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Kazakhstan: Discussing the New Government  · Global Voices
Leila Tanayeva

“The Government resigned… It was expected for so long that I am not even surprised…”, wrote Slavasay in Livejournal community on Kazakhstan politics.
On 8 January Kazakhstan Prime-Minister Danial Akhmetov resigned, as did the whole Government. Not much change was expected though: “In Kazakhstan's autocratic presidential system, changes of prime minister usually signal a change of tone  rather than a change of direction, and the change in prime minister will not bring about a more liberal political landscape or less interventionist economic policies”, wrote the Economist.
Ben of neweurasia  has put together the responses of English-language bloggers on Global Voices. For Russian-language bloggers, whose reactions you will see in this roundup, the news was an opportunity to bet on possible changes in the government, gossip about personalities and connections between them, and talk about the new Prime-Minister Karim Massimov, the first ethnic Uighur PM, born in China.
Livejournal user megakhuimyak follows the Kazakhstani politics and admits that he likes being provokative in his blog. Before the new Prime-Minister was appointed, he wrote (RUS):
This is it, Karim Massimov will be our Prime-Minister! Why? Our 01 (President) needs someone not involved into internal fights. Massimov has a strong support from China, where our policy is heading.
LJ user dkzh responded:
Kazakhstan still has a ceiling for non-Kazakhs: either the position of deputy Prime-Minister, or the deputy of the Speaker of the Parliament. Even if the President suggests Massimov, the move will be sabotaged.
strannik_kz wondered:
Do you really think Massimov is not related to the “family”? It was in the press.
megakhuimyakreplied:
Everyone is, but at least he was not fighting them :)
On neweurasia, Adam Kesher made his forecast on future distribution of seats in new government (RUS). He wrote that Massimov, a new PM, was responsible for forming a positive image of the country in the Kazakhstani administration, taking part in image supporting conferences and advertising campaigns in Western media (and possibly, even organising them). As it is known from the official documents of US Ministry of Justice, he also coordinated the work of Washington lobbists. Massimov is the only state official who has his personal website.
After the composition of the new government was announced, LJ user slavasay noted that at least three Ministers-long-livers have left the government. He wrote (RUS):
Vladimir Shkolnik has been a Minister (of Industry and Trade; Energy and Resources; Energy, Industry and Trade; Science; Science and Education; Science and New Technologies), Vice-Premier – for long 12 years and 6 months. This is an absolute record.
Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev has worked in the Government (Prime-Minister, Vice-Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs) for 12 years and 3 months. Second place.
Mukhtar Altynbaev has led the Ministry of Defense (with a break) for 7 years and 11 months. Impressive results.
LJ user tormozz found it difficult to follow the changes in the Government (RUS):
Oh, this reshuffling… The same people, different places – one can hardly remember who is who now … Poor journalists … These people will keep making the news, but on different positions… :) It will take some time before journalists start associating people with their new positions.
Adam Kesher briefed on the new Ministers on his article on neweurasia (see the English translation here).
… It is interesting that when the president introduced Masimov to the Parliament, he did not mention his ethnicity, got away from the text and started his musings about multiculturalism in Kazakhstan. Because ethnic tolerance is often presented as regime’s “brand”, it is strange that they did not mention that the new Premier is not Kazakh. The government has once been led by a non-Kazakh Tereshenko back in the 1990s.
He is surprised to see a “liberal” who once supported the dissolved “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan” in the new Government. He concluded:
In general, the balance of interests between the three strongest clans (the families and people close to the President's sons-in-law) in the Government is preserved, which should indicate that the president still has a firm grip on the situation.

author: Leila Tanayeva


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Afghanistan: Troop Surge · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Safrang notices some calls for a troop surge in Afghanistan that, though it may not come to pass, draws attention to the situation in the country and keeps it from being ignored.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nathan Hamm


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Guatemala: Apocalypto in Context · Global Voices
Renata Avila

Nowadays about 80% percent of the population in Guatemala has their genetic and cultural origins in ancient Mayan culture; that was not a uniform group but a Society formed by alliances among several groups in Mesoamerica, reaching its highests point in the Classical Period. The biggest mayan city, Tikal, is located in Guatemala, showing the splendor in architecture and science of Mayan culture. Indeed, Guatemalans are proud of such cultural heritage, and ancient Mayan civilization is always used as an example to follow in school here of how a small country can do great things to amaze the world.
That´s why the film Apocalypto, directed by Mel Gibson (who is now visiting Guatemala for a couple of days), found everywhere in the “black market” of DVD´s throughout the city, is controversial. Even the Ministry of Culture has been asked to censor the movie which will arrive to theaters in March.  Here some abstracts of what Guatemalan bloggers are saying about it:
Journalist and Photographer Leon Aguilera  writing at KLAVAZA [ES] points out that even while the director did a great job with photography, the mixture of colors, and, in the end, made an entertaining movie, it is full of unforgivable historical mistakes, such as the language used in the film (never spoken by post classical Mayas), and it shows 100% pure fiction. It is not a historical movie at all. He does, however, affirm that the film can be useful as an example to Mr. President Bush, and quoting Will Durant, continues that: “civilizations fail when they begin to rot from the inside”. He had found certain parallelism between the Spanish Conquerors actions shown in Apocalypto and methods by the Bush administration in Iraq.
On the other hand, analyst Luis Figueroa at the blog Carpe Diem states that indeed Mayan culture had such scientific and astronomic achievements, but that it has also been proven that they practiced violent methods of war and human sacrifice, and that the film is sustained by history. He argues that it is not rational to claim for censorship, nor that the film is racist nor is it true that Mayas were less violent than, for example, ancient greeks. According to Figueroa, to ask for censorship is to regress to a totalitarian and arbitrary practice.
El Charakotel [ES] agrees with Carpe Diem that censoring the film is not right, however worries that global opinion about Mayas can be manipulated thus validating the argument that during the armed conflict in Guatemala, indigenous people just killed each other because they are violent and savage, rather than being an issue of genocide. His main concern is that films such as the ones directed by Gibson, state that only “Christian Western Values are the valid ones”, invalidating and criticizing Judaism, Mayan practices and others.

author: Renata Avila


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Armenia: Bribe-Free Roads · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At Blogrel, Harmick reports on the first step of a project designed to eliminate bribery by traffic police.


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Bolivia: Waiting in Cochabamba, Making Demands in El Alto · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Writing from Cochabamba, Jim Shultz reports that soldiers are maintaining at least a façade of calm while Bolivia Rising translates an article from La Razón about demands from El Alto for the immediate resignations of Cochabamba Prefect Manfred Reyes Villa and La Paz Prefect Jose Luis Paredes.

author: David Sasaki


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Botswana: positive impact of a village blog · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A medical student from Nata village in Botswana writes about the impact of the Nata village blog on him, “Before the establishment of this website I must confess that I was a bit naive in as far as the exact impact of HIV/AIDS in Nata. I read thru the website that almost 50% of pregnant women attending Nata clinic are HIV positive, and since my arrival late last month I have witnessed first had the impact of AIDS in my Village Nata.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Brunei: A Blog for Visit Brunei Year · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Brunei's Bloggers are setting up a blog to help tourists get more information about their country. Writes AnakBrueni “This site is created in the run-up to Visit Brunei Year 2008 to provide as much “informal” information to those who will be interested to visit Brunei Darussalam, the Land of Hidden Treasures, in 2008.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Caught On Camera: Human Rights Videos on GV · Global Voices
Sameer Padania

You'd be forgiven for thinking it's been Saddam, Saddam, Saddam, in recent weeks, but GV has covered other human rights videos that deserve a bit of limelight – so, in this regular new feature, I'm going to round up the best of those recent stories.
Something for WITNESS's Amazon Wishlist [via Veronica]
First to Pawlina, host of a Ukrainian radio show in Vancouver, Canada, who blogs about human trafficking at The Natashas.  After her post in late December commending Ukrainian pop star Ruslana for releasing a video condemning human trafficking, Pawlina praises another musician, Peter Gabriel, for founding WITNESS, but, under the title “Some human rights abuses harder to expose than others”, offers some advice:
It's very commendable of rock stars to help expose human rights abuses around the world.
British rock legend Peter Gabriel has formd an organization called Witness that provides video equipment to human rights activists to record such abuses.
I suspect he may not be aware of the horrific abuses suffered by hundreds of thousands of young women and even children, at the hands of human traffickers pandering to men seeking instant, no-strings-attached sexual gratification.
In which case, someone should send him a copy of The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade.
Then again, no doubt it would be extremely difficult to film what goes on behind the closed doors and barred windows of brothels and “breaking grounds”, much less expose it to public view.
In fact WITNESS did produce a documentary about trafficking in 1997, Bought And Sold, but Pawlina's right – it's proving quite difficult to find footage from behind those “closed doors and barred windows” – so if you have seen, or even filmed footage of that kind, please email me (email address at the end of the article) to let me know.
Knocking on doors and making things happen [via Neha]
Opening doors and unbarring windows, India's Drishti collective have set in motion some pretty impressive video magazines made by their seven Community Video Units.  The magazines often make for uncomfortable viewing for local officials, as this post from Reflections in a Window Pane shows.  One of the CVUs is hosted by Navsarjan in Gujarat.  When one Dalit community in Saurashtra, northern Gujarat, complained that a water-processing plant designed to lower the levels of fluoride in their water had not been used for three years, they met official stonewalling.  The Navsarjan CVU's video magazine asked why, and after the magazine was screened to the whole community, including the relevant officials, the water-processing plant was turned back on.
Drishti works with Video Volunteers and you can see a presentation by Gavin White, of Video Volunteers here.  I hope to feature some of Drishti's video soon.
Do videos show Nepali police joining in ethnic riots? [also via Neha]
In neighbouring Nepal, youths from the Pahadi community clashed with people from the Madhesi community, and businesses and houses burned in the western Nepali city of Nepalgunj in late December.  Paramendra Bhagat at Democracy for Nepal presents three video extracts of the aftermath, claiming that the clashes were in fact a “hate crime” by the Pahadis against the Madhesis.  Now the Nepali Times is reporting that the local police were seen attacking Madhesis too.  All this is leading some commentators to fear that, with the entry of the Maoists into politics, ethnic rivalries may enter Nepal's politics.
Were the 2006 Fiji elections rigged? [via Preetam]
Fiji's military, which took power in a coup d'etat in 2006, released a video that purports to show senior members of the former ruling party, the SDL, admitting vote-rigging and interfering with ballot boxes.  FijiBuzz uploads the video, but meets sceptical responses from commenters on two counts: first, that the man who shot the video, Peter Foster, is said to be a conman who can't be trusted, and second, commenters think that the video fits too neatly with the military's need for some kind of evidence justifying the coup.
Forced evictions ‘rampant’ in Cambodia [also via Preetam]
Forced evictions in Cambodia are rampant, said the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions in 2006.  In the absence of citizen-filmed footage of evictions, blogger Mongkol linked to a TV documentary showing the extent of forced evictions in Cambodia.
To find out more, visit the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the Asian Coalition on Housing Rights, and COHRE's Cambodia page.
I'll be featuring more stories on forced evictions soon, so if you have access to relevant footage from anywhere around the world, I'd be very interested to hear from you by email or through the comments box below.
The ethics of filming the poor [back to Veronica]
Finally, Minsztrel at Pestcentric takes issue with a cameraman filming poor Hungarians at a soup kitchen outside the District VII Mayor's office in Budapest.  A question for you: how are vloggers dealing with the issue of consent, and what guidelines do they need to follow?

author: Sameer Padania


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Chile: Burning Alive · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Chileno points his sarcastic pen first at a man who burned himself alive (only to jump into a nearby fountain) and then the Chilean telecommunications monopoly, Telefónica.


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Chile: Isabel Allende: What’s in a Cover · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Don't judge a book by its cover. That is, unless you want insight into how major publishing houses try to market the translations of foreign writers. Noting the difference between Isabel Allende's original book covers in Spanish and their subsequent English releases, Posthegemony postulates: “Perhaps this is a tension for her publishers: whether to sell her as Virginia Woolf or as Gabriel García Márquez.”


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China: citizen journalism · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lyn Jeffery from virtual China notices that citizen reports in China have more stories on the urban poor.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: text message culture · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maryannodonnell in Shenzhen fieldnotes has a nice post about text message culture in China.


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China: watchdog journalism prize  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

David Bandurski from China media project summarizes the Chinese media's criticism on Hunan “watchdog journalism” prize with some contextual information on the political meaning of “watchdog journalism” in China.


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China: Xinjiang al-Qaeda · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael from the Opposite end of China, puts together reports and comments on the recent discovery of a terrorist training center run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) announced by the China government. The reports echo with his earlier writings on  “Xinjiang 2021″.


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Colombia: A Dirty War Against Paramilitaries? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“In early December, shortly after President Álvaro Uribe confined most of Colombia's paramilitary leadership in a maximum-security prison, an article in El Tiempo, the country's most-circulated newspaper, contended that the paramilitaries had one ‘secret weapon’ left. If they felt they were getting a bad deal out of the negotiation process, they could always reveal the truth about who in Colombia's ‘legitimate’ society – businessmen, landowners, military officers, politicians – had founded, financed and supported them.” Instead, it appears that the paramilitary leaders are now the ones who are threatened, writes Adam Isacson who goes on to list a calendar of developments and disappearances.


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Cuba: Fidel’s medical prospects · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Cuba-centric blogs and bloggers, including Marc Masferrer, Luis M. García, Babalú and Ziva, are abuzz with speculation in the aftermath of an article in Spanish news daily El Pais about Fidel Castro's medical prospects, and the subsequent denial of the article's accuracy by Castro's chief surgeon.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Ethiopian bloggers fear for future in Somalia · Global Voices
Andrew Heavens

The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is ending freedom of speech in Somalia.
That was the blunt conclusion of undercover Ethiopian blogger Seminawork in his post Somali media under attack, as news came through that Somalia's Ethiopia-backed Transitional Government had shut down independent radio stations and even closed the offices of the international news station, Al Jazeera.
Somalia had some of the freest media in Africa. The Islamists who were labelled as enemies of freedom hadn't tried to close the radio stations which are under attack from the [Transitional Government] now.
Seminawork was one of many Ethiopian bloggers to cast a critical eye on the aftermath of the Ethiopian Government's decision to send its soldiers into Somalia to drive out Islamist forces and restore the Somali Transitional Government to power. (Here is the BBC timeline of the conflict.)
Lela Tensae painted a pessimistic picture of the months and years ahead in The thorn in the Horn:
Unfortunately, the blowback to this irresponsible and senseless war will be felt for years to come. And who will be the on the receiving end of this reckless act that was done in the name of self defense? Once again, it is the innocent people of Ethiopia, whose only desire is to live in a peaceful democratic country, which respects the rights and sovereignty of its neighbors.
The US-based Ethiopundit looked into the implications of America's backing of Ethiopia's military venture against the “terrorist” Islamists in Our man in Africa:
From the American point of view this is win-win. [Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's Prime Minister] is our SOB for now, kicking ass & taking names while the rest of the War on Terror proves to be more frustrating than predicted. For Republicans and Democrats that remains true. The administration wants a clear win somewhere, anywhere and the new Congressional leadership doesn't want to rock the boat lest they do something that actually has ultimate electoral responsibility associated with it.
The Meles endgame in Somalia as in Ethiopia, is eternal rule, riches and that dubious position of international respect that thugs get for killing their way to the top of their personal heap of bodies. However, Ethiopia is now in a war now with no endgame in sight or even planned for besides more political support and cash in the pipeline for its dictatorship.
Eleni Agiz of Ethiopia Encyclopedia gave her take on how relationships between Somalia and Ethiopia had changed since the military confrontation in Somalia-Ethiopia Relations: Then, Now, and in the Future:
Then
Shaky relationship: Somali region of Ethiopia wanted to separate and join its culturally, religiously, physically, linguistically similar neighbor Somalia; and Ethiopia crushed the separatists movement.
Now
BAD relationship: Holy War between Ethiopia and Somalia. Ethiopia does not want crazy terrorists as neighbors – Ethiopia didn't mind having pirates and poor people as neighbors, but terrorists are unacceptable…not because America says so. Ethiopia is totally independent of the US…totally.
The Ameche Rant provided an indepth analysis of where the conflict left each of its main players. Unusually, it was broadly supportive of the military venture, saying that everyone was better off without the Union of Islamic Courts in power, and concluding that the victory was Ethiopia's, not the USA's.
But his post Ethiopia's War in Somalia and its Regional Implications was still cautious:
If Meles keeps his word and bring home the bulk of the troops within the next month or two; Ethiopia can keep its victory and cement its place as the dominant power in the neighbourhood regardless of what happens in Somalia, bar UIC restoring the pre-Christmas status quo…The only way Addis Abeba can squander the victory is if it tries to play peacekeeper thereby becoming a standing target for hit & runners as the Americans have become in Iraq or if it decides to keep on waiting for peacekeepers for more than, let’s say, four to six weeks.
Meanwhile, not everyone in the Ethiopian blogosphere wanted to talk about the conflict. Enset probably spoke for many in This Music is Really Good for You!:
I am in the mood for some respite from the crazy world of Ethiopian politics. I suspect some of you are, too. So please sit back, relax and enjoy these two videos from YouTube. The first one is an amazing guitar rendition of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major by a South Korean who goes by the name FunTwo. The second one is from an equally impressive spoon sliding guitar virtuoso, the South African Hannes Coetzee. Enjoy!

author: Andrew Heavens


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Haiti: 10 essential writers · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Baturrico posts a photo of a street side bookseller in Haiti and a list (ES) and a hyperlinked list of the “10 essential figures of Haitian literature”.


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Hungary: Collaborator Priests · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about Catholic priests who served as informers during Hungary's Communist regime.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Indonesia: Bird Flu Update · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Indonesiamatters looks at the latest updates on the spread of bird flu in Indonesia. There are fears that Bird Flu may flare up again in Asia with cases being reported from Thailand and Japan.


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Iran:Forced to Silence · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kianoosh Sanjari,a blogger and reporter who was recently released from prison, says authorities made it clear for him that he has no right to write about his experience in prison or to criticise government.The blogger says they made it clear that I can not even talk with media.He says if I do not obey I will be sent back to prison [Fa]. He says I don't want to go back there.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:Muslim Bloggers Conference · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Muslim Bloggers we read that on Thursday there will be the first meeting and conference where members of Muslim Bloggers can participate and meet each other. In their blog we read that their goal is to react against Satan's activities in information field and to promote Islam in cyber world[Fa].


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Jamaica: Thoughts on MLK Day · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jamaican Leon Robinson presents his thoughts on Martin Luther King Day (observed on January 15th in the US): “Though Martin Luther King Day is an American celebration, I think blacks everywhere should celebrate it, as we are one race, and a victory for one is a victory for all.“


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Kazakhstan: NurOtan Rises · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

KZBlog notices that the head of the NurOtan party was present at the first meeting of Kazakhstan's new government and says that this is a sign of the party's growing importance in Kazakh politics.


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Kazakhstan: The Nazarbayev Way · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila reports that Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev has a new book out, and she takes a look at his prolific publishing career.


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Kenya: blogging the World Social Forum  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenya Democracy Project reports from the 2007 World Social Forum secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya, “That is exactly how many days remain between now, when I am keyboarding these lines, and next Saturday when a Peace March segues into the opening ceremony of the 2007 world Social Forum at Nairobi’s historic Uhuru (Freedom) Park.”


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Kyrgyzstan: Abortion as Birth-Control · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia translates a Russian-language post reporting on the use of abortion as birth-control in Kyrgyzstan.


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Mexico: IHOP in San Pedro · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Noting the recent arrival of American restaurants like Chilis and Starbucks, Ocho Cuartos is still a bit surprised to hear that IHOP, or International House of Pancakes, will be making its debut [ES] in the upscale Monterrey neighborhood of San Pedro.


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Myanmar: Chin Activist Wins Martin Luther King Prize · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Burma Underground introduces Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, the winner of the Martin Luther King Prize for 2006. Dr. Sakhong is the  General Secretary of a grouping made up ethnic minorities in Myanmar.


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Nepal: Arms And the Government · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepal Monitor on the interim constitution and messages to Nepal from the world. “Foreign nations congratulate Nepal on the promulgation of a new interim constitution. Both the United States of America and India emphasize arms management before forming an interim government.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nepal: On Western Media and more · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blogdai is a little annoyed with the portrayal of Nepal in the western media. “he lazy Western media has never once waivered from their “we don't care what happens in Nepal, as long as they call it democracy” stance.”


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Nigeria: Calabar Carnival and Parade · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bella Naija writes about Calabar Carnival and Parade and The Nigerian Fashion Show, “The Calabar Carnival and Parade was one of the most colourful and exciting events ever witnessed in Nigeria. Of course, Nollywood stars were not left out.”


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Nigeria: clash of values · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Black Looks writes a post, which illustrates the clash between the older and younger generation in Nigeria when it comes to sensitive issues such as homosexuality.


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Philippines: Getting a Loved One to Stop Smoking · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Touched by an Angel has a post on how she helped her daughter to stop smoking. “Our children need to be taught how to help themselves. They need our love and guidance. They need consistent enforcement of boundaries, once we’ve established limits. They need a supportive nurturing environment in which to grow. They need to help learning values. But as parents, we are not responsible for controlling our children.”


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Philippines: Getting Tough on Myanmar · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Citizen on Mars is surprised but pleased that the Filipino president Glorial Macapagal-Arroyo, who is herself accused  of human rights violations, “showed no qualms at all in broaching the very sensitive issue on the discussion table, risking bruised emotions and possibly deteriorating relations among the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations”. The blogger refers to the call by the president to encourage Myanmar to adopt a roadmap to democracy and release political prisoners.


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Russia: Alcoholism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Turkish Invasion writes about alcoholism in Russia – and posts Soviet posters on the topic.


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Russia: Earthquake Threat · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes in the aftermath of a recent and not-so-distant earthquake: “That you live in an earthquake zone and are a potential target for a building collapse or a tsunami are easy things to forget for a Brit, but in any case there is precious little any of us can do about it.  All I can do is hope that the ground will be nice and steady during my stay on the island.”


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Russia: End of Amnesty in Chechnya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time translates an article on Chechnya: “Today (January 15) marks the end of the amnesty for members of armed groups and federal servicemen which was declared by the Russian State Duma in September 2006. According to the data of the various law enforcement bodies, from 470 to 546 guerrillas turned themselves in during the amnesty. The oldest was aged 75, and the youngest 16.”


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Russia, Latvia: Border Dispute · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia posts an update on the unresolved border dispute between Russia and Latvia.


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Russia: Old New Year With Submarine Captain; Dentistry · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes of an evening spent with a former captain of a nuclear submarine – and about dentistry in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.


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Russia: Possible Terror Attack · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Two-Zero warns of a possible terrorist attack on public transportation in Moscow.


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South Korea: starbucks trademark · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Recently the Korean Supreme Court ruled against Starbuck’s appeal against Elfreya (dba Starpreya Coffee), Dram man from Marmot's Hole goes into the details of the trademark debate.


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Sri Lanka: 25 years of peace, 25 years of violence · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

indi.ca on the need for speeding up the peace process. “If 25 years was too long for a political solution, then 25 is far too long for violence. Sri Lanka needs to return to civility, and it needs time to heal. That has to start with Tamil voices, but the momentum of terror and pride may simply be too much.”


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Sri Lanka: Looking down over Galle · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Almost as good as chocolate on Galle in Sri Lanka. “Looking down over Galle, I wished for Galle and Sri Lanka a lasting peace that such a beautiful place and such a warm people truly deserve.


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Sri Lanka: Tourism and Suicide Bombers · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

groundviews on sea, sand, tourism and suicide bombers. “But it seems that no amount of catchy slogans and idyllic images of sun, sea and sand can deter some people from the grim reality.”


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Suriname: Bird photos · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Flickr user Dirk-Jan has a lovely photo set featuring birds of Suriname.


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Tajikistan: Mercenary Marriages · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Vadim explains how the imbalance in Tajikistan between males and females has an impact on how people choose spouses.


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Trinidad & Tobago: New smelter location, same story · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Taran Rampersad drops by Otaheite Village in Trinidad, the site designated for the construction of an aluminium smelter after protests the community at the previously designated site brought a halt to the project: “It is apparent how the residents near Bay Road in Otaheite Village feel about ALCOA's Smelter . . . . The only people who seem to want this smelter are [Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister] Patrick Manning and our loving, health and environmentally conscious ‘friends’ at ALCOA.”


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Turkmenistan: The Campaign Trail · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, Peter reports on developments in Turkmenistan's presidential campaign.


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Ukraine: Dolphin-Assisted Therapy · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine List writes about Dolphin-Assisted Therapy in Crimea.


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Ukraine: Politician Shot While Hunting · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A controversial Ukrainian politician is in critical condition after a hunting accident, reports Abdymok.


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Afghan Whispers: Cock Fighting, Winter, and Insecure Borders · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Afghan Lord talks about a new sport in Afghanistan, cock fighting. You can watch a video clip of cock fighting on Afghan Lord's blog.The blogger adds,
Morgh Janngi which means cock fighting is a traditional winter sport as is dog, camel fighting and donkey racing. In Morgh Janngi, men (only) come from all over Afghanistan to enter their prized cocks in the Kabul arena. Morgh Janngi is highly complex in its rules, brutal in its savagery and can be expensive for the gamblers involved. Most competitors have a non-formal support group of men who help raise the stakes in betting and argue for or against a decision of which cock wins. The cocks fight until blood is drawn, then the owner will pull his chicken out of the ring, for repairing the animals wounds and refreshing its vitality with a mouth of water, blown into the cocks face.The competition is not cheap, men risk money on the result of each fight, sometimes betting 100,000 to 200,000Afghanis ($2,000 – $4,000 US). Sometimes the betting exchange becomes so heated that groups will bet amount exceeding $5,000.
You can seeseveral photos of cock fighting here.
Onne Parl is a freelance journalist and blogger in Afghanistan.The blogger says that the cold is the main topic among Afghans and internationals as well.The blogger adds,
We suffer together. Afghans don’t seem to know what are double glazes windows, so we covered our windows with plastic. It is a common tradition here.
Recently both Afghan government and United nations rejected Pakistani plan to plant landmines and build a fence in ‘selected places’ along its 2,400 km border with Afghanistan. Notes from the West supports Pakistani decision and says only things goes on, in some areas in the tribal zone, are smuggling goods and drugs. You can see several photos of this tribal zone in his blog.


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Armenia: Economics & Law · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian says that though Armenia recently received fairly high marks for its legal framework governing investments, the failure to enforce the laws is holding the economy back.


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Armenia: Year of the Cell Phone · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Blogrel's Burnell writes that 2006 was the year that cellular phones ended up in everyone's hands in Armenia, and wonders what is coming this year in telecommunications in Armenia.


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Bangladesh: Diaspora returing home · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat points to a report on diaspora returning to Bangladesh, and an interesting conversation in the comments space follows.


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Bangladesh: Update on politics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With events unfolding by the day, Rezwan has an update on Bangladeshi internal affairs. “There have been some positive developments in Bangladesh. People are finally finding peace at home with the actions of the new caretaker government.”


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Markale Massacre · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Bosnia Vault writes: “Over a decade later, the Markale Massacre; and the allegation that the shell was fired upon by the ABiH forces in a ruse to gain public sympathy; has become the lynchpin argument of those in the Balkans and in the West who have unapologetically thrown their support to the likes of Karadzic and his ilk.”


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Can Digital Rights Management Save African Artists from Copyright Infringement? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says Africa 2.0 (Fr): “Copyright infringement is killing African artists without any intervention from authorities. I was reading an interview of Beko Sadey this morning who was saying that she had two albums ready but would not release them because of bootlegging. How sad! … Can't we explore technological solutions to fight bootlegging such as Digital Rights Management?”

author: Alice Backer


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Caucasus: Unemployment · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian examines why it is so difficult to get an accurate picture of unemployment levels in the South Caucasus.


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Central Asia: The LDS Church in Central Asia · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand writes about the LDS church in Central Asia.


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Chile: Last Words of Salvador Allende · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Professor Zero puts up some YouTubed archival footage of the 1973 bombing of the Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago dubbed with the final speech of President Salvador Allende who was killed in the coup attack. An English translation of that speech is also available.


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China: reporter beaten to death · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Trade News reporter Lang Chengchang went to a coal mine to conduct interviews and was beaten to death by unidentified thugs. The local media did not report the case after learning about it, because they supposed did not know whether this was a reporter or extortionist and the city government tried to argue that Lang was a “fake reporter” to excuse for thorough investigation… ESWN translated a few articles on the issue.


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DRC: Post-Election Landscape · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog du Congolais summarizes the post-election landscape as follows (Fr): “The general trend is to wait and see. People are giving the President the benefit of the doubt . He is far from making people secure so persistent is the question mark on his competence, his good faith, his origins and the circumstances that led to his intruding on the political scene… People dream of the millions with which the West will flood the country to support right hand men which they succeeded in putting in place through predetermined elections.”


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East Timor: Upcoming Elections · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Dili-gence introduces the candidates who will be fighting the upcoming elections in East Timor.


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Gandhi and YouTube has India talking · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

A YouTube clip of Mahatma Gandhi doing a pole dance by Gautam Prashad, a New York-based comedian/clown/yoga teacher of Indian origin created quite a bit of wave on the other side of the continent. The Indian Government was not amused by Prashad's modern day interpretation of Gandhi (India's Father of the Nation) and had the video clip banned in India. Google had to remove the clip. Plus a couple of Indian channels that showed the video clip have been asked to apologize. The original offender in the Indian Government's eye: Gautam Prashad has also apologized.
For the past year Google has had its fair share of challenges in India. First, it was Orkut, and now Google Video. How did Indian bloggers react to this Google video clip of Gandhi? The bloggers reaction covers the whole spectrum from free speech to  don't watch to strong disapproval to let us move on, shall we?
Pooja Nair is not amused with Prashad's video clip. Her strong disapproval dissolves into some career advice for Prashad. She writes:
I feel sorry for him. I don't mean to mock him. I am genuinely concerned for the chap. I think he should shift careers. Maybe he'll do better as a pizza delivery guy or a taxi driver.
Shivam Vij has this to say about the video clip: don't watch it if it offends you. Shivam's  post also has a response from Prashad, the creator of the Gandhi clip, who says that he used this clip as a marketing tool.
Amit Verma wonders if this whole episode:
Free speech is becoming more and more endangered in this country.
Great Bong, who thinks the video clip was in poor taste has this to say about the Indian government's reaction to the video clip:
Coming back to the main point, the biggest loser in this glorious spectacle is the Indian government, which consistently insists on behaving like the typical crackpot Islamic state in obsessively frothing at the mouth in response to any perceived insult. In its infinite wisdom, it has served show-causes to the Indian channels which carried the news and called for the video to be taken down failing which a ban would be placed on Youtube.
Pass the roti on the left hand side  gives an overview of the entire episode (the YouTube does not seem to work) and says that it is time to move on.

author: Kamla Bhatt


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Guadeloupe: Still Site of Magical Beliefs · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Says Atout Guadeloupe (Fr): “To this day many Guadeloupeans believe in magic and go to “quimboiseurs” and “gadezafe” [i.e. magicians] to take care of private business and disputes with third parties! Guadeloupe still has many magical sites.”


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India: All that food · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Primalsoup associates memories and places with food, and urges the people she tags to do the same! “Me and my family like any other bunch of foodie people, associate most of our socialization and relationships around food. I especially, equate almost everything with food.”


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India: Big Brother and Racism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The racism controversy surrounding the reality TV show in UK – Big Brother finds a lot of blogs picking up the issue. Pickled Politics has a thriving comments thread with reflections on racism and bullying, and Shoefiend says “While they’re definitely being ignorant, stupid and mean, the fact that the person on the receiving end of all this is brown adds a racial undertone to the entire thing.”


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Iran:Fashion Show in Iran  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Legofish compares a photo from an Iranian woman in a fashion show in Tehran with another photo from a western fashion show.The blogger says Iranian show was called the women of my land.


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Jamaica: Political advice from Lifehacker · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

B.art hacks an article from the personal productivity blog Lifehacker about ways to become politically involved to make it relevant to a Jamaican audience.


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Japan: fire fighting flower · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lee in Tokyo Times explains the design of fire fighting flower.


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Kyrgyzstan: Big Pocket Library · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia translates a Russian-language post on the popularity in Kyrgyzstan of a two CD set of electronic texts called the “Big Pocket Library.” The author is dismayed at the popularity of the texts, which include, among other things, bomb-making instructions.


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Laos: Learning Laotian · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Timorsunshine, an active bloggers from East Timor is currently in Lao and she is trying to learn Laotian.  The blogger talks about the similarities in sounds between Laotian and some Chinese dialects.


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Latin America: Social Movements in 2007 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The weblog of the  North American Congress on Latin America has a translation by Teo Ballvé of an article authored by Raúl Zibechi on what Latin America's new political scenario means for the region’s social movements.


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Malaysia: Budget Blogs · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Competitive Malaysia has links to the blogs that are talking about the Malaysian Budget for this year.


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Malaysia: Visiting Kuala Lumpur’s Little Myanmar · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Eating Asia takes us for a meal in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur's Myanmarese enclave.


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Philippines: Prostitution in Philippines And Wikipedia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Philippines4Men is asking readers to help expand the wikipedia entry on Prostitution in Phillipines. “My intention for the entry was to provide people certain facts about the illegalities of prostitution in this country and the steps to curb prostitution. I know it may sound hypocritical since this site is about the adult entertainment scene, but facts are facts and any information is better than no information at all.”


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Russia: Lada Vs Hummer · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

“Lada against Hummer” in Moscow – at Two-Zero‘s.


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Senegal: How Wade Tried to Bribe a French Journalist · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Kangni Alem writes (Fr):” In a book titled Les Sorciers Blancs [The White Sorcerers] which will be launched Jan.17 by [French publishing house] Fayard, L'Express reporter Vincent Hugeux  shows how President Wade tried to bribe Thierry Oberle, a journalist for Figaro.”


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Singapore: Web Standards Meetup · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Several Singapore bloggers attended the Web Standards Meetup organised by Singapore Web Standards Group. The Rambling Librarian attends the event as a newcomer to web standards and blogs about what he learnt.


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South Korea: Haejangguk · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Matt explains what is haejangguk: Haejang means to eat or drink something in the morning to relieve a hangover and guk means soup; and shows what kind of food is served in haejangguk.


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South Korea: labour movement · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Jamie in Two Koreas updates his readers about the recent labour movement activities in South Korea, including 20th anniversary of the June 1987 Democratic Uprising, anti FTA protest, etc.


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South Korea: textbook debate · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole puts together debate related to a novel used as an English text in U.S. middle schools which contains description of abuse and rape of Japanese by Koreans during the closing stage of Japanese imperialism: And for the record, I have no idea how many American schools are using the book, but it does seem like a rather odd choice—even if the history presented in the book were true, I doubt very strongly that middle school kids—especially American ones—could appreciate the complexity of the period, especially if it's being presented in a biased way.


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South Korea: weird things happening to foreigners · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Asiapages retells some weird things happened to her boy friend and herself in South Korea.


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Airline merger · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Abeni holds out hope that the merger between the Caribbean airlines LIAT and Caribbean Star result in “an improvement on what obtains at present” — but only because she has little alternative: “If this proves to be unattainable we may as well stock up on gravol and go back to the the days of inter-island ferry service.”


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Tahitian Music · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Tahiti Litterature, Musique posts various excerpts of Tahitian music.


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Ukraine: Diaspora Illustrator · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukraine List writes about Yaroslava Surmach-Mills, a Ukrainian-American illustrator.


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Ukraine: Hunters Discuss Yevhen Kushnaryov’s Death · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Evhen Kushnaryov, 55, former governor of Kharkiv region and the deputy faction leader of prime minister Victor Yanukovych‘s Party of Regions, died today from gunshot wounds suffered in a hunting incident Tuesday.
According to media reports, Kushnaryov and approximately ten other men were on their way home after a day of boar hunting – illegal boar hunting, it looks like, as the season had ended on Jan. 1, according to this State Forestry Committee's decree (UKR); when they spotted a wolf, they jumped out of their cars and began shooting at it; the gun that fired the bullet that hit Kushnaryov allegedly belonged to Dmitry Zavalnyi, deputy director of Tochpribor plant in Kharkiv.
Kushnaryov's long political career began in 1981 in the Communist Party of Ukraine. During the 2004 presidential election, Kushnaryov was one of the politicians who came up with the idea to establish the Southeastern Republic with the capital in Kharkiv; in June 2005, he was charged with promoting separatism, but in Sept. 2006, the case against him was closed.
Kushnaryov's death has caused plenty of conversations on Ukrainian blogs and discussion boards. Below is a selection from the forum of the Ukrainian Hunters’ Server (RUS, UKR):
voland: Anyway, just heard it on the radio, in Izyum district (the biggest forests in Kharkiv region) Y. Kushnaryov had a hunting (!) incident, he was shot in the liver. Can't stand him, but may God give him health. […]
[…]
VIS: But hunting hoofed animals is allowed until Jan. 1, according to State Forestry Committee's Decree #122 of May 26, 2006, – and after that, IT IS POACHING!!! And it doesn't matter if they were hunting on private land or not. […] And also: “The law of Ukraine on hunting” states: persons with any type of firearms staying within the boundaries of hunting grounds, including field and forest roads (except those intended for general use), are considered hunters, as well as those who carry game […] I wonder what kind of hunting the law-abiding parliamentarians had, led by the most law-abiding Mr. K… Or were they dead drunk and started shooting one another…
[…]
voland: […] I don't like [Kushnaryov] and his gang, but this doesn't mean I'm [happy about what happened]. As for the government [folks], I'll explain – in Kharkiv region, there's a wonderful place, Pechenezhskoye Forestry. Plenty of game there, everything is taken good care of, but it's impossible to buy a hunting license [to hunt there] – no licenses and that's it. But the shots are heard all the time. Sick of the bastards with their jeeps […]. There's only one law for these beasts – they are the law.
[…]
Jnets: voland, do you have a hunters’ society? And there's some hunting land that belongs to it. Who keeps you from taking good care of it, from raising game there? And then hunt there? I can't believe you tried to do it all and they didn't let you. As for the jeeps that you're sick of… the majority of the country's population is sick of them (including myself). But nothing can be done about it. It's gonna be like this forever here! As [Ukraine's first president] comrade Kravchuk used to say: We have what we have. And nothing can be changed. It's like this everywhere in the post-Soviet space (with a few exceptions) – and even worse, like with Turkmenbashi.
[…]
olexa: No matter what, hunting rules have to be observed and discipline should be above all. And there are idiots who don't care about these rules, and when they see the game, they'd go anywhere. In Ivankovo district, there were two emergencies like this in just one weekend at the end of December, one lethal, and in the other, the guy was lucky, the doctor didn't want to take it upon himself and do a surgery, because one bullet went through and there was shrapnel in his intestines.
[…]
Andropov: We can't judge what happened and who's to blame, friends. We were not there. But one thing is obvious: safety rules are above all at any hunting trip!!! This should be thought #1 in any hunter's head!!! If you hold a gun, you should think every second what you're aiming at!!! This has to be stuck in your subconscious! And of course, being sober is very important. Those hunters must have had a significant amount of alcohol… It's guesswork, of course – but it should be remembered that alcohol make hot heads of the hunters even hotter! May God allow him to survive and get well! And yet – it's strange how fast they've found a donor kidney and blood and all the rest, and at the same time, how many deadly sick children are waiting for organs and how they are dying…
[…]
Machete: […] It doesn't matter anymore what his political views were; but it's sad that a hunter is gone.


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Ukraine: Kushnaryov’s Death · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes explains what Yevhen Kushnaryov's death likely means to Ukrainian politicians.


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Uzbekistan: Media Reform · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tolkun calls a new law on the media in Uzbekistan “high-level hypocrisy.”


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Uzbekistan: New NGO Law · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

At neweurasia, “night_eulen” discusses a new law governing foreign NGOs in Uzbekistan which he says is a façade to make Uzbekistan look better to the outside world.


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West Africa: What is NOSPETCO?, Aid Does Not Work, Dogon Architecture and Tourism As A Therapy  · Global Voices
Oluniyi D. Ajao

As we delve into the West African blogosphere this week, our first stop is Nigeria. One issue that is attracting so much attention among Nigerians bloggers is NOSPETCO. What is NOSPETCO?
According to the Nigerian blogger Deolu Akinyemi,
If you have never heard of Nospecto before, it is an investment opportunity where you put in 450,000 naira and get 40,000 naira returns monthly, it’s also a joint venture business arrangement, where you share profits with the owners of the company at a rate which makes your share 40 out of every 450 in a month. Nospetco’s arrangement is the standard convinient arrangement for devout muslims, who because of their beliefs in not collecting interests on their money can only be comfortable with sharing profit.
He goes on to ask: NOSPETCO – How much longer!
It is wit to be able to ask the right questions, know when to move in, and know when to move out. If you ask the generation that is between 45-60 today, they’ll tell you about the finance houses of the 70/80s and how in one little sweep, millionaires became paupers. Those who do not know the past are bound to repeat it!
His in-depth analysis is worth reading.
Nospetco is high risk, and an investment you should make with your eyes open and your brain alert. A certain Ade guy* (The site also has useful information about Nospetco), used good strategies that are more difficult today. I also played with it before, went in and out bigtime. There are however some current happenings that in my humble opinion are red lights for investmenting.
Another Nigerian blog Timbaland asks: Nospetco: Time to exit or what?
The story started getting interesting when I learnt they had increased the initial investment capital from ₦300k to ₦450k. A couple of friends of mine and I were setting up a private fund to invest into the opportunity but had stalled for a number of reasons (including the increase in the initial capital required).
It was interesting to find out that Deolu Akinyemi had blogged about something I regard as being timely. It’s becoming clear that there’s a big possibility this fantasy is coming to an end. The Nospetco investment may quickly be going out of business if indeed these statements are true.
Still in the world of business and finances, Emmanuel Oluwatosin asks: In search of a business mentor?
Are you just starting out in business or already in business? Are things not turning out the way you planned? This is the time to seek a mentor – someone who will can show you the way, someone to teach and advise you and enable you to become a wise and effective human being. Stepping on the shoulder of a mentor helps you to avoid some mistakes and achieve success earlier than you expect.
These set of people are everywhere around you. You only need to identify what you are looking for in a mentor.
He then goes on to suggest potential business mentors.
Aid Industry in Africa and Cameroon's Version of Affirmative Action
Still on money, but this time in Cameroon. Cameroonian blog Enanga's Pov reproduces a report by The African Report.
Foreign aid: This kind of ‘help’ is just no help at all
The multi-billion dollar aid industry has largely failed in Africa. Not only have they failed along with others in the aid industry, most nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become part of the problem. Not that they will admit their failure. They refuse to share the blame for the grim record. Instead they have closed ranks – along with UN development agencies and bilateral agencies – and all sing from the same hymn sheet: ‘Aid works’, they claim. ‘Give us even more money and we will complete the job…’
They would say that, wouldn't they? The alternative is far too uncomfortable. The rapid growth of NGOs dealing with Africa has given them enormous power, but they have been slow to adapt to their responsibilities.
Looking at aid from a different angle, Home of the mandinmories blogs about The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation‘s activities in Africa.
Besides funding research to fight disease that plague third world nations, the foundation is investing in companies that run power plants, which can pollute and cause respiratory disease. In fact, the foundation has been investing in lots of energy companies to earn more money to pay for vaccines and research.
And therein lies the contradiction.
Energy companies are not known for their environmental friendliness. But they generate great returns on investment. The cauldron becomes: should the Gates foundation shy away from what is otherwise a good investment or would it be better for the foundation to invest in solar power and fuel cells? Just where is the greater good?
Still in Cameroon, Scribbles from the Den is asking “Should admissions into state-owned universities be based solely on merit or should “sociological balance” be taken into account?” in Deconstructing Regional Balance and Higher Education in Cameroon:
At the root of the deadly crisis that engulfed the University of Buea in November / December 2006 were deep-seated disagreements over the application of the principle of “regional balance”, Cameroon’s attempt at affirmative action. The crisis began when Prof. Fame Ndongo, the Minister of Higher Education invalidated the list of successful candidates eligible to participate in the oral part of the entrance examination into the Faculty of Medicine which had been published by that university’s Vice Chancellor.
According to the Minister, the Vice Chancellor’s list was null and void because it was based solely on merit (it consisted of the best 127 candidates who sat for the written part of the exam) and failed to “respect of the sociological balance [of Cameroon], the guarantor of national integration and stability”.
Dogon Architecture and Tourism As A Therapy in Cape Verde
Now to Mali, Africa Shrine blogs about Dogon Architecture.
The homes the Dogon people of Central Africa are an excellent example of how the original container is reproduced almost literal form. Although these people live quite simply in our terms, their culture is very complex and closely aligned with nature. To the Dogon, home is not a particular building, but a series of stages, which includes several buildings. The home is closely related to the development of the individual. For example a Dogon wife stays with her father until she has had her third child. She does however sleep with her husband during the night and returns to her father’s house during the day. It is a hierarchical system where the family is spread over several houses until they have achieved the status required to own their own home. Their homes are not owned by individuals as such, but are stages in one could say, psychic development and are shared as such.
Our final stop for this week is Cape Verde, where Cape Verde – Land of Morabeza blogs about São Nicolau Island.
Visitors to the island may discover the town of Ribeira Brava, filled with many squares, narrow streets and alleyways, a typical example of colonial influence. The school-seminary is an essential site to visit, along with the parish church and the ancient Sé Catedral (Sé Cathedral). The seminary was the first secondary school in Cape Verde and the entire Western coast of Africa.
The town on Tarrafal is renowned for its beach of black sand, rich in titanium and iodine, and visited by many people in search from relief from physical pains, such as rheumatism.
Author's note:
* Deolu Akinyemi is making reference to a fellow Nigerian blogger, Dipo Tepede who blogged last year, about NOSPETCO.

author: Oluniyi D. Ajao


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Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe in South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zimscoop writes about the increasing number of Zimbabweans fleeing the country, “Walking along Abel Street in Johannesburg's sprawling suburb of Berea, one might think he or she is in the Joburg Lines in Harare's Mbare high density suburb. But alas, this is South Africa where you here Zimbabwean music from almost each and every household. Is this because South African love Zimbabwean music most or what? Its because several Zimbabweans are making their way here every day as the economic situation is getting worse every day in Zimbabwe.”


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Africa: Africa’s war on talent · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Gavin Chait, blogging at whythawkratings, examines “the other losing battle: Africa's war on talent.”


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Ahmadinejad Goes to Latin America · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranian bloggers discussed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's trip to Latin America and his growing problems at home.
Nikahang, a leading cartoonist and blogger, takes on Ahmadjnejad nuclear's policy
Rozmaregi [Fa] was surprised that the Iranian Islamist president went to Latin America meeting and becoming friendly with communist leaders. The bloggers says  Khomeini and Che Guevara could not have even dreamed about this.
The blogger adds:
Blue Future [Fa] says Ahmadnejad's ideology is not comparable to left wing leaders such as Ortega or Chávez in Latin America. The blogger believes Ahmadnejad's policies increase poverty rather than reduce it. The blogger adds
Molla Hasani says with irony that Iran is going to make important business deals such as exporting candy to Cuba [Fa].
Jomhour writes about the end of Ahmadinejadism in Iran. The blogger says even religious leaders criticised the government for inflation and mismanagement. He adds that the conservative Islamic Republic journal called on Ahmadnejad to be quiet on nuclear issues [Fa].


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Albania: Spitting and Other Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stepping Stones writes about spitting and other problems one faces in Albania's capital.


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Armenia: Lacking Integrity · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Blogrel reports that just after Armenia received a fairly positive economic freedom ranking, it has been ranked as very weak on the Global Integrity index.


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Armenia: Shutting down VoIP  · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Armenia Blog notes that ArmenTel, Armenia's telephone monopoly, will disconnect VoIP services.


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Bangladesh: Eviction of street vendors · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Drishtipat on street vendors being evicted and if the government had given any thought to their livelihood. “Should the authority have thought of some alternative for these people with day to day incomes?”


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Bangladesh: On the swastika · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An ancient symbol appears to forever lose its meaning because of the Nazi connection. Inspirations and Creative Thoughts on the Swastika. “European Union is planning to ban the symbol of Swastika, infamously used by the Nazi. But hindus are opposing the move because despite its being adopted as symbol of Nazism, it is one of the most ancient and sacred symbol in Dharmic religion such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.”


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Bermuda: Racism plus a spineless opposition? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

A senior member of Bermuda's opposition party resigns, citing racism in the party ranks. But the Limey finds the senior member's claims self-contradictory and thinks the party could have responded more promptly and decisively to the situation.


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Bolivia: “Women Creating” Against Evo Morales · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Francisco Giglio has posted photos from the Casa de la Culture in La Paz by a group of female anarchist artists called Mujeres Creando (“Women Creating”) protesting Evo Morales’ government. Rosario Lizana has transcribed the text [ES] from one of the photographs.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Markale Massacre · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett marks the “sad anniversary” of the Sarajevo Markale Massacre: “I had forgotten the date, but I remember well about the event, seeing it on the news made me angry. I began lobbying actively for intervention in BiH somewhat before that time. I remember being really angry with people who accused the Bosnians of shelling themselves etc.”


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Cambodia: Preventing Rapes · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha in Cambodia highlights the problems faced by rape victims and blogs about some recommendations to help prevent rapes.


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Chilean Bloggers on Bolivia’s Chaos · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Chilean Bloggers are concerned with what is happening in Bolivia. As Tomás Bradanovic (ES) explains:
La horrible situación por la que está atravesando Bolivia tiene en su base un enorme malentendido donde tanto el gobierno como la oposición son incapaces de comprender el pensamiento del otro. Juzgan y actúan equivocadamente y eso es lo que mantiene al país como un mendigo sentado sobre un cerro de oro. Mientras Morales razona como un niño, sin darse cuenta que cada día hace más fuertes a sus propios enemigos, porque la polarización es el mejor escenario estratégico para los partidos de oposición.
Taking an economic-political view, Libardo Buitrago (ES) wrote about the issues that concern Bolivia in the Mercosur trade bloc:
La incorporación de Bolivia al Mercado Común del Sur (Mercosur) y la puesta en marcha de un fondo para compensar a Uruguay y Paraguay frente a las asimetrías que existen en el bloque regional, dominarán las discusiones de la trigésima primera cumbre de jefes de Estado del Mercosur, que tendrá lugar el jueves y viernes en la ciudad brasileña de Rio de Janeiro.
He finishes explaining that one of Bolivia's concern is to search for a formula make it a member of Mercosur while maintaining its membership in the Andean Community Nations (CAN).
Meanwhile, Elena Cáceres wrote in ,El Morrocotudo (ES) about the families that have sent their children to get educated in Bolivian Universities.
Conversamos con el matrimonio Pereda, quienes tienen a su hijo hace 4 años en el país altiplánico estudiando Psicología. Ellos manifestaron que “no es la primera vez que pasan por algo así, ya que hace algunos años vivieron una situación similar, incluso se bloquearon los caminos por varios días y no supimos nada de él. Para nosotros como padres es realmente preocupante. Si bien el está con sus amigos, sus compañeros, de verdad tememos que por un asunto político o social,que a los jóvenes chilenos no les imcumbe, tengan que pagar , de una u otra manera las consecuencias.

author: Rosario Lizana


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China: Chinese sense of humor? You’ve got to be joking · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Raymond zhou translates Wang Xiao feng's article in China Daily on “Chinese sense of humor? You've got to be joking”.


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China: disclosure of information “in principle” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Media Project reports on the national ordinance on information disclosure passed on 17 of Jan by China's top administrative authority, the State Council.


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China: is Chinese peasant stupid · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zeng jingyan wrote an article in response to a famous rural reformist Wen Tiejun's comment that once land is privatized, peasants in China are going to sell their land and results in social instability and urban slum. She asks is Chinese peasant stupid? (zh)


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China: Little Africa in Downtown Guangzhou · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A piece written by Bruce Humes in DANWEI which highlights information deleted by a Chinese business digest,  Cankao Xiaoxi, in the translation of Brandon Zatt’s article on the African trading community in Guangzhou.


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China: smoking ban · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dan Washburn in Shanghaiist reports about the smoking ban policy in major cities :  If “World Cities” are banning smoking, then China must follow. It’s also relatively easy – much easier than say lowering toxic emissions or letting people CENSORED their government.


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China:  Spring Festival travel  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lyn Jeffery from Virtual China notes that the QQ BBS editors put out a request(zh) about a week ago asking people to send in their Spring Festival travel stories from now until 1/25. He also translates a few responses in his post.


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China: Starbucks ain’t the problem with the Forbidden City · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief discusses about the recent attack at Starbucks at the Forbidden City by a CCTV celebrity Rui Chenggang: The nice thing about singling out the easy target of Starbucks is that it plays on cheap, nationalist sentiment while completely avoiding a related but much larger and more important discussion about the preservation of China's national patrimony and the history of its defilement.


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Cuba: Show yourself, Fidel · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Ziva demands that ailing Cuban president Fidel Castro stand up and be accounted for: “Where the hell is fidel?  He's healing?  Show us a photo, send us a current tape that proves he's alive, not something that looks photo-shopped.  Adidas?  Where the hell is his uniform?    If you want people to believe he's returning to power, put him in the uniform and force him to make a public appearance.“


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Czech Republic: Oldest Resident · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Even the country's oldest resident – aged 108 – is somewhat annoyed with the Czech government's failure to materialize, writes Bored in Brno.


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Ethiopia/Somali: Addis Ababa’s little Mogadishu · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Andrew Heavens writes about his two photos of Addis Ababa's little Mogadishu, “My two Reuters photos of Addis Ababa's ‘Little Mogadishu’ district have sparked quite a discussion over at Nazret.com.”


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Guyana: Press freedom · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In light of the recent withdrawal of state-sponsored advertising from the Guyana news daily The Stabroek News (an act condemned by Reporters Sans Frontières), Guyana360 writes a series of posts (one, two, three, four) on press freedom in Guyana.


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Guyana: The Brown Book · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

GuyanaGyal recounts her struggles with a ledger known in her household as “The Brown Book”: “When I read about accountants cooking books I does imagine that they get so vex with they Brown Book they does reach boiling point and when they touch the book, it boil too, and that is how the book get cook.“


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Haiti: President of the Caribbean · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Inspired by Barack Obama's recent announcement that he was exploring the idea of running for the US presidency, and Wyclef Jean's appointment as roving ambassador for Haiti, The Nightshift Chronicler announces his intention to run for President of the Caribbean. . . .


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Haiti: Reflecting on National Soccer · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reflecting on Haiti's recent defeat at the hands of the Trinidad & Tobago soccer/football team, Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “Yes, formerly our regional rivals had names like Mexico. Today we align with difficulty with nations where soccer/football has no popularity and hence no budget: Cuba, Martinique, Dominican Republic. … We must continue working hard to recuperate the time we have lost. … We have what matters most: talent!”


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Image from French Guiana: Mind Your Kids · Global Voices
Alice Backer

From the French Guiana forest, this sign captured by Photoblog sur la Guyane Francaise reads (Fr): “Look after your kids or … keep them on a leash.”


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India: The President on Yahoo! · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

At digg.com, a user links to the President of India's question at Yahoo! Answers. Watch out for the interesting discussion at digg, where a wide range of issues – including Bush, internet penetration in India, efforts to reach out  by the government etc. are raised.


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Indonesia: Adam Air Plane Crash Causes · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the Adam Air's plane earlier this month. Indonesia Matters looks at the possible scenarios.


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Iran:Tomato becomes a Luxury Product · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sanjaghak talks about inflation and high prices in Iran. The blogger writes the price of tomato has become so expensive that a deputy in Iranian Parliament said tomato is a luxury product, all people are not supposed to eat it [Fa].


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Jamaica, Colombia: Identity etc · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In response to some questions posed to him in December, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp writes an open letter recounting a visit to a Colombian restaurant in Florida with his (part-Colombian) family: “Of course, I’ve chosen to blog about it and this is one way about talking about your questions, which are really questions about identity.This story is merely to set the groundwork for the discussion, and an example of how a choice in creating an identity can have a positive result.”


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Japan: karakuri dolls · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Karakuri dolls are ancient little robots from Edo made out of wood and porcelain with no metal screws or anything. Paul Nicholls from Japundit introduces a website that sells the doll.


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Kyrgyzstan: Policy Try to Win Hearts · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tolkun Umaraliev writes that police in Bishkek have resolved to inject kindness and compassion into their dealings with the public. He says that given the lack of public trust of the police, realizing this resolution will take much longer than a year.


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Kyrgyzstan: Remittances  · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Kyrgyz Report writes on the importance of remittances from emigrants to Kyrgyzstan.


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Lebanon: A Bouquet of Topics · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

A variety of subjects were brought up in the Lebanese blogosphere this week. Following are some of the topics with links to selected posts about each. Hope you enjoy reading them.
On the Environment:
The oil spill that covered the Mediterranean coast last July as a result of Israeli bombardment of civilian oil fuel depots in Lebanon is well underway and largely successful according to this update with pictures by Blogging Beirut.
On Art, Poetry and Paintings:
When coffee is prepared in the traditional Lebanese way, also called Turkish coffee, coffee grinds are left at the bottom of the coffee pot. Ibn Bint Jbeil used these leftovers to paint. The paintings are posted on his blog with accompanying poems.
There are more drawings and paintings by Mazen which he posted on his blog Kerblog. And even more paintings by Suzanne Alaywan which she also posted on her Blog.
On the Economy:
Lebanon ski resorts, which are a major tourist attraction, and a source of income for Lebanon are suffering according to TearsforLebanon.
The labor unions in general and the Lebanese Labor Unions that have recently joined the protests going on in Beirut are the subject of an analytical and historical article by Marxist From Lebanon. The article ends with the conclusion:
The current Syndicates are not workers’ unions, they are clubs that are immersed in safeguarding those sect-defenders’ interests and of course for them: there is no class struggle.
On Media:
Billboards and street banners can be found almost on every street and building in Beirut. Jamal takes up this topic, in his humorous/sarcastic style and ends it by stating:
At the end of the day, street banners are another valuable free speech tool, albeit a free speech tool for those annoying people and singer whose speech you've always tried to avoid.
On Politics:
Mirvat expresses her repugnance from the current state of affairs in Lebanon:
I’m sick and tired of me and you. I’m sick of the sound of my own complaints and opinions and ‘solutions’ and I’m sick of the arguments and the bickering and the weak spirit. Honestly I’m sick of Lebanese issues…
We’re sexist and racist and judgmental. We’re lazy and crazy and we’re always right and we’re all the victims of the world and history and society. The country is not good enough for us, the government is always the reason for all of our shortcomings and the world is against us. We also think we’re God’s gift to the earth wherever we are, we are competitive unkind and we act superior. Most of us are freeloaders and the rest complain. We all want to leave our country because it’s not good enough and when we do we all act superior wherever we are and want to go back, only then to act superior around our countrymen because we live abroad.
Who’s who in Lebanon as categorized by Ms Levantine
I found that although everybody agrees that things are very complicated and that there is a bit of everything everywhere, people actually differed quite radically in what they believe is the “main cause” of the conflict over Lebanon. The different schools of thought can be segregated in 9 different categories…
And here at EDB’s, a variety of anecdotes about spies, Paris 3, protests, night clubs, partying, blogger bashing, intellectual terrorism etc all in one interesting and easy–to–read post.
Finally, On the Jews of Lebanon:
“Liza Srour … the last Jewess in Lebanon” is an article translated from Arabic by Anarchorev.
See you next week.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Malaysia: Bloggers Sued · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Malaysian blogosphere is protesting the defamation proceding launched by the New Straits Times Press (NSTP) against two bloggers – Jeff Ooi who writes Screenshots and Ahirudin Atan who writes at Rocky’s Bru. Earlier today there was a post at Rocky's Bru informing his readers of the case.
I have been served the papers. They dropped them on Tuesday evening, around 9.30 pm, at the National Press Club. They are applying for an injunction against Rocky's Bru, this blog. They are suing me for libel.
[They have also served Jeff Ooi of Screenshots the papers].
Indonesia based Unspun also commented on the incident
Now comes news that Malaysian bloggers (Screenshots and Rocky’s Bru) are being sued for their postings by, of all people, journalists. So much for the cut and thrust of intellectual parrying to arrive at a greater truth, and the ability of offended parties to instantly respond to correct any untruths in blogs.
Meanwhile, Jeff Ooi is taking all precautions and he is asking readers to correspond with him using a secure mail.
Malaysian opposition politician Lim Kit Siang says that the defamation suit will have a negative effect
The NSTP defamation suits will have a chilling effect on freedom of bloggers and citizen journalists as litigation is so expensive that its costs will cripple and paralyse the ordinary individual blogger, making no contribution whatsoever to a healthy process to delineate and define the legal rights of bloggers and citizen journalists.
As these are the first two cases of Malaysian bloggers being sued for defamation, it will have far-reaching consequences for the healthy, mature and democratic growth for free speech and expression, not only on the Internet but in the country as a whole.
Commenting on the post Jeffrey does not see the hand of the state clampind down on blogger's freedom
This is not a clamp down by the government on bloggers. The New Straits Times Press (NSTP) is a corporate citizen in its own rights – not to be equated with the government – and NSTP has legal rights as rest of us under our laws not to be defamed (if indeed it was without legal justification). It is merely doing what it feels it is entitled by law – right or wrong. We cannot read into these unhappy developments as signaling a nationwide conspiracy or crackdown on freedom of the blogs.
Jeffrey is further asking the blogosphere to help offset the NSTP advantage of being a corporate identity with deep pockets by
For the rest of us who believe in Freedom of the Net (within limits of the law) we can mitigate the uneven level playing field by making financial donations to the Bloggers’ legal funds to pay for their lawyers.


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Mongolia: Surviving Winter in the Sewers · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Alexa writes about the tremendous cold of winters in Mongolia and how homeless children survive them by living next to heating pipes in the sewers.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi Accused of Tax Evasion · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Burmese authorities have accuses pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of tax evasion. The Yangoon Thublog is amused at this accusation on the leader who is currently under house arrest. The blogger conjures up a scenario on how the authorities came up with this seemingly absurd accusation.


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Nepal: Arms Management · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! has a great photo post on the First Day of Arms Management. “Photographs of the first day of registration and storage of weapons and registration of Maoist combatants, at the Maoist 3rd Divisional cantonment site in Chitwan, Nepal on 17 January 2006.”


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Nigeria: African Digerati: Emeka Okafor · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

White African interviews Emeka Okafor: “Emeka Okafor is the first in the African Digerati series of interviews. He is a well established member of the African blogosphere, a leading thinker, and a doer.”


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Russia: No Snow in Moscow · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Digenis.org writes about this winter's weather in Moscow: “The warm weather has been throwing Muscovites for a loop. Many are having trouble getting out of bed in the mornings with the constant grey weather.”


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Russia: Novaya Gazeta Piece Translated · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A lengthy Novaya Gazeta article on “the institutionalization of murder as a political tactic in Vladimir Putin's Russia” – translated at La Russophobe.


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Russia: Pioneer Camp Murals · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert posts pictures of the Soviet-time murals that have survived at one of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk children's summer camps.


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Serbia: Kosovo to Russia for 1 Euro · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Wu Wei reports: “The Students Independent Association of the Judicial Faculty of Belgrade has begun an initiative for Serbia to give Kosovo to Russia for the price of one Euro for 99 years. As compensation, Russia is obliged to assure peace and stability in Kosovo, security for the remaining Serbs and the safe return of all Serbs and non-Albanians to Kosovo.”


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Slovakia: Spis Region · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Four Bees writes about Slovakia's Spis region, which “has always been a melting pot of cultures and religions in a positive way.”


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Tajikistan: World Bank Blogger in Tajikistan · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The World Bank's Private Sector Development Blog now has a blogger writing from Tajikistan who has already posted first impressions of Tajikistan.


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The Balkans: Karadzic’s Whereabouts · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Finding Karadzic comments on the thoughts of US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes about the Balkan tribunals: “Williamson's most astonishing comment, buried in the west but on front pages in Belgrade and Podgorica, was that Karadzic was probably in Serbia.”


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The Blogospheres on Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, Bullying and Racism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The racism allegations surrounding a popular reality television show in the UK – Big Brother appears to occupy a lot of real estate in the blogosphere. Big Brother airs on Channel4, which is a public-service television station, broadcast in the United Kingdom Well, regardless of whether the remarks made in the Big Brother house were racist or not, they've got the Indian and the UK blogospheres talking about racism in all its contexts and people discussing their own experiences as Indians or Brits. The person seen as the victim is Shilpa Shetty, an Indian actor. A thriving discussion at Sepia Mutiny with all kinds of opinions being voiced about “Bigot Brother”. A very active discussion is on at Pickled Politics. From one of the comments
Fact is: there has been racism on television. The Asian community (for once) united to condemn it.
Give me hysteria over apathy any day.
Bloggers are discussing if it's racism or just plain bullying. While many bloggers had in half-seriousness asked why this actor was choosing to appear on this show in the first place, the discussions now are mostly about Channel 4's take on the issue, and the behaviour of the housemates towards Shilpa Shetty.
On the allegations of racism.While they’re definitely being ignorant, stupid and mean, the fact that the person on the receiving end of all this is brown adds a racial undertone to the entire thing. As someone on the news said today ‘If they were making fun of a French girl’s accent they wouldn’t call that racist would they?’
Bollywood Press on the amount of press Shilpa Shetty is getting. Classically Liberal remarks that the Indian Government appears to have no other important issues to take care of. Broadcastallense has some views on the show which has sparked protests from people who have never seen it.
At the end of the day, it's unlikely Channel Four will do much about the whole thing other than make a few cliched ‘statements’. They've got exactly what they wanted.
Bock the Robber has a take on the supposed class clash at the Big Brother house. Some others approach with a certain caution and even a little cynicism.
Being a victim of racism is turning out to be a win-win situation for Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. No publicity is bad publicity. Who would have thought that a story on UK's Celebrity Big Brother would hog headlines even in international media.
Guy Fawkes’ Blog on Gordon Brown's response. Theadagetimes remarks on how Gordon Brown's visit to India has been shadowed by the controversy and how Channel4 seems to have benefited from the increased viewership.
In large sections of the media, Brown’s comments on Shetty were given more prominence than his speech on globalisation and economic issues in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Diretribe reminds us that one can only expect so much from reality television. Paperghost.com remarks how people assume that racism can be excused as ignorance or stupidity.
People are trying to excuse these comments on the grounds that they display stupidity and a lack of education, rather than some form of actual racism. Oh well, that's alright then. Let's tolerate racist remarks on the basis that they're coming from idiots as opposed intelligent racists!
And while Channel4 definitely seems to have increased viewership, some bloggers are urging others not to encourage the show by switching the telly off.
I am no longer going to watch Celebrity Big Brother, or its spin-offs, or Channel 4, or its subsidiaries. I urge you not to watch the shows and not to vote for contestants of Celebrity Big Brother, because if you do you’re supporting a policy of tolerance for stupidity, bullying, and, at the least, inadvertent racism.
L'Amour et le crâne wonders why racism is being excused under the garb of silly-girl-bitching. Rationally Speaking on racism and violent anti-racism as witnessed by the protests in India.
A whopping 19,300 viewers have filed complains with the broadcaster, which means that way too many people have too much time on their hands, or simply have their priorities a bit off, considering everything else that is happening in the world (including in India itself, of course).
World of India! comments on how Indians are racist themselves. Sonia Faleiro does a piece on the celebs at the Big Brother.
And Thought Experiments sums it up thus
The Big Brother Racism story reveals another terrible truth about our world – it can no longer be satirised. The simple facts of the case are so wildly implausible, so deliriously stupid, that satirists can only stand back in awe and admiration. Some very coarse individuals on a TV game show that involves being imprisoned inside a house express, in terms of laughable ignorance, a degree of racial prejudice against another inmate. Professionally outraged people become professional outraged and Gordon Brown's visit to India is turned into a ludicrous pantomime in which people burn effigies of somebody or other connected with Big Brother, newspaper headlines crow about the racism of the British and Brown himself has to keep grinding out the platitudes about what a terrible thing racism is – yadda-yadda-yadda.
Desicritics.org remarks that while the intent maybe to bully, its form takes a racist colour.
The issue isn't just that Shetty is being subjected to intimidation – that much is obvious. The issue at stake here is that for whatever reasons that might have caused the coven to develop a dislike for Shilpa, they are choosing to act on that by picking on things that are blatantly racist. To refuse to identify her by her name, to generalise about Indians as a whole on the basis of their interactions with her, to tell her to “f*****g go back home”, and to “go back to the slums” is nothing if not racist. The motivations behind making those statements may or may not be racist – that is not what I question at this point. However, the manner in which the feelings of the coven are verbalised is definitely racist, and as a consequence totally unacceptable.


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Vietnam: Saigon Night Shots · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

SaigonNezumi has some pictures of night time Saigon and he feels that Saigon's nightscene is no different from any big western city. Saigon also known as Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam's commercial hub and one of the fastest growing cities in Asia.


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Argentina: Buenos Aires Japanese Gardens · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both Alan Patrick of Buenos Aires Travel Guide and Buenos Aires Weekly give tours of the Japanese Gardens in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.


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Armenia: Love, Sex, and Relationships · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Zarchka writes a spirited post on love, relationships, premarital sex, safe sex, double standards, and more in Armenia.


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Bolivia: Update on a Crisis · Global Voices
David Sasaki

While Jim Shultz does not believe that protesters either in opposition or support of Governor Manfred Reyes were paid to be there, he does think that “those on the streets (and the families affected who weren't in the streets) were caught in a political power play that none of them asked for and which Manfred and Evo created.” Bolivia Rising has translated the resolutions from the January 16 open town meeting into English. Finally, Miguel Buitrago writes that, although the social upheaval has died down somewhat in the past few days, Governor Reyes Villa doesn't plan on making life any easier for President Evo Morales.