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Philippines: Supporting Women through Pregnancy and Motherhood · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Are human rights related to motherhood reserved only for married women? Philippine men and women are blogging about a new legislation related to a pregnant woman's right to study and work.
In Philippines, a landmark legislation on Women's Rights recently passed after seven years of debates. It is the Republic Act 9710, also known as the Magna Carta of Women. It states that womens’ rights are human rights, and their rights need to be respected at home, at work and in school, also addressing the subjects of planned parenthood, pregnancy, and pregnant women's rights.
One of the most discussed points in the Magna Carta has to do with the rights an unmarried pregnant woman has to maintain her job and be able to stay in school. This is the specific text:
Expulsion and non-readmission of women faculty due to pregnancy outside of marriage shall be outlawed. No primary or secondary school shall turn out or refuse admission to a female student solely on account of her having contracted pregnancy outside of marriage during her term in school
The Magna Carta clearly states that it is unlawful to fire a pregnant woman even if she is unwed, but the Catholic Bishop's Conference for the Philippines (CBCP) is insisting on an exemption for women who study or work in Catholic schools: They believe they should have the right to fire or expel unmarried women who are pregnant since it goes against the Catholic Church's  moral religious teachings.
To find out a bit more about the Magna Carta,  here is a video by the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women where they explain why the Magna Carta and all its provisions are important:
Reactions to the Catholic church
A Philippine blogger, Lindy Lois Gamolo criticizes the Catholic church's position. Not only did they try to boycott the Magna Carta for Women by threatening to excommunicate and deny communion to the politicians who voted in favor, but now that it passed the are insisting that they will not support any candidates who are in favor of the Magna Carta because it doesn't include the addendum they wanted to add to the text, exempting Catholic schools from following the law. She asks the politicians to not give in to what she calls blackmail because:
Let us remind them that they [politicians] are accountable to the sovereign Filipino people and not to the Catholic Church and not to the bishops.
However, there are some bloggers who do understand where the Church is coming from to propose this exemption. Such is the case with one of  the comments of a blog post in The Feed, where olive writes:
i agree that if you get pregnant in highschool when studying in a catholic school, they should kick her out. why? it doesnt set a good example. imagine they teach us to only have sex during marriage and somebody walks around with a baby in her belly!?!?! its like in your face, sucker!
In fact, not all Catholic schools agree with this proposed exemption. According to Rachel C. Barawid who writes for the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation there are some schools who believe that denying education to pregnant women who are unmarried will cause greater harm than good, and she quotes the Dean of Student Affairs of one of these schools who explains why they don't expel students:
If you expel students out of wedlock, it’s a double whammy for them. Now that they immediately become mothers, you immediately negate their chance of earning a college degree and therefore becoming a professional and providing for their child. Not only is she faced with the prospect of being a single mother, she is also facing the prospect of not getting a good job because she is not a college graduate and will not be able to provide well for her child,” she explains.
Legalizing discrimination against pregnant women?
Philippine bloggers are also discussing whether it is fair that the Catholic church, on the basis of their religious teachings  is trying to deny human rights, like the one to hold a job or to receive education, to unwed pregnant women  but doesn't mention the unwed father. It seems to be the just the type of discrimination against women that the Magna Carta is trying to correct.
Bong C. Austero  insists that the Catholic church's proposal  ruling is pure discrimination against women and goes against Catholic teachings of punishing the sin and not the sinner:
It penalizes women simply for being women; for having been assigned the social responsibility of bearing life. Catholic schools do not punish with expulsion or dismissal male teachers who get their girlfriends pregnant when they are also just as responsible for the pregnancy.
In the I am Nobe blog, where the author humorously steps into a different set of shoes for each post, it is the turn of the Unwed Mother
Now you’re telling me that I can’t go to school? Or go to work? (insecure)
I did not have this baby via asexual reproduction! If you should really do this to me, let those unwed fathers have a slice of the bitter cake too! And for crying out loud, stop giving God a bad name! (beyond hormonal)
Joyce Talag, a single mother herself and blogger, puts forth an argument that illustrates why, even if the Catholic church penalized unwed fathers as well, it wouldn't make things better for the mother. Since most single parents are mothers, denying them of work opportunities or schooling while they are pregnant will mean they won't be able to provide for themselves or the child:
A case in point: the single parent. Being one actually means having to provide both the economic and nurturing needs of the child. What puts women instead of men at a disadvantage is the fact that they comprise most of the solo parent population. (Only the US Single Parent Statistics was found on the Internet. It says that “in 2006, 5 out of every 6 custodial parents were mothers.” The Philippines’ should not be any different.)
A Philippine law blogger, Jun Bautista, points out that it is unlikely the Catholic church will include the unwed fathers into the discussion, since the laws under discussion discuss mainly women.
What this means is that this exception would have to stand on its own, as the denying of education and work only to pregnant single women, going against their human rights, and putting their lives at risk, since some even state, this will morally backfire: if Catholic schools expel and fire pregnant unwed students, would this push them into having abortions or a life of destitution? A First District Representative,  Janette Loreto-Garin, seems to think so.
So, what do you think?  Does a religious organization have the right to decide who they employ or accept as students, or do the rights of the pregnant woman overrule these restrictions?
Image illustrating this post by Photo Mojo, used according to Creative Commons attribution license.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Romania: General strike start of presidential campaign · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Gabriela Ionita of Power&Politics World links a general strike planned for Monday with the start of the country's presidential election campaign.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Russia: Accelerating WTO accession? · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Amanda Lahan of Crisis Crunch accounts for Russia resuming negotiations on membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which may still be hampered by plans for a customs’ union with Kazakhstan and Belarus, set to coincide with WTO-accession also of these countries.


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Russia: Photos From Politkovskaya Rally · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

In the live_report LJ community (RUS), photo reports from the memorial rally that took place in Moscow on Oct. 7, the third anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder: LJ user zyalt, LJ user pafnootty, and LJ user antonb_ru.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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South Korea: Historical site visit · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Robert Koehler from shared his vacation visit to Seoul's Daehangno district at Marmot's Hole. Apart from posting pictures, he also wrote the historical value of the sites.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Trinidad & Tobago: Red Light  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“We are a nation that takes too long to get anywhere and when we do get there we are met with No Parking signs, wreckers and gun-toting bandits who already have a sale for your car”: This Beach Called Life calls Trinidad and Tobago “the land of the Traffic Light.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Turks & Caicos: Reactions  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands features commentary “of international reaction to the British takeover of Turks and Caicos following the corruption scandal surrounding former Premier Michael Misick.”


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US-Poland: Putting robots out of work · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Eric Grover of Blogactiv.eu discusses US president Obama's decision to scrap the anti-missile defence system planned for deployment to Poland and the Czech Republic on the very day of the 70th anniversary of the 1939 Soviet attack of Poland at the outset of World War II.


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USA: New campaign to “Restore Fairness” to deportation proceedings · Global Voices
Hoa Quach

A new online campaign asks lawmakers to “Restore Fairness” to deportation proceedings of immigrants in the United States suspected of being undocumented or in violation of the terms of their visas. Thousands of people are currently incarcerated in detention centers and jails and denied court hearings across the country.
The campaign created by the human rights organization Breakthrough, documents the lives of numerous individuals who have encountered grave injustices in detention centers or in dealing with immigration authorities through a series of videos.
From the About page on Restore Fairness:
“The Restore Fairness campaign is calling on the U.S. government to restore due process and fairness to our immigration system. Since the Declaration of Independence, America has striven to uphold fairness and due process.  But today, a broken immigration system denies basic human rights and due process to people who live here.  In the aftermath of 9-11, immigrants have borne the brunt of harsh policies, with the U.S. government allowing raids and arrests without warrants, holding thousands in inhumane detention conditions, and deporting people without a fair trial.”
The Restore Fairness campaign encourages Americans to ask their local representatives to help win every individual a “fair day in court”; create legally enforceable detention standards and implement cost effective alternatives to detention; and stop indiscriminate raids and the continued use of local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.
They are also asking immigrants who feel their human rights have been violated  to share their stories.
Moving images
At the heart of the campaign is a 9-minute documentary created with the assistance of 26 partner organizations. There is also a blog, a Twitter feed, resources for further study of the issue, and videos of several more people who have been wronged.
One story shared was that of Juana Villegas. She was arrested while pregnant and was forced to have her baby while a sheriff stood in her hospital room:
She was taken in for a routine traffic violation that is normally taken care of by a simple citation. This violation (of which she was later cleared) was handled by immigration authorized local police and she was locked up in a jail in her state. Taken to the hospital in chains, she went through labor with a sheriff’s officer standing guard in her hospital room, where one of her feet was cuffed to the bed most of the time.
Juana Villegas: A Pregnant Woman Detained from Breakthrough on Vimeo.
June Everett shared a story too. Not her own story, but that of her sister’s who died while in detainment.
Sandra Kenley, a 52-year-old grandmother, who after living in the U.S. legally for 33 years, was subjected to degrading and grossly inhumane conditions, which led to her untimely death.
Sandra Kenly: Death by Detention from Breakthrough on Vimeo.
Ali also suffered in immigration detention. Born in Pakistan, Ali arrived in New York City to live freely as a gay man. When he was detained though for year, he wasn’t given the medicine he needed as an HIV positive resident.
He says, “There’s no benefit for HIV+ or AIDS people. If you die in your room they don’t care.”
Ali: An HIV+ Man Suffers in Detention from Breakthrough on Vimeo.
The stories of Villegas, Kenley and Ali are sadly not unique. Breakthrough have highlighted the stories of many more people living in the United States. In hopes that the immigration system could be reformed, they encourage viewers to take action:
With your help, we can mobilize members of organizations, groups and individuals to demand that our government uphold the human rights of all people within the immigration system. We need you to take action now. Together, we can stand up for American values of due process and fairness.

author: Hoa Quach


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Afghanistan: Conflicted Response · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

Captain Cat is conflicted over the dispute within UNAMA: she thinks they do good work, but their acceptance of the fraudulent election is ruining their credibility.

author: Joshua Foust


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Afghanistan: Jordanian royals fighting in Afghanistan? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Nick Fielding tells about a curious news in the Pakistan newspapers, which say that six women, all members of the Jordanian royal family, are due to be handed over to the Jordanian Embassy in Islamabad tomorrow following the death of their husbands in a Coalition airstrike several months ago.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Afghanistan: Kamdesh Area · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Fousts comments on the news that eight American and an unknown number of Afghan soldiers were killed after an attack on outposts in Afghanistan.


