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Lusosphere: Reform in Portuguese Language Not Welcomed · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Described by Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac as “the last flower of Latium, wild and beautiful”, the Portuguese language is about to change. As of 1st January 2009, the reform of its spelling begins to be implemented in Brazil over a four year adaptation period until the new rules are completely enforced. The same rules will eventually be implemented in Portugal, where the changes will be phased during the next six years, and also in the other 6 countries where Portuguese is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe.
The latest Portuguese orthographic agreement was signed in 1990 by seven out of eight Portuguese speaking countries. It intends to unify the two current orthographic standards and was meant to go into effect after all signatory countries had ratified it. However, by the end of the decade only Brazil, Cape Verde, and Portugal had done so, although in Portugal the change was passed into law only in May 2008. Brazil, which has nearly 80% of the Portuguese speakers in the world, is the first to implement it.
The spelling changes will affect about 1.6% of the words in the European norm (also adopted in Africa) and 0.5% in the Brazilian spelling. Across the Lusophone world, many linguists, philologists, politicians, journalists, writers, translators – and of course  bloggers – do not quite understand the need for, or agree with, the international treaty meant to improve the language's international status through a single official orthography. The debate is a heated one, but most bloggers seem to be on the same side.
“A sign in both Chinese and Portuguese in Macau, China. Actually, “主教座堂辦公室” (in Chinese) or “Cartório Da Sé” (in Portuguese) means “The Office of the Cathedral.” By Wikimedia.
Starting with Portugal two petitions (1 and 2) collecting thousands of signatures calling for the suspension of the implementation are being evaluated by the National Assembly. There, the reform is perceived as a “abraziliament” of the language with no real advantage for the other countries. It is also claimed that the new spelling rules disagree with the way the Portuguese people pronounce words. A Portuguese citizen who has grown up in Macau, Ricardo José [pt] has taken an extreme decision:
Um país não é um hino ou um desenho numa bandeira. Um país é a sua língua e é a sua cultura.
E se um conjunto de políticos se arroga o direito de interferir na língua que é minha, contra aquilo que caracteriza a cultura dos cidadãos dum país, servindo interesses que não os dos portugueses, então repudio-os, porque já não são mais políticos de Portugal.
A partir de hoje e para sempre, se este acordo não tiver retrocesso, o meu voto será sempre público e será sempre o mesmo: votarei em branco.
In fact, for what has become known as Brazilian Portuguese, changes will be kept to a minimum, and some bloggers have adopted them already [pt]. However, the majority of people are not happy with the reform either. A doctor of the Portuguese language, Marcelo Leite [pt], for one, seems to agree with the views of the blogger above, adding that the reform was an agreement which has much more to do with political and economic interests than language issues.
Na verdade, fizemos a comunidade lusófona engolir a maioria das regras para se unificar em nome de uma unidade lingüística que, assim como o Godot, de Becket, fica sob uma árvore esperando. Podemos até escrever do mesmo jeito, mas o que nos faz tão distantes, tão distintos não está na grafia das palavras, mas em uma herança cultural que, fora a língua, nos separa por mais de um oceano. E acho que essa diferença é que é o legal da coisa.
Eugênio Costa Almeida [pt], from Angola, agrees with the Brazilian blogger that a game of power is at play and wonders how this reform can be implemented in language prolific Africa:
Como será que a CPLP vai descalçar esta bota, bem apertada, quando há países que ainda nem ratificaram a nova ortografia, como Angola e Moçambique, sendo que o primeiro, ao contrário de Moçambique e Guiné-Bissau, já tem quase mais falantes em português que nas próprias línguas nacionais.
Talking about Mozambique, Nyikiwa [pt] thought that the country should stop models that much of the time are not in line with their reality:
A questão do acordo ortográfico, quanto a mim mostra claramente que a população não é consultada, nem ouvida. A população apenas serve para votar. Na verdade quem ratifica os documentos quer a nível nacional, quer a nível internacional são os dirigentes, que ignoram o facto de haver diversas culturas e diversos comportamentos no seio de um povo que aparentemente é homogéneo, quiça entre povos de diferentes culturas e comportamentos? Julgo que está na hora de antes de se avançar para esse tipo de acordos, se ausculte o povo e se faça ouvir suas ideias.
“– Here's to the spelling reform!
– Poor thing, he is dyslexic and is ever so happy with the multiple spelling words. He says that he will never make a mistake again.” A cartoon against the agreement by Foram-se os Anéis.
Virgílio Brandão [pt], from Cape Verde, is not too happy either – the blogger also says that apart from Portugal and Brazil, the other Portuguese speaking countries had no say in the process – as if “these other speakers did not exist”:
Não existem senhores nem donos da língua; nem é preciso, em boa verdade, um acordo ortográfico como o que se tenta impor às comunidades falantes do português. Até porque, até me demonstrarem o contrário, a diversidade é um bem estimável.
É por essa razão – para não estarmos presos a um desejado e sub-reptício império da língua – que a língua cabo-verdiana deve ser implementada como língua de trabalho ao nível internacional. Se somos independentes, que o sejamos em tudo, caramba! Quem não tem coragem de fazer o que é preciso, que dê lugar a quem tenha. É, para os cabo-verdianos, uma questão bem mais importante do que aparentemente possa parecer.
Portuguese is a Romance language originating in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. During the Portuguese colonial empire, the language spanned around the world: from Brazil to Goa to Macau, in China, where it still is one of the official languages. Nowadays, Portuguese ranks 6th in a list of languages according to number of native speakers, which makes it one of the world's major languages, with an estimated 240 million speakers in virtually every continent. It is spoken by about 187 million people in South America, 17 million in Africa, 12 million in Europe, 2 million in North America, and 0.61 million in Asia.


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Pakistan: Bloggers Discussion Forum Launched · Global Voices
Rezwan

Teeth Maestro reports that a Discussion Forum has been relaunched in Pakistan to address the bloggers’ agenda. Here is the link of the forum http://bloggers.pk/forum.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Palestine: West Bank protests hindered by factional tension · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, what's going on in the West Bank? Bloggers report that there is enormous anger at the assault on Gaza, yet ongoing tension between political factions in some areas means that protesting publicly has not been easy.
Samuel Nichols, who blogs at SammerTime, is a American member of the Christian Peacemaker Team working in a village in the southern West Bank:
As you can probably imagine, the sentiment among Palestinians in the last days, is very emotional. People are in mourning, people are angry, people want to respond. … As I came into Hebron yesterday, many youth were throwing rocks, chanting, and burning tires in response to the massacres. Roads were blocked with stones and tire fires raged and youth paraded with Palestinian flags. The Israeli military was responding with live ammo, concussion grenades, and teargas. As I came into the Old City of Hebron, a kind gentlemen showed me an alleyway towards my house, which would avoid all the teargas. … Leaving Hebron today, the scene was very similar. One youth grabbed my arm and pulled me into an alleyway. Just as we rounded the corner, a sound grenade went out, scaring the hell out of me. I thanked him for this gesture, and he proceeded to ask where I was from, I said, “Ameerka.” Instantly I could tell that this wasn't a popular answer at the present moment. He asked me if I had said seen the pictures of babies killed in Gaza. He said that America is responsible for those dead babies. He told me that America needs to be destroyed. He demanded to know if his statements were true or false. “Haada mazbuut,” this is true, I said. He told all his friends around him that I was “Amreeki,” which garnered many grunts of disapproval. Another sound grenade went off nearby and I figured it was my time to leave.
[…]
As I boarded the bus to Bethlehem, where I change buses to go to Jerusalem, I got into another conversation with 3 men. One man on the bus looked remarkably like Yasser Arafat, and other men in the bus were giving this man a hard time and trying to get him to do an impersonation. … They then asked me where I was from. When I said America, they again asked about Gaza, if I had seen the pictures and the videos. They then asked what I was doing here. In my limited Arabic, I explained that I work near Yatta, in a village called Tuwani. I struggled to find the words to describe the work…”I live with Palestinians who have many problems with Israeli settlers and Israeli soldiers. The foreigners with me, we have video cameras, and we try to help, and try to tell our country about what's happening.” … Then the ‘Yasser Arafat look-alike’ reached across the aisle to shake my hand. “You are welcome here in Palestine,” he said to me, in the first English spoken in the conversation. The other men shook my hand and asked what my name was and where I was going. After I told them my travel plans, they insisted I come with them in their friend's car and they would drop me off in Jerusalem to catch the bus. Upon entering the car, the driver offered me food and tea, and told me I was welcome here.
Marcy Newman, an American activist and academic working in Nablus, who blogs at Body on the Line, describes the feeling in the city:
the mood in nablus is not good. …. a common refrain i heard among my students yesterday was that “palestinian blood is cheap.” there is a feeling that they are all alone. yesterday i posted an important video of sheren tadros reporting on al jazeera highlighting the fact that there is nowhere for palestinians in gaza to run to. but here, too, people feel that there is no one to go to for help. that their calls for ending this bloodbath fall on deaf ears. […] people in nablus are afraid to speak out, too, as there are a number of palestinians who have spoken out publicly in mosques and other public spaces and as a result the palestinian authority has put them in prison. enemies are every where. from within and from outside. one of the student activists at my university was chatting with me last night. she wants to erect a tent in downtown nablus in martyr’s square to have a public memorial for the martyrs of gaza; hamas and fatah leaders in the city couldn’t agree. so no tent. more silence. the same is true in nasra [Nazareth, in Israel] where palestinians were attacked by israeli terrorists for protesting the brutality in gaza.
Nevertheless a demonstration did take place:
you’ve got to hand it to the women. when the shit hits the fan they are always the ones to react. the strong ones. in the midst of a political situation where palestinians are afraid to speak out against the israeli terrorist war against gaza, the women’s union got fed up today and organized and impromptu protest at martyr’s square in downtown nablus. it was a brief demonstration, partially due to the rain i suspect, but important nevertheless. after the first fifteen minutes or so men joined as well. the chants were all about unity: one nation. no division. the chants criticized hamas and fatah alike.
Then a second one:
i went downtown again at 5pm for the second protest for gaza today. this one was a candlelight vigil. i got their early because of what happened to the first protest i went to. none of my friends were there yet. i saw a lot of yellow [Fatah] flags when i arrived, but they were flags for palestinian political prisoners so i did not think anything of it. while i was waiting for my friends to arrive two students from an najah [university] came up to me and while we were talking little by little i started to realize this was not at all a candlelight vigil for gaza in spite of all the people there in kuffiyas looking like they were gathered for a vigil or demonstration. all of a sudden really large speakers began blasting fatah songs and shortly thereafter a huge parade began to march down the street full of children on drums. every one of them waved enormous fatah flags. … i was not in the mood to watch fatah celebrate its 44th anniversary, which to me seemed like dancing on the graves of people in gaza. incidentally, i head heard that celebrations for fatah’s anniversary were ordered to be canceled today because of what is happening in gaza; apparently nabulsis [people from Nablus] didn’t get that memo.
Ned is in Ramallah, and blogs at Oranges and Olives:
Yes, no one can say that Hamas are angels. They are not. But doesn’t it sound absurd that while F-16s and Apaches are bombing Gaza and while tanks are taking position around the strip, the calls are coming out to Hamas to stop the violence? But surrealism, as stark contrast between elements, can only be strengthened by a third element in our case. What adds to this surrealism for me is not to be found in the world reaction, not the Arab reaction, but the reaction of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. A small march goes out in Central Ramallah, and it appeared to be infested with agents of the Intelligence apparatus. It was disgusting to see that Hamas supporters were being arrested in the heart of Ramallah, by Palestinians. What added to the sadness is the sight of a line of riot police that blocked the road to the Muqata’a (the presidential compound). If we are to treat a peaceful demonstration in such a manner that calls for the use of riot police then what should we expect from others? […] Everyone is wrong, no one is doing the right thing, but things have entered into a spiral of wrongs and blames that it is now impossible to say that one thing can stop everything. This is why my thought goes back to the root of the problem, at least its root on our side of the game. The bottom line of my analysis is that we do not have sincere leaders. No one is genuinely interested in the best interest of the Palestinian people, not even the Palestinian leaders themselves. On the one hand, the PA cannot be expected to come out strongly against military action that can potential restore power in the strip to them. Nor are the Hamas leaders expected to leave their throne after the finally got there. Nor are we, as a people, intelligent enough to stand up against this catastrophic leadership and create a new one that represent us. It looks so gloomy.
Elena is an Italian working in Ramallah who blogs at Fazzo Io!, and she has posted a poem written by her friend Raya:
Last night I had my last drop of coffee
My last dream, my last piece of bread
Tomorrow morning I will witness my last dawn
Listen to my daughter's last heart beat
Say I love you for the first, the very last time
[…]
Few minutes ago I was invisible no one knew about me
No one heard my screams, felt my fears
No one held my freezing shaking small hand
No one told me it will be ok
Soon it will be ok
No one saw me, no one felt me
I was invisible, no one knew about me!
Few minutes later I'm on TV
Everyone talks about me
Even the CNN mentioned me!!
[…]
Yesterday I died!
As an old man buried in his tomb,
As fetus dead in her mother's womb
Yesterday I died 360 times!

