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Africa: The Potential of Local Brain-Drain · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

What is the potential of local brain-drain in Africa? Read Idd Salim's post: “We all know African Tech Solutions. Ushahidi, Mpesa come to mind. Apps made by Africans for Africa. Because African solutions are made on an empty stomach, they address a REAL need. A real problem. Not AngryBirds. HungryCoders. No one will give you USD 1M to start an experiment and ‘see how the market responds’ in Africa. So, Tech-challenges leave a lot of coders flat-nosed.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Bahamas: Sticking Together Through Irene · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Havana Times notes that “Hurricane Irene intensified overnight as it churns to the northeast of Cuba, threatening the Bahamas with its 110 mph maximum sustained winds”; over in the Bahamas, Womanish Words says: “Alright, we can do this thing. Lets secure our properties, take our animals inside, stay sober and alert, and ride out hurricane Irene together.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Brazil: Global Action Against Belo Monte Dam in Images · Global Voices
João Miguel Lima

This page is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon and Indigenous Rights.
From the 19 to the 22 of August, 2011, protests against Belo Monte dam went global. Although the construction work on the dam has already begun, people have organized in protests on the Internet and in the streets of many Brazilian cities and throughout the world in front of Brazilian embassies and consulates. Advocating for the indigenous populations and traditional settlers of Volta Grande do Xingu region in the state of Para, they are also calling for the protection of the Amazon rainforest and environment. In this post, we compile a selection of photos and videos featuring the worldwide demonstrations.
Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, staged the biggest protest; it took place in Paulista Avenue and included members of the indigenous groups that will be affected by the hydroelectric power plant dam. Raphael Tsavkko, who is a Global Voices author, tweeted (@Tsvakko) his impressions and photos from the march of Sao Paulo during the afternoon of August 20:
Banner reads: "Xingu Alive – Not Belo Monte!". Photo by Raphael Tsavkko on Flickr, used with permission.
Passions heated up in the city, and some Indians burned a doll called “Dilma” [after the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff]:
Demonstrators march and burn an effigy in protest over the Belo Monte power plant construction. Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Cris Faga, copyright Demotix (20-08-2011)
The movement Brasil pela Vida nas Florestas (Brazil for Life in the Forests) published on its blog links to two photo albums of the protest: Luanda Francine's Flickr and Verena Glass’ Picasa.
The Military Police released an estimate that at least 800 people attended the protest in Sao Paulo. Check out a video of the protest in the city, posted on YouTube by Dhirak:
The website Rede Brasil Atual covered the protest in Belém, the capital city of Para, the state where the Belo Monte power plant is being built. Danilo Ramos has posted some photos of the march that went along the famous Ver-o-Peso market and other areas of the historical city center.
In Altamira, the municipality where the dam is to be located, the protest came on the day before, on Friday, August 19. Karen Hoffman posted on her Flickr page 15 photos of this protest.
The march in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceará, took place in a commercial area of the city center. Through posters and slogans, the demonstrators protested against the Belo Monte project, and also against the new Forestry Code:
March against the Belo Monte dam in Fortaleza, Brazil, on August 20, 2011. Photo by the author Joao Miguel Lima.
In Brasília, the national capital of Brazil, demonstrators danced and sang songs of praise of the forest, in a natural area close to the buildings of the ministries of the federal government. Check out this short video posted on YouTube by the user FSPompeo2:
On August 22, another protest – which had been announced on the website of the organization Xingu Vivo – took place in Rio de Janeiro, in front of the headquarters of the National Development Bank (BNDES), calling on the government not to use public money for the construction of the power plant dam.
Thinking locally, protesting globally
On the International Day for the Defence of the Amazon, August 22, the protests against the construction of Belo Monte gained global proportions. The international organization Survival, which is dedicated to the protection of indigenous peoples, published an article with photos from several cities of the world, such as this one from London:
"Dozens of people demonstrated against the Belo Monte dam, outside the Brazilian Embassy in London today." Credit © Survival
On Twitter, Xingu Vivo shared a video of the protest against Belo Monte that took place in Paris, France:
In the United States, activists from San Francisco also made their voices heard:
"Brazil: No Belo Monte Dam! Save the rainforest" outside the Brazilian consulate in San Francisco, USA. Photo by International Rivers on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Demonstrators holding signs outside the Brazilian consulate in San Francisco, USA. Photo by International Rivers on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Also in Mexico, an itinerant movement of activists for “water and peace” (#CaravanaTemaca) demonstrated in front of the Consulate of Brazil in Guadalajara “in solidarity with the journey of fight against Belo Monte”. They aimed to hand out a letter to the Consul “demanding for the respect of human rights of the threatened people”:
Foto de Sididh / Prodh (Sistema integral de Información en Derechos Humanos del Centro Prodh) no Twitpic (@Sididh).
Avaaz has an ongoing petition urging president Dilma Rousseff to stop development of the Belo Monte Dam Complex and “invest in energy efficiency and clean power sources, protect the basic human rights of indigenous people and local communities, and support sustainable development that protects lives and ecosystems”.
This page is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon and Indigenous Rights.

author: João Miguel Lima


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Chile: Citizen Reports about National Strike on Google Maps · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Mi Voz has set up a map on Google Maps [es] with citizen reports about the national strike taking place on August 24 and 25 throughout Chile.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Chile: Explaining the ‘Chilean Revolution’ · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Setty, a journalist living in Chile, explains ‘the Chilean revolution': “Chile is supposed to be the stodgy, conservative, institutionality-respecting corner of South America, where nothing ever happens. But this is changing as the public runs out of patience after centuries of being told that if they wait and work hard, someday their children will be better off than they are.”


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Chile: #Paronacional (National Strike) vs. #Yonoparo (I Don’t Strike) · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

The Workers’ United Center (CUT) called for a national strike for the 24 and 25 of August, 2011, as a form of protest against social and economic inequality in Chile, with the following petition list [es]:
Former student leader, socialist politician and blogger Daniel Manoucheri (@dmanoucheri) [es] summarizes:
Lo q la gente hoy clama no son meras reformas legales. Es más profundo.  Hay un sentimiento nacional contra el modelo impuesto en dictadura
What people are crying for today are not only legal reforms. It goes deeper than that. There's a national feeling against the model imposed during the dictatorship.
Up until now, it is uncertain whether or not the call was successful, but at least on Twitter reactions of users for and against this type of protest have been echoed making the hashtags #paronacional (national strike) and #yonoparo (I don't strike) national trending topics.
Those in favor speak using the hashtag #paronacional (national strike):
Picture by Flickr user alpuerto under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Actress Ana María Gazmuri (@AnaMariaGazmuri) [es] enthusiastically announces:
Paro Nacional en paz!!! Con la fuerza de la razón,las manos limpias y a cara descubierta caminemos hacia un Chile para todos !!!
National Strike in peace!!! With the strength of reason, clean hands and faces uncovered let's walk towards a better Chile for all !!!
Maximiliano Villar (@maxialejandro) [es] encourages his followers:
Apoyemos el #paronacional… En tarde #cacerolazo
Let's support the #paronacional (national strike)…And later #cacerolazo (pot banging)
Student Carolina Valenzuela (@CaroValenzuelaR) [es] comments:
Manifestaciones en varios puntos de la capital, gran parte de mi país movilizandose <3! #PARONACIONAL. Es hora de alzar la voz!!
Protests in various parts of the capital city, a big part of my country is taking action <3! #PARONACIONAL (National Strike). It's time to raise our voice!!
Pero Pato Inostroza (@chkpato) [es] warns:
la concentracion de poderes se ve tb en las pegas: si no para la mineria y el transporte, el  #paronacional no sirve para nada.
the centralization of power is also seen at work: if the mining industry and transportation don't go to strike, the #paronacional (national strike) is worth nothing.
Meanwhile, those against the strike used the hashtag #yonoparo (I don't strike):
The Twitter account of ‘Derecha Tuitera’ (Tweeting Right) [es] (@DerechaTuitera) greets its followers:
BUENOS DIAS A TODOS LOS CHILENOS Q ESTAN TRABAJANDO!!! Chile se construye NO se destruye!! #YONOPARO
GOOD MORNING TO ALL CHILEANS WHO ARE WORKING!!! Chile is built NOT destroyed!! #YONOPARO (I don't strike)
Jacinto Gorosabel (@JGorosabel) [es] points out:
Esto no es un paro, es un boicot contra la gente de trabajo, por eso #yonoparo
This is not a strike, it's a boycott against working people, that's why #yonoparo (I don't strike)
Pablo Witto (@theDagger_) [es] clarifies:
Aunque no voté por Piñera, estoy a favor de respetar a un gobierno elegido democráticamente. Respeto al país. #YONOPARO
Eventhough I didn't vote for Piñera, I'm in favor of respecting a government democratically elected. I respect my country. #YONOPARO (I don't strike)
Also, entrepreneur Rodrigo Reyes G. (@pajaritus) [es] explains:
#yonoparo pq la mejor forma de argumentar un cambio es proponiendo ideas e innovando en tu trabajo….
#yonoparo (I don't strike) because the best way to argue for change is proposing ideas and innovating in your job….
While there are still a lot of tweets being sent both in favor and against, news outlets [es] reporting on the protests, arrests and incidents, professor and Twitter user Inútilsubversivo (@inutilsubersivo) [es] sums everything with humor:
Unos estamos en paro, otros fueron a trabajar pero han estado puro twiteando, OSEA ESTAMOS TODOS EN #PARONACIONAL
Some are striking, others went to work but have only been tweeting, THEREFORE WE ARE ALL ON #PARONACIONAL (National Strike)

author: Elizabeth Rivera


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China: Chinese Lawyer Reveals Details of 108-Day Detention · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Siweiluozi translated Chinese lawyer Liu Shihui's account of his 108-day detention since the crack down on political dissidents in February 2011.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Chinese porn culture · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James Griffiths from DAWEI looks into the history of Chinese porn and interviews Katrien Jacobs, a professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, whose new book People’s Pornography: Sex and Surveillance on the Chinese Internet  will be published in October 2011.


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China: Closing down of migrant schools in Beijing · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Media Project translated a Beijing public intellectual, Yu Jianrong's online chat commenting on the closing down of 30 migrant schools in Beijing.