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Afghanistan: Reflecting on the Battle of Kamdesh · Global Voices
Joshua Foust

The large scale assault on a U.S. base in Nuristan over the weekend has caused many bloggers to reconsider how they feel about the conflict.
K, a recently returned Marine Embedded Tactical Trainer (he worked with the Afghan National Army), noted that the attack itself didn't have to happen.
It's very disheartening for everyone to see us lose that many guys in one battle, but I stand by the assertion that with decent terrain selection and unit-tactics this type of thing will not happen. When you build a small outpost in an area where insurgents can shoot down upon you, with few to no supporting positions to help you, then the position is asking for trouble. In Kunar, we had observations posts up further on the hills, or even at the very top in some cases, and other mutually supporting positions, just to prevent something like insurgents being able to surround us and shoot down upon us.
Tim Lynch thinks there might be something fishy afoot in the U.S. response:
If my information is correct this story contains a “untruth” told by a Colonel – and that is the kind of thing which really gets me worried.  I get worried because I know what happened to our military post Vietnam and would be crushed to see them held in such low esteem and outright contempt by the American public again in my lifetime.
At the end of this engagement Pedros flew in and extracted all the Americans and Afghans from Keating which had been completely destroyed in the fighting.  But an Army Colonel quoted in the NYT article said “American forces still controlled the compound, which they share with Afghan security forces.”
Registan.net notes that the Battle of Kamdesh has a broad social context.
Kamdesh is so dangerous and difficult to work in [because] the furthest-flung outposts can only be resupplied by helicopter—and even those face small arms fire during supply runs. The challenge with managing the violence in the area is that, while much of it is performed by outsiders like al Qaeda, most of the HiG fighters are actually locals—a dynamic very similar to southern Kapisa province, where many of the HiG militants in the area are locals either paid to attack U.S. forces or do so simply out of pride for HiG’s role in defeating the Soviet Union.
Lastly, the Canada-Afghanistan blog notes that the purpose behind the attack might have been psychological:
A thought that had occurred to me is that the Taliban are probably orchestrating these attacks as part of a propaganda and psy-ops effort. The Americans have already announced they're withdrawing from those exposed outposts in Nuristan; with attacks like this, the Taliban will claim the withdrawal as a military and moral victory.
There is undoubtedly more reaction to come.


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Bahamas: Crime Questions  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jerome Pinder at Weblog Bahamas has a few pressing questions for the Minister of National Security.


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Bangladesh: Fair Trade Empowers Indigenous People · Global Voices
Rezwan

Safia's Blog tells how People Tree, a global fair trade group has worked with tribal and indigenous people of Bangladesh to “help support them and provide markets for their traditional textiles”.

author: Rezwan


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Barbados: Seizing Opportunity · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Living in Barbados thinks that “one of the wrong turns that Caribbean countries made in recent decades was to put so many of their eggs into the tourism basket.”


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Bhutan: After The Earthquake  · Global Voices
Rezwan

The devastating earthquake of 6.3 Richter scale on September 21, 2009 and several aftershocks caused Bhutan a lot of destruction leaving the people traumatized. Freedom In Bhutan critically analyzes the relief and rescue efforts and damage assessment and questions “whether Bhutan has the resources to start rebuilding”.


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China: Grass Mud Horse, Motherland · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

C. Custer from ChinaGeeks translated some comments from Anti-CNN forum on Ai Weiwei's short video “Grass Mud Horse, Motherland”, which was exhibited in Munich to “celebrate” the 60th anniversary of PRC.


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China and Hong Kong: Jackie Chan’s comment on military parade · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In order to promote nationalism and celebrate the 60th anniversary of PRC, CCTV invited internationally well-known movie star Jackie Chan to comment on military parade. In the interview, Jackie Chan kept stressing that China is awesome and great and that it is the only country which won't sell their passport, etc… but with quite a few Freudian slips that surprised the CCTV hosts.
A Taiwan TV news report has reproduced the CCTV interview in which you can see Jackie Chan acted out his excitement. The clip is now at youtube:
ESWN translated the TV interview:
Chan:  Our generation is so lucky because of what we run into.  China has never been better in the last 5,000 years.  Great unity … everything is good.  Even the heavens are helping us.  The call went out: “Everybody stand up and sing the national anthem!”  You hear that … (making the sound of music) … Wow, it was unbearable.  The tears.  Really.
(note: the reference to “the heavens” is about how the weather in Beijing turned good in the morning of October 1st.  The television host was embarrassed and had to inform him that more than 400 rockets were fired to disperse an incoming bank of clouds.)
(the voice over said that Jackie Chan was sitting in the first row of the audience at the Tiananmen parade)
Chan: The impulse.  I saw our Chairman Hu come down.  I really wanted to rush over to shake his hand.  But I know that even before I can stretch my hand out, there would already be “Bang Bang Bang.”
TV hostess: There won't be.
(the voice over said that Jackie Chan then switched over to condemn the wave of immigration out of Hong Kong before the colony was returned to China.  In so doing, he glossed over the fact that his wife lives in the United States and his son was born there and therefore an American citizen.)
Chan: You see, at the time I cursed them out.  I said that those of you who leave are not Chinese.  Now every one of them is back.  They came back on their own.  Chinese nationality is the most difficult to obtain around the world.  You go anywhere else and you can buy citizenship with money.  In China, you cannot even get it with money.  This is why us China is awesome.
Many, who read Jackie Chan's interview as it is, were outraged. Charles Mok said in his facebook status on Oct 6 that he would boycott Jackie Chan's movie from now on. His comments were echoed by many others, such as:
Shame on him PK Jackie Chan
Shame of Hong Kong>< bastard Jackie Chan is a super medal of Chinese people!!
Jackie Chan is a Facist PK!
However, when one reads into the interview closely, one can see that he has spoken some truths, such as the fact that he would be “Bang bang bang” (shot) if he rushed to shake hand with Chairman Hu. In the youtube, the discussion pointed towards different directions:
merkabah read into the meaning of  “Bang bang bang”
好一句蹦、蹦、蹦暗諷中共六四當年就在該處屠殺無辜學生，成龍大 哥果然是不為五斗米折腰的中華民族真心英雄！
yuhon09 agreed that Jackie Chan tried to assassinate the CCP by his praise/lie:
“捧殺中共”
Kelvinc8 said:
Jacky is funny, haha. Can't blame him, he's a joke. Anyway, he is right, I'm from HK living oversea, how can I be 中國人 (Trans: Mainland Chinese)? I don't have their passport. I'm 華人 (Trans: Hua Ren or Chinese) , 唐人 (Trans: Tang people), 東方人 (Trans: Oriental) but not 中國人 (Trans: Mainland Chinese). Just like Taiwanese, they have their own nation, how can they be 中國人 (Trans: Mainland Chinese). But of cause they are 華人 (Trans: Hua Ren). There is a difference between nationality and race, for crying out loud.
hin1972 commented on the idea of unity brought forward by Jackie:
什麼大團結,極權統治下叫大團結!
白色恐怖下既大團結!人民敢發一言嗎?
中共只係比奏始皇做得更好!懂得思想改造而已!
telecake and bblkwok discussed about Jackie Chan's nationality and education background:
telecake : Please keep in mind that he doesn't even have a basic high school education. And I believe he holds an American passport? I feel embarrassed for him in every which of ways.
bblkwok : he has not even had elementary school education, and I think he has Aust passport, while his wife and son hold US one.
stiafro commented that he had taken too much drug:
Too many stunts… hit too many times in the head.. now you are fucked in the head.
http://www.youtube.com/user/futubh>futubh made fun of his Chinese name by saying that the dragon has turned into a Chamaeleo.
浮誇偽人
成 了變色 龍
白痴冇得救小丑
蠢
Earlier this year, Jackie Chan made another outraging comment on “Chinese need control” which was interpreted by some as being racist. So what's your reading of Jackie Chan's comments this time?


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Costa Rica: Streaming Video Discussions on Citizen Journalism · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Last night 300 users tuned in to the  video streaming from the  Spanish Cultural center, where three journalists with extensive experience with citizen media from Spain, Costa Rica and Cuba:  Rosa Jiménez Cano, Cristian Cambronero and Lazaro Rodriguez spoke about the transformation of journalism as it adapts to the new forms of media.


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Dominica: Speaking with a Superstar · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dominica Weekly interviews “one of Dominica’s International heroes, Roots Reggae superstar Nasio Fontaine.”


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Egypt: Amending the marriage certificate to protect rape victims  · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

Group blog Bikya Masr reported: Prominent Egyptian female religious leader Soad Saleh has called on the country ministry of justice to amend its current marriage certificate regulations where women must write “virgin” or “divorced” or “widow” – the latter two considered one category. She said that the ministry should allow a third option to be written on the license that reads “never been married” as a means of protecting the honor of women who have been raped.

author: Marwa Rakha


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Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Maarten, French Guiana: Autonomy?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands notes that the French Overseas Territories “are to vote on more autonomy in January 2010.”


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Haiti: Smoke & Mirrors?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Of the recent conference aimed at attracting investors to the island, Hervé Jean Michel, blogging at HaitiAnalysis.com, says: “Despite the fanfare surrounding the meeting, Haiti's masses remained completely indifferent to the gathering.”


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India: Nobel Prize in Chemistry  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Ashutosh celebrates the Nobel Prize of Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, the first Indian to win it in chemistry. This year, Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, Ada Yonath and Tom Steitz have jointly won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for their pioneering studies on the structure of the ribosome.


