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Italy: Online activism fires up “No Berlusconi Day” · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

On October 9, Italy's highest Court ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi‘s immunity from prosecution while in office — guaranteed by a special law passed by his own center-right government in 2008 — was unconstitutional. This decision has reopened two pending trials that accuse Berlusconi of false accounting and bribery.
Since the court decision, the prime minister has launched a campaign accusing “leftist” judges, the national and foreign press, and even Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano of political bias against him. Last week, the government introduced a bill promoted as “one of the most radical reforms of Italy's snail-paced justice system since the end of World War II”, which the opposition, magistrates, and consumer advocacy groups insist is yet another “ad personam law”, tailored to help Berlusconi avoid corruption trials.
On the same day of the verdict, October 9, a group of bloggers, citizens and intellectuals, self-defined as “not politically involved or belonging to any parties”, launched the idea of a national protest against Berlusconi demanding his resignation. They promptly opened a Facebook group under this header:
SALVIAMO L'ITALIA, SALVIAMO LA DEMOCRAZIA. BERLUSCONI DIMETTITI.
Saturday, December 5  was designated “No Berlusconi Day (NBD)”. The campaign spread quickly on the Internet with videos, blogs, and tweets, as well as offline, through word of mouth. In little more than a month over 280,000 people pledged to host a public event on “No Berlusconi Day” via the main Facebook group, with groups formed in many cities in Italy and around the world, including San Francisco and Sacramento (California), Ottawa and Montreal (Canada), Buenos Aires (Argentina), London, Madrid, Vienna, and Istanbul – where local rallies will be held on the same day.
The initiative has been featured on countless websites, as well as on Italy's leading daily newspapers, la Repubblica and Corriere della Sera. Today the leftist daily L'Unità devoted several pages to the event, including a story underlining the crucial role of citizen media in such “bottom-up initiatives”, comparing it to the protest movement in Iran and even to the Obama election in the USA. An open letter appeared in the London Times.
While the protest appeal document has been translated in 11 languages so far, including Arabic, Turk and Serb-Croat, the No Berlusconi Day blog further explains:
The No Berlusconi Day group is a large, informal, global network of ordinary citizens, spanning all political and cultural backgrounds. The coordinators of the group are unpaid and do not collectively hold specific political affiliations… Although the No Berlusconi Day group is non-political, the group and event has received public support and endorsement from a number of high-profile activists, including Salvatore Borsellino brother of the anti-corruption judge Paolo Borsellino who was murdered by a Mafia car-bomb in 1992.
Beppe Grillo, a well-known Italian comedian who launched a very popular (some say ‘populist’) campaign against corruption and illegality of past Italian governments last year, has also announced his support of No Berlusconi Day on his website, attracting more than 1,300 comments, the vast majority supporting his statement:
“Mi sono rotto i coglioni di Berlusconi”. Ditelo in pubblico, al bar, al ristorante. Gridatelo in radio, ai semafori, scrivetelo ai giornali, inviate mail ai siti italiani e internazionali, alle caselle di posta dei deputati, dei senatori. “Mi sono rotto i coglioni di Berlusconi”.
[…]
E’ mai possibile che gli italiani, anche quelli rincoglioniti dalle televisioni, non abbiano un moto di rigetto, un conato di vomito a vedere la Repubblica Italiana trattata come una zoccola? Il Grande Corruttore ha corrotto forse ogni coscienza? Tutto ciò che ha toccato nella sua vita si è corrotto, decomposto. E’ lui l'H1N1 della nostra democrazia.
[…]
How could it be that Italians, even those brainwashed by TV, are not forcefully opposing, are not about to puke in the face of such slut picture of the Italian Republic? The Big Enticer resorted to bribe everybody's conscience? Everything he touched in his life now looks corrupted. He is the H1N1 of our democracy.
The main Facebook group features an ongoing flow of new comments:
Diritto Di Parola: La manifestazione si potrà definire APARTITICA e nata ed organizzata dal basso solo se i partiti non esibiranno i propri simboli. Non raccontiamoci frottole :)  W il 5 dicembre voluto dai cittadini !!!! Scendiamo tutti in piazza a manifestare per le dimissioni di Berlusconi !!!
Daniele Nuzzo: Per fare Carpooling per andare a Roma dividendo le spese.
The NBD organizers chose the color purple to identify the movement, explaining that “purple is not just for mourning, but it is also a symbol of vital energy and self-determination”. Hence some creative ideas on Facebook:
Use this image for your profile or for a t-shirt:
While actual meet-ups are underway throughout the country, the electronic tam-tam is also spreading via Twitter.
On October 31, the first volunteers took to the streets in many cities to start informing people about the upcoming event. Here is a video from downtown Rome, where a journalist from PdCI-TV interviewed the activists on the fly [it]:
No political parties have formally endorsed the protest with the exception of Antonio di Pietro and Paolo Ferrero (leaders of small opposition parties, respectively, Italia dei Valori and Comunisti Italiani), who confirmed their attendance to the Rome rally.
Will people actually take to the streets en masse? For those still in doubt, the following “Joker Silvio” video explains the “top 10 reasons why citizens should participate in the No B-Day, an event born and promoted almost exclusively on the Net” [it]:

author: Bernardo Parrella


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Japan: Deer wrangling and antler-cutting in Nara · Global Voices
Matt Holland

Nestled in the heart of the Kansai region of Japan, Nara City exudes a subdued atmosphere unique from its neighboring Osaka and Kyoto. If there is a particular symbol of Nara recognized nationwide, it is either the Buddha of Todai-ji (東大寺) or the deer of Nara Park. Over the long weekend in mid-October, the annual deer antler-cutting ceremony [ja], known as Shika no Tsunokiri (鹿の角きり) took place. In the quiet, tranquil setting of Nara Park, the deer pen and elaborate arena constructed for this event, coupled with the occasionally humorous color commentator and enthusiastic crowds made this ceremony among the liveliest and most interesting one can see in Nara.
鹿の角きり (Deer antler-cutting ritual) by Flickr user merec0
Unmissable by any visitor, the deer in the park are beloved by many, considered a nuisance by some, but are assuredly among the most symbolic images of Nara and Nara Park. The deer can often be found walking (typically calmly) on the streets, sidewalks, and public parks, and are a visible part of the daily commute for the countless people living nearby. It is interesting then, to consider the practical side of dealing with a small army of animals congregating in a relatively small area. There are benefits, such as tourist adoration and the natural merchandising, but there are dangers and public concerns to be addressed – this is where the antler-cutting ceremony comes in.
Originally a task carried out by the authorities at Kōfuku-ji temple, the ceremony is now an annual event carried out by Kasuga Shrine, and organized by the Foundation for the Protection of Deer in Nara Park.  Some introductory information from the event organizer's website:
古都奈良の秋を彩る勇壮な「鹿の角きり」は、江戸時代初期　寛文11年（1,671年）より、今日までおよそ330年あまりにわたり、受け継がれている伝統行事です。
発情期をむかえた雄鹿の角により、町民が危害を受けたり、鹿がお互いに突き合って死傷することを防ぐため、当時鹿の管理者であった「興福寺」が、奈良奉行の要請を受け、「鹿の角きり」を始めたと伝えられています。
Making the fall season of Japan's ancient capital, Nara, all the more lively, the thrilling “Shika no tsunokiri” is a traditional event passed down and carried on for more than 330 years, since its inception in the year 1671, in the early Edo Period (Kanbun Era). In the mating season, bucks (male deer) are known to run wild, and inflict potentially lethal harm upon the townspeople and each other. It has been said that in order to prevent such occurrences, Kōfuku-ji temple, under the orders of the Nara magistrate's office, first initiated the antler-cutting ceremony.
Nara's economic newspaper wrote up a descriptive article on the event, and included some great specifics on what physical considerations are made during the ceremony.
角は大きいもので約50センチ、重さは1.5キロにもなる。角が三又に分かれた4歳以上の鹿を対象として1日に約15頭の角を切る。体調により出血することはあるものの、完成している角には神経が通っておらず痛みはないという。
The antlers can become quite large, at roughly 50cm long weighing around 1.5kg. On a single day, around 15 deer have their antlers cut, and the target deer for cutting are those over the age of 4 with antlers branching off into three ‘horns’. Depending on their physical condition, blood may be drawn, however apparently a fully grown antler no longer has any nerve sensitivity, and thus there is no pain.
The article goes on to summarize the state of, and present issues facing the deer of Nara.
奈良公園の鹿は今年7月現在で、雄196頭、雌705頭、小鹿151頭の計1,052頭。昨年より76頭少なくなり、3年連続で減少している。この1年間で死亡した鹿は357頭を数え、中でも疾病で死亡した鹿は179頭と過去最多となっている。疾病の主な原因として、公園内に捨てられたゴミや、人間が与えた鹿せんべい以外の食べ物よる中毒が挙げられる。また、（人が）鹿をいじめたり追い掛け回したりされることによるストレスで命を失うこともあるという。
As of July 2009, there are 196 adult males, 705 adult females, and 151 fawns adding up to 1,052 total deer living in Nara park. Their numbers have been decreasing for three years straight however, this year seeing a drop of 76 deer compared with last year. Over the past year, 357 deer have died, with 179 deaths being attributed to some form of illness, the highest number yet recorded. Issues have been raised with litter in the park, as well as the feeding of inappropriate (and potentially poisonous) food to the deer as leading causes of the increasing disease-fueled death rate. As well, it is said that when people harass the deer and chase them around, it can be mentally stressful to the animals and negatively impact their life span.
Kyoto University professor Noburo Ogata wrote up a brief piece on the history of Nara's deer populace, addressing one of the fundamental reasons the animals have continued to live safely in the region for so long.
The history of the shrine compiled in medieval times indicates that Takemikazuchi-no-Mikoto, the first  of the shrine’s four deities was invited from Kashima (Ibaraki prefecture) and arrived riding a white deer in 768. Accordingly, the shrine and Kôfuku-ji, an associated Buddhist Monastery which exercised power over the Yamato Province, began to insist on the divinity of the deer inhabiting the Kasuga Hills.
The event was extremely crowded in the afternoon on the Sunday, and likely throughout most of the event's duration. Subsequently, quite a large number of individuals blogged about it.
Morinomiya-san covered some background details of the event, plus put forward his opinions and perspective as a photographer of the event. He took some great photos, visible in his blog post.
鹿は必死で逃げまどい興奮しているので、とても危険です。
それだけに実際に現場で見ると、凄い迫力を感じます。
写真は絶えず場内狭しと逃げまくる鹿を追って撮ったため、多少ブレてしまい、それはどうかご勘弁いただきたいと思います。
鹿にとっては少し可愛そうな気もするのですが、鹿の角きりは、人と鹿が共に暮らして行くための苦肉の策だったのでしょう。
The deer naturally become quite agitated, and in their frantic attempts to escape, present a significant danger.
Only in seeing the event first hand can you really appreciate the impressive force required to restrain the deer.
I hope you'll forgive the blurry pictures, following the deer running wildly in the small arena to get a photo made for a challenge.
I feel that while for the deer, the antler cutting is an unfortunate process, it was surely established as the only viable means of allowing humans and deer to live safely together.
Peperre also went, and provided some interesting photos along with his description of the event.
走っているところに角に紐をひっかけて・・・
…
で、神職さんが清めたお水を鹿に飲ませて
それからのこぎりでギコギコと切っていきます。
『獲ったどー！』
ちょっと遠目で見辛いのですが、逃げ回る鹿を勢子さんたちが
一生懸命捕らえようとする様は迫力があってとっても面白かったです☆
While the deer is running away, they toss a rope towards the horns…
(Once caught) the Shinto priest has the deer drink purified water, and uses a saw to cut off the antlers.
[Got ‘em!]
It was a bit tough to see from afar, but watching the forceful hunters (seko) working so hard to chase the escaping deer was extremely entertaining!
In considering the repurcussions of sawing off the chief visual object of masulinity the male deers have, one does feel concerned about their prospects of future mating (as virtually every blog and article linked above addresses at some point), but in looking at the male/female ratio of deer in the park… with more than 3 females for every male, I don't think it's an irreconcilable problem!

