text:
China: True or false? A fugitive sergeant’s diary · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

Scheming frame-up, unlawful arrest and bitter escape journey, it’s not the story line of the new season of Prison Break , but a Chinese Police Sergeant’s unbelievable experience against his corrupt superior officer. Since the end of August, a post named “A fugitive sergeant’s diary” has flared and spread among many different Chinese blogs, BBSs and online communities, and finally even attracted attention of the mainstream media, including Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the government.
Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东), the alleged author of the diary, who proclaimed himself the Criminal Police Commander of Huangchuan County, Henan Province, disclosed a sequence of events that how the higher-ups of the local police intrigued with the gangsters against him for his continuous exposure of their underground crimes, and how he escaped from the house arrest, hiding himself in the mountains and running from one place to another.
A note at the beginning of the diary (excerpt):
…我是河南省潢川县公安局刑警大队长阳晓东。2008年3月份以来，我先后以《警徽下的罪恶》和《一个全国先进公安局的锐变》两文揭露潢川县公安局副局长邬晓辉的违法犯罪及潢川县公安局的多起渎职犯罪，这两文我都是署真名给河南省纪委、信阳市委书记王铁、县委书记焦豫汝、信阳市人民检察院、河南省人民检察院、市纪委、公安部反映过，领导的批示都陆续转到信阳市公安局纪委，4月31号信阳市公安局纪委副书记胡永斌等调查人员到潢川县调查，5月7号就查明了邬晓辉私开赌场，暴力阻碍派出所干警执法一案，但调查组突然中断调查，并给我答复“领导安排暂时不查其他案件”
…I am Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东), the Criminal Police Commander of Huangchuan County, Henan Province. Since March, 2008, I have successively written two reports, The Evil under the Police Badge and A National Advanced Public Security Bureau's Metamorphosis , exposing the illegal activities of Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉), the Deputy Director General of Public Security Bureau of Huangchuan County, and malfeasance of the whole department. With my real name, I sent the two reports to Henan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Wang Tie (王铁), Secretary of Xinyang Municipal Committee of the CPC, Jiao Yuru (焦豫汝), Secretary of County Committee of the CPC, People's Procuratorate of Xinyang city, People's Procuratorate of Henan Province, Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the Ministry of Public Security of Xinyang city. Then the instructions issued by the leadership were in succession relayed to the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Xinyang Public Security Bureau. April 31 a group of investigators, including Hu Yongbin (胡永斌), the Deputy Secretary of Commission for Discipline Inspection of Xinyang Public Security Bureau, arrived Hungchuan County and on May 7 they had found out the case that Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) illegally ran gambling house, violently obstructing the work of the police. However, the investigating team suddenly stopped their work and told me “The leadership have instructed the investigations of the other cases are suspended”
随后，我举报的多起案件被泄密。由于我举报的案件涉及黑恶势力，涉及地方公安机关弄虚作假贪污国家财政经费以及多起骇人听闻的渎职犯罪遭到了被举报人邬晓辉、涉案的公安机关、被举报的黑恶势力的疯狂的打击报复：“黑道”上匿名电话威胁；“白道”上邬晓辉更是利用侦查权对我手机、住宅及社会关系实施监控，同时又找说客谈条件：“只要不继续告可以给50万元”，期间邬晓辉更是利用金钱和多种社会关系摆平了各级领导的批示。直至现在，邬晓辉及涉案的黑恶势力成员都没有得到处理。信阳市检察院副检察长李洪卫亲口给我说：“阳队长，你一定要注意安全，不是我们不查，有难言之隐”…
Subsequently, many cases I reported were deliberately leaked out. Because those cases were related to the criminal underworld, the embezzlement of the public security organs and horrible dereliction of duty, Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉), the involved public security organs and criminal forces began their crazy revenge on me. The “black world” threatened me by anonymous calls, while the “white world” Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) took advantage of his powers to monitor my cell phone, house and social relationships, and in the meantime sent lobbyist to buy me off, “As long as you drop the charges you can have 500 thousand yuan (73 068.5 US dollars)”. Moreover, Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) greased the palm of the leadership at all levels by cash and various relationships. Until now, Wu Xiaohui and the relevant criminal forces haven't got any punishment. Li Hongwei, the deputy chief procurator of Xinyang People's Procuratorate, personally said to me, “Sergeant Yang, you should pay attention to your safety. It is not that we don't want to look into those things. We are just powerless”…
…7月25日夜11时许，潢川县公安局局长润道宏通知我到党委会议室谈话，我如约到达了党委会议室，时有市公安局纪委副书记胡永斌、市纪委一室工作人员周启新，他们佯装询问我举报一事，突然涌进10余名武警，10余名市局派来的警察将我团团围住，随即周启新便说代表市纪委对我“双规”…
…Around 11 p.m. of July 25, Run Daohong (润道宏), the Director General of Public Security Bureau of Huangchuan County, told me to go to the assembly room of Party committee to have a talk. I showed up on time. While Hu Yongbin (胡永斌), the Deputy Secretary of Commission for Discipline Inspection of Xinyang Public Security Bureau and Zhou Qixin (周启新), official of the  Municipal Commission for Discipline, were pretending to inquire into the reporting affairs, about 10 armed policemen broke in and completely surrounded me; with that, Zhou Qixin (周启新) announced that he representing the Municipal Commission for Discipline executed “Shuanggui” on me…
…由于是莫须有，我拒绝在双规决定书上签字，并拒绝配合双规措施，他们把我拖进一辆大巴里秘密从潢川县公安局抓走。由于这次迫害明显是以夺取我的生命，对我封口而来的，因此我选择了必须逃亡。8月1号我从双规关押地逃走，8月2号潢川县公安局非法将我通缉上网，8月3号以来潢川县黑恶势力经邬晓辉安排已派二批杀手赴上海、北京等地寻机对我暗杀，我的生命安全已处在极度危险之中。为唤起警察的良心，为追求法律的公平、公正，我已做好了牺牲的准备，同时我将举报信原文及逃亡日记在网上发布，一旦遭遇不测也可作为证据使用。我更相信千百万网友的声音可以呐喊出正义、公平、民主和进步，可以震慑贪、腐，让我们共勉吧！
… Because the charge was unwarranted, I denied signing in the judgment and further cooperating. They dragged me into a van and secretly moved me out of the police station. Obviously, they were trying to seal my lips and take my life, so I had to choose escape. August 1 I broke out of the house where I was detained; August 2 the Huangchuan Public Security Bureau illegally listed me as wanted; Since August 3, Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) with the criminal forces of Huangchuan county has sent two groups of killers to Shanghai, Beijing etc. to assassinate me. My life is in extreme danger. To arouse the police's ethical conscience and stand firm for the justice and fairness, I have been ready to sacrifice myself. Meanwhile, I have published the letter of accusation and my fugitive diary on the Internet. Once I suffer from misfortune, those materials can also be used as evidence. What's more, I believe the voice of millions of netizens will bring justice, fairness, democracy and social progress, and face the corruption and malversation down. Let's encourage each other!
Up to now, Sergeant Yang's fugitive diary has been updated from July 26, the first day of the house arrest, to August 13 when he fled to Fuyang, a city in Anhui Province. Because of the massive reproductions among the blogs and BBSs, no one knows exactly where Yang published his diary or whether there is someone else who helped him do the updating work.  Even so, according to 3 blogs (Links: 1, 2, 3) which many bloggers linked to, It's very likely that the diary was firstly packaged into one post and then updated in different blogs every 6 or 8 days. All the 3 blogs were established in Blogger and dressed by black style.
Although Sergent Yang's legendary and tragic experience has won most Chinese netizen's strong support and deep sympathy, an inescapable question naturally arouse before everyone concerned. Is it true? Will the story maker behind the curtain suddenly jump out and exaltedly shouted that you are fooled? To avoid that situation, some cautious netizens began to further investigate the information revealed by the diary. Surprisingly the officials mentioned do exist, and Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉), the most important role in Yang's depiction, was even found in the official website of Huangchuan County.
Da Dida, a blogger in bullog.cn, through web cache collected more to prove Sergeant Yang's identity:
google.cn提供的“潢川县公安局领导 阳晓东”的查询结果截图
The screenshot of the search results of “The officer of Huanchuan Public Security Bureau Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东)” by google.cn
潢川县政务门户网站提供的潢川县公安局部门领导（http://www.huangchuan.gov.cn/showpage.asp?id=71）截图
The screenshot of the leadership list of Huangchuan Public Security Bureau from the official website of Huangchuan government （http://www.huangchuan.gov.cn/showpage.asp?id=71）
google缓存提供的潢川县政务门户网站曾经发布的潢川县公安局部门领导在 2008年8月22日 16:29:38 GMT 的快照截图
The previous leadership list of Huangchuan Public Security Bureau provided by the official website of Huangchuan government. The screenshot was taken at 16:29:38 GMT, August 22， 2008 by google cache.
According to the screenshots in Da Dida's blog, it's clearly that until August 22 Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东), the name of the fugitive sergeant was still in the leadership list of Huangchuan Public Security Bureau. (Somehow the link of Google cache has been updated to August 31 now, but Baidu cache also saved a similar screenshot which can prove Yang's identity)
A report published Thursday by CCVIC has further proved Sergeant's Yang's diary, but it also discovered a totally new edition of the same story, which again made the whole thing much more complicated.

author: Meng Zhang


text:
Cuba: Composer of Guantanamera Born 100 Years Ago · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Cuba's most recognized song “Guantanamera” was written by Joseíto Fernández, who was born 100 years ago and who wrote the song when he was 20 years old, writes VivirLatino.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
Dominica: Domestic Violence  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Come on guys we are better than this – lets love and respect our queens”: Chris at Dominica Weekly sends a message to women beaters.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Dubai: Princess Pamela Anderson  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Not content with building an eco-hotel in Abu Dhabi, former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson is now planning to become Queen of the UAE.  Or at least a princess,” reveals Secret Dubai, who says that she is quietly seeing a member of a Royal family.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
Egypt: To blog or not to blog? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Egyptian blogger Whisper of Madness explains an absence from blogging, and reflects on the Middle East blogosphere: ‘Believe me, the faults and flaws of the Middle East are staunchly reflected in our blogging community, often times by the same people who speak out against them. The politics, the backstabbing, gossiping, bigotry, jealousy, extremism, cynicism, and even the tribal mentality are all well represented.’

