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Peruvian Photojournalist Jaime Razuri Kidnapped in Gaza · Global Voices
David Sasaki

On New Year's Day, Jaime Razuri, a 50-year-old Peruvian photojournalist working for Agence France-Presse, was kidnapped at gunpoint on a street in the Gaza Strip.
Razuri was standing in front of the AFP office when five masked men approached him, pushed him in a car and sped away, officials said. Beyond that details about the incident are very sketchy.
Details remain sketchy.
This is a story of community, camaraderie, and international solidarity. This is a story with a happy ending.
The above block quote comes from C.J. Schexnayder, an American freelance journalist based in Lima, a blogger, and a friend of Rázuri:
Jaime is a friend of mine. I got to know him while helping him polish his English for his assignment covering the World Cup soccer tournament last year. It would be tough to think of a less political, more kind person than Jaime. He is very soft spoken which can often camoflague his sharp sense of humor.
Despite that demeanor, Jaime is also a consumate journalist and a veteran of some of the most dangerous conflicts in recent times. Shying from danger is not his style. He has covered Iraq, Haiti as well as the two-decade long Shining Path insurgency in his native Peru. (You get an inkling into the type of work he is used to in this YouTube video someone put together recently)
With the exception of Reporters Without Borders and the briefest of mentions on CNN International, Rázuri's kidnapping hardly caught the glance of major media outlets in North America and Western Europe. That will probably surprise few readers, but the outpouring of support and solidarity from Peruvian and Palestinian bloggers and journalists was surely unexpected.
Almost immediately the Foreign Press Association of Peru [ES] condemned the kidnapping and set up a weblog to post updates on the situation. Most of the posts are straightforward: a biography, news of candlelight vigils, institutional letters of support, and an undersigned letter of solidarity.
But it is among the comments following each and every post where we come to realize that Jamie Rázuri is much more than a courageous photographer. Affectionately nicknamed Momo, he is also a surfer, a loved professor, friend, and colleague. Here are translations of just a few of the hundreds of comments:
Amaro la Rosa: Jaime, we are with you, every journalist from Peru. I've known you since you began your career and your professional successes have always given me joy. I hope you are among us very soon. A big hug.
Miguel C.: We'll wait for you Momo.
Anonymous: From the USA, I am waiting for the good news of your freedom. I was your student at the University of Lima and I very much admire your work and your journalistic trajectory. God bless and protect you …
Isaac Toboada: Greetings from South Korea. We await your impending freedom and hope that you are soon by all of your family.
Joceline from Jerusalem: Dearest Momimo, Just a few hours after the kidnapping, I heard on national television that one of the victims was a dear and remembered Peruvian friend who studied with me at the university and shared the profession of journalism. Momimo, I write to you from Jerusalem where I now live and I send all of my strength. My thoughts have not left you since the moment you were captured. What grand impotence it is to know that a friend is in danger, so very near, and to not be able to do anything to help him! In this upside down world, I am grateful for the technology that allows us to unite, in this one page, all of your family members, friends, and colleagues in the world. Our hearts are skipping beats waiting for your quick release. Many years ago, before I left Peru, you brought me a bottle of Pisco that we drank until it was gone. I hope with all my heart to be able to cheers “salud” with you when all of this has concluded and that your bold ingenuity and creative free spirit remain intact in spite of all the injustices that I imagine have seen your camera. This Friday I will go to the Wailing Wall to place a prayer for you. I admit that in moments like this, it is very tough to be here, in this Holy and Sacred Land, today full of so much devilry and pain. Please don't lose faith in God and trust the virtue of good people. Although hidden in this crazy world we live in, they are (we are) with you at all hours!
Walter Neira Bronttis: Sunday, [December] 31 Jaime Razuri was able to send a New Year's greeting to a group of his friends. This email was accompanied by a photograph of a flower from Gaza which he titled “For a better world.” And one of the phrases that he chose to share with us in this greeting shows the good and supportive Jaime that today we miss: ” … all of the happiness of the world comes from the desire to make others happy. All of the suffering of the world comes from the desire for the same happiness …” (Shantideva) Today, the same solidarity moves us. Because we also put trust in this phrase, we demand the immediate release of Jaime; the close friend, the talented and sincere professional. Like doña Delia, his mother, we maintain the firm hope of having him back among us soon and out of danger. Meanwhile, let's gather everyone possible in this crusade for life and for peace. Walter Neira Bronttis, Lima, Perú.
Cecilia Rázuri: Little brother; with all of the faith and hope that you will soon be with your family, I hope that the unity demonstrated by all of those who love you – family, friends, and colleagues – is transformed into the strength that you need now in such difficult and unordinary moments. While I anxiously wait for the phone call from Lima in which they finally tell me it's all over, I beg to the Lord that your captors see reason and release you immediately! Cecilia, Barcelona, Spain.
The comments continue [ES] … and continue … and continue. They pour in from family members, friends, former students, colleagues, reporters, columnists, and absolute strangers. They come from Buenos Aires, New York, Berlin, Miami, South Korea, Caracas, and beyond. Calls of support also came immediately from Peru's established blogging community. Letra Suelta expressed “solidarity with Jaime Rázuri [ES].” Rolly Valdivia Chávez added:
Si bien no conozco a Rázuri personalmente, sé de su capacidad profesional y de la calidad de su trabajo, cualidades que lo convierten en uno de los más respetados reporteros gráficos del país y un testigo presencial de los acontecimientos de mayor interés noticioso de los últimos tiempos.
Another popular Peruvian blogger, however, did personally know Rázuri. As “Danza Invisible” of Tan sólo unas burbujas recounts [ES]:
Durante mis épocas universitarias, cuando me tocó llevar el curso de Fotografía, escuchamos por primera vez el apodo “Momimo”: así llamaban todos a nuestro jefe de prácticas. Muchas chicas andaban medio arrastrándole el ala más o menos descaradamente (yo sólo suspiraba en silencio, jeje), por sus bellos ojos, pero él desalentó todo ese torrente hormonal del alumnado aún cuasi-adolescente manteniéndose siempre muy serio y profesional.
Finalmente descubrimos que no se trataba de “sobradez” sino que era la persona más talentosa y entregada de lleno a su vocación que conocíamos. Su dedicación era comparable a la de un monje. Y su variada producción la hemos podido seguir en todos estos largos 20 años transcurridos desde que aprobamos Fotografía (o sea, desde el Quinto Ciclo de Facultad).
We finally discovered that it didn't have to do with charm, but rather that he was the most talented and passionate person of his vocation that we knew. His dedication was comparable with that of a monk. And we have been able to follow his varied production in these long 20 years that have passed since we tried Photography. (or, that is, since the fifth semester of college).
Shows of support and concern also occurred offline. In France, heeding the call of Reporters Without Borders, “around 50 journalists and photographers gathered … outside the headquarters of the French news agency Agence France-Presse in Paris in a show solidarity.” Fellow Peruvian photographer Jose Orihuela took pictures at the candlelight vigil held in Lima and uploaded them to Flickr. In Gaza, according to Al-Jazeerah and the Palestine News Network, “more than 200 Palestinian journalists held a sit-in and march in Ramallah Sunday afternoon in protest of attacks on members of the press. Among the subjects was the kidnapping of  photographer Jaime Razuri.”
And then, finally, on Sunday, January 7, a week after he was first kidnapped, came this post, titled, “Free: Jaime is back with us: He was released an hour ago in Gaza, safe and out of danger.” In all caps of joy:
LOS ADMINISTRADORES DE ESTE BLOG AGRADECEMOS A TODOS LOS FAMILIARES, PERIODISTAS, AMIGOS, INSTITUCIONES Y GOBIERNOS QUE EXPRESARON SU SOLIDARIDAD EN LAS DIFERENTES ACCIONES REALIZADAS EN EL PERÚ Y EL MUNDO DEMANDANDO LA LIBERTAD DE JAIME RÁZURI.
GRACIAS ESPECIALMENTE A TODOS AQUELLOS QUE SE UNIERON A NOSOTROS EN ESTE BLOG:HAN DEJADO AQUÍ EXPRESIONES MARAVILLOSAS DE AFECTO QUE JAIME SEGURAMENTE VALORARÁ EN TODA SU DIMENSIÓN. LOS ADMINISTRADORES NOS ALEGRAMOS DE DAR POR CONCLUÍDA NUESTRA PEQUEÑA MISIÓN.
Thanks especially to those who united with us on this blog. You have left marvelous and fond expressions that Jaime will sure value completely. The administrators are joyful for having concluded our small mission.
Quoting Agence France-Presse, Razuri's friend C.J. Schexnayder revealed his own elation:
Jaime Razuri was released by his captors in the Gaza Strip earlier today.
According to Agence France-Presse, Razuri was taken to the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“I'm fine. I'm very happy to be released. They treated me well and gave me good food,” Razuri said minutes after he was freed.
“It was not a five-star hotel but it was very good. I was treated very well. I'm as well as I was when I arrived in Gaza.” He also thanked “all those who were involved in my release.”
And his former student who secretly swooned? Also immensely happy.
Portfolio's of Jaime Rázuri's photography are available at Andina News and Open Photo Peru.


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Poland: Collaborator Archbishop Resigns · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot reports on the resignation of a Polish archbishop who had been collaborating with the Communist regime for 20 years: “Watching on TV now it looks like a wedding where all the guests turn up only to discover it’s a funeral.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Poland: More on “Africans+AIDS+Poland=racism” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot posts a follow-up on the African refugee's HIV case.


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Romania: “2006 ‘Best Of’ Miercurea Ciuc Awards” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csikszereda musings posts “the official 2006 ‘Best Of’ Miercurea Ciuc awards.”


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Romania: Bucharest Celebrates · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Romerican writes and posts pictures on the recent celebrations in Romania's capital: “The 2007 Revelion wasn’t going to be just another celebration of a new year. No, no, it was going to be hand-in-hand with official admission of Romania into the EU. In other words, a momentous occasion which happens once in a lifetime. And there are some things you just can’t miss.”


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Romania: Media Attention · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Andy H of Csikszereda musings is willing to talk to the press: “Still, if anyone else wants to contact me to pick my brains on the EU, Romania and the relationship between Romania and Britain, take this as a come hither look with a saucy wink.”