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Matt Holland


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Japan: Magazine for People Living wjith Facial Scars · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Lisa Katayama at Tokyo Mango brings our attention to a new Japanese magazine for people living with facial scars, called “My Face”: “The magazine will include interviews, medical information, and advice on how to fight discrimination at work and at school for the estimated one million people in Japan who suffer from facial injuries or deformities.“

author: Tomomi Sasaki


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Japan: Top 60 Expressions of 2009 · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

Pink Tentacle has translated into English all of the “Top 60 Japanese words/phrases of 2009″, released by publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha: Included are plenty of references to Japan’s recent political shake-up, the ailing economy, and the blurring of traditional gender roles.


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Kenya: Who will pay for Kenya’s new constitution? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Opalo wonders who will pay for Kenya's new constitution: “290 members of parliament. 100 Senators. Several regions and more than 70 counties. These are among the new burdens that will be added onto the load currently weighing down the Kenyan taxpayer.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Malawi: No guts, No Glory · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

No Guts, No Glory is a story from Lilongwe Writers Circle: “First disappointment – no booze. Secondly, it was full of young, enthusiastic, teetotallers – us alcoholic grannies didn’t know anyone. Thirdly, since when was spirituality a requirement for humanitarian interest?”


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Mali: My Mali visa experience · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dino's visa experience at Mali embassy: “My Mali experience made me think about the visa experiences both with South -South travels, and South-North travels. I also thought of what it meant to be a North-South traveller. South-South Travels were clearly much easier than South-North travels. Just recently, there has been a raging debate about the difficulties encountered when looking for a visa to France (14 Nov Travel, Saturday Star).”


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Namibia: Justice wanted in forced sterilisation case · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Namibia Planned Parenthood Association (NAPPA) wants justice for women whose rights have been violated as a result of forced sterilisation.


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Nicaragua: Farmers express thoughts on Rural Development through video · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The Alzar las Voces (Raise the Voices) project in Nicaragua brings farmers in rural communities the possibility to speak out  through video telling of their concerns, their projects, their wishes and ideas.
There are six organizations in Matagalpa, Nicaragua who are working on this project including women's collectives, Matagalpa Organization for the Blind,  farmer  organizations and an information center for Sustainable Development with the aid of Simas.   The website is part of a project which will serve to showcase the work these organizations are doing with the members of the community by having members of the rural communities speak about their life, concerns and interests.
In this next video,  Marcial Gonzalez, a promoter of the Farmer to Farmer program, explains how the program has helped them: first, they learned they shouldn't burn their lands to clear them,  how to build or grow ditches and barriers to help control erosion. Another lesson they've learned is the importance of saving and keeping seeds from national varieties of plants, since they are ideal to grow in their environment and why trees should be kept and not cut down, since they provide oxygen, shade and maintain the water sources.
Juana Urrutia, in another video, explains what it means to be a community promoter. A Promoter is in charge of a group or community, protecting the community's interests, be it in fieldwork, production or socially. They also transmit knowledge which they received during workshops or activities, since it is their responsibility to put into practice what they have learned within their communities.
Martha Elena Montenegro is a beneficiary of the credits and programs to help women start their own businesses. She makes some products using materials she harvests from her farm, however, after all the effort, she now has to pay back her loans, and she uses the video medium to ask how she should best distribute her earnings in order to be able to pay back her loan.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Pakistan: Perils Of Wider Provincial Autonomy · Global Voices
Rezwan

Reacting on the news of a possible amendment of the constitution of Pakistan, which will give wider provincial autonomy, Khan Zia opines that this may result in breaking up of the country in a very short space of time.

author: Rezwan


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Peru: Air Force Officer Charged with Spying for Chile · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

On November 12th, news broke that Victor Ariza Mendoza, a member of the Peruvian Air Force was taken into custody for the alleged spying for Chile within the Peruvian Armed Forces. This incident, which takes place during the ongoing tense relationship with its southern neighbor, caused Peruvian President Alan García to cancel a meeting with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting being held in Singapore, as well as his subsequent return to Peru to evaluate the situation. In addition, the Peruvian Ambassador in Santiago was called back to Peru for consultation, and the Prime Minister requested that the Production Minister, Mercedes Aráoz suspend her planned trip to Chile.
The official Chilean response has been a denial that it had anything to do with the matter, first regretting the incident, and then saying that Peru's reaction was hasty [es]. A Chilean deputy stated that due to “Peru's constant aggressive attitude” that “it should serve so that we do not continue to turn the other cheek to Peru.” Some of the Chilean press has been calling this one of the worst crises between the two countries [es].
Tensions between the two countries comes at a time when Peru is pushing for disarmament in the region [es]. The scheduled trip by Minister Aráoz was to discuss the initiative in Chile. General Ricardo Ortega, head of the Chilean Armed Forces stated that “it is no coincidence” that the spy's arrest took place just when the United States announced that they would authorize Chile to purchase additional missiles.  He adds that the Peruvian government has “an interest in provoking” the Chilean government.
As the facts are being revealed, such as the information revealed to Chile includes the Armed Forces Strategic Plan, as well as the Basic Core Defense [es], public opinion and bloggers showed their anger and rejection. Carlos Yancul of the blog Cortina de Humo [es] was surprised:
Lo último que un ciudadano peruano podría esperar, es que un militar traicionara a su patria por unos cuantos miles de dólares. Y más aún, si es espía de nuestro vecino país del sur, con quienes las relaciones políticas y diplomáticas no están en su cause normal. … Según las informaciones que surgieron desde la fecha, el militar ya habría confesado su grave falta, por lo que sólo estaría esperando el término de los interrogatorios para ingresar por largos años al penal de máxima seguridad Piedras Gordas en Ancón.
The last thing that a Peruvian citizen could hope for, is that a member of the military would betray his or her country for thousands of dollars. Even more, if he or she is a spy for our neighbor to the South, with whom political and diplomatic relations are not normal. … According to the information that has come out since, the member of the military had already confessed to the serious action, and is only waiting to finish the questioning in order to enter the maximum security prison of Piedras Gordas in Ancón for many years.
Others are more drastic and are calling for the death penalty for the alleged spy. This Facebook note [es], for example, already contains more than 180 comments, including those that include the terms “traitor,” as well as calls for the firing squad. There has also been the creation of a campaign against buying Chilean products.  In the discussions taking place in Foros Perú [es], one can see the diverse opinions about the issue, and related to this, Gustavo Alayza of the blog Marcamasi [es] writes:
Y así los peruanos firman TLCs y demás cosas con el enemigo histórico?, ahora se confirma lo que varios veniamos diciendo que no se puede tener politica de cuerdas separadas con un país que en 130 años no ha dejado de ser el mismo. Todos los que ahora trabajan para negocios chilenos apenas abran empresas homólogas de capitales nacionales y extranjeros deben migrar a trabajar en estas nuevas empresas como Oeschle o Peruvian Airlines y facilmente podamos todos los peruanos reducir al minimo posible el consumo de productos y servicios chilenos, a por nuestra dignidad nacional.
And the Peruvians sign Free Trade Agreements with the historical enemy? And now it has been confirmed what many of us have been saying that there cannot be politics separated by a string with a country that in 130 years has remained the same. All who are working for Chilean businesses open similar businesses with national and foreign capital should move towards working with these new companies like Oeschle or Peruvian Airlines and all Peruvians can easily reduce to the minimal possible consumption of Chilean products and services, for our national dignity.
Arturo of the blog Crónicas del Basurero [es] was in Chile when the news broke, and writes that initially he saw a “little coverage of the news in the Chilean press, which was briefly limited to what was published in the newspapers of Lima,” but changed the next day. Later, he adds his thoughts on the campaign to boycott Chilean products:
si esta gente manipulada es consecuente con lo que dice, en primer lugar – aparte de no comprar en Wong, Ripley o Falabella – deberían dejar de usar luz eléctrica en sus casas y volver a usar velas, ya que las compañías que la suministran como EDELNOR y Luz del Sur, pertenecen a capitales chilenos. Y por otro lado, a quien deberían reclamar con mayor razón es a Alan García Pérez, más interesado en proteger las millonarias inversiones de ese país que nuestras fronteras ¿a que te enteras? :(
The blog Renatto Real Politik [es] also criticizes the government for allowing for these things to happen:
Después de leer tantas cosas que, como peruano, joden y amargan la vida, uno se pone a pensar en las causas y consecuencias de tal acontecimiento tan nefasto para la nación. ¿Qué pasó con el SIN? Al parecer, en el Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional ya no existe mayor movimiento después de la salida de Vladimiro Montesinos … Mi indignación como peruano llega a niveles sotánicos. Hace falta que el gobierno se ponga una mano al pecho y la otra en el bolsillo derecho para comprender que no vivimos en un barrio de amigos, que nuestros vecinos son cualquier cosa menos pacíficos, que estamos descuidando nuestras fuerzas armadas, y que nuestro discurso pacifista está cayendo en tierra infértil.
After reading so many things that, as a Peruvian, bother and sour one's life, one begins to think about the causes and consequences of such a nefarious occurrence. What happened with the SIN (Peruvian Intelligence Service)? It appears that in the SIN, there has not been much movement since Vladimiro Montesinos’ exit … My indignation as a Peruvian has reached basement levels.  We need the government to put a hand on its chest and the other one in its right pocket to understand that we do not live in a neighborhood of friends, and that our neighbors are anything but peaceful, that we are neglecting our armed forces, and that our peaceful rhetoric is falling on infertile ground.
Additional facts are emerging about the investigation into the alleged spying that began in 2007 [es], including the evidence of an increase in bank deposits originating in Chile, as well as the ownership of numerous properties that are not justified according to his salary as a member of the military.
Finally, Javier Fernández of the blog Javi270270: ¿Qué pasa? [es] writes about other cases of espionage in Peru, and Francisco Canaza of Apuntes Peruanos [es] provides three important things from his point of view regarding the case, one of them has to do with the legal issues:
¿Cómo y por qué el espía chileno estaba siendo procesado en el fuero común? La distinción es importante. El fuero militar acoge causas tipificadas en la normatividad propia de la justicia militar. El agente encubierto (el suboficial de la fuerza aérea que trabajaba para Chile) en su condición de militar en ejercicio, función sobre la que ejercía su papel de espía (sin la cual su acceso a la información era imposible) debió ser procesado oportunamente en el fuero militar y no bajo tribunales comunes.