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Saudi Arabia: The stigma of AIDS · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

American Bedu discusses the stigma of AIDS in Saudi Arabia: “Saudis who have been diagnosed with AIDS are literally banished.  There are several well guarded secure facilities in Saudi Arabia where AIDS patients are taken and admitted.”


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South Korea: Funding Crisis for Public Access Television · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Deep fist blogs about the withdrawal of government funding for South Korean RTV (public access television).

author: Oiwan Lam


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Sri Lanka: Citizen Journalism in 2008  · Global Voices
Rezwan

ICT for Peacebuilding (ICT4Peace) highlights the feats of Groundviews, the award winning citizen journalism platform in Sri Lanka. The blog also posts a review of the best contents published in Groundviews site in 2008.


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Syria: Silent Demonstration for Gaza · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

Syrian blogger Dania reports on the silent demonstration organized by Syrian bloggers in-front of the European Commission in Damascus to protest the continuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza. She also publishes the petition sent to Brussels by the demonstators.

author: Yazan Badran


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Thailand: Nightclub Fire · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Dozens of New Year party goes were killed in a fire that broke out at a Bangkok nightclub.

author: Preetam Rai


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Anguilla: Discussing Dengue  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Dengue is now in Anguilla? Shusssh! That is a national secret.”: Corruption-free Anguilla asks: “How widespread in Anguilla will dengue have to become before it becomes a dengue epidemic?”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Armenia: Trial of Seven · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Tzitzernak2 reports from the trial of seven prominent opposition members and activists.  The blog also posts a YouTube video from the court case by A1 Plus, a pro-opposition TV station deprived of its broadcasting frequency by the authorities in 2002.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bhutan: Thimphu’s Shame · Global Voices
Rezwan

Tshering Tobgay writes about the state of Memelakha landfill, where the Bhutanese capital Thimphu's garbage ends up everyday.


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Bolivia: An Interview With Ingrid Betancourt · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Boris Miranda, a journalist for the La Paz, Bolivia newspaper La Prensa writes about his recent interview with former FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt [es] from Colombia, who had been visiting the country.

author: Eduardo Avila


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China: Happy 2009 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Blog manga posts a picture greeting for 2009, year of bull.


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China: “Just the aftershocks from the earthquake would destroy France!”kids yell · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Thunder(雷 lei), verb, a natural phenomena. Now widely used by Chinese netizens to describe the effect of something which shocks or startles people with its hilarious, unbelievable and unconventional quality.
The latest stuff that has thundered thousands of netizens is a clip of video.
In the video, these kids, cute and pristine with red face, innocent smile, were reciting a poem nevertheless with the utmost fury and passion. The lyric, named “2009, Go China!” presents a roll call of Chinese achievements in 2008 under the siege of western enmity, and is most notable for its naked, uncovered antagonism against Sarkozy, Europe and anti-China persons, and a yell for nationalism.
The following lyric is translated into English by the China Digital Times
2009, GO CHINA!
Lead: Snowstorm, freely falling down to earth, like western values
Lead: Despair fills the sky, ice covers the earth
Lead: Did China retreat?
All: No. The Olympics were a success! We are victorious!
Lead: Hot blood and iron will of Chinese people, lighten up the dark world like burning the holy flame
All: The rivers and mountains, ever more colorful and beautiful
Lead: Earthquakes, shifting back and forth like the positions of Sarkozy, with his dirty tricks, trying to shake the great China
Lead: Did China retreat?
All: No. The Shenzhou-7 launched. We are victorious!
Lead: Pathetic Europe will never stop the insurmountable force of the Celestial Empire
All: Just the aftershocks from the earthquake would destroy France!
Lead: The happy flowers flourish in the oil fields on Tarim Basin
Lead: The suona [musical instrument] sings aloud in the Tawang district of the Himalayas
Lead: Historically accumulated resentment fill the Ryukyu Trench
All: Smiles in Sun Moon Lake became a miraculous flower in the Pacific Ocean
Lead: “Do not sway, Do not slacken off and Do not flip flop”*
Lead: “Do not change the flag,  Do not change the label, Do not turn back”**
All: Step ruthlessly over all anti-China forces
Lead: The giant ship full of patches, raise up the brand new sail
All: Spirits are high, crash through the waves, the wind is at our back
Lead: 2009
All: Go China
Lead: 2009
All: China the Greatest!
(Translator：Ryukyu Trench is an ocean area Japan and China dispute on its ownership; Dawang district is where China and India dispute on and used to battle on; Sun-moon Lake is in Taiwan)
On 26, Dec, as soon as the video was put on video-share websites, floods of comments poured in. Most of them, at their first glimpse, were astonished by the sharp contrast between the naive kids and the forceful hatred exuded from their recitation.
On the side of the video, the introduction writes:
内容包括：反西方自由主义，反萨科奇，反藏独，反台独，反日，反疆独，主张藏南和琉球是我国领土！诗歌普普通通，但从一群小学生嘴里出来，够震撼的！西方看来要失掉下一代的中国人心了…..
CoffeeTime, after posting the lyric along with video, says:
想起了巴勒斯坦小学数学课本：抓到七个以色列战俘，干掉五个，还剩几个？
The classroom is the most commonly seen in China. It's believed that it won't be the children that write the poem, but the teacher, who's the No.1 suspect that planned everything. Worry is not absent among netizens, who views it as an official indoctrination of hatred that has gone beyond simple nationalism. Words such as “aftershock”, “destroy” are not just bloody.
Dowei says;
又开始文革了么？
嘿嘿 then speaks:
靠，准备培养军国主义的下一代啊。有人想当希特勒？
On bullog.cn, FreeChina rails straight against the ruling communist party, which is thought to be the most blame-worthy for the hatred-education in his view:
中共这么无耻,是要遭天谴的!
这个世界上,还有比利用孩子天真无邪的心灵来实现自己的政治目的更无耻的行为吗? 这么小的孩子,就要他们混淆反共与反华的区别,培养充满专制思维的意识形态，中共难道是要绑架整个中华民族为自己的陪葬品吗?
And netizen moaned:
可怜的孩子，这么小的年龄，就成为政治的工具，被裹挟进肮脏的政治游戏中。
Many netizens called upon people to save the kids, and flesh search was likely to be launched again.
wuyong says:
们有什么资格去笑话韩国人呢，我们比他们还自大，让人又不禁想起了连战在山西的时候的小学生的视频，让整个台湾人民都笑话我们
Look at this. Are we qualified to laugh at Koreans that we are now even more arrogant than they are? It reminds me of the poem students recited in Shangxi to welcome Lian-zhan, which came to be a laughing stock of all the Taiwan people.
However, not all people flown upon the intimidating recitation. Not a small portion of comments, actually, side with the unknown recitation organizer.
aaa commends:
我们的民族就是需要这种精神，汉奸们你们的讽刺，辱骂，代表你们内心的恐惧，无耻的卖国贼。
And in reply to 扫左's comment that “such an education raise only thugs and blockheads”, netizen fighter rebuked:
培养还没有打仗就投降，把国有资产都送给外国人，抱着美国人大腿幸福生活的下一代，这样楼上的就满意了吧
If you are to believe the two voices mentioned, in favor of and opposing, are all the story, you are wrong. With more in-depth analysis of the text, a third idea shows up: the teacher that planned the recitation is indeed an undercover!
The splendid work in praise of China and CCP, contains implicit points they dig out as evidence of its actual core as an artistic irony. As a blogger said, “after being so disgusted that I vomit, it occurred to me that it might have implicit meaning.
虎躯一颤 pondered:
打满补丁的大船，形象啊。
The figure here is more like alluding to the shattered, ill ruled country rather than a compliment.
Moreover, the word “Celestial Empire”, which is used to describe China in the poem, will have never appeared in any official text because it apparently and more usually means the feudalism China, which is synonymous to dark, authoritarian and backward.  Therefore, thundered, shocked, disgusted, angered and finally nosing a grain of salt, is the series reactions of a lot of netizens. Some of them even burst into laughs at last.
But is that a correct speculation?
Right at the time that the internet is in search of the teacher/organizer and debating on the recitation, unexpectedly, the man showed up voluntarily, and not in anywhere else but right in Bullog.cn, a turf that is well known for its intimacy to liberalism and pro-democracy thoughts, and where the work is under the most relentless attack.
The organizer, named 左左右右 （left-left-right-right), explained how the story happened:
快期末了，我发现孩子们提前好几天都在忙着过圣诞，还有专人组织捐款买东西，国庆节也没这么上心啊，于是我问孩子们对圣诞节有何理解。他们摇摇头
我问几个学习非常努力的孩子理想是什么，他说，好好学习，将来考上好的大学，最好能去留学，我问留学什么好，他说，外国的学校就是好。好在哪里呢，他说不上来。
……
但是，是谁教给他们不分来由的崇洋媚外呢呢，对外国不加思索的盲目崇拜，从物质到言论难道对西方没有一点质疑？
哪些事情让你最难忘？他们答：雪灾、地震，圣火传递，奥运成功，金融危机。在值得中国人骄傲的圣火传递和奥运举行期间，也充满了刁难，2008年何止一个郁闷可以形容的！然后就想开一个主题班会，做一个视频给即将离去的2008做纪念
Then, in an open letter, he apologized to all those being “thundered”, and all the French people angered.
He insists that it is for not a single bit of education of hatred.
写这首“诗”的初衷是回顾2008年的历史，并没有宣扬对西方的仇恨，也不是宣扬暴力，更没有针对普通群众，一切以作者本人解释为准。在大家认为仇视西方民众的地方是在警告外国：2009年，不要再以任何借口挑衅中国！历史问题我们也一直记在心里！
He then interprets the poem word for word, and in places mentioning Sarkozy, he writes:
像萨科奇的立场，用猥琐的伎俩，摇晃着巍巍中华。
萨科奇对中国立场摇摆不定，造成了两国关系的地震
Earthquakes, shifting back and forth like the positions of Sarkozy, with his dirty tricks, trying to shake the great China.  (The Sarkozy's position towards China which blows hot and cold creates an earthquake on the international relation.)
On the most disputable piece, that “Just the aftershocks from the earthquake would destroy France!”, he writes,
不是指真的地震，比喻萨科奇的立场，是说两国关系的地震，并不仅仅对中国有影响，反作用力也会影响法国。这里，联系上下文就能理解，中国古诗经常有这种写法。对不懂中文的法国朋友表示道歉
It is not meant for the real earthquake, but figurative for Sarkozy's position and the quake on our relations. It doesn't only affect China, but France as well. Here, you can tell the point from the context. It is common in Chinese poems. Sorry to French who knows no Chinese.
And he clarifies why he compares China to a patched ship:
这里指多灾多难的民族
Do you buy his interpretation? All I know is that, netizens in Bullog.cn, mostly, say no. And a new tide of debate is going on.

