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South Korea: Civil Service Exams Removed, Years of Studies Wasted? · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

In South Korea, many people are buzzing with anger over a sudden government decision to replace the decades-old civil service exam with open recruitment. The exam, through which about 70 percent of high-ranking government officials are selected, has been praised for giving equal opportunities to applicants regardless of their education and family background. Since the 2008 world economic crisis, with competition getting stiffer in the job market, more young people have chosen several years of grueling studies for the national exams as their next career path. After the announcement was made this week, South Korea's online space exploded, with the vast majority of enraged bloggers condemning the open recruitment system as a way of stalling the nation’s already flatlining social mobility.
The South Korean government said it is scrapping the civil service exam and instead will hire people based on their credentials and an interview process, to promote greater diversity and flexibility in the public service. Up to one third of grade 5 public servants will be selected in this way. The grade 5 civil service position is the stepping stone to becoming a top government official. More than 200,000 young people apply for the test each year, and most are appalled by the news. The new recruitment system could mean their years of preparation for the exam go wasted.
Reading between the lines, it seems the government’s new standard in recruits, requiring ‘special certificates, qualifications, degrees or relevant experience in a specialized field,’ may only benefit people who went to prestigious (and expensive) law schools, or a handful of top-tier university graduates in Seoul. At least, that is what the blogger Streaming 09 comments. The blogger concludes that the purpose of the new reform itself may sound plausible, but how it will be practiced in reality is another matter.
일단 취지는 좋은 제도이다. 외부 전문가들을 채용해 전문성을 강화하겠다는 취지는 좋다. 그러나 이런 좋은 취지가 현재의 대한민국 땅에서는 변질될 우려가 충분하다는 점에 우려의 여지가 있다, 공채 시험은 자신이 공부한 만큼 결과를 얻는 제도이다. 학벌, 집안, 배경 등에 영향을 거의 받지 않는다…서류전형은 일류대학 학별과 해외 학위 취득자에게 유리할 것이고,
면접은 기존 기득권층에게 절대적으로 유리 하다…즉, 경제적으로 부유하고 사회적 지위까지 가지고 있는 사람들의 자녀가 부모들이 가지고 있던 모든 특권을 그대로, 게다가 합법적으로 세습할 수 있는 길이 사실상 열린 것이라 할 수 있다.
A lawyer’s desk when she was preparing for the bar exam, taken from an internet café.
Flyers made by institutes posted near the Gosi-Chon, taken by blogger Garbeek.
Three national exams, the bar, the foreign service exam and the civil service exam, have turned several blocks of Seoul city into special districts exclusively dedicated to earning money from the exam industry: the ‘Gosi-Chons’ (考試+村: village/district for tests). Numerous big and small academic institutes teaching test contents and testing skills are located in each Gosi-Chon. The streets and walls are plastered with flyers from institutes advertising their courses. Students seriously preparing for these three big national exams study for 10 to 12 hours a day on average, and to save time they move closer to the institutes. The Gosi-Won (考試+院: place for tests [note: Korean use of Chinese characters may be different from how Chinese use them]) is the place where these students live, for several months or even years. It is a tiny one-room studio equipped with minimum facilities, and the rent is pretty cheap. By spending at least three years of exclusive study on the exams, with near-zero social or recreational activities, some may get to taste the fruit of success, which is truly delicious. In the case of the civil service exam, successful applicants can save an average of 25 years in climbing up the government ladder. (It otherwise takes about 25 years for grade 9 civil servants to go up to grade 5, which is the position a test winner starts from.)
A minority supports the reformation of the old system. Blogger Marketing360 writes a long article titled ‘Three reasons why I support the abolition of the civil servant exam’. The blogger points out it will get rid of the excessive benefits of passing the exam, streamline the inflexible public service sector, and halt the drain of young talent into years of studies.
특정 분야에 있어서 한 두번의 필기시험으로 남은 인생을 개런티 받는 채용시스템의 한계를 보완할 수 있음. 물론, 남들 놀고 연예 하면서 자유롭게 대학 생활을 누릴 때 스스로의 자유를 제한하면서까지 고시 공부에 몇 년간 투자한 노력을 모르는 바 아니지만, 그렇게 해서 얻은 노력 치고는 너무나 큰 대가를 얻는다는데 형평성이 이슈가 있어왔던 것 또한 사실입니다.
The blogger adds that we have to consider a majority of test takers who fail the exams repeatedly. When they come back to the real world after exclusive, incompatible studies on the public sector, they are unemployable, since they have no real world experience.
젊고 유능한 인재들의 고시원 행을 통해서 발생하는 불필요한 사회적 비용을 감소시키는 데 기여할 수 있음…국민의 공복으로서 공무원을 하려고 하기 보다는 그저 한 번의 시험으로 그저 남 보다 빨리 앞서가기 위한 직행 티켓을 따기 위해 맹목적으로 매달리는 사람들이 문제인 것이죠. …그런데 사회구조적으로 보면 다양한 카테고리에서 다양한 직업 군으로 진출해서 각자의 능력을 발휘해야 할 젊고 유능한 인재들이 너무 한 분야에만 몰리고 있는 이런 현상은 상당 부분 불필요한 사회적 비용을 초래하게 됩니다. 그나마 합격한 사람은 다행이지만 몇 번의 고배를 지속적으로 마시고 나서 몇 년 이상이 흐르다 보면 상대적으로 사회에 적응하기 가 쉽지 않은 상태가 될 가능성이 높습니다.
The blogger Inyouwithyou comments on the inter-generational mobility Korean society is gradually losing. Social mobility was quite high in recent Korean history, due to huge social shifts caused by colonialism, the end of colonial rule, the Second World War and the Korean War. The blogger concludes that today social status is once more inherited.
일제시대에 조선시대의 신분 제도가 완전히 해체되고 왕족마저 사라지는 대변화가 일어났죠. 한국 전쟁과 분단으로 세상이 또 한번 흔들렸지. 그야말로 맨 바닥에서 자수성가하는 사람들이 생겨나는 기회의 세상이 된거죠. 그렇게 해방 후에서 70-80년대를 거치면서 상류층을 형성한 사람들의 자녀들은 상류층으로, 부자의 자녀가 부자가 되는 신분,계층, 부의 대물림 구조가 거의 고착화되어가고 있지.
Even though the new recruit system may revitalize the social service sector, which has been in a bureaucratic coma for decades, a majority of people cannot shake off their worries about the increasing gap between haves and have-nots. And they are terrified by the possible collapse of the bridge that gave them a chance to jump to the upper class. The blogger Kraze hopes the reform will not be used in forming a Korean version of a caste system.
우선 5급 공채에 지원하기 위해서는 민간 경력 전문가를 제외하곤 변호사 자격증과 같은 전문자격증을 소지한 자, 학위소지자로 제한하고 있기 때문에 경제적 여력이 없는 저소득층의 고위관직 진출은 사실상 어려워졌다고 볼 수 있습니다. 또 서류전형과 면접이 얼마나 공정하게 진행될 것인지도 의문입니다…어찌됐건 새로운 5급 공채 시스템이 한국형 카스트의 시발점이 되지 않길 기원합니다.
The new recruiting system may be either the expiration of a fast ticket to success or a good kick to a public sector which is in limbo. It is always individuals who have to cope with uncertainties.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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South Korea: North Korea’s Stealth War Manual Disclosed · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo exclusively revealed a confidential field manual that shows North Korean military’s camouflage materials like stealth paint and fake facilities and equipment to cheat other sides’ satellites and aircraft.

source: news-globalvoices

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


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Sri Lanka: Much Ado About The Executive Presidency · Global Voices
Rezwan

In Sri Lanka, many politicians are calling for “the abolition of the office of the Executive President and revert to a Prime Ministerial system of Government”. Sisyphus at 1985 Mosquito Bites analyzes the merits and demerits of the Executive Presidency and finds that the individuals in position, not the systems are flawed.

author: Rezwan


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Haiti: Access Denied  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeni has been following Wyclef Jean's bid for the Haitian presidency and says: “Now that Wyclef's candidacy has been stalled…maybe Wyclef's next bid should be ensuring that the media continues to shine a light on the Haitian situation.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Syria: A Muslim should be like a jar of honey · Global Voices
Eman AbdElRahman

Syrian blogger Maysaloon  reflects on a conversation that took place following the Tarawih prayers, after meeting Sheikh Abu Salem in a mosque in London.

author: Eman AbdElRahman


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Thailand: Thai Youth Forum 2010 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Brian Jungwiwattanaporn writes about the Thai Youth Forum 2010 which is set to take place at the end of the month to discuss issues of migration and trafficking.

author: Mong Palatino


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Thailand: Thaileaks website · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A group called WikiCong has set-up the thaileaks website to allow Thai netizens to access materials from the Wikileaks website which has been blocked in Thailand.


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Argentina: Remembering Borges on His Birthday · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Juan Carlos Lynch reminds [es] his readers that today, August 24, is Jorge Luis Borges’ birthday. To honor the writer's memory, Juan Carlos shares a short story about Borges written by his friend and award-winning writer Adriana Romano [es]. Borges died in 1986.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Azerbaijan: Bloqosfer 2010 · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

A site for Bloqosfer 2010 [AZ] to be held in Nabron, Azerbaijan, on 10-12 September has been launched at http://www.bloqosfer.com/2010. The hashtag #bloqosfer10 is used on Twitter.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Benin: Traveler Recounts Experience at Porga Border · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Toyin Ajao recounts his horrific experience at Porga border in Benin:”When it was my turn, the officer in charge asked me to pay 5,000cfa to get my passport stamped and I asked why it was so. He did not bother to answer me but commanded me to leave his sight and go to stay under a tent that was 500 meters away from his office.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Bermuda: Facts of Life? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Our community is more divided- and ANGRY – than in decades…Our economy is a mess…”: Vexed Bermoothes thinks that “no spin can override these facts.  In my opinion, Dr. Brown is a failed leader whose tenure has been a disaster for Bermuda.”


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Bolivia: Waste Management in El Alto · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Mario R. Duran considers [es] waste management options for El Alto, Bolivia, and analyzes the possibility and consequences of installing a plant that would turn waste into diesel fuel.


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Chile: Thermoelectric Plant is Approved Despite President’s Promise · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Today, the Regional Environmental Commission of Coquimbo (in Spanish, Comisión Regional del Medio Ambiente de Coquimbo) approved a project to build a thermoelectric power plant in Marine reserve Punta de Choros. Pablo Astudillo writes in his blog, Astu's Science Blog, about the project and its environmental implications; he also posts a video (with English subtitles) created by a citizen campaign [es] to raise awareness on the issue. Blogs de la República [es] and La Libélula [es] quote President Sebastián Piñera's promise to, “oppose all thermoelectric plants that seriously undermine nature, communities and quality of life.”


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China: Death Sentence Given To Ex-Police Internet Supervisory Department Head · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translated a local news about the death penalty given to Yu Bing, an ex-police Internet supervisory department head, who received four bribes totally more than 10 million yuan during his tenure.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Riot police beat up Henan football fans · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Hush has collected online video and photo materials on the riot police action against Henan football fans on 18 of August.


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Cuba: Blogger Arrested  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Uncommon Sense and Blog for Cuba report on the arrest of blogger Luis Felipe Rojas Rosabal, with the former saying that the authorities are “especially persistent with its repression towards the more accomplished chroniclers of the reality of life in Cuba today.”