author: Juan Arellano


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Russia: Forbes Website · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Profy writes about the newly-launched ForbesRussia.ru website and “their obvious lack of interest in anything local and specific to the Russian market, in particular in the field of social media and social networking.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Medvedev’s Speech and IT; Twitter and the Police · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Profy writes about the IT dimension of president Medvedev's annual address: “The draft speech was initially published online as a lengthy article by the president and he invited all the citizens to voice their opinions out via the Kremlin official website – and people were definitely very willing to participate given more than 18 thousand comments received.” NetEffect writes about “tweeting your way to Gulag”: turns out that in Russia, “the police are avid readers of ‘the Internet’ and particularly of Twitter.”


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Slovenia, Russia: Thoughts on Blogging · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Filomena and Profy are musing on what it means to be a blogger.


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Sri Lanka: The Mighty Multinationals · Global Voices
Rezwan

Serendipity from Minneriya, Sri Lanka believes that a level playing field is essential to protect the local industry from the mighty multinationals who have competitive advantage and “it is the duty of the Government to level it”.


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Suriname: Welcome to the Jungle  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

For Paramaribo SPAN, Christopher Cozier visits artist Daniel Djojoatmo, whose work “discuss[es] the predicament of certain narratives of development which are, at their inception, ill-fated and at the disposal of the jungle.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Taiwan: Introducing Best English Blogs · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

David on Formosa publishes a series of posts introducing some of the best Taiwan blogs in English(bridge bloggers).

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Trinidad & Tobago: Banned from Parliament?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A journalist may be banned from Parliament, prompting Nicholas Laughlin to post a statement by the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago and Edmund Gall at KnowTnT.com to post his perspective.


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Ukraine: News and Views Roundup · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine roundup: flu and politics – at What's Up, Ukraine? and at Jamestown Foundation Blog, here and here; the latest on the tense relationship between the Ukrainian president and PM – at Ukrainiana, as well as two posts – here and here – on one of the 18 presidential candidates, Vasyl Protyvsikh, head of Ivano-Frankivsk Chamber of Commerce and former head of Ivano-Frankivsk Customs, aka Vasyl Humenyuk, whose new last name translates as “against all”; Ukraine Today reports that Natalia Vitrenko of Ukraine's Progressive Socialist Party “has been excluded from the Presidential race for failing to pay the 2.5 million deposit”; Window on Eurasia highlights the views of Ukraine's ambassador to Russia on the Ukrainian-Russian relations.


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Africa: Google sponsors Kiswahili Wikipedia Challenge · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Google is pushing for more content on Kiswahili Wikipedia through Kiswahili Wikipedia Challenge: We invite you to take part in this challenge to create Wikipedia articles in Kiswahili. We hope to make the online experience richer and more relevant for 100 million African users who speak Kiswahili.


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Azerbaijan: News of IRI departure met with concern · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following the cessation of radio broadcasts from foreign stations such as the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty in Azerbaijan, as well as the sentencing last week of two video blogging youth activists, comes news of what some see as yet another threat to the slow, fledgling process of democratization in the former Soviet republic.
On 3 November it was announced that USAID would not be extending the work of the local branch of the International Republican Institute (IRI). Officially, the reason given was that IRI had not submitted an application, but many have since cast doubts on this explanation as one comment on In Mutatione Fortitudo explains.
After an initial covering up by the Embassy (claiming IRI didn’t even submit a proposal to stay) more information came out in the press. It seems the US (more specifically USAID, a branch of the State Department that oversees development projects) is not cutting its budget for democracy programs, rather they are devoting all of them to the National Democratic Institute. It seems it is not a change in US foreign policy, but it has major foreign policy consequences, it seems they are not unhappy with IRI’s work, but they are destroying the very projects they have spent millions on to build.
The blog post itself speaks highly of the IRI's Country Director, Jake Jones.
[…] Jake was for Azerbaijani blogosphere what Columbus was for Americas – something like he was the first discoverer of it. And this discovery happened at those times, when I was almost the sole English-language blogger out there on the ground and was writing under a pseudonym of “a political scientist from Azerbaijan.” I now hear that a lot of foreign organizations in Azerbaijan are thinking of pumping support into blogging, bloggers, et cetera, but it was Jake and IRI who first noticed the potential of new media field in Azerbaijan, and are still careful enough not to overestimate it as other organizations and individuals do.
Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines, set up with the encouragement of Jones, also comments on the main force behind the organization's work in Azerbaijan.
About a little over a year ago, I was skyping a friend living and working in Baku. The topic of our discussion that day was finding a name for my blog you are currently reading. It took us a while but at the end, “flying carpets and broken pipelines” was created.
[…]
I have never met a person so interested in the region. He learned the language, traveled the country and gets on well with everyone. When Emin and Adnan were arrested, he was there to support and help in any way he could.  […] All of this is only a small portion of what Jake and IRI has done in Azerbaijan, which also involves endless trainings and seminars held all over the country.
[…] IRI presented itself as an institution investing in the country and hoping to have made an impact (among other international institutions working in the country). It would be a loss for Azerbaijan to see IRI leave so please USAID (if anyone there is reading this blog) let them stay and do their job because they are worth it!
There seems to be a general misunderstanding that IRI didn't make any proposals for its next year activities in the country. It is NOT true, IRI DID propose. In fact there are local partners who can SUPPORT and JUSTIFY for this.
Both blog posts also report that a Facebook group, Keep IRI in Azerbaijan!!!, has been set up. At time of writing it has 830 members.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bangladesh: Brahmaputra River Is Threatened · Global Voices
Rezwan

RealTime Bangladesh blog reports that a dam in Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) in China will divert 200 billion cubic meters of waters to the Yellow River. This will spell disaster for the Tibetan plateau and the lower riparian countries, India’s North East and Bangladesh as Brahmaputra river and its branches like Jamuna and Meghna of Bangladesh will be severely affected.


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Bangladesh: More Connectivity With Neighbors  · Global Voices
Rezwan

The New Horizon comments on the recent initiatives of Bangladesh aiming for more regional connectivity with its neighbors: “It’s not only a good sign for Bangladesh, but also could usher in a new era of cooperation among South Asian nations in general.”


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Barbados: Crunch Time  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Barbadians have become alarmed at the prospect of having its investment paper perched at the brink of junk rating, a status most unfamiliar to Barbadians through the years”: Barbados Underground says it's economic “crunch time”!


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Barbados, Jamaica: Corruption Perception · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The 2009 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index is out and although Living in Barbados always takes the results “with a pinch of salt”, he notes that “greasing palms is unfortunately seen as a part of doing business worldwide.”


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China: Obama, censored or not? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fool's Mountain pointed out how the Chinese propaganda machine has successfully played tricks on foreign media in reporting the censoring of Obama's Q & A session with Shanghai youth.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Release Zhao Lianhai, the Father of the Kidney Stone Babies · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

C.A Yeung translated a petition signed by more than a hundred Chinese netizen demanding the Beijing police to release Zhao Lianhai, a famous rights activist and the founder of an organisation called the Home for the Kidney Stone Babies. Zhao was arrested and detained by the police since November 13.


