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Latest in the Francophone Caribbean Blogosphere · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Martinique sky by VuBlog.
GUADELOUPE
Commemorating the Abolition of Slavery
Carole writes:
Cette nuit d'insomnie ,j'ai eu ma fille Emilie sur MSN;elle vit en Guadeloupe et m'a appris qu'aujourd'hui c'est fête en Guadeloupe pour la fin de l'esclavage ! Ou que nous soyons nous avons l'obligation morale de nous joindre à cette Fête! Dansons et rions pour cette Libération de l'homme.
UGTG Strike
TiToto of TotoM'aTuer has blogged all week about the UGTG [General Union of Guadeloupean Workers] strike and the strained relationship between the strikers and Victorin Lurel, deputy and President of the Guadeloupean Regional Council. He addresses Lurel  directly:
Que c’est facile de dire que ce conflit “entrave la marche de la région qui se mobilise depuis 2004 pour développer l’économie et l’emploi”, alors que nous avons des preuves que RIEN NE FONCTIONNE depuis 2004, que l’économie de la Guadeloupe n’a jamais été à un niveau aussi bas et que la politique de l’emploi n’a jamais été aussi “foulée du pied”…
Que c’est facile, LUREL, de disposer du site internet de la région et de la mansuétude des journalistes bwa-bwa pour diffuser ton venin et ta propagande digne des meilleures années du stalinisme…
HAITI
Mothers’ Day
See more here.
New Blog and Preval's Inauguration
Newly launched CollectifHaitideProvence posts a slideshow of Preval's inauguration. They also introduce themselves and the blog.
MARTINIQUE
Mother's Day
Le Blog de [Moi]  loves the fact that her mother is hip and technology minded enough that she will appreciate an ipod nano as a Mothers’ Day gift.
Stephane Pocrain's Candidacy
Le Blog de [Moi] on Stephane Pocrain's candidacy for the 2007 French Presidential Election:
Encore une candidature à gauche de l’échiquier politique. Ancien porte-parole des Verts et membre fondateur du Conseil représentatif des associations noires de France (CRAN), Stéphane Pocrain entre donc dans la danse.
Son programme ? En priorité l’égalité et la formation pour les jeunes.
Stabbing Over Ten Euros
See  more here.
French Stereotypes of Caribbean DOM-TOMers
Le Blog de [Moi] on French stereotypes of French Caribbean DOM-TOMers: (The blogger goes through an episode of American Idol-like “La Nouvelle Star” that featured Martinique-born Dominique as a contestant as well as … some cliches on Martinique and French Caribbean DOM-TOMers.)
Dans la catégorie “à bas les clichés,” je tiens à signaler à tous ceux qui regardaient “La Nouvelle Star” hier soir que le morceau “C’est bon pour le moral” de la Compagnie Créole (1983 – album “Vive le douanier Rousseau” ) n’est pas vraiment un incontournable de la fête chez les Antillais. (…)  Désolée.
Then, commenting on a quote attributed to Dominique by a website about what she was supposedly allowed to wear growing up in Martinique, the blogger continues:
Là c’est du vrai foutage de gueule ! Je tiens à préciser que, je vais vous surprendre mais je prends le risque n’est-ce-pas, nous sommes tous libres de nous habiller comme nous le souhaitons en Martinique… ceci à n’importe quel âge …L’uniforme décrit plus haut peut être celui que porte les élèves des collèges publics (plus rarement dans le privé paradoxalement) de l’île (comme en Guadeloupe et en Guyane… et au Japon !). On va dire que les propos de Dominique ont été mal compris et mal retranscris…
New documentary by Euzhan Palcy
Le Blog de [Moi] on a new documentary by Martiniquan filmmaker Euzhan Palcy on Martiniquans, Guadeloupeans and French Guianese who helped fight the Germans during World War II as part of the Resistance:
Mais n’ayant bénéficié d’aucune médiatisation, le souvenir de leur bravoure s’estompe. Il s’efface d’autant plus qu’il n’existe aucun indice de leur contribution à la victoire de la France libre ni dans les manuels d’histoire, ni sur aucune stèle commémorative. Depuis le 11 novembre 1945 où ils ont eu l’honneur de défiler devant le général de Gaulle, aucune cérémonie, aucune célébration, aucune commémoration n’a témoigné de l’engagement de ces premiers résistants antillais.
Entendre cette histoire incroyable de la bouche même de ceux qui l’ont vécu a été une expérience qui, pour ma part, a oscillé entre l’admiration et le dégôut profond pour le peu de reconnaissance dont ils font l’objet après tout ce qu’ils ont enduré. A voir.
Koky commented on this post that she was happy that women participants to the Resistance were mentioned in Palcy's documentary. She also offered reasons why Martiniquans are rarely mentioned in official commemorations of the Resistance:
A mon avis, certains n”ont pas envie de parler des dissidents car c’est rappeler le patriotisme des Antillais : un vrai cauchemard!!! :) Dans la vulgate médiadico-politique c’est sans doute plus tendance de mettre en avant notre fameuse spécificité.
Local LGBT Association
Le Blog de [Moi] reminds us that she is a lesbian who lives in Martinique with her partner,   and objects to certain statements in the manifesto of a An Nou Alle, a two year-old  Martiniquan LGBT association she hadn't heard of until now:
Je ne nie pas tout en bloc (y’a du vrai) mais croyez-moi, je le répète, il y a les moyens de vivre son homosexualité ici. “Clandestinité perpétuelle”, “opprobe sociale” qu’il dit le môsieu… Non. Enfin oui mais non ! Je suis désolée de mettre encore le pied dans le plat ! Ca dépend vraiment des individus, de leur histoire et ce n’est pas pire ici qu’une petite ville de province à mon avis. Mais je veux bien croire qu’il y en a qui vivent des situations difficiles au quotidien.
A commentor to the post deplores that An Nou Alle published an open letter in a local paper to politicians about the hardships of Martiniquan gays and never received an answer.
DaVinci Code and other images
Le Blog de [Moi] thought the terrible reviews she heard of the film were a bit unfair  and may have fed into each other. She is happy she saw it for herself.  She says:
Conclusion: des longueurs et des scènes “ratées” (acteurs pas très crédibles à certains moments) mais j’ai franchement vu pire (avec de meilleures critiques) ! Disons que Ron Howard a eu du mal à tenir le film jusqu’au bout c’est tout ce que j’aurais à lui reprocher moi personnellement.
Bien Vu on the other hand, heard great reviews of the film and was disappointed. He still however looks forward to reading the book.
InternetRapide.com posts two humorous videos found online involving cowboys and animated cows doing kung fu.
Bien Vu posted several lovely snapshots of Martinique including one of the Schoelcher Library, a crisp blue sky and a serene local bird.


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Latin America: Technorati, Edelman, But No Spanish? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Commenting on the announcement by Technorati and Edelman that the two companies will join forces to include blog posts on traditional media websites, Julio Alonso wonders how it is that the project will launch in English, German, Korean, Italian, French, and Chinese, but not Spanish [ES]. “Could it be that Edelman is less interested in our market?” Alonso asks.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: David Sasaki


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Latvia: Aleksiy II’s Visit · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia writes about the visit of Aleksiy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to Latvia last weekend. Latvia is home to some 350,000 Orthodox Christians.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Latvia: Second Gay Pride Parade · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia writes about the politics of this year's gay pride parade (to be held in Riga on July 22): “For political parties who objected the march last year, this will be a chance to win over the hearts of the skeptical public for the fall parliamentary elections by standing strong to the evil homosexuals and forbidding them to display their sexuality on the streets of our ancient city.”


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Mexico: AMLO Back in the Lead? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Goleech cites the May 29 poll by María de las Heras, which has leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrado back in the lead with half a percentage point over Felipe Calderón and three points ahead of Roberto Madrazo.


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Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, US: Border Frustrations · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In a summary of Latin American news, Western Hemisphere Policy Watch describes tension over the militarized border … the Costa Rica-Nicaragual border. Isopixel is upset [ES] by an offensive song posted on the website of the US anti-immigration group, the Minutemen, which calls President Vicente Fox – among other things – “the Mexican dictator.”


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Mongolia: Construction Season · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst says that, because of the country's climate, construction is restricted to a few months of the year. Though floods and snow can strike even in late May, construction season is upon Mongolia, though Luke notes that at one site, none of the workers speak Mongolian.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Nepal: Sujata Koirla · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Nepali Netbook profiles a daring woman Sujata Koirla and her role in Nepali politics – “Perhaps the most controversial woman during Nepal’s 1990-2002 brush with democracy, she went on to become one of the fiercest critics of King Gyanendra’s direct rule. Her daring escape from Kathmandu after the Feb. 1, 2005 royal takeover made headlines across India.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Nigeria: 419 hurting local entrepreneurs · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Grandiose Parlor comments on Nigeria's “Yahoo Boys”  and the detrimental impact they have had on Nigerian “entrepreneurs in and outside the country“

author: Sokari Ekine


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Russia: “And You Call It A Gay [Pride] Parade?” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