author: Bob Chen


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Colombia: Top 10 News Events · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Victor Solano of ¿Comunicación? [es] lists the top 10 Colombian news events of 2008, with the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and the other 11 hostages topping the list.


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Cuba: José Martí’s Use of Prose and Poetry · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

José Martí was a well-known Cuban writer from the late 1800s and Giovanni Fernández of Littera Cuba [es] writes that Martí “tried to paint the world through metaphor incarnated in prose and poetry.”


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Cuba: The Revolution, 50 Years After  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

January 1st 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.  Bloggers from across the region took note of the occasion, with the voices of the Cuban diaspora being some of the most outspoken.
My big, fat, Cuban family remembers the experience of being forced to flee her country:
January 1, 1959.
Fifty years ago today.
A group of bearded rebels rode into Havana (my hometown) and turned our lives upside-down.
The details of our exile include:
* constant fear
* difficult decisions
* separation from familiar places and the people we loved.
I sincerely pray that in my lifetime I will get to see a free Cuba.  Because fifty years under communist rule is WAY. TOO. LONG.
Another diaspora blogger, Uncommon Sense, believes that for Cuban Americans, the anniversary is not a day to be sad.  He explains:
Fifty years ago, my family lost its home.
But the sadness is tempered — in fact, I hardly feel it at all — because I am free.
My only disappointment, one I hope is shared by fellow Cuban Americans, is that that same freedom does not prevail today on the island…
Cuban Americans do feel the pain of their countrymen, and we should act on that sentiment.  With our freedom, comes a responsibility for Cuban Americans to aid the cause of liberty in Cuba. From the island today, we will see the usual images of marching soldiers and singing children honoring their slave masters…what you won't see are the independent journalists and human rights activists, the democracy advocates and the political prisoners, on the front lines against the evil that triumphed 50 years ago today.
Meanwhile, El Cafe Cubano republishes an article by Jose Reyes, which calls the Revolution “the biggest debacle in modern history”, and Babalu Blog, tongue firmly in cheek, comments on a story by The Washington Post:
Verdict: +70, a worthy effort by the Post on behalf of the regime. 822 words and not a single mention of firing squads, political prisoners, human rights abuses, dissidents, etc. A commendation is in order.
Some Cuban bloggers are doing just that.  HavanaTimes.org focuses on the slew of activities that surrounded the occasion, another post tells of celebration despite tough economic conditions, and yet another reports that “President Raul Castro will address the nation from Santiago de Cuba on Thursday evening at the main celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.”  Sunrise in Havana seems to have an answer to that, linking to a YouTube video and saying:
Five decades after the rise to power of the Castro brothers, Cuban crumbles, while the world keeps looking at the Castros as if only they were citizens of Cuba.
Boris Leonardo Caro of Bloggers Cuba [es] admits that lately, things have not been going as smoothly, and examines some important sectors of society that need improvement such as education and infrastructure.  He notes that the “exodus of young professionals is also alarming.”  Despite these challenges, there is still hope:
La Revolución cubana llega a sus 50 años con un complejo panorama de problemas económicos y políticos que amenazan su existencia. Sin embargo, esas mismas amenazas pueden transformarse en oportunidades para re-crear el proceso sobre bases renovadas. En pocas palabras: la Revolución necesita revolucionarse.
The Cuban Revolution reaches 50 years old with a complex panaroma of economic and political problems that threaten its existence.  However, these same threats can become opportunities to recreate the process using renewed foundations. In other words: the Revolution needs to revolutionalize itself.
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, bloggers also acknowledged the anniversary, with Notes From Port of Spain constructing a conversation between Fidel Castro and “a voice from among the dark trees of the Sierra Maestra”.  The date?  January 1st, 1959:
The revolution will last for fifty years, said the voice. You will make many mistakes, and face many difficulties. Your people will suffer. But you will not succumb, and you will still be alive to see the great anniversary.
Estupenda! cried Fidel, waving his cap in the air as he danced around the fire.
And, Fidel, one day Cuba will be welcomed into the “International Community” of capitalism, democracy and free markets with the help of a black American president … Fidel? Hello? Fidel, are you there?
But despite speculation as to how Barack Obama could respond to the US/Cuban embargo (among other issues, such as human rights abuses on the island), popular Cuban blogger Generation Y prefers instead to look forward:
Men succeed each other, ideologies collapse, leaders die and speeches get shorter; everything is under the repetitive cycle of the sun that sets and rises again.  When I look from my balcony towards the rising sun, I realize how small we are, how laughable are some peoples’ pretensions of superiority.
Here is the first sun of 2009, the golden circle of light that will survive us all.  I wish you a Happy New Year and may the rays of this dawn warm everyone.


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Gaza and Sderot: “The day after the war we need a new beginning” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Gaza City and the Israeli city of Sderot are separated by just a few kilometres. A year ago, even while the people of Gaza were living in severe conditions under Israeli blockade, and Sderot was an ongoing target for rocket attacks coming out of the Gaza Strip, a blog was started by two men, one in each place. Since then they have been documenting their experiences and giving us their perspective on events, including those of the last week.
Life must go in Gaza and Sderot is joint blog written by “Peace Man” in Gaza and “Hope Man” in Sderot. The two men were introduced by Danny Gal, who works for an NGO dedicated to addressing the effects of the Middle East conflict, and they have been blogging since January 2008:
This blog is written by 2 friends. … There is ongoing violence between Israel and Gaza which has intensified greatly since October 2000. Many have been killed and many have been injured. The media coverage on both sides has been extremely biased. Our Blog is written by 2 real people living and communicating on both sides of the border.
In his most recent post, Peace Man says:
Since the operation started in Gaza Strip, more than 300 people killed in two days and two hundred missing and about 160 were in critical condition. Israel destroyed all the police station and all the Government centers. police and civilians and children who [were] killed in this operation.
It is hard to describe what is going on in Gaza , a terrible disaster, where the aircraft do not distinguish between civilians and military and children.
At this moment there are tanks in the around Gaza in preparation for the invasion of the Gaza Strip
I am asking the international community to stop what is going on in Gaza I hope to return to ceasefire and move away from violence
Because violence will bring more violence
I will update you with the situation
Hope Man gives us his perspective:
Many people have left Sderot and I estimate less than 50% of the people remain. Very few people are walking in the streets and no children are seen anywhere.
The war was a great mistake, however it is no wonder that so many people in Israel support it. The ongoing reality of rockets falling in Sderot and other places for 8 years is a terrible reality. Many people of our region have left it for good over the years. Bringing up children in such a reality seems almost abusive and certainly irresponsible.
There is a feeling in most of the Israeli society, that there was no choice but to attack Gaza and stop the rockets once and for all. This is an expected human reaction to the on going situation.
With that said, I personally think it is a terrible mistake that could have been avoided. For 5 months there was an almost complete cease fire. Instead of taking advantage of this long period of quiet to reach a long term agreement, both sides spent their time preparing for this war by planning and arming. No serious efforts were made to start a dialog. The siege by Isreal continued and the smuggling of arms by the Hamas continued. It was a cease fire but only to prepare for the next terrible round which we are experiencing this very moment.
I am very pessimistic at the moment. My fear is that a ground attack is coming and that much more pain is still ahead. Eventually some kind of agreement will be achieved. I hope it will happen soon, I fear it will not.
Hope Man and I talk every day. We support each other and worry for each others well being. I am in contact with others in Gaza and share my situation while hearing of theirs. Much fear and pain on both sides.
What me and others are doing is continuing the dialog with friends in Gaza. We are working to widen and deepen this dialog with more people on both sides. The day after the war we want to start finding ways to work together and create a normality. We are only several kilometers apart and that will never change. It is extremely important to widen our dialog and create trust between those that are willing to talk. To share our stories, fears and hopes.The day after the war we need a new beginning. Let's start planting seeds of humanity and trust now.
Recently the French-German cultural television station ARTE undertook a project called Gaza Sderot in which short videos were shot by Israeli and Palestinian teams on a daily basis for two months, following six people from Gaza and six from Sderot. You can see the results here.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons


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Georgia: New Year, Christmas Feasting · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Tbilisi Blues comments on preparations for the New Year festivities in Georgia. Although events started at the beginning of December, the New Year will lead into Christmas celebrated on 7 January. From the beginning of the year, however, Georgians will visit relatives until 14 January and particularly enjoy their food and drink. Ben Sweeney’s Weblog understands why. Every meal is the best he's ever had, the blogger writes.