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Ghana: A plea for music education · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Graham's plea for music education in Ghana: “Bedsides football, music is perhaps one of the most loved things in Ghana yet considered to be the most trivial when it comes to education or career choices.”


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Ghana: Sex Scenes in Ghanaian Movies · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nana Bosu notes that in an effort to appeal to African moviegoers and distinguish their films from Nigerian films, Ghanaian movie-makers include steamy sex scenes in their movies.


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India: Do Politicians Deserve Pay Hikes? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Reacting on the recent increase in salary of the lawmakers in India, Being Cynical at Desicritics debates whether or not politicians deserve pay hikes.


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India: Onathallu Festival · Global Voices
Rezwan

Maddy writes about the Onathallu or Kayyankali festival which is celebrated by the Nairs of Pallassana Desham in the Chittur Thaluk in Palakkad district, in the southernmost state of Kerala, India.


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Jamaica: Policing Style  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica Salt says the kill-or-be-killed approach to controlling crime is ineffective: “When things are tough it’s hard not to look at possible solutions like this.  But this has been a style of policing in Jamaica for decades now and it is not working.  The murder rates speak for themselves.”


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Jamaica, U.S.A.: Remembering Andrew  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Eighteen years after Hurricane Andrew wreaked havoc on Florida, diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp posts a poem he wrote about the experience.


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Lebanon: Giving Palestinian Refugees the Right to Work · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Nahr el Bared camp, Lebanon (by Flickr user nimzilvio)
Lebanon is home to over 400,000 Palestinian refugees, some of whom were expelled or fled in 1948 at the time of the creation of the state of Israel, and others who fled during and after the 1967 war.  These refugees are not allowed to own property, cannot access the health care system, and need a special permit to leave their refugee camps, restrictions which have been criticized by groups such as Amnesty International.
Until recently, they were also barred from working in a number of professions, however, new legislation passed by parliament on August 17 grants Palestinian refugees the same employment rights as other foreigners (they will still be barred from ‘self-employed’ professions, including law and medicine).
The legislation, which will take effect once President Michel Suleiman endorses it, has been met with both applause and dissent.  While some, such as the UN, see it as a step toward bettering the lives of a long-term refugee population, others see it as normalization of the refugee population into Lebanon, and thus a step away toward securing the Right of Return.
Roqayah Chamseddine, writing for Mondoweiss, explains why, for her, the decision is a welcome move, but not nearly enough:
I cringe at the thought of calling  the refugee camps “slums” but I  must use candid rhetoric; The  Palestinians are being subjugated – by  the Israeli’s, the Americans and  the Arabs.
Now, in respect to  the recent  provision by the Lebanese parliament , it has taken 60 years  for the  Lebanese to allow the Palestinians the sparse right to work; I  don’t  know whether to be ashamed or slightly optimistic. It is a move  in the  right direction but surely we can all contend that it is a  fairly  apathetic crawl – in the right direction. No one should be  bragging, especially not the Lebanese Government.
Blogger Oussama Hayek says that there is “no reason to celebrate Palestinian rights” because:
There is something fundamentally flawed with the law that Parliament passed today, granting Palestinians the right to work in Lebanon.  It stinks  of continuing discrimination against one particular nationality. It is  also absolutely the wrong move for two reasons:
The blogger concludes:
It is true that Palestinian groups routinely violate Lebanese laws, and  have yet to accept to disarm.  But holding an entire population of 400,000 hostage for the actions of a  few thousand thugs is the sort of collective punishment one would  expect from Saddam or Stalin. This is not acceptable behaviour by the  sort of democracy Lebanon aspires to be.
On the other side of the coin, Marillionlb of For a better Lebanon thinks that the refugees are not Lebanon's responsibility:
Yes every single human being has the right to a decent life, to have his  basic rights protected, access to basic medical care, schooling, a roof  over his head, to live with dignity, to be able to work and be a  “constructive” part of society..etc.
BUT:
In order to enjoy and be given such rights a person should abide by  certain rules, especially when he is a host in a foreign land (to say  the least and not use the term “refugee”).
The Palestinian problem was not caused by Lebanon, and it was not the  Lebanese who deprived the Palestinians from their homeland; on the  contrary, Lebanon (albeit forcibly) not only accepted a big influx of  refugees, but (wrongly) signed the Cairo treaty giving Yasser Arafat and  his group of thugs a free hand not only to cause mayhem, but also (at a  certain point in time) try to establish the state of Palestine within  the Lebanese borders.
A commenter on the blog expresses agreement:
thank you for this post. You are 100% correct.
If they want rights,  maybe they should respect their host country first and hand over their  weapons.
Lebanon has suffered alot more than any country should have  to because of the palestinians.
From the Palestinian perspective, as expressed on Palestine Free Voice, the changes are hardly changes at all:
Unfortunately Lebanon did not grant its Palestinian refugees  meaningful civil rights on 8/17/10 or  even significantly improve their  work prospects.  What it did do was cancel  the work permit fee ( which  was never a big problem)  and allow for the setting up of a private  Social Security Fund (not the Lebanese National Security Fund as  misreported in much of the media.)
Lastly,  Twitter user iRevolt sums up one popular Palestinian perspective by explaining why equal rights–without citizenship–are important to so many people:
If the Palestinians are mandated civil, social and economic rights  without being given Lebanese citizenship then it will work towards  safeguarding the necessity of returning home, refuting US-Israeli wishes  for the Palestinians to integrate into other parts of the Arab world –  thus leaving behind their identities in some for or fashion – and  allowing Palestinians to improve their status while living outside of  their homeland.
Photo by Flickr user nimzilvio made available by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

author: Jillian C. York


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Lebanon: Souk Saida – Beauty vs. Poverty · Global Voices
Layal Al Khatib

Lebanese blogger Bahaafe shares his experience (with photos) of his first visit to the heart of the coastal southern city Saida; in his post entitled ‘Souk Saida – Beauty of Stone VS Poverty of Life‘.

author: Layal Al Khatib


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Malawi: Newest Edition of Chichewa Dictionary · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Victor writes about the newest edition of Chichewa dictionary: “Foundation Heart for Malawi  offers free access to the online Dictionary to everyone, though limited to 10 searches per day and to the first lines of an entry. “


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Mexico: Elementary Public Schools Connected to the Internet · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Eduardo Zeind reports [es] that Secretary of Education, Mario Delgado Carrillo, announced that Mexico City is the first capital city in Latin America to connect all of its elementary school children to the Internet. Eduardo writes: “More than 6000 computers will be installed to cover 100% of elementary public schools (…) The technological barrier has become a bridge toward success.”


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Mexico: Miss Universe 2010 Gets All the Attention on Twitter · Global Voices
Andrea Arzaba

Among magnificent smiles, shining crowns and a cheering crowd, on Monday night Miss Mexico 2010 – Jimena Navarrete – won this year's Miss Universe contest at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, USA. As hosts Natalie Morales and Bret Michaels introduced different categories among the stunning contestants, Twitter users located all around the world shared comments with hashtags related to the topic (#missuniverse and the Spanish version, #missuniverso), showing their interest and support. Mexican Twitter users, particularly, displayed some amusing comments during and after the contest.
Jimena Navarrete, Miss Universe 2010. Photo by Guillermo Flores, flickr user memoflores, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license
Jorge Miranda (@Georgepogoda) suggested [es] Mexicans celebrate at the angel of independence monument, one of the most representative symbols of the capital, Mexico City:
Si gana la de México nos vamos al angel? #missuniverso
When the Mexican contestant was announced as the winner, tweets started emerging every second. This comment [es] was posted by Alex Torres (@psicoloco), as he mentioned two of the most important national news: the upcoming celebration of the “Bicentenario” (celebrating 200 years of  Mexican independence) and the new law that allows gay couples to adopt children:
“Bien! Tenemos #MissUniverso por 2da vez! Esto es para celebrar el #Bicentenario y las #BodasGay!”
Another user, Gilberto Ruiz (@gilber7), expressed cynically [es],
TENDREMOS NARCO! TENDREMOS VIOLENCIA!! NUESTRO GOBIERNO VALE MADREEEE!! PERO DE QUE SOMOS BONITOOOOOOS!!! LO SOMOS!!! #MissUniverso
As Navarrete was being crowned, other important events were taking place in the country. Just as Hugo Camacho (@hugocamacho) reported [es]:
Mientras la MEXICANA estaba siendo coronada como la #MissUniverso un terremoto de magnitud 6,4 sacudió la costa oeste de México.
Mexico's National Seismological Service (SSN) confirmed this information.
Antuan Diaz (@antuan_diaz) mentioned [es] Mexico's national football in this tweet:
11 hombres mexicanos de la selección no pudieron con la #WORLDCUP .. pero 1 sola mujer pudo con #MISSUNIVERSO Felicidades C:
Faviola Martinez (@favyprincess), like many others, showed [es] her excitement:
VAMOS por el MARIACHI y unos TEQUILAS para celebrar #MissUniverso
By contrast, Zayra Alvarez (@zay_alvarez) commented [es] on reactions to other situations where Mexicans are recognized around the world:
Cuando estudiantes del IPN o la UNAM ganan concursos mundiales de ciencia a todos les vale madres, pero no fuera #missuniverso porque ahí sí
Finally, Miss Universe 2010 showed [es] her enthusiasm through her personal Twitter account (@ximenaNR):
Gracias a todos …los amo!!!!! Los veo al rato!

author: Andrea Arzaba


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Nigeria: Why Farin Ruwa is not on Word Waterfall Database? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Farin Ruwa in Nasarawa State is one of the highest waterfalls on the continent but according to Jeremy, “…Farin Ruwa is not even listed on the World Waterfall Database.”


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Noam Chomsky in China · Global Voices
Andy Yee