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Croatia, Serbia: A Flag of Friendship  · Global Voices
Sinisa Boljanovic

Just a few weeks after Croatia officially marked the 16th aniversory of the military operation “Oluja” (the Storm), when more than 200,000 ethnic Serbs were expelled from their century-old homes, two young adults from Croatia and Serbia created a mixed Serbo-Croatian flag, as a gesture of reconciliation between the two countries.
Anja Blazevic and Stefan Guzvica, who are taking part in a regional art camp in Gvozd, Croatia, where the flag has recently been created, explained [hr] to Vecernji.hr, a popular newspaper in Croatia, their motivation to do it:
We’ve had enough conflicts based on nationalism […] permanently evoking the past bothers us, while no one is thinking about the future. We feel frustration because of that, and so we decided to make an effort in order to build, at least symbolically, more friendly relationships between the two countries.
We have created the flag in order to call our peoples to love and tolerance. We are aware that the flag will provoke a lot of reactions and polemics, but it is so desirable in democratic societies. We have made a few copies of the flag. One of them is fluttering in our camp in Gvozd, one copy will be taken to Serbia and others have been given to our friends.
More than 850 readers have commented on the article. Below is a selection of some of these comments.
pLoto* wrote:
Behind that are NGOs financed from abroad aiming at some new community to Croats’ disadvantage. But, after two former Yugoslavias that were a failure in blood, they who are working on it did not learn anything. I have nothing to do with Serbs, I’ve never been to Serbia… and I don’t want someone uniting me with them.
Jolly-Roger wrote:
The first step is that Serbs recognize Croatia, especially those who have lived in Croatia for a long time.
The second step is that they ask for forgiveness for all the crimes that they commited in Croatia, not only during the last war.
The third step is that all of them are moved out of Croatia.
Then we can have good relations, and the flag of Croatia will not be changed. We were fighting and dying for it.
cro1com wrote:
[…] We don’t need to be friendly people at all. We have to be very cautious of each other, especially Croats toward Serbs, because Croats have never waged a war against Serbs in Serbia but all of us have witnessed the aggression from the East […]
bilikamen wrote:
They should be killed immediately so that our children and grandchildren are not killed later.
21 KK Kobra wrote:
You are stupid… do you think that we like the flag and that it is OK? I have no words.
Andreeejjj wrote:
[…] Why so, my dear Croats? It will not be excused by anyone from the world! […] The future is the most important, not the past, whatever it was. If the politicians from all former Republics [of Yugoslavia] had wanted to prevent the war, it would have been done. Unfortunately, there was no interest in it because no one of them could become so rich. That’s all and brutally true, my people, be wiser just once. It’s the time.
Serbian daily Blic re-published [sr] the news, which has generated more than 600 comments. Below are some of them.
Persa wrote:
I support each initiative which contains a desire for well-being of the people, for mutual understanding, for love, for kindness, for offering aid… I’d like that everything that was bad does not happen anymore […]
Nikola Radovanovic wrote:
Hey, people, what’s the matter with you? Let’s forget once what happened! Look into the future and allow our children to live in peace and without hatred.
per-aspera-ad-astra wrote:
It should allow everyone, regardless of nationality, who hates and chokes in their own hatred, but I don’t understand how they want to go to Europe?
Serbian blogger Strongman also re-published [sr] the news and more than 80 people commented on it.
Mariopan wrote:
Bravo to the young people. A little bit normalcy in the crazy Balkans.
Looping wrote:
I believe the motive is good, but the creators should be taking care of their lives.
ivanivica wrote:
I am only reading and thinking of how many times the young Israelis and Palestinians meet up. And?
newyorkcity.boy wrote:
All honors for maturity and courage. I support it. Finally, someone has tried to make an effort of reconciliation. I hope the move will be just the beginning. All honors to you. How much further will we hate each other?
This issue has drawn attention of several thousand people from Croatia and Serbia, as well as the rest of the region, who have left their comments on many other internet platforms and forums in the past few days.

author: Sinisa Boljanovic


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Croatia: Top 5 Holiday Islands (+5 More) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Croatia Travel Blog links to an article about “Croatia's top five holiday islands,” which appeared in The Guardian earlier this week, and adds five more islands to this list.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Cuba: Female Activists Detained  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Four women who took to Havana's Capitol building to protest recent actions against The Ladies in White have reportedly been detained; Uncommon Sense has the details.


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Ethiopia: A Woman Dedicated to Serve Her People · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

EthioHealthCare writes about Liya Abera, Director of Bala Health Center in Ethiopia: “Basically ,what this health center focuses on prevention of diseases mostly on those which are pretty common in that area like malaria, oro fecal disease etc. And also focuses on minimizing woman and child death as well as woman health including contraception methods antenatal visits plus vaccination…”


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Ethiopia: British Media Fuels Aid Apathy  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

According to Ethiopian blogger, Daniel Berhane, British media fuels aid apathy: “At a time when about 12 million people in the horn of Africa suffer from the worst drought in 60 years , British media is busy disenchanting private donations…Alas, at a time when only a third of the needed aid is supplied, Britain’s media inexplicably chose to fuel the aid apathy…”


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Ghana: Meet Ghanaian Spoken Word Artist · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

One Ghana speaks to Mutombo, a Ghanaian multi-talented artist who specializes in spoken word poetry” “He has blessed several stages since he started his beautiful art form. The list of major shows he has performed includes Portrait of an Excellent Woman 2008, which took place at the National Theatre.”


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Ghana: The Chicken Thief Readers Around the World  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Fiona, a blogger based in Ghana, shares photos of people around the world reading her new book, The Chicken Thief: “If you've been following The Chicken Thief on Facebook you may have seen the fantastic photos that readers have been sending in of the Chicken Thief in their corner of the world.”


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India: Anti-Corruption Campaign Fires a Country’s Imagination · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

In April this year Global Voices reported how social media was being used in India to power civil society's push for a proposed anti-corruption bill (popularly known as the Jan Lokpal Bill). There was, at the time, a lot of debate about the sustainability of the fledgling movement, which was being led from the front by a Gandhian social activist Sri Anna Hazare.
A lot has happened since then but what has been undeniable is that the anti-corruption movement,  after having proved the nay-saying pundits wrong, has gradually managed  to capture the imagination of a large section of the Indian public.
Anna Hazare addressing the people and media at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. Image by Sarika Gulati, copyright Demotix (08/04/2011).
Today, the movement is not only restricted to India but has also seen support from the non-resident Indian population. It has also caught global attention (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc.), bringing forth conversations and discussions/debates  surrounding not only the issue of anti-corruption, but also about the  entire movement and the intense political drama that has unfolded as a  result of this current social movement – being touted by team Anna as  the “second freedom struggle”.
Given below are some of the key recent milestones of this social movement that has taken the country by storm (Sources: 1, 2).
Anna Hazare with supporters, in Delhi. Flickr image courtesy vm2827 (CC By-NC 2.0).
(More images of the growing public support for Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement can be found here)
In the world of social media, the support for Anna Hazare's movement against corruption continues to receive a huge amount of support – on Facebook, Twitter, online forums, blogs etc.  Supporters have even launched mobile apps for Android and Nokia phones – a first for a social movement in this country, which has prompted a guest author to write on Watblog.com:
The ongoing struggle for getting the Jan Lokpal Bill approved and  legislated has been dubbed as the first Social Media Movement of India…Big-development today is the phone apps. It was only a matter of time  before the India Against Corruption spearheaded movement gets associated  with the convenience and efficiency of the Android app, and rightly so.  If you were wondering what progress have Anna and his supporters seen  since your last rendezvous on RSS feeds/news channels/twitter hashtags  worry no more. Two students of Sastra University in Tanjuvar, Tamil Nadu  have devised an Android app called the Lokpal App. The app may sound  too optimistic given how an appointed Lokpal is still a distant dream.  But given how the movement is largely driven by the flow of news in the  form of text and visuals and also on how sentiments that are affected in  the public with every single piece of progress and failure has shaped  the mass opinion over months this app might just play the all-important  role of the backstage hand to the stage of Indian socio-politics.
Screenshot of the India Against Corruption web page featuring the mobile apps.
The transnational web community at Avaaz.org is running a campaign in support of the anti-corruption movement in India. They are seeking to rack up 250,000 signatures in an online petition calling the Prime Minister to take active steps for freeing India from corruption.
On Facebook, a call to support Anna Hazare's fast for the Jan Lokpal Bill has garnered over 52,000 supporters.  Tweets are abuzz with conversations about Anna and his fast. Here are a few examples:
@bipsluvurself : Anna Hazare needs to be supported to kill the ‘Demon’ called ‘Corruption’ that is eating up our Country!
@mrunm07 : We need millions of “Anna Hazare” to stop corruption in our country India.
@jhunjhunwala : I can understand that many don't support Anna or his fast but its ridiculous to arrest someone because he goes on a hunger strike.RIDICULOUS
@PritishNandy: Even those who may not agree with the Janlokpal movement should now stand up for Anna and the right to protest.
@pixelAdrop: @thekiranbedi Truly Inspiring! Long Live Anna Hazare.
@ash_r_danush: i want my children to grow up in a corruption free INDIA..so would u! i support anna..vande maatharam..live life !
However, some tweeps continue to be sceptical about the momentum on social media and it's impact on the ground.
@lathasunadh: Anna hazare powerful on  fb and twitter screams headline. Showing fb-twitter support is nothing.  It only means pple chose a click of a button
Watch this space for more round-ups of the actions and conversations surrounding India's unprecedented civic protest against corruption. In the next post in the series, we will explore more conversations about why some of the netizens are supporting the movement and also what arguments a section of citizens are putting forward as to why they remain unconvinced about the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna and his methods.

author: Aparna Ray


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Jamaica, U.S.A.: East Coast Earthquake  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Diaspora blogger Grasshopper Eyes The Potomac describes yesterday's earthquake, which affected the east coast of the United States.


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Kenya: Meet Kenyan Female Social Innovator · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mworia blogs about Crystal Kigon, the founder of Voices of Africa: “Crystal’s organization in conjunction with Intersat Africa have been working on a project that aims to take the internet to rural areas in a way that is fitting culturally and sustainable economically, environmentally and socially.This has to be one of the most interesting podcast so far.”


