agriculture should give farmers weekly updates on prices, as well as giving them institutionalized protection from distributors and middlemen who seek to exploit.”
Lao Voices tackles the land use problem in Laos:
“Many rice fields that covered the mountainous North of Laos are gone. They are steadily being replaced by rubber trees. The Chinese are coming to Laos and they need their rubber products for their galloping economy.”
Doing Business in Vietnam Seminar notes the quality of rice in Vietnam’s supermarkets is deteriorating:
“With rice as the main staple of nutrition in the diets of many Vietnamese families, the quality and price of rice is currently becoming a major problem for them. As prices are rising, it is becoming more and more difficult for supermarkets to provide high quality rice at a price that citizens can afford. To curb this problem, quality is decreasing rapidly so that prices can remain stable for purchasers.”
Mon Casiple hints that unscrupulous individuals are illegally profiteering from the rice problem in the Philippines:
“The price of rice is shooting through the roof. Yet, the mystery tales from the farmers are that the middlemen are not buying in extraordinary quantities in these times of an alleged demand market. The inescapable conclusion is that the same somebody or somebodies already had the supply before it happened–probably through technical smuggling or direct smuggling. They are now reaping the superprofits. These acts, particularly of government people, are simply treason.”
Bikoy, student leader from the Philippines, provides an action plan for the agricultural sector. Filipino Lawyer Marichu Lambino thinks it’s extraordinary for the Philippine president to literally sit at the preliminary investigation of alleged rice hoarders at the Department of Justice. The Explainer dissects the rising pork prices in the market. Professor Danton Remoto: How to survive as a nouveau poor in the Philippines.
The cost of fertilizer is getting more expensive in Cambodia. As a result of rising food prices, police and dog owners claim cases of dognapping are up in many parts of Cambodia. Perhaps dog meat is delicious and cheap for some Cambodians.
KI Media headline: Cambodia sees Opportunity in Rising Food Prices. Im Sokthy believes Cambodian farmers should be encouraged to venture in other small businesses to generate additional income. My Longkang thinks padi farming in Malaysia should be subsidized.
Thailand Crisis reports that the Thai government’s intervention in the rice crisis will cost 42 billion Thai Baht. The blogger is also not surprised that the consumer confidence index is down in Thailand.
Singabloodypore reports that more and more free meals are given today to help the poor residents of wealthy Singapore. A Xeno Boy in Sg adds that the queue for free food is getting longer.  The number of people going to the malls is also lower this year in Singapore.

author: Mong Palatino


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Going Beyond the Call  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Abeni shares her thoughts on cell phone etiquette.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: Culture of Bureaucracy · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago blogger KnowProSE.com is thinking about getting into aquaculture – if he can manage to get around the bureaucracy.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Don’t Touch My Buddy · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Grounding recalls an effective campaign in response to “a surge in racism and racist attacks in France” and wonders: “What would it really be like for us to have a similar campaign here in T & T?”


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Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana: A Beautiful Writer  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago-based litblog Antilles quotes Margaret Busby's obituary of the late Guyanese novelist Roy A.K. Heath.


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Ukraine: Vote-Buying · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kyiv Scoop reports on vote-buying in Kyiv.


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Uzbekistan: IMU Arrest in Europe · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan reports that police in the Netherlands, France, and Germany arrested 10 men suspected of financing the IMU, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, aimed at establishment of an Islamic theocracy in central Asia and the overthrow of the regime of Uzbek President Islom Karimov.


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Uzbekistan: President Publishes a Book on Moral Living · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan says that Islom Karimov, the long-ruling president of Uzbekistan, pompously launched his own book on moral living, praised as “the best book on philosophy and morality since the times of Socrates”.