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Russia: 2007 Forecast · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ruminations on Russia ruminates “on 2007 with half an eye on what happened in 2006.”


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Russia: Graffiti and Cafe in Moscow · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare posts pictures of Moscow's Squirrel graffiti and “the last unbranded cafe.”


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Russia: More on Winter in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes on winter sports and posts photos of snow and ice fishing in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.


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Serbia: On Travelling to Europe · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anegdote shares a gruelling and humiliating European travel experience that many citizens of the former Soviet bloc can relate to.


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Singapore: Kick Starting Web Entrepreneurship · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bjorn Lee comments on a event that a government agency is organising in Singapore to kick start web entrepreneurship. The blogger says “For starters, dun get government to push it. Get industry leaders, academics, foreign thought leaders from technological hubs in israel, silicon valley to speak at fund launches like this.”. Singapore has a very good network infrastructure but there have been very few successful web ventures.

author: Preetam Rai


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Soviet History: Fishing Industry and “Dentistry” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

J. Otto Pohl writes about Russian-Germans and the Soviet fishing industry – and “Soviet dentistry” – 65 years ago.


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Sri Lanka: LTTE and terrorism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

indi.ca on the changing tactics of the LTTE and why the attack on civilians amounts to terrorism. “However, the LTTE has now begun what they started a bonafide and terrifyingly random campaign of terror against average citizens in the South.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Sudan: Saddam’s Good Side and Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers · Global Voices
SudaneseDrima

In this week’s round-up, we take a look again at the Sudanese blogosphere. As one would expect, blogs posts were mainly centered around Saddam Hussein’s execution and the alleged rape of children in South Sudan by UN peacekeeping troops. Sudanese bloggers also wished each other a happy 51st independence day.
We’ll first start with the reactions to Saddam Hussein’s execution. The Sudanese Thinker was delighted by the news while others like Daana Lost in Translation took the occasion to remind people of the good things Saddam did during his lifetime:
We are never told that he led an extensive modernization program of Iraq that included:
What do you know…so the tyrant had a good side to him after all!!!
Fluent-Sudani leaned towards declaring him a martyr:
It's a darn shame a man dies protecting his land from occupants.
…Let us classify marytr “Shaheed” in Islam.. according to an authentic hadith, any person who gets killed by occupants of their homes, burnt, drowned. To the last minute, Saddam didn't fear death and revert into a traitor against his nation.
Rihab is angered by those who are calling Saddam Hussein a great leader:
I've been reading a few posts in a few Arab blogs, and the phrase “great leader” keeps popping up after Saddam… and it is starting to really p*ss me off.
Precious Lolo chose to focus on finishing her series of posts on the hijab instead. She did however blog the following:
What I think?
well, its more complicated than just saying, Oh yes he deserved it, or saying he was a noble man who stood up for his country!!
Seriously, I Don't know.. He did a lot of wrong things in his past.. and definitely he should have been removed from the presidency, but execution??!!! And like this?? in front of the whole world? On Muslims EID?? and with people calling him name?!
UN Peacekeepers: They might as well join the Janjaweed!
Now, let's see how Sudanese bloggers reacted to the alleged sexual abuse by UN troops.  Black Kush from south Sudan is angry and is worried about the implications this can have on the chances of UN troops coming into Darfur:
With such reports coming out, who will blame Sudan for refusing UN peace keepers from coming to Darfur? Peace Keepers who not only try to keep peace but also abuse and rape children. It is not enough to just investigate the issues. It may take years to gather evidence and prosecute the perpetrators of such heinous crimes.
Th UN should take this seriously. It will not be long before the tight is turn against these peace keepers by the locals.
I will say chase them…
Rihab is outraged:
This is sick, sick, sick! There have been quite a few generations of Southern Sudanese children who have had to go through the most horrific forms of suffering at the hands of their Northern compatriots. Now, when there's a supposed peace force that is there with the mission of protecting the most vulnerable members of society, they go ahead and abuse them???? This is disgusting. I was a supporter of UN interference in Darfur, but to be honest this type of sh*t makes me think again about that stance.
So is Mimz:
I hate them.
They're abusing the children they should be aiding.
Peace keepers my foot! They might as well join the Janjaweed.
Janjaweed is a terms generally used to describe the marauding gunmen in Darfur, Sudan.
As for Sudan's 51st independence day celebration, The Sudanese Thinker has the following:
Anyways, happy 51st independence day to Sudan and to my fellow Sudanese bloggers. It’s been 51 years already and we need to ask ourselves what have we achieved so far as a nation?

author: SudaneseDrima


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Tajikistan: Voices from Tajikistan · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Vadim rounds up goings-on in the blogosphere related to Tajikistan.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Tanzania: who is to blame? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Metty Jaduong blogs about poverty in Tanzania, “Some have blamed colonialism, while some have blamed imbalances in the world trade. Very few have plainly put the blame on us. I tend to lean towards placing the blame on us.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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The Hindi Blogosphere: Nithari and the New Year  · Global Voices
Amit Gupta

With just about every person in Nithari village of Noida & news media in an uproar on the issue of missing children and the subsequent discovery of their skeletons, Hindi Blogosphere isn't far behind in expressing their reactions. Tarun was criticising the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh for not even bothering to visit Nithari to atleast console the grieving parents whose kids were abducted, sexually molested and then killed brutally and whose remains where recently found months after they disappeared. Chandra Prakash is also upset on this issue and saying that Nithari is one of those faces of the corrupt Indian system to hide which efforts are being made by those who can make such efforts. He also says that the day we understand these things will be the day when we will be able to recognise these diseases and think of ways to eradicate them.
And its not that the new year started with all this serious stuff. Some of us welcomed the new year in the mountains in cold weather and survived it to tell our tale. And some have been really busy over the new year, like the Tarakash team who had setup a public poll to chose the “Upcoming Hindi Blogger of 2006″ which ended just a couple of days back and whose results have come out. This effort of Tarakash team didn't go unnoticed outside blogosphere as a leading Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar published a story covering this effort to recognise Hindi & Gujarati bloggers. And while we are talking of awards, a special mention goes to Eswami for giving away the “Eswami Indifference Award 2006″ to Indian Police Force which in fact satirically highlights the indifference attitude of the indian police which stand correct on the saying
Laaton ke bhooth, baaton se nahin maante.
(explained in English)
Some understand the language of kicks better than the one of words.
Coming to the Hindi language, Ravi Ratlami got his new year's gift as popular online hindi magazines Abhivyakti & Anubhooti did away with the font-specific versions of their websites & adopted unicode from 1st January 2007. Hindi tech blogger Unmukt is kinda surprised as live streaming media service of Council of European Union can be seen only on Windows and Mac & not on Linux. As he finds out, the FAQ from EU says that they don't support Linux as they can't do it in a legal way and on this Unmukt is surprised because unlike Windows & Mac(which are proprietory systems), Linux is open source and is not owned by any company, so how can supporting it has legal implications!! Thus he asks people to sign & support a petition against this action of EU which he already has signed.
And on a final note, GK Awadhiya's narration of Mahabharat continues as Arjun gets divine weapons.

author: Amit Gupta


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Ukraine: Kyiv Mayor and Kyiv Land · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes continues to cover Kyiv mayor's unlawful initiatives involving land.


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Ukraine: Open Letter to AeroSvit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Carpetblogger writes an angry open letter to AeroSvit: “Should Ukraine continue on a Western, rather than Eastern, trajectory (certainly not a given at this point, given the unabated rise of the banditocracy of late) your airline might one day lose its protected status.  Kyiv's strip clubs will be clogged by British stag parties but they won't be flying in on AeroSvit. Borispil will be swamped by airlines with even worse service than yours, but offering tickets at 1/3rd the price. I shall not mourn you. You suck.”


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What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — about the new year · Global Voices
Tim Muth

Salvadoran bloggers begin 2007 with a call for realism when looking at the situation facing the country.  There was considerable reaction to the end of the year statements(es) of the president, Tony Saca, who asserted that the economy was growing very healthily and declared that 2007 was to be the “Year of Social Peace.”
JJmar at the Hunnapuh blog comments on the government's patting itself on the back(es) regarding economic growth in 2007.  He points out that the government's statistics of 4.7% economic growth had been discredited and that growth was only 3.5%.   More importantly, the root of the growth was increasing remittances from Salvadorans who had emigrated abroad and not from economic vitality domestically.   Exports were increasing, but these were also tied to the Salvadoran diaspora as “nostalgia” foods were sent to emigrants in the US and elsewhere looking for a taste of home.
Ixquic reflects the hopes and dreams (es) of many Salvadorans.  She also heard the government say that the economy is growing, but notes that there does not seem to be an improvement in ordinary lives.  She suggest that the lack of benefit to the ordinary person from economic growth could be the result of growing inequality of the distribution of economic resources in the country.  Similarly, when the government tries to spin the country's crime problems by stating that crime has not increased in the past 12 months, Ixquic finds little comfort for the victims when crime is already at painfully high levels.
What troubles Ixquic the most, she writes, is a lack of citizen spirit and participation whether it be in politics, or justice, or civil actions.  Those who do participate seem to be stuck with anachronistic ideologies and lacking in creative solutions.  Although the next election is not until 2009, Ixquic already sees signs of the country becoming ungovernable as the old parties harden their positions.
Jjmar and Izquic ask for optimism temptered with realism as the new year begins, a theme picked up by journalist  Juan Jose Dalton on his blog.  Dalton writes:
Pienso ahora que aquella idea del poeta guatemalteco Otto René Castillo: “Hermosa encuentra la vida, quien hermosa la construye”. Es la utopía que choca contra la realidad. Puede encerrar esa frase la máxima de nuestras acciones. Lanzo mi propuesta al aire como un grito desesperado para no sucumbir.
Reconocer que estamos mal no es ser pesimista como muchos creen; mentir y esconder la verdad es un cinismo condenable. La incertidumbre no debe implicar desesperanza. Enarbolar la utopía de un mundo convivible es la meta.
To recognize that we are evil is not to be a pessimist as many believe; to lie and to hide the truth is damnable cynicism.  Uncertainty ought not to imply doubt.  To hoist the flag of a utopia, of a world where all can live together, is the goal.

author: Tim Muth


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Afghanistan: Human Failure of Reconstruction · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Joshua Foust writes on the US and NATO's failures in Afghanistan, arguing that the failures to get the situation entirely under control indicates that the US does not care enough to get the job done.


