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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Government Crisis · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros explains Bosnia and Herzegovina's government crisis: “Short version: the representative of the Serb entity, the Republika Serbska (RS), has resigned from the Council of Ministers. The Presidency (which is really a council composed of three Presidents, one from each ethnicity) accepted his resignation today. Officially this means the government has fallen, and elections can ensue, but since this is Bosnia they’re going to slip first into a long period of “consultation” in an attempt to make this un-happen.”


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Brazil: Extreme poverty is halved · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Edson Lima [pt] comments on a good piece of news: “Brazil has accomplished, ten years before the deadline set by the UN, the target of halving the percentage of the population that live in extreme poverty”. According to a report by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), beteween 1990 and 2005 the country managed to reduce the proportion of the population that earned less than US$ 1 a day (in purchasing power parity) by 52%.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Paula Góes


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Brazil: Meeting Vint Cerf · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Guilherme Felitti [pt] reports on the interview he has done with Vint Cerf, “the man who is responsible for you reading this text now. Cerf, together with Bob Kahn, came up with TCP/IP, which allows each PC to have an  IP  and get authenticated on the web”. Read his impressions on the brief meeting in Rio de Janeiro.


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Brazil/UK: Justice for Jean Charles de Menezes · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Joty reports that the Metropolitan Police Authority in the UK is meeting this Thursday, November 22, to decide whether or not to sack Ian Blair over the death of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, in 2005. “So – politely and gently – they need a little bit of lobbying to ensure their vote goes the right way”. He also publishes links to related pieces of news.


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Chile: User Generated Content in Earthquake Coverage · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Fayer Wayer [es] takes a look at user generated content used in the coverage and the rights to that content during the recent earthquake in Northern Chile.

author: Eduardo Avila


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D.R of Congo: Grand Master Franco Luambo · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Shakara blogs about the Congolese musician, Franco Luambo: “It’s a known fact that Franco recorded various praise songs for Mobutu, openly supported Mobutu’s presidential campaigns and toured to promote the Authenticity policy.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Egypt: Middle East Report Out  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The new issue of Middle East Report is out, with a focus on youth, announces The Arabist.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: Yamli Search · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yamli Search is very intriguing new search engine that transliterates Arabic written in the Latin alphabet into Arabic proper, and then runs that query through Google, says The Arabist.


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Georgia: Imedi Returns · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

TOL Georgia reports that journalists at the Georgian TV station Imedi which was taken off the air during the recent opposition protest will resume their work by writing for a local newspaper.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Honduras: Featured in the Washington Post · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve was recently featured in the Washington Post, where he wrote a short piece about the latest Honduras telephone company wiretapping scandal.


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Hong Kong: Waterloo for Pan-dem · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Yesterday was the district council election day in Hong Kong. The pro establishment party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong has won 115 seats, while the pan democratic clan has lost one third of their seat. Erynnyes describes yesterday as the darkest day for the pan-dem.

author: Oiwan Lam


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India: Chocolate and Porn Star in Bologna · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Arre Kya Baat Hai on certain chocolates inspired by a porn-star causing quite a stir at Bologna's annual chocolate fair.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Photographs of Chennai · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Metroblogging Chennai has photographs from the Chennai Photowalk – an event organized to get some people together and click away as they walk around in the city.


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Iran: Gabriel García Márquez’s book was banned · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

“A Memory of My Melancholy Whores”,Gabriel García Márquez's highly acclaimed book,was banned in Iran. Translators were able to get approval of government by changing book's title into “Memories of My Melancholy Sweethearts”.Finally the book was banned.Now thanks to Khabgard,we learn whole book is available on internet.Free.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iraq: Awakening · Global Voices
Salam Adil

Can it really be true? Dare I say it? Iraq is actually getting safer? What with a new movement called ‘Awakening’ throwing Al-Qaeda out of Baghdad suburbs; Reports that violence is markedly down; Iraqis returning in droves; could George Bush's surge really be working? Iraqi bloggers investigate and give the real word from the street.
Adhamiya Awakening
A big story in the blogs is about a new militia called “Awakening” (Al-Sahwa) that has taken over the streets of the Baghdad suburb of Adhamiya that was formerly controlled by Al-Qaeda and, with the help of US Troops, brought some sense of normalcy to the streets. Now, to understand how bad life is in areas controlled by Al-Qaeda, here is a description by Last of Iraqis:
I took a vow on myself not to go Adhamyia unless it was a matter of life and death because of the situations that deteriorates more and more every day there, specially after Al-Qaida has stopped a doctor's car that I know with his wife, dragged him out and killed him and his wife in the middle of the street in cold blood and no one could do anything for them. After Al-Qaida entered a house of newly wed couple, locked the husband in the bathroom and they raped his wife one after the other and finally killed her while the husband couldn't do anything other than screaming in the bathroom, things were getting really dangerous out there.
Alive in Baghdad had a reporter on the ground when Awakening took over. In his first report Alaa describes how the militia took control:
Today, November 11th, Al-Sahwa forces started arresting some people who work like criminals before. Those arrested were given to the custody of US troops. As well, they arrested two persons who have been killing people and committing some robberies and kidnappings.
Later he reported even more progress:
Al-Sahwa forces start arrested anyone who has worked with Al-Qa’eda before, because some Al-Qa’eda members began to work with Al-Sahwa and they arrested more than 20 of them. After these arrests, the members who joined from Al-Qa’eda guided the US Troops to some roadside bombs and helped the US troops to destroy it and they destroyed more than six bomb in diferent places in Adhamiya, and also destroyed one of the carbombs yesterday night.
And with the new militia beginning to assert its authority Alaa reports that some normalcy is returning to the streets:
With this plan there is no way for anyone or any insurgents to bring a bomb or put the bomb in the streets so that make a kind of security for now in Adhamiya, and some of the shops have begun to open again and normal life is returning, step by step.
Never one to miss new events, Last of Iraqis decides to go to Adhamiya and find out for himself and came out with mixed feelings. He writes:
I was relived by the great number of cars roaming the streets, the walking people, the shops which are getting ready to re-open and the feeling of settlement, kids playing soccer in the street till late hours, men and women walking in the streets and the fixing campaign for the lights and gardens; workers are taking care of the gardens and squares which hadn't been taken care of for more than a year.
I was worried because the majority of the awakening members are just kids, 14-16 years old carrying AK's and wearing vests(not all of them) and also because what the residents say about the background of these kids and men! … many of them aren't good members of the society and many of them were with Alqaeda till a recent time. …
Awakening got good control over the area, they were helped by [American] troops to achieve that, it seems that they want to do good … Well, I should be more specific in my words; they were ordered and directed to be good, because they are for money, and that's very obvious, Alqaeda didn't pay the ex-members like the awakening did specially if we knew that they were low ranked members …
the payment of the awakening as what I have heard is like this: from 14-16 years old $250 a month, older than 16, $450, the payment of the officers starts from $600 and up.
Baghdad Connect is somewhat more cynical:
the flip ‘flop’ Surge .. has been replaced with the rad Sahwa (a few resistance & Al Qaeda units awakening) as they have finally realized that it’s worth working for the invaders as it holds profitable future (Oil@USD 95) rather than wasting their lives on some wretched Shiites. …
As one Sahwa dude told BC “we’ve done our own part and stopped attacking them (the invaders), now they have to fulfill their promise and get rid of the Iranians”!!
Word from the Street
Still a drop in violence, however fragile, is what the media reports. So Neurotic Wife, who works in the Green Zone, asks a colleague what he thinks:
He pondered for awhile before answering then said, well it depends what you mean when you say “normal”. I said well, Im reading that shops are opening late, people are staying later than usual, there is life basically. M smiled, then said, well, yes its abit more quieter than before, but that doesn’t mean situation is good.
Her opinion is that the drop in violence is more due to the 6-month ceasefire ordered by Muqtada Al-Sadr than any efforts of the Iraqi government and US troops.
Baghdad Connect considers that what is gained on one hand is lost on the other. He writes:
The western hot-spots … have over night become safe nocturnal exploits for their native neighbors … The east of Baghdad, however, has deteriorated a bit for a change.
Over in Mosul, HNK reports that the situation is still deteriorating:
Before two weeks, our neighbor’s brother who is about 30 years old, married and having a kid did’t return to home. …  And two days later he was found in the postmortem room. Today, our neighbor called and said that he is leaving Iraq to Armenia .
The basic is: We are still insecure and in danger even when we are in our own house. But life goes on.
While WorkingForIraq cannot see any political solution to create any lasting peace. He writes:
I believe it will take a new generation of people who can get past their sectarian differences and look for the good of the country. The reality is now all are vying to shape the new Iraq… Sunnis feel they can reverse some of the damage that the Shia Ideologues have done and Shia want to cement the system where they rule as religious ideologues and not as platform politicians and the Kurds are content to see the instability continue so that they can continue to build Kurdistan at the expense of the rest of Iraq. The United States probably wants political disarray so that it can gain the best arrangement for long term agreements in Iraq and Iran continues to play the political groups against one another in a grotesque divide and conquer strategy.
What can you make of all this? There is a noticeable improvement in general security, yet the bombs keep exploding around what should be the most secure area of the Green Zone. Nobody has a feeling that this new lull will last. And what can one make of Al-Qaeda? How easily its foot soldiers can be bought off for a little more money. At best this makes them no better than hired mercenaries. At worst another facet of a brutal occupation. Paid to be good and if the Iraqis do not behave, then they are left to do their worst. But the truth is that there are so many conflicting interests that no one state, not least America, can claim even a small sway on the processes affecting Iraq.

author: Salam Adil


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Iraq: Yezidi Kurds · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogger Amity briefs us about Yezidi Kurds in this post.


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Israel/Palestine: A New Understanding · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

There are a lot of grassroots collaborations between Israelis and Palestinians that take place in a variety of arenas, but which get little attention and tend to be marginalized because of the larger political agendas that separate the two groups, writes Matthew in Mideast Youth.


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Jamaica: The Road Less Traveled  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It's one of those moments when you stop waiting for something to happen, and you make something happen,” writes Francis Wade, as he sets about helping to fix certain roads in Jamaica.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Japan: Has Beaujolais Nouveau gone sour? · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

As the date changes at midnight on the third Thursday of November, corks come out of bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau and the celebration begins — in Japan. This has been an annual event since the 1980s, the period when the country enjoyed its bubble economy. The tradition still carries on, as many gather at restaurants and bars to enjoy the chance to taste the year's new brew before anyone else in the world does. Others not only drink the wine, but bathe in it.
The release of Beaujolais Nouveau was a popular topic last week among bloggers, including masakoski:
私もボジョレーヌーボー２００７をまだ試飲していなかったので、近くのセブンイレブンで買ってきてもらい飲みました！
[…]
今年のボジョレー、美味しかった！
Although Japan is still by far the largest importer of Beaujolais Nouveau, sales have been declining. Bloggers point out various reasons for this trend.
As Japanese blogger tokorin25 writes, people are starting to question the quality of this overvalued wine:
以前ほど日本でのお祭りが盛り上がらなくなったのも良くわかります。皆さんワインの味を覚えて来たからです。
Another blogger writes:
飲み放題といわれてもボジョレーそんなに飲めない。
おいしいわけじゃないしなぁ。薄いしなぁ。
普通の赤ワインのほうが断然おいしいんだけど、
「解禁」って言われるとなんだか飲みたくなるし、
なによりお祭りだから。収穫祭みたいなもんか。
This blogger shares his sarcasm about the tradition:
昔、ワイン通か何かの仲間が単なる遊び心で、誰が一番早くボジョレーヌーヴォーを飲むかを競う遊びをした事が、広まって今のようにブームになったのだ。
訳も分からず「解禁日のボジョレーはやっぱり旨いなぁ!?」なんてウンチクたれてる日本人を、その遊びを始めたヨーロッパのワイン通達が「バッカじゃないの。遊びだよ、あ・そ・び(笑)」と笑っているような気がしてならない。
クリスマスやバレンタインデーみたいに、日本人らしくていいけどね。
sovversivo creazione, a high school student, shares their observations:
11月の第三木曜日が解禁日なんだそうで・・・。
最近よく聞くけど、あれ、日本がほとんど買い占めてるらしいね、輸出品。
本当は現地では日本より全然安い価格で買えるのにね。
まぁ、豊かな国って感じがするけど、実際石油の値上がりでいろんなものが値上がりしててもーうちの家計大丈夫か？って心配してる高校生です。
いやだってさ、ふつーにいろんなものの物価が高くて・・・・。
[…]
やっぱ、新しいエネルギーの模索も必要だけど、豊かになりすぎた日本は節約、効率的エネルギーの使用方法を見直すべきなんじゃないの？
In fact, you can get it at a much cheaper price in [France].
Well, it sounds like we are in a rich country, but prices are going up because of the rise in the price of oil, and I am worrying about the family budget.
I mean, a lot of things have gotten expensive…
[…]
I guess searching for a new enegery is important, but now that we have grown too rich, shouldn't Japan reassess the way we conserve energy, and our usage of efficient energy?

author: Hanako Tokita


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Kazakhstan: One Glance at the Traditions  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog shares his experience of facing one of the most widespread indications of hospitality in Kazakhstan – presenting a sheep head to the honored guest during the dinner.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kazakhstan: The Big Oil Companies Are Making Concessions · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine reports that a fresh concession by Chevron and Exxon Mobil in Kazakhstan is evidence of the shrinking influence of Big Oil. “After years of playing tough guy on the Caspian Sea, the two companies have knuckled under and paid their share of a whopping $309 million environmental fine to the country”, he says.