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Japan: A blogger has dinner with Prime Minister Hatoyama · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Blogger Satonao tells [ja] about him having dinner with Prime Minister Hatoyama and other politicians in a restaurant of Tokyo on Sept. 30.
On that occasion, he could explain Mr. Hatoyama what Twitter is and exchange a few words on the condition of social media in Japan.
Here are some of Satonao`s tweets [ja] during the dinner.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Jordan: Arabic TV Shows for Children  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Ahmad Humeid discusses television programmes available for children in Arabic in this post.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Jordan: The picture of a terrorist  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian Naseem Tarawanah shares a picture of Hosam Smadi, a Jordanian national arrested in the US and charged with attempting to use weapons of mass destruction. Click on the link to tune into the debate.


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Kazakhstan: Architectural Astana · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mursya posts photos of Astana, the new Kazakh capital being built in the steppes under a close eye of authoritarian president Nazarbayev.


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Kenya: Waiting for El Niño · Global Voices
Samuel Maina

Waiting for El Nino Rains
Kenyans are waiting for the El Niño rains anticipated between now and December 2009 with mixed feelings. Inasmuch as the El Niño is itself a natural disaster that in it's ‘moderate’ form is expected to displace at least 100,000 people and leave 750,000 in need of humanitarian aid according to IRIN, most Kenyans actually want this El Niño.
Normally, people would be running scared at the prospect of drowning or losing property and livestock in the expected El Niño flooding, but not this year. The drought in the East African nation has been hard and long – with  at least 10 million Kenyans facing hunger (IRIN) – and the populace will take anything with water in it: Even a natural disaster.
American national, Katherine Herzog, commenting on an Ewaso Lions blog post titled ‘When will it rain, the drought persists in Samburu’, said “A ‘moderate’ El Niño rain event will hopefully transform the region which you skillfully and painfully describe. Although rain on hard, dry ground usually means flooding – rain in any form will be a boon for man, livestock and wildlife alike.
Wildlife is normally more tolerant to drought than humans and livestock but wild animals are starting to die. Ewaso Lions described the situation in early September:
Unfortunately, due to the lack of water, waterbuck, impala, buffalo, warthog, cattle, donkeys and sheep have begun to die everyday. Large groups of close to 20 warthogs that were around in April and May have now reduced to 1 or 2 warthogs and even they have begun to die. I watched a crocodile die the other day. He had come out of hibernation and literally dropped dead outside his hole. More animals will die over the next few weeks reducing the species numbers and diversity within the area. Pressure on the reserves from livestock will continue. Animals are dying; every week, every day, every minute.
Predators are however doing well now that there are many weak and dying animals making easy prey for them. There is however the increasing risk of being hunted down by cattle herders as more and more livestock are driven into the wildlife reserves in search of pasture and water. The presence of livestock in wildlife territory means that they are likely to be preyed upon by predators, which then will be killed, in retaliation, by the herders. Ewaso Lions blog adds:
However, due to the drought and the river drying up, there is more pressure on the reserves from livestock, increasing the human threat to lions and we are working hard to try and monitor all individual lions inside the reserves.
This was in early September and although a little rain has been reported in western Kenya, with some flooding occurring in Kenya's third city Kisumu, El Niño is not here yet. The drought continues. Even in the so called ‘wildlife capital’ of the world, Nairobi National Park, the situation is no better. The water holes are drying, there is no grazing or browsing vegetation, and the situation is worrying. Will Knocker posted on October 7 saying:
Even giraffe -supremely adapted to life on the African plain- are getting hungry & wandering far & wide in search of browse -including to my garden in the Silole Sanctuary. In the Langata Forest some of their favourite food shrubs - Rus natalensis -has died owing to drought.
On October 7 again, the Lion Guardians continued to lament about the devastating drought reporting that the situation has deterioriated since they first reported about the drought. They say:
The drought is still continuing here, and the animals and people are struggling badly. Everyone hopes rain will fall soon and bring back some life to the parched land. The water hole near to our neighbouring lodge Ol Donyo Wuas is constantly visited by many elephants, as well as very thin herbivores like these zebras, all looking for the scarce water.
and,
There is no grass left to be eaten anywhere, and the wildlife and livestock are starving. These hills were once covered with long green grass – now there is nothing for the animals to eat.
In the Mara wildlands that flank the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve, the Predator Aware blog reports difficult times for the Maasai community:
The Masai Mara communities are under huge pressure with the ongoing drought and the loss of cattle as pastoral ism is their number one income earner at present followed by tourism.
In response to a comment from one of the blog readers, Predator Aware laments the dwindling of the wildlands lifeline, the Mara River, and utters the same prayer that is on the lips of all these bloggers:
Yes the Mara River is seriously low . The degradation of the Mau Forest which is the headwaters of the Mara River as well as the drought have caused this. Rain is the only healer and we hope it comes soon.

author: Samuel Maina


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Kuwait: Waiting for Transformers 3 · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

ZDistrict from Kuwait can't wait for Transformers 3.


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Kyrgyzstan: Gypsies community  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena presents a photo-post about her visit to the community of Luli (or Gypsies, or Roma) on the outskirts of Osh, a town in southern Kyrgyzstan.


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Kyrgyzstan: UNESCO against fountains in Osh · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arawanski writes that UNESCO is against building of two fountains on the foothills of the Sulaiman Mountain (the southern part of Kyrgyzstan), as it considers they pose a threat to the condition of the sacred mountain.


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Oman: Swine Flu Campaign Update · Global Voices
Riyadh Al Balushi

The recent initiative taken by Omani bloggers to help raise awareness about the spreading swine flu in the country managed to attract media attention and raise money to help take the initiative further. The campaign that was started as an online idea and then as a gathering in a local market was covered by the Arab new channel Al Arabia, and was later supported financially by a local securities company.
On Friday of this week bloggers have arranged for a public awareness event in which bloggers will again inform the visitors of a shopping mall about protection methods and will distribute masks and sanitizers. The event will include a street dancing session by a local freestyle dance group and will be sponsored by some local companies and newspapers.
Bloggers have also announced a new poster design competition to raise awareness about the flu. The first place winner of the competition will be awarded a Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet and the top submissions will be published in The Week and Muscat Daily newspapers.
Bloggers organising this campaign have started a new dedicated website to cover the latest updates happening in the Omani blogosphere and to publish the latest events for swine flu campaign.

author: Riyadh Al Balushi


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Pakistan: UK Visa Bureaucracy · Global Voices
Rezwan

Deadpan Thoughts describes the humiliations and complications faced by Pakistanis to obtain an UK visa and opines that the government of Pakistan should “link the renewal of all British diplomat’s Pakistani visas with the same process (we) ordinary Pakistanis have to go through.”


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Saudi Arabia: To coed or not to coed  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Should coed universities be allowed in Saudi Arabia?  Saudi Jeans comments on the latest developments on this issue.


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Singapore: More Cash ≠ More Babies · Global Voices
Daniel Chandranayagam