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Antigua: Michael Perham · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Annoyed”, writing at the Talk Antigua blog, has serious reservations about the attention showered by Antigua upon Michael Perham, the 14-year old British boy who sailed solo across the Atlantic England to Antigua: “I do agree he put the country’s name in the guinness book of world records again. But what about our own local youth that have done commendable things?”

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Argentina: A Commercial Creates Furor This Summer In Argentina · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alejandro returns to LAX – LIM with a hilarious post on the clever parody advertisement that turned into the hum-it-everywhere hit of the summer.

author: David Sasaki


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Armenia: Independent Media & Self-Sustainability · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian reports on how two Armenian independent media outlets are seeking operating funds, and how one of them is trying to break its reliance on handouts.


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Armenia: Tax Holidays · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Armenian Economist discusses tax holidays for investments by foreign firms in Armenia. This is the last year that such investments qualify, and the blogger asks whether or not the holidays should be extended or whether they are too expensive for Armenia.


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Bahamas: Junkanoo · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bahamians Larry Smith and Lynn Sweeting offer two perspectives on the Bahamian Christmas-time festival of Junkanoo.


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Bahamas: The importance of 2007 · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Nicolette Bethel tells us why 2007 is an important year for the Bahamas.


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Bangladesh: Christmas & Eid celebrations, cold days and heated up politics · Global Voices
Rezwan

Like any other country Christmas was celebrated in Bangladesh with much enthusiasm. Tom of Bangladesh Barta shares his experience of celebrating Christmas in Bangladesh. Being a majority Muslim country should Christmas remain a minority festivity in Bangladesh? Sadiq of Inspirations and Creative Thoughts compiles some historical facts and lessons which depicts that both Muslims and Christians have a lot to learn from Christmas. Christmas does not only have religious flavor in it but also a lot of local cultural elements. Welsh expat Andrew Morris tells a tale of three Christmases depicting the different cultural aspects of Christmases as celebrated in the different parts of the world. Such religious festivities can be part of every family. Sanjida shows how a Muslim family celebrated Christmas in the US.
Eid-ul-Azha or Bakri (sheep) Eid coincided with the first day of New Year (2007) in Bangladesh. People had double fun. This Eid marks with the sacrificing of animals, the meat of which are distributed in prescribed portions to the relatives and the poor. But in the absence of slaughter houses, the animals are kept in homes and some times controversially sacrificed on the street. You can imagine the situation from Tanvir's comment:
“I've got a goat in my toilet and a cow downstairs. This is the best Eid ever!!”
Meanwhile just before Eid Bangladeshis were glued to TV and voted amass via sms and internet to choose the winner of ‘Close Up1: Tomakei Khujche Bangladesh 2006′, Bangladesh's answer to the American idol.
Shaon and Samira post details on Salma Akhter, this year's winner. It was a remarkable journey for her coming from a very poor family and slowly growing in confidence to be the best amongst the 54000 candidates.
South Asia Biz reports that a cold wave is sweeping over the South Asian countries and killing many people. Ershad Ahmed has some photos depicting how people in Dhaka city got effected by the cold wave. People may wonder how cold it is! Drishtipat draws a comparison that what 7.7 degreed Celsius may not be seen as cold in many parts of the world, but in Bangladesh, where poor people live in not insulated Bamboo huts or on the streets, this much cold means death for children and the elderly. Let alone heating system many cannot afford a warm fire or a blanket or a sweater. Cold waves do not kill people but poverty does.
In these cold days Bangladeshi politics arena heated up with many issues. Many in Bangladesh were stunned as the secular party in Bangladesh politics Awami League reached an MOU with Khelafat Majlish, a right wing Islamic party for a political alliance as a ‘tactical electoral ploy’ for the next election. Drishtipat writes an open letter to the Awami League General Secretary protesting this decision, which will enable the Islamists to issue fatwas, which are banned in Bangladesh. Shada Kalo blog asks ‘is there no sane person left in AL leadership'?
Bangladesh's upcoming election process became uncertain as Awami League and its grand alliance decided to boycott the election. A Nikonian's blog analyses that a strong possibility of this election being skillfully engineered and that is the reason behind the decision. Their current agitations and blockade programs are being brutally controlled by the Security Forces. Drishtipat blog has some pictures of the police atrocities.

author: Rezwan


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Brazil: Supermodel Sex Scandal = YouTube Blocked = Poor Reporting · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Colin Brayton lends his extensive free time to following the Daniela Cicarelli sex video scandal and the mainstream media misinformation that has followed. Brazil-based Ricardo Carreon says: “My god, we really need the judges to understand how the whole internet works. And we really need them busy on issues that are far more important to all of us that watching the back of a model.”


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Caribbean: Cricket World Cup · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

It's Only Cricket posts the schedule for the upcoming Cricket World Cup, which takes place in the Caribbean this year, along with some notes.


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China: blog advertisement  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Keso has some comments about blog advertisement and wins much echoes from other bloggers and readers: blogging will lose its fun when it is for direct income.(zh)

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: food poison photos · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mousen in bullog blogs a series of photos on poisonous food in China, which include:
First set:  salt, white fungus, cruller, assorted vegetable, pig's fat;
Second set: ancient eggs, eggs, pork, dry pork, duck blood pundding;
Third set: barbeque, vegetable, chips, fish, fruit, bottle water, sausages;
Fouth set: bread, rice, noodle, assorted fruit, wheat, black fungus, milk powder;
Fifth set: hot pot, ham, soya sauce, wine, chilli sauce, cold green bean pudding, assorted meat,
Sixth set: instant noodle, honey, dog meat, bean curd skin, seeds, canned food, plastic lunch box;
Seventh set: white sugar, pop corn, tea, fermented bean curd, vinegar, recycled cooking oil, bean curd and green bean spouts.


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Ecuador, Mexico: MacWorld 2007 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The Macintosh Users Group of Ecuador [ES] and ALT1040 [ES] are just two of the hundreds of weblogs in Latin America that were following every last word uttered by Steve Jobs at the MacWorld conference this morning in San Francisco.


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Ecuador: Promoting Local Community · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Carlos Correa Loyola observes that, although Ecuablogs.com lists nearly 1,000 registered weblogs, many are inactive or unrelated to Ecuador. Furthermore, only a handful are based in the Andean city of Loja. To help promote a sense of community and local awareness, Loyola says he is starting his own informal directory of “Blogs Lojanos“, which he will publish each week along with a series of Creative Commons-licensed interviews with various Loja-based bloggers.


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Fiji: Bringing back hairstyles of the past · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Babasiga in Fiji is bored with the hairstyles that the Fijian men sport these days and posts pictures of hairstyles from the past as inspiration.


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Guyana: Camerawork on TV · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

MediaCritic posts a lengthy critique of the quality of the camerawork seen on Guyanese television.


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Hungary: Liberalism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about the “two forms” of Hungarian liberalism.


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Hungary: Revolution on Wikipedia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric informs that the ordeal with the Wikipedia article on the Hungarian Revolution is over.


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India: Feni in Goa, Hic! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Goa Blog has a comprehensive post on Goa's local drink – Feni. “And the reason is not difficult to understand because feni is the name of the most popular local drink among hard drinks.”


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India, Pakistan: Across the border · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kalpana Sahni writes on borders, culture and shared history. “These lines divide families living on either side of a river or they divide linguistic groups (the Punjabis, Kashmiris and Bengalis). While politicians and the military debate and argue over borders, there is another deeper reality that defies these divides.”


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India: Tourism and Kashmir · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

~Kashmir~ on the mess that is Jammu and Kashmir's Tourism Department. “The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism will do just one thing: it will speed Kashmir’s ecological destruction because of its failure to embrace the concept of eco-tourism.”


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Japan and Korea: Ramen Noodles Politics · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The asia pages has some interesting conversations concerning the debate over the invention of instant noodles between Japanese and Korean.


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Japan and South Korea: sea of peace · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

South Korea's president's suggestion to name the sea between Japan and Korea (East of Korea) Sea of peace instead of Sea of Japan, has stirred up much reactions and comments.
Overoften in Japundit points out that the name Sea of Japan has never been an issue in Japan and other countries: As if it’s a mutually intractable problem that he’s magnanimously giving ground on. So what were President Roh’s suggestions?


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Kazakhstan: Modern Art · Global Voices
Leila Tanayeva

Daniel Gulegos is an American artist who is temporary in Almaty, Kazakhstan and he blogs at Travelpod. While in Kazakhstan, Daniel explores the Kazakh contemporary art, meeting and collaborating with the local artists.
I thought everyone would like to see what goes on at art openings here in Almaty. So, I’m posting some photos of the last show I was in at the beginning of December. I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised to see they don’t look or dress much different than a typical hipster at any art opening in San Francisco or New York.
The night of this show was for the opening of the Seismograms exhibit at the Soros Center For Contemporary Arts. The show is about how artists should be critical of the government and the culture of Kazakhstan. Artists should be the plotter pen and paper on the Seismograms, bouncing and bobbing all over the place exposing the corruption of government and the new rich.
Daniel writes that “major art institutions in Kazakhstan are trying to develop local Kazakh art to help build on the national identity. Soros Center, where Daniel also holds exhibitions, also helps foreign artists to work with locals. Many modern artists, according to Daniel, are successful with foreigners buying their works, which makes them produce art “that seem to be based on traditional Kazakh culture and their painting [and]  use mid-20th century techniques often reminiscent of German Expressionism, French Fauvism, and Surrealism.”
It’s easy to come across galleries that are sort of Kazakh retailers/galleries that sell idealized scenes of yurts and horses and traditional scenes of the steppe. I’m surprised how much of this work is available. It’s no surprise to me that these artists sell a lot of their works. They subscribe to this aesthetic to satisfy the foreign market. But, this isn’t (to me) serious art, but it can be good if people identify this work as being merely decorative arts for people who want safe art that looks nice in their dental office waiting area.
It’s a great case study in how art can be influenced by market factors.

author: Leila Tanayeva


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Kazakhstan: PM Steps Down · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Kazakhstan's Prime Minister has stepped down. KZBlog reports and surveys media coverage of the news.