On 13 August, Noam Chomsky delivered a speech at the Peking University in Beijing. Chomsky, one of the leading public intellectuals of our age, is famous for his political activism and contributions to linguistic and philosophy. The talk, titled Contours of World Order: Continuities and Changes, was mostly about two dominant threats facing humanity: nuclear wars and environmental degradation.
While Chomsky has re-emphasized his criticisms on the United States, he has also expressed his opinions on China. In Chomsky’s view, emerging countries like China and India still have a long way to go to challenge the America. Of particular concern is the environmental cost of China’s development model, and the many internal and social problems that China has to tackle. This week, the Southern Metropolitan Daily publishes an interview with Chomsky. An excerpt of the interview is translated below.
Noam Chomsky in Peking University
南方都市报：全球一体化已被多数中国人接受，在过去的三十年中，尤其是中国加入W TO以后，绝大多数的中国人都从中受益颇多。但你对全球化和W TO的评价似乎很低。
SMD: Most Chinese have accepted globalization. In the past three decades, especially after China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), many Chinese have benefited tremendously. But it seems that you see globalization in poor lights.
乔姆斯基：中国的发展和经济成就实质上与全球一体化没有太大的关系。这和贸易与出口有关，中国逐渐成了一个出口导向型国家。没有人，包括我，会反对进出口，但那并不是全球化。事实上，中国已经成了东北亚地区生产系统的一个装配厂。如果你看一下整个地区，会发现这是一个非常有活力的地区。中国出口量非常大，但这里头有些误解，中国的出口在很大程度上是日本、韩国以及美国等国的出口。这些国家给中国提供零部件和高科技，而中国则将它们组装起来并进行出口，而这就被称之为“中国的出口”。
Chomsky: China’s economic achievement has little to do with globalization. It is related to trade and export. China has gradually become an export-oriented country. No one, myself included, is opposed to exports. But this is not globalization. In fact, China has become a factory in the Northeast Asian production system. If you look at the whole region, you will find it very dynamic. China’s export volume is enormous. But there is something we have overlooked. China’s export relies heavily on the exports of Japan, Korea and the US. These countries provide China with high-tech components and technologies. China is just doing the assembly, and labelling the final products as ‘Made in China.’
中国依靠其明智的政策的确发展得很好。但事实上，数百万人摆脱了贫困，但却也付出了很大的代价，而许多代价会转嫁给下一代，如生态成本。经济学家不会考虑这些，但代价就是代价，总要有人来偿还，可能由你的孩子或孙子来偿还。这些真的和全球一体化没什么关系，和世界贸易组织也没有什么关系。
China has developed rapidly by following wise policies. But while millions of people were lifted out of poverty, costs such as environmental degradation are high. They are merely transferred to the next generation. Economists will not worry about them, but these are costs that someone needs to pay for ultimately. It may be your children or grandchildren. These have nothing to do with globalization and the WTO.
南方都市报：你认为中国的崛起会不会改变现有的世界秩序的总体走向？中国会在世界上扮演美国目前扮演的角色吗？
SMD: Do you think the rise of China will change the world order? Will China play the role that the US is playing now?
乔姆斯基：我不这样认为，也不希望这样。你希望中国在全世界有800个军事基地，到处侵略别的国家，推翻政府，实施恐怖行动吗？这就是美国在世界上的角色。我不认为这样的情况会发生在中国身上，也不认为能够发生，当然也不希望发生。中国的存在已经改变了世界秩序。中国和印度，这两个国家占了世界人口的几乎一半，他们在增长，在发展，但相对西方来说，他们的财富只是一小部分。中国和印度都面临非常严峻的内部问题，所以他们还有很长的路要走。我希望会有所改善。因此要把他们对世界的影响力与富裕国家相比较，没有任何意义。我希望他们能对世界产生良性的影响，他们也许能够。但是必须仔细观察。
Chomsky: I don’t think so; neither do I hope so. Do you really hope to see a China with 800 overseas military bases, invading and overthrowing other governments, or committing terrorist acts? This is what the America is doing now. I think this will not, and cannot, happen on China. I do not wish it to happen neither. China is already changing the world. China and India together account for almost half of the world’s population. They are growing and developing. But relatively speaking, their wealth is only a small part of the world. Both countries still have long ways to go and face very serious domestic problems, which I hope will gradually be solved. It is meaningless to compare their global influences with those of rich countries. My hope is that they will exert some positive influences to the world, but this has to be watched carefully.
拿中国来说，你应该问问自己中国在世界的角色到底是什么。幸运的是，中国现在的角色不是侵略其它国家，巨大的军事开支等等，但中国确实在扮演着某种角色。中国在消费资源，这有积极的一面也有消极的一面。如果巴西向中国出口，巴西经济会从中受益，但另一方面巴西经济也受到损害。对巴西、秘鲁和其他一些资源生产国来说，发展问题之一是他们的经济主要依靠初级产品出口。这不是一种成功的发展模式。他们要改变经济模式，首先是解决巨大的内部问题。同时变成生产者，而不仅仅是为其他生产者出口初级产品。
China should ask itself what role it wishes to take in the world. Fortunately, China is not assuming the role of an aggressor with a large military budget, etc. But China does have a role to play. It is am enormous consumer of resources, and there are pros and cons. For example, Brazil will benefit economically if it exports to China. On the other hand, its economy will also be damaged. For countries with abundant resources like Brazil and Peru, one problem is their reliance on exports of primary resources, which is not a good development model. To change their mode of development, they first need to solve their domestic problems and transform themselves into producers, not just exporting primary products to other producer countries.
南方都市报：中国的成功是不是对西方民主的一种挑战？
SMD: Is the success of China a challenge to Western democracies?
乔姆斯基：让我们做一个历史的比较。对英国的民主来说，美国的发展是威胁吗？美国是从奴隶社会发展起来的，是从灭绝土著人和奴隶制中发展起来的。这个模式适合其他国家吗？你希望中国学习这个模式吗？美国的确发展成为在很多方面领先的民主国家，但它的民主不是以这个模式发展出来的，这个模式任何一个理智的人都不会愿意学习。
Let’s make a historical comparison. Was the rise of the United States a threat to democratic Britain? The United States was founded on the slaughtering of indigenous population and the slave system. Is this model suitable for other countries? Do you want China to learn from this model? It is true that the US has developed into a democratic country which is strong in many respects, but its democracy is not developed from this model, which any rational person would not want to imitate.
中国在发展，但没有特别的理由证明中国的内部发展会对西方形成挑战。美国面临的挑战不是中国的发展，而是中国的独立性。这才是挑战。
China is developing, but there is no evidence to prove that its internal development is causing a threat to the West. What is challenging the US is not China’s development, but its independence. That is the real challenge.
你能每天从报纸的头条看出来。现在美国外界政策的主要关注焦点是伊朗。2010年在外交政策界被称为“伊朗年”，伊朗被认为是美国外交政策的主要挑战，世界秩序的主要威胁。美国对伊朗实施了单边的、严厉的制裁政策，但中国没有这样做。中国遵守联合国的制裁，但联合国对伊朗的制裁轻到遵守与否无所谓，而中国没有遵从美国对伊朗的单边制裁。在我启程到中国来之前几天，美国国务院以一种非常有趣的方式对中国发出警告，他说中国要承担起国际责任，也就是要遵守美国的命令。这就是中国的国际责任。
You can tell from every day’s headlines that the current focus of US foreign policy is Iran. The year 2010 is called ‘The Year of Iran.’ Iran is portrayed as a threat to US foreign policy and the world order. The US has imposed harsh, unilateral sanctions, but China has not followed suit. China has never followed the US lead. Instead, it supports UN sanctions, which are too weak to matter. A few days before I left for China, the US States Department warned China in a very interesting way. It said China has to bear international responsibilities, i.e. follow US orders. This is China’s international responsibilities.
这是标准的帝国主义，其他国家有责任按照我们的要求行事。如果不这样做就是不负责任。我想中国外交部的人听了一定都笑了。但这就是帝国主义强权的标准逻辑。事实上，这也是伊朗为什么是威胁的原因，因为它不服从美国的命令。中国是个更大的威胁，因为如果一个大国不服从命令，麻烦就大了，这就是美国面临的挑战。
This is standard imperialism, which is that other countries have to act according to our requests. If not, they are irresponsible. I think officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry must laugh when they hear this. But this is the standard logic of imperialism. In fact, Iran becomes a threat because it does not follow US instructions. China is a bigger threat, as it is a big problem when a major power refuses to obey orders. This is the challenge that the US faces.

author: Andy Yee


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Pakistan: Muslim Women And Non-Muslim Men · Global Voices
Rezwan

Wajahat Ali at GoatMilk started a debate whether “Muslim women should be able to marry non-Muslim men” and the post drew a lot of comments.


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Pakistan: Netizens In Action Helping Flood Victims · Global Voices
Rezwan

The extent and impacts of the recent floods in Pakistan are huge in every context. The floods have so far claimed more than 1600 lives and about 20 million people, one tenth of Pakistan population, are suffering and have become homeless. An area of over 160,000 square kilometers – around a fifth of Pakistan's total land – is submerged.
Pakistan Flood Map. Image Courtesy US Department Of State Pakistan Flood Disaster Relief Page
The flood victims desperately need food, shelter, medicine, money and other help. The Pakistan government's response to the crisis has been reported as sluggish. The government lacks infrastructure, money and other resources and the efficacy of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been marred by bureaucracy.
However it is heartening to see that common people, especially many youths of Pakistan are traveling to the affected areas to help the victims. And more so Pakistani netizens are in forefront as they are making their actions visible though live blogs Twitter, images and videos. It is really remarkable and can be an example for other communities how netizens can contribute to the society in disaster management in a coordinated way – which sometime overshadows the state efforts.
We are proud to inform that several of the Global Voices Pakistan authors are traveling in different parts of Pakistan to distribute relief. Global Voices authors Awab Alvi and Faisal Kapadia coordinated with team of volunteers at Motorsports Club of Pakistan, OffroadPakistan and SARelief to conduct on and offline donation drives to collect funds for relief.
Over the past two days our team of volunteers at Motorsports Club of Pakistan and the OffroadPakistan have been in some intense discussion on what might be the best course of action. We have been busy raising funds locally and commitments have reached to a tune of close to Rs. 2.5 million. The online drive at SARelief has touched $2278 from a few generous donors, as the message spreads im sure this easy PayPal payment option, so close to the Islamic month of Ramadan will most likely get a considerable level of funding for the devastation in Pakistan. (Teeth Maestro)
The team went on to the first relief drive to Sukkur in Sindh region on the 14th and 15th of August. Using Twitter and GPS tracking they logged their effort:
6 trucks of relief good valued at more then Rs. 2.4 Million – four trucks of standardized basic food valued at Rs. 16,80,000, one truck containing a mixture of food hampers acquired from Makro at a cost of Rs. 4,43,585 and the sixth truck laden with tents and water bottles valued at Rs. 6,75,000. We are also trucking 250 1-kg tin cans of read-to-eat biryani generously donated by a friend of ours. We are not taking any medicine, but hope to concentrate on a medical relief later. (Teeth Maestro)
Relief being uploaded to truck. Image by Dr. Awab Alvi from Twitpic
Dr. Awab Alvi also posts a number of pictures depicting the flood relief efforts in Sukkur. Moreover he is live Tweeting the efforts via his Twitter account and has thanked the donors:
Sana Saleem, another Global Voices author from karachi, and a project coordinator for a the non-profit youth organisation called “Future Leaders of Pakistan” (FLP) also traveled to Sindh and the Swat Valley. Sana shares her experience at Dawn Blog:
Our day began with identifying affected areas to begin distribution. Sujawal situated in Thatta district was identified as the base camp for distribution of aid. According to the District Officers, Sujawal hosts over 27,500 internally displaced families. Living in abysmal conditions most of these people were living by the roadside on charpai and temporary tents made out of mere straw. The living conditions deteriorated as we traveled further into Sujawal. Roads had been inundated at various points and families were forced to take shelter in areas where there was no electricity.  Snakes, other insects and stray dogs were rampant and the families live under a high risk of being attacked by them.
She notes:
Efforts like these prove that there is still hope for Pakistan. As people continue to fight and help each other in these tough times, one only hopes that the rest of the world will also donate generously to help the millions affected by the floods.
Read more of her accounts at The Observers and in her Twitter account.
Pakistani youth in action – planning relief dsitribution. Image by Ammar Yasir from Twitpic
Global Voices authors Farhan Janjua and Ammar Yasir are updating their accounts of relief efforts in collaboration with associations like Pakistan Youth Alliance via Twitter.
Another Global Voices author Salman Latif uploaded several YouTube videos showing the relief efforts. In this video the relief trip to Muzaffargarh and Mehmood Kot was documented.
You can follow the relief efforts and related information logged by netizens via Twitter hashtags #pkflood and #pkrelief.