author: Ayesha Saldanha


text:
Guyana: Akon Again · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Akon's publicity firm has released an extended video of the incident which they believe proves his innocence.
Akon has done it again – created controversy in the Caribbean.  This time, Guyana is his territory of choice.  At a concert in Guyana's National Stadium that was part of the regional Carifesta celebrations, the hip-hop singer was crowd surfing his way across the sea of fans as he tried to reach a camera platform in the middle of the audience.  A few celebrity-struck supporters got there before he did and there seems to have been a skirmish as Akon tried to mount the platform.  Once he alighted onto the stand, he slapped one of the women hard enough to appear to send her reeling.
Video footage of the incident is all over the Internet and Guyanese bloggers are interpreting this latest Akon outburst as a demonstration of the singer's misogyny.  Living Guyana questions why the country's mainstream media failed to mention the incident in their coverage of the concert:
In all the local reports about this concert why did (they)…not report that Akon physically assaulted two females in full view of thousands of Guyanese?
Akon has a reputation of assaulting people in various forms. He dry humped with a fifteen year old young lady in Trinidad and threw a boy off the stage in the US. This guy is clearly a lunatic and needs to be locked up (sounds familiar?) to protect him from continuing his assault on innocent people.
He is even more outraged when he finds out how much Akon was paid for his performance, calling it “a US$160,000 slap in the face of Guyanese women”:
This Akon incident is another example of the kind of eye pass Guyanese have come to suffer and in fact happily tolerate. Imagine 20,000 people were there and not one had raised this moment of abuse of a Guyanese woman. Any man with any principles would have defended this woman.
This is a travesty. We call on Minister Rohee to condemn Akon and to bar him from ever entering Guyana again. Whoever this lady is she needs to get a good lawyer and sue this idiot.
Interestingly enough, Guyana911 places the blame squarely at the feet of the ladies:
Earlier when those clowns tried to get on stage…they were pushed off. You don't interrupt a concert or a national event like that. When that happens sometimes physical effort is needed to straighten out stuff.
If those two jokers want to crawl on the platform, whats Akon to do? Stand and hold the mic and just watch them? Or is he supposed to perform and ignore them while they show off their shit.
He should of punched their ass off. Teach them some self control.. Everybody knows Akon rightfully hates a woman that shows her ass off.
I'm not seeing how what Akon did was wrong.
Either way, Signifyin’ Guyana thinks there are bigger issues at stake:
One of the really bothersome negatives I encountered during Carifesta was something bigger than its lack of focus (I'm still scratching my head about the relevance of some of the events, for instance), but Akon presence aside, my biggest problem with it all was the lack of inclusion of younger voices on discussions about the condition of the Caribbean region.


text:
Haiti, Bahamas: Hurricane Hanna  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Haiti didn't need another tropical storm, far less another hurricane.  But the Atlantic hurricane season can be a cruel taskmaster; storms strike the Third World as evenhandedly as they do the First World, but for developing nations, the recovery process seems to be that much slower and more challenging.
As Hanna descended upon the island, she brought with her more rains, more flooding and more death.
Friends for Heath said that “as with most things in Haiti”, they were at the mercy of the forces of nature:
We’ve had another 24 hours of high winds and drenching rains as Haiti felt the effects of nearby tropical storm Hannah. The rain started around midnight Monday night and when we got up yesterday morning, our flat roof had several inches of water on it, the storage depot was flooded and there were several tree branches down in the yard. It rained on and off all day, with intermittent heavy winds, but we did not suffer any further damage. We talked with friends in Port-au-Prince, who said that several areas there were flooded again. The worst hit area was Gonaives and St. Marc, with extensive flooding leaving thousands homeless.
Konbit Pou Ayiti agreed that “sometimes it can be hard to believe that Mother Nature is not cruel”, posting photos to drive the point home:
Haiti is the country in this region that is least able to weather a storm of any size. Even just a hard rain can result in death and destruction. Over the last week, two major storms hit Haiti. Hurricane Gustav was a Category Two hurricane when it made ground in Jacmel, bringing ninety mile per hour winds and pounding rain to the area. At the beginning of this week, Hurricane Hanna took a second swipe at the island, leaving the towns of Gonaives and Les Cayes underwater.
Several bloggers, disheartened at the daunting prospect of facing even more loss and damage than they did with Gustav, turned to prayer.  RHFH Rescue Center was matter-of-fact about it:
Haiti cannot take a category 3 hurricane.  We cannot. Please pray!
The Haiti Lady hoped her prayers would help the thousands of families adversely affected by the storm, noting that “Haiti's death toll from Hanna doubles to 137″ and “some 250,000 people are affected around the country's fourth-largest city.”
Prayerforce.Org got in on the prayer blogging action right around the time Hanna was hitting the Bahamas:
She has killed over 90 people in Haiti due to floods and mudslides, in addition to the 75 Haitians killed by Hurricane Gustav.
Haiti, an impoverished nation of 9 million souls, was already on the edge of starvation before these two storms. Most  Haitians live on less than $2 a day and the meteoric rise in the price of oil, along with manipulation of global markets by hedge funds, had already caused food shortages.
Haiti Reborn posted links to several mainstream media stories about the damage, saying:
Tens of thousands of Haitians are trapped in the flooded city of Gonaives in a gruesome replay of what happened in Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.
The blog, along with Dying in Haiti, also published emails from people who gave first-hand accounts of the damage:
In Gros Morne we hardly got a drop from Gustav but it wouldn't let Hanna move on after Hanna slammed us hard. It's worse than Hurricane Jeanne here.
Much property and garden lost. Five houses in town were washed into Riviere Mancelle.
We don't have many reports because roads are out and phone don't work in a number of places. Gonaives is dreadful because of Hanna, and Ike and Josephine are on their way.
North-west of Haiti, in the Bahamas, Nicolette Bethel was taking a wait-and-see approach:
I’m sitting here, a tropical storm watch active for the area, while three storms line up and take aim on us.
Of them, the one that worries me the most is Ike — a decent Cat Four hurricane currently heading straight for Nassau.
Today, she posted this update:
Hanna has passed without incident, as expected.  Ike has weakened and has shifted a little so that the eye is no longer heading for New Providence but further south.  We don’t know what will happen, but there it is.
We’re keeping our eyes on the storm.
Keeping their eyes on the storm is really all the Caribbean can do until this year's hurricane season is over.


text:
Hong Kong: Fighting For Votes Everywhere · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Learning Cantonese wrote his election diary part two.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Hong Kong: Voting · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ngszehin urges everyone to cast their vote in the legco election.


text:
Iran:Iran jails 4 leading women’s rights activists · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Change for Equality reports that Iranian authorities sentenced four women’s rights activists to six months in jail, including one who was awarded a $75,000 human rights prize in Sweden this year.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Iraq: 150 Hacking Attempts Per Day · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“In less than 30 mn, this blog has been subjected to over 50 hacking attempts. This has been going on for the past 4 days or so, around 3 times a day. That is 150 hacking attempts per day. Hmmmm….I wonder why,” asks Iraqi blogger Layla Anwar.


text:
Japan: Cup Ramen Museum · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Peter Payne from Japundit blogs about the cup ramen museum in Osaka.


text:
Japan: I am different from you · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A buzz phrase “I am different from you” made by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda during his resignation has inspired some new designs. More from Pink Tentacle.


text:
Kazakhstan: A Kazakh Woman in Forbes List · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Adam links to the post by slavasay in Livejournal, in which the blogger reports about a Russia-based Kazakh businesswoman who is on the Forbes list of the most influential women.

author: Adil Nurmakov


text:
Kazakhstan: Fears of aggravation of crisis · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Although Kazakhstan, enjoying booming economy fueled by extractive industries, remains the leading state among Central Asian republics, the volatile situation in the country's economy gives grounds for anxiety among bloggers.
Marat recollects the 1990s, when Uzbekistan was believed to become the regional locomotive of growth and notes:
In actual fact Islam Karimov, the preisdent of Uzbekistan largely contributed to the Kazakhstan's success. His policies brought Uzbekistan to the desperate poverty and decreased regional competition in favor of Kazakhstan… Perhaps, the Kazakhs owe a monument to Karimov in Astana.
Slavasay is concerned over deteriorating situation in the country's outdated infrastraucture, which the authorities seem to be unable to maintain effectively [ru]:
I knew that we could have problems with water and electricity supply in the future, but I didn't expect to face them now. I, my folks and several friends don't have hot water in flats. There was a two-week interruption in natural gas supply. Electricity blackouts have already become a regular thing. Now the mayor of Almaty, the largest city and business capital of Kazakhstan, says that we are going to have troubles with heating during the coming winter. I'm glad he is an honest man. But I'd really like to live in 2008, not like in mid-1990s.
Dass is anxious about possible interethnic tensions in Kazakhstan [ru]:
There won't be massive renaming of the northern cities in the near future [those cities, situated near the border with Russia are having Russian names, and the campaigns are taking place to rename them in a “more Kazakh” manner]. The authorities  understand that it would have been too dangerous to give another reason for tensions against the background of economic problems. But it won't help – there will be a reason in any case.
Mantrov-kz reports on his recent ride in a taxi in his town called Shymkent in the poorest southern part of Kazakhstan, when he was shocked by the sincerity of the cabman [ru]:
At first he actively expressed his irritation about prices for gasoline and criminality level. Then he suddenly said: “I wish there was war. I'd fight – it's better fight than to live this way”. The popular discontent is growing…
Another highly debated issue in the Kazakhstai blogs is toughening of the penalties for violation of traffic rules, including fines for failure to use safety belts. And here's some place for humor and quick wit of the people:
I am glad that the traffic regulations have been made stricter – people now drive more carefully and use belts. However, lately I've been told that there are t-shirts availabl, which havean image of worn safety belt on them!
globuszz writes [ru].
Cross-posted on neweurasia.


text:
Kazakhstan: No Elections, President Says · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arman reports on the president Nazarbayev’s speech at the opening of the Parliament’s session and his disapproval of the possibility of an early election.


text:
Libya: Five Years of Blogging  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Though I've been on blogs since August 2003 it was only in September that I made my first post.. it's been five whole years full of laughter, tears and tough but useful learning processes. It has also been five Ramadans,” writes The Highlander from Libya.


text:
Macedonia: Name Dispute and Google Weather · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Say: Macedonia posts a protest letter sent to Google by one of the blog's readers regarding the “improper naming” of the country that comes up when one does a “weather Skopje” search on Google.ca.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


text:
Mongolia: A Politician Arrested · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bilguun reports that head of the Republican Party of Mongolia was detained for questioning on 4 September, being reportedly a suspect in the ongoing investigation into the organizers of the July 1 riots.