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Kazakhstan: The New PM · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts reports on Karim Masimov, the man nominated to be Kazakhstan's new Prime Minister (who looks poised to be the country's first Uighur Prime Minister) and analyzes what his ascension may indicate about intra-elite politics in Kazakhstan and the country's policy direction.


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Latin America: Directory of Journalistic Weblogs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ignacio Escolar [ES] has put together an exceedingly useful wiki-based directory of journalistic weblogs in Spanish [ES].


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Latin America: “National” Blogospheres in a Dialogic Society · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Latin American blogs resemble their counterparts in the rest of the world but have a particular feature that deserves some attention. They tend to gather themselves around some sites that function as phone catalogue listings, where authors can find themselves and other bloggers under country categories, regional and even gender BlogsMujer forms of belonging. The majority encourage the building of national blogospheres on their own right which are bits and pieces of the great international blogosphere being tracked by Technorati.” That is just one of the many acute observations by University of Bergen professor, Álvaro Ramírez Ospina, who has put together a must-read article analyzing, among other things, the nationalistic nature of blogging communities in Latin America.


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Lebanon: Politics of Economy · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The Lebanese blogosphere seems to be in a semi-lull this week. Nevertheless some bloggers reflected on topics such as the theory of evolution, the economical situation in Lebanon and the execution of Iraq’s ex-president.
Omar does not believe Darwin’s theory of evolution. He discusses natural selection, fossil records, hominid theory and his faith to explain the reasons why.
Anarchorev, at Blogging the Middle East, posts a photo of Jews celebrating Bar Mitzvah at Magen Abraham Synagogue in Beirut.
And check out Ibn Bint Jbeil’s attempt at a bi-lingual poem (English and Arabic).
Now away from science, photos and poetry and back to war, economics and politics.
A special eulogy dedicated to the ex-president of Iraq titled “Saddam Died Beautiful” is posted at The Middle East Memo.
The Lebanese government is preparing for a conference in Paris, called Paris III, with the goal of getting financial aid for Lebanon. Remarkz is among the blogs posting about this topic.
Marxist From Lebanon also discusses the Paris III conference, criticizing both the government and the opposition for their positions towards such conferences and the financial and political obligations attached:
The “opposition” and the “government” reached a stalemate. The Seniora government is proceeding with Rafiq Harriri's grand plan which is to integrate Lebanon to the World Trade Organization. …Seniora is using the conference … to by-pass the “opposition” and place Lebanon at the mercy of the transnational corporations and the US administration.
The Opposition is angry not because of the concept of 100% free market and US imperialism; on the contrary… What Seniora's move made the “opposition” angry is that they will not [get] a juicy share of the cake.
Anecdotes from a Banana Republic criticizes the aggressive nature of the pro-government “I Love Life” campaign:
I nearly had a violent altercation with some of the life-loving elves who were blocking my path in Achrafiye. They offered me a pamphlet, which I politely refused. They persisted. I told them that I find the whole campaign sickening. Within seconds a mob of rabid elves descended upon me, accusing me of loving death and being a Hezbollah sympathizer. It felt like some sick twist on the “Night before Christmas” story.
Michael Totten at Middle East Journal starts his first part of a series of articles of his journey through South Lebanon after the July war to survey the devastation, to check in on the United Nations peacekeeping force, and to talk to the civilians
Jeha’s Nail has a very dark yet interesting description of the system by which Lebanon is ran:
Our system is such that the country is run like a (short term) for-profit business by whoever controls Beirut. Those people happen to be “commissionaires”; with their focus on “short-term” profits, they are no “real” businessman in this sense. Even the great Rafic Hariri was essentially a “deal maker”. No one who “produces” anything “real” can hope to make much headway in Lebanon.
And finally for this week, Bob, who writes at Bob's Blog, believes that the demonstrations staged by the opposition in Beirut are starting to lose momentum:
I think the opposition is losing steam. People no longer believe that demonstrations and protests can achieve anything positive. On the contrary, they are starting to feel their negative effects.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lithuania: Helene Holzman · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Music and Life – Everywhere! writes about Helene Holzman, a German married to a Jew in Kaunas, Lithuania, before World War II: there is a book based on her diary – and there are still people in Lithuania who remember meeting her in person.


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Malaysia: North Korean Workers Found Dead · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

DPRK studies links to a Malaysian news story about two North Koreans found dead in Sibu, East Malaysia. This is the first time that we have news of North Korean labour being used in South East Asia.


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Malaysia: Student-Teacher mismatch · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Fruss and Fuss cites the story of a science teacher who had to teach a math class. The teacher started the class with an apology to the students. The blogger takes the education ministry to task and says “Is this a comedy of errors? Both the teacher and the students are suffering from the mismatch. No wonder tuition centres are fluorishing around the country.”


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Mexico: City Governments Inheriting Debt · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“As new municipal and state governments took office in early December and this month, the many and various mayors and their staffs began taking inventories of what they had inherited from their preceeding municipal governments. It is apparently not a pretty picture” writes Oaxaca-based Mark in Mexico who focuses on the debt inherited by municipal governments in the state of Jalisco.


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Nepal: Cold Wave · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The recent cold wave in Nepal meant hard times for many people. More at United We Blog! – “Four more people in Siraha died today due to the cold wave that has hit the Terai region hard in the last few days.”


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Nigeria: double standard in international aid · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Looks writes about The Gates Foundation's double standard in Nigeria, “One group of children who are benefiting from the immunization (measles and polio) programme are those living in the Niger Delta. While the Gates foundation is busy giving away huge sums of money to “good causes” like the immunization programme, the foundation is also benefiting from the returns on investments in Shell, Chevron and the other oil companies operating in the region.”


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Peru: Most Popular Blogs of 2006 · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Plaza de Armas at Christmas
Marking the end of 2006, a few bloggers took up the task of pointing out what might be the most remarkable Peruvian weblogs of the year. It was a year that saw near geometric growth in our national blogosphere, the “Cholosfera,” people of diverse backgrounds that just a little while ago would have never signed up (thinking blogging was for nerds) have since gotten involved. (Who read blogs in 2004, or before, when BlogsPerú [ES] was started?)
In El útero de Marita the selection was done by votes from readers on some previously established recommendations, although you could also vote for blogs which were not nominated. A few of the most voted-for were: Queloide [ES], La Nuez [ES], Moleskin Literario [ES], Virtù e Fortuna [ES], and many others. You can see the complete list in this post [ES].
El Blog del Morsa inspired by this selection, published his own with various differences, for example: Mucho Gusto [ES], E Radio [ES], La Cebolla [ES], and various others. You can compare by reading the complete post [ES].
Gran Combo Club, also motivated by El útero de Marita, published their own selection by topics of interest. For example, Language: La Peña linguística [ES], Literature: Puente Aéreo [ES] and others that you can see here.
It is interesting to take note of the reflection by El útero de Marita that the best blogs of this 2007 should be shaped by other, new and different, blogs. If we read, for example, the list of best blogs of 2004 according to voting at BlogsPerú, we see that there is not even one single blog in common with those of 2006. And many of these blogs no longer even exist. We hope that 2007 will be the year that the everyday Peruvian can also express herself, make his voice heard, and above all, be paid attention to, by way of this format or any other on the internet.
Translated from Spanish by David Sasaki

author: Juan Arellano


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Russia, Belarus: Oil Wars · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light and Publius Pundit write about the gas-and-oil war between Russia and Belarus.


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Sri Lanka: Muslims in the country · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Groundviews has some insights about the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. “At the same time the Sri lankan government is going to enroll 3,000 Muslim people into the army regiment under a Muslim regiment”


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Ukraine: Pripyat · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine List links to embellished and unembellished photos of Pripyat, the abandoned town near Chernobyl.


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USA: Latino Netroots · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Latino Netroots is a bilingual aggregator of what are described as “Progressive Latinos on the Net.” The aggregator seems to have been set up by Washington DC-based “DaBloguiMan” who blogs at Los Blogueros [ES] and podcasts at El Bloguipodio [ES].


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USA: When you write about the band, and they answer back · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Liz Henry discovers the group The Latin Playboys via fellow blogger Alisa Lynn Valdes and asks for more music-related links.


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Vietnam: Construction Woes · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Saigonnezumi bears the brunt of construction zeal of his neighbours in Saigon. Vietnam, one of the fast growing economy in the region, is seeing a big rise in construction activities.


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Argentina: Buenos Aires Blog Roundup · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alan Patrick is back with his fifth installment of the Buenos Aires Blog Roundup including a nod to a Baires blogger-cum-body-waxer who graciously clarifies, “I dont even mind if you ask me to do shapes like hearts and stars in it.” If you'd like to get to know more about Patrick himself, (like the fact that it's not his real last name), check out his five things meme. Following the meme, Global Voices contributor Jorge Gobbi was tagged by both Alan Patrick and Rodrigo. We learn [ES that Gobbi once worked in a supermarket, first studied Anthropology before switching to Communication, and that his first purchased album was “The Head on the door” by The Cure.


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Armenia: Blogging for Social Good · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian links to Gavar Special School, a school educating special needs students in Armenia's Gegharkunik Region. He goes on to discuss how blogs are better than static sites for drawing attention to charities and also for improving news websites.


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Armenia: Opposition to Hoagland Nomination · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Armenia Blog notes that Richard Hoagland has again been nominated as US ambassador to Armenia. Armenia Blog urges Armenians in the US to oppose Hoagland's nomination because he does not recognize the Armenian genocide.


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Bangladesh: On Senator Kennedy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying on Senator Edward Kennedy and his support for Bangladesh. “His was one of the lonely voices in the United States government that defended the right of the Bengali people to exist. He spoke out against the massacres, the rapes, and the persecution when the Nixon administration chose to look the other way.”