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Cuba: Courting Change · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“There are a good number of ministers still under sixty, but the largest share of power is concentrated in the hands of septuagenarians and octogenarians”: Cuba's Generation Y suggests these veterans are unable “to hear the new generation knocking at the door, coming like a whirlwind to dismantle everything.”


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And the best country in the world is…. · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Yesterday, Lova Rakotomala from Madagascar sent an email to the internal Global Voices mailing list pointing out a new reader survey by The Economist to nominate the “best country in the world”. He suggested we (Global Voices bloggers and readers) should submit countries that are usually left out of this kind of ranking. While The Economist have already unilaterally decided that Somalia is “the worst country on Earth”, it seems they are still entertaining a conversation about who should be nominated as “the best”.
Then we thought: “The Economist doesn't know everything!” Few of us love countries based on stability, wealth, global fame or any of the metrics such a publication is fond of. So, dear readers: please nominate below who you think is the best country and why. Whoever offers the best reason (as unilaterally decided by our jury) will win a Putumayo CD of African Reggae. I will mail it myself!

author: Solana Larsen


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India: Much Ado about Copenhagen Meet On Climate Change · Global Voices
Rezwan

Roger Alexander opines that “in the course of his current trip to Asia, US President Barack Obama has ensured that the upcoming United Nations Climate Conference, due to take place in Copenhagen December 7-18, will be nothing more than a talk shop.”


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Japan: Artist and morality · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Neojaponisme has a blog post about the protocol for Japanese record labels to pull their artists’ CDs from stores when they are arrested on drug charges or for any other anti-social acts.


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Pakistan: Mumbai Attacks · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bilal Qureshi at Pakistan Foreign Policy blog comments on the 2008 Mumbai Terror attacks: “So far, we know that stateless actors were involved in carrying out these attacks. These people want nothing, but chaos and mayhem in Asia, and it is important to stop them without pointing finger at other.”


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Papua New Guinea: Ursula Rakova Leads Relocation Efforts · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

“Once upon a time my island was a tropical paradise. It is a tropical paradise no more.”
That is how Ursula Rakova described the state of her homeland during a recent panel discussion during Climate Week in New York City.  She has been a vocal and tireless activist to raise awareness and attract support to lead the relocation of the residents of the Cataret Islands in Papua New Guinea. These islands are gradually being flooded due to the rising sea levels attributed to climate change, and it is predicted that the islands will be completely submerged by the year 2015.
Higher levels of seawater have destroyed crops and harmed supplies of drinking water. As a result, as seen in this video produced by the United Nations University, the residents on the islands have been going hungry.
Local solutions on a sinking paradise, Carterets Islands, Papua New Guinea from UNUChannel on Vimeo.
As a result, the residents, which are being considered the first climate refugees, must be relocated to the larger Bougainville Island. This complex task is being led by Rakova, who was given this enormous responsibility by the elders and the rest of her community. She has been spanning the globe to raise awareness, but more importantly, raise funds to physically relocate the approximately 120 families.
Some of the relocation has already taken place, but not without difficulties. Journalist Dan Box has been documenting the process and has been in touch with Rakova and other groups on the island, who provide updates on the situation. Box writes on his blog Journey to the Sinking Lands:
The initial evacuation (of five men, who were the fathers of five families) to the mainland has hit understandable troubles: Of the five who formed the first wave of migrants leaving the islands to build new homes on the mainland, three have returned to the islands. Apparently, they were finding it too hard living in a new place and being apart from their families. Three men have been chosen to replace them and are expected to make the journey soon. The gardens that have been planted by the original five men, however, have begun to bear fruit and veg and with this food available, the remaining two men can send for their families to join them.
In this video, Rakova describes why this campaign is necessary:
I want to make sure that my people have a future life for the generations to come. I would say to people that believe climate change is not happening, if you have the heart to feel that you are flesh and blood? To you it is a choice of lifestyle. For us, who are already suffering the impact of climate change and rising sea levels, it is a choice of life and death, because if we do not move, we are going to be drowned. And we are already losing our homelands. I think you do not need to question whether this is climate change or not. You should be able to put yourself in our shoes, and maybe travel to our islands; we invite you to travel to our islands and see it for yourself.
(…)
if they do not come up with a good solution in the Copenhagen meeting, my people will drown. Islands in the Pacific and elsewhere in the world will disappear, within the next twenty years. We will all lose our homeland, and this is my fear, that we are going to lose our ancestral homes and this is human rights, it is abusing our right to live in our ancestral homeland.
The money needed to evacuate the residents has not been coming in as had been hoped writes Rakova in an email to Box.  These funds are important to help purchase land and to build homes for the residents. She will continue her campaign, when she will participate in activities during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7-18.
[]

author: Eduardo Avila


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Poland: Creators of “Polish Rapidshare” Arrested · Global Voices
Jakub Górnicki

Earlier this month, the Polish police arrested (POL) creators and owners of OdSiebie.com service. The portal, which is currently down, was a clone of Rapidshare, and since its day one in 2007, it was continuously growing in traffic. Last stats categorise it on place 11 in category “communities” in the Polish Internet.
First rumours showed up on microblogging platforms such as Blip.pl. One of the users – shunkiano – wrote this (POL) on Nov. 1 :
Am I wrong, or OdSiebie doesn't exist anymore?
Then it was that OdSiebie.com was being shut down, and final confirmations started to show up on blogs. Paolo wrote (POL):
[…] Free hosting portal OdSiebie.com is rumoured to have been shut down. We are getting reports that the police have arrested its owner and creator [Łukasz Ć.], and also confiscated 200 CDs [with illegal copyrighted material] and four hard drives. The police have also secured userlogs. […]
Users started to be scared because the police said that they also had access to user logs of OdSiebie.com, and another rumour emerged – this time that users might be arrested as well. On Blip.pl, user frk wrote (POL):
Owner of OdSiebie.com was arrested. Police have user logs. Let's be careful.
There was much reaction to these actions in the blogosphere and throughout the Internet in Poland. First of all, it led to a protest organised by other users, which was highly popular on Wykop.pl (a service similar to Digg):
And here's a comment (POL) from Piotr Vagla, a blogger who writes about legal issues and the Internet:
Creators of YouTube have never been arrested, but I've read that owner of OdSiebie.com has just been arrested by police. Łukasz Ć. gave public interviews, saying that his portal was cool, and was making plans for the future. He also stated that the whole affair around the Swedish [The Pirate Bay] site was only a result of them not cooperating with any anti-piracy group. I don't know whether he worked with such a group but it seems that if he did, it didn't help him much. […]
At this moment, it's not clear whether the police are going to make arrests of OdSiebie.com users, although some people say so. No one has been arrested yet.

author: Jakub Górnicki


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Russia: Young People Trust Internet · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Fifty one percent of young Russians (ages 16 – 24) consider the Internet a reliable source of information. This makes the Internet the second most trustworthy source  after TV among the youth.  This and other findings are available in a newly published report [RUS] by the Public Opinion Foundation.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Saudi Arabia: We’ll Defend Ourselves – For The Right Reason · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

In recent weeks a longstanding conflict between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government has expanded to involve Saudi Arabia, which has been carrying out bombing raids within Yemen. Saudi Arabia says it is trying to enforce a buffer zone within Yemen to keep the rebels away from its border. In this post one Saudi blogger gives his view of the situation.
The Houthi rebels, named after Hussein Badreddin al Houthi, are Zaidi Shia who have been fighting the government of Yemen since June 2004, seeking greater autonomy in the north of the country where the Zaidis are a majority. Clashes between the rebels and Saudi Arabia began on November 4, with the rebels claiming they were responding to strikes by the Yemeni military from Saudi territory, and Saudi Arabia saying it was responding to incursions by the Yemeni rebels. The current conflict has affected civilians on both sides of the border, with casualties as well as large-scale displacement. Some commentators argue that this is just the most recent in a series of surrogate conflicts between Saudi Arabia (encouraged by the Yemeni government to fund anti-Zaidi Salafi groups) and Iran (accused of directly supporting the Houthi rebels), and the fear is that it may escalate into a greater regional confrontation.
Currently studying in the United States, Saudi blogger Khaled Al Ateeq is worried about the calls being made by some Saudi religious scholars, who are viewing this conflict purely in religious terms. He writes:
I answered, “Yes, a group rebelling against the Yemeni government called the Houthis…They crossed the Saudi border and killed a Saudi soldier at first, and now the Saudi forces are doing what they must to clear the area.”
He asked me, “How are your family and the families of the other Saudi students in this university? Has anything happened to any of them?” I mentioned to you before that one of the students lost three relatives as they were defending their land. [The professor] said, word for word, “I am sorry to hear this news. Please extend my sorrow and condolences to your friend for his loss.” I thanked him for his kind thoughts, and left.
This conversation was between Professor Anderson, an American citizen, with one of the Saudi students that are resident in his country. “What unites the two is that they seek knowledge alone…They have no land, no religion, no race, no colour.”
This statement has been signed by forty-two people – a number of them having put “Dr” before their name, and all of them beginning their name with “Sheikh”.
الثاني: كما جاء في بدايته  “أن الجريمة السافرة التي قامت بها تلك الجماعة الرافضية التي تسمي نفسها بالحوثيين من انتهاك لأراضي بلادنا وفق مخطط صفوي فارسي يريد زعزعة أمننا، ليوجب الضرب عليها بيد من حديد”
1 – was about the Iranian state and its project to spread Shi'ism, to the extent of saying “and it is one of the greatest forms of corruption in the land, a matter which makes it incumbent on all Muslims to be cautious and on their guard, repel the spread of apostasy, and disseminate the Sunni doctrine”. In addition they mentioned that the Sunnis in Iran face violence and terrorism from their Shi'i government.
2 – as stated at its beginning, “The flagrant crime committed by this apostate group which calls itself the Houthis is a violation of the territories of our country, and is in accordance with the Safawi [Iranian] plan desiring to destabilise our security; this requires striking with an iron fist.”
الرابع: “نوصي إخواننا المرابطين على الثغور بإخلاص النية لله والتوجه الصادق بأن يكون عملهم من أجل إعلاء كلمة الله”.
الخامس: “ندعو جميع المسلمين في بلادنا إلى مواساة إخوانهم ممن تركوا ديارهم ومساكنهم من سكان المناطق الحدودية بسبب هذا العدوان الآثم.”
4 – “We advise our brothers that are standing guard on the frontlines to be sincere in their intentions for God and have true direction because their work is for the advancement of the word of God.”
5 – “We call on all Muslims in our country to look after their brothers amongst those living in the border areas who have left their homes because of this criminal aggression.”
السابع:”نوصي إخواننا مِنْ أئمة المسلمين وعامتهم بتقوى الله تعالى في السر والعلن، والتوبة إليه، فإن فشو الذنوب والمعاصي والمجاهرة بها وإعزاز المفسدين والتضييق على المصلحين، هو السبب الرئيس في اضطراب الأحوال، وزعزعة الأمن، فما نزلت مصيبة إلا بذنب ولا رفعت إلا بتوبة.”
7 – “We advise our brother leaders of Muslims and their peoples to be devoted to God both inwardly and outwardly, and turn to Him in repentance. The spread of sins and the open profession of them, the strengthening of those who are corrupt, and the oppression of those who are reformers, this is the main reason for these turbulent conditions and insecurity, for catastrophes only occur due to sin, and are not alleviated without repentance.”
- الإعتداء هو إعتداء مجموعة  على حدود وطننا  ..   نعم تلك الجماعة تتلقى دعم من  قبل إيران ولكن لو إفترضنا جدلاً بأن هنالك مجموعة مسلمة سنية خرجت على دولتها ثم إعتدت على السعودية … كيف  سيعلق أولئك الموقعين . الإعتداء لا دين له من يعتدي على الأرض  يطلق علية صفة المعتدي  .
I don't know if this statement is concerned with the Houthi aggression against Saudi Arabia, or with what… Of the seven points there are three that mention the war, one point of denunciation, another for the people of the region, and a point calling for those who are standing guard to be pure of intent. This aggression is the aggression of a group against the borders of our nation… Yes, this group receives support from Iran, but if we assume for the sake of argument that there was a Sunni Muslim group which left its state and that committed an act of aggression against Saudi Arabia, how would those signatories comment? Aggression has no religion; someone who commits aggression against a country is simply an aggressor.
Khaled concludes by saying:

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Serbia: Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle Dies · Global Voices
Sinisa Boljanovic

Head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Pavle, died on Sunday, November 15.
He was 95 years old, and for the past two years he was being treated at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade.
Patriarch Pavle was chosen to head the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1990 and was the 44th patriarch.
He was said to be a humble person, who lived a simple lifestyle of an Orthodox monk. He was revered by the Serbian believers, as well as followers of other religions.
On occasion of his death, Serbia’s government declared a three-day mourning, starting Monday.
Serbian bloggers did not remain indifferent, either. They reacted to the death of Patriarch Pavle, as well as to the decisions of the government related to his passing.
Blogger Constrictorial wrote (SRP):
[…] I think that he was a human who worked, above all, for the reconciliation of people from this region […] in the time of war, he was one of the rare people who called for peace. […]
[…] I think that he was a modest man who was emitting love, sincerity and honesty. […]
At the end of his post, the blogger quoted Patriarch Pavle’s words:
Finally, as always, I must repeat what's always remains the same: be humane towards those who are constantly seeing us as their enemies; don’t hurry with hugs, but extend hands to everyone who realizes that we have to live as humans if we couldn’t live as brothers. Care for good relations with our neighbors who, even under the highest  pressures, didn’t forget that we had to be oriented towards each other. […]
Teofil Pancic, a journalist, published his article titled “The Politics of Condolence” on the Pescanik web site. He wrote this (SRP), among other things:
[…] This is neither the place, nor the time for detailing about Gojko Stojcevic’s [civil name of Patriarch Pavle] character and works. No doubt that he led his Church so that it was not deviating from the widespread and tragic mistakes which inconceivably held Serbia back over the last 20 years. It is also true that other bishops, if they had been in his place, would have been more extreme. It is the fact that he, with his own lifestyle, which suited the popular, that is, idealized show about monks, acquired the mass respect of ordinary people, who are tired because they live in a destroyed society in which all the vagabonds and tramps, including those in cassocks, earn suspiciously bloody millions and drive around promoting their own banditry by various expensive cars and jeeps. […]
Blogger Aleksandar Vasovic reacted severely to the government’s decision to pay expenses to businessmen for all the workers who would attend the ceremony of the Patriarch’s funeral on Thursday. In his post titled “How much is Serbia’s mourning?”, he wrote (SRP):
[…] Why didn't the government, if it is so God-fearing, appeal to the faithful businessmen and workers to spend their one-day earnings, which it approved generously for them for the day of the Patriarch’s funeral, on the help for the poor and homeless persons, for the hungry ones and on maintaining community kitchens? […]
The Republican Broadcasting Agency has ordered state-funded electronic media to stop broadcasting musical programs because of the three-day mourning, and blogger Srdjan Mitrovic criticized (SRP) one Serbian cable operator for blocking of several channels:
SBB [Serbian Broadband] has blocked all music channels because of the days of mourning. […]
[…] I hope that they won’t remember to block cable internet because, God forbid, music could be broadcast through it. […]
P.S. On Channel TV 1000, they are showing soft porno films. Just so you know.

author: Sinisa Boljanovic


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South Korea: Dual nationality · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Roy Berman from Mutantfrog Travelogue blogs about the recently drafted law that allows dual citizenship for adults in South Korea.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Bromance · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“I am fed up of the debate over next week’s referendum”: So instead, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Lullabies, Fairy Tales and other Self Delusions blogs about his “bromance with murses.”


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Syria: Internet Woes Continue · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

Syrian blogger Rami wrote [ar] a post comparing internet speeds and costs in Syria with those in Romania. He was frustrated with having to struggle to obtain a 256Kbps connection in Syria in contrast with 100Mbps in Romania for roughly the same cost.

author: Anas Qtiesh


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Trinidad & Tobago: On Stage? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“One can live in hope that a Carnival Stage is looming somewhere in the future right?”: Trinidad Carnival Diary is “a bit skeptical to believe…that work is expected to start on the National Carnival and Entertainment Centre in March.”


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Western Sahara: Aminatou Haidar Deported · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Photo of Aminatou Haidar by saharauiak
Aminatou Haidar is a leading activist for independence of the Western Sahara (from Morocco).  Born in 1967, she was “disappeared” by Moroccan authorities for her activism at age twenty, only to reemerge three years later.  In 2005, Haidar was arrested for her participation in a protest and sentenced to seven months in prison for “inciting violent protest activities.”  Amnesty International deemed her a prisoner of conscience, questioning the fairness of her trial and those of 6 others.  Since her release, she has been honored with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and most recently awarded the Civil Courage Prize in New York, all for her work defending human rights in the Western Sahara.
Regardless of the accolades given to her, Haidar lived – until recently – in Morocco with great fear of being arrested; that is until Friday, November 13 when, upon returning to Laayoune (a city in the Western Sahara region), she was arrested and subsequently deported.  According to the Christian Science Monitor, authorities took issue with her writing “Western Sahara” on her customs forms.  According to Moroccan officials, Haidar renounced and “willingly signed away” her Moroccan citizenship.  She was then sent to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, and later granted Spanish residency on humanitarian grounds, according to Spanish news organization ABC.
Pro-independence blog Sandblast reminds readers that Haidar is not the only dissident persecuted for her cause, stating:
Since October 6, fifteen well-known human rights defenders from Western Sahara have been arrested, detained and interrogated. Seven of them, known as the Casablanca 7 are being tried in a military court for acts of treason after visiting their relatives in the Saharawi refugee camps in SW Algeria. These Saharawis have been targeted for speaking out against the repression of the Moroccan occupation in their homeland and advocating their self-determination rights as recognized by the UN charter and over a 100 UN resolutions. In August, the Moroccan authorities prevented six Saharawi youths from traveling to the UK to participate in the Oxford-based programme Talk Together, which promote dialogue between youth in areas of conflict.
Spanish blogger Bilbaobilonia, referencing a recent speech in which Moroccan King Mohammed VI stated that anyone supporting the Sahara's independence is a traitor, expressed support [es] of Haidar:
Ya lo dijo el rey Mohamed VI en su discurso conmemorativo de la Marcha Verde: en Marruecos sólo se puede ser patriota o traidor.  Claro que, si alguien se toma la molestia de examinar las raquíticas libertades que promueve la dinastía alauí o la persecución a la que somete a la disidencia saharaui , es fácil llegar a la conclusión de que en Marruecos, la traición es la forma más noble de patriotismo.
Blogger One Hump or Two expresses surprise at the fact that Moroccan authorities would go after someone so well-connected:
This shows Moroccan police will go after any Sahrawi who supports a referendum, even those with international connections and support. Haidar's awards (most recently the Civil Courage Prize) weresupposed to place her outside these dangers by showing the Moroccan government the world is watching them.
Sahara Occidental continues to post media roundups on Aminatou Haidar's case.

author: Jillian C. York


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Australia: Asylum Seekers test tough but humane approach · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