text:
Mongolia: Alcoholism Problem · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Bilguun says that the problem of alcoholism in Mongolia is one of the bigger obstacles to progress and development in Mongolia.


text:
Palestine: The siege of Gaza was broken – and then? · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

On August 23, two boats carrying international activists broke the siege of Gaza by landing in Gaza's harbour. The boats have since left again, leaving some of the activists behind, and taking some Palestinians with them back to Cyprus. However the activists plan to return to Gaza on September 22 – amongst other things, delivering mail to the Palestinians. In this post, we look at some Gazan reactions to the breaking of the siege, as well as accounts by the activists.
Heba is not sure what the future holds, but is happy the boats came at all:
The freedom ships made it to Gaza. It is a small victory that counts so much. So much solidarity, love, and hope were shipped directly to our hearts by the arrival of the peace groups to Gaza shores. […] So much courage, commitment and belief were displayed in this journey coming all the way from Cyprus to besieged Gaza. Has the siege ended? Surely it has not, though hope is always there. However, just the gesture – of thinking about Gaza people and of actually moving from passive sympathy to proactively deciding to take this journey to tell Gaza people that they are not alone, their voice is heard , their story is known, and they deserve unlimited support – is worthy of great respect.
The international activists have been trying to support the Palestinians in whichever way they can. Dr Mona El-Farra gives an example:
The success of the Free Gaza Movement gave us some hope for the future, it was a small act, but great and courageous too; a few determined, strong activists did the miracle. In an unprecedented voyage, the first boats to arrive from international waters to Gaza shores in 41 years. A lot of work can be done to make the change, to ring the bell, to wake up the deaf, silent and blind international community governments. What is happening in Gaza under the siege and the occupation is not only a human rights violation, it is a war crime.
I was with the Free Gaza Movement and the re-constituted Gaza International Solidarity Movement at Erez crossing last Sunday (the northern border between Gaza and Israel) to make pressure and let one of the patients out for treatment. We succeeded in the end but the hard question is, why should it take all these extravagant efforts to let one patient in great need for emergency surgery out of Gaza????????????
Some activists also accompanied Gazan fishermen out to sea, as the International Solidarity Movement reports:
On the 1st September 2008, the first day of Ramadan, several volunteers with the Free Gaza Movement and the International Solidarity Movement accompanied a small fleet of seven fishing vessels from Gaza City port. … The fishing fleet reached approximately nine miles offshore and began trawling along the Gazan coast, well within international limits. Usually the Israeli Navy prevents Gazan fishing vessels from accessing beyond six miles and in many cases only three miles, by attacking the boats, sometimes lethally, or by arresting the fishermen. However, this day’s fishing resulted in a highly successful catch due to the ability to access richer fishing grounds further offshore.
However, Israeli Naval gunboats fired warning shots at the boats:
One activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, gave an account of what happened:
When at a distance, estimated by our fishing boat’s captain, of seven nautical miles from the coast, we dropped our fishing nets and started fishing, the Israeli warships rushed to reach our position. One of the warships positioned at a distance less than 200 metres alongside of our fishing boat, opened fire in our direction at least four times during the day. It was intimidating fire directed into the water, but some bursts almost touched the hull of our boat. A cannon shot almost reached us. Making attempt of obtaining a radio contact was useless. Soldiers on the Israeli warship ordered, with the use of megaphones, the area evacuation. And after that they were shooting. Sometimes they were shooting before having been ordered.
Vittorio Arrigoni's blog in Italian can be seen here.
The Free Gaza boats plan to return later this month:
On September 22nd the Free Gaza Movement will return to Gaza to demonstrate that the sea lanes between Gaza and the rest of the world have been permanently opened, and we're going to take the mail with us! Currently, all mail sent to Palestinians from abroad must first be delivered to Israel. Mail is regularly blocked by Israel and prevented from being delivered to the people of Gaza. We believe that the mail must go through, so we're going to take it in ourselves.


text:
Panama: Political Ads by the PRD’s Juan Carlos Navarro · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

It is primary season in Panama, and the country's largest political party PRD have unveiled campaign ads.  Rob Rivera writes about one of the leading candidates, Juan Carlos Navarro and his questionable ads.


text:
Poland: Secret CIA Prisons · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot examines whether “Poland’s government knew all about ‘secret’ CIA prisons” in Poland.


text:
Puerto Rico: Daddy Yankee Endorses John McCain · Global Voices
Michael Castro

Puerto Rico is in the spotlight due to a recent endorsement by recording artist Daddy Yankee.  Even though he is not as well known on the island, than in other parts of Latin America, U.S. presidential candidate capitalized on his fame for campaign purposes at an event in an Arizona high school.  Bloggers comment on the fact that Daddy Yankee is a low profile rapper in the island and his example is not one to be emulated. So what is McCain after? Votes obviously, and as far as votes go the Puerto Rican and the Latino communities in the US.
In the words of blogger Edwqin Vazquez of Cargas y Desgargas [es]:
El reggaetonero Raymond Ayala, mejor conocido como Daddy Yankee, hizo el supremo ridículo: endosó a John McCain para presidente en una escuela de Arizona, aún cuando el pobre no tiene derecho a votar en las elecciones presidenciales.
The reggaeton singer Raymond Ayala better known as “Daddy Yankee” was part of something ridiculous: he endorsed John McCain for president in a high school in Arizona even tough the poor guy doesn't have a right to vote in the presidential elections.
According to blogger Elco Lao, he is not sure how much McCain even knows who Daddy Yankee is [es]:
aunque el candidato a presidente por el partido republicano dice que Dadi es uno de sus mejores amigos, antes de que entrara a escena tuvo que leer de una tarjeta alguna información que le hiciera recordar quién carajos era este muchacho… Por lo menos, las muchachitas de la escuela que visitó Maquein supieron anticipadamente de quién se trataba ya que mencionó la palabra “GASOLINA”.
…although the presidential candidate said that Daddy was one of his best friends, before Daddy Yankee entered the stage,  McCain had to read from a card with information to remind him who the hell was this guy. At least the girls in the school recognized him when McCain mentioned the title of one of his hits “GASOLINA”…
During the activity the Star Spangled Banner was played but Daddy Yankee didn't knew the lyrics to that tune so he had to bit his lips during the anthem performance.  After the ceremony the rapper sang one of his most famous hits “Gasolina” (gasoline). the song is about a girl who likes to ride in cars and in the song is constantly repeating “dame más gasolina” (give me more gasoline). The lyrics of the song contrast with McCain's energy policies and his purported plans to  encourage the production of alternative energy and his plan to reward the inventor who rescues the US from its dependency on foreign oil with $300,000,000.
The news did not cause an uproar here in the island since Puerto Ricans can't vote, so none of the local media payed much attention to it. Bloggers from the U.S. consider it an act of political significance since McCain chose to address the Puerto Ricans, and other Latinos living in the states by standing by the side of a well-known recording artist.

author: Michael Castro


text:
Russia, Georgia: War and Art · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

IZO writes about the possible impact of the Russian-Georgian conflict on the art world and freedom of speech.


text:
Russia: St. Pete Remembers Beslan · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A few photos from a Beslan commemoration event in St. Petersburg – by LJ user alter-gregor (RUS).


text:
Saudi Arabia: Finding strength and empowerment in religion · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

While it is often argued that religion is used to oppress women, there are many women who gain a sense of empowerment from their faith. In this post, we hear from one Saudi blogger who thinks she knows why many married women turn to religion, while another describes the inspiration she gained from a colleague.
Aysha Alkusayer, who blogs at In the Making, has a theory as to why some Saudi women become more religious after marriage. She starts by describing the nature of many relationships she sees:
My friend “Y” is married. Her husband likes her to completely cover in Riyadh: “abaya”, veil and face cover, and half cover in Dhahran [less conservative city in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province]. To uncover her face in the company of friend “A” and “B” but never around “C”. When travelling he wants her to completely uncover, except if there were relatives. He asks her to dress conservatively (e.g. long skirt) in the presence of her family in law, yet wears pants or non-conservative clothing in the presence of the families of friends “A”, “B” and “C”. He doesn’t want her to have any makeup on when outside the house, but to be fully made up once she’s in. […] He has every teeny bit of her life figured out for her. My friend’s marital life is not unique to many women in Saudi, and I do not mean the issue of covering or uncovering, I mean the issue of being micromanaged. … Such minute management isn’t denounced by the collective mind but is often expected and thought to be an indicator of responsible parenting—yes, parenting even to the wife. […] Some wives adapt to this husband-wife relationship…yet when the honey melts away many women begin to feel equal or competitive with their husbands and sensitized towards being bossed around.
Aysha then describes the kind of change that occurs:
Since arriving in Riyadh I’ve been noticing a pattern amongst certain type of women who suddenly turned religious, some of which immediately transformed from being just another guest in someone’s house to women who sit at the head of a meeting to preach the word of God and tell the stories of the Prophet and his companions; women who construct Qur’an recital centers. Nothing shocking or sudden happened to those women, they didn’t lose a loved one in an accident or undergo any trauma. What happened, then, that might’ve caused this massive change in behavior and character?
Many things could of course contribute to this change, but I believe the gains of a transformation often explain the initial calling that has caused it. Women whose religiousness brought power, leadership and stardom after being semi-absented, were probably yearning for what they have been lacking. […] And having God at their side, could finally allow those women a word over their husband, children and the greater society. […] They could silence much of society which would not yield and adhere to them before.
Another Saudi blogger, Eman K, who blogs at The Saudi Swan, describes a lesson she learnt from a colleague:
She caught my attention from the very beginning. The way she prayed left me mesmerized. While we would finish our prayers hurriedly as if we had something so urgent to do, she would take her time praying dedicatedly. And while we killed the time chatting away aimlessly, she would take out her Qur'an and start reading, oblivious to the noises surrounding her. She had negative opinions regarding men, as most of us, but her views were to the extreme sometimes. She would tell us not to listen to love songs as they promote unrealistic love among the young. “Don’t you ever believe this crap. This love doesn’t exist.” “Romance has disappeared from my life,” she would add sometimes laughingly, especially when she heard us talking about marriage.
Eman finds out that the woman is divorced – and is inspired by her way of coping:
She won her divorce after a long battle and after she had suffered severely from an ungrateful husband. That was a tough time for her especially that it coincided with her mom’s death. She lost a lot during that battle. But something remained exceptionally strong in her. It was her spirit. […] She made use of the free time she had at hand then and started studying diligently to get her PhD, which she earned two years after her divorce. But more important was her relationship with God which underwent a great transformation. And instead of complaining non-stop to people like many other women, she would confide her sorrows and disappointments to God. … After a while, I noticed some change in her. She seemed to me happier than usual. That was when I knew that she was getting married again. But this time to a man much better than her ex-husband. … Moreover, he holds a prestigious position there in the West. […] On her last day in our college we threw a big party for her. She was so happy that day as if she had buried behind her all that was painful in her life and was taking her first step into a totally new world. […] It’s true that she left Saudi Arabia for ever but she left behind a great lesson. A lesson of patience, resorting to God and making the best of what we have.