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Kazakhstan: The Coming Oil Plateau · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Steve LeVine opines that Italy's Eni, negotiating on behalf of many of the world's largest oil companies with Kazakhstan, will try to satisfy Kazakhstan and proceed with the development of Kashagan, which contains a minimum of 13 billion barrels of recoverable oil.


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Kazakhstan: Walking in Astana · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Marlengo posts pictures of monuments in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, starting the series with the monument to Abai, the great Kazakh humanist.


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Kenya: Partnership between Google Kenya and Safaricom · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Africaincorp writes about the partnership between Google Kenya and Safaricom: “Safaricom subscribers will now enjoy email services launched by the company in partnership with Google Kenya.”


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Kyrgyzstan: Arts Exhibition · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Asel introduces a couple of photos from the art exhibition “Epoch”, which opened in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, on November 16.


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Kyrgyzstan: Put Up and Shut Up · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

CXW considers the implications of a homophobic article in the Kyrgyzstan's newspaper for the concepts of rights and tolerance.


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Macau: Radio Silence · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Leocardo [pt] listened to the annual official balance of the last 8 years of Macau's government on the radio, for about 40 minutes: “And that was all I could listen to. The same happened last year, Rádio Macau's Portuguese channel thought it was better not to broadcast the entire section with questions and answers from the parlamentarians. Instead, they played music”.


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Mali: The music of Mariam Bagayoko · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Awesome Tapes From Africa posts the music of Mariam Bagayoko: Um, yeah. This is scary. The other-worldly pentatonic balafon and its apocalyptic overtones repeat toward infinity, and I can't help but think of Reich's marimba ostinatos and Partch's microtones here.


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Mozambique: Remembering Carlos Cardoso · Global Voices
Paula Góes

ForEver PEMBA [pt] reminds a loss for the democratic press in Mozambique: “The next November 22 marks the anniversary of Mozambican journalist CARLOS CARDOSO‘s violent death”.  Cardoso was murdered in 2000, after having denounced many corruption cases and crimes.


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Nigeria: Helon Habila Tour · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Naija Blog on Helon Habila tour in Nigeria: “Helon Habila in conversation with Toni Kan – NuMetro Media Store, Lagos, yesterday evening. Thanks to the 80 or so who turned up – it was a memorable encounter..”


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Pakistan: No discussion in newspapers please · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Not only does Musharraf get GEO TV to shut down in the UAE, but now the orders are to not discuss the issue in newspapers. More on Pakistan Politics.


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Peru: Education Among the Shawi Indians · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Nila Vigil of Instituto Linguístico de Invierno [es] writes about her experiences during a recent trip in the area of the River Paranapura in the Peruvian Amazon, where she found low education levels among the indigenous populations because bilingual education is not in use and racism among the population.


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Puerto Rico: Environmental Activist Turns Himself In · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Puerto Rican environmental activist “Tito Kayak” turned himself in to police on November 14 after a spectacular televised escape, following a week-long protest atop a 200-foot construction crane in San Juan. He was protesting a disputed luxury development that environmentalists warn will cause serious damage to public beaches.
Tito Kayak (real name, Alberto de Jesus) has a long history of high altitude stunts behind him. In the United States in 2000, he climbed the Statue of Liberty and hung a Puerto Rican flag from her crown. In 2005, he attempted to exchange the UN flag in front of the UN building with the Puerto Rican one. Two years later he hung the Palestinian flag from an Israeli tower in the West Bank.
Photos are copyleft from IndymediaPR.org
Dominican blogger Catarsis Diaria [es] writes:
¿Y qué es lo particular e interesante de esta protesta? Su huída -evadiendo a la Policía, que tiene una orden de arresto en su contra- a través de sogas y un kayak, para luego huír a nado por la laguna del Condado, en San Juan.  Tan espectacular “hollywoodense” fue, que mis amigos del blog puertorriqueño de noticias humorísticas “El Ñame“, le han dedicado una noticia en el sentido de que ya lo están buscando para ser el próximo Bruce Willis.
And what is so interesting about this protest? His escape – evading the police, who had an order for his arrest, with ropes and a kayak – and then fleeing by swimming through the lake of Condado in San Juan. It was so spectacularly “Hollywood”, that my friends at the Puerto Rican humor blog “El Ñame”, have dedicated a news item to him, announcing they are offering him the position of the next Bruce Willis.
Indymedia Puerto Rico have posted a video of Tito Kayak's escape, and another (below) recorded moments before he turns himself in. He encourages Puerto Ricans to unite, commit civil disobedience, and do everything they can to stop and delay the construction of luxury housing and hotels on the coastline of the island.
Several bloggers posted links to the video, including Fulano X [es] who wrote: “This is a small tribute to the actions of Tito Kayak, admired by some misunderstood by others, who with his actions has created the necessary movement to provoke a discussion about the atrocities of this country.”
Rue Morn at Latrina.net [es] says:
El desarrollo de Puerto Rico no puede construirse a cuesta de la destrucción de los recursos naturales y de la violación de los reglamentos existentes … no se le puede seguir riendo las gracias a los que por soltar par de billetes y decir que crean unos cuantos empleos quieran convertirse en los dueños de lo que nos pertecene a todos por derecho propio. Puerto Rico como un todo es el que debe lucrarse de los recursos naturales e históricos, no los que tienen la capacidad de engordar a las ratas que se hacen llamar Gobernantes.
Development in Puerto Rico can not be created at the cost of the destruction of our natural resources and the violation of existing laws … we can't keep smiling thanks to everyone who hands over a few bucks and say they will create jobs. They want to become the owners of what rightfully belongs to us all. Puerto Rico as a whole is who should be profiting from those natural and historic resources, not just the ones who have the capacity to fatten the rats who call themselves our leaders.

author: Solana Larsen


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Russia: “From Russia With Hate” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Via Moscow Through Brown Eyes, a rather shocking video story about the Russian neo-Nazi, posted on Current.com.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: “Health Care” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

La Russophobe re-posts a TOL story on Russia's prescription medicine and “the nightmarish ordeal of millions of cancer, diabetes, and heart patients.”


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Russia, Israel: Football Game · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light writes about Israel's football victory over Russia.


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Russia: Itar-Tass Reviews ‘The New Cold War’ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mark MacKinnon is surprised that his book – The New Cold War – gets a positive review from the Russian state-run Itar-Tass news agency: “Now maybe, just maybe, the Kremlin will give me another visa.”


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Russia, Mexico: Yuri Knorozov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about life and work of Yuri Knorozov, a scientist renowned, among many other things, for his role in the deciphering of the Maya script.


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Russia: More on Khodrkovsky’s Case · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam posts an update on Mikhail Khodrkovsky's case: “The State’s conduct in this case is in clear violation of Russian and international law, and true rule of law courts from Switzerland to Strasbourg to Amsterdam are confirming what we have been arguing from the beginning – that the persecution is groundless and politically motivated.”


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Russia: Moscow’s Gastarbeiter · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Moscow Through Brown Eyes offers an approach to writing about migrant workers in Moscow: “[…] it demands the excavation of Russia’s imperial pasts, a detailed examination of the labor question in the former Soviet Union and the contributions of migrant workers, a serious investigation of the nationalist rhetoric of Russia’s leaders with the failure of these leaders to effectively prosecute racist crimes, and an analysis of the appeal of racist extremism among everyday Russians.”


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Russia: Thoughts on the Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Mark MacKinnon thinks that “there's going to be nothing like a real election to observe” in Russia on Dec. 2.


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Saudi Arabia: Raped and Punished · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A Saudi girl was gang-raped and then punished for being raped, reports Saudi blogger Rasha, in a post which generated a hot debate in Mideast Youth.


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Serbia: A View on the Status of Kosovo · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Anarchist writes about Kosovo and his own views on the situation: “In the interest of being respectful to both sides in this issue, how about, instead of claiming how Kosovo is just Serbian or only Albanian, we say Kosovo is both Serbian and Albanian! Why not? Not to mention how it's also Romany land because Roma people live there as well, Gorani land to the Southwest, Turkish land 'cause there is a Turkish minority there, Muslim/Bosniak land, Ashkali and Egyptian land, and believe it or not, Janjevo Croatian land! (There used to be an Adyghe community there until 1998.) Why don't we all just say that Kosovo belongs to all the people who live there?”


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Serbia, the EU: Stability and Association Pact · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Fistful of Euros writes about Serbia's Stability and Association Pact with the EU (SAA), to be signed in Jan. 2008: “It looks like Brussels is trying to strengthen the ‘liberal and Western’ strain of Serbia’s politics before December, when problems are likely to arise with Kosovo.”


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South Korea: Anti War Protest · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

CINA blogs about the weekend anti-war protest against the ongoing presence of S.K. troops in Iraq.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Christmas in the Air · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeni sees signs that Christmas is coming…


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Syria: Facebook Banned · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Syria's netizens have been given another slap on the face with the banning of social networking site Facebook. With Blogger already blocked, the country's bloggers are fuming and have a lot to say about the latest development.
From Damascus, Golaniya sets the mood:
“Facebook is blocked in Syria, would I sound naïve if I said I didn’t see it coming? Why should I? How are the Syrians facebooking? Launching opposition campaigns? What's Facebook in Syria anyway? Active civil society? Syrian groups calling to overthrow the Syria regime? What's so dangerous about Syrian facebookers that they shouldn't be using it anymore? Or perhaps because the site is American so it should be blocked? Or maybe the Syrian officials have no idea what's Facebook except that it's an American and it's getting popular in Syria? All the above?
My theory? I think the Syrian officials don’t have a thorough idea how Syrians are facebooking, I think they did not block Facebook–the-site, but the unfamiliar reaction to this site, the unknown consequences of this reaction that might be very much, uncontrolled!” she rants.
Golaniya further explains the backlash the ban created – with more Syrian groups popping up on Facebook as a direct result of the censorship and how netizens are finding a voice despite the repression.
“Who lives in Syria knows that it's the country of “nothing's going on” except to hang out in old Damascus’ cafes, but recently there has been a cultural awakening; people are starting to organize their interests in concerts, galleries, conferences, plays, screenings…etc. and Facebook is facilitating the process which is very hard to do in an inactive militarily controlled society. There are no cultural institutions in Syria, no private independent NGOs, no civic institutions, who represent the populations except the government? Syrian Facebookers are trying now to represent themselves. Those who cannot be activists in a “real” Syria can be one in a virtual Syria,” she writes.
Her final scream for opening up the world wide web is loud and clear:
“We want Syria uncensored!” she wails.
Writing in Arabic, Alloush blog urges the authorities to reconsider the ban. He writes:
الحجب عن هذه المواقع الغنية بالمعلومات تسبب الضرر للشعب السوري، فاولاً فهي ضربة للترويج المجاني لسوريا، وثانياً، هي حرمان للشعب السوري من خدمات متاحة للعالم أجمع، أتمنى من القائمين عن الحجب أن يعيدوا التفكير ولو قليلاً في جدوى سياسة الحجب.
Another Syrian blogger Redman  has come up with a better solution to thwart censorship. He writes:
Mohammed also uses humour to express his infuriation with the ban in this post. He notes:
He also has a suggestion for netizens, who are developing websites. He says:


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Yotel Life  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Caribbean Free Radio discovers the value of Yotels…


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Trinidad & Tobago: Too Many Differences · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“You shouldn't believe everything you read”: Media Watch wonders about the vast fact discrepancies in media reporting in Trinidad and Tobago.


