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Barbados: Say no to Passa Passa · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Passa passa” events, which are also causing a stir in Grenada, have arrived in Barbados as well, according to Barbados Free Press, who notes that the story has also been picked up by Russian news service Pravda. “We must congratulate the Royal Barbados Police Force for moving against this bit of Jamaican “culture” that is so at odds with acceptable Bajan behaviour and cultural celebrations,” says Barbados Free Press. “Anyone who has seen one of these fetes up close knows of the violence, illegal drugs, gang sex and general mahem associated with ‘Passa Passa’.”


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Belarus: Last Week’s Review · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about the release of opposition politician Mikhail Marynich. Andrei Khrapavitski reports on protesters in Minsk demanding the release of the former presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin. br23 blog links to pictures and posts a report from a flash mob that gathered in Prague to protest awarding “second-rate Russian pop-singers and anti-Belarusan Russian politicians” with Belarus’ “highest award.” br23 blog also writes on yet another case of slanted coverage on EuroNews’ Russian Service. Tobias Ljungvall reviews last week's political events in Belarus.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Bermuda: Legalize it · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Limey is pleased to see that Bermuda's National Drug Control Minister is backing the partial decriminalisation of marijuana.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Bermuda: Underwater turbine · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Sean is excited at the prospect of an underwater turbine being planned by BELCO, Bermuda's electricity company, which will make use of the Gulf Stream to generate power.


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China: Blogger imprisoned illegally · Global Voices
John Kennedy

“Documentary maker and journalist Hao Wu has been jailed in China without charge and is – according to Chinese law – held illegally in detention. A petition for his release has been set up here,” writes heavyweight China Herald blogger Fons Tuinstra.

author: John Kennedy


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China: Blogger still imprisoned · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao has been imprisoned without charge for close to two months. With various efforts aiming to secure Wu's release already underway, Migratory Fool blogger suggests how to kick it up a notch in a comment on the latest post of Wu's sister Nina's blog:
“I have an idea. Could you write a personal letter (email) to Bill Gates? He will host a dinner for [Chinese] President Hu [Jintao] on Tuesday, which incidently is your brother's birthday. It's a long shot, but probably worth trying and Mr.Gates is a very decent person.”


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China: Correspondents receive Pulitzer · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Lian Yue's Eighth Continent blogger makes mention of New York Times correspondents Jim Yardley and Joseph Kahn who, as announced Monday, have been awarded a Pulitzer prize for their recent series Rule by Law.


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China: Microsoft in collusion · Global Voices
John Kennedy

When Chinese president Hu Jintao stops over for dinner at Bill Gates’ house and Microsoft centers research in Beijing, bloggers start to wonder:
“Bill Gates, Jerry Yang, Eric Schmidt and the other executives should be challenging repressive regimes,” says Jeff Chester from Digital Destiny, “by refusing to operate in countries where search is censored and information about dissenters has to be turned over to authorities. But these companies see the digital future and it’s about targeted ads—along with new forms of commercial and political surveillance.”


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China: Presidential image · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Richard at The Peking Duck contrasts Chinese president Hu Jintao's diplomatic savvy outside the country with his track record back home in Two Chinas:
“Should we admire Hu Jintao as the Bismarck or Metternich of his time, using political skill to achieve enviable results? Or should we laugh at him for being utterly impotent to effect any meaningful change in the country over which he allegedly rules? If he is so utterly incapable of halting corruption, of freeing the innocent, of enforcing the law, of imprisoning unabashed scoundrel and murderers, why does he even live in China?”


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China: Presidential responsibility · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Lisa at The Paper Tiger posts on the lack of progress in imprisoned blogger Hao Wu's case and shifts her gaze towards Chinese president Hu Jintao:
“President Hu will be visiting the United States from April 18th through the 21st. Originally the hope was that he would consider releasing Wu Hao as a gesture of good-will in advance of that visit. Obviously this hasn't happened. Whether this is because Hao's detention is especially sensitive or because it simply hasn't been brought to Hu Jintao's attention is impossible to say. But now is the time to try and get some publicity for Hao.”


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Comoros: History & politics · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Passion of the Present has a commentary and some historical background on the Island of the Comoros with a roundup selection on the elections from the mainstream media.

author: Sokari Ekine


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Cuba: Festival of Poor Cinema · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Malmi announces (es) the 4th International Festival of Poor Cinema, which takes place in Gibara, Cuba, from April 17-23, and discusses the festival's background and philosophy.  “Those new technologies,” writes Malmi, “that widen the gap between rich and poor, when applied to the world of the image, allow for films to be produced on smaller budgets and have become a guarantee of the survival of cinema in countries which are underdeveloped or which exist on the margins of the lucrative cinema monopoly: this is the thesis of the organizers of this festival.”


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DRC: Building the Demosphere · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Blogger Tony Katombe from Le Blog du Congolais  invites (FR)  readers to sign up for the Demosphere, ” a network of sites, blogs and emails of activists and militants involved with the struggle for democracy in countries under dictatorship.” Last week, Katombe and the Demosphere were the subject of a Europe 1  online article and podcast,  writes Katombe.  [The date to click for the podcast is 4/14/o6.]

author: Alice Backer


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DRC: More UDPS Revelations · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Spokesman Valentin Mubake was on Congolese TV again. Blogger Tony Katombe explains  (FR) that Mubake unveiled attempts by electoral commission head Rev. Malu-Malu to act as a demographer by deflating population numbers in regions where UDPS is popular.  In Katombe's words, Mubake also charged that international community officials in the DRC  “are involved with illicit business in the mining industry” and hence “would not for anything in the world like to see the DRC stabilize.” Mubake promised to produce evidence if necessary.


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Egypt: Church Attacks · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Jar Elkamar wrote an eye witness account of one of the last Friday church attacks in Egypt. Elijah translated it here.
Also of interest is this opinion by a Christian Egyptian who said that the attacks do not represent Islam and warning about using it as an excuse to crush the Muslim Brotherhood.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Ethiopia: concert · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African music blog, Benn loxo du taccu reports on an Ethiopian concert he attended last week.  Great music and video clips of an amazing sax solo by  Getatchew Mekuria – I have already played it half a dozen times.


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Ethiopia: US State Dept policy · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Redeem Ethiopia wonders what the US state dept is up to referring to a recent speech by the US Charge d’ Affairs in which she expressed a wish for Meles’ government to release prisoners rather than “calling for the release“….”By going on the record to state that the courts should decide the issue [quickly or not], she is saying that the U.S. administration washes its hands off the same individuals that Amnesty International calls prisoners of conscious.”


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Hungary: Export Coffins · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu writes about high demand for Hungarian coffin in Western Europe.


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Hungary, Poland, Slovenia: Easter Traditions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As the Warsaw Crow Flies, Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar and The Glory of Carniola describe Easter traditions in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia.


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Hungary: Ramil Safarov Sentenced To Life · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside.hu reviews the coverage of sentencing to life of an Azeri army officer who killed his Armenian colleague while on the NATO's Partnership for Peace training program in Budapest.


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India: Delhi and Mumbai for the stomach · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

While comparisons between Delhi and Mumbai tend to get rather emotional, Dhoomketu takes a grastronomic look at the cities and rates them on the basis of the food and cuisine they offer.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: News and Adverts · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Adverts disgused as news seem to run on headline tickers. I don't know what's worse – that companies resort to such advertising, or that media organisations need money that bad. Youth Curry has more.


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Iran: Underground Life! · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Shiva (Persian), Iran based blogger, talks about underground life in Tehran's rich neighbourhood. She says in Iran you have no right to have disco but underground parties is a common thing in rich part of Tehran where  young people take drugs and get involved in wild sex.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: World Have Your Say · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

A couple of Iranian bloggers participated in BBC's “World Have Your Say“” discussion about nuclear crisis. Several Iranian joined this discussion and shared their opinion by sending email or by giving phone calls.


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Lesotho: technology and democracy · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Sotho writes on democracy and technology and asks “Imagine Steve Biko blogging”?.
Would we have been indifferent? Judging by the number of people who frequent popular blogs, I doubt it. More of us would have listened more intently. And perhaps more of us would have done something.


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Mexico: “The Wild Bunch” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Latin America On Screen has been resurrected with a fresh review of Sam Peckinpah's “The Wild Bunch”.

author: David Sasaki


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Mongolia: HIV · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on Mongolia's 18th and 19th confirmed cases of HIV and the steps being taken in response.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Mongolia: Protests & Stability Agreement · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst has an update on the ongoing protests in Mongolia.


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Mongolia: Wikipedia Wars · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Guido Verboom covers a war of words on Wikipedia over entries for Mongolian politicians.


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Morocco: Podcasting in Morocco · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Yesterday was the first official meeting to launch youth podcasting in Morocco. The goal is to introduce young Moroccans to a new form of self-expression and to give them a site on which to post their podcasts. Although the project was orginally launched by a group of Americans living in Morocco, the goal is to turn the project over to Moroccan control as soon as possible, Mary said.


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Nepal: Dissent and Blogs in Nepal · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Photographs of dissent and protest at United We Blog! and Online Journalism Review covers Dinesh Wagle's talk at UCLA.


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Nigeria: Extended family system · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Naijablog believes that the West can learn much from the African/Nigerian “extended” family system …”nstead of ego-trauma as in the West, the fluidity of parenting opportunities in the extended family situation means the child does not experience the shift in a negative fashion”


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Peru: Vote Counting Continues · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As the expatriate vote continues to be counted, the margin of Alan Garcia's small second place lead over Lourdes Flores is narrowing. Un lobo en Perú has the latest numbers with over 90% of the votes counted. On Peru Election 2006, Jorge Bazo Escudero says that the influence of the party, Unidad Nacional is dependent on Flores’ win.