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Latvia: Electoral Expectations · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Veiko Spolitis of Baltic blog spans the pollster field in the runup to the 17 September parliamentary elections in Latvia and finds that a great but decreasing proportion of voters are still undecided.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Liberia: Voting Ends in Liberia’s Referendum · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Voting ends in Liberia 23rd August referendum with the Liberia's Election Coordinating Committee (ECC), which deployed 400 elections observers throughout 15 counties reporting that voting was peaceful. The referendum was marred with an error on the ballot paper…


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Mauritania: 13 Activists against Child Trafficking Arrested   · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Four advocacy organizations against human trafficking note that a peaceful sit-in outside the Bureau of juvenile affairs was organized [fr] by l’Initiative pour la Résurgence du mouvement Abolitionniste (Ira) to denounce the insufficient measures taken against child trafficking in Mauritania.  13 members of the association were arrested following the protest.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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North Korea Got Talent? Video of North Korean Singing Contest on Chinese Site · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

A short, edited video of the North Korean singing contest was posted on Youku, a video hosting service based in China.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Peru: 7.0-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Jungle Region · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Juan Arellano –Global Voices author and Spanish Translation Manager– is updating a Storify post [es] with Twitter reactions to a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the Peruvian jungle near the border with Brazil. The earthquake was felt in most of Peru and in parts of Ecuador and Brazil.


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Peru: Congress Passes Law Requiring Prior Consultation With Indigenous Peoples · Global Voices
Isabel Guerra

The Peruvian Congress unanimously approved the ‘Prior Consultation Law‘ for indigenous or native peoples (“Ley de Consulta Previa a los Pueblos Indígenas u Originarios“[es] in Spanish), which establishes the mandatory or biding character of the consultations with indigenous peoples [es]. It is expected that President Ollanta Humala will soon sign it into law. The original text was approved in 2010, but it was sent back to Congress. On Twitter, Ruth Anastacio (@rueaval), Cesar Acuña Peralta (@_CesarAcuna) and Fabián Pérez (@faperezn) celebrated the news.

author: Isabel Guerra


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Russia: Intoxicating Economics · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Streetwise Professor argues against the bad economics of promoting Russian wine production to turn consumption patterns from stronger to weaker alcoholic beverages in order to fight the country's rampant alcoholism.


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Russia: Kim Jong Il’s Visit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Suzanne Merkelson writes on FP's Passport blog about North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's visit to Russia.


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Russia: “Russia Today and YouTube” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Democratist is wondering about the validity of Russia Today's YouTube viewer stats.


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Singapore’s Curry Solidarity · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

An Indian family in Singapore has agreed not to cook curry when their newly arrived neighbors from China are at home after the latter complained to authorities about the smell of curry. To show solidarity to all Singaporeans who love curry, which is after all a national dish, a “Cook A Pot of Curry Day” event was organized last Sunday, August  21. The Facebook page of the event had a confirmed attendance of more than 60,000. Below are some online reactions.
Jamie Huang is proud of the ‘curry’ unity last Sunday:
In any case, whilst our current government worries about integrating foreigners in the local fabric, I think we ought to take some time to be proud of, and be happy about the fault lines we have already bridged and achieved through the Curry Incident.
Singaporeans are united at last! What in the world could be negative about that?
“Cook A Pot of Curry Day” event
SpeakSpokeWriteWrote believes that the success of the event has proven that Singaporeans can “come together and fight a cause, civilly and creatively”:
More than just a meal however, this event has made Singaporeans feel like Singaporeans. There is something deliciously simple to do together, and still make a statement. It gives me hope that we are more similar than we think and that given the right stimulus, we can come together and fight a cause, civilly and creatively.
Dee Kay Dot As Gee Mobile hopes the event will remind everybody to be more tolerant towards other cultures:
Today is Cook A Pot of Curry Day. Are you cooking curry now?
I wonder if this will become an annual event. Something like Racial Harmony Day or Total Defence Day. “Cook A Pot of Curry Day” can be a day to remind everyone to be more tolerant towards other culture, religion and race. Living in a small multi-racial and multi-cultural country like Singapore, we really need to be more sensitive towards each other.
So whether you are cooking a real pot of curry or cooking imaginary curry (like me), let’s remember that we are cooking curry today to remind ourselves to be more tolerant towards one another.
Eastcoastlife had a curry party with friends:
It's curry party at my house. My foreign guests were treated to vegetable curry, chicken curry and fish curry. I bought mini French loaves, make pratas and cooked a big pot of white rice to go with the curries.
Today, more than 60,000 people (some from all corners of the globe) have indicated on Facebook that they will cook and share a pot of curry or eat curry.  Singaporeans hope the newly arrived citizens will appreciate curry and also embrace the cultures of the various ethnic groups here.
Singaporeans Love Curry Facebook page
Chee Wai's Random Musing participated in the event in solidarity as a global citizen:
Many of those doing the same will probably be doing it for many different reasons. For my part, I will be expressing myself as a global citizen. I will allow the smell to waft out through the back patio door. If my neighbors do not like it, they will talk to me about it and I will engage them, as mature adults should. For me, it will be a non-issue, after all I do not take Panang as a staple and even if I do, I'm sure we can come to amicable solutions.
Ng E-Jay is not satisfied with the efforts of the government to promote racial harmony in Singapore:
I believe that given our history as a nation of immigrants, Singaporeans from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds have learnt over the generations to coexist harmoniously and peacefully.
Do the newcomers to our land, the foreigners that we welcome to our shores, share these same ideals too?
It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that foreigners who come to live and work here respect our local traditions and customs and appreciate our way of life.
Tolerance and understanding cannot be a one-way process. It must be a shared journey, a common path forged between Singaporeans, foreigners and the government. However, the government has yet to show it is keen on sharing this journey with Singaporeans.
seksi matashutyrmouf questions the mediation process of the government when neighbors lodge a complaint:
Why didn't they look out for the interests of the community? Why didn't they advice and warn the mainlander newcomer about the kind of flak that they were going to receive when they stop people from cooking curry? How did they not see that this would be interpreted as a cowboy newcomer muscling his way through the rights of a minority? Is the mediation narrowly defined as a mediation between 2 parties, or is there a 3rd party, the community / nation, whose input is being conveniently ignored?
Desiree Lim warns against the other forms of racism in society:
In this inflated moment of solidarity, the explicit racism I have seen Singaporean Chinese exhibit towards Indians (where curry is sometimes invoked as a slur!), local or not, is conveniently forgotten.
What if the situation were reversed – to involve a Singaporean family complaining about strong smells emanating from the flat of newly-arrived Indian immigrants? Dare we assert that we would have protected the rights of these Indians with equal fervour, seeing as the bulk of complaints about foreigners seem to revolve around their personal habits?

author: Mong Palatino


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Togo: 3rd BarCamp Selects the Translation for “Blog” in Ewé Language · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

In its presentation of the third edition of BlogCamp Togo, togocouleurs explains  that [fr] the Togolese blogosphere coined a new word for “blog”  in the Ewé language (spoken in Togo, Ghana and Benin) : “with the vote taking place directly on the ETTIC [fr] (‘Togolese Space for Information and Communication Technologies’) Facebook wall, the neologism « Nyablog » was chosen by the majority of voters as the translation for blog (ahead of other options such as kaméhoma, kamégbalé or kamégnakaka).