Will a cash incentive make women want to have a child? Going by recent figures under Singapore’s recent Baby Bonus initiative, a government plan to raise declining birth rates in the country, the answer ostensibly is “no”.
According to news reports, S$230 million (about US$162.3 million) in baby bonuses were handed out by the Singaporean government in 2008, yet there appears to be no corresponding rise in the number of Singaporean babies born.
The Singapore government's website explains:
You will get a cash gift of up to $4,000 each for your 1st and 2nd child and $6,000 each for your 3rd and 4th child. All your children born on or after 17 August 2008 will also enjoy Government contributions in the form of a dollar-for-dollar matching for the amount of savings you contribute to your child’s Children Development Account (CDA). If your child is born before 17 August 2008, he or she will enjoy the Government matching contributions in the CDA if he or she is your second to fourth child.
The CDA is a special savings account that you open at any OCBC Bank or Standard Chartered Bank branch for your child who is eligible for CDA. You can save in the CDA any time until 31 December in the year your child turns 6 years of age. The savings will be matched up to the cap of $6,000 each for the 1st and 2nd child, $12,000 each for the 3rd and 4th child and $18,000 each for the fifth and subsequent child. The Government will match your savings in the following month.
This means that the those eligible will not only get the cash bonus, but also moneys from the government in the CDA account, subject to a cap, depending on the birth order of the child.
Recently, Singapore’s National Population Secretariat statistics revealed there were only 32,423 citizens born last year, just 129 more than in 2003, the year before the government extended the Baby Bonus Scheme to include the first and fourth child.
According to Mother of Six, a blogger in Singapore who writes on motherhood and social issues, the perception of having a larger family in Singapore is not favourable. She says:
Often, when I tell people I have six children, they react in disbelief. Many must think we are crazy, as the norm in Singapore is to have just one or two. Now with the baby bonus, three or four children may become a standard in future. But six?
The typical objections to having so many children in Singapore are mainly economical. Rising costs is one. If you factor in tuition, enrichment, supplementary class, school buses, childcare, day care and maid, then there will be disincentives to have more than two children.
On the other hand, single unwed mothers in Singapore do not enjoy the baby bonus benefits.  According to the Association of Single Mothers Singapore blog:
By providing single mothers a chance to move out and start a family on their own, they learn to be independent and self-help themselves.
By providing single mothers with the same privileges like the ability to purchase HDB flats (government housing) and receive the Baby Bonus, they can stop worrying about facing pressures when at home and focus better at work and improving themselves. By having a clearer mind and more refreshed and energized self, they can better plan their future.
The Baby Bonus allows single mothers to pay for their child’s basic needs like milk and diapers. Single mothers can also use that money to enrol their child into public nurseries so that they have more time on their hands to take on a more permanent and stable job. With bonuses, single mothers can ease their minds
Molly’s blog, To Fix A Mocking Peasant, a personal blog, has an interesting analysis into the situation of the stance of the Singapore government and single unwed mothers:
As usual, our darling CNA (Channel News Asia) is able to sum up the hopelessly impressively circular (il)logic of the government's representatives in one succinct sentence (perhaps without seeing the irony?):
“The baby bonus will not be extended to single unwed mothers as the Marriage and Parenthood Package is an incentive for married couples.”
In other words, we won't extend the baby bonus to single unwed mothers because we won't. The Baby Bonus will remain something for married couples because we won't extend it.
Molly writes further:
Other wonderful reasons Mrs. Yu-Foo (Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports) came up with for not extending the Baby Bonus to single unwed mothers include the fact that they are eligible for other sorts of benefits that married mothers are eligible…
Single unwed mothers are not entitled to the Baby Bonus because they are entitled to everything else. Yes, that's to sum it up in one line.
But you have yet to see the best of Mrs Yu-Foo:
“The Marriage and Parenthood Package is not a financial assistance scheme for children. The government
cannot and should not be the surrogate father.”
So, the Baby Bonus is supposed to lighten the financial costs of having children, but it's not a financial assistance scheme! The government can give the Baby Bonus to poor married couples without becoming the surrogate father, but if it extends the Bonus to single unwed mothers, it will become a surrogate father!
She ends her commentary by saying:
Single unwed mothers, often more so than married mothers, make a conscious decision to keep their babies instead of aborting them due to the social stigmas associated with being, well, single unwed mothers…
Sons of single parents serve NS (Singapore’s compulsory National Service) too.
Pretty Princess Maggie, “a mum who is committed to her family and her handsome baby boy”, has interesting perspective of motherhood and Singapore’s baby bonus on her blog:
The Singapore government had recently revised its baby bonus package. However, as a mother of one, I do not see myself in sacrificing my career and time to stop everything and have another baby again. I want to provide the best for him and I do not want him to share his parents’ love with anymore siblings as I do not experienced a very happy childhood. I want to look after him properly and nurture him and give him the best. It is better to have a good kid, than to have 8 lousy ones.
…
Seriously speaking, having more maternity leave… would only add burden to the employers and hinder our career advancement. I do not see that it will help woman have more babies. It would only add stress to them if they were new to the company and was planning to have a few kids. However, I would definitely consider having another child only if I am paid a salary for looking after my baby. And if my baby gets free education or heavily subsidised education… Comparing a few thousand dollars baby bonus to offset the hospitalisation for childbirth, to the money ($950X15=$14,250) to be spent on babycare till 18 months at daycare, and the care and attention that a baby needs, it can nowhere be compared. The baby bonus is just to entice those who do not understand the hardship and commitment and huge financial commitment to raising a baby. In short, only those who had not done their sums would think that it is a big bonus where in fact it is a huge investment with not necessary any returns at all.
The background of Singapore’s current predicament of an aging population is interestingly explored on Singapore Sojourn blog. It states:
…If one reads the history of social engineering from the 1960's onwards it becomes apparent the reluctance to breed was first triggered by a deliberate campaign to reduce population.
In those times parents who had more than two children were penalised and the incidence of abortion was high. Having a third child carried a stigma and financial cost.
Mui Teng Yap wrote an interesting paper on this subject entitled Fertility and Population Policy: the Singapore Experience in which he wrote “Singapore has long been known for its use of social policies to influence fertility/reproductive behaviour. This began in the late 1960s/early 1970s and continues to the present, although the demographic objective has changed from anti-natalist to selectively pro-natalist.”
There was also great concerned that ‘educated’ Singaporeans were not breeding and the under classes were.
This changed in 1987 when the rule became “have three if you can afford them” but I suspect by then that the damage was done in that the cultural perceptions of what constituted a family had changed.
A few reasons why Singapore’s baby bonus has not produced its desired results are laid out in (13) Expositions. Among the reasons listed, are the society’s mindset and the difficulty in maintaining a good work-life balance:
Firstly, there is a higher need in the change of the society’s mindset. As Singapore modernizes, its citizens become more educated and women are able to become more independent. They develop a deep passion for their career and a sense of satisfaction when they succeed. In fact, Singapore has witnessed a sharp increase in the percentage of working mothers from 45.6% in 1986 to 54.3% in 2006…
Secondly, the difficulties in maintaining a balance between work and family cause couples to be hesitant to have babies. Working women are especially reluctant to have babies, fearing the insurmountable task of having to juggle between the demands from work to their family-building duties, which require large amounts of commitment…
In conclusion, other prominent factors have been shown to affect the decision to have children. Thus, the Baby Bonus Scheme is limited in its impact and presents a too simplistic solution to resolve such a personal and complicated dilemma.
The Temasek Review also adds that the high cost of living, especially housing, is a prime reason for the ineffectiveness of the baby bonus.
According to a news report, Sociologist Paulin Straughan has suggested that a cash incentive is not enough to encourage women to take on the role of motherhood. She was reported to have said that what mothers and parents really need is more “flexibility and latitude” at the workplace. She was quoted as saying, “We need more enlightened employers who know that granting parents time off for pressing childcare needs may actually produce happier, more productive and loyal workers.”
Mother of Six concludes:
What lessons can be drawn from my experience? Firstly, making a decision to have a child is a personal one between a husband and his wife. We have children because we like children, even if we do not get to enjoy a baby bonus. It would be sad if a couple had a child solely for the monetary rewards, as a child needs more than money to grow into adulthood.
Secondly, women need to rediscover who they are. Only we can bring life into the world, and since the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, I feel we have actively suppressed this important role of procreation. Of course, in this era of equality, we can argue that the husband must also contribute to bringing up a child — but if a woman does not even allow herself to bear a child, how can the man get the chance?
Often, women in Singapore prefer a briefcase to a bottle, a notebook to a nappy. In this drive to actualise ourselves as career women and useful citizens, have we forgotten that we have the power and ability to bring life into the world?
Ian Tan, a blogger in Singapore, offers a few interesting solutions to the Singapore's baby drought on his blog.

author: Daniel Chandranayagam


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Sri Lanka: FarmerNet · Global Voices
Rezwan

LIRNE Asia blog informs that “the ICT arm of Sri Lanka’s largest community-based organization, Sarvodaya, launched its FarmerNet initiative last month”. FarmerNet is an online trading platform where the buyers and sellers can efficiently exchange information about produce bypassing middlemen.


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Syria: Angelina Jolie visits Iraqi Refugees  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Iraqi refugees in Syria had a surprise visitor. The News from Syria says that Angelina Jolie, along with Brad Pitt, visited the refugees, urging the world not to forget about them.


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Tajikistan: Me No Speak the Tajik · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Vlad reports that Tajikistan has adopted legislation to downgrade the official status of the Russian language in a move that has reportedly had the country’s minorities up in arms.


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Tajikistan: President Rahmon in on the Tour · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

On his way to this year’s United Nations summit, long-ruling president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, stopped over in Moscow, then in Croatia. Botur reflects on the tour and its results.


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Turkey: Inside the World Bank/IMF Meetings · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Having obtained a press pass for the World Bank/IMF Meetings being held this week in Istanbul, Turkey; Erkan's Field Diary gives us a behind the scenes view of the proceedings.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Turkey: Lighting the Eiffel Tower · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

For the next five days the Eiffel Tower will be lit up in red and white in honor of the Season of Turkey in France.  According to The Istanbulian “This nice gesture is a sign of historical friendship between two countries, emphasizing the fact that not all the French people are prejudiced and hostile against Turks.”


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Turkmenistan: Students banned from study abroad  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Musa updates on the situation when Turkmen students of foreign universities outside of the country were not allowed to leave their country without special approval certificates from the Ministry of Education.


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US diplomacy in Iran and Syria  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Marc Lynch takes a look at US diplomacy work with Iran and Syria in this post.


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USA: Native Americans’ long battle against racism · Global Voices
Bernardo Parrella

Racism and discrimination is something the USA still struggles with even today. This affects Native Americans particularly hard, as it has in the past too. According to the last 2000 Census, almost 2,5 million Native Americans live in USA (0.87% of total US population) but they are forgotten or invisible to the vast majority of Americans.
On his blog Stuff white people do, macon d publishes excerpts from the 2006 book Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege by philosophy professor Shannon Sullivan, in order to underline the current justifications in the U.S. toward ownership, not only of formerly indigenous lands, but also of indigenous people themselves.
Native American were and generally still are considered as pieces of property owned by white America to do with what they please, only now this “knowledge” of Native Americans by white people is much more unconscious than conscious. White habits of ownership of Native Americans generally have not been eliminated; they have only changed the form of their expression. Rather than something wild to consciously set out to conquer, Native Americans — especially their religious traditions and rituals — tend to be unconsciously appropriated as exotic objects for Euro-American use, pleasure, and consumption.
Dozens of comments follow, ranging from outrage about “genocide” against Native Americans to “silent racism” by people who do not think of themselves as racist, which according to another book, Silent Racism How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide by sociology professor Barbara Trepagnier, becomes “instrumental in the production of institutional racism” and part of the social process in today's racial reality in the United States.
A commenter to the above mentioned post, Brother of another color writes:
The Native Americans were definitely taken advantage of. They were killed by disease and bullets and much worse. They greeted the settlers in friendship and were ground under by the tide of Europeans that moved in. But you know what? When a race is less advanced than another, they will be defeated, simple as that. Especially back in the days of exploration. I'm not saying the way it was done was right, but at the time they were inferior, and merely in the way of those who wanted to settle here. …
That the people who took their lands were white, has no bearing on what happened. Had the Chinese or some other larger nation with plans to expand gotten here first, the end result would most likely have been the same. Assimilation.
In another comment, Simon L'nu replies:
BTW, being Native, and with less melanin in his skin than some of my cousins, I can see white privilege, internalized colonialism, and all the other BS racist things in action. I get treated different when people realize/find out I'm Indigenous – it doesn't matter whether or not I get treated better or worse, it's being treated differently that's cr*p; I see my friends get treated like crap because of who they are. This is the wrongness. We are all human beings – you treat me with respect, expect the same from me. You treat me wrong, expect a cold shoulder or worse.
And another commenter, Zelkova, adds:
A lot of the arguments on this board seem to have a warped sense of “social evolution” where “inferior” cultures are taken out by more “advanced” ones. This is Social Darwinism and it is racist (on top of being a discounted social theory not considered by most social scientists as valid).
In a similar vein, Kate from the group blog Irene's Daughters, belonging to three women whose aim is to discuss race relations openly, addresses the common practise of schools and sports teams to misappropriate Native Americans names, cultural images and symbols as their mascots. In her post “Racist Mascots”, she explains:
American culture is brimming with mish-mashed, two-dimensional, demeaning, and offensive portrayals of Native Americans, and sports mascots are among the worst… These schools, sports teams, and their fans (not to mention the media and advertisers) are not respecting Indians as living, self-defining, and self-determining persons. Even when they do not employ repulsive epithets like “redskins” they are objectifying and dehumanizing Indians, appropriating and exploiting cultural and often sacred images for their own entertainment, propagating and perpetuating misinformed and humiliating stereotypes that damage both the way other people view Indians and the way Indians see themselves. (Studies have shown that Indian mascots are especially damaging to the self-esteem of Native American children.)
Kate also includes a link to a video aptly titled “I am not a mascot”, where several Native Americans voice their concerns and opposition to the use of Native American imagery in sporting events.
This 3-minute video, released in different formats, is another evidence of the increasing trend within Native American communities to use online citizen media to fight racism and stereotypes, in much the same way that indigenous communities elsewhere have used ICTs to spread indigenous knowledge and educate the world about their traditions and history.
Self-produced videos on racism in America by Native Americans abound on YouTube. The following video, “Racism against Native Americans” produced by Red Road Awareness, provides a concise overview while highlighting the problem of racism on US radio shows, including some disturbing on-air comments by a DJ in Kentucky.
The most viewed of such videos on YouTube, originally created in 1994,  is “Racism the way we see it”. It describes how young Native Americans experience racism within their own communities and in their daily involvements with the outside society.