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Poland: Jolanta Kwasniewska · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot writes about “Poland’s answer to Martha Stewart”: former first lady Jolanta Kwasniewska, now “a fashion and lifestyle guru.”


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Puerto Rico: Schools that blog · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Sheri offers an overview (es) of schools in Puerto Rico that are using blogs.


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Russia: Funding to Hamas · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert reports that Russia is planning to provide financial aid to Hamas: “For the last few years, much of Russia’s foreign policy has been a two step process: 1)  See what the US is doing. 2)  Do the opposite.”


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Russia: Komsomol · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory writes about Komsomol and its influence on today's political youth movements in Russia.


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Russia: LJ/ZheZhe · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sergey Belyakov of Travel Russia! (formerly known as RUBLog) posts a note on the Russian LiveJournal world: ZheZhe, as it is known in Russian, is currently 274,763 users strong.


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Russia: Moscow’s VIP World · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare.com takes a look at Moscow's VIP market. Also noted is a special Orthodox Easter feature for cell phones.


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Russia: Sexist Beer Ad and Subway Laws · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Megan Case takes a picture of a sexist beer ad in a St. Petersburg subway train – and gets fined for doing it. Konstantin Dlutskiy of Russian Marketing Blog comments on this ad.


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Serbia & Montenegro: Posters of War Criminals · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eric Gordy of East Ethnia writes how two Danish artists have responded to the neofascist posters supporting war criminal Ratko Mladic in Belgrade. He also replies with dignity and sarcasm to an abusive anonymous commenter. Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic has received a mock poster of another war criminal, Radovan Karadzic, “pondering his choices” on a game show called “Who Wants to Be a Prisonaire?” Balkan Ghost also announces a conference on the lessons of the Milosevic trial to be held in Ireland on April 29-30.


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Sri Lanka: Run-up to Geneva II · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Even as the second round of negotiations are underway at Geneva, Moju examines the recent spate of violence and wonders if Geneva II could have had a worse start.


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Sustainable architecture · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Architecture and Design writes  on the “13 Principles of Sustainable Architecture” which fall under three categories “Small is beautiful”.  “Heat with the sun. “Keep your cool”..  he writes “My wife and I (and our two dogs) have happily lived in a forty foot bus for the last four years. The key to this is efficient use of space, good organization, and keeping possessions to a manageable level. We do look forward to spreading out some in the passive solar, earthbag home we are building.


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Ukraine: An Average Ukrainian’s View On Yulia Tymoshenko’s Victory · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stefan of Dykun quotes a message from Oksana Kolodnytska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian school teacher from Pidhajtsi, on why Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc has gotten so many votes in the March 26 parliamentary election.


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Ukraine: Kyiv and Ukrainian Political Battles · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes comments on political battles in Ukraine and in its capital, Kyiv.


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Ukraine: Traffic Police · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Petro Rondiak of Petro's Jotter writes about how he almost ended up bribing a traffic policeman during a family trip from Kyiv to Odesa.


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Voices from Zimbabwe and the Great Lakes · Global Voices
Zimpundit

This is Zimbabwe is involved in a battle of semantics with Eddie cross after the former published this post which questioned some of the numbers put forth by the latter in this post  after the MDC congress in Harare.  Said Eddie Cross in response to the criticism,
We are well aware of the fact that if we are to be taken seriously as an alternative government in waiting, that events like the Congress must be well run and managed. I think we demonstrated that to all who were there and in addition, we again demonstrated that we do have real structures in all parts of Zimbabwe. Stronger in some parts than others, but there are no “no go” areas in Zimbabwe as far as the MDC is concerned.
But This is Zimbabwe still wants to know,
why did only 5000 people vote if 15,000 were duly accredited delegates?
Zimpundit announces the forthcoming debut of Zimbabwe's “first super blog,” Enough is Enough.  Modelled loosely on Global Voices Online, Enough is Enough is designed to act as a blog aggregator, an information exchange for concerned Zimbabweans within the country, and a “bridge blog” to carry the news in that country (now completely devoid of an independent press) to the outside world.
Harare Diary blogs about “pythons, politics, and prostitutes.” It's worth a read; funny yet deeply incriminating.
Sahara Sarah writes about her move to Lubumbashi where she arrives and feels like she's in,
…a different country but can't put my finger on why I feel this way. The temperature is nice – in the upper 70s and lower 80s. The city has an open feel to it and lacks the grit and dirt that defines Kinshasa.
And in many ways, this is a different country. It's definitely tried to be, with successionist attempts that were actually supported by Belgium troops right after independence (later US and european troops were sent to quell a rebellion attempt). Now there is still the issue that the vast mineral wealth of Katanga province is perceived as being channeled to Kinshasa.
Mike of Hacktivate shares some of the discussions he has been having on Malawi's ITMalawi mailing list.
At the end of his time in Rwanda and on the verge of seeing the project he has been working on, Village Phones come to fruition, George Conard has a moving post here.  In it he describes his unmasked emotion when he watched the movie Shooting Dogs
It would be a difficult film to watch under any circumstances, but seeing it here, in Rwanda, on the anniversary of the genocide, among people (both expats and Rwandan nationals) who live here was particularly intense – sufficiently so that I don't think I've got the word chops to describe the feeling. We're all here, in Rwanda, with genocide survivors sitting next to us. This wasn't some documentary about something terrible that happened to someone sometime in a place we've never been; it happened a few kilometers down the road, to the guy sitting next to me, and to his family and friends that didn't survive….
…I have friends who are extremely informed and passionate about human rights and development and stopping future atrocities who have never lived outside the US, and a lot of the time they do get it. I also have friends who often can't deal with some of the horrors in the world; they can't watch the movies and can't read the books and sometimes can't even talk about it in casual conversation – it's just too much for them to handle. And that's probably OK; it's exceptionally unfortunate, but it's OK.
When it's not OK is when people move from “I can't think about this” to “it's OK for us to ignore things like this”, and it's a very subtle line. Last night the introduction to the film was given by a man named Bonaventure who survived the genocide in 1994. He talked about shared responsibility and how that rightly starts with Rwandans but extends to the rest of the planet as well – to the UN, the US, Belgium, France, and everyone else who could have stopped the killing but didn't. It's sometimes easy to play the hindsight game – although in this case, from what I know, saying that we could have stopped the genocide is a little more than just hindsight but was, in fact, painfully feasible – but the underlying point is absolutely essential: we must recognize and avow that the wholesale slaughter of human beings based on their ethnic identity is fundamentally inhuman and must not be allowed.
That means calling bullshit when we hear “it's an internal matter for that country to handle” or “we don't have a national interest there”. It means calling bullshit when massacred Africans are ignored but Europeans being slaughtered get air support and a massive EU response. And it means calling bullshit when we start changing the rules of the game by saying that, “well, the 1948 Genocide Convention doesn't really require action if we know genocide is taking place… it only allows us to take action.”
Degstar is frustrated at his company's new policy for employee internet access.
Jay rants after the recent launch of Dunhill Cigarettes in Uganda,
Personally I hope the brand does not gain any popularity, but probably not for the reasons you think.
I am pissed off that they have the audacity to introduce other brands to Uganda after shafting us and closing down the manufacturing plant in Jinja. They send all the employment to Kenya and they still want our dimes.
You might wonder why I am not going on about the grand conspiracy to have tobacco kill off the African through increased cigarette production in Africa after deep slumps in sales in other parts of the world. Or how cigarette smoking is bad for the health etc.
First, I won’t be telling anybody anything new. Second, seeing how I have been smoking for 11years it wouldn’t seat right with me. So I am looking at this purely as a smoker and a pissed off Ugandan one at that.
For all its sins BAT Uganda (BATU) was until last year putting a paycheck in the hands of hundreds of Ugandans employed at its cigarette manufacturing plant In Jinja. They were also paying the Uganda Revenue Authority a hefty paycheck after selling said cigarettes. But last year they did some restructuring and shut down the Jinja plant and decided that it made better economic sense to produce all the cigarettes for the Ugandan market in Kenya (all that is left here is a leaf processing plant and administrators). Obviously many jobs were lost and the shillings paid to the national coffers are less .

author: Zimpundit


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Zimbabwe: New blog · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Enough is Enough is a new group blog from Zimbabwe.  Writers include Zimpundit and the site is designed to enable you  ”  to find a wealth of information in different multimedia formats from a variety of vantage points including other Zimbloggers, observers, and Zimbabweans abroad. In Curt's words, “Enough is Enough is designed to act as a blog aggregator, an information exchange for concerned Zimbabweans within the country, and a “bridge blog” to carry the news in that country (now completely devoid of an independent press) to the outside worl


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Argentina: Soccer and Economics · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In a fascinating analysis of football and economics, Asad Yawar thinks both spheres will perform strong in 2006.
“But the playing philosophy of the 2006 selection is befitting of a country that has produced the archetypally modernist literature of Borges, the endlessly innovative music of Soda Stereo, the sensual eroticism of the tango and the Buenos Aires institution of the telos or “love hotel,” frequented by amorous couples who cannot wait for night to express their passion: eclectic, improvisational, impulsive and irresistibly sexy.”


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Armenia: AUA · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Nessuna writes that the benefits of getting an American University of Armenia education go far beyond just improving one's English.


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Belarus: Newspaper Faces Shutdown · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Nasha Niva – “the last independent paper” – is about to be shut down, according to br23 blog and TOL's Belarus Blog. “Department of ideology wants to close it down because the editor-in-chief… was in jail for 10 days. That’s the reason they give for wanting to close their offices. Let me remind you, the editor-in-chief Andrej Dynko was detained at a bus stop on the October square on March 21st, when he tried to bring some food to the protesters on the square […],” writes br23 blog.