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Turkey: Armenian Stories · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Myrthe at Internations Musings reviews a book of short stories by Turkish-Armenian writer Jaklin Celik.


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Turkmenistan: When Money Talks, Other Issues Walk · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Abdulgamid reacts to the recent official visit of the UK and U.S. Ministers of Energy to Turkmenistan, saying that both officials have come to Ashgabat to discuss issues that have little to do with democracy and human rights.


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Uruguay: The Smells from the Paper Mill · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In regards to the paper mill controversy between Uruguay and Argentina, ¡Montevideo me mata! [es] writes about the latest topic of journalistic coverage in the paper mill controversy: the smells emanating from the factory.


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Uzbekistan: Presidential Candidates List Gets Shorter · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Libertad observes that the circle of candidates for presidency is becoming narrower from day to day. Two out of six candidates are already out of the process.


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Zambia: Statistics, maize and poverty · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

New Zambia blog discusses the work of the Central Statistical Office in Zambia: “The Central Statistical Office have been doing some brilliant work to bring to life some of their data. There's still some distance to go to get underneath some numbers….”


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Afghanistan: Taliban Action Was Strong, Despite Successful Counteraction · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Carl Robichaud reviews press coverage of the Taliban incursion into Afghanistan's province of Arghandab, admitting that despite a successful coalition counterattack, the Taliban operation “was a deft, successful psychological operations action”.


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Albania: Religious Tolerance; Riding a Bike · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Living in Shkoder, Albania writes about “religious harmony” in his city: “…the greatest danger would be to underestimate the danger.” Also, a post on riding a bike in Shkoder.


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Armenia: Dark Years · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Zarchka at Life Around Me says that former president Levon Ter Petrosian will always be synonymous with the days when Armenia had frequent power cuts. Indeed, she notes, rare power outages in the capital are now jokingly linked to Ter Petrosian's plans to contest next year's presidential election.


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Armenia: Divided Opposition · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Citing press reports and opinion polls, the Armenia Election Monitor 2008 reports on the reluctance of the main opposition party leaders to support the candidacy of former president Levon Ter Petrosian in next year's presidential election in Armenia.


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Armenia: Opposition Protest · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Armenia and me says Friday's rally by the radical opposition in Armenia had more energy than previous ones.


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Armenia: She Stoops to Conquer · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Trygveu at Armenia and me writes about a play to be staged in Yerevan. The Norwegian ex-pat aid worker will take a leading role in She Stoops to Conquer.


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Armenia: USA Today? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Blogian says that an editor at USA Today has questioned reports in the Armenian media that a localized weekly digest of its material is to be published in Armenia this Friday.


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Australia: Galipoli Mosque · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Brunei blogger Pablo visits the Galipoli Mosque in Sydney, Australia.

author: Preetam Rai


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Azerbaijan: Trafficking · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Blogian says that war and conflict often prevents Armenians and Azeris from looking at the similarities between the two nations. Unfortunately, one thing that both Armenia and Azerbaijan have in common is a high rate of human trafficking.


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Bahrain: Losing Manama  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mohammed Al Maskati posts a photograph showing a street in the Bahraini capital Manama and explains why there isn't a single Bahraini in it.


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Bangla blogs seek aid for cyclone Sidr victims · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Five days after cyclone Sidr ravaged Bangladesh, news regarding devastation continues to pour in. Despite steps taken by the administration to evacuate a large number of people and put them out of harm's way, the official death toll has now crossed 3000.
According to the updated statistics provided by the Disaster Management and Control Room (DMCR) in Dhaka, the total number of families affected by Sidr is around 1.054million. As of yesterday's update approximately 3,00,511 houses have been completely destroyed and 6,26,000 have been partially damaged.
About 792 educational institutions have been completely destroyed           and 4,393 were partly damaged. Embankments of about 57 kilometres (km) of length have been damaged, and 58km of road has been destroyed completely while 87,948km of road has been partly damaged.
Given that harvest was around the corner, crops too have weathered the brunt of the cyclone. According to government sources, crops on 29,374 acres of land have been completely destroyed and on 8,55,525 acres have been damaged partially.
Officials say that the it will take a few more days until a complete assessment of the damage to life and property falls into place.
Meanwhile, relief operations are in full swing, trying to reach food, medicines, safe drinking water etc. to the cyclone victims. However, more needs to be done and soon. The Bangla blog world is typing fast and furious, trying to garner aid for this cause.
(Photo courtesy Sujan)
Blogger Aurangzeb called upon  all Bangladeshi citizens to forget their political differences and work together to rehabilitate those affected by the cyclone. His words and emotions were echoed by korbojoy blog.
Nighat tithi pointed out that time and again Bangladesh has had to fight natural calamities – be it frequent floods, the deadly cyclone of 1991 or the current Sidr.  While the fight will continue in the days to come, the blogger called upon one and all to do their bit for the present victims of Sidr. Ishtiaq Rouf informed us how Bangladeshi students from Virginia Tech were collecting funds through Paypal and how others too could send in their contribution to the same fund. Other bloggers like Irteza, Addabaj and Biborno Akash too provided additional links to organizations/ websites where one could donate money for disaster relief.  Farukh Wasif   talked about the need for publicizing and thereby enhancing awareness  regarding the various disaster relief/aid related proposals
In addition, Biborno Akash linked to a video blogpost (En) by Sheril Kirshenbaum where the young marine biologist from Duke University, USA requests viewers to join the rehabilitation drive.
On the other hand, blogger Tirondaz rued that fact that Bangladesh was still dependent largely on International aid every time disaster struck while her neighbor India was gradually gaining the strength to fight her own disasters – like she did when the tsunami struck in 2004. He hoped that the day would soon come when Bangladesh too would be self-sufficient like India in these matters.
Bangla blogging platform Somewherein, in association with Save the Children, has launched an innovative SMS based campaign “Jagoron” (which literally means ‘the awakening’) to enable those living in Bangladesh to do their bit in aid of Sidr victims. The campaign works as follows:
A mobile phone user types SAVE and sends SMS to a given number. Each SMS costs Bangladeshi Taka (BDT)2. Then Somewherein and other sponsors add a certain monetary figure, currently standing at 15BDT  (this is a dynamic figure which will go up as more corporate sponsors join the campaign) for every BDT2 generated through the SMS and the total amount is deposited in the Save the Children Cyclone Relief fund.
For those living outside Bangladesh, Somewherein requests them to send their donations directly to the Save the Children Cyclone Relief fund as this SMS facility is available for local residents only.

author: Aparna Ray


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Bangladesh: Cyclone Sidr and the News · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Unheard Voices on how hard it is to watch the news about Cyclone Sidr without being moved by the plight of the victims.


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Bangladesh: Farmers and the Cyclone · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bangladesh From Our View on the need for farmers to recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Sidr.


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Brazil: Books for Black Consciousness Day · Global Voices
Paula Góes

To celebrate the Black Pride today in Brazil, The Spectacled Bear recommends a list of books on the subject: “As this blog is principally about books and is principally aimed at English speakers in Brazil, I want to recommend some great books available on Afro-Brazilian themes for kids, i.e. in very simple Portuguese – ideal for English speakers learning Portuguese”.


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Brazil: Buy a car, pay in 60 months and never get out of debt · Global Voices
Paula Góes

There seem to be more and more adverts trying to convince customers that it is a good idea to buy a car and pay for it in 60 monthly instalments. Chico [pt] takes a look at one ad that offers a laptop, a palm or a DVD player and concludes that it only helps the customers to get into debt: “There is not price for pleasure that a new car gives you. I completely agree with this! However, the pleasure to make sure you guarantee health for your finances is a thousand times better. Find ways to make interest favour you, not to work against you.”


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Brazil: First decade of ‘O Indivíduo’ · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Pedro Sette Câmera celebrates 10 years of blogging at O Indivíduo [pt] writing up a balance of the blog and thinking about the future. “If I were to wish anything for the future, I would only hope to renew this kind of real professional found in the first printed ‘O Indivíduo’ editorial: always speak on behalf of myself, of individual conscience, the only one that could know the truth even if only partial, the only one that can have faith in the existence of truth and look out for it”.


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Cambodia: Cover Art · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Enjoy pulp novel cover art from Cambodia.


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Cambodia: Henna · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Cambodian blogger tries out henna.


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Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Hearing · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch faces first day of hearing in Cambodia's Khmer Rouge  court.


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Cameroon: Bate Besong’s Beasts of No Nation · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A study of Beasts of No Nation, a work by Cameroonian playwright: “Bate Besong is one of the most renown Cameroonian playwright of English expression, besides Bole Butake, Victor Epie Ngome and John Nkemngong, who is of the younger generation of Cameroonian playwrights in English.”


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Central Asia: Rethinking EU Strategy  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bordersca analyzes “EU Central Asia Strategy“, which has been adopted in summer this year, and says that Central Asia seemingly is still not a priority on the agenda.


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Chile: El Mercurio and Google Earth · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Tomás Dinges of Chile From Within is skeptical about the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio's relationship with Google Earth.


