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Russia: Litvinovich on Beslan Report · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time translates a piece by Marina Litvinovich, an activist and founder of the Truth of Beslan portal; she writes: “Another of the report’s conclusions is that 32 people took part in the school seizure, of whom 31 were killed and one has been sentenced in court. This is simply ridiculous. Even the Prosecutor’s office has already admitted under pressure from us that there may have been more of them. It’s a mystery why this figure has not changed in Torshin’s reports since 2004 – there is a mass of evidence which refutes it. All this is being done for one purpose alone – to close the question of Beslan.”


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Russia: “No Bears, Only Beauties” in St. Pete · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian Marketing Blog writes about a St. Petersburg promotion campaign: “It would cost the City Council about 1 million Euros to place 300 billboards in London, Amsterdam and Paris till the middle of December.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Sri Lanka: Preparing for the Tsunami · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

LIRNEasia is apprehensive about a report in the UK press which claims that Sri Lanka is prepared well if a tsunami strikes. “The best-prepared country is Sri Lanka, one of those worst hit two years ago, which has a system of transmitting warnings through its police stations.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Ukraine, Poland: Traffic Jam · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Abdymok writes about a neglected story of “a 20 kilometer-long line of cars, buses, and trucks trying to make it back to ukraine before the new year . . . polish border guards with machine guns. eye witnesses say little kids are sick and dying. they say the crossing zone is the scene of a humanitarian catastrophe.”


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Ukraine: The New Year’s · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Carpetblogger posts pictures and writes about the New Year's in Kyiv.


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Ukraine, USA: North Dakota Ukrainians · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine List writes about Ukrainians of North Dakota.


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Africa/India: overcoming differences · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Inktus, a Ugandan blogger in New Delhi, India, writes about “overcoming differences and behaving as global citizens of one world.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Armenia: Bad News on Deforestation · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Notes From Hareinik has some bad news on deforestation prevention in Armenia and encourages readers to take action.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Belarus: Internet and Charity in Grodno · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Information Policy blog reports on a charity campaign launched by the Grodno internet community.


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Belarus, Russia: Gas Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes that the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom “is not going to tolerate Lukashenka’s bluff and proceeds from warnings to direct actions.”


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Bolivia: Politics Falls Apart, Christmas Comes Together · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

This week's Bolivian blog summary was written by a guest collaborator, Miguel Buitrago, a Bolivian currently pursuing his Ph.D in political science in Hamburg, Germany.  His Bolivian blog is called  MABB.
As the year winds down, and Bolivians prepare to celebrate what is considered one of the most important holydays of the year, the Bolivian blogsphere continues voicing its thoughts, opinions, fears, complaints and cheers. But before I tell you about them, I'd like to thank Eduardo Ávila for kindly inviting me to take this week's pulse to the Bolivian blogsphere. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish every one a very merry Christmas 2006.
Naturally, the socio-political crisis is very present in the minds of many Bolivians. The blogsphere is no exception to this. A careful look at what is being said reflects the polarization of Bolivian society. On the one hand, and as a result of last week's violent confrontations during the council meeting in Santa Cruz. In other cities, there were reports about the abuses against the eastern indigenous population and damage to their organizations. On the other hand, the council meetings themselves were the subject of various posts. Noelia Soruco, from Noelia Pensando en Voz Alta, thought the gathering was just overwhelming; Javier Sandoval, at Javier Libro Abierto, sarcastically qualified it as a great oligarch party; and finally, Undiary illustrated, with many photos, how it went.
The criticism against the government is heavily represented in the blogsphere. There are a number of bloggers who regularly post criticism of the government like Andres Pucci who, in his blog with the same name, laments and speculates about how the Vicepresident seems to want to drive Morales from power. Jaime Humerez, from Boliviscopio, concludes that the government's only reasonable and patriotic conduct would be to agree to the 2/3 demand from the opposition rather than insisting on a straight majority decision in the Constituent Assembly. Boli-Nica reproduces a NYT article reporting on the new worries of the mennonite communities in Santa Cruz. They are worried about the agrarian reform law coming next year and what it will mean for their land.
A new interesting development is the incursion of various organizations in the blogsphere. Here too, we find two antagonist positions represented. The Comite Pro Santa Cruz [ES] presents its case and tries to bring readers their side of the coin. Additionally, the Journalists Association of Santa Cruz [ES] reports on the attacks against journalists and thus to the right to free press and freedom of expression. While Mario Duran Chuquimia, from Noticias El Altoe, reports on Evo Morales’ goal to once and for all destroy the colonial state [ES]. The El Alto Press Agency (APA), brings readers the day to day situation in the satellite city of El Alto. This week it reported about the support El Alto civic organizations received in their effort to expel a foreign company operating the supply of drinking water. The show of support came from Bolivian nationals living in the US and from American citizens [ES] as well. Other stories covered by APA were the town halls last week and their influence on El Alto's civic organization's decisions to act [ES].
The second most talked about topic this week has been, of course, Christmas. There are several blogs which reflect on life and the personal experiences of each author. Freddy Mendizabal [ES] writes about three gifts he is already anticipating for this year; Ricardo Roman [ES], takes a little time to thank all the people he wants to thank this year; the author of Las Mujeres Que Soy [ES], sends a multiple personality Merry Christmas to everyone; and Warmicita [ES] shares a christmas song from her childhood with us, as Erik Saul, at Bitacora de Cuerdas [ES], sends all his readers a warm and simple Felices Fiestas!
Finally, I would like to mention an interesting exercise being conducted online as we speak. The blog I want to highlight here is one trying to conduct one of the first scientific studies of the Bolivian blogsphere. Nebulosa Blogosferica [ES] is a project started by a group of girls from the Social Communications faculty at the Cochabamba University (UMSS). The project tries to explain the bolivian blogsphere by the use each one of the authors gives to his or her own blog. The preliminary results say that around 69% of the blogs handle more than one topic. Of those surveyed, 43% think that blogs are an alternative medium of expression, almost 40% think that they are a tool with lots of potential. Lastly, 51% of those surveyed say they talk about personal issues online, 30% talk about political issues, 15% talk about literature, and 4% talk about music. It seems the blogsphere has become an important medium of self-expression in Bolivia.
The following blogs are some examples of how Bolivians are using the blog-world to talk about personal experiences. The author of this first blog highlights a regional identity pride, that in my opinion, was missing in the blogsphere. In Bolivia it is, and has always been, important to express ones regional identity. There are cambas, collas, cochalas, chapacos, quirquinchos, loquitos, etc. The personal blog of Alvaro Garcia Ramos [ES] does just that. It tries to spread cochala pride. He has started a cochala pride movement by making available free banners of his own design for cochabambinos who want to show off their identity. At the more personal level, MariaEscandalo, from Santa Cruz, goes all the way and talks about her homo-sexuality, a topic which in a Catholic country like Bolivia is considered taboo and, I imagine, is very hard to live with, while Las Mujeres Que Soy [ES] shares her love experiences without reservations. Now, in a very literary way, Mariana Ruiz, from Marea Y Cielo [ES], expresses her innermost feelings through poetry and prose. Last, but not least, Eduardo Alvarez, author of Cicatriz [ES, tells his readers simple but eloquent stories from his life.
In the last week, there were just two things most Bolivian bloggers had in mind, the crisis Bolivia is going through and Christmas. The first one touching on the fears and doubts Bolivians might have about their future and the future of the country itself. The second one, bringing much needed hope about the coming year.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bulgaria, Libya: Tripoli Six Death Sentence · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Declan Butler writes about the Tripoli Six death sentence: “That is despite the fact that this was not a fair and impartial trial, and that the court refused to hear the considerable body of international scientific evidence that could exonerate the medics, and show that this is a typical hospital-borne spread.”


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Ethiopia/Somalia: Ethiopia at war · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“So we are at war. We are no longer “technically” at war, or swapping challenges and insults, or officially providing training support to somebody else's army,” writes Meskel Square from Ethiopia.


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Guadeloupe, India: 152nd Anniversary of Tamul Hindus’ Arrival · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Atout Guadeloupe announces (Fr) that Guadeloupeans of Hindu Tamul origin celebrated the 152nd anniversary of their ancestors’ arrival in Guadeloupe on Dec. 24. Says the feed: “Hindus arrived after the second abolition of slavery.” The ceremony which took place in capital Pointe-a-Pitre included offerings of flowers to the ocean and traditional dances.

author: Alice Backer


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Haiti: Teacher’s Union Denounces Insecurity · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Many school children have recently been the victims of kidnappings in Haiti and the Haitian press reports that teachers’ unions have denounced what they feel is the government's inaction vis-a-vis the phenomenon. Collectif Haiti de Provence reacted (Fr) to the story: “The teachers’ declaration is timely but insufficient in the current situation.”


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Hungary: 2006 Politics Review · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric offers a review of the 2006 Hungarian politics.


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Hungary: Demography · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Hungary Economy Watch writes about the country's demographic situation.


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India: Music Season in Chennai · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Suraj is in Chennai (Madras) as the music season peaks in the city. “What expectations would you develop if your first day of the music season starts off with a casual dinner and chat with your favourite artist? :)”


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Iran:A blogger shares her feeling about her filtered blog · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Lady Sun shares her feeling about her filtered blog. The blogger says:”I'm just amazed how stupid these people are who can't stand a simple blog that is mostly about personal life of its author. I was careful not to write radical stuff in my Persian blog, because of the fear of filtering (yes, self-censorship!).” She has written her blog since 2001.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica: Development and apathy · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Pondering the debate in Jamaica over proposed development for bauxite in Cockpit Country, AliceClaire asks: “Really, which is worse: our myopic vision and planning or a largely, and surprisingly, dormant civil society that let's too many things slide right on by them?“

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Jamaica: Entrepreneurship and governance · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jamaican blogger Francis Wade is concerned that “our leaders of government who have never run companies do not understand the nature of business, and when they start to support the individual’s “right to a job” they do not understand what they are saying.”