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Trinidad & Tobago: More Questions on State of Emergency · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As the State of Emergency continues in Trinidad and Tobago – and the government's communication efforts about it continue to be muddled at best (Is it limited or national?  Is there a solid strategy in place or not?) – local bloggers are voicing their opinions, confusion and frustration online.
KnowTnT.com makes the point that:
There's no such thing as ‘limited’ within the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago regarding the State of Emergency – and oddly, there isn't a version of the Constitution readily found online that has the State of Emergency parts in it.
The post goes on to reiterate that much of the online discussion of the issue is happening, as was reported here, “in the semi-privacy of Facebook”, and categorizes the responses to the State of Emergency  into two broad categories: “The Happy People”, who are “trusting the government to do what is necessary and right to deal with crime in Trinidad and Tobago” and “The Unhappy People”:
There are those that do not like that under the State of Emergency, rights of citizens are for all intents and purposes null and void. There are others who found that the words of the Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, and the Prime Minister, were… lacking in providing a sense that they knew what they were doing. And still others wonder at the efficacy of it all.
The blogger's personal take on the situation is somewhere in the middle:
When the Police can't do their jobs without risk of putting the public at risk, a State of Emergency can be an asset. Now they don't have to get warrants or worry about what the magistrates will say – they have free reign and used wisely they might accomplish something more than locking up the thugs that have the guns and small amounts of drugs – which is what they have accomplished so far. Maybe they plan to bring down a few of the thugs that wear whiter collars. If in 2 weeks they don't manage to get at least 2 of them, this whole thing has been a waste.
But there's the issue, too, of magistrates being frustrated by poor police work resulting in case dismissals. The State of Emergency won't help that unless the Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, has teams running around with the police and quizzing them with flash cards on assuring that cases aren't thrown out. There's a big flaw.
And when this is all over, do I think right now that anything will be better? For a while. But the conditions will breed the same criminality… the State of Emergency so far has been treating symptoms, not the Disease.
A few bloggers are discussing last night's television interview with Attorney General Anand Ramlogan; Plain Talk analyses the exchange practically frame by frame, here, saying:
By 4:58 and with arms flailing the normally sedate Kalipersad ‘dissed’ the success of the first night of the government's effort and rattled off figures in a condescending way designed to provoke, causing Ramlogan's face to contort between smirk and smile and showing his discomfort with what was taking place.
The remaining five odd minutes were filled with Ramlogan trying to make the government look better than it should considering the paltry results of the effort thus far, doing his best to make the seizure of six guns and the arrest of twenty two petty thugs sound a whole lot more than they were in reality. Ramlogan's second agenda seemed to be to revise history to accommodate for the glaring inconsistencies in the appointment of the Acting Commissioner of Police, and he walked with a letter to prove that the government was willing to do everything they could to make their mistakes fit their version of the truth.
By 8:21 Dominic was asking probing questions on the veracity of the AG's prop, but by now the storm had passed and no one was paying any real attention which lulled us into believing the worst was behind us, preparing none of us for Kalipersad's now famous parting jab ‘please don't be rude,’ which was supremely ironic as this was a public demonstration of rudeness journalistic style.
Having lost what amounted to the most revealing issue in the whole interview, that the government made a mess of the handling of the entire State of Emergency and are caught up in a web of if not outright lies and deceit then absolute creative trickery to make their shaky ground solid, Kalipersad tied the fiasco together with a neat little bow and allowed the AG to make his final point..
…while sweet trini's urban folk tales prefers to keep an eye on the bigger picture:
the prime minister issues a limited state of emergency that not so limited (sans presidential approval) and the acting commissioner of police sign a curfew order before actually appointed a.c.p. all while police commissioner gibbs and deputy ewaski out of the country without proper knowledge of the commission, the former detained for illegal entry into another country…as a pardner say on fasbook: the red house should be on the list of crime “hotspots” [thus far targeting predominantly black areas considered lower class] as tha's where most crimes against this country occur.
but i have long maintained: trinbagonians will take chain up, bobol and mamguy, and revolution will not come until they ban carnival; we riot when they threaten dance+drum. they say the state of emergency is to take down (violent) crime and i for that but how, exactly, this supposed to wuk? we supposed to believe, with no longterm plan from the powers that be, that criminals not smart enough to take a 2weeks vacation and come back robbing+shooting + burning+looting come mid-september? when smaller criminals who cyah afford vacation get ketch doing their daily hustle, with the lack of opportunity our young men face we supposed to believe it doh have a nex’ crew already jostlng to take their place? and a nex’ crew rolling up to replace them? we supposed to believe little black boys on the block importing the drugs+weapons? laundering money on a streetcorner in neverdirty, morvant?
those behind the smuggling of drugs+weapons that fuel local crime are those behind our politics and industry, close enough and boldface enough to look we in we eye when they wining, groping hands deep in our taxpaying pockets, backed by our administration. dialogue is necessary…
Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc. echoes this perspective in a post titled “The right to question”:
I have no legal training whatsoever, but I understand this: democracy requires negotiating a balance between individual rights and needs and a community’s common good.  This balance is expressed in written laws and unwritten conventions, in which every citizen has a vital interest. In a healthy democracy, citizens recognise and assert this interest, and any change in that balance between individual rights and the common good should be accompanied by vigorous and informed debate. A healthy democracy requires dissent.
It also requires that citizens ask questions. So here are some of mine.
Why is the attorney general — a very smart man and clearly also a smartman, as all lawyers perhaps must be — actively misleading the public about the extent to which the “fundamental rights and freedoms” recognised in section 4 of the constitution have been derogated by the Emergency Powers Regulations?
Why did the government declare the state of emergency in the absence of the commissioner of police and his deputy, considering that the Emergency Regulations give the commissioner significant and augmented powers of discretion over citizens’ rights?
Why — if the objective of the state of the emergency is to give the police temporary special powers to round up illegal arms and disrupt gang activity — were the Emergency Powers Regulations not drafted more narrowly so as to impinge on as few basic rights as possible? What does a ban on public meetings “held for the purpose of the transaction of matters of public interest or for the discussion of such matters” have to do with rooting out crime? Or a ban on “any document … likely … to cause disaffection or discontent among persons”? Many works of literature make me feel disaffected or discontented. Are novels to be confiscated? The regulations are drafted with sufficient breadth that the authorities may forbid almost all forms of expression. Do circumstances really justify such broad powers?
He ends the post by saying:
I feel dreadfully and profoundly unsafe knowing that so many of my basic civil rights have been derogated, with no certainty about when they will be restored.
These rights only exist because of a hard-won consensus on human nature and our moral obligations to each other that has taken centuries to thrash out — They can continue to exist only if citizens are vigilant, informed, and unafraid to exercise their duty to ask questions and express dissent to the governments they elect to serve them.
Twitter, under the hashtag #SoETT, is also full of uncertainty:
@Hansisaproblem: Yo….. Details not adding up and corresponding, you people need to think and sort out what you saying before you say it. #SOETT
@HaydnDunn: if police and soldiers don't tackle white-collar crime this State of Emergency situation will be a total failure!!! #SoETT
@SanMan_ish: Anand making it sound as if Mr. Big from one of the traditional HotSpots… why allyuh doh go search all d containers pon d port! #SoETT
@ActivismTT sums up the situation like this:
@ActivismTT: Boasting about a reduction in crime during a State of Emergency is like gloating about losing weight during a famine. #SoETT #nonsense
When the State of Emergency is finally lifted, netizens will be looking for answers.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Positive Facebook Changes  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

TECHTT says of Facebook's recent changes: “I really love the tag approval feature and think it will be a big hit as I have seen many people complain about unscrupulous tagging. I hope we see a lot more useful changes…”


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Ukraine: “Proper” vs “Improper” Journalism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At OpenDemocracy.net, Aleksey Matsuka, a Donetsk-based journalist, explains what “proper” journalism means in this Eastern Ukrainian region – and what awaits those who are deemed “improper” journalists.


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Afghanistan: Afghan Youth Voices Multimedia Festival · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

In Afghanistan, Internews network is ramping up their efforts to train and motivate Afghan youth to share their perspective on issues that matter to them for the Afghan Youth Voices Festival and Media Camp.
Afghan Youth Voices Festival
Afghan Youth Voices Festival is a place where young Afghans can express themselves, whether it is through filmmaking or Facebook, through new media tools like blogs or traditional ones like theatre.
Afghan Youth Voices Festival is a forum where creative young Afghans can get together, produce stories, collaborate and have fun.
To do this, we provide trainings in a variety of multi-media courses. If you are interested in producing something, get involved today! Everyone is welcome, as long as you are young.
They already have many videos documenting different ways in which Afghan youth are reaching out to others: whether training them in new skills, expressing their thoughts and wishes or exposing issues that concern them.
This first video shows children working at a brick kiln:
Thousands of young Afghans work in brick kilns around the country, working long hours in harsh conditions to provide for their family. In this touching video, Afghan Youth Voices Festival participants Safitullah and Safiqullah document the lives of such child labourers in a brick kiln in Jalalabad.
The Daily Life of Mohammad  follows a 20 year old who is now responsible for his whole family after the death of his father. Raising chickens and running a small grocery store is how he manages to support his younger siblings.
Living in a Hostel shows us a different aspect of youth life in Afghanistan: in this video we can observe a day in the life of a young girl who studies away from home and lives in a hostel with other female students.
For some youth, music is their passion. This next video shows a young man playing a harmonium and singing, afterwards, another young man joins him on a tambourine.
The Afghan Youth Voices Festival site also has online training resources available for any other Afghan youth between 15 and 25 years of age who wish to get involved. You can also check out their YouTube channel and flickr photo page, and browse all the other content that already fills their site made by Afghan youth.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Bahamas: Riding Out Hurricane Irene · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As Hurricane Irene, the first of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, continues to move through the Bahamas, bloggers have been sharing their experiences.
Moments before the hurricane reached the islands – and uncertain of how much damage she could potentially do – Weblog Bahamas advised:
We've posted a couple blogs to show up on Thursday and Friday as we're not sure if we'll have electricity or Internet service.
The post ended on a hopeful note, urging Bahamians to “be safe”:
Here's hoping Irene goes easy on the rest of us. We know there will be damage to property, but hope there is no loss of life.
As it turned out, Irene did do some damage: Rick Lowe posted this update yesterday, (Wednesday, August 24) “before the electricity went off permanently”:
As we sit in Nassau, New Providence in little more than rain and a nice breeze at 8:20pm, our fellow Bahamians and residents in the Southern islands are catching quite a blow.
It will be at least a day or two before a complete picture of the damage starts to unfold as the city will be under severe weather.
We also hope the Northern islands come through okay, but this looks like wishful thinking at this point.
If Nassau can come through relatively unscathed that will be the best case scenario for the country as supplies can be rushed out to the other islands from here.
Blogworld did a fantastic job of collating photos, video footage and tweets of the hurricane in action, along with posting helpful information:
Conditions are deteriorating over Nassau. Widespread tree and roof damage has been reported across the Bahamas. Power outages are also widespread across the islands – from the southeast to the northwest islands.
The netizens profiled in Blogworld's post reported very strong winds, extensive damage to property, felled trees and downed power lines.  Several roofs were blown off and there were reports of flooding in certain areas.  Towards the end of her post, Nicolette Bethel voiced her frustration over the inadequate information being given to the public – at least from the state-owned media:
Not much to report from Nassau — some wind, a little tiny bit of rain, and frogs.
News coverage from national TV station disgraceful. Limited to the regular news at 7 PM, some specially focussed regular programmes during primetime and reruns from past hurricanes; no ongoing commentary on TV at all. Radio is better. Not sure what the problem is but am certain the economy will be blamed. But with all this foreign investment going on how is it we don’t have some $$ to invest in information for the Bahamian citizens throughout the archipelago? Why should we depend on private news sources, especially as we pay taxes to keep the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas afloat — and because they always seem to have news and cameras enough to cover the politicians when they speak?
Just sayin’.
Womanish Words echoed her sentiments, and suggested that social media should fill the void:
The house is shuttered, the electricity is off and the generator running, the first of the rain is coming down and yes, those are definitely wind gusts. I don't like it one bit.
I don't know how the other islands have fared, as predicted the local news coverage is abysmal and the international coverage non-existant. [sic] Hey world, we exist and we matter! What is needed is for the people of the Bahamas to get on the web! We ARE the media these days, we need to be reporting on blogs and Facebook from every island, telling our own stories! There is such silence in this place.
Twitter, under the hashtags #Hurricane #Irene #Bahamas, offered a lot of information and timely updates, but bloggers also posted entries today – from as early as 6:00 am up until just after 10:00 am:
It is six am and I am waking up after a good sleep, feeling grateful and guilty. The wind is heavy, gusting about 80 mph. Maybe more. The electricity has just this minute gone off. David tells me that the storm is veering away from New Providence, but that may just be his way of “being positive.” I still feel like the worst is to come… the wind is picking up as I write.
I know many, many others are dealing with that and worse right now. I wish I could see outside. Yikes, there's a big, howling gust, some falling debris. The storm is just upon us now. We will feel the heaviest winds in the next couple of hours.
Seven Twenty Four AM, Holding On in New Providence: Yikes, that was a hundred mph gust, debris is flying, stuff hitting the roof, rain sheeting down. Through a sliver in the shutter I can see my big trees riding the wind. Its nasty out there. I'm feeling a little tense.
Hurricane Irene Update – Nassau Aug 25, 2011 10:15am: Well it seems like Nassau and the island of New Providence has come through reasonably well.  All things considered we're darn lucky.
The Southern Islands must have a taken a severe beating but at least there are no reports of loss of life as yet.
Hopefully our communities will band together to help each other pull through this.
Friends in Abaco say they expect the eye to pass directly over Marsh Harbour around 5:oomph today so they'll be feeling these eater [sic] effects until the early hours of tomorrow morning it appears.
Our archipelago is certainly getting the worst this one has to offer.
It is 10.23 am and just as I am about to write that I think the worst is over another huge gust goes through. But yes, Irene is moving away from us, there are actual lulls in the wind now. Some small trees appear to be down, but we are all intact. New Providence was spared again. We made it through.
Global Voices will continue to monitor the situation; the storm is currently passing over the northern islands of the Bahamas.