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Guadeloupe, Martinique, Gaza: Overseas Solidarity · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

The word goes that because of insularity, West Indians are not very much concerned with what is going on abroad and probably even less when it is not about Europe or the USA. However, the recent news coming from Gaza and the Middle East have had an impact on one Guadeloupe-based blogger: D. Zandwonis from CaribCreoleOne, recalls the historical and steady immigration of Syrians and Lebanese people in the West Indies [Fr]:
Et pourtant, chacun ici connaît un « syrien », même si en réalité, nos « syriens » sont souvent des libanais, parfois des palestiniens. Depuis des décennies, ces « syriens » se sont installés en Guadeloupe, en Martinique, à Trinidad ou en Dominique, ils se sont très vite intégrés à nos pays au point d’en partager les « mœurs et coutumes ». La Guadeloupe, il est bon de le rappeler de temps à autre, est une mosaïque ethnique
Though he understands the different stakes in this very complex conflict, he really insists on the empathy felt by West Indians from the Middle East for their brothers who are still in Gaza:
Comment croire que les enfants de Gaza, ou leurs cousins de Pointe-à-Pitre, Fort-de-France ou Port of Spain, qui voient ainsi tomber les uns après les autres leurs frères et sœurs, aient dans le cœur autre chose que de l’amertume ?
Later, he informs his readers about two Martinican associations: PKLS (Creole for Communist Party for Independence and Socialism) and Comité de Solidarité Martinique Palestine (the Martinique-Palestine Solidarity Association), which have both denounced the December 27th attack and launched the idea of a big protest march scheduled for Saturday, January 3rd 2009, in Fort-de-France.  A comment to Zandwonis's post from Comité de Solidarité Martinique Palestine explains the goal of the association [Fr]:
C'est le “Comité de Solidarité Martinique-Palestine”, qui oeuvre depuis bientôt 10 ans pour faire connaître la tragédie du peuple-frère de Palestine aux Martiniquais…
This call to action from the two associations has triggered a reaction from famous Martinican writer Raphaël Confiant entitled “Israel Massacre 300 Palestiniens en 2 Jours” (“Israel slaughters 300 Palestinians in 2 days”).
By the end of his post, Zandwonis sheds light on another aspect of the conflict, which he deems very important for West Indians – Obama's reaction to the attacks.
Obama est silencieux, sans doute embarrassé. Il attendra le 20 janvier pour « dire » quelque chose.
On Dec. 28th, Bondamanjak from Martinique posted Massacre in Gaza (Slaughter in Gaza), a post condemning the atrocities committed by Israel and illustrated with a black, white, red and green (colors of the Palestinian flag) picture of Pro-Palestine demonstrators.

author: Fabienne Flessel


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Guatemala: Handing Out Presents to Residents Living Near Landfill · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In the holiday spirit, Javier Hernandez of El Blog de Chapu [es] and his friends visited the garbage landfill in Guatemala City to hand out presents and supplies to the people who live in the area.


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Haiti: 205th Anniversary of Haitian Independence · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

After the disasters they went through in 2008, Haitian people celebrated the start of 2009 more or less happily – in Haiti, January 1st marks not only New Year, but also the date when in 1804, the island got independence from France, becoming the first black democracy in the world.
Some French-speaking Haitian bloggers pay homage to the anniversary while readying themselves for the difficulties their country will have to face in the future:
Darlie explains the historical events which led to the island's independence  but also tells of the traditional celebration inherited by Haitians: eating “soup joumou” on January 1st [Fr]…
On raconte que du temps de la colonie, à Saint-Domingue, la soupe était très en vogue et réservée uniquement aux maîtres d'esclaves et dans la plupart des cas à certains esclaves domestiques communément appelés esclaves talentueux comme par exemple Toussaint Louverture.
Le parfum envoutant du mariage des légumes exotiques et de la viande bovine ajoutée sur les multiples revendications que les esclaves des champs murmurèrent déjà, suscitèrent chez eux le désir de révolte.
While she wishes her people “a good meal”, her Season's Greetings sound more like a plea for solidarity [Fr]:
Vivons en vrai, vivons ensemble, marchons unis sur le chemin de la fraternité, de la paix et de la réconciliation
These words from Darlie are all the more interesting given Haitian President René Garcia Préval‘s forecast that 2009 will be “a difficult year…for Haitians” (as reported by Romandie News [Fr]) during his official visit to Gonaïves in northern Haiti.  Coincidentally, Gonaïves is the historical birthplace of Haiti's independence – and also the region that suffered most from 2008's devastating hurricanes.
In the blog HaitiRectoVerso, Decky Lakyel relates with a certain amazement the early arrival of the Haitian government officials in Gonaives, one day before the official date of the celebration. Blogging about an interview heard on Radio Kiskeya, he explains the double motivation of this early visit:
Le ministre confie que le séjour inhabituel de 48 heures des membres de l’Exécutif dans la Cité de l’indépendance pour marquer les 205 ans de l’épopée haïtienne, représente une « manifestation de reconnaissance de l’importance symbolique » de lieux fondateurs de l’histoire nationale.
Outre les activités officielles, le Président Préval, la Première ministre Pierre-Louis et leurs principaux collaborateurs auront l’occasion de s’entretenir avec les victimes des intempéries qui avaient durement frappé les Gonaïves.
But after reading the last post of Haitian blogger Stanley Lucas in Solutionhaiti, it is quite obvious that not everyone is convinced by these efforts.


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Haiti: The Haitian Revolution  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Haitian Blogger discusses the 205th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, adding: “As Haitians begin another year under UN occupation, they wonder when the struggle will be over.”


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Honduras: Top Ten Reckless Behavior Photos · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Over the course of 2008, Hugo Chinchilla captured some images of some irresponsible and reckless behavior by some residents of Tegucigalpa.  In this post, he posts his top ten photos [es].


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Hong Kong: Pessimism Index · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In a recent market research, Hong Kong is said to be the most pessimistic city in the world, 67% of the interviewee expects that 2009 would be worse than 2008. Kay Lam pointed out that the index is a reflection of a systematic problem in local social and economic structure (zh).


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India: Terror attack in Assam · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indian Elections 2009 reports that “three bomb blasts went off in Assam again on New Year’s day” leaving 5 dear and many injured.


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Israel: Foreign Journalists in Gaza · Global Voices
Maya Norton

David Bogner of Treppenwitz gives five reasons why Israel shouldn't allow foreign journalists into Gaza. “In Lebanon we had to fight a war on two fronts: on the battlefield against an illegitimate terrorist army, and in the media against foreign dupes who printed whatever this illegitimate terrorist army told them/allowed them to see. We couldn't do anything about that because we didn't control the battlefield.  But in Gaza we do.”

author: Maya Norton


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Israel: Hamas is Not Palestine · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Hamas is not Palestine, asserts Israeli Mom's Delphine Schrank. “If you support the Palestinians and have their best interest at heart, you should not be supporting Hamas. This current clash is between Israel and Hamas – not Israel and the Palestinians – so think carefully before you rush out to show your support.”


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Israel: Liveblogging the War with Gaza · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Israeli bloggers Jameel of The Muqata and Dave of Israellycool are liveblogging the war with Gaza. Their up to the minute coverage includes photos, videos, and news clips that from all perspectives in the Israeli population. Jameel also has a Twitter page here.


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Israel: Sirens Sounds in Be’er Sheva · Global Voices
Maya Norton

“It’s a terrifying sound… You close yourself in a room, and pray the alarm ends without a shocking boom. Complete helplessness,” writes OneJerusalem. See a video of the siren going off by clicking this link.


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Jamaica: A New Year  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp posts a wish for your New Year.


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Japan: Who is running 2-Channel? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Who runs Japan's largest bulletin board, 2-Channel [2ch]? This is the question being debated on 2channel threads today [ja], with rumors that the board's enigmatic founder Hiroyuki Nishimura has transferred ownership to a company, PACKET MONSTER INC., apparently based in Singapore. “The beginning of the end,” one commenter writes. Many are more skeptical. “It's a bit early,” another quips, “for April Fools.”

author: Chris Salzberg


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Mexico: 15 Years Since Zapatista Army Uprising · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

It has been 15 years since the uprising of the Zapatista army in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and Ingrid of Vivir México [es] takes a look back.


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Nepal: Maoist Attack On Himal · Global Voices
Rezwan

Democracy For Nepal (DFN) posts videos and more perspectives on the Maoist attack on Himal publication house.


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Pakistan: State of the Punjabi Language · Global Voices
Rezwan

Aamna at Lahore Metblogs discusses about the state of Punjabi language in Pakistan.