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Kazakhstan: NurOtan · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZblog reports on shakeups in Kazakhstan's political parties that most notably includes merges of parties into the presidential party and the renaming of the party to include a reference to the president's first name.


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Kazakhstan: Pressuring Teachers · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Arthur reports on government pressure against teachers, specifically putting pressure on teachers to buy government newspapers, in Kazakhstan.


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Kenya: Kenyan videos online · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenyans United is new site for Kenyan music videos, comedy, and documentaries, via Digital Africa.


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Laos: New Mekong Bridge and Troubles with Traffic Direction · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The New Mandala comments on the regulatory issues that are delaying land transport between Vietnam and Thailand even thought the new bridge over the Mekong river is ready for use.

author: Preetam Rai


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Latvia: Ahistorical View of History · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marginalia writes about Latvia's WWI battles and the ahistorical approach of some observers.


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Lebanon: Foreign Intervention and Economics · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The Lebanese bloggers are united this week in wishing their readers all the best during Christmas, Al Adha and the New Year.
Some of these bloggers have taken up the issue of foreign intervention in the region as a subject of reflection while others highlight the sad state of economy and the effects that the political situation is having on it.
A reader left a comment praising the positive aspects of colonialism and/or occupation to which Ibn Bint Jbeil responded:
i have a plan for you. i would like to help you advance in your life. i am a very rich man and also own much property, and have immense and enviable political clout. my plan for you will commence soon, with or without your consent, once i locate where you are.
my plan is simple: i will break down your door, move in, turn your living room into my own private barracks, complete with mounted gun near the front entrance. my first step towards improving your life will be to force you at gunpoint to fix the door that i broke down.
Mehlis, who was the investigator in the Hariri murder case before Brammertz, was part of a witty post by EDB in which she ends with thorny questions about the on going investigations:
The problem with March 14th is that they are evidently as foolish as the White House, hiring disreputable Ahmed Chalabi-types to make their case. Mehlis has no credibility. None whatsoever. And why not get someone honest and well-respected to do the job?…
The funny thing is that March 14th's media will hype any of the UN investigation's conclusions. If Brammertz reports that Bashar al-Assad was taking a crap when Hariri was killed, well then that's evidence of foul play. If Brammertz suggests that an aerial attack might have caused the former Prime Minister's demise, well then what?
We don't know and I dare say we will never know who killed Rafiq Hariri. It's shameful, I know.
Russia has suddenly shown interest in the Lebanese affairs and has intervened to resolve the issues in conflict. This has raised Raja’s doubts:
the Russians are very ambitious all of a sudden. I'm left asking myself: exactly what has boosted their sense of relevance (confidence?) all of a sudden? They're talking of throwing the tribunal into the dust bin of history, hosting a peace conference that would, of all things, bring Iran and Israel to the table, and spewing all sorts of audacious initiatives into the wind. Essentially, they're telling the Americans: leave the Middle East to us, and we'll take care of things!
On the internal front, Hilal uses caustic satire to criticize the snobbish and almost racist attitude that some Lebanese are showing towards the the anti-government protestors (Ar).
All of this politics-free post must be read to really appreciate the waste of time and energy involved in a normal business day at the bank according to Jamal:
Banking facilities in Lebanon are world class. But don't be fooled by the spotless sparkling floors, fancy chandeliers, impeccably dressed employees, and the priceless historic artifacts that adorn the lobby, that's all just a facade. What really keeps our banks going and pumping money into all the patriotic feel good ad campaigns you see on TV and just before the feature presentatrion at the movies is not phoenecian financial whizzery but rather a precious little thing of ours that we call banking secrecy. Banking secrecy involves plenty of questionable business ethics; though that's a different issue for a different day because as advertised this post is politics free.
The vulnerable state of the economy and the inability of the talented Lebanese to solve its problems are highlighted by Lazarus:
as various political players continue to compensate for personal insecurities by hurling accusations and (im)mobilizing people, the lebanese economy is slowly but surely evaporating. several multinational technology companies have had a significant drop in sales within the lebanese market over the past year and a half, and the current bulk of their revenue comes from long-term deals closed over a year ago. even the quota for employees has been reduced in recognition of the faltering tempo of business.
Finally the following interesting quote on the feelings towards Israel that some Lebanese grow up with  from a post titled “On Israel’s “Right to Exist”” by Mirvat:
When one grows up, one tries to examine his values and i do not say re-examine. I had the time and the freedom to think about how i feel towards Israel. I had to get rid of the pre-conceived ideas and the rooted feelings that were even involuntarily planted in me by my society. As a kid, the name Israel was associated with fear, with running for life, with neighbors getting blown up in the invasion of Beirut, with poor Palestinian refugees and their kids that my mother helped, mostly with confusion seeing my parents being helpless. As an adult, the name Israel evokes pictures of babies blown up under the bombs, ruthlessness and unfairness, mostly it is my turn to feel helpless. I then realized, I did not hate then. Kids do not hate. I hate now.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Martinique, Guadeloupe: A Star is Born · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Atout Guadeloupe is happy (Fr) that 19 year-old Martiniquan Cyril won the Star Academy reality show/music contest, a French equivalent of American Idol. Says the feed: “19, millions of Euros, a budding career. Guadeloupe joins the pride and joy of Martinique for Cyril's victory… [We] predict a wonderful career for Cyril…”


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Nepal: Kingmakers and politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The complexities are politics in Nepal are mind boggling. Nepali Netbook unravels some, explaining the context of a persuasive constitutional monarchist named Rabindra Nath Sharma.


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Pakistan: The Rural, Urban and Cyber Me · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Light Within on the multiplicity of the self's identities. “There it occurred to m that I have three different lives; different identities; Rural, Urban and Cyber.”


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Russia: New Year’s Celebration · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes about New Year celebrations in Russia.


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Sri Lanka: An identity for the nation · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews takes a closer look at the politics of identity and peace in Sri Lanka. “What may be a pre-condition to induce a true Sri Lankan nationalism is perhaps a ‘national grievance’; almost all nationalist movements was based on such a common grievance; the Indians found it in British colonialism, the Tamils in Sinhalese majoritarianism, and the Nepalese in undemocratic monarchism.”


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Sri Lanka: Two years after the Tsunami · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Two years after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, there isn't too much noise in the respective blogospheres.  LaneTop remembers the day, and wishes more had been done by the author. Another reaction here.


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Turkmenistan: Dust to Dust · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Peter continues to analyze events in post-Turkmenbashi Turkmenistan. In a recent post, he writes on the burial of the despot and signs of continuity in the new leadership.


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Turkmenistan: Wild Cards · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts reports on wild cards in Turkmenistan's succession struggle.


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Vietnam: Christmas in Vietnam · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Chris Harvey has pictures from a Christmas eve service in a Catholic church in Vietnam. “Many of you will be surprised to learn that Christmas in Vietnam is *huge*.  And I don't mean the Vietnamese kinda sorta like it.  They freaking LOVE Christmas.”


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Africa: global perception of Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The global perception that Africa sucks gathers more speed, “I have got an IQ of 132, show me how to use it”


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Armenia: Parliamentary Monitor · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian has a pessimistic take on the latest developments in the lead-up to Armenia's parliamentary election, saying that everyone might as well just enjoy the show.


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Azerbaijan: Olympics · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Carpetblogger throws in a voice of support for Azerbaijan's 2016 Olympics bid, noting all the exciting new events that they could contribute.


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Bangladesh: Dr Yunus and rhetoric · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Dr Yunus's speeches of late have been filled with a slightly neutral tone observes Drishtipat. “However, to me when I hear him stress on holding any election rather than a good, credible election, he seems to be trying too hard to keep the status quo.”


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Brunei: New Banknotes · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Daily Brunei Resources has the trivia on the new banknotes released today in Brunei.


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Burkina Faso: conflict between the army and the police · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

What exactly happened last week in Ouagadougou?, “In Ouagadougou yesterday, there was a conflict between the police and the army, which led to several policemen killed. Apparently shooting was heard throughout the day and into the night.”


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Burundi: Titanic Express massacre · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Agathon Rwasa remembers the victims of the Titanic Express massacre in Burundi.


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Cambodia: Angkor Wat in the Seven Wonders · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha points to Angkor Wat's official caretaker body asking Cambodian people to vote for the monument to be included in a new list of seven wonders of the world.