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China: Bankrupt ant farmers prepare to protest · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Shenyang was mobbed today with furious ex-ant farmers, former employees of Yilishen, a media darling and one of China's most well-known brands in the health supplement market, as the company has just closed, taking the huge amounts its peasant-class employees had invested with it. The city's ant farming industry is no stranger to controversy, and neither is the company. Blog posts on the subject were quickly deleted, including most of the ones below, but a larger mass action remains scheduled for November 21.
[Nov. 22 update (futher updates below): video is trickling out, and bloggers are rushing to save it before it gets deleted like this 56.com clip which was posted at 11am today and received 37 pages of comments before it was taken down just after 3pm. Here's one from Ku6 user Muxiwen:]
And a slideshow from 56.com's Yu Jian entitled ‘The biggest post-Liberation riot in Shenyang since the Cultural Revolution‘, hopefully simulating the video he had deleted yesterday:
NetEase blogger ‘Heartbreak leaves no scars’ relates to the incident through a November 18 post recounting a phone call with a friend that lost nearly all of her savings, ‘hurt is a kind of unspeakable pain’:
今天，姐打来电话，声音很是无力与沮丧。她告诉我‘小妹，蚁力神完了，姐的希望破灭了！我手握听筒，竟一时语噻。我找不到更动听的语言来安慰姐姐。面对姐二，三十万的投资转瞬间即将成为泡影的现实，我那几句华丽，肤浅的劝慰，是不是太显苍白无力？要知道，对于一个依靠月工资收入的普通人家，一点一滴的积蓄都是从牙缝省下来的，那是姐几十年的心血啊！孤注一掷之后，有多宽的心态，才能再付之东流时，笑着说我无所谓？我体会得到姐的心情，但我却望尘莫及，时至今日，我唯有在心里对姐说；姐，挺住！不管你即将面对的是怎样的一种结局，也许这几十万血本无归，也许你的损失会最大限度的降低，这已经都不重要。看看你拥有的现在，最起码儿女都已成人，不用你操心；最起码你跟姐夫加起来的退休金也有四千来块；最起码你们已年届六旬，却还身子骨硬朗！。。。。。。姐，看看你身边可以顺手拈来的幸福，那些身外之物还重要吗？
Baidu blogger dayongcom also shares a conversation with a friend in an earlier post dated Nov. 16, ‘Risk, risk…’:
今天和一个当蚁力神养户的朋友聊了一会，他的心情比我差多了，可以说他都要疯了！听他说话显的非常激动。他真是一个什么家当都没有的人，他母亲在他小时候就没了，父亲常年有病，活着时候政府还给他家办了个“特困”三年前他父亲也没了，“特困”待遇也没了。随后住的平房也动迁了，好象政府是给了八万多块钱，也不够买个房子的。后来又找了个离过婚的女人处对象，一直和对象到处租房子住。他对象当售货员，女人工作还好找点，要学历没学历要长相没长相的男人可就不好混了，他以前还有点前科啥地，只能找地方打个短工干两天。动迁给的那点钱除了生活用点外今年五月都投在了蚁力神上，返回的那点钱又凑合一下接着投了进去~~~~今年10月份竟然开始不返钱了！而且一托再托，转眼又托到11月21日了~~~~现在蚁力神公司动向不明对他来说简直就是折磨！这点钱在有的人眼里看虽然不多，但这是他全部家当和对未来的希望啊！这要是出点差错他以后会怎样面对生活？我真不敢想！我除了安慰他两句之外啥办法也没有，还是祝他好运吧。怎么现在这社会明目张胆的骗子这么多？？真是明目张胆的开玩，ZF睁一只眼闭一只眼任其发展壮大。。。现在蚁力神动态不明，要是再定性非法融资后辽宁不得被全国人说成骗子省啊！这社会陷阱多啊，有些人掉下去几回没事，但有的人掉下去后果可非常严重！
‘How many ants, how much worry?’ asks NetEase blogger Begging in Paradise in a Nov. 20 post:
“蚁力神”不神了,王凤友不灵了.天玺集团大厦将倾.日前养殖业户最为关注最为敏感的话题莫过于此.千千万万家养殖” 黑多刺蚂蚁”的人们最为担心的事终于发生了.
…
此时此刻同情是没有丝毫作用的,我只能在心底深深地   那些” 黑多刺蚂蚁”的养殖业户,遭遇了这很残酷的事实.几多蚂蚁,基多愁!我感同身受,天庸讳言,这是个难以忍受的煎熬的时段.
….
近日耳闻王凤友的”天玺集团”资金运作出现危机时,在大家的猜测与冷静的分析中得出结论,恐怕每天都在一堵窟窿的王凤友其实活得非常沉重,比谁都累!一个人如果过着拆东墙补西墙的日子,那简直是一种无情而可怕的生活.
…
我们拭目以待,静看事态的发展
Not gently, judging from the photos NetEase blogger Diadora posted on the evening of Nov. 20:
蚁力神养户围堵市委,省委,声势浩大!有上万之众.来自本溪\辽阳\大连\鞍山等地.现省委已调派大量的防爆警察,周边的警力均已出动!!!
Calmly is not how most people seem to have reacted. From an anonymous and unsympathetic poster with an alleged semi-insider's view, writing on the ChinaByte forum:
蚁力神终于TMD的倒闭了：蚁力神倒闭,养殖户血本无归!
坑害了多少农民阿。。。。。
两年前我家就在养，周围邻居亲属都在养。。。。
赵本山还在拍摄的流行连续剧《刘老根》里帮蚁力神做广告，这些全栽进去了。。。。
[Frequently seen on Chinese television]
蚁力神走到今天是一个必然的结局.本人在蚁力神做过一年多的分公司经理,当时想不明白,为什么产品卖的不好,各个分公司都陪钱,而蚁力神还象没什么事一样,对外鼓吹大发展呢?后来明白了,是为了让辽宁城乡的人都对蚁力神放心,让他们掏腰包养蚂蚁.可是这种借来的高利贷钱迟早是要还的,蚁力神想到了去香港上市,可惜,”伟哥”事件又把这件事情毁了.如果2004年上市成功.能募集到14亿资金,蚁力神就可以从养蚂蚁集资的事情里脱离出来,只是,人算不如天算.这时候蚁力神已经没有退路,只能继续扩大养殖户,用后面人的钱还前面人的钱.本来这样的事情不太好做的长久,但是在蚁力神公司的大力运做下,在政府的默许和媒体的推波助澜下,在无知人们认为天上掉馅饼的情况下,蚁力神走到了今
很多人怨恨,埋怨,其实这一切都是你自己的无知造成的.当然政府和媒体也有责任,你又能把他们怎么样?只有自己提高警惕和认识才能少上当和不上当.
蚁力神也知道自己要做的是稳定人心,只要大家都认为他没事,蚁力神就会存在的长久些但是他们一定是数学学的不好,这是需要按几何方式有人加入才能维持下去的事实,是不可能实现的目标,今天终于停摆了.我为那些后来的加入者祈祷!
Both alarming and inspiring is the wiki that someone has set up just to keep track of how the larger protest proceeds; an excerpt:
蚁力神要是破产 政府就是罪魁祸首！ 一个经营了8年的公司 那么多荣誉那么多光环！明明知道公司的存亡关系到上百万老百姓的死活，政府为什么不帮助蚁力神渡过难关！ 明明知道多少人家破人忙 政府完全不顾我们死活！ 政府根本就不想扶植蚁力神！任其自生自灭，是政府喝了我们的血！现在还要我们的命！！！！！！ 今天打人的警察，我记下了他的警号115951 老爷们明天都带上白酒御寒 到时候坐在省委门口边喝边研究 喝多了就他妈的闹反正都到绝路了，有时间的明天都去，别再家等现成的了，都是我们自己的事情。 没别的办法了.能看见我说的这句话的人都尽最大的能力去沈阳了,也就只剩下去沈阳的这条道了,如果说现在还在想着在家里等的话,那就都别想拿到钱了 现在的情况我想大家都知道,现在就是不怕事闹大就怕事闹小,现在政府都把消息封闭了,
40多天啦，相信大家都是在极度的紧张中度过的，我们担惊受怕这么多天现在还是在拖我们养护，我们决不能妥协拉，ｙｌｓ从不返钱开始就有政府在参与（因为媒体和网络都在封锁蚁力神的消息，所以只能是政府参与在这里才会出现这种情况），政府想让我们养护受到损失是不肯能的，我们大家一定要齐心协力把我们的血汗钱要回来，明天大家都要去，这个事情不搞大，不引起社会各界的关注，我们就什么都得不到拉，不能让政府不能让ｙｌｓ这么对待我们养护，群里有资料（大家多多收集）我们大家多向外界媒体，新闻评论，国外网站，各国大使馆，南方的一些新闻媒体等反映，特别是网络流量比较大的社区（猫扑，搜狐，新浪，中华网，中青网等等），我们大家有相机的，都摄像机的都拿着，把政府的丑恶嘴脸记录下来，我们大家一定要齐心，不要持观望态度，钱都没有啦，以后也过部下去啦，还怕什么呢，如果不还我们的血汗钱，奥运会就别想开啦！！！！！！！！
Update: The video above has been taken down, but there are more. This video from Youku user Angel Bu lists a QQ group for ant farmers to discuss their plight in the comments, as do videos put up by user kefe1:
Update, Nov. 21, 3pm:
MSN Live Spaces blogger YoungDan68 writes this afternoon of trying last night to take the baby home for a diaper change and finding his road completely shut off and himself remains unable to return home for the moment.
Also this afternoon are several photos taken yesterday and today from Ycul blogger Wen Xuan, who writes that ant farmers began gathering at the Yilishen HQ, which has since been taken over by the People's Armed Police, around 10 am on Nov. 19, creating a very chaotic scene wherein no-one it seems was hurt. Today, Nov.21, she writes, about 10,000 people had gathered at the provincial Party committee hall by around 1:30 pm:
Update2, Nov. 21, 10pm:
Same old whack-a-mole approach; information surrounding what's going on in Shenyang keeps getting deleted (forgot to take into account that Bullog is back, see links in Chinese below). Ycul's Wen Xuan (see above) is back with another post. She asks:
为什么会有这么多人陷入？这样一个显而易见的谎言为何会延续如此之长？敬请关注近期出版的成都传媒集团，先锋中国《调查》深度报道《蚁力神，150亿集资背后的疯狂！》
How could so many people get caught up in this? How could such an obvious lie propagate as long as it has? I'd ask you to check out the recently published investigative report from Vanguard China's “Investigation”, “Yilishen, the insanity behind the 15 billion raised!” put out by Chengdu Media Group.
Some interesting information is being collected on the Beijing DVD bbs; among what can now been seen there is background to how Yilishen products ended up being banned in the USA, an explanation of how Yilishen outsources its bee-raising needs, and enough statistics to make a newspaper editor quit drinking coffee; a short example:
目前蚁力神养殖专业户的年发展速度已经超过40％，在册养殖专业户的数量为27 万户，平均每户投入资金4.2 万元，总金额上百亿元，涉及到的家庭人口100 万
The Free China blogger at MSN Live Spaces posted some photos just before noon today:
The Aboluowang blogger has added a few others:
And even more can be found, for now, at the Yilishen8 blog hosted by NetEase:
Update, Nov. 2223:
最近消息 (latest news)：
谁用谁知道？ (Wang Xiaofeng!)
沈阳市中心连续3天发生示威事件：陷入一片混乱
[1510报童] (1510!)
蚁—力—神怎么了？为什么消息会被封锁？(Mop)
sogou真不是盖的！人家那搜索技术……
沈阳蚁力神事件照片综合 (photo slideshow round-up, and this blog has been on top of the story)
[G2G] Re: “蚁力神”被和谐了！！！
蚁力神咋回事？
蚂蚁
‘Natural’ viagra arouses farmers’ anger
超级链接综合 Comprehensive round-up
“蚁力神”神话的破灭
11.20辽宁省沈阳市爆发大规模示威，数万人聚集省委省政府，沈阳全部警力出动。（苹果日报）
谁愿意去沈阳越俎代庖报道蚁力神养殖户的相关情况？ Who's willing to go to Shenyang and poke around to find out and report on the ant farmers’ situation? (Zola!)
新纪录 A new record (of deletion) (He Caitou!)
沈阳万人抗议“蚁力神”欺诈 包围省府 Ten thousand Shenyangers protest the Yilishen scam, surround the provincial government
中国速度 ChinaSpeed
蚁力神到底怎么了 Just what did Yilishen do?
蚁力神王奉友是否被抓的最新消息 The latest news on whether or not Yilishen CEO Wang Fenyou has been arrested
蚁力神倒塌，沈阳蚁农暴动 Yilishen collapses, Shenyang's ant farmers revolt
一个天大的赌局该收场了 One astronomical gamble ends badly
蚁力神的事情 Yilishen's affairs
蚁力神功能性灭绝 Yilishen's effectiveness has evaporated
谁封谁知道 Who's deleting, no-one knows (a pun on the Yilishen product slogan, ‘who's using it, no-one knows) (Buchong!)
赵本山葛优，蚂蚁上树 The ants are marching up the tree upon which Zhao Benshan sits (Han Han!)
搜集关于沈阳事件的现场图片文字 A collection of photos and writings from the scene of the Shenyang Incident (Beifeng!)
沈阳天玺集团的官商诈骗案:
沈阳天玺集团多年来以高额回报的承诺，同数十万名养殖户签订合同收购“拟黑多刺蚂蚁”，用于生产一种叫“蚁力神”的保健食品。近月，天玺集团突然中断收购，也没有依照还款计划分期支付投资回报，还传出公司已经破产、高层出逃的消息。大陆互联网的消息说，数万名投资者星期二从四面八方涌到天玺集团在沈阳的总部示威，又到辽宁省委抗议，数千公安武警严阵以待，气氛非常紧张。记者星期三打电话到辽宁省委了解情况，没有人接听电话。记者又向天玺集团所在地的皇姑区公安分局了解：
记者：蚁力神的投资者几万人到省委反映情况要求解决投资款的问题，有这事吗？
警员：这我不能告诉你，我不接受采访。
而知情人士星期三晚向记者表示，投资者还聚集在省委大门外：
知情人士：示威者今天还在请愿，一部分在蚁力神公司总部，一部分在省委外。那天我听他们说省委那边封了路过不去了。现在好象没有听说官方正式表态发言要解决这件事。示威者相互在劝不要冲动，只要要回钱就行了。我没看到这两天发生了冲突，流血之类的事，也没听说抓人。
记者：蚁力神是不是中止了向养殖户收购蚂蚁？
知情人士：现在比较确切的说是没有返钱（给高额劳务费）。原来说十月份应该返钱的，然后推到了这个月，今天（星期三）要返钱的，现在又推到要下个月才返钱。出了什么问题天玺公司至今没有一个正式的说法。
蚁力神系列产品，根据其广告，是从中国特产的“拟黑多刺蚂蚁”体内提取特殊营养制成。由于“拟黑多刺蚂蚁”是主要原料，天玺集团与养殖户协议，养殖户以万元为单位向集团购买养殖装置，养成后高价卖给集团。虽然天玺集团自称蚁力神保健食品营养丰富、固本培元，但是产品是否具有那么强的功效一直存疑。而年销售额仅一亿多元人民币，也使得集团也从难以说明其资金回报的来源。
不过，天玺集团拥有商务部首批直销牌照，媒体不断地宣传它的合法性，公司总经理王奉友是全国商会副主席，在春节联欢晚会上亮相，被称为慈善家。因此，经营八年来，投资的养殖户数十万人，涉及资金难以计算。
二零零四年，美国食品与药品管理局向美国的消费者建议不要服用天玺集团的蚁力神产品因为该产品含有治疗阳萎的药物伟哥的成分，大陆也有一两家媒体披露：加了伟哥的产品好使，不加的不好使。此后，天玺集团的财务状况每况愈下。养殖户纷纷质疑，集团真正的目的是收取养殖户的抵押金，用后加盟养殖户的抵押金给先加盟的养殖户，以骗取更多人投资加盟。
星期二开始的上访请愿开始后，大陆互联网上有关蚁力神的讨论和示威讯息被官方大幅删除。知情人士说：
知情人士：网站上看不到相关消息了，我是进入养殖户的QQ群里才看到相关消息的，养殖户就是用这种方式联系的，而且很多QQ群被封了，不能发言了。
More from ESWN:
Once upon a time, there came along a company named Yilishen  (蟻力神) in China.  The company sells health and food products that derived from ants.  But how does the company ensure that it gets an adequate supply of ants from which to extract the ingredients required for their products?
Yilishen actually used the well-known behavior of ants by recruiting massive numbers of ant farmers.  Each ant farmer signs up with the company with an initial fee of 10,000 yuan, and then he gets supplied with the company ant-breeding equipment.  The ant farmer gets paid for the number of ants produced at a price that ensures him a good profit if he meets the quota.  Hundreds of thousands of people sign up.
The ability of the company to pay the ant farmers requires that enough of the ant-based products are being sold.  If the sales exceeds the supply, all is well.  If the sales is lower than the supply, it is hell to pay.
Recently, Yilishen suddenly discontinued buying from the the ant farmers as well as the payments.  The rumor was that the company was bankrupt and the senior company officials have esconded.  Several tens of thousands ant farmers converged to the company headquarters in Shenyang to protest without effect.  So last night, the protestors switched their target and surrounded the Liaoning provincial party committee's office and broke through the police cordon to wave banners and chant slogan.  The police are on full alert.  Meanwhile, all discussions about Yilishen and the demonstrations have been disappeared from the mainland Chinese Internet.