This past Saturday marked the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia, and a number of people attempted to take part in a gay pride parade in Moscow – despite the ban by a city court and mayor Yuri Luzhkov's words from the day before: “As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades.”
Orthodox Christians, Russian ultra-nationalists and skinheads attacked a handful of gays who showed up by the Kremlin to put flowers to the Unknown Soldier Memorial. Riot police detained up to 120 people that day, among them journalists and human rights activists, many of whom now intend to file a complaint to protest their unlawful detention and harsh treatment.
LJ user mnog was at the scene with a camera and posted a three-part photo series – part one, part two, part three) – entitled “And You Call It A Gay [Pride] Parade?”
LJ user onair described the failed event this way (RUS):
Moscow is the world's only city where a gay [pride] parade took place in the absense of the gays themselves. That is, there were a lot fewer of them on Tverskaya [Street] yesterday than there are at 7 PM on any workday. […]
LJ user lev4enko provided a short analysis of what happened (RUS):
[…] What took place on Saturday very much resembled a well-managed riot (unlike [the World Cup one on Manezh Square in 2002]). Every such event is, for those who inspire these marches (fascist marches, I mean), yet another training. And it's clear that they are preparing for the [presidential election] campaign of 2007.
It's obvious that since there was not a single object of attack, they were forced to satisfy themselves with attacks on journalists. […] What remains unclear: why Moscow OMON [riot police] a) didn't interfere when the red-brown instigators were attacking journalists, b) why, at the same time, did OMON detain and placed onto buses those very journalists who were peacefully fulfilling their professional duty, and c) why did these same OMON detain fascists very selectively and in small numbers? Do the aggressive skins […] and pseudo-patriots have a lot more rights to walk freely in the city's center than the generally peaceful sexual minorities with flowers in their hands? […]
Aidar Buribayev (LJ user aidar_b), a Russian Newsweek correspondent who got detained on Saturday, wrote this about his detention – and about the march (RUS):
[…]
5. […] spent all five hours at the [police] department. It was prohibited to sit down and lean on the walls. Neither was talking allowed, and cell phones had to be turned off.
6. First, they let the nationalist ideologue Krylov go, then – skinheads, then – the homophobes who didn't look like skinheads, then – gays, then – their defenders, and they kept us, journalists and human rights activists, till the very last.
[…]
8. It's the first time that I didn't understand what they detained me for. I was leaving the square, when the cops stopped me, checked my papers and dragged me into the bus. Somewhat strange.
9. Gay pride organizers consciously chose to escalate the conflict! They needed a loud scandal. I'm sure they did.
10. There were practically no gays and lesbians on the square. And if the gays were [too scared] to attend the march, this means they don't deserve equal rights with the heterosexual majority. Let them squeeze like rats around basements and clubs. […]
Roughly a month earlier, on May 2, the same person (aidar-b) commented on his own homophobia (RUS):
homophobic
I've always considered myself a homophobe, always disliked gays, and every time I could, I used the forceful [offensive slang synonyms for “gay;” three of them used in the original sentence]. Sometimes, I was beginning to worry that maybe I couldn't stand them so much because I myself was a latent [homosexual]?!
It looks like I worried in vain. I feel terribly sick of these homophobic pogroms; there's more and more greyness around.
A constructive discussion ensued between two readers of aidar-b‘s LJ:
mike67: All correct and normal. To recognize [gays] as people with equal rights, you don't have to love them. We should work not on lowering the levels of homophobia, but on rising the levels of tolerance.
schukina_irina: I agree. One thing left to do is explain to the Orthodox [believers] what tolerance is. The question is HOW?
mike67: Yes, this is a problem. I'm trying but with no results so far.
schukina_irina: You are trying? In what ways, if this isn't a secret?
mike67: In what way? Through conversations. By attempting to figure out the situation to an extent that would allow me to explain it to the people with various degrees of preparedness. This, unfortunately, is the only way I can do it. I don't have access to the serious mass media.
schukina_irina: Does it work? I'd join you even… I wonder how such people react to all this, what they do, whether it is possible to explain anything to them. Often, they are impenetrable. I'm even interested in this as a future sociologist.
mike67: It's totally okay to have discussions on it in LJ – especially taking into account that it's here that all new ideological trends will be developed, one way or another. As for the opponents’ “impenetrableness” – I wouldn't be so categorical. We are all “impenetrable” when it comes to this or that. An average skinhead is possibly as concerned about things as an average liberal. That's why it's better not to think that we are better in some way. And if we think they're mistaken, we should fight not with the people, but with their convictions. Though it's hard to implement it all in practice. Sometimes it turns out to be impossible, but so what?


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Russia: “Moscow Has Lost Its Pride” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander and Ufa Blog discuss the failure to hold the first gay pride parade in Moscow.


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Russia: Moscow Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Moscow-Blog has Konstantin Leibovitch's most recent Moscow photos and commentary.


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Slovenia: President’s Book Review · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

AlesS of A Little Blog For a Restless Mind reviews a book written by Janez Drnovsek, Slovenia's president: Thoughts on Life and Awareness. “To me the president with this book seems like a freshman that hasn't even yet passed the first grade of buddhism, yet already wants to teach (preach to) everyone what is right and what is wrong. As a side point, I've heard he even wants to convince the Dalai Lama to become a vegetarian, because that's the purest form of being, or something.”


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South Africa: Corrupt apartheid regime · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

South Africa comments on the report “Apartheid Grand Corruption : Assessing the scale of crimes of profit in South Africa from 1976-1994” – Was the regime corrupt?   “Yes! Are many of those who profited from the morally bankrupt system of apartheid still free and living off their ill-gotten gains? Yes!


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Sri Lanka: Activism and the Online Medium · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

What does the online medium mean to those who engage with activism? ICT for Peacebuilding says “The crux of the problem is in the creation of content that is able to kindle the interest of those unused to the drudgery and often, very real danger, of activism on the ground and then how to translate ideas expressed online into actions that support real world change.”


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Sri Lanka: Sinhala Radio Stations · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Cynically Yours spends some time tuning in to the radio station and is severely disappointed.


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St. Lucia: privatisation of utilities · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Should the St. Lucian water company be privatised? Should the mass transit system remain in private hands? Matthew Hunte weighs in. “We end up in a funny situation where (quite a few of) the same people who oppose private water are quite content to leave our transport system in the hands of a few hundred private business men who have the best of both worlds since they answer to nobody”.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Condoms in schools? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Twenty per cent of live births in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are to teenage mothers. So why, asks Abeni, is the minister of education “vehemently opposing the idea of condoms being distributed in schools. At least it deserves some thought rather than a blanket refusal.”


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Venezuela: Former Yaracuy Governor detained · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Commenting on the detention of Former Yaracuy Governor Eduardo Lapi who was Miguel Octavio opines: “Reportedly he will be charged with misuse of funds. Thus, as the robolution robs, steals and charges commisions, opposition figures are detained for subtle charges of misuse of funds. If the same criterai were applied to the Government, they would all be in jail …”


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Venezuela: Luis Velásquez Scandal · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Francisco of Caracas Chronicles calls the Luis Velásquez Alvaray affair the “mother of all scandals.” Two days later, however, he wonders where all the coverage went.


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Voices from Central Asia and the Caucasus · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Vakhs valley, March 2006, Erik Petersson, Dushanbe Pictures.
Welcome to the latest roundup from the Central Asian and Caucasian blogosphere, brought to you by neweurasia.  First off, apologies for the long delay in presenting you this edition. Now that final year exams are over, our postings should appear bi-weekly again.
As usual we take you through the countries alphabetically.
Armenia:
Onnik Krikorian writes that one of the most independent and popular TV stations has been denied a broadcasting frequency. The same blog also reports on a possible new momentum towards a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Nessuna is shocked to hear that another Armenian fell victim to a racist murder in Moscow. Christian Garbis over at Notes from Hairenik writes on the strange obssesion of each and every vendor in Yerevan about the correct change.
Azerbaijan:
Marianna of neweurasia writes about the extent religion influences Azeri politics. She says that Turkey's secular state-building continues to serve as a model for independent Azerbaijan, and the example of its southern, theocratic, neighbour Iran further bolsters the separation of religion and politics.
Georgia:
Sue finds out herself why “Hospitality in Georgia sometimes resembles a mild form of hostage-taking”. During a visit to a remote village in the Caucasus, she and two of her American friends experienced themselves that the Georgians are a “people so welcoming that a stranger can wander into a remote mountain village and find herself instantly fed and warmed and welcomed”.
Kazakhstan:
LJ user Adam Kesher thinks that it is very likely Kazakhstan will become the chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE's decision will have to be considered against the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions in Central Asia, particularly between Russia and the United States (RUS). Ben of neweurasia reports on the militarisation of the Kazakh part of Caspian Sea and Laurence writes, on The Registan, that the northern Aral Sea's water levels are rising.
Kyrgyzstan:
Again, the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek was the arena of opposition demonstrations last weekend. Amira over at The Golden Road to Samarqand says that despite an earlier announcement, the military wasn't holding a parade on the same day and thus everything remained fairly calm. Yulia of neweurasia has a full account of the event, stating that the rally was much smaller than anticipated. In an op-ed blog piece, Claire critically reflects on her time in the country and on why continuing protests might not only be a sign for a healthy democracy. The Kyrgyzstan Student Blog, written by students from the Kyrgyz National University and International University of Kyrgyzstan, features some excellent posts on a variety of topics, including stressful cell phones (Helen), bride kidnapping (Zarina) and smoking (Aigul and Zarina).
Mongolia:
Luke Distelhorst reports that the windfall profit tax became a law when the Mongolian President failed to veto and the mining community is already feeling negative effects. Tom Terry writes an editorial on nationalism and Mongolia's newest political party, worrying that Mongolia is looking in the wrong directions for political advancement. Mongolia Web reports on the lifting of textile quotas which have resulted in a US$100 million loss for Mongolia; as well as reports of a $1 billion dollar tourist center. Lastly, neweurasia reports on the Democratic Party boycotting Parliamentary proceedings on the selection date for a by-election. However, the Speaker of Parliament ruled against the constitution and forced the election date back two months, thus violating Mongolian election law.
Tajikistan:
Dushanbe Pictures, a photo blog maintained by Erik Petersson, has some new spring photos that are definitely worth checking out. James of neweurasia reports that Tajikistan has taken the chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Contrary to Georgia and the Ukraine, Tajikistan is not expected to take issue with Russia's dominant role within the organisation.
Uzbekistan:
Nathan of The Registan sparked off an interesting discussion by disagreeing with a story that was published in Harper's Magazine. The article accuses Frederick Starr, professor of Central Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., of being Uzbekistan's president Islam Karimov's most reliable ally in US academia. Alfiya features a theatre review of ‘The Flights of Mashrab” and recommends its readers to go see it, as it depicts the life of famous Uzbek poet Babarahim Mashrab very well (RUS).
Regional news:
neweurasia featured several posts on the role of religion in politics in Central Asia and Azerbaijan. James wrote the regional overview here, also linking all individual country studies, and Christopher DeVito provided some background to the discussion in the context of Political Islam in the Middle East. Also, Neil rounded up freedom of speech issues from across the region.

author: Ben Paarmann


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Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai rally in Leeds · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Zimbabwean Pundit comments on Morgan Tsvangirai's rally in Leeds, UK  on Sunday and wonders how many people really attended.


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Afghanistan: Riots · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Sohrab Kabuli writes about the bloody riots in response to a road accident involving US military forces and includes some first-hand reporting.


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Argentina: Music: Travesti · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fernando Casale introduces readers to Travesti: “It means ‘transvestite’ and it’s the name of an Argentinian duo that came out from within the suburbs of Buenos Aires (by the way, neither of them are actual transvestites).” Several of the songs are available in mp3 format.


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Armenia: Montenegro Precedent · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian asks whether or not Montenegro's vote for independence is a precedent for Nagorno-Karabakh.


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Bahamas: Development proposal · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Residents of a small community in the Bahamas vote against a proposal which would have helped “preserve the character of local communities”. Larry Smith says the proposal's “scope, bureaucratic complexity and level of detail” may be to blame, “and, of course, we should not overlook the ever-present influence of party politics in small communities.”

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Barbados: Labour party blogging · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados's incumbent Barbados Labour Party seems to have taken to blogging like a fish to water — at least for now. Four posts in the last four days, on topics such as why the “two major media organizations” in the UK and the USA contacted blog Barbados Free Press for a story about the Barbados Labour Party blog instead of contacting the party directly, an online poll, and the deficiencies of the rival political party's newly launched web site.