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China: Ping…ping…pfft · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The earthquake near Taiwan last night which snapped six underwater internet cables, seems to have left a large part of Asia, particularly the Northeast, struggling for an internet fix.
Those with internet censorship circumvention tools (proxies) already installed on their computers seem to be doing a little better, but for Hong Kong and mainland China, access is now mostly limited to local sites, but even those have been affected as well. China's largest internet portal website Sina.com's blog site shows almost no mention of the earthquake or the blackout, and RSS feeds slowed to a trickle around lunch time today. MSN and Yahoo! Messenger have been affected as well, although QQ and GTalk are operating normally. Phone calls to other continents, some bloggers are saying, don't connect.
A post from independent blogger Wang Pei shows that not only are Chinese netizens stuck inside the region, but Chinese websites and users seem to have disappeared off the map as well:
热烈祝贺大中华局域网今天测试
今天英国、日本网友无法连通国内网站，新浪、网易统统上不去。MSN上也见不到几个人。不知道其他国家网友能否访问。
一个可能的解释，大中华局域网正在测试。中国正在变成一个大网吧。
什么是大中华局域网？
“What is the ‘Greater China LAN'?” Wang asks, with a link to fellow indy blogger He Caitou's post on a partnership between China Netcom and American company Verisign which was announced last week, to install root server mirroring (.cn) in China.
Followed by two later updates:
遇到一样情况的网友同样来自：美国，新西兰。
我拥有300多联系人的MSN上，现在上线的只有5个人，而平常至少是这个数字的10倍。
From Hexun blogger zyx105106107 attempts to decipher the reason MSN can't be logged into on his internet service provider, China Netcom, mentioned in the post above above, which he links to the earthquake.
今日凌晨起，部分国外网站无法正常访问，其中包括雅虎在内的多家国际门户网站，而“MSN”、“雅虎通”等即时通讯工具也无法正常登陆。经证实，台湾地震导致中国网通国际互联网出口出现故障。
网通公司答复：目前技术人员已经确认，由于台湾地震导致中国网通国际互联网出口出现故障，国内用户无法登陆部门国外网站。
zyx105106107 also lists details of the six underwater cables affected:
1. 中美海缆于12月26日20：25 距离台湾枋山登陆站，9.7公里左右发生中断；
2. 亚欧三号海缆于12月26日20：25 距离台湾枋山登陆站 9.7公里左右发生中断；
3. 亚太二号海缆S7于12月27日00：06距离台湾淡水登陆站904公里左右发生中断；
4. 亚太二号海缆S3于12月27日02：00距离崇明登陆站2100公里左右（靠近台湾处）发生中断；
5. Flag光缆亚太系统于12月26日20:43在韩国到香港段中断；
6. Flag光缆亚欧段于12月27日04:56在香港到上海段中断。

author: John Kennedy


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Ethiopia/Somali: a reckless war · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Enset describes Ethiopia-Somali war as “a reckless war borne of bad choices”: “If the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000 was a senseless war, then this war between the radical Somali Islamist and the illegitimate Meles-led regime of Ethiopia is a reckless one for all involved.”


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India: Going back to Cochin · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Pooja Malpani goes home to Kerala after a year and a half, and already, things are a little difference. “The whole scenario seems so chaotic with a 2 laner being used as a 1-5 laner and I’d feel really scared in a car when a bus was next to us ignoring the squeamish little car and headed straight on its way as though we ceased to exist.”


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India: On the GV summit · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

National Highway, who attended the Global Voices summit in Delhi, has some thoughts to share.


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Indonesia: Monitor Lizard in Resort Pool · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Emma Good Egg describes her encounter with a monitor lizard in a resort swimming pool in Bali.


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Indonesia: Sharia Police in Aceh · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesia Matters looks at the latest campaign launced by Aceh's religious police against unislamic behaviour. Aceh is a province in Indonesian island of Sumatra that insists on adherence to strict islamic laws.


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Iran:Virginia Woolf in Tehran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Bokhara Magazine has organised a Virginia Woolf night in the House of Artists in Tehran. You can see several photos in Tadaneh blog.


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Jamaica: What the country needs · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Francis Wade grapples with his desire, as a returnee to Jamaica, to find solutions to some of the problems plaguing his homeland: “Certainly, I am sure, a part of the answer has to with where we draw our spiritual wisdom, and how we Jamaicans do not sufficiently engage in our own personal development as individuals”.


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Kenya: DIY phone booth · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Local innovation at work: the DIY phone booth in Kenya,”The person who modified it ripped an old Siemens C25 phone apart and installed its display instead of the one that came along with this phone. The keypad is soldered to the phone and a rechargeable battery is inside the box with an external power supply.”


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Kenya: numbers do not lie · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bankele notes that numbers do not lie, people do, “Whether it's – Kenya to receive 5.8 billion in military aid, government creates 500,000 jobs, NGO plans to plant 1 million trees, ILO says 352 million children are economically active, SACCO’s contribute 45% to GDP, or 30 per cent of teenagers in some Kenyan coastal areas are involved in casual sex for cash – numbers are thrown at us everyday and we absorb the numbers and take them as gospel truth.”


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Malaysia: Flood Situation Worsens · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Malaysian rounds up the flood situation in Malaysia. It has been raining on and off since Monday in Southern Malaysia and Singapore.


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Malaysia: Internet Slowdown · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Nik Nazmi comments on the breakdown in internet services in some parts of South East Asia and East Asia because of an earthquake in Taiwan. “When I told my colleague earlier that a website stated repair works for the cables in Taiwan may take up to three days, we were both horrified. My work especially relies heavily on the net (and so does my leisure too, it seems).”


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Pakistan:  Bakra Mandi – where livestock is sold · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Animals being traded for ritual sacrifice and more at the Bakra Mandi (a goat bazaar) as seen by Metroblogging Islamabad.


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Poland: Free Internet · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Information Policy blog reports that the Polish government will be offering free internet service “to disadvantaged members of society in a bid to ensure that all citizens can have equal access to the constantly growing array of public services now available on-line.”


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Poland: Offensive E-Cards · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about anti-Semitic e-cards and how some Polish politicians confuse protest for political correctness.


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Puerto Rico: Do you see what I see? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Gil the Jenius enlists the help of refrain from a Christmas carol in his diatribe against what he sees as some of the administrative and political problems affecting Puerto Rico.


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Russia: Moscow Half a Century Ago · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user fool_4_lifetime found a rare photo album in a Moscow dump – Im Flug nach Moskau, by Erich Einhorn, ARTIA, 1959 – and scanned and posted 60 spreads of Moscow photos from it in the moya_moskva (My Moscow) LJ community. (Warning: bandwidth intensive!)
Here is one of the photos:
And here are some comments from other bloggers:
[…]
angel_y: A golden dump you've got! Would you mind sharing the address? )))))
[…]
onair: We used to have an amazingly beautiful city. A huge thanks to you, you've done a great deed.
gr_s: We used to have a diverse city. The photos that were allowed to be included in the album are beautiful, yes.
[…]
psych_dima: Thank you! The [woman] with a cow is especially good (is that the area of Leninsky Prospekt?), it reminded me of my childhood, when the villages began almost next to the [subway station Leninsky Prospekt] (that used to be the edge of Moscow until 1960). =)))
[…]
bogantsev: It's incredible how everyone's [overexcited about the photos]. We have fountains, and the athletes, and the wonderful, smiling faces!
And it's true that if you need to and when you need to, you can turn Moscow into Paris. But [these are pure lies!] This is what propaganda is! So why are you [so credulous]? [At that time], we had just rolled our tanks out of Budapest, half the country had just been released from prison camps – and you're asking for the smiling Moscow.
And the most amazing thing about it is that if you got hold of the literature from those times and of similar content, you'd turn your noses and take [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn] instead. But with the photos, everyone's feeling nostalgic!


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Russia: Nazism and Anti-Fascism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Daut is guest-blogging at Sean's Russia Blog about Nazism and anti-fascism in Russia and the Russian blogosphere.


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Russia: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Economic Boom · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes about the economic boom in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.


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Senegal: lessons from the Mourides · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“All these factors have helped make the Mourides one of the more successful African communities, at home and abroad. Wherever they are, they club together to acquire a mosque and community centre. Their networks help migrants leave Senegal, find work and procure documents. Far from being helpless victims of fate, many Mourides are shrewd operators in a complex, cross-border network,” writes Africa Unchained about the resourcefulness of the Mourides.


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Sri Lanka: The insider, outsider and the State · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Moju on what seems to be an absurd reason to differentiate between Sri Lankans and foreigners. “When they called they were told that since the President is visiting the area to inspect Tsunami relief activity that all guest houses have been instructed not to provide accommodation for Sri Lankans and only to foreigners.”


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St Lucia: Atmospheric landscapes · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Arnold Pouteau has a Flickr set of atmospheric photos from St. Lucia.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Christmas, credulity and commerce · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jeremy Taylor goes over some of the impossible notions about Christmas we have come to accept as fact, concluding “I take some comfort in the thought that the man at the centre of all the fuss would have dismissed it all, just as he furiously ran the bankers off the temple precincts a few days before his death, accusing them of exploiting the sacred in the name of credulity and commerce.“


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Trinidad & Tobago: The smelter moves · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

As Trinidad and Tobago's caves into the protests against the establishment of an aluminium smelter in a community in south-western Trinidad — and moves the project to another part of the country — Taran Rampersad starts thinking that “it has become necessary to become vocal.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Trini geography · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Chennette has an interesting commentary on the average Trinidadian's skewed vision of cardinal points: “Maybe it was growing up in a mathematical family, but I always viewed Trinidad as more or less a rectangle with some squiggly bits at the corners. Which means that I imagined lines bisecting the island straight across the middle, vertically and horizontally. . . .“


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Turkmenistan: Transition · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sean Roberts says that there is still quite a bit of uncertainty in the post-Turkmenbashi transition in Turkmenistan.


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Turkmenistan: Weak Constitution · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, Peter reports on constitutional amendments in Turkmenistan that both pave the way for acting President Berdymuhammedov to continue in the role and sweep aside any hope that Turkmenbashi's death would usher in openness and democracy.


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Ukraine: Ruslana Against Human Trafficking · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Natashas – “a blog for those interested in fighting the scourge of human trafficking of women and men, girls and boys, especially for purposes of sexual exploitation” – posts a link to an anti-human trafficking video by Ukrainian pop singer and PM Ruslana.


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Uzbekistan: Religious Restrictions · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alisher reports that the new governor of the Andijon province, the site of the 2005 protests and massacre, has imposed new restrictions on Islamic religious practice, including requirements that all restaurants serve alcohol and that children and teenagers not be admitted to mosques for public prayers.


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Afghanistan:Snow in Kabul · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Thanks to Cheragh blog,we can see several photos of Kabul and its heavy snow.


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Africa: “local” is the keyword · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

“Why not build the next eBay in Africa, then be “partnered” with for $40 million? Why not build the next PayPal, Google, YouTube or MySpace, when the success of such a venture is sure to realize millions of dollars?,” asks White African.


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Argentina: Last.FM en español · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Argentine blogger Mariano Amartino celebrates the Spanish-language launch of last.FM, a music-focused social networking site.

author: David Sasaki


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Argentina: Private Clubs No Longer So Private · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ian Mount, who recently published an article in the New York Times about the rise of private clubs in Buenos Aires describes what he calls the “sausage factory” of how the article came about. Unsurprisingly, blogs played a big role.