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Philippines: Hostage drama ends in violence · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Ten people died in a hostage drama in Manila, Philippines when an ex-policeman hijacked a tourist bus Monday morning. The victims were tourists from Hong Kong.
Capt. Rolando Mendoza, a decorated police officer, was relieved from duty in 2008 after being involved in robbery-extortion and drug-related cases. Mendoza believed he didn’t receive fair treatment and demanded a review of his case. Mendoza was shot dead by SWAT forces which ended the 11-hour hostage crisis.
Here is the timeline of events which stunned the Philippines, Hong Kong, and the world. As expected, the hostage incident became a twitter trending topic yesterday with many Filipinos documenting and reacting to the drama.
Screenshot of Trendsmap
Here are some twitter reactions:
ang_mungo: I cannot blame anyone — not the President, media, the police, nor the hostage taker. I feel just as guilty for watching it unfold.
Iambazooka: @darylmakesmyday Yah you're right. This is one of the saddest morning in the country. The #hostage was so traumatic, tragic & depressing.:(
roberthernjr: Love not hate and anger, prayer not blame and judgement, its what we need more than anything in this hostage tragedy.
Many people are disappointed with how the police handled the situation
jacongking: This bungled hostage crisis should teach us valuable lessons we MUST learn from. Our cops need training dealing with such tense situations
mErv_aka_sHia: haiz…the news is still everywhere about what happened yesterday..its really disappointing how pnp (Philippine National Police) handled the hostage crisis..tsk tsk!!sad
chOkOLeit2010: First the Torture Scandal, then the Hostage-taking. Police Police, who else amongst are in the foul list of police?☹
bnievera: Let's put the whole police force/PNP on psychological testing. As hostage taker or supposed rescuers, there's something wrong with them.
And the media, particularly TV and radio networks, are also accused of disrupting the operations/tactics of the police
carlosconde: Woke up to the sound of hostage-taker's father sobbing on TV and a reporter asking him how he feels. This is why people sometimes loathe TV.
bytesizedpieces: Is news blackout only acceptable to the media when a reporter's life is involved? Yesterday was reality TV gone awry.
tonyocruz: Top media execs, editors & reporters ought to assess how they performed their work, whether they went overboard or fell short. They owe us.
obakesan: Media indignantly mouthing off this morning re: hostage situation. As if their sensationalist, bombastic coverage of the entire thing helped
President Noynoy Aquino has already issued a statement expressing sorrow over what happened yesterday. But there are also twitterers who are dissatisfied with his reaction
aresgutierrez: President Noy was disatisfied w/PAGASA (weather bureau) & its chief got sacked; now he's not satisfied with MPD (Manila Police District), will General Magtibay's head roll?
Karen_DaviLa: Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang dissapointed w how hostage crisis was handled. Claims tried calling PNoy (Philippine president), couldn't reach him.
Many were surprised that a flash game based on the hostage situation was immediately developed.
Reigno Jose Dilao, a teenager blogger, issued this open letter
I politely ask the attention of the world. Please do not judge and mistreat us just because of what happened tonight. I have been searching the net and found terrible things.
I can’t blame you for what you have decided but I hope that you could understand. Our country is now in a sea of problems. And I know for sure that we helped you in a way or another. Let peace and understanding reign this time.
Reyjr apologizes in behalf of other Filipinos
I am sorry that you had to watch the hostage negotiations suddenly become compromised by the crude mishandling of the situation by the people in charge.
I am sorry you had to watch the appalling display of incompetence – the repeated futile attempts to open a bus door, and count how many times the policemen dropped the ax while trying to break through the windshield.
I have no other words, and none to comfort those who lost their loved ones here. They came to my country as tourists on a holiday – but go home in caskets.
Duìbùqǐ. I am sorry.


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Puerto Rico: When Legalizing Abortion is not Enough · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

“Legalization has not been enough for poor women who, despite the formal right they have, don't have the means or the access to the clinics to carry out procedures in a safe and risk-free way,” writes [es] Érika Fontánez, as she comments on a recent screening of a documentary about abortion in Puerto Rico called, “La legalidad no es suficiente” (Legalization is Not Enough).


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Russia: LiveJournal Communities as a Transparency Tool · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

In the countries with low levels of transparency, new media often become the only arena for exposing violations made by the government. In the countries where the truly independent NGOs are often oppressed and it's hard to establish transparency-related independent NGOs, new media come again to help. Russia is an example of a country with a high level of corruption and disregard for non-partisan NGOs. These two factors together with the popularity of LiveJournal as a main blogging platform explain why LiveJournal communities more and more often become spontaneous transparency tools.
The corruption and transparency situation in Russia is far from good. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 report [EN], Russia and Ukraine have the worst corruption indices in Europe and almost the worst in the world (they are ranked 146 of 180). The dynamics aren't optimistic either — in 2003 Russia ranked 86th out of 133 countries of the index. According to a Levada center survey [RUS] conducted in June 2010, 60 percent of Russians think that the scale of corruption is increasing, while independent analysts [EN] believe corruption accounts for 50 percent of the Russian GDP [EN]. The situation with the NGOs is also one of the Europe's worst. According to the NGO sustainability index [EN], a worse situation with respect to the NGO environment on the continent can be found only in Belarus.
LiveJournal communities for transparency are not like ‘traditional’ online transparency tools. They're not institutionalized, have no vivid leaders, no financial support, and often die as suddenly as they were born. This is the reason they're often neglected in the official reports (e.g., the USAID NGO sustainability 2009 report [EN]). At the same time, their role in eventual advocacy and media campaigns is quite high. Several communities are analyzed below to show the mechanisms and practices used by bloggers to expose authorities’ violations: antimigalki [RUS] and Little Blue Bucket Society [RUS] (communities that monitor and expose the misuse of emergency vehicle lighting), “goszakupki” [RUS] and also LJ user zakupki-news (the account acts a multi-user blog focused on public procurement issues).
Inequality on the Russian roads is both a serious issue and an indicator of the general inequality and corruption in the country. The most famous case illustrating the situation – was the car accident involving the top manager of the oil company Anatoliy Barkov [EN]. Barkov's car was driving on the opposite lane and hit a car containing two female doctors that died immediately after the crash. Neither Barkov himself nor his driver were prosecuted.
Barkov's case gave life to an old issue of unspoken privileges for top businessmen and government officials on Russian roads. Mercedeses, Porches or Maibachs with “special” license plates (like the ones with three “C” or “O” in a row – Barkov's luxury Mercedes had the number c398cc77) are ignored by traffic police and are, in an Orwellian way, “more equal than others” [EN]. Special license plate numbers are normally assigned to special services cars so they can be identified by policemen. But this practice got corrupted. Instead of a tool for better work, the license plates became an example of overwhelming corruption: they can be “bought” in the traffic department.
The case provoked emergence of at least two LiveJournal communities – Antimigalki (created on April 13, 2010 by famous opposition journalist Andrei Malgin) and Little Blue Buckets Society (created on April, 14). Both communities are dedicated to one thing: ban of the unspoken privileges given to authorities and VIPs by special license plates and emergency vehicle lights. The methods of those two, however differ. Antimigalki posts evidence (photos and videos) of the road violations that are ignored by the road police, while Little Blue Buckets Society organizes flashmobs (Global Voices has covered their activity in the past). One of the Antimigalki videos depicts a car driving in the opposite lane (a driving rule violation that can result in full withdrawal of a driving license):
Another citizen project, technologically different (a phpBB-based forum, not a LJ-community) is o001oo.ru/ – “A Website About Those Marked by the Power” [RUS]. The mission of the project is to collect and identify drivers with “VIP license plates” and, if possible, to expose their violations. The site is trying to fight the issue the VIP license plate swapping. Government authorities have been caught “lending” their license plates to businessmen, some of whom have criminal ties. The idea of such swapping is that the VIP license plate gives a car some certain immunity, thus making it very tempting for criminals to buy it from the authorities.
Despite the increasing level of corruption, Russian authorities are making certain steps towards higher transparency. One of such steps is the obligation of the government departments to publish their tenders online at www.zakupki.gov.ru/ [RUS]. For a long time, the data, even published online, was inaccessible because of the complexity of the website interface. Bloggers, however, were curious to look through the database. That's how goszakupki and zakupki-news emerged. Both communities pay attention to the different government auctions, especially those that either involve huge amounts of money or just seem strange or even ridiculous. Some comments [RUS] are quite sarcastic:
300 мётел для ФСО
http://zakupki.gov.ru/Tender/ViewPurchase.aspx?PurchaseId=849121
может, готовится чемпионат по квиддичу?
Or, this one:
Flash-игры для сайта Минобороны
они действительно заказаны победителю соответствующего тендера — http://marker.ru/news/1530
ни победитель, ни Минобороны пока не рассказывают толком, какие будут сюжеты у этих игр — наверное, еще и сами не знают
может, поможем им придумать?
Other strange government tenders exposed by these two communities include: $35698 for government Christmas-tree decorations, an armed Mercedes for FSB (Russia's federal security service), a luxurious Volvo for a Ethnography museum [RUS], and others.
As we can see, LiveJournal communities add their humble contribution to the transparency process. They are chaotic, neither organized nor institutionalized, but these communities are attracting more and more people. Establishing a LJ-community to deal with a certain problem is becoming a common practice. These problems might not be necessarily a transparency issue: for example, LJ-community pozhar_ru, which was established simultaneously with the outburst of wildfires, became a very important tool that helped to coordinate help. The growing number of different transparency/coordination LJ-communities indicates the seek for the technological solutions for the open and free forums of information exchange.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russian Internet Surveillance Allegedly Hacked · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Bloggers discuss alleged hack-attack [RUS] on the government surveillance system (SORM [EN]) that traces government e-mails. The Russian Federal Security Service acknowledged the attack but denied any rumors that sensitive data had been stolen although some Internet users published [RUS] screenshots of the hacked system. LJ user leicacit suggested [RUS] that the attack might be connected to the conflict of the government groups.