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Belarus: Hunger Strikes and Persecutions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Andrei Khrapavitski writes about “repressions and deaths” in Belarus, as well as two hunger strikes – by the young politicians and a businessman facing a 6-year sentence for tax evasion.


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Belarus: Lukashenko’s Childhood and Family · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Tobias Ljungvall writes about Aleksandr Lukashenko's difficult childhood and posts a photo of the dictator's aunt that he took in 2002. (Two photos of Lukashenko's wife have been added, too.)


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Belarus, Russia: IMF Approves of Common Currency · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog criticizes the IMF's approval of the common currency of Belarus and Russia: “Oh, yeah, IMF is not a political body and does not care or understand that ‘currency union’ has nothing to do with economics but only disquises attempt of political incorporation.”


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Bermuda: Parliamentary alibis · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Limey cites several examples of equivocation on the part of Bermuda's MP's over their failure to debate an important amendment to the Human Rights Act last week, and reports that a rally is being organised to protest the lack of debate among the MPs. Christian Dunleavy reproduces on his blog his op-ed from the Royal Gazette analysing the reasons the bill failed.


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Cameroon: Schedule of Baccalaureate Exams · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Fojrega posts (Fr) the  nationalschedule of baccalaureate exams in Cameroon.

author: Alice Backer


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Canada: A legal on illegals · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jdid, a Barbadian immigrant living in Toronto, has very mixed feelings about the protests against the deportation of illegals which took place recently in Canada. “I feel badly for someone who built up a life here and then had it cruelly plucked from beneath them but at the same time you came here illegally. You broke the law and at some point you did know it could or would come back to haunt you,” he says, while also wondering whether he might be “a sellout doing the man's job for him. Shouldn't I be showing solidarity with my immigrant brothers and sisters?”


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Caribbean: Lists · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

On his freshly launched  blog, Jamaican novelist Marlon James weighs in on the New York Times “Top Twenty-Five American Books”. Barbadian blogger Titilayo singles out a few notables from TIME  magazine's “list of “100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world”.


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China: Don’t learn Chinese for business opps, learn it for this book · Global Voices
John Kennedy

For unavoidable reasons known to all, or at least presumed, Lifeweek editor Wang Xiaofeng, one of China's most entertaining bloggers—known to many for a hoax [#026] pulled in March this year which brought many bloggers’ scorn—mysteriously killed off his widely-read Massage Milk (also known as Wears Three Watches) in early May. But now he's back with a new blog, You May Not Associate, and a book of the same name, comprised primarily of his past blog posts. Here is what some bloggers have had to say about their favorite rabble-rouser and the emerging trend which sees blogs becoming books after hitting it big:
按摩乳出博客书:不许联想!
邓金明
王晓峰的博客书《不许联想》，最近开始隆重上市了。书名叫《不许联想》，却和那个“NO LENOVO”没啥子关系。这本书的作者是博客圈内有名头的“按摩乳”，号称“博客中的周星驰”，专以揭露目睹之文化界怪现状为能事，其言语之辛辣风快，刀刀见红，笔笔到肉。
王晓峰，这位曾经的摇滚青年、如今的周刊主笔，像一些典型的首都现象一样，在体制内从事着体制外的思考和批判：拿着国家的俸禄，替人民挑刺。
王晓峰之反对当前俗文化，正如他之反对虚假、媚俗、盲从和空洞，是基于一种更朴素的道德观和人性观。仅此而已。
当年，王朔用“痞子”狠狠刺了一下装模作样的文化体制和文学正统，如今，王晓峰仿佛继承了这种顽主精神，用“按摩乳”继续刺着更加矫柔造作的文化现状。这是王晓峰的命脉所在。
但是，让《不许联想》这样一部文化时评书来承担反思性的任务，是不合时宜的。实际上，王晓峰在博客这块飞地上，一直坚持着自己的文化批判的个人立场，这是值得所有人致敬的。文化风气是社会精神的表征，《不许联想》正是敏锐地把握到了这一点，通过针砭文化痼疾，来体现作者似乎并不太愿直接承认的人文关怀。
拔高或者贬低王晓峰和他的《不许联想》，都违背了王晓峰所信奉的真实原则。也许最大的真实就在于，当代文化把我们置入了一种微妙尴尬的境地。“不许联想”也不许不“联想”，不能不正经也不能太正经。这是一个暧昧的时代（正如“按摩乳”这个博客名所示），也是一个亦庄亦谐的时代，是一个最坏的时代也是一个最好的时代，在这个时代，王晓峰就像不按牌理出牌的韦小宝一样，如鱼得水，悠哉游哉！
后话：
摩羯座的王晓峰，现任《三联生活周刊》文化部主笔。他用歪词酷语记录生活体验的“按摩乳”（Massage Milk）是目前大家公认的中国第一博客。
他的新作《不许联想》，已于2006年4月，由上海人民出版社出版，各大书店有售。
《不许联想》是他近两年来在报刊杂志及其博客上发表的时评、娱评、随笔和段子的合集。
时评、娱评调侃当下社会和娱乐圈各种奇闻怪事，幽默诙谐，泼辣尖锐；随笔书写生活小事，涂抹点滴情趣，勾画朋友面孔，同时不忘就身边诸事嬉笑怒骂，活脱脱一个“黑白无间”的王晓峰；段子部分则模仿剧本编故事，是对时评部分集中而夸张的表现。
书中，他常常通过“歪用”、“曲解”，使平常词句顿时趣味横生，具有了更多的意味。配合“山羊胡”谢锋所画的插图，文图并茂，相映成趣。
Blogger ZKT219, however, takes a critical view of blogs becoming books, and sees them as just a passing trend that have about as much literary value as screen adaptations of works of literature, and as a trend with a limited lifespan.
今年春天，名人博客书的出版掀起了一个热潮。徐静蕾的《老徐的博客》起印就是10万册，紧接着，SOHO中国总裁潘石屹出版了博客书《潘石屹的博客》，文汇出版社则要推出郑渊洁的博客书《勃客郑渊洁》，《三联生活周刊》主笔王小峰的博客时评集《不许联想：一个无聊人和他的无聊博客》也将首发。(据《新京报》3月30日)
笔者以为，名人的博客书扎堆出版，实在让人有些费解，并且，出版博客书也有多此一举之嫌。
“博客”一词是从英文单词 Blog翻译而来。Blog是 Weblog的简称，Weblog就是在网络上发布和阅读的流水记录，通常称为”网络日志”。简言之，Blog就是以网络作为载体，简易迅速便捷地发布自己的心得，及时有效轻松地与他人进行交流，再集丰富多彩的个性化展示于一体的综合性平台。
在网络普及率很高的今天，在网上发表博客、阅读博客已经成为一些人的生活方式，它能让参与者抒发内心感受、丰富生活内容。一般而言，博客的写作与阅读都比较随意，写作者在比较放松的心态下写作，而阅读者也是在放松的心态下浏览，应该说，放松与随意是博客的特点。而如今，博客非要脱离网络，以另一种形式也即图书的形式把博客内容辑印成书，显得有些多此一举。在我看来，传媒都有着各自的特色与优势，生硬地”杂交”显得不伦不类。比如，所谓的”影视书”就在很大程度上失去了文学性，一味地跟在影视后面仓促出版，千篇一律地以影视图片吸引读者眼球，但是里面的文字粗糙、情节拖沓，这样的书读起来味同嚼蜡。可以说，如今的博客书在很大程度上是在步影视书的后尘。
网络博客的另一个吸引人之处在于”日志”的特点，是时时更新的，读者只所以乐于阅读名人博客，一个重要原因在于，对名人真实生活的关注，自然不排除对名人私密生活的关注。而博客书的出版，自然受到时间的局限，不管怎样都是对过往日志的记录，根本做不到与网络同步，在这一点上，博客书显然失去了”与时俱进”的功能，阅读魅力也自然会大打折扣。
说到底，名人博客书的扎堆出版，依然是经济利益在作怪：作者借此会赚得不菲的稿费，出版商也想以此赢得利益，但是，读者是否就会买账？一个简单的道理，在网上能够随意浏览的博客，为何非要通过纸制媒体阅读呢？在我看来，纸上的博客就像是一种不伦不类的产物，不仅没有博客的原汁原味，也与正宗的名人自传相去甚远。
不管怎样，我是没有购买名人博客书的打算，因为名人的博客就在我的鼠标之下，轻轻一点就行了，大可不必再跑一趟书店了。
On a more positive note, Tom Jian, an old reader of Wang “Three Watches” Xiaofeng's work, looks at how Wang started blogging, how his writing has changed over the years, and provides some pretty convincing reasons why you should go buy this book.
有趣的人
我从来都没想过王小峰老师会变成一个有趣的人。当年他可是以愤青而出名的，有人叫他“疯子”，好多人说：别惹他，丫逮谁骂谁。后来他开论坛，二房音乐，火了好久我才进去，一看，三表哥在里面打情骂俏，欢蹦乱跳。再后来三表忍不住又愤怒了一把，把论坛关了，一个人玩起了博客。从此，三表的语言好像插上了翅膀，天高任鸟飞，在博客的天空里上下翻飞，自由自在。几年的博客文学，攒成了《不许联想》这本书。
《不许联想》证明了白纸黑字的书还有存在的理由。我本来想到写在博客上面的字印成书会有什么必要？不是读图时代、读屏时代了么？而且本来就是网络上面的东西。可是那些印在纸上的字儿读起来就是那么有味儿，这只能怪三表写得太有趣了。
三表现在是什么样的人？他是一个严肃的人、一个严谨的人、一个有社会责任感的人、一个敢于批评的人、一个不流于世俗的人……但最重要的，他是一个有趣的人。他那么擅于把一切无趣融于嬉笑怒骂的文字之中，使人轻松读来又有所启发，更可做远离电脑而又需打发时间的消遣，于是这本书就有意义了。
虽然三表自称“一个无聊人和他的无聊博客”，但遇到我这个真正无趣的人，还是要把反话正说，这是“一个有趣人和他的有趣博客”，而且是相当的有趣。

author: John Kennedy


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China: Down with reactionary blogger · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Ah Q weekly used an old propaganda poster from Cultural Revolution to make sarcastic remarks on the recent “management” of blogsphere. The original poster depicts a worker using Mao's tiny red book to hit the reactionary class. The new poster replaces the original slogan to “down with reactionary bloggers“.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Pop psychology online · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Pop psychology has reached China, or so says a Virtual China post from Jason Li in which fans of Chinese star search show Super Girl have their motivations analyzed.