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Argentina: Rare Rock MP3 Blog · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fernando Casale introduces the newish MP3 blog Incunables Posludios “whose objective is to rescue rare treasures of Argentine rock with the premise that they should be unattainable in record stores.”


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Argentines: Books of 2006 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeff Barry lists the recommended 2006 foreign and Argentine books according to Ñ magazine.


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Bahamas, Guyana: Garlic pork and Guyanese politics · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The vinegary aroma of garlic pork incites Bahamian Larry Smith to a Proustian meditation on the modern political history of Guyana.


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Barbados: Caribbean integration · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press takes issue with an ex-diplomat's comments about Caribbean integration.


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Barbados: The other Eid · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Titlayo discovers the “other” Eid — Eid al-Adha, when “Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice domestic animals, usually sheep, as a symbol of Ibrahim’s sacrifice.”


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Chile: Two new Regions · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

The Chilean congress has approved two new regions in Chile. Currently, Chile has 12 regions and the capital, Santiago.  As iquiquenoticias(ES) explains:
Los miembros de la Cámara de Diputados aprobó con 106 votos a favor y 1 abstención, las modificaciones propuestas por la Cámara de Senadores al proyecto de Ley que crea la XV región de Arica y Parinacota y la Provincia del Tamarugal, quedando el texto en condiciones de convertirse en Ley.
The other new region is Valdivia, on the south. The new regions have different analysis issues, Carlos Salas (ES) made a deep analysis of the new political situation; specifically regarding our binominal electoral system, and focusing on the senate elections of the new region:
En cambio la elección de senadores si genera escenarios muy interesantes de analizar, porque la creación de la nueva región de Arica, implica necesariamente una readecuación electoral: Es decir readecuar el mapa electoral vigente, creándose una Circunscripción Senatorial conformada por el
territorio de la región Arica y Parinacota y cuya extensión es coincidente con el distrito electoral uno.
So, for both the left and right wing, this may be a chance to have more presence in congress. The Chilean regions also have a number denomination, starting from the number one in the northern territories and  finishing in the south with number 12. About how the congress manages the new numbers for the new regions, Gonzalo Araya (ES) posts:
Desde hoy tenemos 15 Regiones en nuestro país: se han agregado las Regiones de Arica y Parinacota (en la imagen), que sale de la I Región, y la de Los Ríos, con capital Valdivia, que desaparece de la X Región. Lo curioso es que la primera de las nombradas es la XV Región y la de Los Ríos es la XIV Región de Chile. Me surgen varias preguntas al respecto:
¿Por qué no respetar el orden geográfico y asignar el número menor a la Región del extremo norte del país? Si es por mantener los números pares e impares (para efectos electorales), viene al caso la siguiente pregunta:
¿No era más lógico darles los números XIII y XIV y en orden estrictamente geográfico, es decir, la de Arica con el numeral XIII y la sureña, con el número XIV?”
We have to wait until the elections to see if this will have any consequences on the political scene.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Colombia: Lack of quorum sinks same-sex partnership bill · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“So the bill was actually brought to the floor for a vote but some cowardly legislators jumped up and left their seats. Incredibly disappointing if not necessarily surprising.” So says Andres Duque who has been covering the proposed legislation to grant legal privileges to same-sex partnerships. The bill died last week due to lack of of quorum.


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Cuba: The newest threat … · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Greg of Two Weeks Notice links to an article on  “the newest threat to Cuba” … rock climbing.


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Estonia: A New Republic Piece · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa reviews a travel piece on Estonia in the latest New Republic.


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Ethiopia: angry at Ethiopia-Somali war · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Arefaynie Fantahun writes about reaction in Addis Ababa to Ethiopia's war against Somalia, “It is not hard to know how people in Addis are angry at the war with Somalia, which they most say is bizarre and senseless. Many say they haven’t the slightest clue what this war is all about. Invading a country and heading to its capital with a lame excuse of maintaining territorial integrity seem to convince few.”


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Guyana: Living Guyana Media Awards 2006 · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

MediaCritic announces the results of the Living Guyana Media Awards 2006. GV favourite GuyanaGyal wins the Blog of the Year title.


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Hungary: Van Gogh Exhibition · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestcentric advises against visiting a Van Gogh exhibition in Budapest.


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Iran:Kianoosh Sanjari is Out of Jail · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sos Sanjari blog says “Kianoosh Sanjari,a young blogger and reporter who had been in prison for more than 70 days, is finally out of prison[Fa].”


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Iran:Meeting with Hanieh · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mohammad Ali Abtahi,former Vice President and reformist politician,writes in his blog that he and some other political personalities had been invited to Embassy of Palestine in Tehran when Mr.Hanieh,Palestinian Prime Minister,was there. Abtahi says Hanieh praised financial help coming from Iran and Qatar but it seems Bahrain did not help at all. Abtahi adds Hanieh whispered in his ear, tell my greetings to Khatami[Fa].


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Iran:Remember Bam · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several bloggers remember in their blogs about Bam earthquake,three years after disaster. Shamgahan has published a couple of photos of earthquake . The blogger asks what has been done for Bam population with all the foreign help that government received.The blogger adds, 72 hours after earthquake, government got 8 million dollars from foreign countries[Fa].


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Iran:The Jailed Iranian Christian Converts  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Azarmehr reminds us that in this Christmas period there are several Iranian Christian converts who are in the jail, just for their faith.


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Iran:Who is the best Iranian of the year · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Thanks to Aroosak Kooki blog, I have discovered a link to Iranian.com where 860 people voted for “the best Iranian of the year.” There are very interesting people on the list such as students who protested President Ahmadinejad's visit to Amir Kabir Technical University or Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space.


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Latin America: “The year that was supposed to be awful” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ricardo Carreón (who is also trying to organize a Latin America Blogroll) begins the first post of an ambitious series: “This post starts a series of articles of Latin America during 2006. The year that was supposed to be many things, most of them negative, but ended up being a pretty positive one for the region.”


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Lusosphere: Who? Me? You!? Why not Hugo? · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