author: Bernardo Parrella


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Uzbekistan: Auction of children’s sweat · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Musafirbek writes about the use of child labor in Uzbekistan, especially when children pick cotton for 8-10 hours a day. The government says they are doing it ‘by their own will’.


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Will Egypt import Chinese Hymens? · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

While bleeding on the wedding night is still the proof of the bride's honor in Egypt and Middle Eastern countries, Radio Netherlands broadcasted an Arabic translation of the Chinese advertisement of the Artificial Virginity Hymen kit. Youm7 newspaper announced that the product will be available on the Egyptian market for LE 83. Gigimo, a Chinese adult toy vendor, sells it for $30. As if Egyptian women were all waiting for the miracle hymen to embark on pre-marital sex, conservative parliament members want the product banned and any exporter exiled or beheaded.
Ana Silent (I am Silent) wrote a post titled
The unique selling proposition of the product as advertised in the media:
Sharm Life wrote:
Concluding the post with a clear rejection of the product, Sharm Life wrote in defense of Egyptian girls:
How Am I shared a different perspective:
The blogger asks:
Nawara Negm thinks the Chinese are brilliant:
In an attempt to educate Egyptian males on how to spot an artificial hymen, Moftah posted pictures of the female genitalia, the different types of hymens, and the difference between an intact hymen and a torn one. Mohaly wondered if raped women deserve a life:
Would you go against your society and family and marry a girl who has been raped? Out of love and respect and trust – not out of pity or a heroic temp feeling? Only at a certain phase you would know this truth about her. Would you believe her word, or she has to provide some proof? Would you be able to completely forget this fact and start a normal life with such a girl, keeping in mind that she is human, or unconscious influence of society would interfere here? … Would you be yourself and really work on making it up to her because she is just the same girl you know well enough to ask her to share your life? or would tradition interfere and you prefer to stay away and enough that you would keep her secret?
Eman Hashim of Muslimah Media Watch quoted Souad Abdel Rasoul from Radio Netherlands saying:
China is a country that has really understood us and revealed our truth, our diseases, and our obsession with image but not content. We are a contradictory nation that suffers from severe schizophrenia.
By selling us prayer beads, Ramadan lanterns, Hajj clothes, veiled Barbie dolls, Islamic swimsuits, and no hymens, China has been caressing the “Islamic” concept inside all of us by providing us with the image of what we want others to see in us, even if it is just a lie
She also quoted Sheikh Saied Askar, a member of the parliamentary bloc of the Muslim Brotherhood and a member of the Committee of Religious Affairs of the People’s Assembly, warning the Egyptian government:
Girls in general are afraid of committing such a sin for the sake of preserving their membranes and the presence of such products will tempt the weak souls to commit it as the availability of an alternative is now everywhere.
Eman Hashim found the Sheikh's statement offensive:
So any Egyptian girl who doesn’t have premarital sexual relationships does so only for the sake of staying a virgin? So virginity as a virtue and a concept is all about the hymen? I am not defending the product, nor am I defending premarital sex. I am offended by the implication and questioning the value of “virginity”.
Let’s assume for a second that this is the case, that the hymen is everything. So this is how women are supposed to be treated? Like children who are better kept away from danger cause they are incapable neither of protecting themselves, nor telling right from wrong? Notice how Askar refers to women as “girls.”
According to Askar, a woman is a weak creature who is incapable of choosing what to do and what not to do, and is easily tempted to commit “sins” if they became closer and easier to her. No mention is made of how the fake hymen may tempt men to sin—doesn’t a man face the same temptation?
Rather than asking ourselves what made China come up with such an idea or why there’s a very high possibility that the manufacturer of this product might hit his first million from selling it in Egypt, we are “afraid” that it might just make sex easier and in turn, more common.
In a community that worships appearances and gives minimal—if any—attention to the reality of things, it’s no wonder that news of a product like this can spread quickly.


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Bangladesh: Strategic Migration For Climate Refugees · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh Corporate Blog proposes strategic migration of skilled labors to solve the climate refugees problem in Bangladesh.


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Barbados: Reinvention?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“To most sensible observers the problems of West Indies cricket can only be solved by revamping the current monolithic West Indies Cricket Board”: Barbados Underground wonders whether the organisation has the resolve to reinvent itself.


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Bermuda: I Told You So · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Would the UBP be better off focusing on the issues at hand…rather than focusing on self promotion?”: Bermudian 21 Square says that the “I told you so” approach isn't working.


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Brunei: Power supply interruption · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Due to haze and heat and higher power demand, Brunei was forced to cut off power supply in some districts in the country

author: Mong Palatino


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Cambodia: Cost of mobile phone services · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

prosthom compares the call and text rates charged by phone companies in Cambodia.


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Cambodia: Ex-King wants to die soon · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The 87-year old former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk wants to die soon, according to a personal handwritten note published on his website


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Caribbean: Obama & the Nobel Peace Prize  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barack Obama can now add another prestigious title to his already impressive resume: Nobel Laureate.  Saying he was “humbled” by the honour, which was bestowed upon him in part because of his role in meeting the challenges of global climate change, in part – in the words of the Nobel Committee – “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”, Obama considers the award a “call to action”.  Still, the announcement has left some Caribbean bloggers asking questions…
Letters from Grenada writes:
Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s so damn beautiful my nipples are hard.
Then I sent my brother a text message telling him the news. He texted me back. ‘For what? Ending Iraq? Ending Afghanistan? Closing Gitmo? Making universal health care a reality? Ensuring our right to electronic privacy?’
She continues:
Listen. Obama’s not perfect. I know a lot of people who support him are disappointed by some of the things he has not accomplished.  I just want to remind everyone that the Nobel Peace Prize is an international award. It has nothing to do with our domestic concerns. And if you don’t think Obama has made an enormous difference in our image on the international scene, if you don’t think he’s given people all over the world hope enough to dream of a better tomorrow…then I just don’t know what.
Barbados Free Press, meanwhile, wonders whether the whole thing is “too much, too soon”:
Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for what he believes, and the hope people have in him – not for what he has accomplished or even tried to accomplish.
You might want to remember that Barack Obama was nominated for the prize in February of 2009 after serving less than two weeks as President.
As I write this the announcement from Oslo is only an hour old and thus far the overwhelming response from the world has not been congratulations, but puzzlement and concern that the always-politicized Peace Prize has now become even more a political tool designed to influence policy rather than a prestigious award in recognition of efforts that changed the world.
Living in Barbados adds:
Truly Amazing. Perhaps premature. Remember that nominations closed two weeks after Senator Obama became president. Nice work, if you can get it.
We do live in interesting times.
Bloggers from the Cuban diaspora were less diplomatic about their reactions.  Blog for Cuba calls it just another example of the “Orwellian world we now live in”, while Tomás Estrada-Palma says:
PLEASEEEEEEEE! Give me a break. How does the man who drops drone delivered bombs into the living rooms of innocent children in his undeclared war on the tribal areas of Pakistan get a peace prize?
But Along the Malecon takes a different view:
This is something else. A real stunner.
Seeing the Nobel prize go to Obama underscores that the American president has been busy with huge and important global issues – and he has made progress.
U.S.-Cuba relations seems minor when compared to some of the other issues Obama has tackled.
It is heartening to see that the international community once again has respect for our president.
It's sad to see that so many Americans don't appreciate how exceptional Obama is.
Caribbean diaspora blogger Tobias Buckell first heard the news on Twitter:
When I woke up this morning I checked my twitter feed and everyone was going ‘Obama awarded a Nobel, WTF?’
So did I (much like Scalzi, here). While I agree it’ll probably be a liability in terms of the criticisms that he’s a celebrity president and so on, I’m actually cracking up about this because of the completely predictable response from the GOP party machine and spokespeople: instant condemnation. Like celebrating the failure to host the Olympics just because it was a cause Obama championed.  You see, when else will the Republican party line up in complete and utter agreement with Hamas (Scott points out below I may have gotten that quote out of context, so grain of salt for Hamas there) and the Taliban and various terrorist groups that are anti-American?
Fellow diaspora blogger Liza has been listening very closely to the entire debate and quips:
You hear that? It's the collective sonic boom of republican heads exploding.
Back in Barbados, Cheese-on-bread! is firmly in the pro-Obama camp:
Of course the US networks are falling over themselves asking if he deserves this honour.
He didn't award himself the prize, so suck it up, critics.
Letters from Grenada adds:
Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful. More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.
But Barbados Free Press still isn't convinced:
The Nobel Prize Committee has again lowered the value of the award with a controversial decision that history may see as foolish. When will the people of the Nobel Prize Committee discover that they cannot predict or control world events?
Are they saying that they will agree with everything the Obama administration does until the end of his term? What if the United States military ramps up the war in Afghanistan and overtly goes into Pakistan? What if Obama decides to take out an Iranian military installation?
Is the Nobel Prize Committee trying to control upcoming US policy in the near future through the awarding of the 2009 Peace Prize? They will be sorely disappointed and embarrassed.
The controversy in the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize is not really about Obama – it is about a Nobel Prize Committee that has become too full of itself and detached from reality.