text:
Saudi Arabia: Illegal Parking in London  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Saudi Arabia, Abdulla Abulkhair  [Ar] posts the pictures of a luxury car, which belongs to an Arab prince, being towed away in London for illegal parking. “He thought he would be treated like in his own country,” he quips.


text:
Saudi Arabia: Matrook Al Faleh Still in Prison  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“More than 100 days have passed and Prof. Matrook al-Faleh is still detained following his arrest last May. His situation remains the same: in solitary confinement and yet to be allowed to meet his lawyer,” writes Saudi Jeans, from Saudi Arabia.


text:
Saudi Arabia: Permission to celebrate birthdays · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Saudi Jeans reports on a sheikh who has spoken about the permissibility of celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, viewed by more conservative religious leaders as un-Islamic.


text:
Taiwan: Collapsing stock market · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Michael Turton blogs about the political implication of collapsing stock market in Taiwan.


text:
Tajikistan: Water is Life · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Patrick Frost discusses Tajikistan’s water woes and dire energy situation, reviewing the IHT reporting on the issue.


text:
The Balkans: Dutch Soldiers to Testify in Favor of Karadzic? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports that a group of former Dutch soldiers may “testify in Radovan Karadzic's favor.”


text:
The Balkans: Florence Hartmann and the ICTY · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Greater Surbiton writes about the case of Florence Hartmann, former spokeswoman for ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, recently indicted “for allegedly disclosing classified information relating to the proceedings against Slobodan Milosevic.”


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Unstable Police Force?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As mainstream media in Trinidad and Tobago report on the arrest of a police officer in the shooting of a pastor, Coffeewallah is stunned by the poor quality of journalism: “The current Commissioner says…steps were being taken to ensure that the firearms did not go home with ‘unstable’ officers.  What I found more startling, instead of the newsbody's headline being maybe, CoP admits to instability in the Police Force, they faithfully read the press release as written.  I'm now afraid. Because you mean it's okay that Police Officers are unstable while on the job, possibly carrying a firearm, but the problem is solved by not allowing them to take the firearm home.”


text:
Ukraine: Dick Cheney, Elections, NATO · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana writes about Dick Cheney's visit to Ukraine: “Undoubtedly, the outgoing Bush administration wants to send a welcome message to Kyiv. But given the lame-duck status of both Cheney and Yushchenko, Ukraine’s accession into NATO hinges on the outcome of the presidential election in America no less than it does on Ukraine’s own presidential election in 2010.”


text:
Ukraine: Political Crisis Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes posts an update on the political crisis in Ukraine.


text:
Ukraine: U.S. Missionary’s Visa Ordeal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Matty, a U.S. missionary based in Kerch, Ukraine, blogs at The Gaws – here and here – about a Ukrainian visa ordeal he and his family are going through now.


text:
Angola: Elections in pictures · Global Voices
Paula Góes

This Friday September 05 was a special day in Angola. After lukewarm elections campaigning, the population was excited to vote for a new parliament in the first elections in 16 years. For many people, this was the first opportunity to exercise their right to vote. Most of the population went peacefully to about 12,000 polling stations, however voting is to continue today at 320 stations in the capital Luanda, due to yesterday's logistical problems that caused delays in the delivery of ballots.
As reactions start to appear on the blogosphere, a full report is on its way. For now here are some pictures showing the run up to the historic day, registered by José Manuel Lima da Silva, Flickr user Kool2bBop, along with his own remarks:
Unidade Nacional. Angola está a provar ao mundo que, apesar das diferenças, é um povo UNIDO.
UM SÓ POVO, UMA SÓ NAÇÃO.
Esperemos que tudo acabe como até aqui! – civismo
“National Unity. Angola is showing the world that, despite differences, it has a united people. One people, one nation. We hope it will be like this in the end – public spirit!”
There are many more pictures of the actual big day at Tiago Sousa‘s and Sam.Seyffert‘s flickr galleries.
Around 8.3 million people have registered to vote, choosing from among over 5,000 candidates from 10 parties and four coalitions. There are in total 220 parliamentary seats.

author: Paula Góes


text:
China: Handling of Yang Jia’s secret trial breeds widespread discontent · Global Voices
John Kennedy

The fallout from the closed trial given to Yang Jia after he murdered six Shanghai policemen in July continues to bear down on the blogosphere as one of the most discussed topics.
Discussion has been intense and reactions to the verdict have varied; at least one YouTuber took it upon themselves to interview Shanghai residents on their thoughts on the trial and verdict:
Reads the introduction to the video:
“法律已经不是人民的法律，对杨佳的审判简直就是对中国人民的侮辱 ！！！！”
For establishment artist and Olympic venue designer Ai Weiwei on his Sina blog, posting videos which have since been deleted of the crowd assembled outside of the Shanghai #2 Intermediate People's Court on the day of Yang's trial just prior and after the trial was held, after having having applied to attend it himself and then denied, were all decisions made after having written a post [zh] calling on his readers to take action in support not just of Yang, but for rule of law in China itself:
太多的任性，愤怒和漫骂，伴随太多的不信任，放弃和死亡。
如果放弃，依然失望，说没有办法，即是坐以待毙，成为被人诅咒的罪恶腐朽的一部分。
九月一日，杨佳在上海被草率的判处死刑。地方政府和公检法系统，无视宪法赋予公民的神圣权利，践踏法律的尊严，扰乱司法程序，显露出上海公检法体制的严重综合缺陷。
事情还没有那么简单，杨佳案已经不再是关于一个可以被忽视的普通人，一个公民用赴死的意志，考验了中国实践司法公平和社会正义的信心与立场，唤起中国民权意识的觉醒。上海搞不明白的是，中国不是十里洋场，这要比你想象的宽阔复杂的多。
杨佳案并没有结束，对杨佳的宣判，表达了舞弊者蔑视法律尊严的愿望。污浊的灵魂决定了猥亵的命运，他们最终没有逃出背叛人民的逻辑，对权力的滥用和对法律的蔑视。应该提醒他们，这一次，他们依然会因为愚蠢而付出代价。
为了杨佳，为了每一个有尊严的活着或是死去的，杨佳一样的青年，杨佳的母亲一样的母亲。
呼吁国家重审杨佳案，通过公开透明的司法程序，进行公开合法的审判，是对宪法的维护，是对中国司法改革的决心和力量的检测。
你与我一样，作为中国人，相信国家为社会公正司法改革所做的不懈努力，相信具有最高司法权力和荣誉的最高人民法院的公正和严谨，通过合法手段，再次履行职责。
请使用你的宝贵时间，写下你对杨佳案的看法，用行动呼吁公平正义。
要求最高人民法院，撤销杨佳案原审判决，指定异地法院，重新公开审理，维护国家法制，维护公民权力。
呼吁国家领导人，责成中纪委、中央政法委、最高检、最高院、公安部、司法部成立联合调查组，介入杨佳案起因、审判内幕等违法作为的调查，整顿上海市公、检、法，扫清与国家对立、无视国法的地方势力，维护国家法制统一和宪法权威地位。
以快递方式寄给
最高人民法院
北京市东交民巷27号最高人民法院 邮编100745，
此时此地，我对你的努力充满敬意。
Indie blogger Robert Mao takes a look [zh] at the logic of Yang's case having been held in secret:
杨佳被判了死刑，说实话对此没有人感觉到惊讶。由于审判是秘密进行的，没有媒体和非官僚阶层的人能了解其内幕，因此只有“据说”。比如据说：“杨佳及其辩护人在宣判全程中未发一语，也未表示是否考虑上诉”，　杨佳一语不发，可以理解，因为他已经对这套系统失去了信心所以才自己去寻找说法了；而律师居然也一语未发，实在是让人感慨，的确公安局这个法律顾问的钱没白付啊，不但可以做顾问，还能帮自己的官司对手当不说话的辩护律师。
其实结果大家是能预料的，这些事实只不过进一步再次强化了大家对目前这套体系的认识而已。　对于类似我过去那样，或者类似杨佳过去那样，对司法体系的公正性还存在一丝幻想的人，可以说是进一步的棒喝　－－该醒醒了。
More on the ‘legal consultant’ mentioned by Mao comes from lawyer and elected official Xu Zhiyong has also written [zh] on this, offering an analysis of the case and all the legal and constitutional holes in how it has been handled. Xu starts by pointing out that Yang's appointed lawyer, Xie Youming, as legal counsel for the People's Government in Shanghai's Zhabei district, where the crime took place and the trial was held:
…属于利益冲突，违反了《律师法》第三十九条关于”律师不得在同一案件中为双方当事人担任代理人，不得代理与本人或者其近亲属有利益冲突的法律事务”的规定。谢律师在接受媒体采访时说出明显不利于杨佳的言论，也受到民众的广泛质疑。
此案名义上是公开审理，但在８月２６日开庭审理 “杨佳故意杀人案”时，法院把旁听席位全给了上海市公安局，前来旁听的国内外二十多家媒体和一些市民都被拒之门外。上海市第二中级人民法院的做法，违背了审判公开原则，也违反了《最高人民法院关于加强人民法院审判公开工作的若干意见》规定（”对群众广泛关注、有较大社会影响或者有利于社会主义法治宣传教育的案件，可以有计划地通过相关组织安排群众旁听，邀请人大代表、政协委员旁听，增进广大群众、人大代表、政协委员了解法院审判工作，方便对审判工作的监督。”）迄今为止，上海有关部门并没有对此进行任何解释。
拒绝披露真相，禁止媒体讨论，拒绝敢言律师介入，拒绝异地审理，不准记者和公众参加，不准被告亲属参加，所有这些，进一步加剧了公众对司法的不信任。
[…]
杨佳案很可能会成为中国司法史上具有标志性的案件，对转型中的中国社会来说意义重大。比复仇更重要的，是真相；比结果更重要的，是程序正义；比死刑更重要的，是对法治的信仰。有关政府部门应该深刻检讨警察执法的问题和警察制度的弊端，检讨秘密审判、新闻和网络管制给公众心理带来的巨大伤害，检讨社会冲突和危机的制度原因，反思我们如何才能建成一个健康的、开放的、人道的法治社会。

author: John Kennedy


text:
China: Iphonegirl a planned beauty? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Local media yweekend did an investigative report on the Iphone Girl issue and it is yet a mystery whether the story is a public relation plan. ESWN has translated the local report.


text:
Cyprus: A New Water Solution · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

The Cyprus Blog posts a video of a humorous, yet innovative, way of solving the water shortage problem in Cyprus. Of course it does involve stealing the water from your neighbors’ water surplus tank and putting it into your own tank, but as long as no one has a video camera to catch you doing it at the break of day you're fine, right?