TIME Magazine's choice of ‘You’ as the ‘Person of the Year’ has created interesting reactions in Lusophone blogs. The coddling move from the editorial giant towards the new class of content creators among its audience initially seduced the web 2.0 crowds. Many commentators were quick to agree effusively with the choice delivering self congratulatory notes. But others would would soon start demanding from their blog visitors the expected critical investigative attitude of ‘awarded’ content-generators.
A internet revolucionou minha vida. Não chega a ser uma grande novidade, mas é um fato que merece destaque. Ela deu um 180° nos meus habitos de leitura, de consulta, de pesquisa, de interação, de conhecimento. E a revolução foi tão enorme, que a revista Time me elegeu como personalidade do ano. De forma simples, a internet me trouxe a liberdade de ler somente o que me interessa, de ouvir somente o que eu gosto, de descobrir os que as radios jamais tocariam, de assistir o que jamais a TV transmitiria. E principalmente me deu a ocasião de palpitar abertamente sobre tudo isso. O melhor de tudo é que os grandes meios de comunicação passaram a dividir seu espaço com fontes de informação alternativa, os ilustres blogueiros. E isso faz toda a diferença. Ler a opinião de um blogueiro sobre um assunto qualquer é, muitas vezes, mais emocionante do que ler uma materia sobre este mesmo assunto. O uso da primeira pessoa muda tudo.
Premio Tô me Achando 2006 – Tô me Achando
A revista ‘TIME’ acaba de eleger, como Personalidade do Ano, “YOU”, ou seja, eu, tu, ele, cada um de NÓS, enquanto pessoa humana que, com a sua força e energia, ajuda a construir um mundo melhor, sendo parte activa e decisiva no maior desafio que se coloca à Humanidade – viver em dignidade, com o outro e para o outro! É partilhando este sonho de um futuro mais digno que envio a todos os leitores e bloggers votos de um Feliz Natal, desejando um Ano de 2007 pleno de graças.
[404] Feliz Natal – O divã de Maquiavel
Dessa vez era “VOCÊ” ou eu, nós, tu e eles. A tela do computador aí ao lado ainda trazia uma superfície espelhada pra que cada um visse seu próprio rosto. A “web 2.0″ é o que criou isso. Pra quem ainda acha essa idéia confusa de entender, o difícil é explicar. A coisa toda é tão simples e palpável que parece até idiota. Youtube, MySpace, blogs, Flickr´s e Slide são só algumas das ferramentas que usamos diariamente pra usar e abusar desse espaço virtual. Ninguém passa um dia sem olhar o seu inbox, mandar um torpedinho ou baixar um mp3 novo. Ainda não entendeu? Essa nova web é ativa e não passiva. Por isso “You” é o nome do cara. Você é quem tá absorvendo e gerando conhecimento a cada clique. Bote a roda pra girar, babe. Chega de ficar na decoreba quando existe o Google, desista do “Nevermind” quando vc pode descobrir uma neozelandesa de origem chinesa cantando pelo Bitcomet, leia pela primeira vez na vida o “Grande Sertão: Veredas”… em pdf. Vai lá! A internet grita pra vc: “- Vem ‘nimim’ que eu tô facinha!”
Vem ‘nimim’ que eu tô facinha! – Turismo Antropológico
Eu sei que vocês andam aí. Eu sei que vocês me lêem. Comentem. Se há algo de que um blog vive é dos comentários dos seus leitores. Participem, contestem, concordem, adicionem algo. Quero ver-vos a participar. Vocês foram a personalidade do ano da Time Magazine, mostrem porquê. Isto não é um grito desesperado por participação, apenas é um incentivo ao vosso feedback, como participantes activos deste mundo interactivo que é a Internet.
Comentários: Precisam-se – Teknologico
However, there were some bloggers that didn't buy the story at all. Be it because they do not feel included in the web 2.0 wave, or because they don't see the phenomenon as sufficiently broad, or even because they don't believe that most of “you!” are prepared to be in charge of creating valuable content.
Eu junto-me a Odete à lista das pessoas que recusam o prémio da revista Time: Person of the year. Eu não mereço, não tenho o perfil. Acho que este prémio deveria ir para as mãos de outra pessoa. Eu não entendo de HTML, não sei o que é Podcast, não falo francês, não sei usar o browse do ópera, não sei usar o myspace, não gosto do Bob Dylan, e verdade seja dita: não gosto de sexo durante a manhã. Pronto, falei. Obrigado à todos da revista mas recuso o galardão. Adeus e com licença.
Pessoa do Ano, eu? – Imigrante Sofre!
‘O troço não tem mesmo nenhuma lógica, a não ser escolher alguém em evidência no noticiário para vender revista, muita revista. Responda rápido: o que rende maior tiragem, uma capa com Hu Jintao ou essa que chegou às bancas com espelho e tudo na ilustração para refletir “você” no lugar da Personalidade do Ano? Não vejo nada de errado na estratégia da “Time”, eu mesmo já inventei coisas piores para garantir meu emprego. O que me preocupa – e muito – é o discurso sobre o qual tal estratégia de marketing está montada. Essa história de dizer que o leitor venceu o jornalismo e assumiu o comando dos meios de comunicação modernos – “Você, e não nós, está transformando a era da informação”, afirma o editor da “Time” –, essa idéia de dar voz a quem não tem o que dizer, de entregar as ferramentas de produção a quem não sabe fazer, dá nisso: ninguém fez nada que mereça destaque em 2006. Destaca-se, então, a possibilidade de fazer. Vamos lá, qualquer estúpido é capaz’. por Tutty Vasquez
Você, seu Zé Ninguém! – O malfazejo
A revista Time fez uma escolha bizarra para personagem do ano 2006. Escolheu-nos a nós, internautas, pela nossa prazenteira actividade, justificando com o exemplo dos autores do famoso YouTube que souberam vencer num mercado asfixiado pelas grandes empresas de inovação tecnológica como a Microsoft ou o Google. Ora, nem vale a pena estar aqui a explicar quão singular é o caso do YouTube (que foi comprado pelo Google) para desconfiar do exagero de premiar toda uma «geração» pela sua incontornável adaptação aos tempos em que vive (informação, intertet, etc), a maior parte atingindo obviamente pequenos logros meramente pessoais e massajadores do ego. Isto porque a escolha da revista Time tem muito mais sentido quando sabemos que numa votação online os leitores da revista preferiram para personagem do ano o controverso Hugo Chávez (35%) seguido pelo presidente do Irão (21%). Assim, a revista que escolheu sabiamente Hitler para personalidade do ano de 1939 soube contornar o evidente incómodo de fazer a escolha óbvia este ano, atingindo com uma airosa e patética operação de charme (hi-hó) o seu público que, com a fresquinha medalha ao peito jamais duvidará da imparcialidade do periódico.
You – Matarbustos
Indeed, the loudest noise over the choice of ‘You’ erupted as bloggers spread the information that the online poll on Time's website was easily won by Hugo Chavez. The contradiction was exposed and debated during the week as more bloggers became aware of the situation.
O problema é que os tais «utilizadores da Internet» i. e., nós, os que tivemos conhecimento que havia uma votação no site da revista, fomos lá votar no … Hugo Chavez. Eu também, e a minha mulher também. Provavelmente muitos de vós também, e em muitos países sucedeu a mesma coisa. Assim, quando chegou ao dia de fechar a votação, Hugo Chavez ganhou com 36% dos votos, seguido do Presidente do Irão Mahmoud Ahmadinejad com 21% dos votos. Ou seja: agora vamos todos fingir que a votação no site nem sequer era importante, e para ajudar a besuntar a areia nos olhos do pessoal, elegemo-los para Personalidade do Ano.
Revista Time: Vamos todos fingir que Hugo Chavez não ganhou – Abruzolhos
Errata: Hugo Chavez é a personalidade do ano 2006 – Tiago Dória
Y es que todos los grandes medios se coordinan para negar que son ellos los que poseen el control de la información, y para intentar convencernos que ya hemos llegado a la cumbre de la democracia ciudadana gracias a nuestro ordenador y nuestra suscripción a una conexión de Internet. Y tienen la obscenidad de hacerlo argumentando una elección que está falseada contra el criterio de esa misma comunidad a la que nombran la más poderosa del año.
El cinismo de la revista Time – Opinion – Ministerio de Comunicación e Información
The episode offers a good indication of the problems that the traditional media will face while trying to adapt to empowered users. The transition will surely demand a new approach, which appears to be in early emergent stages but has not achieved maturity at this time.
A Time pagou o preço da socialização da Web, porque na medida em que se abre a comporta da participação popular é impossivel prever o que acontecerá porque os veículos de comunicação perderam o contato com o público e relutam em reconhecer esta distanciamento, como mostraram vários comentários postados pelos leitores do Código Aberto. A votação obtida por Chavez foi o resultado de uma campanha de varios blogueiros e grupos políticos dentro e fora dos Estados Unidos, como pode ser visto em blogs como o Canadian Observer . Este é apenas um exemplo, existem outros. Cientificamente, as pesquisas online estão longe de serem qualificadas como um espelho fiel da realidade. Elas no máximo podem funcionar como uma janela através da qual um segmento do público pode expressar sua opinião. Mas já que a Time decidiu usa-la, o mínimo que poderia fazer era publicar o resultado, e não oculta-lo num link , que só se tornou conhecido porque os blogueiros de esquerda o divulgaram. Mas o problema é mais amplo do que um erro editorial ou uma pisada de bola política. O episódio lança uma nova luz sobre os dilemas da imprensa ao defrontar-se com as consequências da Web 2.0. A transformação do cidadão comum em parceiro dos profissionais no processo da informação está apenas começando e provavelmente ainda haverá muitas outras surpresas.
Chavez, Time, e o personagem do ano – Código Aberto
Impressiona que a escolha do internauta como “personagem do ano” não tenha dito nada à publicação americana sobre sua conduta de omitir o verdadeiro resultado do “concurso” por não ter gostado desse resultado. Vai demorar talvez alguns anos, ainda, para a grande mídia se dar conta de que a casa caiu, ou seja, de que a internet pôs fim ao período de séculos durante os quais o cidadão comum permanecia amordaçado diante da imprensa. Hoje, em qualquer parte do mundo, o mais humilde dos cidadãos pode ir a uma lan house, pagar US$ 1 e “falar” para centenas, milhares de pessoas. Ninguém poderá editar sua manifestação. Ninguém poderá controlar o que dirá. Para o bem e para o mal. E, no que tange o mal que possa advir dessa nova situação, ele sempre será um preço pequeno a pagar pela total liberdade de pensamento que a internet permitiu ao homem contemporâneo.
Auto-destruição da mídia – Desabafo Brasil

author: Jose Murilo


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Mexico: Five Best Viral Videos · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Arcos highlights the five best “viral videos” of the year.


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

Chxta's World discusses the tragedy that claimed more that 200 lives in Nigeria, “Concerning the avoidable tragedy that played out in Abule-Egba, it is pertinent to note that there are many factors involved, and all of them are/were totally avoidable. I will like to point some of these factors out and maybe ask some questions that need answers, or attempt to make some points that we need to think about.”


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Rep. of Congo: Allegations of Illegal Arrests  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Pangolin posts a letter explaining (Fr) that Sargeant Mouele and two other members of the military have been arrested and detained in the Republic of Congo without the due process mandated by the Congolese constitution of 2002. The letter alleges many violations of due process including: actions by authorities that denote the absence of the presumption of innocence, the disappearance of crucial interrogation transcripts and  the torture of one of the detainees. The letter concludes: “There are many worries and bad intentions in the evolution of this affair. I am worried.” Sargeant Mouele was arrested November 17.


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Russia: Kalmyk Deportation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yet another sad anniversary from J. Otto Pohl: “Sixty-three years ago the Stalin regime deported the vast majority of the Kalmyk population from their historic homeland to Siberia.”


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Senegal: Irregularities in Voter Registration Records · Global Voices
Alice Backer

In anticipation of the upcoming presidential election, Blog Politique du Senegal takes (Fr) a closer look at official voter registration numbers and finds that if the current numbers are to be believed, every single person of voting age in Senegal is registered. Says the blog: “It is hard to believe that all potential voters registered, especially when considering the multiple hurdles one must overcome to do so.” The blogger suspects multiple registrations.