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China: Where is Bart Simpson? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Not Only Movies blogger Raymond Zhou has a post today which articulates a need for more Bart Simpson types in China: cynical youth willing to consider that sometimes authorities and elders can be wrong.
“What we sorely need,” Zhou writes in ‘Youth facing dilemma of role models‘, “is a culture of ‘respectfully disagreeing,’ ensuring that respecting and challenging authorities can coexist in the same person.”


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Czech Republic: Wedding Tradition · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David of Prague Blog writes about a fun wedding tradition that the Czechs seem to observe: “After the wedding ceremony, and before the reception, the best man “kidnaps” the bride and takes her to a pub. […] They drink whatever they want, and the groom goes searching for them. If he goes to a pub and they are not there, he must have a drink there before heading to his next guess. […] And when the groom finally does find them, he has to pay their bar tab.”


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Demystifying Tamil as a language and a person · Global Voices
Bharat

What is Tamil? For some it's a language, for some it's a religion, for the uninitiated, wikipedia to the rescue. There is of course also the the Wikipedia in Tamil.
For those who don't like reading pages and pages, google current has it all. From “what is Tamil” to “the latest in Tamil cinema” while discussing matrimonial sites, all under 3 minutes. If you absolutely detest external links, Tamil is an anglicized moniker of “Thamizh”, an ancient language spoken majorly in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Speakers of the language are called “Tamils”.
Picture this. The english alphabet has 26 letters. Tamil has 12 vowels and 18 consonants and we have derived characters from the combination of these vowels and consonants. If you do the math, that's 247 characters in all. Our ancestors dumped the idea of having an ABCD rhyme equivalent for the Tamil character set after the initial test ran for more than 1/2 a day. They instead devised a rhyme scheme for the vowels alone that goes “aana aavanna” and so on.[1]
Tamil has innumerable dialects depending on the place it is spoken in. Sanga Thamizh is the ancient form and Tamil still is written in this form. Spoken Tamil is very different compared to written tamil.“Madras baashai” is a very popular variant that has an ever growing vocabulary as it borrows words from English day after day after day. For example: “Peter” means a guy well versed in English and “Mary” is his female counterpart. Note that both “Peter” and “Mary” are Tamil words in this context. Wikipedia has a comprehensive but non-exhaustive list. Adding a “la” after every sentence in “normal” tamil makes it Singapore tamil while the SriLankans have a unique accent and their language set contains some words that do not figure in the vocabulary of “mainstream” Tamil.
Literary works in Tamil date back to 200 BC. “Tolkaappiyam” is one of the earliest known grammar books to have been written. Myle Vaughanan has an interesting post on the history and literary works in tamil. A work of note is the Thiruvasagam, written by Manickavasagar somewhere between 6th and 11th century CE, translated by G.U.Pope to english in the 20th century and set to music by Ilaiyaraaja in the 21st century. Priya has a series of posts on the epic poem.
Tamil language has been computerized for quite some time now and has its own encoding scheme called TSCII. Though the system is fraught with compatibility issues with encoding schemes and OS support, a search on how to solve these will get you ready to read and write tamil web content in less than 10 minutes. Gilli tells you how.  Tamil Nation has a more detailed article on tamil keyboards,fonts and software. While companies like Microsoft have embraced the tamil language, Nagarajan is bothered about the Tamil Nadu government switching to open source and discusses the monetary benefits involved. If you still use a Windows 98 machine, “erumbugal” has a post on how to enable tamil fonts. Can't download fonts or feel lazy to go through the entire process? jaffnalibrary has an online application that'll recode data for you to tamil regardless of the format you type in.
Singapore has a considerable number of tamil bloggers. Shivaji Das has a satirical comparison of Jews and Tamils while discussing the  simple needs of a tamil. It's a sneak peek into the life of a tamil in Singapore. Thugchic laments that “Ahpunehneh” is not a proper word! though it's been used widely.
Sri Lanka has the second largest tamil speaking population in the world. Sri Rangan writes his views on democracy in the sub-continental region in this post titled “Democracy- A new perspective”. Samarajiva talks about the Tamil Nadu government adopting the Tamil SMS system developed in Sri Lanka.
Listen to news in Tamil on BBC online.
Knowledge-purgation, authored by an interestingly named “knowledge-undertaker” discusses the future of Tamil language that has been constantly butchered by its improper use and increasing lethargy of native speakers in sticking to semantics.
Interested in learning the language?
[1] – Author's attempt at humor

author: Bharat


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East Timor: Local Journalism · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at Tumbleweed in Timor Leste counters a foreign journalist's remarks about the dearth of reporting by local Timorese journalists. The blogger introduces locals involved in bringing Timorese news to the world.

author: Preetam Rai


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Egypt: Hunger Strike Escalates · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Hossam el-Hamalawy report that the Egyptian prison authorities cracked down on the hunger-striking detainees in Tora, as the strike escalated, with 13 activists in total taking action on its second day.
The strike started on Saturday night/Sunday morning, with six detainees refusing to eat. The prisoners made it clear to the prison authorities that the strike was not directed against them, but against State Security’s brutal treatment of Mohamed el-Sharqawi, demanding his medical examination, an investigation into to the torture incident, and the release of all pro-judges detainees.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Estonia: Nordic Battle Group · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes about the history of military action of Sweden, Norway, Estonia and Finland, and reports on a Nordic Battle Group's workshop that took place Tuesday.


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Ethiopia: Jews in Israel · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nazret.com points to an article on….” Ethiopian jews living in Israel who the report says have the lowest income but the highest hopes  “Ethiopian immigrants ranked lowest on the quality of life index, which considers per-capita income, per-room housing density and basic spending.” Surprise surprise!


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Ghana: Foreign Coaches · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly Arrived Denzian in Ghana comments on Ghana choosing foreigners  as coaches.


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Hong Kong: Bus Uncle and Chief Executive · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Bus Uncle video (a video taken on a mobile phone of a young man and older man arguing on the top of a bus) has spread from the internet BBS and blogsphere to the mainstream media. ESWN has a full collection of all the internet products related to the video clip; then the mainstream media found out that Bus Uncle is the candidate of 1997, 2002, 2005 SAR Chief Executive, and he will probably run for next year election too! ESWN has the translation of Bus Uncle interview.
Meanwhile, there are some discussion concerning the ethical issue bought up by the new media, Jacky's blog said that the case can provide real life material for general education; Bo-blog discussed the implications of Bus Uncle for the 4th media.


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Hong Kong: Central harbourfront developmental plan · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Hong Kong government announced the developmental plan in the Central harbourfront early this week. Miss Lee in Summer wondered whether the plan is for the interest of developer or Hong Kong people (zh).


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Hong Kong: June 4 and civic rights movement · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The theme of June 4 candle night vigil this year is Civic Rights Movement in China. InMediaHK.net has a collections of articles including
1. the recent development of internet media and civic rights movement;
2. politics of memories concerning the Chinese cultural revolution and June 4 incident with a proposal for a building a Cultural Revolution museum in Hong Kong West Kowloon cultural area;
3. labour rights issue, a comparsion between China and Vietnam factory management;
4. Taishi incident and its implication towards HK and China political relation;
5. Grassroots democracy in China;
6. Civic Rights Keywords and
7. Civic Rights Key figures.


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Indonesia: IM Conference Room for Quake Relief · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The World Wide Help Group is maintaining a live IM conference at all times for Java quake relief efforts using Yahoo Messenger so that bloggers and human beings around the planet can interact via the realtime conference room where they have five relief volunteers. The volunteers have offered to make/take calls to aid agencies from anyone concerned/ interested via the conference room. Information is also sought on GPS coordinates for mapping and relaying of aid requests and offers of assistance. To join the conference, please send an email containing your Yahoo ID to messenger (at) javaquake.worldwidehelp.info. IM room is based and run from Milan, London, New Jersey and Trindad.


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Indonesia: Java Quake Help Wiki Needs Online Volunteers · Global Voices
Angelo Embuldeniya

In response to the Java Quake of 27th May, 2006, the World Wide Help Group have set up the Java Quake Help Wiki and since it was set up, in the past 24 hours they are coordinating disaster relief operations with major aid agencies and relief teams on the ground. There's also a team working with them in setting up sms relay communications into affected areas based on the previous relief efforts in the region.
The wiki has the basic design and structure in place but they URGENTLY NEED online volunteers to help out with the wiki in terms of the following tasks:
1. Move relevant content from TsunamiHelp  & the South Asia QuakeHelp Blog)
2. Scrape info from the blogs covering the quake on tehnorati and post it under relevant sections on the wiki
3 Post translations from the HelpJogja blog to the wiki (via Andy Carvin's link: toggletext.com)
4. Remove irrelevant info
5. Add static info on the main page
6) spread the word out about the wiki
…….etc.
The group have been and are in touch with ICRC, TSF & IFRC and are receiving important information such as assessments directly from them which shows that they recognize their relief efforts on the blog and wiki. Additionally, they are being provided with 24/7 info updates from aid workers and their teams in the field and are also blogging at World Wide Help. A couple of NGOs have requested them to coordinate and communicate with them in publishing their situational repors on the wiki.
Any help from all of you for the organization and management of content on the wiki is most appreciated. If you're interested in lending a hand please head over to the wiki or drop them a line to javaquake AT worldwidehelp DOT info

author: Angelo Embuldeniya


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Indonesia: Quake Proof Housing · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

SarapanEkonomi wants the Indonesia government to make people aware of the importance of building earthquake proof houses. The blogger also asks the government to encourage people in quake-prone area to buy disaster insurance by giving them tax breaks.


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Iran: An office to support religious blogs · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Kamangir, an “Office for Religious Blog Development”  has been established in Qom. The blogger says this organization will support religious blogs in Iran.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Burning Banks! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Noqte tahekhad , Iran based blogger, says  banks get burned when there are riots in Iran and tell us why (Persian). According to this blogger most banks are run by government and then they symbolize it , banks are easy targets and lending money with high interest rate ( 25 %)  has created problems for many people.


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Iran: Student Leaders in Jail · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Daneshe Sorkh, Abede Tavancheh and Yashar Ghajar, two student leaders were arrested after demonstration in universities in Tehran. The blogger has published their photos on his/her blog and ask for their freedom.


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Iraq: Incomplete cabinet · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Observers and Mohammed do not expect any considerable progress to happen soon and it seems that there will be more obstacles to deal with before the cabinet is complete.
It makes Mohammed feels that the sound and smoke of explosions in Baghdad were not enough to wake up our politicians from their deep sleep.