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China: Democracy debate · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN has translated two forum posts on the nature of democracy. One claimed that democracy is completely useless, the other one argued against it.


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China: Internet Human Rights Declaration · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

C.A. Yeung from Under the Jacaranda Tree has translated the Internet Human Rights Declaration issued by 15 public intellectuals in China.


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China: The Founding of a Republic! Propaganda, or a commercial success with some irony?  · Global Voices
Robert Woo

Only 3 weeks after hitting the screen, The Founding of a Republic has already taken in nearly $ 60 million. Naturally, it has created a huge stir in China’s online community. A simple indication is Google China’s hot trend list, where this movie has remained on top since release. In less than 1 month, The Founding of a Republic is firmly on track to be the hottest domestic movie ever shown in the Chinese cinemas.
Why is this movie so successful? Certainly, one should not forget that 176 celebrities of Chinese cinema were cast, which made the trailer almost seem like a Power Point presentation. The fact that such cast will be once and never again has generated a huge buzz. Kai Pan of CNReview commented:
Come now, it’s true, and it’s true because — believe it or not — many Chinese already expect the film to be propaganda. They’re keenly aware of the circumstances surrounding it and the bigger question for them is: How many stars can they spot and identify?
An even simpler reason many bloggers have pointed out is that, the movie is not at all bad! It is not the type of third-grade propaganda nonsense that Chinese viewers were brought up with in the past. In a defense against the likely dismissal of the movie as mere propaganda, Kai Pan wrote:
…I’m happy to report that while a few events were portrayed in a noticeably skewed manner, there’s thankfully few — if any — obvious to outrageous rewritings of history (excusing dramatic artistic license). In fact, the movie was far more gracious in their handling of Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT Nationalists than I expected. (Of course, this was because I feared the worst from this movie, and now I probably owe the CCP responsible for this movie a measure of respect for, well, not living up to my fears.) Unlike so many lesser PRC produced films and television shows set in the Chinese Civil War era, Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT were not grossly vilified here. They were portrayed, I think, rather respectfully as multi-faceted humans with their human greatness, human flaws, and human mistakes.
IMDB User Markringo, likely someone from outside China, also praised the movie from a cinematic point of view.
I think Han (the director) really did his best this time – Kaige Chan successfully portraits warlord Feng Yuxiang, Jet Li as a hero and Andy Lau as an air force commander, Jackie Chan as a journalist..oh my what a crew… The most unforgettable role that I think is Jiang Wen as Mao Renfeng. Actually it is a personalized history of Han himself – the story telling almost sticks with Zhang Guoli and Chen Kun from the start to the end. The Shanghai gang bloodbath is the most decent scene in this film, full of Han's style. If you've watch some movies he made you will realize that. This is definitely not, as some unknown media says, a government's propaganda film.
However, the same comment pointed out another key factor behind The Founding’s success: the guaranteed support from the state around the time of the People’s Republic of China’s 60th anniversary:
Usually government doesn't invest money on commercial films, once it does, it should reflect the highest film making level of this country as least. John Woo made the movie in which five pigeons fly out, whilst Han made this one nearly 5,000 pigeons fly out with a gunshot, what a difference!
The presence of the state may be felt everywhere, even outside the sphere of physical resources or financial backing. For instance, all 176 movie stars are allegedly “volunteers”, which means, as if for a charitable movie, they all chose to receive no pay no matter how involved they were. This helped to trim the budget to no more than 10 million dollars, a stunning feat with Chinese characteristics that the whole world will try very difficult to emulate.
No surprise that despite sincere portrayal of history and aggressive marketing strategy, the movie always follows the Communist party line. Kai Pan commented:
As for the Mao Zedong and the Communists, well, they were portrayed decidedly without much weakness and fault, save maybe being far poorer than the KMT Nationalists. While Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists are repeatedly shown being driven around in fancy cars and pondering the precariousness of their rule within grand villas, Mao & Co. are huddled in mud huts, conserving candles, and laughing about getting stewed meat twice a month. This juxtaposition, of course, serves to make Mao and his band of merry Communist leaders seem the rugged, scrappy, and long-suffering David that eventually brings down the Goliath.
The movie itself might not be bad, and the heavy odor of propaganda may be set aside from the discussion for a while, but a much bigger irony remains: If the story of the founding of People’s Republic of China is a struggle for the prosperity, equality and democracy for all people, as it was portrayed in the film, what then of the result?
As dictated by this movie’s subject matter, a proper appreciation will inevitably involve a serious re-consideration of China’s past and present, after which, most people will find out something very awry. The People’s Republic now is still far from the kind of nation the founding fathers had imagined. It is a promise yet undelivered. It has been a long, long winding road with no end in sight. Han Han, the famous racer and satirical blogger, raised up this question in his typical sharp style:
我很怀疑导演是在用反讽的手法来拍摄这部电影。看着那些开国元帅们纵情唱着国际歌，毛泽东说，我们永远要团结。我看到了这部电影成为一部真正的优秀电影的潜质——那就是它不在1949年结尾，而是以1976年结尾。在1949年的时候，诚挚的人民诚挚的望着诚挚的毛泽东和诚挚的新中国，然而六十年后，人们依然没有一米自己的土地，大家都是寄生而已。以前我们的旧社会由很多的阶级组成，现在简单了，只有四个阶级，那就是穷人，房奴，富人和富豪。
从另外一方面来讲，建国大业是一部爱情文艺片，它委婉的讲述了穷小子追求富家女的故事，当时的共产党就是穷小子，新中国是待嫁的富家女，国民党是订了婚的情敌，各民主党派和社会名流是富家女的朋友，穷小子成功的秘诀就是一开始要有理想，谈未来，许承诺，拉拢朋友，乱开空头支票，当然，会打架是排在第一位的。最终终于成功的娶了新中国。当然婚后的生活就和在座的各位当年花言巧语的男同志们的婚后生活差不多。
你们泡妞时的承诺都做到了吗？
Have you met your promises you made when you were dating?

author: Robert Woo


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China: What Lies between Chinese Writers and the Nobel Prize? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Fools Mountain tried to explain why there isn't any mainland Chinese writers getting the Nobel Prize yet.


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Cuba: Blogging Community  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Repeating Islands and Cuarderno Latinoamericano take interest in a mainstream media article examining Cuba's growing blogging community.


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Egypt: Niqab Ban Stirs Controversy · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

The Niqab (or face cover) is making the headlines again after the head of Al Azhar and Egypt's Imam, Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi asked a young girl to uncover her face while he was inspecting an Azhar school in Cairo.
During his tour he saw a 13 year old girl fully veiled from head to toe covering her entire body but for her eyes. Moataz El Demerdash, host of a talk show called 90 minutes had a phone interview with one of the press members who witnessed Sheikh Tantawi order the girl to take off the niqab as he told her that niqab is a tradition that has nothing to do with religion. A few days later, Hani Helal Egypt's Minister of Higher Education banned female undergraduates from wearing the niqab in the country's public universities,  Al-Masri Al-Yom newspaper reported.
The exchange between the Sheikh and the girl can be followed in this video [Ar]:
In an older post, Desert Cat blogged about a man who was caught hiding behind a niqab to go see his mistress:
Desert Cat hailed the Sheikh's decision saying:
Tarek Ez AlDen reported that an Egyptian rights organization is suing the Minister of Higher Education:
Elder of Zion found the reactions to the niqab ban interesting:
Commenting on Tantawy’s statement, Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, member of the Islamic research Center said that the Sheikh’s decision is not a fatwa, but a move aimed at preserving security among students.
Allowing the niqab in academic institutions can cause problems, he added, since anyone can use it as a disguise to enter the university, even terrorists.
Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdy Hassan couldn’t disagree more. He told Daily News Egypt Monday that he denounces Tantawy’s anti-niqab statement.
As for The Minister of higher Education's decree in Cairo University
neither Ain Shams University nor Helwan University issued similar decrees.
The niqab ban did not come as a total surprise
In 2007 Helwan University was the subject of a huge controversy when university security guards prohibited the entry of some female students wearing the niqab into the university dorms, even though they agreed to reveal their face to the female security guards for an identity check.
In the same year, Minister of Religious Endowments Hamdy Zaqzuq dismissed an employee from a meeting for refusing to remove her niqab.
In 2004 the American University in Cairo (AUC) caused a similar stir after a decree prohibiting the entry of students wearing the niqab into the university campus.
At the end of his post, he wrote:
Tantawi has been in hot water before, for shaking hands with Shimon Peres.
Like Elder of Zion, blogger Khaled Fouda reminded his readers of the day the Sheikh shook hands with Shimon Perez:
Joseph Mayton of Bikya Masr wrote a post on how Europe took advantage of the niqab ban in Egypt:
On Tuesday, only one day after news of Tantawi’s possible ban hit the media, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his right-wing coalition have presented a proposal to ban the niqab, or burqa. The anti-immigration Northern League party is leading the charge, and Italian politicians are now quoting Tantawi in support of their goal.
The party’s proposal would amend an anti-terrorism law of 1975 that forbids anyone in the country from making their identification impossible. The current interpretation of the law allows for religious reasons as a “justified cause” to cover the face, but the possible law could end such interpretation.
A party member, Roberto Cota was quoted as saying “we are not racist and we have nothing against Muslims, but the law must be equal for everyone.”
People of Freedom Member of Parliament, Barbara Saltamartini, said that “banning the burqa cannot be considered anti-Muslim because it is not obligatory in Islam,” echoing Tantawi’s sentiments, when he demanded that the young girl in a local school remove the veil as it is “not part of Islam.”
Meanwhile, Kareem El Beheiry of EgyWorkers announced his solidarity with Egypt's niqabis free right to choose and Hassan El Helali who is against hijab (regular veil that does not cover the face) writes, addressing the Minister of Interior:


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Egypt: No Accolades for Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize  · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

A big thank for the Nobel Committee –  they have just made our day today. Perhaps most of the people here are not sure why US President Barack Obama was honored, and they are pretty sure that he doesn't deserve it. But they were all happy, because it gave them hope that everyone and anyone can win the prize. It wasn't only the people here who were shocked that he won, but even the Associate Press has the same point of view:
For one of America's youngest presidents, in office less than nine months — and only for 12 days before the Nobel nomination deadline last February — it was an enormous honor.
The prize seems to be more for Obama's promise than for his performance.
The Egyptians reactions started with announcements on Twitter
Then some others were really astonished.
While the majority started making fun of it
Arabawy also wrote a special post about it in his blog.
The butcher of Iraq and Afghanistan (and Pakistan) has won the Nobel Peace prize. Congratulations! [Mabrouk!] It’s a great day for world freedom. Obama, Manachem Begin, Henri Kissinger–all men who made this planet a great place to live in. Why can’t Mubarak and Habib el-Adly get it too? The message those a**holes in Norway are sending: Murder and butcher your way to Nobel.
And finally, some others had a different point of view:

author: Tarek Amr


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Gabon’s bloggers struggle to take hold · Global Voices
Andriankoto Ratozamanana

It’s been a couple of weeks since I left Gabon, and a month since elections to pick a successor to Omar Bongo, who ruled Africa’s fourth-largest oil producer for 41 years. There are unresolved questions about the ballot count and the number of people killed in post-election violence.
Riot Police confronts Journalists on august 7 in Rio during an opposition protest (Andriankoto Ratozamanana)
Until this summer, I did not know much about Gabon, except for a random tidbit—that the nation of 1.4 million had a GDP matching Portugal. Things changed after July 3 when Lova Rakotomalala and I, both bloggers from Madagascar, received an e-mail from Alice Backer, a former French editor of Global Voices Lingua, about covering Gabon’s presidential elections scheduled for August 30.
I accepted because I need fresh air. After all, as a citizen blogger of Global Voices teny Malagasy, I had already experienced covering the bitter political crisis tearing apart my Indian Ocean island of Madagascar. With crisis reporting platform Foko-ushahidi, which allowed ordinary citizens to send testimonies via SMS, real-time reporting on Twitter, and local Web sites such as Topmada, Lova, myself and other citizen journalists helped cover all sides of the unfolding crisis. Citizen media reports were even quoted by international media as the Malagasy media was divided into partisan political positions.
Gabon, on the other hand, is not known as a “wired” country in tech speak. Less than 6 percent of the population has access to the Internet, according to InternetWorldStats. While intense public outcry opposed our former president’s closure of rival’s TV station and eventually led to his toppling from power, government censorship of media appeared to be the accepted norm in Gabon for many years, according to press freedom organizations.
Nevertheless, as I left the winter-season cool temperatures of Madagascar for the hot and humid air of Gabon’s seaside capital of Libreville, just above the Equator, I knew the elections would be historic, if not for the unprecedented role of new media technologies.
Twenty-three candidates were contesting the elections, many with appealing campaign Web sites such as Ali9, Mamboundou, AndreMbaObame or Moubamba. Candidates were also aggressively campaigning on social networking sites. One of the candidates for instance, Franco-Gabonese journalist Bruno Ben Moumbamba, was among the most active on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter. Ali Ben Bongo, the ruling party candidate, even distinguished his campaign by sending on two separate occasions a personal SMS message to the customers of Gabon’s three main mobile carriers, Zain, Libertis, and Moov.
In the many bars (commonly called “makis”) of downtown Libreville’s Louis district, people discussed everything around the local beer “Regab” and braised fish dishes. With Bongo’s monopoly of state media, most local radio stations oriented toward religious and entertainment programming, and a handful of partisan TV stations controlled by the elite in politics, business, and the clergy, most Gabonese turned to international media for objective news. Unfortunately, the print and broadcast media’s coverage of the elections was limited by censorship, intimidation, and violence against reporters.
When I arrived in Libreville, I quickly detected that people were reluctant to freely express their views in public to someone they do not know. Even the barber I went to for a haircut politely declined to share his views on the elections, when I put the question to him as the TV in his salon was blaring Africa 24’s coverage of the polls. Bizarre.
At first, many young people I met did not seem very interested in the Internet. In fact, the most educated told me they used the Web exclusively to check e-mail and visit chat or dating sites. Others appeared motivated by the idea of blogging, but wanted to be paid to do it. Nevertheless, with help, a few people took their first steps in using the Web as social media, and a handful of new citizen voices slowly emerged. Journalist and activist Gaston Asséko shared his experience on voting day on YouTube. Roger Edima Mavoungou Wilson, a communications professional, started a blog and is actively tweeting. Régis Ngoma, a local comedian, even started a YouTube channel with videos satirizing the elections.
Regardless, there were many difficulties in my reporting. I remember being unable to text after the mobile companies suspended SMS service during the elections. As a result, a crisis reporting platform deployed by a Gabonese diaspora movement based in France called The Guardian Angels of Gabon on Ushahidi never took off. Nevertheless, social media facilitated the flow of information between the Gabonese diaspora and those living home. “#Gabon” even jumped to the top tag on francophone Twitter following the announcement of elections results, according to Twirus.
Doubts persist over the results of the presidential elections and with a recount of the votes in progress, journalists are still under pressure. Just last weekend, local caricaturist and blogger Patrick Essono was detained for drawing a cartoon of two policemen. A day before, the editor of state daily L’Union, Albert Yangari, was detained for questioning after publishing interviews with residents of Port-Gentil that suggested more people had been killed in post-election violence than reported by the government. This week, there were reports that the house of Jonas Moulenda, the journalist who carried out the interviews, was searched by security agents, and that he has received death threats.

author: Andriankoto Ratozamanana


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Ghana: We Still Remember Kwame Nkrumah · Global Voices
Gayle Pescud