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Belarus & Russia: Traffic Police Stories  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Due to certain unprofessionalism and corruption in their ranks, traffic police feature prominently in jokes and contemporary urban folklore of the former Soviet states. Below are three actual stories and reactions to them, posted in LiveJournal this month (translated from Russian).
***
Minsk, Belarus (April 6, 2006) – This story and one of the many comments to it highlight the mood of the traffic police in the days of the protest against the rigged presidential election. Black ribbons (on car antennas, etc.) as a symbol of mourning were popular around the time of Aleksandr Lukashenko's inauguration; blue balloons (and other things blue) distinguished the supporters of the opposition:
sim_by: Yesterday, I was stopped by traffic cops. They, as usual, asked to see my ID. Checked it. All was okay. Then one of them asked:
– What are these black ribbons?
– Just ribbons, nothing special…
At this point, one of the cops began to touch the ribbons – but he wasn't tearing them down.
– Has someone died or what?
– Actually, no, not yet…
– So what's the matter?
– Well, there are a few things in the country…
– The President, isn't it?
– Well, perhaps the president, yes…
– Do you have your first aid kit?
– Yes!
– A fire extinguisher?
– Yes!
– Show it!
I showed it. The cop spent a long time checking expiration dates, examined the fire extinguisher carefully, the way you examine a $100 bill at the currency exchange booth. But everything was in order. He was in dismay:
– Well, maybe you should still take the ribbons down?
– What for? There's nothing about it in the rules.
The cop was totally upset by then and told me: “Go!” :)
[…]
urban_nite: On March 25, we were returning from Yanka Kupala park, walking past the former exhibition center. We saw a traffic cop stop a car that had a blue balloon on each side. A guy got out of the car, the cop began to check his papers.
And suddenly the crowd started to chant: “Let him go!”
After some hesitation, the cop smiled and let the guy go.
***
Minsk, Belarus (April 9, 2006) – This story and a fragment of one comment were posted shortly after Aleksandr Lukashenko's inauguration and do reflect some bitterness and disappointment. The white-red-white flag of Belarus mentioned in the original post has been outlawed by Aleksandr Lukashenko and replaced with the Soviet-time flag.
belnetmon: My dad has told me this. He was walking back home from the garage when he saw a decently dressed man who was obviously having a heart attack. They called an ambulance, tried to get a few police cars to stop, but the cops were just speeding up and driving off very quickly!!!! This is how it is.
The ambulance, of course, arrived after 4o minutes or so, as usual.
Conclusion: always carry a small white-red-white flag with you. In extreme cases it'll help you stop a police car. Because the do not seem capable of reacting to any other problems of the citizens :(
[…]
muthafunk: […] There're thousands of cases like this… I think everyone has seen or heard about something like this
This is an indicator of how kind and compassionate the wonderful Belarusian people are… people have been dumbed down so much that they can't even call an ambulance when someone's dying nearby – as always, they are thinking – “someone must've called an ambulance already,” or “let someone else do it, there're so many people around…”
How can one count on the participation of the majority in protest rallies – or at least count on their sympathy? With each newscast, there are fewer and fewer normal people in this country… soon there'll be only one thing to do for a little group of those who haven't been zombified yet – to manage to get out of here in time
***
Moscow, Russia (April 14, 2006) – This story is by Marina Litvinovich, a Russian political activist and PR specialist; editor of PravdaBeslana.ru (The Truth of Beslan, RUS); aide to world chess champion turned politician Garry Kasparov. Valeriy Panyushkin is a Russian journalist who refuses to pay bribes to traffic police because one such bribe made it possible for the terrorists to reach and seize the school in Beslan  in 2004.
abstract2001: As you already know, I don't bribe traffic policemen out of principle. So. A week ago they took away my license because I turned around 30 meters before the U-turn sign. I went to GIBDD [traffic police department], they looked at my papers and sent me to a judge at Meshchansky Court. The hearing had to take place today. I arrived at the court and learned that the hearing can't take place because the court's paperwork department didn't have my case. And the district police department didn't have it, either. I was forced to go to GIBDD again, to find my case. There, I was told that my case had been returned from the court because of incorrect paperwork (GIBDD's fault). The hearing has been re-sceduled for the end of April. After the hearing, I – most likely – will be ordered to pay a fine, which I'll have to pay at Sberbank (and pay the tax, too) and then I'll have to take the receipt to GIBDD. Here's the route we've got: GIBDD-court-GIBDD-court-Sberbank-GIBDD.
Now I understand why people don't want to stop “solving the problem on the spot”… ;-(((
wsend: My license was taken away a year ago, I also don't pay at the spot out of principle. I used to go to the court and GAI [old abbreviation for traffic police, same as GIBDD] as if I worked there; the judge had made a mistake, there were appeals and new hearings, and my brother had to represent me because I had to leave. The court ordered to have my license returned, I don't even have to pay the fine. But GAI wouldn't give the license back until I return my temporary license to them, and my brother doesn't want to do it, out of principle ))
So my battle with GAI isn't over yet. I'm writing this because if they decide to take my license away again or issue a ticket, I'm not gonna pay them on the spot, even though I know very well how much easier it would be to solve the problem this way.
youngmeteor: I know one person who doesn't pay GAI – Litvinovich. I know two more, but not in person – Panyushkin and his wife. You'll be the third one. This is cool.
Me, I value my pedestrian status a lot. If I dare exchange it for the wheels, I won't be “solving the problem on the spot,” either.


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Bermuda: Whale watching · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Limey links to a series of videos featuring humpback whales off Bermuda's south shore.


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Brazil: Lucio Sanfilippo · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Daniela Thompson describes the “extraordinary voice” of famed Brazilian vocalist, Lucio Sanfilippo.


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Caribbean: Towards a West Indian canon · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At the Caribbean Beat Blog, Nicholas Laughlin solicits suggestions for inclusions in a West Indian literary canon.


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Chile: Hybrid Cars · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Alejandra Noemi writes on El Rancahuaso, a citizen journalism site, that autos híbridos, or hybrid cars, have already hit the streets of Chile (ES).


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China: Beijing’s USA strategy · Global Voices
John Kennedy

China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter starts off a series of posts this week looking at the Chinese government's presence abroad with ‘China Spins a Tale of Two Washingtons‘.
“In preparation for Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States, his propaganda meisters have been playing up Beijing's notion of dramatic differences between America's two Washingtons: the capital district, where the world's most powerful man, US President George Bush, lives and works, and the Pacific Northwest state that is home to the world's wealthiest man, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, with whom Hu will meet before his White House summit with Bush,” the blogger begins.


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China: Blogger suggests agenda · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The Sun Bin blogger raises two issues he expects to see addressed during Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to the United States this week: plans for Iran and Tibetan independence:
“Dalai [Lama] is showing to Hu that he can command all the Tibetan separatists (I guess I can use this term now as Dalai clarified his objective) outside, or is taking a challenge from the negotiator. If this is the case, he is bold, brave and confident. This also explains the non-coincidental visit of Dalai himself, who follows Hu's footsteps to the hotspots. Being able to command the majority is something, being able to command every faction, at every instance is really something. He might have to do it a couple more times.”


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China: Blogger’s Congressional support · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao is a legal permanent resident of the United States. Posted today on his sister Nina's website is a letter sent by Wu's Congressman Jim Gerlach to China's ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong.
“I would greatly appreciate if you would inform me as to the reason(s) Mr. Wu is being detained and what your government's intentions are relative to a criminal prosecution or his release,” writes the Republican representative for Pennsylvania state's 6th district.


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China: Imprisoned blogger · Global Voices
John Kennedy

April 18 is illegally-detained documentarian and Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao's birthday and 56th day in prison. An English translation from the blog of Wu's sister Nina gives us an idea of how his disappearance is affecting the family:
“Everyone believes he will be out soon, which is why previously they had still shouted noisily: ‘After Haozi gets out we'll have a party! Must give him a good ass-kicking.’ Although later they no longer mentioned the matter of the party, they're still making plans for his life ‘post-detention’. A few friends even sent over messages about job applications, hoping Haozi, after being freed, will be able to immediately use the busyness of work to temporarily forget the shadow of those times. Now, the deadlines for those applications have passed.”


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China: President’s dictator rank · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Chinese president Hu Jintao “falls to 6th place as world's worst dictator,” reports the Adrift in a sea of phlegm blogger.


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China: Unconstitutional arrests · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Richard from The Peking Duck writes with a link and a post on two Chinese journalists arrested within the last year who according to Chinese law are being held illegally.
“Hao Wu's sister, blogging about her helplessness in the face of her brother's disappearance into the black hole of Chinese justice, reminds us of how human a problem this is, how there are real people, real lives at stake,” he writes.


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China: Yahoo! and Google · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Asiapundit‘s myrick gives us an update yesterday on detained Chinese blogger Wu Hao's situation: “With the initial burst of reporting and support having failed to secure his release, [Global Voices] has launched a petition to directly appeal to President Hu Jintao,” and today a clarification on any possible mischaracterization of the search engines Yahoo! and Google, whose restricted Chinese-language service have brought accusations of censorship: “Essentially, Google is still providing uncensored search results in China while AOL now is buying Chinese content from a state-linked media group to broadcast outside of China.”