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China: Three Public Expenditures and State Secrets · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The term, “three public expenditures” or san gong jingfei, refers to government expenses for overseas trips, food and entertainment and public vehicles. The three expenditures have been considered by the general public as one of the main sources of corruption of government officials.
In May 2011, the State broadcaster Central Television Station revealed that the country's annual spending for the “three public” items was up to RMB1900 billion [zh] in 2010, which accounts for 60% of all administrative expenses. In order to cut the spending, the Ministry of the State demanded that all 98 central government departments and offices disclose their “three public expenses”.
On 30 June 2011, the Steering Committee of the National People Congress disclosed the Central Government's “Three Public Expenditures”. The figure was up to RMB 9.4 billion  [zh] (approximately USD 1.5 billion). Despite a great deal of resistance, so far most of the 98 central government departments and offices have disclosed their spending. However, in the past two days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Overseas Chinese Affairs (OCA) and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs (HKMA) claimed [zh] that their “three public expenditures” are State secrets.
As the Ministry of State's move towards budgetary transparency of the “three public expenditures” has very strong public support (in an opinion poll conducted in July 2011, more than 96.4% of the interviewees supported it [zh], the pretext of “State secret” has outraged the majority of Chinese people. Below is a cartoon by Zhai Haijun showing how difficult it is to bring change to the government with the “three public expenditures” problem. (via China Media Project)
Blogger He Jun points out that “State secret” is an excuse to protect privilege and corruption:
国家机密，很有意思。原来以为导弹发射设计图，军事基地内部情况，自主创新的科研数据，相关经济数据，宝贵的矿藏地质资料……这些，才是国家机密，却不料，三公花费，官员们拿国家的票子，人民的劳动成果，咱们那个老百姓的纳税金，坐了轿车，吃了公饭，出了国考了察，这么一种特殊享受的花费，居然也是“国家机密”！
任何一个中国人，一旦沾上点“国家机密”的好处，一定会铁了心跟D走，因为，这些好处如此甜蜜可爱令人生出无比动力——再不能当傻逼乱嚷嚷政治上不成熟了，弄上三公的好处你就偷偷乐去吧，然后坐在主席台上装比样子一脸马列主义三个代表四个现代化三大纪律八项注意，“人民”知道个啥？反正人民是个看不见的东西。反正有“国家机密”给咱们护着。。。
Lisa criticizes the MFA for its failure in diplomacy from a nationalistic point of view:
外交部作为联系五洲四海的一个纽带，肯定是“三公消费”的大户，这不足为怪。问题是你花了钱究竟办了多少事，交了多少朋友？。。。可是，放眼一望，南海诸岛还有多少属于中国？有多少渔民、船长被外邦无理扣押？以牺牲领土为代价换取所谓的和平环境，以屈辱外交换取好伙伴、好邻居、好朋友咄咄逼人的联合吼叫，外交部的“三公经费”究竟干什么用了？
花了大头钱，没办多少事，还丢了大片国土。那么，外交部还有脸面公布“三公经费”么？不敢公布还拿什么国家机密来说事，来遮丑，真是天大的谎言。
Having spent so much money, we still lost our land. Of course the MFA dare not disclose its “three public expenditures”. However, it still dares using “State secret” to hide their shame. This is such a big lie.
In Weibo, there are a number of discussion threads about this newly invented “State secret” item. Below is a selection of immediate responses from Weibo users in the 21cbh's news thread [zh]:
天边火林中风 外交部怎么做账的？机密开销放到三公经费里？(今天 09:32)
老狼_深圳 可笑，他们花我们的钱，我们只不过要个帐单，他们居然说这是是秘密！！！(今天 09:31)
峰回路转转路回峰 费用高了 敌对势力不就发现我们的外交很猛(今天 09:40)
李晋宁AARON 陈水扁当初也是用同样理由贪腐的，如果外交部执意不公布，那干脆就从国务院里独立出去，省得毁了一锅汤。(今天 09:39)
风一逸 国家丑闻当属国家机密，(今天 09:35)
共和一体 公款吃喝，公款出国，公款购车…为神马不能公开？除非我们养的间谍太多？？(今天 09:45)
老狼_深圳 They spend our money, all we are asking is a receipt and they dare to tell us it is a State secret!!!
峰回路转转路回峰 When enemy forces see our huge spending, they know how strong our MFA is.
李晋宁AARON Chen Shui Bian [Former Taiwan President] used the same reason to defend his corruption. If the MFA insisted on not disclosing its three public expenditures, it should be independent from the Ministry of the State, or it will ruin the whole government.
风一逸 State scandal is of course State secret.
共和一体 spending public money for banquets, travel and vehicles, why can't this be disclosed. Unless we feed too many spies.
More reactions [zh] from the Weibo Headline news thread:
飘泊在南方的云 不公開也罷，看那些公開的又有幾份是真實帳？！(今天 11:12)
法拉盛上官 其他已经公布三公的部门郁闷了,怎么之前没想到郭家咪咪这一招(今天 10:03)
lemon5212011 除了要给国外的亲属生活费学费什么的还有养着一帮国内的杂碎，能公布吗？(今天 10:02)
蘇奕安 三公系指公车、吃喝、差旅，这个也涉及机密？莫非系秘密与基地组织吃饭游玩？？
法拉盛上官 Other departments which had disclosed their expenses must feel regret, how could they not have thought of using “State secret” as an excuse.
lemon5212011 They have to pay for their family's expenses and school fees aboard and feed their running dogs inside the country, of course they can't disclose the figure.
蘇奕安 the meaning of “three public expenditures” is vehicles, banquets and travel. How can that have anything to do with secrets? Are they eating and traveling with terrorist groups??


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Colombia: ‘Blank Vote, Worthy Vote’ · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Colombians are invited to cast blank ballots in the regional and local elections to be held on October 30, 2011 through the video “Blank vote, worthy vote” by NachoVelezJim on YouTube. The argument for such a move is that scandals of government corruption have made the country lose billions of pesos.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Colombia: Football Federation Accepts ‘Bolillo’ Gómez’s Resignation as Head Coach  · Global Voices
Lully

With only a few days until the qualifying stage for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil start, the Executive Committee of the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) reported that on the night of Sunday, August 21, Hernán Darío Gómez ratified his resignation, adding to it the character of irrevocable, as head coach of the national football team.
This new resignation was made hours after President Juan Manuel Santos asked for Bolillo's resignation due to recent events and suggested a foreigner replace him. This also caused the resignation  [es] of Bolillo's closest collaborators: his assistant (Leonel Álvarez), the team's physical trainer (Elkin Sánchez) and Director (Francisco Maturana)
Consequently, negotiations with the Argentine Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino to fill the vacancy are moving forward, which has sparked all sorts of surveys [es] about who should be the new head coach. At the same time, this issue continues to generate online reactions.
Carlos V. Morales (@CarlosVictorM) from Ecuador expresses certainty about the new head coach:
Ya hay acuerdo entre Federación Colombiana y Martino. Presidente Bedoya prepara viaje a Rosario para cerrar negociación. Tata será el DT de Colombia.
Journalist Gabriel de las Casas (@gabodelascasas), presents options for the vacant post and raises the question:
Hoy NO se conocerá técnico de la selección. Opcionados, Comesaña, Gareca, El Tata Martino. ¿Cuál le gusta a usted?
Chinita Berrío (@chinitaberrio) welcomed the resignation of the head coach and his adviser:
Bolillo y Maturana fuera…. Gracias
Bolillo and Maturana are out…. Thanks
Andrés Echeverría (@AndreloE) is one of the few people who after the acceptance of Bolillo's resignation makes a comment
in his favor:
Me hace reír, un equipo mediocre como el de #Colombia necesita un buen técnico y no un mediocre como el Tata Martino, prefiero al Bolillo.
Journalist Felix de Bedout (@fdbedout) criticizes the Colombian Football Federation's lack of effectiveness:
La ineptitud de la federación llevo a tiempo extra lo inevitable, a esta hora ya tendríamos técnico y al bolillo arreglando sus asuntos.

author: Lully


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Georgia: Social Media Used by Presidential Election Candidate in Breakaway Region · Global Voices
Mirian Jugheli

Three candidates are competing this week for the presidency in Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia recognized only by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, and Vanuatu. The Central Election Commission predicts 70 percent turnout for the vote on 26 August.
Avadkhara in the Abkhazia region of Georgia. Image by Flickr user mikesub (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Despite being the oldest candidate, Sergei Shamba, born in 1951, turned to social media in order to attract support from voters online. Shamba sent out his first tweet in Russian on 2 August.
Моя цель – Абхазия в числе экономических лидеров Причерноморья.
Sergei Shamba even has a Facebook page, but with low Internet penetration and few Internet cafes there are only 65 ‘likes’ to date. Interestingly, at time of writing, Shamba follows only Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to NATO, on Twitter and has 31 followers.

author: Mirian Jugheli


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Guyana: Whole Lotta Love  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

When her mother falls ill, Guyana-Gyal discovers “the scary side of loving”.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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India: Corruption In Indian Railways · Global Voices
Rezwan

Swetha Bommerla at Youth Ki Awaaz writes about the corruption in Indian Railways regarding reservation of seats and selling of tickets.