author: John Kennedy


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China: Bloggers bust another really big lie · Global Voices
John Kennedy

One of the less glamorous side-effects of censorship, the impact the 17th Communist Party National Congress had on Chinese media made a faked photograph of a rare tiger the top story throughout the Chinese blogsphere for the entire past month. The whole affair ended this weekend when an obscure blogger in Sichuan province found that the tiger in question was not rare at all but actually came from a poster, copies of which were snatched up all across the country and are now on sale for jacked-up prices online [zh].
And yet, the discovery of the poster made this just the latest [zh] scandal this year to bring bloggers recognition as a fact-finding force officials across the country could easily benefit from [zh].
Meanwhile, part one of China's decade-long moon plan the lunar probe Chang'e I was sent up into space late last month, inspiring bloggers to post pictures of water bottle replicas, chart the probe's movements down to the second, and even jump the gun on images Chang'e isn't expected to send back until the recently-revised date of November 26.
On November 11, overseas Chinese websites began posting a rumor [zh] that something had gone wrong with the probe, citing moves taken by top aerospace officials to investigate the possibility Chang'e 1 having been given a scrap oil drum smuggled in from the US, among others. On November 12, an official report was released announcing a 45-minute down in communication with the probe planned for the same day. On Nov. 18, a short communique suddenly appeared announcing the probe to be in perfect condition and working normally; the hundreds of readers who left comments on it generally appeared suspicious.
So in lack of any solid evidence that Chang'e has flown off somewhere, just the precedent from last year in which authorities covered up a similarly high-profile project failure for over a month, do the South China Tiger (华南虎/周老虎) truth-diggers have a new task on hand? Less enthusiastic [zh] and plausible [zh] attempts have been made to suggest that the probe is par for the orbit, but the question [zh] remains open; Cat898 blogger Extraterrestrial Senior Citizen mulls it over in a Nov. 18 post, ‘from the climate at Chang'e 1 to that on the internet‘:
中国人习惯于用科学来说明政治,用艺术来阐述政治,嫦娥一号,在十七大之后发射升天,被许多人看做是政治政治伟大,盛世来临的象征,所以是不能冒泡泡的.但科学来不得一点儿虚假,就如同眼睛里容不得丁点儿沙子一样.
但从开始,科学家们就给了我们许多的希望,比如什么时候发躲,什么时候变轨,什么时候绕月,把原本一次十分严肃的科学探索,硬要变成了许多人关注的全民精神教育活动.除了给自已的人民一些什么喑示,对于这次科学探索,好象没有多大意义.
科学家们说,嫦娥一号绕月成功之后,在11月18号左右,能传回月球的写真照片, 还有媒体用略带遗憾的口味告诉咱老百姓，照片是黑白的。所以全体民众是伸长了脖子等在11月18号看嫦娥的黑白美人照。可还没有等到18号，也只是在14 号到15号左右，就有消息传出，就咱们家嫦娥出事儿，可能跑了。相信当时许多看到这测消息的网友，与笔者有样，怀疑传播这测消息的人，是别有用心的。但到 11月17日终于国家有关专家们坐不住了，站出来“避谣”，说我们的嫦娥一号一切正常，偶而与地面失去联系，也科学家们掌控之中。并且特别是指出了凯迪网站这传言的源头。但到11月18日时，科学家们终于肯说了点实话。说嫦娥一号要等到本月26日，才能传回嫦娥的美人照。并并且对网友质疑“体检”时间为何会持续十余天之说，朱毅麟专家说：“即使一颗绕地的卫星，设备检测也要花上一个星期，对于绕月的卫星，多花几天时间不足为奇，也是为了卫星更安全、更保险。”
这话是在网友质疑之后说的，并且嫦娥一号真的没有能于18日发回嫦娥的美人照片。所以网友们传的至少不全部是谣言。到目前为止的嫦娥事件说明，持怀疑态度的网友们，取得小胜利。这个小胜利让网络，有点象整风之前的延安。（可能是笔者想远了）领袖们好不容易有空，到学校去讲点话什么的，但老是有人质疑，（领袖那点三国、水浒里的帝王将相，那能与学者专家什么斯基，什么斯基们比？）最后搞得领袖们，领导们都不敢往学校跑。后来就整治了一下。
当网络压倒喉舌们，当网友让许多代言人都没法讲话时，笔者开始但心，“嫦娥事件”，“华南虎”之后，可有得我们走着瞧了。
And using politics to interpret reality is Cat898 blogger Wild Mountain Flower with a post from later the same day, ‘Questioning Chang'e 1 is the spine of the country and the people‘:
我是中华人民共和国公民，我有权对政府干的事说三道四（虽然不那么管用）。我是国家的主人翁，主人有权对公仆们指手画脚（在网上）。说嫦娥一号这样那样的问题，正是对国家关心的态度。试问一下，嫦娥上天这么久了，网友们一直不当回事，这才是最可怕的事。国不知有民，民也不知有国呀。当年的清兵和英军打仗，老百姓在一边看热闹。 假若嫦娥真的出问题，我们不关心，不问，“那是他们的事，爱咋地咋地”。麻木不忍，把自己排除在公民之外，不关心国家大事， 试想，这样的国家还有什么希望？
回想当年的大跃进，瞎指挥，反对的人少吗？彭大将军更是直接上书毛泽东。
不准人对政府干的事直疑，一有反对意见就扣帽子，打成反革命。这样的现像一去不复返了。奴才们三呼万岁的时代结束了。
我不反对我国发展空间技术，相反，我极力支持。我只是问一声，什么时间让我看一下照片？ 嫦娥真的有事也别瞒着，苏美等国不是失败多次才取行功的吗？何况他们还死了好多人。
取于说真话，取于怀疑，这才是中国的脊梁，民族的脊梁。 那些万岁不离口的奴才们是不会理解的。
Thinking back to my youth and the Great Leap Forward, and the confused instructions, did many people object then? Marshall Peng‘s closest superior was Mao Zedong.
No one was allowed to call the government on the things it did; the slightest opposition and you got a label: anti-revolutionary. The days of flunkies cheering are gone.
So. I'm not opposed to our national scientific development; on the contrary, I super-support it. I just want to ask a question: when do we get to see the photos? If Chang'e really is in trouble, don't cover it up; didn't the USSR and USA and others fail multiple times in their tries? Never mind how many of their people died.
To make a habit of speaking the truth, of doubting, this is what will be China's backbone, the backbone of the nation; those flunkies who can't get “long live!” out of their mouths wouldn't understand this.


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China: Social Stability via Negotiation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Sun Liping argues that it is rather unlikely for China to face major social turmoil nowadays (zh) because the market economy has divert social conflicts and there aren't any major ideological struggles. It is, therefore, necessary to set up mechanism for solving conflicts of interest among different social groups.


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China: Writing Together · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Kuanfeng introduces (zh) a website 17xie.com that encourage users to write together. The website provides help to publication with real papers.


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Cuba: Cambio · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Little pieces of rubber” are causing some measure of disorder in Cuba: Babalu Blog reports.


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Ethiopia: Teddy Afro Concert Review · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A review of Teddy Afro concert in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: “Last night I attended a concert by Teddy Afro. I think I'd heard the name maybe once before K mentioned going. The concert was being held at the Ghion, so I imagined a nice little crowd in one of the ballrooms or something.”


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Georgia: Campaign Promises · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

TOL Georgia looks at the campaign promises being made by Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili ahead of January's vote. The blog also says that state employees are reportedly under pressure to re-elect the incumbent.


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Georgia: Development · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Despite recent opposition protests and a state of emergency being declared, Social Science in the Caucasus reports that in general, “Georgia has been doing well” in terms of progress in many areas. Nevertheless, despite concluding that “Georgia is and remains a success story,” the blog says “the successes can be put at risk, since some of the achievements remain fragile.”