Abena of Chardonas presents a striking image of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and a wonderful place to begin a round up of blogs commemorating Kwame Nkrumah’s 100th birthday. The word, of course, is vision.
She wrote:
‘In a dusty, browning album belonging to my late father, I found the above photograph of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The album, covered in red psychedelic flowers houses my father's pictures from the mid-1960s up to 1973. The photos follow a natural fashion time-line and show how extremely tight -fitting trousers, beehives and mini-skirts gave way to unkempt bushy hair, bell-bottoms, afros and platform shoes. It's like Austin Powers meets Shaft all in Ghana.’
She continues:
Somewhere in the middle of the album is the mysterious photo of Nkrumah. For a few years I have looked at the picture and have wondered:
• Where did my father get the picture from?
• Where and when was it taken?
• Do the kente cloth in the background and the coat of arms on the front of the podium indicate that it was taken in Ghana?
What was the speech about and who were the audience?
For the generations of Ghanaians born after the death of Nkrumah, we have learnt that he was an extraordinary man of vision. VISION Not only did he possess great foresight but also charisma and intellect. He dream was not only for Ghana but extended to a Pan-African ideal of a united continent.
And she was certainly not alone in her thinking.
‘I don't think any African country has had as visionary a leader as my country has been so lucky to have. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah dreamed of a united, free Africa. I cringe to think what he would think of what we have become. Read his 1963 speech to the OAU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.’
wrote Orangebutterfly, reflecting the sentiments expressed by many bloggers internationally upon the centenary of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, September 21, 2009.
I shall quote Nkrumah’s Addis speech throughout this roundup of blogs to illusrate of his enduring vision:
‘Our continent certainly exceeds all the others in potential hydroelectric power, which some experts assess as 42% of the world's total. What need is there for us to remain hewers of wood and drawers of water for the industrialised areas of the world?
we shall link the various states of our continent with communications by land, sea and air. We shall cable from one place to another, phone from one place to the other and around the world with our hydroelectric power…
A decade ago, these would have been visionary words, the fantasies of an idle dreamer. But this is the age in which science has transcended the limits of the material world, and technology has invaded the silences of nature.’
Gamelmag took a unique approach to commemorating Nkrumah’s hundredth birthday:
‘My approach to remembering Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is to attempt to answer the question: “If Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was alive today, what would have been his aspiration for Ghana and Africa?”’
And imagined what Nkrumah might have envisioned for modern, internet-savvy Ghana and Africa, thus:
‘Kwame Nkrumah…would advocate for the Internet to be available in every Ghanaian, home, work place and school. After ensuring this he would then make a statement like: “Ghana's connectivity to the Internet would be meaningless unless it is linked up to the wiring up of the whole African continent.”’
And of energy they wrote that Nkrumah may have imagined cheap and affordable energy:
‘The fact that he constructed Ghana's sole hydroelectric power plant and proposed the one that is currently under construction is prove of the above claim. In the wake of the recent oil discovery in Ghana, our first president would ensure that there is more Ghanaian involvement in the actual drilling and refinement of the oil. He would lead the effort to build more oil refineries to process the crude oil locally, so as to increase the value of the oil exports.’
For those who do not know Nkrumhah, Laura Adibe wrote:
‘Was born Sept. 21, 1909 (although his autobiography states Sept. 18), in the former Gold Coast, now known as Ghana. From 1957 to 1966, Nkrumah served as president of Ghana until he was overthrown. Spending his final years in exile, Nkrumah died on April 27, 1972, in Bucharest, Romania. Hailed by many for being ahead of his time with his vision for a unified Africa, he is remembered for his dream of a “United States of Africa.”’
And she was fortunate to attend one of numerous events celebrating the life of Nkrumah which was held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on the 20th of September in New York:
‘…the event was packed with speakers such as Amiri Baraka, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Molefi Asante and Dr. Ama Mazama. New York State Sen. Bill Perkins was also in attendance, presenting a copy of New York State Resolution 3068 to recognize the 100th birthday of the late Nkrumah to Minister-Counselor Ebenezer Appreku and members of the National Council of Ghanaian Association.’
Of conflict and development, in his Addis speech Nkrumah said:
‘There is hardly any African state without a frontier problem with its adjacent neighbours. It would be futile for me to enumerate them because they are already so familiar to us all. But let me suggest that this fatal relic of colonialism will drive us to war against one another as our unplanned and uncoordinated industrial development expands, just as happened in Europe?’
Many bloggers cited Nkrumah’s efforts towards forging a united, peaceful Ghana as his greatest legacy and inspiration.
‘So what is Nkrumah’s greatest legacy?’
asks Maya of Mayas Earth. Her thoughts, captured here, are representative of many in the blogosphere (and, on a personal note, of discussions I have had with many Ghanaians on Ghana’s peaceful status):
‘In my opinion it is breaking our tribal barriers. In his quest for panafricanism, he had to first break tribal barriers before breaking national distinctions. By transferring civil servants to places in the country that they had no tribal link to, e.g. sending an Ashanti to Accra, a Ga to Koforidua and a Fanti to Tamale, tribal interaction was forced on Ghanaians. A young Fanti who’d been stationed in Tamale for four years would sooner or later look for a spouse and marry out of his tribe.’
Also focusing on Nkrumah’s legacy, like Maya, Ghana Unites refered to Nkrumah’s impact on unity and his initiatives to promote understanding among Ghana’s numerous ethnic groups by implementing schemes that encouraged Ghanaians to work and live together:
‘He implemented similar initiatives at the professional level, where Ghanaians from different ethnic groups were offered civil service jobs in languages other than their own. The current National Service Scheme is remiscent of this initiative; although many Ghanaians today will move heaven and earth to ensure that they remain in Accra or large cities like Kumasi and Tema. Adjibolosoo acknowledges that although Nkrumah's initiatives did not rid Ghana of ethnic rivalries, it did have a significant impact on ethnic dynamics in Ghana. And I concur with that observation.’
Incidentally, it is rather serendipitous that September 21 is also the United Nations’ official Day of Peace and Ceasefire. That Ghana is officially the second most peaceful nation in Africa (after Botswana) and almost devoid of ethnic conflict is, in large part, thanks to Nkrumah.
As Maya wrote:
‘I am half Ga, half Akim. My husband is part Ga and part Akuapim. Among my friends and family, one is part Ewe, part Fanti and part Ga, one is part Akuapim and part Ga and another is part Akim and part Ashanti and there’s a whole mixture of Ga, Krobo, Fanti, Akim, Nzema and Hausa. Speaking to other African nationals I realize that this tribal mixing is very unusual outside Ghana.
Nkrumah espoused that unity, post independence, was fundamental to peaceful and prosperous development.
‘Is it not unity alone that can weld us into an effective force, capable of creating our own progress and making our valuable contribution to world peace?
Ghana Unites compares Ghana’s experience with Malyasia and the USA in unifying ethnically or geographically diverse segments of the population:
Nkrumah knew that in order for Ghana (and Africa) to prosper, we would have to put our differences aside and work together. United we stand, divided we fall. And boy, are we racing each other to the depths of poverty, instability and all the other inefficiencies that plague our country and continent. All nations who have achieved some semblance of democracy and development, have had to let some sleeping dogs lie and work together. In Malaysia, the native Malays and the Chinese and Indian foreigners did this. In the United States, the north and south divides came together. In Ghana…well, let's look on the bright side, things are better.
Of his extraordinary efforts to forge a united Ghana, Maya says:
In a time when Ghana stands happily among few of the African countries that has not experienced a civil war, as so many others have in the past and present, we must be eternally grateful to Osagyefo for this legacy.’
My African Diaspora says Nkrumah’s greatest gift to the world was:
‘…birthing the idea of Pan-Africanism, his early vision of a United States of Africa.
Nkrumah died in 1972, his vision unrealized and his rule ended in exile. It makes one wonder about the dream. Long after first reading about him in college, I developed my own vision of the dream. It’s an ambitious one – it expands on the original theory to encompass the entire African Diaspora. The same reasons, benefits and logic hold true, but the dream continues to be elusive.
The question is why. Why is it so difficult for Africa (and the diaspora) to see the benefits of unification? Would the model of the United States and the European Union not work in Africa?
While My African Diaspora asks why it is so difficult for Africa and the diaspora to see the benefits of unification, Ghana Unites illustrates that the reality of development today in Ghana—infrastructure maintenance, education curriculums—is brimming with challenges that require Nkrumah style vision and leadership to overcome:
But at some point, the roads, schools, bridges etc that Kwame Nkrumah set up will be in need of serious repair, or will have to be done over entirely. It's time that we quit nit-picking, and go on a full-out campaign to work and make necessary changes. Who cares whether high school in Ghana goes for a term of three or four years? What, pray tell us, are students supposed to be studying over that period of time? That is what we are supposed to be focusing on, the curriculum, the essentialities, the specifics! We need to have a vision and long term goals, and then, we strategize step-by-step and determine how we will achieve these goals. Enough, of the short-term planning already! If we don't commemorate Nkrumah's 100th birthday in any way, I hope we at least take a page from his book on leadership, and strive to be visionaries and work not just in the present, but also for the future. In his own words, “Forward ever, Backward never.”
Ghana Voices interviewed members of a new political party formed to honour Nkrumah’s vision.
‘The party, christened Nkrumah Never Dies Party (NNDP) is formed to honour Nkrumah, through whose exploits the nation was formed and founded. The part is also to usher in a new political paradigm where tribalism, poverty, hunger and diseases do not exist.
‘”Today, Ghana is far from what it ought to have been. We have become more or less (adikan abedie akyire),” Mr Amusu stressed. Mr Amusu regretted that after 50 years of independence, the country was wallowing in poverty, squalor and disease. He said Nkrumah left so many legacies that successive government could have built on to relieve the country from its economic doldrums.’
A
nd others look to a new generation for change and leadership, remembering Nkrumah’s own initiatives. In his research, Ghana Unites discovered just how advanced Nkrumah was for his time:
Hidden in the depths of chapter four of Critical Perspectives in Politics and Socio-Economic Development in Ghana by Tettey et al. (2003) was a section on how social and ethnic unrest in Ghana influenced (or rather impeded) its development efforts. The author, Adjibolosoo, explored Kwame Nkrumah's attempts at dealing with these tensions. The Ghana Young Pioneers movement of June 1960 which aimed at character building and citizen development amongst youth was one of the initiatives that led to the ideology of patriotic nationalism or “Nkrumanism.” Through the Ghana Young Pioneers initiative, educational programs were implemented to educate children in the concepts of social solidarity, political action, value stabilization, individual integration into changing social structures, the direction and meaning of life, and learning to think in terms of a nation rather than ethnic groups. I think Nkrumah's target group alone (children) is indicative of how forward-thinking this man was.
Continuing this theme, Gafaru of Wake Up Ghana said:
‘Kwame Nkrumah’s human story must serve to inspire another generation in many ways, and above all, to believe in themselves. Even more importantly, it must inspire the older generation to believe in and trust the youth because Nkrumah’s story is one of youthful optimism in the face of traditional resistance to new ideas.’
As September 21 was celebrated by Ghanaians as a national holiday, the JJ Rawlings blog, quoted a statement issued by former President Jerry John Rawlings:
‘”As we celebrate Nkrumah today let us have unity of purpose as far as the socio-economic and socio-political development of Ghana is concerned.
Concluding, former President Rawlings said Nkrumah’s ideals of unity for Africa had proven to be more relevant than before with the creation of powerful economic blocks in Europe, the Americas and Asia and called on African leaders to work seriously to give true meaning to the aspirations of Africans.”’
On the whole, Nkrumah’s legacy is largely undisputed. As Kofi Yeboah wrote:
In spite of all his foibles, as human as he is, his admirers, critics and enemies alike unanimously acknowledge him as the greatest African of the second millennium.
Others, including Edward of Path Ghana, were inspired to write poetry in his memory:
The Immortality of Nkrumah
In the beginning there was nothing
And out of nothing Yahweh called everything
First the angels and demons to keep the mortals busy
Then the women of the earth to remind man of his existence
After all was set and after all had been written
Yahweh called Nkrumah to stay in between the mortals and the immortal
To call for war at a time everything seemed peaceful
A mission to save the lost from its leash and its destiny
And begin a new path into a different generation
After that mission was done and all covered,
Nkrumah crossed the line
The line that separated mortals from those who never saw death
And built a home amongst the living and shared in their greater pain
From far up in the skies Yahweh unchained the punisher
The hibernating demons that lay in wait and smelled the blood of heroes
This time to spark a begging of the end of immortality among men
And so history was ordered to record it, Nkrumah the last immortal man
And yet others recounted intimate family stories. Emmanuel Bensah wrote of his family’s connection with Nkrumah and his father’s reaction on September 21:
‘It's a story about how their [Bensah’s] father–then 32 years young–imbued by the pride of being an Nkrumahist wept on the morning of Monday 21st September 2009 as then-President Professor John Evans Attah-Mills delivered a dawn broadcast to honour the great Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah–academic; theologian; pioneering Pan-African; and Founder of Ghana.
In his hand was a copy of the now-defunct “Evening News” of January 1964, which their father found online, recounting how their great grandfather Hon E.K.Bensah, Minister of Works and Communications, had laid a wreath on the grave of a security officer killed by the bomb attempt on the life of the Osagyefo.’
And so I couldn’t help but end this round up where we began.
Abena of Chardonas wrote:
As we celebrate 100 years of the birth of Nkrumah next Monday, I have made a pledge to myself to find out as much as possible about the man.
Maya had also discovered a photo of Nkrumah hidden away and asked:
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‘Like Abena, I have so many questions to ask about it, but now I can't stop wondering, is there a picture of Kwame Nkurmah in every family album?’

author: Gayle Pescud