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DRC: HIV/AIDS · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Adventures of a Retired Armchair Traveler points to two reports on changes in the church's approach to HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The bad news is couples wanting to get married must be first be tested for HIV. The good news is that a netword of religious groups have come up with a new strategy towards HIV/AIDS..”safer practices, available medications, voluntary counseling and testing and empowerment through education…”


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Ethiopia: Growing blogosphere · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

ET Weichegud!ET Politics comments on the “the mushrooming ETblogverse.” and theorizes why more Ethiopians in Ethiopia are entering the blogosphere and provides an excellent review of the blogs.


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Ethiopia: Opposition leaders · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Carpe Diem Ethiopia comments on the government's  (EPRDF)  announcement that opposition leaders will be charged with genocide and he wonders how does”one defend against the charge of genocide”.


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Guyana: History without mercy · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

MediaCritic links to a “brutal historical account of Guyana”. An excerpt: “The present-day Republic of Guyana is an insignificant remnant of the old British Empire, the only possession Britain ever held on the mainland of South America, uneasily resting between Venezuela and Brazil and adjoining two other fragments of European colonial empires. . . .  Guyana has no great economic or strategic value.”


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Hungary: History Book Reviewed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Doug Merrill of A Fistful of Euros reviews the English-language edition of Paul Lendvai's The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat.


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India: Actors and Dams · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Narmada Bachao Andolan finds more support in the celebrity crowd. Dateline Bombay has more on the actor Amir Khan lending his voice to the cause of those displaced by the dam.


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India: Agriculture and Technology · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Clean Slate on a project called Aaqua by IIT Powai that functions as a user/expert exchange targeted at the Indian agricultural community.


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Iran’s Nuclear Crisis, Persian Gulf Islands and Funds for Palestine  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Permanent members of UN Security Council and Germany have come together to discuss their common action against Iran and the so-called “nuclear crisis” is a very hot issue in the Iranian media and blogs.
Jadi  (Persian) writes about nuclear energy and why he is against it:
“I as a democrat, environmentalist and a pro sustainable development am against nuclear energy. I think Iran’s problem is not energy  but industrial undevelopment. If Iran wants electricity she must improve present installations and not to buy second Chernobyl….I hate wasting oil money without asking me…”
There are several comments left on Jedi's post, in Persian, expressing different point of views. Hassan who left a comment is in favour of nuclear weapon and says we are living in a wild world and we need to have them to defend ourselves. He reminds us that Afghanistan was a wounded country after 30 years war and Iraq was disarmed. He adds they were defenceless and then they were attacked.
Saba in another comment says Iran is a potentially rich country but drugs, unemployment and prostitution are everywhere. These slogans (nuclear right) are there to distract us.
Foad a blogger says in his comment “My absolute right is bread ,freedom, happiness and sex..; these minor things and not big issues like nuclear energy.”
There is a group of Iranian bloggers which has changed their names to express two issues (Persian):
1-They ask government to be tough on Arab countries that are in dispute with Iran regarding three small islands in Persian Gulf.
2-They also ask government to resist against western pressure concerning nuclear issue.
According to news reports, Iran will contribute 50 million dollars to Palestinian authority. Hojreh, a cleric blogger, says (Persian) he want his share, as an Iranian citizen, of this money. He adds he is really disgusted when Palestinian groups did not condemn the bombing of Shiite mosques in Iraq.


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Jamaica: Homophobia and defensiveness · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Francis Wade offers a thoughtful response to TIME magazine's designating Jamaica “the most homophobic place on earth”. “We sound like some Chinese or Cubans when we argue that human rights issues are an internal matter, and that any outside comments are just “interference in our internal matters,” he says. “We sound like some Iranians, Israelis, or Irish when we use scripture to justify prejudice, bigotry and hatred in the name of religion, and use fundamentalist beliefs to write laws that oppress minorities.”


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Jamaica: Reggae Falls · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Stunner visits Reggae Falls and partakes of various Jamaican delicacies, including “mannish water”. He posts photos too.


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Kenya: Africa Network Project · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

White African still needs your vote on the “African Network” project – “please email your friends from the ChangeThis website. I’m sitting right around 160 votes and could really use everyones help to get the second half of the votes needed by this Thursday.”


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Kenya: Broadcasting from parliament · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Bankelele reports on the opening of the Kenyan parliament to the media to show the hearing in which members spoke on their colleagues who died in the recent plane crash. He doesnt see why more sessions should not be broadcast to the electorate…”this brief window into Parliament procedures demonstrated again, as on all budget speech days, that it is already possible to broadcast parliamentary hearings – which have been promised numerous times.”


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Kyrgyzstan: A President’s Silence · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand writes that the silence of Kyrgyzstan's president on all the recent troubles in the country hardly inspires confidence.


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Mongolia: Environmental Campaign · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia reports on Mongolia's environmental protection campaign.


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Mongolia: Protests · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst has a few updates on the continuing protests in Mongolia.


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Nepal: Choices and Revolution · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on the choices before Nepal - “Nepali people are in a historical juncture to decide on what they want: constitutional monarchy or a republican Nepal”


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Nepal: Revolution and International Relations · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

More photographs of protest from Nepal at Democracy For Nepal and Nepali Netbook comments on the apparent changing face of the King's diplomacy.


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Nigeria: 3rd term and ethnicity · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Just Thots of a Naijaman discusses the third term issue in ethnic terms.…”With the fight over a fresh third term in office for President Obasanjo gathering momentum, it is becoming evident that oppinions are sharply divided not on the basis of ideology but on the basis of ethnic leaning.”


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Nigeria: Nokia uses indigenous languages · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

CyBlug reports that Nokia are the first telecoms company to introduce the use of Nigerian languages on their phones (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo)


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Russia: Moscow Prepares For Summer · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Snowsquare.com reports on how Moscow prepares for the summer.


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Slovenia: Ljubljana Lists · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael of The Glory of Carniola reviews a number of lists featuring Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.


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Somaliland: Threats from Yemen · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa comments on the possible threat from Yemen on the Horn of African countries and the Red sea eco-system, providing details on both.….”Nevertheless, the self-righteous Yemen continues to unabatedly step on the toes of other states and is presently threatening the interests of the countries in the Horn of Africa region, the interests of the West, and the security of the Allied Forces in the region”


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Sri Lanka: A shrinking world · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

London, Lanka and Drums muses on how technology makes information easy to access and shrinks the world. However somebody  ” pointed out that, when Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh and Hong Kong Phooey were bringing their discoveries back from far flung corners of the globe, the populace felt like the world was shrinking then.


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Taiwan: Hu Jintao unwelcome · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The Taiwanese blogger from Pingya's Bistro gives her account of Chinese president Hu Jintao's meeting with leader of Taiwan's Kuomintang Lien Chan just prior to the Communist leader's visit to the United States:
“Those two people do not represent me, and cannot represent the entire people of Taiwan or of China. No matter what they say, that moving the economy is priority, for me freedom is the priority.
I don't care if I have one million dollars, when I don't have the freedom to speak.
And many people in the world don't have that freedom. Seeing Hu Jintao makes me sad, and if I would have had a chance to shake his hand, I would have avoid at all costs.  Shaking hands with a man that represents the very system of evil, that very system that allows for the curtailment of civil liberties is definitely not my cup of tea.”


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This week in Israel: Passover and a suicide bombing · Global Voices
Lisa N. Goldman

I was planning to write this week's post about how Israelis are observing the Passover holiday, which began last Wednesday night with the festival seder meal, but unfortunately there was a suicide bombing this afternoon in Tel Aviv so I'll start with that, followed by some links to posts about the holiday.
The suicide bombing
I happened to be sitting with a friend in a cafe that was quite near the site of the bombing when it occured, and heard the blast. It was a powerful one and sounded much closer than it actually was.  Since I work as a freelance journalist I ran off to cover the story; my post about what I saw is here. I also had my camera with me and posted a set of photos here.
Stephanie Fried wrote a touching post about the phone call she received from her worried father, who lives in the United States. She was reminded of a unique experience she had during the Gulf War in 1991 (read her post for details), when the phone lines to Israel were congested for days and her parents had no idea whether she and her siblings were safe from the Scud missiles launched at Israel from Iraq.
And I hung up the phone realizing: Wow. Here they go again. A child in Israel. The worry is back. And the memory of that videotape returned and tears sprung to my eyes. What we put them through inadvertently.
Allison Kaplan Sommer was on vacation in Eilat, and hadn't heard about the bombing when she called me this afternoon just to chat. “So what's going on in the real world?” she asked. She posted about her reaction to my news here.
Imshin‘s husband, Bish, works right near the site of the bombing. He took some photos with his cameraphone and Imshin posted them, together with some of her own observations.
Chayyeisarah writes that the only thing she cannot become accustomed to in Israel is the suicide bombings.
I can't get used to thinking about the people who were eating a falafel one minute, and were on their way to the emergency room the next . . . not because of a traffic accident, or a fire, or some other tragic event that may have been preventable but was at worst a case of negligence . . . and not because they were involved in a bad crowd or were unfortunately associated with evil or troubled people . . . but because they happened to be eating a falafel in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there are people who hate us just that much.
Karen Alkalay-Gut, who posts every day almost without fail, writes that it's hard to find the words today. (scroll down to the April 17 entry).
Passover
Jerusalem Gypsy  wrote a typically tongue-in-cheek post about the seder she participated in at the home of Orthodox friends. She decided to bring a rather unorthodox Haggada, and her traditional hosts were not terribly amused. But despite their ill-disguised disapproval, the Gypsy enjoyed herself.
It was noisy and fun there. I brought my hand made matzah to the table and read from my Holistic Haggadah by Dr. Michael Kagan. It had alot of touchy-feely stuff to it. Like “feel the salt water as tears running down your cheeks. Free your inner Mitzrayim (Egypt). In Buddhism attachments are the cause of suffering, in Judaism, they are the cause of enslavement…, etc.” And nearly everyone oohh'd and ahh'd at this new Jewish Renewal funky interpretation of the ancient Haggadah, save for about 3 people who clearly weren't interested in all at any interpretations of the text, but preferred to get down to the meal already.
Chayyeisarah writes that she attended the best seder ever this year, at the home of friends who creatively re-enacted the Exodus from Egypt with their small children.
Chanit, who writes a food blog, has posted several gorgeous recipes for traditional Passover dishes, which must – according to Jewish law – be free of any leavened ingredients, or chametz.  Her recipes – with photos, reminiscences, explanations and commentary – are here, here and here.
Over at the group blog Jewlicious, the contributors decided to mark the holiday that celebrates the ancient story of the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt in a rather unique and touching way. They have written some heart-rending posts about various forms of slavery that still exist today, and explain how you can contribute funds to alleviate the suffering of people who live in bondage in the 21st century. These are the slaves of today, as described on Jewlicious: Boys who are sold into bondage to cocoa bean farmers in Ivory Coast; women who are brought to Israel from the former USSR by the Russian mafia to work as sex slaves (this post includes a clip taken from an Israeli investigative news show that did a segment on white slavery in Israel); and another post (actually a very well-written article) here.
And Ernesto, a Phillipine diplomat who was recently assigned to his country's consulate in Tel Aviv, writes about his joyous anticipation of celebrating his first Easter in Israel at St. Peter's Church in Jaffa.