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Palestine: “The earthquake in Gaza is unnatural, it’s called Israel” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Gaza's bloggers describe welcoming in 2009 with the sound of F16s and “special fireworks”, and a foreign activist explains why she has no intention of leaving.
Adham Khalil from Jabaliya Camp, who blogs at Free Free Palestine, posts a text message he received with special greetings:
Ibrahim a friend sent me a message on my mobile said : look outside .. F16 warplanes are smiling for you, missiles are dancing for you, “Zanannaa” the discovery planes are singing for you, because I have requested them all wishing you “Happy New Year”
Mohammed Ali, who works for Oxfam UK, writes on the Oxfam blog from his home in Gaza City:
Around midnight, Israeli jets hit the Palestinian Legislative Council building, 1km away from my home. Needless to say, we were not celebrating this entry into the New Year. I received calls from friends in Europe telling me that in solidarity with Gazans, they were not going to celebrate. I pleaded with them to go out, and to enjoy themselves because they could. My friend in France called to say that she was thinking about my family, in the background I could hear the sounds of fireworks exploding, people laughing and celebrating. At the same moment, the sounds of explosions shook my home and my children cried out. I felt both happy and sad. Happy because I knew that there were people outside of Gaza who had not forgotten about us, sad thinking of all the Gazans who would be spending this New Year shaking from fear in their homes, mourning their loved ones. I asked myself, do we not deserve to be happy and enjoy the New Year as much as any other human?
Natalie Abou Shakra is a Lebanese activist who posts at the group blog Moments of Gaza. She writes:
The first day of the New Year… our gift…? since 11p.m. of the last day of 2008 till around 6 a.m. of the early hours of 2009, the Israelis sent us special fire works made in the US (not all though!)… they circumscribed our house with those very special fireworks… of course, like the rest of the world, we were not asleep.. we were awake…
Prof. Said Abdelwahed, who teaches English at Al-Azhar University, also posts at Moments in Gaza:
It's totally dark. More than 80% of the Gaza city is covered by utter darkness. One cannot see his finger in the dark! Meantime, outside, there are drones buzzing overhead, choppers roaming in the sky. Inside again, children are unwilling to go to bed despite their bed time! They are fearful of nightmares, bad dreams, bombing, explosions, and what not! The routine sounds of the air craft has been going on for more than six days and nights. And when it suddenly disappears… BANG … continuous bangs! … series of explosions. … other horrible explosions. … blasts … flames in the distance. … children jump up from their beds. Scared … frightened. … anxious … they do not know what to do! They want to hide anywhere, but there is nowhere to go too? It sounds like the bang was under their mattresses. What to do again? Just nothing but wait! How can you convince your child to wait? And to wait for what? Next, one hears ambulances sirens and fire brigades. Thus, one comes back to himself to realize that he is in Gaza and he is operating a small generator to write this message to the world in the new year 2009.
Vittorio Arrigoni is an Italian activist blogging at Guerrilla Radio:
Il nuovo anno è subentrato a quello vecchio con gli stessi auspici di morte e desolazione, elevati alla massima potenza distruttiva. Mai viste così tante bombe crollare attorno a casa mia, dinnanzi al porto. Un’ esplosione a meno di 100 metri , ha scosso violentemente i 7 piani del mio palazzo, facendolo oscillare come un pendolo impazzito. Per un momento abbiamo temuto venisse giù, i vetri delle finestre sono scoppiati tutti. Momenti di panico, ho pregato iddio che il nostro edificio fosse stato costruito con criteri antisismici, ben conscio della mia effimera illusione, Gaza poggia su di una striscia di terra che non trema. Il terremoto qui è innaturale, si chiama Israele.
Laila El-Haddad, who blogs at Raising Yousuf and Noor, is in touch with her parents in Gaza every day:
When the bombs are dropped around them, they send me a quick note to inform me of what happened before running to safety. I am still not sure where “safety” is; and neither, I think, do they. It is perhaps more a mental state and place than a physical one. In any other situations, people flee to where they perceive are safer locations. In Gaza, there is no “safe”. And there is nowhere to flee to, with the borders closed, the sky and sea under siege.
Safa Joudeh has posted at the group blog Lamentations-Gaza:
I've had a lot of time to contemplate, the last few days, and looking at my siblings, I wonder how the rest of the world envisions the people who occupy the most despondent and unruly military zones in the world. My younger brothers spend their free time out with their friends, or playing basketball and soccer at youth clubs. They are passionate about sports, play station, and music. They play the guitar and are exceptional students. My brother who's in college is obsessed with computers and gadgets, he's an engineering student who comes up with the most ingenious projects for his classes. He listens to music and plays the guitar and prays regularly. He's an honor student who has big goals and big dreams. So please understand why I am infuriated when I see how we are portrayed on television. Hordes of bearded, teeth-gnashing, stone throwing blood thirsty savages in rags and tatters. […] I wonder if people would as easily accept the unsubstantiated claims that the engineering faculty building of the Islamic university, which has been flattened during the attacks, was a workshop that produced qassams, if they had seen my brother's reaction. When he came back from a walk to the university building the next day, his face was white as a sheet and he had tears in his eyes. “It's all gone he said, even the project (electric car) we've been working on all semester.” We'd seen pictures, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Did he seriously have any hope that the car had survived?
Fida Qishta, who blogs at Sunshine, is a freelance journalist, filmmaker and activist who lives in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip:
For the last year and a half the Israeli government has intensified the economic blockade of Gaza by closing all the border crossings that allow aid and essential supplies to reach Palestinians in Gaza. This forced Palestinians to dig tunnels to Egypt to survive. Israel continued talking about a military operation in the Gaza Strip, until the madness of war became inevitable for the both sides. And since it began, hundreds of Gazans have been killed. I don’t know how other people around the globe think. Did you think to be honest with yourself once to understand the truth? A handmade Palestinian rocket jeopardizes Israeli security, but the Israel’s scary F16 rockets, missiles, and the tanks don’t jeopardize Palestinian security! Israel’s military operation makes Palestinian blood fall like rain.
Canadian activist, Eva Bartlett, blogs at In Gaza, and is not planning to leave:
Approximately 435 internationals [non-Palestinians] are said to have left, from what journalists have told me, but I have no intention of doing so, we have no intention of doing so. Here are some reasons why we stay: Israel not only controls who is unable to leave Gaza, but who is unable to enter Gaza. Since November 4, Israel has banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza, making a minor exception for a few days in early December. At present, with the over 420 dead, over 2,100 injured and the many civilian homes and buildings destroyed, there is an urgent need for foreign journalists. […] 1.5 million Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip are unable to run from, escape from, these illegal attacks. My life, internationals’ lives, are no more important than Palestinians’ lives. We will stay on during their suffering, in solidarity and to document the illegal acts Israel is doing, the war crimes Israel clearly does not want the world to see, to understand, and is preventing journalists from reporting. To see, to understand, means to stop Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, its contravention of international humanitarian law and international law.


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Brunei: Passport to Fame reality show · Global Voices
Senor Pablo

Like any other country, Brunei has it's own taste of reality show to choose their favourite singing idol.  The second Passport to Fame (P2F) competition recently reached it's climax with Dayat as the winner.   RanoAdidas reports on the finale concert that crowned Dayat as the winner in this post and interviewed the singer himself here.
“What a finale!!! Dayat was one of the favourites coming into the finals and it needed seven concerts to determine the champion and Dayat fully deserved it. He even had the biggest ovation of the night after AJ who didn’t make it to the final cut. He belted the finale song – This is the moment – and emerged the champion after receiving the majority of the votes among the top three contestants.”
Dayat is no stranger to the blog world as he is a blogger too. You can read his blog here. His blog posted in English and Malay accounts his journey in the competition.
No competition will go easily without controversies. Thanks to the blog:  My Skeptical Views of Zayn Sabri who is also the compere for this season's competition. He was able to share with P2F fans and his readers on updates on the competitions and controvesies on judges and criticism on the contestants by viewers.
“I have heard and read a lot of comments and criticism about the management and the juries of the p2f show. Some say that the juries are biased and inexperienced when giving marks to the contestants. If we look in depth of the personalities of each juries, we cannot deny that each of them are of different individuals compared to the rest of our population in Brunei. the four of them having different likes and dislikes, them having different professional backgrounds and them having different musical backgrounds even.”
Zayn, also a radio DJ at the Pelangi Network uses his shows to highlight the contestants. Check the YouTube video below:

author: Senor Pablo


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Russia: Bloggers Debate Immunization of Children · Global Voices
Maryna Reshetnyak

One of the most popular health-related topics discussed by Russian bloggers is that of the immunization of children. Current digital media discussions reflect to a great extent debates that are taking place in traditional media in many post-Soviet countries. Although immunization has been mandatory in these countries since the time of the Soviet Union, more and more parents are now refusing to vaccinate their children.  In most cases parents are basing this decision on arguments they find on the Internet or in other media.
It is much easier to find bloggers in the Russian-speaking blogosphere who do not support mass immunization than authors who support it.  You can find arguments about the ineffectiveness of vaccination in many blogs. These arguments are very well summarized in the blog of helien_ln blog (RUS):
Production of vaccines is the most profitable part of the pharmaceutical business. A part of earned profits are directed to funding so-called “scientific research,” which just has to “prove” that the vaccine is effective and safe.
Vaccines are poisons. They include aluminum, and other toxins …
Vaccines are often based on animal cells and might contain viruses …
The introduction of vaccines in mass usage during the last two centuries has been associated with threatening, scary effects, and the omission of some facts and falsified statistics.
There is no evidence that it was immunization which helped humanity fight some of the infectious diseases. There are statistical data which show that the spreading of diseases such as TB, malaria, pox had decreased dramatically before mass immunization was introduced. This happened due to the improvement of sanitary and hygienic conditions, like better veterinary and food control, chlorination of water, etc.
Annually immunization could be a reason for the death and bad health of thousands of children all over the world. It ruins the immune system of a baby.
Immunization reflects only traditional approaches to understanding infectious diseases, which is not the only possible approach.
Mass immunization totally ignores the individual characteristics of a person, the state of their immune system, and other individual features of a human being.
If a vaccine is a cause of death or injury, medical authorities will obviously do everything to prove that this happened not because of immunization.
Blogger Irena Slavina is one of the few supporters of immunization in the Russian-speaking blog community. One of the reasons she thinks immunization is a good choice for her baby is because of the reputation of pharmaceutical companies. She says (RUS):
Can you imagine all the procedures that a new vaccine has to go through before it will be approved for mass immunization? These is pre-licensing, post-licensing, the monitoring of side effects, government drug certification…
I think that none of the big pharmaceutical companies are interested in a bad reputation of its product. Companies are very concerned about the quality of their products, otherwise they will go bankrupt. If a country chooses vaccine A for mass diphtheria immunization and the next year a country faces a diphtheria epidemic, then this pharmaceutical company would face very serious problems. Nobody likes problems.
She goes on to talk about how, though vaccines are poisons, they can still be beneficial:
Antibiotics are also very harmful for our health but at the same time they help save millions of lives. Often poisons under certain conditions may actually heal the disease… I believe that I have made the least dangerous choice for my child, but you are free to make any other choice. I believe in the accomplishments of modern medicine, but you have a right not to trust any doctors or drugs. But to reject blindly the entire benefits of immunization based just on popular Internet articles sounds really silly for me.
Finally, Irena Slavina points out that vaccines were not created to kill babies, but rather to help them:
I am sure that whoever started mass immunizations a hundred years ago were not unprofessional people and they were not more stupid than me.  They did not have any intentions to kill babies. The immunization schedules were developed based on the most dangerous time periods in the life of children. Just think about how many years of medical studies were devoted to developing the immunization schedule and enforcing them all over the country. Just think about the required experience, knowledge, sharing of data… After all this, I, who had just read a few Internet articles, cannot say that immunization is bad as I know better what my child needs.