It appears that the Australia’s three-way stand-off with Sri Lankan asylum seekers onboard the Oceanic Viking and Indonesia may be  over. It began:
on October 16 when a boatload of 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, all ethnic Tamils, were rescued from their sinking boat by the Australian ship, but in Indonesia’s search and rescue zone.
Initially Indonesia refused to allow the boat to dock at an Indonesian port, but after negotiations … Indonesia took the boat “on humanitarian grounds” because there was a sick child on board.
But the asylum seekers refused to leave the Australian ship, demanding they be taken to Christmas Island for processing by Australian authorities.
Oceanic Viking breakthrough: asylum seekers to come ashore
There has been a spike in asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat following the increasing violence in Afghanistan and the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. Kevin Rudd’s government has been heavily criticised for both its handling of the Oceanic Viking incident and refugee policy in general. His stance is supposed to be tough on people smugglers and border security but humane towards refugees. Critics see it as either too hard or too soft. It’s either encouraging so-called boatpeople or abusing the rights of asylum seekers.
Veteran News Limited journalist Piers Ackerman prides himself on his right wing zeal. Never a friend of Labor governments, he rarely misses a chance to go for the throat:
The Rudd Government has only succeeded in making Australia a more enticing destination for wannabe migrants who don’t meet the nation’s needs, it has helped people jump the queue of refugees seeking resettlement and it has boosted the bank balances of international people smugglers.
Rudd’s red carpet to asylum seekers
Jeremy Sears of An Onymous Lefty is a regular critic of Ackerman. He addressed his remarks to those whom he sees as driven by xenophobia:
One of the most obvious questions I’d like to ask the “THEY’D BETTER NOT LAND HERE” crowd is – where would you like to send them?
You realise that what the people on the boats are doing is precisely what you would do in the same circumstances.
And yet you want them STOPPED. You want them LOCKED UP. You want them SENT HOME.
And the party that promises to treat these people the worst, that party will get your vote?
I’m not scared of the “boat people”. I’m scared of YOU.
Mark Thompson blogs at Seeking Asylum Down Under. His detailed responses to the current situation have looked for the positives in a sea of negativity:
Rudd is between a rock and hard place, politically speaking, as the Coalition [Liberal and National parties opposition] and its conga line of fear mongers in the media whip up the refugee issue yet again. Many people are very prone to xenophobic responses on ‘boat people’, choosing to believe the fear drum beaten relentlessly by Turnbull, Stone, Andrews and Ruddock et al. There appears to be something in a large slice of the collective psyche that responds negatively to people arriving on boats.
His hope is for multi-lateral approaches to asylum seekers:
Australia must model best practice in this area, ensuring the provisions of international legal instruments and human rights conventions are followed to the letter. This can be a win/win for asylum seekers, the respective processing authorities, and the countries in the firing line. Opening a regional dialogue and developing a well-resourced multilateral approach, empowering all parties with a stake in a solution to this growing human crisis, would be a good start.
Labor all at sea on asylum seekers – but an opportunity presents itself.
Although this issue has generated a lot of heat and was a crucial part of the 2001 Australian Federal election, very few bloggers have posted about it lately. Perhaps it’s just too complex or a case of Tampa déjà vu.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Australian Peacekeepers in East Timor · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Notes from Abroad observes that Australian peacekeepers armed with automatic rifles are a common sight in East Timor

author: Mong Palatino


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Bangladesh: Corruption Reduction Policy Under Question · Global Voices
Rezwan

This year Bangladesh improved her position in the Transparency International corruption perception index. However citing some recent lapses, Habib Siddiqui questions: “How committed is Bangladesh Government about boosting the Corruption Perception Index?”

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: The Long Awaited Verdict  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Unheard Voice live blogged the long awaited final verdict of the trial of the killers of the first president of Bangladesh, the father of nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.


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Barbados: Mini Monaco?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press and Barbados Underground question the vision of the island being transformed into another Monaco.


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Bermuda: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Next time you go up to Dockyard, lie down on that big ole dock and give it a hug”: According to Vexed Bermoothes, “At its $60 million pricetag, it cost every single Bermudian about $1,250 in long term debt.  You better kiss that dock ‘cuz it owns a piece of you.”


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Brazil: Do banks have metal or melanin detector doors? · Global Voices
Paula Góes

On the eve of Brazil's Black Pride Day – celebrated on November 20th, when the country renews its ongoing fight against discrimination – the Circo Voador Audiovisual Collective did an experiment. They filmed two members of their group, of apparently the same age and dressed similarly, trying to enter the same bank at two different moments, carrying the very same bag filled with metal – keys, coins, mobile phone. One of them took a few seconds to get in with no issues at all; the other one could not get in, barred at the revolving door, a regular feature in many Brazilian banks. The first guy was white, the second, black. See the result:
According to the filmmakers, the experiment showed that the metal detector doors are in fact activated by the banks’ security guards. In other words, the security method currently employed by banks is based on their personnel's pre-judgment, often plagued with preconceptions, stereotypes and discrimination against certain types of people. On their blog, Circo Voador [Flying Circus, pt] invites readers to join forces, sending their own videos of as many different banks as possible. They explain the experiment:
Na primeira cena aparecem várias pessoas ao redor da bolsa. Todas elas fizeram o teste com a mesma bolsa, algumas foram barradas outras não. Em nenhum momento alguém alterou o conteúdo dos pertences na bolsa. A escolha da imagem do MC Shackal não se deveu ao fato dele ser negro e sim, por termos nos utilizado de câmeras escondidas e o momento em que o registramos, não sofreu interferências externas, como carros ou pessoas paradas na frente da câmera.
Many people reacted on the Circo Voador blog's comment box. Some of the readers shared similar experiences, such as Dona Biologia [pt], a teacher:
Coloquei chaves, celular, bolsinha de moedas no local indicado e a porta apitava e travava. Por fim, o rapaz chamou um pseudo gerente que atravessou a porta e, dentro do caixa eletrônico da agência, me fez abrir a bolsa de provas e quando não viu nada que justificasse, teve a audácia de dizer que fora a minha bolsinha de lápis. Me arrependo até hoje de não ter processado o banco pelo constrangimento.
Christiano J. Jabur [pt], who was once barred at a metal detector door in São Paulo because of a digital camera, claims that discrimination against people in the same revolving doors happens in banks regardless of the colour of the skin:
Tive que colocá-la numa caixinha para conseguir entrar no banco. Mas uma senhora de idade, também branca, que tentou entrar na agência da Nossa Caixa, na mesma cidade, foi barrada e não conseguiu entrar de jeito nenhum, mesmo chamando a polícia. O gerente do banco ininuou que ela poderia ser criminosa, pois existem muitas pessoas hoje, acima dos 50 e 60 anos de idade, cometendo crimes (o que não deixa de ser verdade). Não vou dizer que não exista preconceito contra negros e pardos nos bancos, por parte de vigilantes e atendentes. Mas dizer que são só os negros que são barrados nas portas giratórias é uma bela de uma mentira.
On the other hand, a security guard called Leandro [pt] explains in the same comment box how the system works, and criticizes the way the video has been interpreted by some:
Sou Vigilante (segurança), e posso afirmar, este sistema é falho, mas este vídeo esta sendo usado para sujar a imagem de profissionais que estão apenas cumprindo ordens… os ‘controles’ podem sim travar e destravar as portas giratórias, mas isso não é valido para todas as agencias, são sistemas diferenciados pra cada agencia ou cada porta giratória… e não temos controle sobre o “Nível de travamento“ de cada porta (isso é de responsabilidade do gerente), que costuma variar de 4 a 7 níveis, por isso vc pode entrar em uma agencia e ficar travado e em outra passar sem problema algum…
Sei que intenção de vc's não é esta, li o que estão propondo e apoio totalmente, mas não esta sendo divulgado desta forma, outros sites e meios de comunicação estão colocando informações “picadas”, pela metade… eu mesmo recebi um Email como Titulo: “Vigilantes racistas?”
The video has gone viral on the blogosphere too. Rafael Cesar [pt] says that whether the doors shut on white or black people is besides the point:
A questão é que sabemos que aquele detector de metais é muito mais uma desculpa para os seguranças fazerem o controle da forma como julgam apropriada do que qualquer outra coisa. O que trava, mesmo, é aquele controlezinho que eles carregam. Comigo é rotineiro, sem qualquer exagero, passar por aquela porra sem metal nenhum na mochila (já deixei até estojo naquela caixinha ao lado por causa de lapiseira) e me travarem. Ou seja: o que volta e meia detectam em mim é um meliante em potencial, porque por várias vezes não havia qualquer metal a ser detectado. Se eu não tinha metal, por que ‘a porta’ travou? E, se eu tenho metal, por que logo em seguida ‘a porta’ destrava?E nessa de o crivo da segurança passar pelos olhos dos seguranças, é claro que o indivíduo negro leva a pior. Assim como leva a pior com a polícia, com emprego etc.
Helio Ventura [pt] takes the opportunity to republish a text written in March 2007 asking if revolving doors detected metal or melanin after a black customer was killed inside the bank in Rio de Janeiro:
Rio de Janeiro, sexta-feira, 22 de dezembro de 2006, 13 horas e 20 minutos. O micro-empresário negro Jonas Eduardo Santos de Souza, 34 anos, estava na fila da agência do banco Itaú da Av. Rio Branco, da qual era cliente há 10 anos, para operações de rotina. Mas ele foi vítima do racismo que persiste em existir em nosso país, apesar de muitas vozes da elite e da intelectualidade negarem. Ele foi morto com um tiro no peito por Natalício de Souza Marins, 29 anos, vigilante da agência.
Ao tentar entrar na agência bancária, Jonas foi parado pela conhecida e constrangedora porta giratória. Ele foi abordado por Natalício e obrigado a pôr na bandeja todos os objetos que possuía. Como a porta continuava travando, Jonas foi obrigado a tirar inclusive o cinto. O gerente foi acionado por Natalício, e só autorizou o acesso do jovem micro-empresário à agência após exigir que Jonas provasse ser cliente da agência, mostrando um cartão do banco. Após o constrangimento, já dentro da agência, Jonas e Natalício continuaram a discutir, até que o vigilante, demonstrando total despreparo para o exercício da função, sacou seu revólver e matou Jonas, que não teve chance de defesa. […]
Assim como também poderíamos estar do outro lado, o de Natalício, também negro, um pai de família que teve suprimidas as oportunidades de acessar uma profissão que pudesse dar melhores condições à sua filha de 5 anos, que se viu obrigado a pleitear apenas funções que exigem menor qualificação, como a de vigilante. Ele também foi atingido pelo racismo estrutural que assola este país. Isso em nada muda o fato dele ter agido equivocadamente: é um homicida e deve receber as sanções legalmente previstas. E ser também negro não atenua o crime. Mas nos faz perguntar: que sistema é este que coloca dois semelhantes em lados opostos, fazendo com que um tire a vida do outro? Até quando fatos como este acontecerão? Percebemos o quão perverso é este “racismo à brasileira”, uma política de extermínio silenciosa, disfarçada de risco social e fatalidade.
Andréia Freitas [pt], who once managed to get undisturbed inside a bank with a kitchen knife she had bought earlier on in the day, says that the sad conclusion is that people only see each others’ surfaces:
Por que será que cresceram os assaltos a banco realizados por homens de terno e gravata? Por que será que hoje existe o roubo de carros em estacionamentos e os assaltantes chegam no local pra assaltar de carro importado? Golpes de estelionatários em hotéis de luxo, em lojas de grife, em restaurantes cinco estrelas…
A resposta é óbvia: O mundo é movido por “aparências”! Sim… se você é considerada uma pessoa “bem apessoada” a vida fica mais fácil pra você em todos os aspectos. Agora… se você não está tão “bem vestido”, ou seu cabelo “acordou” num dia ruim, ou seu sapato tá meio surrado, pode apostar que a vida não será bolinho pra você.
O ser humano vê as aparências! Se as portas dos bancos fossem realmente controladas por uma máquina, por um dispositivo eletrônico de segurança, os dois caras do vídeo do YouTube tinham sido barrados! E nada mais justo do que barrar OS DOIS, que portavam objetos de metal.
The answer is obvious: the world is moved by “appearances”! Yes… if you are considered a “handsome” person, life is easier for you in all aspects. Now… if you're not as “well dressed”, or have had a bad hair day, or your shoes are a little worn out, you can bet that life will not be a piece of cake for you.
Human beings see appearances! If the doors of the banks were actually controlled by a machine, an electronic security device, the two guys of the YouTube video would had been barred! And nothing more fair than barring the TWO OF THEM, as they were both carrying metal objects.
An online petiton [pt] launched with the experiment demanding that Brazilian banks stop using revolving doors and invest in x-ray systems or safety equipment that shows customers’ real belongings has been signed by over 2,000 people so far. Over all, the plea is that everyone is treated with respect by the banks.