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


text:
East and South Asia: Suicide By Pesticide Ingestion Common · Global Voices
Juhie Bhatia

As World Suicide Prevention Day approaches on September 10, a new study reaffirms that suicide is frequently committed by ingesting pesticides in many Asian countries. The study analyzed preferred suicide methods across the world to help policy makers devise the best strategies for suicide prevention.
On average, almost 3000 people commit suicide every day. Pesticide ingestion is one of the leading suicide methods. It's estimated that globally three million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in an excess of 250 000 deaths. Reports, including this new study, suggest that this problem is particularly significant in rural areas, especially in Asian countries, such as China, India, and Sri Lanka.
In India, much has been reported on the agricultural crisis, which is causing many farmers to take their own lives.
kerala8821 explains the farmers’ predicament in his blog:
“India has seen a lot of farmer suicides in recent years. We may be in the throes of an economic boom, but more than 25,000 farmers have killed themselves in India, mostly by consuming pesticide since the year 1997. Debt and the resulting harassment at the hands of money lenders is a major cause.
Farmers fell into debt because of a combination of high farming costs (exorbitantly priced hybrid (so-called high yielding) seeds) and pesticides sold by multinationals and a lack of a good price for their produce, partly due to imports. Drought added to their woes. Irrigation was too expensive for these farmers and the state government didn’t help.”
A post by Veena Seetharama Annadanaa says the number of suicides is actually higher:
“The rising costs of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers have pushed peasants into mounting debts, and led untold thousands of them to commit suicide by drinking the same pesticides that created their liabilities…
…By the government's own admission, over 100,000 farmers committed suicide in the last decade in the four states of western Maharashtra, central Madhya Pradesh and southern Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.”
brianc79, posting on CaseIndiaTrips 2, speculates that many who attempt suicide don't even make it to the hospital.
“This morning on rounds, our last discussion was about methods of suicide attempts in India compared to the U.S.  What rolls into our medical wards and ICUs are things like Tylenol, anti-depressants, and prescription medication.  Here it tends to be more things in the community — pesticides, poisonous berries that are used as decorations, etc. Just imagining how many people attempt, but don’t make it to the hospital for care, or cannot afford care is just mind-boggling.”
Sarthak Gaurav, blogging on the India Development Blog, says that easy availability of these chemicals is partly to blame.
“In places like Vidarbha where we have the highest density of pesticide consumption in India, proximity to highly subsidized state provided pesticides are rampant and in such conditions there is bound to be higher incidence of suicides by pesticide consumption for the distressed farmers. In U.S it could well be thought of to be substituted by shot-guns!”
This photo captures the suicide problem among Indian farmers.
Pesticides are also contributing to suicides in China. One study reports that they account for over 60 percent of suicides in rural China, while another estimates that 175 000 deaths occur each year from pesticides, most in farming communities, in China alone.
A post on the Please Help Burma blog explains how China's suicide rates reveal a unique social pattern:
“China is the only country in which the suicide rate for females is higher than for males. Around 90 percent of Chinese women who end their own lives live in the countryside, where they have ready access to poisonous pesticides.”
Chinabounder, posting excerpts from his book, reveals that the most common causes of suicide in rural China are poverty and domestic abuse, which affect women more. He posts:
“Acknowledging this problem, Liu Denggao, a vice-director at the Ministry of Agriculture, said his ministry would restrict production of the most poisonous insecticides, change the color and smell of poisons, package chemicals in small amounts, and educate the public about appropriate uses and storage of pesticides.”
However, he adds:
“Lethal pesticides today are freely available off the shelf, are inappropriately stored in home environments, and this inexpensive answer to a moment’s anger or feeling of depression too readily is the answer taken.”
In response to its high suicide rate, South Korea will be announcing preventative measures, some which are related to pesticides. In 2005 South Korea's suicide rate was the highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
honeydhynnes discusses some of the reason's for South Korea's high suicide rate.
“Jumping under subway trains and taking pesticides are some of the things, to name a few, of killing themselves…
…Suicide as per my research is the fourth cause of death in South Korea. It is a reflection of changing and conflicting gender roles, economic hardships and domestic violence. However, this plays down the role of mental illness and other social conditions that significantly contribute to the statistic.”
Alex Schadenberg outlines the new measures in his blog.
“The government has decided to activate measures in 10 different government departments to lower their suicide rate. The complete plan will be released next week.
Actions will include:
– building screen doors on platform stops at train stations.
– tighter regulations on the sale of pesticides and other poisons.
– welfare payments will be improved.
– internet sites that encourage suicide will be blocked.”
Simon Hatcher, blogging on Pacific Thoughts, points  out, though, that some essential measures are still missing.
“Curiously no mention at all of the role of mental health services or primary care in suicide prevention. The strategy will be announced on world suicide day on September 10th – hope they’ve looked at the ways other countries are doing it.”
Photo of Danger, Pesticides by colinbrown on Flickr.

author: Juhie Bhatia


text:
Iran: Radio Zamaneh, a “radio for bloggers” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Radio Zamaneh (Persian: رادیو زمانه) is an Amsterdam-based Persian language radio. “Zamaneh” is the Persian literary term for “time”. Radio Zamaneh (RZ) is an independent broadcasting organisation, registered as a non-profit organisation in the Netherlands, with headquarters and a studio in Amsterdam. The coordinator of the radio is the Dutch NGO Press Now. It launched about two years ago and calls itself a ‘radio for bloggers’.
Kamran Ashtary, blogger, photographer and Zamnaeh's director of Communication & Development shares Zamaneh's challenges, hopes, achievements and Iranian citizen media.
RZ has called itself a radio for bloggers. Why such a slogan? How much influence have bloggers had at RZ ?
In Iran many journalists have turned to blogging to communicate since many newspapers are continually harassed and shut down. Most of Radio Zamaneh's contributors were, and still are, bloggers. Our director, Mehdi Jami, started blogging several years before joining Radio Zamaneh.
As Radio Zamaneh has based its media policy on Citizen Journalism, reaching out to bloggers is natural. Since August 2006, when Radio Zamaneh started, we have actively promoted bloggers on our site and in our radio programs. Many were involved in the development of RZ.
Radio Zamaneh in many ways is connected to bloggers and blogging. Just take a look at our extensive blogroll. Radio Zamaneh aims for two-way communication. This is something that blogs are known for. This is why our site is working like a set of blogs. Each regular contributor has their own page/blog and readers can comment on every page.
There are several news sites, outside of Iran, such as Deutsche Welle (DW) Perisan site, covering Iranian blogs. Is there a difference between RZ's approach toward blogging and theirs?
We don't just cover bloggers, we are bloggers and our style is bloggish: friendly, informal, different, personalized, and diverse. Blogging is a part of our daily life. We are talking on blogs and quoting blogs. We see them as a source of information about how people think about politics and social issues. We see Iranian youth culture as a culture promoted by blogs and we are working to make the informality of blogging a trend in media making. Radio Zamaneh is derived from and inspired by blogging. That is very different from just covering blogs by other media outlets.
How have Iranian bloggers reacted to RZ? Collaborating or criticizing?
A search at Technorati, will show you that there are more than 30,000 links to the items we publish on our site.
In addition, Canada-based Iranian blogger, Arash Kamangir‘s Didish Report, which searches Iranian site feeds for links to other sites, consistently shows that we are at the top of the list for receiving links. These show that many bloggers are interested in RZ and referring to us. Many of them work with us in different ways and some are critical too. Bloggers are not ignoring what we publish.
We welcome both collaboration and criticism. In fact, one of our contributors thinks we could use more people poking fun at us.
We invite criticism of Radio Zamaneh and even sponsored a competition with a review of the site as its focus. This competition helped us discover some of our current colleagues. Radio Zamaneh has a solid record of publishing differing opinions.
RZ has a list of bloggers in its first page. Some have criticized RZ for only listing “politically correct” blogs, and not ones that are against the Islamic Republic. How do you answer them?
The Berkman Center at Harvard University reports that more than 60,000 blogs in Iran are continually updated. Obviously, we cannot link to all of them.
Radio Zamaneh does not promote bloggers based on their political views. While we try to remain independent, we link to blogs with strong political points of view, including those that can be seen as *for* or *against* the regime. We read many blogs and do not limit our list to a select group. That said, Radio Zamaneh tries not to link to blogs with strong affiliations to political groups or extremists.
Some news sites are afraid to give more voices to citizen media because they consider them as unreliable sources of information. What do you think?
It's hard to give up control. Fortunately, most of us have been bloggers ourselves, so we see both sides. What we normally get from blogs are views, not news. Any news from blogs must be checked against other sources. Blogs may be a starting point for a news story, but we do not rely on them as a source. At the same time, we try to do training and work with citizen journalists so that they can provide reliable information. In fact, we are currently working on a special training site for citizen journalism which will be for our network and for registered users.
Outside of Iran many Persian sites covering politics, such as DW or Gozarr, have blog sections. Inside Iran very, very few mainstream news sites have such a section. Why the difference?
Inside Iran, they want to have more control over what people read. They just don't have the habit of presenting points of view that they cannot control. To be fair, major Western news sources have been slow to embrace bloggers as well. It's not normal for a news organization to link to competing sources of information.
What has been RZ's most important added value to Iranian media?
RZ has proven that it is possible to present an independent take on Iran and the news. It provides a voice for the unheard, and highlights marginalized groups in Iran: writers, Sunnis, women, bloggers, Armenians, Zoroastrians, and other ethnic and religious minorities. Radio Zamaneh republishes, highlights, and links to articles written on the web by domestic critics of Iranian politics, which are ignored by domestic media in Iran.
In addition we run programming that challenges the taboos of Iranian society such as relationships and sex. Sometimes, the challenge is with the official reading of politics and news; sometimes it is with the dogmatic views held by many inside and outside Iran.
What are the most important challenges?
If we want to stay on top of the game and hold on to our audience, we constantly need to stay in communication with them. You have to have an open communication channel. We need to encourage more reader and listener participation. We need to keep our ears open. We have to stay fresh and be our own harshest critic, and we have to work hard to remain fair and independent.
A lot of people would like us to take sides, whether it's against the government in Iran or for them, but we work hard to remain independent despite whatever personal beliefs we have.
The other major challenge for us is how to survive and make a sustainable media. We believe that for a sustainable civil society in Iran we need sustainable democratic media in and for Iran.
How does RZ deal with filtering?
It's a cat and mouse game. We have to continually find new holes to hide in. We have changed our domain name 5 times! We send our newsletters every day to many people who want to read RZ and have no direct access. But we cannot say that we can evade filtering. Many pages are blocked. Despite that, more than 60% of our readers are from Iran.
Sometimes a piece gets published from provincial or local bloggers. Are there any sharp differences between what Tehran-based bloggers write and provincial ones?
In many ways those who live outside the capital feel isolated and ignored. For many, Iran means Tehran. Tehran is very important, but we do not ignore cities in Kurdistan, Khorasan, Azarbayjan, Khuzistan, Fars, and the rest of the country. We try to see them all and give them voice and confidence and support.
We have a program designed to find good provincial blogs and promote them by quoting from them and talking to them. We always welcome contributions from provincial areas even though we cannot spend as much time covering them as we do major cities.