author: Maryna Reshetnyak


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Sri Lanka: Mission Accomplished? · Global Voices
Rezwan

The president of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakshe officially announced that the government troops have captured LTTE rebel's de facto headquarters Kilinochchi after suffering heavy loss in the battle.
The government has so far been able to be on top the situation but heavy battles are likely still to lie ahead as reports are coming up that rebels have shifted to further North-East. It is interesting to see that both the opponents in this civil war have been using Internet to enforce their news and views quite emphatically.
Sri Lankan Army News has broken the news with photographs in Nowpublic:
Sri Lankan Brave Soldiers a moment ago captured Kilinochchi Town totally after hours long fighting with LTTE on January 2nd 2009. […] Few Artillery shots hit by fleeing Ltte tigers from Mulathivu direction. [..] Troops captured Kilinochchi railway station and Hospital today noon.
DefenceNet reports that Sri Lankans are celebrating this victory:
Jubilant crowds from various parts of Sri Lanka could be observed lighting firecrackers and waving national flags in celebration of security force’s latest victory.
Conundrum says:
Celebrations all around Colombo and other cities. One can say today is the real dawn of the new year for Sri Lanka.
However TamilNet.tv has indicated that this is not a defeat:
The great Thalaivar in his infinite wisdom has decided to order the LTTE to Tactically withdraw® from Tamil Eelam’s capital and do the Tamil Eelam marathon to Mullaitivu. Killinochchi has in effect being tactically relocated to Tharmapuram.
Chitrangi posts some disturbing pictures showing the civilian victims of the Sri Lankan Air Force Bombings on the LTTE rebel holdouts.
Rantings in Colombo… wrote a poem reacting to the news:
Congrats for Kilinochchi
I type with the sound of fireworks in the background.
The sound of hope from many a Sri Lankan.
Mahinda on TV, words I want to believe.
But controlling the media makes me wonder,
Is this really a two sided story?
Or a strategy planned, just before elections?
Who knows. Probably only him.
Violence still continued elsewhere in the country. A Voice in Colombo reports that LTTE has striked again in Colombo:
A suicide blast occurred opposite the Sri Lanka Air force office near Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo a while ago.
At least two Air Force personnel were killed and around 30 people including nine airmen were hurt.
B Raman from India asks “is the mission accomplished“?
The end of the LTTE's campaign will come not when it loses an important piece of territory, but when it loses the support of the Tamil people in the areas still controlled by it and in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Farewell to Friday  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

One of Trinidadian blogger Nicholas Laughlin‘s favourite columnists is fired from a mainstream newspaper, prompting him to comment: “It's sad and frankly embarrassing that the Express apparently thinks there is no place for a writer like B.C. Pires in our national conversation.”


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Bangkok nightclub fire · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Check out a YouTube video clip and the Wikipedia page on the Bangkok nightclub fire disaster which claimed the lives of 60 persons.

author: Mong Palatino


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Brazil: Reform won’t unify Brazilian and European Portuguese · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Fabio Said believes that the Portuguese language spelling reform will not make the main variants of the language uniform. Commenting on a BBC news which states otherwise, he argues: “In fact, this passage is nonsense. European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese will always be two different language variants, with very strong incompatibility issues (and very strong feelings toward each other)”.

author: Paula Góes


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Bruneian bakers use blog as a marketing tool · Global Voices
Senor Pablo

Bakers and cake makers in Brunei have utilised the blog as a marketing tool to sell their wares. Many are either mothers or working professionals that do part-time baking, display their products on their respective blogs. . It has been a success for many and created a buzz for blog readers and supporters.
The following are some of the bloggers that showcases their products on their respective blogs. Too bad, many are only serving customers in Brunei due to the perishable products.
Pavlova by Bunny
Many of the bakers like Breadstop promote better healthy choices in usage of products for their cakes.  Bunny's Yummies also promotes healthy cooking:
I am into healthy cooking. I do not use any kind of preservatives, artificial flavourings and colourings in my cakes. I use natural flavours and taste from fresh fruits, real vanilla bean, chocolate, coffee and varieties of nuts. I also use less eggs in my cakes, making them healthy alternatives. All products are freshly baked accordingly at times of order and picking-up.
Cupcakes made by Candy
The popular trend of cup cakes around the globe has not escaped Brunei and it has become a favourite among bloggers and their customers. The following bloggers specialise in cupcakes amongst others and provide different creations for their respective customers: Kitchen of Jasmine, Cupcake Paradise, Candy, Sinah Bakery, Sugarush, Taste on Tray, and Warisan Ummi.
Cit's Cupcakes describes her business products:
I do basic decorations on all my products, but i can do decorations according to your preference at an extra cost. I can do novelty cakes, 3-D cakes etc
Sugarush's baker, Underserenity wrote
A few nights ago, after a four hour sleep I woke up from a very vivid dream and was unable to get back to sleep. At 430am what else is there to do? BAKE! Insane, yes probably but anyway I ended up baking a batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and a batch of Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing.
Feedback from customers like AnakBrunei wrote:
These cakes are all absolutely scrumptious.. the ones with white ‘grassy’ topping are red velvets with cream cheese on the top and the choc ones are made with dark chocolate I think – not too sweet at all. Let me know if you'd like the contact details of the talented young lady who makes ‘em.


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Cambodia: Shining star of Indochina in the 1960s · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

When Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore visited Phnom Penh, Cambodia in the 1960s, he made this remark to his host: “I hope, one day, my city will look like this”.


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Cambodia’s first rock opera banned · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cambodia's first rock opera was banned after monks have convinced authorities that it insults Buddhism.


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Caucasus: New Year, Christmas  · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

With Christmas and the New Year usually accompanied by lavish television spectaculars and decorations in the center of most cities worldwide, celebrations in countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are the same to some extent, but usually more low-key and family-orientated. A number of expat workers and Peace Corps Volunteers in all three countries offer an outside eye on proceedings.
Seeing in the New Year in the South Caucasus, however, is not without its risks, as Running Around Armenia explains.
My stomach and head hurt. Celebrating the New Year in this country is a little different. I haven’t done this much damage to my body in years. New Years lasts for 13 days, and I’m on day 3. I’m screwed. […]
Moore From the Source details the holiday season in Armenia.
Armenia has a different church calendar than the overwhelming majority of Christian denominations in the rest of the world. And, within this calendar, Christmas falls on January 6. And, it seems that the holiday’s celebration is masked, in a large share, by the magnitude of excitement that consumes the country in respect to New Year’s. […]
In the states we all get excited for a wild bash on New Year’s Eve. But here, the actual tick of the second hand at the stroke of midnight is not really that important. […] Certainly people stay awake for this nocturnal moment, but the party leading up to it is usually small and restricted to family. But that’s alright, because starting on January first, every home will have a massive table laid out for all of the neighbors, friends, and family to pillage. Essentially, it is a non-stop feast with traditional foods such as dolma, kyufta, pastries, cognac, vodka, dolma, and cognac. And these parties will last until January 6. It’s wild.
Yes, Santa Claus does exist here, but he goes by another alias…that crafty s.o.b. Here he is called something in Armenian that I can’t type because I have a western keyboard… and because dollars to doughnuts, you don’t speak Armenian. But, the literal translation of his name is “Winter Father”. […]
Elizabeth's Armenia Journal also notes that much of the country has shut down for an extended holiday.
I'm sure I wrote about this last year. The last weeks of December are a busy time for Armenians, especially the women, shopping, cooking, cleaning, cooking, baking, cooking for their big Nor Taree celebration on Jan 1. Each family prepares big tables full of food and the first week in January is busy w/ everyone visiting everyone else, eating the same food in different houses.
[…]
Unlike the US, New Years is not a go out to public place and eat dinner, dance and drink event. It is much more family oriented, tho w/ plenty of eating, dancing and drinking. We had a hard time finding a restaurant that was open New Year's Eve. We ended up being the only ones (6 of us) in what is normally a very popular and crowded restaurant.
[…]
The main square in Yerevan was festively decorated – bright, lots of neon. However, for a city of 1.5 million, the crowd at midnight was pretty sparse. I doubt there were more than a couple hundred people at most. Some mild fireworks preceded by pop singers and that was it for the celebration.
The Tbilisi Blues, comments on preparations for the New Year and Christmas festivities in Georgia.
While a family may spend large sums of money on a restaurant banquet or a home cooked feast, they do not go into debt to prove their love by buying junk nobody really needs. Jesus can look down from heaven and be pleased that the Georgians have not blasphemed his name by turning it into some gazillion dollar consumer phantasm where people are compelled to feel inadequate if they don't go along with the program or labeled scrooges if they dissent of such artificiality. The holiday season is the most lively time of the year and you can enjoy it fully without ever having to step into a shopping mall or sing We Three Kings.
[…]
This is not to say the symbolic act of gift giving is ignored, for on New Year's Eve (the December one), gifts are modestly exchanged and Georgian Santa Claus – Tovlis Babya – arrives that night with a present for each kiddie. December 31st is the big bash, ordinarily celebrated at home with family and close friends until midnight, when many people continue their festivities elsewhere till the morning hours. […]
The New Year's day is spent at a relative, neighbor or friend's house, working on the previous night's leftovers, inevitably washed down with more toasts. For the next two weeks, Tbilisi closes down for an extended binge.
Technically, being a good Georgian Orthodox Christian means one should fast through this period of gluttony, but Georgians for the most part make an exception for the holiday season. Nevertheless, on December 7th, Georgians will attend mass to commemorate Jesus’ birthday according to the Julian (Orthodox) calendar. […]
Azerbaijan does not celebrate Christmas, but as with Armenia and Georgia, it is the New Year that is the main event. Nevertheless, many of the Christmas symbols recognized in the West  are still employed, as AzerbaiJane explains.
Yolka is the Azeri word for evergreen tree. Being a muslim country, they obviously don't celebrate Christmas here, but, not wanting to be left out of all of the festive fun, they have adopted many of the Christmas traditions for their New Years celebration. Shafta Baba – also known as Santa Claus – comes to visit on New Years – and brings toys for children (according to some of my students. Others say he doesn't bring stuff.) New Year's lights and decorations go up in shops and offices. And, they have a yolka, decorated with lights and ornaments and a star on top.
27 Months in Azerbaijan was so taken with the way of life in the villages that he wanted to participate as well as reflect on life in the West.
It’s common in Ujar to see Azerbaijanis walking from the bazaar to their homes with live chickens in their hands; held by their feet.  […] Though I’ve always turned my head, there have been several times that I’ve seen people carry their hens out to the street to sever the head, and prepare the carcass for dinner. If I was ever going to have a chance to purchase, kill, prepare, and eat a chicken, it was going to be here. Still, I’ve always been a big squeamish when it comes to murdering things with eyes, but I knew in the back of my head that if I think it’s alright to eat these little guys, I should be able to kill it.
Learning to Walk in Stilettos reminds its readers that New Year's Eve is also the Day of Solidarity in Azerbaijan while back in Georgia, Wu Wei wishes its readers a Happy New Year, but adds that 2008, presumably because of a short-lived war with Russia, is one that many Georgians might want to forget.