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Hong Kong: Pan Democrats’ Dark Day · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Pan democrats have lost a bitter battle in the recent district council election. Before the election, the pan-dem worried that they wouldn’t be able to keep all their seats and tried to explain the situation by predicting a low voting rate. The final result is worse than they have estimated: they has lost one third of their seats. Among the 294 candidates only 104 of them have won, losing 47 seats in total. Whereas the pro establishment party, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) has won 115 seats and the liberal party 15 seats.
The immediate comment from the mainstream critics is that the pan democrats are not performing well enough in their district service. However, many bloggers disagree.
Yinnest points out that most of the voters wouldn’t know who the district councilors are, not to mention their work:
學者賽後檢討，分析民主派大敗的原因是：地區工作做得不好。查實我不知為何他們能作出這個結論。其實有幾多個人知道所屬選區的區議員做過些什麼？他們的地區工作做得好唔好呢？不同派別的區議員，他們的地區工作可以有什麼不同呢？或者學者即係學者，可以一下子知道全港十八區的區議員以前做過些什麼。又或者，好像家眷所言：今年回歸十周年，民建聯在地區可以做的事情，一定比民主派多。又或者，是標籤效應，包括：民主派失去了吸引選票的能力。
Kursk believes that Hong Kong is trapped in a political Matrix where the pro-establishment force can disgust their political position and live in different identities:
有人說泛民不落力做地區工作，所以抵死。我們很容易找到例子，可是民建聯尸位素餐者也大有人在。地區工作做得算是有看頭的民協(根據小弟在民協據點打政府工的經驗)，還有擅於攪大龍鳳的灣仔社區聯盟又不一樣輸？
不過，形勢才是大原因。
放眼世界，有哪個國家的執政黨及其聯盟會在經濟大好的時候下台？現在的香港，不再負資產，沒有白痴當特首，連葉劉都認罪悔改了，土共也收了其口(連轆豬事件也完全write-off了)，中央已經是崛起大國。我們的土共，連海報也不再土，還有用不完的資源攪服務處，請黨工和你玩在野玩足十年。這就叫做形勢。
All over the world, which ruling party would lose its power when the economy is blooming? We don't have any negative equity in nowadays Hong Kong. No more idiot chief executive, even Regina Ip has to show her remorse to the past. The native communists have shut up (the incident concerning mincing pigs with tanks has been wipe off). The central power is a grand nation. Our native communists’ posters are no longer old fashioned and they have endless resources to provide service. They can employ party workers to play the role of opposition party for 10 more years. This is called trend.
只可惜，人家的國家可以有政黨輪替，有上有落，可是我們的香港，只是個Matrix。現在社會大治，形勢比人強，普選之路只有愈來愈遠。連這個Matrix也未攬定，我們做什麼，面對的也是有無限分身，無限復活的Agent Smith。我們要怎樣打？Leo和Oracle在哪裡？那肯定不是陳太，不要發夢了。
Henry porter analyses the election result of two districts and tries to differentiate “district service” with “district mobilization” work.
綜觀上述兩個個案，本座想到的是所謂「地區工作」，已並非我們過往所想單單「為居民服務」可以概括得到。因為今次區選所打的，就是一場動員戰：去屆當選的區議員若被非友好居民組織所阻撓，即使竭力服務也只能事倍功半，反觀政黨組織只需持續投放資源供養這些友好組織，待時機一到，連任者連任，新人也能順利接收勝果。
有人說「地區服務做得好，就會有人投票」，是看輕了「地區服務」與「地區動員」之間的分別；相比起「感恩圖報」自由意向選票，被「組織驅使」、帶有紀律性質的選票可謂來得更有效率。
Those were the days hopes that the pan dem will be sincere in their evaluation this time:
我從來沒有懷疑，今天各方提出那些泛民信念、包括民協全力發展基層，那是想令泛民，包括民主黨也好，希望他們可以有好回報，可是他們會否真的能不論政治利益，作出深刻的檢討？99年檢討，又有多少可以落實？泛民區議員，當中又有多少實事求事的人，承擔實話，作出深刻檢討，並且可以實行？
Diumanpark compares the situation of the pan democrats with the dotcom bubble and points out that the pan democrats failed to transform democracy into more substantial practice and enterprise before the bubble burst.
2003年，因為董建華施政失敗多年，加上23條惡法，「民主」也如dotcom一樣，火速變成炙手可熱的概念。所謂七一效應，其實就是dotcom效應：候選人只要掛上「民主派」，身價暴漲幾倍。所以，民主派在上屆區選大勝。當然，今日誰也知道當日的大勝，只是時勢造就的泡沫，「民主派」三個字，散出負資產的燶味。
本來，當日如此龐大的「民主集資」，民主派如果運用得當，將民主由概念變成實業，即使泡沫爆破，也不致兵敗如山倒，更可以是一家充滿前景的機構，伺機進身藍籌。問題是，民主派這幾年有沒有這樣做？
我支持民主普選，但從來不諱言對民主派失望。選民主派，只如一個有理性的人在雞肋和雞糞之間，必然選吃雞肋一樣。…
I support democracy and universal suffrage, but at the same time feel great disappointment with the democrats. The reason why I choose democrats is like a choice between chicken bone and chicken shit, you have to choose chicken bone.
董建華腳痛下台，泛民主派氣勢立即大不如前。為甚麼？因為他們以為，零三七一的奇蹟，他們有不少功勞，民主運動從此一帆風順。但其實，那一場奇蹟，是因為有一個不世奇才董建華作為總召集，吹了六年雞，才成就的。
別再一次亢奮失禁。你們的對手是會用盡一切地下方法、擁有極之豐富權鬥經驗的中方。敵暗我明，如果還沉醉於一時的亢奮，亢龍有悔，便要好自為之。…
Don't be drowned in delirium. Your counterpart would use all means to win the game. They have rich experience in power struggle. The enemy is in the dark, if we are still drowned in delirium, regret will follow.
今年投票率約38%，比2003年的44%下跌6%，但投票人數比上屆多六萬。換言之，登記選民增加了。這些選民來自那裏？君不見親中派何等落力幫街坊登記做選民嗎？民主派又做了甚麼呢？
Wongonyin bids the pan-dem party chairs to resign:
泛民大敗，各主席應辭職 ！(梁耀忠除外)
pls, 快，馬上
這是為民主問責建立正確的文化
是你們這羣失敗領導者對民主的最後貢獻


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India: Luxury, Employment and Poverty · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Memoirs of a Foreigner on idea of luxury in India, and how it probably means more employment for those who provide the services.


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Indonesia: Selling Oil in Euros · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesia Matters has Indonesia's Vice President mulling selling Indonesia's oil exports in Euros.


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Iraq: Unrest in Al A’mel  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Alive in Baghdad reports on the latest unrest in Al A'mel, following the arrest of a top Shia clergyman by US troops.


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Israel: 30 Years after Sadat’s Visit  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

One Jerusalem reflects on the Arab-Israeli peace process 30 years after the historic visit of Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat to Israel.


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Israel: Ice Cream Shortage  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Most countries suffer serious things like power shortages, water shortages, or food shortages, but here in Israel we’re at the luxury end of the market and we suffer ice cream shortages, writes Nicky.


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Israel: Lost Tribes in Japan · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

One of the questions that comes up every now and then in the Israeli-Japanese discourse is whether the Japanese are descendants of the Israelite Lost Tribes, reflects Sharvul, from Israel.


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Israel: Mandate of the People  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“POTENTIALLY BIG POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT! Leaders listening to and following the will of their people, the OV (One Voice) people!!!” rejoices the mastermind behind the One Voice movement Daniel Lubetzky.


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Israel: Real Estate Hunting · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yael K, from Israel, discusses  real estate in this post.


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Israel: Zionist Sugar  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Liza Goldman from Israel discovers a wide range of writers, scientists, philanthropists and political activists, who helped build Israel, through “Zionist” sugar.


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Jamaica: Blogging for Literature  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Geoffrey Philp reflects on the mission of his blog: “We need to preserve our literature. For what else is literature but memory and promise: who we thought we have been and what we imagine ourselves to be.”


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Japan：Travelogue from Georgia · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

Japanese blogger and blog journalism analyst Fujishiro Hiroyuki of Gatonews has posted a three-part travelogue, recording his trip to Georgia last month[Ja]. (1, 2, and 3) The series describes his experience in detail with photos. The blogger also expresses his concern about the current state of the country and worries about the safety of the people he met during his trip.


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Japan: Japanese loanwords and their meanings · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

John at J-Life writes about Japanese loandwords, noting that many such words narrow their meaning when they are imported into Japanese.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: The Bully and the Bullied · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

The problem of bullying is a recurring theme in Japan, one that makes periodic appearances in the media driving up ever-increasing levels of alarm. An incident in which videos of bullying in a Hokkaido school were posted on YouTube (and subsequently removed) made headlines in late 2006. A government survey released last week [ja], which found that that the number of cases of bullying has increased sixfold [ja] over the result of the year before, has exacerbated fears yet again. While this increase is attributed in part to a change in the way bullying is defined and measured [ja], the rise is nonetheless telling: from 20,000 cases in 2005 the number ballooned to an estimated 125,000 cases in 2006, including six cases of bullying-related suicide [ja].
Not everybody is taking the news sitting down. Japanese world boxing flyweight champion Naito Daisuke is tackling the problem by talking at schools to children [ja] about his own experiences being bullied as a child. Pressure has also been put on schools [ja] to change the way that they deal with bullying.
Blogger tekicho makes a perceptive observation about the problem:
敏感な言葉をいうけど、いじめは無くならない。根拠は大人同士でもいじめがあるという誰でもよく知っていることです。
But how has this culture of bullying developed? Blogger nano3000xp delves into its origin:
いじめは、なくならない。昔からいじめはあったし、今後もいじめは続くはずである。なぜなら、いじめることで、自分の欲求不満を解消するからである。それが、個々の人間の本質だからである。会社でも、社会でも、学校でも、人が集団になって、ある場を作れば、そこに必ず、人間関係という相互作用の場が生じるからである。
難しい言葉をつかったが、つまり、相手を認知し、相手からも自分が認知される交流の場が生まれるのである。その場が固定されれば、ある基準に対して、相対化（順番）が出てくるのである。会社や組織で言えば、階級なのである。警察や自衛隊では、その階級の差が絶対であり、上官や上司の言うことは、その場にいるかぎり、絶対となるのである。
人類の歴史を見る限り、この相対化がなかった事例はないし、どんな社会制度（資本主義でも共産主義）でも、必ずなんらかの階級制度は存在しているのである。
It is easy to theorize about a phenomenon without an actual case to compare to. On one message board, a 15-year-old girl writes about her experience being bullied and provides such a case:
私は今学校でいじめられています。
一度先生に相談して止めるよう言ってもらったんですけど、それが逆効果だったみたいで・・。
もっとひどくなってしまいました。
男女問わずほとんどの人に悪口を言われます。
すごく苦しくてつらいです。学校をやめたいと思っています。
フリースクールに通うとか、何とか学校には行きたいんですけど。
（高卒じゃないと就職ってやっぱり大変だろうし・・・。）
働いたほうがいいんですか？
それから、親にはまだこの事を伝えてません。反対されそうだし、どう伝えていいのかわからなくて。この先すごく不安です。・・これから私はどうしたらいいですか？
A blogger from an educational NPO that works with children provides a second-hand account of another case of bullying:
小学３年生からいじめの悩みについて
メールや電話で相談を受けています
１年のときからいじめられてる
靴を隠されたり嫌なあだ名を言われたり
親に話すと怒って学校に行っちゃうから言えない
先生も皆の前で話すからばれちゃうから言えない
友だちも仲良くしていてもいじめっ子の方についちゃう
どうしたらいいんだろう？
毎日楽しく学校に行きたいよね？
そのためにはどうすればいいだろう？
と聞いてみたら
道徳の時間に皆でいじめのことを考える
授業をやってほしい
と言いました
自分がいじめられてるとか
誰がいじめてるとか
そういうことじゃなくて
クラスの皆でいじめのことを考えることの大切さを
子ども自身が実感していること
そのまっとうな感覚に驚きました
１つ１つのいじめについて対応しようとすると
被害者は誰か
加害者は誰か
誰が責任をとるのか
などどいう次元の話で終始しがちです
そうすると二重に傷つけられたり
子どもの心の取り扱いも
大人の人間関係も
非常に難しくなります
目の前のいじめをすぐにやめさせることも大切ですが
簡単ではありません
それよりもクラス全体の共感意識を高めたり
いじめのことを一緒に考える
予防教育がもっとも大切だというのが
当会の考え方です
Finally, blogger ojezal69 provides some more encouraging thoughts when he writes about Naito Daisuke, the Japanese world champion boxer who was bullied as a child:
内藤選手は、すごいです。中学時代、いじめられっ子で、その事実を消したい、そんな思いで頑張ってこられた結果の世界チャンピオン
今いじめと戦っている子供達に勇気を与えたと思います。
そんな思いを抱えて彼は頑張ったと言っています。


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Jordan: Architectural Censorship  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Ohoud claims that Jordan is exercising ‘architectural censorship’ in this post.


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Jordan: Dirty Politics  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Naseem Tarawnah from Jordan discusses dirty politics in this post.