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Taiwan: Let’s go poking around under the rock of ECFA · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China was signed on June 29, 2010 by the Strait Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (semi-official representatives for Taiwan and China). Later on August 17, the Legislation Yuan of Taiwan approved this agreement.
The process seems smooth and efficient at the surface, but the story is not simple. Many Taiwanese have poked around under the rock of ECFA and questioned the rationality behind the agreement.
The story of ECFA began two years ago. In 2008, Ma Ying-Jeou, the president candidate of Kuomintang (KMT), was elected as Taiwan’s 12th president. After Ma sworn into office as president, his office proposed to sign CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement) with China. platocast explained how CEPA evolved to ECFA:
馬政府一開始說要跟中國簽CEPA…大家一細查，發現全世界只有香港跟中國有簽CEPA，台灣的主權被踐踏至極。馬英九政府怕了，才改成說要簽CECA，大家又發現這換湯不換藥，痛罵馬政府，於是馬英九在二月底一急之下說改簽ECFA。
Although Taiwan’s government started to work on ECFA in Feb, 2009, the contents of ECFA were hidden from the public until it was signed by the Strait Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait in June, 2010. The blackbox process worried the opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and they called for a debate about ECFA with the president. Under the pressure, a televised debate between President Ma Ying-Jeou and the chairperson of DPP, Tsai Ing-wen, was held and aired on April 25th, 2010.
blackrain was disappointed that Ma failed to clarify the doubtful points in ECFA that were addressed by Tsai in the debate.
蔡英文的幾個質疑，加深了 ECFA 的可疑程度。例如：
。農產品開放項目將達到六、七百項之多，馬英九完全迴避這部份的補救措施
。馬英九完全不答有哪些產業會受到衝擊，或是他所宣稱的 17 個受影響的產業是什麼，加深了更多人的疑慮
。蔡英文點出馬英九靠攏財團、以及貧富差距的公義問題，馬英九完全無法回答
。蔡英文成功地反擊了馬英九所宣稱的「急迫性」，馬英九無法化解
Later the DPP distributed a video below on YouTube, accusing ECFA, as CEPA, will cause social injustice:
Here is ESWN's transcription of the video:
(Cantonese voice-over)
There are lots of rich people in Hong Kong.  Reports speak of the averarge income in Hong Kong, but I don't get it.  There are more and more poor people; everybody works longer hours; eight out of ten street sweepers are university graduates; senior citizens have to scavenge in the streets.  Actually, is the Chief Executive sent over from Beijing?  It does not matter what CEPA is.  It can't be a bad thing to let the people of Hong Kong make more money.  But it shouldn't be this way.  The rich eat shark fin, whereas the poor cannot even have a single vermicelli noodle?
(in written words)  After Hong Kong signed CEPA, it has become the city with the largest wealth inequality in the world.  We don't want an ECFA that let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Martin oei, who have lived in Hong Kong for more than 30 years, commented on this video,
若然簽了ＥＣＦＡ，今日香港，便是明日台灣，甚至情況會更慘。不少香港人，看完民進黨廣告後，都認為廣告反映了他們心聲，特別最尾一句，為何貧民連粉絲都沒得吃？
After the debate, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) requested to hold a referendum on the question: “Do you agree that the government signs ECFA with China?” However, this referendum was rejected by the Referendum Review Commission.
The decision made by the Referendum Review Commission reminded Taiwanese the problem of having this commission in their government. subing said,
公審會頂多有權力做程序審查，也就是說檢查一下連署人數足不足夠，有沒有作假，該送的文件有沒有到齊…根據台灣的公投法，公投要成案最後大約要87萬人連署，這21個人有什麼資格實質審查87萬人的意願？這根本就是違反民主基本原則，也違憲。
Despite the dispute, ECFA was signed by the semi-official representatives for Taiwan and China on June 29, 2010. After the articles of ECFA were finally revealed, they stimulated a lot of discussions. For example, KuanMom criticized the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee mentioned in article 11,
(ECFA)第11條所成立的「兩岸經濟合作委員會」(*)，完全不受任何台灣立法機關的監督，空白授權給海基海協指定任何人選， 全權負責協議的執行、解釋、爭議處理、後續所有協商的速度及廣度。ECFA第11條完全不提該委員會如何組成?對誰負責?由誰授權?受誰監督?經費何來?設置在哪?
(*)雙方成立「兩岸經濟合作委員會」（以下簡稱委員會）。委員會由雙方指定的代表組成，負責處理與本協議相關的事宜。
(*) Temporary translation of this article based on the available Chinese version: Both sides should set up the ‘Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee’ (abbreviated as the committee). The members of this committee are assigned by both side, and these members will be responsible to the processes related to this agreement.
Despite the dispute, ECFA was sent to the Legislation Yuan. hehe complained about the process,
從媒體上，我們只看到了大肆報導某立委肢體衝突，但真正的暴力，恐怕是整個會議過程毫無程序正義的多數暴力。
坦白說，我個人對於ECFA簽不簽，並沒有太大的堅持，我也相信多數人和我一樣，希望的只是在一個民主程序下、透過多方意見的討論形成共識；縱使不能形成共識，至少也在各種意見可以得到充分表達的情況下，政府可以更周延的考量到不同立場或生存的人，可能受到的衝擊，而得以有好防範措施。
然而，影片中國會決定將ECFA等相關法案（其中牽涉可能數十、上百的法律條文）逕付二讀的過程，不禁令人懷疑，這樣的立法程序，我們還能期待什麼？
Well, we all know what will happen if we poke around the rocks–some very nasty things live under rocks.

author: I-fan Lin


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Trinidad & Tobago: Unique Deal · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Afra Raymond says that comparing the CL Financial bailout to the US situation is “nothing less than public mischief”: “The only resemblance to the US bailout is in name only.  Real Trini-ting.  Duprey and his cohorts negotiated a Blank-Cheque Bailout at zero interest, without losing any of their assets.  That deal is absolutely unique.”


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Tunisia: Doctored Photographs Symptomatic of the State of The National Press   · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The use of national media as an instrument of propaganda has been fairly well documented in Tunisia. Tunisian citizen media have been well adept at tracking the numerous instances of fabrication of information and censorship of publications critical of the government. The latest evidence of media manipulation was identified by Tunisian bloggers on August 20 when newspaper Le Temps [fr] and its Arabic version Assabah published reports on fundation Zeitouna sending of humanitarian food supply to the victims of the floods in Pakistan. To illustrate the report and the involvement of businessman and the president son-in-law Sakhr El Matri in the initiative, Le Temps published  a photo showing Sakhr El Matri inspecting the materials before they were loaded into the aircraft:
Photo in Le Temps showing modified images via Nawaat.org
The community blog Nawaat describes features on the images that suggest that they have been doctored[fr]:
Il ne faut pas être un expert pour déceler au premier coup d’œil que la photo a été “retouchée” et que le gendre du président a “atterri” dans cette image par le biais d’un grossier copier-coller. En plus de l’exposition et du sens des ombres qui ne sont pas raccord avec l’exposition générale de la photo, on peut parfaitement déceler la manche de Sakhr El Matri qui cache une partie du coude de l’homme avec la chemise bleue alors que ce dernier est au premier plan !
Nawaat finds a bit of humour noting that at least, the Arabic version of the newspaper did a slightly better job at doctoring the photos:
Assabah, la version arabe du quotidien, a publié la même photo mais avec un bidouillage légèrement amélioré mais qui reste tout de même parfaitement visible. Quand on agrandi à l’endroit de l’anomalie de la première photo on voit que le bras du mécène passe derrière le coude de l’homme en chemise bleue, comme le voudraient les lois de l’optique
Same image in Assabah with a different modification via Nawaat.org
The fact that the doctored images were outed online clearly reached the editors of the newspapers because the photos were promptly replaced soon after in the online version. A video posted on facebook did show Sakhr El Matri inspecting a humanitarian airplane but it is unclear whether the video was shot before or after the photos were published. It is all the more astonishing that doctored photos would be utilized in two national newspapers so liberally if it seems that original images were available using the video footage. One must also note that Sakhr El Matri  is fully involved in the management of both newspapers. Tunisian bloggers have also wondered in what capacity Sakhr El Matri, a civilian,  was allowed to access the runway of  what looks like a military base airport. Tunisian twitter user Lilopatra also wonders what kind of plane the Zeitouna foundation used to transport the humanitarian food supply to Pakistan.  She adds:
Si on se met dans la position du protecteur à chaque fois,cela retardera la maturité & la capacité de prise de décision du citoyen.#Tunisie
Unfortunately, these doctored photos are fairly symptomatic of other manufactured information in Tunisia. For instance in 2009, the news agency Tunis Afrique Press (TAP) reported that Tunisia was ranked 32 out of 165 countries on the political stability index generated by The Economist Intelligence Unit .  The only problem is that the index actually shows that Tunisia was ranked 134th, a hundred slots below the one stated in the introduction of the article.
UPDATE: It is important to clarify, as a reader points out, that the list ranks the most instable countries first. Therefore it is correct to assert that Tunisia is the 32nd most politically stable nation. The use of the reversed ranking instead of the ranking as stated by EIU is explained by  Nawaat as follows:
Bien que…renversante, cette « interprétation » de l’index est surement due à « un souci de clarté » de la part de la TAP. On les comprend. Parler « d’instabilité » dans le pays de « la sécurité et de la stabilité », selon la formule officielle, risque de… « déstabiliser » le lecteur
Snapshot of The EIU Political Stability Index via Nawaat.org
In 2007, the same agency was guilty of overstating a report [fr] that claimed that the International Herald Tribune wrote a full page report on the educational system of Tunisia, including two articles about the government striving  provide the best educational system for its citizens and the importance of education for the development of the nation. They omitted an important part though, they forgot to mention that there was never such articles in the IHT news section but rather a full commercial page in the paid advertisement section [fr].
The original TAP articles about the political stability index and the IHT report are not accessible to the public online anymore.
Tunisia is often praised for its robust export-driven liberal economy but slammed for its authoritarian political system. The Economist's 2008 democracy index classified Tunisia as an authoritarian regime with a ranking of 141 out of 167 studied countries.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Brazil: Competition Turns Blogs into Books · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

The idea is to turn the best Brazilian blogs to books, and the competition [pt] is open until September 12th. The participants can vote and apply through fifteen different categories, including Ecology & Environment, Religion and, a special topic for 2010, Sports.

author: Sara Moreira


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China: Fujian Netizen, Fan Yanqiong, Released from Prison · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Fan Yanqiong, the last of the Fujian 3 netizens still in prison, was quietly released Wednesday morning and allowed to rejoin her family.
This comes just days after filmmaker He Yang released his hour-long documentary, Herzog Days, which revolves around Fujian netizen You Jingyou; it tracks events during the trials and following the release of You and fellow netizen Wu Huaying earlier this summer.
Now with English subtitles, Herzog Days can be viewed below.

author: John Kennedy


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China: Food poisoning -Crayfish · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Crayfish dishes in China are contaminated with industrial acid which gives patients sore joints, a sore back, pale complexion, and the rather peculiar ‘soy sauce urine’. (more from Daniel Mark Carr, Shanghaiist)


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China: VPN blocked · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tom Lasseter tested the boundary of forbidden virtual world in China after he failed to connect to his VPN.


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Costa Rica: The Importance of Municipalities · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

El Blog del Kichigaino tells [es] its readers why municipalities are important, and why they should care about the upcoming municipal elections.


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Cuba: Additional Releases  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Havana Times reports that another six political prisoners are scheduled to be released.


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Dominican Republic: Frequent Power Outages · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Rull Fernández writes [es] about the frequent power outages he experiences at home. He says that as far back as he can remember, the problem of electricity and power outages is something that has always concerned the people of the Dominican Republic.