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Serbia, USA: What Serbs Think About America · Global Voices
Ljubisa Bojic

In his blog post called “America is shaking”, Neven Andjelic shares his opinion on the United States (SRP):
This big country is shaking. A number of events have caused the current condition. None of them has anything to do with my arrival to Berkley four months ago when I first grounded the superpower. I kept refusing to visit America for years because of ideological [differences] […] as well as because of fear of flying which was a more dominant reason. Now, as I have conquered this phobia and some hundred of days on the American job, my impressions about this country, people and the rest of the dominated world are complete. I turned pessimistic. The way elites are ruling this country could hardly be found in any other part of the “free world.” They are inaccessible for the people on behalf of whom they govern. They use god as much as they can when talking, and old family as it once was is important almost as almighty. They have chosen a Muslim to the American congress, but we have to wait a bit for the open atheist to be elected there. In the meantime, evangelistic leaders and reborn Christians are increasing the number of their followers by using flammable speeches against all other options including homosexual people […].
Somehow everything looks hypocritical in America. Patriotism seems to get the same echo although it appears to be a universal feature of ideological love towards the homeland. When you use these ingredients, you get some kind of ideology stew with result of having George W. Bush in the White House. Final outcome could be felt all around the world.
Average American needed six years of life under that kind of rule to realize that government isn’t the best one for him or for the rest of humanity. How happy liberal Americans were when they barely (this “barely” has to be highlighted) won both houses of congress. After six years, there is a chance to control Bush and others if the Democrats don’t fail the expectations which could happen easily. They are already more cautious when giving statements for the media, but then we take a look from a wider perspective, what is the major difference. Let me paraphrase Yasser Arafat’s statement in which he compared two main Israeli politicians – in essence, the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is similar to the difference between Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. He forgot to mention that both of these soft drinks are unhealthy.
Once as I formed my attitude towards America, I looked at the other side. How many people feel ashamed about their national choice both in the year 2000 as well as four years later [like Serbs]. Let's neglect vote count in Florida as almost 60 million of Americans turned out to be very foolish […]. The other America which counts [votes] is almost equally foolish; they just don’t possess power to vote them out. They make pretty funny t-shirts [these days], they sell calendars which count down the rest of the small Bush’s days in office […]
It all appears pretty vivid and funny, but the essence of it all is that power is held by the elites attempting to satisfy their own interests. The Democrats are a bit better than the Republicans, but still, the world remains in great danger [from them all].
Why all these words [from me]. Well, except that they got harmful global policies, that their home policies often neglect those in greatest need, that they have terrible health care system, this country is really great. A few nights ago, an earthquake struck the area where I live. After five minutes of panic which I experienced in front of my house, I returned inside to check if there was any report about what happened accessible online. I found precise location of epicenter, exact time when the earth started shaking, altitude and the strength. I was shocked because this is America as well. This is the country of able people, cutting-edge technology, this is the land of opportunity. They can do anything if there is a desire, almost anything. That’s why I am so scared.
Neven’s statement about the USA’s elite sparks a discussion.
Taska Dana says:
I know one country which is not ruled by elite… Serbia…))) […]
[…]
America is the greatest fair in the world… everything is so big there, including fairs… and there are plenty of all kind of traders… you should go to China or India… It's even crazier there…
Nikola Vitas:
It appearas to me that you spotted a few hard issues for America: her attitude towards religion, the influence of corporations, the lack of freedom to choice which turns down the whole democracy story. If you have some spare time it would be interesting to dedicate a whole blog to the impact that the pharmaceutical industry has [on the society of this nation].
[…] While I write this I can hear the sounds of [Leonard Cohen's song] that goes like this:
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A…
Znikolic:
Neven, four months is pretty short time. You may realize four years from now that this poll was decided by religious leaders as they stood by not giving their support to the Republicans. You can already see the price of this behavior with the moderate statements from the winning team (the Democrats), and you will be able to see this in the following months and years.
America is founded by the people who left their own country because of their religious beliefs. Religion is therefore inscripted deeply within the American society.
The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
American congress resolution from the year of 2000: “Whereas the national motto of the United States is ‘In God we trust'; … Whereas nearly every criminal law on the books can be traced to some religious principle or inspiration … Whereas the national motto recognizes the historical fact that our Nation was believed to have been founded ‘under God'…”
A local law in the state of Texas from the year of 2003: “Sec. 1.004. DISPLAY OF NATIONAL MOTTO. A public elementary or secondary school or an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003 may display the United States national motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ in each classroom, auditorium, and cafeteria.”
As all the statistics data tell us that Americans are dedicated to religion much more than citizens of any other developed nation. On the other hand, Americans are very tolerant when it comes to religious liberties and convictions than any other developed nation.
The same way America used to present political ideas of freedom and democracy, products like Coca Cola and jeans, America will offer her conservative but pragmatic and tolerant religiosity to the world.

author: Ljubisa Bojic


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Some lessons about blog attacks in the spanish-language blogosphere · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

Spanish version here: Algunas enseñanzas sobre los ataques a blogs
In the last weeks there have been a series of quite similar attacks to popular blogs in Spanish. The series began at the immensely popular Chilean tech blog FayerWayer [ES], which not only was hacked, but also got all of its posts and comments deleted, and all that was left was a pretty sour manifesto against Leo Prieto [ES], the site's creator. The blog had been backed up a few weeks prior, so it was mostly the comments which got lost. The posts, in some cases, were manually recovered. Next was Mariano Amartino's Denken Uber [ES]. In this case – despite having all his posts deleted – nothing big happened, except for a few hours offline status, since his hosting provider automatically saves copies of the database and it only needed to restablish a copy. Finally, the most serious case was that of Cronicas Moviles [ES], a site mainly dedicated to publishing video interviews. In this case – because it was hosted in Blogger – there was no backup at all, and all of its published contents was lost.
Despite the similarities of these acts – accessing the blog's administration interface in an unauthorized way and deleting all of its posts – there's no clue that indicates they were done by the same person. But it's surprising to see the extreme cruelty of these people trying to ruin many years of work. At the same time, it displays a clear fact: keeping a blog is not an easy task, and it forces us to follow certain basic routines. Among them, to modify our password frequently, change the name of some folders of access to the administration interface, and particularly, make back ups of the database or posts we've published, in case we're using some free blog publication site. All of these things, of course, take time. And the worst thing is we have to use more of our (little) time to maintain our blogs than to write on them.

author: Jorge Gobbi


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Tahiti: A New President for Christmas · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Blogger Jiriki says (Fr) Tahiti got a special present for Christmas: a new President, Gaston Tong Sang. The blogger links to a profile of the new President indicating that he is an engineer who has held various minister posts in the Tahitian government since 1986. He was born in Bora Bora in 1949 and is married with 2 children.


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Tanzania: president is a servant · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Jaduong Metty writes a letter to the president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, “Given your recent comments during an exclusive interview with the Guardian, in which you gave the following comment: “ British Prime Minister Tony Blair has invited me on January 16 to visit London. Should I say I am not going to meet him because there are Tanzanians complaining about my trips outside the country?”, I would just remind you to watch your mouth and know your obligations.”


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The Blogoma backs Nichane while the major Moroccan Media ignore it · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

Morocco is celebrating Eid ul Adha next Sunday, so Merry Eid from the Moroccan Blogosphere(Blogoma).
Let's joke about…Baby!
The controversy over Nichane continues its escalation. Actually, and according to Farid it's virtually escalating since only the Moroccan blogs are concerned whith no major Media support(Fr).
The view from Fez writes about the “disturbing” silence off the major Moroccan media.
A very well coordinated campaign by conservative forces has been pushing for the baning of the satirical journal Nichane. Disturbingly a number of journalist “fellow-travellers” decided to abandon ethics and principals and join the campaign. Freedom of the press should be a non-negotiable, but for some it appears that at the first sniff of trouble they opted for self-interest. Thus they fueled the traditionalist camp and gave no support to the government who found itself in a difficult position caught between the highly popular reforms on one hand and the rising tide of political Islam on the other.
Eatbees posts the petition to defend Nichane which he considers “not just a statement of support for Nichane, but a call to change the laws governing the press in Morocco.”
Foulla asks her readers  to react “wisely” to this unexpected situation.
You may not agree with the approach The Magazine Nichane choose to cover the subject, but I'm sure you do believe censorship is not the solution . Nor is throwing a bold and talented writer to jail !
Samir posts Mohamed Ashab‘s article about the controversy.
However, the banning of a newspaper could have serious impacts on the country's records regarding human rights, and freedom of expression. This raises serious problematic issues about the freedom of the press: where it starts and where it ends?
You can read all the blogs about the ban of Nichane in Le magazine des blogs au Maroc (Fr).
The blank day
Bloggers from Tunisia decided to protest against the censorship of some tunisian blogs. Many Moroccan bloggers answered the tunisian call and left their “e-paper” blank on Monday the 25th.
eatbees wrote an interesting piece about it, wondering what would be the most efficient way to express opposition to censorship.
The ones and the others
Ms Hjiouj wonders(Ar) if Mecca can be independant of KSA while Issam complains from the sexism of some Moroccan women!(Fr)
Rayhane posts about the new Moroccan rap star BIGG  while antiphon regrets the fading(Fr) of Mohamed Rouicha(Fr), a star of the Moroccan folk music.
Rafiq addarb posts a review about Carter's new book Palestine Peace not Apartheid(Ar) while Said Ben Jebly reminds his readers of Mehdi Ben Barka(Ar).
In a musical footnote I urge you to visit Amine and Loula and enjoy their music boxes.

author: Farah Kinani


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Trinidad, Guyana, South Africa: Book talk · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

85-year old Guyanese writer Wilson Harris has a new novel and Nobel prize-winning South African novelist Nadine Gordimer's estranged biographer is half-Trinidadian, reports Jeremy Taylor, who also reveals his favourite Caribbean novels of 2006.


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Ukraine: Socialists Against Prosecutor General · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes reports on the confrontation between Ukrainian socialists and the Prosecutor General's office.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Venezuela: Elizabeth Schön and God · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Guillermo Parra translates a piece by Ana María Hernández G. about the latest book by Venezuelan poet Elizabeth Schön.


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Venezuela: The best Christmas music you’ve never heard of · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“There were two very notable things about Christmas in Zulia that I immediately became aware of: the temperature (around 90 degrees) and La Gaita Zuliana,” writes Jennifer Woodard Maderazo about the Christmas protest songs of Venezuela's Zulia state.


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Africa 2.0: Important New Sites · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Africa 2.0 shares (Fr) two new links: Makossa TV, a self-described media center for African artists and Ouestaf, a West African news site.


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Africa: James Brown and Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Blake Lambert, blogging at Sub-Saharan Africa Roundtable, writes about James Brown's connection to Africa, “Yet JB’s best-known visit to the continent was in 1974 when he performed at a concert as part of the famous “rumble in the jungle” in Kinshasa. Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman in one of the most famous boxing matches of the 20th century.”