author: Lisa N. Goldman


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Trinidad & Tobago: Why isn’t modern technology more prevalent? · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Taran Rampersad tries to answer the question: “Why isn't modern technology more prevalent in Trinidad & Tobago.”


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Ukraine: “Yushchenko’ s dilemma..” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes continues to watch Ukraine's seemingly endless coalition-building endeavor.


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Voices of African women – this week · Global Voices
Nish Matenjwa

Fleur writes about the harrowing case of 7 soldiers sentenced to life for rape and crime against humanity for the rape of 119 underage girls in Congo. The government of Congo has also admitted partial responsibility and financially compensated the family of the victims. Fleur says
….it sends an important and strong message! Frankly I am very surprised! They really recognised the gravity of rape. Financial compensation doesn’t erase everything, but it’s good to see that rape and murder are taken very seriously and severely punished. There is hope, after all.
Black Looks posts an update on the Nigerian Gay Bill Update which has now had its first reading in the Senate. Things are far worse now. The Bill, extremely repressive when it was first originated, will now also include other clauses that make will make the safety and work of the gay community, organisations working for LBGT rights and HIV/AIDS organisations that more dangerous. Black Looks writes
The Bill effectively silences the issue of homosexuality in Nigeria and removes all Human Rights of HR defenders, lesbians, gays, bi-bisexuals and transgendered people.
Afrikan Eye has written a long and interesting post on the effect of colonialism on African women. The aim of the post, she says is not lay blame but to ‘share knowledge and information and give us all some historical perspective as we look at our current state of affairs and make plans to mould our future’. She also writes
May we as Africans strive to restore African women to a position of respect and dignity that even exceed that which she enjoyed in the past. For it is only when a nation respects women and treats them with dignity that true development can occur. Women are at the frontlines of humanity as mothers and primary caregivers. Therefore, in nurturing and building them, we are building the whole nation and continent.
Particular bloggers in the Kenyan blogsphere has been on the receiving end of abusive comments and e-mails. In a post entitled ’Violent Writing and Gangsta Writers’where she takes issue with the people who write these comments and e-mails, W.M.has written an excellent post that has received wide support within the Kenyan blogsphere. She writes
Incivility is the blunt weapon of those who have disenfranchised themselves from the society of reasoned discussion. Insults are the pitiful shadows of lyrical expression, and gangsta writing the frustrated and simultaneous love/envy of those who have command over, and pride in, the authoritative arrangement of their own words.
Finally, Ore while going to the pictures to see the film ‘Pride and Prejudice’ writes about the importance ’holding your assumptions lightly’ while Mama JunkYard writes about the 108 Miles she has been taking to and fro work.

author: Nish Matenjwa


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Zimbabwe: Independence · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Enough is Enough writing on the eve of Zimbabwe's  independence day wonders if anyone will be celebrating the day..”In hollow statements Arthur Mutambara and Morgan Tsvangirai, the two leaders of the MDC’s bickering factions issued blurry calls for action from the Zimbabwean people.”


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Zimbabwe: Plea for non-violence · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwe blogger, David Coltart posts an a letter from both factions of the MDC on “a plea for non-violence”.


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Africa: Automotive Design · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Timbuktu Chronicles points to a report by the “African Automotive Design Association” which aims to encourage automotive design in Africa….”Their mission is “…To develop and create a brand new automotive design language, style or identity for Africa”


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Argentina: Meat Freak · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Beef, beef, beef, and beef. Anglophone bloggers in Argentina concentrate on the cow.


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Bangladesh: Military Blogs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

imperfect world 2006 points towards a blog run by the Bangladesh Military Forces.


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Barbados, Cuba: The future of Cuba · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press believes that “Castro’s revolution will die with him”.


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Caribbean, UK: Amerindian exhibit · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At the Caribbean Beat Blog, Tracy Assing posts a short review of the “From the Amazon to the Caribbean” exhibition at the Hornmian Museum in Dulwich, England.


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Caribbean, US: Deportees and crime · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean “says there is no factual basis on which to suggest that criminal deportees from the United States are contributing to the escalating crime situation in the Caribbean”. Francis Wade isn't convinced.


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China: America’s real threat · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Intelligent Being blogger Chen Xuyu says that China, not the Muslim world, is what Bush should most be worried about right now:
“Yes, China is the real threat to America, because the two countries’ approaches to handling affairs are too different; The Bush administration is bent on pushing democracy around the world, while the Chinese are keeping a very professional attitude and manner in consorting with rogue states for energy sources. Moreover, the Chinese seem to be attempting to increase economic exports into America's backyard, Latin America.” [zh]


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China: Detained blogger missed · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Nina, sister of illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao, spent the last few hours of his thirty-fourth birthday unable to access the MSN Spaces blog on which she documents the efforts being made to learn of her brother's whereabouts and secure his release.
“My little brother also has an insatiable sweet-tooth, so I ordered our famous Sichuan sweet dumplings with fermented rice. My little brother was absent, so I had to help him finish this simple birthday meal,” she writes of the birthday celebration she held on Wu Hao's behalf.


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China: Gates hosts Hu · Global Voices
John Kennedy

One reader responds to a post on the MindMatters blog which lists what Bill and Melinda Gates served Chinese president Hu Jintao for dinner Tuesday night by comparing the reception to former American president Nixon's visit to China in 1972, in preparation for which Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had a vast array of seafood plucked from the Yellow Sea.
“Nixon ate a ton and a half of abalone but our president only gets fowl and flounder, prawns and whatnot,” the reader notes. “For one this shows that Americans don't know how to properly play host and don't understand our 5000-year-old civilization's etiquette. Secondly, one can see from this how easygoing our country's leaders are, willing to go to people's homes and eat such informal stuff.” [zh]


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China: Hu dines with Gates · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In ‘A soft leader treats a hard leader to dinner,’ blogger Wu Zuolai posts some photos of Chinese president Hu Jintao's dinner party at Bill Gates’ house yesterday.
“How can we soften something hard?” retorts one reader in the comment box. [zh]


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China: Race for oil · Global Voices
John Kennedy

“[B]y 2020,” writes the China Confidential blogger-reporter, “the world's most populous nation will have to import 70 percent of its oil. Soaring demand for oil is certain to be accompanied by increased competition for secure oil supplies.”
“China's biggest competitor for oil, of course, is the US,” the blogger adds.


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China: The Art of Sublety · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The Sun Bin blogger takes issue with Chinese president Hu Jintao's choice of gift for George W. Bush: Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
“This is the best choice of gift by a Chinese leader. ‘I am not your enemy. I want you to win. I am sure I would be benefited if you choose the best path for yourself and I am not intimidated if you get that right path'…Send a few copies to [Taiwanese president] Mr. Chen Shui Bian as well,” the blogger writes.


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China: U.S. relations analyzed · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The opening editorial for this week's issue of the Chinese-language, internet-based, international politics-analyzing Far & Wide Journal takes a quick look at the diplomatic buildup to Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to the United States this week, past visits of Chinese leaders and Bush's visit last month to India.
“Compared with Deng Xiaoping as well as Jiang Zemin's first visits to the United States, dealing with China-U.S. relations is even more complicated for [current Chinese president] Hu Jintao. While the majority of people's sights will be focused on the issues of trade and the Renminbi, America's policies towards China are in fact still not clear. The U.S. still hasn't figured out how to get along with such a large country still in the process of coming into its own,” writes F&W researcher Lu Nan. [zh]


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China: Yahoo! implicates writer · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Seen on the Chinese Law Prof Blog today is a post on Reporters Without Borders’ announcement of Yahoo!'s role in the persecution and arrest of yet another Chinese internet essayist, Jiang Lijun:
“As in the Shi Tao case, the information was apparently provided by a Hong Kong company subject to Hong Kong law, not a mainland PRC company subject to mainland PRC law (for an analysis of which PRC laws apply in Hong Kong, click here).”


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China’s growth model a challenge to US influence · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Many developing countries are now looking at China's model of state guided growth favourably compared to the US one of minimum intervention.  Indonesian blogger Martin Manurang asks if the success of Chinese economic policies will help reduce American influence in the world.

author: Preetam Rai


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Colombia: The DAS Scandals · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson breaks down the DAS scandals.