author: Rezwan


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Iran: “Islamic Awakening” or NATO Victory in Libya? · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.
Iranian citizens continue to follow recent developments in Libya with great interest, and are flooding cyberspace with comments, posts and tweets.
While some Iranian officials and diplomats are calling Libya's revolution, “an Islamic awakening,” Iranian blogger Bedone Onvan has published a photo of an anti-Qaddafi rebel kissing a US flag, with the ironic caption: “Islamic awakening!”
Andishe writes [fa]:
It is still not clear that NATO's assistance in toppling Qaddafi's regime will be good for the Libyan population or not. But it is obvious, that without NATO's help it would have been impossible to get rid of the Libyan dictator. In my opinion, dictators who kill their own people and do no problem committing any crime imaginable, will not move out of scene unless a stronger hand intervenes.
Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft after mission in Libya on March 20, 2011. By N.A.T.O. on Flickr (fair use permitted)
Bamdadi asks his readers a question: “Which country has the highest score on the human development index in Africa?” A link answers the question: it's Libya! The blogger adds, “Of course, this was before civil war broke out in the country.” In another post, Bamdadi says [fa]:
I do not understand why the success of NATO and Western countries of bringing into power a new political group in Libya should make some Iranians happy? … Maybe they think a [new regime] would be a step toward freedom'? They are surely joking. The countries who bombed Libya did not believe that. What freedom? You would be very naive to believe it… freedom should have at least a little more meaning than the militaries of the most powerful countries intervening and destroying a weak country by using tricks.
Secular writes [fa]:
The difference between Iranians and Libyans is that the latter supported defected political personalities who broke with Qaddafi's regime, while some Iranians did not want to support [the opposition movement's] Mir Hussein Mousavi although he was out of regime's power structure for about 20 years. Iranians usually say they [those in power and reformists] are all the same.
This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Kazakhstan: Controversy Over State Language Promotion · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.
In early August 2011, the Ministry of Culture of Kazakhstan developed [ru] a draft law to introduce some amendments into the state's language policy. It was quickly labeled by many observers as a move to further reduce the scope of use of the Russian language, which enjoys equal status with the Kazakh language, according to the Constitution.
The new move was supposed to make all interactions that citizens have with the government bodies to be in Kazakh, as well as all internal documentation of the state structures. All visual and business-related information (adverts, signs, price lists, forms etc.) was also meant to be provided solely in Kazakh. The changes were set to be introduced in 2013.
The gradual move to the state-language documentation has been taking place in Kazakhstan for several years, but most often comes to the situations when people are using Kazakh translations (at times, very poorly made) to observe the formality, but use Russian to keep the things going. Arkhard writes [ru]:
I've just fancied how our citizens break their neck to translate an application into Kazakh, then the officials have hard time translating it back into Russian. As a result, it would be difficult to understand what whas meant initially, and it is going to be more time-consuming as well.
Alpamis_batyr objects [ru]:
[…] You should finally realize that you live in Kazakhstan, the country whose name derives from the state-forming ethnicity, i.e. Kazakhs. You thus show your disrespect to the language, and culture, and history of the nation. Just kill your laziness and wake up a desire to learn and accept the Kazakhness.
User Russky (a Russian) leaves a comment to the news article [ru]:
Everybody – with no exception – should study Kazakh, but it should not turn into conflicts, when one side yells “You have no choice but to learn”, and the other shouts “No way” (although even saying that they understand that it would really be better to know the Kazakh language). […] All citizens will get to know it sooner or later, but it is necessary to create universally affordable language courses.
Jelsomino agrees that before you require people to use the language, you should give them a chance to study it [ru]:
I am a Russian-speaking Kazakh, studied in the Russian-language high school (in Soviet times there was no other option with only two Kazakh schools in Almaty, the former capital and the largest city of Kazakhstan)… Russian language was everywhere – on the street, on a TV, routinely. Kazakh language was taught very badly in schools, because nobody really used it in urban environment. Now the times are changing, rural population us urbanizing, many Russian-speaking people left the country. So, what shall the generations of Soviet descent do? Right, we must study Kazakh. But how? Courses are largely unaffordable, textbooks are of low quality, multimedia CDs only start to appear, but they are expensive too… I can speak simple Kazakh in everyday life, but if officials require me to communicate with them only in Kazakh, I would consider it that the government turned its back on me.
Basilio suggests pondering on another possible consequence [ru]:
Such radical measures will once again lead to major brain-drain, as qualified specialists who don't know the state language – but do possess expertise – would flee the country. Remember the 1990s, when almost every fifth non-Kazakh family (Germans, Ukrainians, Russians) emigrated to the “historic motherlands” […]
Megakhuimyak offers a look from a different perspective – why such an initiative appeared as all [ru]:
I will not speak about the draft law's contradiction to the constitution (who cares about it – our parliament is notoriously known for being able to change the constitution in half of an hour). The more interesting question is why. When the presidential administration found that the Kazakh-language newspapers (subject to control by the Minister of Culture) publish anti-president appeals, the Ministry was squeezed, and its mandate of controlling the media was given to the Ministry of Communications. After the extremist outbreak in Western Kazkahstan, it turned out that the Ministry failed to succeed I this direction too – and the Committee for Religions was taken out of the Ministry… Thus, the minister of culture found himself deprived of both Realpolitik leverages – media and religions. Now all he's got is culture, NGOs and language. That hurts – and the Ministry decided to take on a new agenda at the expense of state language issue.
The ado did not pass unnoticed. Controversial draft law was pretty quickly repelled by the Ministry – officials did not insist too earnestly on the initiative, but indicated that they were not very pleased with the tone of public debate. The passions calmed down, but the problem persists.
This post is part of our special coverage Languages and the Internet.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Mexico: Outrage After Shooting During Football Match in Torreón · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
The wave of violence that Mexico is experiencing has reached the national sport par excellence. Last Saturday, August 21, 2011, during an official first division football match in the Estadio Corona (TSM), in Torreón, Coahuila, an armed confrontation took place outside the stadium. It led to the cancellation of the game and panic and uncertainty among the supporters, who fled to the field looking for safety.
In an official statement the Government condemned these acts vigorously, and later highlighted that the conflict took place when alleged members of organized crime attacked the local police. According to official sources, nobody died in the confrontation.
Some YouTube users, such as Realidadtorreon, 03h2on24s, and jesus1521, shared videos recorded in the football stadium.
These violent events have generated different expressions among the authors of the Mexican blogosphere, many separate opinions and versions about the happenings. The web site Hazme el Chingado Favor [es] showed a report about the event:
Antes de terminar el primer tiempo la gente se comienza a ir para no hacer tanta fila al baño y otros se van para hacer fila para comprar cerveza.
De un momento a otro, se empiezan a escuchar estruendos, vivir en Torreón es vivir acostumbrado a escuchar todo tipo de sonidos, balazos, cohetes, etc… Pero precisamente deduje rápidamente: Son balazos. Mi amiga me comenta:
- “¿En dónde, aquí adentro?” y le digo “no” con el movimiento de mi cabeza.
-Es afuera en la carretera.
Se escuchaban los balazos dentro del estadio, pero era simple eco, los balazos eran afuera. En ese momento escucho al árbitro pitar desesperadamente su silbato y comienzan todos los jugadores a correr rumbo a los vestidores, yo doy una vista a todo el estadio y la gente en las diferentes áreas empiezan a moverse para todos lados y yo pienso: -no es adentro, si así fuera, en un área del estadio habría más movimiento que en las demás. Esto por la costumbre de ver cuando pelean, siempre empieza por un lado. Le digo a mi amiga que nos quedemos en nuestros lugares, mucha gente empieza a correr para cualquier lado y otras a tirarse al suelo. Los estruendos se escuchan más cerca, se escuchan como si fueran a 10 metros, fuertes, consecutivos, lastimosos, cada balazo era el temor de confirmarme que me equivoqué y los balazos si eran adentro del estadio.
Suddenly, people started to hear a great roar. Living in Torreón means being used to hearing every kind of sounds: gun shots, fireworks, etc. I just assumed that those were gun shots. My friend asked me:
- “Where are the sounds of the gun shots coming from? From the stadium?”. Then, making movements with my head, I told her that the sounds weren't being produced in the stadium.
- “They come from the road”.
We could hear gun shots inside the football stadium, but the sounds were just echoes, the gun shots were taking place outside. In this moment, I heard a desperate whistle of the referee and all the football players started to run to the changing rooms. I had a look at the whole stadium and saw people from different parts of the place moving in different directions. Then, I thought: – The gun shots are not taking place inside the stadium, because in this case, a concrete group of people should be moving much more than the rest of them. As I was used to seeing people fighting, I knew that the fights always start in a point. As many people started to run and some other fell over the floor, I told my friend that we should stay in our places. The sounds seemed to be closer, they could be heard as if they were happening in a place 10 metres far from where we were. They were loud, consecutive. They could even pierce. Every different gun shot represented the fear that confirmed that I was wrong: the gun shots were happening inside the football stadium.
The website Pateando Piedras [es] described the whole occurrence and referred to the television broadcast of the sportive event:
En una escena impresionante en el minuto 40 del partido Santos-Morelia de la Primera División del Fútbol Mexicano se sucita [sic] una balacera en las afueras del estadio provocando la suspensión del partido. La señal es interrumpida de la televisión abierta. TV Azteca, y sólo la emisora ESPN sigue transmitiendo los detalles. Al parecer un vehículo no se detuvo en un retén en las afueras del estadio y provocó un enfrentamiento con fuerza (sic) federales.
Indignantes las imágenes de cientos de personas corriendo por el estadio.
El presidente de Santos Alejandro Irarragori y el capitán Oswaldo Sánchez, tomaron el micrófono para pedir calma a la afición, anunciar que el partido se había suspendido y ofrecer disculpas al equipo de Morelia por la situación que obligó a finalizar el partido antes de tiempo.
El equipo de seguridad del estadio no permitió salir a nadie del inmueble hasta que se confirmó la fuente de las detonaciones y que el peligro había pasado.
Images of hundreds of people running across the stadium are outrageous.
The president of Santos, Alejandro Irarragori and the captain, Oswaldo Sánchez, took the microphone to ask the supporters for calm, announce that the match had been called off and offer an apology to the Morelia team, given the situation that caused the cancellation of the match.
The security team of the stadium did not let anybody go out of the building until the detonation sources and the fact that the danger had already passed were confirmed.
The following day, Sergio Sánchez [es] for Futbolsapiens wrote about the coverage carried out by international media. At the same time, he gave his opinion about the implications of the event.
No era para menos, la balacera suscitada ayer a las afueras del estadio en Torreón, “Territorio Santos Modelo”, ha repercutido a nivel internacional y los principales diarios españoles, argentinos e italianos han hecho eco de estos lamentables suscesos [sic] que dejan mal parado a todo un país ciertamente pero que también refleja la realidad que vivimos día con día.
In relation to the events, blogger Keor [es] blogged:
Es increíble que después de lo que vimos el gobierno federal diga que vamos por el buen camino en la guerra contra el narco, que se siga insistiendo que la estrategia es la correcta y que lo que se dice o critica de ella ‘son mitos’ -atención al Señor Alejandro Poire- el fútbol, para muchos aficionados, como yo, representa una válvula de escape, un desahogo de todas las presiones y noticias de la semana, del estrés que vivimos día con día, y el que ahora nuestro deporte sea presa de la violencia y se vea secuestrado por quien tienen aterradas las calles de nuestro país es tan solo un ejemplo de que esta lucha desalmada y violenta a escalado a niveles tales que se han superado a las fuerzas armadas del Estado.
Yo no quiero vivir con miedo, no quiero pensar que ahora ir al cine, al teatro, o al estadio a realizar una actividad lúdica pueda transformarse en una escena propia de la nota roja, no quiero ser secuestrado por el hampa y temer salir de mi casa, no quiero ver mas colgados y descabezados, no quiero más violencia.
I don't want to live with fear, I don't want to think that going to the cinema, to the theatre or to the football stadium, as well as doing any other leasure activity nowadays could become a typical stage of the yellow press. I don't want to be kidnapped by a group of criminals or have to leave my own house. I don't want to see more people comitting suicide or being decapitated. I don't want any more violence.
Lulyann [es] confessed being ashamed of the violent events and spoke about her hope that what happened could be an impulse to improve the situation:
Que verguenza [sic]. Ojalá que sirva cuando menos de acicate para redoblar los esfuerzos en Torreón y en toda la comarca lagunera. Esta ciudad no merece el abandono.
Twitter was also used by Mexican Internet users to express themselves about the armed confrontation that took place outside the TSM with the hashtag #Torreón. Raúl Trejo (@ciberfan) talked about how the atmosphere of fear is dominating the nation:
El susto enorme en #Torreón es expresión del miedo que atraviesa por todo el país. No es culpa del futbol ni de los laguneros.
Twitter user Raúl Mendoza G. (@Pambollo) took the opportunity to rebuke president Felipe Calderón. In the past, he denied the situation of violence that is affecting the country:
A ver @felipecalderon estoy esperando que salgas y digas que la violencia es un problema de percepción #Torreon.
Both shame and indignation predominate among the expressions of Mexican citizens regarding the armed confrontation that took place last weekend in Torreón. Furthermore, citizens are puzzled with the official stance that asserts that the federal government is winning the war against organized crime.
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