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France: An Imaginary Dialogue between Sarkozy and Berlusconi · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

The Bienvenue chez les Rroms blog (“rroms” is the spelling of Roma in Romani language) imagines [Fr] a satirical conversation in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy seeks comfort and advice with his friend Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, after being  unexpectedly victimized of his own suggestion that  some categories of offenders should be stripped of their French nationality.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Ghana: Is Mario Balotelli Italian or Ghanaian? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Is Mario Balotelli Ghanaian or Italian? That's the question that has created a heated debate online. Mario Barwuah Balotelli is a football striker playing for Manchester City. He was born to Ghanaian immigrants in Italy. However, Mario's life-threatening health condition made his family turn him over to social services and later he was fostered by an Italian family. He became an Italian citizen in 2008.
He has refused to join the Ghanaian national team arguing that he has always dream of playing for Italy. His first call-up for Ghana national team was in August 2007.
Let's see opinions of bloggers and their readers about the issue. We will start with Abena Serwaa who asks, “Is Young Mario Balotelli part of the Ghana-Deniers Club?” She starts he post by describing Mario's “smouldering exotic looks”:
Mr Balotelli is also known for his smouldering exotic looks. In fact, he is so exotic that if you saw him, you may be inclined to think he looks alot like:
1.  That trotro* mate who refused to give you the correct change on your way to work last week
2.  The guy selling DVDs at Adum Market in Kumasi who tried to get you to buy The Ultimate  Steven Seagal collection
3.  A cool young guy hanging out with his buddies at Accra Mall
Then she asks:
So how does a guy that looks so typically Ghanaian end up with such a distinctly Italian name? Is he part of the Ghana-Deniers club that has featured prominent personalities such as pro-wrestler Kofi Kingston formerly of Jamaica now of Ghana?
Interestingly, he was courted persistently by the Ghana Football Association to join the Black Stars, but always stood firm that his dream was to play only for Italy and never for his country of origin. This was despite the fact that some Italians had serious objections to him joining the Azzurri.
Commenting on Abena's post, Mike says that Mario is not Ghanaian. Having Ghanaian genes does not make one Ghanaian :
Sometimes we have to accept that simply having Ghanaian genes doesn't make one Ghanaian. It's in a similar way I refuse to use the term “African American” for the descendants of slavery. I can also not bring myself to call my nieces Ghanaian, although for some, BOTH their parents are Ghanaian. There are too many facets about Ghanaian culture none in these groups have or would ever experience, and for me a lot of what makes me Ghanaian is in my experiencing and relating to the country.
I recently played a youtube vid of our anthem for my nieces and nephew, and I might as well have been playing old timey music- they couldn't get or appreciate the attempts to connect to a world they don't fully understand. Is Mario denying a heritage he clearly doesn't relate to? No, and I won't hold it against him. Is he denying the lineage he has? Judging from the pics of him at age 10 w/ his mom and brother- which strongly contrasts with the narrative he's always maintained- I would imagine it so, and part of a long-standing and perhaps misinformed issues about abandonment (among other things) he'll need to sort out as he grows older. But, no, he's not Ghanaian.
Sankofa agrees with Mike. He says, “I actually think Ghanaians had no claim on from the minute he declared himself an Italian”:
I have to agree with Mike here. I actually think Ghanaians had no claim on from the minute he declared himself an Italian. He clearly considers himself Italian and who am I to insist otherwise? He's never lived in Ghana, probably never even visited and he doesn't identify with Ghanaian culture of any kind. Leave him be to band together with the Italians who will probabaly never consider him as a true Italian either. I actually feel sorry for him. Having a hybrid identity can be terribly lonely at times.
Another reader calling himself The other Mike disagrees. No matter what nationality he chooses, The Other Mike notes, he will always be asked, “Where are you originally from?”:
He sure earned his spot at the top of the Ghana-Deniers list. Since i'm not big on soccer, I could have easily mistaken him for the guy selling the Segal dvd collection. That was funny Abena. He kinda looks like Castro the hiplife guy too (when he was skinny).
He is free to choose whatever nationality he wants, and that is OK. But he will quickly learn that in the real world, he will always be asked…. “where are you originally from?” Eating tons of pasta, speaking Italian etc wont change his ethnicity.
@ Mike; “sometimes we have to accept…”
Sometimes? Really?
What are the other times?
Gifty supports The Other Mike's position:
i totally agree with “the other mike”.. Mario will ALWAYS be asked where are you originally from…. man, it's like he's moving backwards.. nowadays african americans are PAYING to use their DNAs to find out their country of origin in West africa and seeking dual citizenship (eg. Isaiah Washington of Grey's Anatomy has dual citizenship with Sierra Leone).. and he's just going the other direction.. you can change ur name.. eat tons of pasta, speak fluent italian, whatever.. u are still an african.. better start accepting it..
Responding to comments, Abena Serwaa concludes by saying, “…but isn't it fascinating how Kevin-Prince Boateng embraced the whole Ghanaian identity and apparently has done so for a while?” Kevin-Prince Boateng is a German-born Ghanaian international footballer. He played for the Ghana national team during 2010 FIFA World Cup while his half-brother Jérôme Agyenim Boateng played for Germany.
Ghanaian blogger Nana Sarpong has also written a post about Mario Balotelli: The Boy Barwuah who Became the Man Balotelli. He sees Mario as a troubled child struggling to understand himself:
When I look at this footballer, I see a troubled child struggling to understand himself.
Mario with the Balotellis
What makes it worse, I think, is that he thinks the best way out of his psychological turmoil is to distance himself of his parents and run away from his ‘Blackness.’ Obviously he needs help. A kind of help his white Italian parents cannot provide. If they could–and if they were really in their right senses–they would have invited the Barwuahs to the ceremony that saw Mario gain his Italian citizenship or informed them of the change of name. At least, from Mr. Barwuah's viewpoint, the Balotelli's made a conscious effort to not give mario back as they kept on extending the foster period (the poor Barwuahs could not match the legal strength of the Balotellis).
According to Nana, Mario told the Ghana Football Association that he never heard of the country!:
The Ghana Football Association (GFA), at some point, asked Mario to play for Ghana. The boy slammed the GFA by sarcastically puking he never heard of the country although he was at the same club with Ghana's midfielder, Sulley Muntari. My take at the time was that Mario was a talented player, but Ghana does not need such a twerp. He obviously must have his side of the story–just like he said his parents abondoned him a hospital–but Mario needs to grow out of that weak mind of his.
He concludes his post by saying that Mario's story is simply “…a sad tale of many poor African family living in Europe, America or even in Ghana”:
But it is a sad tale of many poor African family living in Europe, America or even in Ghana. It is a huge mistake the Barwuahs did, and it is obvious their son (who has practically disowned them) intends to make them live with it, forever!


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Haiti: Shifting Focus · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Haitian Blogger suggests that the mainstream media is focusing on the wrong thing: “Attention should focus less on the distraction of WyClef Jean’s failed presidential bid…and more on the desperate humanitarian situation on the ground…”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Hong Kong and the Philippines: The uncovered truth of the 823 tragedy · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A  Filipino Chinese who grows up in Hong Kong wrote a post about the 823 tragedy in which 8 hostages were killed by a gunman. The writer believes that the Philippine government and police have to be responsible for the hostages’ death.


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Hungary: Skateboarding priest gets adepts · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Videos of Catholic priests doing good don't usually go viral, but this one featuring a Hungarian priest has made it's way around the world. What is he doing different? He's skateboarding! Via neatorama.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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India: Celebrating Raksha Bandhan · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Yesterday, on 24th August 2010, India celebrated Raksha Bandhan – a festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters.
Blogger Neha Kapur Grover at mumbaikar.com, summarizes the essence of this joyous and auspicious occasion. She writes:
The festival of Raksha-bandhan celebrates the blessed relationship of  brothers and sisters…Raksha-bandhan, also known as Rakhi is celebrated every year on the full moon day of the Shravana  month. Sisters tie a beautified holy thread, called ‘rakhi’ on their  brothers’ wrist which symbolizes a ‘knot of security & protection’.  They pray for their brothers’ well-being and the brothers promise to  protect their sisters. Families come together, feast on special dishes,  gifts, and rejoice together.
Tying a Rakhi
Tweets expressed the sisters’ sentiments associated with the occasion.
parishna – it was so lovely to tie #Rakhi for all my bro's and to just spend time with them!
anikaforever – had a fantastic  rakhi…….. love my bro!!!
The ritual of tying a rakhi is not limited to a blood-brother/ male cousin only. As Amrita Puri points out:
This bond does not have to be between blood relatives – a girl might  adopt a boy as her brother through the tying of a Rakhi. This ritual not  only strengthens the bond of love, but also transcends the boundaries  of the family. When a Rakhi is tied on the wrists of close friends and  neighbors, it underscores the need for a harmonious social life. This  helps to broaden ones’ vision beyond the borders of ones own family to  the entire earth (vasudha) as one family
Since any male can be “adopted” as a brother by tying a rakhi on the person, girls often use this occasion as a means of telling a guy that she is not interested in him romantically.  In a lighter vein, some of the tweets commented on this aspect of the festival and the anxiety it created in the hearts of young men.
iMagesh – Had a busy day.. And yay escaped.. No girl tied me a rakhi :-P
aaroo4 – @iMagesh haha.. Used to b a game watching guys dodge rakhi in school
bharat_bansal – Rembrng school days whn we used to be hell scared to go to the school a day before or after Rakhi. Was crazy ;)
strangetimes87 – @nuanse …Hope the girl you like didn't call you bhaiyya (brother) ;)
Karthik_Siemens- …Thank god, no one tied me rakhi in the last 2 yrs at IIITB.Escaped from girls calling me bhayya ;)
Luke674 -yesterday was Raksha bandhan day….!! thank god no one excpt my sisters tied rakhi….
zeeontwi – i really don like #rakshabandhan.. u neva no which girl comes to u n ties a # rakhi..wat if u like her??
Sisters whose brother(s) lived far away expressed angst at not being able to celebrate the occasion. For example, Avni tweeted:
_Avni – Living in diff countries is so not good…miss my bro..been 10 yrs hve not tied rakhi to him on this day
However, others pointed out that with the advent of Social Media, keeping in touch with a brother living far away is no longer a problem. You may not be able to physically tie the rakhi on your brother's wrist but will be surely be able to compensate to some extent by sending e-cards, or even virtual rakhis. Anish Sadanandan at watblog.com points out some such possibilities:
Now, Cadbury has launched a new Facebook app called Virtual Rakhi which allows siblings to send gifts and rakhis to one another. Through this application, you can not only send virtual rakhis but also  virtual gifts which include boxes of chocolates by Cadbury…there are  other websites that let you send greetings to your loved ones like rakhi-greetings.com and 123greetings.com. 123greetings even give you the option to send interactive Raksha Bandhan cards.
Other netizens also tweeted about ways in which social media enabled them to take part in this traditional ritual.
TheHumerus – Just too good – cousin in US sent me Rakhi card and wants to wish again on Skype.
NeilNMukesh Had video conferencing rakhi with my sister.
Madhu_tweetme – @smanrokr I dint tie real rakhi to any1 :(((((( but send cards and virtual rakhis to many :))))
Interestingly, compulsivewriter points out that as an elder sister, she was the one who willingly  shouldered the responsibility of standing up for her younger siblings and thus had earned the right to the rakhi in her household. She writes:
I am one of two sisters and the elder one…As the eldest of all the cousins from both maternal and  paternal sides, I thought it was my duty to stand up for the younger  cousins and fight their battles for them. So, if they had trouble in  school, I’d merrily sort it out. If there were mean girls troubling my  sister, I went straight to the girls and jhapped (trounced) them. And then, I  thought, I offer ‘raksha’ so to speak, why the hell won’t my cousins tie  me a rakhi? Why should the brother be the only one to get the honour?  My mom bought my theory. From that day on, me and my sister tied a rakhi  to each other.
So has the concept of Raksha Bandhan changed over time? Is it still relevant in today's day and age? Yes on both counts, feels compulsivewriter and she elaborates:
…now, all that matters is the promise that the rakhi stands for. The  festival is now all about pampering your siblings. And the promise has  changed too. My sister is an independent, intelligent woman who lives  all by herself in a different country, a different culture. She doesn’t  need me to protect her. But I can promise her this. When she needs to  rave, I’ll be here.When she wants to rant, I’ll be here. If she needs to splurge, I’ll hand her my credit card. If she needs advice, I’ll do what I can and point her in the right direction. If she wants comfort, I’ll bake for her my coconut cupcakes. If she needs a jolt, I’ll give her the kick on the backside. If she needs encouragement, I’ll be the hand that pushes her. And on a day when nothing makes her laugh, I’ll be the goofy older  sister and I’ll do anything to get those dimples to appear on her  cheeks.
Long live the promise of rakhi/ raksha bandhan. May the bond never break.

author: Aparna Ray


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India: Deadly Journalism · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sans Serif reports that two journalists of an Indian TV channel in Ahmedabad instigated Kalpesh Mistry (29) to set himself on fire to protest his harassment by police so that they could film him. Kalpesh died in the hospital after suffering 90% burn.

author: Rezwan


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India: The Security Of Electronic Voting Machines · Global Voices
Rezwan

South Asia Wired reports that Indian computer expert Hari Prasad's research into the potential security risks of electronic voting machines in India resulted in his arrest last weekend.