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Bloggers on the Iran government’s efforts to enforce registration of blogs and web sites · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Iran has been trying to follow the Chinese government’s path of controlling blogs and web sites. Owners of blogs and sites have been asked to register their web site or blog within two months. At the time of registering, private information such as name, family name, and identity card and telephone numbers will be recorded as well. Besides strong opposition from bloggers, who made fun of the new law, government soon came to the realization that it is impossible to make people register hundred of thousands of blogs. The Iranian government announced that the regulation requiring websites (including blogs) to register no longer applies to sub-domains. This means a great number of blogs do not have to register, but there are still a number of blogs with their own domains.
Let's look at how some bloggers reacted to this law:
Nikahang, a leading cartoonist, blogger and journalist, has summed up many people's feelings in a cartoon. The English translation of the Persian caption is “where is your permission or license?”
Cyrusonline gives a chronology of filtering and increasing censorship in last year. The blogger says we are asked to register our identity and all private information on this site, but it seems this site’s server is situated in USA. The blogger adds all personal information of Iranian people will be at disposition of foreign  countries[Fa].
Jomhour  makes the point that, contrary to democratic countries, dictatorships impose the laws to control citizens  [Fa] and these laws are to protect State’s advantages rather than citizens’ rights. The blogger adds:
we should see the reaction of the bloggers. Probably a small number of bloggers who are pro government will welcome this law but the most of independent bloggers will stay indifferent or protest against it.
Shirazi reports that the Ministy of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s site was hacked. The blogger says this Ministry can not protect its own site and its servers are in USA and China. Then the blogger adds that “we do not know that our information will be protected.”[Fa]
Khorshid Khanoum says that some people have asked why she has not offered a reaction to the new law. She employs a popular Persian expression that says “the best answer to stupid people (ie the ones who created the law) is silence [Fa]. She asks: “if they want they continue to filter us as they have already done and will do, why should we bother to go register our blog?”
Mohammad Abthai, the reformist politician, believes that this law can not be applied due to the nature of internet [Fa], adding that even if they manage to apply it, it will target only bloggers insider the country. According to Mohammad Abthai, a blog is a personal dairy, and even if could be classified as part of the media, to control it government would need a law.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Bolivia: Protests Turn Violent in Cochabamba · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A rally calling for the resignation of Governor Manfred Reyes Villa turned violent in Cochabamba on Monday, writes Cochabamba resident Jim Shultz, who goes on to detail the political fall out, concluding that the call for Reyes-Villa’s resignation was “a political miscalculation.” Day two resulted in an even larger – though violence free – march. Miguel Buitrago has more analysis, reporting that “the opposition in Santa Cruz with the voice of the State Government, expressed its alarm and warned the government that if such acts would want to be promoted in Santa Cruz, the state government would act against them. Jose Luis Paredes, Prefect of La Paz, also condemned with the same alarm the events in Cochabamba.”


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Brazil: Politicians and Editors · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Colin Brayton translates a post from Cesar Maia, ex-mayor of Rio de Janeiro on that funny friendship between politicians and the media.


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Brunei: 57 Reasons for Living in Brunei · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Daily Brunei Resources blogger finds a list of things that an expatriate likes about Brunei.


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Cambodia: Life of a Child Vendor · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha introduces us to a ten year old girl who sells bracelets to tourists to support her family and her education.


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Cambodia: Pollution Concerns · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Chlim01 is concerned about the risk of oil spills on the Mekong river after reading a report that is talking about China using Mekong river to ship oil to its south western province of Yunnan. Mekong river originates in China and flows through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The rivers supports millions of people in these countries.


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China: hotel in the quarry · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Atkins recently won an international competition for the design of a new city for 500,000 people – Songjiang Garden City, on the outskirts of Shanghai. Arranging to Fons in China Herald, part of the design is a resort hotel inside a quarry mind. Shanghaiist has more photos of the hotel design.


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China: medical lawsuit · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel Martinsen in DANWEI presents a story that combines the one-child policy debate with the current controversy over the value of traditional Chinese medicine in modern society.


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China: poor writers · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xueyong compares the income of famous and best selling writers in U.S and China and finds out that Chinese writers’ income is far too low (zh).


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Colombia: Creative Commons-licensed Music · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Highlighting Colombian music released with Creative Commons licenses, Carolina Botero presents the album “Colombitis” [ES] by trio “Colombita.” Also mentioned are “Gaita Negra” and salsa group Calambuco whose songs can be heard on hi5.


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Cuba: Will Sheehan respond to las Damas? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Babalú Blog wonders whether US anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who's visiting Cuba to demonstrate for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, will respond to a call by Cuban pressure groups “Damas de Blanco” to visit a Cuban prison as well. Those leaving comments on the post think it unlikely.


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Dominica: Brands of the year · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

On reading a piece by a well-known business writer designating certain Caribbean brands “brands of the year,” Dominica's Kenny Green concludes: “There are no centers of excellence in Caribbean business. . . . We are struggling for icons and because of this even awards and reviews are lowering their standards to scrape the floor for ‘winners’.”


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Guinea: unlimited national strike · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Star Journal reports about the national strike organized by Guinea's main trade union, “Guinea's main trade union collective, CNTG-USTG, has announced that it will launch an unlimited national general strike starting on Jaunary 10.”


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Hong Kong: lawsuit against single mother heroine · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The police decides to charge the single mother heroine, Ho Loy, who has been protesting against the star ferry pier demolition, of possession of weapon (a cutter) and criminal damage (the cutting of cloth surrounding the construction site). inmediahk.net has the most recent update with eyewitness comments (zh).


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India: Feminism and the beasts · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Some recent posts commenting on the supposed radical nature of feminism or the behaviour of women have Falstaff asking if it's National Chauvinism Week. Kaleidoglide asks where she can find these fantastic beasts.


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Iran:Conservative journal criticised Ahmadinejad’s Rhetoric · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Alpar, conservative journal,Islamic Republic, criticised Ahmadinejad's rhetoric on nuclear issues.The blogger says Ahmadinejad's empty slogans has created a lot of unrest in the world[Fa].


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Japan: first mosque in Kyushu · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan explains the process about how the decision of building the first mosque in Kyushu managed to get concensus from the local community. It takes 8 years and the construction involves huge amount of money.


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Kazakhstan: HIV Crisis · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZBlog notes that doctors and officials who made errors leading to the infection of 84 children and 12 women with HIV in the southern Kazakhstani city of Shymkent have been charged with crimes, and that a new report says Kazakhstan has 7,000 HIV case, though the real figure is probably much higher. KZBlog says that the Shymkent case has raised awareness of HIV/AIDS, but that it is not yet clear whether or not it has changed the common belief that those infected with the disease did something wrong.


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Kenya: Kenya is in danger · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Kenyan blog, Kumekucha: You Missed This, describes Somalia's threat to Kenya's security, “Two events happened late yesterday that clearly sounded warning bells that Kenya is in serious trouble over the Somalia crisis. Firstly President Kibaki cancelled a trip to his native Othaya to chair a security meeting in Nairobi. Then local TV channels gave the Somalia crisis unprecedented prominent coverage in the prime time news slots.”


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Nepal: Blogs and Democracy · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Two years of Blogdai sees some congratulatory notes that reflect on blogs and democracy. “Nepali blogs are talking about bloggers daily lives, politics, society and what not. Voices are necessary in democracy. They are more important in a transitional situation like in today's Nepal. “


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Nigeria: challenging census figures · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Naijaman challenges Nigeria's latest census figures, “Pray, what kind of census portrays Kano as being more populous than Lagos state? Where cows and goats mistakenly counted? Who are those phantoms in Kano? Where are the seaports, banks, oil companies and various industries that make Lagos the eldorado of the unemployed situated in Kano? Are there groundnut pyramids that we have failed to see?”


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Pakistan: On Fred Bremner · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within on Fred Bremner. “He was not a diplomat, historian or a journalist, yet his photographs and publications have become an important source of historic records of the cities, events, places and people in Pakistan.”


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Philippine free press under attack · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Since the fall of Marcos dictatorship in 1986, the Philippine press has been described as one of the freest in the world. But in recent years, various groups have taken notice of the widespread attacks on Philippine media. Many journalists from the provinces have been murdered The government closed down a newspaper for almost a week last year. The First Family is harassing journalists by filing libel cases in the Courts.
Pinoy Press quotes a statement from journalists who accused the First Gentleman of redefining libel:
“We are deeply concerned that the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo, is not using this libel suit to seek legitimate redress. Rather he is redefining libel, a clear affront to the Philippine press. As we know, the test of libel is the presence of malice. But Mr. Arroyo disregards this basic tenet and recklessly uses libel to intimidate and silence the press. The message we’re getting is this: anything that hints of criticism of the First Gentleman or is considered unfavorable coverage of his activities is “libelous.” In effect, he hinders the public’s right to information on matters of public concern.”
Freedom Watch details how journalists are fighting back:
“More than half of the 45 reporters, columnists, editors and publishers the First Gentleman, Jose Miguel Arroyo, has sued for libel are filing a civil class action suit against him. The first of its kind in the Philippines, it is a civil as well as class action suit. The class action suit is asking for damages for the anxiety, loss of income, and other inconveniences Mr. Arroyo’s libel suits have allegedly caused. But it also argues that the suits have not only caused the respondents sleepless nights; they also have a chilling effect on press freedom.”
In a related news, the Southeast Asian press alliance reports that the lawyer handling the suit against the First Gentleman has been receiving death threats.
A group of journalists has launched a signature campaign for the decriminalization of libel:
“The record number of cases Mr. Arroyo has filed highlight how the powerful in this benighted land regularly abuse libel laws to curtail the democratic right of the press to delve into the truth behind matters of public interest and the people's right to know. It is also the best argument for decriminalizing an outdated law that has been used not so much to protect the innocent as to shield the guilty. We demand that Congress immediately work to repeal the law on libel, to strike it off the book of criminal statutes, as part of its sworn duty to strengthen our badly eroded and still beleaguered democracy”.
Bryanton Post writes about the world report describing 2006 as the “worst year for the press in more than a decade”. Inside PCIJ also links a report on the situation of the Philippine press:
“Thirteen journalists died last year, bringing to 49 the number of media practitioners murdered since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001. This number surpasses the numbers killed during the Marcos regime (1965-1986). This also makes the country the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, second only to Iraq.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Somalia: US absence was helpful · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Gathara's World reacts to US airstrikes in Somalia, “If there was one place where America was helpful by its military absence, Somalia was it. For as long as no American forces were seen to take part in the fighting, the task force off the Somali coast notwithstanding, it would have been difficult for Al-Qaida to turn Somalia into a cause célèbre for jihadists around the world.”