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Egypt: Change The Channel Initiative Kicks Off · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Yesterday was the first day of 2009, and it was also the kick-off day of “Change the Channel” initiative. Many bloggers responded to the initiative, even more than I expected.
Che Ahmed – One Man Show – decided to write about the Egyptian writer, Bahaa Taher.
Tarek Amr wrote in his blog – Not Green Data – about the Internet, Social Media and Web 2.0 applications and how they are improving and changing the Egyptian society to the better.
Meanwhile, Jessyz – Chocolate Mints in a Jar – on the other hand decided to write about Changing the Channel literally.
These are sad days, the situation in Gaza keeps getting worse, people are being killed, starvation and other catastrophes are hitting the world hard.
You have two options, you can either glue your pretty little eyes to the TV, drive your blood pressure up Mount Everest or you can do something about it.
And then she offered her readers a list of good stuff they can do instead of watching bad news on the TV.
Nermeen Edrees – Nerro – who is also a Global Voices Online author, wrote  about a Furniture Store in Heliopolis that decided to take the responsibility of turning a common garden in front of their premises into a beautiful garden.
Fascinated at seeing this, I joyously stopped the engine, walked out of the car and started walking around the garden. At this point I came  to find that the owner(s) of Decomara decided to take the responsibility of turning the common garden in front of their premises into a beautiful garden, a pleasant view for passerby’s and residents.  I was really moved by the endeavor and notion.
I personally think there is a message behind this attempt, not only promoting beauty but also to direct people’s attention and let them realize that common areas are not Government’s only responsibility; it is our responsibility as well.  How beautiful our streets could be if each building, store, company or organization took the responsibility of revamping their neighborhood.  I know this sound ancient and kinda repetitive, but believe it or not seeing it happening would get you all up and running, excited at the thought of waking up the next morning having breakfast on your balcony.   Seriously, we are in dire need for some beauty in our streets and neighborhoods.
Nermeen then targeted her Facebook contacts by publishing the following note there.
Today is the kick-off of the change the channel initiative; to cut the long story short this initiative is about focusing on the positive sides of Egypt (being an Egyptian, living in Egypt, improvement, etc). Not that we are in denial of all the negative sides, we are simply are aware of them and our shortcomings as well, and can easily pin-point the black spots, however, lets see what good stuff can we come out with together.
So my friend, can you list down only one positive thing about this country?
Marwa Rakha then commented on Nermeen's Note.
I am proud of our president for not giving in to ignorant pressure … I admire his courage in facing all the rage and blows aimed at him by emotional masses of Egyptians and Arabs … I am happy he did not open the Rafa7 crossings … I am happy he said that he would only allow the wounded … I am glad that he is not dragging us into a war that is not ours … I am glad that he could see through the hidden agendas of Hamas, Fatah, and Israel … These three parties are the ones who are using civilians as live targets in their own dirty wars .. Yes .. I am proud of Hosny Mubarak.
Eyad Harfoush also commented on the note:
Sorry ya Marwa, what I am proud of is totally different
I am proud of the massess went out to streets in my home city Tanta and other cities in Delta and Upper Egypt. Proud of the feelings of Egyptians who can still feel rage and hatred against Zionism despite of all the sedative pills! I am proud that my people understood the tricks of history more than our leaders, president included. Understanding that Charles De Gaules was called once a man who plays on the emotions of French people.. Petain called him so, now where is Petain's name? Only limited to Petainism? and where did history put De Gaules?
The native Egyptians are the best values in Egypt. Those who are neither Saudized nor Americanized.
Emans Mostafe also commented:
I feel happy when I am in the gardens/deserts of Egypt, we have wonderful places that we don't appreciate its value. Same goes for the places in old Cairo.
I feel happy that I go down to the streets after 11 pm, and I can still find everywhere is so lightful and noisy and crowded, Cairo is ALIVE till morning. In few words, I love Egypt at night.
I feel happy when my aeroplane is landing to Cairo Airport, becasue from the sky Egypt is the best.
Heba Jaouni also commented:
I feel safe in Egypt … I feel warmth in Egypt … I feel alive in Egypt … Nobody will appreciate this place (piece of heaven) unless they really try another place … I want to die in Egypt and be buried in this land.
I Love you Egypt and I do strongly agree with what Marwa said as well … I am with you Hosny Mubarak
Mohamed El Gohary wrote about his home town, El Mansoura, and added some photos of the it here.
Mansoura is one of the quietest places you can live in.
Walking by the Nile in Mansoura is one of the best experiences you can have :)
Jean Pierre, who is besides being a blogger here is a talented photographer, decided to publish an awesome photo of sunset in Maadi here.
Deee – Pressure over Cappuccino – also published a stunning photo of Cairo. And so did Lasto Adri here, and Yahia Muhammad – Hawamesh – here, featuring Alexandria.
And finally Zeinobia added a photo of the innocent smile of Egyptian children whom she meets everyday in the streets of Cairo.

author: Tarek Amr


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Egypt: How Can We Help Gaza? · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Egyptian bloggers are rallying in support of Gaza, which is being pounded by the might of the Israeli forces for a week.
Yasmin asks: What can we do for Gaza?
She notes how we can really help instead of just being passive and blogs a few simple but positive actions Egyptian bloggers can start working on. They are:
* If you are a blogger, blog about it.  Stay level and smart, respond to hate comments wisely and smartly.
* If you use Twitter, tweet about it.
* If you live in a country where you can change your politics rally and lobby for the cause.
* If you use Facebook, post articles and blog posts to point your non Arab friends to fairer information.
* If you are a cartoonist or an artist, express yourself and post on deviantart, facebook, blogs or wherever you can.
* If you are a teacher teach our younger generations.
* If you are part of Global Voices then translate articles and educate the rest of the world.
On a similar positive note, Appy and Mfawey have started a new initiative to support Palestine. They are asking their readers to email all international organizations to portray the reality of the appalling humanitarian conditions in Gaza due to the brutal Israeli attack and its impact on the civilian population. They are also calling for volunteer translators to translate the text into all languages.
The message posted on both blogs goes as follows:
Dear All
For the sixth day Israel continue their massacre against the people of isolated Gaza. about 440 killed and martyrs and more than 1750 injured with the support of the United states, immobility of Arab and international communities with only a mere verbal condemnations of unjustified violence against the Palestinian people. This was just a verbal accusation of unjustified violence against the Palestinian people.
Arabs, Muslims and Europeans went out into the streets to demonstrate and express their anger against the inhumane treatment suffered by the inhabitants of Gaza who are subjected to hunger, encroachment, and the violation of the all the principles of Human rights. this violence is not only against Hamas as announced by the Israeli media, but it has also affected the mosques, the Islamic University, houses and a school that depends on the United Nations relief for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and the Palestinian government buildings in Gaza; the most populated area in the world which increased the total number of civilians victims . Yesterday the Israeli army announced that Gaza has become a military area while relying on a number of additional troops and tanks to prepare for a new ground military invasion to Gaza.
In addition, Israeli armored forces attacked the boat ”Dignity” which came from Cyprus and aimed to break the siege of Gaza
We ask you to help Gaza as soon as possible and immediately stop the Israeli massacre against the unarmed Palestinian people and ending the siege on Gaza, and the opening of the Rafah crossing point. The Egyptian authorities refused to open the crossing point in the absence of the Palestinian Authority, and the presence of international observers, and for fear of Israeli air strikes on the border strip in Rafah point while ensuring the transport of wounded Palestinians to the hospital in Egypt because of the shortage of essential medical tools In Gaza.
in the name of humanity And human rights, we ask you to rescue Gaza from the threat of genocide at the hands of the Israeli army.
Tahyyes writes about the medical supplies required in Gaza, in preparation for a medical relief convoy being sent to Palestine. The post includes a complete list of the medical supplies required to treat civilians maimed and injured during the previous week.
As for myself, I've asked my readers, and before anything, to learn how Israelis think by reading their blogs:
If Arabs are willing to win the case.. then KNOW YOUR ENEMY first!
Read Israeli's blogs and know their lies.. it isn't a hard equation after all..

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Egypt: Ship hijacked by the Pirates · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

In the midst of the intense talks about the Gaza attack, Zeinobia didn't forget to shed the light on the recent  hijacking of another Egyptian ship by the pirates of Somalia. She is also speculating what the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs is going to do about the repeated threats.