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India: Why Mumbai Is The Place To Live · Global Voices
Rezwan

Chip Huyen, a Vietnamese geek, blogger and a traveler is in Mumbai as a part of her travel around the world program. She explains why Mumbai is the place to be among other Indian cities.


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Iran: Blogger May Face Charge of ‘Waging War Against God’ · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

There is a growing concern that Shiva Nazar Ahari, a jailed human rights activist, blogger, and editor of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters website in Iran, may be charged with moharbeh (waging war against God/enmity against God) in an upcoming trial.
In Iran, this can carry a death sentence.
Shiva Nazar Ahari’s lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, has expressed concern about his client’s upcoming trial considering the possible heavy charge of moharebeh in her case.
Nazar Ahari was arrested on 14 June 2009 at her office. After spending 102 days in detention, she was released on 23 September 2009 on $200,000 bail. She spent 33 days of her detention in solitary confinement. She was arrested for the second time on 20 December 2009, and has remained in prison without furlough and without any explanation from authorities about the reasons for her imprisonment.
The second session of her trial is said to be scheduled for 4 September 2010.
“I won't leave Iran”
In this short film showing Nazar Ahari's after her release from prison, she says that she decided to stay in Iran at any cost. She says she feels it is where her activity can have the most impact.
Here is a photo of Nazar Ahari doing volunteer work for an association supporting street kids and child laborers.
Iranian blogger Arman Sabz writes [fa]
If they call her an enemy of God, then who will be the next… One day they will call us the same… If you expect that some super hero will come and change our fate, they will eventually take us and our dear ones to prison.
Another blogger, Azad Bashim, writes  [fa] that Shiva is in danger, although the accusations are baseless and she resists the pressure.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Japan: Copyrights-free photos · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

In the looop recommends [ja/en] 19 websites that provide copyrights-free photos.

author: Scilla Alecci


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Mexico: What About the Dead Women of Juárez? · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Ximena Vega says [es] Mexicans have forgotten about one of the most important problems the country is currently facing: femicides in Ciudad Juárez.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Pakistan: Field Notes From Doctors Of A Relief Team · Global Voices
Rezwan

“If there is anything the government should learn from this flood, it is to take education and women empowerment more seriously,” reports Dr. Syed Nabeel Zafar in a medical field note from Sukkur in Sindh province of Pakistan.


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Pakistan: Twitter Reactions On Flood Situation · Global Voices
Rezwan

The floods in Pakistan got the Twitter users all over the world talking as the devastation become clearer day by day.  The hashtag #Pakistan became a top trend on the 28th of July, when the plane crash near Islamabad happened.
The graph rose a little (but not as much like the 28th of July) as the news of the floods broke out in the first week of august. The floods did not create much buzz in the following week. By 16th of August #Pakistan climbed into the top ten of Twitter trends again as people started to realize about the impact and devastation of the floods and the help required from the world.
There are many hashtags being used by Tweeps and most notable are #Pakistan, #PKrelief, #Pkfloods, #HelpPakistan etc. Let us look at what the netizens are talking about the Pakistan floods on Twitter.
Plights of the flood victims:
FarrukhSiddiqui: Dying cattle scream for relief in flooded Pakistan: http://bit.ly/boFFDb #Pakistan #PKrelief
sfarazali: Please HELP! Pakistanis displaced by floods reach out for milk during an aid distribution at…… http://tumblr.com/xlegpf7i6 #pkfloods
Samancita: 4 million children in #Pakistan at grave risk of dying http://bit.ly/bHpRPU Donate to #UNICEF http://bit.ly/aEXd1h #HelpPakistan #PKfloods
googlewaveyour: Number  of People Displaced by Floods in #Pakistan Exceeds Entire Population of  #Australia #pkfloods #helppakistan via #farhanmasood
farhanmasood: nothing is important than help people who really need it. so help them as much as u can… #HelpPakistan #PKFloods
Flood Information:
CrisisCommons: RT @crisismappers: #Pakistan floods Interactive @ESRI Social Media Map site w/ embedded geotagged images, Youtube videos + http://bit.ly/a9Vois #socmed #GIS
The Effort that Time will Never Forget. Image by Omer_S from Twitpic.
Donation:
Dirk2112: Pakistan Flood Disaster Relief | Text “FLOOD” to 27722 | http://tinyurl.com/2ecclhc #PKrelief #PKflood
oOol_JaLoOl: RT @shariquess: Angelina Jolie donates $100,000(Rs.8.5m) MOREthan #Zardari & #Altaf Rs.5m each http://bit.ly/coKPzx – #pkrelief #pkfloods #pakistan #karachi
Relief and Rescue efforts:
etanvir: RT @sarwatJ: To #volunteer 4 #pkrelief efforts in #Islamabad contact Humza Afzal of IMPossible @ 03335424192 #pkfloods #Pakistan
RumaisaM: http://bit.ly/dh6Eay The difference we made in #PkRelief ..A beautiful picture of sheer joy after misery. via @DrAwab #Pakistan #pkfloods
DrAwab: RT @faisalkapadia Riots happening in shikarpur in front of us complaining of watered down food & bad managment #Pkfloods situation desperate
DrAwab:  Now the corruption PPP-Khursid Shah's son has taken a contract for Roti at 7lac/day he fwds contract 2lac/day & pockets 5lac/day #Pkfloods
Interestingly media is also using Twitter to reach to netizens in Pakistan.
adrianma:  CBC News looking to get in touch with volunteers on the ground in Pakistan for blogging. yournews@cbc.ca #pakistan #pkrelief
It seems that although a lot of people are tweeting, most of them are retweets or basically synthetic and derivative tweeting, rather than tweets as the original source of information. It remains to be seen how these Tweets make an impact on the collection of donation, flood relief and the rehabilitation efforts.


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Paraguay: Day of the Guaraní Language · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Juan Carlos Rodríguez writes [es] in his blog about the day of the Guaraní language. He says that on August 25, 1967, Guaraní was recognized as a national language. He also shares a short ebook on the “sacred book of the Guaraní”, Ayvu Rapyta.


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Russia: Blog Posts on Hospital in Russian Town Lead to Debates on Russian Healthcare · Global Voices
Dmitry Davidov

A blogger from Israel with Russian roots was unfortunate enough to get sick while visiting her relatives in Russia. Her recollections and pictures of a hospital in the city of Voronezh [ENG] provoked heated debates on the state of Russian health care.

author: Dmitry Davidov


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Russia: Bloggers Accuse Pro-Kremlin Youth Leader in Minor Abuse · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Vasiliy Yakemenko [RUS], a leader of “Nashi” and director of the Federal Youth Agency, has been accused [RUS] by bloggers of having sex with a 17-year-old female activist of the movement, Noviy Region reports [RUS]. The main evidence is a screenshot [RUS] of the LiveJournal conversation, where Yakemenko acknowledges the intercourse.


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South Korea: Kim Yuna, the Star Figure Skater Parted Ways With Her Coach · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korea's figure skating queen and the gold medalist Kim Yuna split from her longtime coach. However, it seems like not a clean breakup. Suspicions are intensified as Yuna twitted “Would you please stop to tell a lie B? I know exactly what’s going on now and this is what I’ve decided.” The initial B appeared to be referring her former coach Brian Orser.  More on Korea Herald report.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Sri Lanka: Protesting Animal Slaughter · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sri Lanka Animal Protection Association (SLAPA) is protesting the planned slaughter of 500 heads of chicken and goats at the Munneswaram in Kovil today.


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Taiwan: Who Needs A Founding Father? · Global Voices
Portnoy Zheng