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Sri Lanka: The Ethnic and the Military Problem · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Greenhornet.lk on the two problems in Sri Lanka – ethnic and military. “An acquaintance of mine summed it up this way: “If you kill one person, you get to go to jail. If you kill a thousand, you get to go for peace talks”.”


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St. Petersburg, Russia: Flood #302 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As waves and wind pushed water levels 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) above the norm today, LJ user goblin-gaga drove around St. Petersburg, filming this 302nd flood in the city's 303-year history:
He wrote (RUS):
I rode from the beginning of Primorsky Prospekt, along Vyborg Embankment, across Liteinyi Bridge, along Fontanka, through Nevskiy, to Lomonosovskyi Bridge. A flood, truly. A funny one.
A rather photographer-friendly flood, too – not devastating (knock on wood) and occurring in the sunny weather: needless to say, LJ user goblin-gaga wasn't the only blogger out there willing to document it.
One of the places to check for photo updates is LJ community fotopiter (“Photographic (as well as artistic) images of St.Petersburg, Russia, one of the most fascinating cities on the globe. The primary language of this community is Russian.“).
So far, one of the most striking images there is this one, taken by LJ user aorist at Vasilyevsky Island around 4 PM. Most comments are of the “Wow!!!” variety, and quite a few bloggers are asking (RUS) for a larger-size copy of the photo – which aorist posts here, along with five more pictures from St. Petersburg's streets.
LJ user batony4 admits (RUS) that he “loves floods” – even though they “hurt the economic and ecological situation in the city, and cause streets and subway stations to shut down.” His flood photos from the Karpovka River area are here.
LJ user i-lost-escape has also posted photos from the Karpovka River – here. She wrote (RUS):
The wind woke me up today. It was blowing violently and howling loudly – even though all the windows and doors were closed. I tried to open the window, to see what's going on out there. It cost me some effort to close it.
They were writing about the flood in the news. It's a frequent occurrence in St. Pete. More often than not, a flood looks like two lower steps of the staircases leading to the rivers submerged. And I wasn't going anywhere at first, but was following the news nevertheless.
When they wrote that the Karpovka River began to overflow and flooded the road, I grabbed my camera and went there. The wind in the street was beating me off my feet and wasn't letting me breathe.
There were many photographers by the Karpovka. Boys with soap-boxes [cheap cameras] were using flash for some reason […]. Some people were photographing one another: “Me and the 302nd flood.” […]
LJ user periskop has posted pictures from Fontanka and wrote (RUS):
I was working peacefully, glancing at the rising Neva every once in a while. But when around 3 PM the water reached the step from the road at the embankment across the river from us (we are located behind the Finlyandskiy Bridge), my soul couldn't take it anymore and I left for the city center to take a look. […] Fontanka was about to overflow – some 15 cm were left to the road. […] 220 cm above the norm – it's not a joke, last time it was 180 cm. I haven't seen anything like this in my time here…
In a comment to another post, periskop added (RUS):
I do remember the flood two years ago. It was a lot less graphic then – it all began in the evening, and went on at night, and there was a downpour, and then it was all gone by noon. And today everything happened with the sunlight, in the daytime, with strong wind, and the peak of it was around 3-4 PM – and so it was a lot more impressive.
According to LJ user troitsa1, around 5 PM, the water in the Moyka near the Blue Bridge reached the level of the 1967 flood. He has posted photos from the Moyka and also from the Neva River (with the remains of the ice that had come down from Lake Ladoga very early this year – frighteningly early). To one reader, who seemed to be in awe of the photos, troitsa1 responded (RUS):
troitsa1: Well, we are used to it already! It's just that digital cameras didn't exist before – and floods were always there… :)
yasczerka: Yes, floods look a lot more impressive when there are digital cameras :)) I'm very impressed, and even slightly scared :)

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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The rest of the world welcomes the Apple iPhone · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Mobbing the iPhone yesterday at Macworld. Photo by Malabooboo
We didn't want to have to write this article. As Global Voices‘ Latin America editor/Spanish translator/Digest dude David Sasaki wrote on one of our mailing lists yesterday, “I have low tolerance for the amount of internet bandwidth dedicated to the latest and greatest Apple product. . . .” Searching his Latin America RSS feeds, however, David could find “little else other than excited talk about the Apple iPhone,” and several of our other authors and editors reported on similar oohing and aahing coming from their respective blogospheres.
For the benefit those of you who don't spend your waking hours refreshing the pages of Digg and Endgadget, here's a little context: the iPhone, Apple Computer's long-awaited combination mobile phone/iPod/Internet communications device, was unveiled yesterday by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during the keynote address at the opening of the Macworld conference in San Francisco. Arguably the most speculated-upon device since the ancient Sumerians were wondering whether the wheel would really rotate on its axis, the iPhone, with its movie-star looks and a feature set possibly deserving of the term “revolutionary”, won't arrive in stores — in the US — for another five months; and when it does, it will be tied initially to a single US service provider. (A launch in Europe is announced for later in 2007, with the iPhone becoming available on the Asian market in 2008). Price? US$500 for the basic (4GB) model.
So why the keen interest from outside the US in this costly gadget most of the world won't have access to for quite some time? Partial credit certainly belongs to what's come to be known as the “Apple Effect”, the company's legendary ability to create pre-release hype around their products, and also to the fact that geeks, no matter where they live, just can't help it. But perhaps the more compelling reason is the critical role played by mobile technology in the information landscapes of many countries, notably in the developing world. As Trinidadian blogger Taran Rampersad observed yesterday, “global mobile phone usage 2 years ago is higher than the global internet penetration at present. Phones haven't stopped selling in the last 2 years.”
Latin America
TechnoCHICA, a group blog based in Panama City and focused on “personal technology for women,” noted the recent doubts expressed by Microsoft about Apple's ability to make the iPhone a success, adding (ES) that
Despite warnings from an envious Microsoft, I am sure it will be a complete hit. I already want one. It's not just a simply beautiful and innovative cell phone (200 new patents), but also a video and audio digital player.
Juliana Boersner, writing from Venezuela, pointed out the device's truly “digital” qualities:
among the most interesting and innovative characteristics is that it will use a multitouch technology that is based on the best instrument that was never invented: our fingers.
Kike from Guatemala, however, was most excited (ES) at the fact that “it runs OS X and supports Widgets, Google Maps, Safari, and of course, iTunes and surely some other applications for OS X,” a view endorsed by Mexican Eduardo Arcos (ES) who believes the inclusion of OS X (Apple's operating system) renders the device:
100% multitask-ready and trustworthy, redefining what can be done with a mobile telephone.
Rodrigo Duarte (ES) was semi-optimistic that he and his fellow Chileans might be able to get their hands on the “super sexy” iPhone sooner rather than later: “It comes out in June in the U.S.A. and maybe here too (2008 in Asia).”
Eastern and Central Europe
In Russian, LiveJournal user nl (RU) linked to the live broadcast of Macworld Expo posted at MacRumorsLive.com. In the comments thread, bloggers wondered how much the iPhone is going to cost in Russia and agreed that the price was likely to be much higher than in the United States. Another blogger was concerned about the device's durability: “I wonder if the screen is going to get scratched as easily and fingerprints will glisten as brightly on it as on the iPod Nano and Sony PSP screens?”
Habrahabr.ru blog translated the transcript of the Macworld Expo's live broadcast into Russian, but failed to provide the link to the broadcast itself, which angered quite a few readers. The translation is extremely detailed, however, and even notes that “I Feel Good” by the late James Brown was played both at the beginning and end of Steve Jobs’ keynote.
East Asia
Kurtlow.com in Malaysia resorted to religious imagery and metaphors to express his excitement over the arrival of the iPhone:
So the prophecy is true! The messiah is here!! The One. I must be dreaming. The angelic naked virgins on fluffy white clouds should appear anytime now. But they'd better be carrying iPhones.
Oh, and one more thing…
AAAHHOMGOMG IT'S THE iPHONE!! T-H-E iPHONE!!!1 ONE YEAR TO SAVE!!
Also thinking about raising funds to finance his iPhone purchase (the device, as was noted earlier, becomes available in Asia in 2008) was Kevin Lim in Singapore:
Now watch as everyone starts dumping their gadgets on eBay…. anyone interested in my Nokia E61, Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, and Sidekick 2? :P
After months of speculating about the iPhone, shitsoil from Brunei, which is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco, was up in the wee hours of the morning breathlessly awaiting the news from Macworld:
Steve Job is probably on stage showing off Apple's new hardware/gadget's as I am typing this… oh wait.. as a matter of fact Steve Job just got on stage! (9:14)ok, we don't know… well, I don't know what's going on at the moment.. but the word is… the Apple Phone may be announced afterall according to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal…and there's also much talk about an Apple Gaming.. whatever that is~ ok..I'm too lazy to wait and check out the Live updates.. so I'll probably post more about this tomorrow/later.. keep on visiting
Shitsoil delayed his bedtime even further to update his post with a bit of cheerleading for the iPhone (and to sweep aside the poor AppleTV, the other device that Jobs introduced in his keynote):
IM SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!! just when I was about to go to bed~ I just had to post this!!! ok… So yes, first the iTV (it's actually called AppleTV) was introduced.. but f*** that.. coz the iPHONE exists!! and yes, it's gonna be called an iPhone!!”
Frewstyle in Malaysia, however, was immune to the iPhone hype:
. . . the only eye-opening feature that I found worth the hype is the proximity sensor that enables the phone to automatically turn off its motion sensor screen when you put your phone close to your ear while making a call. Other than this, I don't see how iPhone is going to reinvent anything. It's basically an iPod + phone + browser + whatever not. You don't reinvent, you assemble.
South Asia
Global Voices‘ South Asia editor Neha Viswanathan summed up the overall reaction to the iPhone in her blogosphere as “Mostly wow! But some concerns for small diskspace. And the flipside – India won't probably see it for a year or two. And it's mighty expensive.”
Shripriya was “following Mac Rumours Live from 11pm to 12:30am in India, Skyping with a fellow mac addict through the entire key note,” but believed that the iPhone's price point
will be a barrier for a lot of people. Especially since there is no subsidizing by Cingular like they usually do. The explanation is that this is the subsidized price, but the marketing sell is missing ($599 from Apple, but only $299 with a Cingular contract blah blah).
Visualreactor concurred, asking: “Now which bank do I rob to raise the funds?”
While Tggokul egged on the Indian service providers:
Come on Airtels, Reliances ( in India). Go ahead, work with Apple and let us use it as well ( I am sure it will take atleast another two years before we see this here).
Last but not least, tech journalist (and GV contributor) Kamla Bhatt, who divides her time between the US and India, showed her Silicon Valley chops in a post which focused largely on the industry reaction and also noted that Apple had announced it was changing its name from Apple Computer to Apple, Inc.
North Asia
Like many of his fellow Asians, the blogger at jan.yculblog.com, writing from China, took note (ZH) of the iPhone's 2008 release date in Asia, and endorsed the company's name change:
Apples shares have shot up 7.4%, and I see that even the name has changed, from Apple Computers to Apple. If you think about it, with iPods making so much money, and with the iPhone's strong launch, why bother selling computers? They don't make much money.
but refrained from making any predictions about the iPhone's future:
I really like the iPhone, because compared to the iPod, mobile telephones are much more of an essential daily item. Of course, the competition in the mobile telephone market is much more fierce. As Nokia has shown, doing cellphones isn't so easy. What the end result will be, we'll have to wait and see.
Sub-Saharan Africa
GV contributor David Ajao of Nigeria wrote on his blog that “the (rather pricey) device’s design and Graphic User Interface is outstanding and breath-taking,” but notes that while launch dates for Europe and Asia have been announced, there's been “no mention of Africa”.
David's compatriot Yomi also believes that African Apple fans will “have some waiting to do” and reports – erroneously – that the iPhone lacks a QWERTY keyboard  so “its certainly not my ideal device.” (For the record, according to the Apple site, the device does have a “predictive QWERTY soft keyboard”). Yomi is still interested, however, to see “how fast 3rd Party developers can come out with applications for this platform. In the end, that means a lot in the smartphone world.”
Writing from Kenya, Josiah Mugambi seems to have been hoping for a 3G device and is content to “wait until the release the next version, and yah.. when they make it available worldwide….”.
Caribbean
In a post entitled “The anxiety mounts”, Joan Guerrero in the Dominican Republic painted a picture (ES) of the pre-Macworld anticipation that many Mac addicts throughout the world would probably recognise:
many at this point are in the process of setting aside their office work or perhaps many have even stayed at home. . . Right now, as it's 12:30pm, I'm online with the guys from the Dominican branch of the Apple User Group.
Later, Guerrero predicted that the iPhone will be (ES)
the hot item among artists, reggaetón performers and — why not? — even [Dominican television celebrity and performer] Nikauly de la Mota might think of buying one.
Sean Soares in Bermuda, who ended his post with the line “Macs still suck,” called the iPhone “a product of imagination, myth and legend” and admitted that, as “a fan of sexy tech” he found the iPhone “gorgeous”.
In Trinidad, Taran Rampersad was struck by the iPhone's QWERTY soft keyboard and multi-touch user interface. Rampersad also noted the Apple name change, calling it “probably more interesting than the iPhone itself,” adding that:
Microsoft may have to eat some crow on this one. The device does seem packed with features. While there will be some shaking out of the bugs (always) it seems that Apple has listened quite well to the market in integrating things and providing what a lot of people want.
Also in Trinidad, Caribbean Free Radio expressed admiration for the iPhone's looks and features, but didn't think she'd be acquiring one any time soon:
Thing is, I don’t need an iPhone. . . . Besides, the damn thing costs US$500: know how many Kiva.org entrepreneurs I could finance with that kind of cash??
London-based Trinidadian blogger Seldo, who recently landed a job with Yahoo in San Francisco, calls the iPhone “the sexiest chunk of hardware to grace god's green earth since, well, since the iPod was invented,” and goes on to offer a, detailed, geek-grade — yet highly readable — review of the device, complete with informed predictions:
Frankly, this is always the kind of mobile device we knew would arrive and change the landscape. Personally, I wasn't expecting it to be out for another 3-5 years — roughly how long away I think Nokia and SonyEricsson are from making similar devices at the correct price-point to get adopted by the major networks. But now it's here — or rather, in June it's here, if you live in the states at least, and boy am I glad I'm about to move there — and it's going to be very, very interesting to watch everybody scramble to adjust.
This article was a major collaborative undertaking and would not have seen the light of day without the input of the following: David Sasaki, Veronica Khokhlova, Maurina, Preetam Rai, Neha Viswanathan, David Ajao, Ndesanjo Macha and John Kennedy