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Bahamas: Police brutality · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Lynn Sweeting calls for an immediate investigation into police brutality in the Bahamas: “I call on the police force to recognize the enormity of this crisis in their ranks, and to assume that most men and women applying to the college are the products of violent homes, and to make extensive psychological evaluation a part of the selection process for new recruits. . . .“


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Burkina Faso: army-police dispute · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Head Heeb asks whether we are experiencing another Sahel domino: “As the year draws to a close, another Sahelian country is dealing with growing unrest. This time, the warning signs are coming from Burkina Faso, where a simmering army-police dispute erupted into pitched battles on the streets of the capital…”


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China: Cops and bikers · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Guangzhou, China's third largest city just a few hours north of Hong Kong, is the last major city to do away with motorbikes, effective January 1, 2007, in a move aimed at tackling pollution, traffic congestion and, more seriously, the high levels of street crime for which Guangzhou and a small number of its estimated 100,000 motorbike drivers are nationally known.
Ask almost anyone in China and they'll tell you a story they've heard about someone who was robbed or worse near Guangzhou's central train station, where most of the criminal motorbike drivers tend to hang out. Uploaded to Sina.com's blog page today is a series of video clips shot across the street from and around that train station. Footage seems to have been shot by police themselves, was uploaded by a user calling herself Feever, and shows several drive-by robberies in action, a mid-freeway chase halfway through, renegade motorbikers resisting arrest and how municipal police work to catch them:
[Note to viewers outside China: this video may be unviewable (without a proxy server) until the underwater cables damaged in the recent earthquake near Taiwan are repaired.]
Intro: 2:00 am, Guangzhou
Inner Ring Road viaduct, train station section
00:20
“A female passenger is robbed by a ‘grab and run’ ‘flying bike thief'”
00:46 “Another female passenger is dragged over twenty meters on the ground by a ‘flying bike thief'”
01:11 “After a violent beating, the purse is run off with”
04:04 “Commander: tell them to move now”
04:05 “Act now!”
04:24 “Night arrest of viaduct ‘flying bike thieves'”
04:35 “Commander: seal the road! Seal the road!”
05:56 “Commander: seize all motorbikes!”
05:58 “Don't let a single one go!”
06:00 “All motorbikes and pedestrians must be searched!”
06:03 “None of the vehicles are to be let go.”
07:00 “Don't move! “Get him quick!”
07:05 “Don't run!”
08:12 “Suspect Huang Mou”
End


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Cuba: Christmas traditions · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Cuba-based blogger Kaloian Santos Cabrera posts an excerpt from a book on traditional Christmas observances in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, plus some photos.


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Dominica: Respect the Caribbean consumer · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Kenny Green of Dominica berates multinational companies for failing to create advertising and marketing campaigns that specifically target the Caribbean consumer, reserving some praise for Irish telecoms services provider Digicel: “I would love to see some multinational, be it LG or Pepsi or Starbucks or someone credible actually show Digicel type interest in dominating a product or service in this region. They'd be surprised by both the related kickback into their ethnic market perceptions (and revenue) in first world markets and also the kind of revenue they can make from intelligent delivery of quality to Caribbean people.”


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Haiti: Competition for AA on Miami-Port-au-Prince  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Jojo of Collectif Haiti de Provence is happy (Fr) that Spirit Airlines  is offering a Miami-Port-au-Prince flight in addition to American Airlines’ but cautions: “Spirit Airlines is welcome so long as it doesn't align itself to the detriment of the public with American Airlines’ practices. $370 for a 2 hour flight is prohibitive and abusive. In off-peak season, it is possible to pay less to cross the Atlantic … May this be the end … of the American Airlines monopoly.”


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Indonesia: Internet Outage and Flood in Aceh · Global Voices
A. Fatih Syuhud

There is nothing worse for Indonesian bloggers in particular around the new year eve but to see the sudden temporary “demise” of internet connection.
The cause as reported by Budi Putra, , Sani Asy'ari and Enda Nasution is “the strong quake off Taiwan’s coast on December 26 damaged submarine cables and severely disrupted telecom links in the East, Southeast and South Asia.”
That makes almost 90 percent of Indonesia's internet connection disfunctional or very slow. According to Yulian Firdaus, quoting from a portal media, the recovery could take “as long as as one month” during which Indonesian online activities will witness the lowest traffic ever. Certainly one month, if it's true, a way too much for an internet addicts like Enda Nasution who wonders whether this is what end of days fell like.
Some Indonesian bloggers who are fortunate enough to still have internet connection like Willy Sudiarto Raharjo, still complains over how slow the connection is. Not to say how low the traffic to his blog could be.
Flood in Aceh
Exactly two years after the Tsunami, one of the biggest natural disaster ever happened, Aceh again has to face another natural calamity. Although it's not as big as Tsunami, the loss and severe it afflicts to the Acehnese is unbearable.
70,000 people has been evacuated or are fleeing home taking refuge in neighboring area. About 60 people dead.
So much to “celebrate” a New Year 2007 for Indonesian in general and Indonesian bloggers in particular.

author: A. Fatih Syuhud


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Iran:Ahmadinejad after defeat in Council of City Election · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Pro Ahmadinejad's forces got defeated in city council election. Digital Kelachinkov analysed the outcome of this defeat. He says“Populist-fundamentalist” is probably the best term for describing Ahmadinejad and his group. This group has a theoretic wing and also a populist one recent defeat of their supporters in the elections may result in weakening the populist side and strengthening the theoretic one. This means the “carriers of God’s message” may start to forget “to save people’s soul” and less strive at “winning the nation’s heart”[Fa].


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Iran:Internet Sites in Iran · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

FaryadNameh says blogging has become popular in Iran due to the lack of free media, but internet,in general, has not been really developed in country.The blogger says it is rare that we find an institution in country with an active website[Fa]. The blogger adds even very popular sport clubs don't pay attention to their sites.


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Iran:Sleepless Dictators · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Futurama says if you listen to one of Saparmurat Niyazov's, former Turkmenistan President, speech, you find out he had never thought about his death. The blogger says the day of Niyazov's death, all dictators in the world were sleepless[Fa].


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Kazakhstan: where are we going to be in 15 years?  · Global Voices
Leila Tanayeva