Dr. Sun Yat-sen on every NTD 100
Does Dr. Sun Yat-sen deserve the title of “the Founding Father of Republic of China (R.O.C)”? Is he really a flawless idealistic political leader and the hero behind the revolution that overthrew Qing Dynasty? Being a shared historical icon between the mainland China and ROC (Taiwan), the myth around Dr. Sun has been under scrutiny in Taiwan where people do not identify themselves as “Chinese” anymore. The preparation of the 100th anniversary of R.O.C marked by a documentary project on Sun Yat-sen's life has stirred up the controversy, both on mainstream and online media.
Taiwan-Republic of China-is going to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011 and the Taiwanese Government has set up the “Republic of China (Taiwan) Centenary Foundation” exclusively for the preparation of a series of activity and promotion. A major celebration ceremony and march will be held along with many other events, contests, and media promotion all around Taiwan, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s biographical documentary is among one of them. This NT$20 million (US$627,000) documentary project is sponsored by Council for Cultural Affairs and is going to be carried out by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Centenary Foundation.
The controversy started when Chou Yang-Shan (周陽山), a former legislator of Legislative Yuan and now a council member of Control Yuan, and Hu Fu (胡佛), a scholar of politics and council member of Academia Sinica, wrote a joint open letter [zht]  to warn the Council for Cultural Affairs and the production team of this documentary project to “proceed with caution and carefully depict historical events” after Ping Lu(平路), a writer and advisor of this documentary, said that Sun was a figure who “even Vladimir Lenin would have ridiculed as naive and innocent.”
Ping Lu was criticized as “Frivolous and insolent” by Chou, who also claimed to investigate into the historical facts of the documentary using the power of Control Yuan member. The editorial from Taipei Times on Aug 18 accused Chou's action a major threat to freedom of speech.
Indeed, history is full of controversy in particular when people's identification is at odd with the “official history”. Blackjack tries to differentiate between ROC (China) and ROC (Taiwan)denies Sun Yat-sen being the Founding Father of “ROC (Taiwan)”. For him, the regime of ROC (China) had ended 60 years ago under Chiang Kai-shek:
現在的「國父孫中山爭議」我認為「言不正名不順」，中華民國在台灣的「國父」應該是蔣介石，「戒嚴總統」蔣介石則是類似「洪憲帝制」的袁世凱。中華民國在中國早已「百年」，中華民國在中國是死於1949蔣介石之手，中華民國在台灣則是從蔣皇介石開始。
Ching Hung Lin points out that the controversy  is a reflection of the China complex among Taiwanese:
國父建立中華民國時，台灣仍被日本統治，當國父奉安於南京中山陵，台灣依舊還在日本的殖民統治勢力下，對國父來說，從生到死，台灣從未是中華民國的一部分，至少在國父建構的中華民國下，台灣對於國父來說，是否只是當作日本的統治地？國父可曾想過把台灣從日本人手中收歸中華民國統治呢？
對國父這位偉人的冷熱反映與親疏感覺，可以判斷台灣人有多少中國情結，對於自己身為中國人有多少認同，在台灣土地上的任何一個人都可以捫心問問自己，到底我對國父有多熟悉？究竟這位開國元勳在個人印象中有多重要？還是，最後我們只剩下百元紙鈔上的共同印象？
Samhain believes that Chou is being self-defensive:
我就說吧，周陽山這三研所出身的人，正是不自覺的在「自衛」。
因為，這一開拍，粉可能會把他們苦心經營百年的「神」給毀了。
讓這些人跳腳的「不合的史實」，才正是史實。嘿嘿。
不說孫先生的私德部分。
就說公領域的部分吧。
中華民國建國後（或者說大清帝退位後），有幾強國「承認」這個新政權？？
沒啥大國要鳥孫中山，這是史實。
順便再一提，孫家後代，幾乎可說都是「外國人」，應該也沒人在台灣。
不管國民黨是不是流亡政權啦，
講白些，姓孫的都不要中華民國了，為啥我們不能不要啊？？
Torrent digs deeper into the history and suggests that Sun’s myth was a conscious construct by Sun and people after:
孫文倒袁的二次革命失敗流亡日本後，將革命失敗歸咎於同志思想不純、不思團結，他在東京成立中華革命黨，強調對領袖個人完全效忠，入黨誓文如下：
………………..
一、實行宗旨；二、服從命令；三、盡忠職務；四、嚴守秘密：五、誓共生死。從茲永守此約，至死不渝。如有二心，甘受極刑。
這根本就是黑道歃血為盟，除了這種仿照傳統封建會黨的組織形式，還包括了「凡中國同胞皆有進本黨之權利義務」「凡於革命軍未起義之前進黨者，名為首義黨員……革命成功之日，首義黨員悉隸為元勳公民，得一切參政、執政之優先權利……凡非黨員在革命時期之內不得有公民資格。」連臨時約法中「中華民國人民，一律平等」的原則都完全拋棄，卻仍能妄稱護法。
Youtien thinks Chou is just repeating old Kuomintang’s position and narratives, while the audiences are actually expecting something else:
問題是：觀眾可能並不想建立什麼客觀、真實的認識。現在是理想主義低潮已極的年代，人可能根本對此冷感，只預期相關論爭會再次流於打爛仗，以印證我對政治的鄙視；也可能自始便是為了踩國民黨、批台獨、反共或抬高文藝、貶抑政治等等好惡，來期待此民國百年紀錄片相關議題給我作註腳或批判材料。而能如學者所欲，詳細切實地看待孫文及歷史的人，已能自去多方閱覽，不必再等一篇文章、一部片給他啟蒙；另外，許多對意識形態已具免疫力的觀眾，也未必想追究國民黨的功過是非及民主政治的前途，而或更樂意探討孫文的情史、八卦以娛浮生。
明乎此，再追問：半生流亡的孫中山，為何能讓那許多女子獻身？又為何能吸引那許多志士追隨？不乏疏漏的《三民主義》又為何得過許多人傾心信奉？循著「女人─革命─讀書」的線索，探究相關論著後，我們或許會發現：孫中山的確浪漫、天真且多空想，真誠、博愛卻又剛愎。但也惟因如此，他敢想、敢做、敢隻手為全中國擘畫未來，敢不顧一切娶朋友之女，敢大張旗鼓爭取到革命大義名分的最高位，將各路黨人包攬到自己的主義光環之下，摒斥異己而無愧。
如今，我們知道了這種性格的危險，看到了許多革命者得勢後的變質，更明白衝動不能解決問題、政治沒有簡單的解藥；但尚對政治與社會懷抱理想的青年，也就輒被質疑其品性、挑剔其知識，乃至連跨出一小步的自信也沒有了。對此，國父孫中山能給予今日青年久蟄之心的興奮，自然不是他被神化又被丑化的主義與事功，而當是其縱使全世界都冷眼嘲諷，仍敢一意幹到底的熱血精神。

author: Portnoy Zheng


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Technology for Transparency: Five Lessons Learned · Global Voices
Rebekah Heacock

As we move into the second phase of the Technology for Transparency Network, Renata Avila and I have been working on a better mechanism for categorizing and sorting the dozens of organizations profiled on our site. One of our goals is to make it easier for users to find projects based not only on the country in which they're located but also on the particular sector or issue on which they focus and — we are the Technology for Transparency Network, after all — the different tools they use.
Download the presentation: Technology for Transparency Network: Five Lessons Learned
As part of this process, we recently gave a short presentation to a group of transparency researchers on the five lessons we've learned so far about using online and mobile tools to promote transparency and accountability.  The tech for transparency field is a rapidly changing one — between the time we presented and now, crowdsourced mapping tool Ushahidi launched Crowdmap, which lets anyone with Internet access set up an Ushahidi instance without having to install Ushahidi on their own server.  What that means is that the lessons and technologies we outline below are a work in progress, and we welcome your comments and questions.  After we publish our next round of case studies, we plan to revisit these lessons and see what has changed.
In places where governments and corporations can't or aren’t willing to share information (or don’t maintain it in easily accessible formats), citizens are sometimes the best source of data about government and private sector activities.  A number of tools exist to facilitate the collection of this data, either from open crowdsourcing, from a specific group of people such as trained volunteers or workers (this is often called “bounded crowdsourcing”), or from a combination of both.  The information gathered from people online or via mobile phones can be used in addition to existing data (for example by supplementing more traditional election monitoring efforts) or to shed new light on processes or power structures (for example by monitoring the results of development projects).
Data collection can take place on multiple devices and systems, depending on the desired outcomes and the operating environment.  Some services, such as Frontline SMS, operate largely via simple text messages, while others, such as Ushahidi, employ multiple methods, including SMS, Twitter, e-mail and web forms.
The Network of Mobile Election Monitors of Nigeria (NMEM)was established to monitor the country’s 2007 presidential elections.  Official election monitors are often limited by time and geography, as well as by their official status — their visible presence at polling places may reduce the likelihood of irregularities at that particular place, skewing the results of the observation.  NMEM partnered with Frontline SMS to create an election monitoring system that would help citizens engage with the political process while overcoming some of the problems associated with traditional election monitoring efforts.  Registered, trained associates in each of Nigeria’s states monitored the election while spreading word of their efforts to voters, who were encouraged to send in reports as well. Over 10,000 messages were received and cross-checked for accuracy.  The final report echoed the results of international observations but gave Nigerians more agency in the political process. For more information, see NMEM's final report (PDF).
Many governments and companies that put their data online do so by scanning hard copies of giant documents and publishing them as hard-to-analyze PDFs.  In other cases, the data that exists is too much and too complicated for the average citizen to understand.  A multitude of tools exist to help put data online in easy to use, easy to navigate ways so that citizens can see what facts and figures are most important.  Citizens who have access to and understand the facts of a situation are better able to hold governments and private sector organizations accountable.
The Haiti Aid Map provides detailed information on the current humanitarian and aid efforts in Haiti.  Visitors to the site can sort through the information by aid organization, by aid cluster or sector, and by location.  The map takes over a billion dollars worth of aid activity and makes it easy to see who is doing what where.
Worldwide, three times as many people have access to mobile phones as to the Internet (PDF).  In developing countries — whose populations make up 64 percent of the world's mobile phone users — the ratio grows as high as five to one.  Tools that operate exclusively on the Internet ignore a huge group of potential users, but luckily, tons of mobile platforms and applications exist that help organizations reach this group.  Even the simplest text-and-talk-only phone can let citizens report problems and obtain information.
Kenya has only 4 million Internet users, but over 19 million mobile phone users (source: World Bank).  The Budget Tracking Tool lets citizens find information about the money that has been allocated for development projects in their region using a simple text message.  The site gets between 4000 and 4500 SMS queries per month, and citizens have used the information they’ve obtained to expose corruption at local and national levels of government.
In order to use technology effectively, you need to meet people where they are.  If people are already using a Facebook group to protest a particular government action, it may not be worth it to build a new platform with the same features and spend time trying to draw people over.  Though Facebook, YouTube and Twitter weren’t build with transparency and accountability efforts in mind, they can be effective tools, and they come with built-in audiences.
When building a program based on existing tools it’s important to keep in mind the fact that tools available in one area or language may be inaccessible in another.  For example, Orkut is one of the most popular websites in Brazil and India and may reach more users than Facebook in those countries.
In 2007, the number of trips the Tunisian presidential plane was taking attracted attention from bloggers who wondered why, when the president was in Tunisia, his plane was in Paris.  One blogger browsed photos on aviation enthusiast websites and found photos of the presidential plane in a number of European capitals.  He tracked the plane around Europe and discovered that the president’s wife was using the plane to support her shopping trips — a clear misuse of state funds.  He used Google Earth to map the plane’s trips, photos to back up the map, and YouTube and Vimeo to publish a video of what was happening.
When working with digital tools, be careful not to “fall in love with your creation.”  You can spend time and money creating the best digital platform in the world, but if your target audience is more used to radios than to computers, the impact will be small.  Some of the most successful projects are combining digital and traditional tools to reach people no matter what level of technology they prefer.  These organizations recognize that the best tool to promote transparency and accountability is the one citizens will use.  Radio, print, television, call centers and public meetings may not be as flashy or exciting as digital platforms, but in some situations, they may have a greater chance of success.
Freedom Fone is an almost entirely voice-based system.  Organizations can download the software for free and purchase the necessary hardware for under 100 Euro/126 USD.  End users don’t need a computer and don’t have to use SMS — they simply call in.  Freedom Fone points out that “delivering information through the audio platform overcomes barriers associated with literacy and language and enables users to move past the 160 character limitation of an SMS.” Organizations can use the system to disseminate information, conduct polls, or collect citizen reports that can then be tagged and processed using Freedom Fone's software.
Guatemala Visible tracks the selection processes for judges, the General Prosecutor, the Accountant General, the Public Defender and the national Ombudsman in Guatemala, shedding light on process that has previously been conducted behind a wall of secrecy.  In addition to making information available online, the project used printed posters, ads on bus stops, local language community radio broadcasts and television to raise awareness.
How to best use a technological tool depends on the desired outcome, the location, the language, and the technological environment, among other factors.  For example, governments and NGOs may openly publish their budgets, making visualization and data navigation more important than crowdsourcing for projects that focus on budgets and donor aid.  But if the goal is to compare what has been promised with what is being delivered, crowdsourcing reports of what’s happening on the ground may be the most effective way to promote accountability.  In some contexts, the best way to put easy-to-understand information in the hands of citizens may mean developing an iPhone app with flashy graphics and the ability to share information with Facebook.  In others, it will involve simple SMS queries and a radio program.
Even if you choose the right technological tool for a particular context, however, online and mobile technologies are not a magic bullet.  Ushahidi’s founders stress that it’s a platform, not a methodology. Implementing it — or any technological tool — successfully requires a support team that is intimately familiar with the context in which it will be used and capable of handling outreach, training, information verification and a multitude of other tasks.  It’s easy to get swept up in the newness of the tech, but technology alone won’t solve anything.  Philip Thigo of the Budget Tracking Tool in Kenya points out that if the community you’re attempting to serve doesn’t see the value of your tool or can’t interact with it in a way that’s easy for them, then the amazing, high-tech platform you’ve built will be “wowed, wowed and then go dead.”
In a diverse world, it is important to start by looking at the tools available to the people you want to engage. The most advanced technology might fail if people are not familiar with it, if they cannot afford it, or if they can’t adapt it for their purposes.  This means being willing to give up on complex technologies if what the community needs is SMS and radio-based efforts.  It means building simple, text-only websites if bandwidth is limited.  Overall, it means paying close attention to the context of a project and implementing technology only where it really fits.
This post was co-written by Renata Avila.

author: Rebekah Heacock


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Trinidad & Tobago: CoP · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Plain Talk weighs in on the controversy surrounding the appointment of a non-national to the position of Commissioner of Police.