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Jailed Cartoonist, Riots in Universities & Anniversary of a Victory · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Last week Global Voices reported about the cartoon affair and unrest in Azeri community. This affair goes on and Mana Neyestani, the cartoonist who drew this cartoon, and his editor, Mehrdad Ghasemfar, were arrested. Several bloggers discuss this affair again this week.
Birthday in prison
We read in Free Mana blog that Mana’s brother, who is a cartoonist, says he stopped drawing in journals. He wished to see his brother free on his (Mana’s)  birthday (Persian). Nickahang, a leading cartoonist & blogger, drew a cartoon to wish happy birthday for his jailed colleague. In this cartoon, a cockroach, presents the cake. As you may remember, the problem started when a cockroach in a cartoon said Namana, which means “What” in Azeri!
Supporting colleagues
Zannevest says that 300 journalists have signed a letter and asked forgiveness for cartoonist and editor who are both in jail. In this letter,  journalists explained to Azeri people  that cartoonist did not want to insult them and during all these years’ journalists did their best to defend their rights (Persian).
Anger against wrong man
In Fanous, a collective blog, we read:
“There are no good news is coming from our Azeri speaking countrymen…They targeted wrongly a cartoonist. It is true for years we made fun of Azeri speaking people and tell jokes about them for years. Now they got opportunity to show their anger.”
Blogger talks about some irrational thoughts among Iranians: some even consider this cartoon a conspiracy mated minded by state run newspaper and then cartoonist as Islamic Republic’s puppet (Persian).
Another top issue is riots in universities in Tehran. According to media, two universities in Tehran were rocked by clashes between students and security forces. Students were also demonstrating to protest the forced retirement of some professors at Tehran University . At the Amir Kabir University, students demonstrated against the intervention of the Basij in elections for members of the Islamic Student Association, one of the few remaining pro-reform groups. Iranian bloggers are discussing these two events.
Reasons to protest
Alpar writes protests in universities have not been for ethnic reasons. This Iran based blogger says a kind of Cultural Revolution movement has started in universities (Persian). According to Alpar several University Professors were forced to retirement. He says :
“Basij and other forces intervene in university affairs…During last year a Cleric has been appointed a s head of university and Minister of Sciences does not stop saying nonsense…University is in explosive situation.”
Sedaye farayd says after that Ahmadinejad came to power a real military-security presence started to dominate universities (Persian). The Blogger says :
“They wanted the only protest place to remain quiet. During last year Ministry of Sciences appointed people, who can not govern a family, as heads of academic society. All was done to restrict liberty of students and their democratic movements. They want no protest voice raise from university.”
Protest in photos
Abede Tavanche, a blogger and student activist from Amir Kabir University, has published several photos about student protests in this university. The sentence above the photos says people who think the truth is only be broadcast from official TVand radio can look at these photos and think for themselves. He also mentions that riots broke out when the university director and Basij wanted to intervene in the Islamic Student Association election.
Left wing students versus right wing ones?
Bidari says the Amir Kabir Islamic student association is dominated by Marxists, including Abede Tavanche (Persian).The blogger says it seems that the Shiraz Tahkim Vahdat student association asked the Ministry of Sciences to clarify Amir Akbir’s left wing Islamic student association’s legal status.
Anniversary of reformist’s victory is third topic that we discuss here.
A Failed experience
Frankula says: Reformist government fought on two fronts: against strong enemy and against society’s problems (Persian).The blogger adds:
“In both fronts, they failed. They knew their enemy but they did not know their society. Why did they not act in a more civilised way with university students? Why did the councils of cities not resolve people’s problems?”
Managing problem
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist politician & blogger, explains us his own experience:
“The left parties which were later called Reformists were influenced by the power and some of them did not recognize the reality of the country and increased the level of expectations to the extent that in a country like Iran with this power structure no one could have fulfilled such expectations and therefore any action taken was considered as a trivial matter by people. Another point which surprised reformists and did not let them find a clear way for managing reformism was lack of a clear-cut border between the reformists who wanted to do reform within the framework of the present structure and the oppositions who wished to overthrow the government.”


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Kenya: Slavery & Colonisation · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Afrikan Eye writes an excellent piece on Slavery and Colonisation in Africa...


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Kurdistance: NGO Project Update · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Ok, so maybe the title of today's post is a little bit of a misnomer, but our commentators today all mention NGO projects…and I'll give you some extra links to other Kurdish NGO projects as well.
Pearls of Iraq officially starts her purple ribbon campaign for the people of Iraq (and this includes the Kurds).  Check her website for supporting graphics if you are interested.
Today starts the official campaign of the Iraq Purple and Yellow Ribbon Campaign. The Ribbons symbolize support for the Iraqi people to be tied with a yellow ribbon for the troops: American, international and the Iraqi military who are making a positive difference. The purple finger of freedom combined with the yellow is a great way to show the Iraqi people our support.
Pearls of Iraq also gives us a wonderful evaluation of the Kurdish NGO Kurdistan Save the Children:
I visited with Kurdistan Save the Children whose work expands Kurdistan and includes Baghdad. They are strong in education, youth centers and cultural centers, which they call Kaziwa which means ‘dawn’ in Kurdish. I visited one center in Sulaimaniya and was so pleased at the hard work four young men have accomplished over the years. They have developed a large youth center with many activities including sports, art, computer training, English classes, music rooms, computer rooms, internet café (the young people pay tiny fee which teaches them respect of equipment) exercise workout room (for both girls and boys, scheduled appropriately), a media and film department, cafeteria, and a huge center hall with a circle upper balcony, perfect for drum circles. He was very open to different activities including the drum circles that I suggested. Music and art in addition to other activities is strongly encouraged.
The manager of this center is a young man with his 3 associates and they have the drive and good hearts to help the children in the city.
Save Roj TV reminds us that the new Impact Report from the Kurdish Human Rights Watch is now available for download.  KHRP produces some wonderful stuff, I highly recommend them.
Rasti writes about the Turkey section of the new Amnesty International report:
In general, AI seems to be in agreement that things are really going to hell in Turkey. After the events of the first half of this year, I predict AI's 2007 report is going to be a lot more intense. Give that report a read so that you can make your own comparison of how bad things have gotten.
For other links to worthy Kurdish NGO's see the following:
American Kurdish Information Network
Institute Kurde de Paris
KOMAK
Washington Kurdish Institute
And if you still hunger for more, there is a pretty long list at my other website Kurdistan Blog Count.
Till next week….

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Kyrgyzstan: Protest · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

CXW of neweurasia has a report on last weekend's protest in Bishkek calling for the government to enact reforms and combat corruption.


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Kyrgyzstan: The Meeting Happened! · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Edil Baisalov, a Kyrgyz opposition leader, takes issue with negative coverage of last weekend's protest in Bishkek (Russian) that characterized the event as a failure that took the wind out of the opposition's sails. In his opinion, that the protest took place makes it a success.


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Latin America: Recognizing Female Chefs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Todas, whose tagline is “the blog for girls” lists an impressive range of female cooking blogs [ES] by Spanish-speaking women.

author: David Sasaki


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Lebanon: Looming Clash · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

lebanon.profile: published in anger over the recent Israeli bombing of Lebanon, the Israeli threat to bomb Beirut, and the need to call in Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to halt Israeli military action given the impotence of Hezbollah and the Lebanese and Syrian governments.
A dangerous war of ideologies is brewing, the results of which will be catastrophic for the Arabs.


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Macau: Economy booming · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A post from Simon at Simon World looks at recent speculation that the fastest growing economy in the world is not to be found in Shanghai, Chongqing, the Pearl River Delta or anywhere in China proper for that matter, but the former Portugese colony of Macau, off China's southern coast.
“If this gambling bubble ever bursts,” Simon says, referring to the city's main legalized industry, “it's not going to be pretty in Macau. In the meantime, why isn't the Macau government getting ready for an IPO?”


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Malaysia: Visiting Sabah · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Filipino blogger Amelie at manila rat visits neighbouring Malaysian state of Sabah and shares some observations on the differences between Sabah and the Philippines.


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Mexico: Green Party Luxury Toilets · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Wave Making is offended by the “VIP bathrooms” of Mexico's young Green Party candidate. (Also in Spanish)


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Mexico: Preview of Open Source Movie Elephants Dream · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Arcos informs his readers that a preview showing of the film “Elephants Dream,” which was made using only open source software and is licensed with a  Creative Commons 2.5 attribution license will be shown on Friday, June 2 at Non solo bar in Mexico City.


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Mongolia: Defining Corruption · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst writes that Mongolia's parliament had quite a hard time making any progress on their anti-corruption bill as they got bogged down in trying to define corruption.


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Nepal: Hinduism and the Throne · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya.org comments on the close relationship of the throne and Hinduism. “The Shah Kings in Nepal have exploited Hinduism for more than 236 years. Since the majority of the population is Hindu, as a god of 80% of the citizens, the throne was unchallengeable.”


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Nepal: Writing on the wall · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Blogdai has some serious words of advice. “Get rid of these old reprobate politicians and sweep aside your romanticizing, stone-throwing children, Nepal, and let's get busy with saving the country before these fools plunge us into civil war.”


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Nigeria: Google maps · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Naijablog posts some screen shots of southern Nigeria from Google Maps, and an excellent ariel shot of the Niger Delta.


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North Korea: Defectors granted asylum · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Among the several interesting stories found in The Korea Liberator blogger Joshua's Korea Diary this week is a happy ending for four North Koreans who recently sought to defect.


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Pakistan: Dipalpur and history · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shirazi on a town that has held the fort and been a passage of sorts. “Dipalpur is famous in the history as an outpost that has played a significant part in the defence of Delhi kingdom against Mongol invasions in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.”


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Palestine: Free Hait Cut · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Palestinian hairdressers in the West Bank town of Hebron offered a free trim to local government employees who have not been paid for more than two months, Fadi said.


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Peru: Creative Commons Launch · Global Voices
David Sasaki

With exclamation marks of enthusiasm, Derecho y Cultura Libre desde Perú announces the planned launch date for Creative Commons licenses to be June 27th at the iLaw Peru workshop.


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Peru: Voters Safety · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fabiola Bazo describes the measures being taken to ensure peaceful elections this coming Sunday.


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Philippines: Tacky advertising · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Village idiot Savant wants Microsoft Philippines to grow up.


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Russia: Bibliography on Russian-Germans · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

J. Otto Pohl posts a list of English-language publications on Russian-Germans, one of the many nations deported by Stalin during WWII.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Serbia & Montenegro: Referendum’s Potential Consequences · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srdjan Cvijic of The TransAtlantic Assembly writes on potential geopolitical consequences of the Montenegro vote: “Independence of Montenegro, inevitable nourishes independence aspirations of other territorial entities across Europe and the World.”