author: J. Tadeo


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Pakistan: Education, The Last Hope · Global Voices
Jehan Naseem

This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.
As the socio-political crisis in Pakistan is getting out of hand, emphasis on education has been stressed by the civil society. This thought mainly is due to the fact and hope that maybe, just maybe, education might be the key to bringing stability amidst the unsettling internal civil war that Pakistanis face on a daily basis.
Pakistani tweep Aly Nasser wrote:
@alynaseer: The education system in #Pakistan must be overhauled immediately with adequate measures for young scholarship programs for (the) middle class.
An education news blog (from Florida, USA) tweeted this shocking yet not surprising information:
@educationblog: Pakistan's education system is in crisis, where literacy rate is below fifty percent. pcrschool.org/news/?p=30782
School students hold banners and posters during an awareness rally on Women Education, organised by the Director of Private Institutions in Hyderabad. Photo by PPI Images. Copyright Demotix, 4 May 2011.
In a profoundly written blog at the Express Tribune by Asad Ali, titled “Riaz wanted to learn English”; the writer talks about a newspaper boy and his determination to read and write English. He tried his level best to help this boy and gave him his e-mail address to write back to him once he was able to read and write English. Here is what Asad Ali had to say after 11 years:
Almost eleven years later (three days ago) I received an e-mail from Riaz for the first time. His determination to learn to speak the language proved to be truly remarkable.
Riaz’s story is a testament to the fact that our youths are thirsty for education. Unfortunately the political leaders have not provided the necessary infrastructure – but that story is old now.
We have run out of excuses to let things be as they are. If only one per cent of us took the responsibility to take one 10-year old from the street under their wing, in ten years we would have 1.8 million more educated people than what would have been otherwise. Ten years fly by. Imagine if two percent of us mobilised.
Unfortunately not all opinions are motivational and uplifting.  Many blogs talk about how the level of education in Pakistan is not only extremely challenging but also very stagnant.
As Dr. M. Pasha states in his blog:
I wish our politicians and bureaucracy can understand that educating young people in today’s globalized world is more complex and painstaking  task than anything else. It involves caring for the development of  students’ intellect, emotional, social and physical growth. Simply hard  work, dedication and commitment is not enough. This requires  professionalism. Quality education can only be achieved through an  uninterrupted execution of intelligently crafted educational processes  by a group of well trained professionals equipped with appropriate  knowledge, skills and attitude working in a technology enhanced  teaching-learning environment furnished with appropriate provisions. A  small number of rightly educated students are more valuable for a secure  and prosperous Pakistan than a large army of non-productive, misguided,  frustrated young graduates. Vice chancellor is always a leader of  his/her university. He/she is responsible of managing quality. What  could we expect from a university which does not have a vice chancellor?  I wish people in Pakistan could grasp the meaning of the latest concept  of education in 21 century.
Kalsoom Lakhani at Changing Up Pakistan highlights a new initiative called ‘Teach for Pakistan‘,  which is part of the Teach for All global network (which includes Teach for America).  Here is what she has to say in an article titled “Teach for Pakistan: Bringing Innovation to Education”:
In Pakistan, the challenges are enormous and they are complex. Most children are not afforded access to a good education. They are innocent bystanders to a fractured education system, where critical thinking is rarely taught, good teachers are hard to come by, and drop-outs are a common occurrence. The statistics may not change dramatically in our life-time. But efforts like Teach for Pakistan are taking innovative steps to getting us there faster, engaging our country’s youth along the way.
Without a doubt, Pakistan has a long way to go to better its literacy rate.  Keeping in mind that education and literacy are two completely different forms of conformity, if they are not made to work together, “reading and writing itself” can be a futile and a lost cause.
This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.

author: Jehan Naseem


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Peru: Ripley Department Store Workers Maintain Demands  · Global Voices
Isabel Guerra

Ripley Peru union workers have announced that they will not give up their demands [es] for an increase in the basic monthly salary to 350 nuevos soles [es] (around US $130). They also ask for a payment of 50% of their snack and 100% of their transportation for workers who clock out after 10pm. Edith Morán (@edithvmoran) and Walter Santome (@walterjairs) show their support for the workers on Twitter, and the union publishes statements and information on their Facebook page [es].