author: Paula Góes


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Burmese Songs to be Used as Ring Tones in Thailand · Global Voices
tan

A company in Thailand bought more than 100 popular Burmese songs to be sold as ring tones for mobile phones in Thailand.

author: tan


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Cuba, U.S.A.: Questions for Obama · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuba's Generation Y sends a questionnaire to U.S. President Obama “with some of the issues that keep [her] from sleeping” and publishes his responses.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Disturbing Images Blogged on alleged Timor Assassin · Global Voices
Keta Haluha

On the 15th November Portuguese language blogger, Timor Lorosae Nacao, posted disturbing images of the corpse of Major Alfredo Reinado undergoing an autopsy in Dili in February 2008.  Major Reinado led a group of armed men to the house of Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta on the morning of 11 February 2008.  Reinado was killed during this encounter.

author: Keta Haluha


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Featured Author: Elena Ignatova · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Elena Ignatova covers Macedonia on Global Voices, is in charge of Global Voices in Macedonian, and works for the Metamorphosis Foundation, which seeks to seeks to enhance the use of information in Macedonian government and society. Among the posts we mention in the interview are: Macedonia: Use Facebook If You Want to Flirt With Politicians, The Balkans: “Whose Is This Song?”, and Macedonia: Student Protest Ends in Violence.
Transcript:
I'm Elena Ignatova. I'm an author for Global Voices and the Translation Manager for Macedonian and I'm working at Metamorphosis Foundation, which is an organization for the development of information society.
So, Macedonia is in the Balkans and it's the country that has problems with Greece and the name, but we are hoping that we will solve the problem very soon.
David: OK, so that's probably what it is best known for in an international sphere, but what do people not know about Macedonia that you have to tell them?
Elena: Well, it is a country that is very small. It has two million inhabitants. And it's very pleasant to live here because everybody knows each other and you will always find a person who welcomes you while you're walking through the streets.
David: You wrote a post about politicians on Facebook – Macedonian politicians – and I think there was a newspaper article that said “here's a way that Macedonians can flirt with politicians online.” But have you seen any evidence that people are using it to engage with their politicians and become more active politically?
Elena: I don't know. I didn't check the campaign afterward so I don't know what's actually happened. Because we had a research that we did about election campaigns for president and local elections. And most of the politicians didn't use new media or Facebook to react for their campaigns. So I'm not sure that they are using it so much.
David: Have you been in touch with any politicians via Facebook?
Elena: No.
David: Why?
Elena: Because they are not answering questions. Because we were sending them questions through new media … not through new media only … but with emails, Facebook, Twitter but we didn't receive any feedback so I don't try anymore.
David: OK, so another story that you wrote about Facebook had to do
with a protest and a counter-protest about a proposed church that they want to build in the main plaza. Can you describe that?
Elena: Well, the protest was actually because the students of the architectural faculty didn't want that they build a church on the main square and the problem was that some people that were for the church came to the protest also and there was a conflict between the two groups so it ended badly.
David: How did it end?
Elena: Well, some of the students were beaten well, not beaten really, but they were attacked.
David: Do you think that in this case Facebook was a productive use to protest?
Elena: Yes because they were organizing everything through Facebook. Like sending invitations, planning the event, and everything. They didn't have a web page or email. Everything went through Facebook.
David: And now it looks likely that the church won't be build, right?
Elena: Yeah, probably.
David: You published another post about reactions to a documentary called “Whose Song is This” and I thought it was a really insightful look at the role of identity in Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia. Can you describe a little bit about the documentary itself and then also the reactions to it.
Elena: Well, the documentary was about a song that is translated into several languages in countries throughout the Balkans. And each country said that the song was theirs. And there were very good reactions because most of them were accepting the song. Like, “oh really? There is a song in that country?” It was very interesting. None of them were like, “this is our song.” Or something like that. But everyone was pleasantly surprised that the song was translated into other languages.
David: How do you choose what articles you translate into Macedonian?
Elena: Well I choose articles that are interesting for me. Basically, if there is some article connected with ICT or something like that I translate it. Because it is connected with my work. If not, I choose some article that is about new culture or somehow connected with new media or something like that. And some of the articles need to be short.
David: And what have you learned as a GV author and translator?
Elena: Well, I learned about many cultures and very important things about the lives of people in other countries because our main newspapers and portals don't report about stuff happening in other countries so it is very interesting to know what is happening in the world.
David: And you'll be seeing some other GV authors soon, right? At a conference?
Elena: Yeah, we will have a conference e-Society.mk which will be on the theme iMedia … actually, more about active citizen participation through new media. And Onnik and Sylwia will come to present.

author: David Sasaki


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Palestine: Twitter Reports Say Israel Bombing Rafah & Khan Yunis · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

During Israel's attacks on Gaza in January 2009, bloggers and Twitter users took the place of the media, which had been banned from entering, reporting on each event well before mainstream publications.  Tonight, Twitter users have again brought the news faster than the media.  At approximately 11:30 GMT (1:30 a.m. local time), Ibrahim Saeed, who tweets as From_Gaza, reported:
Bombardment in Khan Yunis and Rafah: Now
Shortly afterward, he elaborated:
Blogger Political Theatrics has detailed the incident, stating:
The Israel Air Force struck smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border late Wednesday night, a day after Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Qassam rocket into the western Negev.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office reported that the IAF planes also attacked a nearby structure believed to have served as a weapons facility near the Gaza town of Khan Younis.
Palestinian sources said three people were hurt in the attack, which they claimed also targeted a military training compound.
The IDF report also indicated that strike was carried out in response to a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, and which landed in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, in the Western Negev.
[Editor's note: The aforementioned blogger was actually quoting from this Haaretz article; our sincere apologies for the error.]
UPDATE (8:06 EST): The BBC has confirmed the attacks, and Palestinian officials claim no casualties.
Twitter user pakinamamer is hoping for more answers.  She asks:


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Global Health: World Toilet Day Raises a Stink  · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