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Trinidad & Tobago: Indira Gandhi in Trinidad · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Caribbean Free Photo posts a photo of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum in Delhi, India, and expresses delight at discovering that Trinidad occupies “quite a prominent place” in the museum's collection.


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Trinidad & Tobago: “Is Chinese food ours?” · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Trinifood wonders whether Caribbean territories could legitimately include certain Chinese dishes part of their national cuisines.


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Turkmenistan: Reforms on Tap? · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts lists reforms proposed by the front-runner to become Turkmenistan's next president. Roberts analyzes why the next president will be under pressure to reform, why he will need engagement from the West, and why the US should support reforms.


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Uzbekistan: Presidential Mandate Expires · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann marks the expiration of the mandate of Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov. The funny thing is, he still is in office, and there has been no public mention of coming elections. Ben explains what is going on, and speculates on different ways that the president may extend his time in office.


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Venezuela: Nationalization of CANTV and Caracas Electricity · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was sworn in on Monday, laying out an ambitious plan to speed up and strengthen his “socialist revolution.” (Video in Spanish here) Daniel Duquenal, however, labels Chavez's “21st Century Socialism” “Rehashed Communism” and looks at what the nationalization of CANTV and Electricidad de Caracas could mean in the future. Miguel Octavio adds, “Today markets plunged in Venezuela and so did the country's democracy.”


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Afghanistan: To Guantanamo for a Misunderstanding · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sanjar Qiam tells the story of  Faqeer Ahmadi, a 34 year old man from the Kharwar district of Afghanistan's Wardak province who was held at Guantanamo Bay for a year over a misunderstanding.


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Argentina: Buenos Aires Tango Festival · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Stay in Buenos Aires has a primer on the upcoming Buenos Aires Tango Festival.


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Armenia: Democratic Deficiencies · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At Blogrel, Observer explains some of the problems in Armenian democracy.


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Bangladesh: Political Crisis · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Adda on the escalating political crisis in Bangladesh. “At the end of three day siege organized by the 14th Party alliance turned very ugly when the Police used brutal force against the political activists on January 9th.”


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Bangladesh: State of Emergency · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat Group Blog sums up the current political scenario in Bangaldesh. “The State Of Emergency that was declared today is a culmination of a year of continuous protests and battle between gov’t (BNP: Bangladesh Nationalist Party) and opposition (AL: Awami League), all centered on the coming Jan 22 national elections.”


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Bolivia: “War Zone” in Cochabamba · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A breaking news update from Jim Shultz in Cochabamba: “As I write this the Center of Cochabamba has just become a war zone. Crowds of hundreds of, mostly young men, armed with heavy sticks, are in open conflict on the block below our office and throughout the Center of Cochabamba. Flying rocks fill the air. Several have come flying through our windows.”


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Chile: OLPC and Politics 2.0  · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Chileans bloggers are very impressed so far with the US$ 100 laptop, OLPC. But how will the innovative device, meant to help bridge the digital divide, arrive to Chile? What do laptops have to do with politics?   As Marcelo Aliaga (ES)  explains:
Como en todo, hay un chileno trabajando en el proyecto One Laptop Per Child, que lidera Walter Bender y evangeliza Nicholas Negroponte. El es Eduardo Silva, quien está trabajando en el “Programa de desarrolladores de OLPC” y, como tiene que hacer pruebas, le han enviado el primer prototipo. En el lanzamiento de ChilePrimero, expuso el modelo B1.
Carlos Verdugo (ES) posts a video and also his impressions about what could happen in the Chilean education system with this tool:
¿Se imaginan si cada estudiante tuviera uno? y a esto le sumamos las redes WiMax que se instalarán en Chile este año… ¿cómo sería la educación que está a la vuelta de la esquina?
Les tengo una buena y una mala noticia.
La Mala: Negroponte ofreció en su momento al Ministro de Educación de la época (Sergio Bitar) la oportunidad de comprar estos computadores, y la visión (o más bien la no visión) del ministro se reflejó con un “no gracias”. Brasil, Argentina y ahora último Uruguay ya compraron y le llegan este año.
La Buena: Hay personas que a pesar de las malas decisiones del pasado están afanadas en que estas máquinas lleguen a Chile, por ejemplo el Senador Fernando Flores quien gracias a sus contactos y amor por Chile se ha comprometido a traer algunos miles al país.
I have both bad and good new:
The bad: Negroponte offered to the education ministry of that time (Sergio Bitar) the chance to buy these computers and the vision (or the non-vision) of the ministry was reflected with a “no thank you.” Brazil, Argentina and recently, Uruguay have already made purchases and the computers will arrive to them this year.
The good: There are people that, despite the bad decisions of the past, are working so that these machines can get into Chile, such as, for example, the Senator Fernando Flores, that because of the love for Chile and his contacts has committed to bring some thousands [of laptops] to our country.
The laptop introduction  was made during the launch party of a new political movement, called “Chile Primero” (ES), or “Chile First”. This group seems to be very committed with technology and also politics. How are IT and politics related? The director of citizen newspaper El Morrocotudo (ES), Vlado Mirosevic (ES), explains in his blog the power of being active in the creation of projects realized with web2.0 tools.
El objetivo no es ser observadores de la realidad, sino por el contrario usar los medios de comunicación digital para hacerse cargo de anomalías sociales y hacer pasar acciones colectivas.
Of course, this mixture of technology and politics doesn’t sit well with everyone, and Diego Sepulveda (ES) comments on the impression of opportunism he had at the launch of “Chile Primero” and the presentation of the OLPC:
Hace unos dias atras lei sobre la llegada del OLPC XO a Chile, pero por alguna extraña razon me doy cuenta de que los oportunistas y los nuevos oportunistas 2.0 estan detras de su llegada aparte de la sobreexposicion del aparato, o sea cosa bastante contraria a lo que Negroponte estipula de no lucrar con el proyecto. Es extraño que ahora dos movimientos que estan al borde de las criticas se lanzen juntos a la piscina ofreciendo un proyecto de corte oportunista pero a la vez lucrando con el aparato cuando de verdad andan en otra. Me suena extraño que usen este aparato como metodo de presion gubernamental cuando en su principio el aparato mismo se iba a vender a los gobiernos sin presion, cosa que en Chile fracaso por la poca vision de entonces. ¿Me pregunto porque usar un proyecto sin fines de lucro como arma politica? De seguro buscaran votos en el 2010, pero tambien hay que pensar que detras del juguete de los geeks (y no me refiero al iPhone) hay gente que se saca la mugre por ofrecerlo como una herramienta educativa y es ahi donde caen en la mas absoluta bajeza moral.
One of the politicians commited to bringing the OLPC to Chile is Senator (and veteran blogger) Fernando Flores, who recently dropped out of his former party, the PPD, (Party For the Democracy) for several reason he did not explain, however, the left wing has been inolved in several corruption scandals in recent months. He also supported the foundation launch of Chile Primero.

author: Rosario Lizana


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China: dragon culture? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Recently some Mainland Chinese intellectuals suggest to use dragon as the Chinese cultural symbol and Chinese brand name. Xueyong disagrees and points out that the dragon symbol is related with ancient Chinese kingdom and masculine despotism (zh).