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Russia: Court Rules Out to Block An Undisclosed LiveJournal Account · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Samara city court had ordered a local ISP to block an undisclosed blog at LiveJournal platform that ‘incites hatred towards an ethnic and social (professional) group,’ the website of Samara Prosecutor's Office reports [ru]. The ‘extremist’ website was found ‘during the monitoring of the Internet,’ the report says.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Somalia: Food Security Emergency Spreads Despite Aid · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.
This post was commissioned as part of a Pulitzer Center/Global Voices Online series on Food Insecurity. These reports draw on multimedia reporting featured on the Pulitzer Gateway to Food Insecurity and bloggers discussing the issues worldwide.
As the Horn of Africa deals with what the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling the “most severe food security emergency in the world today,” experts warn that conditions in famine-stricken Somalia are likely to further deteriorate.
Over 12 million impacted
People line up for food at a camp in Mogadishu, Somalia. Image by UN Photo/Stuart Price on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Triggered by a combination of the worst drought in 60 years, conflict and high food prices, the food crisis in northeast Africa is affecting more than 12 million people, according to the FAO. While countries such as Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya have been severely impacted, Somalia has been hardest hit, facing the worst food security crisis in Africa in the last 20 years.
Five areas of Somalia are now suffering from famine, which is expected to spread to two more regions soon and even further in coming months. It has already killed tens of thousands of people, including some 29,000 children in the past three months. Another 3.7 million people across Somalia are in crisis. Of these, 3.2 million are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.
In response, the FAO has held two emergency meetings in less than a month, the most recent of which was last week, to determine steps for dealing with the disaster.
But David Dorward, a professor at Australia’s La Trobe University, says on website The Conversation, that there is one reason why Somalia has been more severely affected by this food crisis:
While droughts are caused by weather – the failure of the rains – famines are invariably political…
Crops have failed and livestock perished for want of pasture. But the problem is not spread evenly across the drought-affected region…
The famine has affected each part of the Horn in different ways. In each port, each capital, each refugee camp, politics decides who, and how many, will starve.
Continuous conflict
Somalia has experienced ongoing conflict since its civil war began in 1991. While there is a transitional government in place in the capital Mogadishu, the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab controls large portions of southern Somalia, where much of the famine is occurring.  Al-Shabaab has banned many international aid groups, alleging ulterior motives on their part, and preventing hungry people from leaving the country, according to media sources.
John Campbell, blogging on the Council on Foreign Relations’ site, mostly blames al-Shabaab for the crisis:
In effect, al-Shabaab bears the most responsibility for the famine. The terrorist group continues to block Western aid workers during a drought that has displaced close to two million people, or a quarter of Somalia’s entire population. A few years ago, Shabaab dismantled a child vaccination campaign, claiming it was a Western plot; that program could have saved many children who have since succumbed to measles.
Suspected measles cases in Somalia have increased by over 660 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and cases of cholera are also on the rise. But a report released last week by Human Rights Watch says all parties to Somalia’s armed conflict are contributing to the catastrophe.
An Associated Press investigation revealed last week that sacks of food meant for starving Somalis are being stolen and sold in markets. Soaring prices are also adding to the population's inability to access food. The prices of local food staples in Somalia have increased by up to 240 percent in the past nine months, exceeding the previous record high in 2008, according to media reports.
Another cause of the crisis, says Dave Algoso, an international development professional in Kenya, on his blog Find What Works is the failure to respond to the crisis early. Rebecca Sargent, blogging on a peace of conflict, also blames, among many other factors, large land lease “land grabs.”
The crisis has forced Somalis to flee to neighboring countries, including Ethiopia, Djibouti and, particularly, Kenya. The number of refugees at Kenya's Dadaab complex has reached around 400,000, even though it was built to hold 90,000, with an average of 1,300 Somalis arriving daily. In a series for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Samuel Loewenberg reports on Dadaab's “disastrously overcrowded” refugee camps.
As aid workers struggle to get food and water to those in need, some bloggers wonder what they can do. Ann Freeman, blogging on Upside My Head (Pay Attention Now), lists three ways to help, including increasing awareness. The World Food Programme has created a quiz to do just that. Cynthia Bertelsen, blogging on Gherkins and Tomatoes, wonders why more food writers and bloggers aren't discussing the famine.
Search for solutions
While emergency aid and short-term solutions are necessary, international agricultural experts who gathered at the FAO emergency meeting last week also stressed the need for long-term actions and policies to prevent future famines. Kenya's agriculture minister, for example, emphasized the need for drought-resistant seeds, small irrigation projects and infrastructure and examining the link between food production problems and climate change.
Hannah Ellison, writing for the Population Institute's blog, says for other reforms to work, family planning must also be part of the strategy. Jeffrey Swindle, blogging on USAID’s Global Broadband and Innovations site, discusses information and communications technology's potentially important role in organizing humanitarian relief efforts and preventing famines. United States professor Marion Nestle, blogging on Food Politics, says Somalia's politics must also be addressed:
We keep making the same mistakes.
This is because it seems—and in the case of Somalia is—much easier to deal with the immediate demand for food aid than to address the underlying politics that caused the problem in the first place.
But if we don’t deal with the underlying politics, the same tragedies occur again and again.
Despite the dire situation, some bloggers try to remain hopeful. Somali model Iman, blogging on The Huffington Post, lists five seeds of hope for Somalia, including the strength of the country's women. Ed Carr, blogging on Open The Echo Chamber, points out that if humans have caused this disaster, we can also prevent the next one. Dave Algoso injects a little hope on his blog, Find What Works, by sharing three uplifting videos. He says:
Images of starving famine victims often reinforce pessimistic stereotypes of hopeless Africans unable to do much for themselves. Against such images, we like to inject nuance and point to the complexity of the situation, in the hope of countering the stereotypes and provoking a better response from the consumers of Western media.
But another possible antidote is to simply combat simplistic hopelessness with simplistic hopefulness.
This post is part of our special coverage Global Development 2011.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Trinidad and Tobago: State of Emergency, Day 4 · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Four days into a state of emergency declared by the government of Trinidad and Tobago to combat rising crime, the public's initial surprise and confusion over the emergency provisions — which include a nighttime curfew over most of the country's urban areas — have given way to closer scrutiny of the authorities’ strategy.
The Emergency Powers Regulations [PDF] now in force temporarily curtail various civil rights and give the police special powers to arrest and detain citizens without a warrant, as well as search homes and vehicles. The ostensible reason is to find and seize illegal firearms and detain criminals without witnesses being intimidated. But after three full days with these legal provisions in force, official figures suggest that fewer than two dozen firearms have been seized, and arrests appear to include mostly petty criminals, with no drug “kingpins” detained.
Senior attorney and former senator Martin Daly, interviewed on national television, summarised the thoughts of many: “the state of a emergency is the strongest weapon in the government's arsenal … you must have objectives that rise above the normal objectives … I have not seen any of these big objectives being accomplished.” (The interview has been widely circulated online, after being posted to YouTube.)
Online commentors echoed this view:
@oilandmusic76: did we really implement a state of emergency for marijuana arrests? #trinidad #stateofemergency
@SanMan_ish: allyuh we need to 4sq all the drug den and firearm caches for the Police apparently they don't know where they are. #SoETT
Others pointed out the surprising scarcity of law enforcement officers in some areas:
@First_Lady_86: #StateOfEmergency. #Day4. N I finally see sum soldiers. I am yet 2 see a police man or woman.
And claims that the state of emergency was already successful because of a sudden drop in violent crime were met, in at least one case, with sarcasm:
@HaydnDunn: Boasting about a reduction in crime during a State of Emergency is like gloating about losing weight during a famine. #SoETT#PR9Anya
Blogger Jumbie's Watch also weighed in: “A State of Emergency declared and only small fries getting rounded up. Not one single white collar culprit.” Plainly Talking was even more harsh. “[Prime Minister] Kamla Persad-Bissessar has turned an entire nation against her and her government,” he wrote:
The business community is counting its losses in the millions of dollars, and the small man as usual is being hit the hardest. All businesses that exist for a “night” trade usually employ hourly paid workers who are not getting paid now because there is no work.
Strangeness and Charm mused: “Denying people civil liberties in the name of busting maybe a dozen more drug-runners a week is not the way to go.” He added:
Our parents and grandparents always talk about a time when “you could’a leave yuh door open and no body would’a break een yuh house”. To be honest, I never believed there was such a time, but if the past was at least close to that, this is a tremendous leap backwards in my opinion.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Keith Rowley, who has described the state of emergency as an overreaction, took to Twitter to suggest an alternative strategy, referring to bipartisan anti-gang legislation passed a few months ago:
@KeithRowleyPNM: http://on.fb.me/nw5bhU Audio: Anti-Gang laws should have been used instead of #Stateofemergency #soett #soe #FIU
And blogger Random Ramblings Rambled Randomly questioned the scope of the Emergency Powers Regulations and argued that circumstances do not warrant such a broad curtailment of basic rights:
So we have a State of Emergency with regulations which are not suited to the specifics of the circumstances surrounding the proclamation… that’s like having a political system without regard to the specific needs of the society… wait…
For ordinary citizens, it is the 9 pm to 5 am curfew that has the most immediate effect, with shops, offices and transport services needing to adjust their schedules. On Twitter, @globewriter remarked:
Feeling very Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest by way of Kamla Persad Bissessar. #SoETT
Forced to retire early to their homes, many are seeking entertainment online. @Buhwamoder noted:
Never see so much people online in meh life #stateofemergency
Map showing areas of Trinidad currently under curfew
Jokes, humorous graphics, and spoof invitations to “curfew parties” are circulating widely on Facebook, where most of Trinidad and Tobago's social media activity happens in semi-private. Several comedy videos have popped up on YouTube, of varying degrees of actual humour and raciness, and D Beat Boyz have released a song and accompanying video, “Lockdown”, poking fun at the curfew.
Another YouTube user posted a now-infamous television interview between veteran journalist Dominic Kalipersad and attorney general Anand Ramlogan — in which Ramlogan threatened to leave the set and Kalipersad, live on the air, replied, “Don't be rude.” The retort has become a Facebook catchphrase, and musician ozymajiq has remixed audio clips from the original interview to create what he calls “Don't Be Rude (Extended AG Mix)”.
Other creative responses include “curfew fashion”: “I live in a hotspot” t-shirts, shared by blogger Copy Book Page.
Satire aside, it remains unclear to what extent the wider populace supports the government's state of emergency declaration. In an online poll set up by blogger ban-d-wagonist, 45 percent of the respondents were against the state of emergency and 25 percent for — with 13 percent apparently undecided and 15 percent voting for “Bring back Manning”, a reference to the former prime minister whose government was voted out of office in 2010.
Compilation of the front pages of Trinidad and Tobago's three daily newspapers
However, some media coverage suggests there is broad support for drastic steps to curb a violent crime rate that successive plans and strategies over the past decade have failed to reduce. Public opinion of the Persad-Bissessar government's handling of the current situation will ultimately depend on the state of emergency's long-term effects. Blogger Guanaguanare, posting a classic song by calypsonian King Austin, makes a comment which perhaps summarises a widespread feeling:
Government of the people … we are trusting you to treat … us with care and reverence.
A Beginner's Guide to Building WMDs remarks:
All my usual objective non-patriotic nonsense aside I want to live in a peaceful country with leaders I can trust.
But he adds:
These last three days, I haven’t felt as though I do.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Ukraine: “Independence Day #20” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Odessablog wishes a happy Independence Day to Ukrainian readers: “Be assured that despite the wandering path taken thus far and all the mis-steps, Ukraine is doing OK. It is not Utopia but then, I have never lived anywhere that was. There are hurdles ahead but Ukraine will get to where it wants to go eventually. No nation ever evolved without problems and there is no standard speed.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At OpenDemocracy.net, Valery Kalnysh explains in detail the case against Ukraine's former PM Yulia Tymoshenko.


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Uruguay Celebrates Independence Day · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Today, August 25, Uruguay is celebrating 186 years of its declaration of independence. Federico Lorenzo shares [es] today's Google doodle on the search engine's Uruguayan version, and comments on the history behind the country's independence.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Afghanistan: RAND’s plans for Afghan peace talks · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nick Fielding reviews a new report from the RAND Corporation, which analyzes the prospects of orchestrating a negotiation process between the government and with the Taliban in Afghanistan.


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Barbados: Wait & See for SoETT · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

From Barbados, B.C. Pires sees how Trinidad and Tobago's State of Emergency is playing out, and says: “One is reluctant to pre-judge anything; but to every charge of, ‘O, ye of little faith!’ there is, sadly, that it is actually We of Much Experience. But let us wait and see.”


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Cambodia: Map of Prison Overcrowding · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Licadho creates a map to highlight the overcrowding in Cambodia's prisons. According to the group, Cambodia's prisons are filled to roughly 180 percent of their capacity.


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Cambodia: Prey Sar Prison Blog · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Titled “life in 1 square meter”, the blog is allegedly created by a prisoner inside Cambodia's Prey Sar prison. It's no longer online but it has been widely discussed by mainstream media and in online forums.


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Cambodia: Traffic jam in Phnom Penh · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Vutha Tim writes about the worsening traffic jams in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The writer cites the rising population in the capital and the proposed solutions to address the problem.


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China: Independent Candidate Disqualified from Preliminary Round · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sophie from China Digital Times reports on how independent candidate from Lijiang Neighborhood in Panyu District of Guangzhou, Liang Shuxin, had been disqualified by the Neighborhood Committee under the pretext of an affirmative quota that restricts the candidates to non-Chinese Communist Party members and female.

author: Oiwan Lam