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Afghanistan: A report someone didn’t want you to read · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nick Fielding opines that the Britain's Parliamentary report on Afghanistan is strongly critical of the present government's policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan.


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Alex Castro: A liberal, libertarian and libertine Brazilian blogger · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Behind one of the most popular Brazilian blogs, Liberal Libertário Libertino [liberal, libertarian and libertine, pt], there is an independent writer, a passionate academic and a free thinker. During this chat, just before the launch of the first offline edition of his first novel, a project that only came true because of the sponsorship an army of readers of his blog [pt] – the Blogosphere Patrons – Alex Castro talks about blogs, the prisons which enslave the human soul how he escaped them to live as a libertarian, and of course, about his first novel, Mulher de Um Homem só [One Man Women, currently available in Portuguese only] – an already very popular e-book, downloaded over 30,000 times, which has just been launched in paper.
Who is Alex Castro?
Alex Castro is a barefaced shameless liar, as all fiction writers. Never trust a single word he says.
In his flickr profile, Alex Castro defines himself: Hedonist, novelist, atheist, foot fetishist.
The Liberal, Libertário, Libertino [LLL] has been online since 2003 and you are now one of the most popular Brazilian bloggers. How did you get into it?
Several reasons. When I created the blog, I had never read a blog before, I didn't even know what it was. My friend Isabel (to whom “Mulher de Um Homem Só” is dedicated) was the one who kept bugging me, telling me that blogs were the best new tool for a writer to promote his art – and she was right, as she usually is, but let's not tell her that. Moreover, I was then working on a series of texts called “The Prisons”, trying to catalog the several “chains” that still hold back humans beings, such as heterosexuality, monogamy, religion, truth, shame, humbleness, ambition, obedience, etc, and I thought it would be nice to get some real time feedback on this controversial material. And, indeed, the Prisons have been received pretty well. Besides, I had just gotten in touch again with a high school friend, Andreia, who had turned dominatrix in Australia, and also had an open marriage, and she lived her life pretty much as I did, in a more libertine and libertarian way, and I thought that those values Andreia and I practiced deserved to be properly and publicly articulated, they had to lived out in public. Actually, she made me feel embarrassed of how private my life was. So, the blog was also a very political forum in which to discuss publicly such vital issues as free love, polyamory, jealousy, monogamy, open relationships, etc. And thus I became a blogger.
The LLL is a blog about the so called prisons that enslave humanity [pt] – fear, shame, religion, patriotism, happiness, monogamy, heterosexuality, among others. How did you manage to escape them?
All it takes is willpower. Self control is everything in life. We control very few things except for ourselves, how we react to outside stimuli, how we position ourselves regarding the world. Having this in mind, little by little, one day at a time, I became less humble, less shy, less square, less fearful, less worried about other people's opinions, that sort of thing. But it's a conscious effort. Everything in the world pushes us to conform. Being yourself is not something that comes naturally to anyone, but a daily struggle. You have to ask yourself everyday: “have I been the person I want to be?”
"Smoking on the Porch, With Oliver on my Legs"
[LLL is] a blog about rebellion, contemplation and slutty, seasoned with a large dose of literature and humor.
But you told me not to believe in anything you say. Is the hedonist Alex Castro, after all, a fictional character?
I have a better question: so what if he is? Half the things I said in this interview are false. But which half? Actually, I was lying just now, everything I said was true. Or not. So what? The truth is that there is a novel called “Mulher de Um Homem Só” and it's worthless or not regardless of having being written by a man or by a woman, by a white person or by a black person, by a teenager or by a senior citizen. The message of the Prisons is valid (or not) regardless even of my sincere belief in them. Maybe I wrote it all ironically, but someone else may read it at face value and it may change their life anyway. The text is real. That is the only thing that matters. My lies, my truths, my intentions, myself even, we are all utterly irrelevant. The Truth is the worst prison of all, this childish need we have of questioning the truthfulness of every single thing we come in touch with. I'm a fiction writer: my job is to implode the Truth. Fiction is a lie that, if well-told, can be more truthful than several truths out there.
What is the reaction of your readers to this “more libertarian, more libertine life”, considering that it breaks acceptable standards of behavior in a sexist country like Brazil? There is even a campaign “I hate the LLL,” with your own endorsement.
The “I hate LLL” campaign was actually created and promoted by me. I don't see any reason why only my fans should link to me. My enemies also have the right to promote my work. But seriously now, the point of the campaign was to make fun of that kind of reader that says he or she hates me, disagrees with everything I say but keeps coming back for more every single day,making obsessive comments, that sort of thing. Those readers amuse me immensely, but sadly they are a minority and they soon get tired of heckling me and move to greener pastures.
Usually, the message of the Prison series resonates more with two kinds of people: on the one hand, teenagers and young adults of both genders who are in the process of growing up, becoming more mature, more independent. One of my friends makes fun of me saying that my MSN activity makes me look like a new Socrates on the agora, corrupting the young. And, on the other hand, 30-something women who suddenly find themselves in loveless marriages and just want to break free and live life a little. Those two groups represent a disproportionally large share of the readers who come to me, and I can only conclude that my message of personal freedom is specially relevant to people in these types of situation.
Photo: Roberto Rivera: robertorivera.com/portfolio.htm
Changing the subject to Literature on the Web, are there any good literary blogs? What can we find in your blogroll?
You see, I must confess I have never been a big fan of blogs and, for a long time now, I have kicked out all of them. Now I read very few blogs, and most of them only from close friends, just to know how they're doing. A handful of good contemporary writers blog, but writing in a blog is always different from writing fiction. It is difficult to create fiction in a blog. So blogging becomes a tool for the writer to refine his writing skills and to build a circle of readers that he'd, eventually, give or sell the book to. I honestly think that there are really good literary blogs in Brazil, but for my own lack of knowledge, I do not know any.
You were one of the pioneers in paid e-books in Brazil. To what extent, in your opinion, the Internet helps independent writers and artists in general?
The Internet is essential because it allows the artist to keep in touch with their readers, a contact that a while back depended on middlemen: labels, publishers, newspapers, etc. A new paradigm is growing in art, and it sort of works like this: you share your art work for free so you can build an audience; after that you sell limited, rare, exclusive versions of the product, etc. to them. Somehow I'm doing that with “Mulher de Um Homem Só”, that had more than 30 thousand downloads for free and was sold in a limited and numbered edition in which the readers who paid more for it acquired the lowest number versions. The 001 copy was bought by a reader from Turkey who paid R$200 [$110 approximately] for it.
For me, the benefits include raising more money than I would if I published the book like a newbie ugly duckling of a traditional publisher and keeping in better touch with my audience. The great disadvantage of not being in the traditional way of publishing is the lack of visibility and prestige. I write literature and own a blog, but people call me a blogger. The guy who publishes in Rocco (even if no one ever read his book) and has a blog, is a writer – who also happens to have a blog. But that outlook is already changing.
"Patron of just one book", reads the bookmark special for those readers who ordered the book before the launch.
How did you come up with the idea of the “Patrons of the blogosphere” to turn the ebook “Mulher de um Homem Só” into a paper book?
“Mulher de Um Homem Só” was available for free download during four years, from 2002 to 2006, and was downloaded more than 30,000 times. After that, I hired a literary agent to try and sell my book to the publishers but she (the agent) didn't succeed. In the meantime, I published many ebooks – you know, ebooks cost nothing – and I kept selling them; but people often asked me: “oh, isn't there a paper version of the book? I hate to read in the screen!” etc. The point is, with no publisher support, printing becomes expensive once I have to pay for the editing for my and arrange everything for my own. Then I thought: “well, if readers want paper books so much, why can't they pay for it then?  I'll set the book in pre-order and when I raise enough for printing the books, I'll do it; otherwise I just return the money”. It was a great success, “Mulher de Um Homem Só” sold 150 copies during pre-ordering and the amount of money raised could cover the cost for 700 copies.
Does this closer contact with readers change in any way the way you write, or even the plot of your stories, since you will also know the public and what they want better? Or do you like keeping some distance to produce exactly what you think you should, with no influence of the reader in your work?
Yes, it changes. But not exactly the way you pointed. It doesn't actually exist such thing as to give what people seek for. I'm not a clerk that asks the client what he is looking for, get it and give it to him. In literature, the client is almost always has no reason. The spirit of literature is that of complexity. A good book takes to places that you didn't want to be, teaches you things you didn't want to know, shows you that the world, people and stuff, are more complex than you ever imagined. At the time the writer of fiction is keen to give the readers what they want, he abdicates one of the basic prerogatives of art.
Actually, perhaps this is one of those really sought after boundaries between literature-art and the so called literature-entertainment: in the second one, you try to entertain and give to the reader whatever he wants. In the first, it is not quite like that. Of course, in literature, you may well give readers what they wants, but this may not be the fundamental criteria of making art. by the way: I am not setting here any hierarchy relation between them. Anyone of Nero Wolfe's crime novels is much better than 90% of the literature-art itself. What remains is the fact that both types of literature have a very different goal and reader relationship.
And, answering your question, yes, the contact with readers changes everything, but for a different reason. It is because the author always writes with an ideal reader in mind, and seeks to create an effect in them. The contact with the reader allows your to measure whether you are reaching your goals and adjust them accordingly. There are a number of examples. Once, a reader told me that a scene of a story made she go back to a less complicated time, more idyllic, that she feel like she was in Manet's Breakfast in the Open Air picture, making a bucolic picnic in a forest on the edge of the Seine in the nineteenth century… And I thanked her for her view, and of course the reader was not wrong at all, each reading is valid, but I rewrote the scene, putting a mobile phone in her pocket and a delta wing flying in the sky, just to cut that effect, which was not what I sought. But you see, the internet has nothing to do with that. This kind of thing happened since literature exists.
As you are based in the United States, what is your view on the differences between the Brazilian and U.S. editorial markets? (question from Twitter user @emanuelcampos)
I do not know. I live in the United States in a very strange way. I'm there physically, but within the university bubble, which is like another world. I study and lecture in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Most of my colleagues, all my students, almost all of my social circle not only speak Portuguese fluently but also have a strong interest in Brazil. My research is about Brazil. My readings, my fiction, my blog, I write my academic production in Portuguese. My girlfriend, my family, my readers are in Brazil. I publish in Brazil. That is to say, all my outlook is towards Brazil. I do not follow, study or watch the American market.
Are there any plans to get your books translated into English or another language?
A couple of translators, he is Brazilian and she is from Argentina, have offered to translate “Mulher de Um Homem Só” into Spanish. I want to get this version done and show it around. I have some contacts from the Cuban editorial circles and I would love to be read over there. There is a great market for literature in Spanish in the United States that I can seek – and that I know nothing about! A Spanish version, the second most widely spoken Western language, would open many possibilities. By the way, the Brazilian guy in the couple translating it is no other than Emanuel, who sent the above question.
So, let's make our English readers taste your book for now. Can you translate your favorite paragraph of Mulher de um Homem Só?
I am not sure this is the one I like better, but I think this is a good representative bit of the book:
“Not even all those lunches were enough to satisfy Julia's craving for Murilo. While I saw myself as her rehab, she had actually made me into her black market supplier: Julia came to me and snorted every line of Murilo she could find. And I did the same, because I'm not all that different. She sucked the present out of me, but I sucked her dry of past. Julia knew everything about Murilo, they had grown up together, they had never not known one another. And I pictured Julia doing the same with his second wife, visiting, telling stories from the past while sucking the future. But Murilo's made the oath with me, I'm his wife!”
Friends, at the Mulher de Um Homem Só book launch in São Paulo, some of them "Patrons"
Book signing:
After launching Mulher de Um Homem Só in São Paulo last weekend, Alex Castro will have a book signing this Friday, August 7, in Rio de Janeiro. Check the invitation here. To buy Mulher de Um Homem Só in Portuguese, check this link. Te check other books by Alex Castro, click here.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Paula Góes


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Bangladesh, India: Protesting The TipaiMukh Dam · Global Voices
Rezwan

Along with many Bangladeshis several Indian organizations are also protesting the proposed TipaiMukh Dam in India. BanglaPraxis highlights two of them: Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), Assam writes to Indian PM protesting Tipaimukh Dam and a memo from Society of Activists & Volunteers for Environment (SAVE) of Silchar submitted to the Bangladesh parliamentary committee visiting Tipaimukh.

author: Rezwan


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Bangladesh: Social Status And Definition Of Sexuality · Global Voices
Rezwan

Delwar Hussain at Unheard Voice informs: “in Bangladesh, how you define your sexuality can depend on class, education and family circumstances.” Read the post for details.


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Bermuda: Addressing Inequality  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Catch a fire is interested in “what the Government has done, or should do, to address the continuing racial inequalities in Bermuda.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Brunei retirement age now at 60 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Sultan of Brunei has increased the mandatory retirement age in the country from 55 to 60 years old.

author: Mong Palatino


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China: Dark days for China’s liberals · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Rebecca MacKinnon looks into the political implications of the repression of Gongmeng and the arrest of human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong in China.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Economic bubbles · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David from Silk Road International is worried about China economy even though it is growing: “how can the Chinese government continue it’s stimulus if the world doesn’t recover to pre-crash levels of consumer spending?  Answer?  They can’t.”


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China: Prostitutes more trustworthy than government officials · Global Voices
George Sun

A startling result of an online survey of more than 3,376 people published by Insight China magazine reveals that China's prostitutes are considered by some to be more trustworthy than its politicians, teachers and scientists!
The survey found that 7.9% of the respondents considered sex workers trustworthy, placing them third behind farmers and religious workers. A post on China Daily website says a result like this is surprising and embarrassing at the same time. The article analyzes the social background and reasons which lie behind the sex workers’ unexpected prominence on this list of honor and concludes that it reflects the government's indifference to, if not disregard of, citizens.
Generally speakingChinese local cadres report only to their superiors, and their appointment, promotion or removal has little, or nothing, to do with input from the community they are supposed to serve. So, the author suggests that efforts must be made to restore the government's credibility and the first step is to put an end to public servants being remote from the public interest. Chinese netizens seem in total despair as to the credibility of their government officials. The following is a selection of comments on the topic at SouFun.com:
不过我觉得这个对比不太合理。在诚信度方面，妓女都是后付款的，诚信度自然很高。和二奶比较的话很合适……那个一般都是先付款的。
Another netizen says:
民间已经以这种极端的方式来表达他们的信任程度，这说明中国共产党的信用已经破产了。
Someone thinks that the current social context is the main cause:
社会环境造成的。现在官员说话，与电视广告一样。
A blogger named Zuiyanwulong posts a comment on Sina.com saying one party dictatorship is the root of bribery and corruption:
中国腐败已快烂到根了，为什么中国人民这么老实本分甚至麻木？因为说也没用，气也没用，一党执政，没有威胁，没有压力，他们就恃无忌惮的贪，因为从下到上金字塔形的贪污模式，所以以官官相互为原则，实在瞒不住就以牺牲下级官员为解决方案，所以贪不断根啊！
Besides the scattered thoughts, coherent opinions can also be found online. A blogger posts an article on the famous Chinese forum Xici.net saying that he worries about that the poll may show wider and deeper problems in current China- namely the social credit crisis:
设若说房地产老板、演艺明星等被认为是诚信最差的群体，笔者绝不怀疑，因为在金钱决定一切的这个商业时代，人们早已领略了他们的为钱而动的“风采”。
The author continues:
但令笔者颇为惊讶的是，原本社会声望较高的科学家、教师居然也排在了诚信危机的范畴之内，且“不及性工作者”。——怪哉，过去妓女属于下九流，而今教师的信任度在人们心目中居然还不如妓女，这实在是一件令人极度惊诧和匪夷所思的事情。
In conclusion, he thinks it's society's shame:
诚信的本义就是要诚实、诚恳、守信、有信，反对隐瞒欺诈、反对伪劣假冒、反对弄虚作假。所以，教师更应为人师表，言传身教，以信取人。但时至如今，教师居然还不如妓女，这能说不是一种悲哀吗？
Simultaneously, an English blogger looks on the positive side of the survey result and thinks that it indicates that  worship of personalities now belongs in the past:
At least prostitutes work their butts off for an honest living rather than plundering the people who do work.
Edited by Bob Guy

author: George Sun


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China: Reactions on Clinton Rescue Reporters From N.Korea  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fauna from ChinaSMACK blogs about Chinese netizens’ reactions on Clinton's trip to North Korea and the release of two reporters.


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China: Xu Ziyong  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Last month, Gongmeng, a NGO provides Chinese citizen with legal assistance was charged by the Beijing government with evading tax. The head of the Gongmeng, Xu Ziyong is now under arrest. Susan Jakes from China Beat writes an article about Xu's activist path.


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Egypt: TE-Data Fair Usage Policy · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

The Egyptian Internet service provider TE-Data, started applying what it  calls a “Fair Usage Policy,” without prior warning. TE-Data and many other ISP's here already have Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and Volume Tracking systems implemented in order to offer limited and unlimited packages for their ADSL users, for different prices. But now TE-Data has decided to put boundaries on the Internet usage of the unlimited users, and even if you decide to pay more money to get an unlimited connection your Internet connection will be slowed down after you exceed a certain limit as stated in their FUP document:
Traffic volume for each ADSL speed is counted on monthly basis. When this traffic/ data reach a certain limit the speed automatically drops to 128 Kbps till end of the subscription month. The speed is upgraded once more at the beginning of the new month.
And for sure the Egyptian bloggers and Twitter users were not happy with such a decision.
@Jpierre wrote here:
Also @Moodeey wrote here:
And @AmrSpace wrote here:
In fact, it may not be TE-Data only, but other ISP's are believed to start doing the same thing. @Tafatefo who is subscribed to LINKdotNET wrote the following tweet:

author: Tarek Amr


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Egyptian Blogger Harassed at Cairo Airport (Again!) · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Hossam El Hamalawy reports: A month after they detained him at the Cairo International Airport and confiscated his laptop, Blogger Wael Abbas has been stopped again, on his way back from Beirut. Police has confiscated all his CDs, USB and flash memory cards!: “Wael just texted me to say he’s leaving airport and heading home now.”

author: Marwa Rakha


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Fake eggs in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Today in Myanmar reports that fake eggs are being sold in some areas in Myanmar. The fake eggs were allegedly transported from neighboring countries.


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Georgia: Blogger reportedly targetted by Facebook, Twitter attack · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

CNET's blog carries a podcast report on the denial of service attacks on Facebook and Twitter which apparently targeted Georgian blogger Cyxymu as the first anniversary of the Russia-Georgia war approached.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Guyana, Barbados: Barbadians First  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands reports that The Council for Hemispheric Affairs has weighed in “on the heated dialogue that has ensued after the compulsory deportation of Guyanese nationals from Barbados…”


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Hungary, Ukraine: Illegal Stem Cell Therapy · Global Voices
Marietta Le

Beginning from Jan. 1, 2009, stem cell therapy in Hungary is regulated in accordance with an international regulation that makes extremely strict conditions concerning the use of stem cells in therapeutic treatment. The medical website Medizona.hu (HUN) writes that the competence of stem cells and the methods of their use must be controlled via professionally established animal tests. Then, these can be examined on human body with adequate permissions, and only following the rules of clinical tests.
Last week, four people were arrested on suspicion of giving illegal stem cell treatments. According to police reports, the treatments were carried out not just in Budapest and Kaposvár, but in hotel rooms and private homes around the country. Hungarian Spectrum reports:
[…] The Hungarian police arrested four people: “B. Julliy” who turned out to be Yuliy Baltaytis, a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen; a Ukrainian woman, Natalia K., who apparently supplied the embryonic stem cells from Kharkov and Kiev; and two unnamed Hungarians, one of whom was charged with assisting the doctors “in the transportation of the cooling equipment, the handling of shipments from Ukraine, and the transportation of the patients to and fro.” The police claimed that the “therapists” demanded 5 million Hungarian forints ($25,000) for a single treatment. […]
The Budapest Times has more on the case:
[…] The suspects have been identified as Ukrainian-American medical professor Yuliy Baltaytis, plastic surgeon István Seffer, and a Ukrainian biologist known as Natalia K. A company called Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM), based in Kaposvár, was responsible for the treatments and CEO of the company Sándor Szabó is the fourth detainee, according to MTI. IRM rented space from Seffer & Renner clinic, said Tibor Seffer, managing director of the clinic and brother of István Seffer. He added that the IRM laboratory was separate and the Seffer clinic had nothing to do with stem cell research. […]
Hungarian Spectrum adds:
[…] The CEO of the company was Sándor Szabó and on the board we find Imre Pákh, István Seffer, the plastic surgeon from Kaposvár, and Ádám Fásy, a “media star” who apparently became rich as a result of starting beauty pageants in Hungary. Otherwise, Fásy has a rather primitive program on ATV called “Fásy mulató.” “Fásy Revelry.” […]
A year ago, a 31-year-old mother who was looking for treatment for her son's Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, wrote a post (HUN) about Dr. István Seffer, one of the Hungarian doctors who were arrested, because she intended to resort to the treatment:
I've already mentioned in a link that Dr. István Seffer would deal with stem cells at the private plastic surgery clinic in Kaposvár. They still don't have the ethical permissions but doctor Picskur practicing in Kiev is coming here to do implants. Of course on own responsibility (patients must sign a statement). From the three problematic criteria, two they can fulfill with benevolence, since correct hygienic conditions are given, and the stem cells aren't from Kiev but produced in Hungary, according to the statement of the doctor, they are totally controlled (concerning infections and genetic diseases). The third thing is the danger of cancer. I don't know anything about this at present, but considering the state of science today – I suppose – they don't know either…
The treatments were based on stem cells retrieved from aborted foetuses. Részeg Szamár (“Drunken Donkey”) wrote indignant posts about the story (HUN):
[…] As Neveletlen and several other media outlets wrote, stem cells were obtained from necrosed, or aborted foetuses. One thing is sure: not from dead foetuses, since no organs can be transplanted from the dead. But it sounds another way that Pisti [István Seffer] and his friends didn't pluck out by violence from mothers’ uterus, but plop they caught foetuses just scraped out, or just leaving the uterus, but still alive, and they obtained some millions from them before throwing them out to trash. However, ‘on behalf of humanity’, and on behalf of Pisti's pocket, the ‘unneeded’ foetuses were used, and each one had a biological mother. So by this time these mothers had to sign legal statements that they permitted it all. If Pisti can't present these, that's a big pitfall. If they can present, the image would be prettier, but only a little, because the stem cells didn't pass the obligatory examinations, so the lucky ones got whatever kind of a terrible genetic disease for 5 million, instead of eternal life, as a bonus, I suppose… Not to mention a small thing, that all this is prohibited in the [EU].
According to the Hungarian news agency MTI, Péter Zamecsnik, the defense lawyer of István Seffer, announced that the doctor was released Thursday from detention to house arrest.

author: Marietta Le


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India: Violation Of Human Rights · Global Voices
Rezwan

Subir Bhaumik comments on the numerous incidents of human rights violations by security forces in Assam and Northeast India: “this must stop if we have to convince the world we are a democracy — merely holding elections does not make us a democracy.”


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Iran: “Ahmadinejad a phenomenal politician” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Farhad Jafari, an Iran based writer and blogger, writes [fa] that Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “is a phenomenal politician and is like a professional chess player…one thing that nobody can deny is that he is one of us (Iranian people).”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Free Abtahi Campaign · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Free Abtahi site is launched to support Iranian leading reformist and blogger, Mohammad Ali Abtahi who has been jailed for about 2 months.


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Economic Outlook · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

In light of Standard & Poor's low financial rating for Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago blog The Liming House predicts: “If economic conditions in Jamaica and the Caribbean get much worse, the country is going to have a hard time meeting its outstanding debts.”


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Japan: Reactions to the Japanese tourist rip-off in Italy  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Japanese tourists in Rome are said to have diminished in the last period. Not only the economic crisis but also the bad service that Italian restaurants and hotels provide to the tourists as well as the fear to have their wallet or mobile phone ripped off, have made the Japanese choose other safer destinations.
Just of few weeks ago the news that a Japanese couple was cheated by a famous restaurant in the center of Rome who presented them a 700 euro bill for an ordinary lunch. Japanese people, though, have started to be fed up with being considered the well-off, easily-cheatable tourist to milk.
Moshimoshi, the Japanese manager of the B&B in Rome that hosted the unlucky couple, explains what happened and titles the post “There is no way I can tolerate it” (絶対に許せない！！).
今日警察に行ってきました。というのも最近B&Bのお客様が被害にあわれて、その再確認に行ってまいりました。
その被害とは、簡単に説明すると二人でランチを食べたら700ユーロ、（約10万円）という法外な値段をぼったくられた、という被害です。
信じられます？700ユーロですよ！！
許せない！！という事で警察に行き調書をとりました。
しかもそのレストランはガイドブックにのっており、「日本語のメニューがあり、良心的な値段！！」なんて書いてあります。
確かにそのお客様は、メニューも見ずにおまかせで料理を持ってきてもらったそうです。
でもそれにしても700ユーロって・・・・
イタリア人みんなに言われました「どうして払ってしまったんだ？」と。でも想像してください、食べたのに払わずにレストランの外に出たりできますか？私自身は文句を言うにしても、最終的に払わずに外に出たりできないと思います。
私がそう言うとイタリア人は口をそろえて「だから日本人はぼられるんだ！！」
と言います。でもそんな事が許されていいのでしょうか？
「黙っているから、だましてもいい」なんて国があっていいのでしょうか？私は断じて戦います。そんな事が許されていいと全く思いません。今日私を呼び出した警察も、「観光客のイタリアの思い出がそんなに醜いものになるのは一イタリア人として許せない！！彼らはイタリアの恥だ！！」とそのレストランを厳しく罰する事を誓ってくれました。
However, a Japanese blogger points his finger against those Japanese tourists who think to find abroad the same quality service that in Japan they give for granted.
まあ、ありえる話かな、って感じ。
日本は今こんな不景気だから減って不思議でないし、日本人が言う「イタリアのサービスの悪さ」はなにも今に始まったことじゃないから。。。
ただ「サービス悪い」のは何もイタリアだけじゃないと思う。
[…]
それに、、、
海外行って、「日本のようなサービスを受けよう」と思ってるのが、根本的に間違ってると思うよ。
で、サービスの点で、日本と外国の認識の違い、ぜったいあるはず。
日本は「黙っていても何かしてもらえる」と思うのがサービス。
（いわゆる「お客様は神様です」的に・・・）
でも、あちらへ行ったら、、、
「自分で欲することを自分で要求」した上で「相手に仕事をしてもらう」のがサービス（の一つ）。
この他にも相違点たくさんあるのに、あちらのことを知らずに、、[…]
そんな認識で海外行かれちゃうのが、ウチらには恥ずかしいわいっ！
Ripping off foreign travelers is nothing new to the Italian people, unfortunately. Especially to those who come from cities that partly lives on tourism, like Rome.
Not for this, Italians are less ashamed of what is being considered around the world as the umpteenth cheat in the home of Colosseo.
An Italian blogger at L'isola dei riottosi expresses his disappointment on the matter.
Ci stiamo rovinando con le nostre stesse mani. Come dico spesso, la meschinità sta diventando uno dei capisaldi del nostro popolo. Tanto che il turismo rischia di sentirne. E parecchio. In particolare, il numero di turisti giapponesi che si recano a Roma si è dimezzato rispetto al 1997. Motivi? Le strade dell'Urbe sono sporche, e specialmente c'è un ricchissimo business delle Truffe! […]E giustamente queste cose non passano inosservate, dato che ne parlano pubblicamente all'estero, in questo caso il Giappone, dove adesso Roma viene vista come una bellissima città d'arte ma anche come un “macchina succhia soldi”.
Another Italian blogger, id: dragor, makes clear how a tourist is often regarded by some Roman shopkeepers.
PER GLI ITALIANI gli stranieri sono una massa d’imbecilli che aspettano soltanto di farsi fregare. Si considerano  molto furbi e credono che tutti gli altri siano ingenui. La loro fantasia per tirare la botta è incredibile.  […]  Ma il massimo della fantasia si esercita nella fregatura individuale, che in molti casi si manifesta con il prezzo ad hoc. In un bar di Roma, mia moglie ha ordinato un caffè in francese. Le è stato fatturato 5 euro.  Quando ho fatto notare nella lingua di Dante che era un furto, ho ricevuto questa risposta: “Dovevi dirlo subito che sei italiano. Quello è il prezzo per gli stranieri.”

author: Scilla Alecci


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Kazakhstan: Aktau Trip Travelogue · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

KZBlog presents a travelogue post (with pictures) about his trip to Aktau, a port and resort town on the Caspian Sea, west of Kazakhstan.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Myanmar: Actor in Monk Photo Scandal · Global Voices
tan

A controversial photograph of a popular Burmese actor and his friends posing in saffron robes on the day of their ordination at a Buddhist monastery was published on a popular Burmese Website on Tuesday causing outrage and a severe backlash.

author: tan


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Myanmar: Buddhists Outraged by Actor’s Photo · Global Voices
tan

A controversial photo of a Burmese actor and his friends wearing saffron robes had been posted on a popular Burmese blog, creating a severe outrage within the Burmese blogger community.
Min Maw Kun & a Group of His Friends at Their Ordination Ceremony
The photo shows the actor Min Maw Kun, photographer Wunna Khwar Nee and his friends at their ordination ceremony at a Burmese monastery. Yet, the appearances of the “new monks” raised an eyebrow among the Burmese Buddhist community.
Irrawaddy wrote:
Although their heads are shaved and they are wearing religious robes, most of the young men are displaying fashionable tattoos with motifs such as dragons and scorpions, as well as Old School and tribal tattoo patterns. Some of the men smile cheekily at the camera while others hug or pose provocatively.
The photo was first posted on Niknayman's blog, who questioned the intention of the actor.
Saffron robes are revered, and they are only worn by monks, who are regarded as the sons of Lord Buddha. Those in the photo shouldn't be wearing saffron robes, and posing with those facial expression and fake tattoos. Such a thing like this shouldn't happen for any reason.
Afterward, the photo was copied and re-posted on several Burmese blogs. Many Burmese were outraged by this photo. This included Ashin CandoBhaSaCara, a revered monk who lives in US. He had written an article, with the title “Why Did Actor Min Maw Kun Insulted Our Religion Like This?”, appeared on many Burmese blogs. In the article, he explained about the duties and responsibilties of a Buddhist monk, and told the wrongdoings of the actor by breaking all those rules of a monk.
An actor has to respect the public. He has to do the right things while avoiding the wrong things. Min Maw Kun and his friends had lost his value by doing a disdainful act such as this. His father, (actor) Zin Wine is also responsible for this, for the acts of the children is directly held responsible to the parents. Also, the head monk and the monastery who had put robes on these people is also very foolish. The monk who held the ordination ceremony might not actually know about this foolish act. However, everyone with a sane mind would know that this act is not in anyway acceptable in Buddhist culture. This just show what kind of person the actor Min Maw Kun is, who is making videos that will educate the public.
However, on Radio Free Asia Burmese website, the actor Min Maw Kun said that he had no other reason for taking those photos, and that he had expressed his apology for his behaviour.
I have no reason to offend Buddhism. I have no reason to offend the monks either. They are the jewels that we should be worshipping. Sure, we put tattoos on our bodies, but that's just us being youths. I became a monk along with my son, and we went though the ordination ceremony together. The photos were taken while we were cleaning at the monastery just as a memoir. It was taken about 2 years ago. Since people are talking about this, all I have to do is be cautious of my actions. I have no other intentions, and I  was just being a youth. For that, I want to express my apologies to all the monks.


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Pakistan: Karachi Tweet Up 2009 · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

Google and CIO Pakistan have recently organized a tweet up, gathering more than 80 bloggers and Microbloggers at the Royal Rodale in Karachi. The event was the first of its kind, intended to engage bloggers in active discussion regarding social media. Some bloggers shared their experiences via blogs or tweets and the Pakistani mainstream media such as dawn, Geo and other media channels have also covered this ‘tweet up’.
Earlier, Jehan Ara at In The Line Of Wire announced the event with relevant information and a little insight on the event's purpose:
The theme of the Tweetup is “From People to Tweeple”.
The Facebook registration page states:
Just like blogging, the hype about micro-blogging has taken over Pakistan. The question always is, how to use Twitter to your advantage? Learn how local Twitter users and Bloggers are being pulled into the mainstream media and millions of voices being heard!
Registration is mandatory. There are limited seats available so the sooner you register, the more likely that you will be able to attend this special meetup (or should that be tweetup)?
Faisal Kapadia of Deadpan Thoughts was there and shares his thoughts with us:
The event was discussion style, and as Badar and Rabia the two hosts prodded and poked the audience into speaking, more and more voices came out to talk about twitter, micro blogging, its good and bad points, how it affects privacy coupled with a few sillies like stalking and terrorists using twitter thrown in. Seriously guys, terrorists? Tis a public forum ya know?
Image courtesy Photoblogger Jamal Ashiqain http://jamash.wordpress.com/
Mansoor Ehsan at Pro-Paksitan launched a cover it live console giving live updates of the event. Overall the event consisted of healthy discussions of the closely knitted Pakistani bloggers community. Meet-ups such as these are sure to give blogging and microblogging a real boost. Furthermore such events also help in educating people on ways to use social media as a tool for activism.
On my own Blog I shared details about the Tweetup, and the way twitter is being used by the Paksitani Blogosphere:
Although Dr.Awab couldn't join us, he was mentioned, his relief drive for IDPs was also through twitter. Sharing experiences and educating other non tweeps about how twitter can be a handy tool was fun. One other person missing and missed was Naveen Naqvi.  She’s actually brought Breakfast at dawn into our lives. Not to forget she is the only (TV) anchor in Pakistan to live tweet on air. We get an insight scoop on the guest to be and hence get to ask (read grill) questions. Its really nice to have such a platform, where we can pose our questions and suggestions directly to the mainstream media.
Towards the end of the event Goggle and CIO announced their partnership with dawn in sponsoring Paksitan's first Bloggers’ awards. This will be a major boost of encouragements for bloggers and a big step for the Paksitani Blogosphere.

author: Sana Saleem


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Pakistan: The Death Of Baitullah Mehsud · Global Voices
Rezwan

Pak Tea House confirms that Baitullah Mehsud, the most feared Taliban warlord was recently killed in a drone strike in the tribal areas of Pakistan along with his wife. Chowrangi points out to several conspiracy theories regarding his allegiance and death.


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Tajikistan: Language is the key to national self-determination · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Botur Kosimi comments on a recent bill in the Tajikistan parliament that concerns the status and role of the Tajik language in the nation.


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Tanzania: Ngugi Wa Thiong’o to address conference · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenyan novelist Ngugi Wa Thiong'o will deliver keynote address at thePan African Reading for All Conference: “The Organising Committee of the 6th Biennial Pan African Reading for All Conference, and Prof Mlinzi M Mulokozi, Chairperson of the National Committee, are very proud to announce that Ngugi Wa Thiong'o will address the conference plenary on Tuesday 11 August”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Cost of Propaganda · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The ultimate stakeholders, the public, must know how much it cost to make propaganda for a project which is ruinous to its health, economy and ecology”: In calling for public access to the accounts of the proposed Alutrint aluminium smelter plant, Trinidadian blogger Rhea Mungal republishes a letter advising against forgetting about the “propaganda costs”.


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Spin Factor  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

B.C. Pires is following the Commission of Enquiry into Trinidad and Tobago's construction sector and notes that: “The legal costs of UdeCott and Calder Hart are being met entirely by taxpayers” and “presumably include full page, self-serving advertisements…that do nothing more than allege the Commission must be biased since it doesn’t favour UdeCott.  And then the action is simply abandoned…”


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Uzbekistan: Protests Against New Russian Base · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nathan Hamm notes that Uzbekistan is stepping up its criticism of Russia’s plan to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan – near Uzbekistan’s border – by alleging that the new base would destabilize the region and provoke extremists.


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Uzbekistan: Tashkent’s head Imam stabbed outside his home · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Noah Tucker reports that Imam of Tashkent was stabbed outside his home on 31 July and remains hospitalized in serious condition. This is the second attack on a Uzbekistan's religious figure in the last 30 days.


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Argentina: Clarín Media Group Seeks to Close Blog · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

A few months ago, Global Voices published an article about the Argentine multimedia company Clarín, which had been pressuring YouTube so that it would close the accounts that had been using clips from their news programs in order to make their own content, much of which had been critical of the Clarín group. Now, the same company has started a series of legal actions against the blog Qué Te Pasa Clarín? [es] (What's the Matter, Clarín?), which has been criticizing their news reporting.
The legal actions has forced the blog to close claiming that the blog had been infringing on a registered trademark. The blog is now closed, at least temporarily, due to the possibility of facing a fine or other economic sanction handed down by the Argentine justice system. However, many Argentine bloggers think that there is another reason for the legal actions.
According to the creators of the blog What's the Matter Clarín? [es], they main page states, because the rest of the content is offline “because of the legal actions started against the blog by one of the companies that make up the Clarín Group and they are forced to limit access to all of the content produced over the past three months.”
According to the blog ALT1040 [es],  “The (Clarín) Group argues for the closing of the blog because the word Clarín is a registered trademark and one cannot use it as a domain by third parties.  The underlying reason is to silence a journalist critical of them.” In the blog Mundo Perverso [es], Diego F. writes:
La cuestión es que la gente del pequeño y mediano monopolio ha decidido llevar un paso más allá el embate contra los blogs y ahora luego de aprietes e intimaciones judiciales obligaron a dar de baja el sitio. Así como lo leen: un hecho de censura consumado. Utilizando su poder económico y sus equipos de abogados se la agarraron contra los que denunciamos sus tropelías.
Those who were behind the Qué Te Pasa Clarín? site opened a new blog called Guotpasshornet [es] that has been collecting the repercussions from the case, as well as links to other sites that have been writing about the topic. A long list has already been compiled and more being added each day.
The blog's name comes from a reference to the poor relationship between the Argentine government and the Clarín Group. The phrase, “What's the Matter Clarín, Are You Nervous?” was said by ex-President Néstor Kirchner during a speech in which he voiced his displeasure with the coverage provided by the Clarín newspaper of the government of his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

author: Jorge Gobbi


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Bahrain: Memories Of Atari · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Bahraini blogger Shaima Al Watani remembers the Atari video game [Ar].

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Bahrain: Remembering Fashion Icons · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

The Bahrain Poise blog remembers the Middle East's fashion icons of yore, actresses such as Faten Hamama and Madiha Yousry.


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Bahrain: Too Much Traffic · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Elkhelid is fed up of traffic in Bahrain: “Bahrain’s construction projects and road renovations have created a problem: major intersections are bottle necks.”


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Egypt: Heba Mohammed Najeeb – between a rock and a hard place · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Heba Najeeb
Between those who support her right to choose and those who urge her to conform to traditions and Saudi law, 27-year-old Egyptian Heba Najeeb is trapped between a rock and a hard place.
From her blog, Heba reached out to Egyptian bloggers asking for their help:
In a post dedicated to explaining her reasons, she wrote:
Heba has corresponded with several human rights bodies in Egypt and in Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian consulate in Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, the UN in Riyadh, some foreign embassies, the UNCHR, the Egyptian Ambassador in Riyadh, and the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – all in vain. She has also met with several Saudi princes, who turned a deaf ear to her request to leave the kingdom.
Heba states in her plea:
Many bloggers gave her a louder voice; Amr Ezzat gave her unconditional support saying:
Ibn Abdel Aziz wrote a post titled: Let Heba tell you about oppression
Magi said:
Radwa Osama wrote:
Bent Al Kamar insists that
and Rasha ElKheshin highlights Heba's misery saying:
Wa7da Masreya was infuriated as she cited the law:
Lasto Adri posted a link to Heba's support group on Facebook and linked to other supporting bloggers.
And Azza Moghazy repeats:
while Farida, in solidarity with Heba, questions the reasons behind patronage in Islam:
Along with many other Egyptians who have heard Heba‘s story, Farouk Adel wonders:
Enas Lotfy posted a video interview [Arabic with English subtitles] with Heba on Skype.
Asmaa Aly summed Heba‘s dilemma saying:


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Egypt: The Escort and The Doctor · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Upon hearing about Cairo's Escort Services, Dr. Mohamed Aly wrote a short post comparing between his status and the escort's – he lost!


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Egyptian translators call for a syndicate · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Egyptian blogger Ahmed Al Sabbagh says in his post that there are more than 100,000 translators in Egypt. Around 1,000 translators joined forces on Facebook, others created EgyTranslation blog, and many are calling for a syndicate and for a body that protects their rights.


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Pakistan: After Baitullah Mehsud’s Death · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ahsan at Five Rupees discusses how the Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud's death will affect Pakistan's future and its war against the terror.

author: Rezwan


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Pakistan: Baitullah Mehsud Possibly Killed · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

As the news of the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban warlord and the most wanted man in Pakistan emerged, people received it with a sense of relief and some did not want to believe. The delay in the official confirmation caused much apprehension about his death.
Nevertheless the possibility of Baitullah Mehsud being killed triggered a wide range of reactions. The mainstream media kept airing in depth analysis of Mehsud's life. Here's what the Pakistani blogosphere is buzzing about:
Junaid Khan at Pro-Pakistan announced the death with his post “Baitullah Mehsud killed in drone strike” and gave a detailed round up of Mehsud's life:
There are reports coming in that the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud may be dead after a reported drone attack, a US official said on Thursday. If confirmed, the death of Mehsud would be a coup for Washington, which has placed a five-million-dollar bounty on his head and branded him “a key Al Qaeda facilitator” in Pakistan’s tribal belt.
An YouTube video uploaded by Istreamnews shows him and his possible hideout:
Zaheer Iqbal Naru at Engine Hour expresses his doubts:
I doubt if this will bring an end to the long strain of seemingly desperate unending suicidal attacks in my homeland Pakistan.
What is taking so long to confirm his death?
(I heard it on TV) TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) and the Government of Pakistan (unofficial) have confirmed his death already.
Adil Najam at All Things Pakistan questions: “Baitullah Mehsud: Is He Dead? What Now?“
The more important question that should also be asked, one this is confirmed, is: If he is dead, then what?
Baitullah Mahsud had become the visible (without really being visible) name to identify with the Taliban’s war on Pakistan. Even if deaths that he and his organization claim (proudly) to have been responsible for are counted, he has been responsible for killing more Pakistanis (nearly all Pakistani Muslims) than just about any other enemy of Pakistan in recent years. But that does not mean that his departure alone would bring an end to the Taliban war on Pakistan.
Who will rise next? Do we know what the next level of the chain of command is? Do we know where? Do we have a strategy to deal with them before they, too, become larger than life?
It seems that the death of Baitullah Mehsud will undoubtedly be a big blow to the Taliban forces. However once confirmed there is a lot more that needs to be tackled. On my own blog I discussed the varying reactions of Baitullah Mehsud's possible death:
The most interesting fact surrounding Baitullah is his death from a drone attack, and if the incident changes the majorities perspective.  […] Even though the authorities continued to publicly condemn the drone attacks, many analyst disclosed a mutual agreement. The targeting of Baitullah Mehsud highlights the closely knitted intelligence networking between the US and Pakistani authorities.
The post goes on:


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Armenia-Azerbaijan: An interview with Elizabeth Métraux · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
DOTCOM, a program implemented by PH International and sponsored by the US Department of State, is an online initiative using blogs and video to bring American, Armenian and Azerbaijani teenagers together to work on creating socially conscious media.
With the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh understandably creating some problems, especially when ten teenagers from each of the two countries met up with their American counterparts in the U.S. last month, Program Director Elizabeth Métraux speaks candidly about some of the challenges experienced so far as well as some of the program's successes.
DOTCOM has a web site at http://dotcom.ph-int.org and a portal to many of the DOTCOM participant blogs at http://www.netvibes.com/phdotcom#DOTCOM-Home_Page while the interview with Elizabeth Métraux, who also blogs on the project at http://dotcomelizabeth.blogspot.com, can be heard below.
This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS


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Ecuador: The Cry for Independence 200 Years Ago · Global Voices
Carlos Suasnavas

On August 9, 1809 a group of men in Quito, in what is now the Republic of Ecuador, participated in “Hispano-America's First Cry.” This act was a cry for independence from the rule for the Spanish King and was the first of many all across the region by those wanting the same independence. Even though Ecuador did not achieve full independence until 1822, the cry helped start the Ecuadorian War of Independence. This year, Ecuador is celebrating the Bicentennial in remembrance of the event that took place 200 years ago.
Photo of Quito, Ecuador by L. Marcio Ramalho and used under a Creative Commons license.
One of the men, who helped lead this movement was Eugenio Espejo, who used his influence to take this step for the future of Hispano-America, and whose dreams came true in the early hours of August 10, 1809. Belén Proaño of Temas Para Debatir [es] writes about Espejo's role in eventual independence:
Las ideas de Espejo, fueron el punto de partida de una nueva concepción de lo que hasta ese entonces se entendía por patria, afirma el historiador Jorge Núñez, autor del libro Eugenio Espejo y el pensamiento precursor de la independencia . “Se empieza a entender por patria a Quito, y ya no a España. Nace una toma de consciencia sobre lo que será después la nación ecuatoriana”.
On the night of August 9, there was a great amount of activity throughout the city of Quito, and many went to the “Resistance Room” owned by Doña Manuela Cañizares. The next morning, many of the most important people in Quito at the time, assembled and created the Government Sovereignty Board and elected its officers.  Later on August 16, 1809 a General Assembly was convened and the first document of the Independence of Quito was signed.
After the first uprising, the city of Quito was given the nickname “Luz de América” or (America's Light) and served as an inspiration to other peoples striving for independence. Quito sowed the seed and the rest of the Americas followed suit. The blog Brigada Quetzalcoalt [es] also provides a review of this date in Bolivia, which is also celebrating a Bicentennial for their own Cry for Independence.
Following the Quito’s example, Caracas launched it Cry for Independence on April 18, 1810, Buenos Aires on May 25, Bogotá on July 20, Mexico on September 16th, and Santiago de Chile on May 18.  The American continent was on fire, and had been sparked by the people of Quito.

author: Carlos Suasnavas


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Egypt: A Dog Named Anwar El Sadat · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Do they have some plans in the Western media and cultural scene to tease us all the time? Do they really like creating controversies in our streets? Or, is it the fact that we are too sensitive that makes us an easy target? Are we really too sensitive and love to overreact all the time? I really don't know, but certainly no one here likes to see a dog named after him. It's considered an insult here. And even if the dog is named after a controversial president like Anwar El-Sadat, who was both praised and cursed at the same time across the whole Arab world, many people here aren't expected to be pleased after seeing a dog named after him in the movie I love you man.
Adham wrote here:
Zeinobia also wrote about the same scene here:
She then continued:
She then wondered, how are we supposed to react to a scene like this one.
Syrian Anas Qtiesh had a different point of view, and here left a comment on Zeinobia's post discussing his stand against conspiracy theories:
Jillian York also left a comment there discussing the American's point of view, and how they do not consider such thing as an insult:
And a third comment from Mido – aka Adham, wondering if censorship is really a good decision:
And finally, Will at  KABOBfest wrote a post about the same scene here:
He then continues:


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Egypt: Adverse reactions to TE-Data Fair Usage Policy · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

In a previous post, Tarek Amr captured the initial reactions to TE-Data's fair usage policy and more adverse reactions are hitting the Egyptian blogosphere.
Bella mocks the not so fair policy saying:
She continues wondering:
Ahmed Al Sabbagh blogged saying:
Ashraf Hamdy calculated the usage of a simple subscriber – not the downloader – as follows:
As Ashraf goes on explaining how this policy is a clear rip off, Azza Moghazy is venting her frustration by lashing out at media bodies in Egypt:
دعك من ان هذه الصحف والبرامج تهمل الاعتناء بوسيلة هامة من وسائل الاتصال بينها وبين قطاع لا يستهان به من جماهيريها مما يستدعى العديد من التساؤلات التى لا مجال لطرحها هنا
ولكنى بصراحة كنت قد بدلأت ارسال الايميل لهذه العناوين اصلا على مضض لمعرفتى انها – فى حال وصولها – فستؤدى لنتيجة حتمية من ثلاث
The first:
The second:
The third:
سيفتح الصحفى الايميلات ويقراها
ويبدا فى النشر حتى ياتيه اتصال من رئيس التحرير يطالبه بالتخفيف من حدته لان الشركات والجهاز القومى لتنظيم الاتصالات هددوا بسحب الاعلانات الاسبوعية
او انهم عرضوا شراء المزيد من المساحات الاعلانية او زيادة سعر شرائها مقابل وقف النشر او القيام بحوار مع الوزير او رئيس الجهاز القومى لتنظيم الاتصالات يغسل فيه وجه الوزارة والجهاز.
Facebook groups here , here, here , here, here, and here are reflecting how angry subscribers are.


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Georgia, Russia: Cyber Attacks on Blogger ‘Cyxymu’ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A year ago, the Russo-Georgian war coincided with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, diverting some of the public attention from the peaceful sporting event. This week, cyber attacks on LiveJournal, Twitter and Facebook, targeting Tbilisi-based LJ/Twitter/Facebook user cyxymu, have added an extra dimension to the coverage of the first anniversary of the war – and even re-focused it to some extent.
Initially, the Russo-Georgian connection was not evident. On Aug. 6, LJ user mhwest posted this note (ENG) in the lj_maintenance LJ community, announcing that the blogging platform was “under attack”:
Wonderful World of DDoS
As some of you may know, LiveJournal has been under attack this morning from 6:00am PST until ??? We have taken steps to mitigate the DDoS but some users may still experience site connectivity problems. […]
This post has received over 250 comments, but there is only a handful of mentions of the geopolitical cause for the outages. Here is a sampling:
lavvyan – Aug. 6:
The Russians are coming!
No, wait…
[…]
nysidra – Aug. 7:
I remembered seeing this comment yesterday.
Just so you know, you were right. ^_^
Twitter's Meltdown: Blame the Russians
Also on Aug. 7, Eternal Remont quoted from a BBC piece (ENG), explaining the situation:
Yesterday, as blood poured down from the heavens, the seas boiled and the Earth was ripped apart because of the Denial of Service attack against Google, Twitter and Facebook (“OMG, I can’t tweet about the fact that Twitter is down!) we pondered one alluring possibility: is Russia involved?
Maybe. We do know that the disruption of all social networking on the planet was directed at one person:
BBC: “The massively co-ordinated attack on websites including Google, Facebook and Twitter was directed at one individual, a pro-Georgian blogger known as Cyxymu… Specifically, the person is an activist blogger and a botnet was directed to request his pages at such a rate that it impacted service for other users.” […]
And so, on the eve of the first anniversary of the war, LJ user cyxymu – whose nickname is a latinized version of the Russian spelling of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia – became a celebrity of sorts.
Cyrillic LJ users – diana-ledi, taki-net, markgrigorian and many others – reported (RUS) not being able to publish posts and comments containing cyxymu‘s nickname.
His primary LJ blog and two backups – cyxymu1 and cyxymu2 – are currently inaccessible (some of his recollections, however, were translated by Global Voices’ author Lyndon in Oct. 2007 and July 2008: The War in Abkhazia – ‘Cyxymu’ Remembers, and Abkhazia, Georgia: “Home.”)
Cyxymu also has a Blogger blog, Twitter account, a public Facebook page, and a Facebook group with more than 750 members, created by someone else to support his cause.
Evgeny Morozov of the Foreign Policy's Net.Effect blog wrote (ENG) that he'd been “calling attention to CYXYMU's problems for months now, and this brought no results.” Here is Evgeny's take on the recent cyber attacks:
[…] In short, I think that the current wave of attacks had one objective: to flesh attackers’ cyber-muscles by revealing the kind of leverage that CYXYMU's detractors have on the Internet's most popular sites. Make no mistake: these attacks on Twitter and Facebook were NOT about silencing him down or thwarting the distribution of information that would Kremlin feel uncomfortable. […]
If you carefully look at CYXYMU's Twitter account (most of it in Russian), you will see that there is really no information of ANY political significance there. He's been tweeting since late December 2008, produced 41 updates, and most of them had nothing to do with politics (here are some typical updates: “Summer is good!”, “Life is great! I am recalling all the jokes about mothers-in-law”, “Oh those bureaucrats”).
This is definitely not the kind of stuff that threatens Kremlin. […] His blog is also somewhat of a news hub: he has done an amazing job of keeping his followers in the loop as to what happens in Abkhazia and Georgia, the two regions that are not exactly in the center of media attention (even in Russia). He's definitely NOT the blogosphere's version of Anna Politkovskaia; it is his opinions and visibility – rather than his revelations – that have made him an important target.
Thus, I think that the attackers’ real goal was humiliation, not censorship (however, more on the censorship part at the very end). A secondary  goal was to generate awe-inducing headlines about Russia's cyberpower all over the Web; there is no better way to do it these days than to make Twitter inaccessible for a few hours. […]
Ostap Karmodi wrote (RUS, link via LJ user drugoi) that “the attackers” would have probably thought twice before doing what they did if only they had been capable of foreseeing the outcome of their attacks:
[…] The result of yesterday's attack is that cyxymu, so disliked by some hackers, has become known to the whole world. The Spanish El Pais has written about him, and the French Liberation, and the German Spiegel, and the British Guardian, and the American Washington Post, and the Japanese Yomiuri. In short, all the main papers of the world. Some of them have even done short interviews with cyxymu. From now on, if a conflict between Russia and Georgia breaks out again, the world media will know who to talk to.
From now on, cyxymu‘s opinion on Russian politics will be interesting to the whole world – the opinion of a person who caused a crash of a hundred million accounts is always interesting.
The day before yesterday cyxymu was known to no more than ten thousand people. Today he is known to – what's the audience of the world media? 500 million? A billion? And most of these people sympathize with him – people do tend to sympathize with victims of mass persecution. […]
Here is one of Evgeny Morozov's theories on who might be behind the attacks:
[…] The amateurization of cyberwarfare has been one permanent feature of virtually all recent cyber-attacks that somehow implicated Russia; it may be part of a broader Kremlin effort to “crowdsource” its defenses and offenses to groups of nationalistic vigilantes, not just in cyberspace. Thus, recent news reports suggest that Nashi, Kremlin's youth arm, will soon be recruiting up to 100,000 problematic teenagers to form ARMED militia units that would patrol the streets. It would make some sense if they also invest into units of “cyber-vigilantes” who would be patrolling cyberspace, particularly given the rising importance of the Internet in Russia's public life. […]
And LJ user dolboeb felt, too, that “the recent initiative to create street ‘militia units’ in Russia” and the idea to attack cyxymu‘s blogs could have originated from the same source. He wrote (RUS):
[…] Indeed, why would the regime torture itself, trying to come up with some general anti-internet laws, the way the naive Kazakhs and the old-fashioned Chinese did, when a pack of patriotically-minded thugs is close at hand, ready to crash any service or resource [as soon as they are ordered to (or even without being ordered to)]. […]
LJ user drugoi pointed in a slightly different direction in this very short and sarcastic post (RUS):
A request
Comrade [officer], I've written a post about The Beatles. Will you allow me to publish it? There's not a single word about Georgia in it. Will you please turn off your hurdy-gurdy for five minutes?
(The Beatles post (RUS) is here, by the way – it commemorates the 40th anniversary of the famous Abbey Road photo.)

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Greece: Armenian singer passes away · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unknown to most Armenians, but loved by many Kurds for his songs sung in the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish, Aram Tigran has passed away in Athens, Greece. Born in 1934 in Syria, Tigran's death has affected many, and not least those recognizing the important contribution he made as a cultural bridge between Armenians and Kurds. On 7 August, Kurdistan and Hayastan – Hand in Hand reported that Tigran had been rushed to hospital.
Aram Tigran, the famous Kurdish singer of Armenian origin, have been rushed to the hospital and there is almost no information on Tigrans condition.
His family were survivors of the Armenian Genocide and he is considered among the best of contemporary Kurdish singers and musicians.
The following day, Facebook status line updates passed on news that the singer had died. Gurgîn, a blogger of both Armenian and Kurdish origin, posted details (translation by Google with some editing for English).
Den berömda kurdiska sångaren av armeniskt ursprung kördes igår till akuten i Athen, vid 07.30 tiden var hans hälsotillstånd allvarligt, han blev på direkten hjärndöd och förlorade medvetandet helt och hållet. Utanför Van Gelismos sjukhuset i Athen så samlades hundratals trogna beundrare enligt Aknews för att visa sitt stöd, flera kända artister från Europa och Amerika tog första flyget till Grekland för att se efter sin vän. Tigrans kropp har nu förts till Amêd i norra Kurdistan (Diyarbakir, Turkiet) där han nu kommer att begravas.
[…]
Jag har tidigare idag talat med hans släktingar och jag förstår att de inte vill och orkar kommentera händelsen, han har lämnat efter sig två döttar och en son som förmodligen alltid kommer att definieras utifrån sin far.
[…]
Musiken han skapat har slagit rot i flera miljoner människors hjärtan i Mellanöstern men de underförstådda budskapen han sänt har aldrig riktigt slagit rot i folks tankar och handlingar.
Jag har i egenskap av halv armenier och halv kurd sedan en tid tillbaka identifierat mig med Aram som fungerat som en brobryggare mellan det kurdiska och det armeniska folket.
Jag tror verkligen på att han ensam har fört ihop två folk genom att ha använt sin armeniska bakgrund och sin kurdiska röst.
[…]
I have today spoken with his relatives and I understand that they do not want to comment on the incident, he left two daughters and a son who probably will always be defined by their father.
[…]
The music he created has taken root in several million people's hearts in the Middle East, but the implicit messages he sent has never really taken root in people's thoughts and actions.
I, as half Armenian and half Kurdish, for some time identified myself with Aram who worked as a bridge between the Kurdish and Armenian people.
I truly believe that he alone has brought together two peoples, using his Armenian background and their Kurdish vote.
Ianyan also posts an entry on Tigran and his legacy, while pointing out that online Armenian resources fail to include him in their lists of notable figures. Nevertheless, his message of peace and friendly relations between Armenians and Kurds was noted and conveyed by others on Twitter.
Aram Tigran 1934-2009. R.I.P.


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Hungary: Bloggers Mourn Tamás Cseh · Global Voices
Marietta Le

The Hungarian theater portal Szinhaz.hu (HUN) was the first one to announce that the famous singer Tamás Cseh died on Friday after a long suffering caused by a serious disease.
He was born in 1943 in Budapest, but had lived in Tordas (Fejér county) until the age of 13. After college he taught Arts at an elementary school in Budapest. He started to write and perform songs with Géza Bereményi while he was a teacher. He became the member of several theaters in the 1970s, and released his first album, Levél nővéremnek (Letter To My Sister), in 1976. His music influenced generations of students growing up since the communist era.
By Saturday, Hungarian users have published links to their favorite Cseh's songs on every social networking site.
A journalist-blogger, György Korbély evokes (HUN) his first encounter with the singer's music:
[…] The disc featuring János Másik was the first encounter with Tamás Cseh for me too, when I was a high school student: I found the disc at the school radio studio, since they never played it, the chief of the studio very piously gave it to me. These were the great years of the confrontation between rock wave and disco fever, there was no place in this dichotomy for uncategorizable values, and the staff of the school radio couldn't deal with the songs of Tamás Cseh. But me, I knew: I listened to it day and night, I still know the lyrics and millions of people are in the same situation, from the 15-year-olds to those who are 75. […]
Károly Balla D. also remembers the singer (HUN):
[…] We fretted the grooves of Levél nővéremnek (1977) until the end, we knew all lyrics by heart – the Tamás Cseh feeling reached us just then, the feeling other young people in Budapest already had  experienced at universities and other kind of clubs and at theater. […]
A younger blogger of könyves.blog.hu summarized the influence of Tamás Cseh on the younger generations (HUN):
[…] Through the performance of Tamás Cseh (and János Másik), via the felicitous lyrics of Géza Bereményi I got to know an era that had nothing to do with me. I did not live in the 1970s, indeed I had no relatives living in Hungary at that time, but despite this I am very familiar with that era. I know how it felt to love, to cheat, to get married and to divorce, to change lovers, to feel hunger, to switch from one sublet to another, to go to the laundry, to smuggle women to the workers’ hostel, to get my identity checked, to be a boy in gym shorts and sheathe the sword with deported girls, to be a booby who has affairs with adult women, to commit serious faults at house parties together with a dozen of other people. […]
It's very hard to explain the role of Tamás Cseh in the life of the young generations who want to understand their parents’ socialist past. Nobody could describe what socialism looked like, or what the real socialist gym shorts looked like. Nobody but Tamás Cseh.
Below is one of the songs – “Budapest” – performed by Cseh Tamás and Másik János:


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Iran: Twitter and Facebook in Trial · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Yesterday, Iranian authorities held the second round the of mass trial of protestors and reformist politicians. Defendants in this round included a 24 year-old French woman, Clotilde Reiss, who was accused of spying. Almost all the defendants were accused of inciting riots and undermining national security. The Iranian judiciary went on to blame a litany of Western intelligence agencies, media organizations, and software companies, including Israel's Mossad spy agency, Facebook, Twitter, Voice of America, BBC Persia, and even Google's new Persian-to-English translation software, for their roles in the supposed vast conspiracy. See photos from the trial here.
The semi-official Fars News site stated [fa]:
كشورهاي غربي علاوه بر فعاليت در حوزه شبكه هاي تلويزيوني در عرصه اينترنت نيز سرويسهايي را به اغتشاشگران ارائه دادند
The Iranian authorities said [fa] that:
سرويس دهی از سوی شرکت تویتر برای مخاطبان ايرانی (اين شرکت امريکايی به روز رسانی سرويس خود را که مستلزم قطع چند روزه بود را  در مورخه بیست ژوئن  با هدف حمايت و سرويس دهی به آشوبگران به تاخير انداخت)
This was in response to the U.S. State Department's announcement on June 20 2009 that it had contacted the social networking service Twitter to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that would have cut daytime service to Iranians disputing the June 12 election.
Iranian authorities also cited [fa] Facebook as a supporter of protestors as the social networking site provides a Persian version for Iranians.
Accusing Facebook and Twitter of  providing services for “trouble makers” seems particularly unfair, as these social networking have been available for all Iranians and during the presidential election, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters, who used digital means to promote their ideas.
It is also the case that the Iranian opposition use the internet, including Twitter and Facebook, to communicate and convey their messages because almost all other means of communication are controled by the Iranain State, censorship hits the media hard and journalists are repressed.
What is amazing is that You Tube was not named in this trial.Maybe in the next round!
Charitable spying act
Reza Rafei Froushani confesses that he was a spy of UAE and published secrets in Facebook!
He writes:
در زمان انتخابات سرويس اطلاعاتي امارات مطالبي را خواستند و من نيز در پاسخ به تقاضاي آنها برخي اسناد محرمانه را در فيس بوك منتشر كردم
He adds:
وي افزود: به ما گفتند كه در انتخابات تقلب شده و بايد حق خود را پيگيري كنيم و من هم بدون سوء نيت و واقعا با اعتقاد در تظاهرات شركت و از تجمعات خبر و گزارش تهيه كردم و اخبار آن را نيز از طريق فيس بوك منتشر كردم
Of course the whole story is beyond many people's imagination, because it is rather odd that an intelligence service would ask somebody to publish secret documents on Facebook. Could this be considered a “charitable spying act”?
Blogger Dr. Kourdan writes, with irony, that two leaders of the velvet coup, have been identified and condemned to be executed. Their names: Twitter and Facebook.
Fortunately, Twitter and Facebook  are not human beings who can be imprisoned by the Islamic Republic. In Saturday's trial, several reformists, protestors and others accused of involvement in the velvet coup appeared in court. Some bloggers published photos of these people before arrest and after being jailed for several weeks. The weakened physical state of Mohmmad Ali Abtahi, a  leading blogger and reformist, attracted considerable attention at last week's round of trials. But this time there were many more “Abtahis” in the courtroom, and, unfortunately, many more to come.


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Mexico: Dangerous Work for Tamale Vendors in US · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

El Nahual of México Para Los Mexicanos [es] comments on a recent media piece on the dangerous life of a tamale vendor in the United States.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Mexico: XIV Folklore Festival in Zacatecas · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Zacatecas Vive [es] took video of the recent XIV Folklore Festival in Zacatecas, Mexico, which featured entries from all over the world.


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Pakistan: Lawyers On A Rampage  · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

The Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan, which started in 2007, enjoyed great public support and confidence throughout. The protests of Lawyers to uphold justice and human rights were an inspiration to the civil society, human rights activists, media and students. However the recent news of some lawyers harassing members of civil society, journalists and the police has raised a lot of eyebrows.
Adnan Farooqui at The Pakistani Spectator wonders:
The events that have happened over the past few weeks need no explanation. Every child in this beloved country of ours has witnessed the lawyers getting out of hand and literally turning into brutes, frankly this is something one could not expect out of a highly educated and sensible fraternity.
Jazba Blog reports on the incident of Five lawyers beating an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police for allegedly conducting an inquiry against their client.
On 6th of August, after the hearing of a suo motu case pertaining to the attack on the ASI, some lawyers led by Lahore Bar Association vice-president M.R. Awan attacked and manhandled reporters and cameramen on the premises of the Lahore High Court. The following video was released in YouTube by GEO TV showing the lawyers’ attack on policemen and journalists.
Rana Tanveer at Lahore Nama informs of a similar incidents in a post titled “Lawyers go unbridled, breaking rules in routine“:
Last year in April, lawyers beat former federal minister Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi in front of the LHC. The LHCBA office-bearers called lawyers and media saying they had trapped Niazi and would teach him a lesson for supporting former president Pervez Musharraf and giving statements against their movement. [..]
A few days ago, a traffic warden was beaten by a group of lawyers for stopping a lawyer’s motorcycle for a traffic violation on The Mall.
Faisal Kapadia on Deadpan thoughts criticizes the incidents in a post titled “Lawyers gone wild“:
It seems that the lawyers movement has now committed suicide by falling on its own saber. Where lawyers who are supposed to guarantee the law effectively beat up police and press. Where they now seem to think of themselves as some form of terminators roaming the street dispensing vigilante justice according to their own blinkered vision, there can be no hope for this institution.
Mahir Sheikh Nisar  at Pakistan First demands immediate action suggesting that the “Cheif Justice of Pakistan Lahore High Court should resign“:
The people of Pakistan and its lawyers must wake up to these ill practices within the judiciary before the common man loses complete confidence in the legal system. The judiciary is dangerously becoming an alter ego to popular opinion and political stances rather than maintaining its impartiality.
Adnan Farooqui puts things in perspective claiming why the media do not call for those policemen to be dismissed from their duties who manhandled the Chief Justice during the Lawyers movement.
He concludes with some questions:
Has that same group of people returned to now tarnish the popular image of lawyers in front of the country? Or is it really that the lawyers are now considering themselves above the law?