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China: flu alert · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ai Wei Wei puts up a flu alert on his blog: in Jan, among our dozen people working team, more than half of them got flu. Some of them are usually very strong and seldom have diseases before. Also, my colleague's friends and family members, including young guys from other countries. Everyday, more and more people got flu and the symptoms are very serious this time, most of they have high fever, body pain…(zh).


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China: How Wang Xiaofeng encounters Time · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Raymond Zhou translates Wang Xiaofeng's self mocking post explaining how he became Time's person of the year.


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Croatia: Democracy for the Rich · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Neretva River on democracy according to the Croatian government's spokesman: “…the poor should not be permitted to hold public office […], home ownership, possession of two cars and 50,000 Euros in a savings account should be a precondition for entering political life…”


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Cuba: Sheehan won’t meet the “Damas” · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Mark Masferrer calls the fact that US anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will not be meeting with the Cuban activist group “Damas de Blanco” (Ladies in White) nor visiting a Cuban prison, “the biggest non-suprise of the week“.


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D.R. of Congo: hippo poachers arrested · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Congo Rangers blog has a post about the arrest of hippo poachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.


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El Salvador: The biggest pupusa in the world · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim Muth has an entertaining link to photos of “the biggest pupusa in the world” from Olocuilta, El Salvador.


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Ethiopia: Jesus was born on January 7 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Did you know that Ethiopians celebrate Christmas in January? Read Meskel Square, “As everyone who reads this must know by now, Ethiopia has its own calendar and time system – 7am is 1am, 2007 is currently 1999, there are 13 months in the year and Christ was born on January 7.”


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Freedom of the press and Saddam Hussein in the Moroccan blogosphere · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

Last week was mostly about Nichane and since the trial of the two journalists started on Monday, this week will probably also be about this issue in the Moroccan Blogosphere (Blogoma).
Saddam Hussein's hanging was also a hot topic in the Blogoma, and based on the emotion that “dominates” some posts, the former president of Iraq seems to have been “canonized” in Morocco. . . or at least by some Moroccan bloggers.
Grim Laugh
Eatbees calls the trial of Sanaa Elaji and Driss Ksikes a black eye for Moroccan freedom. He believes the situation looks grim for the magazine and its two journalists.
What is uppermost in my mind is the human side of this story, the possibility of Driss and Sanaa losing their freedom, and the chilling effect on Moroccans who believed that things were opening up
The Morocco Report thinks that the Moroccan government is hell-bent on catering to Islamists, rather than continuing its short run of open discourse.
“All I did was report to readers what Moroccans are seeing in jokes and anedoctes,” said Sanaa Al-Aji, on trial in Casablanca.  She also stated that she has a deep respect for religion.
Larbi bitterly says that the whole situation should be a wake up call for Moroccans (Fr).
The stick treatement is back, and it will hurt.
Mohamed El Kortbi  regrets the fact that Sanaa and Driss jumped on the sensationalism (Fr) of a subject related to sex and Islam while “they could have opted for more important Moroccan issues to analyze.” Adds El Kortbi.
… je tiens à préciser que dans tous les pays, il y des lignes rouges à ne pas trangresser : au Maroc, c'est la religion, la monarchie et l'intégrité territoriale. en France et plusieurs pays européens, c'est l'histoire juive au début du siècle dernier. aux USA, c'est le terrorisme musulman…
…I'd like to point out the fact that each country has its own red lines that no one should transgress: For Morocco it's the religion, the monarchy and the territorial integrity. For France and many other European countries it's the Holocaust. In the USA it's the Islamic terrorism…
For El Glaoui, Morocco is losing the plot over Nichane's trial.
According to our readers, instead of grasping the opportunity to stand up to the Islamists, Moroccan authorities are continuing to fumble the Nichane issue.
Abdelilah Boukili writes that Nichane crossed the red lines when its two journalists tackled Religion, a sensitive subjet in the Kingdom of Morocco.
The Moroccan government is trying to curb the influence of Islamist extremists. By allowing such publications, it will give them an opportunity to win public support as for them the Moroccan government is pro-western.
Atmani hopes all this story is a scary nightmare (Ar) he'll get to wake up from it, while M.S Hjiouj considers this whole thing (Ar) a déjà vu.
Saddam Hussein…a Hero!
Prof.Naim considers the way Saddam was executed barbaric and is definitely in the favor of the late president of Iraq, who’s starting to be considered a martyr and a hero (Fr) by many in the Muslim world.
Yassine Benhida considers Saddam to be “the myth of Babylone”. He writes that because the execution was widely broadcasted, Eid Ul Adha had a taste of mourning. He decided not to show the pictures of the execution and posted instead the no bravery song by James Blunt.
Maryamchawki posted the video (Fr) showing the execution of Saddam, the way Hanane did calling Saddam a martyr (Fr).
Noura thinks that the end of Saddam won't end the violence in Iraq (Fr), while Raja Abdelkader considers the “death” of Saddam to be the beginning of Iraq as an alienated country (Fr).
In a more balanced article, Bla Francya condemns the vengeful way (Ar) Saddam was executed.
Gossip…Gossip…Gossip
Najlae turned 26 (Fr) and Amine proved (Fr) to Mao that he is indeed a real man.
Congratulations to both of you! ;)
Anima quits (Ar) blogging while her friend l'autre cote starts her first blog (Ar).
Kahina starts 2007 with a very cute post, while the enigmatic Tazart gives her readers advice to succeed in their love life (Fr).
That's it for today. See you next Wednesday, Inshallah;)

author: Farah Kinani


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Ghana: Ghanian food and culture · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ethan Zuckerman writes about a visit to Ghana by a popular TV host, Anthony Bourdain, “His camera crew does an excellent job of capturing the chaos, color and rhythm of the place, introducing the host to street food and the wonders of akpeteshie, Ghanaian moonshine distilled from palm wine. He visits one of Ghana’s best loved chop bars – Asanka Local – where he starts his culinary journey with Omo Tuo, my single favorite Ghanaian meal (pounded rice balls served with palm or groundnut soup.)”


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Guadeloupe: “Poll-o-phile” President · Global Voices
Alice Backer

TiToto says of President of Guadeloupean Regional Council Victorin Lurel (Fr): “Suffering from “poll-o-philiac opinionmania,”  Lurel often attempts a real personalization of public opinion, a creation of a fictitious political and social  image which claims to represent the Guadeloupean people. … He says “Guadeloupeans have said x” everytime he seeks to justify one of his demented actions.”

author: Alice Backer


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Haiti: 203rd Year of  Independence · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reflecting on the festivities for the 203rd anniversary of Haitian independence and the clan-like disputes that colored them, Ailleurs Vu d'Ici writes (Fr): “Everyone knows that our society's disease is the unlimited thirst for power. And this pathology … has adopted recurrent forms along our history. It is definitely one of the root causes of the chronic instability that has too often marred our political life.”


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Haiti: Year in Photos · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Collectif Haiti de Provence recently posted (Fr) a slideshow of important Haitian personalities and events of 2006.


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Hungary: “Bovine Indifference”  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar on life in Hungary: “But adaptable guy that I am, I’ve been able to adjust to the fact that the “Customer Assistant” in the post-office would rather gun me down with an AK47, than to take the risk that her face may crack by delivering a smile in my direction. To some extent, I’d even say that I find such attitudes amusing rather than offensive now.”


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India: The Hindu Economics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mdeii Life explains how a mainstream newspaper – The Hindu works the money factor out. “But Mr. Ram, we know is a proper Capitalist who researches, manufactures, and markets Communism. So he does the sensible thing, and discovers that the only way people will continue to buy his papers is if they actually make a profit (or break even, or at-least end up spending less than 50p net per copy) by getting good money from the recycling chap.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Japan and Korea: tunnel  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Goh Kun, a former prime minister of Korea, is proposing a Japan-Korea tunnel as part of his campaign for president. Joe from Multant Frog gives some historical background on the proposal.


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Japan: free English-language online sources on Japanese politics · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Adamu from Multant frog gives his readers very good information on free English-language online sources on Japanese politics.


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Kazakhstan: Government Shuffle · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Roberts Report reports the results of the Kazakh government's reshuffle, which has resulted, Roberts says, in another balance of power between powerful groups, but one that appears to indicate the rising stock of a particular figure.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Kazakhstan: World Class Architecture · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann reports that German architects won a contract to build housing and community structures near Almaty. Judging from the designs, he wonders whether or not the contracts Kazakhstan gives out for new construction to Western firms are resulting in the realization of student projects.


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Kenya: Chinese cars in Kenya · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya Online Today has a post about Chinese cars making it big in Kenya, “Now the Chinese models are back and they are offer serious competition to trucks and pickups from Isuzu, Toyota and other Japanese models. Faw is a shiny model of a bus that has pleased the Kenyan armed forces where it is used as a commuter transport van.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha