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50 Years Later, Independence and the Resource Curse in Francophone Africa · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Francophone Africa is celebrating 50 years of independence in 2010. In light of this anniversary, a summit Africa-France took place in Nice, France as the oft tumultuous relationship between France and its former colonies was again under the spotlight.  Many Africans voices are wondering out loud what is there to celebrate, given the mediocre level of human development achieved in many countries since independence.
The recurrent lament of those many outraged voices is that the African continent is certainly rich in natural resources and yet, it seems that the continent is endlessly plagued with what is known as the resource curse and many believe that those foreign interests are no stranger to sustaining the curse.
From an economic standpoint, Africa has certainly benefited from the boom in commodities in the last decade but not as much as one would predict. A report for Mckinsey Quarterly entitled “What drives Africa's growth?”, the authors state that:
Oil rose from less than $20 a barel in 1999 to more than $145 in 2008. prices for minerals, grain and other raw materials also soared on rising global demand. [..] Yet natural resources generated only 32% of Africa's GDP growth from 2000 to 2008.
So why has Africa not benefited more from its resources? Many Africans would argue that the way international interests are involved and mixed in the exploitation of those resources and the lack of transparency regarding those deals do not help foster development for African states.   In a dossier on FranceAfrique for Focus on Africa , Stephen Smith highlights the special ties between France and the continent:
But since he took office, President Sarkozy has perpetuated France's time-honoured tradition of parallel diplomacy in Africa.
One set of advisers presides in public over the official business with Africa, while high-ranking Elysee staff, in tandem with unofficial middlemen, is in charge of the lucrative and highly personalised politics that Mr Sarkozy denounced during his presidential campaign.
The French media regularly expose the broken promises and the new lease on life given to Francafrique.
The elite collusion of Francafrique has become an anachronism, at odds with the stark realities of shrinking French engagement – both government and private – with its former territories south of the Sahara.
The oil curse is the most cited issues in the francophone regions but certainly not the only one.  In a recent report for the Africa report, Norbrook wonders who really owns Africa’s oil:
This brave new world for African oil has been driven by price hikes, which make the expensive process of exploring a risk worth taking. The move offshore, enabled by advances in technology, requires deep pockets – hiring the drill boat that discovered oil in Ghana cost about a million dollars a day.
Another important dynamic has been the multiplication of competition, with Chinese and Indian companies joining the European and US array of majors. Where oil production was traditionally controlled by a small elite whose monopoly was seen as unhealthy, new challengers have made it easier for governments to negotiate terms.
Africa Oil Map from Theafricareport.com
Blogger Achille in Antananarivo, Madagascar has been following  the political crisis in Madagascar closely, here is how he links the turmoil there and the oil curse (fr):
On a tous cherché la cause de cette crise, mais on oublie que c’est le pétrole qui a lancé les offensives. Tous les autres évènements tels que le pillage des forêts, le banditisme, l’accroissement de la pauvreté ne sont que les conséquences. La Francafrique a commencé à bouger dès qu’on a entendu les premières études positives sur le pétrole sans compter les autres ressources qui attirent d’autres pays. Je viens de me rendre compte qu’on est cerné par les multinationale, les canadiens au sud, les chinois vers Soalala et évidemment Total, le grand ami des pays en développement et des dictateurs de pacotille ! Et nous, on est là comme des cons à regarder le train qui transporte notre pognon loin vers l’horizon ! Quand j’ai vu le chiffre de 100 millions pour une concession pétrolière, je me suis dit qu’enfin la stupidité avait enfin atteint son sommet avec nos dirigeants.
Back in the 70’s, oil was seen as a passport towards rapid development. That was the case for Algeria, Libya and Irak says Passion-histoire. He explains how quickly that hope has now faded away (fr):
Dans les années 1970, grâce la rente pétrolière, l’Algérie, la Libye et l’Irak paraissaient engagés dans un processus de modernisation accélérée. Le pétrole était la bénédiction qui permettrait à ces États de rattraper leur « retard » économique.
L’Algérie était un « dragon en Méditerranée », la Libye un « émirat » et l’Irak « la puissance militaire montante » du monde arabe. Sur le plan politique, le socialisme progressiste laissait penser que des transformations profondes s’opéraient : émancipation de la femme, urbanisation, scolarisation, augmentation de l’espérance de vie…
Quelques décennies plus tard, la désillusion est cruelle. Le sentiment de richesse a entraîné ces pays dans des expérimentations voire des impasses politiques, économiques et militaires aux conséquences désastreuses dont ils peinent encore à sortir.
Reacting on the celebration of 50 years of independence, Faustine Vincent  writes that African nations are reluctant to submit  their report card (fr):
Mais, au final, le cinquantenaire embarrasse tout le monde. Côté africain, «les pays auraient dû en profiter pour faire un bilan d’étape. Ce n’est pas le cas, assure  Boubacar Boris Diop, écrivain sénégalais. Certainement parce qu’ils n’ont pas lieu d’en être fiers».
On the French side, the Sarkozy administration used to express a willingness to do away with the practices of former French administrations. As reported by Sarah Halifa-Legrand, this was expressed in rather crude terms by Alain Joyandet, Secretary of State for French Cooperation (fr):
…[La France]  se montrant “prêt à laisser tomber l’Afrique si son pays n’y trouve pas son compte”. Dans la bouche d’Alain Joyandet, cela donne : “Ne pas avoir peur de dire aux Africains qu’on veut les aider, mais qu’on veut aussi que cela nous rapporte”
In Gabon, Association Survie notes that despite last year’s turmoil in Gabon, the company Total has done quite well for itself in 2010:
Elle a publié un résultat net de 42 millions d’euros au titre du premier trimestre 2010, en hausse de 109% par rapport à la même période en 2009.
Finally,  Arimi Choubadé  at Quotidien Nokoue in Benin posts a sarcastic note asking us to imagine how better-off  France would have been if only France could have “maintained” her privileged ties with countries that have major natural assets (fr):
Imaginez une France partenaire privilégié d’une Côte d’Ivoire forte de son cacao ; d’un Gabon, d’un Congo, d’un Tchad, d’un Cameroun voire d’une Mauritanie dopés par l’exploitation du pétrole ; d’un Mali, d’un Bénin et d’un Burkina Faso en pôle dans la production de coton ; d’un Togo transfiguré par les ristournes du phosphate; et d’un Niger comblé par l’exploitation de l’Uranium. Cela éviterait à Sarkozy sa posture actuelle de puissance mitigée.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Finding mutual ground online · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.
As Global Voices looks back at the success of Rising Voices grantee Ceasefire Liberia, a citizen media site dealing with conflict and reconciliation, new activity in the same area is starting to be noticed in the Caucasus.
In part, this has also been thanks to coverage of the potential role new and social media can play in this area by Global Voices. Certainly, it directly facilitated communication and cooperation between bloggers and activists, some of whom are now involved with NGOs working in this area as a result, on both sides of the ceasefire line separating estranged neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Since then, new and existing projects working towards establishing dialogue and peace in the region are starting to use new and social media in their activities. This possibility was also discussed in a podcast interview with the American University's Micael Bogar last year alongside coverage of other projects in the same area such as PH International's DOTCOM and one by Global Voices’ Caucasus regional editor, as an Azerbaijani blog, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines, explained in January.
This could be a real push in building dialog between the two countries and their people not to mention perhaps a beginning of strong ties. These trips show that coexistence is possible and its only a matter of effort and will to make such collaboration and coexistence happen. Maybe it is time stop using NK conflict as a bargaining chip and stall growing enmity between the two people, replacing it with more initiatives as such.
Oxfam also commented on the coverage initiated by Global Voices on its blog.
The bitter conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region continues to plague the Caucasus. While negotiations have intensified over the past year, relations remain tense on the frontline and the future of this territory is unclear. […] While Oxfam does not currently operate in Nagorno Karabakh because of sensitivities, perhaps in the future social media will help to open up new communication channels and, ultimately, bolster development in the region as a whole. In the long run social media could even play a role in an eventual resolution of the conflict.
Even if civil society has only taken its first infant steps into the world of social media in the Caucasus […]
As a result, the open communication to be found online is unprecedented in recent years albeit, as Oxfam pointed out, still in its early stages. For example, Caucasus Edition, a recently launched online academic journal which also features a blogs section directly tackles the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. In one post Efgan Niftiyev explains why resolution of the conflict put on hold by a 1994 ceasefire, but by no means settled, matters.
The August 2008 war in Georgia showed how dangerous and fatal frozen conflicts could become in just a few days. The outcome of the five-day war between Russia and Georgia made it necessary for the international community to pay more attention to the frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus. […]
[…]
Increased efforts from international actors also show reasonable understanding that without solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, there is no other way to achieve cooperation and stability in the South Caucasus. […]
[…]
If there is continued lack of real progress, it will be quite possible to see another bloody war in the South Caucasus. […] Azerbaijan may soon see war as the only solution to the problem given the recent statements by Azerbaijani officials. Another war in the region can lead to catastrophe and unavoidable results for the people of the region, since they are the ones who actually suffered (both Azerbaijanis and Armenians) for years from animosity. Thus, the international community and the leaderships of the conflicting states need to take the initiative before things get to the point of military engagement, as was the case in Georgia.
Writing on the same site, Afa Alizada, however, says that the current environment is not conducive to finding a still elusive lasting peace.
[…] if there is a breakthrough it will be a result of substantial compromise from both parties. Whatever an agreement is reached on the paper behind the closed doors, however, will be impossible to implement if the Armenian and Azerbaijani people’s expectations are too high and do not reflect the realities of what a peaceful resolution can achieve. […] In the meantime, the leadership in both countries should move away from the belligerent rhetoric and facilitate people-to-people contacts between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in an effort to prepare them for potentially uncomfortable concessions.
Arzu Geybullayeva, who was interviewed by Global Voices nearly a year ago and is now an Associate Editor for the site, concludes that dialogue is therefore necessary.
We often tend to overlook the importance of this word — dialogue. In day-to-day life, we actually use it all the time when we speak to our parents, siblings, friends, neighbors or colleagues at work.
[…]
Now, let us move […] into a more complicated “post- conflict” context, where […] we have civilians, from two conflicting sides, with little or almost no dialogue. With such a situation persisting, it is unlikely for any peaceful prospects for both sides.
To me, this is how it has been in case with Armenia and Azerbaijan, the two countries that know very little of one another and whose people are engaged in very little dialogue.
New & Social Media in Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict Transformation
Coincidentally, the same point was not lost on a blogger living in Armenia after attending this weekend's Barcamp and a presentation given by Global Voices on the use of social media in conflict transformation in Yerevan, the capital. Indeed, Le Retour (in 3 Parts) notes, ingrained attitudes to the dispute are not helping.
[…] during question and answer period, a couple of individuals stated that Azerbaijan should be the first to take a step (toward conflict resolution) and that it’s worse “over there” and what about all those lies the Azerbaijani media publish about Armenia? And with the snap of your fingers, we were once again confronted with age-old beliefs about the enemy and the “us vs. them” mentality.
[…] These type of statements are road blocks: they don’t move the conversation forward, they only lead to dead ends.
[…]
I think it’s all about the grassroots level. It starts here. It starts now. With us. We don’t wait for governments, nor should I say NGOs. We start with each of us. Though I believe we should address the nationalism that’s touted by the media and by the state, I don’t think that’s where change happens or where we should start from. We start with you and I. […]
The blogger also live-tweeted points and comments from the presentation.
At the same time, however, Global Voices also pointed out that the online discussion now taking place might also run the risk of unwanted attention and action from official circles concerned by it. In April, for example, one Azerbaijani blogger was harassed by a group of others from her country after co-presenting with Global Voices’ Caucasus regional editor. Since then, news reports already suggest that attempts to control the situation through legislation are now afoot, and especially given increased activity in the area of online activism in Azerbaijan.
Although perhaps more linked to internal political dissent as Azerbaijan prepares for a parliamentary election later this year, and with two video blogging activists currently in jail, the potential risks facing alternative voices to be found online are very real indeed. Nevertheless, In Mutatione Fortitudo, takes a more humorous look at related news that official Baku might well be seeking to enlist the support of pro-government youth to combat the emergence of different opinions on blogs and social networks.
Back on Caucasus Edition, Anahit Shirinyan, the Armenia coordinator for the organization responsible for the site, however links the two, considering that the situation in terms of conflict suits those opposed to the idea of democracy at home.
[…] Throughout almost two decades the authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan have been successfully using this method to distract people’s attention from serious internal problems to the enemy out there. Anti-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric has very often kept people silent on human rights and democracy issues at home. […]
With new and social media now firmly in the attention of the authorities in Baku and, since the bitterly disputed presidential election in 2008, in Yerevan, it remains to be seen whether concerns over possible new restrictions on online activity are imposed. And, if they are, such a move will be a telling indicator of the state of democratic development and efforts to resolve conflict in both countries. In the meantime, the Eurasia Partnership Foundation will soon include monitoring of bias in online coverage of the conflict.
The Goal of the Project is to contribute to accurate and unbiased reporting of the bilateral relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially in the online media and blogosphere; to establish a cooperative network of citizen journalists, bloggers and other media professionals from Armenia and Azerbaijan.
This post is part of our special coverage Caucasus Conflict Voices.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Bahamas: Cleaning Up the Spill  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“There is oil in the water, disaster in the air”: Womanish Words wants to know what we're going to do about the oil spill in the Gulf.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bangladesh: In search of a soulmate · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

“Do you believe in soul mate?” asks Sadiq Alam in an introspective post on his blog Inspirations and Creative Thoughts.

author: Aparna Ray


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Costa Rica: Laura Chinchilla’s First 30 Days in Office · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The first female president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, has been in office for 30 days; the blog Carepicha [es] analyses this first month. Among a political evaluation, the blogger congratulates Chichilla for using Open Source on her website, but calls her out for not having a Twitter account.

author: Silvia Viñas


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East Timor: Citizen Media Meagerness · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Giantpanda dives into Timorese culture of togetherness and reflects about the country's meagerness along the blogosphere questioning if in East Timor “for many, a personal blog would be like setting up a tent on the mountain far from the village.”

author: Sara Moreira


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Guatemala: Bloggers Draw Attention to Green Initiatives · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The bloggers at Antigua Daily Photo have started, “a mini-series to show you some of the ‘green’ initiatives available just around Antigua Guatemala.” They began by highlighting e-waste de Guatemala [es], an NGO that collects and gets rid of electronic waste.


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Guyana: Twittering   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Signifyin’ Guyana suggests that “its promise of a succinct, timely message relayed between friends, (and enemies), networkers, netidlers, and all other kinds of purposeful or purposempty folk, is probably why Twitter is so seductive to many.”


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Haiti: Farmers’ Rights  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Haitian Blogger republishes a Facebook report that supports Haitian farmers “in their epic fight against the Monsanto multinational corporation.”


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Haiti: What Would Jean-Juste Say?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“If father Jean-Juste were alive, what he would say to the earthquake
survivors? What he would say to the international and Haitian government
bureaucracies?”: Wadner Pierre remembers the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste, whom he describes as “an adoptive father” to him.


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India: Not yet decolonised · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Ram Bansal at India in Peril tells us why he feels that housing colonies for government employees is a ‘modern form of colonial rule’.


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Indian Diaspora: Going traditional in Raleigh · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

In Raleigh, blogger Maddy and his family, on becoming new home owners, decide to do a Ganapathy homam (a Hindu religious ceremony or puja, performed before starting any new venture) as is traditional in South India. Maddy shares with us his interesting experience of doing a traditional puja in North Carolina.


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Israel: Pixies Pull Show Stopper  · Global Voices
Nicole Hyman

In the wake of mounting international criticism and condemnation of Israel’s clash with activists intent on breaking the blockade on Gaza, the Pixies, a veteran rock band, have canceled their concert in Israel. This comes hot on the heels of performance cancellations by the Klaxons, Gorillaz Sound System as well as Elvis Costello. However, it was news of the Pixies no show that hotted up the Twitosphere and got many finding the link between music and politics.
Doolittle album cover (1989) Pixies
The Pixies did not specify the reason behind the last minute cancellatio. Shuki Weiss, the band’s Tel Aviv promoter, released this statement:
בצער רב אנו מודיעים היום על החלטת הפיקסיז לבטל  הופעתם בישראל
It is with great regret that we announce today The Pixies’ decision to cancel their appearance
This sparked mixed reactions and brought both pro and anti Israel sentiment to the fore.
There were those, like @ismpalestine, who thanked the Pixies for not supporting an apartheid state:
Pixies cancel Israel show. Thank @Pixies for rejecting apartheid! #flotilla #israel #pixies
Others, like @SMaher85, commended the Pixies for upholding justice and promoting peace:
Another victory for #BDS! #Pixies cancel #Israel concert! Thank you for standing with justice & peace: http://bit.ly/aXJvea #Palestine
From Israeli Pixie fans, there were strong, vitriolic reactions with some using the band’s own lyrics to make a point. @Dachniella asked :
where is your mind, pixies? why mix art and politics??? #pixiessuck
Many fans, like @OrTheDude, also accused the band of having a weak understanding of the Israel’s political situation:
The #Pixies are COWARDLY yielding to biased politics, shame on you for not getting to the bottom of things! #pixiessuck #israel #music
@photomiky added :
Pixies do-little to understand Israel's security needs. #pixiessuck
But it’s not just on Twitter that people have been reacting. The Pixie’s Facebook fan page was bombarded with fan’s comments about the cancellation. At the time of writing, there were 242 comments, most of them in response to the bands decision not to play in Tel Aviv. These comments give interesting insight into a conflict that is older than the Pixies and far darker than their lyrics could ever be.
Some like Riky Cohen, accuse the band of being anti-Semitic, terrorist collaborators:
Hypocrisy, hypocrisy and disgusting. Will you stop running in countries like America, England, and others who fought in Iraq? You are collaborators with an anti-Semitic terrorist
But there are also comments on the Facebook fan page, like those by like Pamela Hardyment, which applaud the Pixie’s decision:
LOVE YOU, THANKS FOR AVOIDING THE SCUM OF THE EARTH IN ISRAEHELL
Elton John and Rod Stewart are still scheduled to play in Israel this summer. There is, however, pressure on the artists to reconsider and cancel. On Twitter, @bataleh writes:
4gt itRT @DiamantChehadeh: EltonJohn,im sure Israel wl roll u out redcarpet covered in innocent blood.Do it Cancel your show #Flotilla
Another Twitter user,  @DANALTWEETS, also advocates that artists not play in Israel :
snoop dogg,klaxons,gorillaz,santana, and elvis costello have all cancelled concerts in israel, finally, whose next? #bds #flotilla #freepali

author: Nicole Hyman


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Italy: “Every Kiss is a Revolution” as Gays Await Legal Rights · Global Voices
Davide Galati

Violent assaults on homosexuals have occurred with frequency in Italy over the past year, but to the disappointment of many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists, it does not seem to have increased the likelihood of anti-homophobia legislation being passed any time soon.
Online, there is much discussion of the flimsy legal protections, and what can be done politically to create change.
On the website Gay.Tv a special report [it] lists the numerous cases occurred during 2009 (note: all links are in Italian except where indicated). Already, the high numbers seem far from suggesting an improvement in 2010.
One victim of a homophobic assault was heavily injured in Rome on May 26. He was kicked and punched repeatedly and almost lost an eye. After the assault, the young man made an anonymous spoken appeal to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the media as a reminder that Italy still lacks legislation against homophobia.
Center-left politician and blogger, Cristina Alicata, writes on his blog Non si possono fermare le nuvole (Nobody can stop the clouds):
Questi attacchi avvengono a ridosso dei luoghi più noti di aggregazione omosessuale, appena fuori, a dimostrazione che non serviranno telecamere, non serviranno gli stuart o i vigilantes invocati spesso da alcuni. (…) Dobbiamo prendere in mano questo problema e dimostrare la nostra capacità di elaborazione politica profonda, la nostra idea di città, la nostra idea di sicurezza, di integrazione, di rispetto delle diversità. Subito.
Legal setbacks in Italy
There have been several recent defeats in the legislative field. In October of last year, the House rejected a bill against homophobia. And this year, on March 23, an appeal for the extension of marriage rights to homosexual couples made by citizens and members of civil society was rejected by the Constitutional Court.
Tomblog, “the first Italian gayblog”,  says:
Sono convinto di una cosa: che il nostro prestigioso Parlamento, prima di varare una qualsiasi legge contro l’omofobia, stia aspettando che ci scappi il morto.
Rainbow Country Europe Index 2010
The blog Queerblog reports on the results of the Rainbow Country Europe Index 2010 [en], a study released in May by the ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) that shows that Italy is among the countries with the worst record for homosexual legal rights in Europe.
According to the Rainbow index, Sweden is the most gay-friendly country in Europe, with 10 points. Russia and Ukraine are the least gay-friendly with -2 points, while Italy is almost at the bottom with 1 point. Download the full document (PDF) [en].
A fragmented movement
However, not everyone puts the responsibility for the failure to pass protective laws squarely on the shoulders of the judicial and legislative powers.
Francesca Tognetti, who writes on Gay.Tv, is convinced that the movement has made a mistake in putting the legal battle for gay marriage before securing a decision on the anti-homophobia law:
Di chi è la colpa? Del Parlamento, certo. Dell'agenda politica, ovvio. Ma in fondo è anche colpa nostra. Perché abbiamo scordato non il problema, bensì la lotta per la soluzione. Abbiamo inseguito una nuova battaglia, quella dei matrimoni gay, tralasciando di continuare a combattere quelle rimaste in sospeso, smettendo di parlare, per esempio, di una legge anti-omofobia.
Ora sta arrivando l'estate: i locali tirano fuori i tavolini, si fanno gli aperitivi all'aperto, la notte si cammina per le vie affollate, si cazzeggia davanti alle discoteche. Arriva l'estate con tutti i suoi flagelli: caldo, tormentoni dance, zanzare. E omofobia.Non è del tutto casuale infatti il fatto che l'anno scorso si sia assistito a un picco di aggressioni a carattere discriminatorio; a tale impennata ha senz'altro contribuito una buona dose di imbecillità e spirito d'emulazione, ma questo non basta a spiegare il boom del fenomeno. E’ probabile che, ad aggravare il bilancio, sia stata anche la variabile “stagionale”. D'estate si vive fuori, i locali aprono, le discoteche scoperchiano i tetti, i gay, come tutti, camminano mano nella mano, si incontrano, si baciano. Sono visibili, sono un bersaglio.
Summer is now coming up: bars bring out the tables, drinks are served outdoors, during the night people walk along the crowded streets, or mess around in front of discotheques. Summer arrives with all its plagues: hot weather, tormentoni dances [big hits], mosquitoes. And homophobia. It’s not entirely by chance, indeed, that last year there has been a peak in attacks of a discriminatory kind; a great deal of stupidity and spirit of emulation has certainly contributed to the spike, but this is not enough to explain the boom. It's likely that the balance was worsened by a ‘seasonal’ variable as well. During the summer, people live outside, all the haunts are open, discos uncover their roofs, gays, like everyone, walk hand in hand, meet each other, kiss each other. They are visible, they are a target.
Within the Italian LGBT community, some also people attribute the lack of political victories to the fragmentation of the movement.
Little Prince(ss), a writer on the collective blog Noirpink, which has gathered several interviews with activists and scholars on the subject of gay marriage, told us in a conversation:
Per fare il punto sulla situazione del movimento… beh, è messo malissimo: una grande associazione con migliaia di iscritti (Arcigay) e pochissimi volontari (il paradosso si spiega con il fatto che in Italia per entrare in un sex bar gay devi avere la tessera dell'associazione politica Arcigay… fatto sconosciuto al pubblico non gay, ma che crea da decenni incredibili polemiche e guerre fratricide) e tantissime associazioni locali, spesso minuscole, che passano il tempo a insultarsi a vicenda.
Credo che questo spiega almeno in parte il fallimento delle politiche intraprese da quasi tutte le associazioni e i successi clamorosi di Rete Lenford e Certi Diritti [promotrice del ricorso alla Corte Costituzionale], che con pochissime forze hanno ottenuto molto… semplicemente evitando di perdere tempo nel polemizzare con gli altri!”
A moment to come together
Roma Pride 2010: Every kiss a revolution
Currently, efforts are focused on protesting the newly unleashed wave of homophobia and asserting LGBT rights.
The city of Rome will celebrate Roma Pride 2010 on July 3, while a national Gay Pride event will take place in Naples.
The official Facebook page of Roma Pride lists some comments related to the public appeal for a new legislation made by the victim of the homophobic assault in Rome.
One commenter, Fabio Rossi, believes in the appeal:
io spero che si riesca a risolvere qualcosa. sicuramente non sara’ una legge a fare cambiare testa alle persone ma sicuramente funzionera’ da deterrente. finche’ non sara’ pensiero comune che le minoranze (qualsiasi esse siano) si possono non condividere ma vanno rispettate sempre e comunque andra’ sempre male. bisogna stare attenti perche’ la storia si ripete
Laura Venturini holds the opposite view:
vedi Fabio, sarebbe bello, se domattina Berlusconi si alzasse e dicesse: “oggi facciamo un decreto legge contro l'omofobia” ma è come dire che credi a Babbo Natale, superati i 10 anni, sei fuori tempo massimo. Le leggi servono a poco o niente, siamo in Italia. Se ci fosse sarebbe meglio, la violenza personale e le percosse sono reato comunque e non mi sembra che a Roma stiano facendo a gara per risolvere gli atti di omofobia degli ultimi 2 anni. Serve una capillare “alfabetizzazione”, bisogna educare i giovani (e i meno giovani) al rispetto dell'altro da sé.
In Italy, the path towards legal recognition of rights for the LGBT community is still long and will take years. In the meantime there is much to be done in pushing for acceptance and social change in the country.
The manifesto of Roma Pride 2010, entitled “Every kiss a revolution” (Ogni bacio una rivoluzione) says it best:
Alla crisi della politica e delle sue formule, dei suoi luoghi e dei suoi contenuti rispondiamo che ci prenderemo quel che è nostro e che ci spetta come cittadine e cittadini di questo Paese e dell'Unione Europea, che lotteremo e incalzeremo le istituzioni senza curarci del loro colore e delle loro logiche di governo, nella convinzione che chiunque sia il governante di turno i diritti di parità e di libertà non sono materia negoziabile e si affermeranno nella loro pienezza solo attraverso il riconoscimento delle persone LGBTIQ e delle loro specificità

author: Davide Galati


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Jamaica, St. Maarten: R.I.P. “Yaya”  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Geoffrey Philp's Blogspot acknowledges the passing of the St. Martin folklorist Laurelle “Yaya” Richards.


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Japan: An interview with the author of “20th Century Boys” · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Ayumi at Kiss-sui edited and translated into English an interview with Naoki Urasawa [en], the author of  the mangas “20th Century Boys” [en] and “Monster” [en]. (The interview first appeared in August 2009 edition of the magazine AERA.)

author: Scilla Alecci


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Japan: Surrealistic paintings by Tetsuya Ishida · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Pink Tentacle blogs a selection of  Tetsuya Ishida's (1973-2005) surrealistic paintings on the dark side of modern life.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Kurdistance: The Hypocrisy of Defending Turkey · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

As there is an increase of support for both Turkey and Palestine in the wake of the Israeli raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Kurdish bloggers caution against supporting a country whose human rights record leaves much to be desired.
Esra'a blogging for MidEast Youth starts this conversation:
I will first start by revealing that I completely sympathize with the Palestinian struggle for justice and freedom from Israeli oppression. It’s vital for everyone to join forces in exposing Israel’s crimes and systematic abuse. But I refuse to stand by other murderous governments just because they suddenly share this sympathy. Iran and Turkey are everywhere in the Arab media, praised as heroes, with Turkish and Iranian flags held high in almost every flotilla protest. This is disturbing for me, and I’m sure it’s even more disturbing for the millions of individuals who have suffered and continue to suffer under these regimes.
Let us not forget the number of people within Iran and Turkey who are also struggling for justice and human rights, namely ethnic and religious minorities who have been killed, kidnapped, tortured, and oppressed for decades, by the very people who are now being idolized as “peace activists.” Who is the Turkish government referring to when Erdogan says “human rights for all” and “thou shalt not kill?” Who? The gnomes in his garden? Or real people suffering in his name?
Aro from Kurdistan Commentary notes the hyprocrisy in Turkey's support of HAMAS:
Despite all this, what one could call hypocrisy, Turkey maintains its hostile stance towards Israel whilst conveniently ignoring its own domestic issues. They champion one militant group, Hamas, yet deny engaging their own home grown one, the PKK.
Aro continues in pointing out that “while one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter”
Turkey reacts with the charge of “state terrorism” at Israel for boarding a ship and subduing hostile crew members, leaving 9 dead. But what of the continued oppression of the Kurds? The most shocking policy that Turkey has pursued in recent years has been the imprisonment of children under anti-terror laws. Children of 14 and 15 years of age are being imprisoned for throwing stones at Turkish police and chanting slogans in support of the PKK, a crime under Turkish anti-terror laws. Yet Turkey complains about Israel shooting violent activists that support Hamas.
Much anger has been placed on the Middle Eastern community at large for supporting the Turks, from Behar blogging for MidEast Youth:
In the words of MLK, an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere, and as Edmund Burke himself once said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” But how good can you be when you’re condemning one criminal act and not another?
I can understand if it’s the hypocritical state of Turkey that’s making these ridiculous claims about justice and human rights, but when citizens—especially Middle Eastern citizens—get all riled up about how heroic Turkey is and don’t even bother to recognize the suffering of their Kurdish brothers and sisters right next door…what does that say about the state of humanity? Has our humanity become so debased that we condemn certain acts of cruelty and oppression and not others? Is it not our duty as human beings to, at the very least, pay lip service to an injustice when we see it occur by condemning it with our tongues and hating it in our hearts even if we cannot physically change it with our hands, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself once said? If he were alive…if so many other great leaders were alive like Francis of Assisi or even Saladin, I don’t think they’d stand for it one moment longer. I think they’d speak out against all injustices everywhere all the time until change finally arrived for those people.
KB from Kurdistan Commentary notes along a similar line:
Why not use some of that outrage for the way Turkey mistreats the Kurds? Sure, the Gazans are in a desperate situation and what happened to the flotilla is atrocious. But why aren’t you sending aid to the Kurds? That is also ‘inhumane.’

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Mexico: Having Fun With Census Questions · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

This year Mexico will hold a Census, and the blogger from Maldito Thinner [es] has compiled a list of the best 100 burlesque questions published under the hashtag #preguntasdelcenso (census questions). For example: “17.- ¿Cuál es su ingreso aproximado en las granjas de Farmville? ¿Cuántos cochinitos tiene? (17.-What is your approximate income in the farms of Farmville? How many pigs do you own?).” The site Marcianos [es] has also compiled a similar list.


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Pakistan: Bloggers Reject Religious Hatred · Global Voices
Muhammad Farhan

Ahmadiyya mosque – image courtesy Guppu.com, used under a Creative Commons License
Despite the muted response in the mainstream media, there has been a lot of buzz in the Pakistani blogosphere after the Ahmadiyya religious community was attacked in Lahore around a week ago in which around 93 innocent lives were lost. Pakistani bloggers, netizens and activists have rejected the attacks in strong words.
Sana Saleem, on her blog Mystified Justice, expresses her grievance as follows:
I remain enraged that most of us refuse to recognise the attacks as a human rights issue, and, most importantly, as a violation of minority rights. And by ‘most of us,’ I am referring to those of us who are neither politicians, scholars, clerics, or media personnel. I have lived in Pakistan long enough not to expect the authorities to be sensitive towards the real issues of the people. But the public framing of Friday’s attacks is about the underlying hate, discrimination, and religious bigotry that has been suffocating us for years. This is about those of us who  choose to use religion to justify inhumanity despite the gory images showing attacks on innocent civilians.
Journalist blogger Naveen Naqvi, writes on her personal blog that the response of the activist community is a ray of hope amidst the apathy that many have shown to the Ahmadi killings. She says:
One thinks there is hope yet. There is the activist community. A few members of Karachi’s civil society collected at the Press Club to agitate against the assault on the Ahmadis. They could only assemble for half an hour, and had to cut their protest short. Why? Because, reminiscent of a “Monty Python” skit, next in line was the anti-Israel protest. Of course, this was the real crowd-puller. They easily managed to nudge and jostle their way in. ‘Well, it’s our turn now, innit?’ The liberals, having been threatened by a bunch of murderous thugs just a week before over the Facebook fiasco, complied and withdrew.
Adil Najam and Owais Mughal at the Pakistaniat blog express their outrage in the following words:
There can be nothing but rage and loathing for those who kill for the pleasure of killing. Who kill for the purpose of spreading terror and mayhem. Who kill to hide their own inadequacies of faith. Who breed in the fires of hate and kill as an expression of hate.
The Ahmadiyya religious community is facing challenges of existence around the world and especially in Pakistan after they were declared a non-Muslim minority by the elected Parliament of Pakistan back in 1974. Though many people believe that the State does not have authority to interfere in the religious affairs of the citizens, the religious clerics breathed a sigh of relief after this constitutional declaration of terming the Ahmadi sect as a non-Muslim minority. You can read more about the general attitude towards the Ahmadiyya faith on my blog Guppu.com, where I wrote:
Most will tell you how blasphemous this community is! They would even tell you the things that you might have never heard. And when you ask their source of information, they will tell you that they heard this from some so called “Aashiq-e-Rasool” maulana saab. I’d like to quote here my encounter with a bully kind of guy who started shouting that Ahmadies are worse then Hindus and they deserve to be persecuted.
[…]
(However) I believe killing someone on religious grounds is NOT justified in any  case! And if you believe you are the accurate and true Muslims and  Ahmadies are not, then instead of killing them, why don't we invite them  to what we call the true Islam? What are we afraid of?

author: Muhammad Farhan


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Peru: The Blogosphere Remembers Bagua · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
A year from the tragic incidents in Bagua, where officially 34 people died (23 of them were policemen) and unofficial reports speak of a much larger number of casualties, Peruvians used blogs to express their different feelings: pain remembering what happened, frustration because the issue has not been resolved yet, and disenchantment with policies from the government that seem to favor businesses instead of individuals.
March remembering Bagua. Picture taken by writer Juan Arellano, used with his permission.
A lot of articles [es] in the Peruvian [es] media [es] reflect on the incidents and the way the government and the population in general should assume and rethink their attitudes toward the Amazonian communities. Moreover, events took place in the locality of Bagua [es] and in Lima [es] remembering last year's incidents. But let's go over the response from blogs. Silvio Rendón from the blog Gran Combo Club describes what happened and reflects on the events in A un año del 5J en Amazonas [es] (A Year from the 5J in the Amazon):
Hace un año señalé que estaríamos ante la revolución amazónica de 2009. Y lo estuvimos, sólo que fue una revolución amazonense más que amazónica. En Amazonas desacataron una  autoridad que consideraban arbitraria, tomaron comisarías y el local del partido gobernante, tomaron y mataron rehenes, fueron ametrallados desde el aire  y finalmente fueron derrotados militarmente. La población de Bagua Grande  se levantó al enterarse del desalojo policial en Siempre Viva (lo que Lima prefieren llamar la Curva del Diablo) … La de Amazonas fue una  revolución triunfante pues logró que el gobierno derogara los decretos de la selva,  o más precisamente, logró que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos gestionara que  el gobierno peruano derogara los decretos de la selva.
The rest of the post is very enlightening, with facts and reports from Bagua itself. Another illuminating post is Antonio Peña Jumpa’s from the blog Derecho y Desastre (Law and Disaster) where he gives us his legal opinion [es] on the conflict:
El Derecho es el medio y el fin para resolver conflictos. Sin embargo, a  la fecha, las autoridades del Estado no han emitido un informe jurídico  uniforme sobre los acontecimientos para alcanzar una solución. Cuando menos hay 3  informes. Pero también existe una gran dificultad para que nuestras propias  autoridades (Congreso y Poder Judicial) coincidan en identificar constitucional y legalmente a los responsables o los autores intelectuales de los  sucesos. Mientras se carezca de sanciones efectivas a los responsables, el  Derecho de los muertos y heridos permanecerá en duda y es probable que las víctimas  o sus familiares no cesen de reclamarlo.
Paco Bardales, a lawyer and blogger from Loreto –Peru’s largest yet sparingly populated region in the Amazon Rainforest– prefers to speak out [es] from his regional viewpoint:
nosotros, los amazónicos, los olvidados por el Perú oficial. Un drama que viene de siglos, apenas visibilizado, incomprendido o ignorado por quienes tienen  el deber de descubrir procesos de integración. … Creer que la tragedia se  debe a arrestos de “ciudadanos de segunda clase” es no querer entender que la  Amazonía es un todo de múltiples visiones y formas de entender el mundo, algunas  muy lejanas a la mentalidad occidental, que tienen no sólo el derecho sino  la obligación de ser integradas al país.
Additionally, the blogger from Trobador Sin Suerte (Unlucky Troubadour) does not have a very optimistic view on the current situation and says[es]:
Bagua no ha servido para un acercamiento entre el Perú oficial y el real,  simplemente ha servido para corroborar qué, a pesar de las optimistas cifras macro-económicas, de las inversiones rebosantes, de ese aroma a primer  mundo que emiten las vitrinas de los Centros Comerciales, seguimos siendo una República Bananera, donde los recursos naturales se rematan debajo de la  mesa, las leyes se modifican para beneficiar al poderoso, nos gobierna un  presidente asesino reincidente en matar ilusiones.
The blogger from Agenda Multicolor (Multi-color Agenda) is disenchanted with Peruvian society and expresses her view in a post called Bagua [es]:
El 05 es un año de las muertes en Bagua. Todos seremos amazónicos  nuevamente, gritaremos que la selva no se vende y grafitearemos “resistencia amazónica” en las paredes… Al menos un año después tengan la  amabilidad de enterarse bien, al menos por respeto a los muertos o por el miedo a  la muerte. Esta no es tu oportunidad para la lucha de clases, su  “guerrilla” estuvo compuesta por madres e hijos mal alimentados que dejaron sus  casas para ver la muerte. Tampoco es esto un ataque zurdo a tu querida empresa  meditado por Hugo Chávez manipulando a pobre infelices analfabetos. Esto es más  grande […] Nos odiamos y nos matamos. Sistemáticamente, institucionalmente, históricamente.
Finally, with a more positive view, from Santiago, Chile the group Colectivo Plaza de Armas writes [es] in the blog Peruanos en Chile (Peruvians in Chile) describing how they remembered the anniversary, concluding with an idea to solve issues related to the incidents in Bagua:
El Taller de  Marinera “Plaza de Armas” que se reúne los sábados en la entrada del metro Dorsal rindió homenaje a los policías y comuneros  muertos en el baguazo. Antes de iniciar su sesión se pusieron velas en el suelo que  a pesar de ser de día brillaron en el alma de cada uno. Entre baile y  baile cada uno de los asistentes dijo algo sobre sus deseos para la amazonía en  particular y para nuestra patria en general. La idea general es que los pueblos originarios deben dejar de ser dominados por un régimen que mantiene el espíritu de la colonia y comenzar a ser ellos quienes gobiernen.
This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.

author: Juan Arellano


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South Korea: Netizens Question Cause of Cheonan Tragedy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ronda Hauben from Ohmynews blogs about south Korean netizen's doubt about the cause of Cheonan Tragedy and government's move to invite bloggers and twitterers “to dispel any doubts among the young that North Korea was behind the deadly attack”.


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Sri Lanka: Mass graves are nothing new · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

MCM Iqbal at Groundviews tells us why he feels that unearthing of mass graves in Sri Lanka fails to surprise any longer, and that more such discoveries cannot be ruled out.


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Venezuela: Impressions on Oliver Stone’s Newest Film · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Al Sur de la Frontera (South of the Border) is Oliver Stone's latest film, where he travels Latin America meeting some of its most famous, left-wing politicians. John Manuel Silva [es] from Venezuela provides an extensive review of the film, categorizing it as political propaganda.


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Africa: Voice of Africa for sustainable development · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Voices of Africa is a sustainable development project initiated by students at the University of Eastern Africa Baraton.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Armenia-Azerbaijan: Reflections on conflict and displacement · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

In a guest post on the blog of Global Voices’ Caucasus editor, The Caucasian Knot [EN/AZ/RU], Zamira Ayan Abassi reflects on life as an ethnic Azeri refugee from Armenia as a result of the conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh as well as her desire for peace.


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Armenia: Music video homophobia concerns · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenian Observer posts a video by a British-Armenian band, VO.X., saying that the song, I Love Armenia, contains some powerful messages. However, while Unzipped:Gay Armenia agrees to some extent, it also notes that the messages are not always positive. This is especially true for what the blog says is blatant homophobia which undermines the value of messages about poverty and other important issues facing the former Soviet republic. The blog notes that this is particularly ironic as the song uses a poem by a significant Armenian cultural icon, Yeghishe Charents, also but lesser known for his homo-erotic poetry. It has also has since placed VO.X in its Homphobia Wall of Shame.


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Bahamas: Budget Perspectives · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Larry Smith at Bahama Pundit examines “how [the country's] economic circumstances have evolved over the past decade.”


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Bolivia: The Cost of Internet Domains · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The cost for obtaining a country-specific internet domain has been seen as relatively too high for Bolivians. In comparison to many of its regional neighbors, where Chileans can purchase a “.cl” domain [es] for US$40 for 2 years and where Argentinians can even acquire an “com.ar” domain for free, the price in Bolivia is out of reach for many local residents.
Recently, the Network Information Center of Bolivia (NIC) [es] announced that they dropped the price for the purchase of a “.bo” domain name by 35% The price now stands at approximately $US140 per year. However, there are options to purchase the domain “com.bo” for approximately $US40 per year.
The price reduction was also announced on NIC's newly created Facebook Page, which also opened up the opportunity for users to voice their opinion on the costs of domains.  On the discussion board, Esteban Lima wrote:
Me gustaría saber en que se invierte el dinero recaudado. Imagino que como institución pública la información de numero de dominios, recaudaciones e inversión debería ser pública
Conversation carried over to Twitter and to blogs, where users such as Oscar Humberto (@oky_) wrote about the effects of these prices:
Los precios de #nicbo no son accesibles a la realidad económica de los bolivianos, solo amplían mas la “brecha digital”.
However, blogger Mario Durán published criticism of the high prices on the wall of NIC's Facebook page, which he said was deleted by NIC. Soon after, Durán published a screenshot of what he wrote prior to the deletion on his blog [es] and noted that he called their offices to ask for further clarification of their policies. In a short interview with a legal representative from the Bolivian Agency for Development of the Internet Society (ADSIB for its initials in Spanish), Durán came away with the following points:
i) las rebajas serian progresivas.
ii) que lo que se paga por los dominios sirve para mantener la burocracia de NIC.bo
iii) que es una institucion estatal que no tiene muchos recursos.
iv) que en otros paises hay economias de escala y mayor numero de usuarios, esto les permite que el costo de los dominios sea incluso de 1 dolar, en Bolivia apenas son 6000 usuarios.
v) que por tres tipos que reclaman no iban a cambiar las cosas.
In his blog post, Durán also noted that the petition to lower the prices has been on the minds of many Bolivian internet users since 2003. In a follow-up post, he suggested that a cyber-campaign be started so that more awareness on the issue can be raised [es] and that bloggers and twitterers should be the ones leading the debate. Many have started to use the hashtag #nicbo for discussion about this topic with hopes that there will be some concrete changes in the near future.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Brazil: “Why does not Brazil want to punish torturers?” · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Leonardo Sakamoto asks [pt] a tough question that many  Brazilians have posed to themselves: “Why does  not Brazil want to punish torturers?”. He quotes a recent poll in which Brazilian population said that they do not want to punish those who tortured hundreds of people during the 1964 military dictatorship that lasted until 1985.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


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Brunei: Energy Saving Campaign · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The eSaving SOS campaign in Brunei received 958 individual pledges and a total of 103 organisation pledges.

author: Mong Palatino


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Chad: Regional Conference on the Issue of Child Soldiers  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

A conference on the prevention of enrollment of child soldiers took place  in Ndjamena (fr).  Mak reports that there are between 7,000 to 10,000 child soldiers in Chad (fr).

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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China: Ongoing online ‘jihad’ against Korean pop fans · Global Voices
John Kennedy

An online ‘jihad’ reached its peak Wednesday night with massive numbers of World of Warcraft players (“wowers”) swarming popular forums for fans of Korean pop boy bands on Baidu, trying to drown them in virtual noise. A Tianya post on the spam battle between the wowers and the K-pop fans has received over 100,000 views in the four hours since it was created.
Update2: Yet more on the ‘jihad’ from EastSouthWestNorth‘s Roland Soong which shows that China's ‘Red Hackers’ (Hongke) became involved in attacks that went beyond Baidu to include the targeting of Korean websites and more.
It all started on the morning of May 30, the day of a Super Junior (“JS?“) concert at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai; free tickets ran out sooner than anticipated and fans turned violent, leading to a stampede. Roland Soong at EastSouthWestNorth blogged the incident at the time with a translation from the Apple Daily newspaper:
According to information, the Korean Pavilion was supposed to distribute free tickets in the morning, midday and early evening.  Almost 500 female fans were already waiting in the Shangnan Road entrance, many of them traveling from outside Shanghai.  At 9:30am, the World Park opened and they sped through the process as quickly as they can.  “Everybody sprinted towards the South Gate!”  Although a large number of armed policemen were ready in the form of a  human chain, the fans surged forward like a tidal wave, screaming and shrieking along the way.  The armed police line could not hold them back, and reinforcements had to be called in repeatedly.  Spectators exclaimed, “Heavens!  This is horrifying!”
[…]
According to information, as the passion soared, the crowd surged forward.  A second-floor railing broke and a young woman fell down and died.  The crowd panicked and a stampede resulted.  According to information, more than 100 persons were injured.  According to Internet users who witnessed the scene, “the scene was chaotic, people were crying loudly and shoes were scattered all over the ground.”  The ambulance sirens were heard continuously in Area A.
The ‘jihad’, as wowers are calling it, seems to have been sparked by embarrassment arising from the Super Junior show incident and has a strongly xenophobic message, but is also part of an ongoing feud between the two tribes. Indie blogger and [update: apparent] ‘jihad’ supporter Xiao Bai tells it this way:
韩国馆方30日在世博会文化中心派发5000张免费门票，凭世博会门票免费兑换，这是引发追星族疯狂的原因。日媒视频可见民众疯狂。
然而实际派发的门票只有2000张，大批疯狂女粉丝为抢票，疯狂向前冲挤。志愿者被挤散，在场的武警围成人墙，以防因人群过度拥挤发生踩踏。抢不到票的粉丝不但高呼口号，向在场武警发泄，甚至冲入世博官员办公室大吵大闹，坚称免费门票被官员拿走，誓要世博局作出交代，情况混乱。
现场回放：
为抢票棒粉辱骂殴打组成人墙的武警，向他们吐口水；一女粉甩手打了武警一耳光，被他反手压制在地，奋声高呼武警打人，一群棒粉蜂拥而上拳打脚踢；因为不能通过武警铸成的人墙，一个女生把上衣一脱，大声高喊：武警强奸我！棒粉被挤倒，武警伸手去扶，立马被人潮践踏在地，还拼命将她护住。
——说歪曲事实，你敢说没对武警动手骂人吐口水？去现场的不都是棒粉好不好？
棒粉虽然脑残，但韩国馆难辞其咎。明明只派发2000张门票，却对外宣布5000张。他们初衷是什么不得而知，但之前某问题缠身的韩国演艺公司为凸显人气，演唱会放出的门票比外宣的少很多，为抢票粉丝们陷入混乱状态，以此造成人气爆棚的印象。
但是他们没想到事情会这样严重，事故发生后，韩国馆做无辜状，将所有责任推给世博会和FANS。
馆内SJ某成员痛哭流涕道，愿自己给粉丝掏钱买票（不是说票是免费的吗？），让武警放进一批来。这如此加激化了原本混乱的状态，其他地方的棒粉疯狂向这边涌来。
并不是所谓”孩子“，NC也许并没有年龄限制。
图中的武警DD，看肩章也就是刚入伍的小孩儿啊，不过17、8岁。
很多武警受伤严重，这次执勤的武警很多是刚刚从东突战场上下来的，真刀真枪练过，要是真放开手脚，你想一想……亏得是子弟兵，打不还手，骂不还口。
组成人墙严阵以待的武警战士
我不明白都挤成这样了，政府还在粉饰太平，现场已经形成了踩踏事故。究竟有没有死人，到现在依然没有定论，但是普遍流传出来的消息：多名武警受伤，11名武警重伤
丢人啊……这一幕已经被多个国家记录并传发到世界各处，当时各国的摄像镜头就闪个不停啊。
日媒对此表示担忧，韩媒称中国粉丝素质太低下。
这些武警都是十七八岁的大男孩，甚至比这些棒粉都小很多，身板虽然挺直，但并一定虎背熊腰，怎么抵得住这样的凶猛。
同样是十几岁，看看你们在做什么，人家在做什么？——那个我错了，这些棒粉们其实年纪都挺大了，巨婴啊
丢人啊……这一幕已经被多个国家记录并传发到世界各处，当时各国的摄像镜头就闪个不停啊
棒子粉丝都给我滚进来，你们丢中国人的脸你们就都不是中国人，都给我滚出中国！！你们凭什么在武警脸上吐口水！！！那些韩星是你爹妈吗？？？生你养你了吗？？我鄙视你们，瞧不起你们，滚出中国！！！！
一下是各网友对6.9的态度！！
…………圣战继续！！！
‘The June 9 Jihad’
From Sina.com blogger yuanzhang1987's May 31 post we get an idea of how this jihad began:
现在wow吧圣战仍在继续，7点的时候，爆了SJ吧。据说爆吧速度是一分钟40页，可惜我没看见。杯具，我本来以为爆吧是8点开始的。谁知道wower7点就开始行动了。当然，我不是爆吧的主力，我只是围观的。
至于为什么要爆SJ吧，这就要从昨天晚上的世博会开始说起了。
[…]
这就是昨天晚上发生的大概情况，早上有人在wow吧发了帖子，然后激起了wower的愤怒。于是，就像当年对仙后一样，wower觉得需要我们的时候到了，于是，圣战自然就来了。
7点钟，wower开始爆SJ吧，好像很快就搞定，SJ吧开了无敌。然后8点钟，wower开始各个击破，去爆sj成员吧，金希澈、金基范、李东海等吧纷纷被爆，都开起了无敌。
事情就是这样，很简单，wow吧又一次的圣战以胜利而告终。不过，却没有当年爆仙后吧的那种快感，现在很多韩流的fans应该都喜欢已经被爆了吧，看他们从容地申请会员发帖就知道了。
As for the Cassiopeia attack, according to this Q&A post on Baidu, the WoW player ‘jihad’ against Korean boy bands and their fans began following an incident with a pregnant stalker of TVXQ in 2008. A similar post at another site suggests that after wowers showed up in person to protest outside a TVXQ concert at the Beijing Workers Stadium last summer, Cassiopeia members mobilized their own blast attack against the World of Warcraft forum on Baidu.
Update1: More on this from Roland Soong at EastSouthWestNorth: The 69 Crusade/Jihad

author: John Kennedy


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China: Tan Zuoren’s Harsh Sentence Upheld by Sichuan High Court  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Sichuan Provincial High People’s Court upheld the judgment of activist and environmentalist Tan Zuoren (谭作人). Tan was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” in February 2010 and sentenced to five years in prison, with an additional three years’ deprivation of political rights, following a trial in August 2009. (via Chinese Human Rights Defenders)


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Colombia: Twitter and Facebook Users Report Possible Election Fraud · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Twitter and Facebook were buzzing with images of discrepancies between the forms where votes were manually counted and the reported results for the past Presidential elections. These differences affected the number of votes for each candidate and voting totals, and had the population wondering about possible election fraud, as can be seen in this video.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Costa Rica: Chinchilla to Answer Questions Via Web · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The blog Fusil [es] posted a YouTube video [es] where Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla talks about her efforts to communicate with the citizenry. As Fusil explains, she will respond via YouTube to questions asked on Google Moderator through Pregúntele a la Presidenta [es] (Ask the President). Users will select what they consider the most important question and Chichilla will answer the top 3 questions based on those votes.


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Cuba: Slow Going  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

While the Cuban government and the Catholic Church engage in talks, Without Evasion says any developments “are absolutely insufficient and extremely slow with respect to the ultimate objective of the civic resistance of The Ladies in White and Guillermo Fariñas: their definitive liberation.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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East Timor: “Government needs a proofreader?” · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Lost Boy identifies the grammar errors in a press statement released by the Ministry of Defence and Security of Timor Leste


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Ecuador: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Visits Ecuador · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

For a period of four hours the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was an illustrious guest in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. At noon, Clinton arrived at the Carondelet Palace, the headquarters of the Ecuadorian government, for a meeting with Ecuadorian president and pro tempore head of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Rafael Correa. In her message, Clinton eloquently said, “The U.S. wants to be a partner with Ecuador and other countries to solve the problems of the XXI century.” [es]
At the Yellow Room in the Carondelet Palace. Clinton and Correa during the press conference. Photo by Presidencia de la República del Ecuador
Clinton met with Correa to discuss issues on immigration, cooperation, trade and regional security, as the ambassador of Ecuador in the United States, Luis Gallegos, stated [es]. Discussing the issue of immigration and the adoption of the so-called Arizona Law was a priority in the agenda, stressed Gallegos.  According to estimates, about 2 million Ecuadorians live in the United States; therefore, addressing the issue of immigration was paramount for Ecuadorians.  Ecuador and Latin America have to learn to not panic about engaging in dialogue with world powers, Gallegos concluded.
The CRE Blog[es]  summarizes what happened in Quito on June 8.  For the most part, they say both parts agreed to work together in order to achieve mutual aspirations. Correa pointed out that conflicts do exist,  but that all were resolved; he added that they agreed on topics on the agenda, such as respect for democracy, the fight against drug trafficking, and immigration. Correa also stated that after this visit the two countries would work together with even greater momentum.
Twitter users aired their feelings about Clinton's visit to Ecuador. Some users like Pablo Cozzaglio [es] (@pablocozzaglio) wondered:
[…] Qué buscarán los gringos, con ese súbito interés por Ecuador?
On the other hand, Andy Martinez [es] (@andrs78) feels more optimistic. He tweeted:
Hillary Clinton en Ecuador….quizas algo esta cambiando?
As a very important North American leader, Clinton raised tremendous expectations. But not all Ecuadorians were happy with her visit. A group of leftist activists [es] protested outside the Carondelet Palace; they objected to the visit of  the U.S. Secretary of State and even burned a U.S. flag. Protesters were identified as members of the Popular Democratic Movement (MPD) and the Marxist Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE). They  showed signs that read “Down with racist immigration law” and “H. Clinton Out of Ecuador.”
However, Twitter user Vicente Alvarado [es]  disagrees with protesters. A tweet he sent read:
Ecuador avanza en relaciones con USA… MPD atrasa pueblo,protestando contra de Clinton. Saben cuanto comercializamos con USA? Ignorantes

author: Milton Ramirez


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India: Conflict in Meghalaya · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Dinesh Wagle pens an in-depth analysis of  what he feels are the reasons behind the ever-widening conflict between Khasis and Nepali migrant workers/Gorkhas in the North-Eastern Indian State of Meghalaya.

author: Aparna Ray


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India: The art of swearing · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Rimi takes a humorous dig at contemporary use of language and swear words. She writes, pen dripping nostalgia, of days gone by when swearing was a ‘smorgasboard of wit, quick repartee, a talent for coining puns and  aphorisms, and of course, analogies’.


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Jamaica: Caribbean-American · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

What does it mean to be a Caribbean-American?  Diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp asks someone who knows.


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Japan: Threatened theaters decline to screen “The Cove”  · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Amidst the protests of right-wing groups that opposed to the screening  [en] of the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” [en], three theaters decided not to show it.
The controversial movie which records the slaughter of dolphins in the inlet of  Taiji, a small village on the Southern Coast of Japan and historically dependent on whaling, was set to be screened  [en] in Japanese cinemas at the end of June.
But, after threatening calls and protests in front of the distribution company, two cinemas in Tokyo and one in Osaka declined to screen it. Another twenty three will still screen it, but on a yet to be defined date.
The documentary has been harshly criticized in Japan as ‘anti-Japanese’ by many, although very few have had the opportunity to watch it.
Its reputation preceded it and it became known as the infamous movie where a group of Americans land in Japan, then proceed to outwit the local fishermen and criticize Japanese traditions.
Blogger at Ki ni naru nikki says he realizes the reasons for the protest.
日本人は一般的にいるかの肉を食べいないもの。。。
ザコーヴへ抗議が殺到するのも、分かります。。。
でもちょっと、見たいかな。。。ザコーヴの書籍でも読もうかな。
‘The Cove’ poster. By Christopher Carr. CC License.
So far the only screening of “The Cove” was at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) in November, though it was initially rejected [en].
In the film, made with high-tech equipment such as camouflaged high-definition cameras, anti-dolphin-hunting activists secretly documented the slaughter of dolphins and the black market of dolphin meat sold as whale meat. They also highlighted the dangers of mercury, well known in Japan since the so called Minimata incident [en], contained in the dolphin meat.
Blogger at umikarahajimaru, who saw the film at the TIFF, criticizes it for its biased and overly emotional tone. In his opinion this makes it more of an activist-authored movie rather than a journalistic style documentary.
それはともかく、私が残念だと思うのは、太地町のことでも、この映画の作り手のことでもなくて、この映画の受け手のこと、つまり、こんな論理性もなく、具体的な論拠も証拠も示せずに、観客の情緒に訴えかけることで共感を得ようとするような、ドキュメンタリー映画とも言えないような代物を、最優秀ドキュメンタリー賞に選ぶアメリカ人が非常に多いことです。
[…]
太地町側は、『ザ・コーヴ』の上映中止に躍起になっているようですが、そういう活動は、かえって都合の悪いことを隠しているようにも見えるし、逆に、『ザ・コーヴ』を観てみたいという人を増やすことにもなるように思います。上映してみれば、「ひどい映画だ」という噂がさあーっと広まって、案外、早々に騒ぎが沈静化するということもあるかもしれません。
However, the threatened actions by the rightist activists won’t let Japanese people remain indifferent. Some liken it to 2008 when the documentary ‘YASUKUNI‘ [en]  (about the Yasukuni Shrine) was similarly pulled [en] because it was branded as ‘anti-Japanese’.
At the time some 55 Japanese intellectuals, journalists and film directors declared themselves to be against the cancellation of the screening. Appealing to the principle of freedom of expression, they released a common statement which said they were against the censorship of the film and supported those cinemas and people who were targets of the threatened action.
renjakudo shares  the text of the statement on his blog.
こういう事態が一般化すると、評価が分かれるような問題作というべき映画は上映できないことになってしまいます。そもそも海外では広く公開されているこの映画が、作品で描かれた当事国の日本で公開できないというのは、日本における「言論表現の自由」がいかに脆弱かを示す事柄といえましょう。


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Kenya: Plans to rig the referendum · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kumekucha observes that rigging is being planned for the referendum in Kenya: For those who don’t know the intricacies of how rigging is usually done, I think it would be right to start with a brief appreciation of certain key points.Vote rigging works best when the results are close.


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Macau: Amendment of media law · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michelle from interlocals.net translated an article updating the free speech situation in Macau. Professional media workers are calling for media reform while the government wants to amend laws to control the Internet.


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Mali : Chasing TV Sets to Follow the World Cup  · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

In Mali, the World Cup provides a great business opportunity for television repairmen. Boukary Konate, blogging at Fasokan, interviews  [Fr] two of them in Korofina, a district of Bamako.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Pakistan: Seeking sanity · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Fatima Ajmal in a post at Teeth Maestro points out the need for greater awareness regarding mental health in Pakistan, removal of social stigmas associated with mental illness, and calls for framing of better mental health policies.