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Palestine: Remembering Shafiq Al Hout · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

On 2 August, founder member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Shafiq Al Hout died. He was born and raised in Jaffa, but his family were forced to leave Palestine in 1948, and went to Lebanon. Al Hout helped found the PLO in 1964, was appointed PLO representative in Lebanon, and survived ten Israeli assassination attempts during the Lebanese Civil War. He was twice a member of the PLO Executive Committee, but left because of the Oslo accords. Shafiq Al Hout was also an accomplished writer. Arab bloggers have been paying tribute.
At his blog Jafra, Palestinian political activist, writer and artist Marwan Abdelal says:
At his blog Nostalgia, Gazan blogger The Exile writes:
At The Angry Arab News Service, Lebanese blogger As'ad AbuKhalil writes about Al Hout:
He used to say that he was a communist when everybody else was an Arab nationalist (like in the 40s and 50s), and that he became an Arab nationalist when everybody else was a communist (in the 60s and 70s). […] He was blunt and truthful, when lying was a job description in Arafat's apparatus. […] Something about him I liked: not only the politics but the personality. He was interesting and sharp and was a great conversationalist and writer. […] He resigned from the Executive Committee of the PLO as soon as Oslo was reached, and unlike Mahmud Darwish, he took a consistently categorical stand against Oslo. […] This Palestinian had more impact on Lebanon than most Lebanese. For me, he was both Lebanon (or the best about Lebanon) and Palestine.
At The Electronic Intifada, Mayssoun Sukarieh posts an interview she did with Shafiq Al Hout in 1999 as part of an oral history project:
My five siblings were born in my grandfather's house, while I was born in my parents’ small, humble house. […] Characteristically, the entrance to our home was like most of Jaffa's houses. It had a well and a palm tree under which we indulged playing for hours on end. It also had a backyard planted with fragrant flowers and juicy vegetables. Not very far from my house was a sandy playground where we played football with our neighbors. The window of my room overlooked the street below, thus providing me with a panoramic view. I remember being very happy in Ramadan, since during that time of the year I could see Abu Hussein, the musahharati who used to bang the drum and wake people up for suhur — the early morning last meal the faithful are allowed to have before daybreak, when actual fasting starts. […] April 1948 is a month I can never forget. During this month, [Palestinian resistance leader] Abdel Qader al-Husseini was martyred and sadness overshadowed Jaffa and the entire country of Palestine. In this month as well, my rebel brother Jamal attained martyrdom, which added to the sorrow I inherited as a result of being a citizen of an usurped country, the personal sorrow of now losing a very dear spiritual brother. After al-Husseini died, signs of defeat started to become apparent. We in Jaffa used to hear news about Palestinian villages falling into Jewish hands as well as massacres committed by the Jews. […] News about the Deir Yassin massacre reached Jaffa, causing a wave of anger and fright in the city. Meanwhile, a spontaneous decision was taken to evacuate the children, the women and the elderly from the city until the Arab troops would enter it and until things went back to normal. Under these disturbing circumstances my family decided to leave the country for Beirut as we had some roots there. […] I can still remember the fright stamped on people's faces in the port of Jaffa. Thousands from Jaffa were elbowing their way through the crowd trying to escape death.


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Sri Lanka: Provincial Council Election Results · Global Voices
Rezwan

Lanka Libertarian posts the updated election results of the UVA provincial council, the Jaffna municipal council, and the Vavuniya urban council.


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Taiwan: Typhoon disaster and call for volunteers · Global Voices
David Reid

Southern Taiwan has been severely affected by floods associated with Typhoon Morakot (颱風莫拉克). Billy Pan posted (zh) a link to a Google Map showing the sites of the disaster (zh) and places where volunteers and assistance are required. On Twitter taiwanfloods is regularly tweeting the latest news about the situation in the south. The hashtag #taiwanfloods is also being used.

author: David Reid


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Antigua & Barbuda: Lessons from Working Girls · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“For hundreds of years the feminist movement has been divided on the question of prostitution,” writes Antigua-based playing with ink, who thinks that “feminists…could learn a lot from sex workers who in many instances are exercising their right to self-determination, which includes deciding how they earn money given the economic opportunities available to them.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Argentina: Proposal to Increase Taxes on Some Technology Products · Global Voices
Jorge Gobbi

The Argentine Chamber of Deputies gave their preliminary approval to a law that increases internal taxes on the importation of a large variety of technology-related products. Even though laptop computers and “netbooks” were excluded, the tax increase will affect PCs, mobile phones, televisions, and other devices, except if these items are manufactured in the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego. The 10.5% sales tax on these products will increase to 21% It is not yet known whether the Senate will approve the increase.  If this happens, many await this significant increase in the price of many imported products.
According to the sponsors of the measure, they want to create more jobs in Tierra del Fuego and to encourage the local manufacturing of a wide range of products. However, the reaction in the blogs was quick, and in general, the reactions condemn the preliminary approval. In the blog Denken Uber [es], Mariano Amartino wonders:
¿No es este otro más de los impuestos regresivos que existen en este país? Una persona de clase media o alta accede a una notebook de u$s2000 sin pagar tasas extras pero alguien que apenas puede pagar un clon de u$s500 para tener su primer PC debe pagar un 30% más. Si buscamos crear una “economía de la información”… gravar con un 30% además del casi 50% de impuestos que ya tienen y encima con un peso argentino débil ¿no es evitar que la base de la pirámide social acceda a las herramientas que tienen más posibilidades de sacarlos de la pobreza?
Another blog that was created to oppose the proposed measure, No al impuestazo! [es] (No to the Tax Hike!) and it also encourages the use of the hashtag #noalimpuestazo on Twitter. In addition, Fabio Baccaglioni of Fabio.com.ar [es] writes:
lo preocupante del caso es que la urgencia por generar ingresos para las arcas estatales nos va a jugar gravemente en contra como país
This is something that Roger Schultz of eLaws [es] adds:
en un país donde la barrera cambiaria (3.80 a 1) mas el arancel impositivo vigente cercano al 50% IVA e ingresos brutos, antes de este aumento Argentina ya era el país de Sudamérica más caro para comprar tecnología
The negative opinions went further than the blogs and there have now been campaigns on YouTube, such as the one started by journalist Federico Aikawa [es]:
There are also campaigns on Facebook, such as the Cause: No to the Technological Tax Hike [es] and the group “My Mobile Phone is not a Luxury Object [es]“
On the other hand, Gabriel Carol of the blog Patria Sí, Colonia No [es], there is support for the preliminary approval and he writes:
Por 136 votos contra 61, la Cámara de Diputados aprobó el proyecto de ley que aplica gravámenes impositivos a los productos electrónicos importados y establece una reducción tributaria a los fabricados en Tierra del Fuego, y que posibilitará el desarrollo de un polo tecnológico en la provincia y la preservación de los puestos de trabajo en el sector.


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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Peace · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on the prospects for peace in the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and says that the same approach needs to be applied to the long-running dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh. However, the blog notes, a genuine desire to find a peaceful solution seems to be missing.


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Bahamas: Making Marital Rape a Crime  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Weblog Bahamas‘ Sidney Sweeting and Womanish Words throw their support behind a proposed amendment to the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act that would outlaw marital rape in the Bahamas.


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Bangladesh: Uncultured Project and Clean Water · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Last year, when we checked on the Uncultured Project was delivering aid to victims of the Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, but Shawn's  efforts to help haven't stopped since. After helping last year, he got sick and returned to Canada, and after a few months there he returned to continue helping out around Bangladesh, along with Save the Children and donations from fans from all over the world.
From Shawn's blog, he reports:
Since I landed, I’ve been trying to complete projects related to Challenge Poverty. As you know, I’ve been working on building that Pond Sand Filter and repairing that school. It’s been nearly 6 months and I want to wrap everything up in the next 72 hours. Yeah…. that maybe a bit ambitious. Fingers crossed.
Shawn accepted donations for this last round or projects, and asked the community of donators (most of which leave video responses to his posts) what they wished their money to be spent on, as shown in the following video:
In the same post, he also tries to figure out what the future of these projects will be, and how he can make these projects self-sustainable, so that he can continue to help out:
The question is – am I going back for a break or for good? Back in January, I wrote that if I can’t sustain this project I’m gonna have to pack up in 12 months time. By “sustain” I want to do this in a way that doesn’t impoverish my parents. My savings are long gone – and I do this by borrowing from my parents. We’re not Rockefellers unfortunately – just regular Suburban Middle Class Canadians (basically like Americans… but we get free health care).
In the latest post on his blog, Shawn noticed that in a video of a speaker at the TED conference, an inventor was showing his product: a water filtering system that can turn murky dirty water into filtered potable drinking water. Michael Pritchard designed the Life-Saver bottle, which could help save the lives of many people around the world, and offered a solution to Disaster Relief: instead of sending drinking water, these portable water filters could be sent so that families can take care of their drinking water needs at their homes instead of refugee camps.
Shawn is familiar with the dynamics of portable water filters because he's seen the LifeStraw, a similar water purification system, at work. He made a video post during his visit to rural Kenya, where he filtered filthy water soiled with cow fecal matter, as a way to show actual conditions of use, where people gather water from any available sources, which may normally include all sorts of contamination, debris and garbage. This is the video he made of his in-field experiment:
Some people called him sensationalist after he drank the water with cow feces after getting it purified, so he explained the sense behind it in a second video, where a scientist confirms how the LifeStraw filter can protect against bacterias and viruses that can be transmitted through water sources, including those from cows to humans:
Shawn clarifies that he doesn't get endorsed or paid for by Life-Straw,  when he speaks out about it is because he believes it is the best solution available at the moment. The Life-Saver costs a lot more than the Life-Straw, but filters less water and has a shorter life-span, and that the Life-Straw comes in a family capacity version. Neither one of the filters can handle salt or chemicals in the water, which could have been something to include in the newer option to improve upon the existing products and justify the difference in price.
The LifeStraw Family costs $35 and filters 18,000 litres of water. The LifeSaver costs well over $100 and only filters 6,000 litres of water. While it might be possible that one day in the future the LifeSaver could come down in cost, the LifeStraw Family is already at this price point and is already saving lives…
You can follow UnculturedProject on Twitter, as he writes about his relief efforts and twits pictures of the new projects and developments in his efforts to make a difference in the world. You can view more of Shawn and Save the Children's efforts in giving aid and relief to Bangladesh through the Uncultured Project's YouTube channel, or see Shawn's mobile video uploads from the field on his other account, The Student.  The best of luck in his future endeavors!

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Barbados: Call for Inquest  · Global Voices
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As the government announces that it “will be demolishing three properties at Archcot Terrace…as it moves to get the area to return to normalcy,” Barbados Free Press maintains that not enough is being done to investigate the building collapse that killed the Codrington family almost two years ago.


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Bermuda: Choosing a Path  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Another day, another shooting”: 21 Square says that “some of the largest issues we face in Bermuda today are the inability for disadvantaged youth to see nor understand a path out of poverty via traditional routes.”


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Bhutan: Cows As Garbage Collectors · Global Voices
Rezwan

Penstar posts pictures of the new volunteers, who are helping to dispose off the garbage from some overflowing dustbins of the Bhutanese capital.