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Singapore: All Talk, No Action · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lionel is irritated with armchair politicians – the people who find it easy to complain but shy away when it comes to doing something. “I'm sure you have encountered your fair share of the Singapore armchair politician: standing on a pedestal on an ivory tower and espousing nuggets of information that he (and probably only himself) thinks that is wisdom. Then they start condemning everyone including the kitchen sink, but when you ask them what they intend to do about it, they either go strangely silent or they go on the defensive and adopt a defeatist attitude.”


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Singapore: Kampong Life · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blogger Lam Chun See visits a heritage museum and remembers his childhood days in the Kampong (village).


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South Africa: Anthology of lesbian writings · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Acoustic Motorbike reviews a newly released Anthology of writings from South African lesbians entitled. “Sometimes X, Sometimes Y” which she describes as  “It is a beautiful, moving anthology of personal stories of South African lesbians. There is poetry, stories, letters and autobiography. The anthology deals with issues of coming out, family and peer acceptance and rejection, love and loss, abuse and death.”


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South Africa: Space progress · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

South Africa points to  a story on the progress the country is making in space science and astronomy…


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South Africa: Women in the academy · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Singing South Africaness comments on the tendency for moview to portray female professors as old maids and goes on to discuss women in the academy and why so many fit this stereotype..


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South Korea: Local elections end · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Some big changes in store can be expected following the conclusion of local elections in the South Korean capitol of Seoul, the results of which can be found in RJ Koehler's The Marmot Hole.


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South Korea: The current situation in Daechuri and Doduri villages · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Because of the expansion of the U.S. military base, farmers in Daechuri and Doduri villages (western seaside of Seoul) are forced to leave their land. There were violent confrontation since May 4. And June 4, 2006 will be the international solidarity day for the farmers.  Days in Daechuri has very detailed background and update of the incident.


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Sri Lanka, India: The other side of LTTE · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kiruba on the other side of LTTE – “Back then, they were the good guys. The village folks were sympathetic towards their struggle and generally gave them good support. They were mainly looking for shelter and food and there was never a shortage of that in the village.”


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Sri Lanka: The conflict and the death of a loved one · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The death of a friend's father is a shocking reminder of the fragility of life in Sri Lanka for Indi. “The people dying aren’t youthful revolutionaries or radicals, these are just normal people. They have families and responsibilities and hundreds of people that depend on them in countless ways.” An incredible discussion is developing in the comments space.


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Sudan: Women prisoners released · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sudanese Thinker reports that the Sudanese government has ordered the release of all women imprisoned for brewing illegal alcohol.


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Taiwan: History of Chinese · Global Voices
John Kennedy

China's political turbulence for the larger part of the twentieth century had much more impact on the Chinese language than a mere move from traditional to simplified characters. A growing resource guide from Mark Swofford at Pinyin News aims to set the record straight on just where the language has been, is now, and will go.


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The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bolivians have long resigned themselves to the fact that their football national team will also be home watching the upcoming World Cup on television.  For the third straight tourney, Bolivia has failed to qualify for the world’s most important sporting event and have left this tiny nation saying, “maybe in 2010”.  Nostalgia also creeps in every four years around this time, as three of their neighbors are making their usual appearance in the World Cup.  Times weren’t always so rough.  In 1994, the green and white qualified for its first and only World Cup, which was held in the United States.  Even though the team only managed to come away with a single tie, Bolivians still look back on that year as something magical.
A couple of bloggers took the opportunity to look back on those days.  Rolando Lopez, who writes at his blog Rocko Weblog [ES], found it telling how the accomplishments of that team cut through any ethnic or regional lines and united the entire country.  For their first match, they took the field against heavy favorites and defending champs, Germany in Soldier Field in Chicago and entire nation was on the edge of their seats.
“…in a small country faraway, at 3:30 p.m. on June 17, 1994 the streets were empty and the entire country, I've never been so sure of using that phrase, all eyes were fixed on the television sets and attentive ears listened to the radio broadcast from Chicago”
Bolivia eventually lost that game 0-1 and their star midfielder, Marco Antonio “El Diablo” Etcheverry was shown a red card and expelled from the game.  Lopez recalls words by Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano, who said, “For the Bolivian National team, qualifying for the 1994 World Cup was like landing on the moon.”  Even though those memories seem so long ago, Lopez hopes that the wonderful memory is incentive enough to strive to reach this pinnacle once again.
The road to qualification led through powerhouse, Brazil, who eventually went on to win the World Cup that year.  However, during the qualification process, Bolivia managed to score an upset win over the Brazilians in their home stadium in La Paz.  On an early Wednesday morning at 4 a.m., Javier Rodriguez came across a rebroadcast of that game on a local radio station.  The game featured what Rodriguez called “a mystical goal” by Etcheverry, in which the ball went through the legs of the Brazilian goalkeeper.  He managed to record the announcer’s call of that goal that still provides chills some 13 years later and he placed the mp3 on his blog Oirlo Hasta Enmudecer [ES] so that all could relive that important part of Bolivian history.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Togo: World Cup threats · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Just Thots by a Naijaman comments on the progress or non progress of Togo in the coming World Cup…“Togolese national team players have threatened not to lace their boots for their country unless they are paid the fantastic sum of $200,000 each as appearance fee, $40,000 per win and $20,000 for a draw.”


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Tokyo: Creative rehearsal space · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Lee at Tokyo Times has a suggestion, photographic explanation included, for Tokyo musicians hard up for rehearsal space and who risk eviction by practicing at home.


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User-built dictionary of English idioms · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jamaican Simone Champagnie links to What does That Mean, “a free, user-built dictionary of English idioms, buzzwords, and catch phrases from around the world”. The site includes entries from North America,  the British Commonwealth, Italy, Japan and South Korea.


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Zimbabwe: MDC factions · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

David Colhart writes on why he cannot join the Morgan Tsvangirai faction of the MDC…He discusses the reasons behind the MDC split and the 4 options he has himself….”to join the Tsvangirai faction, join the Mutambara faction, be an independent or resign and go back to civil society.”  Difficult decisions that he has to make.


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Zimbabwe: Murambatsvina · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

This is Zimbabwe (Sokwanele) publishes a poem in honour of the victims of Murambatsvina last year when the Zimbabwean security forces brutally destroyed the homes of thousands of Zimbabweans poorest citizens.


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· Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Today June 1st  is Madaraka Day….“Madaraka Day commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule following an important milestone on the road to independence.” Members of the Kenyan Blogs Webring are celebrating Madaraka Day by  writing a series of posts on Kenya.


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Argentina: More Borges · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“I have committed the worst sin of all
That a man can commit. I have not been
Happy….”
That is from Borges’ poem “El remordimiento” [Remorse], which Jeff Barry reviews in his 12th of “30 Days with Borges”. The trilingual blog Trendy Palermo Viejo has photos of Borges’ childhood home at 2135 Serrano.


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Armenia: Children’s Day · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian has photos of International Children's Day celebrations at Yerevan's Liberty Square and of the free concert of Armenian Navy Band to end the day.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Conflict Resolution · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

ArmYouth Blog writes that there are lessons in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for resolving the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh.


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Bahamas: Land speculation and fake web sites · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Larry Smith at the Bahama Pundit blog reports that a fake web site has been set up to divert users away from Bahama Pundit and the articles published there about the Rum Cay development. “It appears that some people think these comments, and later information posted by me, are impacting their efforts to sell Bahamian land of questionable title to unsuspecting buyers over the Internet. There are any number of web sites out there purporting to sell beachfront lots on Rum Cay. And this is despite the fact that the various speculators on the island are feuding among each other over who owns what.”


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Bahrain: Boycott ISP · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

In a united front, people (including bloggers) in Bahrain are expressing their annoyance on the Kingdom's ISP in a way never witnessed in Bahrain before, Silly Bahraini Girl said.


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Bahrain: The Pope has Spoken · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

He and any other “Christians” have a lot of nerve calling out the Muslim world, while not saying a word about the illegal, immoral unjustifiable war in Iraq which has killed over 100,000 INNOCENT Muslims. When the pope starts speaking out vociferously about American Imperialism, the Chinese government squashing its citizens basic human rights, and people being in jail for “denying the holocaust”, maybe then I will be able to take him seriously as a “Christian”, Mohammed take on Pope's latest speech.


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Belarus: Young Activists on Hunger Strike · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

More young Belarusian activists are hunger-striking now, TOL's Belarus Blog reports: “Twenty-two activists of the unregistered youth group Young Front are carrying out hunger strike to protest the  harassment and persecution of their friends. It started with seven activists in Salihorsk, Minsk region, and was joined by the activists in Hrodna and Minsk. As of now, a total of 22 young boys and girls are on hunger strike now. Police tried to enter the apartment in Salihorsk where the initial group started it up, and tore down the banner saying ‘Hunger strike’ from the balcony. The youngsters put on white-red-white flag.”


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Benin: President’s Blog  Calls for Citizen Input · Global Voices
Alice Backer

On his blog, President Boni Yayi announces (Fr) a process he hopes will make Benin competitive: “I have started, with my team, a  series of discussions with the daily actors in our key economic sectors. I think that nothing should be done without social collaboration and input. Any announcement made without discussion or an impact study will only bring negative results … Please share your thoughts, comments and suggestions with me.”


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Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela: Surplus Investment · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In a rare English-language post, Guccio reveals his theory on Venezuela's foreign investment of surplus oil revenue. Noting that Chile invested its copper revenue surplus in foreign banks, he suggests, “if for Chile the best option were to save in a bank, it seems that for the Venezuela, the best option is to put that money in Bolivia.”


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Cambodia: Return to Cambodia · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Ray Zepp returns to Cambodia after a gap of two years and talks about the changes he encounters.


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Caribbean: Good writing · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jamaican poet Geoffrey Philp writes on his blog about a family recipe for chicken soup, and gets an e-mail suggesting he contribute something to the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Which prompts him to think about the craft of writing: “Any con man can tell you a sad story. Have you received the email from the Nigerian businessman?. . .  But what interests me is how the diction, rhythm and metaphors are used (poetry does this best) to make reading about the event/story/subject pleasurable. Good writing, writing that becomes a pleasurable experience itself, is what I search for everyday and what I try to create. But it is always with a commitment to the islands about which Brathwaite, Walcott, Scott, and McNeill wrote. . . .”


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Chile: Student Protests Overwhelm Santiago · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Referring to the student protests that have engulfed Santiago, Fernando Flores says that he has always considered education to be the Achilles heel of Chile (ES). Grafica Rebelde has photos and video of the protests. Atina Chile reminds readers (ES) that there is an entire category on the education debate. The blogs “Educate Us” (ES) and “Free Education” (ES), as would be expected, are both commenting on the protests and students’ demands. Isidro Beccar Varela laments the news that some protesting students have begun throwing stones in the streets (ES).