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Philippines: Congress Fails to Pass Freedom of Information Bill · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

The Philippine Congress last session was marked by its failure to pass the Freedom of Information Bill, a landmark law that will enforce a policy of disclosure to government transactions. The proposed law sanctions officials who deny access to information and is perceived as essential to ensuring the people's constitutional right to know (The killed bill can be read in full here).
The Daily PCIJ blog of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism closely follows the fortunes of the Freedom of Information Bill. The Daily PCIJ reports on the immediate cause of the bill's death:
House Speaker Prospero Nograles adjourned sine die (without a next session) the legislative session of the 14th Congress moments ago, shutting the door for the ratification of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
The adjournment came after the House secretary-general counted 128 congressmen present in today’s session, two shy of a quorum.
Pulitika2010 reposts “the names of 139 congressmen who were either absent or were present but did not respond to the roll call” and thus led to the death of the bill.
Anti-Pinoy links the non-passage of the bill to the issue of absenteeism in government and proposes its passage through People's Initiative.
Given the state of technology today, I say – if the lawmakers will not do their job – we, the citizens – can, and will. The citizens will render the lawmakers obsolete by crafting legislation via digital crowdsourcing technologies. I am talking of genuine people power – managed to deliver results via institutional mechanisms provided in the Philippine Constitution and the accompanying enabling law – RA 6735 – or the Initiative and Referendum Act.
The Marocharim Experiment calls Congress a “Pantheon of Shame” and elaborates on the implications of the bill's death on Philippine governance.
Free and open Government transactions and the access to records and data is the promise and the premise of clean, honest governance.  When cloaked in a shroud of secrecy, and when allowed to operate under a conspiracy of silence, no Government can ever claim to be transparent, open, and clean.  When the very system of governance remains closed to the public, when the public is deliberately kept blind from the system that they are supposed to watch, then that system is anything but free.
The Journey Continues sees the hidden hand of the outgoing Arroyo administration.
It’s not long ago when then NEDA Director General Romulo Neri refused to disclose the details of his conversation with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the matters of the ZTE-NBN controversy invoking “executive privilege.” Evidently, this government don’t want the public to see the skeletons in their closet.
Mon Casiple sees the failure as another example of the Arroyo administration's brazen abuse of power.
Alas, FOI law will not be. And we beheld the classic method by which the Arroyo administration undermined the democratic order by using the latter’s own rules (Constitution, laws, and House rules). The quorum question ranks right up there with the false filing of impeachment against GMA, the redefinition of a “midnight appointment”, short-cutting of procurement rules and regulation, and declaring martial rule through a “state of emergency.”
Life in Gloria's Enchanted Kingdom reposts an investigative story on the skeletons in the closet of House Speaker Nograles, the administration ally instrumental in the death of the bill.
The authors of the aborted bill have since disclosed that Nograles and his allies raised one big objection to the bill: it could be used to review and audit, in a retroactive manner, the deeds and decisions of lawmakers and public officials.
WHAT SECRET or secrets of the House of Representatives under Speaker Prospero Nograles would escape public scrutiny, amid Congress’s failed effort to ratify the Freedom of Information Act last Friday
Rising Sun have reservations on the potentials for misuse and abuse of the proposed Freedom of Information Bill.
How important is the right to information act to the country today?
I’m not too enthusiastic about the passage of the proposed FOIA because it could make things harder for journalists in gathering information. The crucial provisions on disclosure of confidential documents after a certain period of time is also absent. There is also no special provision in the handling of urgent inquiries of journalists who have deadlines to beat.
If ratified, what changes would it bring compared to previous media laws in the country? Were the media laws passed before not enough? Why not?
In my opinion, it provides an enabling law to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of information, which is good for the general public. The practice of the journalism profession, however, may be compromised due to the prescribed waiting period for processing requests for information. Media laws, in this context, are not strengthened and in fact weakened, depending on how the FOIA (once it’s passed into law) will be implemented by the next administration.
Government and Taxes still finds some consolation in the bill's non-passage.
The displeasure of the House leadership, and most likely also the outgoing President of the country, of this bill is clear. Just a few months ago before the recent May 10elections, the House ratified several bills that hurdled the bicameral conf. committee, except the FOI bill.
And as mentioned, this bill has been proposed for the last 14 years until this year. Advanced by a number of civil society groups and media.
This is one example how BIG government is never happy with more transparency and more accountability.
There was one consolation though: a bill creating a new bureaucracy, the “Philippine Tax Academy” was also not ratified today.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Russia: Far East “Partisans” – Nationalists or Corruption Fighters? · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Maxim Sviridenkov posts the recording of the coversation with Vladimir Savchenko [RUS], father of one of the members of the Primorsky krai [EN] partisan group. The “Partisans” were claimed to be a nationalist cop-killing gang [EN], although Savchenko says they “went to the woods” because of the police corruption and outrage.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Prosecutor’s Office Forces Provider to Close Website · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Prosecutor's office of Zabaikalsky region [EN] demanded to block [RUS] the website of newspaper “Russkoye Zabaikalie” (previously available at www.srn.megalink.ru), whose content has been officially recognized as “extremist.” Earlier, the newspaper's editor was given a 1-year suspended sentence [RUS] for xenophobic and anti-Semitic articles.


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Russia: Street Action to Save Khimki Forest · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Bloggers Igor Podgorny [RUS] and bb-mos [RUS] post pictures of the street action to protect a historic oak forest north of Moscow. Legally protected Khimki Forest Park is endangered to be completely replaced due to the construction of the new Moscow-St.Petersburg highway [EN].


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Rwanda: Following The Peter Erlinder Case  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Editions Sources du Nil has been posting several updates about the arrest of US citizen Peter Erlinder on May 28th, charged with denial of genocide (fr).  They report that his detention has been prolonged  and that he seems to be weakened since his arrest (fr).


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South Africa: World Cup: Feel it, it is here, then shut up · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

FIFA World Cup 2010 is here, feel it then shut up!:Great confusion reigns about directives issued by someone in the South African Police Services to a number of municipalities not to allow marches for the duration of the 2010 World Cup.


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South Korea: 3D World Cup Broadcast and the Square · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

In 2002 summer in South Korea, millions of soccer fans in red shirts swarmed the Seoul City Hall street, chantings and shouting are heard from every corner of of the city. People in front of the giant TV screens in the Seoul City Hall Square chanted, screamed and yelled in unison as the Korean Soccer team made it to the semi-final at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
In 2010, Korean have gathered around one more time for the World Cup, but this time, at a most unlikely place, a theater.
Broadway cinema, Multiplex, in Seoul are broadcasting the World Cup live in 3D in more than 100 screens nationwide, starting from Korean team's first match with Greece on June 12.
A photo from the CGV site
Major Multiplex, like CGV, Lotte Cinema and MegaBox will be hosting the events and fans who succeeded in booking the event are bragging on their planned 3D World Cup experience in their blogs, some people even sell their tickets online for profit making.
One blogger who made reservation at 3:30 in the morning on June 23 in a theater far away from the house seemed relieved that he/she succeeded in booking any seat and commented on the Tistory blog.
이거 예매하는데 이렇게 힘들 줄이야.빛의 속도로 CGV로그인을 했는데…잔여석 ‘0’. 결국 고민고민하다 명동점으로 결정하고 예매완료.하지만 꼭 보고 싶다 3D!!!
But, even to these early adopters, the void of the real life experience and the nostalgia for the 2002 World Cup at the Seoul City Hall Square still linger.
One blogger who signed up for the Lotte Cinema's 3D broadcast commented on the Naver blog:
2002년 월드컵 이후로 응원의 정석이 된 서울 광장에 갈 수 없는 상황이라면, 에어컨 빵빵한 극장의 와이드 스크린을 통해 다함께 대한민국 대표팀을 응원하는 것도 2010년 월드컵을 즐기는 방법이 될 수 있을 것 같아요.
A controversy on the use of the City Hall Square has ignited on the internet as the World Cup draws near and companies strove to grab this humongous chance by hosting various commercial events in the City Hall Square. However, the Red Devils, the official supporting group for the Korea national soccer team decided to hold its World Cup event in the Coex, far away from the Seoul Square, expressing it's uneasiness toward commercialization of the people's voluntary World Cup culture.
A photo of Red Devils posted on the its’ homepage.
As more big corporates came to permeate the Seoul Square for their promotional events often mingled with the World Cup themes, the Seoul city government has been blamed for allowing that to happen.
The Cultural Action, a civic activist group based in Seoul, voiced its’ worries about the privatization of public space and the loss of people's true participation at the Square.:
현재 남아공 월드컵 서울광장 응원전은 FIFA 공식후원사인 현대차가 주관하고 SK 등이 후원사로 참가하는 형태로 정리되었다. …이로 인해 시민들의 자발적인 참여 속에 만들어져야 할 “일상의 축제” 가 철저히 거대자본에 의해 조직되고 동원되는 “자본의 축제”로 변질되었다.
The director of the Seoul City government media team, Kim Eun Sook said in a phone interview with South Korean online newspaper ‘Newsway’ that hiding the company's trail from the World cup events
will mitigate the promotional effects.
서울광장은 개인 및 단체 등 누구에게나 월드컵응원을 할 수 있도록 개방되어 있다. 하지만 서울광장 조례에도 나와있듯 기업브랜드, 로고 및 휘장을 사용할 수 없다.
Despite the city's explanation, more people are grumbling online that they prefer the Square not be appropriated by big conglomerates while some are looking for substitute World Cup experience in the virtual world, both chasing after the irrevocable World Cup fever in 2002 at the Square.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Thailand: Facebook membership surged during crisis · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Social networks, particularly facebook, gained a lot of new users during the Red Shirt protests in Thailand


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Timor Archives · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Timor Archives blog is a project to “identify any privately-held Australian collections of documentary material on East Timor (1974-1999).”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Dual Role  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

KnowTnT.com sees “three pillars” regarding “the issue of whether the new Minister of Works and Transport, Mr Jack Warner, should resign his FIFA Vice-President and CONCACAF President roles.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Media & Food  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The food industry is engaged in a number of strategies, sometimes considered questionable, to control the dissemination of information and the general response to their products”: Simply Trini Cooking considers how advertising influences food choices.


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Zimbabwe: Women of Zimbabwe making history · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, blogs about her recent trip to Zimbabwe: I was in Zimbabwe to attend a ‘High Level Dialogue on Women’s Empowerment in the Political and Economic Arena. The aim of our five day visit was to show solidarity with those working to achieve greater women’s empowerment in Zimbabwe.


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Bermuda: Balanced Media · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The Bermuda Code of Practice appears to be well balanced and cover the established international best practices”: Vexed Bermoothes therefore sees “no reason for Government to pursue its punitive draft Media Council Act.”