15 years ago we came into existence. I mean – we existed before, but no one knew. 15 years ago after the 1991 August putsch in Moscow, and followed collapse of the Soviet Union, new Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, came into existence for the rest of the world (ok, for some it still exists only in Borat's film!).
15 years ago we were different: we had huge lines to the shops that had nothing to sell, we experienced electricity black-outs, lack of heating, state monopoly on everything and huge  inflation.
15 years have changed us: we now have polite salespeople in Gucci stores, we go to corporate parties with our colleagues from multinationals, and we travel around the world (that is when we are asked about Borat's film!).
What are we going to become in 15 years? It is difficult to give a meaningful forecast even for the nearest future. Authoritarian government, oil-dependent economy, rising nationalism and factors as unexpected as the death of a Turkmen president over the border – complicate the forecast.
James of neweurasia had an idea of a cross-blog survey of what is the region going to look like in 15 years. He decided to compile the stories, analysis and surveys by English-language bloggers interested in the region, and by Russian-language local bloggers. Five different people from Kazakhstan wrote their essays about the country's future – fun, fantastic and serious, with or without them: Adam, Marat, Ksenia, Slavoraya, and Vitaly (RU). You can read the summary of the posts and the translation of the most interesting parts of them after the jump.
Adam Kesher. 2021: An Eternal Land of Hopes.
“2021. I am a free citizen of a free country, looking back at my homeland and seeing that nothing had changed. It is still a land of hopes. When I was a Soviet child, it was a country of virgin lands and a cosmodrome – and had everything in front of it. In the 1990s, it was a new state, where everyone was looking forward to future because the present could not have been worse. In the beginning of the 21 century, the aspirations split, mainly due to financial differences – those in the middle were waiting for democracy and money, poor were waiting for money and democracy, and oil-riches – for money, without democracy”.
Adam predicts that after the death of the first president, most of his team would be gone, and only his party would remain. Democratic changes would not happen though: the opposition would be blocked from participation in it (and gracefully abstain from investigation of the current regime's crimes) and the “family” would quickly realise that it would not want to spend money and efforts for a fair game. “And when the “relatives” realised they it would be difficult to agree with the governors about the amount of votes in each region, when they realised that if the West managed to break the tradition of the elections they were used to, it would be even more difficult to agree with the one fairly chosen – each of them decided to act before one's enemy acted.”
“That is when the series of mini-coups would start, with characters changing more often than the the USSR secretaries in the 1980s. Each new character would be supported, be it by secret services, army, business, or intelligentsia. Position of an official, academic or a deputy would cost a  lot – in monetary terms, of course. Each new character would repeat – just like a son of slain Russian emperor Pavel – “everything would be just like during papa's rule”. The people would watch amused and quiet, following the ingrained principles of the fisrt president: “It's OK As Long As There Is No War” and “Those Who Compete with Those in Power Are Even Worse”.
Very soon all the relatives would end up in prison, dead or abroad. That is when the new leaders of a new generation would appear: the true populists and politicians. The nationalisation of resources, anti-Chinese sentiments, militarism and chauvinism – would be their slogans. They would not be afraid of fair elections. That, at least, would be an advantage – after 30 years of independence.”
“I hope that political competition – even if the choice is between the extreme left and the extreme right – would never happen other than on fair elections, in parliamentary debates, newspapers, TV screens and peaceful demonstrations. I hope that people would stop dying of doctors’ mistakes and education would seize being an annoying waste of money for getting a Diploma. That would again be a Land of Hopes. Though it would, of course, be easier to think so for me, a free citizen of a free European country, than for my countrymen back home”, writes Adam.
Marat. Kazakhstan-2021 or Everything is Up in the Air.
Bad option 1: China invades Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan becomes a battlefield and nuclear weapon is applied. Then Marat's day would look like this: “Big Yhh slowly got up. His name used to be Marat – he forgot about it. His current life did not involve complexities. “Rat-people from Ainabulak have gone crazy”, thought Big Yhh, “Should kill couple of those, so that that they do not violate the district borders, plus they make a great “kazy“.
Bad option 2: Kazakhstan is torn by a fight with the terrorist groups of Central Asia and Xingjan. “Five murdered militants were lying on the floor of destructed building. Marat was banging on the heads of the four hostages. He saw a movement on the back of his head: Honey, I told you, you should target kidneys!”.
Finally, a likely option: Oil would lose its position due to development of new energy sources: bioethanol, coleseed oil and electric batteries. Kazakhstan will continue maintaining good relations with China through investments and counterfeiting the US and the Islamic world. Strong business links and cultural exchange would help Kazakhstan prevent cooling relations with Russia. Political system would change: the country would turn into Parliamentary republic, with Nazarbayev as a head of Otan party that would control the Parliament. All clans, groups and other forces would be represented in power and the balance of interests would be preserved. There would be more freedoms, though education would stagnate. However, increased stidy abroad and special training centres at companies would help keeping it up. Media would serve different power groups, the languages would share the spheres of use: English would become a language of technology and culture, Kazakh and Russian would both be languages of every day use, culture and public service. Regions beyond Almaty and Astana would develop: Aktyubinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Pavlodar and Shymkent would prosper. Rural areas and other regions though would decline.
Then, Marat's typical day in 2021 would look like this: “Marat got up at 8. It was useless to get up earlier – despite numerous new roads and metro, the number of cars in Almaty grew. “Regional financial center, damn it!”, thought Marat and activated his computer. The reports showed that the price of his investment portfolio stayed on the same level – the oil prices were stable for the last few years. “I should have bought the “Intel” shares – they seem to be settling for long here. Where is the juice! Since my wife left for Dushanbe to manage the Turan Alem Bank micro-district project with the Chinese, the house is a mess!”. Grumpy, Marat was going around the house, while the “clever house” was launching one system of life support after another. The TV darkly reported on Russia's protests against American military bases in Moldova, suppression of another Islamic militants group in Ferghana valley by the SOC forces and appointment of a new government in Kazakhstan…
Ksenia. Ekibastuz-2021: Aspirations of a young couple.
“Adil – is a simple Kazakh guy, he works at the construction of the power station 3 and lives in a city with his girlfriend Ami. Ami came from China with her parents, who also work at the construction. They got a flat from the state, and when Ami and Adil get married and have a child, they will get another flat and a good allowance. This comes as part of the state program on improvement of demographic situation and birth rate.” Adil and Ami would like walking around the old city, with its botanic gardens, though it would not be safe at times because of nationalist youth who would not warm up to migrants from China. The punishment for hate crimes though would be harsh, continues Ksenia. Another problem of the old city would be a network of illegal casinos, hosted at the private accommodation of the entrepreneurs. Adil would ride a bicycle, as many other people would do, since the prices to European cars would increase after the ban of right-hand-drive cars. Ami would dream of opening up her own boutique, which would be only possible now to do in a new supermarket, as the small shops would be forced to close down.
Slavoyara. Pavlodar-2021: Visiting home city after immigration.
“2021. Me and my husband are the citizens of another country, however, our home country is calling us, though our past memories are difficult to combine with the modern look of Pavlodar … My children do not speak Kazakh, I myself forgot it long ago, though I used to speak it fluently. As everyone, I was afraid that all the book-keeping would be transferred to Kazakh 15 years ago… There are still Russians in Pavlodar. All children speak Kazakh, including the Russian kids. Wonderful… I see that the government had enough intelligence and resources to solve the language issue… When we were approaching the city, I saw the smoking chimneys of the aluminium factory. It became bigger. Oil and chemical factory, on the other hand, was closed down recently: old equipment did not let it work on the world level, and management did not invest into its renewal”.
Vitaly: Kazakhstan 2021: Youth, the Optimistic and a Pessimistic Outlooks
“Murat Abdumenov, Director of the South-Kazakhstan regional affiliate of Youth Congress thinks that the desire to solve current economic issues attracts the youth into politics”. The youth organizations, wrote Vitaly, would develop a new law on state youth policies, which would amend the drawbacks of the one adopted in 2004. Dariga Nazarbayeva agrees is ready to support it. How the youth policies are managed now will determine the future development of the country.
Optimistic view: Kazakhstan would achieve its long-term priority goals, as defined by Nazarbayev in his 2030 strategy: national security, provided by friendly relations with neighbouring countries and balanced policies having vast resources. Internal political stability would be provided by the continuation of the President's course on interethnic piece and more young people in the Government. The country would have a stable economic growth due to foreign investments, GDP growth of 10% per year, state anti-monopolist policies and non-interference with private sphere. The HIV crisis in Shymkent would teach the government a lesson, and health, education and well-being would be improved. The state would ban the advertisement of alcohol and increase taxes for tobacco and alcohol, and switch to ecologically friendly ways of production. The infrastructure and public service would be improved with the help of young professionals, who would study abroad with the presidential scholarship and come back to work for the state.
Pessimistic forecast: Oil production would decrease and the remaining energy deposits would belong to Chinese and American companies. It turns out that the 2030 Development Strategy was drafted not by Nazarbayev, but by James Giffen, and its final goal was to let the United States manage Kazakhstan like a business-corporation. Private property would disappear; instead, several groups of oligarchs, who pressure business through state bodies, share the markets: Aliev-Nazarbayeva, Timur Kulibaev's group, a group of Nurzhan Subhanberdinov (Kazkommertsbank), a trio of Mashkevich-Shodiev-Ibragimov (Eurasian group). The state would further criminalise: the murders of the opposition figures and the “Kazakhgate” continue. The state would turn into one-party totalitarian regime: the merger of Otan and Asar could prove this point. There is a rumour that the opposition is managed by the state: Nazarbayev is interested in having a weak, artificial and managed movement to prevent the real social movements. Media would turn into propaganda tools and opposition would be stifled. People would not be able to buy lands: now if one wants to purchase land, they see that it is already being sold, no one knows to whom. Russian cultural influence would have a negative effect on Kazakh language development.
Next President? Vitaly tries Rakhat Aliev's candidature. Being married to Dariga Nazarbayeva, Rakhat has a strong influence in politics, media and finances, and they could both manage the country with combined influence and common interests. Another option – a leader of one of the financial groups in Kazakhstan, who now influence the political life. They would want to see their own person in power. And the third option, suggested by Vitaly, would be an unknown successor of Nazarbayev. This option would be possible if the status of the “family” and the financial groups is preserved.

author: Leila Tanayeva


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Romania: A Fire · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Brasov fire department ignores a minor fire, local residents have to cope on their own, Romerican reports: “Without the help of paid city officials, they began dismantling burning objects from the fire with their bare hands and rolling each hot item in the dirt until the flames subsided. Then, they’d return again and again to repeat the process. Ironically smoking cigarettes all the while.”


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Russia: A Typical New Year’s · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare guides the readers through a typical New Year's celebration in Russia (a ten-day affair, by the way!) Happy New Year, everyone!


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Russia: More On Litvinenko’s Death · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Aleksandr Litvinenko's case is probably off everyone's radars by now, but Sean's Russia Blog offers a latest news roundup.


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Somalia: Islamists should be stopped · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Somalia Islamists should be stopped, writes Bashir Goth, “Somalia for Somalis! Let them run their country as they please. Easy words to say but difficult to accept when it means beheading people for not praying five times a day, chopping hands of those who steal to stay alive in a country where mere survival is a lifelong ambition.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Somalia/Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s invasion a good idea? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Writing about Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia, Ethan Zuckerman asks, “Does anyone outside of the Bush and Zenawi administrations think this was a good idea?”


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South Africa: South African marketing podcast · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Mike Stopforth announces the launch of Amplitude: “Dave Duarte and I would like to ‘officially’ announce the launch of Amplitude – A New Marketing Podcast for South Africans (by South Africans).”


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The Balkans: EU Enlargement · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Did Romania and Bulgaria manage “to get on the last train to Europe” or will the EU enlargement continue? More at Neretva River.


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The Balkans: Main 2006 Stories · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ed of Balkan Baby lists the most important regional stories of 2006: “Slovenia moves towards Eurozone,” “Croatia and Serbia Disappoint at World Cup,” “Croatia Stop-Start its way towards EU,” etc.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Corporate responsibility initiative · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Karel McIntosh reports that a chamber of commerce in Trinidad has become the first indigenous signatory to United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative.


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Trinidad & Tobago: In praise of coconut bake · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Trinifood sings the praises of the “simple, unleavened bread” known in Trinidad and Tobago as coconut bake, and posts a recipe.


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Uzbekistan: Russia Moves In · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, Kamron discusses Uzbekistan's decision to allow Russian military planes to land at the Navoi airport, saying that the government is filling the vacuum left by the expulsion of the US Air Force last year.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Zimbabwe: Saddam’s lesson for Mugabe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The Beardedman posts links and commentary about the latest political news in Zimbabwe, “I watch the events surrounding the condemned ex-dictator of Iraq with interest. Maybe Mugabe should ‘look East’ – but not as far as he has been doing. Then, perhaps, he might realise what he has done to his own people does hold consequences…”


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Haiti: Government’s Tougher Stance on Insecurity · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reacting to a Christmas speech by Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis announcing a tougher stance on gang-driven kidnappings, Deky Lakyel from Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr):  “Not so long ago the stance was still to negotiate with the bandits. Today the approach and the discourse are more a-propos to the nation's expectations. The thugs must be  tracked down on their turf.“

author: Alice Backer


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Malaysia: Failure in Disaster Management · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Opposition Malaysian politician Lim Kit Siang asks “why the authorities were caught off-guard despite the availability of sophisticated early-warning systems about the massive floods in the south of the country”. Southern states of Malaysia have seen record levels of rainfall and massive flooding in the last couple of weeks.


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Malaysia: Saddam’s Execution · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ktemoc comments on the execution of Saddam Hussein and calls the execution as “unnecessary” and is concerned about more violence. “The Iraqis would be better off locking up Saddam and throwing the key away.”