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DRC: PPRD March · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Tony Katombe contends  (Fr) that [ruling party] PPRD paid many of those who participated in a gigantic march in its favor on Wednesday May 31. The march protested “negotiations demanded by the political opposition before elections.” The blogger also contrasts the authorities’ treatment of the PPRD march  to that of past opposition protests: ” For this march, no one was treated to tear gas in their eyes or blows to their bodies.”


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DRC: Western Press Turnaround · Global Voices
Alice Backer

A recent article by Le Monde “finally looks at the Congo with sincere eyes,” says (Fr) blogger Tony Katombe. The article states that the DRC government includes “former war criminals, known incompetents and unscrupulous business-types.” The blogger credits [opposition party] UDPS, Bishop Laurent Monsengwo and his own efforts for this turnaround in western media perception.


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Egypt: From Alaa to Bloggers · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Alaa, in his new letter from his cell says that he thought he will be happy to meet the rest of the detained activists, but ended up in disappointment and frustration from the conditions inside the prison (Arabic).


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Egypt: LA Times Journalist Arrested in Egypt · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Issandr El Amrani report that Hossam el-Hamalawy, a locally hired journalist for the LA Times who has recently been posting on Arabist blog, has been arrested at a protest today at the Lawyers’ Syndicate.


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Ethiopia: Money for repression · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Weichegud!ET Politics comments on Ethiopias receipt of $1billion  aid package from the world bank. She writes
“See what blocking opposition websites, repressing free speech, jailing the opposition and being an AK-47 wielding goon in a silk tie gets ya? Schweeet”.

author: Sokari Ekine


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Global Voices Podcast – An interview with Tel Aviv-based blogger Lisa Goldman · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

Lisa Goldman relocated from Canada to Tel Aviv, Israel some years ago. Lisa is a regular contributor to Global Voices and blogs about life in Israel — “everything from suicide bombings to gallery openings” — at On the Face.
Lisa recently attended the WeMedia conference in London, where Kamla Bhatt caught up with her. They chatted on a range of topics, from growing up in Canada to blogging in Israel.
Download or listen to the interview (13:42 min; 12.6MB) by clicking here or on the “speaker” icon above.
Or subscribe to the Global Voices podcasts using any of the following links:
RSS | iTunes | Odeo
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

author: Kamla Bhatt


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Honduras: Collaborative Media · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Josh of Hacking in Tegus introduces his readers to two Honduran websites (ES). Honduras News Daily (ES) reminds him of Digg and Newsvine because anyone can register and publish a news item. La Truchita (ES), on the other hand, is more like Craigslist where registered users can post items they would like to sale or trade.


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Hungary: Ultra-Nationalist Victor Orban · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about Victor Orban, an ultra-nationalist politician, and his recent interview with the Economist's Edward Lucas.


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India: The Great Indian Middle Class · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Does a section of the Media find the middle class in India an easy punching bag? Confused responds to a scathing attack on the middle class with a cogent analysis of where the Middle Class stands, and who has benefited from various programmes of the government.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Indonesia: Fruits · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

IndoIan has a post describing some of the tropical fruits in Indonesia.


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Iraq: Iraqi children teach US soldiers ethics and morals · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Iraqi children age 9-10 years old teach invaders ethics and morals, “It’s not right that a hospital should be bombed, children and babies.” LadyBird quoting scripts from The Women’s Story video.


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Kamla: Talking to Indu the Masseuse · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Kamla has a podcast interview (in Hindi) of Indu, a masseuse. “Barely educated, Indu has been working since she was a young girl. Indu's role model is her mother, who taught her to be self-reliant and be economically independent.”


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Kazakhstan: Zazhigalka on Fire · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The LiveJournal community has Астана и Мы (Astana & We) photos of the fire in Kazakhstan's tallest building, which was known by its nickname, “the lighter,” the name it received because of its shape. (Russian)


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Lithuania: A Traveler’s Observations · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

After a recent visit, Andy H of Csikszereda Musings posts his notes on Lithuania: “All male nouns in Lithuanian have to end in “s”. Thus there is a bankas, a baras, and various other things that end with “s”. Georgeos Bushos, for example, gets a mention in the papers. Seriously.”


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Malaysia: Police Arrogance · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Jeff Ooi in Malaysia has the latest on the IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) issue. The IPCMC idea was proposed by the Royal Commission on the Police Force to keep a check on the conduct of the police force in Malaysia. An internal report  by the police criticising the setting up of the IPCMC was put online by mistake on the police website. The report was later taken down but netizens managed to read and get a glimpse of the attitude of the police.


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Mexico: Hairy Accusations · Global Voices
David Sasaki

VivirLatino describes the spectacle surrounding a comment by Italian pop star Tizziano Ferro who accused Mexican women of being mustachioed. Carlos Bravo, with some photoshopping ingenuity, says it's going to take a lot more than an apology to win back any fans in Mexico.


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Mexico: Review of English Language Sites · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mexico-in-English is a weblog that regularly reviews websites about Mexico that are written in English.


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Mongolia: HIV Case #22 · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst reports that Mongolia has possibly identified its 22nd case of HIV infection and says that widespread testing is needed in the country to determine how widespread the disease is.


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Nepal: Maoists Mass Meeting · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

As the Maoists plan the Maoists Mass Meeting in Khatamandu, United We Blog! has a post on power and bargain in Nepali politics.


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Nigeria: Heritage Park Abuja · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ethnic Loft reports on a theme park on 15,000 arces of land just outside Nigeria's capital Abuja…Heritage City otherwise known as the African Kingdoms and Empires Theme Parks and Resorts is “designed to showcase Africa’s rich history, enhanced with modern technology to produce a total experience in learning, entertainment and relaxation for tourists and visitors


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Nigeria: Space programme to end poverty · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Unilag Faces considers that Nigeria's space programme has the potential to lift the country out of poverty by”acting as a catalyst for social-economic transformation”


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Pakistan: Karachi Anime Convention · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Misha on the Karachi Anime Convention 2006 – “Anime, as opposed to popular opinion, is generally different from cartoons in that it has a very specific way of animation that sets it apart from, say Disney or Hannah-Barberah style animations. ” and links to an Orkut Community for Anime Lovers in Pakistan.


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Peru: Elections Coverage · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Living in Peru is collecting excerpts from foreign press stories on this weekend's election. Meanwhile, both Peru Election 2006 [ES] and Gran Combo Club [ES] comment on Vladimiro Montesino's latest assertion that Ollanta Humala is an intelligence pawn of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.


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Poland: Investigation of Attack on Chief Rabbi · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot reports on the lack of progress in the investigation of the attack on the Poland's Chief Rabbi that took place a day before the Pope's visit to Auschwitz: “If they want to show the world that they are a modern, civilized government then they should just get on with investigating the incident […].”


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Poland: Poles on Fascist Black List · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot comments on the Polish component of an international fascist organization's black list posted online: “Krakow’s students, feminists, gays and academics have been put on the internet “black list” of fascist organization ‘Blood and Honour’.”


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Poland: The Pope’s Visit and Anti-Semitism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes on the Pope's first visit to Poland: “Pope Benedict has been getting good crowds for his first visit to Poland since taking over the pontificate but nowhere near as good as what John Paul II could muster. In Pilsudski Square in Warsaw yesterday about 250,000 turned out (in the pouring rain) for mass and homilies. Whenever JP II turned up in the same place, however, he could expect around one million.”


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Pornography Fear Sparks Cambodia 3G Ban · Global Voices
Tharum Bun

The fear of pornography spreading through video-capable mobile phone prompted the wives of government officials to petition the government to formally ban the new 3G technology.
The planned 3G network shows the potential that the growing popularity of mobile phones has in Cambodia.  However, in an attempt to improve social morality, Cambodia's prime minister moved to outlaw the latest technology citing negative consequences of this technology. 3G networks offer high-speed data transfer, allowing users to send pictures and video footage more quickly than on traditional mobile networks.
A number of news articles in local newspapers and foreign mainstream media about 3G phone ban in Cambodia has been continuously dominating the headline of this Southeast Asian country. And discussion can also be found in Cambodian and regional blogosphere.
Weblogger Tam Hanna wrote that:
“This is definitely not funny for people in Cambodia, but we outstanders can have a good laugh nevertheless.”
Cambodia Blog pointed out an interesting piece from the news and a case of pornography dissemination last year in which an actress’ nude picture was spreading like computer virus in the country.
Surprisingly, the 3G video phone service is reportely facing unease among Cambodian leaders’ wives. Wives of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, and Prince Norodom Ranariddh; and six others signed a petition dated Friday that the third generation or 3G wireless services “will make a serious negative effect on morality and social welfare. The Cambodia Daily reports. Representative of AZ called the petition unresonable.
The petition refered to a case in 2005 when phone messgaes were used to disseminate pornography and actress’ naked picture.
And local weblogger Vutha posted some interesting quotes from newspaper column.
“Mr. Dya Rith living in Phnom Penh said that 3G is like a knife. A knife is harmless when it is used in the kitchen to cut vegetables. But a knife can be harmful when it is used to hurt or kill some one.”
Langkasuka opinionated simply that:
“The world, if not at least in South East Asia, is in the BANNING fever?
In Singapore, kids under 16 are banned from watching Da Vinci Code because the gahmen there think kids will believe the movie rather than their sunday class teacher. In Bolehland, independent movie “Lelakin Komunis Terakhir” (The Last Communist) is banned because of the title sensitif lah tu! Now Cambodia PM has joined the bandwagon.”

author: Tharum Bun


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Reunion: Slideshow of Local Volcano · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Reunion Passion (Fr) posts a scenic slideshow of  La Reunion‘s Piton de la Fournaise volcano.

author: Alice Backer


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Romania: Streetcleaners in Brasov · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Romerican writes on a dilemma he was faced with after a brief encounter with a family of friendly Roma streetcleaners in Brasov, Romania.


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Singapore: Stand on alternative media · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Gayle in Singapore discusses a minister's speech where the minister commented on Singapore government's stand on  alternative media platforms like blogs and podcasts.


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The Philippines: School Memories · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The blogger at the citizen on mars is looking forward to his son entering elementary  school. This also reminds him of a memorable incident from his school days.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Denominational schools · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Club Soda and Salt asks Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Education for some data to support her assertion that “with the establishment of the religious schools over 75 per cent in the primary sector, we have been able to see in the school system emphasis on morals and values and when the morals and values are not there, there are problems in the school system.” While he agrees that denominational schools do perform better than secular schools, he wonders whether this might not be due to “the schools being independently run, relatively speaking?. . . . This has nothing, NOTHING, to do with religion, and everything to do with having less meddling from the MoE in the school’s affairs.”

author: Georgia Popplewell


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United Arab Emirates: Customer Service · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Keefieboy describing the customer service policy of the major telecommunication company in UAE: We're only a phone company and ISP, but we behave like a totalitarian dictator. We charge enormous fees for our services. We only give you half the Internet and criminalise access to the other half. We lie to you when things go wrong. We really do think you are stupid. We will never let you use VOIP until we can find a way to make you pay at least as much as you are paying now. So just give in and give us more money.