text:
Jerusalem: Varieties of headwear  · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Vika in Jerusalem describes the different form of head covering she sees around the city, including the kippah, shtreimel, taqiyah, keffiyah, and niqab.


text:
Libya: Rice, Oil, Gas and Foreign Investment · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arrived in Libya today, where she will be meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Al Gaddafi, who was once described by President Ronald Reagan as “the man dog in the Middle East.” The visit, the first by a US Secretary of State in more than 50 years, was welcomed by one blogger, but raised questions among others.
On the Edge runs the headline: Hell Has Finally Frozen Over.
USA Secretary Of State Condoleeeza Rice is visiting Libya today to meet with Gaddafi, so reports Reuters news service . So , I guess this means that Hell has finally frozen over !
The American blogger who is married to a Libyan and lives there, talks about rumours of an American Embassy opening in Tripoli.
There are all sorts of rumors of a embassy opening with a actual ambassador to go in it … soon . That's the what we have been told . It will be a full service embassy , that means women like me , married to a Libyan national will be able to get service too , not just the mainland US citizens that are working here for American companies
This will be a exciting improvement over the past , after the way we have been treated , like a step child hidden in the attic . If you can picture happy dancing , then you see many of the American women married to Libyans happy to know maybe now we be counted as a citizen again by our own country … even though we live here in Libya.
Egyptian Mona Al Tahawy has another issue on her mind during this historic visit. She is concerned about the fate of a democracy advocate held in Libya. She writes:
As Condoleezza Rice becomes the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Libya in 55 years, Fathi al-Jahmi will still remain in the cockroach-infested hospital room where he has been held against his will for months.
You don’t know who Fathi al-Jahmi is? Ask vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. In a statement to the Senate at the end of July, he called Jahmi “a courageous Libyan democracy advocate with serious health problems whose only crime was to speak truth to power.”
Rice knows who Jahmi is, because the State Department has issued various demands that Libya release him. But I wont hold my breath that she’ll make an issue of him during her visit.
For Al Tahawi, Rice's visit is for another reason:
Rice joins a slew of western leaders and officials trekking to Tripoli with eyes on deals aimed at tapping into Libya’s oil wealth. One after another they’ve donned rose-tinted glasses to see how Gadhafi has improvised his role as the dictator who came in from the cold.
And speaking of Libya's rich oil and gas resources, Saleem Al Ragihe [Ar] wonders how much his country makes from oil and when information on its income from gas and foreign investments will be released to the public. He writes:
من المعروف أنه خلال العقود ( الإستثنائية !؟) الماضية – وإلى وقت قريب – كانت كمية النفط المصدر من ليبيا ودخل ليبيا اليومي أو السنوي من النفط  من أسرار وألغاز الدولة الأمنية !! أو بمعنى أدق من أسرار الخيمة !! .. أما اليوم وبسبب ثورة المعلومات من جهة ومن جهة أخرى بسبب ضغوطات تقارير الشفافية العالمية المستمرة التي وضعت الجماهيرية (العظمى) على قائمة الدول الأكثر فسادا ً والأقل شفافية في العالم ! .. وبسب يقظة المواطن الليبي من جهة ثالثة .. فإن ( العقيد/ النظام) – لهذه الأسباب الثلاثة – إضطر أخيرا ً إلى الإفراج النسبي عن المعلومات فيما يتعلق بكمية النفط الليبي المصدر ودخل ليبيا من هذا النفط ! .. فقد ذكرت المؤسسة الوطنية الليبية للنفط أن الكميات المصدرة من النفط الخام الليبي خلال الفترة من 29 اغسطس الماضي وحتى 4 سبتمبر الجاري 2008 بلغت عشرة ملايين و955 ألف برميل .. وذكرت المؤسسة في نشرتها الأسبوعية اليوم ان متوسط  سعر البرميل بالدولار  بلغ 05ر107 دولار للبرميل الواحد.
ونحن إذ نشيد بهذه الخطوة الإنفتاحية وبداية الدخول إلى عصر الشفافية خصوصا ًفيما يتعلق بهذه الناحية البالغة الحساسية بالنسبة للمواطن الليبي – المالك الشرعي لا الفعلي للنفط  – فإننا نطالب بالمزيد من الشفافية والإنكشاف وإظهار الحقائق بالأرقام سائلين المولى عز وجل ونحن نرفع أكف الضراعة في هذا الشهر الكريم أن يتم الإفراج قريبا ً عن المعلومات الإقتصادية الحساسة والمهمة الأخرى والمتعلقة بدخل ليبيا من الغاز (!؟؟؟) وكذلك دخل ليبيا من الإستثمارات الخارجية الضخمة (!؟؟؟) في أوروبا خصوصا ً وأن الكثير من الليبيين بات يتحدث اليوم على أن أبناء القايد وأبناء رفاق القايد يتمتعون بقضاء العطلات في النعيم الأوروبي البديع على حساب دخل وأرباح هذه الإستثمارات الخارجية !!؟؟
It is well known that during the extraordinary previous decades, until recently, the amount of oil exported from Libya and the country's income from oil sales have remained a national secret and riddle! However today, thanks to the information explosion on the one hand; pressures placed by the international transparency reports on Libya which was placed on the list of the most corrupt and least transparent states; and the alertness of Libyan citizens, the Colonel/regime – for these three reasons – there has been a relative release on information regarding the amount of raw Libyan petroleum exported and Libya's income from its sales! The National Libyan Oil Company announced that the amount of oil exported from August 29 to September 4 totalled 10,955,000 thousand barrels. The Company's weekly newsletter also stated that the average oil price was $107.05 per barrel.
And while we applaud this step and the entry of Libya into the era of transparency especially in this sensitive area for Libyans – the legitimate and not actual owner of oil – we call for more openness and information on other sensitive economic information, such as Libya's income from natural gas sales, as well as its income from the huge foreign investments, particularly in Europe. A lot of Libyans are now talking about the sons of the leader and the sons of the companions of the leader, who are enjoying holidays in Europe, paid for by these foreign investments.


text:
Saudi Arabia: Extreme sports · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

American Bedu asks why the Saudi government doesn't control extreme sports, and shows two videos of racing as an example: “The Japanese version is done on proper tracks design to minimize injuries, the spectators are out of harm’s way, cars with cages to protect the driver, and most importantly the drivers wear their seat belt and helmet. The Saudi version none of these safety precaution are taken. The result is fatality accidents in Saudi.”


text:
Saudi Arabia: The perils of shopping · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Susie of Arabia, an American living in Saudi Arabia, gives a list of reasons why she hates shopping in the kingdom, which includes store hours, traffic – and her husband.


text:
Saudi Arabians and their cars · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Extreme car customizing, dangerous drift racing and incomprehensively dangerous stunts on the highways straight from Saudi Arabia.
Mona from Rebellious Arab Girl in Only in Saudi Arabia posts this terrifying stunt she found on YouTube of a group of Saudis skating on their sandals besides their moving car:
On the dangerous stunt area, Saudi2k6Boy brings us Saudi teens drifting their cars on closed roads as well as highways with other drivers.
Captive107 shows us a Saudi man climbing out of a window, walking on the hood of the car, opening it and then climbing all the way to the trunk, all this with the car in motion.
Finally, a customized car, Saudi style, where the front doors slide up, the back doors open to the back, the trunk opens on the side and one of the doors swivels on its axis.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


text:
Turkey: Diplomacy Via Sports? · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Talk Turkey remarks on the historic World Cup qualifier match that will be held between Turkey and Armenia: “Although there have been opposition in Turkey about this historic visit, and no doubt the same on the Armenian side, this visit couldn't have come at a better time.


text:
Angola: Briefs from the elections · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Part 2 of “Briefs from the elections” from Angolan blogger, Koluki: “Earlier on Saturday, the main opposition party, UNITA, announced its intention to impugnate the election, claiming a “collapse” of the process in the capital, Luanda, and “numerous cases of organisational failures, forceful prevention of some electors from exercising their right to vote, violence and political intolerance” in the 18 provinces, of which they were in the process of collecting evidence to submit to the Constitutional Court.”