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Czech Republic: Players in the Upcoming Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Douglas Arellanes discusses the main candidates’ chances in the upcoming June election in the Czech Republic.


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Diasporas · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ijebuman's Diary points to an interesting article  on the “political importance of  Diasporas” in Migration for Information Source.


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Don’t pay for that orange juice! · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

Le Bao Tuan at Sticky Rice tells us about his English class, and going for a drink, Vietnamese style.

author: Rachel Rawlins


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DRC: Civil Society Criticizes Electoral Process · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Congolese civil society (about 2o organizations) issued an indictment of various national and international institutions involved with the electoral process on Monday, writes  (FR) Tony Katombe at Le Blog du Congolais.   The statement specifically asked the international community to resist  imposing  an electoral process  that might benefit them but harm the Congolese.  The group also recommended that any prolonging of the electoral transition period beyond June 30, 2006 be the result of civil society deliberation.


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DRC: Upcoming UDPS Forum in Belgium · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Opposition party UDPS will hold a forum entitled “Political Crisis in the DRC and UDPS’ Refusal to Participate in the Electoral Process” on May 1 in Liege-Outremeuse, Belgium, writes (FR) UDPS Liege. ( Time and address provided in the post.)


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El Salvador: Easter in Juayúa · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ethel, who describes herself as a tourist in her own country, posts some pictures of Semana Santa from the town of Juayúa.


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Guatemala: Semana Santa · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Chapinadas describes Semana Santa, or Holy Week in Guatemala. Guate360 has a similar post (ES), but in Spanish.


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Honduras: Discovering Local Blogs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Rafael Janania discovers (ES) that he's not the only blogger in Honduras.


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India: Animals and their rights · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Trivial Matters has photographs from an anmial shelter in Mumbai. Stories of dogs and a camel follow.


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India: Sex and the Internet · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Asian Sex Gazette on rape in India, the notion of friendship and a crucial question – “Women in the city question why men often interpret friendly gestures as a sign of promiscuity.
“


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India: The last of the line · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The last Mughal Emperor in India and the final legacy that remains leglected - at Indian Muslims.


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Iran: Yellow cake and nuclear enrichment · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iranianteacher writes about yellow cakes which symbolise Iran's uranium enrichment programme. The blogger says “I really can’t be happy to see the cake. We try to resolve our inferiority complex through some strange bizarre mechanism like bragging about things and covering things up; that’s why we don't even know ourselves… Who is gonna cut the cake? into how many pieces? 70 million? Will every one get his/her own share?”


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Jedi elections. In Singapore? · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

mrbrown emphasises that his most recent podcast does not contain “explicit political content” because that is prohibited during the election period under the Singapore's Election Advertising Regulations. Instead it is about “a galaxy far far away” which happens to contain a complex civilisation holding elections.


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Kazakhstan: Currency Appreciation · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann describes how Kazakhstan carefully manages its currency to avoid appreciation as oil prices rise.


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Kenya: media presentations on Africa · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kikuyumoja’s realm comments on the journal, New African….. “the lasting impression is that they are constantly trying to portray this modern picture of the continent – the focus, it seems, is on showing the rest of the world what’s so new on Africa and how diverse it actually is.”


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Kenya: Sexual Offences Act · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Feminist African Sister is outraged that activists are having to lobby some Kenyan parliamentarians on the passing of the Sexual Offences Act. “Because, in my book the only reason one would think that a life sentence for raping a baby is too harsh and not worth supporting is, because in their warped minds they do not consider it a crime!”


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Kyrgyzstan: Student Attitudes · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

The Golden Road to Samarqand has an informal survey of student attitudes on political issues in Kyrgyzstan.


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Manal – The bold and the beautiful  Moroccan blogger · Global Voices
Farah Kinani

Do you remember Jyllandsposten? The newspaper that published cartoons of the prophet (PBUH)? Representatives of the paper refused to meet with the BBC, CNN or the Danish TV, but agreed to meet Manal!!
Yes, Manal is a student-doctor who blogs and wants to make a difference. Her blog Manal  Carpe Diem (fr) is a very special one with original posts that show authenticity but also boldness. I was curious to know more about her trip to Denmark (fr), so I asked her some questions. Her answers were so simple yet so inspiring that I decided to share this interview with you.
I read in your blog that you went to Denmark to make a difference, tell me more about it..
I went to Denmark to participate in a week of dialogue between Muslim and Danish youth. I wanted to give them an other image about Islam rather than burned flags and embassies, because this is not Islam. Unfortunately, the image conveyed by the media is totally wrong, and I’m happy that I could change some of the prejudices about my religion and I could prove to the Danes that Islam calls for peace and tolerance, calls for respect and freedom not for violence and terrorism. Thanks to God, I could read in the eyes of many of them a lot of amazement and surprise, and I’m sure that they won’t be influenced anymore by the wrong ideas spread about Islam.
Was it a personal initiative ?
Well, the week in Denmark was an initiative taken by Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke , to deepen the relationships between Danes and The Muslim world. The program was a combination of cultural meetings and exchanges of views with politicians, media and opinion makers. There were about 42 young Muslims from different countries, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kenya, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Palestine… The experience was really great, and the Danes showed a real will to mend this big wound that is still bleeding, and to repair this big mistake. Of course, no official apologies have been made, but all of those who were with our group, politicians and the average Joe citizens were sorry about what happened. They were all preaching the freedom of speech but they also realized that publishing such cartoons was a big mistake. I believe that respect should be a rule if we really want to live peacefully.
What about the visit you paid to Jyllandsposten?
One of the most important steps of the week was the visit to Jyllandsposten, the newspaper that published the cartoons. They refused to see the BBC, the CNN, the Danish TV, but they agreed to meet us. It was a good point, even if we had a unilateral dialogue. The media convey some of the truth but not the whole truth. The media didn’t show to the Muslim world that there are some Danes who protested against the publication of the cartoons, and they showed to Danes that Muslims only burned flags and embassies… this is not the whole truth…
Fortunately, they’re some Danes who took some concrete initiatives like creating a website anotherdenmark or inviting some young people to get to know more about the Danish culture and promote dialogue, I believe that misunderstanding is the result of ignorance.
Now, let's try to know more about you. Why do you blog?
My blog is a space where I can express myself freely and spontaneously. It’s a great experience since it allows youto  meet people from different backgrounds. It also gives you the opportunity to talk about many issues and share your opinions with the whole world without censorship and with only “a click”. I don’t like to share my intimate life with the others, I prefer to talk more about my daily life in the hospital or about my different experiences with NGO’s but from time to time I do post about private matters.
What do you think about the Moroccan blogosphere?
I see it as an extraordinary melting pot, exactly the way the Moroccan society is. Every day, we “witness the birth” of more and more , from different backgrounds and fields. Each space is unique and each blog brings a fresh air to the blogosphere. I had the opportunity to meet many bloggers and I was really amazed, some became very close friends…
How do you explain the fact that most of the Moroccan blogs are in French instead of Arabic or Moroccan dialect?
Most of the Moroccan bloggers have a high educational level, there are a lot of university students. The Moroccan universities teach in French, then the majority find it easier to express themselves in this language. One other reason that can explain this fact, is that we blog to transmit a message, and the choice of the language shouldn't really be an issue, it is only a tool! The most important thing is that my readers get my messages..
What do you “hope” from your blogging experience?
Learn more and more, meet new people and enjoy the experience of sharing…
Who reads your blog?
Lots of people (laughing) bloggers and non bloggers. Actually many readers send me e-mails to encourage me and congratulate me for the choice of my subjects, or sometimes to express their disagreement. I know trough the statistics that a lot of visitors come to see me…
—–
Well, I do know that I am a regular visitor of “Carpe Diem”, and she amazes me everyday for the choice of her subjects, and many times, for her boldness. So good luck Manal and thank you.
That's it for today. See you next Wednesday, Inshallah.

author: Farah Kinani


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Manila – blogging conference capital · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

In the Philippines many bloggers are, understandably, excited by not one but two conferences on blogging and the internet taking place in the capital Manila. In one part of town there is the second Philippine Blogging Summit iBlog2. Blogger disini judges it a success: We had more speakers (5 times more than that original 5 in iBlog), 2 separate rooms, and surprisingly, more attendees (a total of more than 200 sign-ups) than the first Philippine Blogging Summit while Clair found it a great experience but too cramped.  And also taking place is Free Expression in Asian Cyberspace: A Conference of Asian Bloggers, Podcasters and online Media – the sessions are being blogged at Inside PCIJ.


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Mexico: Learning Freedom · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Leon Felipe Sanchez introduces the new weblog, Aprender la Libertad (Learning Freedom) (ES), which he is co-authoring with Ariel Vercelli (ES). The blog continues themes from a book by Vercelli with the same name.


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Moldova: High School Physics Class · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova writes about his experience of visiting an “under-attended” high school physics class in Moldova: “Grigore Fyodorovici lamented to me after school about the fact that no boys came, because ‘they're the ones who really need physics.’ Girls don't need physics, he reasoned, because most of them will go into languages or history. Boys aren't as good at learning languages, but they are very good at math and science.”


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Mongolia: Sad Protest News · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Luke Distelhorst has an update on the protests in Mongolia including the very sad news that a protester lit himself on fire.


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Nigeria: plane spotting · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Chippla's Weblog spends some time on historical  “plane spotting” in Nigeria with an overview of the different aircrafts and airlines operating in Nigeria.


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Pakistan: Baisakhi  · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Baisakhi celebrations in Pakistan via Metroblogging Islamabad – “Thousands of Sikh pilgrims from across the world, including India, Britain, Canada, Afghanistan, Germany and Switzerland, arrived early in the morning to participate in the three-day celebrations.”