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Ethiopia: Limited internet availability · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Owen Barder reports on the limited internet availability in Ethiopia, especially since the three underwater cables linking Egypt to Europe were cut by an ship’s anchor. Before that bandwith had usually been limited, and unpredictable.

author: Elia Varela Serra


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Australia: Following Gaza from Afar · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Though Gaza is a long way from Australia, there have been many reactions to the catastrophe unfolding there. Many Australians have been using their blogs to post links that help to provide both information and analysis of what’s happening that is not always covered in the mainstream media.
Planet IRF has been posting AlJazeeraEnglish videos. He re-titled ‘Sderot residents live on the edge 30 Dec 08′ as Sympathy for victims…
They are presented without comment. The Al Jazera summary on YouTube is:
Israel insists that as long as Hamas rockets keep falling on the southern part of the country, it must continue striking Gaza.
And as Hoda Abdel Hamid reports, residents in Sderot – which lies near the Gaza border – say they support those attacks, even if it means taking civilian lives.
‘US military aid underpins Gaza offensive – 31 Dec 08‘ is The constant flow of terror funds …
The Al Jazera summary:
Israel receives billions of dollars in military aid from the US each year, much of it spent on American weaponry which US law says must only be used in self-defence.
But experts say there is little chance of cuts in aid to Israel despite its military operation in Gaza.
Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer reports.
Ana blogs at Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua, (Revolutionary Anti Colonialism & Anti Capitalism in the Pacific). As well as linking to Al Jazeera, she has included a lengthy piece from Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah. He took up the growing pessimism that anything can be done to improve the situation:
On top of the intense anger and sadness so many people feel at Israel's renewed mass killings in Gaza is a sense of frustration that there seem to be so few ways to channel it into a political response that can change the course of events, end the suffering, and bring justice.
But there are ways, and this is a moment to focus on them. Already I have received notices of demonstrations and solidarity actions being planned in cities all over the world. That is important. But what will happen after the demonstrations disperse and the anger dies down? Will we continue to let Palestinians in Gaza die in silence?
Palestinians everywhere are asking for solidarity, real solidarity, in the form of sustained, determined political action. The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group reaffirmed this today as it “called upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it.”
The global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement for Palestine (http://www.bdsmovement.net/) provides the framework for this. Now is the time to channel our raw emotions into a long-term commitment to make sure we do not wake up to “another Gaza” ever again.
Free Palestine
Antony Loewenstein, well known blogger and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution. His mix of anti-zionism and jewish background have made him a controversial voice in Australia. He frequently posts items from a wide range of sources such as this one from Ynet News, the online Israeli news service:
Dozens of Israelis received text messages from Hamas Thursday morning, stammeringly warning them that the offensive in Gaza will only bring about massive rocket fire on Israel.
The message read: “Rockets on all cities, shelters not protect, Qassam rocket, Hamas.” A source in Hamas military wing confirmed the new tactic, adding that Hamas wants to warn the Israeli public against a future escalation in Gaza. Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) Spokesman Abu Abir said that the Palestinian organizations have a few surprises in store for the Israelis, and not just military-wise.
From rockets to texting
The latest post points to a new source of citizen journalism in Israel:
Israeli human rights group have launched a blog to document the abuses during the current violence in Gaza.
Bypassing the old timers
This group’s purpose:
In light of the fighting in Gaza and in Southern Israel, Israeli human rights groups are sending out ongoing updates about the impact on civilians. Our aim is to inform the Israeli public of events that are not being covered by the media. Each group is posting the information at its disposal, which is necessarily limited and cannot be taken as a comprehensive picture of the human rights violations currently taking place. Since the fieldworkers cannot access most locations at present, much of the information is being conveyed over the phone. The data has been verified to our best ability under the circumstances.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Ghana: President announced · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Kent's diaries reports that the results of the Presidential runoff election in Ghana have just been announced, with opposition candidate John Atta Mills winning the tight race. The blog also offers a profile of the new President.


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Global Health: Hopes and Resolutions for 2009 · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

As 2009 kicks off, many people are trying to create changes in their lives. Whether it's large or small goals, serious or humorous ones, bloggers around the world are posting lists of their New Year's resolutions — and health-related wishes often top the list.
The U.K.-based mental health organization Mind says that some of these resolutions can be bad for your health, though.  For example, self-improvement goals, like the need to lose weight, can create a negative self-image and lead to feelings of inadequacy and even mild depression. Still, this hasn't stopped many people from adding “losing weight” to their resolutions for 2009. Other health-related goals, such as quitting smoking and adapting a healthier lifestyle, are also among the most common resolutions.
Lilit Reye from the Philippines, blogging on Spring Roll, captures this sentiment in his ode to post-New Years:
“Gyms will be full starting next week.
Since almost everyone's resolution is related to better health,
with better wealth, as a wish.”
This is true for Munytang from Malaysia. Although he isn't big on making resolutions, he posted five ones for 2009 on his blog MunY – TangTangTang! Here's his health goal for this year:
“Take care of my health, this means eating right and have a fair amount of exercise.”
Losing weight and being more active are yearly resolutions for Braided Diva, an Aboriginal woman living in Canada. After much pondering she also adds a much simpler goal, one that will help her body, to this year's list:
“My New Year's Resolution for 2009 is simply to……PUT LOTION ON MY BODY EVERY DAMN DAY!
Simple enough I can do that. In fact I SHOULD have been for a long time. Of course I've always got an excuse on hand as to why I do not take that little bit of time after my daily shower. It's simple, slicking up the bod doesn't take much effort at all. And my skin will love me when this year is over. Not that my skin is intensely damaged, but it is winter and I do spend many hours in the warm cozy house. Those two combined make for some dry skin. And now as I sit and proof read, spell check this blog the thought comes to me….what kind of fricking self-called diva doesn't lotion up every day?”
Fassingpancy's list of resolutions for 2009 also predicts his chance of achieving the goal.  Besides losing weight, he lists nine other wishes on his blog, Fassing Pancy’s Vocal Chimneys. Here's goal #7:
“Give Up Coffee – 2008 was my year for experiencing coffees from around the world; Africa, South America, Indonesia, Australia, India, Hawaii, Jamaica… Kenya AA was the best of them, with a lovely cherry aftertaste. However, for health reasons I’ll be giving up coffee. Not that I’ve got a problem, but I want to be healthier. Fruit teas here I come. ;)
Chance of Achievement: 85%”
Rather than avoiding beverages, Mr. R actually wants to consume more of a certain beverage this year, one that can boost his health – water. Blogging on Xpress Coffee, he states:
“Water is the only drink for a wise man:
Says, Henry David Thoreau. Well if water consumption is the yardstick of being wise,  Damn it! I should be a fool! I survive with less water. Something in me says I better start drinking more! Am talking about pure H2O. I would like to see myself gulping down at least 8 cups of water a day.”
Alice Vosloo, blogging on Living life breathlessly, encourages people to make such New Year's resolutions. Living in South Africa and suffering from cystic fibrosis, she was waiting for a double lung transplant at this time last year. She says:
“This time last year however, I was SO uncertain about what was going to happen in 2008 (would I get lungs? would I survive the year? would I have my transplant in Florida? etc), so I just made 4 WILD New Years Resolutions/wishes… here they are:
1. Keep myself alive.
2. Get lungs.
3. Have fun.
4. Find love.
And they all came true… So the moral of the story? Go wild with New Years Resolutions, don't put a limit on your happiness or abilities and the power of prayer.”
Resolutions aren't just limited to personal goals though. Many bloggers are also advocating for health-related changes in their countries and communities. Country Doc, blogging on The Country Doc Report, lists New Year's resolutions to improve rural healthcare, while Pd, blogging on My Diary 2.0, posts 10 resolutions to change India, including this healthcare-related one:
“Let us ask the government to stop spending a fortune on defence equipments and satellites launch. We need not be the numero uno in these until and unless we ensure that the literacy rate of our country is high enough to beat other countries. Competitions can also be in this way round. People should have access to the basic amenities such as primary health care, education, food, clothing and shelters.”
Chikwe Ihekweazu, blogging on Nigeria Health Watch, says that 2008 was a tough year for Nigerian healthcare issues, but that there is hope for 2009. He asks:
“Can Professor Osotimehin [Nigeria's new minister of health] inspire Nigerians to take on their roles as leaders in primary health care centres, in our immunisation programmes, in our teaching hospitals?
Can we be inspired to believe again? To insist on quality? To do the bit we can?
Can 2009 turn out to be the year we celebrate a re-birth, a restoration of some pride and confidence in our health care system?…
…This is our prayer and hope for 2009.”
Photo of List of Resolutions by 60 in 3 on Flickr.

author: Juhie Bhatia


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Indonesia: Art deco heritage · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Elyani's Place blogs about the art deco heritage in Bandung, Indonesia.


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Japan: A possible solution to the economic crisis · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Wishing a happy new year to everybody, Nobuo Ikeda makes remarks about Japan's destiny in 2009, following the global financial crisis in the last months of 2008. Professor Ikeda believes that it would be better for Japan to go through a drastic and radical economic crisis at all levels once and for all, instead of a partial one as has been happening since the Bubble economy burst in the 90s. By finding the energy and resolution to surmount the crisis, this would enable the country to start a new age of growth (as it did in the decades after the 2nd World War [ja]).

author: Scilla Alecci


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Jordan: “Our treaty with Israel keeps us safe” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Jordanian blogger Farah Nimri writes a post entitled “Why I’m Against Annuling the Treaty With Israel“.

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Kenya: Controversial media bill passed · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Moses Kemibaro reports that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has signed into law the controversial Communications Amendment Bill 2008. He notes that “the Bill has been signed even as Kenyan Media, in particular, and Kenyans, in general, have expressed concerns about the Bill as there are aspects about it that will (potentially?) seriously limit media rights in Kenya and also affect Kenyans freedom of expression and privacy”. Bankelele offers a breakdown of the main issues covered by the bill.


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Kenya: Top 10 most influential women · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Kachwanya has made a list of the Top 10 most influential women in Kenya, led by Minister of Justice Martha Karua who is also running for President in 2012.


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Languages and dialects of Mali · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Mali Travel Diaries writes about Mali's multilinguism, a country where French is the official language and 50 others are spoken.


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Morocco: “We are all Hamas” · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Allal El Alaoui posts a brief screenplay written about the ongoing attacks on Gaza.

author: Jillian C. York


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Niger: The griot entertainer · Global Voices
Elia Varela Serra

Esther Garvi of Ishtar News posts some pictures of the griots, professional entertainers in the Hausa culture in Niger.


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Popular rapper in France is Laotian · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Check out a YouTube video featuring Bolo, a popular rapper in France who is a Laotian.