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Angola: Briefs from the elections · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Koluki writes about elections in Angola: “Earlier on Friday the head of the EU mission, the Italian Luisa Morgantini, called the election “a total disaster” . The same assessment was made by the leader of the opposition, Isaias Samakuva, who called for a repeat of the election in Luanda, where of the 584 polling stations 320 didn't function.”


text:
Angola: Elections in photos · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Photos of elections in Angola on flickr. This was the first elections in sixteen years.


text:
Brazil: Inventive censorship, and the case for anonymity · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Brazil got used to being recognized for its Internet savvy and large population of early web-adopters. Nevertheless, or maybe exactly because of that, the country is rapidly becoming a haven for novel and inventive models and tactics of Internet censorship.
A quick search on ‘brazil’ + ‘censorship’ in Global Voices returns a bunch of scary titles posted just in the last 6 months: Dismissal of Brazilian Blogger: Censorship or Just Business? (March 23rd), Bloggers united against WordPress ban (April 12th), First blog falls victim to electoral law (June 1st), Blogging Against Web-Censorship (June 19th), Bloggers question the 13 new cyber-crimes (July 17th), Electoral censorship at work (July 22nd).
This time, the weird news sprouts from the state of Minas Gerais, where governor Aécio Neves is carefully preparing himself to run as presidential candidate in 2010, when Lula leaves office. In the midst of country-wide municipal elections, the opposing online journal ‘Novo Jornal’ was taken down by state level prosecutors — the Public Ministry — on (refuted) charges of anonymity.
Truth is that the Brazilian Constitution sets up an unusually twisted situation, especially for online speech: free expression of thought is assured  in the same paragraph where anonymity is formally forbidden. Still, the seizure of ‘Novo Jornal’ is calling the attention of the blogosphere for the inventive strategy of using state level prosecutors and cybercrime allegations to immediately take down an informative website without the proper legal process. Blogs are also pointing out the fact that the mainstream media has been silent about the case — in what has started to appear as a pattern when it comes to negative coverage on Aécio Neves.
The matrix-like display forced upon ‘NovoJornal's web page sets the tone.
This page is suspended by a legal precautionary measure and
the site content is being analysed for criminal evidences
State Prosecutors on the Combat of Cybercrimes
A justificativa do MPE, retirada do site do jornal O Tempo: “Instaurado o Procedimento Investigatório Criminal, constatou-se que não há identificação do responsável pelo site – que se intitula jornal, fato que fere frontalmente a Constituição Federal que prevê que é livre a manifestação do pensamento, sendo vedado o anonimato, além da Lei de Imprensa, que se aplica à Internet”…  Independente de lados políticos, postura jornalística, anonimato ou não, o que percebo é que os braços da censura estão à solta, e a História mostra que eles costumam ser usados por aqueles que estão no poder, poucas vezes com boas razões. Mais do que apoiar ou condenar, é preciso ficar de olho, fiscalizar. Pensando bem, não era essa a função do Ministério Público – e, em outra esfera, da imprensa?
E tem gente que pensa que calice é coisa do passado – NaRua.org
No momento em que foi retirado do ar, o Novo Jornal trazia em sua primeira página uma matéria com pesadas críticas ao Presidente do STF, Gilmar Mendes. A matéria ainda pode ser lida no cache do Google. O Novo Jornal também denunciou que o governador Aécio Neves pagou US$ 269 milhões de dívidas da Rede Globo de Televisão na compra da Light.
Retirado do ar site jornalístico que continha denúncias contra Aécio Neves – O Biscoito Fino e a Massa
Ao contrário do argumentado pelo Ministério Público, o Novojornal encontra-se rigorosamente dentro da lei, inclusive com diretor-responsável registrado na DRT, detentor do MTE nº 000311/MG, respondendo o mesmo por todas as matérias não-assinadas publicadas no Novojornal… Dessa forma, comprovado está que jamais existiu o anonimato argüido pelo MP-MG. Inclusive o diretor-responsável e o endereço de sua sede encontram-se registrados no Registro.br, cadastro oficial de todos os sítios da internet no Brasil.
Continua censurado por Aécio Neves o site ‘Novo Jornal’ – Em cima da notícia
Será que não existem coisas mais importantes para o Ministério Público mineiro investigar do que ficar censurando a Internet, a mando do governador, com a desculpa de se tratar de Crime Cibernético?
Em terra de presidenciável, censura-se a oposição como crime cibernético – Rastreadores de Impurezas
As bloggers were quick to notice, there are some other things being done in Brazil (see also: “Bloggers question the 13 new cyber-crimes“, “The cost of the cybercrime bill“, “Cybercrime bill is now translated“) disguised as actions against Cybercrime.
Na revista digital NovaE, um longo texto do blogueiro José de Souza Castro, o primeiro a descobrir que o site do Novo Jornal foi tirado do ar por ação da justiça, começa a detalhar o que ocorreu e faz o link entre esse processo e o cerco que começa a se estruturar no Brasil contra a liberdades na rede mundial de computadores:
“O governo de Minas parece que tinha muita pressa para resolver essa questão com o Novo Jornal. Segundo O Tempo, “a Promotoria Estadual de Combate aos Crimes Cibernéticos foi criada em Belo Horizonte em 16 de julho deste ano. Com o crescente número de crimes praticados por usuários da rede, o MPE decidiu pela sua implantação. A promotoria atua como um órgão de suporte aos promotores de Justiça que atuam na área criminal e agiliza o atendimento às vítimas”. E acrescenta, citando uma pessoa identificada como Vanessa Fusco: A estratégia é agir proativamente no enfrentamento desse tipo de crime, que vem crescendo principalmente com a chegada da banda larga às cidades do interior”. E conclui: “Um projeto de autoria do senador Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB) prevê a tipificação da conduta dos crimes praticados na Internet”. (texto da Novae)”
A censura à Internet em Minas Gerais – Em busca da palavra justa
“The government of Minas Gerais seemed to be in a haste to settle this issue with ‘Novo Jornal’. According to ‘O Tempo’, “the Cybercrime Combat State Prosecutors was created in Belo horizonte on July 16th this year. In face of  the rampant number of crimes practiced by network users, the State Public Ministry has decided for its deployment. The Cybercrime Prosecutor acts as a support to justice prosecutors working on the criminal sector, and streamlines attendance to victims.” The newspaper adds, quoting someone identified as Vanessa Fusco: “The strategy is to act pro-actively in confronting this type of crime, which keeps growing mainly with the arrival of broadband to the interior”. And it oncludes: “A project authored by Senator Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB) seeks (or sought) to define and list the criminal acts performed on the Internet” (Novae's text)”
Internet censorship in Minas Gerais – Em busca da palavra justa
The ‘NovoJornal's case is also showing that, despite what the constitution provides on the matter of free speech, ‘anonymity’ may play an important role as a ‘checks and balance’ element in a democratic public space. The video below shows NovoJornal's Director in Charge, Marco Aurélio Carone, answering why the articles on the site have no attribution and are not signed. The interview, made by Camila Vidal and Daniela Nunes, was published on YouTube some weeks before ‘NovoJornal’ was censored.
If you've managed to follow along this far, you will surely want to watch the video below, made by the Brazilian Daniel Florêncio for Current.TV, and presented as “an investigation into the seemingly increasingly curtailed press in Brazil”. But first, a blogger account to add context:
A reportagem de Florêncio ‘nasceu’ do documentário “Liberdade, essa palavra“, produzido em 2006 pelo então estudante de jornalismo Marcelo Baêta… Tanto o documentário de Baêta quanto a reportagem do Daniel repercutiram na imprensa nacional e internacional (a Folha e o Le Monde publicaram matérias sobre o caso), e geraram respostas incisivas dos partidários de Aécio, que usaram a mesma ferramenta, o YouTube, para a defesa… Depois de ver todos os vídeos relacionados ao caso (veja mais aqui), ficou a pulga atrás da orelha: teriam os jornalistas realmente tirado os seus da reta no caso?
Minas Gerais, a censura e o estado de coisas – NaRua.org
You may want also to watch the video response to the curren.tv's piece.
The viral spread of Internet participation across the Brazilian population is producing quite a shaking in the established realms of media, politics and courts. But it is exactly this kind of upheaval that generates the discourse necessary to the discovery of balanced protocols for  managing the contradictions revealed by the age of information. Stay tuned — this is an ongoing process.
Há um backup do site [NovoJornal] em http://rapidshare.com/files/138763257/novojornal.tar.bz2.html
Comentário de Winston em Retirado do ar site jornalístico que continha deúncias contra Aécio Neves – O Biscoito Fino e a Massa

author: Jose Murilo


text:
Brunei: Ramadhan campaign · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Senor Pablo supports the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign in Brunei – He reminds readers about the “need to ascertain that what we eat is enough for the family and not to create unnecessary waste.”

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Cambodia: Casino centers · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A blogger thinks Cambodia should be called “gamblodia” because of too many casinos in the country's capital.


text:
Chinese tourist numbers to Taiwan · Global Voices
David Reid

Claudia Jean analyses the number of Chinese tourists and the impact of direct flights on Taiwan.

author: David Reid


text:
Colombia: Illegal mp3 on Police Website · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Camilo Uribe writes about an illegal downloaded MP3 file found on the Colombian police's website [es], after which they used a password to cover it up, but didn't remove the file. This is after they destroyed more than 70 thousand pirated dvds, cds and mp3s in the city of Medellin. A screen grab of the file is included.


text:
Gays in Vietnam · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Noodlepie links to an article which discussed the situation of gay men in Vietnam.


text:
Indonesia: Budget for education · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Cafe Salemba advises the Indonesian government to review the high funding for education, arguing that the “budget for education should be a result of a careful policy calculation, and a clear plan on how to spend it, rather than just meeting the constitutional mandate.”


text:
Iran:Converted Christians in danger · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to Jafaa blog that covers news about Iranian converted Christians, two newly converted Christians were charged with the crime of being an infidel by the judicial court of Fars province in Iran. They may face the death penalty.[update: They were released at the end of September]


text:
Laos: Tips for tourists · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Quaking Blog was disappointed at the half-naked tourists she met in Laos. Apocalypse Lao gives tips to tourists.


text:
Laos: Travel videos · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Dennis Koomen and Simon Sticker post video clips of their adventures in Laos.


text:
Saudi Arabia: Don’t judge Palin as a mother · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Saudi-based blogger Nzingha, a mother of five, feels that Sarah Palin has been judged on the wrong criteria: “One shouldn't choose to not support Palin because she is a mom just as one shouldn't choose to support Palin simply because she is a woman. Her ability to do the job isn't a question about her womb, it is a question about her political positions, experience, and plans for her country if elected.”


text:
Singapore Paralympic Team · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The 2008 Paralympics opens in Beijing. RY in his Blog Land thinks Singapore has strong chances of winning in the swimming event.