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Jordan: Elections Tomorrow  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The elections are scheduled for tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting rid of all of the banners and posters filling the streets. Aside from the visual insult, they are a constant reminder of the superficiality of our discourse,” notes Khalaf, from Jordan.


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Kyrgyzstan: Face Control Elections · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

The Azamat Report opines on the parliamentary election campaign in Kyrgyzstan, noting that as soon as elections fully based on party lists are new here, people still associate them with specific names.


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Laos: Vientiane Boat Racing · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

LaoVoices has images from the Vientiane Boat Racing Festival


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Macau: Back to the middle age when it comes to AIDS · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Leocardo [pt] is disgusted at decision by a Portuguese court to back a hotel chain that sacked a HIV-infected cook. “We are back to the middle age when it comes to AIDS. We are back to the times when we thought that AIDS was transmitted by shaking hands or  mosquitoes bite. (…) I myself have lived together with people who were  HIV-infected, and none of them have spat or bled on me, nor have they raped or attacked me with a syringe. I must have met the wrong ones”.

author: Paula Góes


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Mozambique: Speaking the language of Tonga · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Moçambique para todos [pt] announces the launch of the a Portuguese-Tongan/Tongan-Portuguese dictionary in Maputo this Thursday. Gitonga is the language spoken by Tonga people.


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Pakistan: Musharraf and Laughs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Among other things, the Emergency provokes some people to make fun of Pervez Musharraf. More at Chapati Mystery.


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Peru: Blogs from El Comercio · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

After the last Festival of Blogs (see participants) organized by BlogsPerú [es], it remained clear that although there is a certain percentage of bloggers who do not see the blogs of the newspaper El Comercio in a very good light, perhaps they may seem to be threatened by its presence and obvious mass diffusion, the majority agrees that it would be stupid to deny them the right to be called blogs. It is true also that to be a blogger with a salary is seen perhaps with a certain envy and that on the other hand some speculate that these wage-earning bloggers once they conclude their contracts, do not have the intention of continuing to blog on their own time.
For a historical view, in Roberto Bustamante’s blog El blog del Morsa [es]’, he published the post ‘the revolution of the blog: blog day peru’ with the following passage:
no soporto los rollos arties de raúl cachay en ¿descontrolados? (en realidad ni un solo blog de el comercio, que en realidad son más bien columnas digitales antes que blogs en el sentido estricto de la palabra).
I do not support the artiness of raúl cachay in out of control? (in reality neither one of the blogs of “El Comercio”; they actually are digital columns rather than blogs in the strict sense of the word).
This produced a reaction in a number of different blogs and the comments on this matter represented varied possible approaches to the topic, nevertheless the only blog of “El Comercio” that took up the gauntlet and challenged the assertion was Santa Lima of Juan Manuel Robles who said in Chifera Habich (I):
Ahora resulta que esto no es un blog. Yo no soy un blogger y quienes leen estas líneas no son seguidores de blogs, sino cándidos cibernautas atrapados por las fauces de ese monstruo hipnotizador chupa-lectores que es El Comercio. O sea, ustedes no me siguen: les soy impuesto por alguien más grande. Soy falso. Acabo de leer eso en una página en la que unos chicos muy exaltados celebraban el Día del blogger, mega evento ritual virtual al que, por supuesto, no fui invitado. Fue así como me enteré de algo que se sostiene hace tiempo: Santa Lima no es un blog porque, entre otras cosas, los bloggers de verdad no cobran. Bueno, mientras le buscan otro nombre a lo que están leyendo (“parablog” suena bien, creo), yo voy a hacer lo que más o menos hago siempre, o sea, mirar las cosas, escribir sobre ellas y ver cómo reacciona mi público.
Now it turns out that this is not a blog. I am not a blogger and whoever reads these lines are not followers of blogs, but candid cibernauts caught in the stomach of this hypnotic monster, that is: “El Comercio”. Meaning, you do not follow me: I am imposed on you by someone bigger. I am false. I have just read this on a page where a few very impassioned boys were celebrating the Day of the Blogger, a mega ritual virtual event to which, of course, I was not invited. It was thus that I found out about something that is supported for some time now: Santa Lima is not a blog because, among other things, the real bloggers do not charge. Good, while they look for another name for what they are reading (“parablog” sounds good, I believe), I am going to do what more or less I always do, that is, look at the things, write about them and see how my public reacts.
This response also generated some comments in several blogs. Finally Morsa in the post yo, blogger wrote:
ya, démosle vuelta. he escrito ya demasiado sobre los blogs, qué son y qué no son y me rindo. si los periodistas del comercio dicen que sus columnas digitales son blogs, no hay ni un problema: estamos en la época del geek is beautiful, y me imagino que renato cisneros y juan manuel robles quieren un poquito de vibra friki (que no le hace mal a nadie).
Now, let's turn it round. I have already written too much on the blogs that are blogs and on those that are not and I give up. if the journalists of “El Comercio” say that their digital columns are blogs, there is no problem even here: we are in the epoch of “the geek is beautiful”, and I imagine that renato cisneros and juan manuel robles want a bit of freak wave (it does not harm anybody).
But let´s start the review of blogs with the already mentioned and quite popular Santa Lima of Juan Manuel Robles, who usually devotes himself to gastronomic and related topics. For example his last post ‘La Bocina familiar’ tells us about … ice creams:
El tiempo borra ciertas cosas, en eso consiste su lógica inapelable. Nos encanta recordar con nostalgia las marcas registradas que aderezaron nuestra infancia como si fueran parte de un pasado más auténtico, acaso queriendo olvidar que la industria de helados más grande del país siempre tuvo una maquinaria marquetera abrumadora, que incluía argucias luminosas como ese comercial con la música de Bobby McFerrin que luego usaron los pañales Huggies en Estados Unidos (que bueno, Donofrio, Donofrio que bueno). En otros tiempos, que yo recuerde nada era más sabroso que un Jett o un Esquimo. Ahora me entero por la señora Lidia que la moda es el Egocéntrico, un nombre acorde con el yoísmo de los tiempos. Helado de vainilla bañado con chocolate Sublime. Todos lo piden.
Time erases certain things, in this consists its incontrovertible logic. We like to remember with nostalgia the registered brands that added color to our childhood as if they were a part of a more authentic past, perhaps wanting to forget that the country´s biggest ice cream industry always had a burdensome marketing machinery, that included luminous dodges such as that commercial with the music of Bobby McFerrin, that later on was used by the diapers Huggies in the United States (so good, Donofrio, Donofrio so good). At other times, I remember nothing was tastier than a Jett or an Esquimo. Now I find out from Mrs. Lidia that the fashion is “El Egocéntrico”, a name following their own self-centerdness spirit of the times. Vanilla Ice cream bathed in Sublime chocolate. They all ask for it.
But perhaps the most popular blog of all those of “El Comercio” is ‘Busco Novia [es]’ (I’m searching for a girlfriend) of Renato Cisneros. The topic? obviously, vicissitudes of life of a guy from Lima to find the woman of his dreams. In his most recent post ‘Señoras y Señoras’ he speculates on a rather uncommon option for a “serious” relation as he calls it himself:
Las mujeres mayores nunca me han interesado para iniciar una relación seria, pero sí me han llamado la atención para soñar con un romance. Creo que desde que eres niño y hasta una cierta edad (digamos 30) te topas con mujeres adultas que te impactan, te atraen, y te hacen montar secretas expediciones por la imaginación y fantasear con escenas mudas en donde ella y tú protagonizan clandestinas refriegas pasionales. Eso me pasaba, por ejemplo, con la Miss Lucía Shwarz, mi profesora de inglés en quinto grado de Primaria: tenía no más de veintisiete años, y usaba el pelo corto a lo Jamie Lee Curtis. La recuerdo en minifalda, con sus piernas larguísimas enfundadas en azulinas medias de nylon, con sus ojos verdes, con esa boquita siempre iluminada por la suave estridencia del colorete, y la voz ronca de cantante de taberna con la que nos decía “please, students, be quiet”.
Another very popular blog is almost inevitably the feminine counterpart of the previous one: Alicia Bisso’s Busco Novio [es] (I’m searching for a boyfriend). Her last post ‘Fiesta sin disfraces’ (Party without disguises) is about her falling in love with unreal characters and in parallel, with unreal ones that are real characters.
Desde que era chica e iba al cine -muy seguido- con mis padres y mi hermano, comencé a tener un secreto jueguito imaginario; de seguro, gracias a mi debilidad por la ficción. Éste, ahora que lo pienso, era un mecanismo de evasión de la realidad muy simple y debo aclarar, totalmente inconciente y además, irresistible para mi mente. Después de ver una película, en la que había visto a algún personaje que me había gustado por algo en especial, jugaba a convertirme en él o ella. Claro, no aparecía vestida de la Princesa Leia con el bikini dorado en la sala de mi casa, esto lo hacía en la privacidad de mi habitación o de mis pensamientos. Así pude ser Jennifer Conelly en Laberinto y estar enamorada todo lo que me dio la gana de David Bowie, amor que hasta ahora recuerdo como el primero; ya más grande, fue divertido jugar a ser la caprichosa Scarlett O'hara o la traviesa Faye de Chunking Express soñando con viajar a California. Me gustó jugar a ser la princesa Elisabeta, por la que el conde Drácula de Coppola navegó “océanos de tiempo” para encontrarla;
Since I was small and was going to the movies – continuously – with my parents and my brother, I began to have a secret imaginary game; certainly, thanks to my weakness for fiction. Now when I think about it, that was a very simple mechanism of evasion of reality and, I must clarify, completely unconscious and also irresistible for my mind. After seeing a movie, in which I had seen some personage that I liked for some particular reason. I would imagine myself turning into him or her. Certainly, I was not appearing in the living room of our house dressed as Princess Leia in a gilded bikini, I was doing it in the privacy of my room or of my thoughts. This way I could be Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth and be in love with David Bowie as much as I wanted, love that till now I remember as the first one. Once I was older, it was entertaining to impersonate the capricious Scarlett O'hara or naughty Faye from Chunking Express dreaming of traveling to California. I also liked imagining myself as princess Elisabeta, who Coppola ‘s Count Drácula navigated ” oceans of time ” to find.
The following blog that I want to select is that of Gerardo Manuel: Disco Club [es]. Gerardo Manuel is the personage in the history of Peruvian rock: musician and VJ, and an authority when it comes to rock. From his blog I select not the last post, but the one that talks about national rock: ‘Noviembre de grandes retornos’ (November of great comebacks). OKKKK
Hace algunas semanas en un post titulado “El Telégrafo suena de nuevo” les comenté la posibilidad del retorno de uno de los grandes grupos peruanos de los 70's: Telegraph Ave. Noviembre nos depara esa satisfacción después de 32 años de su última presentación oficial. Pero también hay otra reaparición que se nos viene el 9 de noviembre en El Templario de Barranco. Como una especie de experimento genético entre el pasado y el presente, se mezclan dos generaciones para traernos de vuelta a una de las bandas pioneras del heavy metal en español de Iberoamérica: Tarkus.
Some weeks ago in a post titled “El Telégrafo suena de nuevo” (The Telegraph sounds again) I commented on the possibility of the comeback of one of the biggest Peruvian groups of 70's: Telegraph Ave (Telegraph Bird). November offered us this satisfaction after 32 years since their last official presentation. But also there is another reappearance that occurred on November 9 in The Templario de Barranco. As a species of genetic experiment between the past and the present, two generations mixed to bring back to us one of the pioneering heavy metal bands in Spanish from Latin America: Tarkus.
The blog LaNuez [es] of Javier Prado is an atypical case inside the blogs of “El Comercio” since it is led by someone who has already been a blogger before opening this blog. Moreover, his previous blog had the same name. Javier is a very good illustrator and connoisseur of the topic. The post ‘El extraño caso de los huevos cuadrados del Perú’ (The strange case of the square eggs of Peru) is a sample of it:
Recuerdo esta historia dentro de la colección empastada en azul que tenían mis primos, a la cual tenía acceso cuando los visitaba algunos fines de semana. Tenía seis años y mis intereses reales en ese momento eran ver a Batman y Superman en televisión, pero esa historia en particular se me quedó grabada precisamente por las menciones de los Incas y, por supuesto, por los Huevos Cuadrados. Mucho tiempo después, ya con el virus del cómic instalado y en plena época preuniversitaria, a inicios de los ochenta, el libro “Para leer el Pato Donald” de Ariel Dorfman y Armand Mattelart, me la volvería a recordar.
I remember this story inside the collection pasted in blue that my cousins had, to which I had access when I was visiting them on the weekends. I was six years old and my real interests at that moment were to see Batman and Superman on television, but this story in particular stayed engraved in my mind precisely for the mentions of the Incas and, of course, for the Square Eggs. Much later, already with the virus of the installed cómic and in full pre-university epoch, in the beginning of the eighties, Ariel Dorfman’s and Armand Mattelart’s book “Para leer el Pato Donald” (to read Donald Duck) would remind me of that story again.
Another well-known blogger, but in this case always well tied to “El Comercio”, is Juan Carlos Luján who in his blog Vida y Futuro [es] (Life and Future) speaks on technological topics in our country. A good example of it is his post ‘OLPC: Un recorrido por Arahuay’ (OLPC: A trip around Arahuay).
Ayer estuve por Arahuay, un pueblito enclavado en las alturas de Canta, a unos 2.500 metros sobre el nivel del mar, en la sierra de Lima. Llegar allí con la comitiva del Ministerio de Educación no fue nada fácil. El camino es de tierra afirmada y el viaje desde San Borja hacia esa zona toma unas cuatro horas. Arahuay es visitada desde junio de este año por funcionarios del Ministerio de Educación, técnicos, profesores, periodistas y gente interesada en conocer cómo es el asunto de las llamadas Laptops de 100 dólares. En realidad, estas cuestan un poco más (unos 189 dólares) y las 50 que se prueban allá son parte de un lote de prototipos que la Fundación One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) envió al Perú para que se evalúen en un programa piloto antes que el Gobierno tomara la decisión de comprar 40.000 de estas unidades.
Yesterday I was in Arahuay, a little town nestled in the heights of Canta, approximately 2.500 meters above sea level, in the mountains of Lima. To come there with the retinue from the Department of Education was not at all easy. The path leads over solid ground and the trip from San Borja towards this area takes approximately four hours. Arahuay was visited strating in June of this year by officials of the Department of Education, technicians, teachers, journalists and people interested in knowing more about the so-called 100-dollar Laptops. Actually, those cost a little more (approximately 189 dollars) and the 50 that are being tried there are a part of prototypes that the Foundation One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) sent to Peru to be evaluated in a pilot program before the government decides whether to buy 40.000 of these units.
There are certainly more blog, and they all can be accessed from the web of “El Comercio [es].” The blogs are grouped in the section called BLOGSx36. It can be said, and it is true, that there is very little visible interaction between the bloggers and the people who comment in the blogs, that the big majority of these bloggers are (or they were, in some cases) quite foreign to the local blogsphere and that they do not take part in many of the conventions of a blogger, but to me it seems that the tool and its gadgets (the blog and everything that it includes) are interesting but the not most important thing. What matters is what one thinks and what one writes (communicates, let’s say) and of that there are very good examples here.
Translation by Sabina Abdulajeva