While it may sound like a bad joke, today's World Toilet Day focuses on a not-so-funny issue impacting almost half the world's population — a lack of toilets and sanitation.
People may be too embarrassed to openly talk about it, but everyone does it, toilet or not. World Toilet Day helps people celebrate the importance of sanitation and raise awareness for the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to toilets and proper sanitation. This video by the nonprofit WaterAid highlights the luxury of having a toilet.
Celebrating your can may seem silly, but not having one can not only lead to embarrassment, lack of dignity and safety issues, but also preventable diseases and even death. When people don't have toilets, they're forced to relieve themselves in open streets, fields, or back alleys. The result? The contamination of drinking water and food sources, which leads to a slew of health risks. Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection and kills 1.8 million people, mostly children, a year. Even countries with abundant toilets have to deal with problems ranging from unhygienic public toilets to waterway-destroying sewage disposal.
Vanilla, blogging on Let's Look At It This Way from Singapore, says that people should care about toilets:
“I know this is a crappy topic to most people. It is unfortunate that it is a ‘taboo’ topic to talk about openly and many people remain ignorant about the scale of the problem. I fail to understand how this can be an unimportant topic when, on an average, we visit the toilet 2500 times a year, or 6-8 times a day. In our life time, we would have spent 3 years in the toilet.”
Organized by the nonprofit The World Toilet Organization, World Toilet Day is being celebrated globally with various events. To further increase awareness, WaterAid announced the launch of its new ToiletFinder UK App for iPhone users this week. The free app helps Brits find the nearest public toilet while reminding them how lucky they are to have clean and safe toilets. The largest event today, called The Big Squat, asks people to stop and squat for one minute in a public place to raise awareness. These photos show people squatting globally, including this one of preschoolers in Singapore:
A blog from Brunei, the world according to panyaluru …, also shows appreciation for the toilet by putting it into perspective:
“Imagine if we are walking along in the row of shops in Kiulap or Gadong. Suddenly the tummy grumbles, just like the worst ribut you can think off. No rest bite. Grumble and grumble. Rumblings. The light is on amber and ready to turn green. But no toilets in sight. Not a single public toilet in the rows of shops…Add to that no water, no tissue, nothing! That could be the worst day of your life, your worst nightmare, ever worse than the nightmares those kids have in the Nightmare on Elm Street Movies. On this day, let’s show our appreciation to our toilets.”
Despite its serious side, many people have used humor to celebrate World Toilet Day. In the U.K., the blog London City Drains features a 10-question toilet quiz, while in this video high school teacher Matt Cheplic sings about the day.
Some bloggers point out that toilets alone may not be the answer. Sandhya, blogging on Maradhi Manni in India, says many men don't use available toilets:
“In a city like Chennai, where the climate is hot nearly 10 months of the year, I see men urinating on the roadside all the time. When women can control and go home and relieve themselves, why can't men do so, I don't know. So, first of all people should be fined heavily for doing this crime (yes, it is crime) on the spot. I have seen them doing this on the wall of the public toilets! In Srirangam, I saw them urinating on the compound wall of the temple even though every street surrounding the temple had toilets, which were clean, but pay toilets!”
While lack of sanitation impacts everyone, the taboo around toilets can disproportionately affect women. In some countries, modesty forces women do their business in fields before sunrise or to hold it until after the sun sets, leading to health and safety concerns. Joanne Sprague, blogging on Overturning Boulders in India, observes that women are absent from the morning toilet run in Chennai, while in Ethiopia the blog AN ADVENTURE IN ADDIS notices a similar situation:
“I’ve heard so often about the lack of toilet facilities for women or lack of toilets in general; that teenage girls in the countryside get up at 4 am to go out in the dark to do their business so they don’t get bullied by the boys at school or stop going to school altogether. Men just pee anywhere, cigarette in hand and there’s an assumption that women don’t need to, if they are thought about at all….I want to see a huge billboard in Amharic saying ‘Girls go too’ with a picture of Barbie sitting on a toilet.”
To celebrate World Toilet Day, blogger Jonathan Stray, takes readers on an international tour of toilets he's visited, from Thailand and the U.K. to West Africa and Oman, concluding:
“We in the west with our flush toilets and toilet paper and sparkling shower stalls are the exception; the rest of the world thinks a bathroom is a wet, smelly place, when they have a bathroom at all. A good toilet means you probably have a very good quality of life, so enjoy yours. Happy World Toilet Day!”
Photo of Tiled Toilet by nedrichards on Flickr, Creative Commons.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Guatemala: The Illustrations of Roberto Galvez · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The Guatemalan blog Colectiva [es] writes and features modern art around the world, but it also provides special focus on local artists, including Roberto Galvez, whose illustrations were recently featured at the Arte La Fabrica gallery in Guatemala City.


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Guatemala: The Streets of the Capital City · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The look of the streets of Guatemala City has changed over the past 20 years. The blog Guate en los 80s [es] takes a look at the culture of that decade, and includes this video of a drive through the city and notes the differences to how it appears now.


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Jamaica: Defence Against the Defence Force  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It seems there are a few problems with the Jamaica Defence Force worth looking into”: For Jamaica Salt, it is a case of who's going to guard the guards.


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Japan: British teenager becomes a YouTube star · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

She is British, blond, slim and cute. Her name is Beckii Cruel [ja] and, at age 14, has become an idol on the Japanese web.
Beckii Cruel started to gain popularity at the end of this year thanks to some videos posted on YouTube where she appears dancing in her room, to the tune of anime songs, attracting the interest of inveterate fans of anime and manga.
After becoming a celebrity on the Internet as user xBextahx, she was invited to perform in Akihabara, the district in eastern Tokyo that is widely acknowledged as the symbol of the otaku culture  [en].
bluecafe09k48 sums up Beckii's profile for us.
イギリス・マン島在住の美少女、１４歳ですね～。
マンガ「フルーツバスケット」を読んで以来、
日本のオタク文化に嵌ったのが３年前とのこと。
ベッキー・クルーエル自身が日本のアニメソングなどで踊っている動画を
ＹｏｕＴｕｂｅで公開したのが今年の３月くらいから。
「男女」がニコニコ動画に転載されたのが５月頃で、人気が爆発。
Beckii Cruel's popularity is certainly a Japanese phenomenon, as demonstrated by the fact that the only Wikipedia entry on her is in Japanese. However, the word of mouth has spread also among those foreigners who are passionate fans of Akihabara and the otaku culture in general.
GodLen, at Animevice. com, for example, comments with a bit of mock jealousy on the British idol's career.
Beckii Cruel, oh how I wish I were her, for she is the Cinderella story of the otaku world. This 14-year-old girl from England has won over the hearts of moe-loving otaku in Japan by posting videos of herself dancing to anime and Jpop songs on youtube. Yesterday she had the opportunity to dance in front of over 600 fans at the Enta Matsuri in Akihabara; amazing, and it all started with a youtube video. Now she has a DVD coming out in Japan (which you can pre-order now) that features her dancing her dance, and being overall moe.
Beckii Cruel, who was recently chosen by candy and sweets maker Lotte  to promote the Fit's Dance Contest together with other celebrities, performed live for the first time at Akihabara Enta Festival on October 25 [here are some pictures of the show].

author: Scilla Alecci


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Laos: Southeast Asia Games Village · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Pictures of the 25th Southeast Asia Games Village in Laos were uploaded by Lao Voices


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Pakistan: Not Eliminated · Global Voices
Rezwan

Kalsoom at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan posts a roundup of the latest news and information on the South Waziristan war against the Taliban.


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Poland: Anonymous Blogger to Write About a Daily Tabloid · Global Voices
Jakub Górnicki

An anonymous journalist who used to work for a Polish daily tabloid called Fakt, owned by Axel Springer AG, started a new blog, BrukowiecStory” (“TabloidStory” in English), in which he wants to write the truth about how things really work in the newsroom and in the publisher’s office.
Wiadomości24.pl, a Polish citizen journalism portal, wrote (POL) that, according to the blogger, Fakt’s success on the Polish market was mostly achieved by violating journalism ethics.
Here is an excerpt from one of the first posts (POL) on BrukowiecStory:
I think that the creation of Fakt was the biggest hit on the free Polish media since [1989]. Before 2003, there was only Super Express, an easy, light and somehow nice tabloid. It had one advantage – they always were writing the truth. In the tabloid way, but one could still call it journalism. And the status quo remained until Fakt entered the market.
For the first time in the Polish media history we experienced a new term – creating the truth. “Nothing happens? Then create the events,” the editor-in-chief was supposed to shout to working journalists. […]
The blogger also states that he wants to register an association for people damaged by Fakt, and also that a mass lawsuit for mobbing is being planned. As of now, he has not yet published concrete information about breaking the law by the newspaper’s staff.


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Puerto Rico: No. 35 · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gil the Jenius has something to say about Puerto Rico's #35 ranking on Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perception Index.


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Sri Lanka: What Is Your Race? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mahesan Niranjan at Groundviews shares a personal story depicting how race & nationality is perceived in Sri Lanka leading to further divide.


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Taiwan: Protest against American beef by eating cow dung · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Roy Berman from Mutantfrong Travelogue blogs about a recent protest action in Taiwan against the importation of American beef. The student wanted to show that eating American beef is scarier than eating Taiwanese cow dung!

author: Oiwan Lam


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Trinidad & Tobago: Social Media Crimefighting · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Taran Rampersad is glad “to see that social media is being seen as a tool for fighting crime in Trinidad and Tobago”, but says there are more effective ways in which to do it.


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Uruguay: Film About Robots Invading Montevideo · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The locally produced short film called Panic Attack! created by Fede Alvarez shows the science fiction story of robots invading the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo. The blog El Bachural [es] enjoyed the short because it showed his city in a different light.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bangladesh: Romanian Song In Bangla Tune · Global Voices
Rezwan

Call that fusion or copying, A Bengali in T.O. informs that the tune of a popular Bangla classic song (written by Radha Romon Dutta in the year 1870!) was used by Liviu Mititelu for a Romanian song.


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Brazil: The loss of a pioneer digital activist · Global Voices
Diego Casaes

Daniel Pádua was a well-known digital activist in Brazil. Photo brought by Cátia Kitahara in WordPress-BR.
Brazil lost today one of its pioneers digital activists. Daniel Pádua [pt] (also known as @dpadua on Twitter) had been recently diagnosed with cancer and lost the battle this morning, in Brasília. Always present in open source software and free culture events in Brazil, he was a strong reference for many bloggers in posts about ciberactivism and freedom of speech on the Internet.
On the WordPress-Br blog, Cátia Kitahara wrote [pt]:
Hoje perdemos um amigo queridíssimo, aqui da comunidade, o Daniel Pádua. Sentiremos muito sua falta, não só pelo grande talento e inteligência que ele possuia, mas principalmente pelo seu caráter. Queremos manifestar nosso carinho para sua família e amigos.
As the news spreads all over the web, Twitter users who known his work and commitment are honoring him and saying a last goodbye:
This is Global Voices tribute to Daniel Pádua. Rest in peace.

author: Diego Casaes


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China and U.S.A: IPR Theft · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Angry Chinese blogger writes on an intellectual property right dispute case between a Beijing firm Zhongyi Electronic LTD and Microsoft.


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China and U.S.A: Obama’s letter to Southern Weekend · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shizhao has posted Obama's letter to Southern Weekend during his visit in China. Many believe that this letter has something to do with the story about Southern Weekend's missing front page and blank advertisement.