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Panama: Farmer’s Markets Worldwide Parade · Global Voices
David Sasaki

This coming Sunday I'll be taking pictures of my local farmer's market. You should do the same and submit your photos and posts to the Farmer's Markets Worldwide Parade. Elena Hernandez explains in Spanish. Two bloggers from Venezuela have already signed on.


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Peru, Italy: The Vote Abroad · Global Voices
David Sasaki

As the expatriate vote's influence on the Peruvian elections continues to be discussed, The Latin Americanist says that Italians living in Latin America played a crucial role in Romano Prodi's victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.


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Peru: Nearing 92% of Votes Counted · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Another day, another percentage point of votes counted in Peru. Un Lobo en Peru, contrary to what Andres Oppenheimer says, claims that Ollanta Humala is not compromising his nationalistic rhetoric. Comments start to get heated at Peru Election 2006.


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Peru: The Voice Of Mother Earth · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Un Lobo en Perú explains how even mother earth is getting restless for Peru's final election results. Also noted, the lowest abstention rate in over five decades.


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Rep. of Congo: Campaign to Release Two  Political Prisoners · Global Voices
Alice Backer

At Le Pangolin , Musi Kanda calls  (FR) for a letter faxing drive to President Denis Sassou N'Guesso to demand the release of Christian Mounzéo  and Brice Mackosso, two human rights activists he says are being detained on fake charges.  Mr. Kanda  is outraged by the lack of activism on this issue in the Rep. of Congo and  he provides a form letter, hoping international sympathizers and Congolese diasporans will help.


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Russia: “Russia Lodges Protest with US Over Chechnya Seminar” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As Russia is protesting a 3-hour Jamestown Foundation seminar on North Caucasus that took place April 14, W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile discusses some of Russia's unfulfilled international obligations.


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Russia: Yukos Lawyer Bakhmina Sentenced · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time provides links to the news about Svetlana Bakhmina's sentencing. Bakhmina, 35, used to be a Yukos lawyer and is the mother of two young children. Today, she has received a 7-year prison sentence.


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Singapore politician blog · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

As election fever heightens in Singapore – speculation is becoming intense that an election date will be announced very soon – opposition political activist and blogger Goh Meng Seng gives a rousing post Time For Battle as he announces blog silence for three weeks.


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Slovenia: 10 Tolar Bill · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Isoglossia.com writes about the Slovenian 10 Tolar banknote: “the smallest of Slovenia’s folding money, both in buying power and physical size; like many other nations, Slovenia issues notes with sizes relative to worth. […] At today’s rate of exchange, this note is worth […] $0.051558. Imagine having a nickle bill.”


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Slovenia: Sex Tourists Disappointed · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Michael of The Glory of Carniola compiles quotes about Slovenia from disappointed sex tourists: to them, the country is too quiet and expensive, too well-integrated into the EU.


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South Africa: inter racial adoption · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mzansi Afrika comments on the ethics of inter-racial adoption in South Africa. …”The main reservation I have about inter-racial adoption is that due to circumstances the black children that are adopted end up losing all contact with their own culture and heritage, they speak English and are unable to speak any African languages. I think this must be pretty hard to deal with growing up, and I'm sure that it would affect your sense of identity, and self-image and lead to a lot of painful questioning and soul searching.”


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Sri Lanka: Violence in the University · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Moju on University politics and the violence on campus in Colombo. “At the same time, the sort of violence in which students engage is becoming more and more harmful and has spawned a new culture of violence among youth everywhere.”


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Tajikistan: Mosques & Computers · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

James of neweurasia writes about a foreign donor-funded computer training program to be run by a mosque in Tajikistan and says that if this is not an explicit strategy to bolster moderate Islam, perhaps it should be.


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Thailand’s Senate criticised · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

Does Thailand need a Senate? a particularly well-timed question, given that it's being chosen right now, aired on the Senate Elections post at Bangkok Pundit. One of the country's political scientists thinks the Senate is a farce.


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There’s a new video blog site in Thailand · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

There's a new video blog site in Thailand. In fact it's apparently not just new, it's the first! Called, descriptively, Thailand Video Blogs it is part of the Thai-Blogs.Com group. I found the tattoo festival footage particularly interesting.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Lloyd  Best · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Visual artist Chris Cozier acknowledges the role played in his personal and intellectual development by Trinidadian thinker Lloyd Best.


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Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ethan of Room 12A writes about Yulia Tymoshenko event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce: “Yulia's least attractive quality is her taste for self-pity, which combines easily with her nose for conspiracy. Clearly cognizant that she was addressing a business audience, Yulia went to some lengths to stress that her reputation as a populist determined to complete the process of re-privatization was a creation of mass media enterprises controlled by her political opponents. While I don't doubt that such entities exist, Yulia provided plenty of public utterances to support the allegation during her fore-shortened tenure as prime minister last year.”


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UN Rights Council  · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

EMDHR Writes  reports on the protests by NGOS of the proposed appointment to the UN Rights Council of Jean Ziegler “founder of the “Muammar Khadhafi Human Rights Prize,” as an expert for the UN's new Human Rights Council.  Human Rights actvists presented a letter to the UN stating “said that Mr. Ziegler's current term as UN hunger expert “embodied everything that was discredited about the old Commission on Human Rights:  gross politicization, selectivity, lack of professionalism and lack of credibility.”  Ziegler has been accused of paying little or no attention to regions with actual hunger crises, and instead devoting his attention to polemics against the West, capitalism, the U.S., and Israel.”


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Unbuilding bridges · Global Voices
Rachel Rawlins

There's no bridge, and a lot of troubled water in Malaysia. It's all about the cancellation of Malaysia's plan to build a bridge to Singapore. Jeff Ooi has been following the fallout and also wondering whether the Malaysian press was gagged over the story.


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Venezuela: Opposition to Hold Primaries · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both Oil Wars and Jorge Arena celebrate the decision by opposition group SUMATE to hold primaries to select a candidate to run against Chavez in the upcoming presidential elections. El Espacio de Lubrio, however, has concerns (ES) about an announcement that all votes will be burned immediately after they are counted. “If the CNE did this, wouldn't they be accused of fraud? Can these primaries be seen as trustworthy?”


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Zimbabwe: Collasped Independence · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwean blog, This is Zimbabwe comments on this years Indpendence “celebrations” stating there is nothing to celebrate  with  high inflation,  a collapsed health service and education system and high unemployment.


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A Brief Review of the Blogs in Córdoba · Global Voices
David Sasaki

It seems as if many years have gone by since that first Beer and Blogs meetup in Córdoba on September 4th, 2003, where we able to gather just five people, of which only three had blogs. It was just a few months later that Córdoba Weblogs was founded with the objective of bringing together Cordobeses that have online diaries.
Thanks to the publicity by Jose Luis Orihuela, the project kept gaining followers, and each month there were more bloggers from Córdoba joining the directory.
As time went on, there were many more Beers & Blogs, a group formed to redesign and program a new directory, and t-shirts were also made. Due to a lack of time with the people who were responsible for maintaining the blog, the project lost steam. Now, the idea is to get it going again and integrate Cordosfera and its creator with our team.
In these three years, we've seen a lot of blogs and bloggers pass through. Today, Córdoba Weblogs lists nearly 90 blogs, some of which are no longer online and surely others are still yet to be added. In this coming and going of blogs, we have a few local gems to emphasize: Franco Piccato is a well-known journalist in Córdoba who this year launched Rompecabeza, a blog about digital journalism. In Un periodista dice, Sergio Carreras tries to present his articles in a form more suited for the internet than the printing press, according to his own description. En Español is the name of an interesting project by Matías Bellone, which translates articles of interest for geeks into Spanish (hence the blog title).
Something that has been noted by the majority of those who have been blogging for a long time is that they've lost enthusiasm and the act of creating content has turned into a mere digest of others’ news. Luckily, new people appear and we always have good blogs from Córdoba to read.


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A Myanmar born American soldier in Iraq · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Blogger Sean at Man Actually has a story on a Myanmar born American soldier Ko Wai Phyo Lwin. Lwin died in action in Iraq last year.


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A Seamless Caribbean Network? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

InternetRapide.com, a blog dedicated to telecommunications in the Caribbean says (FR) Digicel, a cell phone company owned by Irishman Denis O'Brien that covers 60% of the Jamaican market,  celebrates its fifth anniversary this week.  The company has expanded to 14 other Caribbean countries since  its inception in 2001 and plans to purchase the Caribbean arm of Bouygues Telecom, a French company, says the blog. Digicel announced plans to tackle wireless internet next.


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Africa: Working initiatives · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ethiopian diasporan blogger, The Concoction looks at some African initiatives which have failed  such as the OAU and Commission for Africa, while ordinary people are taking up their own local initiatives and making them work.


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Argentina: Osvaldo Bayer · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Roberto Bobrow sketches the life of libertarian anarchist, Osvaldo Bayer.


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Armenia: Indian Student Protest · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

An Indian studying in Armenia fell from an open window and died after emergency services took 45 minutes to respond. Armenian police detained other Indian students for questioning and university officials showed little concern for students’ complaints prompting  protests. Onnik Krikorian has extensive coverage and many photos of the protests.


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Armenia: Poor Services · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Christian Garbis adds his thoughts on the death of the Indian student in Yerevan and subsequent protests, saying that the incident underlines the apathy and lack of urgency that are all-too-common in Armenia.


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Bangladesh: Abducted in Dhaka · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Bangladesh may have to explain its human rights record. Shobak on “On April 17th, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee was abducted by armed special forces police officers in Bangladesh.”