author: Juan Arellano


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Philippines: Pakistan Woes · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Citizeninmars asks what the main political actors in Pakistan really want.


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Puerto Rico: Mystical Powers  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Governor of Puerto Rico may be facing indictment – leaving Dondequiera incredulous over his statement that “Puerto Ricans have mystical powers, which include seeing into the future and knowing when some injustice has been committed…I can only guess that the price for being elected is that you lose your mystical powers.”


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Qatari Wedding · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Xena announces the wedding of a young Qatari female blogger in this post.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Romania: More on the Election and Referendum · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Romania writes more about Nov. 25: “A date that will mean a lot for the political landscape of Romania. The European elections will be the first in a series of 5 electoral processes in Romania in less than 2 full years. So they will be seen as an indicator of the political strength of all the parties. On the other hand, if more than 50% plus one of the Romanian voters say yes to the proposal for electoral reform […] Romania may move from a closed list proportional system to a majority based uninominal system to elect its representatives to Parliament, which would be a huge change…”


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Romania: Upcoming Election and Referendum · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kosmopolit writes about the Nov. 25 referendum on changing the voting system in Romania – and on the not-so-popular election to the European Parliament: “…being elected for the European Parliament would mean being “banned” from the Romanian political scene exactly in the important electoral year 2008 (with presidential and parliamentary elections in Romania). That is why the lists of the main political parties consist of many low profile candidates…”


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Russia: Election and the OSCE · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A discussion of the upcoming Russian election and the situation with the OSCE observers over at Crooked Timber.


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Russia: Siemens Bribery Scandal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Robert Amsterdam writes about “only 2 million euros” in bribes paid by Siemens to 38 Russian officials.


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Serbia: Kosovo Election, Before and After · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Baby writes about the post-election Kosovo: “Will the parliament be truly representative though, including members not only of the Kosovar and Serbian communities but also the other minorities participating in the election, namely Ashkali, Bosnjak, Gorani, Turkish, Egyptian and Romani? Probably not, leading to the conclusion once more that because of Russian obstructionism, based not in pan-Slavic brotherhood but in personal fears over regions such as Chechnya and Tartarstan, Kosova's only option is to hold it's breath and dive right in and hope that if it gets into trouble the European Union can throw it a life-jacket.”


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Serbia, Macedonia: Travel Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Novala, Europa has a lot of new photos from Kosovo and Macedonia – here, here, here, and here.


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Sudan: What has been happening in Darfur? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Meskel Square blogs about what has been happening lately in Darfur, Sudan: “As you no doubt already know, the Sudanese government, the African Union, the United Nations and a smattering of obscure rebel factions are still going through the motions of peace talks in the Libyan town of Sirte.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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The Transborder Immigrant Project · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Andre Lemos [pt] talks about Ricardo Dominguez's The Transborder Immigrant Project which has just won the Transnational Communities Award.”It is a mix of art and activism. Using mobile phones equiped wirh GPS, the project aims to help immigrants who try to cross the border between Mexico and US to find their way and consequently avoid the constant and numerable deaths”


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Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela: Chavez at OPEC · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Further Thoughts weighs in on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his open demonstration of religious fervour at the OPEC summit in Saudi Arabia.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Murder Rate  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Now Is Wow loses count of the number of murders that have occurred post-elections in Trinidad and Tobago: “There has not been a word from the Government or the Minister of Security on this upsurge”…while Trinbago Forever says: “All this murder occurring within less than two weeks should -yet again- send a shudder down the national spine.”


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Turkmenistan: One Step Closer to World Cup 2010 · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Merdjen says that Turkmen national football team thrashed Hong Kong in the second round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Asian zone qualifiers, thus joining the group stage of World Cup 2010.


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Ukraine: Coalition and Other Matters · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Orange Ukraine mentions that “NOVEMBER 23 is the new date when the coalition agreement between BYT and OU-PSD is expected to be signed” – and reports on plenty more things that are happening in Ukraine.


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Ukraine: Getting Married Ordeal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn writes about the “trying to get married in Ukraine” ordeal.


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Ukraine: More on the Coal Mine Disaster · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about the government's reaction to the deadly accident at a coal mine in Donetsk region and translates an article on mismanagement of the mine.


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Ukraine: The Deadliest Coal Mine Accident · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana reports on the deadly blast at the Zasyadka coal mine in Ukraine's Donetsk region (80 miners killed, 20 still missing) – and on Yukhym Zvyahylsky, the man who “controls” the mine.


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Ukraine: Verka Serdyuchka; MTV Ukraine · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainian Musical Matters reports on Verka Serdyuchka and the recently launched MTV Ukraine – and explains what makes Ukrainian music special.


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Uruguay: Children Involved with OLPC Laptops Show What They Have Learned · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Hanía Villanueva, a teacher involved with the pilot project where One Laptop Per Child computers were distributed in Villa Cardal, Uruguay writes about about the Milk Festival [es].  At this event, the students were able to talk about their experiences with the computer and “the adults listen attentively.”

author: Eduardo Avila


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U.S., Ukraine: Holodomor Exhibit in NJ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Nash Holos writes about a Holodomor exhibit that has opened in New Jersey and includes “large scale reproductions of the lost diaries including one discovered just last year. These pages paint a picture far more chilling than any on the Holodomor made public to date.”


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Uzbekistan: Islamism on the Rise · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust opines that despite governmental crackdown on the religion-based political movements in the Ferghana Valley (which is shared by Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan), Islamism i- particularly Izb-ut-Tahrir semi-sect movement – still gaining market share. This situation requires a different approach of the Uzbek and Kyrgyz authorities in dealing with religious organizations.


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Uzbekistan: Resurgence of Hizb-Ut-Tahrir Islamist Movement · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Libertad writes about the rise of Islam in Uzbekistan after the collapse of communism and about Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamic political movement, which is involving more women to its activities.


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Venezuela: Low Turnout Expected in Referendum · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bloggings by Boz takes a look at some expected trends in the upcoming Constitutional referendum vote in Venezuela.


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Yemen: Indifferent to Weather Warnings  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Yemeni blogger Omar Barsawad notes that not many people respond to weather warnings in Yemen.


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Afghanistan: Another Bomb Hits Official · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Carl Robichaud reports that another fatal suicide attack occured in a province of Afghanistan that has rarely seen violence before. Suicide bomb has hit governor's compound in Nimruz; another attack was averted in Kabul.


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Armenia: Spam the Vote · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer reports on the continuing efforts of U.S.-born opposition politician Raffi Hovannisian to get his Armenian citizenship backdated enough to allow him to run for president next year. However, the blog raises concerns at the use of spamming techniques by his Heritage party to do so.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahamas, Cuba: At The Crossroads · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

WeblogBahamas.com links to US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez's speech at a Heritage Foundation series called Cuba at the Crossroads.


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Bahrain: Ebtihal Salman Under the Spotlight · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahrain-based blogger Bint Battuta profiles Bahraini blogger Ebtihal Salman in this post and translates some of her posts from Arabic.


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Bahrain: New Flickr Group Launched · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif announces the launch of Top 20 Bahrain – a photography group on Flickr.


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Bangladesh: On compassion and state boundaries · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

T’ings ‘n Times is appalled by the response of a commenter who finds the author's concern for the victims of the cyclone in Bangladesh to be dubious.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados, Guyana, Venezuela: Mining Attacks · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Notes From The Margin has been “monitoring reports of Venezuelan soldiers blowing up mining barges in the Guyana interior” and wonders how the two countries’ ongoing border dispute will play out.


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Brazil: Community shows what peace is · Global Voices
Paula Góes

The residents of Coque, a poor neighbourhood of Recife, organized a rally today to show that they disapproved the way in which the police force invaded the area in a ‘peacekeeping operation‘ a month ago. “The said operation was called “Paz no Coque” (Peace in Coque). They might even have wanted peace, but the whole story looked more like a war”. In a post called ‘Coque shows to the public authorities what peace is’, PE Body Count [pt] supports the community's initiative, publishes an open letter to the police forces and local authorities and a picture of the place 30 years ago – not much have changed.


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Brazil: Falling in love with Tocantins · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Pollyana Ferrari [pt] has just fallen in love with the stories presented by a new blog called Projeto Tocantins [pt], written by a newly graduated journalist who was sent from South Brazil to work in Southern Tocantins and discovers a quite different world. All true stories. “I loved it and recommend it: this is an authentic remix of the daily life”, says Pollyana.


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Brazil: Saving the rainforest and feeding more people · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Would you like to hear a fascinating story on how indigenous tribes in Brazil have managed to make extremely fertile dark earth from nutrient-poor yellowish soils, and thus may represent the ability to save the rainforest and feed more people? “The result of such a system would mean better soil, more food, cleaner fuel, less deforestation and, if Kyoto is revised to include payment for carbon negative sequestration in the soil, developing countries like Brazil and poor farmers everywhere will be paid to save the earth, while growing both food and fuel”. Head to Lou Gold‘s blog.