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We reach: Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad · Global Voices
Jonathan Ali

On May 30 Trinidad and Tobago celebrated Indian Arrival Day, a holiday commemorating the first wave of migration to the islands from India, in 1845. The immigrants came as indentured labourers, bound for the sugar estates, replacements, as Dr. Roi Kwabena reminds us, for the newly-emancipated African slaves. The indentureship programme continued until 1917, with tens of thousands of Indians eventually making the journey.
Indian Arrival Day is celebrated almost exclusively by the descendants of these immigrants, who now make up some 40% of the country's population, with singing, dancing, drumming, even a re-enactment of the landing of the first ship to make the voyage from India, the Fath-al-Razack. Taran Rampersad notes that while the majority of Indians to come to Trinidad were Hindu, “the ship Fath Al Razack – commonly misspelled/pronounced to Fatel Razack – was owned by an Indian Muslim; Ibrahim Bin Yussef. And the name of the ship itself means, ‘Victory of Allah the Provider’.” Taran, who is partly of Indian descent, goes on to look at the Indian presence in Trinidad, and his own place (or lack thereof) in it, with a concluding wish to everyone for a “Happy Indian Arrival Day, whatever it means to you.”
Nicholas Laughlin, meanwhile, who has no Indian ancestry as far as he knows, considers the broader issue of “the long, often arduous, sometimes improbable journeys that all our ancestors endured to end up in this bewildering little corner of the world that is the Caribbean”, and gives a short run-down of how his ancestors came to call Trinidad home. Ultimately, however, he finds that he's “far less interested in the moment of arrival itself and far more interested in the new journey that ‘arrival’ begins–in the process by which wanderers, exiles, prisoners, and explorers make of the disjecta membra of many old worlds something new”.
Finally, over at the Caribbean Free Radio blog, Global Voices Caribbean Editor Georgia Popplewell takes a look back at her own ancestry and recounts how her maternal grandfather, Morton Dean Gangar, of Indian descent, married her African-European mixed grandmother, Petronella Quarless, which helps to explain how Georgia, like so many of her countrymen and women, came to be a truly mixed race, Trinidadian callaloo.

author: Jonathan Ali


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Zimbabwe: Telephony bill · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Enough is Enough comments on the proposed new “Interception of Communications Bill” …which  will enable the government to monitor telephones, email and mobile phones of anyone  “suspected of threatening national security”


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Antigua: Cricket memories · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

To commemorate the Antigua Recreation Ground's hosting of its final cricket match over the next several days, Ryan at the West Indies Cricket Blog solicits suggestions for readers’ favourite ARG memories: “Was it the 375? Was it 400 not out? Was it Viv’s 56-ball hundred? The entertaining Gravy? That Hooper-Walsh  10th wicket partnership?”


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Arabisc: Arabic Bloggers Ken · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

This week in the Arabic Language blogsphere:
Let’s start with the hard stuff. Tara from Iraq, has some rare seen images:
Tara then writes:
The white thing surrounded by black color is the bullet and the white line to the right of it is the bleeding in his brain. Some commented that the bullet was slow and stood there in the middle of his head. I do not understand in military terms and the only thought in my mind when the father left the room carrying his kid is that their lives will change forever.
From Kuwait… The Kuwaiti bloggers are playing major role in the recent campaign to modify the electoral law. They launched many online campaigns which were supported by political bodies. However, recently, there is counter unrest between bloggers about the credit of such campaigns.
kila ma6goog writes about this and say:
منذ بداية حملة نبيها خمسة في بداية شهر مايو المنصرم و نحن نلاحظ تركيز بعض الأخوة على عنصر خطير جدا و هو لمن يذهب الفضل أو الكريدت للحملة الوطنية المؤيدة للخمس دوائر؟  …  ما يضايقني شخصيا هو استمرار بعض الأخوة المدونين على العزف على هذا الوتر اللعين و كأننا نسينا السبب الحقيقي للحملة و انصرفنا لتقاسم الغنائم السياسية و تحديد من هو مستر نبيها خمسة و من هي مسز محاربة الفساد و لمن يذهب الفضل في هذه الحملة
Speaking of electoral laws in Kuwait reminds us that for the first time, Woman’s will have the right to practice their rights in the coming elections. However, recent news about a fatwa that governs the woman’s vote right makes it sounds fiction.
Zaydoun wrote:
فقد أكد د.الطبطبائي ان الزوج اذا ما علق طلاق زوجته بالتصويت لمرشح محدد من المرشحين فان الطلاق يكون واقعا في حال عدم التزامها بالمرشح الذي يطلب منها هو التصويت له حتى وان خالفت سراً ولم تخبر الزوج
…
الخوف طبعاً من بعض ضعاف العقول الذين سيتخذون هذه الفتوى ذريعة للتحكم بزوجاتهم تحت طائلة التهديد بالطلاق… وأتمنى لو يصدر الدكتور الطبطبائي – الذي حارب اعطاء المرأة حقوقها السياسية من الأصل – فتوى تحرم بيع وشراء الأصوات، وخلينا نشوف كم ناخب وكم مرشح راح يسمع كلامه
Dr. Tabtabai confirmed that if the husband committed to divorce his wife if she vote for a candidate not of his (the husband) liking, the divorce is a reality even if she voted secretly without telling her husband  …  The fear of course, if the weak-minded people takes this opinion as an excuse to control and threat their wives by divorce … I wish that Dr. Tabtabai – who fought to not give women their political rights – issued a Fatwa that forbid and ban selling and buying votes; thereafter lets see how many candidates and voters would listen to him.
Inspired by the World Cup 2006, which will start very soon, Amal, the Palestinian cartoonist living in the Diaspora at Lebanon published one of her cartoons, which is self-explanatory:
Along the same lines of World Cup fever, Saad writes about the TV broadcasting Exclusivity and the poor people who can’t afford it. He writes:
Ending with blogging itself, Mohammed writes about freedom in blogging and what should govern what bloggers write. Mohammed writes:


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Argentina: Annoyed by Ratzinger’s words in Auschwitz · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bilingual Argentine blogger Claudia Mansilla is critical of Pope Benedict XVI's comment about the Holocaust while in Auschwitz.


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Armenia, Azerbaijan: Back to Talks · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis writes that Armenia and Azerbaijan are set to return to the negotiating table to discuss the exact same peace deal that was rejected last time. Garbis says the deal should be changed though and allow for an immediate referendum in Nagorno Karabakh on the territory's status.


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Bahamas: Censorship · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“I believe that the time has come to admit that the kind of legislation that permits a body of non-elected, faceless individuals to decide what the Bahamian citizen should be able to see is fundamentally obsolete,” writes Nicolette Bethel in an article questioning the usefulness of the Bahamas Plays and Films Control Board, the organisation behind the banning of the film “Brokeback Mountain”.


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Bermuda: Lunch for Democracy protest · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Christian Dunleavy checks in on the Lunch for Democracy demonstration which took place today in Bermuda in protest against the government's poor handling of, and failure to pass, a bill to amend the country's Human Rights Act to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  He is “pleasantly surprised at the turnout, which was much stronger than I think anyone had expected. I couldn't hear any of the speeches, but I think most people were being respectful but vocal.” In another post, he notes his favourite slogans: “Mandate my ass” and “I'm not gay, my girlfrend is.”


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Bangladesh: Labour, hazardous industries and the market rationale · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shobak: Outsider Asians on Bangladesh and the shipbreaking industry. “In 1992, The Economist revealed a memo written by the World Bank's former chief economist Lawrence Summers. The memo discussed the economic rationale for “encouraging more migration of dirty industries” to Less Developed Countries (LDC)”


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Barbados: Best blog day for BLP · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

On June 1 the Barbados Labour Party was proud to announce that their new blog attracted “150 odd visitors”, making it their “best blog day”.  In the same post they revealed their plans for hosting “a live comment session with the Prime Minister in the not too distant future. That should also be an excellent event and a first for Blogging in the Caribbean.”


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Bermuda: Sexual orientation amendment redux · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

More on the recent defeat of a critical amendment to Bermuda's Human Rights Act from the Limey, who is reminded by a reader that “the general hostility of members of the PLP to including sexual orientation in the Human Rights Act is at odds with the party’s own submission to the Bermuda Independence Commission.” Christian Dunleavy also questions the timing of the tabling of the bill — “Renee Webb's amendment was pitched right before a highly anticipated early-ish election” — and the handling of the situation by Ms. Webb herself.


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Bolivia: Evo and America · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both Jim Shultz and Boli-Nica are doubtful of Evo Morales’ most recent claim that the US is trying to assassinate him, or as Shultz puts it: “I also doubt Pat Robertson has gone freelance.” Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas, however, notes “yet another paradox of Evo's government: The administration has accused the US of conspiring to assassinate Evo and at the same time have asked to renew the ATPDEA (Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act).” And to compound the contradictions, Eduardo Avila says that Morales has accepted former US president, Bill Clinton's invitation to attend the Call to Action summit to take place September in New York.


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Cameroon: Dual Citizenship · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Scribbles from the Den discusses the issue of dual citizenship in Cameroon and asks “Can Cameroon – a country which proudly celebrates its newfound HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) status – afford a development policy which shuts out some of its most resourceful and skilled citizens on the spurious claim that their patriotism is questionable because they reside abroad and have taken up foreign nationalities, usually for practical reason”


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Caribbean: Marking the start of the hurricane season · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“What is it about us that loves to celebrate everything?” asks Florida-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp, who uploads a podcast of a poem to mark the June 1 start of the hurricane season. Simon T posts a photo of a perfect Cayman Islands sunset at Flickr, giving it the title “Hurricane Season, Day One” and the caption “. . . . Everything looked just perfect tonight on Seven Mile Beach….lets hope for another 180 sunsets like this one to get us through to 1 December.” Stunner in Jamaica is a little less whimsical, citing NOAA stats and recalling the harshness of the 2005 season.


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Caribbean: Pirate paper · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Jon at Posthegemony posts the final section of his conference paper on “Piracy, Nomadism, and the State,” in which he notes that “privateers were particularly a feature of the sixteenth-century Caribbean, when private seamen such as Drake and Hawkins, though viewed as common criminals by the Spanish, in fact did the work of English state foreign policy more effectively and efficiently than the English navy itself was capable of doing.”