text:
Vietnam: Motorbike driving license · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Mango shake, anyone?? blogs about the process of getting a license to drive a motorbike in Vietnam


text:
Vietnam’s street vendors · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Viet World Kitchen hopes the street vendors of Vietnam will not be transferred into “mall-like hawker centers.” She adds:  “I appreciate hygiene just like the next person but I've never fallen ill from Vietnamese street food. Hawker centers in Singapore are convenient but there's some soul missing.”


text:
Afghanistan: Elections Ahead · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Afghan Blogger posts a speech by the Political Counselor of the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington, DC, concerning the upcoming 2009 Afghan Presidential Election.


text:
Afghanistan: First Policewomen · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Azar Balkhi reports that for the first time in Afghan history, first policewomen were appointed on official positions in Herat, western province of Afghanistan.


text:
Africa: Empowerment through digital convergence · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bay Tsimane blogs from Digital Citizen Indaba taking place in South Africa: “This year’s Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) brought to the fore in a much vivid and illustrative manner the impact of mobile technologies such as MXit, a cellphone chat service, in changing  the lives of communities. “


text:
Angola: Election news · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Koluki's Angolan election briefs: The observing mission of the Pan-African Parliament declared the Angolan elections “generally free and fair” in spite of some observed “insufficiencies”. A similar assessment was made by the observers from the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) who called the elections “free and transparent”.


text:
Angola: Parliamentary election video · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A YouTube video about parliamentary election in Angola produced by the Angolan human rights NGO OMUNGA and the German/Brazilian based MINIBUS MEDIA.


text:
Armenia: Football Diplomacy & Relations with Turkey · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

A number of World Cup qualifying matches were played worldwide on Saturday, but even if Georgia was drawn against Ireland and had to move the venue for the football match to Germany following the war with Russia, many were instead interested in what might prove to be a historic political rather than sporting event. Without diplomatic relations or an open border, Armenia played against estranged neighbor Turkey in its capital, Yerevan.
Moreover, despite historical grievances over the 1915 massacre and deportation of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan to watch the match alongside his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sargsyan. Armenians and many historians consider the killings to be Genocide while Turkey denies the claims. Many were therefore quick to describe Gul's arrival an exercise in “football diplomacy.”
Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Unzipped, for example, realized the significance of the match as long ago as November when the draw was first made.
Fantastic draw! That will be THE matches! I will do whatever possible or impossible to be present there. Hope that Armenian and Turkish fans will behave, and we won't witness any ugly scenes, but rather will celebrate the occasion to get to know each other better and use sporting spirit for reconciliation (not destruction!), and a pint of beer? It's funny that football draws frequently bring us with ‘sensitive’ outcomes. It's more than a fate…
Later, in July when the invitation for Gul to attend the match was made, Unzipped applauded the move. Despite previous criticism of Armenia's new president who took power after a flawed election in February and a 20-day State of Emergency after at least 10 people died in post-election clashes with police, the blog hoped that the football match could represent a new start in relations between the two countries.
This is the most straightforward gesture to date from a head of state in Armenia to propose Turkey to open up a new page in relationships. Overall, I welcome this proposal. It is courageous and right thing to do from Serj Sargsyan side.
As the date of the match — 6 September — drew closer, other bloggers began to speculate on what led up the possibility of the Turkish President stepping foot on Armenian soil. One of those was West of Igdir which also started to comment on what would undoubtedly prove to be an unprecedented and historic occasion if Gul arrived in Yerevan.
As it stands we are a mere four days away from the much-heralded soccer diplomacy and leaves everyone asking “what's going to happen?” Officially, we don't even know if Gul is going or not. Sargsyan extended his invitation months ago, shortly after secret talks in Switzerland were leaked to the public, but Gul has yet to officially respond. […]
[…]
No matter what, it seems this historic and extremely improbable visit will be going through after all. With confirmations from just about everyone but President Gul himself, with Turkish special forces apparently already on the ground in Yerevan preparing for his protection, there is little reason to think otherwise.
Not everyone was happy with the thought of Turkey's president arriving in Armenia, however. Last Tuesday, for example, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) staged a rally in Yerevan to mark the 17th Anniversary of Independence being declared in the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh. Although poorly attended, the nationalist political party threatened to stage street protests if Gul arrived.
ARF-D Demonstration, Zvartnots Airport, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
A few days before the match when Turkey finally announced that he would, the ARF-D were adamant that such protests would occur. However, on the day of the football game itself, Unzipped found that not many Armenians appeared eager to participate.
Particularly, Dashnaks (via Yerkir newspaper) call all supporters to gather today at Zvartnots airport and surrounding areas at 5pm local time to ‘greet’ Turkey’s president upon arrival.
Dashnaks also drive around central Yerevan streets today urging people via loudspeakers to join their protest actions. Few seem enthusiastic to do so.
Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
And as it happened, the protests were indeed small, with most Armenians viewing the event merely as a sporting one. Even so, the political ramifications of the match were obvious. Turkey won 2-0 amid high security and although the performance of the Armenian team disappointed many, the precedent had been set for building upon what some consider a brave and historic move by both presidents.
Everything related to this much – in the build up to this game – was more about politics than actual football. Perhaps, this was the most politically colored football match ever. The funny thing is that as soon as the game started, politics became something very secondary to me, I did not even feel the presence of Turkish and Armenian presidents side by side watching the match. It was all about sport for me, again, at last.
[…]
The good thing is that despite worries of possible nationalist outburst or ugly scenes, nothing of that sort happened. Security was pretty tight, at least in terms of numbers one could spot. Even plastic bottles were not allowed inside the stadium. Things went well, overall, except perhaps booing when the national anthem of Turkey played on. […]
Back to the football diplomacy. The day passed. At least on surface things seem went well. Follow-up practical actions, if any, will determine whether football diplomacy worked. I sincerely hope so.
Talk Turkey also welcomed the move.
[…] Although there have been opposition in Turkey about this historic visit, and no doubt the same on the Armenian side, this visit couldn’t have come at a better time.
With the ongoing Russian restructuring and its hopes of revitalizing the Soviet empire, closer relations between affected neighboring countries are very critical in any normal setting. Then there’s the issue of reconciling differences regarding the ‘Genocide’ matter. And the hope for a closer dialogue without the presence of any third parties whose justification for their own existence is the continuation of the very same discord they supposedly are for ending.
A good start . . .
Writing a day after the match, West of Igdir says that despite opposition to the football match from nationalists on both sides, there can be no other way forwards. The blog makes specific reference to the Armenian Diaspora which is more vocal and heated in its condemnation of Turkey than their local counterparts.
[…] I think the best thing for the diaspora to do is watch how this goes between the governments and assess the results. No reason to stand in its way, the diaspora must and will remain strong but at the same time should adopt this spirit of friendship. There's nothing I hate more than stories of Armenians in the diaspora meeting Turks and saying something mean or irrational at them as soon as they hear they are a Turk. That's small minded and applying the same sort of racist idealogy on them as the Young Turks did to our ancestors.
Turkish Fans, Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Ironcially, however, citing additional security concerns, only a handful of Turkish fans were given the opportunity to travel to Armenia for the game as Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences explains. The specialist blog also says it believes education is key to resolving some of the many outstanding issues which are still obstacles to normalizing relations.
[…] today’s match will unfortunately fail to deliver as Turkey’s authorities have refused to let their football fans cross the border into Armenia. The Armenian president will meet his Turkish counterpart but Armenian football fans and Yerevan residents in general won’t have the opportunity to meet Turkish supporters.
But, with an invitation from Gul extended to his Armenian counterpart to attend the rematch next year, Talk Turkey makes special reference to Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist and writer who was gunned down in Istanbul last year. It is time, the blog says, for citizens on both sides of the border to reach out to each other.
[…] Abdullah Gul invited the Armenian President to watch the rematch in Turkey. Wouldn’t it be great if the Turkish people, including its Armenian citizens, all show up in support of Armenia, wearing ‘We Are All Armenians’ shirts, as they did immediately following Hrant Dink’s murder.
Time to rise to the occasion. What do you think?
The sports diplomacy, as was the earthquake diplomacy between Greece and Turkey recently, is a great excuse for the parties to start the dialogue and improve relations, and put an end to the stalemate of ridiculousness once and for all.
Yet, while many Armenians and Turks hope that Saturday's match could mark the way forwards, others such as Petites et Grandes Aventures were unimpressed by the match from a sporting perspective. True, the blog says, the match was historic, but there were many problems highlighted that still need to be resolved. Moreover, the fact that they weren't made the match somewhat boring.
Earlier in the day I had met a few dedicated Turkish fans who had driven all the way – 12 hours via Georgia. But in the end, they were only a handful. And the few planes that were chartered from Istanbul, I was told, were full with Armenians living in Istanbul – not Turks.
[…]
But back to the game. No, I'm not biased.
It's actually a rather boring game, neither Armenia nor Turkey plays particularly well. Turkey scores twice, much to the disappointment of Armenian fans. The less than 100 Turkish fans parked in one corner of the stadium have no chance to make their voices heard and both times the Turks score the stadium is silent. So much so, I both times have to ask my neighbour, a Japanese political correspondent based in Cairo looking rather bored, if this was actually a goal. […]
More photographs and commentary are on my The Caucasian Knot.
Armenia-Turkey World Cup Qualifier, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
Armenia: Local Elections Marred by Violence · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on the possible appointment of a notorious government official to the position of Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly. The blog also reports that local elections held in Yerevan yesterday were marred by reports of violence, vote buying and other irregularities.


text:
Bahamas: Too Much Information?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas is suffering from hurricane information overload.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Bangladesh: Waterlogged · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The 3rd World View on the waterlogged lifecycle in Bangladesh as several areas are waterlogged.

author: Neha Viswanathan


text:
Bangladesh: Working in the Gulf · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Reflections on migrants going to work in the Gulf, while waiting at the airport at unearthly hour at D is for Dhaka.


text:
Oman: Big Business Idea Competition · Global Voices
Riyadh Al Balushi

The Big Business Idea Competition (BBIC) for 2008 was held yesterday. Check out how it went on Blue_Chi‘s.

author: Riyadh Al Balushi


text:
Bolivia: Winners and Losers of Water War Eight Years Later · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Vistenos Nuevos [es] provides his thoughts on the winners and losers of the “Water War” that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia eight years ago and the winners were the leaders of that conflict because many went on to become politicians and receive international funding.

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
Brunei: Playcenter for the elderly · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Jack from Brunei proposes the establishment of a kindergarden or a playcenter for the elderly.