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Barbados: Blood ties and general elections · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Reading the Barbados online newspapers in the UK, Neil Benn discovers that his father will be a candidate in the next general election.


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Barbados: Sugar cane industry · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

In GS's humble opinion, Barbados's refusal to abandon its sugar industry is a “smart move”.


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Belarus: Europe’s Involvement · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about the extent of Europe's interest in Belarusian affairs and about countries that offer scholarships to (so far) 20 Belarusian students expelled for political reasons.


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Belarus: No BBC in Belarusian · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

br23 blog reports that there are no plans to launch BBC Service in Belarusian because Douglas Alexander, British minister, thinks the coverage of Belarusian affairs in Russian and Ukrainian is sufficient.


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Botswana: Nata Village blog · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Nata Village is an NGO blog on Nata, a village in Botswana where 37% of the population are HIV+.  “This website is dedicated to the people of Nata who despite enormous losses and challenges still have the courage and determination to fight the ravages of this pandemic.” There are ways of supporting the village via donations.


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Brazil: Free Software Forum · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Andy Oram writes about Brazil's unique IT history and explains what a bunch of free software enthusiasts are doing in Porto Alegre.


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Caribbean: The financial realities of the Cricket World Cup · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Caribbean Cricket Blog links to a Jamaica Observer article on one of the realities of the Caribbean's hosting of the Cricket World Cup next year: host countries are unlikely to recoup the massive investments they've been forced to make.


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Caribbean: The standpipe · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At The Pan Collective, Barbadian blogger Titilayo pays tribute to a Caribbean icon: the standpipe.


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Chile: Newspaper Does Not Give Attribution for Photo · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Leo Prieto says that local newspaper La Estrella de Iquique used one of his Creative Commons-licensed photos without attribution and that he plans on taking legal action. Creative Commons licenses were officially adopted in Chile late last year.


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China: Chinese Wikipedia launched · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Via Virtual China comes news from China Web 2.0 Review of leading Chinese search engine Baidu's own Chinese-language wikipedia-style encyclopedia service.
“Since Wikipedia is blocked in China, we'll see just how creative Baidu writers can actually get,” writes Virtual China‘s Lyn Jeffery, going on to point out that the number of entries are already flowing in by hundreds each hour.


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China: Dusty discussion · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A storm in the Chinese blogsphere this week. Not the heated kind, though—this one's meteorological. A sandstorm has been raging through Beijing and parts of Northern China since April 10. Here are three posts from the last four days:
April 16
DARKS Temporary Base blog
来到西安快两年了
却是在几天前才遇上了沙尘暴
尽管感觉很恶劣
还是如同第一次见到雪那样大惊小怪起来
那天醒来觉得很暗，以为无意中早起了
可是往窗外一看，天居然是土黄色的
于是干脆以此为理由蒙上被子逃掉了早上的课
下午路过寸草不生的足球场
不小心嘴里被吹进少许沙土，好象含了跳跳糖
April 17
Hua Dao's blog
来北京四年了还是第一次看到沙尘暴，天黄黄的，大清早起来，大地被铺上了黄黄的一层衣服，空气中弥漫着呛人的味道，这破地儿…哈哈
April 18
LovLif blog
我不管什么2008，这种天气我已经不指望政府能够两三年里搞定，与其骂来骂去，倒不如静下来做些有用的事。植树节你去植树了没？回答是的，我在这里给你鞠个躬，明年咱们一块。就是现在我也随时奉陪。2008不是我们治沙的理由，如果为了奥运，我情愿天天对着窗口望着尘土飞扬，写些赞美沙尘的文章。
April 19
Luo Buding's blog
我很少看到北京有这样的春天了。今天又是狂风，天虽然是看见蓝色了，可是我很担心这几十吨沙子刮到哪里去了呀……环境污染刻不容缓呀……
Another timely story this week, the New York Times‘ two China correspondents’ winning of this year's Pulitzer prize for international reporting has also seen some blog-time:
Lian Yue's Eighth Continent blog pastes a paragraph from an English-language article on the Pulitzer story but receives only one relevant comment:
Joseph Kahn 刚写一篇文章，引述别人，说胡戈在私下跟小不死聊天时表示，每天应付官员腐败、农民维权已经占去了大部分时间，没有空也没有意愿来跟老美争霸。按他的意思小不死这没看过三国的笨蛋还真信了。
Zhang Rui posts only a short list of the winners and an even shorter statement:
普利策是新闻人的梦想。至少对美国的新闻工作者是这样。


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China: Economic relaxations ahead · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Simon at Simon World looks at two key parts of Chinese president Hu Jintao's economic concession plan announced today in the midst of Hu's visit to the United States.
“Will it magically reduce the trade surplus problem? In the longer term it should and will,” Simon says. “In the short term, no. In the short term, the problem is Americans (especially government and consumers) spending more than they save. That's not the fault of the Chinese.”


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China: Google’s compromises · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Shak at Chinawhite, via Imagethief, gives us a sneak preview of Google in China: The Big Disconnect, a feature story to be published in this coming weekend's New York Times Magazine:
“Brin's team had one more challenge to confront: how to determine which sites to block? The Chinese government wouldn't give them a list. So Google's engineers hit on a high-tech solution. They set up a computer inside China and programmed it to try to access Web sites outside the country, one after another. If a site was blocked by the firewall, it meant the government regarded it as illicit — so it became part of Google's blacklist.”


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China: Prisoners’ organs harvested? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

A report mentioned today on the Chinese Law Prof Blog links Chinese prisons, executions and conveniently-timed organ donations.
“The first comprehensive report on this issue of which I am aware is Human Rights Watch, China: Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China (August 1994). The research behind this report is extremely thorough and it is still worth reading,” writes professor Donald C. Clarke.


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Colombia: Uribe’s Ppponents’ Security Problem · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Adam Isacson explains why President Álvaro Uribe's popularity is based on one single issue.


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Cuba: Alternative radio workshop · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Perspectivas in Movimiento announces (es) the Latin American workshop on “alternative radio in the fight for the emancipation of humanity”, in Holguín, Cuba, from May 4-7.


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Cuba, USA: Hip-hop podcast · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Episode #4 of the New York-produced ((Mi Barrio Radio))  podcast features tracks from hip-hop artists Orishas, Manu Chao and others.


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Diaspora: Mashup and Football · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Soul on Ice posts on a new music trend known as “mash ups” - which he says is nothing new really but a continuation of mix and remix and remixing – some “mash up” links if you are that way inclined. Also a short piece on this weeks Champion League football with Barcelona and Arsenal still on their winning streak set to face off in the finals.


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El Salvador: Good Friday Procession · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Viva El Salvador has pictures of a Good Friday procession in Apaneca, El Salvador.


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First Latin-American Blog Contest · Global Voices
Rosario Lizana

Atina Chile(ES), a social action movement that promotes blogging in Chile, organize the blog contest “Atina Blog Awards”(ES).  Anyone could inscribe, the only barrier was that they be written in Spanish. The categories include, Politics, Science and Technology, Design, Journalism, Arst and Culture, personal and Group Blog and special mention. Bloggers have had the chance to vote for the competing blogs during the last five months. Now, each category has 10 semi-finalists. The jury will choose the best ones from these lists.
The panels of judges are well known bloggers.  From Mexico, Eduardo Arcos (ES)  from Uruguay Walter Kobylanski (ES), from Argentina Mariano Amartino (ES), from Spain Ignacio Escolar (ES) and from Chile Fernando Flores (ES) and Leo Prieto (ES).
“Periodismo Global”, a semifinalist blog in the journalism category said “to have been selected as a semifinalist in this contest, the first one in latinamerica, where more than 1200 blogs have participated, fills me with satisfaction.”
About this contest, “Casto y Gay” (ES) posts that “this contest made me think about the limits of qualifying, that is how your blog is limited by the categories of personal, political, or arts and culture..” The author also made some criticisms about the semifinalist blogs.
“Mangas Verdes” (ES) posts ” They have published the semifinalist blogs of the Atina Blog Awards, the best thing is that there are blogs I didn't know about.”
The jury will decide the final results the 30 of April.

author: Rosario Lizana


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Guatemala: Francofonía en Guatemala · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Francofonía en Guatemala (ES, FR) is the first Guatemalan blog dedicated to the promotion of French culture and language.


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Guatemala: Rebuilding After Stan · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Heather Parr was in Guatemala as Hurricane Stan struck in October 2005. Here she shares her account of how the local community she has got to know in Sololá has undertaken the task of rebuilding their lives and their future.” Check out parts I, II, and III.


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Haiku competition in the Philippines · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Kurokuroatbp pens a haiku in Tagalog and provides details of a Pinoy Haiku competition organised by the Japanese Embassy in Philippines.


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Haiti: Cattle investments · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Rony was forced to bring the cow to market before it was time. Kind of like dumping all of your Apple shares, prior to the IPOD or all of your 3M shares prior to Scotch tape,” writes the Livesay Haiti Weblog from La Digue, in its account of the trials and tribulations of Pastor Rony's cattle investments.


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Hip hop review · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Shirts has a roundup of some of UK's hip hop bands


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India: Election time economics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lucky has a conversation with an auto-rickshawdriver before elections on the economics of the populist policies.


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Iran: Nuclear & Safety · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Inja va Aknoun (means Here & Now) writes about nuclear technology & security related questions (Persian). He says nobody in Iran talks about the safety of people who live in the neighbourhood of nuclear enrichment buildings.


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Kyrgyzstan: Corruption in Education · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Erica writes about corruption in Kyrgyzstan and the situation in her country at Kyrgyzstan Student Blog.