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Bolivia: Teaching Web 2.0 · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In an effort to expand the use of social media and Web 2.0 in Bolivia, Alberto Medrano from the blog Letras Alteñas [es] taught a course on the subject and noticed great enthusiasm from the people of El Alto to learn about these new technologies.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Brazil: Police execution and YouTube voyeurism · Global Voices
Roger Franchini

On Friday, May 4, 2010, a YouTube video (the video has been removed) was posted in which a supposed criminal from the Fallet Slum, in Rio de Janeiro, was hit by a gunshot to the head. The scene shows the victim and two other people walking through the hillside streets carrying long guns, possibly rifles.
The images and voices were captured by the strategically placed shooters themselves. The video also includes the voices of at least two others people in the background, one watching the shooting and the other guiding the shooter. Despite the video’s availability on YouTube, we prefer to post it here using Vimeo in the hopes that it remains online:
After hearing the shooters’  confirmation that one of the targets was “Gordão” (01m08s), and that in a certain position at that particular location he would be “uncovered” (01m20s), police slang to refer to someone who is unprotected, the shooters began counting backwards and eventually fired a long gun. Bull's eye! The shooters then confirmed their shot screaming “You got one! You got one!” The victim fell to the ground and asked for help to then be dragged off camera by another person beside him.
Despite the unquestionable seriousness of the content, so far the reaction among bloggers has been, if not null, then at best mild. There are two possible reasons for this. The growing banality of human disgrace has made the viewer indifferent to misery and pain. Moreover, the people involved pertain to a world of historical stereotypes: on the one hand, armed traffickers going about their routine of breaking the law; on the other hand, courageous policemen carrying out their duty. Together, we have a perfect combination for not even taking notice.
Actually, up to now, nothing is known about who took the shot or who died. Or if he really died. Our tragedy falls into the so-called blank statistics, the mysterious percentage of crimes committed, but whose existence is unknown to the bureaucratic government . The majority of the comments left on the YouTube page criticize the police, not because they shot the guy in the back, but because they missed their mark and did not hit the other two supposed traffickers. Others praise the traffickers. Bolinhajack says:
Pelo pouco q eu conheço de armamento… foi um Fal 7.62!
A precisão  (alcanse da mira) do Fal, chega no mín. 200 mt's e 600 mt's  max.
Mas  provavelmente o atirador tinha uma luneta de guerra ao seu poder!
EU  ACHO, q deve ser um policial muito bem treinado, mas naum posso  dizer  com a certeza!
Se foi um policial? Ele fez o trabalho dele!
FTwitter was where the greatest number of comments were left. Roberto Mosca Junior, who tweets as @robertomoscajr lamented the occurrence, paraphrasing the former BOPE (specialized Rio police force) policeman and screenwriter of Tropa de Elite, Rodrigo Pimentel:
Com diz o próprio Pimentel, isto aqui é uma guerra  particular, a polícia mata o bandido, o bandido mata a polícia ou o  outro traficante…
While José Soares Banana, who tweets as @bananinharadio, was desolate:
Vendo esse vídeo onde um suposto traficante é alvo  de um atirador anônimo no Rio, eu me sinto na terra de ninguém http://is.gd/cJcKJ
A military policeman and twitterer whose initials are ACM and who tweets as @PMFogger12, protested the shooters’ actions, confirming that those involved were indeed policemen and traffickers. According to him, the shooting took place in September 2009 even though the video was only posted recently:
Só Deus e algumas pessoas sabem que foram os responsáveis pelos disparos que mataram o chefe do trafico na fallet e um do seus seguranças…
lembro que na época os moradores da fallet acusaram a PM de ter matado, um morador inocente, parece que o video desmente os moradores…
só posso disser: parabéns aos atiradores “desconhecidos”! rs
Only God and some people known that they were responsible for the shots that killed the head of the Fallet traffic ring and one of his bodyguards…
I remember at the time those in Fallet accused the military Police of having killed an innocent slum dweller; it seems the video belies the slum dwellers…
I can only say: congratulations to the “unknown” shooters! Haha
A quick blurb appeared on the website of Jornal Hoje and G1 News, both part of the Globo network. In an interview, the same former policeman, Pimental, states that the shot came from an abandoned hospital that is currently occupied temporarily by the military police of Rio de Janeiro:
Segundo Pimentel, o vídeo mostra a Rua Eliseu Visconti, que fica próxima  aoo Hospital Quarto Centenário, de onde pode ter partido o tiro. O  disparo também pode ter sido feito de um muro da Rua Almirante  Alexandrino, diz Pimentel. O hospital, que foi desativado, atualmente é  ocupado pela PM.
For centuries, the public safety squads in Brazil have been shouldering government interference in how they conduct their business. For a long time, the police and the government have been entwined in a dangerous play, one that allows the state governor to have a legitimate institution at his disposal authorized to invade citizens’ privacy and to produce legal evidence against anyone.
In terms of the policemen, groups of poorly paid human beings who are not even part of the middle class. They are left with the mediocre role of being the armed branch of the federal states and, at the same time, entrusted with clearing the streets of the residual population, which is confused with the actual work of public safety. On days off, they pick of freelance jobs to compensate their salaries.
Taking someone’s life in a violent and calculated manner, as is the case here, seems to be justified by the un-controversial visual proof. The voyeuristic citizen, before complaining of a government void in the form of arbitrary and criminal judgments such as this, seems to show his approval through his loquacious, and equally criminal, silence.

author: Roger Franchini


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Cambodia: Mobile phone subscribers · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Piseth quotes from a report which mentions that Cambodia now has more than 7 million mobile phone subscribers.


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Cape Verde: Netcitizens Outraged with Flights and Governance · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Though flights delays are common in Cape Verde, the episode which happened on June 5th, involving Minister Inocêncio Sousa, caused big confusion at the airport, as Emilio Rodrigues thoroughly describes [pt]. Netcitizens feel outraged and discuss [pt] the development and governance of the country, claiming that apparently as it grows economically, leaders’ shame decreases [pt].

author: Sara Moreira


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China: “Chinese Women, Please Don’t Sleep With Foreigners” · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maxiwawa from ChinaSMACK translated a popular post, “Chinese women, please don't sleep with foreigners”, circulated in various online forums. It is another story in which nationalism is reproduced through discourse on gender and sex.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China and Japan: “Wanted Criminal” arrested and released · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Angry Chinese Blogger comments on the recent arrest of Wu'er Kaixi, a former Chinese student activist and “wanted criminal” in Japan. The blogger believes that the Chinese government is too afraid to put him on trial.


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Cuba: Being Black  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Ivan's File Cabinet explores what it's like to be black in Cuba.


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Dominica: A Day in the Life · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominica Weekly highlights a documentary which “brings to life the rich heritage and culture of the Kalinago (Carib) people in Dominica.”


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Egypt: Khaled Said – An Emergency Murder by An Emergency Law · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Khaled Said before he was tortured
Khaled Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian from the coastal city of Alexandria, was allegedly tortured to death at the hands of two officers who wanted to search him under the emergency law. He asked for a reason or a warrant – they killed him. “The emergency law is a tool in the hands of the executive power to storm many basic rights and freedom guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution” Explains the International Federation for Human Rights.
We are all Khaled Said is a Facebook page that was created upon his murder condemning police brutality. The creator wrote in Arabic and in English:
It's a tragic story about a young man, he was brutally murdered ! why ? because he refused to be treated inhumanly by two savage Cops who had no right to do what they were doing ; to treat people like sheep and consider the citizens inferior.
The story began on 7th June 2010 when Khaled Saeed went to his usual Internet cafe in Sidigaber …
Then two wild detective cops – Mahmoud Alfallah and Awaad Elmokhber/the detective – ambushed that cafe asking people for their IDs which is totally out of their authority and without legal permission He – Khaled – did reject that way of inhumane treatment and consequently was attacked so viciously , was kicked in his chest and belly severely, and his skull was smashed with the marble bar before all people and witnesses in the cafe while Khaled was bleeding. Then savage cops abducted Khaled and put him inside the police vehicle to continue torturing him to death in the police station. Finally, they threw his corpse in the street to claim that he was attacked by some strangers in order to avoid responsibility.
According to what we have known, there's systematic campaign to terrify the witnesses and prevent them from testifying on what they saw in the cafe….
Khaled's is not and won't be the only case, there are lots of people who had the same fate and disappeared and became dead on arrival.
All of this is a result for the oppression system that Mubarak control Egypt under emergency law which gives the police the upper hands to treat the residents as slaves.
Thus we the group of the change in Egypt supporters urge you to interfere and to force the authorities to investigate and explain what happened to the public and to condemn it strongly.
Wael Nawara says that Khaled was the victim of a rotten constitution:
لم يقتل مخبران خالد
بل قتله دستور معيب
قاتل خالد سيظل طليقاً يضرب ضرباته فيقتل الأبرياء ….
لأننا نظن أن تغيير الدستور من الرفاهيات …
لأننا نظن أن لقمة العيش تستلزم المشي جنب الحيط …
خالد ما كانش في مظاهرة …
خالد كان في كافيه …
واتقتل لما اعترض على طغيان شوية مخبرين كانوا بيقلبوا رواد المقهى …
لأن النظام قاعد بجحافل …
والأمن قاعد بالنظام …
والشعب لا بيجيب ده ولا يعرف يمشي دوكها ولا بيهش ولا بينش …
Amr Salama – an avid fighter against the emergency law- wrote:
Abdel Rahman Fares mourned Khaled saying:
في أي بلد محترم كان يجب على الفور أن تستقيل كل الحكومة
وأن تتم محاكمة المسؤلين عن هذه الجريمة النكراء
وعلى رأسهم وزير الداخلية حبيب العادلي
وأن تكون محاكمة الوزير والمسؤلين علنية أمام الشعب
وأن يلقوا أشد العقاب
I am really curious to know the officers’ justification; what did they write in their report? Did they write that the citizen flipped and beat himself to death? Or that he died of a sudden heart attack? This is downright blasphemy! I know that some officers beat up people in custody but they make sure not to leave visible traces but looking at Khaled's pictures – this is just mere brutality; he was the victim of some sick sadist. Please someone answer me: Is this officer still on the job?
In any decent civilized country, such an incident would have been enough for the government to resign, those in charge of this murder would have been tried, and the trial of the Minister of Interior and the officers should be public. I demand maximum punishment for this crime.
On Facebook, Dr Ayman Nour wrote a note condemning the regime for this horrendous crime, narrating its horrific details:
Dr Nour posted pictures of the victim HERE (WARNING: VERY BRUTAL AND MIGHT BE OFFENSIVE FOR SOME VIEWERS). Until the writing of this post, there were around 340 comments on the pictures.
Appy and Kareem Beheiry mourned the victim on their blogs and shared the same pictures.
Princess Sara is scared. She wrote:
Ramez Abbas wrote him an ode:

author: Marwa Rakha